Women Consultants, Do You Say What You Think?

Welcome to today's edition of the Seven Figure Consultant LinkedIn Newsletter for Women in Consulting. Don't forget that you can get daily updates from Jessica in your LinkedIn news feed by accessing her LinkedIn profile and hitting Follow. She will be sharing insights and discussions through the week that she would love to hear your views on.

As women, we receive messages all the way through childhood, into our formative years, and our 20s, that you need to be less. You need to be less in people’s faces. You need to be less threatening to other people professionally or academically. You need to stay in your lane, in your box. 

A lot of us who have left the corporate workplace, have been given uncomfortable or unkind labels while we've been in that workplace. I speak to a lot of women who have had a really bumpy exit from corporate. It can leave them feeling unsure of themselves. They’ll say things like, ‘I've been told that I'm not good with people’, or ‘I shouldn't be allowed to speak my mind in these situations because I always say things which are too truthful to be comfortable’. 

Has anyone ever said those sorts of things to you? Do you still carry those messages with you? 

If so, it’s time to reconnect with some of those experiences and ask yourself what was true in that situation. Just say, do you know what, that was maybe true in that situation, or that was the perception of that person. Remind yourself that knowing this does not leave you stuck in that place. Tell yourself, if it’s a weakness, or a development area, you can work on it, and if it’s an incorrect label, you don’t have to take it with you for the rest of your journey.

I always say that going on the journey of building your own business is one of the most amazing personal development journeys you will ever go on because we learn so much about ourselves when we build a business. 

I believe as women we shouldn’t be put in these little boxes and be told ‘this is where you have permission to operate’. It’s so important for women to find their voice. Have you ever thought about the tone we use? How we approach, perhaps difficult topics. We use filler words like ‘I’m sorry’, or ‘I think that?’ We ask to make a suggestion, we apologise for our point of view. All these things are hugely powerful and they impact how we come across. You don’t want to be apologising for your point of view, or when you are steering people away from potentially making the wrong decision in a project. 

Be confident in your knowledge and experience. You have just as much right to be heard as the other people in the room, or to push back if a client is overstepping your boundaries. You are the expert in the room and that is why your clients have hired you. 

Let me know in the comments, do you spot yourself tuning down what you want to say?

Free Report - The Six Elements of a Seven Figure Consulting Business

I've created a free PDF report called The Six Elements of a Seven Figure Business. It’s my most popular free resource and in it I outline the 6 areas of unscaled businesses that need to change in order to move past being ‘booked up and burned out’ and shifting into that higher gear that gets you cruising again.

It’s the framework that helps consultant women like you find their feet and get back to leading the business, rather than being buried in client work and back-end business operations.

Sign up here for your PDF report, and I'll show you the six elements your consultancy needs to make the shift from a nice little 6-figure lifestyle business to a serious 7-figure enterprise.

===========================================================

Thanks for reading and subscribing! I'd love to hear your feedback and future topics you'd like me to feature.

To find out more about the work I do, visit jessicafearnley.com or message me here on LinkedIn if you'd like to hear more about private coaching and how I can help you transition from booked up and burned out to THRIVING as the CEO of your 7 figure consulting business.?