Hey there, it's Betsy here, and I am back from my short break from my podcast that I took for strategizing and also taking some time off for much needed vacation. You know, here's the thing: sometimes when we're our own boss, we're not always the best at giving ourselves the time that we need to reflect and also have some fun, but it's so worth it. And in fact, I think I'm gonna be doing the same thing next year. So I'm coming back to the show with some shifts that I'm super excited about, and I hope you will be too.
So the show promise is still the same. I haven't changed all of that. I'm still here to help you own the power of what you do and position yourselves for the clients, the impact and income that you're ready for. I'll still be doing that. But I'm really excited to add in two new shorter show formats to the mix of my longer strategic episodes and my expert and client interviews to create more value for you. So the first type of these shorter formats is what I'm calling quick wins, where I'm going to give you some actionable tips and guidance.
on what you need to master to attract more of those right clients and opportunities. And also I'm going to introduce you to some new ideas that you may not have even considered yet. And the other format is what I call pep talks, where I can just go straight into inspiring and motivating you on the mindset challenges we all have. So if you have any burning questions that you want me to answer either in a quick win or a pep talk, please email me at Betsy at BetsyJordyn.com and don't forget Jordyn is with a Y.
And tell me what's on your mind. And I'll definitely try my best to get it onto the calendar. And who knows? This might be so fun. I might be making more shorts. I have no idea where that's gonna go. That's what's going on with the show, but let's get into today's episode where I'm kicking off a new theme focused on what does it look like to sustain success year after year? So let's get into it. So are you wondering if you have what it really takes to succeed as a consultant, coach, and business owner year after year? After 20 years in business,
This is my 28th year, if you could believe this, I could tell you for a fact it's not about the tactics. So on today's consulting matters, I'm sharing with you my five biggest insights, my words to wisdom, the things that I wish I could have told my younger self that I've gained about what it takes to really thrive for the long haul. 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, the income that they're ready for, that they're capable of. I'm your host, Betsy Jordan, and I am both a business mentor and a brand positioning and messaging strategist. You can find out how I help my clients build thriving consulting or coaching businesses that deliver ongoing profits out of their unique strengths, their passion, and experience on my website at www.betsyjordyn.com. So now let's get into today's topic.
I can hardly believe that it's been 20 years since I left Disney and I started my own consulting business. My kids were like three and five then and now they're like twenty-three and twenty-five. Like seriously, where does the time go? And as I hit this milestone, I got really reflective, you know, around what does it really take to build a business over time? You know, like with insights that I couldn't have had when I first started out. You know, I was in the weeds, like probably a lot of you were trying to figure out like who's my ideal clients or what do I want to offer?
Or how do I consistently get those clients to invest in what I want to offer all the while trying to keep the fear and imposter syndrome at bay? Those are all the strategy, the tactics. I got a ton of stuff on my podcast, on my videos, on my blog that addresses all of this. But what I want to do today is to share with you my reflections and perspective that only time could teach about the broader heroic journey of leaving a high profile career for the adventure of growing your own consulting or coaching business of your own, which at its core
isn't about the tactics. If you need information on the practical side of building a consulting or coaching business, I got a ton of episodes for you. I'll put them in the show notes. But this episode is not about the tactics. This is about the perspective on what creating greater success on your own terms and making the impact and income you're capable of truly entails for the long haul. And my goal is is I just want to give that with lesson learned, you know, the wisdom to you.
To make your process easier or at least to normalize the experience of what you're going through. You know, a lot of times when we are in our head and we're dealing with all of these questions and wondering like, how do I really pull this thing off? You know, how do I get the sustainable success? We think we're kind of on our own, you know, but you're not. So the bare minimum, but what I hope you get out of this episode is this normalization is like, yeah, my journey is not completely unique. Like there's specifics to it, but there's things that I can do and there's things that I can cultivate.
mindset wise and then strategy wise that comes out of that that can make my journey much more enjoyable, much more profitable. So that's what we're doing today. So let's dive in.
First point is I really want to establish the reality of how we get on this path. So the lot of the clients that I've worked with for the past 10 years as a business mentor and a brand messaging and positioning strategist is that we're on this path because we've always had these dreams about becoming our own boss and we've had them for years. But the reality is very few of us act on this dream on vision alone. You know, I think I've only had like one client who's decided like years before, like, hey, I want to start my own business and then strategically set out the path.
Like most of us require some sort of push out of our secure nine-to-five nest. You know, it comes in the form of a layoff, an intolerable job redefinition, burnout, some sort of existential crisis. You know, for me, I've always wanted to be my own boss because I was an entrepreneur before I was an entrepreneur. But it was my dad's death that kicked me out of it. You know, it made me realize like I did not want to miss out on my kids' childhood in service of the 70 hour work weeks. I really wanted control over my career, but mostly for my time.
Because I wanted to be there for my kids. So the first thing I want you to look at, you know, when you think about like your heroic journey is what is it that has gotten you to move or thinking about moving? You know, what's pushing you? What's pushing you or has pushed you? Because what got you on the path to growing your own consulting or coaching business is going to turn into something great if you are with intentionally doing that. So I'm going to talk about that in a second. So I want you to think about like when did you get the vision for becoming your own boss? When did you start feeling that discontent?
That made you feel like there's more to life than what I'm living. There's more that is available to me. I want more. I just don't want more of the same. When did you start feeling that? And then what is it that's pushing you or did push you to make this type of move? So do you got that? Awesome. Now let's get into point two. There is a choice point on how we handle that pain and discomfort that got us to move.
You know, it could be something that we don't process and want to hide from, which I think is one of the sneaky reasons why a lot of people start their own business and then go back to corporate is they don't really process that. Or it can be the very thing that your future success rests on. So for me, in my case, what drove me to invest in my business development, commit to my success in my business was about this mantra that I had at the very beginning is like, I don't want to go back to corporate and miss out on my kids' childhood.
Like that became my focal point. It was driving me towards success as a business owner. And I think that that's what kept me in the game for so many years is I knew that as my kids have gotten older, you know, you sort of get addicted to doing things your own way. Like I can't imagine ever going back to corporate for any other reason. But at the beginning, I was able to connect with that pain of like I'm missing out. My dad died. This is not going to work for long term. I don't want to miss out. And so that's what drove me.
Lori is one of my clients. She had a similar goal, but not the same push. Like she didn't have a death of a parent. You know, she had gone through a layoff, but she wanted to focus on sustainable success because she wanted to be able to predictably provide for her family, but be there for her kids and organize her schedule around those needs. You know, for Dave, he also got laid off and his mantra, I remember in our early calls, like, okay, so what do you want is you want to be able to, you know, do things your way. And he's like, control. I'm like, control over your time is like, no, control over my career.
You know, after getting laid off, for a lot of us we're like, I'm not doing that again. I'm done with that. So he's tried out multiple business models since we first started working together back in 2017. And what kept him on this entrepreneurial path was his commitment to never be at the mercy of a layoff. He wanted to craft his own destiny. For Rachelle, who was recently on the show, she went through major burnout as a busy, high achieving meeting and event executive.
And her life literally imploded. She tells the story on multiple episodes on the show. But what's really cool about Rachelle's story is she really unpacked it and she used all the lessons learned to move her forward. You know, so not only did it give her a drive to be able to do things her own way and be able to manage her time, but it became a big part of her coaching purpose where she helps high achievers create a success and a life that they love without burnout. And it was from out of her experience.
You know, Adam is a C-suite executive who made the move because an organization redesign moved him into a position he wasn't fulfilled. And he's like, mm-mm, not doing that. And so he really wants to help people like win at business and win at life. And he does a lot of things with that. So it really focused him in terms of like the drive to do his own thing, but also his purpose. So the thing is with consulting and coaching business ownership, our transition from whatever career we had before to this path is really just about our careers, but our lives.
And what we want to experience more holistically. And so a big part of your long-term sustainable success is really turning the pain that got you on the path into your purpose in some way. Either your purpose of why you want to do your own thing or the purpose, meaning what is behind how you want to help your clients. So if you haven't done this yet, I want you to add to the questions that I just asked you about, like what got you on this path. You know, when you were thinking about
I want to be on my own boss. I want to do my things my own way. But it was the universe that pushed you in some sort of way, the form of some sort of pain. I want you to really think about it. And I want you to think about how have you converted that pain into what is going to create your next level of success and impact as a consultant, coach, and business owner. Those are two points that kind of are related. They're all part of the same thing, but I wanted to keep them separate because I wanted that first point to normalize for you.
If you're somebody who's like, I can't do this. Do I really have what it takes because I got laid off or something bad happened to my job and I have like shame. And I don't want you to have any shame. I want you to recognize that all of us have gotten to this place because something pushed us.
Now let's get into the meat, meat of this particular episode. If you want to be successful over time, you have to act like that, which means three distinct things to me. Number one, you need to fully commit that this is your career in the same way you committed to your previous career. You know, if you think about your previous career, you got a degree, maybe you got a master's, you really developed your expertise in this area. But how many times do we avoid
The expertise of business ownership. Like we're cool with investing in our consulting or coaching skill sets, but a lot of us resist the whole business ownership. So this career isn't just consulting or coaching. It's a business owner who happens to sell consulting and coaching partnerships and transformations. So what this means is you have to consciously cultivate the mindset of a CEO of a growing enterprise and make sure all the pieces of your business are operating effectively, especially marketing and sales.
You know, as a consultant or coach, you would never give advice to your clients that, yeah, you could just ignore marketing, you know, just wait for clients to come your way. You would say, No, you need to do that. You would say, wow, you are a really good technical expert. You really need to have the mindset of a CEO. But somehow with ourselves, like we're, I don't know if it's like the shoemaker's kids or I don't know, whatever that is. It's sometimes with ourselves, like we just miss out on that. So we need to operate like a CEO in our mindset, not like an employee.
And this is why just getting out there and getting clients, that's what a freelance employee does. But strategically and intentionally designing a marketing system to consistently attract clients is what a business owner does. So you really need to know the difference between the two and start operating like that. And it also means that you need to develop the skill sets in these areas, even at some point if you outsource those pieces to someone else. Because how can you manage performance that you don't know what excellence looks like?
So that is one of the mistakes that a lot of people make is like, I don't like marketing. I'm gonna have somebody post. You know, but then they don't know how to evaluate if that person is even doing well because they don't know what success is supposed to look like. So you really need to invest. And I am a CEO of my growing enterprise that just so happens to sell consulting or coaching partnerships and transformations. The other thing that when you're thinking about acting like this long term successful person is you're not just building a business, but building a brand.
even if you never intentionally work on yours is because ultimately the market is what positions you by everything that you put out there. So this is a big part of the work I do with my clients on the brand messaging and positioning is I help them take charge of those touch points so they are communicating what you want because everything is communicating. So if you want to be known for the consulting or coaching you want to do, if you want to replace the chase for clients and have the right ones coming to you, if you want to command premium pricing, land more strategic work.
It's not the result of simply getting better at networking or just doing some social posts on occasion here and there. It's about taking charge of your brand and how you're positioning yourself and how you're managing how you're seen in the market and with your clients and taking charge of every single touch point that shapes thinking about who you are and your value. You know, one of the things I think is funny, people say to me all the time, like, websites aren't important. You know, I never get clients for my website.
And my response is like, well, I guess you're set up your website not to get clients because what you've gotten is what you set it up to do. I have gotten clients from my website for 20 years. So you absolutely can do that if you set it up that way. And you absolutely have no idea how many people who are referred to never contact you because of your website. So you need to think about like yourself as a consumer, you know, and how do you perceive businesses because that's how your clients are seeing you. And then what it also means to think about the long term.
is to build a solid yet flexible business and brand foundation that gives you room to grow, change, and evolve. So this is why you'll hear me say it once, twice, a hundred times. Use your own name in your business because it's the most flexible container. Like one of my biggest mistakes, you would think that of all the different mistakes I've made over 20 years, is that I named my business Accelerate Consulting Group on the at the get go. It created so many problems because I don't want to do consulting
like that anymore. Accelera is not really a a searchable term. It's not the best name in the world. And the biggest thing is it didn't flex with me. It didn't grow with me. So let's reflect on this one. Are you thinking like a business owner? Are you thinking like a CEO? Are your actions in alignment with becoming the CEO of your growing enterprise that is built to last? And are you building your foundation, growing your competence in running a business and not just in consulting or coaching?
I'm not saying that you shouldn't develop your consulting or coaching expertise. That's awesome. You should totally do that. But should also be focusing on the business ownership. And then the other question to ask yourself about this whole mindset idea of a CEO and really setting yourself up for the long term is are you operating in such a way that sets you up to go from client to client with gaps in between where you have no idea where your next clients are going to come from? Or are you operating a way of like I'm building
I'm building the pieces. Like I always looked at the whole idea of like a marketing system as like you know, you have train tracks and you're putting the train tracks down so that all of the client trains can keep coming to your station. Do you have that? Or are you just kinda going out there? That's the third point.
The fourth point is about sustainability in terms of the right business and choosing the right business and choosing the one that is right for you that is inside of you. You know, the thing is is that you want to build a business that you actually want to build and that you'll be excited about. Are you doing that? That's the big question. And are you building something from within? The thing is, is that for a lot of people.
You know, we think like, I'll look at the market and see what works. You know, like where are the gaps? Like so some of the people that I had in my mastermind community, for example, were like, everybody's going from being on site, now everybody's doing virtual and we have virtual teams. So I'm gonna build a whole business on virtual teams. And then a couple of years later, like, the market shift, now everybody's going back to the office. And so you don't wanna really build a business that is like tethered to the fickle market and how everything changes.
You want to build a business that is tethered to your enduring purpose. It's something that you really are excited building. You know, some of my clients, before we work together, they're like, I'm just, you know, I I it just seems profitable and marketable, but I'm not excited about it. You cannot sustain success by building a business that you tolerate at best or hate at worst. So you have to really understand and trust that the right business isn't simply to make you happier, but also to make you more profitable. Because
Clients that you're excited about helping are easier to convert than the ones who can tell that you're just in it for the money. Like the worst reason to get on this path is for just the money. If your heart's not in it, your clients will feel it, or more accurately, not feel it, and it will affect your results. It's the ultimate doom loop. And here's the kicker though. If you've been in business for more than a few years, what you love is likely to change and evolve. So your business and brand needs to evolve.
Your experience gives you additional expertise that you didn't have before. You hone strengths that you didn't get a chance to use. So let me ask you this question then. Where are you now with your business? You know, on a scale of one to ten. Do you love your business? Do you love the one that you're growing? And if you're below a ten, what's going on? And what needs to change to get you to a ten?
All right, now we're at the fifth and final point. You cannot grow it alone, and I don't think we're meant to. I think it was Einstein who said you can't solve a problem with the thinking that created the problem. So if you're gonna grow and improve, that means that you're gonna have to be dealing with an ongoing dance with stepping outside your comfort zone, stepping beyond the limits of your current level of competency, which also affects your confidence. So you'll wind up doing what you've always done if you don't intentionally invite an outside catalyst to help you see and perform at higher levels.
So there's three types of people you need to surround yourself with. Of course, you need outside experts who can guide and mentor you in the areas of growth that you're growing in. You know, whether it's someone like me who can help you clarify the unique value of what you do, articulate messaging for your marketing and your website that connects you with the clients you want. Or it could be like Carol Cox and Diane Diaz of speaking your brand. They're the ones you need to go to if you want to become a speaker. Or it could be Tim Wohlberg if you're trying to start a podcast and you're not sure how, or you want to level up your podcast.
Could like AJ Harper, you know, who's a book coach who could help you if you're writing a book. There's experts in a lot of different areas of consulting and coaching business ownership that you could tap into to help you when you hit that limit issue, you know, that upper limit issue where it's like, all right, I know what I know. Now I need somebody else. And these people could help you get to where you want to go faster with a lot less headaches, with a lot less expensive trial and error, and you'll be able to just maximize that experience. So that I highly recommend you invest in people.
You also need people that you can rely on to help you implement what you're working on. Whether it's a virtual assistant, you know, graphic designers, you know, I have a team that helps with the websites that I provide for my clients, but they also help me with my visual stuff. You might need somebody with the social marketing that could help you with that, somebody helping the ads, podcast producers, you know, all those people who can get more done, keep you focused on your zone of genius, you know, all that kind of stuff. So there's all that support.
But those aren't the only kind of people. So that's sort of like the experts. So you have expert guides, you have the people could help you implement, but don't forget the other people that you need, the people you really, really need, which is are those colleagues that you lost when you were in your nine to five, you know, the people that you went to lunch with, the people who you could talk shop with. You want to be surrounded by people who get the journey that you're on. You know, if you're a consultant, a coach but a business owner as well, you might be surrounded with people who do not get the entrepreneurial journey.
And all the things that you're on and all the things that you're dealing with. So you want to find those colleagues who get it, you know, who could push you in a way that you'll accept that maybe is different than the mentor type. You know, in a couple of weeks, you're gonna hear from Dan Weedin on his take on building a business at last. And he's been my colleague since like I think two thousand nine. We met an event that Alan Weiss had put out. And Dan is somebody I would go to all the time when it's like I wanna go to the next level. But what's interesting about my long term
experience of having a colleague for all this time is, you know, we keep growing. So we're kind of in a similar place. We're keep pushing ourselves. So you need people who are right where you are. Maybe you have some people who are a few steps ahead. Maybe if you somebody who's like a couple steps behind you. But you want to be able to have that community. One of my favorite parts of this past year was this mastermind community I built with JB Adams, Sarah Gutman, Corey Crawford, Brad Johnson, Pamela Johnson, Leslie Farinacci.
Deborah Masick. It was amazing. I love watching the group support one another and encourage one another in a way that I couldn't provide that same kind of support. They were in the trenches with one another. So what about you? Who's in your business tribe? You know, and do you have the right people surrounding you and cheering you on? And if not, how are you gonna go find them?
Wow, so that was a lot. So let me sum up the perspective and wisdom that I've gained about staying in the game as a consultant coach and business owner from the last 20 years that I wish I could have shared with my younger self that I'm passing on to you. Number one, do not feel bad about the specific push the universe gave you to get you on the path of consulting and coaching business ownership. While few of us do get here out of vision alone, most of us need those nudges out of our secure nine-to-five nest. Number two.
Embrace the pain that gets you to move and grow. It's the very thing that your future success rests on, either in terms of motivation for ensuring you thrive as a business owner, or in terms of the very mission and purpose behind the consulting or coaching that you want to do. Number three, if you want to build a business that lasts, you have to think and act like someone who wants that to happen. So that means building the right business that you're excited about. It means building a brand around your expertise.
It means developing the mindset and skills of a CEO of your own growing enterprise who operates out of that going concern principle. You know, that you are going forward with the assumption that yes, this thing is going to succeed. Number four, don't waste time and money building what I would call the should-do business, you know, the one that you think is smart but doesn't really feel good to you in your heart because your heart won't be in it and your clients will feel it, or more accurately, not feel it, which will affect your client attraction, your conversion rate, your fees, and your overall general happiness.
And number five, do not waste time and money growing it alone. Period. Especially when it comes to time. You know, if you're looking for significance in addition to success, time is what's most precious. So now let's talk about your next steps and what you can do to take action on all these great principles and wisdom that I'm sharing from my 20 years of experience as a business owner. What I would love for you to do is reflect on what got you to the path of consulting and coaching business ownership. Was it just vision or was there some pain mixed with that vision?
And if there was pain, have you processed it, internalize it, and turn it into the fuel that propels your accelerated and sustained consulting or coaching success? Number two, review everything that you're doing right now to grow your consulting or coaching success. And I want you to be honest with yourself. You know, are you approaching it with the mindset of a CEO of your own growing enterprise that's built to last? Or are you somewhat still operating as a freelancer? You know, again, be honest, it's just us here.
You know, and if you haven't really moved into that mindset of like, yeah, I'm really growing my own business and my own brand, you know, think about like why not? What's holding you back? Like maybe you haven't thought about it or maybe you've had and you have like a little bit of fear that's making you so think like, I should just like kind of stay playing small. And number three, if you're going it alone, I'd love for you to do the math on what it's actually costing you. You know, break down your revenue goals by the number of hours you're working on your business and how much of it is in spin, analysis paralysis, the DIY learning curve.
The missed opportunities and calculate what is this costing you. Then add in all the intangibles of not having people around you who get it, who can support you, encourage you, help you just navigate those complexities and the inner questioning and all that kind of stuff. And once you have this business case straight, I want you to identify what help you need and go after finding it. And of course, if it's clarifying your business direction, your brand position, your foundational messaging, your offers, packaging it all on a credible website that connects with your clients, I am your girl.
So book a call with me at BetsyJordyn.com forward slash schedule and let's chat about it. Let's come up with your custom solution. That is a wrap on today's episode. If you're intrigued about my new format, including the quick wins and pep talks that are coming your way, be sure to subscribe wherever you're tuning in so you can get notified. And until next time, thanks so much for listening.
