How to Know You Have What It Takes to Succeed as a Consultant, Coach & Business Owner [PEP TALK] (Ep 177)

Number one, let's talk about why this is such a big deal for consultants and coaches versus, let's say, a professional services firm like an accountant or a lawyer or a doctor.

One of the big reasons why this is such a big deal for us is this isn't our first career.

You know, consulting or coaching is something that we have fell into, you know, after we developed an expertise or some sort of wisdom we wanna pass on to other people.

You know, so we are doing something different.

You know, so we had a first career.

Now this is, like a brand new thing completely.

The work of consulting and coaching may look similar but is very different than what we might have done in the past.

Like in the past, we were delivering results from positional authority.

You know, now we've got nothing but our relationship and influence skills, so this is a whole brand new thing.

You know, and speaking of a whole brand new thing, even if we master this consulting and coaching expertise, building the business around it is totally new to us.

Oh, and speaking of building a business around our expertise, you know what that's gonna require.

The thing that keeps you up at night the most is marketing and sales and putting ourselves out there.

You know, so when you're the business and brand, it's all super vulnerable, right? And then the other thing is the work we do is optional.

You know, clients don't always think about us.

You know, like when you have a health issue, you know you're gonna go to the doctor.

You just don't know maybe which one.

Or if you find yourself in legal trouble, it's not like you're sitting there saying, "Oh, I think I might wanna DIY this." Like, no, you're gonna hire a lawyer.

You're just trying to find the right one.

But let's say you're a chief operating officer of a growing company with lots of internal inefficiencies, you may have no clue that a consultant with a lean and continuous improvement background can actually help you grow smart and not hard.

You know, or maybe you're a great leader, but you somehow are overlooked on the succession plan for executive leadership roles.

It may not dawn on you that, "You know what? I should really hire an executive coach, and that person can help me land that type of role I want and thrive in it." Or let's say you're a consultant and coach who's listening to this particular episode.

You might have stalled results because you can't find the words to articulate the value of what you do in a way that resonates and converts clients, but you don't automatically assume like, "Hey, you know what? I really need a brand positioning and messaging strategist like Betsy." You know, like that may not dawn on you.

So that's what makes all of this like all so challenging, is the market and how we show up is different.

We're sorta optional.

We had a first career.