Saelese Haynes - You Should Always Have Conversations Based on Your Value Rather Than Your Lack

Saelese Haynes is an Attorney-at-Law of nine years’ call and a National Scholar. She has been called to the Bar of England and Wales and to the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago. She is the Head of Chambers at Titan Chambers.

Ms. Haynes founded Titan Chambers in 2018 in an effort to streamline and further explore areas of the law where she has a keen interest and to promote a client centric approach to the provision of legal services.

Her practice is primarily focused on providing corporate and commercial legal services, including General Legal Counsel, Corporate Secretarial and Compliance functions to businesses operating locally.

1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

My primary business is my legal practice at Titan Chambers. I read Law in England and came back to Trinidad and Tobago as a National Scholar. As part of the terms of my Scholarship, I was required to work for the Government. I spent a few years working in different roles and quickly realised that type of life was not for me. 

Some mornings I'd be sitting on my couch fully dressed for work eating a bowl of cereal grain by grain slowly, buying time and convincing myself to get up and leave the house. I realised that I was torturing myself and possibly sinking into depression. I could not see myself doing that for the rest of my life. 

I started making plans and one of those was a proposal that I pitched at my then place of employment so that I could start doing some legal work outside of my job to start building a client base. The response that I received was basically - 'you could have done it, everybody does - but now that you have asked officially, we have to tell you "no". SMH.

It did not matter though, I still started putting things into place to make the jump without actually taking on legal work. In reflection three years later, I also realise that I learned and grew so much from my first few employment situation-ships that really prepared me for this new stage in my life. 

When I opened my business I had no clients lined up and very little resources to fall back on so I had to start networking and talking to people about who I was and what I was doing. I am very much an Introvert, so it was not the easiest thing for me. 

There were also quite a few matters that I took on in those early times that I either did not charge for or made a loss on but I knew my why and I knew that the experience would prove to be invaluable in my growth. Even now, people that I helped in the early days keep referring new clients to me.


2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

I remember sitting on my couch at home and trying to come up for a name for my Law Chambers and even then it did not feel real or attainable. When I came up with the concept I had a clear idea and vision for what I wanted to achieve. I wanted a practice of persons who could be resources for their community. 

I wanted to build a clientele who saw their Attorneys as a partner in their business vision rather than as a very expensive Janitor to clean up messes with a big bill to pay when things went wrong. Even though I knew the desired outcome, I did not know everything that I needed to know about how to get there. 

A lot of it has been pure "winging-it" and dealing with challenges as and when they come up. I also make it a habit to have both direct and indirect mentors. I've found that it is so much more useful to adopt what people do rather than what they say. 

If there is someone in your community that you admire, let them know and follow their journey. One of the good parts of Social Media is that people are quite open. Of course, as with everything you should take what you see with a pinch of salt, but there is also an unprecedented level of access. 

With new Social Media channels like Clubhouse, for example, you can follow someone that you think you can learn from and see who they are talking to and observe the relationships and deals that they are cultivating and take notes. I actually have a Clubhouse notebook.


3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

Learning to juggle funds and coping with the effects of that (including feeling of dejection and rejection) has been my biggest challenge for sure. I tell people these days I have no shame when it comes to preserving the long term survival of my business. 

In the beginning I'd worry about how I was going to manage everything. I hate owing any money at all so I'd be up late at night literally just worrying, and then the shift came when I thought "why am I not using this time that I am up to make my business better instead of worrying about it not being good enough?" If I can't pay a bill this month, I know that it's going to be a priority for next month and I will make sure that it is done. At some point I had $50 to my name and I was still content as the bills were paid.


4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

Successful entrepreneurs must be flexible and responsive to their environments. It can be hard to think about, far less execute, breaking down something that you have built and you have seen work to adapt or tweak it. If you cannot do that, you will be left with something that is obsolete.

I also believe that the negatives, including starting over as and when necessary, are just as much a part of a success story as the positives. I like to think of all of those pieces as building blocks on the project.

The past decade, culminating with the events and experiences of 2020 has shown us that there is a need for agility.


5. Can motivational speaking become a full time career?

Yes, but I think in these times it is important to not put all of your energy into any one thing. What I mean by that is that you can focus on one career path, but it is wise to find ways to have multiple streams of income from that one path. If you choose to do Motivational Speaking, great. 

What can you put into place based on what you already do to have not just a backup plan, but a solid business model around that activity that you are good at? Some good downstream businesses might include podcasting or digital products.

Can you teach other people to do motivational talks? Can you do one-on-one or group coaching with your target audience? That thing that you are already good at has so many ways that you can serve - find some (not necessarily all) of them and start implementing them.


6. Which is your favourite talk ever and how did it change your life?

I was a speaker at a women's empowerment event in Guyana in 2019 and was able to hear a keynote by Yvette Noel-Schure of Schure Media Group. Yvette is Beyoncé's long time publicist and shared some priceless insight with reference to the world of Bey that helped - for instance she shared that it took her over two HUNDRED calls to land Beyoncé's Rolling Stones Cover. 

That was impactful to hear the behind-the-scenes because sometimes it's easy to look on at someone else's journey and think that they have it made and can easily get anything that they want. It was an apt reminder for me to keep focused on and put in the work towards my key goals.

Yvette spoke to a room of women who opened up and shared about how they felt broken as some of them had been in abusive marriages, some women had been raped. Many women shared that they were going into business to build something to escape unhappy home situations. 

At one point, almost everyone in the room started crying at the same time the more that was shared and we realised that everybody was struggling with something but was working on making their lives and their communities better.

However, even more than the talk, what stood out in my mind was the attitude. Yvette spoke for over an hour and immediately afterwards the conference broke for lunch. I greeted her after her talk and she mentioned to me that she was hungry. 

People kept coming to speak with her to the point where other Speakers and I went to get our lunch, returned and she was still carrying on conversations. Her humility and willingness to keep pouring into others even when she was hungry and tired really stood out for me as a lesson on kindness in action.


7. What are the best public speaking tips that have worked for you?

The best talks that I have given have been where there was an easy mesh between preparedness and spontaneity. Read the room when you go to speak to or otherwise form a relationship with a group of persons. 

I always do my research in advance on actual or possible attendees to tailor my talks so that I know that it will be valuable, and practice. You can practice on your own in the mirror or ask some friends or loved ones to be your audience.


8. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?

Creativity is necessary. You should always have conversations based on your value rather than your lack. Never start a conversation with "I need help but can't afford to hire you". Instead, if you want to get a product or service for your new business that you cannot afford, think about what you have to offer someone that can help based on needs that they have expressed. 

There is no shame in barter once parties have clear expectations (Contracts, Contracts, Contracts! :) set out at the start and they deliver on those. To have value-based conversations, you first should have a clear picture of the value that you can provide in a given situation based on your skills and areas of passion. So, get to know yourself intimately.

- Interviewed by - Sanjana Jain