1642 – Time Schedule Freedom with Billable At The Beach’s Amy Rasdal

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0:58with us right now amy rasdahl amy you are the founder of billable at the beach and there your website is billable at the beach.com amy it's great to have you it's great to be here thanks for having me well billable at the beach you've evoked my curiosity and those listening tell us what you do? Well, it's a little bit aspirational. I help people build their own six-figure consulting businesses. So it's largely people who have a corporate background who for a variety of reasons want to go out on their own and start their own consulting business. And I help them with a program to start and run, maximize, et cetera, that six-figure consulting business.

1:48So Billable at the beach is don't we all want to be billable at the beach, right? And for you, that can be the mountains, a golf course, a sailboat in the Caribbean, whatever your beach is, it's the idea of really being able to have a great career and also live the life we deserve. You know, and I'm familiar with your book, Amy, I think I found you in the wild somewhere. Because this looks really familiar. Your book is Land, a Consulting Project Now, Build a Life of Freedom, Flexibility, and Inspiring Work, Running Your Own Six-Figure Business. It's on Kindle. You have an audio book as well. And let's see, when did that, when did this publish here?

2:34Oh, pretty recently, last year. Yes. I'm still calling it my new book. I don't know that's fair game or not. Absolutely. All right. So Amy, tell us about like, first off, maybe let's just kind of give an overview for someone that's not working into consulting. Perhaps someone's listening to us right now. They've got a great six figure job, but they're tired of, you know, maybe a lack of freedom to pursue the kind of work they want to do, or, you know, they don't feel like they're truly making the impact that they want in the world. or again, maybe they just want more flexibility and freedom with their time schedule.

3:12Can you give us an overview of like who you're typically working with and what, how you describe what the consulting lifestyle can be like? Yes, because there's many different things. So I want to start out by dispelling a couple of myths. And the goal definitely is freedom, flexibility, control, you still have interesting work. So the first one is a lot of people think that if you're going to go out on your own, you can't make as much money. And I want to tell you that you can go out on your own as a consultant, and you can make more money, not less money. And you also don't have to sacrifice your career.

3:55So a lot of people think, oh, if I'm going to have that great life. I'm not going to make as much money and I'm going to be abandoning this career that I've done education and experience and paid my dues. And that's not the case either, because there's a certain phenomenon that when you work with a company that brings in an outside consultant, they really listen to what you have to say. So you can make more money and you can have more money or not more money. I'm a little fixated on the money here, but that's what we all work for, you can make more money and you can have more impact on your client companies.

4:32So a couple of myths just right off the bat. As far as consulting, there are many different flavors and way to describe it. We hear a lot about fractional these days. That's not at all what I'm a fan of doing. Here's what I mean when I say consulting. You are going to be a superhero with a superpower making super pay. You're going to go in with your specific skills and expertise. You're going to go in for a limited period of time. That's anywhere from typically three to 18 months. It doesn't necessarily just mean a few weeks. It might go 18 months. You're going to hit them hard with your superpower and they're going to pay you handsomely for bringing those expert skills in.

5:21Fractional is a little bit different. That's where they may hire you to be a fractional chief marketing officer. And you're going to give 10 hours a week for the next 18 months. Now, it sounds attractive because I'm thinking, okay, I have 18 months of 10 hours a week pay. But to me, that just kind of sounds like a different flavor of a part-time job. So I'm really talking about superhero, superpower, super pay when I talk about consulting. Yeah. To someone who's listening to our conversation right now, and again, maybe they're just, they're knee deep in work and they're like, look, I'm probably a good year or two away from feeling comfortable enough to think about going on my own.

6:03What sorts of things should they be doing today far in advance of eventually their transition to more of a consultant, independent consultant role? Yeah, so it is great to lay the groundwork. I'll be honest and say a lot of people don't because people also get pushed into consulting through life events, you get laid off or you know something happens in your life that makes you take the leap. But to lay that groundwork, you want to figure out what is the superpower that you want to focus on. So start digging into your skills and expertise and think about what is it that I want to offer as a consultant.

6:43everyone has a different view. Some people are very narrowly focused that they do accounting in a specific area or a specific type of technical work. But some of our listeners today also may be a little bit more at the general management level. Where I find consultants are the most successful kind of a sweet spot for what I'm promoting is just below the C-suite level. So rather than trying to be an executive at the company, I want you to focus just under that, making those people look amazing and really getting a lot done for them. Right. That's that's kind of the sweet spot. So start thinking about what your superpower is.

7:27And then I believe that everything in business is really relationships. You and me both, Amy, you and me both. So you honestly, products, services, it doesn't, right? Anytime that I want to buy something, and I think most people are like this, whether it's a product or a service, whether it's just a piece of athletic clothing all the way to a plumber to unclog my drain, the first thing I do is ask my friends or my trusted colleagues, right? Right. So start thinking about all those relationships that you have. And I'm I'm part engineer. I'm an engineer by background. So I have a part of that my personality that's really introverted.

8:13And I just like to go in a quiet place and just be by myself all day. I have another side, too. But so I attract a lot of fairly introverted engineers to my programs. even my most introverted engineers can put together a list of at least 100 people that when they're ready to go ahead and launch their business, they're going to reach out to. Yeah, absolutely. And again, this is something that we can begin years in advance. We start thinking about, you know, maybe, again, you know, what I like your take on it too, is again, And people that are forced into having to, okay, guess we're ending this.

8:57I got, you know, maybe some sort of a six month severance or something like that, or three months or one month or whatever it is. Right. And so it's like, if you've built and laid all that groundwork now that's insurance and it doesn't take a whole lot. I think just showing up in their lives, certainly engaging on social, contributing to thought leadership, engaging with other thought leaders, try to move your industry forward. Those are just some things that come to my mind. Anything in particular in terms of specific activity, obviously going to events, networking on live virtual events, those sorts of things.

9:33Yes. And I want to make the point though, that while I think it's great to lay the groundwork, Most people don't, and you don't have to. The amazing thing about consulting is that you can really jump in and get started very quickly. So I have a lot of people who jump in. I have done a lot of speaking at outplacement services firms. And so those are people, corporate folks get services there when they lose their job, they get laid off unexpectedly. So I talked to a lot of people like that. And there are some specific things that you can do if you're in a position that you want to generate revenue quickly, that if you follow these specific steps, you can be generating revenue, you can be doing billable work within a couple of weeks, you really can get started very quickly.

10:27and I'm a very practical person. So my approach is practical. You don't really need to spend any money. Here's what you need to start your own consulting business. A brain, brain power, business experience, a computer and your phone. Do you already have those things? I do. You know, even my 12 year old daughter has all of those things already. So you don't really, and sure, someday you're going to need to name your business and figure out corporate structure and have a website and all that stuff. You don't need to do any of that to get started. The only things I want you to think about when you are ready to jump off and get started, whether that's in two years, which I think is amazing to lay the groundwork, or it's Monday morning because you lost your job this week.

11:21I want you to land a project and get a check in the bank. And I don't want you to think about anything else until you do that. Really laser focus. And here's the thing, Josh, that's the hard part, right? Selling and getting the money coming in, because I don't know about your experience, but I sometimes see entrepreneurs and I'm guilty of this too, kind of like hiding behind, well, I have to name my business and I have to get a logo and I need photos and I need a website, what you really need to do is get out there and sell some business, right? Yep. Get an MVP put together. What very niche-specific problem can you solve based on your background?

12:05And you bring a lot of value. What you'll find, I think, my experience with this, and sorry to be interjecting here. No, please do. So we work nearly exclusively with consultants, And so we help kind of on the rainmaking side. But to begin with, you're right. You don't need all of that stuff. What you need is just have meaningful individual conversations with decision makers and network your way around, explain your value proposition, right? And again, I don't mean to steal your thunder. This is your thing. No, no, no, please. But I couldn't agree more with what you're saying, Amy. Good, good, good.

12:38I agree. And so I have put together, I call it my three action steps to generate revenue now. And I'll just mention it's a free email course. It's available on my website. I would love for everybody to grab it. And it takes advantage. We all have a lot of relationships that we don't even know about. And sometimes when we're in a corporate role, we don't really think of it that way. It's all the people that you've worked with before. all the people who are on your teams, you were on their teams, you sat near them, all those people. And you know what, 10 or 15 years ago, it's fair game. If that guy who sat in the next cubicle over 15 years ago, when you were kind of like just starting your career out of college said, Hey, Amy, it's Bill, remember me, you'd be like, Bill, you know, I used to smell your french fries at lunchtime how are you bill people are happy to hear from you yep stay in the stay in the friend zone don't burn bridges and you know keep you know again keep uh you know which is why i think you know when we do make those key connections of someone like oh that could be someone so probably stay in touch with you know to actually set calendar items to, you know, follow them on LinkedIn and engage with their posts and contribute and, and, you know, do things to make them look good are all things that it costs nothing, costs nothing to do those things.

14:11But boy, could it really pay off in the future? Should you decide that you need to make some, you know, some quick moves? Absolutely. And I think there's a tendency for some of the people that I work with to feel like, oh, well, I'm bothering these people or I'm imposing. So I have a fundamental belief that we all have these talents to share and we really owe it to the world to get our talents out there because put yourself in your possible client's shoes. You're sitting there, it's Friday afternoon, you have all these things that need to get done. You're thinking, I need some help with this, but who would help me?

14:53Imagine if the perfect person's name happened to come across your desk in an outreach saying, hey, guess what? I've left my corporate role. I'm doing consulting now. This is somebody that you know at least a little bit. You know them. You know they do great work. Would you feel like that was an imposition? No, you would be so excited to hear from that person, right? Absolutely. Yeah. You're helping people, not imposing. You mentioned you have a free course, three action steps to generate revenue now, but how else do you work with individuals? So I have the free course, I have the book, and then I have a full A to C program that helps people start from where they are right now, whether they've never even thought about consulting yet, or they they're already doing consulting, but they're struggling with keeping their pipeline as full as they would like of high quality projects, because that's always the hardest part in consulting.

16:00You know that because that's a lot of what you do. To all the way kind of A to Z, everything that you need to do everything that you need to think about. And I will tell you that my approach is very practical. Exactly what you need, not until you need it. And so I have a program, there's an online course that has 40 videos, modules, tools, templates, et cetera. And then we do every other week group coaching where we all get together and dig into what are the specific needs that we all have. I love that, Josh, because I always learn things from the group too, right? We all share our experiences and best practices.

16:43And what are you stuck on? I have this proposal, what do I do? One of my superpowers is helping people get out of overwhelm, right? So it's baby steps. So I have a superpower of zooming in with you if you're stuck, and getting you unstuck. So there are things like I might say in my three action steps, reach out to 100 people. Now some people think, okay, no problem. Some people think a hundred, that just is overwhelming. I say, okay, this week, reach out to one. Then that's huge. And then the next week, reach out to three, you know, whatever it might be for each person helping them get unstuck.

17:26And the goal really is generating revenue as quickly as possible. I assume that you're working because you want to make money. So that really is the focus, very practical, actionable tips to get you making money and build all the other stuff that you need. So when you come out the other end, you sort of have this fine-tuned consulting machine that's really running for you and with you. Yeah. You know, in the reality, Amy, you know, again, I just want to, you know, give a little bit of confidence to someone who might be listening and is not yet or perhaps dreams of being a consultant. um yeah we've launched 200 250 consultants and you know in terms of working with we get to work with them all the time there is a lot of opportunity in consulting there's work you need to do i'm you know and there's some risk that you know why i can see amy the you know how valuable it would be to plug in with a community like yours because i think that's one of the things that we are afraid of is the inconsistency you know it's nice when you're working a regular job you've got that steady paycheck, wink, wink.

18:40When you're that consultant, you're going to have to look in the mirror because you're also director of growth for your own consultancy, your own company. So sometimes that's a little intimidating. It is intimidating. But what I just like to put out there is there's nothing special about me, right? If I can do it, you guys can do it. It's really just a matter of digging in. You do have to face yourself in the mirror. And then it's about putting certain steps and habits in place. I like to say one of the things that I teach is never let a day go by without doing something toward networking, marketing, and business development.

19:22Yes, yes, yes. I totally agree. And oftentimes too, Amy, just so you know, like again, when you're going independent, when you're an independent consultant, there's a lot of distractions. You might feel that hanging out on social media, just reading things, watching YouTube videos or working on your website. I mean, those are all possible activities, but I think to your point, you have one job, you need to get a client. And so we need to focus on the best work possible. And I agree with you that it's absolutely network, having lots of conversations, private one-on-one conversations, you know, just again, just investing in those relationships and reinvesting in those relationships and explaining how you can help.

20:07And you know what, if you have a good enough network, you know, most of us have a couple of hundred people that, you know, if we were to present them a reason why we wanted to have a quick chat on Zoom or something like that, most of us have a couple of hundred people that if we worked hard enough, they would take that call with us. And Josh, everyone has at least 100 people. And what you do is you start out reaching out to the people that you already know. And in my three action steps, it's really a system for hot lead generation. You're reaching out to people who already know you, and they know you do good work, because we all do good work.

20:46Then what you want is a project that's appropriate for your skills, because if they're looking for someone with a CPA, that's not me, and the budget to pay for it. So I've taught this enough times now that out of 100 people outreach, odds are you'll hear back from three to five people who have a hot lead, hey, I might have something for you. And out of those three to five, odds are you will close one or two of those projects. And that's why I say that revenue generation, you get up to speed on that pretty quickly. Now, is that going to sustain you for the 15 years that I've been in business? No.

21:28But that gets you started. You're in business. There's something about having money coming in that builds confidence in your business like nothing else, right? So then once that's in place, then you start doing the other stuff. Then you start increasing that network. You start reaching out to other people. You ask those people who do you know? And these people will naturally refer you to other people. So it grows. Mm-hmm. All right. Amy Rosdell, you're sorry. How do I say your last name? It's Rastell, but I am not picky about it. Okay. Okay. And again, your website is billableatthebeach.com. To our friend that's listening to our conversation right now, What you want to do is there's a button that says free course, or you can kind of click around.

22:19You'll find the free course. It says three action steps to generate revenue. Grab that. It's free. You're going to get that delivered via email. And Amy, it's been fantastic having you. Love the content. I feel like you and I are going to be good friends. I got more to talk about for sure. That sounds good to me, Josh. Thanks so much for having me. You bet. Thanks, Amy.

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