Your burning questions: answered!

Leah Neaderthal 0:02

Hey everyone. It's a special celebration episode of the Smart Gets Paid podcast, because this is our 100th episode, so listen in as I answer your burning questions in this 100th episode that we're calling Leah unfiltered. All right, let's do this. Welcome to the smart gets paid podcast with me. Leah 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 $100,000 or 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.

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 you guys, this is a 100th episode of the smart gets paid podcast. I cannot believe it. I'm so happy to be here, and I'm pretty much in shock, actually. And before I say anything else, I just want to thank you, and each and every one of you in smart gets paid nation for your support of this podcast, your support of me and for bringing us, all of us, to this moment. So if you've listened to a couple of episodes, thank you. If you listen to dozens of episodes, thank you too. If you've listened to every single episode. And I know there are many of you out there who have, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And if you've shared this podcast with the women consultants and business owners in your world, and I know so many of you have, thank you from the bottom of my heart. And on that note, if you are someone who likes this podcast, who you're listening to this episode and you haven't left a review yet on Apple podcasts, please be sure to take a second and do that. It really helps this podcast get shown recommended to women who are out there running their businesses, and who might be struggling to get clients because they haven't found this podcast yet. You never know what episode is going to unlock something and really help someone move forward. So please take a moment and leave a review and a rating, and let's help more women learn what you've learned here.

Oh, and by the way, if this is your first episode that you've ever listened to, then you have picked a really good one. This is going to be a really fun one, because this is an unfiltered episode. We're calling this Leah unfiltered. You know, this podcast has grown by leaps and bounds, and more people are listening every month, and it's because of you. Literally every new person who has listened to this is because you have shared it with the women that you know. You know, I don't run ads to the podcast. I don't do that thing where we invite guests on just so that they'll send it to their massive audience, like I invite my clients and my friends and my family even, and other people who mean something to me. And I'm not doing what a lot of the podcast gurus would tell you to you know how to 10x your podcast listenership or whatever, and I'm not doing any of that. And yet it's still grown so much thanks to you. And so for this episode, I wanted to give you the floor and open it up to you and let you run the show. So that's why this is Leah unfiltered, and I'm answering the questions that you sent in.

So a few weeks ago, I posted on LinkedIn and in my newsletter inviting you to ask questions, literally any question, the burning questions that were on your mind, and then I would choose some that I would answer in this episode, everyone who asked the question got a copy of my roadmap to clients course to help you create a sales process for your business in under an hour. And we started to see the questions come in, which was super exciting. So thank you to everyone who asked the question. So here in this episode, you're in charge, and we're going to talk about the things that you're wondering, like, what percentage of time should you be spending between business development and doing the work with your clients. Or how do you niche down when you really like working with all different types of clients? Or how do you fire a client if it's just not working out? And more questions that women, just like you have asked, and we actually got more than we could answer in this episode. And still keep it to like a manageable time.

So there's a bonus. If you're in the academy, you can find the bonus episode with more questions and answers in the academy portal. So there you'll hear me answer bonus questions about how I built my team, and how to think about growing your team, what to do on LinkedIn when you want to start being more intentional about starting conversations in a way that isn't salesy and more so Academy members check out the academy portal for a bonus episode. But there's something else to this unfiltered episode that makes it special and unique, because I challenged myself to really go unfiltered. So you might not know this, but every episode we do here takes a lot of work, like I have tons of notes. Every episode is highly measured and considered and scripted, and I write everything out. I mean, pages and pages to make sure that I say everything I want to say and everything that might help you as you listen to an episode. I mean, it takes several hours for each episode at least, and you know, oftentimes even longer. And I mean, for some of the episodes that we've done, I've been taking notes on that topic and gathering examples, like for years, like, I think, with episode 72 the B to B versus B to see episode, I look back at my notes, and I had been gathering examples for a few years, like I looked back at the Google doc where I had been holding these notes, and I looked at the created date, and it was like a few years ago. And I do that because I want each episode to be good, you know, to be valuable. I mean, when you choose to listen to an episode of this podcast, you're devoting 30 minutes or an hour of your time, and your time is really valuable, and I want it to be worth it, and you know that you've learned something, and that in hearing some of the conversations that we're having, that you feel not so alone. And so I hope I've achieved that. And so with this unfiltered episode, I challenged myself to not do that, to just go more off the cuff, like to not have pages and pages of notes, or to not listen to everything several times over, to just sort of take off the filter. So for this episode, here's how I did it. I listened to each question, I let myself write just a few notes for, like, no more than just a couple minutes, and then I played the question one more time, and then I started talking.

And I gotta tell you, it was, like, it was a little nerve wracking. And of course, I worried that I would say something stupid, which is like my perpetual, you know, worry in life. But, I mean, one thing I've learned from doing the podcast is that you kind of just have to start talking. And so the result is what you'll hear in this episode, questions and answers. Me just talking, no filter. I mean, that's what this is, unfiltered. And it's a way, actually, for me to say to myself, I could do this. Because, I mean, listen, from the time I first said I was going to do the podcast, which I first announced in November 2019 and you know, I posted it on LinkedIn that I was going to do this, until when I actually launched it in March 2021, I mean, it took me 16 months to get up the courage to actually do it, and then when I actually started the podcast, I made a promise to myself. I was like, Okay, I don't know if this is going to turn into anything. I don't know if this is going to be good, so I'm just going to do a season. It's going to be like TV. I'm going to do a season of 13 episodes, and if it's not good, or if I don't like doing it, or if nobody listens, then I'm just gonna stop after one season. But something amazing happened in that season. People listened. I mean, you listened, and people liked it, and I liked doing it too. Like, a lot, like more than I expected. It's actually one of my favorite things I do in my business, second only to working with my clients. And so I did a second season, and I kept going, and now here we are at episode 100 so thank you again for listening, for reviewing, for rating and for sharing, and I also want to send a huge thank you to the women who asked the questions that I'm going to be answering here. So I want to celebrate you and celebrate us in this milestone. So let's dive in right after this.

Speaker 1 9:35

Hi, Leah, my name is Emma, and I am a data and analytics consultant for female founded startups, and after 15 plus years doing this kind of work in corporate, I decided to start my own business, and it's super exciting. The question I have for you is, I know from listening to your podcast that the way to get clients is to. Be very clear about what the value is that I'm providing to my clients, what the transformation is I'm providing, and have clarity around what is sort of the structure of my offer, and be confident in my price and all those sorts of things. And what I'm finding is I'm in a bit of a chicken and egg sort of situation where in order for me to get that clarity, I feel that I need to have some clients under my belt, some one on one, clients. And so I'm stuck in this place where I feel like I need to get clients in order to get clarity, but I need to have the clarity in order to get clients. So I would love your thoughts on for someone like me who's in their first year of growing their consultant business, how do you sort of balance that chicken and egg situation? Thank you so much. And really love your podcast.

Leah Neaderthal 10:52

So first of all, congratulations on your first year in business. Congratulations on starting your consulting business. Is really, really exciting. So I know that it does feel like a total chicken or the egg situation, right? It's like, how do I know what to do before I've done it? And how do I know what to do if I don't know what to do? And you know all of that. So here's what I would say for where you are in this moment, in your first year of your business, don't try to get it perfect. Take everything like, take every client, take every project, right now, you just need data. So you're sort of in the startup phase in your business, right? You're in that first year, 18 months. And for women in that, in that phase. I just I tell, I mean, everybody, if you ask me, like, I would say, Take everything, send out an email to everybody you've ever worked with, like, announcing that this is what you're doing. You have all these years of this, and this is how you're working with people now. And take everything that comes your way, every project, every client. Because what's going to happen is, after a while you're going to say, you're going to be able to say, like, okay, these are the clients I love, these this is the work I love. These are the projects I loved. You can also say, like, this is the work I didn't love, and these are the clients I didn't love, and I don't want to do this again. But you need data to say that, and so, and you need experience to get you data, and the data will give you clarity, right? You don't have clarity just by thinking about it, because a lot of times what happens is people start their businesses and where they end up in a couple years is actually not a place they would have anticipated, like we're doing a specific type of work, or we're working with a specific type of client, but you just simply sort of let, let yourself get the experience. There's a really great book called Grit by Angela Duckworth, and she talks about how people find and how kids find their passion. And she says, You don't find your passion by thinking about it. You find your passion by going out and having a lot of experiences. And it's kind of the same thing with getting clients. You don't get clarity by thinking about it. You get clarity by doing it, by working with clients. And so think of this as like the beta version of your business, right? The beta in a technology or what have you is about getting data and refining right and iterating. So just gather data right. Don't try to get it right right now. Just try to get experience and try to get data, and then from the data you will get clarity. All right. Hope that helps.

Speaker 2 13:41

Hi Leah, I'm a pack your pipeline participant from 2021 and now I'm a podcast listener. In fact, several months ago, a friend and colleague of mine decided that we were going to get together every single week listen to two of your podcasts and then chat about how we can make it work for our business, and we have been doing it non stop this week, we are talking about episodes 59 and 60. So thank you. My question, how do I succinctly explain that part of the reason that I left corporate and starting my own consulting firm. After 25 years in human resources, I had multiple industries. I worked across startups and not for profits and professional services and fortune 500 companies. And I love this diversity of client types, where they are in the life cycle of their business and the different projects and challenges that arise for all of them. You talk a lot about identifying your core clients and your niche and I get how that helps people and helps other consultants, my clients, my existing clients, tell me that they really appreciate my D. And wide experiences, that I have a unique ability to customize things that I learned from big organizations and scale it down to meet the needs of a mid sized firm, or going in the other direction, something that I did in my startup days, and then using it because it's nimble and it's not that complex, and it just works for larger organizations. I'm not trying to be all things to all people, but I'm trying to get across to prospects how this really benefits them, and I'm struggling, can you help?

Leah Neaderthal 15:36

All right, so first of all, Rachel, I love that you and your friend are turning this podcast into sort of a self study course. I love hearing that, and of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you don't have to do it all on your own, that you know we have a whole program where you can get the tools and coaching and accountability and feedback on what you're working on, so that you know that you're doing it right, and so that you can get the whole system instead of pieces here and there in the podcast. But anyway, your question is a really good one. You know, how do you explain that you work with a lot of companies without trying to be all things to all people. And I think part of this is that, you know, the disconnect here is, yes, it's very important to be clear on who you work with, but being clear on who you work with is not just limited to the company type or the client type. You know, niching down, air quotes, snitching down, so to speak, which I don't love that term. But anyway, just for the purposes of this, you know, this conversation, your niche doesn't have to be a client size or a company size, or an industry, or whatever your niche can be. The problem you solve that can be a very clear niche. And in fact, when you niche down again, I hate that phrase, but when you niche down on the problem that you solve, then you can be very clear on the value that you provide and attract the people who and the companies that the clients that need that value. So because I think that, like, you know, niching, or, you know, choosing a company size or industry or whatever is actually, like, it's so common out there, like so many people are, people are telling business owners and women to do that, but that's not what we do. Like, I think that approach is so limiting, because it's limiting, and it's kind of lazy, and in terms of, like, reaching the actual clients that you are best suited for, and that can really benefit from your from what you do, because, like, think about it, you know, if you if you say, this is the problem I solve, then there are lots of Different types of companies who have that problem, right? Companies that are big or small or in this industry or that industry, or, you know, at this stage or that stage, or whatever, who have may have that problem. But if you choose, if you just choose an industry or a company type or whatever company size, then there are a lot of companies in that industry or that size that don't have the problem at all. And so you when you choose that on industry or company size or what have you, you you can find that you are, you know, it's harder to find the clients that actually have the problem that you solve. But when you niche down again. Lack a better term, but when you when you plant your flag on the problem that you solve, then you can attract the clients who have that problem and who want the outcomes that you can help them bring about in their business. And you don't have to choose an industry or a company size, or any of these like, I don't know, traditional ways that people have been told to niche down. And the thing is that when you focus on the problem you solve. One thing you can say, you know, in your messaging or in conversations with clients, is, this is the problem I solve, and this problem does not discriminate, right? I mean, I say some of that in my work because it's totally true. You know, what I do is I help women implement a system to get more of the right clients that they want get paid more for their work so they have more time for themselves and the things that you know, the people and things that matter. And I have women coming to me who have been running their business for two years. I have women working with me who have been running their business for 810, 12 years or longer. And that's one thing that I say to women who ask me, you know, who's in my program, right? Is it? You know, people who are just getting started, or people who have been doing it for a while? And you know, one thing I tell them that is that, you know, I work with women in the messy middle right? Who are you? 18 months to two years into their business. But beyond that, I there are women in the program who have been working in their business for two years. There are women who have been running their business for 10 years, 15 years or longer. And the reason is that this problem of, how do I get clients when I've only ever gotten clients through referrals, that problem does not discriminate. It's a problem that people are facing early in their business, and you know, you can cruise on that for a while, but it's a problem that every woman eventually has to solve, because, you know, luck doesn't last forever, and trust in the universe is not a strategy. So you know, the problem does not discriminate. And when you solve the problem, when you can get clear on the problem that you solve, then you can attract the clients who have that problem. And when I say super clear, I mean being able to clearly explain the problem that you solve and the value you provide, and to position your work in terms of the value. Now, what doesn't work is to talk about your work in terms of what you do, like the tactics, and then also work with anyone and everyone, right? So if you're like, you know, I do HR consulting, right for all types of businesses that doesn't give anyone any real understanding of the value that you provide, or, you know, no way for them to know Are you right for them, and it's nearly impossible for them to refer you to anyone. It actually makes it harder for people to want to hire you, and then you'll find yourself only being able to get clients in your inner circle, because no one will know how to refer you. But who knows if even those people who they send you have the problem you solve right or the right client. So anyway, I digress. The point here is you don't have to choose an industry or a company size. You can niche down on the problem that you solve, and when you're super clear on the problem that you solve, then you can attract the right clients to you, the people who have that problem and want the value you deliver, and they'll know that you are squarely the right person for them, because you focus exactly on that problem. All right. Hope that helps.

Unknown Speaker 22:11

Hi, Leah, it's mariti ball, the president of blue and green planet. I'm a fan of your podcast and all your emails and resources. Thank you. My question is, how do you fire a client? The background is some frustration with a client that has some peculiarities and keep repeating the same pattern of hiring people and get impatient, and has been doing that for 10 years anyway. So how do you find that client? And that's it.

Leah Neaderthal 22:46

So I love that you're asking this question, because I think it speaks to this idea that we are not required to work with clients that we don't like, and we're not required to work with clients who you know don't do the things that we are recommending or enable the project to be successful. You know, you can absolutely choose and work with the clients who are right for you, where you can be the most successful. You know, one of my clients has like a no assholes policy for that reason. Now, there's a limit to what you can know before you get started, and sometimes people's idiosyncrasies or the dynamics of the project or whatever only reveal themselves when you get into it, in which case, sometimes you're right it's time to walk away. Now, I think people are afraid of firing a client because they're worried that it'll like ruin their reputation, or they'll never get work again, or whatever. And you know, saying no to a client or firing client can feel really scary when you're not doing that much to get new clients, or you don't have a system to get new clients. And so it's really hard to say goodbye to one if you don't have one. You know, clients or a system or potential clients to refill it, and, you know, to sort of backfill it, and you don't know how to get the clients. That's why. Just side note like, that's why it's so important to know how to get clients. To have a system to get clients, not just because it work lets you work with the clients you want and yada yada yada. It's because when you know how to get clients, you have the freedom to say no to a client that doesn't feel right, and you don't have to be stuck with a client that doesn't make you feel good, right? So how do you fire a client? So first I would check your contract with the client, so that you understand the process and what's in place for the for the terms of the relationship, right? What is there something you need to fulfill? Is there a certain time frame you need to be aware of? Etc? Next, I would decide how you'd like this to go. You know, what will you do for them to ease the transition? Like, will you stay on and help them for a certain time? Like, I don't know, two weeks a month. Whatever will you try. Train people on something. Will you provide something to them? You just have to have it in your mind. First, what you are willing to do, and then you just sort of have the conversation. You know, you do have to set aside some specific time. You know, so often we're so in the weeds, in like doing the work that we don't really set aside time to talk about the work. So you do have to set up, like, a separate time, and I think you just have to say, like, I don't think I'm the right partner for you in this moment, or, you know, in this project. And then you know, some of that is going to be more specific to the project, or, you know why it's not working, or what have you, but then I would explain what you're planning to do, or what we're you're willing to do to ease the transition. You know, you can recommend other providers who might help, or you can offer to make introductions, or what have you, just you just have to have the conversation. And I think what's really important here is that just to remember that we're teaching the client how to think about us and how to think about this we're actually and if you've listened to the podcast, you've heard me say, we're always teaching the client how to think about us and how to think about things, right? So how you act in this moment will teach them how to think about it, right? And I'm not saying that you would do this, but just, you know, as an example, like, if you're like, you know, I just don't think this is working, and we're gonna, you know, and is it okay if we blah, blah, blah, then that teaches the client how to think about this. But if you, you know, walk in, you know, the proverbial walk in on Zoom, or walk in in person or whatever, and you're like, This is what it is. Here's my plan. You know all that that teaches them to think about you in a different way, right? That teaches them something else. And so you have to remember that the client will think about this the way you let them think about it. And so you just want to remember that, you know, you're teaching the client how to think about this, and so making sure that how you teach them to think about it is how you actually want them to think about it. And as a total side note, you know, it sounds like there has have been some problems with this person. You know, I think you have to decide whether to share what you think those issues are, you know, perhaps with you know somebody else on the project, you know a different contact in the project, or if you have a main contact that's separate from this person, or what have you, you have to decide whether it's worth it to share that. You know, my wife once worked with somebody who was somewhat difficult, and when she was leaving that partnership, she felt really compelled to, like, share all this feedback about how this person can be better or whatnot. And my wife, you know, got some advice from someone who said You asked her, you know, do you want this relationship to continue after you're done working together? Like, do you want to be friends, or would you be friends or whatnot? And if the answer is no, then, like, it's not your responsibility to give all this feedback so they can be better for somebody else, you just walk away. Move on. You know, work with the clients that you can be most successful with, the clients that can be most successful with what you do, and, you know, the clients that that you enjoy.

Speaker 4 28:23

Hi, Leah, it's Patty Bates Ballard, and I have a question about the painkiller statement. I've been listening to a lot of your podcast, and I just finished episode 63 I think. And so I'm really interested in the painkiller statement, and especially how you use it on LinkedIn. So I noticed that you and Sarah and others are using a full sentence starting with i, and then you say, what you do to solve people's problem. And so I understand why you would do that in talking with people in conversation, but I'm just curious as to why you think it's powerful to do that on LinkedIn. I tried it because previously, I just said my title and that I'm an author of couple of books, and so I tried the full sentence, starting with i, and it's a pretty long sentence, and I'm using an ampersand and I'm abbreviating a word. And so I'm not sure that that's the best approach, but I was just curious as to why use a full sentence starting with I on LinkedIn when the character limit is kind of constraining.

Leah Neaderthal 29:41

All right, so this is a great question. So what we see a lot of people doing, and I think you mentioned this, is like using just a normal, functional title, like you're a consultant or a marketing consultant, or you're an author of a few books, or what have you. And the challenge is that. So clients actually don't care what you do. They only care about what you do in as much as it will impact them, it will bring some value to them and their business. And so that's why we put that value. We make that really, that value really explicit in what we call the painkiller statement, which you have learned about and heard about in that episode. So the painkiller statement, it communicates value, so that even if somebody you know, even from the first instance that they become aware of you on a place like LinkedIn, they know your value, right? So the reason why we do that on LinkedIn is because, and you mentioned, like, I can understand why you do it, like when you're speaking to somebody, but why do you do it on LinkedIn? The reason you do it on LinkedIn is because that's where your clients are. And not only that, there's a lot of your clients and a lot of other people, and you're sort of fighting for just a millisecond of attention. And so with what I want to say here, what I'm assuming is like, we're talking about what shows up like when you're scrolling or when you've posted something, right? Because your headline just shows up when it's like, your name and your headline while you're scrolling. I'm I'm not going to assume that we're talking about what it looks like when you're looking at a profile. Because if you think about it, let's say your client is scrolling and they see your name and they see your functional title, like marketing consultant or whatever. Why would they be interested enough to even click into your profile? Right? So the pink using the painkiller statement in your LinkedIn headline so that it shows up both on the profile and you know, in the feed is we're just trying to get your clients attention and help them understand the value that you can deliver for them. So if you think about if that's really all they care about, the value that you can deliver for them, and that's where they are on LinkedIn, scrolling their feed, or what have you. Why would you use the functional title which people don't care about, right? Why would you use the functional title in the place where all of your clients are? Right? It's like that doesn't totally make sense. What we want to do is get their and and earn their attention. If we've if we earn their attention, then, you know, maybe they will click under the profile or start following you, or, you know, whatever. So, so that's why we use the full sentence, the full painkiller statement, to establish our value, to get the attention of the right clients and earn their continued attention or learning about us, or connecting all right? And then your other question is like, Well, why do you do that if it's so long? So if yours, you know, you mentioned it was really long with the ampersand and all of these things, that's just a function of your painkiller statement being too long. What we want is a really concise, like tight sentence. And if you have to use ampersands and abbreviate things, that just sort of means that your sentence is a little too long. So I would look to cut it down and make sure you're really focusing on the end state that clients will experience when they work with you. That's, you know, the measure of a good painkiller statement. So I hope that helps and look forward to seeing your painkiller statement up on your profile very soon.

Speaker 5 33:31

Hi Leah, good to see you again. Julie Noonan, here, went to your course, through your course a couple of years ago and found it wonderful. Thank you very much. My question for you is, what percentage of time should we be spending doing business development and pipeline filling as opposed to actually delivering the projects that we have sold? I'm constantly trying to juggle between the two, and I would really like to be able to fit all of it in and still have time left over, obviously, to live my life here on the road. Talk to you soon.

Leah Neaderthal 34:11

Hey Julie, so good to hear from you. Yeah, I know that it can be hard to juggle, you know, doing biz dev and doing the work, especially if you get busy, right? But I do want to say just that getting the clients and doing the work are like the two most important parts of your business, right? Like they are really the only parts of your business, if you think about it, everything else, any sort of admin or whatever, goes away if we can't get the clients and then do the work of the clients. And really you can't do the work with the clients if you don't get the clients right. And so there will always be some type of dividing your time right, like some push pull. There are so many hours in the day we all want to live our lives. And. And both of these need to get done, right? And so I just want to offer one thought, like if you feel like there is this push pull, if you feel like you are juggling a little bit, that doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong. It means that you're doing something right, because you're working on the two most important parts of your business, right? So to answer your question, I hate to disappoint you, but there's no magic ratio, or, you know, no magic percentage of time to spend on doing biz dev versus doing the work. I mean, listen, if you Google it, and if you are determined to find a number, you will probably find one, right? You'll probably find somebody who's like, spend, you know, X percent of your time on biz dev or whatever, some sort of highly seoed Guru out there, or whatever. But the reason that I don't think that's true, and I don't subscribe to that, is because it changes the time that you should spend doing biz dev changes based on what's going on in your business, and especially when you're the one who's doing the biz dev and doing the work, like it's all on you, or maybe you, plus a VA or whatever, there can't be, like, one golden rule of business development. So you know, like, let's say that you land a huge project or a huge client, and you're in the ramp up phase for that, and you're starting to do the work, and you're having these kickoffs and blah, blah, blah, and so you know, during that time, client work is going to be a necessary bigger percentage of your time, right? For those for those few weeks, or whatever, or, let's say that you don't have much going on client wise, right? And you and you need to make something happen, then you know you need to dial it up, and you need to be spending more time in your day on business development. And these changes happen fairly frequently, right? All it takes is somebody saying yes and you're off and running. Or it takes maybe a project getting pushed or delayed, or somebody says no, or a client leaves, or whatever, to, you know, open up some time in your schedule, and you need to fill in some revenue. So this is why, you know, we talk about, it's not about a specific percentage of time. It's about getting consistent with marketing and business development. And to do that, we use our sustainable marketing strategy, which lets you dial up and down your how much time and what you're doing for marketing and for business development based on what's going on in your world and in your business. So you know, the way that goes is like assuming that you are doing something for business development, right? You're doing some type of marketing on the regular. Maybe you're posting on LinkedIn or sending shoulder taps, or maybe you send a newsletter or whatever. But assuming that you're doing something, then we put those activities into three modes in our sustainable marketing strategy. So in the middle there's maintenance mode, which is like, maintenance mode is like, for, you know, things are just sort of going along in your business. You are not crazy busy, but you're also not, you know, super light. And so in maintenance mode, late, we put down, you know, these are the things that you do again, when you're not too busy, you're too, not too light, you know, just like regular, regular stuff, the things that you do every week or every month, right when you want to make something happen client wise, or you need to make something happen, then you dial it up to power mode. So maybe you're looking at your pipeline and like, your pipeline's pretty light, or maybe some clients are rolling off or whatever. You dial it up to power mode, which is, is those same activities, but you do them more frequently. And then, let's say you're busy with client work, right? Or you just have life going on, or you're going to slow down for the summer, or whatever. Then in our sustainable strategy, you dial it down to simmer mode, where you're just sort of keeping the pots on the stove, right? And all of this varies based on whatever marketing activities you're doing, right, but we have to assume that you're doing something right, not like random acts of marketing, right? And of course, you know where we're getting to with the percentage of time is that if you go up to power mode, that's naturally going to take more of your time going down to simmer mode will take less time, of course, right? The problem that a lot of women get into is that when that percentage goes down to zero, 0% for marketing, and then you're not doing anything at all for biz dev or marketing. And so we have these modes because they're designed so that you can go up and down between these modes based on what's going on in your business and and it's funny when, when people do this exercise to create their sustainable marketing strategy in the program, what they find is, and I've heard this many times. You know, different versions of this is women saying, like, I thought I was in power mode, but I'm really in simmer mode. Right like they were, you know, posting once a month on LinkedIn or whatever, and doing some random acts of marketing here and there, and feeling like they were really doing something, like they were really putting themselves out there. But unfortunately, what we find is that that's just not enough to really get you in front of the right people and keep you top of mind and let people raise their hand to work with you. So this is about being intentional, being consistent, so that you're doing something for biz dev every day and and my recommendation is to make that the first thing you do every day before you move on to client work. Because client work can take up everything, and you can spend your whole time, you know, your whole day, on client work, if you if you let yourself, but starting the day doing something for you, for your business and for Biz Dev is the best way to make sure it gets done. So Julie, I'm sorry that there's no magic number and there's no magic ratio, but I hope this helps you think about how to prioritize your time in a way that really fits your business and fits your life.

All right. I want to send a huge thank you to these women consultants who asked the burning questions that were on their minds. Thanks to Emma borisan, Rachel Platt, merite, Ball Patty, Bates, Ballard and Julie Noonan. And again, if you're in the academy, you can find the bonus episode with more questions and answers in the academy portal. Those are the questions that we just sadly couldn't get to here. And so for you listening in your car or on a walk or while you're making dinner or while you're just hanging out, thanks for celebrating this 100th episode with me. And of course, if you liked this episode, please review it, rate it and share it with a friend, because you never know when someone in your world might hear something in an episode that might unlock something big for them. So here's to the next 100 and I'll see you in the next episode.

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