I’m back at it and already behind.

If networking events drain you, here’s the quieter way my most introverted client landed three new leads last quarter.

You’re a great lawyer, but you keep postponing outreach.
It feels awkward. Draining.
Like one more thing on an already impossible list.

One of my clients, Leah* (*not her real name), is an income partner at a BigLaw firm.
Introverted. Time-starved. Leading trials. Raising young kids.

She did not want more networking events.
She did not want to post on social media.

And yet, last quarter, she sourced three new leads on her own.

We did not build a perfect business plan.
We did not force a personal brand that felt unnatural.

We worked with how she already moves through her world.

What follows is the exact sequence that helped her move from avoidance into motion,
without pretending to be someone she’s not.

Leah’s avoidance wasn’t dramatic.
She’d draft emails halfway, then leave them open to handle something urgent.
Follow-up kept sliding to “next week.” Then never.

Nothing was broken.
It just never felt like the right moment.

We stopped treating outreach as a chore
and aligned it to what comes naturally to her.

No rigid schedule.
No rooms she had to force herself to work.
No posting for visibility’s sake.

Most advice assumes business development requires aggression.
For introverts, that creates resistance, not results.

Outreach gets easier when it’s rooted in curiosity and service.
When it matches how you already build trust, friction fades.

I rely on a simple sequence I’ve refined with so many lawyers like Leah.
I call it BNRI, but think of it as a guide, not a system.

First: notice what’s already working.
Who’s already calling you.
Which clients trust you.
Where momentum already exists.

Then: narrow instead of expand.
She stopped chasing every opportunity.
She focused on fewer relationships and went deeper.

Less scattered effort.
Better use of limited time.

Finally: connect in ways that feel human.
Targeted gatherings instead of random events.
Follow-ups driven by curiosity, not agenda.

She felt calmer.
Steadier.
More confident.

Her workload didn’t increase.
Her personality didn’t change.

What changed was self-trust.
She stopped shaming herself for how she approaches rainmaking
and started emphasizing her natural strengths as her core strategy.

The business mattered.
She’s now on track for equity partnership.

But the confidence mattered more.

Not everyone wants to grow their practice this season.
Not everyone needs a rigid plan.

Quiet, deliberate growth is still growth.
You don’t need to become someone else
to build a practice that blossoms.

xo,

Rachel


 
P.S. If you want to think this through with me, I host small private salons. Details here (see green banner at top of the screen in the link).