Ben Blankenship Full Interview Transcript
The Path to Self-Employment
AJ: Welcome to this episode of the Thriving Through Podcast. Today, my guest is Ben Blankenship. Ben, I'm so delighted to have you on the podcast.
Ben: AJ, thank you for inviting me, I appreciate it.
AJ: I have a series of questions that I love to ask all my podcast guests, and it starts with, how long have you been self-employed?
Ben: Sure, I've been self-employed for about 9 years.
AJ: And what was your path to becoming a self-employed consultant?
Ben: The path involved what stirred in me, my inspiration to become self-employed. And that was, I wanted to own my own calendar, and I wanted to be able to leverage a lot of my good ideas, or I thought were good ideas. And, to have more creative control over my life.
In my actual path, I continued to be employed while I started my business, and then I worked until I had enough revenue generating where I felt comfortable, one, proof of concept, and then two, where there wasn't so much of a gap in income generation that I could afford to take some risk, and so that's how I chose to do it.
AJ: Which is probably the wisest route. It's certainly the least anxiety-producing, is to do the side hustle.
Ben: Yeah, yeah.
AJ: So how long were you juggling full-time and getting your business up and running?
Ben: About a year, I suppose, and the business ramped up pretty quickly. I think what I do is in demand. And, so, yeah, my opportunity scaled it pretty quickly, and I was very ready to leap and do my own thing after a year.
The Power of Curiosity
AJ: What has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a consultant?
Ben: Curiosity.
AJ: Oh, okay, I love that.
Ben: Curiosity is an engine for opening doors, for inspiring creativity and innovation, for solving problems, for developing relationships, for resolving conflict. I am a huge believer, it is my number one core value. And it is my number one filter for wanting to work with or not work with a prospective client. If they don't have curiosity, I will likely not work with them.
AJ: How do you tell? How do you determine that?
Ben: Just like you and I are doing right now, asking questions, and you can tell if somebody's curious, or if they think they have everything all figured out, and those are the kinds of people that they probably won't listen very well, and they probably will not receive new ideas and information, and they probably don't pursue new ideas and information very well.
AJ: In the coaching space, you'd say they're not coachable.
Ben: That's exactly right.
Overcoming Business Challenges
AJ: Tell us a story or two about the biggest challenges that you faced building your practice over the last 8 or 9 years, and how you've overcome them.
Ben: You know, sometimes revenue gets lumpy. The reality is that you might not always have all of your clients. You're pretty well guaranteed you won't. I know that I have had some of my clients for many, many years, but others have moved on. It was the right thing for them to do. I encouraged most of that. And sometimes you get things started, and you realize there's not a good fit, and you know, both parties need to go a different direction. And so, with the lumpy revenue, I came to the realization that I can never not be in BD mode, business development mode.
And so I learned to always keep my eyes really open, and understand that every single conversation, every person that I visit with, could be an opportunity, whether it's with them, or, tangentially, through them. That it could lead to, you know what, you need to speak with Ben Blankenship. He does some things that would benefit your organization. And it's really benefited me well.
So I also learned to ask for referrals. So after a win with existing clients, I ask for referrals. It would mean a lot to me if you have anybody in your orbit that you think would benefit, would also benefit from my support. And, you know, I would say 8 times out of 10, they have a name or 3. And they will pick up the phone or send an email with a warm introduction, and that's something else I've learned over time, to ask for the referral.
AJ: Those are really important, and a lot of consultants don't follow those. The importance of business development, you're doing it all the time if you want to have a pipeline. If you don't want to have lumpy income, I like the way you described that. And then also, I hear so many consultants say, "Well, they'll just refer me. You know, I should." to ask, without any prompting. It's like, well, why would you expect that? People are busy. They can be really happy with your work you did for them, and it wouldn't occur to them to refer you unless you ask.
Ben: Well, and they don't know if you're looking for business or not. For all I know, you have a full plate, and you're happy, and you're good to go, right?
AJ: Right. Yeah.
Key Learnings and Business Growth
AJ: So those are some important learnings, but I'm going to ask another question about learnings. Is there what else have been your biggest learnings?
Ben: Sure, I mean, you've used the word learning a couple times, and the other reality of being a consultant, and then more specifically speaking about myself that I've realized is a business coach, is I have to be a voracious learner. And so I am always looking for opportunities to gain new perspective, to challenge the way that I'm thinking, to break confirmation bias, because I owe it to my clients to have fresh perspective, right?
So, I would say that, learning is another big reality, being in most consulting jobs. I'd say also that, you gotta get, you have to administer your business. Like, when you own your own business, there's some required business administration, and it's important to get it done, and it's important to put time on your schedule, and just do it. It's not anybody's favorite thing to do. And I have plenty of friends who own their own businesses, whether solopreneurs or they have a team of people, and you know what? I think it's all of our least favorite thing to do. Just get it done.
AJ: But you are a business owner.
Ben: There are certain things I would say another thing I've learned is that we all need help. Right? And so, I have an executive assistant, and it's taking me four attempts to find the right person, so you don't always find the right person the first time. And I would also say that you reap what you sow. So, providing clear expectations, and being patient, and making sure that you provide good feedback on a regular basis will result in getting better and better outcomes from your team. That applies to any team, any individual, but I have found that working with my EA in that manner has really helped a lot. And so, I more and more lean on her to help support me, and I've been giving her more and more. I've been delegating more.
I think that's a very important skill to learn in any position, but as a business owner in particular, it's very important to learn to delegate. And so I'd say that's another lesson learned, is become a really good delegator. Get some help and delegate.
Building Your Team
AJ: How long have you had your EA? You said you 4 rounds. At what point in your consulting did you say, I've really got to get some help?
Ben: Yeah, I would say it was probably about 3 years in. I still had that mentality from year 0 to 3 that I had to do it all myself. Interestingly enough, I coach other businesses to get help, and to find people, and to delegate, and to all the things that I wasn't doing myself, right? I wasn't taking my own medicine.
And so, finally, after about 3 years, I started taking my own medicine, and I've always worked with virtual EAs, and I started working with an organization in the Philippines, and what I learned about the kind of work that I do is that that was not a good fit. It could be a really good fit for some people, depending on what you need them to do.
So tried that, and then I had a great relationship with my third VA, but her life changed, and so I needed to look for another replacement, and she actually helped me find my replacement, who is fantastic, and we've been working together for quite some time now.
AJ: And, is she U.S.-based? Tell me a little bit more about how because the Philippines is a very common place that business coaches recommend for VAs. What was it that made it not a fit for you?
Ben: I think one is I need a client-facing, I need some client-facing support, and I was running into some linguistic issues. And that there are no linguistic issues if the communication is mostly written. But when you get into speech communication, that can become challenging. And when I'm asking for somebody to repeat themselves several times, and I'm a safe space, right? That, you know, it's probably not going to translate well to my client interface.
AJ: Right. That was that was a big driver. Also, the Philippines has 12 hours difference. Right. That's huge.
Ben: Right? My EAs, if they were working my hours, were exhausted. I ran into another situation where one of my EAs was going to school during their daytime, our nighttime. And then during their shift with me, you know, they would continue like, they barely slept. That's the punchline. And so I was getting sub-performance because they were sleep-deprived.
And so, you know, I think that there are a lot of good things that can happen. I think, like, one of the strongest cases for having that outsourced offshore support is they can do work when we're asleep. So if it's that kind of work, that is a fantastic formula, right? You wake up, and you have new work product to review. So, yeah, I think that it's a good fit in certain situations, and maybe not in others.
Business Development Strategies
AJ: I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about some of the business development stuff. What is your most reliable source of new leads right now? The one strategy or channel that you can, you know, that is predictably and consistently brings in leads.
Ben: Number one is happy clients. Hands down. And I think if you word it right, to help them understand that it doesn't need to be necessarily that they even have to have the right answer for a prospective client, but maybe they have somebody in their network that they'd like to introduce you to, who might be one of those multipliers, right? So, for example, maybe, like, in a business coaching world, and this could actually apply to other types of consultants, but maybe my client has a strong relationship with a PE firm.
And PE firms own portfolio companies. They have, oftentimes, many, many companies, right? And so that one relationship could result in one or several opportunities. So that's an example. So, I think it's important to have a conversation. It's just not a quick one-off, hey, happy client, would you refer me to a prospect who wants my services? Maybe it's hey, could you think of anybody in your network that I should be speaking with who might help me navigate expanding my network, or identify other prospective clients, and, you know, maybe help open up their mind a little bit, too? Because as you said, AJ, like, they're in their day-to-day grind. They're doing their jobs. They're not thinking about how you expand your business, so you need to help them out a little bit.
AJ: What makes this work better than other things that you've tried?
Ben: Well, let's see, so because of results. Like, you know, the results talk. And I have my own video podcast. I call it Ounce of Wisdom, and it's on YouTube. It's burgeoning. It's just getting it started this year. And posting to LinkedIn, so I'm doing some of that, and getting some excitement from that. But you know, that might inspire curiosity, and occasionally it might inspire somebody to reach out to say, I'd like to connect. But it's not quite as direct a fit as having one of my happy clients say, you need to talk to this person, right?
So that's one example of something that I'm working towards, but it just hasn't really panned out yet. I'll tell you another thing that has worked out, though, and that is, I became a certified exit planning advisor. So, through my learning, my commitment to learn and grow, I received another certification.
And so that additional certification equated to a whole new network of people, right? And so, this whole new network of people, then I understood, okay. Some of these people in this network need me. They need my kind of advice, my kind of consultancy to help their work.
And so, I just started networking through this new Certified Exit Planning Advisor Network, and realized that, in my case, wealth advisors really want to know me. Many of them have clients who own businesses, and those businesses probably need some help. Many do. And, so I started networking with wealth advisors and saying, hey, I'd like you to know who I am, and what I do, and how I do it. So, that engine is really getting kicked off right now. So that's kind of the second best, is getting another certification, and two, really leveraging that new network to look for new business, I would say.
The social media piece, frankly, AJ, some people are doing it great, and I bet you are. But, like, I can't figure out how to make Instagram work for me to save my life. I think YouTube and LinkedIn, like, I understand that, right? So I'm and I realized that, you know, even if only a handful of people click like, respond to your posting. Like, the repetition and consistency is important.
So, you know, if you ask me a year from now, maybe I'll have a different answer about the whole social media piece. But yeah, I would say that, number one, warm referrals, and number two is probably, like, look for new networks.
AJ: You know, it's funny about social media that it's kind of the seems like it would be the easy way to get to market and maybe in the early days it was. But now, it is, to me, it's a credibility, it's a brand authority, you know, it helps you develop your go-to preeminent brand authority positioning.
But I certainly I haven't even gone to Instagram. I only focus on LinkedIn, and it I mean, for me, and I've worked really hard at it and taken courses in it, I don't think it's a particularly good lead generator for consultants and coaches.
Ben: You may be right. I tell you what, there are a lot of folks that reach out to me that promise to give me hot leads all the time, and I haven't bitten. So I don't know if that's a real thing or not.
I know, though, that, you know, we all have our different brands, right? How we the feeling we want to convey, about what we do, who we are, how we do it? And I've been really cautious about kind of the spamming, if you will, like, over-communicating. I'm concerned I don't want to cheapen my image, and I am really concerned that if I if I do, like, a drip campaign and it's too pushy, that it might cheapen my value, my image, and that's just me. So that's one of the reasons why I've been careful about how I interact with LinkedIn as an example.
AJ: That's how you and I connected. But it was me offering you the opportunity to be on the podcast. It wasn't saying, you know, hire me or pay to be a podcast guest, so hopefully there was an intrigue, a bit of value added that gave us a chance to have a conversation with each other and determine if you were, you know, if it made sense.
Ben: Well, if I recall, AJ, you reached out directly to me, right? I think that that unless unless I don't understand how there are some bots that are out there now that can make it feel genuine, but but I was like, okay, so somebody is reaching out to me, they want to know me, and I think that that's good, authentic, genuine networking, right? And and you offered me an opportunity to have a meaningful discussion. And so, I think that was great.
That reminds me, though, of you know, something else that I've found myself sensitive to. I haven't changed my behavior yet, but when when people just want to add you to their network, but they're not willing like, oftentimes I'll say, hey, yeah, thank you so much for reaching out to Connect. Why are you finding it interesting? Why would you like to connect with me? What do you like about my background? Sometimes I'll just go ahead and accept the connection, but I get no reply at all.
AJ: Right. That's pretty common, yeah.
Ben: Right? And that's that's kind of frustrating. That that does not say, I want an authentic relationship. It says, I want to get into your feed, right?
AJ: Right. Yeah, exactly. And it's amazing how low the response you know, the percentages that respond when you connect with them.
Ben: Yeah.
Tools and Systems
AJ: That was interesting. Well, I want to move on. I want to know what systems or tools have been game changers for you in managing your consulting practice?
Ben: Oh, wow.
AJ: So, I am a toolaholic.
Ben: I am always I'm always looking for for tools for myself and my clients, like, constantly shopping for tools for my clients, and all of them already have many that they bring to the table.
But, so I'm a scaling-up business coach, and so we have some tools in our in our toolkit that are unique for us, but I'll explain some of them to you. So, number one, and you asked for managing my business, but this really is part of managing my business, is how I how I gain clients. I have a scaling up team assessment.
And I will do that assessment for free for one organization under one ownership. You know, some people own multiple businesses. And I will send that assessment to the CEO slash owner and their senior leadership team. And the results the resulting report is a very comprehensive here's the health of your team. It's based on scaling up. So we talk about people, strategy, execution, and cash.
And so it breaks down the organizational health in those categories. There are about 60 questions across those 4 categories, and it compares the CEO to a peer group of similar revenue size and a similar industry, and as well, it compares the CEO to their leadership team. And what you see, you find gaps. You find gaps in how each of them answers specific questions. For example, how effective is your organization with retaining top talent, right?
Sometimes, AJ, I'm seeing the CEO as saying a 3, and the chief people officer is saying a 9. It's probably a problem there, right? There's a wide gap, and so each one of those gaps is an opportunity for a conversation. And so I use that tool, then, to walk the team through some of these major gaps, and then I say would you like to have an opportunity to work with a business coach? And so it's a that's something else I've learned, is you give to get, and so I give something of value, and show exhibit some of my skills and abilities, and then and then the organization has an opportunity to hire me as a business coach. So, that's one tool, and other consultants can come up with their own assessments, of course, right?
But the concept of providing some real data, some real good observations to a prospect, I think is an effective way of catching their attention and giving them a preview into what it might be like to work with you.
AJ: You know what's so great about that? Is you're learning about them, you're helping them understan
