Listen above or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show Notes:
Many of Rebel Therapist's program participants and listeners are brilliant folx who feel intimidated by the idea of consulting for organizations, and yet you're the ones who have the gifts those organizations need.
It's part of my mission to help healers, especially those who have marginalized identities parachute into organizations, facilitate real change, make lots of money, and not lose themselves in the process.
This is part three in a 3-part series on getting those corporate gigs.
If you haven't listened to part one or two just make sure you also listen to my conversations with Femily and Kristen Meinzer.
Now, I'm so thrilled to introduce Dr. Sand Chang. They're going to talk about how they've followed their interests and passions to create a robust consulting business which brings in about half of their overall revenue.
You'll also hear how they take good care of themselves and stay true to their values in the process.
Before we dive in, here's little more about Dr. Chang:
Dr. Sand Chang (they/them) is a Chinese American nonbinary psychologist, author, DEI/organizational consultant, and trainer with more than 20 years of experience providing training and mental health services. Through compassionate engagement, they partner with organizations and teams seeking meaningful structural and interpersonal change. Dr. Chang’s work is grounded in social justice, cultural awareness, and humility. Their areas of emphasis include trauma-informed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), LGBTQ populations, trans health, and body liberation related to racial justice, and eating disorders.
Here's some of what we talked about:
Why consulting with orgs takes 40% of their time and brings 50% of their revenue
Preferring the variety of working in many different ways and with different organizations
How going to one conference with a colleague led to many more relationships and opportunities
How DEI work has gotten better for them now that they get to decide who it's with and how they do it
Why they work collaboratively with each organization to figure out how they'll co-create the best experience
Using a set of filters to decide whether a potential project will align with their values.
Creating packages rather than using an hourly fee
Thinking about redistribution of wealth and how their business fits into it
Why they chafe against marketing models that are based on funnels and social media
Their reasons for not having a 5 year plan
Their intention to be more and more themselves in every situation
Some ways they harness rage in their work
Here are some takeaways that particularly stand out to me:
Takeaway #1:
Dr. Chang has built their reputation as a thought leader through leading trainings, writing a book, being on podcasts, their social media presence, word of mouth and more. They don't do much at all to go after these gigs. And that's been true for 3 out of 3 of the people in this 3-part series. Femily, Kristen Meinzer and now Dr. Chang. They've built their reputations as thought leaders in their very particular niches. Now those organizations are knocking on their doors.
Takeaway #2:
Dr. Chang is willing to say no and walk away from gigs that aren't right for them. They pause and listen to their gut about whether this is the right situation, even if there's a ton of money involved. This takes an ability to feel into their power and let go of scarcity, trusting that a better situation is on the way.
Takeaway #3:
Dr. Chang has had to learn to raise their prices. They've realized that the value of their work is way beyond the particular hours they're working for an organization, both in terms of the impact their work makes, and also in terms of the amount of emotional labor they are doing.
