Acing Your First Year with Jacqui Miller
04/11/24 • 31 min
That first year after leaving corporate life can be tricky—do you say yes to most every opportunity or niche immediately and start saying no? Strategic communicator Jacqui Miller aced (by any measure) her first year as a Soloist and describes how she made it happen:
The surprising first thing she did when leaving her corporate job to start her expertise business.
Why she made the decision to niche right away—and then continued to niche down even more.
How she decides which clients to take on and which to refer (and why she’s a big believer in creating a circle of complementary professionals).
What to do when you hit an inflection point in your career/business where you’re “not practicing at the top of your license”.
The communication strategies that expanded her impact and relationships.
LINKS
Jacqui Miller Website | LinkedIn | On Thought Leadership
Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
BIO
Jacqui is a communications professional with over 15 years of experience in early-stage and high-complexity businesses. Previously, she led communications at PillPack, a digital pharmacy, from the first customer through its $1 billion acquisition by Amazon. She's also launched moonshots at Google X, and helped bring to market the first genomic tumor test for personalized cancer treatment at Foundation Medicine.
Today, she works alongside founding teams to take the long view on communications as an executive function. Her philosophy is that the best PR strategy is ultimately just running a thoughtful business.
BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE
RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS
Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.
Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.
The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).
The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00 - 00:23
Jacqui Miller: I had never in my in-house W2 career tried to grow a big team or even really have many direct reports. So it would have been a new thing for me to do to go and try to build a bigger team as a consultant. So it did feel pretty natural. And then Everybody would ask me, oh, are you starting an agency? Are you hiring people? Are you doing this? And I had to go through a little bit of a moment where I was like, is that what I'm supposed to do? Am I supposed to be hiring these
00:23 - 00:28
Jacqui Miller: people? And was able to come out the other side of that and realize I'm quite happy as a soloist.
00:34 - 01:19
Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, formerly known as Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Jacqui Miller, who's a communications pro with over 15 years of experience in early stage and high complexity businesses. Previously, she led communications at PillPack, a digital pharmacy, from the first customer through its $1 billion acquisition by Amazon. She's also launched Moonshots at Google X and helped bring to market the first genomic tumor test for personalized cancer treatment at Foundation Medicine. Today, she works alongside fo...
That first year after leaving corporate life can be tricky—do you say yes to most every opportunity or niche immediately and start saying no? Strategic communicator Jacqui Miller aced (by any measure) her first year as a Soloist and describes how she made it happen:
The surprising first thing she did when leaving her corporate job to start her expertise business.
Why she made the decision to niche right away—and then continued to niche down even more.
How she decides which clients to take on and which to refer (and why she’s a big believer in creating a circle of complementary professionals).
What to do when you hit an inflection point in your career/business where you’re “not practicing at the top of your license”.
The communication strategies that expanded her impact and relationships.
LINKS
Jacqui Miller Website | LinkedIn | On Thought Leadership
Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
BIO
Jacqui is a communications professional with over 15 years of experience in early-stage and high-complexity businesses. Previously, she led communications at PillPack, a digital pharmacy, from the first customer through its $1 billion acquisition by Amazon. She's also launched moonshots at Google X, and helped bring to market the first genomic tumor test for personalized cancer treatment at Foundation Medicine.
Today, she works alongside founding teams to take the long view on communications as an executive function. Her philosophy is that the best PR strategy is ultimately just running a thoughtful business.
BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE
RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS
Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.
Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.
The Soloist Women community: a place to connect with like-minded women (and join a channel dedicated to your revenue level).
The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00 - 00:23
Jacqui Miller: I had never in my in-house W2 career tried to grow a big team or even really have many direct reports. So it would have been a new thing for me to do to go and try to build a bigger team as a consultant. So it did feel pretty natural. And then Everybody would ask me, oh, are you starting an agency? Are you hiring people? Are you doing this? And I had to go through a little bit of a moment where I was like, is that what I'm supposed to do? Am I supposed to be hiring these
00:23 - 00:28
Jacqui Miller: people? And was able to come out the other side of that and realize I'm quite happy as a soloist.
00:34 - 01:19
Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast, formerly known as Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with Jacqui Miller, who's a communications pro with over 15 years of experience in early stage and high complexity businesses. Previously, she led communications at PillPack, a digital pharmacy, from the first customer through its $1 billion acquisition by Amazon. She's also launched Moonshots at Google X and helped bring to market the first genomic tumor test for personalized cancer treatment at Foundation Medicine. Today, she works alongside fo...
Previous Episode
Birthing (and Monetizing) Your Authority Podcast with Alastair McDermott
You’ve been thinking about starting a podcast (or are just not happy with how yours is converting into leads and revenue). Prolific podcaster, author and coach Alastair McDermott shares how he created and runs multiple ongoing and evergreen podcasts:
Why you’ll need to start before you’re ready (and the advantages of failing faster).
How you might use an evergreen limited run podcast to fill a hole in your existing content or warm up your prospects.
Why the podcast you start may not be the one you end up with (hint: it’s normal to shift as you gain experience with the medium and your message).
Podcasting as a way to scale your business—what traction looks like and how long it takes to get it.
LINKS
Alastair McDermott LinkedIn | Amazon | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
BIO
Alastair McDermott helps independent experts & consultants to earn more by rapidly building authority and visibility so that you can command premium fees, work less hours, and never have to suffer a bad-fit client again!
Alastair is an author, consultant & business coach. He hosts The Recognized Authority podcast, and has written a number of practical guides to building authority through content creation.
His most recent book is “33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Podcast“ and he is currently working on his next book: “Recognized: How to Win & Retain High-Ticket Clients by Becoming the Prominent Authority in Your Field“.
BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE
RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS
Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.
Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.
The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00 - 00:17
Alastair McDermott: I strongly believe in not waiting too long before you start. Like don't wait till you feel ready. You know, start before you feel ready because you'll never truly feel ready. So there's a bit of that to it. But ultimately, I figured if I could make something that would interest somebody like me, then I would get people listening to it or watching it.
00:22 - 01:00
Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life Podcast, formerly known as Soloist Women, where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton, and today I'm here with my pal Alistair McDermott who helps experts to become known as the recognized authority in your field so you can command premium fees, work less hours, and never have to suffer a bad fit client again. Now he hosts the Recognize Authority podcast and he's written a number of practical guides to building authority, including 33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business podcast, which by the way, I'm
01:00 - 01:14
Rochelle Moulton: proud to have written the forward for and he is currently working on his next book Recognized how to win and retain high ticket clients by becoming the prominent authority...
Next Episode
Building A $100 Million Business vs. Going Solo with Rob Fegan
When you’re focused on building a $100 million business with a co-founder, what could possibly make you peel off to become a Soloist? Consultant Rob Fegan shares how he pivoted from his first business to a highly profitable (and life-enhancing) Soloist consulting practice:
Why he transitioned from co-founding and growing their potentially $100 million business to become a Soloist.
The value of experimenting and failing—or succeeding—fast.
How he 5x’ed his prices in a single quarter by focusing on the value he was delivering to his ideal clients.
When to shoot for big leaps vs. incremental growth (and why you don’t necessarily need a big audience to build a 6-7 figure Soloist business).
How a failed experiment convinced him to double-down on his genius zone.
LINKS
Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
BIO
Rob Fegan is an author, speaker and the founder of Venvito Consulting. He is a highly sought-after expert and leading authority for Microsoft Partners. Rob is on a mission to help founders and individual contributors demystify the success formula to become a go-to partner working with Microsoft.
BOOK A STRATEGY CALL WITH ROCHELLE
RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS
Join the Soloist email list: helping thousands of Soloist Consultants smash through their revenue plateau.
Soloist Events: in-person events for Soloists to gather and learn.
The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.
TRANSCRIPT
00:00 - 00:30
Rob Fegan : For me, I'm focused on working with 5 to 10 clients throughout the year. My business is not set up to work with thousands of clients or even hundreds of clients. It's really finding the few clients that I can help and serve in a way that allows me to be really part of their business to help me grow their business versus trying to touch a lot of people with just a little bit of value.
00:35 - 01:07
Rochelle Moulton: Hello, hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I'm here with Rob Fegan who is an author, speaker, and the founder of Venvido Consulting. He is a highly sought after expert and leading authority for Microsoft partners. Rob is on a mission to help founders and individual contributors demystify the success formula to become a go-to partner working with Microsoft. Rob, welcome.
01:08 - 01:11
Rob Fegan : Rochelle, thanks a lot. I'm excited for our conversation today.
01:12 - 01:42
Rochelle Moulton: Oh, me too. So there are all kinds of things we can talk about today. But the thing that most, I guess, captivated me the last time we talked was your story about becoming a soloist. So set the stage for us. So before you started soloing in 2022, You had a business and a business partner. So what was your plan together for that business? It started off in 2015 where my partner and I, we wanted to continue to grow.
01:42 - 02:18
Rob Fegan : We were both in the Microsoft ecosystem working for partners. And we realized that we had an approach that we thought was really unique in the market. So we created a company back in 2015 and we grew that to millions of dollars in revenue in a really short time. And so we were super passionate about what we were doing. We had a mission to get to $100 million was the goal for the company. And as we grew and as the problems got bigger and the numbers got bigger, My partner and I, we had a different approach or
02:18 - 02:42
Rob Fegan : a d...
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