Alexandra Cohen With ANC Consult

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Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Coach the Coach Radio, and this is going to be a fun one. Today we have with us Alexandra Cohen with ANC Consult. Welcome, Alexandra.

Alexandra Cohen: Thanks so much for having me on your show today.

Lee Kantor: Well, I am excited to learn what you have going on. Tell us a little bit about ANC Consult. How you serving folks?

Alexandra Cohen: So I work with startups, small businesses and nonprofits on some of the strategy consulting, figuring out how they can position to grow and increase their impact.

Lee Kantor: So how did you get into this line of work? What’s your back story?

Alexandra Cohen: As with most things? I started doing this completely by accident. I had actually worked as a litigation attorney for 15 years and was just running myself ragged. I started my own firm at one point I was trying to do everything myself and I got to the point where I was literally running around and doing my client work and ended up falling, breaking my wrist and realizing that I needed to take a step back and take a break from doing that kind of work and ended up going for my MBA, trying to figure out what my next steps would be, and slowly started working with small businesses and nonprofits locally, getting to know them and working with them, helping them with marketing plans, figuring out how to make their operations more efficient, and ended up just really loving what I was doing. And so I decided to do that full time.

Lee Kantor: So but what attracted you to I mean, those are all kind of disparate group startups, small business and nonprofits. What drew you to those folks?

Alexandra Cohen: Some of it was just people that I was introduced to locally and getting to know them and realizing that a lot of the organizations were working in their own silos, so non-profits were trying to increase the impact through their programs, but not really figuring out a sustainable financing with businesses. They were trying to do the particular work they love, but didn’t really have as much experience in the business and realizing that there were a lot of a lot of commonalities across all of those different sectors and a lot of ways that they could benefit from different types of strategy and practices that they might not have been doing before.

Lee Kantor: Now, having worked with them for a while now, have you you’ve you mentioned a thread that’s a common thread that’s among all three of those groups is vision and strategy, one of the kind of stumbling blocks you’re seeing in all of those?

Alexandra Cohen: Yes, they tend to divide those two things up quite a bit. So they’ll have an idea for the type of activities or the type of products and services they want to sell. But they might not take a step back and try to figure out what their vision is for the business long term and how that connects with the products and services or with the clients they’re trying to work with.

Lee Kantor: And then if they don’t have that kind of North Star or kind of the end in mind, it’s hard to even do the day to day work because you don’t know what you’re doing the work for, right?

Alexandra Cohen: Yes, exactly. Or they’re trying to do all of the day to day work, but not looking at where they’re going with that work and how to figure out how to grow their business.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with them, are they kind of at a point of crisis or are they struggling with something or is this something that’s proactive that they’re trying to get ahead of?

Alexandra Cohen: Most often for the small business owners, they’re just feeling stuck. They may have tried a bunch of different strategies. They can’t figure out why they’ve plateaued and can’t grow their business. And sometimes it’s the silicon. We’re trying to do everything. Sometimes it’s the small business with the team that is just in a place where they don’t know what the next steps are.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with these folks, a consult is as part of your name, but coaching is part of your services. How do you discern the difference between the two?

Alexandra Cohen: I think people have very clear ideas of what a coach is and what the consultant is. And my version is really just a hybrid of both. I try to work with clients one on one in a framework that looks more like coaching, where we work together for many months at a time and tackle different challenges they have and come up with different ways to deal with their obstacles, come up with marketing plans, how to reach their clients, how to scale. And then the consulting part is some of it is just me going off and providing frameworks and templates or resources for the clients. So it’s really tailored to the work that I do. And it’s really ends up being a combination of both the end of the day.

Lee Kantor: So some people need help and some people need a helper.

Alexandra Cohen: Yes, pretty much. Some people just want the tools to figure out how they can go off and do it on their own. And others need a little bit more of the assistance, more of the sort of consulting and deliverables.

Lee Kantor: Now is the first thing to tackle the vision and then you get into the strategy once the people are clear on their vision.

Alexandra Cohen: Yes, if they haven’t spent too much time writing out their roadmap or their their vision, the strategy isn’t really going to get them there. So we try to look at who it is that they want to work with. You’re providing a particular service. You have a client that they are trying to help them and figuring out how to combine the vision with what the actual work is and the services and who your client base is.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned working with nonprofits. How important is community building when you’re doing work in that space?

Alexandra Cohen: So important, and I’m glad you asked that the nonprofits, it’s really all about the communities that they work with and figuring out what the particular activities are that are going to help that community and to have that kind of impact. And sometimes you can start a nonprofit and want to solve a problem like hunger or education, but haven’t really taken the time to talk with your community members and the people who are actually going to be benefiting from it to see what they really want. So figuring out how your community is and being able to work with them is a great way to grow both your organization and increase the impact of those groups. And it actually works similarly for businesses. More and more businesses are focused on things in addition to profit. So they want to look at how they can help their community, how they can be more sustainable and more responsible partners to the people that they are working with.

Lee Kantor: Are those the type of for profit businesses you work with? Are the ones that have some goal of a social impact?

Alexandra Cohen: Most often, yes, and it could be anything from being able to get back in their community through donating time and services from their employees to some kind of bigger strategy to impact the community and make changes that are within their particular business expertize.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for the business owner that is considering kind of emphasizing the social impact? Do you have kind of any research or any even anecdotal evidence that says that that’s a good business? It’s not only good for the community, but it’s also good business strategy.

Alexandra Cohen: Yes, definitely more and more consumers are making specific choices about what they’re buying or what services are consuming based on the sustainability and the responsibility of the businesses. A lot of them are now registering as big corporations. So they’re actually going through the steps of getting certified as making an impact in their community. So there is a financial benefit to the businesses, but also getting that kind of support within their communities and increasing their base. So from both perspectives, there’s definitely more of a trend towards that, especially in the last year with all of the challenges that everyone has faced, there’s been a lot more community building focused on growing services and ways to contribute back to the areas in which businesses are located.

Lee Kantor: Now, how has the pandemic affected the firms that you’re working with, is that something that was kind of an awakening for some folks that got them, hey, I’m going to do this. I’m tired of what I been doing that, you know, life is more than whatever my 9:00 to 5:00 was. And I want to make a bigger impact. So I’m going to get involved with a small business or start a small business or nonprofit with that kind of happening in your ecosystem.

Alexandra Cohen: Yeah, a lot of clients who started their own businesses in the last year or so, they found a particular need or something they were passionate about and had more time, frankly, this year to start thinking through what that business would look like and to do some of the market research and a lot of the businesses that I’ve been working with have been figuring out existing businesses, how to pivot, how to change their services, to serve more online. Clients to people conceiving businesses, they’ve wanted to start for years and now have the opportunity to do so in a way that is meaningful. And then I’ve been working with them to figure out marketing plans and how to launch or how to how to grow and scale.

Lee Kantor: Now, can you share a story you don’t have the name, the name, but maybe explain the back story of where this company was struggling in how you were able to get involved and take them to a new level?

Alexandra Cohen: Yeah, I worked with one really amazing entrepreneur who’s been running a business tutoring in his local area for a number of years, very successfully, and had been slowly starting to think about branching out to other regions across the United States. And now with all of education being online, he was able to really amplify the work that he did and serve more students across the US and really appeal to just a larger population that was able to to help and grow his business. And so we went through and created existing systems that were great for his group of clients in his region that worked well, need to be updated for expansion to hundreds of clients and to expanding a tutoring network. And so for some for a business like that, they were able to make a huge difference over the last year and now they’re positioned to continue to grow.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your work, are you still doing any lawyering or is this something that’s kind of a back burner for you? Or do you just kind of weave your attorney skills into the work that you’re doing with these businesses you’re serving?

Alexandra Cohen: Yeah, no, more like for me at this point. It has helped me tremendously because of a lot of the just skills or toolbox. It also helps when I’m working with businesses to be able to identify issues that are coming up. They might have intellectual property that they need to be more cognizant of or contract issues or whatever it might be. And it’s easier to spot those issues in advance and strategize for them and then be able to make referrals or other attorneys that are specialized in whatever it is that they need.

Lee Kantor: So so you just refer out any type of attorney work?

Alexandra Cohen: Yes, I do. I’m fortunate to have a large network of professionals, mostly in New York, but across the country with really wonderful expertize and that are very helpful to my clients.

Lee Kantor: Now, having started your career in that space, is that do you miss that in any way or is it just more fulfilling, kind of helping shape these social impact organization?

Alexandra Cohen: There are definitely things I loved about being an attorney that I miss, but overall, this was the best move for me. I work with clients who are passionate about the work that they do. And and frankly, I wanted that for myself, too. I wanted to be able to feel like I’m able to help see a difference with the people that I work with, that they’re able to increase their revenue, gets more time off that they can spend with their families, figure out how to make the kind of impact that they’re trying to make in their corner of the world.

Lee Kantor: And if if somebody wants to learn more and have more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what is the best way to do it? You have a website?

Alexandra Cohen: Yes. So my website is w w w dot anc gache consult dotcom.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, Alexander, congratulations on all that success. Is there anything we could be doing for you? What do you need more of right now? Do you need more team members? Do you need more clients? What are you looking for?

Alexandra Cohen: I always love meeting new entrepreneurs and small business owners and talking to them and learning more about their business and digging into what it is that they do and why they do it and what it is they’re passionate about. So I’m always happy talking to the people who can use some either advice or just toss around some ideas on strategy.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well, thank you again for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Alexandra Cohen: Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: All right. That was Alexandra Cohen with ANC consultants, ANC hyphen consult dot com. This is Lee Kantor. We will see you all next time on Coach the Coach radio.