July 11, 2024 • 30 mins
Send me a text message and get your questions answered on the podcast! I'd love to hear from you!
Is it time to pivot or quit when business stalls? Many entrepreneurs are asking this question right now. The market has become more crowded and sophisticated, creating havoc along the entrepreneurial journey. But is this just a natural occurrence? In this episode, we explore what it means to push through "the dip." We will explain this inevitable and challenging phase where progress seems to stall and why you don't have to stay there.
**************
For more information on The Lean Consulting Model, you can find the LinkedIn article referenced in this episode here.
Learn how to build a thriving consulting business. Register for my FREE email course Consulting Mastery Blueprint: 5 Steps to Building Your Own Six-Figure Consulting Business, or visit https://excelatconsulting.com/client-catalyst-blueprint/
Stay up to date and receive insight to support your journey delivered directly to your inbox. Join the email list!
For more information on how to start, grow, or scale your consulting business, visit https://excelatconsulting.com
Let's Connect! I'd love to continue this conversation with you. Don't hesitate to reach out to me...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drangelinadavis/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Many people look at certain I would say dips in the
market or dips in sales and theythink you know, does this mean
that this business or thisservice is not meant for me?
Is this something that I needto leave behind?
Do I need to pivot, do I needto change?
And what I've noticed is thatso many times we pivot or we
(00:22):
quit way too early.
They say the odds are stackedagainst us as women, especially
women of color, trying to thrivein the consulting world.
But rather than wait for a seatat the table that may never
come, what if we build our owntables?
What if we channeled ourtalents into guiding each other
(00:42):
towards the success we deserve?
Welcome to the Black GirlsConsulting Podcast.
I'm your host, dr AngelinaDavis, and I've walked the path
from healthcare consultant to amentor for women like you,
ambitious, unstoppable and readyto make waves in the consulting
world.
This podcast is your go-to spotfor all things entrepreneurial
(01:02):
consulting.
For us as women, especiallywomen of color.
Think of it as your weeklycoffee date with a friend who's
here to dish out real talk onbuilding a solid business,
elevating your thoughtleadership and mastering that
all important mindset.
And let's not forget we'redoing all of this while
balancing day jobs, family lifeand running teams.
(01:22):
Yes, we can do it all.
So if you're ready to dive intohow you can grow a thriving
consultancy or get strategiesand insights that actually fit
your busy lifestyle, then you'rein the right place.
Grab your coffee tea.
Hello, welcome to the BlackGirls Consult 2 podcast.
I'm your host, dr AngelinaDavis.
(01:54):
If you are new to the podcast,welcome in, and if you're tuning
in again from a previousepisode, then welcome back.
So I want to dive right in withthis episode because there has
been a lot on my mind andfeelings.
I want to get off my chestsurrounding how we keep going
when business stalls, and one ofthe reasons why I chose to talk
(02:17):
about this topic is becauseI've been in a few groups
business groups, actually,recently and these are groups of
very smart entrepreneurs thatare highly successful, been
doing their thing for a longtime, many of them longer than I
have and also I've been talkingto colleagues as well as
(02:38):
previous clients, and I feellike I've heard this
conversation come up over andover again about where we are
currently in the economy.
We know that right now we're inan election season, an election
year, and that can throw thingsoff a little bit in terms of
being able to reach our targetaudience on social media,
because it is going to give somepreference to those
(03:02):
conversations that center aroundpolitics and the election, as
well, as we have the Olympicsthat are going to be this summer
and this month actually, so I'msuper excited about that.
I don't know if you are, but Icannot wait until track and
field and gymnastics starts.
That is my life when it comesto the Olympics, but in swimming
I forgot to say that, but mypoint is that there's a lot of
(03:25):
noise right now and that canmake it very difficult for us to
stand out as business owners,founders and entrepreneurs in
the online space.
And then, when we think aboutreaching our target audience in
other ways, whether it's byemail or maybe a convention Well
, listen, people are outsideright now.
As you all know, I work inhealthcare consulting and I can
(03:49):
tell you that hospitals arerather slow right now and mainly
because the weather's been goodin most places.
I am sending prayers to anyonein Texas that may be listening
to this episode right now thathas experienced a recent
hurricane, so I know it takes alot of rebuilding, but outside
of those types of events thatreally are considered natural
(04:13):
disasters.
It's been rather warm and sunnyin most places, and so people
are out living life, especiallyafter all that we've endured
over the past few years,especially after all that we've
endured over the past few years.
So that can make it hard tosell consulting services,
especially when that may not betop of mind for many people.
(04:35):
However, I don't want you toconfuse what you may be
experiencing as the reality ofbusiness for you.
Many people look at certain, Iwould say dips in the market or
dips in sales and they thinkdoes this mean that this
(04:56):
business or this service is notmeant for me?
Is this something that I needto leave behind?
Do I need to pivot?
Do I need to change?
And what I've noticed is thatso many times we pivot or we
quit way too early, and theseare individuals that have been
highly successful, typically inthe past.
(05:16):
That's one of the reasons whythey feel this urge to make a
change so strongly because theyhave been so successful.
So if you're in this momentwhere you've been just trying to
figure out what's happeningright now, where to go next,
what to do, then thisconversation is for you because
(05:37):
I want to talk about how we keepgoing.
We're not going to focus on thequit.
We're going to focus on how wemove forward on the quit.
We're going to focus on how wemove forward, and one of the
things I was thinking about whenconsidering this topic is the
natural progression ofentrepreneurship in building a
business in general, and I thinkthat often many of the wins
(06:01):
that we see online on socialmedia are extreme, and we begin
to believe that these extremes,or these outliers, and sometimes
these fabrications, representthe reality of what we all
should be experiencing inbusiness, and that is just not
true.
I don't know if you know this ornot, but the dip is actually a
(06:23):
concept that has been thoroughlyexplained.
You can find more about this ina book called From the Startup
J Curve by Howard Love, but thedip is this period in
entrepreneurship where you beginto feel like you are stalling
out, where you're running into abrick wall, and most people get
(06:45):
into this period and, as I saidbefore, they pivot or they quit
because they feel as if thesteps that they're taking and
what they're experiencing issignaling to them that they need
to move in another direction.
And what I want to share withyou for those of you who have
not read the book or notfamiliar with this concept is
(07:07):
that this is a natural part ofthe entrepreneurship journey.
When this is explained actuallyin that book, it's mentioning
it in the context of a startup,but what I want you to do is to
consider many of these conceptsas being the same as your
consulting startup, yourconsulting business, and you
(07:29):
being able to get this businessfully off the ground to where
you have comfort in knowing thatyou have the financial
stability and predictablerecurring revenue to grow to a
new level, into whether you wantto leave your nine to five, or
whether you want to hire on nineto five, or whether you want to
hire on more staff, where youcan do those things, and you can
do it without having anyworries and fears.
(07:52):
You know about those, thosedecisions coming back to haunt
you.
So in this book, he talks abouthow we can prepare for the dip,
because this dip, as I statedbefore, is something that will
occur.
It's a natural phenomenon ofthe entrepreneurial journey.
Now, when we start out, we areextremely excited about starting
(08:17):
our businesses.
We're super optimistic, we arefocused on putting all the
pieces together.
We're brainstorming, we'replanning everything out, we're
creating vision boards, we arejournaling about our goals.
We're just doing all the thingsthat feel good, as it should,
because we're starting somethingnew, we're embarking on a new
journey, and the thing is thatwhen we're in this period, we're
(08:42):
doing a lot in terms ofmovement, but we're not
necessarily taking action that'sgoing to lead to generating
clients and sales.
So a lot of this planning andthis is why people get stuck in
this planning period is us goingthrough the mental work of
getting started and that canfeel as if we're taking action
(09:06):
but we're really not yet.
So it's easy to start lookingfor coaching programs.
It's easy to start thinkingabout who can do your website.
All of those things are easy todo because they light up almost
like they light up that rewardcenter in your brain Because you
are doing something new.
You're rewarding yourself forall the work and the effort that
(09:27):
you've put in thus far in termsof getting degrees,
certifications and all thosethings to even have this
opportunity.
So that's the excitement thatwe walk into the journey with.
But what happens is that whenyou actually start to take
action and so what I mean bythis is when you start to
(09:47):
actually try and sell yourservice, or when you are going
through the process of trying tonurture, to land a new client,
when you're doing the work ofmarketing and getting your
message out there, trying tonavigate online platforms,
trying to, like we always say,beat the algorithm, all those
(10:09):
types of things we realize veryquickly that it's not as easy as
we thought it would be.
And because it's not as easy aswe thought it would be, it's a
shock to the system, because nowwe're like, oh my gosh, this is
much harder than I everanticipated.
Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing, maybe I'm not meant to take
(10:29):
this approach.
When that's not the case, thisis part of the natural
progression.
It's part of the natural dipthat's going to occur.
But in reality, what we realizethrough taking action is that
typically, the process is goingto take longer.
It's not going to be theovernight success that we may
have thought it would be,because we had a great idea.
(10:50):
We may even find that once wepresent this idea to the public,
that the reception is not whatwe had expected it to be, maybe
people aren't overly excitedabout what we have to offer,
maybe there's no true demandthere and then, as a result of
(11:12):
all these things, if we don'tmake adjustments, eventually the
money dries up, and so we can'tget the money and revenue and
the cash to start flowing in ourbusiness, and so, when all
those things happen, it cantruly cause an emotional,
psychological and even afinancial burden on you.
(11:35):
It can weigh heavily on you,and so all of this leaves you
feeling as if I must be failing.
I must be failing, I must bedoing something wrong.
This must not be the serviceI'm supposed to offer.
Maybe I'm in the wrong niche,maybe I have the wrong target
audience.
Maybe I'm serving the wrongclient, maybe I have the wrong
(11:56):
business name, maybe my websitesucks.
I mean, we go down into the pitof worry thinking about all of
these things, because, for us,we see this period, this natural
period in the entrepreneurshipjourney, as being a sign of
failure.
And what I want to share withyou today is that when you enter
(12:19):
into the dip, you're notfailing.
It's a part of the progression.
It actually means that you'remaking progress, you're actually
taking action that's going tolead to that eventual success.
That's the great part.
But most of us don't realize it, most of us don't know it and
look, I'm going to be honest.
We're going to be honest, realtalk, transparent on this
podcast, and I'm going to letyou know that I even feel that
(12:40):
myself from time to time, andwhat I have to do is remind
myself of these conversations,because the reality is that the
dip is natural, is going tooccur, and that we have to see
how we're going to move throughthat so that we can get to our
(13:00):
goal.
So, the rest of this time, Iwant to focus not on the dip,
not on this period of subjectivefeelings and this period of
confusion and lack of clarity.
I want us to move further andtalk about how we're going to
keep going and the steps that weneed to take.
So I mentioned a few thingsthat happened in the dip the
(13:22):
fact that it takes longer, thefact that the reception from our
potential clients may be not asgood or less than we had
anticipated, and that often themoney is not there, and so, in
order for us to keep going, wehave to address the things that
are causing us to feel that way,and so I want to offer a few
(13:43):
ways for you to do that so thatyou can easily move to your next
level.
Are you a woman consultantlooking to break free from the
nine to five grind and build alifestyle business that offers
personal freedom, flexibilityand yes, work life harmony?
Well, I've got an incredibleopportunity for you.
(14:05):
I want to tell you about ClientCatalyst Blueprint Now.
This is a transformativecoaching program that's designed
exclusively for womenentrepreneurial consultants, and
this program is your ticket toturning your consulting services
into a thriving and scalablebusiness.
I want you to imagine feelingconfident and strategic, seeing
(14:27):
your revenue soar and being arecognized thought leader in
your industry.
The Client Catalyst Blueprintwill guide you from feeling
overwhelmed and unappreciated torunning a successful,
profitable consulting business,because you'll gain a clear,
personalized roadmap forbusiness growth, a standout
brand that sets you apart, anoptimized sales funnel that
(14:50):
converts like never before,systems that increase your
business capacity and, yes, thesupport of like-minded women
consultants.
It's about shifting yourmindset, refining your strategy
and stepping into the successfulconsultant you were always
meant to be.
To learn more, visitwwwexceliconsultingcom and apply
(15:12):
now.
So one of the first things Iwant us to do is to stop
romanticizing entrepreneurship.
I say this all of the time.
It seems like we want to turnentrepreneurship into like the
next big trend.
We want to make it superexciting because of the thought
(15:33):
of being able to potentiallywork from anywhere or move from
the confines of a typicaltraditional nine to five, and we
begin to romanticize theprocess, making it a lot simpler
and easier than it actually is.
And I'm not here to say that ithas to be this drudgery, but
(15:53):
what I do want us to do is tostart being more objective.
So one of the first things tostart romanticizing is to get
objective data, start looking athow long it typically takes the
average entrepreneur to gettheir business up off the ground
.
This can be the difference ofsomeone saying I made $250,000
(16:15):
or a million dollars in sixmonths and someone who can speak
to the journey being longer,maybe five or even seven years.
So I'm not saying that it hasto take that long, but let's
start looking at averages.
Be very objective when we'rethinking about starting our
business and how long it's goingto take to accomplish certain
goals.
(16:36):
It's not that you can't beatthat timeline or those targets,
but it helps you to not give upso quickly just because it
didn't happen in three or sixmonths.
Another thing is to look atthose who have experienced this
path or this journey that aresimilar to you in some way.
(16:59):
So if it's another woman, ifit's another Black female, if
it's another person who is inyour industry or who may be as
young as you are, as old as youare, look at someone who has
some of your similarities andthen I want you to listen into
their stories, pay attention towhat their journey has been.
(17:20):
I always like to have myclients do an exercise whenever
they get into this period of thedip and go back to their
favorite coach or consultant orguru, whoever it may be, that
they look up, to Go back andfind their social media profile
or find their blog that theystarted.
(17:41):
However, they have been showingup online.
Go find that.
And then I want you to scrollall the way back.
First of all, one of the thingsthat you'll notice is that you
likely will be scrolling for along time.
Typically, if those people aresuccessful, they put in the work
, they put in the legwork, sothey have been doing it for a
while.
You'll see the good and the badas you scroll back through.
(18:03):
You'll see the messy middle,you'll see the ugly start.
You'll see it all, and thatwill help you be more objective
about the entrepreneurshipjourney instead of romanticizing
it and making it into somethingthat it truly is not.
It is going to be somethingthat you fall in love with
because you love what you do andyou love navigating the journey
(18:28):
, solving the problemscritically thinking, all of
those things.
So it is beautiful.
I love the journey that I'm on.
Personally, I can speak to that, but the reality is that it may
not look like a fairy tale.
So I want us to start being alittle bit more objective.
Stop romanticizing theexperience.
(18:48):
Another thing is to focus onproviding value, and we say this
often because we know thatvalue is so important,
especially when it comes tomarketing and sales.
But I do feel as if we get lostin the process of providing
value, or trying to providevalue as perceived by our
(19:10):
clients, and then also trying tonavigate the do's and the
don'ts of the industry the do'sand the don'ts of the industry.
We are often focused on what isgoing to make a good video for
YouTube or how we're going topresent on the stage when we
need to, in essence, move intoour pitch, versus when we need
(19:31):
to draw the audience inemotionally.
We're thinking through theprocess so much that we lose
sight of providing the value,and I want us to think about how
we're going to provide valuebetter.
You know, when you're workingwith the clients that you serve
now, can you honestly say thatyou're serving them to the
(19:54):
greatest extent that you can?
How can you up-level yourdelivery with the clients that
you're serving right now?
And if you don't have clientsright now, in this moment, how
can you up-level your deliveryof value to the audience that
you have right now?
And if you don't have anaudience right now, how can you
(20:14):
up-level the value that you'recreating so that you can develop
your audience?
I want us to think about how wecan serve first, because when
we focus on providing that valuethis is what's going to
naturally happen You're going tobegin to test and iterate,
(20:37):
meaning that you're going tocreate something, whether it is
a presentation, whether it's awebinar, whether it's a pitch,
whatever it may be.
You're going to create something, you're going to start a
project and then you're going tomove forward with
implementation, and then you'regoing to look at the result and
(20:57):
you're going to determine didthat work or did it not?
And if it didn't work, you'regoing to change, modify and try
again, because if you're focusedon value, you're going to keep
going until you figure out howyou can provide a level of value
that is going to be perceivedas being helpful by your
audience.
That's just a naturalprogression of how we operate,
(21:19):
how we all operate.
If we're totally focused onvalue Now, we get distracted
when we start looking at otherthings.
But if we don't allow thosedistractions to come into play,
then we stay focused on theprocess.
So we test and we iterate andwe listen.
That is one of the biggestparts of it all.
Listen that is one of thebiggest parts of it all.
(21:45):
Many times we start things andwe want to know why it's not
working, but we never take thetime to ask for feedback and to
actually just listen, just payattention to how people respond,
listen to what they say ordon't say.
Focus on trying to take thatinformation and use it to
improve your next approach.
But when we're not in this modeof providing value and we get
(22:08):
focused on the do's and thedon'ts and what we should be
doing in order to perform well,let me just say this this is a
natural part of the process formost of us, because if you are
starting your business.
More than likely, you aresomeone who has been successful
in the past.
You're an overachiever and manytimes you're probably a
perfectionist.
Those are just the traits thattypically go along with our
(22:31):
industry, especially asconsultants working in this
space.
That's just the reality of itfor most people.
So if you're there, then you'regoing to fight with ego.
I was actually talking to somecolleagues very recently in one
of the groups that I'm in and Ican be very transparent.
(22:53):
It's all about showing up onvideo and when we were talking
about our difficulty in showingup on video, as you all know,
I've shared here on the podcastbefore my plans of really
building out the YouTube channel.
One of the reasons why it'staken kind of like a lull right
now and I'm in this period ofthe dip with the YouTube channel
is because I got so focused onthe do's and the don'ts.
(23:16):
What camera do I need?
What type of lighting does itneed to be?
Why is my lighting not clearenough?
Why am I not speaking asclearly as I would like to?
My flow is a lot better on thepodcast when I have the camera
off versus on.
I mean I'm going through all ofthe mental junk in that moment.
And what I love about being ingroups like that, what I love
(23:36):
about coaching programs likethat, is the fact that you're
going to have somebody that isgoing to call you out on your
stuff.
They're going to call you rightout, and so what they were able
to do for me is say look, youare not focused on just giving
and providing the value, you'regetting caught up in other stuff
.
That stuff doesn't matter, justmake the video right.
(23:57):
And often we can tell this toother people and can't do it
ourselves.
I'm so guilty of that.
So one thing I even said afterwe were having this conversation
is the fact that I was allowingmy ego to block my progress, to
block my path, because it'ssomething that we're all
fighting against that desire tonot look bad, to not feel silly,
(24:20):
to show up and be more of arepresentation of who we want to
be, who we want to become.
And when we do that, we're notacknowledging where we are
currently and we're also notfocused on the value we're
providing.
So one of the second things todo when you enter into this dip
space is shift your mindset fromthe do's and the don'ts of how
(24:42):
do I navigate this journeybetter so that I can land my
clients, land my followers, getaway from that?
Focus on the value.
The value is going to draw inthe people that are meant for
you and that you are meant toserve.
And then the last thing that Ilike to really stress is
practice lean consulting.
(25:04):
Now, what I mean aboutpracticing lean consulting let's
cut out some of those expenses,let's simplify, let's make it a
lot easier for you to maintainyour business, because we talked
about before one of the reasonswhy people give up and bow out
of the journey of the race, soto speak, is that money dries up
, and it dries up because you'reoverspending.
(25:25):
You are using platforms andapplications that you don't need
at this point of your journey,or even if you need them, there
is an alternative that's outthere that's more than likely
either free or less expensive,and sometimes we get caught up
in having the top tier versionback in the day, you used to say
(25:46):
the Cadillac version ofwhatever system that is trending
right now, and you don't needthat burden.
When you add that to your plate, what you're also adding is a
responsibility for maintainingit to your plate, and that is a
heavy weight to carry,especially when you're starting
out, and when I say starting out, I mean like the first three to
(26:08):
five years or more.
I was listening to a podcastback in a few months ago.
It was one that Amy Porterfielddid, and she was talking about
her business journey and manypeople had the assumption that
she had a lot of overhead as shebuilt her business, and she
talked about how she did nothave full-time employees up
(26:29):
until very recently.
She primarily used contractorsand other temporary help as she
built out for certain projects,so she didn't have that
financial burden hanging overher head that she had to
maintain.
So if there was a lull in termsof revenue or cash flow, she
(26:51):
could navigate it because shedid not have to maintain so much
.
And that's what this aspect oflean consulting is all about
Keeping it simple, minimizingexpenses.
That helps you to buildfinancial resilience so that you
can weather changes in themarket, changes in the economy.
All of those things don't carryas much of a threat when you
(27:13):
have that resilience in place.
And if you're interested in thistopic, I can talk a whole
podcast about this, but I didwrite an article that I shared a
little while back on LinkedInabout this.
I'm going to drop it in thedescription if you want to check
it out, but it's all abouthelping consultants solo
consultants in particular tocreate leaner models.
(27:36):
So whenever we are notstretching ourselves too thin
financially especially, but thenalso in terms of just our
systems and our structure, ourworkflow it is gonna make it a
lot easier for us to maintainwhen things get a little choppy
or the waters get a littlechoppy.
So these are all the thingsthat we need to be doing when we
(27:59):
get into this dip, because ifyou start focusing on objective
data, spending your time tryingto provide greater and greater
value and then keepingeverything lean, eventually you
are going to see that you'regoing to be more and more
successful.
You're going to land more andmore clients.
(28:19):
You're going to land more andmore clients.
You're going to generate moreand more revenue and be highly
profitable because, number one,you won't have the overhead
eating away at your profits.
You're going to be providingthe level of value that's going
to keep people around for alonger period of time,
increasing the lifetime value.
You're going to attract morepeople because you're providing
insights that are so valuablethat others cannot easily
(28:41):
replicate it, and you are goingto make right decisions or
better decisions, I shouldrather say because you're being
objective with the data that youare looking at and evaluating,
instead of falling into relyingon your feelings.
So all of these things are justwhat keeps us going.
(29:02):
So, if you're stalling out rightnow, know it's temporary,
number one that you'repotentially in this dip period.
This dip period is a naturalpart of the journey and that, on
the other side of that, issuccess.
It's never going to be astraight trajectory to the top.
It's not going to be a straighttrajectory to the top it's not
going to be that but what it canget to is a period of time
(29:24):
where things get easier, and Iknow that's what you're looking
for.
You're looking for things toget easier, and so my hope is
that, with this episode and someof these tips, you're going to
get to smooth the waters if youfind yourself stalling out right
now.
All right, guys.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to share it with a friend.
Leave your five-star rating onApple Podcasts or Spotify, and I
(29:49):
can't wait to talk to you againsoon.
Take care.
Thank you for tuning in to theBlack Girls Console 2 podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode.
Be sure to leave your review onApple Podcasts, subscribe and
share it with a friend.
We're on a mission to increasethe success and longevity of
women in consulting, and you canhelp us do just that.
(30:09):
Also, I'd love to hear from you.
So let's connect at Dr AngelinaDavis on Instagram or LinkedIn,
and don't forget to visit excelat consultingcom for more
information to support yourconsulting journey.
Until next time, keep breakingglass ceiling.
All right, take care.
Many people look at certain I would say dips in the
market or dips in sales and theythink you know, does this mean
that this business or thisservice is not meant for me?
Is this something that I needto leave behind?
Do I need to pivot, do I needto change?
And what I've noticed is thatso many times we pivot or we
(00:22):
quit way too early.
They say the odds are stackedagainst us as women, especially
women of color, trying to thrivein the consulting world.
But rather than wait for a seatat the table that may never
come, what if we build our owntables?
What if we channeled ourtalents into guiding each other
(00:42):
towards the success we deserve?
Welcome to the Black GirlsConsulting Podcast.
I'm your host, dr AngelinaDavis, and I've walked the path
from healthcare consultant to amentor for women like you,
ambitious, unstoppable and readyto make waves in the consulting
world.
This podcast is your go-to spotfor all things entrepreneurial
(01:02):
consulting.
For us as women, especiallywomen of color.
Think of it as your weeklycoffee date with a friend who's
here to dish out real talk onbuilding a solid business,
elevating your thoughtleadership and mastering that
all important mindset.
And let's not forget we'redoing all of this while
balancing day jobs, family lifeand running teams.
(01:22):
Yes, we can do it all.
So if you're ready to dive intohow you can grow a thriving
consultancy or get strategiesand insights that actually fit
your busy lifestyle, then you'rein the right place.
Grab your coffee tea.
Hello, welcome to the BlackGirls Consult 2 podcast.
I'm your host, dr AngelinaDavis.
(01:54):
If you are new to the podcast,welcome in, and if you're tuning
in again from a previousepisode, then welcome back.
So I want to dive right in withthis episode because there has
been a lot on my mind andfeelings.
I want to get off my chestsurrounding how we keep going
when business stalls, and one ofthe reasons why I chose to talk
(02:17):
about this topic is becauseI've been in a few groups
business groups, actually,recently and these are groups of
very smart entrepreneurs thatare highly successful, been
doing their thing for a longtime, many of them longer than I
have and also I've been talkingto colleagues as well as
(02:38):
previous clients, and I feellike I've heard this
conversation come up over andover again about where we are
currently in the economy.
We know that right now we're inan election season, an election
year, and that can throw thingsoff a little bit in terms of
being able to reach our targetaudience on social media,
because it is going to give somepreference to those
(03:02):
conversations that center aroundpolitics and the election, as
well, as we have the Olympicsthat are going to be this summer
and this month actually, so I'msuper excited about that.
I don't know if you are, but Icannot wait until track and
field and gymnastics starts.
That is my life when it comesto the Olympics, but in swimming
I forgot to say that, but mypoint is that there's a lot of
(03:25):
noise right now and that canmake it very difficult for us to
stand out as business owners,founders and entrepreneurs in
the online space.
And then, when we think aboutreaching our target audience in
other ways, whether it's byemail or maybe a convention Well
, listen, people are outsideright now.
As you all know, I work inhealthcare consulting and I can
(03:49):
tell you that hospitals arerather slow right now and mainly
because the weather's been goodin most places.
I am sending prayers to anyonein Texas that may be listening
to this episode right now thathas experienced a recent
hurricane, so I know it takes alot of rebuilding, but outside
of those types of events thatreally are considered natural
(04:13):
disasters.
It's been rather warm and sunnyin most places, and so people
are out living life, especiallyafter all that we've endured
over the past few years,especially after all that we've
endured over the past few years.
So that can make it hard tosell consulting services,
especially when that may not betop of mind for many people.
(04:35):
However, I don't want you toconfuse what you may be
experiencing as the reality ofbusiness for you.
Many people look at certain, Iwould say dips in the market or
dips in sales and they thinkdoes this mean that this
(04:56):
business or this service is notmeant for me?
Is this something that I needto leave behind?
Do I need to pivot?
Do I need to change?
And what I've noticed is thatso many times we pivot or we
quit way too early, and theseare individuals that have been
highly successful, typically inthe past.
(05:16):
That's one of the reasons whythey feel this urge to make a
change so strongly because theyhave been so successful.
So if you're in this momentwhere you've been just trying to
figure out what's happeningright now, where to go next,
what to do, then thisconversation is for you because
(05:37):
I want to talk about how we keepgoing.
We're not going to focus on thequit.
We're going to focus on how wemove forward on the quit.
We're going to focus on how wemove forward, and one of the
things I was thinking about whenconsidering this topic is the
natural progression ofentrepreneurship in building a
business in general, and I thinkthat often many of the wins
(06:01):
that we see online on socialmedia are extreme, and we begin
to believe that these extremes,or these outliers, and sometimes
these fabrications, representthe reality of what we all
should be experiencing inbusiness, and that is just not
true.
I don't know if you know this ornot, but the dip is actually a
(06:23):
concept that has been thoroughlyexplained.
You can find more about this ina book called From the Startup
J Curve by Howard Love, but thedip is this period in
entrepreneurship where you beginto feel like you are stalling
out, where you're running into abrick wall, and most people get
(06:45):
into this period and, as I saidbefore, they pivot or they quit
because they feel as if thesteps that they're taking and
what they're experiencing issignaling to them that they need
to move in another direction.
And what I want to share withyou for those of you who have
not read the book or notfamiliar with this concept is
(07:07):
that this is a natural part ofthe entrepreneurship journey.
When this is explained actuallyin that book, it's mentioning
it in the context of a startup,but what I want you to do is to
consider many of these conceptsas being the same as your
consulting startup, yourconsulting business, and you
(07:29):
being able to get this businessfully off the ground to where
you have comfort in knowing thatyou have the financial
stability and predictablerecurring revenue to grow to a
new level, into whether you wantto leave your nine to five, or
whether you want to hire on nineto five, or whether you want to
hire on more staff, where youcan do those things, and you can
do it without having anyworries and fears.
(07:52):
You know about those, thosedecisions coming back to haunt
you.
So in this book, he talks abouthow we can prepare for the dip,
because this dip, as I statedbefore, is something that will
occur.
It's a natural phenomenon ofthe entrepreneurial journey.
Now, when we start out, we areextremely excited about starting
(08:17):
our businesses.
We're super optimistic, we arefocused on putting all the
pieces together.
We're brainstorming, we'replanning everything out, we're
creating vision boards, we arejournaling about our goals.
We're just doing all the thingsthat feel good, as it should,
because we're starting somethingnew, we're embarking on a new
journey, and the thing is thatwhen we're in this period, we're
(08:42):
doing a lot in terms ofmovement, but we're not
necessarily taking action that'sgoing to lead to generating
clients and sales.
So a lot of this planning andthis is why people get stuck in
this planning period is us goingthrough the mental work of
getting started and that canfeel as if we're taking action
(09:06):
but we're really not yet.
So it's easy to start lookingfor coaching programs.
It's easy to start thinkingabout who can do your website.
All of those things are easy todo because they light up almost
like they light up that rewardcenter in your brain Because you
are doing something new.
You're rewarding yourself forall the work and the effort that
(09:27):
you've put in thus far in termsof getting degrees,
certifications and all thosethings to even have this
opportunity.
So that's the excitement thatwe walk into the journey with.
But what happens is that whenyou actually start to take
action and so what I mean bythis is when you start to
(09:47):
actually try and sell yourservice, or when you are going
through the process of trying tonurture, to land a new client,
when you're doing the work ofmarketing and getting your
message out there, trying tonavigate online platforms,
trying to, like we always say,beat the algorithm, all those
(10:09):
types of things we realize veryquickly that it's not as easy as
we thought it would be.
And because it's not as easy aswe thought it would be, it's a
shock to the system, because nowwe're like, oh my gosh, this is
much harder than I everanticipated.
Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing, maybe I'm not meant to take
(10:29):
this approach.
When that's not the case, thisis part of the natural
progression.
It's part of the natural dipthat's going to occur.
But in reality, what we realizethrough taking action is that
typically, the process is goingto take longer.
It's not going to be theovernight success that we may
have thought it would be,because we had a great idea.
(10:50):
We may even find that once wepresent this idea to the public,
that the reception is not whatwe had expected it to be, maybe
people aren't overly excitedabout what we have to offer,
maybe there's no true demandthere and then, as a result of
(11:12):
all these things, if we don'tmake adjustments, eventually the
money dries up, and so we can'tget the money and revenue and
the cash to start flowing in ourbusiness, and so, when all
those things happen, it cantruly cause an emotional,
psychological and even afinancial burden on you.
(11:35):
It can weigh heavily on you,and so all of this leaves you
feeling as if I must be failing.
I must be failing, I must bedoing something wrong.
This must not be the serviceI'm supposed to offer.
Maybe I'm in the wrong niche,maybe I have the wrong target
audience.
Maybe I'm serving the wrongclient, maybe I have the wrong
(11:56):
business name, maybe my websitesucks.
I mean, we go down into the pitof worry thinking about all of
these things, because, for us,we see this period, this natural
period in the entrepreneurshipjourney, as being a sign of
failure.
And what I want to share withyou today is that when you enter
(12:19):
into the dip, you're notfailing.
It's a part of the progression.
It actually means that you'remaking progress, you're actually
taking action that's going tolead to that eventual success.
That's the great part.
But most of us don't realize it, most of us don't know it and
look, I'm going to be honest.
We're going to be honest, realtalk, transparent on this
podcast, and I'm going to letyou know that I even feel that
(12:40):
myself from time to time, andwhat I have to do is remind
myself of these conversations,because the reality is that the
dip is natural, is going tooccur, and that we have to see
how we're going to move throughthat so that we can get to our
(13:00):
goal.
So, the rest of this time, Iwant to focus not on the dip,
not on this period of subjectivefeelings and this period of
confusion and lack of clarity.
I want us to move further andtalk about how we're going to
keep going and the steps that weneed to take.
So I mentioned a few thingsthat happened in the dip the
(13:22):
fact that it takes longer, thefact that the reception from our
potential clients may be not asgood or less than we had
anticipated, and that often themoney is not there, and so, in
order for us to keep going, wehave to address the things that
are causing us to feel that way,and so I want to offer a few
(13:43):
ways for you to do that so thatyou can easily move to your next
level.
Are you a woman consultantlooking to break free from the
nine to five grind and build alifestyle business that offers
personal freedom, flexibilityand yes, work life harmony?
Well, I've got an incredibleopportunity for you.
(14:05):
I want to tell you about ClientCatalyst Blueprint Now.
This is a transformativecoaching program that's designed
exclusively for womenentrepreneurial consultants, and
this program is your ticket toturning your consulting services
into a thriving and scalablebusiness.
I want you to imagine feelingconfident and strategic, seeing
(14:27):
your revenue soar and being arecognized thought leader in
your industry.
The Client Catalyst Blueprintwill guide you from feeling
overwhelmed and unappreciated torunning a successful,
profitable consulting business,because you'll gain a clear,
personalized roadmap forbusiness growth, a standout
brand that sets you apart, anoptimized sales funnel that
(14:50):
converts like never before,systems that increase your
business capacity and, yes, thesupport of like-minded women
consultants.
It's about shifting yourmindset, refining your strategy
and stepping into the successfulconsultant you were always
meant to be.
To learn more, visitwwwexceliconsultingcom and apply
(15:12):
now.
So one of the first things Iwant us to do is to stop
romanticizing entrepreneurship.
I say this all of the time.
It seems like we want to turnentrepreneurship into like the
next big trend.
We want to make it superexciting because of the thought
(15:33):
of being able to potentiallywork from anywhere or move from
the confines of a typicaltraditional nine to five, and we
begin to romanticize theprocess, making it a lot simpler
and easier than it actually is.
And I'm not here to say that ithas to be this drudgery, but
(15:53):
what I do want us to do is tostart being more objective.
So one of the first things tostart romanticizing is to get
objective data, start looking athow long it typically takes the
average entrepreneur to gettheir business up off the ground
.
This can be the difference ofsomeone saying I made $250,000
(16:15):
or a million dollars in sixmonths and someone who can speak
to the journey being longer,maybe five or even seven years.
So I'm not saying that it hasto take that long, but let's
start looking at averages.
Be very objective when we'rethinking about starting our
business and how long it's goingto take to accomplish certain
goals.
(16:36):
It's not that you can't beatthat timeline or those targets,
but it helps you to not give upso quickly just because it
didn't happen in three or sixmonths.
Another thing is to look atthose who have experienced this
path or this journey that aresimilar to you in some way.
(16:59):
So if it's another woman, ifit's another Black female, if
it's another person who is inyour industry or who may be as
young as you are, as old as youare, look at someone who has
some of your similarities andthen I want you to listen into
their stories, pay attention towhat their journey has been.
(17:20):
I always like to have myclients do an exercise whenever
they get into this period of thedip and go back to their
favorite coach or consultant orguru, whoever it may be, that
they look up, to Go back andfind their social media profile
or find their blog that theystarted.
(17:41):
However, they have been showingup online.
Go find that.
And then I want you to scrollall the way back.
First of all, one of the thingsthat you'll notice is that you
likely will be scrolling for along time.
Typically, if those people aresuccessful, they put in the work
, they put in the legwork, sothey have been doing it for a
while.
You'll see the good and the badas you scroll back through.
(18:03):
You'll see the messy middle,you'll see the ugly start.
You'll see it all, and thatwill help you be more objective
about the entrepreneurshipjourney instead of romanticizing
it and making it into somethingthat it truly is not.
It is going to be somethingthat you fall in love with
because you love what you do andyou love navigating the journey
(18:28):
, solving the problemscritically thinking, all of
those things.
So it is beautiful.
I love the journey that I'm on.
Personally, I can speak to that, but the reality is that it may
not look like a fairy tale.
So I want us to start being alittle bit more objective.
Stop romanticizing theexperience.
(18:48):
Another thing is to focus onproviding value, and we say this
often because we know thatvalue is so important,
especially when it comes tomarketing and sales.
But I do feel as if we get lostin the process of providing
value, or trying to providevalue as perceived by our
(19:10):
clients, and then also trying tonavigate the do's and the
don'ts of the industry the do'sand the don'ts of the industry.
We are often focused on what isgoing to make a good video for
YouTube or how we're going topresent on the stage when we
need to, in essence, move intoour pitch, versus when we need
(19:31):
to draw the audience inemotionally.
We're thinking through theprocess so much that we lose
sight of providing the value,and I want us to think about how
we're going to provide valuebetter.
You know, when you're workingwith the clients that you serve
now, can you honestly say thatyou're serving them to the
(19:54):
greatest extent that you can?
How can you up-level yourdelivery with the clients that
you're serving right now?
And if you don't have clientsright now, in this moment, how
can you up-level your deliveryof value to the audience that
you have right now?
And if you don't have anaudience right now, how can you
(20:14):
up-level the value that you'recreating so that you can develop
your audience?
I want us to think about how wecan serve first, because when
we focus on providing that valuethis is what's going to
naturally happen You're going tobegin to test and iterate,
(20:37):
meaning that you're going tocreate something, whether it is
a presentation, whether it's awebinar, whether it's a pitch,
whatever it may be.
You're going to create something, you're going to start a
project and then you're going tomove forward with
implementation, and then you'regoing to look at the result and
(20:57):
you're going to determine didthat work or did it not?
And if it didn't work, you'regoing to change, modify and try
again, because if you're focusedon value, you're going to keep
going until you figure out howyou can provide a level of value
that is going to be perceivedas being helpful by your
audience.
That's just a naturalprogression of how we operate,
(21:19):
how we all operate.
If we're totally focused onvalue Now, we get distracted
when we start looking at otherthings.
But if we don't allow thosedistractions to come into play,
then we stay focused on theprocess.
So we test and we iterate andwe listen.
That is one of the biggestparts of it all.
Listen that is one of thebiggest parts of it all.
(21:45):
Many times we start things andwe want to know why it's not
working, but we never take thetime to ask for feedback and to
actually just listen, just payattention to how people respond,
listen to what they say ordon't say.
Focus on trying to take thatinformation and use it to
improve your next approach.
But when we're not in this modeof providing value and we get
(22:08):
focused on the do's and thedon'ts and what we should be
doing in order to perform well,let me just say this this is a
natural part of the process formost of us, because if you are
starting your business.
More than likely, you aresomeone who has been successful
in the past.
You're an overachiever and manytimes you're probably a
perfectionist.
Those are just the traits thattypically go along with our
(22:31):
industry, especially asconsultants working in this
space.
That's just the reality of itfor most people.
So if you're there, then you'regoing to fight with ego.
I was actually talking to somecolleagues very recently in one
of the groups that I'm in and Ican be very transparent.
(22:53):
It's all about showing up onvideo and when we were talking
about our difficulty in showingup on video, as you all know,
I've shared here on the podcastbefore my plans of really
building out the YouTube channel.
One of the reasons why it'staken kind of like a lull right
now and I'm in this period ofthe dip with the YouTube channel
is because I got so focused onthe do's and the don'ts.
(23:16):
What camera do I need?
What type of lighting does itneed to be?
Why is my lighting not clearenough?
Why am I not speaking asclearly as I would like to?
My flow is a lot better on thepodcast when I have the camera
off versus on.
I mean I'm going through all ofthe mental junk in that moment.
And what I love about being ingroups like that, what I love
(23:36):
about coaching programs likethat, is the fact that you're
going to have somebody that isgoing to call you out on your
stuff.
They're going to call you rightout, and so what they were able
to do for me is say look, youare not focused on just giving
and providing the value, you'regetting caught up in other stuff
.
That stuff doesn't matter, justmake the video right.
(23:57):
And often we can tell this toother people and can't do it
ourselves.
I'm so guilty of that.
So one thing I even said afterwe were having this conversation
is the fact that I was allowingmy ego to block my progress, to
block my path, because it'ssomething that we're all
fighting against that desire tonot look bad, to not feel silly,
(24:20):
to show up and be more of arepresentation of who we want to
be, who we want to become.
And when we do that, we're notacknowledging where we are
currently and we're also notfocused on the value we're
providing.
So one of the second things todo when you enter into this dip
space is shift your mindset fromthe do's and the don'ts of how
(24:42):
do I navigate this journeybetter so that I can land my
clients, land my followers, getaway from that?
Focus on the value.
The value is going to draw inthe people that are meant for
you and that you are meant toserve.
And then the last thing that Ilike to really stress is
practice lean consulting.
(25:04):
Now, what I mean aboutpracticing lean consulting let's
cut out some of those expenses,let's simplify, let's make it a
lot easier for you to maintainyour business, because we talked
about before one of the reasonswhy people give up and bow out
of the journey of the race, soto speak, is that money dries up
, and it dries up because you'reoverspending.
(25:25):
You are using platforms andapplications that you don't need
at this point of your journey,or even if you need them, there
is an alternative that's outthere that's more than likely
either free or less expensive,and sometimes we get caught up
in having the top tier versionback in the day, you used to say
(25:46):
the Cadillac version ofwhatever system that is trending
right now, and you don't needthat burden.
When you add that to your plate, what you're also adding is a
responsibility for maintainingit to your plate, and that is a
heavy weight to carry,especially when you're starting
out, and when I say starting out, I mean like the first three to
(26:08):
five years or more.
I was listening to a podcastback in a few months ago.
It was one that Amy Porterfielddid, and she was talking about
her business journey and manypeople had the assumption that
she had a lot of overhead as shebuilt her business, and she
talked about how she did nothave full-time employees up
(26:29):
until very recently.
She primarily used contractorsand other temporary help as she
built out for certain projects,so she didn't have that
financial burden hanging overher head that she had to
maintain.
So if there was a lull in termsof revenue or cash flow, she
(26:51):
could navigate it because shedid not have to maintain so much
.
And that's what this aspect oflean consulting is all about
Keeping it simple, minimizingexpenses.
That helps you to buildfinancial resilience so that you
can weather changes in themarket, changes in the economy.
All of those things don't carryas much of a threat when you
(27:13):
have that resilience in place.
And if you're interested in thistopic, I can talk a whole
podcast about this, but I didwrite an article that I shared a
little while back on LinkedInabout this.
I'm going to drop it in thedescription if you want to check
it out, but it's all abouthelping consultants solo
consultants in particular tocreate leaner models.
(27:36):
So whenever we are notstretching ourselves too thin
financially especially, but thenalso in terms of just our
systems and our structure, ourworkflow it is gonna make it a
lot easier for us to maintainwhen things get a little choppy
or the waters get a littlechoppy.
So these are all the thingsthat we need to be doing when we
(27:59):
get into this dip, because ifyou start focusing on objective
data, spending your time tryingto provide greater and greater
value and then keepingeverything lean, eventually you
are going to see that you'regoing to be more and more
successful.
You're going to land more andmore clients.
(28:19):
You're going to land more andmore clients.
You're going to generate moreand more revenue and be highly
profitable because, number one,you won't have the overhead
eating away at your profits.
You're going to be providingthe level of value that's going
to keep people around for alonger period of time,
increasing the lifetime value.
You're going to attract morepeople because you're providing
insights that are so valuablethat others cannot easily
(28:41):
replicate it, and you are goingto make right decisions or
better decisions, I shouldrather say because you're being
objective with the data that youare looking at and evaluating,
instead of falling into relyingon your feelings.
So all of these things are justwhat keeps us going.
(29:02):
So, if you're stalling out rightnow, know it's temporary,
number one that you'repotentially in this dip period.
This dip period is a naturalpart of the journey and that, on
the other side of that, issuccess.
It's never going to be astraight trajectory to the top.
It's not going to be a straighttrajectory to the top it's not
going to be that but what it canget to is a period of time
(29:24):
where things get easier, and Iknow that's what you're looking
for.
You're looking for things toget easier, and so my hope is
that, with this episode and someof these tips, you're going to
get to smooth the waters if youfind yourself stalling out right
now.
All right, guys.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to share it with a friend.
Leave your five-star rating onApple Podcasts or Spotify, and I
(29:49):
can't wait to talk to you againsoon.
Take care.
Thank you for tuning in to theBlack Girls Console 2 podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode.
Be sure to leave your review onApple Podcasts, subscribe and
share it with a friend.
We're on a mission to increasethe success and longevity of
women in consulting, and you canhelp us do just that.
(30:09):
Also, I'd love to hear from you.
So let's connect at Dr AngelinaDavis on Instagram or LinkedIn,
and don't forget to visit excelat consultingcom for more
information to support yourconsulting journey.
Until next time, keep breakingglass ceiling.
All right, take care.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.