Sharon Baker-Boykin is a licensed attorney of almost 40 years in the State of Georgia. Sharon has done so many things in her legal and business career. She uses her experience and knowledge to help others, especially those who want to be helped.
How do you think our readers will be able to relate to you and benefit from the inspirational work that you do?
I hope that the reader will feel comfortable connecting with me at www.LegalLifeCoachSharonBaker.com to ask me questions about the legal issues that they are seeking to resolve. As a legal life coach, I have consultations on the issues that I have experience. I seek out their unique facts as well as how they would like to see their issue resolved (their finish line). Then we talk about it and get them referrals to attorneys who can help them get to their finish line if it is legally possible.
Your profound legal background has varied over the years from Family law, Assistant Magistrate Court Judge, Special Assistant Attorney General, Assistant District Attorney, and Probate Court Administrator. Is there anything you have not achieved yet that you aspire to one day?
I just want to use my legal and business background to continue to help people. I will continue to author books, speak, and coach to help explain legal and business concepts so that we all can win in the game of life.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. How do you observe this time and what were some of your best self-care practices while you were writing the book, “Help Me Get My Stuff in Order: A Simple Workbook to Walk You Through Getting Your Last Will and Testament Done” and being the owner of Power of 1 Decision, LLC at the same time?
Mental Health Awareness is very important to everyone. Challenges and painful events happen to all of us. My family went through a very difficult time when my father, Charlie Baker, died the Friday before Father’s Day in 2018. From his death in June until January 2019, we had a death in the family every month. This can surely have a dramatic effect on the family. So, understanding that death is a part of life, we all need to be prepared both emotionally and legally to protect our loved ones with a plan to leave them all of the stuff we have worked so hard to obtain. The book is a first step. To look at all of your stuff and make positive plans for it and take care of loved ones, your church, your charities, and others that are important to you. The book and my business as a Legal Life Coach help people to get ready, put plans in place, and then exhale because they now have a plan in place.
My sister, Karen, asked me to write a book to talk about what happens when someone dies with or without an estate plan. Her one special suggestion was to write the book using simple common language and not the legalese language that some lawyers use so that the reader knows what you are informing them. Also, I had a female client in her eighties who came to see me early in my legal career. She had ten sheets of notebook paper where she listed everything she owned and who she wanted to leave it to. She wanted me to prepare her Last Will and Testament using this list.
Now, when I say everything, I mean everything. She listed towels (by the color), sheets, shoes, clothes (described), hats, purses, dishes, etc. She, to this day, is still one of the smartest clients that I have ever had. It is not how much your stuff costs, it is still your stuff. Shouldn’t you decide who gets it when you are gone? It eliminates the fight and the cost of the fight over your stuff and you are leaving the decision to your state of who gets all of the stuff you have spent your life acquiring.
The company is just the legal vehicle and structure for me to help others.
What is next for Sharon Baker-Boykin?
I am a life-long learner — a student and then a teacher to help someone with what I know and have learned. I will forever use my skills and abilities and knowledge to help others. A lot of the things that I have done in my career, I was the first female and/or person of color to be in that position. I learned a lot and I used what I learned to help others.
What advice would you have for anyone who aspires to become an author or pursue law?
First, becoming an author or an attorney is not impossible. If you want to be either or both, you can do it. When I was thinking of becoming an author, I questioned myself and my abilities because I had never done it before. But I got some great advice from a church member. He told me to put this statement in my book acknowledgment — “If you find an error or you disagree with anything in this book, email me at Sharon@Powerof1Decision.com. If I agree with your information and when the book is updated, I will list you as a guest editor and you will get a free copy of the book.” This statement took a lot of pressure off me to write a “perfect” book. There is no such thing as a perfect book. Almost every book on your bookshelf has been updated, improved, and redone. So, the pressure was removed and I have written several books and have plans to write more.
If you want to pursue a career in the legal field, please do so. We need more people, especially of color, in this field. You can be a prosecutor, a defense attorney, or a judge. This is the layer on top. You are still the person underneath the title and the way you conduct yourself will be based on that person underneath the title. Do you like helping others? You have the discretion to do your job based on the parameters of your job. There is no black-and-white to any issue. It is all grey. But is it light or dark grey based on the unique facts of the case? Will you use your discretion in how you carry yourself in your legal capacity?
How can viewers remain connected with you?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/attorneysharonbaker
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-d-baker-boykin-esq-43a70a6/
Website: https://www.legallifecoachsharonbaker.com/
Photo Credits: Sharon Baker-Boykin
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