7 Figure
Consultant
PODCAST
With Jessica Fearnley
Welcome to the 7 Figure Consultant Podcast, the show that takes you from booked up and burned out in your consulting business to THRIVING as the CEO of your 7 figure enterprise
Yes – you read that right!
It really is possible to earn more money from your business, by working less. In fact, these two things go hand in hand.
Jessica Fearnley is here to show you how you can work less and earn more in your business.
A lot of the content out there can feel like it is either speaking to people still fully in the corporate world, or to entrepreneurs with purple hair who work in their pyjamas and drop the f-bomb every other sentence.
Neither of these boxes feel like quite the right fit when you’re a consultant because you sit in both camps – corporate AND entrepreneur – and actually sort of between them, so in this podcast we talk about the issues that make sense for YOU.
We’re making a new box. And no one is going to be calling you a ‘boss babe’!
Tune into the 7 Figure Consultant Podcast and let’s start the conversation about how YOU can work less and earn more in your consulting business today.
I’m quite an instinctive journaler and sometimes find myself flummoxed by the question: how do I journal? If that is something you would like to know the answer to, then this week my guest on the podcast is Moyra Mackie. She’s an accredited coach and organisational consultant, and has developed Journal Safari to help people create a space where they can step away from being busy and articulate their thoughts and feelings.
Are you finding it hard to get projects finished? Is your to do list bursting at the seams? No matter how many hours you work, that list of tasks keeps growing.
None of us like not reaching our own standards, we are all trying to do our best. You might find this a painful realisation, but you could be the bottleneck in your business.
We often spend our time sitting on the sidelines, telling ourselves we will take a particular step in 6 months’ time.
This week on the podcast, I am talking about getting brave. If you have goals in your notebook that you haven’t started taking action on yet, this episode is for you.
Our role as businesswomen and as experts in our industries gives us the opportunity to lead inclusion. We can design the businesses we want to see more of.
This week my guest is Kay Fabella, a DEI consultant and remote teams specialist. Kay and I talked about the power of inclusion, creating opportunities and the part women consultants can play as allies and leaders.
Do you have an intense feeling of angst about your work? Perhaps there is a nagging doubt that you have done something wrong or that you are about to get ‘found out’ and will be asked to leave, or to give a client a refund. You are not alone. This is an issue many consultants come across: it is called imposter syndrome, the feeling that your success is down to luck rather than being something you have earned.
Adding revenue streams to your business means adding a corresponding service, or maybe even a new service, to your business so that it either serves your existing client base more fully, or it allows you to broaden your reach. If you only have one service or one product, all your eggs are in that basket.
One thing that has really been a surprise for me to discover while hosting this podcast, is how many women there are, who are either in the process of setting up their own independent consulting business, or are already consulting under their own independent brand, but who don’t yet feel part of a cohesive group of women consultants.
When you are super clear on who you’re talking to, and what they want to know about you, it’s so much easier to communicate confidently and consistently every time you speak and write about your business. Lucy Eckley helps independent consultants build a unique story.
The narrative around growing a business suggests that in the beginning things are quiet and you have lots of time on your hands but you don’t have much money coming in. And then as it grows, the amount of money coming in gets bigger, but the amount of time you have available gets increasingly smaller…
Is there such a thing as a stress-free business? I don’t know that any business will ever be 100% stress free. But you can minimize the stress you experience, by taking one small, but important action every single month – building up your cash reserve.
When you compare it to the alternative, living hand to mouth, it’s really no contest.
The sales process with corporate firms can take quite a long time. On this week’s podcast, I’m talking to Laura Wright, a self published author, speaker, growth strategist and master sales coach. She has closed a cool $43 million and then some over the last 20 years, she is the founder of Epic At Sales and during our interview she shared some ideas on how to speed up your sales process.
I encourage my clients to have an Ideal Client in mind for their consulting services. If there’s a type of business you prefer to work with it makes sense to focus on attracting more of this. But what do you do if you get asked to work with someone who doesn’t fit your idea of an Ideal Client, especially now, when we may be feeling uncertain about the future of our economy.
Last week I had two separate conversations where basically the same question was being asked. And I realised this is totally something that other women consultants will want to hear the answers to. The question that came up was ‘how can I plan for anything in my business at the moment? Everything shifts so much from one week to the next.’
There are some misconceptions around building, and having, a seven figure consulting business. There are so many things that can affect our mindset in the area of business and money, and talking about a business with a turnover more than 1 million each year can open up all kinds of related issues around identity.
Do you ever feel like the content you see online for people who run their own business, isn’t well suited for you? That even the premium offers, like memberships and group coaching won’t work for you, or aren’t what you want. I speak to female consultants every week that have felt like they don’t fit the female entrepreneur mould.
Everyone would benefit from having a business coach. You should have a business coach all the time. You should choose a coach with the opposite personality type to your own. These are just a few myths around business coaching that I get asked about. In this week’s podcast I’m addressing these, and exploring how you can decide whether a business coach is right for you,
How confident are you about spending money in your consulting business? What metric do you use to decide if an investment in your business is affordable or not? There is so much material available online on how to market your business, get more clients, generate more income. We tend to be more comfortable asking for and receiving help in these areas.
Often as consultants, we know that we’re really good at what we do, we are the expert in our field, but it can be really difficult to be confident in the way that we present ourselves. In this week’s podcast, I interviewed Tracy Hooper, a personal stylist who helps professional women create a style that helps them stand out, look great and make an impact.
Social media has been… A lot. We’ve had months of coronavirus and lockdown, and protests and riots triggered by the George Floyd tragedy, and flare ups and backlashes, and amazing conversations and eyes being opened to the endemic problem of racism… But there’s been such a lot of activity in such a short space of time. The emotional weight to nearly everything has been so much heavier than we would normally expect.
As the UK makes a tentative return to work and school, we’re starting to wonder what the next phase looks like for our businesses. In this episode I’m looking at the transition into the next phase of working, especially if you’re accustomed to working in close proximity to your client or meeting them in person.
As we move into a phase of easing the lockdown restrictions, I’m feeling a bit of a return to that brain-fuzz trauma uncertain place. So in this week’s podcast I’m talking about how we can see past this new phase of uncertainty, and start working towards a more secure future for your consulting businesses.
Often when I start working with clients they have a good handle on what tasks they need to do to run their consulting business, and how much money they make month on month. But what they don’t see is which activities are generating the most value.
Is your consulting business thriving during the Covid crisis? For many of us, our experience of this pandemic is considerably less bleak – and that can feel a bit awkward – as if we’re not in step with those around us.
‘Recession-proof your business’ has become the new hyper-inflated promise touted by formula-flogging ‘coaches’. It’s the Covid-crisis equivalent of ‘six-figures in 30-days’ that has been pedalled over the last few years (can you tell I’m not a fan). In this episode, we explore what you CAN do to protect (not proof) your business from an oncoming recession.
In this interview with Catherine Watkin (who coaches people on how to sell from the heart) we discussed how to handle selling to corporates at this time including how to keep selling without feeling like you’re profiteering and the simple, yet powerful offer you can make instead of postponing/cancelling live events and workshops.
Recently, I did a small survey of my email subscribers asking ‘what are the topics you would most like to hear more content about’. The most popular response was – how to attract higher value clients to your business. Once you really get your head around attracting these clients – your business will never quite look the same again.
Has your consulting business hit an income ceiling? An amount of money that comes in month after month, which is reassuring yet deeply frustrating at the same time. In this podcast episode I talk about the two fundamental reasons your consulting business is likely to get stuck.
It may seem counterintuitive but selling to corporate clients can be quicker and easier than selling directly to customers or to micro-businesses. The busy corporate world prefers a more direct approach that today’s podcast guest, Jessica Lorimer has honed herself, and now teaches to others.
This topic is relevant now and when we are operating under normal circumstances: How to manage your business spending and know what you can afford. Because that is a question that gets asked often – how do I know how much I can budget for running my business.
The last episode was about navigating through a crisis, so in this episode, we unpack that more as the situation with the Coronavirus develops, and the knock-on effects become more clear. The theme of this episode is really – Moving on from a crisis, and what we can be doing next.
This week’s episode wasn’t what we originally had on the schedule, but now seems like the right time to discuss this – navigating your business through uncertain times. There’s disruption, chaos, and fear around us, but we do have the capacity to respond, adjust and move on.
This episode is all about that ‘booked up and burned out’ stage of a consulting business that we often find ourselves in when our turnover is in the low 6 figures, and what you can do to comfortably go beyond this.
It is entirely possible to grow your consulting business too quickly. It’s not uncommon, and it is hugely overwhelming. However you achieved phenomenal growth, this podcast is for you.
Many of us became consultants because we are experts in a particular field – but that isn’t enough to guarantee success. We must also become experts in selling. In this podcast episode I’m talking to Leah Neaderthal, sales coach for women entrepreneurs and consultants.
The Number 1 Networking Mistake Consultants Make – And How To Avoid It. Today’s episode is one of my favourite business topics to talk about because it’s a real paradigm shifter when it comes to networking and sales.
You’re self-employed as a consultant. You’re the boss. Surely if you want to reduce your working hours, it’s easy – just work fewer hours. Job done.
If only it were that simple. In this episode we explore how you can work less and earn more.
In this week’s podcast, I welcomed my very first guest interviewee, Dylis Guyan. Dylis is an international B2B sales and marketing leader, mentor, speaker and podcast host. Get a pen and paper handy because this episode is a treasure chest of advice for consultants looking to land more corporate business.
So often, when women hit the six-figure income mark, and look to stretch themselves to the next level, this is an area where all kinds of mindset issues can come into play. Shouldn’t it be enough to go for 6 figures, why do I want to go for 7 figures? In this episode we look at key motivators beyond money.
As we head into a new decade I’ve been reflecting on what I’d like to take with me, and what I’d like to leave behind. In this episode I’m sharing three things that I have no space or time for in 2020, and I’m encouraging you to do the same.
When I’ve started talking about the issue of the gender pay gap for consultants, lots of women have said they didn’t realise this was a thing. In this episode I’m talking more about the gender pay gap for independent consultants, and what we can all do about that, right now.
At the end of the year I like to do a big review and reflection on how my business has been doing during the year. And how I’ve been doing. In this episode I share three tiny changes that have had a profound impact on me and my business.
In this episode we look at: Why independent consulting is especially suited to women; the 4 main reasons women struggle as independent consultants; how women are at least partly responsible for the gender pay gap; and what we can do about that.
Do you live in fear of building a team in your business? Have you been putting it off for as long as possible? I hear you – it’s a big step to take. It raises the stakes to build a team in your business. It isn’t something you should do lightly, but when you do it well it can be the biggest asset in your business.
In the early days, you can chop and change things in your business until you find your zone of genius, and you really start to make money in a way you haven’t before. Until one day, it starts to level off. You’ve hit the dreaded plateau. In this episode we explore why that happens, and what you can do about it.
Do you have the right business model for your business at the moment? If there’s a problem with the model, you will see this play out in your business. It impacts your turnover, your profit, your day-to-day experience of running your business. It doesn’t get more foundational than this!
Are you scaling towards success or chaos? If you can scale your business successfully, that is the stuff that dreams are made of. In this episode we explore how to build a business that gets easier to operate as it gets larger.
If you’re a consultant with your own business, looking to scale to a 7 figure turnover without the drama, you will love what we’re going to be covering. Maybe right now it’s just you in the business, or you may have a small team on the go already…
Welcome to the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast, the show that takes you from booked up and burnt out to thriving as the CEO of your seven figure enterprise. I’m Jessica Fearnley and I’m here to show you how you can work less and earn more in your business.