Latest / Black Girls Consult TOO! / Episode 90: Small Business, Big Money

Transcript

Episode 90: Small Business, Big Money · Black Girls Consult TOO!

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We have to erase this assumption that big business, big corporations, automatically yield big money, because that is not always the case, especially if the offer is not designed in the right way, where you're delivering without a lot of overhead.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: You know this is a conversation for another day, but I think a lot of times we forget that when we're talking about money and we're talking about profitability, it's not just the money that you're bringing in, but it's also the money that you're pouring out.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: There's a misconception that we don't exist, that somehow our ability to excel at the highest level of our industry is limited, that overcoming barriers as a woman of color would be insurmountable.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: But what would happen if we decided to venture out on our own, despite everything we're up against?
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you Welcome to the Black Girls Consult To Podcast.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, dr Angelina Davis, a healthcare consultant, consulting coach, high performance fanatic wife and proud girl mom.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I help transform female professionals into thriving solo consultants and, just like you, I'm wearing all the hats and doing all the things.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: So this podcast is to empower the busy female professionals to move past fear to start and grow a successful consulting business, despite the obstacles you may encounter.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: We'll dive deep into consulting practice, business strategy, mindset and more.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: So grab your cup of coffee or tea, if that's your thing, and let's get started.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Hello, hello, hello.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Black Girls Consult To Podcast.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, dr Angelina Davis, and I am excited to be tuning in for another podcast episode today.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: One of the things that has been on my mind very recently is a conversation that I saw kind of playing out in the online space.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: It was all about not considering yourself as a small business.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Pretty much, being a small business seemed like an ugly word, a word that you didn't want to use.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: No one wants to be small.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Everybody wants to have a big business, and I was sitting back thinking about this, really, because, when you think about it, most of the businesses that are in the marketplace today are considered, by definition, small businesses.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: So I was thinking about where this would actually leave us in the long run, when we're considering how we are showing up in our space and winning business and growing our consulting firms.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Are we doing ourselves a disservice by not honoring the fact that we are in a different space and that we are small businesses oftentimes and that we have something that is very different and unique that we can offer?
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Are we somehow keeping ourselves from growing, scaling, advancing and growing to that larger size because we're unwilling to embrace where we are currently?
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: So in this episode, I want to dive deeper into that.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about how we can better understand our value as a small business, in particular, a small consulting business and firm, and what that means for you in terms of you being able to build your business over the years to come.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: You know, one thing that I want to remind us of is how the government sees our businesses in terms of size.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: So when we are talking about small businesses in general, we're talking about businesses that have fewer than 1500 employees and up to a maximum of $38 or $38.5 million in revenue.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: So when you're thinking about what it means to be a small business, you know, oftentimes many of the businesses that we reference as being larger entities are actually small businesses by definition.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: So this leads us to understand better where we fall in terms of this definition and the reality of where we are in our industry or in our marketplace, because it is apparent that very few businesses actually reach this much larger level of the massive corporations that we're thinking about.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: You know we're thinking about larger businesses.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: We're thinking About firms such as like Deloitte or a censure or you know any of these major organizations, but there are so many lucrative boutique A firm, so there are so many lucrative and very wealthy multi millionaire solo consultants and consultants who have small teams and they are highly successful by our standards and we consider them as being bigger fish in the pond Really, when in all actuality, they are actually small business owners.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: And so I think if we begin to reframe this conversation, we can better understand the value that we're bringing to the table and what we can offer the potential clients that we want to serve.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: But I want us to think about how being small can actually work to our advantage, because we're missing out on the value that we bring to the table.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: We're being small.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: We are shooting ourselves in the foot.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: In order to understand this better, I do think that we have to dive deeper into how people perceive value.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: There are two models that I like to reference often, and they are considered the elements of value, and so there's a model for the business to consumer space, and there's also a model for the business to business space.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I teach this a lot with the clients that I work with and the clients that I serve for this one reason, and it is because, in order for you to create an offer that truly resonates with your market, you need to fully understand the value that is placed on different outcomes, so that you have an idea as to what you are going to offer when you create and establish the service that you want to provide.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: When we do this in advance, we have a better idea as to how the result that we're offering, the transformation that we're offering, how that will be perceived by many that may be in our space.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: It's not an absolute, but it's a wonderful starting point because it highlights the fact that, similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs because this is a model that shape in a pyramid, the similar to Maslow's hierarchy of needs there is a foundational level that has to be established in order for a business or consumer to see greater value in some of the options or some of the results that can be offered at a higher level.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: So always use an example of a business that you may be interested in serving or working with.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: If they do not have the ability to keep the lights on and to pay their staff and to meet their financial expectations, then it's going to be difficult for them to find greater value and offers.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: They may focus on some aspect of streamlining their processes that don't directly tie into a cost savings or some other monetary benefit, or for them to focus on proving client satisfaction or customer satisfaction, although we know that will be tied to them being able to retain business and gain referrals and additional clientele in the long run.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: It's going to be hard for them to place a lot of value in that because they are right now very much fixated on the urgent need that they have to stay financially solid and stable.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: So when we're thinking about how we're able to help our target audience, we want to continue to keep all these things in mind.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So instead of us playing big and thinking about offers that are going to target a higher level of need is not that we don't want to do that, but sometimes there can be a lot of value in being able to incorporate some of these basic foundational elements that help us to provide a perceived value in the long run.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And what studies have shown in general is that one of the most common elements that any business is going to desire and want and value is quality.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: It's quality.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Quality means a lot.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Quality is valuable, and when you're able to increase the quality of the services that you provide, you are doing yourself and your clients the biggest service.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: You are creating a scenario where you, pretty much, are going to inevitably win.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: So I want to spend some of this time just talking about how, as a small business owner, as a solo consultant, as a small firm, how you're able to compete with some of the larger players in your industry, and you're able to do that by Taking into account everything that you bring to the table, by being being a smaller organization that can provide a more intimate Approach or higher quality in the services that you provide.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Thriving consulting business is built on a solid business foundation and a consulting code that leads you toward your ideal business and your ideal lifestyle, and the great thing about this code is that it works for any type of consulting practice, whether you help clients with professional development, business management, grant writing, it or something entirely different.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: This consulting code is not rocket science and is not beyond your reach, and when you crack the code, it can jump start the growth of your solo consulting practice and is what you need to know to get started and land your first clients, and nothing more.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: This is a step-by-step process I wish I had so many years ago, and that's why I wanted to share this with you and how you can do this too.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: So if you're interested in starting your consulting business and creating a desirable offer, to generate leads for your offer and to make sales, then the consulting code is your solution.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Visit wwwexcelatconsultingcom for more information.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Now, one thing that I want to point out is that by being the smaller player, the smaller business, a smaller consulting firm, what you're able to do is actually Compete in a much larger field with less opponents.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: And I like to point it out this way because, keep in mind, you have to think about the mindset that many other businesses have and business owners have.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: They often go after a Larger entity, try to compete with the biggest and the best in their industry, in their field, and they want to have that competition more directly, instead of Building up to the point where they can compete more directly by utilizing their strengths at a different level.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: So what this looks like is going after larger businesses and trying to offer similar services, being a smaller team, or maybe even a solo consulting, compared to a larger organization that may have a Team of experts at each level, in each division that can offer more tailored services and have greater capacity to do so.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: If you are setting yourself up head-to-head to compete in that scenario, I would hate to tell you you're probably gonna fail because you're not Equipped to be able to offer that same level of service in that same level of quality, which I just spoke of before is one of the things that many people highly value and perceive to be valuable and think in something that they want, in need.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: So another option is to think about all of those other Clients that are not being served by those larger corporations or those larger entities that are not able to Work with them because they don't have, maybe, that budget or they don't have Access to be able to do so.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And it's not that you're coming in second best, but what you're doing is actually being able to provide a more tailored service that may be smaller and packaged differently.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: That allows them to work more seamlessly with you, and and by doing this, this means that you can actually target a lot of Organizations and smaller businesses that many are going to overlook.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: And so, instead of you competing at this level, where everybody else is trying to fight for business and trying to win these larger contracts through RFPs and the that RFP process and whatnot.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: You are snatching up all the business around you that also is going to bring in a lot of money, without the time spent and wasted on you Securing these other RFPs and these contracts through Methods and means that do not favor you as a business owner, especially if you're a woman or a woman of color, or do not favor you in terms of the size and the capacity For you to be able to fulfill the service as needed.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: So here is where being able to compete in a completely different space works to your advantage, and not only does it work to your advantage from the standpoint that you are now offering services to people who have many times been overlooked or maybe even forgotten, and now you can actually offer greater value because you are able to create a scenario where you can perform at a higher level and produce higher quality work.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: This is something that I think we do not fully take advantage of often times, especially when we're working as solo consultants or as small affirms, because your ability to pay greater attention to detail, to have quicker follow up, to be able to turn around projects faster, to be able to deliver at a faster rate.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: All of those things equate to greater value to the clients that you want to serve, and so if you are producing higher quality, if you're turning that around at a faster rate, those things lead to cost savings and the ability to generate more revenue more swiftly for the clients that you want to secure.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: That is highly valuable.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: That will definitely allow you to land a contract a lot quicker than someone else who is telling that potential client that it's going to take a three month, six month turnaround.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: If you're able to come in and do that work in a shorter timeframe, that is not only valuable from the standpoint of them being excited to work with you because they can get things up and running faster, but you can actually charge more money for that because you're condensing the timeframe.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: So there is a lot of value in being able to do that, and oftentimes we don't think about this as being valuable in a way for us to land more business.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: We are fixated on the fact many times that we're not as big or seemingly as powerful or visible as maybe another larger entity may be.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: But if you're able to do better work, if you're able to do better work faster, if you're able to make the process seamless to work with you, if you're able to get back in touch with people and provide a level of personal engagement that is highly desired, especially in today's day and time, then that is something that people will sign up for time and time again.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: It will work to your advantage.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And then the last thing I want to remind you is that small businesses don't mean small money.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: So we think about these corporate contracts, because most people are interested in landing what we call big money and we're trying to secure that, but we don't consider all the time that's spent trying to win that business.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: How much time are you spending submitting all of these RFPs?
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: How much time are you spending getting those to, so many of these proposals that you're sending out so that you can win that business that way?
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: How much time are you spending trying to compete against so many others in your field?
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Think about that, because all of the time that's spent is not necessarily time wasted.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: I don't believe in time being wasted.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: You're learning as you go along, you're making connections as you go along, but I want you to think about your ability to spend that same amount of time being able to build Relationships and establish relationships with other Businesses that have similar needs, that don't have all the red tape that you need to jump through in the hoops that you need to jump through In order to land business and land a larger contract with them.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Those are the types of things that you want to consider and Keep in mind when we're talking about those types of business.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: No, they may not necessarily be a Coca-Cola, or Maybe they're.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: They're not Verizon or some large organization to that extent, but maybe they are businesses that have a few hundred or a thousand employees.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Right, those organizations still can be very, very lucrative.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: You have a lot of big-time players that do not necessarily have the size that would Give them the ability to fall into the definition of having a larger business.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: So maybe they do small, fall into the category of a small business, but they generate millions upon millions of dollars and you can actually build a relationship that allows you to win a larger contract working with them, because you are focused on delivering a higher quality service and and being able to perform at a higher level that they are going to desire.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: And I think that we have to erase this assumption that big business, big operations, automatically yield big money, because that is not always the case, especially if the offer is not designed in the right way, where you're delivering without a lot of overhead.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: You know this is a conversation for another day, but I think a lot of times we Forget that when we're talking about money and we're talking about profitability, it's not just the money that you're bringing in, but it's also the money that you're pouring out.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: So how much money are you spending on contractors?
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: How much money are you spending trying to Deliver the service that you're promising to provide?
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: If you have a lot of overhead, that's eating away at this larger contract that you want, then is that as lucrative of a Contract that you had originally thought?
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Or or maybe you're not considering Every aspect of the sales cycle and what it took to get there and what it takes also to fulfill on that service that's provided.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: And what I found is that many times, when people are not careful In terms of building out their service offer and mapping out how they provide their services in a way that allows them to be more profitable in more streamlined, then you can get into delivering these bloated services that can limit your profitability, no matter how big your contract was right.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: So I think there are a lot of layers to this process that we overlook and we don't consider and we get fixated and focus on the fact that Trying to work with a larger corporation is going to automatically be the big money win that we need in order to Sustain our business for the years to come.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: But the diversification of the businesses that you work with, as well as your ability to Be able to sustain those relationships and increase the lifetime value of that particular client, is going to also be Just as lucrative.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I will argue as you being able to go after these large contract from year to year.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: It's a different approach.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: It's not that one is right or wrong, but I want you to just understand that you offer a lot of value as a small business, as a smaller entity.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: When you build out your boutique firm if that's your goal or desire, or if you're showing up as a solo consultant in your space, you're delivering a higher quality service that still is highly valuable and worthy of being properly compensated.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: So it's not that you are Assuming small contracts and trying to make up your business and create your business and build your business on volume, but you're still building your business based upon quality.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: It's still a higher ticket service and the greater quality that you're able to offer, the Higher touch that you're able to provide, is going to be worthy of greater reimbursement.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: So lean into that, don't be afraid of it.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: It's not anything to be ashamed of, you know.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Just because someone says that you have a small business, that's not an insult.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I want you to really think differently and also I want to clarify that this is not a limiting thought.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: You're not limiting yourself to a certain size or a certain amount of money.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: The sky is the limit.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: But what I'm trying to say is that, as you're going through this journey, you will have to go through the phase of being small in order to get big, and if you don't appreciate the value and the benefit of being small when you are small, then you will never get to the point where you are big enough to be able to rightfully hold that space and to last as a larger entity over time.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Everything has a season, everything has its time and by embracing the space that you're currently in, it will get you to that larger goal much faster.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: So you know, I really hope that this conversation is helpful.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: I hope that you can walk away feeling reassured that, being a smaller entity in your space whether you're a smaller firm, solo consultant, boutique firm, smaller agency that you're building and establishing right now that you understand that you're in a space where you have the ability to land highly lucrative contracts by leaning into your power of being the one that can deliver a higher quality service, that is able to provide a level of high touch and interaction and responsiveness that others are unable to do, that you can keep your client first in mind and you can win over their business and not show up in magazines and articles for not taking the client's needs into consideration and focusing solely on the dollar.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: See, people are looking for something different and when you show up as that different consultant, that different business in your space, that is what wins people over.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: That's what's going to help you compete as a woman, especially a woman of color, in this industry.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: It's going to be being able to utilize your strengths to your advantage, to be smart in how you build out your services so that you're not bloating them with unnecessary needs and other expenses that can lead you to landing lucrative contracts and still coming up short.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: So, once again, being small is not bad.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Instead, being small can be powerful.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: You can be small and mighty right now, and I will argue that the more you lean into the value that you can provide by being a smaller entity right now, that's going to lead you to even greater success in the end.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to share it with a friend, always, always, always.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: I am so appreciative when you're able to do that and reach out to me on LinkedIn or Instagram.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I do enjoy those conversations and kind of continuing the conversations that we have on the podcast, and make sure that, if you did enjoy the episode, that you leave a review on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: I want you to embrace the value that you bring to the table and being able to provide a higher quality of service and being able to raise the level of expectations of the clients that you serve and performing at your highest level by being able to pay attention to detail and service them in a way that these larger corporations cannot do.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: All right with that, I know that you're going to be successful.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, guys, I love this conversation and I can't wait to talk to you again.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Take care, bye.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: There's a misconception that we don't exist, that somehow our ability to excel at the highest level of our industry is limited, that overcoming barriers as a woman of color would be insurmountable.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: But what would happen if we decided to venture out on our own, despite everything we're up against?
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Black Girls Consult To Podcast.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, dr Angelina Davis, a healthcare consultant, consulting coach, high performance fanatic wife and proud girl mom.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I help transform female professionals into thriving solo consultants and, just like you, I'm wearing all the hats and doing all the things.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: So this podcast is to empower the busy female professionals to move past fear to start and grow a successful consulting business.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Despite the obstacles you may encounter.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: We'll dive deep into consulting practice, business strategy, mindset and more.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: So grab your cup of coffee or tea, if that's your thing, and let's get started.