36 year old Sarah Bartholomeusz is married with two young children and lives and works from Adelaide, South Australia.
Sarah set up her start up business You Legal after being made redundant from her role as an inhouse lawyer when she was 32 weeks pregnant.
Two years in and Sarah has made remarkable achievements. She recently won 2015 Start Up Award at the Telstra Business Women’s Awards in the South Australia category. She is also a finalist in the national Telstra Start Up Award category and has just released her very first book titled ‘How to Avoid a Fall from Grace: Legal Lessons for Directors’.
Sarah has completely changed the way her clients engage legal services and is driving her company towards a $1m+ turnover this financial year.
Growing up, what kind of career did you want to pursue?
I always wanted to be a lawyer – I love problem solving and working one-on-one with clients, often at times that they are quite vulnerable to help them to achieve their business goals. I may also secretly have been inspired by the film, ‘Legally Blonde’, so much so that I have Trade Marked the words!
Who inspires you?
Reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In inspired me to write my own book, How to Avoid a Fall from Grace – I have bought countless copies of that book for friends and colleagues over the past two years.
Who (apart from you) is most surprised by your achievements?
I am very fond of the saying that over-night success does not happen over-night, but as an outside observer of a business you do not necessarily see the thousands of hours that go in to creating it. I think that the people who are most surprised by how much we have achieved at You Legal are large corporates who use us for the first time and discover that our promise of better value top tier service is true and exceeds their expectations.
How have women helped shape your success to date?
Earlier this year I joined Behind Closed Doors, which is a national program for business women to discuss business and support each other. I have found the network to be invaluable, everyone I have met through BCD has had the attitude “Never look down on anybody, unless you’re helping them up.”
What qualities do you most admire in a female colleague?
One of my Melbourne- based team, Tara Adams is a Mum with 2 kids and a husband with a high-flying executive career, she never procrastinates and is a master at having her practice and her work life work as one. I emailed a contract to her one afternoon asking her if she had capacity to review it that day, Tara emailed back: ‘Just at the airport, heading to Bali, my flight has been delayed so I can do it right now.’ I find her attitude so inspiring!
What’s the key to successfully balancing work and life?
Promoting the understanding that flexibility is not a dirty word. You Legal has been able to achieve great things and we have done it all by working flexibly, and proved that by providing our team with a life they love we can deliver better service to our clients. I have found flexibility has given me the opportunity to work to my full potential, be more creative and enjoy every second of my life – work rest & play.
Earlier this year I travelled to Italy for three weeks with my family to attend a wedding. Running the firm from Italy was fantastic, I would get up early and had 2 hours to return calls in the morning before close of business in Australia and then we would start the day with the kids, while they had their afternoon naps, I could respond to emails and work on matters that needed my attention.
If you had an afternoon to yourself, how would you spend it?
I know this is not technically answering the question but I love spending time and going on outings with my two children (Alex is three and Nicola is nearly 2), and my husband, Dave. Being present to them is an important part of my life outside work because I don’t want to miss out on precious time with them while they are still small, so I would share the afternoon with them – and we would probably go to the Adelaide Zoo.
Who do you regard as your mentor?
My husband, David, he is my most zealous cheerleader and my most forthright coach. We spend a lot of time exploring approaches to goal setting, lead indicators and the fears that inevitably arise when you are managing explosive growth in a business, and the experience he brings to bear in these conversations illuminates me and inspires me to find my own form of excellence.
What personal attributes have you used to overcome adversity in your life?
My last corporate job was for a large Adelaide based corporate, where I was the joint company secretary and legal counsel. At the time our CEO was Malcolm Jackman, a larger than life leader who spent his early career as an officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy. At times of great pressure, Malcolm would ask the question, “Is anyone going to die here?” In our corporate world, thankfully the response was always “No.” I often use this experience to provide context in my day-to-day activities.
If you could make one change to women’s lives, what would it be and why?
It would be to change the fact that women are socialised to conform to certain gender roles based on their biological sex, and as part of that socialisation they experience guilt based on what they do and do not choose to do, especially with regards to having children and what they choose to do/ not do in their careers. When we can change the narrative in society around this, I know that women will step forward and insist that so long as their hands hold up half they sky, their ideas influence policy and the agenda to an equal extent.
What is the hardest part of your job?
You Legal has expanded so rapidly that it has become difficult to oversee every function completely. I would love the superpower to be in more than one place at the same time!
What advice would you give to someone aspiring to success in your field?
I once attended a presentation by the female Chairman of Partners at the firm I worked for, she said:
“Remember success is derived from courage, drive, energy, passion, ambition, enthusiasm, excitement, initiative, discipline, a dream and enough self-confidence to keep trying.”
I wrote it down, typed it out, printed the page, cut it out & carried it with me for 10 years.