How to Launch a Consulting or Coaching Business in Less Than 30 Days with Dorothy Mosby

Betsy Jordyn: So are you a consultant or coach and you're trying to figure out how in the world do I package up an extensive career, my experiences, and get it into messages and on a website and get it all done in less than thirty days without sacrificing quality and without over-relying on AI? Well, you're definitely going to love this episode of the Consulting Matters podcast with my guest and client, Dorothy Mosby.

Betsy Jordyn: Welcome to the Consulting Matters Podcast. This is the show for purpose-driven consultants and coaches who are ready to own the power of what they do and position themselves for the clients, the impact, and income that they're ready for. I'm your host, Betsy Jordyn, and I'm so excited to have Dorothy Mosby on the show today. So Dorothy and I started working together a couple months ago. She was on a webinar and she said, "I need to work on my brand positioning, but the only problem is I have a really important event about 30 days from now. What can we do? How do we get this done?" And I'm like, I've never gotten a website done and brand positioning done in that timeframe. But I'm going to take this on because Dorothy has so much to offer our clients and I wanted to make it a success. And we did it. We got her an amazing website. So you're going to hear all about her experience and what it's like to go from being an academic to a leadership coach and a business owner. Without further ado, welcome Dorothy to the show. I'm so glad to have you here.

Dorothy Mosby: It is great to be with you, Betsy. Thank you.

Betsy Jordyn: So I really am so grateful for the challenge that you put in front of me and my team. I don't think we've ever gone through — it's not even that we just got a website done. You weren't even a thousand percent sure on your business direction when we started. And I'm just amazed that we were able to make that happen. Before we get into the whole experience, bring us back into your experience. You're an academic leader and you were in charge of a lot of different things. Bring us back to your career and the crossroads you were at before you and I started working together.

Dorothy Mosby: Yeah, thank you so much, Betsy. It's been quite a journey and a really interesting one. I've been a faculty member for probably close to 30 years now, and I've been in academic administration for the past 10 years. Last year I stepped down from my position as a senior leader, as chief academic officer, and really thinking about, well, what's next for me? I have all of this experience in academia, both as a faculty member and also as a senior leader — a wealth of experience. It's like, what do I do with it? I still wanted to stay engaged in higher education, but wasn't quite sure where it was going to take me.

Dorothy Mosby: So I started doing some tiny experiments — doing some coaching, talking to some colleagues and friends about what they were working on. The thing that lit me up was the coaching — coaching aspiring leaders and people who are already in leadership, as well as mid-career faculty. But also when my colleagues were talking about the conflict they were experiencing, either on their teams or in different academic departments, that is what really lit me up. Just really wanting to help support them and help them navigate some situations that seemed pretty intractable, and knowing that I can make a difference in this space.

Betsy Jordyn: So when you were at that crossroads and you're trying to figure out, okay, I want to leave my job, what made you decide I want to do this for myself rather than going for a promotion in another school or university? What made you decide you wanted to do your own thing? Was it that you really enjoyed the coaching and started feeling passionate about the clients and the opportunities around conflict resolution? Or was there something else driving you?

Dorothy Mosby: I think it was a combination of things. First, just looking at the landscape of where higher education is. I didn't feel like a lateral move was the right one for me. I've been there, I've done that. There are some challenges, but nothing I haven't quite seen before. The next step was to be president of a college. And that also didn't quite feel right, because I just wasn't ready to be quite external-facing and public. I like doing the behind-the-scenes work quite a bit. Neither of those seemed like the right choice. Really looking at my values and what's important to me — I value my autonomy, my independence, being able to think freely, but also being able to do the work that I like to do. Looking at coaching and consulting was really a pathway to that autonomy and independence.

Betsy Jordyn: So it sounds like it's a little bit of both — the freedom and the independence you're talking about, but also it still represents more of a promotion for you. The promotional path of going for a president role, that was an option, but it didn't appeal to you because of these other values around having that freedom and control. It could provide both sides: I can do my own thing my way, but I could do it in a more expanded version of what I've been doing.

Dorothy Mosby: Right. And also, Betsy, considering I'm a woman of a certain age. I'm not quite ready for retirement yet. To also have the ability to create something of my own, to be my own boss and take on the projects that were important to me, but also giving myself the time and the space to be able to do other things, was also very attractive.

Betsy Jordyn: That's what I really love about being a business owner. You do get to create your own legacy, your own body of work. This is what I want it to be all about. If you are moving into whatever phase of life you want to be — when I started my business, my kids were little, so I wanted to be at home with them. Now I'm on the other side of it. That gives you the freedom to make other kinds of life choices and to have your own way to make a difference in the world.

Dorothy Mosby: And another thing about midlife is the responsibility of caregiving — caregiving for elderly family members. I also wanted to be able to do that without feeling the push-pull pressure that a senior leadership position does. Now my mom is living at home with us and she's living a great life. I'm glad to be able to provide that and also to have the time and space to spend with her.

Betsy Jordyn: That is the best part. When you get to have control over your time, you get to fill it up with the things that are important — spending time with a parent who's getting older is hugely important. So it sounds like for you, a lot of it is: I still want to make a difference. I still want to contribute. I still want to grow. I still need to provide for people in my life and myself included. And I also want to have the freedom to run my life and make the impact I want to make in however works best for me.

Dorothy Mosby: Right.

Betsy Jordyn: So what were you struggling with before we met? You participated in the live webinar I did on the common good — that's when you and I first met. What were you struggling with? It seems like you were really clear that you wanted your own business. You had some ideas — you like helping leaders, you like helping mid-career people, you like dealing with conflicts. What made you decide to take a next step and work together?

Dorothy Mosby: For me, the consulting part was crystal clear. I knew it was conflict resolution, leadership development support. The coaching was a little bit more squishy because I had in mind my ideal coaching client and also experience with coaching people that weren't necessarily my ideal coaching client. But I really enjoyed those transformative conversations. My struggle was trying to get everybody in the same bucket. I didn't want to give up anything. I didn't want to give up the mid-career faculty in order to position myself to support senior leaders. I didn't want to give up aspiring leaders because that is where some real transformative coaching conversations become critical for someone thinking about stepping into a leadership position. The struggle was trying to find that umbrella to hold everyone.

Betsy Jordyn: So do you feel like you got the umbrella?

Dorothy Mosby: I actually decided to let some pieces go. But also being open — my focus turned to senior leaders. But I also know those senior leaders are the same people who are going to be supporting mid-career faculty and aspiring leaders. What I envisioned happening is that out of those conversations with senior leaders about what I can provide, they also would be willing to bring along others with them.

Betsy Jordyn: I think there was a through line. When we first started working together, it was like, okay, which direction do you want to go? We tried on a couple of different features and worked through the brand positioning. At the end of the day, the through line really is academic leaders — leaders in academia. You're not dealing with leaders in any company. You're dealing with leaders in higher ed. That was the environment. That did provide some through line, and then really good targeting — who's my most likely, most profitable particular client? How do I get my messaging to speak to that person? But on the whole, we're still talking to academic leaders. Do you agree?

Dorothy Mosby: Absolutely. That also was crystal clear to me — I wanted to remain in the higher ed space. One is because it's the space I know the best. But it's also the space that, in terms of my own values, is where it is. I believe in higher education. I believe in the transformative power of higher education. And also just a deep desire to support the people who are doing the work to educate our future society and future generations.

Betsy Jordyn: I don't normally get somebody from — there were several different directions we could go through — to the level that we have an amazing website, launch-ready, and we got it done in time for your event. Talk to me a little bit about your event. What was the driver that gave us that deadline? How do you think having that specific event really helped focus us through your brand positioning and messaging process? Tell us about the event, why it was important, and how having that defined time period really helped give focus and energy for the project.

Dorothy Mosby: The event was the HERS reunion and conference. HERS is an organization of women higher ed leaders. I had gone through their leadership institute for training. This was kind of a homecoming, and it was also my debut as a coach and consultant. I was introducing or reintroducing myself to colleagues — not as Dorothy Mosby, Vice President for Academic Affairs, not as Dorothy Mosby, Dean of Faculty at X Institution, but as Dorothy Mosby, coach and leadership consultant. My desire was, I want to have something to show. I want to have a business card, I want to have a website, I want to be able to demonstrate to people that not only am I saying this, but I also have some representation — a website that shows I'm actually doing this. I was also on two panels that are very close to what I envision coaching more on and supporting more women around. One panel was about transitions — being a senior leader at an institution and transitioning either to a different role, different institution, or in my case, into entrepreneurship. The other panel was about self-care for women leaders in higher education. To be able to be on those two panels, engage in conversations with participants, and say, "Please visit my website, let's have a conversation, let's follow up, here's my card" — that was really meaningful and important to me to have at that moment in time.

Betsy Jordyn: Some people would say, why would you need that? You already had the panel. You already had the credibility, the networking. Why can't you just go on Canva and print out any old business card? You don't need a website. What would you say to them? What difference did it make for you to have something that was such a great representation of what you wanted it to be about — the photos, everything looked amazing. What difference did it make?

Dorothy Mosby: I think, Betsy, you really touched on it. It's about representation. When I represented myself as part of an institution, I wanted to make sure my messaging is clear, the visual presentation is clear and understandable. I wanted to do the same thing for myself. Have a clear message, have a clear brand, something visual, something that represented me. When we were talking about the website, you said, "You need to get a branding photographer." I was just going to call my cousin down the street, but you said no, you need someone who specializes in that. I was really fortunate to find LeJune King, who was a terrific branding photographer. She made me feel comfortable. I felt like Oprah during the photo shoot. I feel like I have photos that represent who I am — warm, welcoming, but also very professional at the same time, dedicated to academia. To be able to put those images on a website that also demonstrates I am warm, approachable, professional, highly competent — to have both of those together, having a clear message to get out into the world telling people this is what I'm doing and this is who I am.

Betsy Jordyn: Your photographer was amazing. As I looked through the folder of all the photos and we chose to go with a single-page website for you, my heart broke. How do I pick out of these? I sent it off to the team and I said, "I don't know how you're going to do this. Do your best, because they're all so good." There was one you had in a purple jacket that I don't know if we really got onto the website, but it's so good. For those of you listening, head on over to her website — it's www.dorothymosby.com. In the About picture, there's a polka dot shirt you have and your hair is up. It's so friendly and so relatable. I believe that was a huge part of why the website came out as good as it did. You did the work to get the amazing photos and it definitely showed. How did it make you feel to see yourself reflected in that way?

Dorothy Mosby: It was — and I hate to use the word because it gets used so often — but it was such an empowering experience. To be in a photo session, I felt like Oprah doing her O magazine. It was empowering. I felt validated. I felt yes, I am going in the right direction for myself. It just felt like things were coming together. To have such a stunning representation of both the work ethic, but also a certain level of elegance and gravitas in the photos. Kudos to LeJune King because she really did it right as a photographer. And also the experience of having a makeup artist do the makeup for the photos as well — again, just empowering. It's like, wow, I don't need a facelift, I just need some good makeup. I just need a good concealer and we could just keep it moving.

Betsy Jordyn: Right.

Dorothy Mosby: It was such a beautiful experience. I didn't know what it was going to be like and I'm so glad I did it. Again, it was so empowering.

Betsy Jordyn: The photos are really important — having the right person with the makeup, and then somebody who could pose you. When I relaunched my website after I came out of sabbatical a couple of years ago, I had one photographer who didn't pose me, and the outfits were not really me. The output was — oh my god, I look so old. I look terrible. My podcast team who's editing this podcast said, "You might just have to hear that song about the lines in my face tell you the story of where I've been." I said no, I've aged online. Then I went back to my photographer I had worked with before and it was awesome. She had amazing makeup artists, but then she posed me. Even before the photos were edited, I said no darn it, I'm aging in power. It feels so different. For especially women of a certain age, it's not like these lines on my face tell you — no. I'm not giving up. At this particular age, I'm not giving up. I'm aging in power. It's important for anybody going through the whole process of solopreneurship where they're the face and the brand — they want to have something where somebody can draw out their best representation. For those of us who are women who are mid-career, we're at a different phase of life where we still want to look like we are putting our best foot forward. Having a photographer who can dress you in outfits that fit well for you and pose you — even when I look at the outfit you're wearing right now and everything behind you in your background — this is totally your website. This is you. When people get on your website, they're going to see this great version of you with your pictures, but it's you. It's not like it's a different person. It is congruent. You have a headband on right now that, with your necklace, evokes your logo. And the pictures behind you evoke your color palette. It is congruent.

Dorothy Mosby: Absolutely. I want to go back to something I heard you say about women in midlife. We've earned the wrinkles and the gray hair, but also being at this wisdom stage of life, we have so much to give and so much to grow as well. For me, my twenties were great, thirties were all right, but being in my fifties — this is where I really feel my power.

Betsy Jordyn: I think that's important when it comes to consulting or coaching. If you think at the end of the day, a lot of times consultants and coaches think they sell their methodology, or a particular approach. But at the end of the day, we sell our lived wisdom. We are the mentors to these clients who are on this heroic journey, and what we're bringing is that wisdom. This is where a lot of my passion for the websites comes from — making sure that we are showing up as that person who has that lived wisdom that they can pass on to other people. A shoddy website doesn't convey wisdom. It doesn't convey depth of experience or depth of knowledge. It's just, okay, here's my online resume. And you did not get an online resume. You have a representation of, no, this is an invitation. This is how I want to work with you.

Dorothy Mosby: Yeah, exactly. And I also had the wisdom to know I could not do it myself. I reached a point where I did the self-work. I did the work to dig into, okay, I know I'm heading in this direction, but I also knew I couldn't take myself to the next level in terms of thinking about branding and positioning. I also could not do the website on my own. I did not have those skills and talents. So the wisdom also came in knowing when to call in for additional support.

Betsy Jordyn: Well, I am so glad you did, and I'm glad of all the options that you had in front of you, you chose me. What were the other options you were considering? What was the indication you can't do this on your own? What were the other things you tried before you and I connected?

Dorothy Mosby: I tried it on my own. A very dear coaching buddy was willing to help me put my website together. But it didn't feel like — I didn't really know enough. I knew some, but I didn't know enough. Certainly to be able to translate what I want to do and who I want to serve, being able to translate with someone who had done the work and had the experience doing it was important to me. I wanted it to be done well and I wanted it to be done right. I know that further down the road there will be changes and different iterations. But for me right now, having it starting off on a good foot, and not feeling like I don't know, was important to me.

Betsy Jordyn: So you tried it on your own, you had a coaching buddy help you. Is there anything else you tried before you and I connected?

Dorothy Mosby: I had a millennial — my own millennial who has experience in branding and social media. She was able to get me to a good place, but not being able to take me to that next level. I've been listening to your podcast for a while and also doing some of the exercises along with the podcast. I said, let me check out Betsy. In terms of your values, I think there was alignment. Your work with mid-career professionals — that was a plus. Just knowing that you would be able to help me work through this middle place I was in, to be able to identify my brand and positioning and have a beautiful representation in the website.

Betsy Jordyn: Some people might be saying, if you really needed something done, why don't you just use AI? You can just chat with Claude and Claude could help you and even design your website. Why did you need a human like me to work it through? I appreciate all the nice things you said about me, but why is it you needed a human rather than AI?

Dorothy Mosby: Because AI — I'm an educator, I have some real struggles around AI. I do believe it can be a really fantastic tool, but there is that human element that AI cannot give you. There is that reality check. Most of the AI is set up to be a little more pandering to the user, a little more favorable than necessary. You told me flat out, "I don't think so. You could go that way, but that's not going to work out well for you." To be able to have a human being who has the experience to tell you that is so much more important. And also the human level of creativity is needed. Sure, AI can take you to different things. It can help you fill in some gaps. But you still need to have the rooted knowledge and the insight and the understanding of the client on an emotional level that AI just cannot possibly provide anyone.

Betsy Jordyn: Even if you have a design — now I can spot AI designs so fast. It's like, no, Claude designed that. There are all these tells. I have a common template I use for my websites in terms of the messaging, but the branding itself is all very different. What you fill in the blanks is all very different for every person. If you see that AI made your website, I think it diminishes your credibility because then it tells somebody I didn't spend a lot of time on this. I didn't really think this through. Here it is. A client showed me yesterday, "What do you think of this website?" It was clearly an AI website for a law firm. All it said at the top for the hero was "clarity and confidence." I said, what does that have to do with a law firm? It doesn't even make sense. There are a lot of things about it — but if you don't know what you're looking for, you can go forward. The reason I could say it is I know what I'm looking for. I've been doing this for over ten years. I've been in the field for thirty. I know what to look for. It's kind of like a jazz musician. You have to learn the scales in order to divert from them. You have to learn the principles like a master so you know how to break them like an artist. You wouldn't know that if you hadn't had the experience. You and I went faster than we normally would. My team normally would say there's literally no way. It was such an interesting process because I asked my team, "I've got this really special client. What can we do to pull this thing off in 30 days? She's got this event." Normally they would say eight weeks getting everything done with all the back and forth with the visual branding. They said, "We sense she's great too. We'll do it." As soon as you and I started working together, I gave you all the decisions, and what's so interesting about you is you were calm for everything. I gave you a lot of things we needed to get done, and in every task you were just flat line — calm, calm, calm through every single thing, and we were on an accelerated timeline. I give you all the credit because if you were all frazzled and got overwhelmed, we wouldn't have been able to pull it off. Is that just who you are, or why were you so calm?

Dorothy Mosby: That's just how I was born. That's just how I am. I think that's one of the things that really contributed to me being able to step into different leadership roles — really maintaining a sense of calm. There's a swirl going on, but there's a through line in the midst of the swirl. I was able to approach it — okay, I know what I need to get done and I'm going to get it done. Also the motivation was there. I wanted to get it done.

Betsy Jordyn: And you did it. Okay, you need a photographer — the next day, the photographer's booked and it's in a couple of days. You need to review this — great. You handled everything, and there was a lot that you handled. Can I borrow some of that calm? I think my daughter would greatly appreciate it. All the people in my life — can you just give me an infusion? I'll give you free branding stuff moving forward. Can I have an infusion of your calm? It's a great attribute. I could see why that would make you a really great leader and a great consultant and coach.

Dorothy Mosby: Thank you so much. Especially thinking about conflict resolution — when you have different parties in conflict with one another, you don't want someone in that room who is all keyed up. You need someone to set a calm temperature in order to discuss really hard things. Being able to guide people through what feels very uncomfortable, very difficult, but trying to instill that calm and confidence to know that, okay, this doesn't feel good, but we're going to get through the other side. That definitely is a quality I appreciate you recognizing. But it's also a quality I recognize that I have. People have told me. It's something that comes in handy for leadership, but also facilitating and mediating and guiding difficult conversations.

Betsy Jordyn: Is it something you coach your clients to develop, or is it just something you bring to the table? Is it a learnable skill?

Dorothy Mosby: I believe it is a learnable skill. It hasn't quite come up yet in coaching in terms of someone wanting to have that kind of presence. But it certainly is something that can be cultivated and can be learned. I honestly believe that.

Betsy Jordyn: There were a couple parts of the process that were difficult. We don't want to make it seem like it was all smooth sailing. There was one part where you were like, "I'm going to cry now, because you're driving me crazy." Do you recall that moment? Can you talk about what you were facing and struggling with, and what got you through to the other side? Is there something I need to do better to make you not want to cry?

Dorothy Mosby: I do remember that. My training is as a literature professor and I love words. I love the words that I put together. I think there was a moment where you said I had too many words. As a literature professor, words are my friends. I don't want to leave a friend behind. And you were like, uh-uh. You started editing and, to me, it's like — oh my God. But I also knew and I trusted — kill my babies, right? I had put together some phrases and some words, and here comes Betsy just like, nope, nope, too long, too many words, too much. I wanted to cry at that moment because I had really invested a lot of thought and time in my words. Here comes Betsy just hacking my words. That was just the moment where it's like, okay, I'm just going to trust Betsy. Also just realizing that this is part of the new identity as well. This is not an essay. This is not a book. This is really me marketing, branding, positioning, identifying who I'm working with, what I provide them. This is not an essay. It was that realization that helped get me through. But it did hurt and I did want to cry. I'm not a crier, but I felt some kind of way at that time.

Betsy Jordyn: I think it's also like facing the scope of the learning curve. I've used this analogy before — it's like in Rocky II, where Rocky was having to change the way he was fighting. He was a southpaw and he wanted to learn how to fight with his right hand. He had to literally get his left hand tied down in order to unlearn. That's a lot of the times in brand positioning and messaging — the good messaging is not the same as academic writing, and it's not corporate speak, and it's not the third-person kind of thing. It's a very different skill. A lot of the wrestling match is getting to that clarity — getting through all the words to get to the essence. There's just an unlearning process you have to go through. You can't think like an academic. I use a lot of fill-in-the-blank prompts in a lot of the stuff I do. Somebody asked me about it and it made me really reflect on why I'm doing this. I realized that's how I taught myself copywriting. That's how I taught myself messaging. I wasn't an academic, but I was definitely trained in corporate speak. I knew all the buzzwords and how to synergize this. I had all the words. I had a game in my mind that I thought would be fun to have as part of my consulting, and I called it Lingo. I put all the corporate lingo in a little Bingo game. When you're bored in meetings, people could play Lingo — kind of like sneak it with your friends. I thought that would be a fun little thing to sneak in, that's how much lingo people use. I was very fluent on all the lingo. The only way I got out of it was to understand the structure of copy and the structure of messaging. This is where — when I'm asking questions on certain things like "what's your expertise?" — we're not looking for a book, we're looking for a label. The book's not going to help us get clarity. The label is. That's what — some of it is I definitely could be more sensitive. I apologize for killing your babies. I will be more sensitive moving forward to not kill your babies. Or if I am, I will just say, "I really love this baby, but this baby just needs to go into time-out over here." We'll put her over here and she's going to be maybe a future article, future blog post. We'll save her for later. So I'll be more sensitive to that. And also be more explicit around — this is an unlearning process. Everything you know about academic writing, you have to put to the side. That's part of the challenge.

Dorothy Mosby: It definitely was an unlearning process. We do tend to expand and go off and come back to the center. This was a style of writing that was very crisp, clear, and to the point. It feels like there's something missing. And it really wasn't, but the idea is to connect with your client and potential clients. You don't need to have all those words, because you're really getting at the feeling and the emotion — not so much all of the eloquent prose you could surround it with.

Betsy Jordyn: And then all the other explanations — a lot of times on our websites, we want to teach our clients. We want to inform them of "this is what you're doing wrong, this is behind why you're having all these problems." That's something you're going to say for your paid program. You're not educating people on your website. You just want to connect with them so they can book a call with you. But they're not going to book a call with you by exposing — you don't need to tell them, "Hey, it's your self-limiting beliefs that's getting in your way." You don't need that in your copy. That's going to show up later. That's not going to speak to where they're at. They're not ready for that diagnosis yet. We have to meet where they're at. We have to meet at their point of departure. Can you share a little bit about what the true passion is and your concern — well, all of helping leaders and academic leaders and people at midlife and resolving conflicts, you're passionate about all of it. But there's a driving passion underneath a lot of what you do. Can you share about that and why it was hard to figure out how to express it?

Dorothy Mosby: Yeah. I came into academic administration really because of my commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. One of my early roles was to work with academic departments in terms of expanding their candidate pools for hiring for positions. That was the work I was committed to and did some great work there. Now fast forward to where we are in 2026 — there has been this real chilling effect around talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education right now. My concern was — it's true, that's what I'm committed to. That is what a number of my colleagues are also committed to. But also knowing full well that we can't talk about it without really raising some red flags for some folks. Although it is a cornerstone of many academic missions, it's something we can no longer expressly, explicitly talk about. I didn't want to raise a red flag. I also didn't want to cause any potential issues that colleagues who are at public institutions could possibly face if they wanted to work with me. The struggle or challenge was really to express the commitment that I want to ultimately have campus environments where everyone feels like they belong and where everyone can thrive. I want to work with leaders who are committed to doing that. It did take us a while to land on the right language that wouldn't raise alarm bells and create a controversy for people who wanted to work with me — where nothing's particularly controversial about wanting everyone to do well on their campuses and wanting everyone to thrive.

Betsy Jordyn: That's the hard thing too, because there is this mission and you want to bring it forward. But how do you bring it forward in an environment — because you still want to attract the right people who share that value, who want that. That's the push-pull. I think you landed on it pretty well. I forgot what we had in the earlier draft of your website where we changed just one word and that was what fixed it. Do you recall that?

Dorothy Mosby: I don't recall it off the top of my head. It could have been any of the big three — it could have been diversity, equity, or inclusion. I think I did keep inclusive in there because everybody wants to belong. Everyone wants to find their space in the collage. I remember sitting in on a workshop that was given by Beverly Tatum, who's the former president of Spelman College, just talking about — there's a photo and people look for themselves in the photo. And what happens when you don't see yourself in that photo. I want to make sure people see themselves in the different photos, regardless of your background, regardless of who you are. Everyone wants to see themselves.

Betsy Jordyn: Especially if you're talking about a campus. You're dealing with academic institutions in higher ed where there is some degree of competition for students. If you want to have more students from different backgrounds apply, you want to have a faculty that mirrors that. What makes me crazy about the whole DEI anti-backlash is the business case didn't go away. The values didn't go away. Now we want — just take the opposite. We want to work in and create organizations where everybody looks the same, where nobody belongs, nobody fits in, nobody feels included, and only certain people get perks and privileges over other people? Just take the opposite of it. Who wants that kind of organization? Nobody's going to put that on a mission statement. When I was at Disney, we called it RAVE. We wanted to create environments where everybody feels respected, appreciated, valued. Why would that go away? We did have to be smart about it. I think we found a really good balance to stay true to the mission without creating the flags that would be a barrier for whatever reason.

Dorothy Mosby: Right. I appreciate you working with me and understanding that particular challenge. I don't want to have anyone who works with me be targeted. I certainly don't want to be targeted. But I do want people who are committed to having thriving campuses.

Betsy Jordyn: Especially in the leadership role — where you talked a lot about what it was like for you to be the first and only in the room for a long period of time. That's a huge thing to carry. It's a responsibility. I know what it's like to be the first and only. Now I want to create opportunities where nobody says they're the first and only. Maybe they're the first, but they're not the only. Now there's the other people — they're going to be the seconds and the thirds. We don't even have to worry about that kind of number. That part is a huge part of your story. For me, that was an important part we had to integrate into your messaging. That was not a word I was going to murder. That part of the value — that was definitely going to have to find a home.

Dorothy Mosby: Definitely. And I appreciate that, Betsy.

Betsy Jordyn: So what else would you say as we're wrapping up that really helped you get this business that is the right one for you, at the quality level we got it to, in the speed we got it to, without overly relying on AI? I'm not asking you the right questions. What else would you say is what got you to success? Is there anything else you would want to share with my audience of consultants and coaches just like you about growing your own business — and I'm not asking you the right questions about that either.

Dorothy Mosby: A couple of things stand out to me. In terms of working with you and also just thinking about others who may be thinking about doing their own businesses — having that self-knowledge and self-awareness was really important to me. I knew I wanted to do this. I knew why I wanted to do it. Sharing that with you, you really pushed and coached me through a process that was really alien to me. I've been in higher ed — we sell classes, we sell education, but certainly thinking about myself as I am the business here. Pushing me and encouraging me in that way. Just thinking about other midlife entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs or people who are thinking about it — really it's just doing it. Having that self-knowledge, but also the confidence to just do it. My word for this year was "go." Now that we're at the mid-year point, I have taken that word to heart. Just go. And also just be open to the transformation and the learning and unlearning that happens in the process. I realized that there were a lot of things that I had taken on that don't serve me very well in this new adventure and new identity that I'm taking on. Leaving that behind, recognizing that it served me well at a moment in time, but moving forward I have to think and learn and grow differently. I'm really grateful to you, Betsy, for pushing me along — particularly thinking about branding and positioning and the beautiful website that I have.

Betsy Jordyn: Thank you for the privilege and thank you for the challenge. What really made the whole engagement successful was your beginner's mind. My take on the whole thing is you came in with that word of "go" and there was the commitment. You knew exactly why you wanted to have your own business. You knew you wanted to work with academia. Even though the direction wasn't clear, you were great in terms of taking a little bit of direction and then applying it. Even when it was difficult, you take a little direction, you apply it, take a little bit. That's where the cadence was able to be what it was, because it wasn't a harried process. We were not rushed. It was — you need to make a decision on this, this, and this. You said got it, here's the decision, here's this, here's that. When my team gave the visual branding options, you didn't overthink it. I have some clients who overthink every little thing — "can you scooch this thing over?" You just said, nope, this decision, this decision, move. When we worked on the copy, we had a couple of different iterations to go through to keep it tight, especially when it got into the environment. All right, we've got to streamline. You said, all right, I'll do that. Everything was learn, apply, learn, apply, learn, apply. You created the conditions with your grounded presence and your beginner's mind to really make the whole partnership as successful as it was — and hopefully continues to be. Tell the audience again your URL and what they will find when they get there and who they should be sending your way. What kind of clients should they be sending your way?

Dorothy Mosby: Thank you, Betsy. My website is www.dorothymosby.com. That's D-O-R-O-T-H-Y-M-O-S-B as in baseball-Y. The clients I'm looking to serve are leaders in higher education. Leaders in higher education is a bit broad — it's not just the deans and the provosts and the vice presidents, but it's also the department chairs, the directors, people who are occupying those positions. Those are also our leaders, and those are also the leaders who will be leading the institutions in the future. Those are the people I really love to serve. And also academic departments, units, and teams that are working their way through conflict, or just want to be able to manage conflict better, and to be able to foster a sense of — if conflict comes, we're going to look at this friction as something that is productive and not as something destructive.

Betsy Jordyn: Can I add just a little bit to your messaging? We're looking to attract more academic leaders who are really striving to create thriving, inclusive school environments where everybody belongs. They are trying to do so in a time period of a lot of complexity, a lot of different unique challenges that they really didn't sign up for. They were really great academics. They are now in this leadership role and they're trying to do it in a very complex environment. That's what's keeping them from achieving that goal. Does that help?

Dorothy Mosby: Thank you for Betsy-fying it.

Betsy Jordyn: A big part — just a little quick coaching moment — when people ask you about what you do and who you want to attract, you want to be articulate about who you help, but mostly the problem that you solve, which is the goal that they're after and what's in the way. So you can help people who are listening to catch a picture of, they have that problem. Because it's too broad. You need your referral network and the people who might be listening to be able to say, you're trying to deal with that? All right, I know who to send your way. Thank you for letting me do a little coaching moment here. For all of you who are listening, please check out her website. It's amazing. I love the visual branding so much. Dorothy, as you could see in her background. If you are interested in getting your website launched — a credible one that looks amazing and you want to get it done fast, and you have a beginner's mind — I'd love to help you. If you need help getting clarity on what you do, the value of what you do, and being able to create messages that connect you with the clients you're meant to work with, I'd definitely love to help you out. Check out my website at www.betsyjordyn.com — don't forget Jordyn is with a Y. If you enjoy the show, please hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one, and rate and review on Apple if you can. Until next time, thank you all so much for listening. Thank you so much, Dorothy, for being on the show. It's been a pleasure having you.

Dorothy Mosby: Thank you, Betsy.