Hey Reader,

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Call me crazy, but I love the summertime for business. People always say business is slow in the summer and it's stressful, but to me, my business always feels the most exciting in the summer.

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I admit that part of the reason for this is that I'm a single woman with no kids so my time is mine to do whatever I want with. And in the summer, I like to work.

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That's because I'm pretty introverted and don't like large crowds. And in the summer, people are outside and there are large crowds everywhere, which means I tend to hibernate. I like to stay at home and work. Or I like to rent a cabin in the woods and work there.

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But either way, I like the quiet and I like the ability to focus, which is why I've always thought about summer as a great time to get ahead in business.

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Here are some of my plans for this summer:

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• Bulk record some interviews for my new YouTube channel about different legal topics stressing people out (finally!);
• Create a mini course for folks whose nervous systems (read: stress and fear) won't let them stay in the room when something legal comes up, let alone figure out how to deal with it;
• Offer some live workshops that people have been asking for;
• Write a bunch of blog posts that I've been meaning to write;
• Serve on the leadership committee for Black Founders Table, a nascent organization in Baltimore that supports black founders of social impact companies (this work is funded by all your generous donations to The Everyday Lawyer Solidarity Fund, so thank you!).

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If you missed #3 on that list, let me restate it for you: I'm going to offer some live workshops on different legal topics that people have been asking for.

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A couple of topics that I'm jazzed about (and that I've heard you're interested in too) include:

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• A Contract Foundations Workshop for service providers that will cover all the contracts things like what common terms mean, the power dynamics involved in contracting and how that impacts your negotiation strategy, and what to do about those red flag contract terms among other things.
• A Legal Foundations Pick Your Brain Workshop where I talk a little bit about the structure of the law and how that can make the law difficult to engage with and then I open it up for questions about your business's legal structure, how to evaluate legal risks, insurance, contracts, and all other legal things that are foundational to having your own business.
• The $10,000 Rule Workshop for B2B service providers who want to workshop their potential offer to sell to corporate apprentices and figure out how to position it from a legal perspective so your can zoom through the vendor onboarding process.

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I'm doing this because I want to make my work more accessible. I've heard from many of you that my 1:1 services simply aren't in your price range. Fortunately, one of the things the Solidarity Fund is allowing me to do is figure out how to pivot my business so that my main offerings consist of small group workshops that are priced between $100 and $250 per workshop so I can support more people.

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I'm doing this as well as prioritizing the creation of more free legal resources like a YouTube channel and blog posts so that more people can get the information they need.

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But for now, if you're interested in the live workshops. I'd love to hear from you! I've been testing out the Contract Foundations and Legal Foundations workshops with a few small groups over the past 2 months and so far it's been going great!

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If you want to take some time to upskill on the law with me this summer, please fill out the survey below to let me know which workshops you're interested in and some info about your general availability.

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And now I'll say one more thing:

While the responses to the Solidarity Fund have been overwhelmingly positive, a couple have been less supportive, which is totally fine.

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But, the main issue those couple of people have is that they want me to talk about business law and drop the politics.

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So I want to take a moment to be clear so there's no more confusion going forward: The Everyday Lawyer is work rooted in liberation.

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And here's another thing: all work is political.

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That means I'll be talking about capitalism and patriarchy here because those things have a huge influence on the power dynamics that rule your business contracts and those power dynamics inform your negotiation strategy.

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That means I'm going to talk about how the current legal system we find ourselves in was created so that the capitalist class could flourish. I'm going to talk about the structure of that system, why knowledge of the law has traditionally been gatekept from the masses even before modern-day capitalism existed, and how that impacts your business.

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And eventually, it's my goal to have a longer-term program where I teach all of these issues because I think they're important for every person who has to work to know and understand.

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I do this because, to me, your work, capitalism, patriarchy, and all other systemic inequities are inextricably linked and I wouldn't be doing my job correctly or with integrity if I didn't talk about those things.

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Because not talking about them means I'm not giving you the information you need to make confident and informed decisions about your work.

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I feel deeply that this is part of my responsibility as a legal educator and that's not going to change. So if that bothers you or makes you uncomfortable, this may not be the place for you and that's okay. The unsubscribe button is below.

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If you're one of the people here because you want to know how these systems intersect and how that impacts your work, then you're in the right place!

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Okay, I just needed to clarify that. Thank you for reading it and I hope to see you at a summer workshop!

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Until next time, I wish you good health and prosperity,

Brionna

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p.s. The Solidarity Fund is 62% funded! I truly had no idea what to expect when I started this journey, but just know that it is forever changing my ideas of what's possible and what mutual aid and community care look like and feel like. Thank you infinitely to everyone who has contributed. You're simultaneously rewiring my brain chemistry and helping me to execute my dream to make the law accessible to everyone who works.

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Offers from Friends: My friend Sandra Booker is hosting 2 free workshops on June 12th and June 19th that focus on helping you get your time back as an entrepreneur by streamlining your processes. Sandra is a master at systems and an automations queen who I've had the pleasure of learning a thing or two from over the past 9ish months that I've known her. If you'd like to learn more about her and attend the workshop, go here. I'm traveling the week of the 19th, but I hope to see you on the 12th! And full disclosure, I'm a paid expert and an affiliate for her program The 627 Advisory Board, which she'll be promoting later this month.

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