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 136: Finding Your Consulting Sweet Spot to Go From Hustle to High Demand
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Whether you're just starting out or struggling to gain traction, the temptation to be everything to everyone is powerful. We say yes to diverse projects to keep revenue flowing, but this scattered approach ultimately leaves us invisible in a crowded marketplace. What's worse, it creates an emotional weight that leads to burnout when we're constantly working outside our zone of genius.
Finding your perfect consulting niche isn't about forcing yourself into a restrictive box or creating a cute tagline. It's about aligning your business with who you truly are to make creating a sustainable business a lot easier.
Ready to find your consulting sweet spot? Tune in and download the free guide below. Stop struggling as the best-kept secret in your industry and start channeling your brilliance in a way that gets you booked and in demand.
FREE GUIDE: How to Find the Consulting Niche That’ll Get You Booked Solid
All right, here's the truth that changed my consulting trajectory and, I'll be honest with you, my clients' lives as well. It's the fact that generalists hustle, and they hustle hard, while specialists are the ones that actually get booked. Now, if you've ever wondered how to turn your lived experience into a clear, profitable consulting niche without twisting yourself into something you're not, then this episode that I'm going to share with you today is your roadmap. I'm walking you through the exact process I use with clients to help them define their niche in a way that's very authentic, that's aligned and that actually gets them booked. Now you know what's wild Some of the most brilliant and I mean brilliant and experienced women I've ever worked with. I mean these are women with degrees and decades of leadership experience the real results that people wanna get. Those same women still tell me often that they're not sure how to describe what they do.
Speaker 1:And look, I understand, because I was there once upon a time. Someone could ask me what is it that you do in your career, in your position or in your business? And when? I tell you that I had the hardest time articulating that, and part of the reason is because half of the time when I would start to explain, the average person would just look at me with like 10 eyes. They were completely confused and didn't exactly know what I was talking about. And then, when I was talking to someone that was very familiar with my area, I would stumble a little bit because I was trying to find a way to communicate the outcomes that I could generate without overstating what I could do. And some of that was part of my mindset. But it was difficult to figure out exactly how to sum everything that I could offer up into like one little short sentence or elevator pitch. And that's not because we are not capable or that we don't understand or have clarity about the skills that we have and what we offer, but it's most often because no one has ever taught us how to own our voice in this business. So if you've ever felt like your expertise is somehow both too much but then also not enough, or you're juggling so many ideas that you can't explain your offer without taking a deep breath and just trying to process it all first, this episode is for you, because today I'm pulling back the curtain on the exact process that I use to help my clients find their consulting niche. And no, it does not require scrapping your whole career and forcing you into some type of box to develop some cute little tagline.
Speaker 1:What we're gonna talk about is the real reason you might be struggling with your niche and then what it's costing you in the long run. If we cannot communicate this effectively and find our perfect fit. I want us to shift from being vague and scattered to being booked and in demand. So let's get into it Now. Let's be real.
Speaker 1:When you're trying to be all things to all people, you'll end up sounding like everybody else, and I know it feels safe to say that you can offer a lot of things. And this is what I call the consulting trap. Most often, when we're starting out and this is a very reasonable approach we start out by helping others solve problems that exist. That we may have some expertise around to some degree, but it's not our area of specialty, it's not our area of focus. We have not found a niche as of yet because we're just starting out. So most often we say yes to everything just so that we can stay booked, because we need the money, we need to get the business off the ground and we need to get things rolling.
Speaker 1:But what happens over time is that, instead of building momentum in a certain direction, because you're taking on a lot of different problems and projects, you end up scattered, and being scattered causes you to second guess what you're doing. You begin to second guess what you know, and it will really leave you spinning around in circles. The truth is that generalist energy keeps you invisible. Yes, it allows you to bring in money here or there so that you can solve problems and get paid for it, but overall you don't become known for any one thing, and there are a few areas where being a generalist may work in your favor, but not very many. As a consultant, not very many at all. I would say 99% of the time.
Speaker 1:Being a generalist as a consultant is going to make it difficult for you, because you start to water down your messaging. You lose your edge because you're not focused on one clear thing that you can go in depth on, and so you remain surface level on everything. It's kind of like being a Jane of all trades, right, and so your audience never builds around one core topic because you're acknowledging that you are there to solve a number of problems, so no one can really attach themselves to one particular framework or one particular process or approach that you may have. So while it may sound impressive to be able to say that you can help a client with a number of different things, this is not helping them see you. Your brilliance is found in your specificity and without having a clear niche, it's going to be difficult for people to figure out exactly what you do, why they should hire you or work with you, and what you are actually known for. It's just more difficult because you are selling a very general message that sounds like everyone else.
Speaker 1:So part of the problem in being the best kept secret that I found is that most have not found this niche to claim. So when you go a lot deeper, most women that I work with come to me thinking I just need better content or maybe I should redo my website, I need better branding, I need new positioning. But the real issue is that they're really viewing their business through a job title lens and in a job you're used to doing a number of different things wearing a lot of different hats, and actually we're praised and promoted because we're able to be good in a lot of different things and do a lot of tasks successfully. But that is not related to a specific transformation, but that is not related to a specific transformation, and so we get stuck in this employee mindset and different frameworks and structures that were built for working a nine to five, instead of being focused on how we are actually selling what we do as a business owner ourselves.
Speaker 1:And being able to do that means that we need to have a lot of clarity, because buyers are not drawn to confusion, and especially for us as women and women of color, the pressure to prove ourselves is real, and it's harder, if you think about this, to prove yourself when you're talking about a lot of different things as a generalist than it is to prove your depth of knowledge when you're specializing in a given area. And so what we unknowingly do is we add on all of these other difficulties and challenges we otherwise would not have, mainly because we're taught to show receipts, we need to list degrees, we need to check all the boxes just to get in the room, but we don't realize that a lot of what we were doing at that time, when we were trying to execute that type of plan and checklist, is that we were trying to land a career, job right. We're trying to get the position that's going to carry us to a higher level corporate job, and that's not what we really need in this space. Because in this new space in entrepreneurship, what you're doing is actually owning the room, and you need to own that room with your voice. You need to own it with your value and with your vision, and all of those things voice, value and vision have to be more specific. They can't be vague.
Speaker 1:So vagueness isn't just a marketing issue. It honestly is something that creates a level of emotional weight that comes along with it. It becomes an obstacle for us if we are going to go that route. It's not that you have to niche down. People will have this argument all the time because they may feel like niching puts them in a box and they want to remain multi-passionate and all those things Although I will argue that being a multi-passionate is still a niche, and that's a whole conversation for another day.
Speaker 1:But when you think about what it means for you to be able to market your business and to stand out in a crowded market, it means that you have to be different. It means that you cannot look like everyone else, and so if you are in a certain situation or circumstance where you are not clear about how you are different and how you're specialized or how your niche, then you are going to look like everyone else because, in essence, being a generalist means that you are very similar to others, that you're able to handle general problems. And many people get stuck here because, as a consultant, very rarely is someone hiring you for a general problem. Typically they have an employee that they could ask to handle a general problem. They have someone that they can refer to as a colleague that may be able to help them with a general problem. So what they're looking for from us is more depth.
Speaker 1:So you have to start asking yourself you know, when things seem a little bit unclear or you don't know how to explain exactly what you do and you're losing confidence around your services and your offer and you want to stand out, ask yourself do I even know what I'm doing? Because this is the thing. If you don't really know what you're doing and why you are special, then how are other people going to understand that? And I've seen a number of brilliant women who are credentialed, they're accomplished, they are deeply capable. They still feel invisible if you have those deeper conversations with them, and the reason why this comes about is because they may still feel like they're not quite there yet. Yes, they're landing clients, yes, they're getting some business, but they're not being respected as the knowledgeable advisor or strategist that they wanna be seen as.
Speaker 1:And so if you're feeling this, it's not because you're not doing the work or you're not doing a great job, but it's just because the work that you're doing right now is not highlighting what makes you unique. And it's almost like if I was to use an analogy like you're duct taping things together, you're finding different projects that pay the bills and you're piecing it all together and you're making this ball of sorts out of duct tape and you're trying to hold that together as some type of marketing ecosystem, because you have a lot of things that you've done, or maybe I should better say like a portfolio, but it doesn't represent the essence of who you are. It doesn't feel like you. The essence of who you are. It doesn't feel like you, and it's actually, if we're all honest about it, likely not your cup of tea or what you actually care about.
Speaker 1:And so it's this level of vagueness, in all of the weight that it creates, that starts to bring about burnout, because now you're doing a lot of different things for a lot of different people, and it's a lot of work that you're not overly passionate about and, to be honest with you, oftentimes it's not the source of your strength. You may be good at it, but are you the best at it? Is it something that comes naturally, or is it something that you have to work a little bit harder to accomplish? And so if you are pulling from this place where you are not centering your business around your strengths and what you do best, then it creates a busyness inside of your business instead of it being simple for you, and what you want is something that is simple simple to execute, simple to run, simple to do, simple to explain and articulate. All of that comes from you gaining more clarity, and that honestly starts with just having a niche.
Speaker 1:So this is where I want to talk about my approach to helping clients find their perfect spot, and this is where we're going to flip the script just a little bit, because when I'm walking clients through this process and helping them find their niche, I'm not focused on them finding just any niche, but a place where it actually feels like home for them, where they feel most comfortable and where things feel most aligned, because there are a few things that are very, very important to the success of your business, and that is your personal enjoyment, because if it's something that you don't enjoy and you don't like to do, very, very soon it is going to be extremely challenging for you to do the work number one, but then also for you to stay at the top of your game in order to accomplish the things that you need to accomplish and learn what you need to learn over time to be the greatest at what you do. And so if you're unable to master your craft because you honestly don't want to do it, that is problematic, especially as a consultant, and this is specific to our work as experts. So it's really, really important that you find this space that you have deep interest in. And then the next piece of the puzzle is that it needs to be an area that you have a strength around, because things need to be easier for you, especially when you're starting out by yourself or with a limited team, or even if you get a small firm, you have a busy client roster, then in those instances you need to be able to do things easier, faster, simpler, and all of those things come from it being centered around your strengths and what you do best. So those two things become very, very important when you're thinking about building this business out things that you love, things that resemble or align with your strengths, and then, last but not least, what you're knowledgeable at.
Speaker 1:So what have you learned from your career, from the degrees that you have, from the certifications? All of those things matter and they become core to what you can use in your business to explain value to others. Because, let's be honest, if you've been paid for it in your career, that means that someone finds it valuable. Paid for it in your career, that means that someone finds it valuable. That is a telltale sign that this is a valuable skill set because someone has paid you for it in a career, in a job. And we have to remember that that is not the only, or those are not the only skills that we can lean on or that are valuable, but those are clear skills that we can use, that we know for a fact translate into some type of monetary gain if we use it appropriately, that are valuable. But those are clear skills that we can use, that we know for a fact translate into some type of monetary gain if we use it appropriately. So we want to keep all of this in mind when we're working through this framework.
Speaker 1:Now, one of the first steps that I want you to take is to extract your lived expertise. Most people don't start here because we're automatically drawn to what we've learned in school and yes, what we've learned in school has been very, very important. Textbook knowledge is important, but I think, as we move along in this modern era, we're starting to see that artificial intelligence, and all of the tools that we have available to us right now, is able to generate information in a matter of seconds. And so just having the information, just having the knowledge, just curating that knowledge, it's not that it's not valuable, but it's not going to protect you in the long term because it's replicable, meaning that someone can take it and they can repeat exactly what you do. They can replicate exactly what you're doing and what you're saying, whether it is a tool or technology, or if it's someone else that decides to go into business. And you know, regenerate or regurgitate, excuse me, what you have said and done.
Speaker 1:Those are things that you don't want to hang your hat on, but your lived experience is very, very different, and when you dig into your story and your strengths and your skills and the things that you've seen play out over your life, that you're literally good at. That may not necessarily fit neatly into a resume. That is where you begin to unearth your real power. So, being able to extract these experiences that you've had, what have you taken part in as you have been growing up? What are you good at? That's a literal talent or a gift that you have. What do people often come to you for? All of those things are important because those are skill sets that you likely take for granted but everybody around you sees, and we want to incorporate those types of things.
Speaker 1:Now the next thing is that we want to identify transformation patterns, and that is connecting the dots. That's looking at not only just the textbook knowledge and the lived experiences that you've had, but then figuring out how they actually connect. How have you naturally pieced these things together over time in ways that you may not have noticed? You can think about the results you've helped people achieve without you even realizing it. So think of conversations that you've had with friends, or maybe colleagues or even other clients, where you've given them advice and it literally was like the light bulb turned on for them. You didn't think anything of it, and that's something that I found for myself often occurs. That's something that I found for myself often occurs.
Speaker 1:I may have friends that call and we're talking about business challenges and things going on in our lives and they may have a conversation with me and I'm just breaking down different options that they may have and things that I may see that they can do and sharing experiences that I have had and seen and enjoyed and how that connects to their business. And at the end of our conversation and this actually happened just the other day at the end of the conversation they may say something like you know, I just called to chat but I didn't know I was going to have a coaching session today, and the reason why it tickles me is because I'm not even realizing that I'm doing it right. But it's a breakthrough for them and I know this happens to you as well. You're a natural problem solver, you are a critical thinker, so this is happening and it's just a matter of you tuning into when this is occurring and being able to connect some of those dots.
Speaker 1:What were the things that you were able to piece together from your other experiences with that knowledge that you have and expertise that you were able to piece together from your other experiences, with that knowledge that you have and expertise that you've gained from the classroom or credentialing, and how have you been able to connect those together to solve other problems? So that's identifying those transformation patterns, and then the next thing is, like I've said over and over again, defining your signature strengths. Now, this is what makes you different, this is what highlights your unique approach. This is your voice, your perspective, literally how you see the world, the way that you operate, how you do things, the adaptations that you're making to processes so that they work for you in your life. That's an actual strength. Those things that you're doing naturally and that you're good at. Those are strengths. Your ability to actively listen strength. Your ability to listen to someone and find empathy in their problems. Strength. Your ability to communicate and articulate effectively. Strength. Your ability to create naturally, relationships that others have difficulty creating strength.
Speaker 1:All of those are signature strengths for you and what you have to do is begin to highlight those. That is what you have to incorporate into your area of practice so that you're carving out this space that is uniquely designed for you. It becomes like a perfect fit for you. And then, after we're able to do that, the thing that you have to do to kind of bring all this together is to package it into an offer. And when you package it, it's about solving one core problem for a specific audience, and this is actually what becomes your niche. So you know, many people think that when you're niching down you're just deciding oh, I want to, you know, make an offer for women who are over 35 and live in the suburbs and they like to watch daytime soap operas, if they still come on. I don't even know if they still come on. That is definitely some aspects of demographics and psychographics and behaviors, but that's not a true niche. Your niche is actually the problem that you're solving.
Speaker 1:So in order to get to that consulting niche that is going to guide your practice, you need to understand the one core problem that you're going to solve for a specific audience and the fact that you have been distilling your lived experience and these transformational patterns, and how you're connecting the experiences from your lives to the textbook knowledge that you have and the strengths that you have. How you're connecting those dots. That's what helps you to develop insight into the problem that you can solve, because you're going to know that there are problems in your market or in your industry that are urgent for your ideal audience or for your client. But just because that problem exists doesn't mean that you're the best person to solve it. And that's the key.
Speaker 1:Most people start with just the problem. They're looking at problems in the market, they decide, hey, I'm going to make an offer that solves this problem, but if you're not the best person to do that, you're going to struggle. You're going to make an offer that solves this problem, but if you're not the best person to do that, you're going to struggle, you're going to make it harder for yourself, you're going to have an uphill battle because you have to figure out how you're going to do that Number one effectively, how you're going to find a way to market yourself as the expert in that space, versus taking what makes you an expert and just applying it to a problem that exists. Do you see the difference? Those are two different things. And so when you take the expertise that you have that's a combination of your lived experience, your credentials and your degrees and knowledge and your strengths when you take that and you look at the market and you say these are the problems that are out there. And you look at the market and you say these are the problems that are out there. And out of all these problems that exist, I feel as if if I take everything that I could package about myself and apply it, this is the problem that I can solve to the best of my ability. When you do that totally different process game changer, you hear me and then after that we just have to test to make sure that there's alignment, that it feels like you, that it's going to be received well in the marketplace and that others are going to want to invest in it. That gets into other aspects of the business out in the line. But when we're first trying to find this niche, it's about taking who we are and applying that to problems in the market. So it's a reverse way of thinking through the process. So let me just give you a real world example and I'm not going to name any names, of course, because the work that I do with clients is very confidential and I like to make sure that I'm maintaining that.
Speaker 1:But I was recently working with a client who is incredibly accomplished in her career. I mean, she has a great job, but I will be honest, she's not happy I wasn't happy, I should rather say in her job. And she had worked her way up. She'd been promoted, she's held roles that are extremely impressive on paper. She's the go-to leader in her space. She's known for her communication skills, of being emotionally intelligent, being very resilient, all the things.
Speaker 1:But behind the scenes she felt this disconnect. It was like she's checking off all these boxes. She's doing the things that are right, she's being quote unquote successful, but something else is missing, and when we got deeper into our conversations, it was that and this is what she kept saying I've done all the right things, I am very flexible, I'm pivoted, I've changed, I've grown, but I don't feel excited about it anymore, right. So she wanted to do something different, something that she found to be more fulfilling, which was to help others. She wanted to start this consulting business and to truly get it off the ground, and the truth is she had the experience to do it. She had years of leadership, multiple roles inside and outside of her nine to five. So she's a leader not just in her career but outside of that, and she's naturally able to connect with people. So people really enjoyed working with her and she enjoyed supporting them.
Speaker 1:So what we had to do is start to piece all these things together. We had to look at what she had done, not just as job titles remember, but as skills, as moments, key moments of shifts and change and pivots in her life that made the difference and what allowed her to do that successfully. And we were able to pull out those things that made her unique, her voice, her perspective around the world, the way that she likes to lead, the way that she wants to advise, how she wants to work. And then we structured everything around what already made her powerful. So it wasn't a matter of us trying to force her to be someone she's not. She already had the ability to lead and to communicate and to connect.
Speaker 1:What we just need to do is find the problem that was in the marketplace that she was working in and wanted to work in and make and apply her unique skill set to that problem. So she didn't have to start over. What she needed was more of a realignment to actually put the pieces of her story together in a way that made a lot of sense, especially for the next chapter. So now she's lit up. Now she's lit up, now she's energized, now she's excited to create offers and to go and talk to groups when she is guest speaking, and to create new products and lead magnets and things of that nature. She's excited about that work because it's hers, it represents who she is and what she wants to do.
Speaker 1:And that's the shift that. I'll be honest with you, that's the shift I live for. When a client realizes that they don't need to prove anything else to anybody and they just need to show up as who they have always been in their space and be able to do that without the stress and the struggle, my job is done. I mean, you know, at least around this piece of the puzzle is done. I mean, you know, at least around this piece of the puzzle. So you know, the one thing I want to just say and I want to say this loud for the consultants in the back that may be listening niching down does not mean shrinking.
Speaker 1:It does not mean limiting yourself. It does not mean limiting your brilliance. It means channeling it. It means that you are going to stand tall in one space where your strengths and your experience and your value is undeniable. It's going to remove all of the imposter syndrome. It's going to remove the uncertainty, it's going to remove the difficulty in articulation. It's going to make things easier for you to deliver and actually create, easier for you to deliver and actually create.
Speaker 1:And the great part about it is that this space that you're creating, it's going to grow with you. It's not going to stay the same because you're not going to stay the same. So you're not locking yourself into a box. You're not locking yourself into one space. You're starting off in a place that honors your strength and you're going to allow it to grow with you. So this clarity is not going to limit you. It literally, and I promise it's going to liberate you. It's going to give you control over your time. It's going to give you better control over your rates and your offers. It's going to create demand for your work, because people are going to know you for the specialty that you have, what makes you unique and what you can accomplish, and that's going to be on your terms.
Speaker 1:So, listen, if you're tired of spinning your wheels and you're ready to nail your niche with intention, I would love to support you. Now. You can either download the free guide that I'm going to leave in the description and this guide is going to walk you through how you can find that niche. That's going to get you booked, it will get you started, it'll help you get that ball rolling. And if you are, you know, further along and you're ready for more personalized help, then all you have to do is DM me at Dr Angelina Davis on Instagram or LinkedIn, or you can head to the website at excel, at consultingcom, and we can talk about how we can work together, and I would love to help you along that journey.
Speaker 1:So, if you enjoyed this episode, what I want you to do is to share it with a friend and make sure that you leave your five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and you know, all of that helps us to grow the show and to reach more people because, just like you, others need to be able to understand the value of what they offer so that they can show up and win business successfully, being who they've always been. That's our goal, because that, my friend, is sustainable Until next time. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope that it helps you get the ball rolling when it comes to finding your niche and really capitalizing on what makes you different and great so that you can stand out in this marketplace and tune in again next time. I will catch you here again very, very soon. All right, guys, take care.
