I haven’t written a donut’s post in a while and it was about time that I did. So, here is an update to what I have been working on.

I’m in my 10th week at my current position as Business Analyst at LexBlog and I’m still attempting to define exactly what I do and don’t do. From writing and editing documents to advising coworkers on contacts, from diving in headlong to LexBlog’s history to looking at all-the-data from every one of our multiple databases, there’s really a lot I get to play with in any given week. As I get my hands on more information internally and externally about the legal news world, I find that I see more connections in the pipes than I could possibility direct or redirect into a useful project. This can be difficult to find what works in terms of business and strategy.

To clarify, I’m less in the business of finding what works and more in the business of finding what works for LexBlog. The seemingly chaotic mess of information with old Google Drive sales docs, SalesForce csv files, a comprehensive list of law firms, and sheer number of databases (all with their own lists of info) could drive someone to insanity, but I know better. I’m becoming an expert on LexBlog itself and that takes time. This information makes my position a bit valuable as a walking database of, “We’ve talked to them before”; “We have info on that”; and, my favorite, “Have we tried…?”. The last is my favorite because I already know the answer. 

Besides making more work for everyone, I’m still reaching out to potential free members when I can. I read law blogs, sort through the endless lists of firm websites, and try my best to convince bloggers that my intentions are genuine. Lucky for me, my intentions are in-fact genuine. Today, I’ll be hitting a major milestone in outreach with my 300th outreached email. That’s 300 blog sites, 300 blog authors, and 300+ read law blog posts of which I’ve written about. That’s is only a small percentage of the nearly 5,000, yup 5k, websites that I have looked at and sorted. I’ve also seen every state bar site, AmLaw 200 site, and every other legal news site available in English (and many non-English). In the mix of all this legal data and content, I can tell you one truth, LexBlog is a stand-alone organization that is different in nearly every way than almost any company.

LexBlog stands out as a transparent company, seemingly rare anymore. It would almost seem that my job is to learn and translate that knowledge unrestricted. I attempt to be as transparent with people as possible as of personal belief, but it is an expectation at LexBlog. Whether they be potential members, customers, or coworkers, I’m allowed and encouraged to be transparent at my job. I get to act as a kind of data filter for this reason. I learn as much as possible, given time restrictions, and then I cut all the useless out to create a single coherent series of thoughts, but with the availability of more info. I’m not always the best at this and information overload is a thing, but I’m learning to focus my efforts on what matters most to various audiences while still remaining available for questions. In this light, I like to think I’m a reminder of priorities, but I’ve found that I need reminded of priorities more than most people due to the depth of information I’m privy to exploring. I enjoy new projects and anything I can dive headlong into, but at some point I need to ask myself “what use does this have?”. This line of thinking has allowed me to be on many projects.

In just the short 2.5 months at this position, I’ve helped with webinars, collected/disseminated data from a range of sources, and have researched more organizations/topics than I can count. I have a running list of projects that I would love to get people on board, but those will all come in time. In the meantime, I’ll continue to find more work for everyone and help in any way I can. I’ll just be over here making sure we have enough apple fritters, maple bars, and so forth for everyone to get what they want.