0:00:12 - Betsy Jordyn
Well, hey there and welcome to the Consulting Matters podcast. This is the show where we tackle all kinds of issues related to building a high-impact, high-income consulting or coaching business. I'm your host, Betsy Jordyn, and today I want to talk about scaling up your success. So what does it really mean to scale up your success and impact as a consultant or coach, and what does it look like to step into those new levels, especially if you don't have dreams of growing a big firm or leading a whole big global enterprise? I'm diving into these questions and more as I take you behind the scenes of my latest brand relaunch, which is finally done Yay. After months of strategy, design, copywriting and more, it's finally done. So let me tell you what I don't want to do in this episode. I do not want to make it all about me and about, like, self-promotion, because, let's face it, if I did a good job, my website should do that work for me, right? But what I want to unpack for you is the real lessons that I learned that were uniquely powerful around consulting and coaching businesses who really want to be solopreneurs, and so there's a lot of things with this particular brand relaunch that's different and it was an unexpected outcome of my seven-month sabbatical and the sabbatical that I can't seem to stop talking about. So I want to give you the transferable lessons that I got that are, for sure, relevant for you who want to grow a solopreneur consulting or coaching business that thrives over time. So, when you tune in, let me tell you all that I'm going to be sharing with you. I'm going to talk about what most of us don't fully get about growing a solopreneur business the signs that we often miss that when we're ready for our next level. The real purposes of why do you really need to work on your brand positioning, your messaging and your website, and why it's not ultimately a marketing thing. It's something deeper, not ultimately a marketing thing. It's something deeper, and I'm going to talk a little bit about the secrets to aging online with Grace and Power, which is just a fun thing for, especially for us women, who have a lot of pictures from different stages of our evolution, and I'm going to talk about this specific evolution. I'm going to share with you what's new and what's staying the same, so that you and I could start to work together if I'm the right fit for you.
But before I get into this topic, I want to share with you how I wound up here. So, as I mentioned, when I went on sabbatical, I had absolutely no intention of doing this level of change to my business, but then I went on this event to work on storytelling, hosted by the amazing Carol Cox and the amazing Diane Diaz of Speaking your Brand. So I went to this one-day event about storytelling that took place two days after I went on a week-long silent retreat and it really was too quick after my retreat and I really did not have a lot of time to prepare the story that I was going to practice. But, more importantly, I was not clear on what I was going to wear. You know, as soon as I turned my phone back on after sabbatical, I got this or it's actually my silent retreat, not sabbatical I got this email from Carol mentioning that, given the location of our event, we couldn't wear jeans, but we had a plan on wearing something for the interactive exercises that we were going to do, and I was in a crisis because I'm like, oh my God, I have no pants. A crisis because I'm like, oh my God, I have no pants. Now, you may not think that that's a big deal, but I was practicing this story on the stage and I was in a blur. I don't even remember the story because I'm going to dress in heels because I had no pants. I had thrown them all out when I was pivoting from consulting to the work I do now, almost out of making a stand. You know, like I'm not a corporate girl anymore, I'm not a consultant, I'm a brand messaging person. I help people create businesses and lives that you love.
But standing on the stage mumbling through the words of a story, I can't even remember because inside my heart was screaming I have no pants. What happened to the person who could stand up in front of a group of executives and command a room? It was like I threw out a really important part of me to try on something new, which was reflected in a lot more dresses, and I wanted that powerful part of me back. So my first action that led into my rebranding was first I had to buy some pants. That was the first thing I did, and then I went to work on hiring a photographer and getting the ball rolling on reclaiming, on whatever it is I lost along the way to this work that I do that I really love. So this brings me to the lessons that I learned about next level success as a solopreneur.
So number one just like all businesses go through stages of growth, this principle holds true for solopreneurs who want to stay solopreneurs and don't have goals of building a full-time team or a firm. You know, it took me a while to realize, like I really want to grow but I really don't want to become a leader. I don't really enjoy that type of leadership. I like consulting, advising, coming alongside people. But what I didn't realize, that I know now, is there are predictable stages for a solopreneur business and if we are not aware of those stages, we will accidentally hold ourselves back because we think when we're heading to the next stage, we think something is wrong.
You know we all start businesses where we create, recreate something in our careers, in our businesses. You know, in that early phase we freelance to get clients at first, because, you know, frankly, clients come our way. In the first blush of going on our own, we rely on referrals because why not? They're coming our way, you know. Or we may subcontract with others who are more successful, because it's such a great way to learn the ropes. The problem isn't these tactics, the problem is what happens when we use these approaches too long and we stay in this stage and we don't move to the next phase, which is really becoming a business owner, creating a separate entity. You know, with all the functions that a business includes, like marketing and sales and finance and technology. You know all of the stuff that we help our clients with. We have to do the same thing for ourselves and we need to do this in the context of the product and service that we sell. Is our consulting or coaching. So the problem is, is we stay stuck in this feast or famine income cycles and more you know. So this happens.
So this is what I went through in my first year of a business owner 15 years ago, and I made that pivot 15 years ago from freelance to business owner. You know, I spent three years prior to establishing my brand new business in that place and then I realized, like you know what, if I'm going to make this thing a success, I need to go all in. I invested properly in my business and then I became a business owner. So that was great. But what I didn't see is that all these other stages that came later, like when I wanted to pivot from consulting to the work I do now. I was at another inflection point. I thought something went wrong. I've been framing this story for years about me pivoting from consulting to the work I do now. That I'll never do again is that I started the wrong business when I didn't. I started the right business and it worked then, but when I fell out of love with it and I wanted something different, I didn't see that as a wake-up call that I was ready for my next level and so I had way more spin, lots of false starts. I talk a lot about how much money I spent because I didn't see it clearly, and then now I'm at this new point. I'm at another inflection point because I'm ready to elevate my thought leadership. What I see clearly now that I didn't see before is that there are stages to a solopreneur business and with each leveling up requires a total rebrand. You know so.
Growing something your own that is more solid and yours and sustainable, after getting by with referrals, is an inflection point. Pivoting your niche from working with organizations to individuals, like I did, but also vice versa of working with individuals to organizations and refining your focus, is also a new stage of growth. Wanting to go after more strategic, higher paying, influential engagements is also an inflection point, a pivot point, a new phase in the entrepreneur life cycle. You know, the thing that happens at each of these phases is your eyes become open to new ways to make a difference that you just didn't see before. So feeling drawn to step into greater thought leadership as a podcaster, speaker, author. It's a new stage, so you see differently than others in your industry do and you want to speak out about these things. This is a new stage. Each one of these are an inflection point. It's a crossroads. It is no less significant than that initial crossroads of leaving your corporate job to start your own business.
I didn't get that. I kept missing out that there were all these inflection points and, like all crossroads in your career and life, it requires a decision and a courageous choice. You have to pick a lane and say either yes or no. You know the double mindedness is what keeps us spinning is that we want to go to the next level but we kind of hold on to what we're doing today, you know, and crossroads do not present themselves in the form of like happy, clappy invitation to the universe, like I just want more. They usually come in the form of what you're doing today has just stopped working. You know, either in terms of your results or purely your satisfaction has just stopped and that's why we miss it. And all of this requires a rethinking and repackaging what you do to resonate more with where you want to go versus where you've been.
And so the understanding of the stages of a solopreneur business helped me see the clients that I want to help more clearly in the context for my help. You know, once I saw like oh my gosh, there's stages. I'm like this is why people come to me. You know, this is why people like Denise and Dolly and Bill, carl and Robert and so many others come to me at that initial crossroads, like where they're trying to move between corporate career and their leadership career in their own business. That I got. But what I didn't see is that there's a similar context for when people like Jason or Scott come to me after getting by with referrals and they want to build a more solid foundation.
Or Katie the amazing Katie wanted to pivot from individuals to organizations and elevate her strategic positioning. Or Peggy and Hillary, who were ready, so ready to land more strategic work. Or Amy, who was taking her individual one-on-one business and moving into new levels of thought leadership. They definitely needed help with their messaging and their website copy and design. All of that was important. But the big picture is help with navigating to their next level, which required not just the rebranding work but the shift in your professional identity. You know, that's where the kicker is is moving from a freelancer to a business owner, to a strategic partner, to a recognized brand and a thought leader, to a strategic partner, to a recognized brand and a thought leader.
But it took me a long time and a lot of walks and a lot of angry conversations with ChatGPT, who I have a love-hate relationship with, to help me pull back the frame clearly on the real context for my health. So I started to count up the hours. So here's where I really got clear on my value is I started counting up the hours of how much I was spending in analysis paralysis. Paralysis because I didn't have a me for me, but what I did have is a lot of data from my clients. I took a lot of surveys and I also got this Christmas card from Katie that I kept next to my computer, who thanked me for helping her step into her next level of success. And whenever I got stuck, I read this card over and over again success. And whenever I got stuck, I read this card over and over again, you know. So there's all this data from the people around you that we are just not mining, which is why that's a big part of a change to my process is I really want to bring that data?
But I want you to think about this Are you at an inflection point in your solopreneur business, meaning you want to grow your success and impact, but not necessarily grow a full-time team or firm, and if so, can you label your inflection point? See it for what it is. It's a crossroads with a choice. You really have choice. You don't have to level up. But whatever you decide, make it a conscious choice. And if you say yes, you'll have to realign your business and your brand foundation and your identity and how you see yourself to this new level. There is no other way around it. Otherwise, you'll keep achieving the results that you have today, that you've already outgrown.
But keep in mind the efforts, the investment of your time and money in elevating your brand positioning and messaging your offers and your websites isn't just for transforming how you get your clients and your offers and your websites isn't just for transforming how you get your clients. It's about transforming you so that you can transform the lives and the careers and the businesses of more clients. So the first point is it's all about stages in a solopreneur business. So I got a few other points about leveling up your solopreneur business. So number one, as the sub points is, moving to the next level isn't a horizontal move, it's a vertical one. You're expanding on the foundation that you already built and the next level that's meant for you will transcend and include what came before. This is the antidote to imposter syndrome.
So for me, because you know I'm sharing, you know my dirty laundry and my heart and my best practices or maybe it's not my best practices, my true practices. You know my organization, development and consulting business background matters because the work I do isn't coming out of marketing. Everything that I offer is grounded in my years in consulting with a goal not just to help my clients get leads or even get clients, but get their expertise used in a way that will create the biggest impact, which will obviously lead to bigger income. That's important. The context for my help is what it's always been work-related crossroads. This has been consistent throughout my career. You know, honestly, whenever I get a call from a colleague that I haven't seen for a while, who reaches out and wants to pick my brain for coffee, it's always a career crossroads, you know they want to catch up and then I just wait five, four, three, two.
So, Betsy, I'm thinking about leaving my job or changing my business, you know, and what I uniquely do isn't about a roadmap or approach, it's really my ability to frame complex ideas and put words around them. You know, if you've worked with me in any capacity, you words around him. You know, if you've worked with me in any capacity, you're probably nodding your head. You know like this is why executives hired me and this is why my clients do now. So that's another sub point about going to the next level as a solopreneur. But another point is there's always a dance that we go through when we hit crossroads and it's a step forward to this new level and it's the step back where we want to hold ourselves back. You know, it's like this little dance forward and forward and back. But this is especially acute for consultants like us who have ambitions for a solopreneur business, where we remain the product, service and brand and have nowhere else to hide. So it's not the elevated success that we're uncomfortable with, it's the elevated visibility that our elevated success requires of us. That's why we're tempted to play small.
And I mentioned I was going to talk to you about the struggle of aging online, and it is real, you know. So I have videos and pictures of me from 15 years ago, from four years ago. If you're going to have sustainable success, there's going to be pictures of a much younger version of you online, along with your more recent ones, and I'm not going to lie. You know I was worried about that, you know, and it wasn't even just the pictures from 15 years ago, it was like the four years ago one, like, oh my gosh, I've aged so much. But you know, once I got the right photographer, it was really a game changer. I saw myself like aging for sure, but aging with power. So when I put the old pictures next to the younger ones, like, yes, for sure, she has more wrinkles, all right, but what the person in me today has that that other one didn't is so much wisdom, proven wisdom from all of these years of running my own business. So what about you If you're ready for your next level. Is there anything holding you back and if so, what is it? So those are some of my transferable principles.
Now let me tell you about the changes I specifically made and the rationale for them. So super excited for you to head on over to Jordyn and don't forget Jordyn is with a Y and I want to tell you all the changes that I've made. So first I'm going to start with my about page. I love my about page. So what I did on my about page is I put my whole my business under a whole umbrella of my 30 years of experience in the transformation industry and how I've been doing the same work with the same unique strengths, just in new containers and packages, all along. I also include a ton of personal photos that reflect the me at different stages of the journey. So if you really want to see me aging online, you know this is the page to check out. So it's really fun. I brought in some pictures of my kids as well. So every time I look at that page it makes me happy, because that was a big driver for me when I first started. My business was to be there for my kids and to be able to provide for them as a single mom. And I'm just that's like probably the thing that makes me happiest about the page, outside of the love and passion I have for my clients, but it's the fact that I was able to raise these two young beings to adulthood on my business revenue and that just makes me really happy. So I was able to feature that.
Now let's talk about my services page. So there's two things to note about my services page. You know, the thing is about what I do and my specific services really aren't all that different. It's just I've changed my messaging. You know I did one of those sneaky mistakes that a lot of my clients do is I started positioning my brand messaging and positioning work against a pain point. I did a big no-no in my own business because, again, I was unclear about those different inflection points. So I just tried to figure out like, okay, what's the through line of all these? Different kinds of clients are coming to me, cause they're not all brand new. Some of them have been seasoned for a while and they've had clients and they're making some changes. I'm like, oh well, they all want more clarity and confidence, better messaging, and it's like no, I was at the pain points instead of the real context for my help, which, again, is those inflection points. So I really need to make that clear and make it more powerful, because what I help people do isn't just about improving your messaging or being more persuasive. It's about really scaling into your next level of success and impact faster, with less spin, with more clarity and confidence in what you do and how you express it.
Yes, the other thing that tickles me about this page is that I swiped a lot of the copy from my actual clients. You know I had a ton of surveys and interviews from former clients. I had a lot of clients on my podcast. I had transcripts and so what? The words I chose to use on my hero section are the things that came directly from my clients. You know I also use some of the words from that Christmas card I got from Katie. I also got from my clients. I did some analysis on all of those surveys and interviews of why they chose to work with me over other people and I captured what they said, which are actually my differentiators. You know they said I get them and the complexity of what they do. They appreciate that. Again, as I mentioned, everybody loves the fact that I have a knack for organizing complex ideas and putting them into words, but other things that people said that I really appreciated. You know I'm a partner by their side, invested in their success like it's my own. Love that, and that I have one-stop shop for my website Design to More. So I have all of that captured.
So now let's talk about my free resources page. I added five new freebies, so I have one free audio training about how to go from playing small to playing true, because I really want to address the significant and legit issue. It really holds a lot of us back, so I wanted to make sure that that's like my overall lead magnet for my website, because that is what people really need to understand when they're at inflection points. You have to really uncover and understand why it's such a big tendency for people like us. You need to normalize it so that you could step into the business and the success and the impact that reflects like the work that you actually love doing, and so that's an important one. I also have free other guides on messaging and how to master the discovery meeting and how to build a content marketing foundation or create your project plan for your website. So all of that is on there.
Why I included them and why did I swap them out with some of my more established freebies that I've had for a while, is simply because I wanted to create more value. I mean, that's really the easy answer. All right, as it relates to my podcast, if you're listening, you already know I shifted my podcast from enough already to consulting matters, which I've already addressed in so many different ways, but it reflects a lot of what I'm sharing today. So on my success stories page, I changed up the format because I really wanted to showcase my clients and more power, not to brag about me, but to give future clients inspiration about what's possible for them and their consulting or coaching success. And then, of course, my homepage has changed. A homepage in general is an executive summary of your business, so you'll see all these changes reflected on my homepage, that executive summary. But I also wanted to wrap up everything on my homepage with my rallying cry to purpose-driven consultants and coaches.
I want to help you avoid playing small and step into your full potential, because I believe in my core and every part of my being that, even though right now the world seems like it's not the best time to grow a consulting or coaching business. I think the world needs us more than ever. You know, really, there is so much volatility, chaos and uncertainty in the world, and we are the ones who have the unique skills to manage that complexity and help them navigate this unique skills to manage that complexity and help them navigate this. So that's it for my tour of my website. I'd love for you to check it out as a recap of what we talked about today. There are stages of growing a solopreneur, consulting or coaching business, and each stage is an inflection point and each stage represents a crossroads to navigate and a choice to make. Number two getting to the next level, is not a horizontal move, but a vertical one. It transcends and includes what came before in a more elevated way. So, therefore, there is going to be a dance with playing small that comes at these crossroads. And number three once you make the choice, you need to align everything that you have in place towards the direction of where you wanna go, and that includes your own professional identity and what type of impact you're here to make. So one last thing I didn't tell you yet about my photos, so I kind of hinted that my photos were an important part of this rebrand.
This is the first time in all my years as a business owner including all the years I was a consultant working with organizations that I'm in a suit. So when I left Disney to start my own business, I was at that midlife transition place where I started to get worried like, oh my gosh, my professional identity is getting too fused with my identity as an organization development consultant. You know, it was like that kind of feeling of like if I died and all I was is known as like. Here lies Betsy. She was a great OD consultant. You know I would have failed in some sort of significant way.
But so out of that I refused the suit. I got a lot of pressure to wear the suit. I got a lot of crap for not wearing a suit. I remember so clearly I was looking to hire a speaking coach to help me work on a keynote talk and I can't really describe the words that she said because I'm a horrible actress. I can't use the British, I can't speak with a British accent. But she told me basically oh my goodness, Betsy, you know I don't know what you're doing. You know, on your website. You look like a party girl, you know, versus the powerful person that she was talking to. So I refused.
I got a lot of crap, but in my sabbatical I rediscovered my consultant self, you know, and I really discovered too, that I didn't need to be afraid of being identified with any aspect of my work, as they are not my identity as a human being. You know, maybe I have a professional identity out there, but they are not my identity as a human being. You know, they are expressions of my identity, but no one part is the whole. I am the whole. So I'm in a suit, because if I want my clients to own the power of what they do, I have to go first.
So, as a next step, I'd love for you to visit my website, check it all out, download my freebies. I'd love for you to email me at Betsy, at Jordyn, let me know what you think. And of course, knowing it's me, there's bound to be lots of typos. You know I could think faster than I could type and I always miss stuff and I always want to fix it. So remember it's success, not perfection, but the perfectionist in me will definitely want to fix it. And if you're on the cusp of your next level and you want a partner to get you through your transformation faster, with a lot less spin, with more focus, with greater clarity and confidence. Love to help you. This is what I'm super passionate about. So, after you check on my website, hit the big button at the top that says request a discovery meeting and let's get started. So that's it for now. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to hit subscribe wherever you're tuning in, and I'll see you next time.
