The pep talk you need right now

Leah Neaderthal 0:02

Hey there. So we're kicking off this new year, this new season, with the pep talk that I feel like everybody needs to hear right now. It's really like what I would tell you, if you and I were having like, a real heart to heart with the three things that I think you actually need to hear to reach your goals. They might not be easy to hear, but they're important, so buckle up, and let's dive into the episode.

Leah Neaderthal 0:29

Welcome to the Smart Gets Paid podcast with me, Leahahah Neaderthal, I help women land higher paying clients in their independent consulting businesses, but I've never been a salesperson. My background is in corporate marketing, and when I started my first consulting business, I learned pretty quickly that it's about 1000 times harder to sell your own stuff than it is to sell someone else's. So I taught myself how to do it, and I created the sales approach that I now share with my clients so they can feel more comfortable in the sales process, get more of the right clients and get paid way more for every client contract. So whether your client contracts are $5,000 $100,000or more, if you want to work with more of the clients you love, do more of the work you love, and get paid more than you ever thought you could, then you're in the right place. Let's do it together. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to rate, review and share.

Leah Neaderthal 1:22

Hey, there. Leah, here. And thanks for tuning in. I hope that wherever you're listening to this, wherever you are right now, you're having a great week, making some good progress on your business and taking some time for you. So it's the first of the year, right? Everyone's feeling like we've turned a new page. I still have this cold from last year, but whatever. But we've turned a new page. Like, now is the time, and this is the year. This is the year that you're going to do the things that you've been saying. You're going to do right? You're going to reach out to the people. You're going to figure out what value based pricing really is, and you're going to do it in your business. Or you're going to stop saying yes to clients who aren't a good fit, like all of these things, like this year, you're really gonna, like, really, actually do them, right? And so what I want to do now is give you the talk that if you are like the vast majority of the women I talk to, then this is the pep talk that you need to hear right now in this moment. And I know this because I talk to a lot of women independent consultants, and trust me, a vast majority need to hear this. So there is a really high likelihood that you can benefit from this pep talk too. And actually, you know, maybe it's sort of less of a pep talk and more of what we call in the south, a come to Jesus talk. Now a come to Jesus talk is a serious, like no nonsense conversation, when somebody hears the unvarnished truth they need to hear, and it's really when you have to, like, look a problem in the face and motivate to change. Right? Of course, the literal phrase come to Jesus comes from Christianity, obviously, where the phrase coming to Jesus is like a moment of reckoning or repentance or realization. And of course, over time, it sort of entered the culture, at least in the south, to really describe any serious conversation that forces someone to sort of confront some hard truths or take accountability. Think of it as like the conversation you have when sugar coating is no longer an option and you just need to be real and honest and direct. Now, as a Jewish woman, me, a Jewish woman who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, a come to Jesus talk doesn't have anything to do with actual Jesus, right? I

Leah Neaderthal 3:30

t's the second meaning. So this come to Jesus talk is what I would tell you if I was just going to tell you the real, honest truth about what you need to do to build your business and what you sort of need to hear right now. So what's prompting this? So I had a call with a woman who had been running her business for many years, like, over 15 years, and for all of those 15 years, she had gotten clients through her relationships and people she knew, and doing some, you know, networking in her local area, and she'd been doing, like, Okay, pretty well actually, like, at a level that was sustaining her family, but she came into my orbit because she really wanted to put a system in place to get clients from outside of her small circle of people that she knew. I mean, among other things, like, there were other goals too. Like, you know, she wanted to make more money, but the biggest reason was to get clients from outside of her network. And she'd been working to that end for a while and doing some things, but she had also sort of gone kind of quiet, and she and I had a call, and in that call, she told me that she hadn't gotten a new client since she had started doing things in a different way, which had been about seven or eight months at that point, and she was stressing out because she wasn't getting new clients. She was starting to go into debt, and then she started to worry about whether her business was even viable. And when we sat down for our coaching call, I said, How can we make this a valuable call for you? And she said she wanted to talk about two things. Number one, her scope and pricing, and number two, her framework, which is a tool we use to communicate your expertise.

Leah Neaderthal 5:00

ahahahAnd explain your approach to, you know, solving the problem you solve. And as she explained what was going on in her business and her financial situation, and then she told me what she wanted to talk about, I saw this huge disconnect, and I realized that I had to say something. And so what I said to her in that call is what I'm going to share with you here. And even if her situation isn't the same as your specific situation, there's still a ton of value to what you're gonna hear, because just know that I hear some version of this with almost every woman independent consultant that I talk to. So what I'm sharing here is you can use it sort of as a roadmap. It's in three parts, and if you've already done number one, then you can move on to number two. And if you've already done number two, then you can move on to number three. All right, so wherever you are in growing your business, there's something here for you. We'll dive into the three steps after this.

Leah Neaderthal 5:54

All right, so what do I think that every woman, consultant, including you, needs to hear? So let's dive in number one stop fluffing the pillows. So imagine you wanted to have people over to your house, maybe a dinner party, but instead of inviting people to your party, you spent your time fluffing the pillows on your couch. You probably wouldn't have anyone at your party, right? And so I see so many women fluffing the pillows instead of inviting people to their party. Because for most women, consultants, the most pressing issue in terms of your business and your revenue is your pipeline. And when we say pipeline, we mean the number of potential clients you're talking to. And for most women, they don't have enough in their pipeline. We just had the CRM set up boot camp a while back, and the first thing we do is set up your pipeline and your CRM. And what a lot of women realize at that point is that they just don't have that much in their pipeline. So if that's you, you're not alone.

Leah Neaderthal 6:54

But the problem is that when your biggest issue is your pipeline, but you're spending time on things that will not fill your pipeline, then that's fluffing the pillows. So when the woman I mentioned earlier told me that she hadn't gotten a client and that she was going into debt, and yet she wanted to talk about two things that I knew absolutely would not solve that problem, I sort of paused for a second, and I said to her, my exact words were, you know, if I could be totally frank, both of these things are fluffing the pillows. I said to her, I was like the missing piece. The reason why you haven't gotten the clients is because you haven't done the marketing. And the rest of our conversation was about what she actually needed to do to solve her pipeline problem.

Leah Neaderthal 7:38

And I want to share that with you, because the reason why most consultants aren't getting clients into their pipeline is because they aren't doing the marketing, or not doing it with any consistency or regularity. And instead, they're doing things that are behind the scenes, or they're tweaking things, things that you know might feel more comfortable but aren't going to solve the pipeline problem. And you know, in terms of doing things that are behind the scenes. I mean, listen, for overachievers like us, we like to fail in private, right? And we feel more comfortable behind the scenes, so we like to work on things that feel comfortable and are safer, but those things will not get you new clients. They won't get you leads, because that isn't marketing, so stop fluffing the pillows.

Leah Neaderthal 8:24

Oh, and by the way, when I say marketing, I don't mean your website. I cannot tell you how many women I talk to who need consulting clients and don't have a system to get consulting clients and to solve the problem, they hire someone to redo their website. So here's some real talk. Your website is a tiny corner in a vast Internet, and no one is stumbling on it, right? Nobody's just stumbling upon your website to learn about you. Your website is for credibility, not findability. It's so that the people, the potential clients that you're talking to, or those people who are considering reaching out to you, can see that you're a real human and listen, I get it like maybe your website doesn't really reflect what you do, right? So create a proper painkiller statement, add it to your website, make a few text edits, call it a day, and start doing actual marketing. So post on LinkedIn with your point of view on topics your clients care about. Use our shoulder tap framework to start conversations with potential clients, turn your LinkedIn profile into something that actually makes you look like an expert, signal the right clients. And don't just do random acts of marketing. Do it consistently and make it a practice. So stop fluffing the pillows and start doing things that will actually solve your pipeline problem. So what you can do right now, to do that is look at your pipeline, and then look at your to do list and ask yourself, are you focusing on tasks that directly fill your pipeline, or are you just fluffing the pillows? So that's the first thing, stop fluffing the pillows. So the second thing is, do.

Leah Neaderthal 10:00

The things. So when you graduate from the first thing and you know you need to stop fluffing the pillows, so you know the things to do, then do the things. So if you're like a lot of the women I talk to, you have a list of people that you know you need to reach out to, or you have a notes file with all of your ideas about stuff you want to write about, right things that would maybe make a great post or a newsletter. I talked to a woman who said, you know, I have a Google Doc with all the people that I know I should be reaching out to, and I've had that same list for like, two years, and I haven't reached out to them. And honestly, like everybody has their own personal version of that, right? And how many times have you looked at it said you needed to do it, made an attempt to do it. Maybe you weren't sure what to say, or worried it would be awkward or whatever. Said, you know, okay, I'll come back to that later. Then you felt bad about it, and then you repeated the same cycle again, over and over, right. Imagine how much time you've spent thinking about it, planning to do it, worrying about it, feeling bad about not doing it right, like this is really precious brain power that you're wasting doing that. And listen, I have this too in a different area of my business, there was something I was stressed out about related to a business filing that I had on my to do list for over a year. And I thought about it a ton, and I put it off, and I kept changing the due date on the asana task or whatever, and I let it worry me. And you know what? When I actually got on the chat with customer service to actually take care of this thing, I learned that the thing that I was worried I'd have to do I didn't even need to do at all, like I spent hours putting this off, and it was solved with a five minute chat with customer service. So, you know, listen, I get it.

Leah Neaderthal 11:42

So that's why the second thing on this list is, do the things. The best explanation of this that I found, it was actually the audio track on an Instagram rail from one of my former clients. And when I dug in to find the source of the text, the only source I found is from a site called strangest loop. There's no author credited, but I'm going to read it here. It's a little piece. It's called things that aren't doing the thing, okay, ready? Things that aren't doing the thing, preparing to do the thing isn't doing the thing, scheduling time to do the thing isn't doing the thing, making a to do list for the thing isn't doing the thing, telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Writing a banger tweet about how you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn't doing the thing, hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn't doing the thing. Fantasizing about all the adoration you'll receive once you do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how to do the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn't doing the thing. Reading this essay isn't doing the thing. The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing. Not bad, right? I mean, that's pretty good. So do the things, especially when the things are marketing your business, so you can get in front of potential clients and create some client opportunities and lead a sales process and get a client and get paid. And I want to say, you know, when we're talking about do the things. This isn't about adding more things to your plate. I mean, I know you're busy. Everyone's busy, right? This isn't about just adding more things to your plate. This is actually about getting things off your plate that you already know you need to do, but you've been stressing out about them and putting them off and telling yourself you should do them, because then it's actually in two places. Not only is it on your actual to do list, it's also on your mental plate as well.

Leah Neaderthal 13:48

So do the things, is about actually doing the things that are on your mental plate so that you can free up that brain space and actually get the outcomes that you need for your business, which is more potential clients in your pipeline. So if this is resonating with you, one way you can act on this right now is ask yourself, What am I doing instead of doing the things, am I thinking about the things? Am I worrying about the things? Am I writing the things on a post it note? Get honest with yourself about what things you might be doing that aren't doing the things. All right, so that's number two, do the things. So just to recap so far, the things I would tell you to do if you're not happy with where your business is is. Number one, stop fluffing the pillows. And number two, do the things. And the third is, imagine you're being chased by a bear. So imagine you're being chased by a bear. Goes something like this. So imagine you're taking a walk through the woods right, just a leisurely walk. As you're walking, you're probably looking where you're stepping right. You want to make sure you're stepping the right place. You don't want to, you know, roll your ankle or whatever. But you're sort of, you know, gingerly walking through the woods. Okay? Now imagine you're being chased by a bear. You.

Leah Neaderthal 15:00

So if you're being chased by a bear, you're not asking, like, Ooh, is this the right step, or is it okay if I step here? Or will they think it's weird if I go this way? No, when you're being chased by a bear, you run through the freaking woods. And if you don't have enough in your pipeline, or you don't have a system to get potential clients into your pipeline, and that's causing you stress, then you are being chased by a bear. So when you've decided to stop fluffing the pillows, and you're finally doing the things, and especially if the things you need to do are to market your business and get clients in your pipeline, then freaking do them like run through the woods. Imagine you're being chased by a bear. But a lot of times, what happens is, when you start to do the things, you start doing them, like a little bit right, like maybe a little bit at a time. You're sort of doing a little here and there, making it perfect, being really thoughtful, and sort of like gingerly doing the marketing. I see this all the time.

Leah Neaderthal 15:55

The woman I mentioned earlier, after we had our come to Jesus talk, she was like, Yes, I know I need to actually do the marketing, and I am my copywriter, and I we've decided that we're gonna post on LinkedIn twice a month. And I was like, Uh, I gotta tell you, like, that's not enough. When you're in a situation where you need to fill your pipeline, then you need to do more marketing. Like, we have this tool in the academy called the sustainable marketing strategy that lets you create a plan with a set of marketing activities and frequency that you can dial up or down based on you know what's going on in your business, in your life, and it's designed to help you stay consistent and do the level of marketing that's right for your business in that moment. So in the sustainable marketing strategy, there are three levels. There's maintenance mode, which is the set of activities and frequency that you do, and your business is just sort of humming along right, like day to day stuff. There's simmer mode, so when you're busy or maybe traveling and you don't want to or need to do much marketing, but you do want to keep the pot on the stove right. And then there's power mode, which is when you dial up your activities and your frequency, because you either want to or you need to make things happen. This is a really flexible framework that lets you stay consistent with marketing so that you don't freak out and do like a ton of marketing and then get a client and then stop doing marketing and then freak out again down the road, right?

Leah Neaderthal 17:16

And the biggest aha that most people have when they create their sustainable marketing strategy in those three levels is that they thought they were in power mode, but they've actually been in simmer mode, like they thought they were doing a whole lot of marketing, but they were really doing very little in the grand scheme of things. And it's kind of eye opening to realize that, and it's also really empowering when you learn how to do marketing that sounds like you and works, and you can dial it up to make things happen. So back to the woman I mentioned. You know, when I said to her, two posts a month is really not enough, she said to me, I know, but I need more time. And I said to her, you know, you might think you need more time, but for people like us who are recovering perfectionists and we want everything to be right. You actually don't need more time. You need less time. And I told her how, when I was starting to post on LinkedIn for my business, this is a long time ago, I made it the first thing I did every morning. I gave myself 30 minutes, and I told myself that I couldn't do anything else until that was done and posted, because I know myself, I will want whatever I do to be really thoughtful and really insightful and thought provoking and make me sound smart or whatever, and I will allow myself to close the tab or walk away if it's just not flowing, and I'll move on to something else. So that was the rule I made for myself, and it worked. I mean, I started posting consistently, and I got into a really good habit. I mean, was every post groundbreaking? No. Looking back now, were some of them total crap, yes, but my goal was to build the habit, and so I gave myself less time, not more.

Leah Neaderthal 18:57

Now, if you have a completely full pipeline, or you've gotten your entire year booked out or whatever. Sure. I mean, maybe you don't need to run through the woods imagining that you're being chased by a bear. Maybe you can sort of gingerly walk through the forest. But I know for a fact that that's not most women consultants. And there's a great quote that I've held on to for a while that's really helped me. It says, The reason why you do things well at the last minute is because that's the minute you release the expectation then it has to be perfect. I'm going to say that again. The reason why you do things well at the last minute is because that's the minute you release the expectation that it has to be perfect. So we have to sort of manufacture the last minute. Ask yourself, what would I do if I was being chased by a bear? And what would you do? Write the email and press send, write the post and press publish, put down a number in a proposal, and then don't negotiate against yourself, and then press send on the proposal. Imagine you're being chased by a bear. So those are the three things that I think every woman.

Leah Neaderthal 20:00

Consultant needs to hear right now, stop fluffing the pillows, do the things, and imagine you're being chased by a bear. And of course, if you want help to do that faster than you can do on your own, check out the academy and apply its smartgetspaid.com/academy and we'll see if we can help, because it's hard and it takes not just motivation, but accountability. But this is the important work in your business, and it's the important work to grow as a business owner, and you can do it all right. So Happy New Year from the smart kids paid team and me, we're wishing you a successful, enjoyable and profitable year. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai