Barbara Palmer, Founder of Broad Perspective Consulting
Name: Barbara Palmer
Founder: Broad Perspective Consulting
What's your elevator pitch?
Based on my 30+ years as a female executive in corporate America, I help you navigate your Oh Sh*t Moments including taking on direct reports, managing people, projects and processes, learning how to be a leader, and transitioning into and back from parental leave.
What's your story?
I am a marketer by trade: 30+ years in entertainment, technology, and digital agencies. When I left my last corporate role, I was asked by a former competitor to mentor a woman on his leadership team. I had always been the only woman in the board room and C-Suite and realized I could consult high potential employees to navigate their Oh Sh*t moments in leadership and build a consulting practice to get more women into leadership positions. The offer evolved into individual coaching, cohort leadership training, executive thought partnership, strategic planning, and development of my signature Your 4th Trimester program to coach parents in to and back from parental leave. Companies who believe in and invest in their people are my clients, with their employees as the recipient, and the organization the benefactor of leadership development.
What does BEING a FoundHer mean to you?
My title is Top Broad at Broad Perspective Consulting—and the double entendre works: I have a broad perspective based on my career, and also approach everything I do from a female perspective. I am proud of what I have built (for myself and for the organizations I have served) and feel it is a responsibility and honor to raise other women to their fullest potential; regardless of what their choices are. My role is not to determine, but to support their vision and their path to fulfillment and their definition of success.
How do you support other female founders and women in business?
My entire business was built on supporting working women; meeting them where they are and helping them to achieve their vision of success. Many of my clients are self-made, heads of their respective companies, and also women who want to achieve success as they go up the ladder or deeper into their subject matter expertise. My business also supports the men that support women. New fathers, cohort trainings and leadership development are mixed gender, with curriculum that teaches all participants how to be more inclusive, gender neutral, and supportive of women in the workplace.
What are three podcasts you listen to that have helped you with your business?
Kelly Corrigan Wonders
Bad Ass Women at Any Age
Wiser Than Me
What is ONE BOOK that you would recommend every female business owner read?
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown and Radical Candor by Kim Scott
What are the first five things that you did when you were starting your business?
Partner with a great attorney that is an amazing business partner who offers solutions within a legal POV.
Set up my S Corp (after determining which business structure was best for me and my goals).
Brand.
Test my offerings on friendlies.
Identify the tools to help me navigate time and limited resources: Harvest, OnceHub, Wix, Mail Chimp, Pocket, PayChex.
Who is someone who has helped change or shape your business for the better and what did they do to help you?
I have a long string of people who have supported my business through referrals and their belief in me, but the one person I would point to was someone that I did not know previously who asked for a coaching referral through a slack community she was a part of. She was the ideal client - young professional, early stage career, clear on what she saw as her growth path, open to feedback and a more experienced perspective. She has gone on to share back in that Slack community whenever someone was looking for coaching, made introductions within the companies she has worked with for my offerings and has consistently supported, referred, and championed my business.
At what point did you make your company a full time gig? How did you know the time was right?
Great question. Going out on my own was never part of the plan so when I started, I committed to a 50% marketing engagement (my safe spot) as I invested the other "50%" of my time to the new business (no founder will ever be 50% on their start-up gig, but on paper...). I kept the marketing job for 3 years while my business grew and stabilized. Once I was at a financial point of comfort and had more confidence in recurring revenue and client pipeline, I was able to resign the marketing role and invest entirely and full time in my business (that was almost 6 years ago).
What are three actionable tips you would give with other women who want to start a business or are just getting started?
I am personally not an all-or-nothing person. Maybe it is because I was the primary breadwinner, then a single mom raising two kids, and I am risk averse (not that I won't take risks, but I would be conservative and have a parachute or Plan B before I jump). For anyone that has an idea, I would recommend to first do your homework: what are you offering, who are your competitors, what is your differentiation or advantage. Next, what are your ramp up requirements - do you have savings or resources to carry you until the business is up and running? How long can you carry yourself? What can you do yourself and what resources do you need to support your business, product or service? Ideas can take longer than you plan so what is your timeline? Lastly, I suggest keeping a 'side hustle' - something that brings in a paycheck, keeps your skills fresh, allows you to feel small wins WHILE you build your idea into something that can stand on its own. Mentally, I needed something I felt accomplished at while my business grew and morphed and I built up a pipeline. Financially as well.
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