Diara Parker 00:00:00  It’s really important to first get grounded in. What kind of life do you want to create? What kind of mornings do you want to have? Who do you want to interact with? How do you want your day to flow, your life to flow and use that as your anchor and your guiding star for what you’re actually creating. So really understand what your vision is not just for your business, but for your life.

Chloe Dechow 00:00:24  Hi, I’m Chloe Dechow and with more than a decade of experience working with thought leaders, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact of conviction combined with purpose driven entrepreneurship. This podcast shows you how to authentically bring together leadership, equity, and marketing to build your authority so that you can grow your impact and scale your business. This is a space for elevating women’s voices and redefining what it means to be a thought leader. Together, we’ll unlock the potential of our bright voices and create a ripple effect of change that resonates far beyond the realms of business. This is the Bright Voices in Business podcast. Now let’s dive into today’s episode.

Chloe Dechow 00:01:10  Welcome back to the Bright Voices in Business podcast. I’m excited for this conversation today. It has been long awaited and with a person I have known for quite some time. When I say that, I mean like high school years. So we’ve known each other for a long time, and the reason I’m bringing her on today is because in past episodes, I’ve talked a lot about how demonstrating your expertise and growing your thought leadership, your business really starts with two things your experience, like what you’ve actually done and gone through, whether that’s lived experience, education experience, career experience, and then also your ability to communicate your unique perspectives and opinions, often based on that experience. And so I really want to dig in today to demystify the experience aspect of thought leadership, because we can often downplay and minimize the value that we bring to the table. We can take for granted what we see or what we hear, or our own perspective on life. If you’ve ever had somebody say, oh, I could never do this, you do this so well, but I could never do it that way.

Chloe Dechow 00:02:24  That’s a sign that there’s something that you do that you’re taking for granted that other people don’t know how to do. And so I have the perfect person here to talk about this. Her name is Dara Parker, and she is a former nonprofit and for profit executive who traded the 9 to 5 hustle in the US for a more fulfilling and purposeful life as an independent consultant and digital nomad in Europe. She is the founder of coLiberate Ventures, a boutique consulting agency that helps mid to high level managers strategically transition out of the 9 to 5 to start a life first consulting business. I am super excited to have you here, drew. I am living through you as you have moved to Portugal and traveled around the world and excited to chat more about a few concepts that I know you support your clients through. So welcome, welcome! Thank you so.

Diara Parker 00:03:19  Much. That was a nice introduction. Super happy to be here.

Chloe Dechow 00:03:22  Yeah, absolutely. So where are you just for listeners who maybe have the travel bug but are listening to this in the US, where are you currently located?

Diara Parker 00:03:31  Yes, I am currently located in Lisbon, Portugal, so this is my home base now, but I’ve had the opportunity to travel 2023.

Diara Parker 00:03:41  I traveled basically for the whole year across Asia. I was in Sweden and Spain and Brazil and the US, so I’ve been definitely around the world, but it feels really good to be grounded and have a home base again in Portugal.

Chloe Dechow 00:03:55  Yeah. Lisbon is one of my favorites. I can’t get over the beautiful tiles on the outside of the buildings. It’s just. There’s just. I don’t know something about it that just really draws me in. So it’s cool that that’s your home base for sure. Yeah. So let’s talk about the nomad lifestyle quickly before we dive into kind of this experience standpoint. So what drew you to living the digital nomad life?

Diara Parker 00:04:20  I love this question so much because it speaks to a really big transformation that I experienced not only in my career and my work, but also my personal life. So I had a very traditional way of moving through the workforce. So I climbed the ladder and changed my titles and started making more and more money and got more experience. And that felt good at the time because it was really connected to this version of success or this definition of success that I had.

Diara Parker 00:04:51  And when I started to really dig into some personal, like deeper work and kind of dig into some past traumas and really start to get to know myself a little bit more, I realized that this definition of success was not mine, it was not mine, and it was something that I felt like wasn’t forced upon me, but was something that I was steeped in, like most of us. Right. It’s like after you get a good job, you know, maybe have a house, have kids, all of these things. At least that’s what I was steeped in. And I followed that path. But it wasn’t working for me. There was something internally that really felt like this is not really the path. And along that way, while I was doing all of this personal development work, I burnt out. I burnt out significantly, working 50 plus hours a week. I started off working at the domestic violence field, so there was just a lot of heaviness that I was carrying that I didn’t realize until a loved one looked at me and he said, you know, I’m really worried about you, and I feel like there’s something that needs to shift because I’m concerned.

Diara Parker 00:05:51  Like you don’t seem well, and there’s just a lot happening and I’m worried. And that was really a wake up call for me to really sit in, like, what do I actually want for my life? Like, why am I here? Why am I doing all of this? Like asking some of these maybe existential questions like, what’s my purpose? And this set me on this really beautiful path and journey where I ended up moving to Lisbon, Portugal, in the middle of the pandemic. The borders were literally closed to Americans, so I couldn’t even come visit. In order to come here, I had to move. I had to physically move. And yes, it’s really been the best decision of my life. And honestly, it’s moving here and expanding my life from this space has been the, I would say, probably, maybe the first time in my life where I was really doing something that was a full fuck yes for me, like, fuck yes, this is so aligned. This is what I want to do.

Diara Parker 00:06:45  Even though there were people in my life who were who were like, no, I don’t I don’t think you should do it or I’m nervous for you. Or why are you doing this? What are you doing? It’s the pandemic. Why are you leaving your cushy job? To do something else? And I’ll be honest, there were times when I was like, oh shit. Like, why am I doing this? Like, am I making a mistake? You know? And so yeah, it was really scary. But it’s been the greatest decision of my life. Like, yeah, I, I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to do it. Really amazing.

Chloe Dechow 00:07:15  It is amazing. What is it like for you now? Like what has been the result of making this huge shift in your life to focus more on your actual, authentic definition of success versus what’s typically prescribed out there for most people?

Diara Parker 00:07:29  So the first thing that comes to mind for me is related to to vision. And there are two parts to that.

Diara Parker 00:07:34  So the first is I’m really able to lean into the vision that I want for my life. So what kind of mornings do I want? Like, who do I want to spend my time with? What kind of clients do I want to have? Yeah, just really building something that’s grounded in what I want to do in the world and how I want to show up and be in the world. But then, like the other piece of that vision, which is maybe a subcategory, is I’m also building my own business vision. So instead of contributing to my employer’s vision and the way they want to strategize and the way they want to implement. I’m really focused on like, what does doctor want to do? What are my zones of genius and how do I just like focus on those slices? And that is such a liberating feeling. And this is why our business is called coLiberate Ventures. So how can we co-create, collaborate, and focus on liberation regardless of what that looks like for you, regardless of what kind of vision you want to create, what kind of business you want to create, what is more freedom and more impact look like for you? And that’s a huge thing.

Diara Parker 00:08:30  Vision. I also have found that I just have a lot more time for personal development. That’s something that’s really important to me. So helping other people build life first businesses, so building businesses that revolve around them instead of the other way around, while also nurturing space for my own healing and growth and liberation. So having more space for processing and personal development has been really, really beautiful. And this is a new thing that I’ve uncovered. It was kind of an unexpected one. And I think the last thing, I mean, there are so many things, but I think another thing that’s standing out is the level of financial abundance that I’m able to achieve on my own. Like I don’t have a ceiling anymore, you know, and that’s related to impact. So the money that I’m generating or that I’m able to generate is a direct manifestation of the value that I’m creating in the world, in my opinion. And so it’s really beautiful to not have that hit the ceiling that was created by someone else, right? Not even my supervisor or anyone that I might even know.

Diara Parker 00:09:32  But you know, someone who is maybe a part of the organization at a different time. It’s just there’s such a disconnect there. And so it feels really beautiful to be able to, yeah, have my own ceiling, which for me, like it doesn’t exist. Like I just want to keep moving, moving and expanding up and around.

Chloe Dechow 00:09:48  Yeah. Oh my gosh. So many like, value words are coming to me as you’re talking just from a coaching background. And it’s not that entrepreneurship or moving abroad or these types of things don’t have friction, but it sounds like this transition has lended itself to giving more flow in your life, both from a work standpoint and a personal standpoint, and just having witnessed you as, you know, somebody who’s known you for so long, it’s such a joy to just watch you flourish in this life abroad and being able to again, like, live abundantly and expansively as well. So let’s talk about this because you help other people do this in your work and in your business.

Chloe Dechow 00:10:31  So can we talk a little bit about what you do for your clients at coLiberate Ventures, so that when we start talking about helping people figure out their secret sauce, so to speak, and bringing that to the forefront of the work that they do. They have kind of a little bit of understanding of how you use that process within your own business.

Diara Parker 00:10:50  Yeah, yeah. So ultimately, the goal of coLiberate Ventures and why we created it in the first place is to help more people cultivate more freedom, more impact, more fulfillment in their lives. And for us, getting into entrepreneurship and getting out of that 9 to 5 hustle and grind, and that 9 to 5 game is one way to do that. And that’s the primary way that we help our clients. So we primarily work with mid to high level managers. So these are people who have climbed the ladder. They have a lot of experience, a lot of skills and expertise. They’ve had a lot of success in their careers. We help them transition from the 9 to 5 into high ticket consulting.

Diara Parker 00:11:30  So we do that through what we call Productized consulting, which is essentially packaging your existing skills, experience, knowledge and network or career capital into a sellable product, which is your consulting offer. And I think it’s important to just give a little bit of context around why consulting, because there’s so many different routes that people can take to get into entrepreneurship, and we chose consulting for a very specific reason. So when people want to get into entrepreneurship, they want to start their own businesses. There are so many different things to learn, right? Like everything is new and shiny and also things can be difficult. And you’re like climbing hills sometimes that you didn’t even knew existed. And there’s also like a lot of beautiful things, right? But there’s a lot of new things when you’re starting a new business. And so to really mitigate this and to help generate income quickly and help to build that confidence and my opinion, it’s really helpful to be able to transfer as much of your current skills and as much of your current experience as possible into your business, right? A lot of people say, oh, follow your passion, like do this.

Diara Parker 00:12:31  And sure, that’s one way to get into entrepreneurship. It’s not necessarily the quickest way. It’s not necessarily the easiest way, maybe not necessarily the most strategic way. And so the business container that I think is most suitable in these aspects is to get into consulting or get into coaching in a way that leverages what you already have, what you already know, and it could be from your 9 to 5, but it could also be from, you know, you’ve been reading about personal development or reading about, you know, something very specific, like cooking or helping kiddos who need potty training, right? Like that’s not your 9 to 5, but you’ve been reading about and you’ve been practicing it with your own kids. That’s also those are skills and that’s experience that you can also transfer into your own business. But the point is that you’re leveraging something that you already know a little bit about, or a lot, a lot a bit about to create your own thing. So you’re not starting from scratch. And the beautiful thing about getting into independent consulting is that, you know, you don’t need co-founders, you don’t need to pitch to investors.

Diara Parker 00:13:31  You’re not creating an app. So you don’t need, you know, to hire someone to help with the technology. You don’t need a physical space. There aren’t any startup costs. So you’re really building a lean business container that’s also really scalable, right? So if you want to build a course or you want to have something complementary to your thought leadership work, I mean, it’s a really beautiful way to get your feet wet, but then you can also dive in really deeply and have a lot of freedom and impact and also get a lot of joy from doing that.

Chloe Dechow 00:13:58  Yeah, absolutely. I love that idea of lean business, because I think a lot of people think, oh, you need a product or you, you know, go through all of these different things spaces. The overhead costs can get quick, very fast. I can’t remember if it’s been in my podcast or somewhere else, but I was describing starting a business as kind of like planning a wedding in the fact that there are so many ways to spend your money.

Chloe Dechow 00:14:21  So there’s so many ways. So it sounds like this is a route where it’s more accessible for people and allows for them to get to their goals faster because they’re already utilizing what they have versus having to learn. Of course, you’re learning new skills when you start a business anyway. I think like becoming an entrepreneur is like self-development on steroids. Essentially, you have to learn so much about yourself because your business is a reflection of the inner work that you’re doing. And there’s still a lot of things about business or what, you know, your actual craft or the systems and processes that we have to use. But there’s something about starting not from square one. I hear that so much too. With business owners. I have to start from square one. I have to start completely over. I have to it’s like, no you don’t. So let’s talk about it. Why do they not need to do that?

Diara Parker 00:15:16  DRL it’s a beautiful question. So when you are a mid to high level manager, you’re someone who has climbed the ladder or just been in a lot of different roles.

Diara Parker 00:15:28  You have a lot of experience in your space. There’s already so much that you can use. So why would we start from scratch? So like it just almost logically, why wouldn’t I start from from this point? And I think a lot of people have this misconception that they maybe don’t have enough experience to get into consulting. I feel like traditionally consulting is viewed as this really big scary thing and scary and that, okay, well, I don’t feel like I have enough experience or how can I be a consultant? I think a lot of consultants traditionally are looked at as experts who have, you know, 25 plus years of experience. Maybe they’re in their 50s or 60s. And so this is what they’re doing before they retire. So there’s this very traditional, I would say, quite rigid definition of consulting that has been shifting over the years, which I think is really beautiful because it’s really, I think, simplifying the definition of consulting, which I think is really important. So I define consulting as helping people or businesses improve or solve problems, and doing so using the knowledge that you have.

Diara Parker 00:16:33  Right. So like I’m helping someone or business improve something or solve a problem based on my skills and experience. And if you think about it, in addition to the work that you’ve been doing from a professional standpoint, right, someone hired you to solve a problem or help improve a particular part of their business. You’ve also been doing this in your life. Like anybody who has kiddos, your problem solving every day. Maybe you have a spouse or a partner that you live with, or roommates, your problem solving and using your skills, and your negotiation and conflict resolution. All of these things you get to practice all the time. So in a lot of ways, we are all like many consultants and coaches in our own life. And it doesn’t have to be this kind of bigger concept that I think a lot of us make it out to be. And the other thing that I wanted to say related to not having enough experience is, I think when we see on social media all of these consultants and coaches who have written two books and they have like tens of thousands of LinkedIn or Instagram followers, and, you know, they’re very vocal and they’re very active on social media, it can feel really intimidating to then say, okay, well, how am I going to do that? Well, I haven’t written those things.

Diara Parker 00:17:41  How can I be a consultant or coach for a business or a person? And I think a really cool concept that can be helpful in reframing. This is all you need to be as one step ahead of your clients, just one step ahead. So for me, when I started my first consulting business, I was doing organizational culture work, and I knew that if I came into any organization, I could do an assessment, I could talk to different people, I could put things together, and I could create a really beautiful strategy roadmap for how they can create a more wellness centric culture. I knew I could do that right. I was just one step ahead. I’d done that in so many different spaces, and I knew how to do that well. And so when you’re creating your consulting offer and getting into that space, you just want to pick something that you feel really confident that you can deliver to someone or to an organization. And so yeah, just being one step ahead is really all you need to get started.

Chloe Dechow 00:18:37  Yeah. The word intimidating came up for me as you were talking to you. And it reminds me, I’m sure you get this a lot when talking with clients or potential clients. Is this feeling that they need to have all the answers? And I remember feeling this way working in my agency days, which is kind of a type of consultant, right, that I get hired to support businesses with their marketing efforts. I remember feeling like as the client go to, I needed to have all the answers. I felt that way when I became a people manager. I need to know how have all the answers. And then as an entrepreneur or a coach, like as a coach, often I feel like, oh, like if my life’s not perfect, who am I to like help other people, right? And we can kind of forget, I think, two things. One is that we’re human and no person has a perfectly polished life. In fact, that’d be very boring and unrelatable for people. and we don’t need to have all the answers.

Chloe Dechow 00:19:32  We just really need to know the one thing right that you’re consulting on. And remember that you can reach out to your community and help problem solve if you don’t have all the answers. But I remember having this like multiple times throughout my career of like, oh, I need to know it all. I need to know everything. Like that’s intimidating and also pointless and useless goal because it’s never going to happen. I’m curious what kinds of things kind of minimize or like maybe prevent people from stepping into a consulting role. Like, what are some of those hesitancy is that they tend to have that you help kind of coach them through.

Diara Parker 00:20:10  So outside of the ones that I named about not having enough experience or feeling like, okay, who am I, you know, to be a consultant. So that imposter syndrome, I think another piece is people feeling like, okay, if I start consulting or I’m going to start my own business, then I need to stop what I’m doing right now in my 9 to 5 and just almost what I call free falling.

Diara Parker 00:20:37  So I can’t do both, or I can’t get my toes wet and try it out and beta test and iterate my offer and generate income and then go from there. So people think you have to do one or the other. And I think that’s the beautiful thing about getting into consulting is, you know, some of our clients, they come to us because they want a really lucrative side hustle. Amazing. Do that. Other people say, okay, well, at some point in the next, you know, six months, the next year, I want to actually transition from my 9 to 5. And so what we help them do is do that very strategically. So instead of free falling, start creating an offer. Start working with some clients, generating some income. And then when you’ve gotten enough where you can then leave your 9 to 5, then you can do that. But so there’s a very strategic way of making that happen. So I think that’s one thing that can hold people back, is they think that you have to just go all in 100% instead of, you know, building a little side hustle.

Diara Parker 00:21:34  And I think the other thing that often stops people, in my experience, is something that you talk about a lot, which is mindset. So ChatGPT AI, all of these white papers and things on the internet, there’s so much information out there about how to start any kind of business that you wanted. So the strategy is there, the frameworks are there. But that’s not the reason that people don’t start businesses or don’t do the hard things, because there’s not enough information out there sometimes, number one, there’s too much information. So it’s like what’s actually for me. But I think the other piece too, is that there are reasons that are related to our thoughts that are related to our fears procrastination, imposter syndrome, all of these underlying things that are kind of rumbling beneath the surface that have to be addressed alongside the strategy piece. And so that’s one of the big things that we focus on with our clients is, yes, we have the strategy and the frameworks and the accountability step by step by step.

Diara Parker 00:22:32  And this is what you do and in what order. And you know, you have a person who’s cheering for you and also holding you accountable to the things that you said you wanted to do. But then there’s also this mindset piece. So, okay, I have everything that I need, but I’m stuck. You know, I’m finding that I’m spending a lot of time on this one specific piece, instead of just getting a first draft and moving, like, what is that? So while I’m more of the the strategy and the logistics person, and in that way Jan is more of the mindset person, so he comes in when people are feeling stuck. John is my my life partner and my business partner. And so it’s a beautiful combination. And I think with any sort of life change and transformation, there needs to be both the strategy but also the mindset piece. And I think that leads me to the third thing that I think holds people back as they don’t necessarily have the support.

Diara Parker 00:23:22  So for me, even though my parents were entrepreneurs, they worked in 9 to 5, but they had their own business together for my entire life. I didn’t feel like going off of my own fully was like people were cheering for me. They were like, yeah, cool. Amazing. But like, you’re leaving your cushy 9 to 5 job. Like, are you sure? You know, and this is just related to their own fears? Of course. So I respect it. But when you don’t always have the support, it can be really challenging. So hiring a coach or going to a mastermind or having just like an accountability partner, like someone else who’s also building their business and you meet monthly or, you know, every other week for some accountability. Just having some support, I think is super, super important.

Chloe Dechow 00:24:07  Yes, I can understand the support piece. I know there’s a lot of, especially when we think about women entrepreneurs, because historically, you know, women have faced a lot of pushback about being in the working world in general, let alone starting businesses.

Chloe Dechow 00:24:22  And there’s a lot of moms too, that start businesses because they need this source of income, or they want something outside of motherhood, but they don’t have that support from their partner to be able to do that. And so I do think having somebody who can be an accountability partner, a mirror for them, a cheerleader, all those types of things are so important, even for those who don’t have the resistance from other people in their life, because it is it is an internal minefield.

Diara Parker 00:24:56  I have never in my life had this level and depth of personal transformation, never in my life, and I know that a lot of it has been birthed from this entrepreneurial journey, which has been a fucking gift. And also sometimes it feels tragic. It’s both. It’s both.

Chloe Dechow 00:25:16  Yes, absolutely. It’s identity shifting at its core. So let’s talk about how people can take all the things they know their career capital. So let’s talk a little bit more about career capital. I know you’ve touched on it briefly around how to define it, but can we define career capital and then talk about how somebody can uncover what their career capital is.

Chloe Dechow 00:25:39  Yeah.

Diara Parker 00:25:40  So career capital is basically all of the skills, the knowledge, the experience and also the network that you’ve accumulated across your career. And so I’ll break some of these down a little bit because there’s a little bit of overlap, but there’s a bit of nuance as well with these terms. So when we’re talking about skills these are things that you’re super comfortable doing. So maybe you are really great at video editing or like for me, I’m really great at bringing a group through a strategic planning process. Right. That’s something that I’m super comfortable doing. That’s a skill. Then you have knowledge. This is the second part of career capital. So this is information or frameworks or concepts that you can confidently explain to someone else. So maybe you can confidently explain UX design. Maybe you can confidently explain or talk about Instagram marketing. Whatever it is, it’s something that you can confidently explain to other people. Then you have experience. So these are traditional roles that you’ve had, like I’ve been the CEO of this company or the marketing manager or the people ops person or whatever it is, but it’s also situations that you’ve navigated.

Diara Parker 00:26:44  So maybe you oversaw a 50 plus person international team. There’s like a lot that comes with that that we can break down. Or maybe your company was acquired and you’ve been through acquisition negotiations. Like that’s a very unique experience and situation that you’ve navigated. So we want to really peel the layers back on all of these different things that you’ve come across in your work, and then finally you have your network. So these are all the people in your kind of sphere, in your ecosystem that can maybe offer you insights on what you’re creating. Maybe they can connect you to prospective clients. Maybe they could even be your prospective clients. They can collaborate with you. So these might be former university classmates or colleagues or people in your professional network. So you know, you really with network specifically, we don’t want to keep it just to professional contacts. Like maybe your brother’s partner works at this organization and can connect you in some way, right? So like even using familial connections and neighbors and just really talking about what you’re doing and not counting anyone out as outside of your network.

Diara Parker 00:27:52  So skills and knowledge, experience and network that is your career capital. And so to answer the second part of your question, how do people figure out what type of career capital they have? So I’m actually going to back up before I directly answer the question, because I think it’s really important for people before they even do a career capital audit, to really first get grounded in what do I envision for my life? What’s my desired lifestyle and what are my non-negotiables? So what do I want to see in my life? But also like, what are things that are like full body knows for me, like I, I don’t want that, I can’t have that. And then also what are things that are absolutely needed for me. So like a full body no, for me was that I didn’t want to oversee a team anymore, like a big team. I didn’t want to do it like hated it half the time. Like, don’t want to do that anymore so I can build my business around that.

Diara Parker 00:28:41  But then also like something that I absolutely need to have is I need to be location independent. I need to be able to do what I’m doing in Copenhagen, Thailand, the same as if I’m in Chicago or if I’m in Lisbon. So I really need that location independent. So it’s really important to first get grounded in what kind of life do you want to create? What kind of mornings do you want to have? Who do you want to interact with? How do you want your day to flow, your life to flow and use that as your anchor and your guiding star for what you’re actually creating? So before we even do the career capital audit, really understand what your vision is not just for your business, but for your life. And then we do the career capital audit. So I’m getting back to the technical things. So we got our clients through something called a career capital audit, which is looking at in really extensive detail your skills, your knowledge, your experience and network. So what you can just do on your own is take out a piece of paper, divide it into four little quadrants, label them skills, knowledge, experience and network, and then start to write out everything that you’ve experienced throughout your career.

Diara Parker 00:29:45  And this can be across all of the different jobs that you’ve had. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in the space that you think you’ll create your business in. And even if you have an idea of what you can create, doing a career capital audit can be really useful in just getting a lay of the land, because you’d be surprised at the things that you’re like, oh yeah, we were acquired. That’s like a huge thing that I could bring into what I’m creating. So doing that can be really helpful. And then within that really thinking about like what are some of your edges? Right. So like, yeah, I know UX design, I know Instagram marketing, whatever it is, I’m just making these things up. I don’t know any of those things, but I’m just making these examples of, so I know these things. But also like I have a really, really great eye for detail and graphic design. Like, people are like, oh, Deirdre, you’re really good at that.

Diara Parker 00:30:33  Or like, hey, Chloe, I hate doing this, but you love it. Like, that’s amazing. These are the things that are your edges, and these are also the things that you want to kind of highlight, bold, underline from your career capital audit because they might be things that you want to really lean on when you’re creating your offer.

Chloe Dechow 00:30:51  I love that term, your edges. That’s such a good term. Yes. I think something that has been helpful for me is to notice when somebody says something. So an example that I’ll share that I think is helpful for this kind of uncovering process that I don’t know if I’ll ever go into interior design. But I will say that whenever we host people, they will come over and say, hey, if you weren’t doing marketing or you weren’t doing coaching, I would hire you to be my interior designer. I would hire you to design my nursery. I would hire you to help me pick out furniture or whatever it might be. And of course, you know, as I entered this new phase of life, I’m like, what is there? I want to get a little curious about that, but it’s so easy for us to take for granted some of these kind of natural skills that we have, because we live in a world where we have a perceived value of some skills more than other skills that we have.

Chloe Dechow 00:31:51  And so I think it’s also in this process, a good idea to kind of think about. And I’m sure you coach your clients through this is like, think about like, what are people naturally coming to you for? Are they coming to you for parenting advice? Like, are your friends reaching out to you because you’re a few steps ahead of them in terms of having a baby and they want to know how how to transition, you know, from breastfeeding to bottle feeding, whatever it might be. Right? But if you have people who are kind of naturally coming to you for advice on something, get curious about that. Maybe that’s something that you’re taking for granted that you do know information on, or you have had experience on that you know, other people haven’t. And so that’s why they’re coming to you. You know, it’s what you’re known for and you don’t even realize you’re known for it. So I’m curious if you’ve seen that kind of happen in this process with your clients of them kind of like uncovering things that they didn’t realize they were kind of an expert on to begin with, and they just kind of took it for granted.

Diara Parker 00:32:49  I think what I’ve seen most often is that our clients, they come to us and they say, okay, well, I want to develop a product strategy for startups, or I want to help fitness businesses with their marketing strategy because it’s connected to their career capital. But as they’re developing their offer, they realize, oh, well, I’m like really great at, like building pitch decks. So like, is that something, you know, like I’m good with design in terms of visually presenting complex concepts. So can that be something that I insert. So I find that it’s more just with the clients that I can think of off the top of my head, I find that it’s more there are things that can enhance what they already have, but I think it’s typically because we’re working with people who already have so much experience that it makes sense for them to move in a particular direction, or they already kind of have a little bit of an idea of what they want to do. But this is why I think it’s so important to do the full exercise, even if you feel like, you know, because they’re always things that may surprise you, you know, to your point, yes, absolutely.

Chloe Dechow 00:33:52  We’re all still learning more about ourselves, which I think is an interesting process to go through. But also, the more we get curious, the easier it is to actually find something that’s going to be aligned.

Diara Parker 00:34:04  Yeah, I’m still learning that myself.

Chloe Dechow 00:34:07  Said. I have to remind myself constantly. So. So once somebody has figured out, you know, what their business is going to be about, what they’re going to be consulting or coaching on, how do they take this career capital that they’ve uncovered and turn it into an actual offer for their business?

Diara Parker 00:34:26  So this is where we really get into the concept of productized consulting. So the traditional way of consulting is really based on how can I trade my time for money. So I’m going to work with for you for four hours or for five hours for 350 an hour. And we’re going to do marketing consulting together. I’m going to help you with this launch. And Productize consulting is quite different because instead of working on an hourly basis and getting paid for your time, you’re actually getting paid for the value that you’re providing to a company or an individual, which you can demonstrate through actual calculations.

Diara Parker 00:35:07  Right. And this is something that we help our clients do. And it’s really cool to be able to see like, wow, this is how much value I can generate for this company. Or this person could be monetary, it could be just life transformations. And it’s really helpful to be able to demonstrate this, because this feeds directly into this, what we call a desired outcome that you are helping your clients to achieve. So once you figure out, okay, well, who am I working with? Who do I want to help, which is based on that career capital audit. Then you move into and identify. Okay, well what can I specifically help them with. So as I mentioned earlier, it’s really important to get grounded in okay, what do I feel really confident I can help them achieve. So for me, I feel really confident that I can help an organization create a roadmap to having a more wellness centered culture. And I use equity and inclusion and regeneration as a frame, but I feel so confident I can do that.

Diara Parker 00:36:01  I also feel really confident that I can help mid to high level managers sign up their first clients in, you know, a couple of months if they do the work, of course. Right. So you want to come up with something that’s super tangible, like you can take a picture of someone crossing the finish line with this roadmap or this launched strategy or whatever it is. But the point is, it has to be really tangible. And then once you have this end result, then you create 3 to 5 high level steps, or we call phases that show your client how you logically get them there. Right. So having these steps, these high level steps and then having this desired outcome is the way that you basically create your offer container. So people are paying for this result and the ROI for that result of that result rather than paying for, you know, 5 hours or 10 hours of work. Because ultimately, like people don’t pay for consulting or coaching, they pay for results, right? So they want those results regardless of how long it takes you.

Diara Parker 00:37:02  They care about the results. If it takes you five hours, if it takes you 100 hours, I don’t care. Like I want this thing. Can you get it for me? You show me these 3 to 5 steps. Okay? This makes sense to me. Logically, I see all of the specific deliverables I’m going to get. In each of the phases. I see the content that we’re learning. It’s very clear to me I have no questions like let’s do it. And I think oftentimes traditional consulting is like quite vague, like, okay, let’s do this hourly or even like life coaching can also be a bit vague. So it’s like, what type of transformation are we helping people achieve? And can we speak to that? Can we help bridge the gap from where they are now into where they’re trying to go? That’s what we’re trying to speak to. And so coming up with this product, this offer is an end, coming up with it in a way that is this specific and detailed and is very clear to both you and your client is really the way to go.

Chloe Dechow 00:37:55  Yes. I think the reality is, is that people value time differently, right? Like we all have different concepts of how we value time. And if we really think about time, if we want to get like super into it. Time is priceless, right? Like we don’t get it back. Time is priceless for everybody. And so trying to get somebody to spend money based on time, when they might value time differently or they might value the tasks of the time differently, is kind of this antiquated approach at the end of the day.

Diara Parker 00:38:27  And what I found, too, is when you’re doing this hourly approach, that that seems to be the focus is how many hours you’re working, rather than the results that you were hired to help facilitate in the first place. And so, you know, you’re sending invoices every month with these hours, and maybe someone has a question and it’s like, it’s just also extra administrative shit that no one needs or has time for. So I don’t recommend it. I don’t recommend it.

Chloe Dechow 00:38:55  People don’t really know how much time it takes for you to do the thing that you’re doing. because if they knew, they would just do it themselves, right? So they don’t know. They don’t know how much time it’s going to take. And for you as an expert, it probably also would take less time than a novice. And so, yeah, I love this concept of just charging for the value versus charging by hour, because there’s too many variables in charging by the hour to actually have a thriving business at the end of the day. So I know in working in the agency world for a long time, we all had hourly rates. When we worked on a project. We also would do different types of billing structures based on kind of what the trend of the industry was. So we would do retainers some years and then hourly the next. And a couple things that are challenging around this type of model is that clients, you know, when they’re paying that high ticket, they want to get as much as they can out of the high ticket that they’re paying for, which leads to scope creep.

Chloe Dechow 00:39:56  And we can talk about what that is and how to kind of navigate that. And then also people want to feel special and they think that their situation is very unique, and nobody else has ever been in the position that they’re been in. And so they tend to want some sort of custom offer, which may feel really good to them to feel like they’re getting this personalized experience. But I also know that can lead to a lot of challenges for a business owner who is trying to streamline and not spend a ton of time spinning their wheels for each single client that they bring on. So can we talk a little bit about this kind of managing client expectations around what they’re actually signing on for and what they’re actually purchasing, and how you can smartly, strategically navigate those so that you’re not spending a lot of unpaid time working on things.

Diara Parker 00:40:50  I love this question so much because scope creep and then spending all this time on Customized offers, time and energy. Wasted time and energy, I would say, is one of the big reasons why I think Productized consulting and actually creating an offer kind of package instead of doing hourly consulting.

Diara Parker 00:41:09  One of the reasons why I think this is definitely the way to go. So when you are coming to a client or a client is coming to you and they say, hey, I heard that you could help me sign up my first clients and get into independent consulting. So and even if they don’t know much about what you’re doing, you can really kind of set the tone and the anchor by letting people know this is the process that I use. Like, here’s the container, here’s the desired outcome that I know that you want. So like what you can do instead of trying to fully align yourselves on like the customization of all the different pieces, it’s like, can we get clear that you want this? Like you want this desired outcome, you want this final result. Okay, well, I can help you get there. And this is a process that I’ve created based on my ten, 15 years of experience doing this. Also working with other clients. Here are success stories. Even if you’re getting started like this is just based on my experience, what I know to be true and logically, I haven’t actually found a client or experienced a situation where someone’s like, well, I want something customized.

Diara Parker 00:42:17  Like, I don’t want this, like very clear process in front of me, right? So when you’re super clear and you’re super upfront about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, then there’s really no need for like these very customized offers. Now, even though you have a frame and a strategy that you’ve created, of course you’re inserting the context of your clients within that. And sometimes there are some little tweaks. But ultimately, you know, especially when you’ve been delivering the same offer for a while, like, you know, it works. And so that’s also something that gets clients excited, like, wow, this coupled with our contacts like this works. And I want that, I want that. And so that’s the piece about customizations or like big customizations.

Chloe Dechow 00:42:59  It’s funny because as you said, like nobody really asks for that. It cracked me up because it’s like nobody wants to be the guinea pig. Nobody wants to spend thousands of dollars to be the guinea pig on something, right? So of course, in our heads, we think this personalization is really supporting the client.

Chloe Dechow 00:43:15  But in reality, it probably isn’t. Because if you already have a system that’s working and getting results, creating an entire new system for a client is basically treating them like a guinea pig in the work that you’re doing.

Diara Parker 00:43:29  Exactly. And I think also what I found is when you are not super clear about what’s included in your work together. So I get even down to the details of, you know, you get in this phase 2 to 3 60 minute strategy sessions, or in this phase we get a workshop with up to this many people, and these are the deliverables. So it’s super clear and people are great. You know people agree to this before you say yes, but when you don’t have that, then this leads to scope creep, which is the second piece that you named. I was literally talking to a clients the other day or prospective client, and she’s been a consultant, a very successful consultant for many years. And with that, she was super, super burnt out like this, more freedom and, you know, more spaciousness and all this is it was the opposite.

Diara Parker 00:44:16  And it was because she had, number one, an hourly approach, and also because she didn’t have like a product or an offer that she was delivering to her clients. So she was customizing all these things. And then even when she wasn’t customizing, you know, it wasn’t really clear what people were getting. And so they would ask her, hey, can you do this now? Or. And so then she ended up becoming an interim, like, you know, c CMO with them. And she was exhausted because there wasn’t like a frame or agreements on how they were going to work together beforehand and detail. And she wanted to help, right? Like we get into consulting and coaching because we really care about what we’re doing and we want to help and be of service. But it ended up just having her pulled in all these directions and it wasn’t helpful for her or the client. So having this very specific offer and very clear offer is helpful for you. It’s scalable, but it’s also helpful for the client.

Diara Parker 00:45:09  It’s like, okay, cool, this is what we’re working towards. This is how we keep ourselves accountable and on track. So yeah, it’s win win.

Chloe Dechow 00:45:16  Yeah, absolutely. So cool. So cool that you help people figure this out.

Diara Parker 00:45:20  I love it.

Chloe Dechow 00:45:21  It can be challenging to be like, okay, yes. Now I’m committing to starting a business or starting a side hustle or going full time into business or adding this offer. But we can often go, okay, I’ve committed, which is awesome. It’s a huge shift, but then it’s like, okay, where the hell do I start? And then we can get really stuck in the how of all of it. How do I do this now? And to have somebody who can really guide you strategically through that process and chat through the mind set pieces that might be getting you stuck is really, really fantastic. So as we wrap up, what is one key takeaway you would love the listeners to walk away with today?

Diara Parker 00:45:58  I would say the one key takeaway is super short.

Diara Parker 00:46:04  It’s do you so do the work that you want to do, live the life that you want to live, move to the place that you want to move to have kids or not like do whatever feels good and fulfilling to you because you are the only one who’s living your life. Lots of people will have opinions, lots of people will have feedback, but it’s not their life, it’s not their worlds. And I have found so much fulfillment and so much joy and so much expansion from just doing something that feels good to me. And that’s also, I think, doing some, some cool things in the world as well. So yeah. Do you and find join the journey because it’s not easy. Whatever path you take, you stay in a 9 to 5. You build a consulting business. You you go into having a yoga studio, whatever it is, right? Like life has its ups and downs and, you know, so having an anchor of I’m working towards this larger vision and this is fully aligned like this is a yes in terms of what I want to do, regardless of what other people think or say, that is going to keep you anchored and expanding and feeling the joy even in the hard moments.

Diara Parker 00:47:19  So just do you and yeah, be unapologetic about it, I love that.

Chloe Dechow 00:47:25  Thank you for being a living, breathing example of that.

Diara Parker 00:47:30  Thank you.

Chloe Dechow 00:47:31  If somebody wants to know more about you and coLiberate Ventures, where can they find out more information and get in contact?

Diara Parker 00:47:41  Yes. So they can go to coliberate.ventures, which is our website, coLiberate Ventures, and you can also find me on LinkedIn. Dara Parker I’m very active on LinkedIn, so feel free to send me a DM. You’ll hear from me directly. I would love to chat. If you have questions about this or want to talk about it more, we can definitely hop on a virtual coffee. I’m like very into just networking and and learning more about people who are doing cool things in the world are wanting to do cool things. So yeah, LinkedIn for sure. And also collaborative ventures.

Chloe Dechow 00:48:12  Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on, sharing about this huge transition that you’ve had, both in terms of entrepreneurship and taking on the digital nomad lifestyle, moving abroad, and just sharing all that you’ve learned in the process of doing that, and how these listeners today can take a couple practical things and get started on mining for their career capital, and thinking about what offers would bring them joy and feel fully aligned and abundant for them.

Chloe Dechow 00:48:45  So thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for joining me today. If you enjoyed this episode, invite your entrepreneur friends to tune in. Don’t forget to connect with me on Instagram at West Haven Coaching. I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on today’s episode and continue the conversation with you there. And before you go, be sure to download my free guide, Five Steps to Building Your Authentic Authority, which will walk you through how to grow your thought leadership in a way that’s true to who you are and what you stand for. You can find the guide at www.westhavecoaching.com/steps or follow the link in the show notes. Thanks again for tuning in. Together we are changing the faces and voices of thought leadership. Until next time, keep leading with authenticity and impact.