Latest / Black Girls Consult TOO! / Episode 128: Resilience and Revenue: How to Thrive in a Competitive Industry

Transcript

Episode 128: Resilience and Revenue: How to Thrive in a Competitive Industry · Black Girls Consult TOO!

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You know, one of the biggest lies we're told in this industry is that resilience means just toughing it out, that if you push harder, if you keep working longer, eventually everything is just going to click.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's just going to all work magically in your favor.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: But the truth is that resilience isn't about taking hit after hit after hit and just surviving.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It's not.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: It's about learning how to adapt, how to level up and, really, most importantly, how to turn all of those setbacks into revenue, into growth and opportunity.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Because, let's get real, this consulting industry, it wasn't built with us in mind, for us as women, especially women of color industry, it wasn't built with us in mind.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: For us as women, especially women of color.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Resilience isn't just a nice to have, it is essential.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: It's how we carve out space in rooms that were not designed for us, in rooms that really, to be honest, we haven't been in, and so, in order for us to build authority, even when the odds are stacked against us, we need to truly know what resilience means and how to use it.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: So today, we're not gonna talk about resilience in that grit your teeth and bear it type of way.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: We're going to change what you've heard possibly a thousand times, and I wanna show you how resilience, when you use it as a strategy, can actually be the key to you taking your business to a new level.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: It's not just about making it through tough times, it's about creating opportunities from them.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: If you're tired of feeling a little worn out, or if you are tired of hearing no when you know you have so much to offer, then this episode is for you, because resilience isn't just about bouncing back, it's about bouncing forward.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about how we can turn our resilience into revenue, growth and freedom.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Let's get started, they say.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: The odds are stacked against us as women, especially women of color, trying to thrive in the consulting world.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: But rather than wait for a seat at the table that may never come, what if we build our own tables?
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: What if we channeled our talents into guiding each other towards the success we deserve?
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Black Girls Consulting Podcast.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, dr Angelina Davis, and I've walked the path from healthcare consultant to a mentor for women like you, ambitious, unstoppable and ready to make waves in the consulting world.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: This podcast is your go-to spot for all things entrepreneurial consulting.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: For us as women, especially women of color.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Think of it as your weekly coffee date with a friend who's here to dish out real talk on building a solid business, elevating your thought leadership and mastering that all-important mindset.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: And let's not forget, we're doing all of this while balancing day jobs, family life and running teams.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, we can do it all.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: So if you're ready to dive into how you can grow a thriving consultancy or get strategies and insights that actually fit your busy lifestyle, then you're in the right place.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Grab your coffee, tea or, hey, even a glass of wine.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I won't judge.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Let's get started.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the Black Girls Consult Tube podcast.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, dr Angelina Davis.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: And listen, I'm so glad we are clear on this one issue that resilience isn't just about surviving the tough stuff.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: It really is about growing through it.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that we have to find different ways to let our challenges fuel our journey forward.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: We can get stuck in the challenge, right.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: We can get stuck in this place where we have a lot of negative energy that's feeding into us from a lot of different places.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: And listen, I get it.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I've been there.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I understand that that's sometimes what is hard not to do right.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: It's hard for us to not do those things because many of these challenges seem to just come from every direction over and over and over again, but the thing is that we have to find a way to use it to our advantage.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: And I know that's easier said than done, because when you're facing rejection and doubt, or even those little whispers in the back of your head that's telling you you know really maybe this isn't for you.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: It can feel really personal and sometimes it feels like every no is a roadblock that's telling you to turn back around, that this is not what you're supposed to be doing.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: And this can show up at different phases of your business journey.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: It's not just for the beginning.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: It can show up when you're trying to land that larger contract or when you're trying to work with your dream corporate client.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: It will show up at different times.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: It will rear its head at different points of your business journey.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: So I know that can be hard, but the thing is that I want us to start really looking at these no's in a new light and let's dig into that.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about some key mindset shifts that can really take you from going from just getting through these moments to really using them as springboards for your real growth.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Now, one of the biggest shifts that I had to make is realizing that resilience didn't just mean that I was able to stand through these tough moments.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: It wasn't just about how much I could take.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: It truly was about how I was interpreting those challenges that I was facing.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: And the thing is that when you are able to shift your mindset in that way, it will help you move forward.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It'll allow you to have a better understanding as to what you need to do to achieve your next big goal.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: So I want to start with the idea that many times, the rejections that we face are actually redirection, because when we learn to see rejection not as a stop sign, but just as a detour or maybe just a plot twist to something better, that's when we take our resilience to a whole new level.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Now I know when I talk about rejection as redirection, I get it.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: It sounds a little cliche.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: It sounds like I'm just feeding you a bunch of common sayings and things that people tell you when they want you to feel better about your situation.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: But I want you to stay with me right now because there's a powerful truth there In consulting, especially as a woman, and a woman of color, it is inevitable that you're going to face some closed doors.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I have walked into the client meeting where someone has looked at me as if I had 10 heads, like they did not expect a black woman to walk through that door.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: This was in deep woods of South Carolina I'm in the South, so some of this was not completely new to me.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: But I knew that.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Look, when I saw it, I understood what it meant.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I understood the shock that that person had on their face, especially because in my consulting group at the time there was no diversity, so they were not expecting for me to walk through the door.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I had newly started as a part of our group and it really just was not on their mind that they were gonna be working number one with a woman, but then number two with a woman of color, with a black woman.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: So those feelings will come and you have to live through them and not just live through them and shrink into your shell, but you have to actually stand in that spot in that moment and command the level of respect that you deserve.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: So it's inevitable that many of these things are gonna happen, and maybe for you it's a client who tries to ghost you or a proposal that you were sure you would land, but it doesn't come through.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: All of those instances are circumstances that really do hurt.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: It stings and if we're not careful, every rejection that we get can start to feel like a reflection of our own value, like for me when I walked through that door that something was wrong with me.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Like immediately I was not good enough.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: But the thing is that that is not true.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: It's not that you were not cut out for this or that something's missing.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: The mindset shift that I want you to embrace is that rejection isn't a reflection of your worth.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: It's feedback on your path.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: So let me say that again, because it really is important Rejection is feedback.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: It's data you can use.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it's telling you that maybe this client wasn't a right fit.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's telling you that your offer needs a little more clarity or refinement, but none of it and I do mean none of it means that you're not qualified or capable.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: When you start to see rejection as redirection, the thing that it'll do it'll change the game, because instead of thinking this didn't work, so I must be doing something wrong, you start to ask what lesson am I supposed to learn right here?
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: How can I use this experience to make my next move.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: How can I be better because of this?
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: So here's what I want you to do the next time you face rejection or setback, I want you to take a moment and, instead of going straight to what went wrong, ask yourself what I can learn from this, because maybe it's a hint that you need to refine your pitch, or maybe it's a sign to focus on a different type of client who better aligns with your values.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: And this is a really small and subtle shift, but it truly is a powerful one, because when rejection is less of a roadblock for you and more of a sign or a signal to recalibrate, you're going to make a lot of progress.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: You're going to make more progress than you would have made if you fall into the trap of thinking.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: It means something about you.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about another big shift, and that is the adaptability over perfection.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of pressure in consulting, especially when you're trying to prove yourself.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: To get everything just right, it needs to be perfect, it needs to be flawless.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: You need to be able to anticipate every question, give every possible answer, you need to address everything before it comes up.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: But let me tell you, perfection is a trap.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Perfection is a trap, and I am a recovering perfectionist, so I fell in this trap many times, over and over again.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: It keeps you small, it holds you back because you're afraid to take risks, you're afraid to make any real bold move.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: And so, instead, I want to have you focus on adaptability, because when you focus on adaptability, that's actually where real resilience lives.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Because you stay flexible, you know that you can handle whatever comes your way.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Not because you know everything, not because you have all the answers, because you trust that even if it doesn't go right, even if it's not perfect, you'll figure it out.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: The thing is that when you're adaptable, you can walk into any room with confidence, any client meeting, any backdoor session, any boardroom.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: You can walk in there knowing that you have the tools to make the necessary adjustments and to deliver on the promise of the outcomes that you are supposed to deliver on.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: And that's even if things don't go according to plan.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: You know how to adapt.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: And the people who can't adapt are the ones that end up, in the long run, struggling, because they're walking in prepared, typically with what they think are going to be all the answers, but the thing that they're not giving themselves room to do is to be flexible, is to be able to take something off the cuff and being able to navigate it in that present moment, and that's really the heart of negotiation a lot of times when you are in those spaces.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: So you have to be able to adapt.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: It's very hard to be successful in consulting if you're not able to adapt.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: You want to be able to roll with the punches and be very confident in doing that.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: So the next time you feel yourself getting bogged down by the details, you're thinking about how everything needs to be perfect, you're worried about the things that are going to go wrong.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: I want you to instead think about what's the worst thing that could happen if I don't know this answer.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: What's the worst thing that could happen if I don't have a response immediately?
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: What's the worst thing that's going to happen if I say you know what, I'm not exactly sure I'm going to get back with you, right?
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Because if you think about that, you realize that nothing typically nothing's going to happen, that all of these catastrophic things that you thought could take place, that they truly, in real life, often don't happen, and they're often situations that you can indeed handle, and they're often situations that you can indeed handle and when you realize that when you kind of practice this for a while, it makes you less fearful when you walk into those spaces.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: It allows you to sit there with more confidence and speak more boldly because you're not worried about what you're gonna say wrong.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And that's part of what we're always trying to overcome when it comes to I always like to say the corporate conditioning and the corporate trauma we face, because many times in many corporate environments, we've been in situations where our expertise and our intellect and our brilliance has been questioned and we have been expected to follow set protocols and procedures and things that others have determined is most appropriate for that business environment.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Now, I always like to remind you that what was appropriate in that environment is not the end-all, be-all.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: It's just the way that that particular organization wanted to carry out business, and there's nothing wrong with them doing that, because what they were trying to create is consistency within their organization and within their organization's messaging and values and beliefs.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't mean that there are not other options and other answers and other ways of doing things.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: What you are able to pull from as an entrepreneur is the fact that you have access to all of these other ways, all of these different ways of approaching a situation, and when you realize that you have that at your disposal, it's okay for you to take that pause and take that moment and figure out exactly how you want to proceed.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: The thing is that you can handle it.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: You have done it in the past.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: You've handled worse, right.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: So adaptability is actually something that's in your favor.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: So I want you to focus on embracing that adaptability over their perfection.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And another thing and this is probably the third mindset shift that I feel like is very important, especially when we're starting this conversation about resilience is that you need to see empathy as a strategic advantage.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: One of the things that is very unique about women in business and our feminine power is that we tend to be more empathetic.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: That's just by nature, and so often when we see empathy when it comes to consulting, we can see it as being something that makes us vulnerable, because we're taught to be in this hustle mode, this very hyper-masculine energy to always go and win and beat the competition, and you know that is an energy that is helpful at times.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: But also, I want to encourage you to really you know, understand and appreciate the wealth and the benefit associated with empathy, because we don't often hear about that as one of the tools that you have in your toolkit.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: We don't often hear about that as one of the tools that you have in your toolkit.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: And as women, especially women of color, we have to navigate spaces that don't always feel welcoming or inclusive, so we know what it feels like to be unseen or to be underestimated, and while those experiences are hard, they often give us this unique lens to look through in this deep sense of empathy.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: This is why leaning into who you are authentically and your lived experience is so valuable, because now this allows you to connect with people on a level that goes beyond the surface level transactions.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: This isn't just about being a good person.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: This is not just about having a nice quality.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: It can be your strategic advantage if you use it that way, because clients don't want just another consultant.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: They don't want.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Let's be honest.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Let me just say this Most people don't want someone to tell them what to do.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: How often have you experienced a situation where someone has tried to tell you what to do and you felt off, that they were off putting or the situation was not pleasant?
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: People typically don't want someone to tell them what to do.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: What they want is someone who understands their challenges.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: What they want is someone who cares about their success, who has the empathy to truly relate to them.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: That's what builds trust.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: It's really the foundation of any strong relationship.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: So I want you to, instead of seeing empathy as this soft skill or this vulnerable part of yourself, start viewing it as your secret weapon.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I know this to be true.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: This is what I have experienced throughout my practice is that it's been the empathy that has allowed me to connect with clients, to really share with them at a different level, on a deeper level.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: It lets people know that you're not just there to do a job, you're not just there to make money.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: You're there to make a real difference in their lives and in their business.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: And the thing is, when you lead with empathy, you're not just another consultant, you're not just another big firm coming in trying to tell them what to do, who they need to get rid of, who they need to fire, what they need to change.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Nobody wants that.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Nobody wants that.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Nobody wants that.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Nobody wants that.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: That's why, when you are practicing in a different manner, where empathy is your advantage.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: They come back to you over and over again, and because they come back to you, that revenue is gonna follow.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Now I know that was a lot, and we're going to move beyond just the mindset shifts into things that you can do to actually take action.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: But I just wanna recap this part really quickly and really briefly, because I do feel like this is an important part of the process.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: The first thing is that I want you to see rejection as redirection.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: It's not a stop sign, it's just feedback.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Second, when letting go of perfection, you're not going to ever be perfect, and so instead, it's better to embrace adaptability, because it's not about having everything all figured out.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: It's about, like we said before, being able to adjust and to keep moving.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: And then, last but not least, we're viewing empathy, that soft skill that no one really talks about, that you may feel is a vulnerability.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: We're actually seeing that as a strategic asset, and that is what we're going to use to set us apart.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: All right, so now that we've talked about mindset shifts, let's get into how to put resilience to work in your consulting business, because resilience isn't just an internal mindset.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: It's actually something that you have to actively build into the way that you run your business, and when you do this, it's gonna send a powerful message to your clients that you're not just here for the easy wins, but you're actually here to deliver, no matter what, and that type of confidence and consistency is what clients are going to pay premium for.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about some specific actions you can take to really leverage resilience as a revenue generating strategy, you know.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: First up, let's talk about consistency.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: One of the most underrated ways of building your credibility as a consultant's just to be consistent.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: It literally is to just be consistent even when it's hard, even when you're not seeing instant results, even when numbers are down, even when you're getting no's from RFPs or cold calls or not turning out leads or whatever tactic or strategy you may be using is not working, even when those things are not working well in the moment.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: It's all about showing up consistently.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I want you to think about it this way how many people have you noticed in the last year or so have quit or disappeared from the internet?
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Maybe you have seen them on LinkedIn.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Maybe you have seen them on Instagram.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: In the past, they were promoting their consulting businesses, they were marketing, they were speaking, they were doing all the things right, but you don't see them anymore.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: That's interesting, right?
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: The thing is that it's easy to get discouraged If you don't get the immediate feedback, the positive feedback, that you need, or if the client pipeline slows down or maybe a project doesn't go as planned or you lose your big client that you have been depending upon for a number of years.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: When those things happen, it can feel defeating and discouraging.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: That's understandable, and the thing is that when we don't have this resilience in place, when we don't have this built up and maintained, then we're going to stop showing up, we're going to stop delivering value, and so when we do those things, then that disruption, that lack of consistency, begins to erode the trust that we built.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Because when clients see that you're reliable, when they see that you're someone who is always there, you're this consistent fixture that's always there.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: You don't vanish when things get challenging, no matter what the economy is doing in the moment, you're still there, you're showing up, you're in place where they have always seen you.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: That right there is going to make you more valuable.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: It's rare that people are able to do that so practically what this means is just finding one, at the most two platforms where your potential clients are.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: So, whether that's LinkedIn, or if it's Instagram or your blog or your email newsletter, whatever it's going to be, pick it, make sure it fits into your lifestyle to do easily, without a lot of stress and negative energy where it will burn you out, and be consistent.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: By committing to that and showing your expertise and insights there consistently, every week or even just every month, you're not just building visibility.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: You're actually showing them that you are here for the long haul and that they can trust that.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: If someone is about to sign off on a contract for tens of thousands of dollars, or if they're about to hand you their hard earned money, they want to have reassurance that you're going to be around.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: And if you are going in and out, seen and not seen, they're going to question whether or not they should make the decision to move forward with you.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Think about these things more practically right.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: It's not just about showing up and being consistent for consistency's sake.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: The reason you're doing this is number one, because you owe it to yourself and your business needs to grow and it needs to expand.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: So you owe it to yourself and your business is needs to grow and it needs to expand.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: So you owe it to yourself.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: The second is that people need to see you as a stable fixture, as someone they can trust, so that they are more willing to get off the fence and to move forward with working with you.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: That's going to come from that consistency.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: The second thing is that I want you to turn your what I like to call battle scars into your social proof.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: So these are the challenging moments, the tough clients, the mistakes you've made along the way.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: I want you to take all of that and I know it's something that we tend to hide as part of our journey, because it's not pretty, all right, but I want you to take that.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: I want you to take those battle scars and I want you to use them as proof of your resilience, because they're part of your story.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: They are what make you more credible, not less credible.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: So, for example, if you had a client project that nearly fell apart but you found a way to turn it around, that's a story to share.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: What that does it shows your potential clients that when things don't go as planned, you don't panic, you don't run away, you don't drop the ball and instead you find a way to get it done.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: That's powerful and you don't have to go into all the gritty details.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: You don't have to tell them every negative detail, but just think about how you can weave these different battle scars into your messaging, because the truth is that when clients see that you've navigated these challenges before, they are actually more confident that you can handle their challenges.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: And that confidence is what's going to allow you to charge higher rates in the land, bigger projects, because they believe in you and what you're capable of doing.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Now this next action step may actually surprise you, because it's all about setting boundaries and look, I know it might sound like boundaries are just about protecting yourself from burnout, protecting your time and protecting your energy and, yes, that's part of it.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: But boundaries also communicate value, because when you have clear boundaries around your time, your energy and your expertise, it signals to clients that you know your worth.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: You're not available 24 seven, you're not bending over backwards at the drop of a hat and you're certainly not giving away free consulting and quick chats.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: That's probably, I feel like one of the hardest things to get people to stop doing.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: So what do you do instead?
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Well, you may establish office hours for your clients so that way they know that there's a designated time for them to communicate with you, or maybe you're setting a firm scope of work for each project that you're doing, so clients understand what is committed in terms of time from you to that project and that any additional requests are going to actually require additional investment.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: It's about teaching your clients to respect your time and expertise and then, in turn, what happens is they start to see the value you bring and when clients respect your boundaries, they're more willing to pay the rates that reflect your expertise, because they understand what the limits are and what they're paying for is the ability to have greater access.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: They understand that they're working with a professional, that you're not just someone who's grateful to be there, that's just trying to drum up business.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: They understand that you are someone who is trained.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: You are someone who is professional, who is able to take them to a new level.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: In many cases may result in significant increases in their revenue in their businesses, and because of that, they are willing to compensate you for it, because they have a new perceived value of the expertise that you offer.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Right, I want you to think about how you're communicating your value in this whole connection with boundaries, similar to how you are packaging a product.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: When a product has beautiful packaging, there's something about it that feels more luxurious, that feels more expensive, right, and part of that is because you've established and set an expectation.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: And when you have boundaries, you're establishing and setting the expectation of what it's like to work with you.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: So it's very similar and I want you to begin to see that the boundaries you're setting around your business and with your clients, that these are things that are going to help you to become more resilient in the end, because it's going to save your energy and your time.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: And then also it's going to help you to be paid better, because there is going to be a greater perceived value of the services that you offer.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: And then, last but not least, I want you to create a resilience ritual for yourself, and this is going to get a bit more personal.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: I want you to create a ritual because, if I'm honest, running a consulting business has its ups and downs.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: It's going to have its good times and bad.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: It's going to have for many.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Depending upon how your business is structured, it may even have a feast or famine mode, right, a feast or famine cycle.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: So you have to be intentional about how you are processing those experiences, because if you don't, it's really easy to carry that stress with you.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: That can be negative in a lot of ways, including your mental and physical health.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: So I want you to have a ritual, and this ritual can be very simple.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: It can actually look something like having a weekly reflection practice where you just take the time, a few minutes, to write down your wins and your challenges and what you learned that week, or maybe it's a monthly review that you're doing, where you're looking back on the projects that you had and you're trying to figure out and you're noting what went well and then where you could grow.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: The goal is that you stop and you pause and you process, because when you're building time for reflection, the one thing that you'll start to see are a lot of patterns.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: You'll start to recognize areas of growth and then areas where you can pinpoint needs a little bit more work.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Another thing that you do is that you begin to see things that are working that you may have overlooked, and that's something I always like to point out with clients that I work with, especially on a more intimate one-on-one level, is that I'll have them, not just look at the outwardly metrics that they may face every day.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: So that may mean how many people engage with their LinkedIn posts, how many responses they got or questions or interactions they got in their DMs, or how many responses or replies to emails, how many people booked a call.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: How many people may have responded and gave feedback from a proposal that type of thing.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: I have them instead.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Focus on the little things, right, how many signups did they get for their lead magnet when they made a post?
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Did you check and see, although the likes were not as high, how many people actually went into your bio?
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: And what you'll see sometimes is that the likes may not be liking, you may not have as many likes, but then you go and look and there were 10 or 15 people that clicked into your bio or that downloaded your lead magnet.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: That is worth more than that little like that you're going to see on the screen.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: But oftentimes we don't see that because in the midst of everything that's going on in our day serving clients, trying to keep a business afloat and doing all the things it's hard to I mean, it's easy to overlook those things, so it's hard to see them.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: So this is going to help you to really just be more resilient because it helps you to see the things that are working and how you can actually move forward the things that are working and how you can actually move forward.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: And the thing is that clients can tell when they're working with someone who's very intentional about their own growth and self-improvement.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: When you see the person that you're working with doing the work, it gives you more confidence that what they're telling you works right, because they're doing what they are telling you to do.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: They're actually living it out, and that's what I want us to do, in whatever facet it may be, for the work you do in your industry.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: How can you live that out?
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: How can you live elements of that out?
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: And let me tell you that is something that people will pay for, because they always want the assurance that they're paying for something that they can see will work.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: So there you have it.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: That's four actual ways to really turn this resilience into revenue.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: To show up consistently to build trust and visibility.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: To embrace your battle scars and share them as your social proof, as your proof points of your resilience cars, and share them as your social proof, as your proof points of your resilience.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: To begin to set boundaries that communicate your value so that you attract high quality clients.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: And then, finally, to create a resilience ritual to help you process and grow from every experience.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Each of those steps, no matter how small on their own, when you put them together, they are extremely powerful.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: They're how you build a consulting practice that doesn't just survive, but one that actually thrives, no matter what challenges you face, no matter what challenges come your way.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: So I know we went a little bit long today.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: We covered a lot.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Know we went a little bit long today.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: We covered a lot.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: We talked about resilience not just as pushing through these difficult moments, but really using that resilience as a powerful strategy.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: This needs to be something that we are able to use to fuel our growth, to build our credibility and, yes, to increase our revenue.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: We talked about mindset shifts how seeing rejection as redirection and embracing adaptability over perfection and using empathy as a strategic advantage can actually help us move forward.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: And then we dove into some specific actions that you can take to put resilience to work in your business.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Things like showing up consistently, sharing your battle scars, setting boundaries and communicating your value, and creating a resilience ritual to keep yourself grounded and growing.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: All of this is only as powerful as what you do next.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: So before we wrap up we're almost there Before we wrap up, I want to leave you with one final challenge.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I want you this week, to pick one thing from today's episode, just one, and put it into action.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Whether it's a mindset shift, whether it is one of the action steps that we talked about, pick one, find the lesson in it and put it to action, and I want you to commit to it.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Commit to doing it, because resilience is something that's not built overnight.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: It's not like you're going to listen to this episode and you're going to, all of a sudden be a resilient consultant that doesn't have any mindset issues at any point in time in your practice.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: It doesn't happen overnight.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: It was something that we all just continue to work on.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: I'm still working on it.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: We just work on it over time, but one small shift at a time makes a huge impact.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: The more you do, the more you'll start to see resilience show up, not just in how you think, but in how you run your business, how your clients actually respond to you, because you're not just about bouncing back from tough moments.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: You are a woman, a woman of color, especially in this industry, and you know what it means to be resilient.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: You've done it before, you've done it in the past in a lot of different ways, and so this is just reminding you that you're gonna also have to do it on this business journey.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: So take that one step.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Let it be a stepping stone for the next step you're gonna take, and the next step and the next, and then trust me that the impact that you're going to create from this is gonna be bigger than you could ever imagine.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: It really will be.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: So I wanna just thank you so much for spending.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: It really will be.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: So I want to just thank you so much for spending this time with me.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: I really do hope that today's conversation gave you some fresh perspective and some practical tools that keep you moving forward.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: I felt like this episode was kind of really timely for today, for our economy, for just everything that seems to be going on around me, for the things that I'm noticing clients are experiencing, and if this resonated with you, I love to hear about it.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I want you to shoot me a message on LinkedIn or Instagram, tag me in this episode, and I love, as always, if you could leave a review for the podcast on either Spotify or on Apple Podcasts or any other platform that you listen to it on, because that really does help us to grow and it helps the podcast to spread when we're able to get those reviews and we're able to share with other listeners.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: But I do hope that it has been helpful.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: I hope that you use it, I hope that you become more resilient as a result and I hope that I get to see you again next week.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: All right guys, take care.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in to the Black Girls Console 2 podcast.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to leave your review on Apple Podcasts, subscribe and share it with a friend.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: We're on a mission to increase the success and longevity of women in consulting, and you can help us do just that.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Also, I'd love to hear from you.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: So let's connect at Dr Angelina Davis on Instagram or LinkedIn and don't forget to visit excelatconsultingcom for more information to support your consulting journey.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep breaking glass ceiling.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: All right, take care.