#61 The Jessica Lackey Route

In this episode, Jessica Lackey, a business strategist and educator, shares her remarkable career journey from high-level roles at McKinsey and Nike to building her own thriving business. Jessica reflects on the turning point when she realized corporate life wasn’t for her, leading her to become an entrepreneur. She discusses the challenges of transitioning from corporate roles to consulting and how she leveraged her personal networks to build a successful business.Jessica also talks about her unique approach to business growth, emphasizing the importance of focusing on revenue first, rather than simply growing an audience. She explains how she deliberately optimized for profit and has continued to scale her business without relying heavily on social media or viral content. Jessica shares her thoughts on building authority over time, discussing how it takes years to establish a reputation that truly drives long-term success.(00:00) Intro(00:52) Two career-changing breaking points(01:07) Nike burnout story and realization(02:50) Rebuilding identity after corporate life(03:17) COVID wake-up call for Jessica(04:45) Side hustle reality: lessons learned(06:01) First clients acquired through networks(07:18) Juggling three part-time consulting gigs(11:01) Building authority through strong relationships(12:33) Developing an ecosystem of offers(16:25) Serving the mid-market for success(22:42) Prioritizing foundational business frameworks(26:15) Building a five-year business flywheel(43:13) Building authority takes time and consistency(46:44) Small audience driving big revenueFollow Jessica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-lackey/Check out Deeper Foundations: https://deeperfoundations.com/—Build a repeatable inbound motion and stabilize your revenue: ⁠https://duoconsulting.co/⁠Each week, we share a new framework, concept, or example of how solopreneurs are scaling from $25,000 to $60,000+ per month: ​​⁠https://www.howsolosscale.com/⁠