In this episode, host AJ Riedel talks to Joanna Murray, franchise consultant at Quantum Franchise Group. Joanna is one of the rare consultants who rebuilt her practice not once but twice, first after leaving a misaligned corporate career in commercial real estate, and then again after navigating a cancer diagnosis, two surgeries, and concurrent chemo and radiation treatment.
Why You Should Listen to This Episode
If you are a self-employed consultant who has ever felt like you were starting from zero, because of a slow start, an unexpected setback, a market that shifted underneath you, or a pipeline that just will not fill, this episode is for you. Joanna’s story is not about overnight success. It is about what it actually takes to keep building when circumstances are hard, when old strategies stop working, and when you have to rediscover your own resilience. She also shares a critical insight about LinkedIn outreach that every consultant relying on generic messaging needs to hear right now, and a deceptively simple approach to niching that makes every conversation more authentic and every close more natural.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
• Why your ideal client might already be you: Joanna explains how defining her niche as women in corporate who felt exactly where she had been made every outreach message more resonant and every sales conversation easier to have.
• Why generic LinkedIn outreach has stopped working: Joanna shares what her franchise association’s updated training revealed about why mass messaging no longer converts, and what personalized, human-first outreach looks like instead.
• How to keep a business alive through a major life crisis: Joanna describes how she maintained just enough pipeline momentum during a year of cancer treatment to have something to return to, and what that minimal-effort strategy actually looked like.
• Why pivoting is the most essential consulting skill: Joanna reflects on what it means to rebuild in a market that has fundamentally changed, and why the willingness to let go of what used to work is what separates consultants who grow from those who stall.
• How in-person networking and referral fees can break through the noise: Joanna outlines the multichannel strategy she is building now, local events, virtual networking, and a referral program, to connect with prospects who want her service but do not yet know it exists.
• What Atomic Habits taught her about showing up every single day: Joanna shares the one principle from her most-recommended book that keeps her consistent even when results are slow and motivation is hard to find.
About Joanna Murray
Joanna Murray is a franchise consultant with Quantum Franchise Group based in Massachusetts. After more than two decades in corporate America, including a long career in commercial and industrial real estate, Joanna left the corporate world to help other professionals do the same, on their own terms. She specializes in working with women at the VP level and above who are ready to leave corporate and find a business that fits their values, lifestyle goals, and financial ambitions. In 2024, Joanna was diagnosed with cancer and underwent two surgeries followed by concurrent chemotherapy and radiation. She is now in recovery with a clean scan and is rebuilding her consulting practice with a focus on Massachusetts and New England.
Connect with Joanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-murray-mba-1ab3b3/