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Name: Jessica McElfresh
Business: McElfresh Law
Location: Solana Beach, California, U.S.
Industry: Legal Services
Reason for starting? I started my law firm, McElfresh Law, because I was eager to start my own business and law was a passion for me. It was just such a natural idea, one that fully came to fruition after several years of hard work. I work primarily in the cannabis industry — helping marijuana businesses grow and succeed in the ever changing (and challenging) landscape. This is one area that I was particularly interested in and realized it needed more industry recognition and help, so I decided to start a firm dedicated to this.
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How do you define success? Success is being happy with where you are. As a criminal attorney, success can be defined by helping your clients achieve their goals. In a way, success is both helping you and your clients achieve goals together. It’s a really great feeling when you help another business open their doors and become fully operational. This is how I would define success. Seeing a problem — and coming up with a solution that works!
Biggest success: My biggest success is absolutely starting my own law firm! Learning the intricacies of starting and owning a new business and learning how to run my business. It takes time to create your business and align with your goals. Especially as a female, it’s great to have a thriving business that you started from scratch. It’s honestly my biggest achievement, and I’m incredibly proud of it.
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What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? In the legal industry, it’s easy to stand down as a woman. The field is majorly male-dominated — we all know that. It’s intimidating. I’ve learned to not let it bother me but to be aggressive and become a leader in the legal industry. It takes a lot of hard work to succeed. I continue to educate myself, speak at industry events and conferences, network. I challenge myself to continue to address this as a female attorney and business owner. For me, this will always be a challenge I will work on addressing. I think all women business owners should continue to learn and educate themselves on these issues.
Who is your most important role model? I’m not sure that I have a specific role model. Really, any woman in the legal industry that is killing it or any woman business owner. I’m a huge advocate for women in business and our success!
[box_light]Website www.criminallawyersandiego.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/mcelfreshlaw[/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange