Episode 17

E17: The 6 to 7 Figure Transition [Predictability] with Jessica Fearnley

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this episode!  Can I be so bold as to brag that Jessica Fearnley, of the “Seven Figure Consultant,” and I really do think alike. 😊  Jessica joined me and we got into the nitty gritty about how successful solopreneurs need to evolve to move from six figure incomes to seven. We didn’t quite finish each other’s sentences, but there was a lot of agreement between us as we covered:

  •  Keeping an eye on your Revenue Model as well as your Business Model
  • How to build a team and create a Boring Department, so you can focus on your passion
  • The importance of scaling for salability even if you don’t want to sell
  • As a bonus feature, Jessica shared how she became a LinkedIn Top Voice for Entrepreneurs

There were some priceless words of wisdom from two seasoned professionals who have personal and professional experience to share, so get your pencil sharp and notepad ready for this one. If you think you are ready to take your business to the next level, contact me to learn more.

Jessica Fearnley is a business coach who helps women build seven figure consulting firms. She specializes in the transition from six to seven figures in turnover, and is an advocate for earning more by working less. Jessica has bachelor's and masters degrees from Nottingham University, and a career background in project management, business planning and business development in both the public and private sector. In December 2019 she was named as one of the LinkedIn Top Voices for Entrepreneurship and Small Business, and is passionate about closing the gender pay gap for women in consulting.


Connect with Jessica:

https://www.jessicafearnley.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-fearnley-47173019/

https://www.facebook.com/JessicaFearnleyBusinessConsultant


The Six Elements of a Seven Figure Business pdf: https://www.jessicafearnley.com/six-elements-of-a-seven-figure-business-jessica-fearnley/


We would love it if you would consider supporting Jessica’s charity of choice: https://baby-basics.org.uk/

Connect with Erin and find the resources mentioned in this episode at hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Transcript
Erin Austin:

All right.

Erin Austin:

Well, welcome to the hourly to exit podcast.

Erin Austin:

I am so excited to have Jessica Fernley here with me today.

Erin Austin:

Thank you, Jessica, for joining me.

Jessica Fearnley:

Thank you, Erin for the invite.

Erin Austin:

I am very excited about this episode.

Erin Austin:

First, I'm gonna let you introduce yourself to the audience.

Jessica Fearnley:

Awesome.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, so hi everyone.

Jessica Fearnley:

My name is Jessica Fearnley.

Jessica Fearnley:

I am a business coach for consultant women.

Jessica Fearnley:

So in particular, I help women who sell consulting to corporate firms.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, I help them transition their business from six figures with them

Jessica Fearnley:

as the solo consultant who has booked themselves out- it's a wonderful feeling,

Jessica Fearnley:

isn't it?

Jessica Fearnley:

When you are popular, you're in demand, your clients really trust you.

Jessica Fearnley:

But, typically with my clients, when we start working together, they have just

Jessica Fearnley:

realized the crunch point of being.

Jessica Fearnley:

Overbooked and overwhelmed

Erin Austin:

Yes.

Jessica Fearnley:

I helped them transition to no longer being the solo consultant,

Jessica Fearnley:

but the CEO of their consulting business.

Jessica Fearnley:

My brand is seven figure consultant.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's a super awesome way to serve.

Jessica Fearnley:

I love my clients and I love what I do.

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Erin Austin:

I mean, there are a million things that we could talk about today with

Erin Austin:

Jessica, cuz she knows soup to nuts about how to build a business from

Erin Austin:

that six figure to seven figure level.

Erin Austin:

A lot of our audience will have hit a revenue ceiling.

Erin Austin:

There's only so much we can bill when, depending on what our, our model is.

Erin Austin:

And so we are gonna talk about business models and revenue models today.

Erin Austin:

But first I wanted to talk about something.

Erin Austin:

I am in awe, which is so interesting to me.

Erin Austin:

You know, one of the things that a lot of my audience is still

Erin Austin:

trying to crack, myself included, is this nut called LinkedIn.

Erin Austin:

And you have absolutely cracked that nut, you know, including

Erin Austin:

being a LinkedIn top voice for entrepreneurship and small business.

Erin Austin:

I'd love to hear more about that journey for you, how you did it, the

Erin Austin:

benefits that you're seeing in your business from it, and any tips you can.

Jessica Fearnley:

Oh, sure.

Jessica Fearnley:

So, yeah, I, I have been so fortunate with my relationship with LinkedIn, and

Jessica Fearnley:

just the way that they have given me a platform for the issues that I care about.

Jessica Fearnley:

So initially, when I got the LinkedIn top voice, I was talking a lot about closing

Jessica Fearnley:

the gender pay gap for consultant women.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and that that's a drum I'm gonna beat for the whole of my life.

Jessica Fearnley:

and I'm, I'm so passionate about women and kind of enabling women

Jessica Fearnley:

and empowering them to create wealth and opportunities for themselves

Jessica Fearnley:

and the people around them, because there is this amazing ripple effect.

Jessica Fearnley:

When women start businesses and they employ other women.

Jessica Fearnley:

And even through the work that they do quite often, it has a

Jessica Fearnley:

transformative impact on their clients.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like the world just becomes a better place.

Jessica Fearnley:

so to be honest, I, wasn't looking for the top voice award when it found me and

Jessica Fearnley:

I was probably more surprised than anyone.

Jessica Fearnley:

But the thing that I think was really helpful for me, and you'll

Jessica Fearnley:

probably go, oh, was showing up on LinkedIn, come rain or shine.

Jessica Fearnley:

I was posting on LinkedIn.

Jessica Fearnley:

I actually did a couple of stints where I did daily posting, I

Jessica Fearnley:

think for around six months.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I was.

Jessica Fearnley:

Uh,

Erin Austin:

gasp that you get

Jessica Fearnley:

I know , I know it's not everyone wants to hear, but the thing

Jessica Fearnley:

is, it depends on who you are as a person, because, , for me, like if I wasn't a

Jessica Fearnley:

coach and probably if you'd have asked me when I was 18, would you wanna be

Jessica Fearnley:

able, would've said I wanna be a writer.

Jessica Fearnley:

And like, I am a bit of a content machine because I love to write and words

Jessica Fearnley:

just flow out of me when I'm writing.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like once, once I make it sound like this epic thing, but I've, I've

Jessica Fearnley:

written 20,000 words in a week before.

Jessica Fearnley:

Because when you tap into like that, Thing you, and I think that's the

Jessica Fearnley:

thing, like in your content, like find the thing that's like, you're never

Jessica Fearnley:

gonna shut up about, because that really does make a huge difference.

Jessica Fearnley:

But yeah, I'd, I'd done a stint earlier that year kind of posting every day on

Jessica Fearnley:

LinkedIn for about six months and not just posting, but engaging and not just

Jessica Fearnley:

being like, oh, thanks for sharing.

Jessica Fearnley:

But like really engaging, like with my heart and kind of, everything that

Jessica Fearnley:

I saw that I cared about just like really writing like a proper response

Jessica Fearnley:

sometimes like 20, 30, 40 words.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I remember thinking at the time, like being a bit of a loser here, just

Jessica Fearnley:

like really writing up, but like the thing is when you engage like that, um,

Jessica Fearnley:

it does, it does push your rankings up.

Jessica Fearnley:

So actually, there is a LinkedIn tool that you are able to use and, um, it

Jessica Fearnley:

tells you how you rank compared to other people in the same industry.

Jessica Fearnley:

And at the point that I got the LinkedIn top voice, I was ranking in the top 1%

Jessica Fearnley:

for management consultants and, I didn't really know that I was, I was just kind

Jessica Fearnley:

of doing it out of curiosity, you know, with my posting and my engaging and

Jessica Fearnley:

just kind of enjoying it, which is, I think, you know, what we should be doing.

Jessica Fearnley:

But yeah, I think it it really is just a question of showing up and

Jessica Fearnley:

caring about what you care about and.

Jessica Fearnley:

I'm so fortunate to be in a business where like the things that I really care about

Jessica Fearnley:

converge totally, with the work that I do.

Jessica Fearnley:

And so, and I'm sure that will be true for a lot of people listening,

Jessica Fearnley:

So that would be my advice.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like there is no kind of magic formula, like, you know, in, in a sense, I don't

Jessica Fearnley:

know how I did it because I wasn't trying, but I think it's a really

Jessica Fearnley:

good example of whatever you're doing, just do it with your whole heart.

Jessica Fearnley:

I've kind of followed that my entire life, cuz I'm that kind of person.

Jessica Fearnley:

If I like something, I love it.

Jessica Fearnley:

If I don't like something, I can't stand it, you know, just like show

Jessica Fearnley:

up with your heart and like give it 110%, and just kind of be led to

Jessica Fearnley:

the things that are meant for you.

Jessica Fearnley:

I think that's why I would say.

Erin Austin:

oh, that's lovely.

Erin Austin:

I love that.

Erin Austin:

Uh, so, well, that's something to think about.

Erin Austin:

I, I, every day, including weekends, just outta curiosity.

Jessica Fearnley:

No

Erin Austin:

okay.

Jessica Fearnley:

LinkedIn doesn't happen at the weekend, surely.

Jessica Fearnley:

No, I was very strict Monday to Friday, I think.

Jessica Fearnley:

And like, to be honest, it didn't take up a lot of my time sometimes I would like

Jessica Fearnley:

batch write them so I had stuff to say in advance, so it would be like 10 minutes

Jessica Fearnley:

in the morning, just post it and get all the hashtags and all that kind of thing.

Jessica Fearnley:

You don't need loads, maybe 4, 5, 6.

Jessica Fearnley:

and then.

Jessica Fearnley:

Post it, leave it all day and then come back and engage on

Jessica Fearnley:

the comments in the evening and do some other engaging as well.

Jessica Fearnley:

So it was probably like 10, 15 minutes in the morning at like 30

Jessica Fearnley:

minutes in the evening, and then all that space in between to just let

Jessica Fearnley:

the algorithm do the work for you.

Jessica Fearnley:

That really is the smart way to do social media, I think.

Erin Austin:

right.

Erin Austin:

Very good.

Erin Austin:

I will say I do feel a little intimidated by the increase in the word count.

Erin Austin:

Since I guess it was a year ago.

Erin Austin:

I can't remember when it happened, where, you know, like suddenly you feel the

Erin Austin:

need to fill up every, you know, all the

Jessica Fearnley:

You really don't need to, if you can say it, like I used

Jessica Fearnley:

to find it slightly frustrating that there was only, was it 1500 characters.

Jessica Fearnley:

It wasn't enough for me, but then I, you know, I'm, I'm like too wordy if anything.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, but yeah, I think never feel like you have to write this epic long thing.

Jessica Fearnley:

I think people get frustrated when.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like posts just become formulaic.

Jessica Fearnley:

And everyone just does the same thing.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I, you know, I get stuff in my newsfeed now where I'm just

Jessica Fearnley:

like, oh, I've already seen like a hundred posts like this.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like, Ugh.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, you know, it's not about going viral.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's about showing up regularly and talking to your people.

Erin Austin:

nice.

Erin Austin:

Well, I like that.

Erin Austin:

All right.

Erin Austin:

You you've re-energized me cuz uh, I, I come and go.

Erin Austin:

I really do.

Erin Austin:

Sometimes I'm totally in and sometimes like, okay, let me do this.

Erin Austin:

So I like that.

Erin Austin:

So thank you so much.

Erin Austin:

So to our topic of business models and revenue models, so I'm just

Erin Austin:

gonna give a little background to our audience about a business model.

Erin Austin:

And revenue models.

Erin Austin:

So they are used interchangeably often, but they are different.

Erin Austin:

And so first I'm gonna talk about business model.

Erin Austin:

So that describes how your company generates value for your clients.

Erin Austin:

So you may do it through one-on-one services, you may

Erin Austin:

do it through group coaching.

Erin Austin:

You may do it through an online course.

Erin Austin:

So that's how you deliver value to your client.

Erin Austin:

Versus your revenue model is how you get paid for delivering that value.

Erin Austin:

So if we wanna talk about that one-on-one business model, there

Erin Austin:

are multiple ways to have revenue models under your business model.

Erin Austin:

So you may bill hourly, you may have a productized service, or

Erin Austin:

you may have value based pricing.

Erin Austin:

So all of these are variables that we can work with that affects generally

Erin Austin:

the revenue in your business, as well as the profit in your business and your

Erin Austin:

ability to scale and someday, sell your.

Erin Austin:

So, uh, this is the hourly to exit podcast.

Erin Austin:

So I am going to ask Jessica, you know, in that continuum from hourly to exit where

Erin Austin:

you're trying to build a business that can scale and hopefully sell some day, we're

Erin Austin:

looking to build assets in our business and exclusivity and predictability.

Erin Austin:

So where does the revenue model and the business model fit into that continu?

Jessica Fearnley:

I think that's a really great thing to be asking and.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's clear from the, the title of your podcast, Erin, but like, I, I

Jessica Fearnley:

always advise clients to move away from hourly pricing where they can,

Jessica Fearnley:

I think that's really important.

Jessica Fearnley:

And like, I can illustrate this with a literal example, that happened to a

Jessica Fearnley:

client of mine, um, a few months ago.

Jessica Fearnley:

And what happened was.

Jessica Fearnley:

She priced out the work that she was going to do with the client and

Jessica Fearnley:

it was on an hourly rate and they agreed how long it was gonna take.

Jessica Fearnley:

And so she did the work actually found that she'd like quoted for kind

Jessica Fearnley:

of four days and it took one day.

Jessica Fearnley:

So then she filled out her time sheet and the client said, oh,

Jessica Fearnley:

it's only taken you one day.

Jessica Fearnley:

In that case, you get a quarter of the money.

Jessica Fearnley:

And she was like, There's not really anything I can do about this.

Jessica Fearnley:

Ken is there and I was like, well, It was kind of a flawed construct

Jessica Fearnley:

from the beginning, because that is literally the thing you get

Jessica Fearnley:

penalized for being efficient.

Jessica Fearnley:

And like, if you, with that kind of model, if you want to be paid more

Jessica Fearnley:

than in theory, you drag your feet.

Jessica Fearnley:

But for women in my audience, that isn't really something that

Jessica Fearnley:

appeals because it's not about going slow to maximize your value.

Jessica Fearnley:

It shouldn't be about that.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I will always say priced by value.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and more than that, I think priced by return.

Jessica Fearnley:

So, if you understand, like the impact that your work can do.

Jessica Fearnley:

And very often for my clients, there is, there is like a literal number.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like they could probably make it into a percentage in terms of like money

Jessica Fearnley:

that they, that the company wouldn't have earned, that they haven't earned,

Jessica Fearnley:

um, waste that would've happened that they've managed to avoid.

Jessica Fearnley:

But also some of these other things like, um, employee engagement, um, High staff

Jessica Fearnley:

turnover being reduced by percentages.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's really, really important to be able to understand the value of what

Jessica Fearnley:

you do, because people don't just hire you because they like you and you don't

Jessica Fearnley:

just do the work cuz you like them.

Jessica Fearnley:

There's a business rationale for a lot of this stuff.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I think you are an amazing advantage if you understand that going in, because

Jessica Fearnley:

it just means that, you know, like what the bargaining chips are gonna be,

Jessica Fearnley:

if I can put it like that.

Erin Austin:

Right.

Erin Austin:

Absolutely.

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Erin Austin:

I mean, as a, a lawyer, I mean, certainly we fall into the hourly billing trap.

Erin Austin:

I mean, it is the model in the legal industry, of course.

Erin Austin:

And, you know, and I have the ability to, to charge differently.

Erin Austin:

And I do, and I, I have some retainer base and some flat fee

Erin Austin:

based, but I have on occasion still.

Erin Austin:

And I promise myself to never do it again, do some hourly work.

Erin Austin:

And I had that very, you know, very similar experience last year,

Erin Austin:

actually, where, um, Have worked with this client like repeatedly.

Erin Austin:

And I kind of just know their business and know the industry and

Erin Austin:

they just know that I can just go in and get something done very quickly.

Erin Austin:

Whereas if they go to someone else who's not familiar with the

Erin Austin:

industry, then they have all this background and blah, blah, blah.

Erin Austin:

And so like, and I would blame them hourly.

Erin Austin:

So , they're very efficient.

Erin Austin:

I turn this thing around in an hour.

Erin Austin:

I'm like, oh my God.

Erin Austin:

Like what?

Erin Austin:

You know?

Erin Austin:

And it was in order for them to, you know, get an engagement that was worth, you

Erin Austin:

know, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Erin Austin:

I'm I kind help them figure it out.

Erin Austin:

And I'm like, okay, that's, let's not do that again.

Erin Austin:

So yes, that

Jessica Fearnley:

Yeah, well, exactly.

Jessica Fearnley:

And, uh, that's, that's literally why I, I have a thing about hourly

Jessica Fearnley:

rates is that like, it can work out great for the client, but it usually

Jessica Fearnley:

doesn't work out great for you.

Jessica Fearnley:

And so, and, and especially when you, when you work in the way that we do,

Jessica Fearnley:

um, we're very small changes can make a huge impact to someone's bottom.

Erin Austin:

yeah.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like, I dunno, I'm, I'm sure this is true for you

Jessica Fearnley:

as well, Erin, but like clients who've worked with me have had like

Jessica Fearnley:

a 1400% return on their investment.

Jessica Fearnley:

And like, you can't even say that cuz people are just like,

Jessica Fearnley:

what does that even mean?

Erin Austin:

Yeah, like get the calculator out.

Jessica Fearnley:

exactly, but it's, it's just kind of, you know, people

Jessica Fearnley:

are gonna have such a benefit.

Jessica Fearnley:

So, and when you are in that kind of work, you need to make sure that actually you

Jessica Fearnley:

are being adequately compensated for the benefit that you bring to that client.

Jessica Fearnley:

So if you can make them an absolute ton more money, it's reasonable for like a

Jessica Fearnley:

percentage of that to come back to you.

Jessica Fearnley:

And that needs to be reflected in your pricing, or maybe you do like a

Jessica Fearnley:

profit share or something like that.

Jessica Fearnley:

So that it's, it's more kind of obvious, but I, I just think we need to, first

Jessica Fearnley:

of all, Be really clear about actually, where does that value come from?

Jessica Fearnley:

And that kind of links to a second thing that I'd love to say, which,

Jessica Fearnley:

and again, this is gonna be a second unpopular thing for me to say, but

Jessica Fearnley:

almost the, the, the quickest way to increase the revenue coming into your

Jessica Fearnley:

business is not to go and get a ton more clients, but is to raise your prices.

Jessica Fearnley:

And everyone always goes, oh,

Jessica Fearnley:

not

Erin Austin:

Yes.

Erin Austin:

they will do it.

Erin Austin:

Yes.

Erin Austin:

I know.

Jessica Fearnley:

But it is really linked to sort of understanding

Jessica Fearnley:

your value and especially from your client's point of view so often,

Jessica Fearnley:

and I think women do this a ton.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like we don't charge enough.

Jessica Fearnley:

And because of that, you then have to take on a lot of clients in

Jessica Fearnley:

order to hit your revenue target.

Jessica Fearnley:

But in this scenario that we've been talking about where actually you

Jessica Fearnley:

are completely booked up and then it's like, well, like the number of

Jessica Fearnley:

hours you have available times like the hourly rate that you charge that

Jessica Fearnley:

becomes the maximum that you can make.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's like this fixed ceiling in the business and you

Jessica Fearnley:

can't do anything about it.

Jessica Fearnley:

So the way that we can get away from that is starting to price by value, but also

Jessica Fearnley:

to raise that price in the first place.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I think the two kind of go hand in hand, because once you start to understand

Jessica Fearnley:

the value that your services really do

Jessica Fearnley:

have for your clients, you have to raise your prices.

Jessica Fearnley:

You can't just charge a hundred dollars an hour for something

Jessica Fearnley:

like that, it doesn't make sense.

Erin Austin:

Right.

Erin Austin:

Well, that brings us to another element of building that

Erin Austin:

exclusivity into our business, which is like, how do we stand out?

Erin Austin:

How do we not be viewed as commodity so that we aren't

Erin Austin:

subject to commodity pricing?

Jessica Fearnley:

Mm.

Jessica Fearnley:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jessica Fearnley:

Because that is a really, really important part of it.

Jessica Fearnley:

Because if your clients don't see the value in what they do, then, like,

Jessica Fearnley:

if things get a bit complicated, you'll be the first one to go.

Jessica Fearnley:

But again, I think it's really, really important that you, you see.

Jessica Fearnley:

What you do in the big picture of what your client is trying to achieve.

Jessica Fearnley:

So if you help them with their core objectives, they're never

Jessica Fearnley:

gonna get rid of you because they need you in order to survive.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I think for my clients, they work with corporate firms and it's really important

Jessica Fearnley:

to remember that actually there's a massive hierarchy in corporates and like

Jessica Fearnley:

the people that they are talking to,

Jessica Fearnley:

they will have their own set of objectives, they will have their

Jessica Fearnley:

own set of pressures, they are accountable to other people.

Jessica Fearnley:

Even at sea level, they have massive accountability cuz they

Jessica Fearnley:

need to be like proving value to the corporation all the time.

Jessica Fearnley:

So if you can understand that and really speak their language, it's not

Jessica Fearnley:

about them kind of making you feel good by hiring you or giving you an

Jessica Fearnley:

opportunity to play around with some stuff, cuz you really feel like doing it.

Jessica Fearnley:

If you can show and like understand for yourself, what you do is life or death for

Jessica Fearnley:

this organization, that is always going to be the way to, like, I don't wanna

Jessica Fearnley:

say embed because I'm not really about like the kind of coaching or consulting

Jessica Fearnley:

where you make yourself indispensable because you wanna stay forever.

Jessica Fearnley:

And for a lot of my clients, sometimes there is like a long term role of

Jessica Fearnley:

three to five years that they can play in an organization very productively.

Jessica Fearnley:

But I don't think that we necessarily have to do that by design.

Jessica Fearnley:

I think that really, when you understand, like the bigger things that play and

Jessica Fearnley:

you understand the little sections of their things that you can be involved

Jessica Fearnley:

in, there's a very clear start and end point in those kinds of situations.

Erin Austin:

Well, tell me how do your clients typically come to you?

Erin Austin:

What are they feeling?

Erin Austin:

What's the pain that they're feeling that they go, okay.

Erin Austin:

I need to go and talk to Jessica.

Jessica Fearnley:

Usually it's just a feeling of burnout and just, or, or

Jessica Fearnley:

like burnout is coming and a lot of them have been through burnout already.

Jessica Fearnley:

So one of the, one of the key things, one of the key stories that I tell about

Jessica Fearnley:

myself and my life is that, um, when I was 27, I had like huge burnout, probably

Jessica Fearnley:

a breakdown, um, in my corporate career.

Jessica Fearnley:

And it was kind of like, Just, it happened incrementally, but I was

Jessica Fearnley:

living this amazing life in London.

Jessica Fearnley:

I was working in this organization where our office was sort of

Jessica Fearnley:

20 floors above the river thas.

Jessica Fearnley:

We were right on the bank of the tha.

Jessica Fearnley:

And we used to joke quite a lot and say, you know, when you get sick of this

Jessica Fearnley:

view, then it's time for you to leave because you really, you could see like

Jessica Fearnley:

the whole of London, it was amazing.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, but like, it, it just, wasn't a lifestyle that was working for me

Jessica Fearnley:

and commuting didn't work for me.

Jessica Fearnley:

And now I have my own business.

Jessica Fearnley:

I, I work exclusively from home.

Jessica Fearnley:

I very rarely leave my, my home.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and actually that's a way of working, which, you know, 12 years

Jessica Fearnley:

on, it's still what I would choose rather than going into an office.

Jessica Fearnley:

So kind of doing nine till five in an organization like that, it just, it really

Jessica Fearnley:

didn't like fit with who I am as a person.

Jessica Fearnley:

But like one of the things I think that draws my clients to me is that

Jessica Fearnley:

like, they realize that they may have had a similar situation and I

Jessica Fearnley:

I've also sort of been through that.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I understand it.

Jessica Fearnley:

And you know, they don't have to feel like it's this big thing to be ashamed of.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's more just, but I think once you have had, once you've been through burnout,

Jessica Fearnley:

you kind of, you start to see the burnout cycle in your life, and it's quite scary.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, when you get into a situation where you're like, I feel the

Jessica Fearnley:

burnout could happen again.

Jessica Fearnley:

And it's a really funny thing because I have been.

Jessica Fearnley:

In situations where I've wondered like, oh gosh, am I gonna burn out again?

Jessica Fearnley:

And like, it re it is never happened again, the way it did that, like time

Jessica Fearnley:

when I was 27, but the fear of it, like the first, I think in the first few years

Jessica Fearnley:

when you're kind of recovering and you're starting to do life a bit differently.

Jessica Fearnley:

that can be a huge drive for people to reach out to me because they're just

Jessica Fearnley:

like, I've been through this already.

Jessica Fearnley:

It was really horrible.

Jessica Fearnley:

It was really scary.

Jessica Fearnley:

I don't wanna go through this again.

Jessica Fearnley:

but I think in terms of what's going on in the business very often, they

Jessica Fearnley:

are that solo consultant and like, we like to be needed don't we?

Jessica Fearnley:

And so we can go to town and, you know, like booking ourselves absolutely solid.

Jessica Fearnley:

So like it's a common theme, um, with my clients that they're just like, I

Jessica Fearnley:

thought all my problems would go away when I became a six figure business.

Jessica Fearnley:

And now I'm a six figure business, but I hate my life and I feel like I'm drowning.

Jessica Fearnley:

And, and that's, that's a really important place to get to because

Jessica Fearnley:

we can just feel like we have to say yes to all the opportunities.

Jessica Fearnley:

There's so much mindset that goes on, um, in getting our first

Jessica Fearnley:

kind of six figures in revenue.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and I have absolutely kind of fallen down all of those holes as well.

Jessica Fearnley:

I think in my journey over the last eight.

Jessica Fearnley:

But I think it's that real feeling of like, it can't go on like

Jessica Fearnley:

this and I'm building something that I don't wanna be a part of.

Jessica Fearnley:

And that just, that was never part, you know, if you're gonna spend your,

Jessica Fearnley:

your time and really it's, you know, it's years of our lives, it matters.

Jessica Fearnley:

You've got to enjoy what you're building.

Jessica Fearnley:

And maybe there's like a, there was a big vision for what it

Jessica Fearnley:

was gonna be in the first place.

Jessica Fearnley:

But the reality of it is like, It's just not as fun as they thought

Jessica Fearnley:

it was gonna be, because it just requires them to be present.

Jessica Fearnley:

And as soon as they step away, the business stops making money

Jessica Fearnley:

because they are the only source of that revenue being generated.

Erin Austin:

Mm, is it often the problem that they don't have any scale

Erin Austin:

or any leverage in their business?

Erin Austin:

Is that usually kind of why they are where they are?

Jessica Fearnley:

Yeah.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I think there can like, so something that people nearly always say is, oh,

Jessica Fearnley:

I hired someone once and it was awful.

Jessica Fearnley:

I never wanna do it again.

Jessica Fearnley:

And like, if, you know, if they live and die by that, then like there's

Jessica Fearnley:

not a lot I can do to help them.

Jessica Fearnley:

There are other ways that you can leverage and scale your business, obviously.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, like, you know, by looking at doing group programs,

Jessica Fearnley:

thinking about doing a course.

Jessica Fearnley:

You know, there's all kinds of creative things that you can do.

Jessica Fearnley:

Creating products, licensing.

Jessica Fearnley:

But I, one of the key things that I work on with my clients is starting

Jessica Fearnley:

to build a team for them to help, not just with the operational support in

Jessica Fearnley:

the business, but with the delivery.

Jessica Fearnley:

and what that looks like for each person that I work with is completely different

Jessica Fearnley:

because I don't like to kind of say, this is how everyone has to do it.

Jessica Fearnley:

So you need to do it too.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like, it's really important to me to understand like how people are feeling,

Jessica Fearnley:

um, what shape they want things to.

Jessica Fearnley:

How involved they want to be like some, some clients are

Jessica Fearnley:

like, oh, I hate delivery.

Jessica Fearnley:

I'm so over delivery.

Jessica Fearnley:

I just wanna step out of it completely.

Jessica Fearnley:

But with quite a few of them, like they do want to retain that ability to be

Jessica Fearnley:

part of something and sort of keep their hand in, keep their skills current,

Jessica Fearnley:

but it's kind of more of a portfolio.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like they wanna be in on the fun, like exciting projects.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I, I sometimes call it like having a boring department who

Jessica Fearnley:

get to do all the other stuff.

Jessica Fearnley:

Because really, it's not boring for some people like that is like their major

Jessica Fearnley:

strength, but also for some people they're a much more junior point in their career.

Jessica Fearnley:

So it's, it's wonderful experience and it's work.

Jessica Fearnley:

They're actually quite happy to do.

Jessica Fearnley:

But I think a key thing for my clients is they're quite often, they've

Jessica Fearnley:

fallen out of love with what they do, and they've got a bit bored and

Jessica Fearnley:

it's starting to feel a bit stale.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I think that's always a sign that we're ready for.

Jessica Fearnley:

The next challenge.

Jessica Fearnley:

We're ready to sort of kick it up a notch.

Erin Austin:

Right.

Erin Austin:

So I imagine, I mean, you did mention those who you probably can't work with,

Erin Austin:

who are just kind of no employees, no way, but even those who are willing to have a

Erin Austin:

team, they understand the value of that.

Erin Austin:

They're willing to dive in.

Erin Austin:

I imagine there's still a lot of fear surrounding that as well.

Erin Austin:

I mean, cuz for some people it's not that they.

Erin Austin:

Are against hiring, but it just seems like the, the legal issues and the

Erin Austin:

HR issues and the, you know, like how you know, and that, it just

Erin Austin:

seems a little bit overwhelming.

Erin Austin:

So what kind of resistance do you get when you talk about creating

Erin Austin:

teams and how you overcome them?

Jessica Fearnley:

Oh, just everything imaginable from like,

Jessica Fearnley:

I don't really wanna have a team.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, I like doing the work myself.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like it's hard for me to trust someone.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I think often because my clients tend to be high achieving women, we

Jessica Fearnley:

have gone through school and university and we have ticked all the boxes.

Jessica Fearnley:

We've got the grades, you know, we've been to the universities

Jessica Fearnley:

we were supposed to go to.

Jessica Fearnley:

We've done everything kind of on our own merit in our own credentials.

Jessica Fearnley:

And same in corporate careers, you can, you know, have all the kind

Jessica Fearnley:

of contacts in the right places and like rise the corporate ladder and

Jessica Fearnley:

feel very self-sufficient in that.

Jessica Fearnley:

Whereas as soon as you start to bring other people into a business, then

Jessica Fearnley:

it's like, what if they mess it up?

Jessica Fearnley:

What if they can't do it the way that I do it?

Jessica Fearnley:

And it, it can be a real challenge.

Jessica Fearnley:

I think one of the big challenges is particularly that clients get

Jessica Fearnley:

very attached to the business owner.

Jessica Fearnley:

Especially if you've branded around your name and you've always been, they

Jessica Fearnley:

just love the fact they can phone you up

Jessica Fearnley:

and there's a real personal relationship there.

Jessica Fearnley:

There can be resistance like from the client and be like, you're changing stuff.

Jessica Fearnley:

We don't like this.

Jessica Fearnley:

And, you know, Sometimes you can transition a client

Jessica Fearnley:

to a new way of working.

Jessica Fearnley:

Sometimes actually they love old you, but like you have transitioned into

Jessica Fearnley:

a new version of yourself and new version of you is not a fit for them.

Jessica Fearnley:

So that can be really painful because it's a process of firing all your clients

Jessica Fearnley:

and it feels like this is the wrong thing to be doing that actually, that's the

Jessica Fearnley:

thing that actually takes the business forward because there's no point in the

Jessica Fearnley:

business being dependent on a version of you that stopped existing last year.

Jessica Fearnley:

It has to grow with you as a person.

Jessica Fearnley:

So it it's an intense process sometimes.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and it can be really exciting.

Jessica Fearnley:

There are highs, there are lows.

Jessica Fearnley:

But I think ultimately if you know in your bones, that it's the right thing to be

Jessica Fearnley:

doing, then it's the right thing to, to make those kinds of changes because the,

Jessica Fearnley:

the impact that it has on revenue is huge.

Erin Austin:

Wow.

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Erin Austin:

I mean, I personally have been going through this, you know, as well.

Erin Austin:

And, uh, you know, I do have some challenges because I'm a lawyer and so I

Erin Austin:

can't, uh, only deliver it can be done by lawyers depending on what I'm doing, but

Erin Austin:

building a team for the other pieces that don't require, uh, them to be a lawyer

Erin Austin:

and letting go is a huge, huge problem.

Erin Austin:

And, uh, and definitely like, cuz for me, you know, when you feel like you have a

Erin Austin:

certain voice and like even like, um, you know, writing emails and things like, oh,

Erin Austin:

like what this sound like, it's me and that, um, kind of permeates the business.

Erin Austin:

So is there a trick to it or is it just a matter of trusting

Erin Austin:

or how, how do you get comfort?

Jessica Fearnley:

I think that, um, it's the process of allowing people to do

Jessica Fearnley:

things differently to how you would maybe do them, if it achieves the same result.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I've, I've had experience of both scenarios where you think, oh, I wish

Jessica Fearnley:

you hadn't phrased that like that.

Jessica Fearnley:

But then sometimes it's like, That's better than I would've said it.

Jessica Fearnley:

Then

Erin Austin:

right, right,

Jessica Fearnley:

so, you know, we have to be open to the fact that sometimes like,

Jessica Fearnley:

like believe it or not, some people will be better than we are at certain things.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I think for our egos, that can be quite a hard thing

Jessica Fearnley:

to, to get our heads around.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, but I do think that it's just important to be able to

Jessica Fearnley:

let people step into that and.

Jessica Fearnley:

Not micromanage, um, but just allow them to take on the role

Jessica Fearnley:

in their own way sometimes.

Jessica Fearnley:

But the way that I like to do it, when I bring on team members is to start

Jessica Fearnley:

them off with something really small.

Jessica Fearnley:

And to really test out whether this is a right fit on something that's

Jessica Fearnley:

small, rather than like, kind of give them the whole business and then be

Jessica Fearnley:

like, oh my gosh, I gotta take it back.

Jessica Fearnley:

This is not going well.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like give them something really small, like test out, let them test you out.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like see if it works.

Jessica Fearnley:

And, and sort of take that approach and then, you know, add on the next

Jessica Fearnley:

thing and then add on the next thing.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and it just, it means that they can do a lot less damage if they're not the

Jessica Fearnley:

right fit, but it just means that also you can begin the process of trusting them,

Jessica Fearnley:

um, because it's, it's so fulfilling when.

Jessica Fearnley:

You give someone a bit of responsibility and they just knock it outta the park

Jessica Fearnley:

and you know, it can be quite risky actually to your business to give

Jessica Fearnley:

someone access to the whole thing.

Jessica Fearnley:

And then like it can cause, and I've had clients who've been in this situation.

Jessica Fearnley:

Of like, it can just take upwards of a year to find all the things that

Jessica Fearnley:

went wrong and fix them as well.

Jessica Fearnley:

So it needs to be that balance.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like there needs to be proper supervision and like, we have

Jessica Fearnley:

to step up in this situation.

Jessica Fearnley:

You have to be the CEO.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's not enough to just put someone in, give them a ton of expectation,

Jessica Fearnley:

communicate very little, and then be like, well, they haven't really done a good job.

Jessica Fearnley:

You have to change into a different version of yourself in order to make

Jessica Fearnley:

that something that is gonna work.

Jessica Fearnley:

Does that make sense?

Erin Austin:

Yeah, absolutely.

Erin Austin:

in this world of remote work, which I imagine probably

Erin Austin:

everyone is doing these days.

Erin Austin:

I mean, you know, certainly post pandemic.

Erin Austin:

What changes have you seen about how people are building their teams

Erin Austin:

and, and structuring their business?

Erin Austin:

and like, how do you think that will affect the way people do it in the future?

Erin Austin:

Like what trends are we seeing regarding how we build teams

Erin Austin:

and, uh, and working remodeling

Jessica Fearnley:

Well, one of the things that I love about remote working.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I'm obviously a remote worker with my clients and everyone on my team is remote.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, we were just literally saying in my team meeting today, My one of my

Jessica Fearnley:

team members, who's also in the UK.

Jessica Fearnley:

We we've worked together for several years and we've never met each

Jessica Fearnley:

other or come across each other.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, so you know, um, but I think one of the things about remote working

Jessica Fearnley:

is that it gives the opportunity for you to find someone who is the

Jessica Fearnley:

absolute right fit for your business.

Jessica Fearnley:

So even if they're not like.

Jessica Fearnley:

Local to you, you get the, the person who's the absolute expert

Jessica Fearnley:

because you you've got a much bigger pool to recruit from.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I find that like a real kind of benefit, I guess, on the flip

Jessica Fearnley:

side, you do have to have the property provision in place.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, so you know, things like if you set a meeting and they don't show

Jessica Fearnley:

up, that's, that's kind of a big deal because if they don't show up to that,

Jessica Fearnley:

then that's your communication points.

Jessica Fearnley:

So.

Jessica Fearnley:

In order for remote working to work, there has to be a lot of trust and they

Jessica Fearnley:

have to show that they're worthy of that trust, you know, by, by keeping

Jessica Fearnley:

to the arrangement by the letter.

Jessica Fearnley:

I think when, when people have used remote working as like, you know, an opportunity

Jessica Fearnley:

to just be a bit flaky or commit to something and then not follow through,

Jessica Fearnley:

I personally find that very frustrating.

Jessica Fearnley:

If you're gonna be like that, then it just, the whole system falls down.

Jessica Fearnley:

But I have had clients who are like, I want someone who is remote,

Jessica Fearnley:

but who's near enough that we can meet up face to face if we want to.

Erin Austin:

I'm not I'm raising my hand.

Jessica Fearnley:

Yeah.

Jessica Fearnley:

And some people are really big on face to face I'm, I'm not at all.

Jessica Fearnley:

I'm kind of the opposite.

Jessica Fearnley:

I'm like, can we not do face to face?

Jessica Fearnley:

That just makes me feel a lot better, but like, you have to know yourself

Jessica Fearnley:

and what is gonna work for you.

Jessica Fearnley:

You know, I, I have, um, I have clients who are quite extroverted and lockdown

Jessica Fearnley:

has been really hard on them because they just like to be around people.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like my husband is a big extrovert and he has really struggled.

Jessica Fearnley:

Whereas in parts of lockdown, I was like, I feel like I'm living my best life.

Jessica Fearnley:

Everyone's on zoom now, too.

Erin Austin:

all right.

Erin Austin:

And there's no FOMO, no fear of missing out cuz nothing's happening so

Jessica Fearnley:

exactly.

Erin Austin:

I get it.

Jessica Fearnley:

Exactly.

Erin Austin:

So we started talking about business models and revenue models.

Erin Austin:

So.

Erin Austin:

If building teams is one of the primary ways of like popping through that six

Erin Austin:

figure ceiling to the seven figure, does that apply across all types of

Erin Austin:

business models and revenue models?

Erin Austin:

Or is there one that's better than the other?

Jessica Fearnley:

I think whatever you do, you've always gotta keep it

Jessica Fearnley:

really tightly focused on the numbers because you can build a team and you can

Jessica Fearnley:

increase the revenue of your business and actually make the same or less profit.

Jessica Fearnley:

And that's a, that's a really scary thing because ultimately what you're

Jessica Fearnley:

doing is you are working a ton harder.

Jessica Fearnley:

Your business is working harder, but to you materially, it makes no difference.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like, you know, then if you were just still there, solo consultant

Jessica Fearnley:

doing it all by yourself.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I think that was, that is the thing that I would always say like

Jessica Fearnley:

scale, like with the numbers in the very center of what you're

Jessica Fearnley:

doing, because it's really easy.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like when you add in, and actually I have seen people do this, like they're,

Jessica Fearnley:

they're using adding team members to.

Jessica Fearnley:

Increase the number of hours that they have available.

Jessica Fearnley:

But if they're still working to kind of an hourly rate model, you're just

Jessica Fearnley:

kicking the problem down the track.

Jessica Fearnley:

You're not actually dealing with it.

Jessica Fearnley:

We need to see this leveraging.

Jessica Fearnley:

We need to be like making more money from less time, rather than making

Jessica Fearnley:

more money from the same time.

Erin Austin:

So if you have a flawed revenue model,

Jessica Fearnley:

yes.

Erin Austin:

adding, teams' gonna fix that.

Jessica Fearnley:

Exactly.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I, I often say to people, scaling chaos leads to more chaos.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and so like, and I I've seen lots of women be really tempted to be like, oh

Jessica Fearnley:

gosh, selling one to one is really hard.

Jessica Fearnley:

I feel like it would be easier to sell a group because it's lower ticket.

Jessica Fearnley:

I'm gonna scale and do a group.

Jessica Fearnley:

And it's like, you're not scaling.

Jessica Fearnley:

You are trying to bail out the fact that you're not selling

Jessica Fearnley:

at the level that you need to.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I think it's so much more important unless there's like a

Jessica Fearnley:

really strong pull to be like, I just don't think I like one to one.

Jessica Fearnley:

I think I'd be more fulfilled if I was doing a group programmer, to be honest, we

Jessica Fearnley:

can, we can justify all kinds of things.

Jessica Fearnley:

Can't we , but like, Sometimes, I think we need to lean in

Jessica Fearnley:

to the stuff that feels hard.

Jessica Fearnley:

And if, if you're, if you're wanting to scale, because you're not seeing

Jessica Fearnley:

the numbers that you want to in your business, I don't think that scaling is

Jessica Fearnley:

the thing that you should be focusing on.

Jessica Fearnley:

Like if, if it's a lack of sales, then scaling.

Jessica Fearnley:

Won't really help with that because scaling only really works

Jessica Fearnley:

when you've got a big audience.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I always say to people, the time to be thinking about scaling is really

Jessica Fearnley:

when you've got more work than you can cope with when you've got more

Jessica Fearnley:

inquiries than you can cope with.

Jessica Fearnley:

Cuz otherwise you're just gonna end up with like a bunch of empty programs and

Jessica Fearnley:

that is a really stressful place to be.

Erin Austin:

Yes.

Erin Austin:

Yes.

Erin Austin:

Especially cuz it, I mean that's an investment to create those programs.

Erin Austin:

So if there's not the demand for it, I mean, where's the market

Erin Austin:

demand for this like anything.

Jessica Fearnley:

exactly it needs, it needs to be demand led.

Jessica Fearnley:

And that can feel like a really hard thing if you're struggling in business.

Jessica Fearnley:

And you're like, I think quite often, you know, we can know that we're awesome at

Jessica Fearnley:

what we do, but we just haven't found like that connection with our audience yet.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I, that really is isn't.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's not the time to scale that it's the time to lean into, to the sales issue that

Jessica Fearnley:

we're having and really find ways, but you can even apply leveraging to that and

Jessica Fearnley:

kind of get in front of other people's audience and get people to make referrals

Jessica Fearnley:

to you do cross promotion, like leveraging doesn't always have to be about time.

Jessica Fearnley:

There's, there's actually a lot of ways that you can leverage a lot of things.

Jessica Fearnley:

You know, you can even like talk to people and say, can you, can you introduce me?

Jessica Fearnley:

To someone and then like, you know, it, it can be a case of leveraging your

Jessica Fearnley:

network of contacts because everyone that you know, has got their own network.

Jessica Fearnley:

And so that's another way that you can apply leveraging.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, I, it, it's a really exciting concept because when you really

Jessica Fearnley:

understand it, you start to see so many different ways that you can apply it.

Erin Austin:

Right.

Erin Austin:

Ah, that is so perfect.

Erin Austin:

So as you know, um, hourly to exit is a bit of a meta.

Erin Austin:

Podcast, because we're talking about building a business

Erin Austin:

that can be sold someday.

Erin Austin:

And I am, you know, the female founder of an expertise based business that I

Erin Austin:

am building to hope to sell someday.

Erin Austin:

So my question for you as the female founder of an expertise

Erin Austin:

based business, are you selling your business to hopefully sell some day.

Jessica Fearnley:

So before I set up my company, I was head of

Jessica Fearnley:

operations in a consultancy firm that we built up for four years to

Jessica Fearnley:

seven figures, and then it was sold.

Jessica Fearnley:

And one of the things that I picked up along the way is that actually,

Jessica Fearnley:

if you are gonna build a business, whether you're gonna sell it at the

Jessica Fearnley:

end, like preparing it as if it was gonna be sold is just a really good

Jessica Fearnley:

way to build a strong business.

Jessica Fearnley:

So my, my goal is not really to sell my business because it's really based around

Jessica Fearnley:

me and the fact that I wanted something to do and a way to contribute to the world.

Jessica Fearnley:

And really, you know, I've been, I've been going for eight years now and I haven't

Jessica Fearnley:

run out of ideas even a little bit.

Jessica Fearnley:

I haven't got bored of it.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, so I think I'm in this business for the long haul for sure.

Jessica Fearnley:

But like, I, I really understand those.

Jessica Fearnley:

Kind of criteria of what makes a strong business.

Jessica Fearnley:

And so absolutely I'm doing everything that I can to embed those in my

Jessica Fearnley:

business, regardless of whether I get to a point where I decide to sell.

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Erin Austin:

Well, I like to look at it as, I mean, there someday there'll be something else

Erin Austin:

that might just catch it, be something else, you know, who knows five years

Erin Austin:

from now, what will be happening in the world that maybe is more urgent.

Jessica Fearnley:

Yeah, exactly.

Jessica Fearnley:

And every now and then I, I get like a bit of an inspired idea and I'm like, oh,

Jessica Fearnley:

I think that might be the thing that I do in five years time or 10 years time.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, but you know, like I'm a big fan of making your business fit the size that

Jessica Fearnley:

you have, like in your schedule and sort of the amount of space available

Jessica Fearnley:

and making your business really work.

Jessica Fearnley:

Even if it's with a teeny tiny amount of time, finding ways to actually

Jessica Fearnley:

get it, to achieve the revenue that you want to on that, on that basis.

Erin Austin:

I, I can confirm listeners that Jessica is super good at boundaries.

Erin Austin:

Like she's like the master of boundaries.

Erin Austin:

I'm like, when I grow up, I wanna have boundaries like Jessica.

Erin Austin:

So

Erin Austin:

is, I'm the worst.

Erin Austin:

That is one of my challenges for sure.

Erin Austin:

So I have a couple of final questions for you.

Erin Austin:

One as we share that, you know, having more wealth in the hands

Erin Austin:

of women is good for society.

Erin Austin:

And so I am wondering if there is an organization or person who is, uh,

Erin Austin:

furthering that mission to help create a more equitable society for everyone

Erin Austin:

that you like to share with the audience.

Jessica Fearnley:

Oh, sure.

Jessica Fearnley:

So there is a charity that is based in Sheffield in the UK, um,

Jessica Fearnley:

which is the city that I live in.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's not my hometown, it's my adopted home.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, but it's called baby basics and I, I love it because, what they do

Jessica Fearnley:

is they, they collect in kind of secondhand stuff, but they also.

Jessica Fearnley:

Buy some equipment new, but they provide things like Moses baskets, baby clothes,

Jessica Fearnley:

nappies, for all kind of stages of child development for underprivileged family.

Jessica Fearnley:

And, um, they've, they've been very involved in sort of, we, we had a

Jessica Fearnley:

lot of Afghan immigrants arriving in the UK because of like the, the

Jessica Fearnley:

terrible situation in Afghanistan.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, they were very involved in preparing packs for people,

Jessica Fearnley:

with things like car seats.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, clothes, winter clothes, coats, you know, the very practical thing that if

Jessica Fearnley:

you're coming from a desert country and moving to the UK, you absolutely need.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, but they've also been doing a similar, um, campaign for people

Jessica Fearnley:

arriving, um, in the UK, from the Ukraine.

Jessica Fearnley:

So, they're a charity that I love to support.

Jessica Fearnley:

I've I've given them a ton of like my.

Jessica Fearnley:

Baby stuff, which was still in like really lovely condition.

Jessica Fearnley:

And you just think, I love that this is going somewhere where it can be used,

Jessica Fearnley:

cuz it's got so much more life in it.

Jessica Fearnley:

But also, they take, financial donations and they also often have

Jessica Fearnley:

an Amazon wishlist or two where you can literally just go and buy, um,

Jessica Fearnley:

like 10 high chairs or something like that, whatever is needed.

Jessica Fearnley:

So yeah, baby basics are, are my charity of choice.

Erin Austin:

Fantastic.

Erin Austin:

We will have that in the show notes.

Erin Austin:

Do you have an offer that you'd like to share with the audience?

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, yeah, so we've touched on haven't we kind of what

Jessica Fearnley:

it takes to grow a business for sale.

Jessica Fearnley:

As I shared, I have been involved in this it's like selling a house times a

Jessica Fearnley:

thousand , as part of that, like, All of the things that I learned, I kind of wrote

Jessica Fearnley:

into this framework, which I call the six elements for seven figure business.

Jessica Fearnley:

I have that available as a PDF, which is free to download.

Jessica Fearnley:

And I'm sure we can put the, the link to that in the show notes, but it, it covers

Jessica Fearnley:

all the things that you need to know to build a strong business as a consultant.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, and if you are thinking about selling one day, then these are things

Jessica Fearnley:

which will be really, really helpful.

Jessica Fearnley:

They are literally the things that we were taught, um, when we were going through

Jessica Fearnley:

this process of turning a six figure business into a seven figure business.

Jessica Fearnley:

They are things that like.

Jessica Fearnley:

Don't get talked about things like risk.

Jessica Fearnley:

So like as a quick example, we realized, um, during this process that 90% of

Jessica Fearnley:

our work, possibly even 95% of our work was all with the same one client.

Jessica Fearnley:

And from a risk point of view, it's just like, ah,

Erin Austin:

yes.

Erin Austin:

Yes.

Erin Austin:

That will client.

Erin Austin:

Yes.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's these things that, you know, it's, it's not like marketing,

Jessica Fearnley:

um, because often in a consulting business, like you actually don't need

Jessica Fearnley:

to do a lot of marketing because a lot of it comes through relationships, um,

Jessica Fearnley:

and referrals and that kind of thing.

Jessica Fearnley:

So it's, it's not necessarily the things that you see talked about when it comes to

Jessica Fearnley:

online business, but it's, it's the stuff that, as a consultant, you absolutely need

Jessica Fearnley:

to know about in order to build a really thriving seven figure consulting business.

Erin Austin:

That's fantastic.

Erin Austin:

Thank you.

Erin Austin:

That will definitely be in the show notes and accompanying.

Erin Austin:

It will be where people can find you.

Jessica Fearnley:

Yeah, thank you.

Jessica Fearnley:

So I, I have my website, jessicafearnley.com.

Jessica Fearnley:

There's a secret a in Fearnley, but I'm sure we can cover that in the show notes.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, but come and find me on LinkedIn.

Jessica Fearnley:

Um, I love LinkedIn as we've talked about, I use it prolifically.

Jessica Fearnley:

So do do come and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Jessica Fearnley:

Send me a, a message in the DMS and just say that you've

Jessica Fearnley:

heard me on Erin's podcast.

Jessica Fearnley:

I would love to talk to.

Erin Austin:

That is so fantastic.

Erin Austin:

Thank you so much for joining me, Jessica.

Erin Austin:

This has been just a fountain of wisdom and information.

Erin Austin:

Thank you again.

Erin Austin:

And, uh, I look forward to the next time.

Jessica Fearnley:

Thank you for having me.

Jessica Fearnley:

It's been just awesome.

About the Podcast

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Hourly to Exit

About your host

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Erin Austin

Meet Erin Austin, a Harvard Law alum with over 25 years of copyright and contracts experience. As the go-to advisor for professionals with corporate clients, Erin empowers entrepreneurs to be their own advocates, standing out for her commitment to transforming expertise into empires through the creation, protection and leveraging of intellectual property assets. Explore her blend of legal expertise and entrepreneurial insight on ThinkBeyondIP.com and the "Hourly to Exit" podcast. Off the clock, you'll find Erin in the great outdoors or connecting with business coaches to elevate 6-figure consultants into 7-figure powerhouses.