Seven Figure Consultant with Jessica Fearnley

Guest Bio

Joanna Lott is a business coach who helps qualified coaches attract clients with honesty, not hype.

As the host of The Women in the Coaching Arena, a top 2.5% globally ranked show, she provides practical strategies to help coaches grow thriving, sustainable businesses.

With a track record of successfully selling executive, career and business coaching services to both organisations and individuals, Joanna has now supported hundreds of coaches in building profitable, integrity-driven businesses through strategic marketing.

She is an ICF Associate Certified Coach and holds an ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching & Mentoring, bringing a wealth of practical experience and professional expertise to her work.

200: Learning the Art of Self-Trust as a Leader in Your Consulting Business

✨ We made it. Episode 200. ✨

That’s 200 conversations, reflections, truth-bombs, mindset shifts, and gently delivered mic drops.

200 episodes of holding space for ambitious women B2B consultants who are done with burnout and ready for sustainable, soul-aligned success.

Honestly? Hitting 200 episodes feels like a big milestone. Not because of the number - though it’s a good one - but because of what it represents.

Years of walking alongside you. Of speaking into the void and trusting that the right women would find these words at just the right time.

And they have.

To celebrate, we’re re-releasing one of the most-loved episodes we’ve ever shared.

This one’s all about self-trust.

Because the deeper I go into this work, the more I see how central self-trust is to everything we want to create. Not just in our consulting businesses, but in how we live, lead, and be.

In this episode, I unpack themes like:

Radical non-attachment (yes, even to our biggest goals)
Letting go of external validation (no more gold stars, thank you very much)
Learning to root our confidence internally, rather than chasing it in client feedback or bank balances

It’s an invitation to loosen your grip on outcomes and instead, lean into trust. Trust in your value. Trust in your process. Trust in the bigger picture.

Because when you stop white-knuckling and start listening to your intuition?

That’s when it gets really good.

This episode is for the women who are ready to stop playing small, stop waiting for permission, and start moving from a place of quiet power and unshakable belief in what they’re here to do.

Here’s to the next 200.

Let’s keep growing, gently and powerfully.

Quotes:

“Even in a corporate facing consultancy business, by setting our value internally and by practicing radical attachment, I am convinced we set ourselves up to receive more than we can even imagine. Because think about it - It means we can try stuff in our businesses and fail and not be crushed.”

“We can learn more. We can reach out for the wisdom of others. We can get the support we need to make good decisions. We can hire people with expertise that complements our own. But most of all, we can trust ourselves to make the decision we need to make. Even if we don't get it right the first time.”

“When we make the source of our fulfillment and happiness something that's external to us, for example, I have to get this job, I have to get that contract, that award, that relationship, that connection in my network… when we make this something external to us, we become completely powerless. Whereas the flip side of this, allowing our source of fulfillment to be something internal to us, we become powerful.”

Useful Links

Get in touch with Jessica to discuss your consulting business

Leave a rating and review for the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast

Leah’s website - SmartGetsPaid.com

TIME SENSITIVE - Workshop Happening This Week!

Come and join me for an extra-special live workshop I’m hosting this Friday 16th May that you won’t want to miss if you’re a 6 - 7 figure woman consultant.

The workshop is called How To Thrive As a B2B Consultant In Any Economy (Yes, even in 2025), and during this intimate session we will be covering:

The proven business model I've taught for the last 10 years - used by my clients right now to land six-figure corporate consulting contracts, even in this economy this month
How to still hit your revenue goals - even when you can't predict where your next client is coming from or how many sales are coming in this year
How to stay calm, clear, and cash-ready - even when the world feels chaotic and everyone around you is spiraling in fear and anxiety

Your ticket also includes a 30 minute strategy call 1:1 with me to nail down your action plan and work out next steps.

If you’re serious about thriving, not just surviving, in 2025, you won’t want to miss it!

Find out more and register at jessicafearnley.com/event

199: How Getting Clients is Changing in 2025 with Leah Neaderthal

In this week’s episode of the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast, I’m delighted to welcome back Leah Neaderthal, a sales coach for women consultants and the founder of Smart Gets Paid.

We talked about the shifting landscape of client acquisition in the US, particularly in light of the political and economic climate of 2025, focusing on the importance of resilience and maintaining a positive mindset.

We shared personal anecdotes and strategies for overcoming external challenges, encouraging you to stay focused on your goals while fostering a supportive, growth-oriented environment.

In This Episode:

[00:00:00] Leah shares her journey from corporate marketing to becoming a sales coach for women consultants.

[00:03:30] Discussion on narrowing down the niche and discovering a target audience. Leah explains her evolution in focusing on women consultants after initially targeting small businesses.

[00:07:12] Leah shares her experience with changing her hair color to grey during the pandemic and its significance, reflecting on the impact of hair color on self-perception and business identity.

[00:12:52] Evolving client acquisition strategies in 2025 and how political and economic changes influence client perceptions and business strategies.

[00:15:13] The importance of providing a supportive environment for clients amidst uncertainty.

[00:16:17] Leah encourages business leaders to maintain a positive outlook and drive forward despite challenges.

[00:17:28] Jessica shares her experience of facing a challenging year in 2020 but ultimately growing her business significantly.

[00:18:42] Discussion on how negative narratives can hinder business success and the importance of maintaining a positive mindset.

[00:20:05] Exploring how entrepreneurs can adapt and respond effectively during crises instead of succumbing to fear.

[00:22:04] The need for a relentless approach in achieving business goals, moving beyond mere trust in success.

[00:25:10] The importance of positioning services as essential solutions rather than optional benefits during uncertain times.

[00:29:08] Tactical advice for consultants to leverage their insights and adjust offerings to meet the immediate needs of clients.

[00:33:49] The power of resilience among entrepreneurs to navigate challenges and maintain control over their business outlook.

[00:35:23] Insights on how many consultants thrived during the pandemic despite initial fears and the need for proactive women consultants to succeed in changing markets.

Key Takeaways:

"Be a Painkiller, Not a Vitamin" - Position your services as essential problem-solvers, not just nice-to-haves. Clients still invest in urgent, high-value outcomes, especially during uncertain times.
Leah's watchword of this year is ‘relentless’ - not just trusting goals will happen, but actively and consistently pursuing them with drive and purpose.
Fear-based narratives can hold you back. Instead of waiting or shrinking your goals, move forward with intention. Your mindset shapes your results.
When you show up authentically, your business thrives. Clients respond to real, confident leadership.

Quotes:

"I think it's a really amazing opportunity this year to play the mindset game of our lifetimes, because that's the opportunity, isn't it? That comes when the world is just a little bit unpredictable." - Jessica Fearnley

“On a number of levels, there is some fear, of course. There's some grief. There's some rage. And I think our responsibility and our opportunity as the leaders of the spaces that we hold is to let that come out and create a safe space for that. And yet, I love what your members are saying, which is ‘I want to also hold this space as a space where we don't have to wallow in it’, because I think that it can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” - Leah Neaderthal

"We don't always need to make it like an all or nothing where the only options are survival as if nothing's happened or complete catastrophe. Often it's a matter of degrees. We can course correct. If we can't be agile as entrepreneurs and consultants, then honestly, who can? We have this ability to change things." - Jessica Fearnley

"A lot of women out there are talking about their work in what we might consider a vitamin, not a painkiller. Everybody knows they need to take their vitamins, but if you go to the store and you forget your vitamins, you'll just pick them up next time. Whereas if you have a real pain, you will go to the store and you will get pain relief, because you're solving a pain in that moment. That's how we need to be thinking about how we position our work, especially right now because clients will solve their pain, but they will not purchase a vitamin." - Leah Neaderthal

Useful Links

Leah:

Smart Gets Paid Podcast

Smart Gets Paid Podcast - Episode 114 - ‘Don’t let the economy kill your business – do this instead’

Connect with Leah on LinkedIn

Jessica:

Buy Jessica’s book, Too Much, on Amazon

Get in touch with Jessica to discuss your consulting business

Leave a rating and review for the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast

Guest Bio

Leah Neaderthal is a sales coach for women consultants, and she’s the founder of Smart Gets Paid.

A three-time business owner who started her career in corporate marketing, Leah didn’t learn to sell by being a commissioned salesperson. Instead, she taught herself everything she could about selling, overcame “selling shyness,” and created a sales approach that feels comfortable, builds strong client relationships, and gets results.

Now she shares the secrets she learned along the way, teaching women how to get the right consulting clients and get paid more for every consulting contract in her program, The Academy.

She’s also the host of The Smart Gets Paid podcast, where listeners go behind the scenes into her actual calls with clients where Leah is tackling their biggest sales challenges, and they can learn sales strategies they can use in their businesses. You can find The Smart Gets Paid podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

Before starting Smart Gets Paid, Leah built, grew, and sold three businesses. Learn more about Leah at smartgetspaid.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

198: How To Navigate Your Business In Uncertain Times

This episode was originally broadcast in March 2020 but I wanted to share it again because so much of it is just as relevant this year. We are facing uncertainty with huge shifts happening that we cannot control. But that doesn’t mean this year will be bad for your business - and it’s actually a really key time for developing your mindset and training ourselves to see opportunities.

For me, relistening to this episode has also been a powerful reminder that we got through 2020 with all its challenges, so we know we will also get through 2025.

In this episode, I talk about:

The impact your mindset will have on your business and your day-to-day experience, and how to take control of that.
How to move past fear and disbelief and into acceptance and planning.
How staying calm and looking for opportunities will help your business survive (and even thrive).
The importance of staying connected with others.
But not too connected (especially to social media).

There’s disruption, chaos, and fear around us, but we do have the capacity to respond, adjust and move on.

If you’re worried about how your consulting business is going to adapt to the current situation, please get in touch and let’s discuss how I can help.

Quotes:

“There will always be things that are unknown, things that we can't control, and we will always need to be ready to make changes in a business to accommodate the external factors that we can't control. This is a core strength in a business to be able to adapt to changing market conditions, and it's important that we don't let current events, whatever scenarios might be playing out, scare us and stop us in our tracks.”

“So often when we have that feeling of overwhelm, we attribute it to the wrong things and we see what we expect to see. If you're looking for chaos, you will find it. But we need to shift our mindset so that we're able to see the opportunities that are opening up right now.”

“It's so tempting to sit and complain and do exactly nothing that will help. But businesses that survive are the ones that face the reality. Ask the difficult questions and make a plan to mitigate the impact of the issues you're up against.”

Useful Links

Get in touch with Jessica to discuss your consulting business

Leave a rating and review for the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast

Sherry’s website - sherrylukey.com

197: Client Showcase: Understanding the Impact of Trauma on Success and Connection with Sherry Lukey

In this week’s episode of the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast, I interviewed my wonderful client, Sherry Lukey, an extraordinary executive and life coach who helps successful professionals worldwide unlock their full potential, cultivate meaningful relationships, and create a life of purpose, peace, and presence.

Sherry shared her inspiring journey into the world of coaching, emphasizing how trauma can significantly impact both personal and professional success.

We talked about the disconnect between outward success and internal struggles, especially within corporate environments, plus the importance of creating safe spaces for healing and exploring how the subconscious mind plays a crucial role in shaping our beliefs.

In this episode:

[00:00:00] Sherry shares her journey into coaching, influenced by her family dynamics.
[00:02:59] The disconnect between outward success and internal struggles faced by clients.
[00:06:52] The feelings of isolation experienced by successful individuals in corporate environments.
[00:10:07] The difference between conscious and subconscious minds and their roles in trauma.
[00:11:34] Discussion on the different types of trauma and the ingredients that contribute to it.
[00:13:27] Insights on how early experiences shape negative narratives about oneself.
[00:16:16] Discussion on the disconnect between rational thought and bodily feelings related to safety and trauma.
[00:17:16] How addressing trauma can transform long-standing patterns and behaviors in clients.
[00:18:24] Creating safe environments for deep coaching work and personal transformation.
[00:21:58] Advice on conducting body scans to maintain awareness of emotional states throughout the day.
[00:23:36] Discussion on how women often feel guilt for others' emotions and strategies to overcome this.
[00:24:32] The dangers of taking on others' emotions and the need for clients to experience their own breakthroughs.
[00:26:10] Challenges faced in pricing coaching services appropriately for transformative work.
[00:29:14] Discussion on the disparity in pricing between genders in coaching and the need for women to charge appropriately.
[00:31:59] Sherry discusses her decision to double her prices and the mental challenge behind it.
[00:34:35] The hidden struggles of seemingly successful individuals.
[00:35:06] The value of understanding everyone's unique story behind their success.
[00:36:27] The importance of women achieving financial independence and success.

Key Takeaways:

Healing trauma unlocks success. Many high-achieving women unknowingly hold themselves back due to past experiences that created deep-seated fears around visibility and success.
Trauma isn't just 'big' events. Trauma can stem from experiences that left us feeling shocked, isolated, and powerless - even if they don’t seem significant from the outside.
The subconscious mind runs the show. While we may consciously want success, our subconscious fears can sabotage us - like avoiding opportunities, procrastinating, or feeling deep discomfort when we try to step up.
Women tend to ‘freeze’ or ‘fawn’ under stress. Instead of fight or flight, many women default to people-pleasing or shutting down, which keeps them stuck in unhealthy patterns.
Your next level is waiting - if you’re willing to claim it. Success often requires shifting from ‘Why me?’ to ‘Why not me?’ and confidently stepping into your worth. Once you change your internal narrative, everything else shifts.

Quotes:

“It's certainly something that I think all of us as coaches see, we have clients who come to us and they are so outstanding as individuals. They have this amazing potential, and quite often they have things that are already going really well. But for whatever reason, there are these deep traumas sometimes really holding them back and old narratives that don't serve them, but everything just feels completely tangled up and they can't move forward.” - Jessica Fearnley

“We can heal trauma and we can have patterns that have plagued us for decades. You always kind of know that you're destined for great things, and every time it's in front of you, you manage to swerve. But to actually be able to heal those patterns, it changes everything.” - Jessica Fearnley

“When the subconscious perceives a threat, whether it be real or perceived, that stress response comes on and then your options are fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. And fawn being people pleasing, which is one of the things that women really, really tend to do.” - Sherry Lukey

“What people don't realize is that really a trauma at any level has three ingredients. One is shock, it's sort of like you've been blindsided, something that just totally came out of nowhere, a feeling of isolation and a feeling of powerlessness. And if you have those three ingredients, you end up with trauma.” - Sherry Lukey

“People have to break down to break through. And so by you taking that on, you're actually preventing their breakthrough. And it completely turns it on its head to be like, ‘oh, this is a massive disservice to take this on for someone’ because you subconsciously and energetically, you're actually saying to them ‘you're not capable of handling this. So I'm going to handle it for you’.” - Sherry Lukey

Useful Links

Sherry:

Jessica:

Buy Jessica’s book, Too Much, on Amazon

Get in touch with Jessica to discuss your consulting business

Leave a rating and review for the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast

Jessica’s LinkedIn

Guest Bio

Sherry Lukey is an extraordinary executive and life coach who helps successful professionals worldwide unlock their full potential, cultivate meaningful relationships, and create a life of purpose, peace, and presence. Using her unique expertise and Tap into Power Method™, she guides clients to break free from deep-rooted subconscious patterns and biases, empowering them to lead confidently and leave a legacy.

Sherry's expertise has been showcased in top media outlets like Forbes, Beyond the Couch, and the Fearless and Successful podcasts. She captivates audiences with powerful presentations, expertly moderates events, and delivers game-changing insights on panels.

When she's not empowering leaders to lead with greater compassion for themselves and others, you'll find her pursuing her passions for personal growth and pottery in her home studio. She shares a beautiful life in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband of thirty-seven years and takes immense pride in being the mother of adult twin daughters.

Join my Book Launch Party!

On Thursday 20th March I’m hosting an online book launch party for my newly released book, Too Much. And I would love you to come and join us!

I’m going to be speaking about the book, sharing some of my favourite things from the book, and we’re also making it a networking call where you can come and connect with other B2B consultants serving corporates.

My goal is that this is a really fun session where you can connect with others, make some new professional contacts and talk about the book!

RSVP for the Book Launch Party

Buy the book on Amazon

196: Radical Self Acceptance - How to Achieve Your Big Goals Without Burning Out

In this episode of the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast, we dive into what it takes for women B2B consultants to scale from six to seven figures. Pulling from my new book, “Too Much”, I talk about finding the balance between self improvement and radical self acceptance.

Join me as I share insights from my coaching experience, shining a light on the emotional challenges high achieving women face and how to embrace ambition without fear of burnout.

Quotes:

“Radical self improvement is great. It drives us forward powerfully. It's the engine for all of the amazing things we achieve. But radical self improvement isn't usually kind. It doesn't go easy on us. We actually don't need to learn how to push ourselves as high achievers, especially when you have a corporate background. What we need to learn is how to be kind to ourselves.”

“When we match our radical self improvement with radical self acceptance, we change the narrative of growth as being hard and punishing to growth being natural, gentle, beautiful, and deeply, deeply expansive.”

“I have this inner drill sergeant who barks orders at me all day, and I know you probably do as well. Get up early, eat healthily, be at your desk by 9am, be productive, be more productive, do your workout… and it just goes on all day, like that. And one of the foundational premises with radical self improvement, if we strip it back, is that we do it from a place of feeling like not enough.”

Useful Links

Get in touch with Jessica to discuss your consulting business

Leave a rating and review for the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast

195: My Book, Too Much, is Available to Buy on Amazon!!!

In this week’s episode of the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast, I’m thrilled to announce the release of my new book, Too Much!

As a business coach dedicated to empowering women B2B consultants and thought leaders, I share my journey as a writer and the inspiration that fueled this project.

Throughout the book, I explore the common feeling many women experience of being "too much" and how it can shape our entrepreneurial paths and our lives. The book is a powerful exploration of the challenges women face in entrepreneurship and the journey toward self-acceptance and empowerment, with guidance on how to actually take the steps towards changing your life and business.

Tune in for a sneak preview of the book!

Quotes:

“What I noticed in the work I was doing in the early years of my business, was that my clients came to me for strategy and tactics, but they were very often not able to action the plans we made because their resistance got in the way.”

“The emotional element of the work I do has become really 3 dimensional over the last 5 years, so that was another thing that made me realise, ok I think it might be time to write a book. … The evolution of that PLUS the emotional element of my work, the trauma-informed approaches, dealing with our hard emotions, and finding ways to not get blocked. It’s really been such an important development. And it’s fundamentally changed the work I do - I coach on a completely different level now to what I did before.”

“And then that naturally evolved into this logical sequence in my brain of ‘wait, if I feel like too much, sure they can go and look for less, but doesn’t that also put the onus on ME to go and find more’. … The more I spoke about this with entrepreneurs, because we are the ones who have often left our careers because we just can’t make it work or it costs us too much to spend a lifetime trying to be smaller to fit into the corporate landscape and hierarchy, it just became clear that this is a concept that really resonates.”

Useful Links

Get in touch with Jessica to discuss your consulting business

Leave a rating and review for the Seven Figure Consultant Podcast