Around 40 years of age, we start to review our lives

Introduce yourself in a few words..

Snezhina Kovacheva, lawyer from Varna Bar Association. My professional path passed through the Regional Directorate for National Construction Control and Varna Municipality. I have also been a legal consultant in a large investment company. This initial path of professional development determined my field of activity. As a lawyer, I mainly deal with property cases and administrative issues. My focus is on property disputes, invalidity of transactions, illegality of administrative acts. I actively carry out procedural representation – the essence of the legal profession and the core of legal expertise. I have a particular weakness for cases related to cadastral plans and maps, with the Spatial Development Act. It is unthinkable to deal with property law without having knowledge of planning legislation. The opposite is also true – you cannot consult cases under the Cadastre Act and the Property Register or under the Spatial Development Act without having deeper knowledge of property law. I share my experience through seminars and lectures for industry organizations or students. 

How would you describe your career in a few words?

As stepwise, sequential, logically developing. I had a heavy fall in purely business terms. I missed taking decisive measures when the first signs of an impending adverse change appeared. One morning I woke up realizing that I was not flying down, but I was already at the bottom. I found it hard to accept that my profession, besides pleasure and challenge, should also bring me stable income. The word “lawyer” next to the word “business” sounded like blasphemy to me. I needed a lot of work with myself to understand that the legal profession is a business venture.  You invest resources, time, money, knowledge, emotion. It is a source of income, which is why it should develop with a plan, with a vision, with a business idea, not chaotically and romantically, as it was for me. By the time I reached this realization, I had to significantly change my attitudes. I had internal resistances. From the distance of time, I consider this period as the most interesting and dynamic. I learned many new things in purely business terms. I surpassed many stereotypes, expanded my possibilities. Now, besides a good career, I have a stable business.

What was the most important choice that shaped the path Inyour career?

To start my professional path from administration.  I have never been attracted to legal professions like judge, notary, prosecutor, bailiff. The dynamics, freedom, lack of hierarchy give me vitality and room for development.  That’s why I quickly oriented myself to where my path would continue – in the legal profession. The question was when? Immediately after university or later. Even as a student, I worked in a large law firm. I drew practical knowledge from the source. Despite this, I lacked the confidence to start this profession. I had no experience and strength to take on the responsibility to form decisions on behalf of and for the clients. At that time, I received a lot of advice from relatives and friends. I did not listen to any of them. I firmly decided that the beginning of my legal experience would be accumulated in administration. And in the largest and most diverse in terms of cases in Eastern Bulgaria – Varna Municipality.  I had to wait. When it seemed impossible to succeed and I had already given up on my dream, things happened. I was appointed as a legal advisor, specifically with a profile in property law, planning laws, civil and administrative process. Working in the municipality taught me a lot, not only about law. It taught me work discipline and team culture, loyalty and discretion, to see the detail without losing focus on the big picture.

What would you like to know at the beginning of your career, but no one told you?

That it is good to keep your tongue behind your teeth and to be able to observe the hierarchy😊Even today this is difficult for me. That’s why the legal profession is my completely conscious choice. Here there is no hierarchy, but working and creative freedom. The other side of freedom, however, is responsibility. Sometimes crushing, sleepless, sending you to hell, into the slavery of exhaustion. In the legal profession, when you say and do something, you bear the consequences of that yourself. Image, emotional, psychological, career. You do the analyses later. You realize that at one moment you should have kept silent, at another – to be more convincing, at a third – to read more, at a fourth – just to be a better strategist. Sometimes it is important to be subordinate, other times – exactly the opposite. Over time, you learn a bit, but until then you experience many wounds. In any case, at the beginning of your career path, it is good to be able to be silent and to observe the established rules in the structure. When you gain experience, strength, knowledge, you can try to improve the environment, because now your opinion resonates and is heard. 

How can a person understand which profession is suitable for them?

This question fascinates me a lot because I observe my daughter and what strong skills she has and where they would manifest in the best way for her. But I still lose the knowledge of “how to understand which profession would be suitable”. For me, it happened somewhat naturally, as if I had carried this choice from the very beginning of my life path. Something like a genetic code.

Which skills according to Inyour opinion will be key in the next 10 years?

Whatever they were in the previous 10 – the ability to communicate, to adapt, to be consistent, to be honest in thoughts and actions.

How to build a network of useful contacts without appearing interested?

What does “useful contact” mean?! Useful in what sense and when?! For me, every contact can be useful if the person opposite carries your emotionality, soulfulness, interests. You can learn something from everyone. I get inspired by the energy of a person without necessarily being useful to me in a rational sense. Very often, even one word from an acquaintance or friend can guide me towards forming an idea and making a decision.  And this is much more valuable than a work contact, which may not work out over time or may not work out in the right way. I believe that I can receive help from a person who is not useful to me in a career sense, but has the soul and heart to extend a hand to me in a difficult moment. In this sense, every contact can be useful. Now or tomorrow. To build such a network, you should not act from the principle of interest, of being interested. But from openness, kindness, honesty, respect, love.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career, and what did you learn from it?

I missed the opportunity to invest time and resources in training a team. At the moment, I am at such a stage in my career where I want  to delegate, to expand, but I do not have the human capital for that. It is already too late and I consider this a strategic mistake.

In purely work terms, I did not fully develop my potential. I did not take enough risks, I missed many opportunities to jump into the deep end. I realized that good preparation is not always the key to success. You need courage as well.

How to recognize a toxic work environment and when is it time to leave?

It is time to leave when we feel that we no longer have a path for professional and personal development. The environment becomes toxic when it stops influencing us constructively or when we fail to positively influence it.  If you feel stagnation, fatigue, indifference, anger, vacuum – it is time to leave.

What would you do differently if you could start over?

I love my professional path. It happened exactly as I wanted and needed. But if I could start my law practice over, I would invest in a team. I would develop a business model early on. I would be bolder in certain decisions, even when I am not fully prepared.

How to maintain motivation in times of stagnation?

Stagnation in business is not necessarily a bad phenomenon. It may mean that a business model has been built that brings sustainability, predictability and security. Sometimes it is impossible to be in a state of continuous business growth. There are external factors that affect its development. We saw this very clearly during Covid. Some businesses failed to develop their programs due to the war in Ukraine. Such events show that we should have set aside sufficient resources to get through the crisis. Sometimes it is enough, even healthy to wait, to establish “stagnation”. This is a good moment to revise processes, to learn something new, to apply a new strategy, a new type of goods or services.

I still remember the bitter taste of Covid. For the first time in my life, my phone did not ring. Three months! Three!  Nothing worked, not even the courts. I did not understand how my colleagues were happy and saw huge opportunities for income. I was not in stagnation. I was in a stupor. How did I get through this? Through training. I told myself that this too shall pass, and until then it is good to do something for myself and my business in the longer term.  During this time, from a digital hermit, I became an active consumer. I discovered the power of marketing. I experimented with new ways to offer my services. In this process, I was not alone. I relied on my friends, and a lady professionally guided me. She extended her hand to me and led me on the path of the new, the different. Through her, I discovered the power of sharing, and subsequently of teaching. There is nothing more wonderful than giving experience and knowledge. It turned out that you receive a lot. During seminars or lectures, you are asked such questions that you have never thought about. They make you read more, to reflect, analyze. Incredible.

If I have to summarize – stagnation in a career can be healthy. Healing. It can provide a break and a start for new beginnings. It is enough that you want to develop.

How to achieve a balance between professional and personal life?

I don’t know. I can’t manage it😊. I believe that  energy flows only in one direction – either personal plan or professional. Balance is possible only if you accept in advance that you would not  achieve miracles in both directions. You must be ready to make a compromise and establish a more mediocre level of development, combined with the ability to enjoy it. Something like “whatever, so be it”, but accepted with satisfaction 😊. At the moment, I am learning to have such an attitude, but its success is like a sine wave. In any case, to achieve balance  today, somewhere back in time there was a strong imbalance. The personal or professional path has taken precedence, robbing your time and energy for full development in  the other sphere.

And here I remember to talk about my clients. In my practice, I meet different people. They trust me a lot. Even family secrets. A large part of separations in personal terms do not happen because of infidelities. They happen because one partner feels alone in the relationship, while the other invests energy in their work. Somewhere around 40, you start to revise your life. You realize that your priorities have changed. You look around and see a home that has everything, but lacks love, care, mutuality. Fun and lightness have disappeared. Or the opposite. You have the love of your family, but by giving yourself to it, you have lost the dream of being that grown-up child who dreams of traveling, creating, having fun, or building airplanes. You start to feel the need to assert yourself, to separate from your family role. A lot of maturity and wisdom is required, realizing all this, to preserve what has been created and to start building balance. Support from the partner is categorically necessary. When you are alone, this support must come from close ones. It turns out that few people have the strength to give it and to bear the change in the other. That’s why separations happen.  That’s why a balance between professional and personal life is possible only with compromise, support, and understanding. With a step back from one, to allow the other to move forward.

When is it time to change our career, not just the job?

When you feel tired, see no meaning, have no inspiration. Your heart is tight, your soul – apathetic.

I admire people who, realizing that they feel this way, change their professional path. This means that they have diverse skills and courage. I have thought about what else I could do if some crisis hits me. With horror, I realized that I don’t have many options. I have invested so much in my legal education that I have erased other potential skills as if with an eraser. I rely on the fact that work still inspires me. I have no reason to make a sharp turn. If I am mentally healthy, I can work as a lawyer until the end of my life. But it is good to develop skills in several directions. This way, in case of a fundamental crisis in a certain area, we will be able to allocate our resources for the development of another. Investing in a hobby, for example, is a wonderful opportunity. When you get tired of being IT, you just start teaching drawing lessons, using many of the resources from your previous profession. What could be more wonderful than that?

If you had to give just one piece of advice to people seeking success, what would it be?

To be brave and prepared. To have a broad horizon and a wide network of contacts. Not to wait for the “perfect moment”, but to act.

What is yourdefinition of “successful career”?  

Success is a matter of personal horizon. It is present when you feel satisfied.