"Get Known for ONE Thing" | Laura Wagenknecht

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In this episode of The Right Room Podcast, hosts Jane Parmel (Profit Growth Strategist) and Celeste DeCamps (Communication Coach) sit down with Laura Wagenknecht, founder of Mosaic Business Consulting, to unpack a challenge almost every entrepreneur faces: being talented… and still getting crickets.
Laura shares how she went from a vague “I can help with leadership stuff” message to becoming the person people recommend when they need a business plan, and how local networking + nonprofit partnerships built a real referral pipeline without paid ads.

What you’ll learn in this episode:
✅ Why “I help everyone” usually leads to no one
✅ How to get known for your X (the one thing people remember and refer)
✅ A smarter networking approach: different hooks, same specialty
✅ Why social media alone often keeps you stuck with people who already know you
✅ The real secret weapon: listening, fit-checks, and collaboration over competition

Room Service (your next 48-hour step):
Pick the one thing you want to be known for, and start saying it clearly everywhere you show up. Laura’s advice: choose your lowest-hanging fruit, the easiest valuable result you can deliver, then expand from there inch by inch.

About our guest: Laura Wagenknecht is the founder of Mosaic Business Consulting, serving women, people of color, and other marginalized entrepreneurs with practical, nuts-and-bolts business support, especially business plan development for funding and growth.

Connect with Laura: 
LINKEDIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/laurawagenknecht
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/MosaicBConsult/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mosaicbusinessconsulting/
Alignable: https://www.alignable.com/ardennc/mosaic-business-consulting-llc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mosaicbusinessconsulting

About The Right Room Podcast: The Right Room is where business owners and experts share a story, a strategy, and a step you can take right away to create real change in your business and your life.

Estimated Timestamps

00:00 Intro and the problem of having expertise but not enough visibility
01:20 Welcome to Laura Wagenknecht
02:10 Who Laura serves through Mosaic
03:20 Why her original message as a leadership coach did not land
05:10 From helping everybody to hearing crickets
07:20 The pivot toward practical business help                                                            10:00 How word of mouth built her pipeline
12:30 Why connecting locally matters
15:20 Real networking versus memorized elevator pitches
18:10 Solving one problem in different ways
21:10 Why listening makes you a better consultant & connector
24:00 Room Service: get known for one thing
27:00 How to identify your “lowest hanging fruit” offer
30:10 Why asking people who do not understand your business can sharpen your message
33:00 What being in the right room means to Laura
35:40 Laura’s “why” and staying grounded
37:20 Where to find Laura and final thoughts

#Networking #Entrepreneurship

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

In all of my efforts of going out there trying to, you know, do all this stuff. But then I started listening to people and clients of mine that would say, Well, I really need help with this. And it was a nuts and bolts kind of thing. It was the practical part of the business, not the leadership per se. And so I pivoted again.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Okay. All right. Hi everybody, and welcome to the right room. I'm Jane Parmell.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

And I'm Celestia Camps, and we are relaunching, we're reopening the Right Room. We decided to try a little bit something different, uh more focused and more solution-oriented.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Right. Each episode that we're going to be doing is going to be a story, a strategy, and a step that you can take to make a change in your business, to make a change in your life, to make a change that will really uh impact something moving forward, a moment that mattered, a move to change things, and one action that you can use, you, everybody out there can use this week.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

And real quick, Jane, remind everybody what it is you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

What I do, I am a profit growth strategist. I help people bring more profit into their business, help them keep more money in their pocket by controlling cash flow chaos. And Celeste, what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

I'm a communication coach. I help people with their presentation skills, interviewing, networking, your luncheon learns, your sales pitch, your customer service. It's all effective communication.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Sounds good to me. Um, so let me ask you a question. Sounds like you could have a lot of content and and things that people can use. Um, I know I do, we could pump out content all day, but you know, sometimes the calendar just doesn't reflect everything that that it could. You ever have that issue, Celeste?

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Oh, sure. With all of the research and expertise that I bring to the table, it doesn't necessarily mean that people even know who I am or that I exist.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Exactly. It's sad, but it but it's true. I know it happens. But we want you to leave here today with with some idea of a system, something that'll change the way you work. So we've brought in Laura Wagonet. She is stepping into the right room right now. So welcome, Laura.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Bye. Thank you for coming, Laura. We really appreciate this.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Great to be here. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Um, I was just gonna say mosaic business consulting is what you do, right? Is that your business?

SPEAKER_02 2:53

That is what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

What do you who do you serve?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

I serve women and people of color, but basically marginalized populations that are frankly getting the short drift. They are not getting access to as many resources, services, or funding uh as white men. And so my determination is for these businesses to succeed more effectively without making as many mistakes as I did.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Sure, that there have been challenges in your own business. And as we were discussing, did you find a challenge with getting eyes on your business?

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Yes, it's so funny because they talk about knowing your pitch and things like that. And so initially I went to all these networking meetings and I was a leadership coach. I had gotten my certification in executive leadership. I'm former CEO. So I thought this is easy. This is gonna be so easy to get people to come on over. I got all the skills, I got all the knowledge, I'm good to go. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. I literally would go to a meeting and I'd say, hi, I'm you know, Laura, and then this is kind of what I do. And, you know, um, if you're struggling with, you know, some leadership stuff, that's kind of like what I do, so I can help. That was pretty bad. And so people didn't really know what I did. And initially I was helping everybody, and the second iteration to my business was oh, I really want to focus on women because I've been that single woman in the boardroom with only men, you know, and that's uncomfy. And um, and then the the idea that I I then thought, well, women who are new to leadership, that's what I really need to focus on. It didn't matter. I was so vague in my approach that crickets, that's what I heard. Crickets. So I got zero business in all of my efforts of going out there trying to, you know, do all this stuff. But then I started listening to people and clients of mine that would say, Well, I really need help with this. And it was a nuts and bolts kind of thing. It was the practical part of the business, not the leadership per se. And so I pivoted again and started helping people with their business. And um, in particular, people would want funding and didn't know how to write the business plan. And I had struggled myself with writing the business plan. It is a daunting, daunting document and has so many different parts to it. So anyway, I shifted my business once again, and now I'm pretty well known, I think, for um X. And that X is writing a business plan.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Okay, so then how did people start to figure that out? Did that become simply word of mouth? Was it something you specifically advertised?

SPEAKER_02 6:21

It's interesting you say that. I actually didn't have to advertise too much. I started out, and here's what I would encourage people to do is to really connect locally. What a lot of people don't do anymore is they think, oh, if I put something on social media, they'll all know me. No, it goes to the folks you know. And the folks you know aren't going to buy from you, they're your family, your friends, right? So the intent is to change the conversation to people who don't know you to get to know you and to get to know you for whatever it is you do and you specialize in. So um I started networking much more aggressively, got out there and um started working with some local nonprofits to help them with their clients. And that combination enabled me to um have a consistent pipeline of lower paying, much, much lower paying, like didn't even cover my costs kind of paying, but got me known for what I do. And over time things have shifted to the point where now I get phone calls out of the blue from folks who say, I just was at my pickleball and I was asking if anybody knew of someone who would write a business plan on my behalf, and they all said you. And I was like, Okay, so that was cool. I'm not doing any advertising in that regard, I'm simply being me and I'm doing what I do and do well.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

So that's just one item that I do, but that I mean, that's that that word of mouth is always so um it's critical. It really is. And and the the funny part about it is like when I hear when you started saying it in the beginning, I think of all the things that they tell you at it at the professional networking groups where they say, you know, when you go out there and you say anybody, somebody, everybody, that's exactly what you're gonna get, nobody. Um, because they're not gonna hear you. Um, so so when you said you started to focus your your message, you you honed your message a little bit better. And when you went to the networking events, did you notice a change in like I guess the quality of who was listening to you, or or were people listening to you? What did you notice?

SPEAKER_02 8:57

What was it's funny because I think one of the things that you also do when you go to networking meetings and you hear the person say the same thing they said last week, people tune them out. So what they always liked about me, and I would captivate their attention is every single time I would be different. But ultimately the message was the same. So, in other words, people have different pain points around the same issue. So they can't write the business plan. What is it about the business plan? It might be too daunting. So that's one issue that I would address in the pitch. The second issue I might address is they need money, they need money fast. Well, I could also talk to them about what that process would have looked like. So then I could, it's like I can provide these different solutions to different problems, but I'm really dealing with the business plan element the whole time. And so if they need funding that is aimed, let's say at a loan, that's going to be written one way. If they're aiming it towards an audience that's a venture capitalist, that's going to be an investor, that's written a different way. And then you also have to have an additional slide deck that you don't need for a loan. So there are different elements to a business plan that I could target, but the key is that I'm solving a problem. Every single time I'm not telling them, here's the problem, good luck. I'm saying, here's your problem, I get it. I'm totally with you. I didn't know how to write a business plan when I started. I had to explore, I had to investigate, I had to research. And over time, I was able to really develop a format and a formula that seems to be really effective in telling the story of a business. And once you get into that, you're you're golden. And so then I could just send that message, but it didn't have to be the same message every time. So I might start with a question. I might say, imagine or might say, imagine you were um a business owner and you needed money yesterday. How would you go about it? And then I would talk to them about things. Or I might say, um, what does it feel like when you don't really have your message clearly articulated? What can you do? And then I'd go into my message, right? So there are solutions, but tackling different problems. I hope that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

But oh no, completely. And I think it's great to have a conversation with people. I think too many times uh people go into a networking event with their memorized elevator pitch and not just simply have a conversation. Yeah. And I like that you ask the questions like, is this something you're dealing with? Because you that is a hook in itself to garner engagement and let the other person know, no, I really care about where you're at.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

And talk to me about it.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

And then to be able to come in and say, I can help you. That's huge. I think I think that that's what many people miss in their networking and even in their content creation for social media. I think you're not having that simple conversation.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Well, so it's hard to have conversation on social media, don't you think? Because conversation in social media is not conversant. It is somebody saying, typing something, and then somebody typing something back. So one of the reasons that I always have this consultation initially to meet with people is to figure out if it's a good fit. Because if I'm not the right person, I still want them to be successful. So I want to make sure I'm referring them to the right source. It's not appropriate for me to say I'm good for everybody. I'm not. We're never all good for everybody. And that goes back to what you were saying, Jane. You know, we can't be everything to everyone. We are.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

I'm I'm I'm listening to you both, and I'm saying to myself, well, don't want to step on the communication coach's toes, but I've always said this, and she's the first one that said it to me is you listen. If you're in a com in a conversation with somebody, even if you're just going out and you're doing your elevator pitch or your 60-second or whatever the whatever it is, the 30 seconds, some places you just have enough time to introduce yourself. The fact that you have other conversations that come off of that, that spin off of that first introduction, and that you listen. I love the fact that you said, I don't necessarily I may not fit this this person may not be the fit, I might not be the solution for them, but I can get them to where they have to go. That to me, I think is is the sign of a really good uh consultant, coach, um, someone a leader that that I laugh when you say, you know, about being being in leadership, being in networking, being in all these things. You have to really be a listener to somebody that can communicate well and actually sacrifice yourself at a certain point and not get the business to help improve the person in front of you. So Celeste, you have uh another question for Laura?

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Well, I was just thinking it's also about the beginning, knowing your beginning and end. Right. Knowing where you begin and end in your business, what you can and cannot do is advantageous. Like I'm not gonna implement marketing for you. So sorry. Go somewhere else. I have many referrals that are perfect, depending on what you need. And you know, if you need a certain website platform, well, I know somebody who does Wix and I know somebody else who does Squarespace and I know someone else who does WordPress. So it's all about making and that's the other part is all these people you need are ways of partnering with people, it's not a competition, right? It's a collaboration, and the more you refer out, the more friends you make, too. Exactly. So yeah, that exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

And I was going to just bring up that point as soon as you said that you would refer them to somebody else. That's what real networking is.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

And I'm so glad that you brought it up that way because I've tried to explain to people you can't just go into a networking event and have it all be about you. If you aren't making connections and talking to people and listening to what they do, and really make those connections so that you're it's a real referral type of networking, you're missing out. And I've been to so many of those where I somebody gives me their pitch and they're on to the next person to give their pitch. And I can, well, I I'm I might be able to use you, but you've already left me. I uh and we didn't get to develop anything, right? Yeah, and so that I I think that is uh an amazing part of understanding what real networking is, and you explained it beautifully.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

That's the therapist in me. So former therapist, former CEO, I know it's a weird combo, and former assistant professor. So there's a teaching part of me, there's a consistent learning part in me, and that lends itself to curiosity, which then makes you a good coach, because then you can say, Well, I hear this, but what about this? Or you're saying this, but you want to go there. How are we gonna make that work? Let's let's talk through that, right? Get let me understand more. And so I think it really comes down to the more you listen, the better it is, the easier it is to work with somebody. So definitely.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Well, listen, we're gonna get to the point now where we are talking about room service because we're in the right room. So we have a little segment called room service. And we really want you to think about one action that our listeners can take in the next 48 hours week. What's one step that someone can take to go from, you know, um maybe being all over the place and not having that focus to making a simple change that might make a very big change when they present themselves?

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Wow, that's a biggie. So, first of all, great question. Um I we were talking about networking, but we're also talking about how to position your business. And it's really about getting known for X. And the problem I had is I had myriad skills that I wanted people to know. So my solution for folks is pick one. So if I want to get known for business planning, which I really didn't, but alas, here I am, I would encourage people to think about how do you get known for X? Yes, you do all this other stuff, right? I do a whole bunch of other stuff. Um, but do I want to get known for something? Yes, because then people will send a pipeline of people to you. Until you're known for X, people don't know what you do. So get known for that X, whatever that X is. And it doesn't mean it's all of you, it means it's the thing that gets people the gives people the entree to who you are and your business.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

And I think that's difficult for a lot of people who do feel like they're everything for everybody. What would be a suggestion for somebody who needs to figure out what is that one thing? Like, was there a process for you that you know really could help people filter that down?

SPEAKER_02 19:33

Yeah, that's a toughie because I still struggle at times because I don't want to be known for somebody who does just business planning. Um, good lord, I've written hundreds of them. I am so tired of business planning. However, um, I know what I'm doing, right? That I can explain to people allows me to help a person build their business. But when I think about what they want to be known for, they have to decide what's the I would say what's your lowest hanging fruit?

unknown 20:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

What is the easiest thing that you can do that people can know that you do and allows people that entree into your business. Because if you can do, if you can articulate that one thing, then people will get to know you and say, oh, she does this, he does that, blah blah blah. But also encourage you to then expand off of that inch by inch. So it doesn't have to be that this is the only thing I do, but I can, but I have to get known for that. So it's about asking yourself the one question, which is what am I really good at that I can share with others? What is it that I'm trying to do? Right? Because there's a difference potentially. If I'm trying to sell a product, it's gonna look different than I'm trying to sell a service, and so um looking at what is it that I do that I do really well, what can I get known for that I'm okay with getting known for?

SPEAKER_00 21:19

That's something that you know, to do that process, what would help? Is it talking to other people who know what you do?

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Uh is it um actually talking to colleagues that don't know what you do that say, I love you, Laura, but I don't know what you do. And can I just offer like this was the slap in the face that I got. I actually did have a colleague umpteen years ago who said to me, um who who I noticed had partnered with someone else about leadership. And I just thought, girlfriend, what up? Why are you not chatting with me? Hello. And sure enough, um, she said, I didn't know that's really what you did. And so my message was so garbled that that's what I'm saying. So the the it was a slap in the face, but it was a great wake-up call. And it was a way to say, so clearly that's not working. What is my message going to be? Right. And and picking something. And again, it's not necessarily something you want to do a hundred percent all the time, but if you can get in the door and get people to open that door and put their foot in, put their toe in the water and get to know you, then that's your opportunity to build.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Great, great advice. And because we are called the right room, what does that mean to you to be in the right room? What does that bring up for you?

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Well, um for me, it means that uh I am not the brainiac in the room. I'm the I'm one of many people who have different skill sets that can lend themselves to one another and knowledge bases that can lend themselves. So I love being in rooms with other people who can help me perceive things differently or learn new information, learn new ideas. Again, it goes back to that constant I like to learn, I like to grow, and being open to that. And then I don't have to be the best smartest. I'm certainly not, you know. But the idea of being around these brilliant people like yourselves allows me to um learn and grow, and I can get a nugget from you, and I can get a nugget from you, and that helps me to build on my business more effectively.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

So that to me is so important because I think you know, my father used to tease me and say, You could be a professional student. I think he just didn't want to pay for college anymore. But it was just a question of, you know, I I have taken, and I've said this, if if you could see my office, I have book on top of book and file on top of file and binders filled with information and all the courses I've taken um myself, and then all of the people I've met along the way, that you take a little snippet of everybody, and that and that really becomes the mosaic of who I am, uh of you know who you are and what you can bring to the to the business. So um I guess my my last thing would be is there anything that um Laura we would like to put out there so that people know a line they'll remember from you, like something that you your mantra, that's something that you go to um that keeps you grounded or keeps you moving forward, um, and keeps you inspired. Let's put it that way. Keeps you inspired.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Well, it's funny you say that because when I was the CEO, I would say, this too shall pass, this two shall pass, this two shall pass. That was my mantra, you know. That's everybody's mantra. It was one, you know, one fire storm after another a lot of the time. Um, but I would say right now, it's it's actually not a mantra. It's more of a focus that um when I'm working with, excuse me, when I'm working with clients, I'm reminded about my passion, why I do what I do. And if I'm reminded of my why, I can stay focused. I can get past the tough times, I can I can push through X, Y, or Z. And so to me, it's really about staying in my Y and knowing that I'm having a positive impact. And um and being feeling, I guess for me, it's also about knowing I'm contributing and I feel honored that people share all that with me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

That's great. That's perfect. And we we are going to put in all of your contact information, but everybody does have a preferred way. Do you have a preferred way that you would like people to reach out to you?

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Uh, sure. If they want to reach out via email, that's probably the best way. Um, so I can start a conversation that way or find out what they want and um and then set things up from there. So it's Lara L-A-U-R-A at Mosaic M O S A I C businessconsulting ing.com.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Okay, well, we'll we'll have that in the yeah, yeah, in our notes for you. But I I like to be able to at least let everybody know that that would be the best way to get you so we get everybody right to you. Great, great.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Sounds good. Well, Laura, thank you so much for being in the right room today. Um, I we love your take on everything and uh love the focus. And just remember, if you're thinking about the positive, just like Laura said, if you're thinking about the positive outcome that you can make, it can actually change your income. So think about it.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

And we appreciate the actionable steps. It's nice to have somebody come up with a real solution that you can put together right now. And I think great advice about networking and making it a real listening session and building relationships.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Yeah, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Thanks everyone.