Black Girls Consult TOO!
The Black Girls Consult Too! podcast provides a business resource for women in consulting, especially women of color, to successfully navigate a hyper-masculine, highly competitive industry. It demystifies how to start and grow a thriving consulting business by simplifying the process and helping to avoid common pitfalls that can derail even the best ideas. Each episode is crafted to dive deep into consulting practice, business strategy, mindset, and more. For more information, visit www.excelatconsulting.com/podcast.
Black Girls Consult TOO!
Episode 119: How to Keep Going When Business Stalls
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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.
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For more information on The Lean Consulting Model, you can find the LinkedIn article referenced in this episode here.
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Many people look at certain I would say dips in the market or dips in sales and they think you know, does this mean that this business or this service is not meant for me? Is this something that I need to leave behind? Do I need to pivot, do I need to change? And what I've noticed is that so many times we pivot or we quit way too early. They say the odds are stacked against us as women, especially women of color, trying to thrive in the consulting world. But rather than wait for a seat at the table that may never come, what if we build our own tables? What if we channeled our talents into guiding each other towards the success we deserve? Welcome to the Black Girls Consulting Podcast. I'm your host, dr Angelina Davis, and I've walked the path from healthcare consultant to a mentor for women like you, ambitious, unstoppable and ready to make waves in the consulting world. This podcast is your go-to spot for all things entrepreneurial consulting. For us as women, especially women of color. Think of it as your weekly coffee date with a friend who's here to dish out real talk on building a solid business, elevating your thought leadership and mastering that all important mindset. And let's not forget we're doing all of this while balancing day jobs, family life and running teams. Yes, we can do it all. So if you're ready to dive into how you can grow a thriving consultancy or get strategies and insights that actually fit your busy lifestyle, then you're in the right place. Grab your coffee tea.
Speaker 1:Hello, welcome to the Black Girls Consult 2 podcast. I'm your host, dr Angelina Davis. If you are new to the podcast, welcome in, and if you're tuning in again from a previous episode, then welcome back. So I want to dive right in with this episode because there has been a lot on my mind and feelings. I want to get off my chest surrounding how we keep going when business stalls, and one of the reasons why I chose to talk about this topic is because I've been in a few groups business groups, actually, recently and these are groups of very smart entrepreneurs that are highly successful, been doing their thing for a long time, many of them longer than I have and also I've been talking to colleagues as well as previous clients, and I feel like I've heard this conversation come up over and over again about where we are currently in the economy.
Speaker 1:We know that right now we're in an election season, an election year, and that can throw things off a little bit in terms of being able to reach our target audience on social media, because it is going to give some preference to those conversations that center around politics and the election, as well, as we have the Olympics that are going to be this summer and this month actually, so I'm super excited about that. I don't know if you are, but I cannot wait until track and field and gymnastics starts. That is my life when it comes to the Olympics, but in swimming I forgot to say that, but my point is that there's a lot of noise right now and that can make it very difficult for us to stand out as business owners, founders and entrepreneurs in the online space. And then, when we think about reaching our target audience in other ways, whether it's by email or maybe a convention Well, listen, people are outside right now. As you all know, I work in healthcare consulting and I can tell you that hospitals are rather slow right now and mainly because the weather's been good in most places. I am sending prayers to anyone in Texas that may be listening to this episode right now that has experienced a recent hurricane, so I know it takes a lot of rebuilding, but outside of those types of events that really are considered natural disasters. It's been rather warm and sunny in most places, and so people are out living life, especially after 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 to sell consulting services, especially when that may not be top of mind for many people. However, I don't want you to confuse what you may be experiencing as the reality of business for you.
Speaker 1:Many people look at certain, I would say dips in the market or dips in sales and they think does this mean that this business or this service is not meant for me? Is this something that I need to leave behind? Do I need to pivot? Do I need to change? And what I've noticed is that so many times we pivot or we quit way too early, and these are individuals that have been highly successful, typically in the past. That's one of the reasons why they feel this urge to make a change so strongly because they have been so successful. So if you're in this moment where you've been just trying to figure out what's happening right now, where to go next, what to do, then this conversation is for you because I want to talk about how we keep going. We're not going to focus on the quit. We're going to focus on how we move forward on the quit. We're going to focus on how we move forward, and one of the things I was thinking about when considering this topic is the natural progression of entrepreneurship in building a business in general, and I think that often many of the wins that we see online on social media are extreme, and we begin to believe that these extremes, or these outliers, and sometimes these fabrications, represent the reality of what we all should be experiencing in business, and that is just not true.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you know this or not, but the dip is actually a concept that has been thoroughly explained. You can find more about this in a book called From the Startup J Curve by Howard Love, but the dip is this period in entrepreneurship where you begin to feel like you are stalling out, where you're running into a brick wall, and most people get into this period and, as I said before, they pivot or they quit because they feel as if the steps that they're taking and what they're experiencing is signaling to them that they need to move in another direction. And what I want to share with you for those of you who have not read the book or not familiar with this concept is that this is a natural part of the entrepreneurship journey. When this is explained actually in 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 concepts as being the same as your consulting startup, your consulting business, and you being able to get this business fully off the ground to where you have comfort in knowing that you have the financial stability and predictable recurring revenue to grow to a new level, into whether you want to leave your nine to five, or whether you want to hire on nine to five, or whether you want to hire on more staff, where you can do those things, and you can do it without having any worries and fears. You know about those, those decisions coming back to haunt you.
Speaker 1:So in this book, he talks about how we can prepare for the dip, because this dip, as I stated before, is something that will occur. It's a natural phenomenon of the entrepreneurial journey. Now, when we start out, we are extremely excited about starting our businesses. We're super optimistic, we are focused on putting all the pieces together. We're brainstorming, we're planning everything out, we're creating vision boards, we are journaling about our goals. We're just doing all the things that feel good, as it should, because we're starting something new, we're embarking on a new journey, and the thing is that when we're in this period, we're doing a lot in terms of movement, but we're not necessarily taking action that's going to lead to generating clients and sales. So a lot of this planning and this is why people get stuck in this planning period is us going through the mental work of getting started and that can feel as if we're taking action but we're really not yet.
Speaker 1:So it's easy to start looking for coaching programs. It's easy to start thinking about who can do your website. All of those things are easy to do because they light up almost like they light up that reward center in your brain Because you are doing something new. You're rewarding yourself for all the work and the effort that you've put in thus far in terms of getting degrees, certifications and all those things to even have this opportunity. So that's the excitement that we walk into the journey with.
Speaker 1:But what happens is that when you actually start to take action and so what I mean by this is when you start to actually try and sell your service, or when you are going through the process of trying to nurture, to land a new client, when you're doing the work of marketing and getting your message out there, trying to navigate online platforms, trying to, like we always say, beat the algorithm, all those types of things we realize very quickly that it's not as easy as we thought it would be. And because it's not as easy as we thought it would be, it's a shock to the system, because now we're like, oh my gosh, this is much harder than I ever anticipated. Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing, maybe I'm not meant to take this approach. When that's not the case, this is part of the natural progression. It's part of the natural dip that's going to occur.
Speaker 1:But in reality, what we realize through taking action is that typically, the process is going to take longer. It's not going to be the overnight success that we may have thought it would be, because we had a great idea. We may even find that once we present this idea to the public, that the reception is not what we had expected it to be, maybe people aren't overly excited about what we have to offer, maybe there's no true demand there and then, as a result of all these things, if we don't make adjustments, eventually the money dries up, and so we can't get the money and revenue and the cash to start flowing in our business, and so, when all those things happen, it can truly cause an emotional, psychological and even a financial burden on you. 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 be doing something wrong. This must not be the service I'm supposed to offer. Maybe I'm in the wrong niche, maybe I have the wrong target audience. Maybe I'm serving the wrong client, maybe I have the wrong business name, maybe my website sucks.
Speaker 1:I mean, we go down into the pit of worry thinking about all of these things, because, for us, we see this period, this natural period in the entrepreneurship journey, as being a sign of failure. And what I want to share with you today is that when you enter into the dip, you're not failing. It's a part of the progression. It actually means that you're making progress, you're actually taking action that's going to lead 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, real talk, transparent on this podcast, and I'm going to let you know that I even feel that myself from time to time, and what I have to do is remind myself of these conversations, because the reality is that the dip is natural, is going to occur, and that we have to see how we're going to move through that so that we can get to our goal. So, the rest of this time, I want to focus not on the dip, not on this period of subjective feelings and this period of confusion and lack of clarity. I want us to move further and talk about how we're going to keep going and the steps that we need to take. So I mentioned a few things that happened in the dip the fact that it takes longer, the fact that the reception from our potential clients may be not as good or less than we had anticipated, and that often the money is not there, and so, in order for us to keep going, we have to address the things that are causing us to feel that way, and so I want to offer a few ways for you to do that so that you can easily move to your next level.
Speaker 1:Are you a woman consultant looking to break free from the nine to five grind and build a lifestyle business that offers personal freedom, flexibility and yes, work life harmony? Well, I've got an incredible opportunity for you. I want to tell you about Client Catalyst Blueprint Now. This is a transformative coaching program that's designed exclusively for women entrepreneurial consultants, and this program is your ticket to turning your consulting services into a thriving and scalable business. I want you to imagine feeling confident and strategic, seeing your revenue soar and being a recognized thought leader in your industry. The Client Catalyst Blueprint will guide you from feeling overwhelmed and unappreciated to running a successful, profitable consulting business, because you'll gain a clear, personalized roadmap for business growth, a standout brand that sets you apart, an optimized sales funnel that converts like never before, systems that increase your business capacity and, yes, the support of like-minded women consultants. It's about shifting your mindset, refining your strategy and stepping into the successful consultant you were always meant to be. To learn more, visit wwwexceliconsultingcom and apply now.
Speaker 1:So one of the first things I want us to do is to stop romanticizing entrepreneurship. I say this all of the time. It seems like we want to turn entrepreneurship into like the next big trend. We want to make it super exciting because of the thought of being able to potentially work from anywhere or move from the confines of a typical traditional nine to five, and we begin to romanticize the process, making it a lot simpler and easier than it actually is. And I'm not here to say that it has to be this drudgery, but what I do want us to do is to start being more objective. So one of the first things to start romanticizing is to get objective data, start looking at how long it typically takes the average entrepreneur to get their business up off the ground. This can be the difference of someone saying I made $250,000 or a million dollars in six months and someone who can speak to the journey being longer, maybe five or even seven years. So I'm not saying that it has to take that long, but let's start looking at averages. Be very objective when we're thinking about starting our business and how long it's going to take to accomplish certain goals. It's not that you can't beat that timeline or those targets, but it helps you to not give up so quickly just because it didn't happen in three or six months.
Speaker 1:Another thing is to look at those who have experienced this path or this journey that are similar to you in some way. So if it's another woman, if it's another Black female, if it's another person who is in your industry or who may be as young as you are, as old as you are, look at someone who has some of your similarities and then I want you to listen into their stories, pay attention to what their journey has been. I always like to have my clients do an exercise whenever they get into this period of the dip and go back to their favorite coach or consultant or guru, whoever it may be, that they look up, to Go back and find their social media profile or find their blog that they started. However, they have been showing up online. Go find that. And then I want you to scroll all the way back.
Speaker 1:First of all, one of the things that you'll notice is that you likely will be scrolling for a long time. Typically, if those people are successful, they put in the work, they put in the legwork, so they have been doing it for a while. You'll see the good and the bad as you scroll back through. You'll see the messy middle, you'll see the ugly start. You'll see it all, and that will help you be more objective about the entrepreneurship journey instead of romanticizing it and making it into something that it truly is not. It is going to be something that you fall in love with because you love what you do and you love navigating the journey, solving the problems critically 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 a little bit more objective. Stop romanticizing the experience.
Speaker 1:Another thing is to focus on providing value, and we say this often because we know that value is so important, especially when it comes to marketing and sales. But I do feel as if we get lost in the process of providing value, or trying to provide value as perceived by our clients, and then also trying to navigate the do's and the don'ts of the industry the do's and the don'ts of the industry. We are often focused on what is going to make a good video for YouTube or how we're going to present on the stage when we need to, in essence, move into our pitch, versus when we need to draw the audience in emotionally. We're thinking through the process so much that we lose sight of providing the value, and I want us to think about how we're going to provide value better. You know, when you're working with the clients that you serve now, can you honestly say that you're serving them to the greatest extent that you can? How can you up-level your delivery with the clients that you're serving right now? And if you don't have clients right now, in this moment, how can you up-level your delivery of value to the audience that you have right now? And if you don't have an audience right now, how can you up-level the value that you're creating so that you can develop your audience? I want us to think about how we can serve first, because when we focus on providing that value this is what's going to naturally happen You're going to begin to test and iterate, meaning that you're going to create something, whether it is a presentation, whether it's a webinar, whether it's a pitch, whatever it may be.
Speaker 1:You're going to create something, you're going to start a project and then you're going to move forward with implementation, and then you're going to look at the result and you're going to determine did that work or did it not? And if it didn't work, you're going to change, modify and try again, because if you're focused on value, you're going to keep going until you figure out how you can provide a level of value that is going to be perceived as being helpful by your audience. That's just a natural progression of how we operate, how we all operate. If we're totally focused on value Now, we get distracted when we start looking at other things. But if we don't allow those distractions to come into play, then we stay focused on the process. So we test and we iterate and we listen. That is one of the biggest parts of it all. Listen that is one of the biggest parts of it all.
Speaker 1:Many times we start things and we want to know why it's not working, but we never take the time to ask for feedback and to actually just listen, just pay attention to how people respond, listen to what they say or don't say. Focus on trying to take that information and use it to improve your next approach. But when we're not in this mode of providing value and we get focused on the do's and the don'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 for most of us, because if you are starting your business. More than likely, you are someone who has been successful in the past. You're an overachiever and many times you're probably a perfectionist. Those are just the traits that typically go along with our industry, especially as consultants working in this space. That's just the reality of it for most people. So if you're there, then you're going to fight with ego.
Speaker 1:I was actually talking to some colleagues very recently in one of the groups that I'm in and I can be very transparent. It's all about showing up on video and when we were talking about our difficulty in showing up on video, as you all know, I've shared here on the podcast before my plans of really building out the YouTube channel. One of the reasons why it's taken kind of like a lull right now and I'm in this period of the dip with the YouTube channel is because I got so focused on the do's and the don'ts. What camera do I need? What type of lighting does it need to be? Why is my lighting not clear enough? Why am I not speaking as clearly as I would like to? My flow is a lot better on the podcast when I have the camera off versus on. I mean I'm going through all of the mental junk in that moment.
Speaker 1:And what I love about being in groups like that, what I love about coaching programs like that, is the fact that you're going to have somebody that is going to call you out on your stuff. They're going to call you right out, and so what they were able to do for me is say look, you are not focused on just giving and providing the value, you're getting caught up in other stuff. That stuff doesn't matter, just make the video right. And often we can tell this to other people and can't do it ourselves. I'm so guilty of that. So one thing I even said after we were having this conversation is the fact that I was allowing my ego to block my progress, to block my path, because it's something that we're all fighting against that desire to not look bad, to not feel silly, to show up and be more of a representation of who we want to be, who we want to become. And when we do that, we're not acknowledging where we are currently and we're also not focused on the value we're providing.
Speaker 1:So one of the second things to do when you enter into this dip space is shift your mindset from the do's and the don'ts of how do I navigate this journey better so that I can land my clients, land my followers, get away from that? Focus on the value. The value is going to draw in the people that are meant for you and that you are meant to serve. And then the last thing that I like to really stress is practice lean consulting. Now, what I mean about practicing lean consulting let's cut out some of those expenses, let's simplify, let's make it a lot easier for you to maintain your business, because we talked about before one of the reasons why people give up and bow out of the journey of the race, so to speak, is that money dries up, and it dries up because you're overspending. You are using platforms and applications that you don't need at this point of your journey, or even if you need them, there is an alternative that's out there that's more than likely either free or less expensive, and sometimes we get caught up in having the top tier version back in the day, you used to say the Cadillac version of whatever system that is trending right now, and you don't need that burden. When you add that to your plate, what you're also adding is a responsibility for maintaining it 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 five years or more.
Speaker 1:I was listening to a podcast back in a few months ago. It was one that Amy Porterfield did, and she was talking about her business journey and many people had the assumption that she had a lot of overhead as she built her business, and she talked about how she did not have full-time employees up until very recently. She primarily used contractors and other temporary help as she built out for certain projects, so she didn't have that financial burden hanging over her head that she had to maintain. So if there was a lull in terms of revenue or cash flow, she could navigate it because she did not have to maintain so much. And that's what this aspect of lean consulting is all about Keeping it simple, minimizing expenses. That helps you to build financial resilience so that you can weather changes in the market, changes in the economy. All of those things don't carry as much of a threat when you have that resilience in place.
Speaker 1:And if you're interested in this topic, I can talk a whole podcast about this, but I did write an article that I shared a little while back on LinkedIn about this. I'm going to drop it in the description if you want to check it out, but it's all about helping consultants solo consultants in particular to create leaner models. So whenever we are not stretching ourselves too thin financially especially, but then also in terms of just our systems and our structure, our workflow it is gonna make it a lot easier for us to maintain when things get a little choppy or the waters get a little choppy. So these are all the things that we need to be doing when we get into this dip, because if you start focusing on objective data, spending your time trying to provide greater and greater value and then keeping everything lean, eventually you are going to see that you're going to be more and more successful.
Speaker 1:You're going to land more and more clients. You're going to land more and more clients. You're going to generate more and 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 providing the level of value that's going to keep people around for a longer period of time, increasing the lifetime value. You're going to attract more people because you're providing insights that are so valuable that others cannot easily replicate it, and you are going to make right decisions or better decisions, I should rather say because you're being objective with the data that you are looking at and evaluating, instead of falling into relying on your feelings. So all of these things are just what keeps us going.
Speaker 1:So, if you're stalling out right now, know it's temporary, number one that you're potentially in this dip period. This dip period is a natural part of the journey and that, on the other side of that, is success. It's never going to be a straight trajectory to the top. It's not going to be a straight trajectory to the top it's not going to be that but what it can get to is a period of time where things get easier, and I know that's what you're looking for. You're looking for things to get easier, and so my hope is that, with this episode and some of these tips, you're going to get to smooth the waters if you find yourself stalling out right now.
Speaker 1:All right, guys. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to share it with a friend. Leave your five-star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and I can't wait to talk to you again soon. Take care. Thank you for tuning in to the Black Girls Console 2 podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode. Be sure to leave your review on Apple Podcasts, subscribe and share it with a friend. We're on a mission to increase the success and longevity of women in consulting, and you can help us do just that. Also, I'd love to hear from you. So let's connect at Dr Angelina Davis on Instagram or LinkedIn, and don't forget to visit excel at consultingcom for more information to support your consulting journey. Until next time, keep breaking glass ceiling. All right, take care.
