Meet Sam Vander Wielen | Attorney-turned-Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam Vander Wielen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I don’t think about risk as being unsafe or stress-inducing — I think about it as part of the ‘game’ of entrepreneurship. Risk comes with the territory of building your own business. Entrepreneurship is all about having a growth mindset and seeing obstacles, challenges, and change as opportunities, instead. I like to think of everything in my business as an experiment — one I enter into with an open. curious mind. I don’t have any forced outcome. Just a hope to discover something interesting.

When I left corporate law in 2016 to start my own company, I thought it was so “risky.” But looking back, it was riskier to stay in a job I hated, where I had very little to no impact on other people’s lives.

Everything you do in life technically carries some risk along with it. But if you remain open to the possibilities, see failures as feedback, and stay curious about what each lesson has to teach you, you will go a long way in business.

What should our readers know about your business?
Sam Vander Wielen LLC is a digital legal templates and legal education company for online business owners. We offer new or soon-to-be entrepreneurs the legal steps, contracts, and trainings they need in order to form their businesses, sell services/products online, and confidently scale.

I started my company in 2017 to give online entrepreneurs better access to legal documents and education. Most lawyers didn’t understand what online coaching or digital products businesses were at the time (many still don’t!). I’m proud to be one of the go-to legal brands for online entrepreneurs to get their legal stuff in order.

Growing my business hasn’t been easy — but not because of the business side of things. Since starting my business in 2017, I had brain surgery, my Dad got leukemia and passed away, and then my Mom passed away within a year of my Dad. It’s been really tough to navigate all of these difficulties on top of growing my own business. I’m coming out with my first book next year called ‘When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy: A Practical, No-BS Guide to Successful Online Entrepreneurship’ where I’ll teach you not only how to build a thriving business online, but how to do it even in the face of a lot of life adversity.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live outside of New York City on the North Shore of Long Island! So if someone came here, I’d plan a day trip out the North Fork to my favorite wineries, farms, and hiking spots. I’d take you on the ferry across to Shelter Island, browse the independent shops, and hop back on the ferry to go across to Sag Harbor. We would round out our trip in the Hamptons, where we’d get great food, spot lots of celebs, and take a sunset walk on the beach.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I couldn’t build or run my business without my incredible team! Each of them comes to work each day with a positive attitude, a desire to learn and improve, and a great sense of humor. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today or headed in the direction I am, either.

Website: https://samvanderwielen.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/samvanderwielen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samvanderwielenllc

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/samvanderwielen

Image Credits
Some Shelly Photography (NYC)