Smart Gets Paid: Business Coaching for Women Consultants

What does it take to build a business that can actually withstand real life? Kara van Stralen spent over a decade inside the rooms where big decisions get made, working on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and in a governor's office, before she started her own government affairs firm. That insider view of how decisions really happen became a real edge in her own sales process. But the bigger test came later, when her business had to prove it could hold up under real pressure, not just win clients, but actually support her family when life didn't go as planned. Kara van Stralen, founder of Vista Strategies, shares how she went from chaos to calm, and built something sturdy enough to catch her when she needed it most.   — When you're ready to break through to the next revenue level in your consulting business, here are two ways I can help you.   1. Join The Academy For women consultants who've been in business 2+ years and are making $120k+. Build the two systems every consulting business needs to get more of the right clients, get paid more, and build a sustainable business:  → A marketing system to bring the right clients to you and fill your pipeline → A sales system to help clients say yes and get you paid more. If you're ready to make your business and revenue more stable, secure, and sustainable, visit smartgetspaid.com/academy to learn more and apply.   2. Get Roadmap to Clients Map out a simple sales process for your consulting business in less than an hour. Take potential clients smoothly from first contact to a signed proposal – so you can stop reinventing the wheel with every opportunity. Get the free video course at smartgetspaid.com/roadmap   —   CONNECT WITH LEAH: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leahtn/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/@smartgetspaid Website: smartgetspaid.com Email: [email protected]  

Marketing has changed for consultants. LinkedIn has changed. And if you feel like you're chasing a moving target, that's because you are. Jaclyn Sergeant, the Academy's Marketing and Pipeline Coach, joins Leah to break down what's actually working right now, including how LinkedIn's algorithm works today and why falling reach might be good news. They also share how the Academy rebuilt its entire marketing system to match this moment, and what that means for how you should be showing up today.   — When you're ready to break through to the next revenue level in your consulting business, here are two ways I can help you.   1. Join The Academy For women consultants who've been in business 2+ years and are making $120k+. Build the two systems every consulting business needs to get more of the right clients, get paid more, and build a sustainable business:  → A marketing system to bring the right clients to you and fill your pipeline → A sales system to help clients say yes and get you paid more. If you're ready to make your business and revenue more stable, secure, and sustainable, visit smartgetspaid.com/academy to learn more and apply.   2. Get Roadmap to Clients Map out a simple sales process for your consulting business in less than an hour. Take potential clients smoothly from first contact to a signed proposal – so you can stop reinventing the wheel with every opportunity. Get the free video course at smartgetspaid.com/roadmap   —   CONNECT WITH LEAH: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leahtn/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/@smartgetspaid Website: smartgetspaid.com Email: [email protected]  

Fractional work is exploding, with some estimates putting the number of self-described fractional executives well over 100,000. But there's a gap between what the label promises and what a lot of people offering it are actually delivering. In this episode, Leah breaks down what's genuinely good about the fractional model, the honest truths nobody tells you before you brand yourself that way, and the dirty little secret almost no one's saying out loud. Whether you're already calling yourself fractional or thinking about it, you'll walk away knowing what actually makes any engagement work, fractional or otherwise.   — When you're ready to break through to the next revenue level in your consulting business, here are two ways I can help you.   1. Join The Academy For women consultants who've been in business 2+ years and are making $120k+. Build the two systems every consulting business needs to get more of the right clients, get paid more, and build a sustainable business:  → A marketing system to bring the right clients to you and fill your pipeline → A sales system to help clients say yes and get you paid more. If you're ready to make your business and revenue more stable, secure, and sustainable, visit smartgetspaid.com/academy to learn more and apply.   2. Get Roadmap to Clients Map out a simple sales process for your consulting business in less than an hour. Take potential clients smoothly from first contact to a signed proposal – so you can stop reinventing the wheel with every opportunity. Get the free video course at smartgetspaid.com/roadmap   —   CONNECT WITH LEAH: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leahtn/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/@smartgetspaid Website: smartgetspaid.com Email: [email protected]    

Almost every woman consultant is carrying something from a job she already left. Sometimes it's harmless. Sometimes it's the reason she won't publish, won't ask, won't say what she actually thinks where a client can see it. In this real coaching call, a client who'd stalled for months finds hers. Plus Leah's own version, and the three questions to ask when you catch yourself following a rule you never agreed to.   — When you're ready to break through to the next revenue level in your consulting business, here are two ways I can help you.   1. Join The Academy For women consultants who've been in business 2+ years and are making $120k+. Build the two systems every consulting business needs to get more of the right clients, get paid more, and build a sustainable business:  → A marketing system to bring the right clients to you and fill your pipeline → A sales system to help clients say yes and get you paid more. If you're ready to make your business and revenue more stable, secure, and sustainable, visit smartgetspaid.com/academy to learn more and apply.   2. Get Roadmap to Clients Map out a simple sales process for your consulting business in less than an hour. Take potential clients smoothly from first contact to a signed proposal – so you can stop reinventing the wheel with every opportunity. Get the free video course at smartgetspaid.com/roadmap   —   CONNECT WITH LEAH: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leahtn/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/@smartgetspaid Website: smartgetspaid.com Email: [email protected]  

You can be great at what you do, get results your clients rave about, and still not be the one deciding what you work on. That's most consulting businesses. Shanna Hocking spent 25 years in university fundraising before starting Hocking Leadership, and she went looking for help at the exact moment things were going well, because good wasn't the same as chosen. Here's what shifted, and what it made possible.   — When you're ready to break through to the next revenue level in your consulting business, here are two ways I can help you.   1. Join The Academy For women consultants who've been in business 2+ years and are making $120k+. Build the two systems every consulting business needs to get more of the right clients, get paid more, and build a sustainable business:  → A marketing system to bring the right clients to you and fill your pipeline → A sales system to help clients say yes and get you paid more. If you're ready to make your business and revenue more stable, secure, and sustainable, visit smartgetspaid.com/academy to learn more and apply.   2. Get Roadmap to Clients Map out a simple sales process for your consulting business in less than an hour. Take potential clients smoothly from first contact to a signed proposal – so you can stop reinventing the wheel with every opportunity. Get the free video course at smartgetspaid.com/roadmap   —   CONNECT WITH LEAH: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leahtn/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/@smartgetspaid Website: smartgetspaid.com Email: [email protected]