October 29, 2024 • 38 mins
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In this powerful episode of Black Girls Consult Too!, we're diving deep into the connection between resilience and revenue growth—and why resilience is more than just a survival skill for women, especially women of color in consulting. Resilience is your superpower and a critical strategy for building credibility, attracting high-quality clients, and ultimately increasing revenue.
You’ll learn essential mindset shifts, and actions you can take that will help you navigate the challenges of the consulting industry, whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your consulting business to the next level. You’ll walk away with a new perspective on resilience and practical steps to transform obstacles into opportunities.
Tune in now to discover how to turn resilience into revenue and learn why thriving in a competitive industry is about more than just pushing through. It’s about strategic growth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, one of the biggest lies we're told in this
industry is that resiliencemeans just toughing it out, that
if you push harder, if you keepworking longer, eventually
everything is just going toclick.
It's just going to all workmagically in your favor.
But the truth is thatresilience isn't about taking
(00:22):
hit after hit after hit and justsurviving.
It's not.
It's about learning how toadapt, how to level up and,
really, most importantly, how toturn all of those setbacks into
revenue, into growth andopportunity.
Because, let's get real, thisconsulting industry, it wasn't
built with us in mind, for us aswomen, especially women of
(00:44):
color industry, it wasn't builtwith us in mind.
For us as women, especiallywomen of color.
Resilience isn't just a nice tohave, it is essential.
It's how we carve out space inrooms that were not designed for
us, in rooms that really, to behonest, we haven't been in, and
so, in order for us to buildauthority, even when the odds
are stacked against us, we needto truly know what resilience
(01:05):
means and how to use it.
So today, we're not gonna talkabout resilience in that grit
your teeth and bear it type ofway.
We're going to change whatyou've heard possibly a thousand
times, and I wanna show you howresilience, when you use it as
a strategy, can actually be thekey to you taking your business
(01:26):
to a new level.
It's not just about making itthrough tough times, it's about
creating opportunities from them.
If you're tired of feeling alittle worn out, or if you are
tired of hearing no when youknow you have so much to offer,
then this episode is for you,because resilience isn't just
(01:46):
about bouncing back, it's aboutbouncing forward.
So let's talk about how we canturn our resilience into revenue
, growth and freedom.
Let's get started, they say.
The odds are stacked against usas women, especially women of
color, trying to thrive in theconsulting world.
But rather than wait for a seatat the table that may never
(02:08):
come, what if we build our owntables?
What if we channeled ourtalents into guiding each other
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
(02:29):
world.
This podcast is your go-to spotfor all things entrepreneurial
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
(02:51):
balancing day jobs, family lifeand running teams.
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 or, hey,even a glass of wine.
I won't judge.
Let's get started.
(03:12):
Hello and welcome to the BlackGirls Consult Tube podcast.
I'm your host, dr AngelinaDavis.
And listen, I'm so glad we areclear on this one issue that
resilience isn't just aboutsurviving the tough stuff.
(03:34):
It really is about growingthrough it.
You know, I think that we haveto find different ways to let
our challenges fuel our journeyforward.
We can get stuck in thechallenge, right.
We can get stuck in this placewhere we have a lot of negative
(03:55):
energy that's feeding into usfrom a lot of different places.
And listen, I get it.
I've been there.
I understand that that'ssometimes what is hard not to do
right.
It's hard for us to not dothose things because many of
these challenges seem to justcome from every direction over
(04:15):
and over and over again, but thething is that we have to find a
way to use it to our advantage.
And I know that's easier saidthan done, because when you're
facing rejection and doubt, oreven those little whispers in
the back of your head that'stelling you you know really
maybe this isn't for you.
It can feel really personal andsometimes it feels like every
(04:40):
no is a roadblock that's tellingyou to turn back around, that
this is not what you're supposedto be doing.
And this can show up atdifferent phases of your
business journey.
It's not just for the beginning.
It can show up when you'retrying to land that larger
contract or when you're tryingto work with your dream
corporate client.
It will show up at differenttimes.
(05:02):
It will rear its head atdifferent points of your
business journey.
So I know that can be hard, butthe thing is that I want us to
start really looking at theseno's in a new light and let's
dig into that.
I want to talk about some keymindset shifts that can really
(05:22):
take you from going from justgetting through these moments to
really using them asspringboards for your real
growth.
Now, one of the biggest shiftsthat I had to make is realizing
that resilience didn't just meanthat I was able to stand
through these tough moments.
(05:44):
It wasn't just about how much Icould take.
It truly was about how I wasinterpreting those challenges
that I was facing.
And the thing is that when youare able to shift your mindset
in that way, it will help youmove forward.
It'll allow you to have abetter understanding as to what
(06:06):
you need to do to achieve yournext big goal.
So I want to start with theidea that many times, the
rejections that we face areactually redirection, because
when we learn to see rejectionnot as a stop sign, but just as
a detour or maybe just a plottwist to something better,
(06:27):
that's when we take ourresilience to a whole new level.
Now I know when I talk aboutrejection as redirection, I get
it.
It sounds a little cliche.
It sounds like I'm just feedingyou a bunch of common sayings
and things that people tell youwhen they want you to feel
(06:48):
better about your situation.
But I want you to stay with meright now because there's a
powerful truth there Inconsulting, especially as a
woman, and a woman of color, itis inevitable that you're going
to face some closed doors.
I have walked into the clientmeeting where someone has looked
at me as if I had 10 heads,like they did not expect a black
(07:12):
woman to walk through that door.
This was in deep woods of SouthCarolina I'm in the South, so
some of this was not completelynew to me.
But I knew that.
Look, when I saw it, Iunderstood what it meant.
I understood the shock thatthat person had on their face,
especially because in myconsulting group at the time
(07:32):
there was no diversity, so theywere not expecting for me to
walk through the door.
I had newly started as a partof our group and it really just
was not on their mind that theywere gonna be working number one
with a woman, but then numbertwo with a woman of color, with
a black woman.
(07:52):
So those feelings will come andyou have to live through them
and not just live through themand shrink into your shell, but
you have to actually stand inthat spot in that moment and
command the level of respectthat you deserve.
So it's inevitable that many ofthese things are gonna happen,
and maybe for you it's a clientwho tries to ghost you or a
(08:16):
proposal that you were sure youwould land, but it doesn't come
through.
All of those instances arecircumstances that really do
hurt.
It stings and if we're notcareful, every rejection that we
get can start to feel like areflection of our own value,
like for me when I walkedthrough that door that something
(08:38):
was wrong with me.
Like immediately I was not goodenough.
But the thing is that that isnot true.
It's not that you were not cutout for this or that something's
missing.
The mindset shift that I wantyou to embrace is that rejection
isn't a reflection of yourworth.
It's feedback on your path.
(08:59):
So let me say that again,because it really is important
Rejection is feedback.
It's data you can use.
Sometimes it's telling you thatmaybe this client wasn't a
right fit.
Maybe it's telling you thatyour offer needs a little more
clarity or refinement, but noneof it and I do mean none of it
(09:20):
means that you're not qualifiedor capable.
When you start to see rejectionas redirection, the thing that
it'll do it'll change the game,because instead of thinking this
didn't work, so I must be doingsomething wrong, you start to
ask what lesson am I supposed tolearn right here?
How can I use this experienceto make my next move.
(09:42):
How can I be better because ofthis?
So here's what I want you to dothe next time you face
rejection or setback, I want youto take a moment and, instead
of going straight to what wentwrong, ask yourself what I can
learn from this, because maybeit's a hint that you need to
refine your pitch, or maybe it'sa sign to focus on a different
(10:02):
type of client who better alignswith your values.
And this is a really small andsubtle shift, but it truly is a
powerful one, because whenrejection is less of a roadblock
for you and more of a sign or asignal to recalibrate, you're
going to make a lot of progress.
(10:22):
You're going to make moreprogress than you would have
made if you fall into the trapof thinking.
It means something about you.
Now let's talk about another bigshift, and that is the
adaptability over perfection.
There's a lot of pressure inconsulting, especially when
you're trying to prove yourself.
(10:43):
To get everything just right,it needs to be perfect, it needs
to be flawless.
You need to be able toanticipate every question, give
every possible answer, you needto address everything before it
comes up.
But let me tell you, perfectionis a trap.
Perfection is a trap, and I ama recovering perfectionist, so I
fell in this trap many times,over and over again.
(11:04):
It keeps you small, it holdsyou back because you're afraid
to take risks, you're afraid tomake any real bold move.
And so, instead, I want to haveyou focus on adaptability,
because when you focus onadaptability, that's actually
where real resilience lives.
(11:26):
Because you stay flexible, youknow that you can handle
whatever comes your way.
Not because you know everything, not because you have all the
answers, because you trust thateven if it doesn't go right,
even if it's not perfect, you'llfigure it out.
The thing is that when you'readaptable, you can walk into any
room with confidence, anyclient meeting, any backdoor
(11:51):
session, any boardroom.
You can walk in there knowingthat you have the tools to make
the necessary adjustments and todeliver on the promise of the
outcomes that you are supposedto deliver on.
And that's even if things don'tgo according to plan.
You know how to adapt.
And the people who can't adaptare the ones that end up, in the
(12:13):
long run, struggling, becausethey're walking in prepared,
typically with what they thinkare going to be all the answers,
but the thing that they're notgiving themselves room to do is
to be flexible, is to be able totake something off the cuff and
being able to navigate it inthat present moment, and that's
really the heart of negotiationa lot of times when you are in
(12:36):
those spaces.
So you have to be able to adapt.
It's very hard to be successfulin consulting if you're not able
to adapt.
You want to be able to rollwith the punches and be very
confident in doing that.
So the next time you feelyourself getting bogged down by
(12:57):
the details, you're thinkingabout how everything needs to be
perfect, you're worried aboutthe things that are going to go
wrong.
I want you to instead thinkabout what's the worst thing
that could happen if I don'tknow this answer.
What's the worst thing thatcould happen if I don't have a
response immediately?
What's the worst thing that'sgoing to happen if I say you
(13:20):
know what, I'm not exactly sureI'm going to get back with you,
right?
Because if you think about that, you realize that nothing
typically nothing's going tohappen, that all of these
catastrophic things that youthought could take place, that
they truly, in real life, oftendon't happen, and they're often
(13:45):
situations that you can indeedhandle, and they're often
situations that you can indeedhandle and when you realize that
when you kind of practice thisfor a while, it makes you less
fearful when you walk into thosespaces.
It allows you to sit there withmore confidence and speak more
boldly because you're notworried about what you're gonna
say wrong.
And that's part of what we'realways trying to overcome when
(14:07):
it comes to I always like to saythe corporate conditioning and
the corporate trauma we face,because many times in many
corporate environments, we'vebeen in situations where our
expertise and our intellect andour brilliance has been
questioned and we have beenexpected to follow set protocols
and procedures and things thatothers have determined is most
(14:29):
appropriate for that businessenvironment.
Now, I always like to remindyou that what was appropriate in
that environment is not theend-all, be-all.
It's just the way that thatparticular organization wanted
to carry out business, andthere's nothing wrong with them
doing that, because what theywere trying to create is
consistency within theirorganization and within their
(14:50):
organization's messaging andvalues and beliefs.
But it doesn't mean that thereare not other options and other
answers and other ways of doingthings.
What you are able to pull fromas an entrepreneur is the fact
that you have access to all ofthese other ways, all of these
different ways of approaching asituation, and when you realize
(15:13):
that you have that at yourdisposal, it's okay for you to
take that pause and take thatmoment and figure out exactly
how you want to proceed.
The thing is that you canhandle it.
You have done it in the past.
You've handled worse, right.
So adaptability is actuallysomething that's in your favor.
(15:34):
So I want you to focus onembracing that adaptability over
their perfection.
And another thing and this isprobably the third mindset shift
that I feel like is veryimportant, especially when we're
starting this conversationabout resilience is that you
need to see empathy as astrategic advantage.
One of the things that is veryunique about women in business
(15:58):
and our feminine power is thatwe tend to be more empathetic.
That's just by nature, and sooften when we see empathy when
it comes to consulting, we cansee it as being something that
makes us vulnerable, becausewe're taught to be in this
hustle mode, this veryhyper-masculine energy to always
(16:19):
go and win and beat thecompetition, and you know that
is an energy that is helpful attimes.
But also, I want to encourageyou to really you know,
understand and appreciate thewealth and the benefit
(16:41):
associated with empathy, becausewe don't often hear about that
as one of the tools that youhave in your toolkit.
We don't often hear about thatas one of the tools that you
have in your toolkit.
And as women, especially womenof color, we have to navigate
spaces that don't always feelwelcoming or inclusive, so we
know what it feels like to beunseen or to be underestimated,
(17:01):
and while those experiences arehard, they often give us this
unique lens to look through inthis deep sense of empathy.
This is why leaning into whoyou are authentically and your
lived experience is so valuable,because now this allows you to
connect with people on a levelthat goes beyond the surface
(17:23):
level transactions.
This isn't just about being agood person.
This is not just about having anice quality.
It can be your strategicadvantage if you use it that way
, because clients don't wantjust another consultant.
They don't want.
Let's be honest.
Let me just say this Mostpeople don't want someone to
tell them what to do.
(17:43):
How often have you experienced asituation where someone has
tried to tell you what to do andyou felt off, that they were
off putting or the situation wasnot pleasant?
People typically don't wantsomeone to tell them what to do.
What they want is someone whounderstands their challenges.
What they want is someone whocares about their success, who
(18:05):
has the empathy to truly relateto them.
That's what builds trust.
It's really the foundation ofany strong relationship.
So I want you to, instead ofseeing empathy as this soft
skill or this vulnerable part ofyourself, start viewing it as
your secret weapon.
(18:26):
I know this to be true.
This is what I have experiencedthroughout my practice is that
it's been the empathy that hasallowed me to connect with
clients, to really share withthem at a different level, on a
deeper level.
It lets people know that you'renot just there to do a job,
you're not just there to makemoney.
You're there to make a realdifference in their lives and in
(18:49):
their business.
And the thing is, when you leadwith empathy, you're not just
another consultant, you're notjust 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 theyneed to change.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants that.
(19:10):
That's why, when you arepracticing in a different manner
, where empathy is youradvantage.
They come back to you over andover again, and because they
come back to you, that revenueis gonna follow.
Now I know that was a lot, andwe're going to move beyond just
the mindset shifts into thingsthat you can do to actually take
action.
But I just wanna recap thispart really quickly and really
(19:32):
briefly, because I do feel likethis is an important part of the
process.
The first thing is that I wantyou to see rejection as
redirection.
It's not a stop sign, it's justfeedback.
Second, when letting go ofperfection, you're not going to
ever be perfect, and so instead,it's better to embrace
adaptability, because it's notabout having everything all
(19:55):
figured out.
It's about, like we said before, being able to adjust and to
keep moving.
And then, last but not least,we're viewing empathy, that soft
skill that no one really talksabout, that you may feel is a
vulnerability.
We're actually seeing that as astrategic asset, and that is
(20:16):
what we're going to use to setus apart.
All right, so now that we'vetalked about mindset shifts,
let's get into how to putresilience to work in your
consulting business, becauseresilience isn't just an
internal mindset.
It's actually something thatyou have to actively build into
the way that you run yourbusiness, and when you do this,
it's gonna send a powerfulmessage to your clients that
(20:39):
you're not just here for theeasy wins, but you're actually
here to deliver, no matter what,and that type of confidence and
consistency is what clients aregoing to pay premium for.
So let's talk about somespecific actions you can take to
really leverage resilience as arevenue generating strategy,
you know.
First up, let's talk aboutconsistency.
One of the most underrated waysof building your credibility as
(21:04):
a consultant's just to beconsistent.
It literally is to just beconsistent even when it's hard,
even when you're not seeinginstant results, even when
numbers are down, even whenyou're getting no's from RFPs or
cold calls or not turning outleads or whatever tactic or
(21:28):
strategy you may be using is notworking, even when those things
are not working well in themoment.
It's all about showing upconsistently.
I want you to think about itthis way how many people have
you noticed in the last year orso have quit or disappeared from
(21:51):
the internet?
Maybe you have seen them onLinkedIn.
Maybe you have seen them onInstagram.
In the past, they werepromoting their consulting
businesses, they were marketing,they were speaking, they were
doing all the things right, butyou don't see them anymore.
That's interesting, right?
(22:11):
The thing is that it's easy toget discouraged If you don't get
the immediate feedback, thepositive feedback, that you need
, or if the client pipelineslows down or maybe a project
doesn't go as planned or youlose your big client that you
have been depending upon for anumber of years.
When those things happen, itcan feel defeating and
(22:32):
discouraging.
That's understandable, and thething is that when we don't have
this resilience in place, whenwe don't have this built up and
maintained, then we're going tostop showing up, we're going to
stop delivering value, and sowhen we do those things, then
that disruption, that lack ofconsistency, begins to erode the
(22:55):
trust that we built.
Because when clients see thatyou're reliable, when they see
that you're someone who isalways there, you're this
consistent fixture that's alwaysthere.
You don't vanish when thingsget challenging, no matter what
the economy is doing in themoment, you're still there,
you're showing up, you're inplace where they have always
(23:18):
seen you.
That right there is going tomake you more valuable.
It's rare that people are ableto do that so practically what
this means is just finding one,at the most two platforms where
your potential clients are.
So, whether that's LinkedIn, orif it's Instagram or your blog
(23:39):
or your email newsletter,whatever it's going to be, pick
it, make sure it fits into yourlifestyle to do easily, without
a lot of stress and negativeenergy where it will burn you
out, and be consistent.
By committing to that andshowing your expertise and
(24:03):
insights there consistently,every week or even just every
month, you're not just buildingvisibility.
You're actually showing themthat you are here for the long
haul and that they can trustthat.
If someone is about to sign offon a contract for tens of
thousands of dollars, or ifthey're about to hand you their
hard earned money, they want tohave reassurance that you're
(24:26):
going to be around.
And if you are going in and out, seen and not seen, they're
going to question whether or notthey should make the decision
to move forward with you.
Think about these things morepractically right.
It's not just about showing upand being consistent for
consistency's sake.
The reason you're doing this isnumber one, because you owe it
(24:47):
to yourself and your businessneeds to grow and it needs to
expand.
So you owe it to yourself andyour business is needs to grow
and it needs to expand.
So you owe it to yourself.
The second is that people needto see you as a stable fixture,
as someone they can trust, sothat they are more willing to
get off the fence and to moveforward with working with you.
That's going to come from thatconsistency.
The second thing is that I wantyou to turn your what I like to
(25:15):
call battle scars into yoursocial proof.
So these are the challengingmoments, the tough clients, the
mistakes you've made along theway.
I want you to take all of thatand I know it's something that
we tend to hide as part of ourjourney, because it's not pretty
, all right, but I want you totake that.
I want you to take those battlescars and I want you to use
(25:37):
them as proof of your resilience, because they're part of your
story.
They are what make you morecredible, not less credible.
So, for example, if you had aclient project that nearly fell
apart but you found a way toturn it around, that's a story
to share.
What that does it shows yourpotential clients that when
(26:00):
things don't go as planned, youdon't panic, you don't run away,
you don't drop the ball andinstead you find a way to get it
done.
That's powerful and you don'thave to go into all the gritty
details.
You don't have to tell themevery negative detail, but just
think about how you can weavethese different battle scars
into your messaging, because thetruth is that when clients see
(26:20):
that you've navigated thesechallenges before, they are
actually more confident that youcan handle their challenges.
And that confidence is what'sgoing to allow you to charge
higher rates in the land, biggerprojects, because they believe
in you and what you're capableof doing.
Now this next action step mayactually surprise you, because
it's all about settingboundaries and look, I know it
(26:42):
might sound like boundaries arejust about protecting yourself
from burnout, protecting yourtime and protecting your energy
and, yes, that's part of it.
But boundaries also communicatevalue, because when you have
clear boundaries around yourtime, your energy and your
expertise, it signals to clientsthat you know your worth.
You're not available 24 seven,you're not bending over
(27:05):
backwards at the drop of a hatand you're certainly not giving
away free consulting and quickchats.
That's probably, I feel likeone of the hardest things to get
people to stop doing.
So what do you do instead?
Well, you may establish officehours for your clients so that
way they know that there's adesignated time for them to
(27:25):
communicate with you, or maybeyou're setting a firm scope of
work for each project thatyou're doing, so clients
understand what is committed interms of time from you to that
project and that any additionalrequests are going to actually
require additional investment.
It's about teaching your clientsto respect your time and
(27:47):
expertise and then, in turn,what happens is they start to
see the value you bring and whenclients respect your boundaries
, they're more willing to paythe rates that reflect your
expertise, because theyunderstand what the limits are
and what they're paying for isthe ability to have greater
access.
They understand that they'reworking with a professional,
(28:09):
that you're not just someonewho's grateful to be there,
that's just trying to drum upbusiness.
They understand that you aresomeone who is trained.
You are someone who isprofessional, who is able to
take them to a new level.
In many cases may result insignificant increases in their
revenue in their businesses, andbecause of that, they are
(28:32):
willing to compensate you for it, because they have a new
perceived value of the expertisethat you offer.
Right, I want you to think abouthow you're communicating your
value in this whole connectionwith boundaries, similar to how
you are packaging a product.
When a product has beautifulpackaging, there's something
(28:55):
about it that feels moreluxurious, that feels more
expensive, right, and part ofthat is because you've
established and set anexpectation.
And when you have boundaries,you're establishing and setting
the expectation of what it'slike to work with you.
So it's very similar and I wantyou to begin to see that the
(29:19):
boundaries you're setting aroundyour business and with your
clients, that these are thingsthat are going to help you to
become more resilient in the end, because it's going to save
your energy and your time.
And then also it's going tohelp you to be paid better,
because there is going to be agreater perceived value of the
services that you offer.
And then, last but not least, Iwant you to create a resilience
(29:42):
ritual for yourself, and thisis going to get a bit more
personal.
I want you to create a ritualbecause, if I'm honest, running
a consulting business has itsups and downs.
It's going to have its goodtimes and bad.
It's going to have for many.
Depending upon how yourbusiness is structured, it may
even have a feast or famine mode, right, a feast or famine cycle
(30:05):
.
So you have to be intentionalabout how you are processing
those experiences, because ifyou don't, it's really easy to
carry that stress with you.
That can be negative in a lotof ways, including your mental
and physical health.
So I want you to have a ritual,and this ritual can be very
simple.
It can actually look somethinglike having a weekly reflection
(30:27):
practice where you just take thetime, a few minutes, to write
down your wins and yourchallenges and what you learned
that week, or maybe it's amonthly review that you're doing
, where you're looking back onthe projects that you had and
you're trying to figure out andyou're noting what went well and
then where you could grow.
The goal is that you stop andyou pause and you process,
(30:51):
because when you're buildingtime for reflection, the one
thing that you'll start to seeare a lot of patterns.
You'll start to recognize areasof growth and then areas where
you can pinpoint needs a littlebit more work.
Another thing that you do isthat you begin to see things
that are working that you mayhave overlooked, and that's
(31:13):
something I always like to pointout with clients that I work
with, especially on a moreintimate one-on-one level, is
that I'll have them, not justlook at the outwardly metrics
that they may face every day.
So that may mean how manypeople engage with their
LinkedIn posts, how manyresponses they got or questions
or interactions they got intheir DMs, or how many responses
(31:35):
or replies to emails, how manypeople booked a call.
How many people may haveresponded and gave feedback from
a proposal that type of thing.
I have them instead.
Focus on the little things,right, how many signups did they
get for their lead magnet whenthey made a post?
(31:55):
Did you check and see, althoughthe likes were not as high, how
many people actually went intoyour bio?
And what you'll see sometimesis that the likes may not be
liking, you may not have as manylikes, but then you go and look
and there were 10 or 15 peoplethat clicked into your bio or
(32:17):
that downloaded your lead magnet.
That is worth more than thatlittle like that you're going to
see on the screen.
But oftentimes we don't seethat because in the midst of
everything that's going on inour day serving clients, trying
to keep a business afloat anddoing all the things it's hard
to I mean, it's easy to overlookthose things, so it's hard to
(32:39):
see them.
So this is going to help you toreally just be more resilient
because it helps you to see thethings that are working and how
you can actually move forwardthe things that are working and
how you can actually moveforward.
And the thing is that clientscan tell when they're working
with someone who's veryintentional about their own
growth and self-improvement.
(33:00):
When you see the person thatyou're working with doing the
work, it gives you moreconfidence that what they're
telling you works right, becausethey're doing what they are
telling you to do.
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.
How can you live that out?
(33:22):
How can you live elements ofthat out?
And let me tell you that issomething that people will pay
for, because they always wantthe assurance that they're
paying for something that theycan see will work.
So there you have it.
That's four actual ways toreally turn this resilience into
(33:42):
revenue.
To show up consistently tobuild trust and visibility.
To embrace your battle scarsand share them as your social
proof, as your proof points ofyour resilience cars, and share
them as your social proof, asyour proof points of your
resilience.
To begin to set boundaries thatcommunicate your value so that
you attract high quality clients.
And then, finally, to create aresilience ritual to help you
(34:04):
process and grow from everyexperience.
Each of those steps, no matterhow small on their own, when you
put them together, they areextremely powerful.
They're how you build aconsulting practice that doesn't
just survive, but one thatactually thrives, no matter what
challenges you face, no matterwhat challenges come your way.
(34:26):
All right.
So I know we went a little bitlong today.
We covered a lot.
Know we went a little bit longtoday.
We covered a lot.
We talked about resilience notjust as pushing through these
difficult moments, but reallyusing that resilience as a
powerful strategy.
This needs to be something thatwe are able to use to fuel our
growth, to build our credibilityand, yes, to increase our
(34:47):
revenue.
We talked about mindset shiftshow seeing rejection as
redirection and embracingadaptability over perfection and
using empathy as a strategicadvantage can actually help us
move forward.
And then we dove into somespecific actions that you can
take to put resilience to workin your business.
Things like showing upconsistently, sharing your
(35:08):
battle scars, setting boundariesand communicating your value,
and creating a resilience ritualto keep yourself grounded and
growing.
All of this is only as powerfulas what you do next.
So before we wrap up we'realmost there Before we wrap up,
I want to leave you with onefinal challenge.
(35:28):
I want you this week, to pickone thing from today's episode,
just one, and put it into action.
Whether it's a mindset shift,whether it is one of the action
steps that we talked about, pickone, find the lesson in it and
put it to action, and I want youto commit to it.
(35:48):
Commit to doing it, becauseresilience is something that's
not built overnight.
It's not like you're going tolisten to this episode and
you're going to, all of a suddenbe a resilient consultant that
doesn't have any mindset issuesat any point in time in your
practice.
It doesn't happen overnight.
It was something that we alljust continue to work on.
(36:11):
I'm still working on it.
We just work on it over time,but one small shift at a time
makes a huge impact.
The more you do, the more you'llstart to see resilience show up
, not just in how you think, butin how you run your business,
how your clients actuallyrespond to you, because you're
(36:33):
not just about bouncing backfrom tough moments.
You are a woman, a woman ofcolor, especially in this
industry, and you know what itmeans to be resilient.
You've done it before, you'vedone it in the past in a lot of
different ways, and so this isjust reminding you that you're
gonna also have to do it on thisbusiness journey.
(36:54):
So take that one step.
Let it be a stepping stone forthe next step you're gonna take,
and the next step and the next,and then trust me that the
impact that you're going tocreate from this is gonna be
bigger than you could everimagine.
It really will be.
So I wanna just thank you somuch for spending.
It really will be.
So I want to just thank you somuch for spending this time with
(37:15):
me.
I really do hope that today'sconversation gave you some fresh
perspective and some practicaltools that keep you moving
forward.
I felt like this episode waskind of really timely for today,
for our economy, for justeverything that seems to be
going on around me, for thethings that I'm noticing clients
are experiencing, and if thisresonated with you, I love to
(37:37):
hear about it.
I want you to shoot me amessage on LinkedIn or Instagram
, tag me in this episode, and Ilove, as always, if you could
leave a review for the podcaston either Spotify or on Apple
Podcasts or any other platformthat you listen to it on,
because that really does help usto grow and it helps the
(37:58):
podcast to spread when we'reable to get those reviews and
we're able to share with otherlisteners.
But I do hope that it has beenhelpful.
I hope that you use it, I hopethat you become more resilient
as a result and I hope that Iget to see you again next week.
All right guys, take care.
Thank you for tuning in to theBlack Girls Console 2 podcast.
(38:18):
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to leave your review on
Apple Podcasts, subscribe andshare 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.
Also, I'd love to hear from you.
So let's connect at Dr AngelinaDavis on Instagram or LinkedIn
(38:39):
and don't forget to visitexcelatconsultingcom for more
information to support yourconsulting journey.
Until next time, keep breakingglass ceiling.
All right, take care.
You know, one of the biggest lies we're told in this
industry is that resiliencemeans just toughing it out, that
if you push harder, if you keepworking longer, eventually
everything is just going toclick.
It's just going to all workmagically in your favor.
But the truth is thatresilience isn't about taking
(00:22):
hit after hit after hit and justsurviving.
It's not.
It's about learning how toadapt, how to level up and,
really, most importantly, how toturn all of those setbacks into
revenue, into growth andopportunity.
Because, let's get real, thisconsulting industry, it wasn't
built with us in mind, for us aswomen, especially women of
(00:44):
color industry, it wasn't builtwith us in mind.
For us as women, especiallywomen of color.
Resilience isn't just a nice tohave, it is essential.
It's how we carve out space inrooms that were not designed for
us, in rooms that really, to behonest, we haven't been in, and
so, in order for us to buildauthority, even when the odds
are stacked against us, we needto truly know what resilience
(01:05):
means and how to use it.
So today, we're not gonna talkabout resilience in that grit
your teeth and bear it type ofway.
We're going to change whatyou've heard possibly a thousand
times, and I wanna show you howresilience, when you use it as
a strategy, can actually be thekey to you taking your business
(01:26):
to a new level.
It's not just about making itthrough tough times, it's about
creating opportunities from them.
If you're tired of feeling alittle worn out, or if you are
tired of hearing no when youknow you have so much to offer,
then this episode is for you,because resilience isn't just
(01:46):
about bouncing back, it's aboutbouncing forward.
So let's talk about how we canturn our resilience into revenue
, growth and freedom.
Let's get started, they say.
The odds are stacked against usas women, especially women of
color, trying to thrive in theconsulting world.
But rather than wait for a seatat the table that may never
(02:08):
come, what if we build our owntables?
What if we channeled ourtalents into guiding each other
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
(02:29):
world.
This podcast is your go-to spotfor all things entrepreneurial
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
(02:51):
balancing day jobs, family lifeand running teams.
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 or, hey,even a glass of wine.
I won't judge.
Let's get started.
(03:12):
Hello and welcome to the BlackGirls Consult Tube podcast.
I'm your host, dr AngelinaDavis.
And listen, I'm so glad we areclear on this one issue that
resilience isn't just aboutsurviving the tough stuff.
(03:34):
It really is about growingthrough it.
You know, I think that we haveto find different ways to let
our challenges fuel our journeyforward.
We can get stuck in thechallenge, right.
We can get stuck in this placewhere we have a lot of negative
(03:55):
energy that's feeding into usfrom a lot of different places.
And listen, I get it.
I've been there.
I understand that that'ssometimes what is hard not to do
right.
It's hard for us to not dothose things because many of
these challenges seem to justcome from every direction over
(04:15):
and over and over again, but thething is that we have to find a
way to use it to our advantage.
And I know that's easier saidthan done, because when you're
facing rejection and doubt, oreven those little whispers in
the back of your head that'stelling you you know really
maybe this isn't for you.
It can feel really personal andsometimes it feels like every
(04:40):
no is a roadblock that's tellingyou to turn back around, that
this is not what you're supposedto be doing.
And this can show up atdifferent phases of your
business journey.
It's not just for the beginning.
It can show up when you'retrying to land that larger
contract or when you're tryingto work with your dream
corporate client.
It will show up at differenttimes.
(05:02):
It will rear its head atdifferent points of your
business journey.
So I know that can be hard, butthe thing is that I want us to
start really looking at theseno's in a new light and let's
dig into that.
I want to talk about some keymindset shifts that can really
(05:22):
take you from going from justgetting through these moments to
really using them asspringboards for your real
growth.
Now, one of the biggest shiftsthat I had to make is realizing
that resilience didn't just meanthat I was able to stand
through these tough moments.
(05:44):
It wasn't just about how much Icould take.
It truly was about how I wasinterpreting those challenges
that I was facing.
And the thing is that when youare able to shift your mindset
in that way, it will help youmove forward.
It'll allow you to have abetter understanding as to what
(06:06):
you need to do to achieve yournext big goal.
So I want to start with theidea that many times, the
rejections that we face areactually redirection, because
when we learn to see rejectionnot as a stop sign, but just as
a detour or maybe just a plottwist to something better,
(06:27):
that's when we take ourresilience to a whole new level.
Now I know when I talk aboutrejection as redirection, I get
it.
It sounds a little cliche.
It sounds like I'm just feedingyou a bunch of common sayings
and things that people tell youwhen they want you to feel
(06:48):
better about your situation.
But I want you to stay with meright now because there's a
powerful truth there Inconsulting, especially as a
woman, and a woman of color, itis inevitable that you're going
to face some closed doors.
I have walked into the clientmeeting where someone has looked
at me as if I had 10 heads,like they did not expect a black
(07:12):
woman to walk through that door.
This was in deep woods of SouthCarolina I'm in the South, so
some of this was not completelynew to me.
But I knew that.
Look, when I saw it, Iunderstood what it meant.
I understood the shock thatthat person had on their face,
especially because in myconsulting group at the time
(07:32):
there was no diversity, so theywere not expecting for me to
walk through the door.
I had newly started as a partof our group and it really just
was not on their mind that theywere gonna be working number one
with a woman, but then numbertwo with a woman of color, with
a black woman.
(07:52):
So those feelings will come andyou have to live through them
and not just live through themand shrink into your shell, but
you have to actually stand inthat spot in that moment and
command the level of respectthat you deserve.
So it's inevitable that many ofthese things are gonna happen,
and maybe for you it's a clientwho tries to ghost you or a
(08:16):
proposal that you were sure youwould land, but it doesn't come
through.
All of those instances arecircumstances that really do
hurt.
It stings and if we're notcareful, every rejection that we
get can start to feel like areflection of our own value,
like for me when I walkedthrough that door that something
(08:38):
was wrong with me.
Like immediately I was not goodenough.
But the thing is that that isnot true.
It's not that you were not cutout for this or that something's
missing.
The mindset shift that I wantyou to embrace is that rejection
isn't a reflection of yourworth.
It's feedback on your path.
(08:59):
So let me say that again,because it really is important
Rejection is feedback.
It's data you can use.
Sometimes it's telling you thatmaybe this client wasn't a
right fit.
Maybe it's telling you thatyour offer needs a little more
clarity or refinement, but noneof it and I do mean none of it
(09:20):
means that you're not qualifiedor capable.
When you start to see rejectionas redirection, the thing that
it'll do it'll change the game,because instead of thinking this
didn't work, so I must be doingsomething wrong, you start to
ask what lesson am I supposed tolearn right here?
How can I use this experienceto make my next move.
(09:42):
How can I be better because ofthis?
So here's what I want you to dothe next time you face
rejection or setback, I want youto take a moment and, instead
of going straight to what wentwrong, ask yourself what I can
learn from this, because maybeit's a hint that you need to
refine your pitch, or maybe it'sa sign to focus on a different
(10:02):
type of client who better alignswith your values.
And this is a really small andsubtle shift, but it truly is a
powerful one, because whenrejection is less of a roadblock
for you and more of a sign or asignal to recalibrate, you're
going to make a lot of progress.
(10:22):
You're going to make moreprogress than you would have
made if you fall into the trapof thinking.
It means something about you.
Now let's talk about another bigshift, and that is the
adaptability over perfection.
There's a lot of pressure inconsulting, especially when
you're trying to prove yourself.
(10:43):
To get everything just right,it needs to be perfect, it needs
to be flawless.
You need to be able toanticipate every question, give
every possible answer, you needto address everything before it
comes up.
But let me tell you, perfectionis a trap.
Perfection is a trap, and I ama recovering perfectionist, so I
fell in this trap many times,over and over again.
(11:04):
It keeps you small, it holdsyou back because you're afraid
to take risks, you're afraid tomake any real bold move.
And so, instead, I want to haveyou focus on adaptability,
because when you focus onadaptability, that's actually
where real resilience lives.
(11:26):
Because you stay flexible, youknow that you can handle
whatever comes your way.
Not because you know everything, not because you have all the
answers, because you trust thateven if it doesn't go right,
even if it's not perfect, you'llfigure it out.
The thing is that when you'readaptable, you can walk into any
room with confidence, anyclient meeting, any backdoor
(11:51):
session, any boardroom.
You can walk in there knowingthat you have the tools to make
the necessary adjustments and todeliver on the promise of the
outcomes that you are supposedto deliver on.
And that's even if things don'tgo according to plan.
You know how to adapt.
And the people who can't adaptare the ones that end up, in the
(12:13):
long run, struggling, becausethey're walking in prepared,
typically with what they thinkare going to be all the answers,
but the thing that they're notgiving themselves room to do is
to be flexible, is to be able totake something off the cuff and
being able to navigate it inthat present moment, and that's
really the heart of negotiationa lot of times when you are in
(12:36):
those spaces.
So you have to be able to adapt.
It's very hard to be successfulin consulting if you're not able
to adapt.
You want to be able to rollwith the punches and be very
confident in doing that.
So the next time you feelyourself getting bogged down by
(12:57):
the details, you're thinkingabout how everything needs to be
perfect, you're worried aboutthe things that are going to go
wrong.
I want you to instead thinkabout what's the worst thing
that could happen if I don'tknow this answer.
What's the worst thing thatcould happen if I don't have a
response immediately?
What's the worst thing that'sgoing to happen if I say you
(13:20):
know what, I'm not exactly sureI'm going to get back with you,
right?
Because if you think about that, you realize that nothing
typically nothing's going tohappen, that all of these
catastrophic things that youthought could take place, that
they truly, in real life, oftendon't happen, and they're often
(13:45):
situations that you can indeedhandle, and they're often
situations that you can indeedhandle and when you realize that
when you kind of practice thisfor a while, it makes you less
fearful when you walk into thosespaces.
It allows you to sit there withmore confidence and speak more
boldly because you're notworried about what you're gonna
say wrong.
And that's part of what we'realways trying to overcome when
(14:07):
it comes to I always like to saythe corporate conditioning and
the corporate trauma we face,because many times in many
corporate environments, we'vebeen in situations where our
expertise and our intellect andour brilliance has been
questioned and we have beenexpected to follow set protocols
and procedures and things thatothers have determined is most
(14:29):
appropriate for that businessenvironment.
Now, I always like to remindyou that what was appropriate in
that environment is not theend-all, be-all.
It's just the way that thatparticular organization wanted
to carry out business, andthere's nothing wrong with them
doing that, because what theywere trying to create is
consistency within theirorganization and within their
(14:50):
organization's messaging andvalues and beliefs.
But it doesn't mean that thereare not other options and other
answers and other ways of doingthings.
What you are able to pull fromas an entrepreneur is the fact
that you have access to all ofthese other ways, all of these
different ways of approaching asituation, and when you realize
(15:13):
that you have that at yourdisposal, it's okay for you to
take that pause and take thatmoment and figure out exactly
how you want to proceed.
The thing is that you canhandle it.
You have done it in the past.
You've handled worse, right.
So adaptability is actuallysomething that's in your favor.
(15:34):
So I want you to focus onembracing that adaptability over
their perfection.
And another thing and this isprobably the third mindset shift
that I feel like is veryimportant, especially when we're
starting this conversationabout resilience is that you
need to see empathy as astrategic advantage.
One of the things that is veryunique about women in business
(15:58):
and our feminine power is thatwe tend to be more empathetic.
That's just by nature, and sooften when we see empathy when
it comes to consulting, we cansee it as being something that
makes us vulnerable, becausewe're taught to be in this
hustle mode, this veryhyper-masculine energy to always
(16:19):
go and win and beat thecompetition, and you know that
is an energy that is helpful attimes.
But also, I want to encourageyou to really you know,
understand and appreciate thewealth and the benefit
(16:41):
associated with empathy, becausewe don't often hear about that
as one of the tools that youhave in your toolkit.
We don't often hear about thatas one of the tools that you
have in your toolkit.
And as women, especially womenof color, we have to navigate
spaces that don't always feelwelcoming or inclusive, so we
know what it feels like to beunseen or to be underestimated,
(17:01):
and while those experiences arehard, they often give us this
unique lens to look through inthis deep sense of empathy.
This is why leaning into whoyou are authentically and your
lived experience is so valuable,because now this allows you to
connect with people on a levelthat goes beyond the surface
(17:23):
level transactions.
This isn't just about being agood person.
This is not just about having anice quality.
It can be your strategicadvantage if you use it that way
, because clients don't wantjust another consultant.
They don't want.
Let's be honest.
Let me just say this Mostpeople don't want someone to
tell them what to do.
(17:43):
How often have you experienced asituation where someone has
tried to tell you what to do andyou felt off, that they were
off putting or the situation wasnot pleasant?
People typically don't wantsomeone to tell them what to do.
What they want is someone whounderstands their challenges.
What they want is someone whocares about their success, who
(18:05):
has the empathy to truly relateto them.
That's what builds trust.
It's really the foundation ofany strong relationship.
So I want you to, instead ofseeing empathy as this soft
skill or this vulnerable part ofyourself, start viewing it as
your secret weapon.
(18:26):
I know this to be true.
This is what I have experiencedthroughout my practice is that
it's been the empathy that hasallowed me to connect with
clients, to really share withthem at a different level, on a
deeper level.
It lets people know that you'renot just there to do a job,
you're not just there to makemoney.
You're there to make a realdifference in their lives and in
(18:49):
their business.
And the thing is, when you leadwith empathy, you're not just
another consultant, you're notjust 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 theyneed to change.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants that.
(19:10):
That's why, when you arepracticing in a different manner
, where empathy is youradvantage.
They come back to you over andover again, and because they
come back to you, that revenueis gonna follow.
Now I know that was a lot, andwe're going to move beyond just
the mindset shifts into thingsthat you can do to actually take
action.
But I just wanna recap thispart really quickly and really
(19:32):
briefly, because I do feel likethis is an important part of the
process.
The first thing is that I wantyou to see rejection as
redirection.
It's not a stop sign, it's justfeedback.
Second, when letting go ofperfection, you're not going to
ever be perfect, and so instead,it's better to embrace
adaptability, because it's notabout having everything all
(19:55):
figured out.
It's about, like we said before, being able to adjust and to
keep moving.
And then, last but not least,we're viewing empathy, that soft
skill that no one really talksabout, that you may feel is a
vulnerability.
We're actually seeing that as astrategic asset, and that is
(20:16):
what we're going to use to setus apart.
All right, so now that we'vetalked about mindset shifts,
let's get into how to putresilience to work in your
consulting business, becauseresilience isn't just an
internal mindset.
It's actually something thatyou have to actively build into
the way that you run yourbusiness, and when you do this,
it's gonna send a powerfulmessage to your clients that
(20:39):
you're not just here for theeasy wins, but you're actually
here to deliver, no matter what,and that type of confidence and
consistency is what clients aregoing to pay premium for.
So let's talk about somespecific actions you can take to
really leverage resilience as arevenue generating strategy,
you know.
First up, let's talk aboutconsistency.
One of the most underrated waysof building your credibility as
(21:04):
a consultant's just to beconsistent.
It literally is to just beconsistent even when it's hard,
even when you're not seeinginstant results, even when
numbers are down, even whenyou're getting no's from RFPs or
cold calls or not turning outleads or whatever tactic or
(21:28):
strategy you may be using is notworking, even when those things
are not working well in themoment.
It's all about showing upconsistently.
I want you to think about itthis way how many people have
you noticed in the last year orso have quit or disappeared from
(21:51):
the internet?
Maybe you have seen them onLinkedIn.
Maybe you have seen them onInstagram.
In the past, they werepromoting their consulting
businesses, they were marketing,they were speaking, they were
doing all the things right, butyou don't see them anymore.
That's interesting, right?
(22:11):
The thing is that it's easy toget discouraged If you don't get
the immediate feedback, thepositive feedback, that you need
, or if the client pipelineslows down or maybe a project
doesn't go as planned or youlose your big client that you
have been depending upon for anumber of years.
When those things happen, itcan feel defeating and
(22:32):
discouraging.
That's understandable, and thething is that when we don't have
this resilience in place, whenwe don't have this built up and
maintained, then we're going tostop showing up, we're going to
stop delivering value, and sowhen we do those things, then
that disruption, that lack ofconsistency, begins to erode the
(22:55):
trust that we built.
Because when clients see thatyou're reliable, when they see
that you're someone who isalways there, you're this
consistent fixture that's alwaysthere.
You don't vanish when thingsget challenging, no matter what
the economy is doing in themoment, you're still there,
you're showing up, you're inplace where they have always
(23:18):
seen you.
That right there is going tomake you more valuable.
It's rare that people are ableto do that so practically what
this means is just finding one,at the most two platforms where
your potential clients are.
So, whether that's LinkedIn, orif it's Instagram or your blog
(23:39):
or your email newsletter,whatever it's going to be, pick
it, make sure it fits into yourlifestyle to do easily, without
a lot of stress and negativeenergy where it will burn you
out, and be consistent.
By committing to that andshowing your expertise and
(24:03):
insights there consistently,every week or even just every
month, you're not just buildingvisibility.
You're actually showing themthat you are here for the long
haul and that they can trustthat.
If someone is about to sign offon a contract for tens of
thousands of dollars, or ifthey're about to hand you their
hard earned money, they want tohave reassurance that you're
(24:26):
going to be around.
And if you are going in and out, seen and not seen, they're
going to question whether or notthey should make the decision
to move forward with you.
Think about these things morepractically right.
It's not just about showing upand being consistent for
consistency's sake.
The reason you're doing this isnumber one, because you owe it
(24:47):
to yourself and your businessneeds to grow and it needs to
expand.
So you owe it to yourself andyour business is needs to grow
and it needs to expand.
So you owe it to yourself.
The second is that people needto see you as a stable fixture,
as someone they can trust, sothat they are more willing to
get off the fence and to moveforward with working with you.
That's going to come from thatconsistency.
The second thing is that I wantyou to turn your what I like to
(25:15):
call battle scars into yoursocial proof.
So these are the challengingmoments, the tough clients, the
mistakes you've made along theway.
I want you to take all of thatand I know it's something that
we tend to hide as part of ourjourney, because it's not pretty
, all right, but I want you totake that.
I want you to take those battlescars and I want you to use
(25:37):
them as proof of your resilience, because they're part of your
story.
They are what make you morecredible, not less credible.
So, for example, if you had aclient project that nearly fell
apart but you found a way toturn it around, that's a story
to share.
What that does it shows yourpotential clients that when
(26:00):
things don't go as planned, youdon't panic, you don't run away,
you don't drop the ball andinstead you find a way to get it
done.
That's powerful and you don'thave to go into all the gritty
details.
You don't have to tell themevery negative detail, but just
think about how you can weavethese different battle scars
into your messaging, because thetruth is that when clients see
(26:20):
that you've navigated thesechallenges before, they are
actually more confident that youcan handle their challenges.
And that confidence is what'sgoing to allow you to charge
higher rates in the land, biggerprojects, because they believe
in you and what you're capableof doing.
Now this next action step mayactually surprise you, because
it's all about settingboundaries and look, I know it
(26:42):
might sound like boundaries arejust about protecting yourself
from burnout, protecting yourtime and protecting your energy
and, yes, that's part of it.
But boundaries also communicatevalue, because when you have
clear boundaries around yourtime, your energy and your
expertise, it signals to clientsthat you know your worth.
You're not available 24 seven,you're not bending over
(27:05):
backwards at the drop of a hatand you're certainly not giving
away free consulting and quickchats.
That's probably, I feel likeone of the hardest things to get
people to stop doing.
So what do you do instead?
Well, you may establish officehours for your clients so that
way they know that there's adesignated time for them to
(27:25):
communicate with you, or maybeyou're setting a firm scope of
work for each project thatyou're doing, so clients
understand what is committed interms of time from you to that
project and that any additionalrequests are going to actually
require additional investment.
It's about teaching your clientsto respect your time and
(27:47):
expertise and then, in turn,what happens is they start to
see the value you bring and whenclients respect your boundaries
, they're more willing to paythe rates that reflect your
expertise, because theyunderstand what the limits are
and what they're paying for isthe ability to have greater
access.
They understand that they'reworking with a professional,
(28:09):
that you're not just someonewho's grateful to be there,
that's just trying to drum upbusiness.
They understand that you aresomeone who is trained.
You are someone who isprofessional, who is able to
take them to a new level.
In many cases may result insignificant increases in their
revenue in their businesses, andbecause of that, they are
(28:32):
willing to compensate you for it, because they have a new
perceived value of the expertisethat you offer.
Right, I want you to think abouthow you're communicating your
value in this whole connectionwith boundaries, similar to how
you are packaging a product.
When a product has beautifulpackaging, there's something
(28:55):
about it that feels moreluxurious, that feels more
expensive, right, and part ofthat is because you've
established and set anexpectation.
And when you have boundaries,you're establishing and setting
the expectation of what it'slike to work with you.
So it's very similar and I wantyou to begin to see that the
(29:19):
boundaries you're setting aroundyour business and with your
clients, that these are thingsthat are going to help you to
become more resilient in the end, because it's going to save
your energy and your time.
And then also it's going tohelp you to be paid better,
because there is going to be agreater perceived value of the
services that you offer.
And then, last but not least, Iwant you to create a resilience
(29:42):
ritual for yourself, and thisis going to get a bit more
personal.
I want you to create a ritualbecause, if I'm honest, running
a consulting business has itsups and downs.
It's going to have its goodtimes and bad.
It's going to have for many.
Depending upon how yourbusiness is structured, it may
even have a feast or famine mode, right, a feast or famine cycle
(30:05):
.
So you have to be intentionalabout how you are processing
those experiences, because ifyou don't, it's really easy to
carry that stress with you.
That can be negative in a lotof ways, including your mental
and physical health.
So I want you to have a ritual,and this ritual can be very
simple.
It can actually look somethinglike having a weekly reflection
(30:27):
practice where you just take thetime, a few minutes, to write
down your wins and yourchallenges and what you learned
that week, or maybe it's amonthly review that you're doing
, where you're looking back onthe projects that you had and
you're trying to figure out andyou're noting what went well and
then where you could grow.
The goal is that you stop andyou pause and you process,
(30:51):
because when you're buildingtime for reflection, the one
thing that you'll start to seeare a lot of patterns.
You'll start to recognize areasof growth and then areas where
you can pinpoint needs a littlebit more work.
Another thing that you do isthat you begin to see things
that are working that you mayhave overlooked, and that's
(31:13):
something I always like to pointout with clients that I work
with, especially on a moreintimate one-on-one level, is
that I'll have them, not justlook at the outwardly metrics
that they may face every day.
So that may mean how manypeople engage with their
LinkedIn posts, how manyresponses they got or questions
or interactions they got intheir DMs, or how many responses
(31:35):
or replies to emails, how manypeople booked a call.
How many people may haveresponded and gave feedback from
a proposal that type of thing.
I have them instead.
Focus on the little things,right, how many signups did they
get for their lead magnet whenthey made a post?
(31:55):
Did you check and see, althoughthe likes were not as high, how
many people actually went intoyour bio?
And what you'll see sometimesis that the likes may not be
liking, you may not have as manylikes, but then you go and look
and there were 10 or 15 peoplethat clicked into your bio or
(32:17):
that downloaded your lead magnet.
That is worth more than thatlittle like that you're going to
see on the screen.
But oftentimes we don't seethat because in the midst of
everything that's going on inour day serving clients, trying
to keep a business afloat anddoing all the things it's hard
to I mean, it's easy to overlookthose things, so it's hard to
(32:39):
see them.
So this is going to help you toreally just be more resilient
because it helps you to see thethings that are working and how
you can actually move forwardthe things that are working and
how you can actually moveforward.
And the thing is that clientscan tell when they're working
with someone who's veryintentional about their own
growth and self-improvement.
(33:00):
When you see the person thatyou're working with doing the
work, it gives you moreconfidence that what they're
telling you works right, becausethey're doing what they are
telling you to do.
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.
How can you live that out?
(33:22):
How can you live elements ofthat out?
And let me tell you that issomething that people will pay
for, because they always wantthe assurance that they're
paying for something that theycan see will work.
So there you have it.
That's four actual ways toreally turn this resilience into
(33:42):
revenue.
To show up consistently tobuild trust and visibility.
To embrace your battle scarsand share them as your social
proof, as your proof points ofyour resilience cars, and share
them as your social proof, asyour proof points of your
resilience.
To begin to set boundaries thatcommunicate your value so that
you attract high quality clients.
And then, finally, to create aresilience ritual to help you
(34:04):
process and grow from everyexperience.
Each of those steps, no matterhow small on their own, when you
put them together, they areextremely powerful.
They're how you build aconsulting practice that doesn't
just survive, but one thatactually thrives, no matter what
challenges you face, no matterwhat challenges come your way.
(34:26):
All right.
So I know we went a little bitlong today.
We covered a lot.
Know we went a little bit longtoday.
We covered a lot.
We talked about resilience notjust as pushing through these
difficult moments, but reallyusing that resilience as a
powerful strategy.
This needs to be something thatwe are able to use to fuel our
growth, to build our credibilityand, yes, to increase our
(34:47):
revenue.
We talked about mindset shiftshow seeing rejection as
redirection and embracingadaptability over perfection and
using empathy as a strategicadvantage can actually help us
move forward.
And then we dove into somespecific actions that you can
take to put resilience to workin your business.
Things like showing upconsistently, sharing your
(35:08):
battle scars, setting boundariesand communicating your value,
and creating a resilience ritualto keep yourself grounded and
growing.
All of this is only as powerfulas what you do next.
So before we wrap up we'realmost there Before we wrap up,
I want to leave you with onefinal challenge.
(35:28):
I want you this week, to pickone thing from today's episode,
just one, and put it into action.
Whether it's a mindset shift,whether it is one of the action
steps that we talked about, pickone, find the lesson in it and
put it to action, and I want youto commit to it.
(35:48):
Commit to doing it, becauseresilience is something that's
not built overnight.
It's not like you're going tolisten to this episode and
you're going to, all of a suddenbe a resilient consultant that
doesn't have any mindset issuesat any point in time in your
practice.
It doesn't happen overnight.
It was something that we alljust continue to work on.
(36:11):
I'm still working on it.
We just work on it over time,but one small shift at a time
makes a huge impact.
The more you do, the more you'llstart to see resilience show up
, not just in how you think, butin how you run your business,
how your clients actuallyrespond to you, because you're
(36:33):
not just about bouncing backfrom tough moments.
You are a woman, a woman ofcolor, especially in this
industry, and you know what itmeans to be resilient.
You've done it before, you'vedone it in the past in a lot of
different ways, and so this isjust reminding you that you're
gonna also have to do it on thisbusiness journey.
(36:54):
So take that one step.
Let it be a stepping stone forthe next step you're gonna take,
and the next step and the next,and then trust me that the
impact that you're going tocreate from this is gonna be
bigger than you could everimagine.
It really will be.
So I wanna just thank you somuch for spending.
It really will be.
So I want to just thank you somuch for spending this time with
(37:15):
me.
I really do hope that today'sconversation gave you some fresh
perspective and some practicaltools that keep you moving
forward.
I felt like this episode waskind of really timely for today,
for our economy, for justeverything that seems to be
going on around me, for thethings that I'm noticing clients
are experiencing, and if thisresonated with you, I love to
(37:37):
hear about it.
I want you to shoot me amessage on LinkedIn or Instagram
, tag me in this episode, and Ilove, as always, if you could
leave a review for the podcaston either Spotify or on Apple
Podcasts or any other platformthat you listen to it on,
because that really does help usto grow and it helps the
(37:58):
podcast to spread when we'reable to get those reviews and
we're able to share with otherlisteners.
But I do hope that it has beenhelpful.
I hope that you use it, I hopethat you become more resilient
as a result and I hope that Iget to see you again next week.
All right guys, take care.
Thank you for tuning in to theBlack Girls Console 2 podcast.
(38:18):
If you enjoyed today's episode,be sure to leave your review on
Apple Podcasts, subscribe andshare 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.
Also, I'd love to hear from you.
So let's connect at Dr AngelinaDavis on Instagram or LinkedIn
(38:39):
and don't forget to visitexcelatconsultingcom for more
information to support yourconsulting journey.
Until next time, keep breakingglass ceiling.
All right, take care.
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