DELIVERING PRACTICAL, SYSTEMATIC BUSINESS GUIDANCE WHILE HONORING THE HUMAN AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF RUNNING A BUSINESS
Your McKinsey-meets-mystical business growth strategist.
Consider me the thinking person’s business strategist and the antidote to the “growth at all costs” online business guru.
business systems consultant and guide
As an expertise-based business systems consultant and guide, I bring both corporate sophistication and soulful wisdom to the table to help established service providers build sustainable businesses. I’m known for my exceptional depth of business knowledge, genuine care for client’s success, and ability to make complex business concepts practical and actionable.
I work with expertise-based business owners at a crossroads:
→ When you don’t know what to do next
→ When you don’t know where to go from here
→ When you aren’t sure how to move in that direction without hustling harder
→ When you’re tempted to turn to surface-level strategies
Because you were probably taught to simply:
“Change your prices! Change your thoughts! Manage your time!”
But I know from experience that real growth requires diving deeper.
Let me back up a second and tell you how I got here…
I was trained as an industrial engineer, where I learned the fundamental skills of embedding operational efficiency and optimization into businesses (and humans).
Education
I built my business background at McKinsey and Company consulting and Harvard Business School, honing my diagnostic skills with projects and cases covering a variety of industries and companies. I spent my early 30s climbing the corporate ladder at Nike, moving into expanded leadership roles and being seen as “high-potential talent”.
Experience
…Until I felt the impact of putting profit over people and sacrificing my body and soul to the corporate, capitalistic altar. I started experiencing health issues and knew something needed to change. I no longer wanted the next rung on the ladder, no longer wanted to play the surface-level status games in corporate business. I didn’t want the surface-level, egocentric success without allowing for rooted growth. I knew I needed to look deeply inward first.
Inflection Point
So, I took steps to rewild myself and build new roots: nutrition certification, becoming a life coach, embracing more somatic, spiritual, and feminist practices.
Rewilding
I dove head first into the online business building space. What I discovered was eye-opening… and how the surface-level and cookie-cutter roadmaps went against so much I’d learned about how real business works.
Jessica Lackey Consulting was born!
While building my own business, I kept encountering what I call “the entrepreneurial casino”…
An endless stream of promises, playbooks, and proven formulas that were supposed to be the answer to business success.
Despite my background as a business strategist, even I got pulled into chasing tactics and quick fixes that didn’t align with how my business (and most businesses) actually work.
I saw the gap between what people were being sold and what they truly needed.
Countless experts were teaching individual pieces—marketing, sales, operations—but no one was teaching business owners how these pieces fit together into a cohesive whole.
Instead, expertise-based business owners were being sold generic playbooks that ignored their unique business models and needs.
They were told they needed fancy funnels, complex tech stacks, and big teams—even when those solutions weren’t right for their business.
No one was teaching the fundamental skills of how to run a business.
These online business gurus taught you how to “play business” rather than build one.
THAT’S WHY I CREATED DEEPER FOUNDATIONS™
What’s missing isn’t secrets or strategies—it’s systems.
Real, practical business systems designed specifically for expertise-based businesses.
Systems that work together, compound over time and create sustainable results without burning you out.
My approach combines rigorous business thinking with a human-centered philosophy. We start with real conversations about your vision and values, then build the foundational structures your business needs.
No cookie-cutter solutions, no manipulation tactics, no pressure to scale or adopt a business model (courses, agency, community) that doesn’t serve you.
WHAT SETS MY WORK APART?
I bring both my analytical mind (as an industrial engineer and consultant) and my appreciation for the human, intuitive side of business.
I’ve worked with over 60 entrepreneurs one-on-one, served as fractional COO for multiple 7-figure organizations, and helped hundreds of business owners through my programs and membership.
HERE ARE FEW WAYS TO TAP INTO HOW I THINK:
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Aggressively Human Podcast
Running & marketing a business in the age of AI, algorithms & automation.
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YouTube
If you’re tired of surface-level content and looking for steps to build a sustainable business, then tune in.
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Monthly Dialogues
Join a free conversation each month that goes deep on a business topic, combined with clear and actionable strategies.
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Deeper Foundations™ Approach
Access to the best articles and videos about business design, business building, and sustainable business execution.
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![Amelia Hruby - Owner of Softer Sounds and host of Off The Grid Podcast]()
“Jessica looked ‘under the hood’ of my business and was able to quickly and accurately assess what was going well and where I was out of alignment (with myself, my clients, my goals.)”
I now know where my business is going and how to get there. And I feel like I understand the financial big picture better than I ever have.
— Amelia Hruby, Owner of Softer Sounds and host of Off The Grid Podcast
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![Julie Morris - Persona Media]()
“Just because you can grow a business doesn’t mean you can successfully operate it.”
Jessica brought her skills and expertise to pragmatically solve the organizational mess that a brilliant marketer like me needed. I wanted to solve all the problems in our organization but had no clue which angle to attack from. She’s realistic and an absolute genius and gets into the details with you.
— Julie Morris, Persona Media
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![Jennifer Bower - Fortuna Money]()
“After my work in Deeper Foundations, I’m seeing consistently higher revenue, and I have a realistic plan for long-term growth.”
— Jennifer Bower, Fortuna Money
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![Kelley Bonner - Burn Bright Consulting.jpg]()
“I was able to systematize [my business], versus trying to find an additional stream of income.”
— Kelley Bonner, Burn Bright Consulting
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![Linda Rhyne - Linda Rhyne Consulting.jpeg]()
“You’re really clear on keeping the human aspect of work and business in the center. I truly believe my business would not be where it is today without her support.”
— Linda Rhyne, Linda Rhyne Consulting
Who I’m learning from:
We teach from our experiences, and my work stands on the shoulders of my teachers. Citing them here does not advocate for their whole body of work but it does name the influences on my work for your reference.
Andrea Leda - Awaken Your Life Coach Training
Lindsay Mack - Tarot for the Wild Soul
Jay Acunzo and Mel Deziel - Creator Kitchen
Jay Clouse - Creator Science
Regina Anaejionu - By Regina
Ross Ó Lochlainn - Conversion Engineering
Kelly Diels - Copywriting for Culture Makers, We Are the Culture Makers
Meghan Bursiek - The Art of Ritual
Demir Bentley - Lifehack Bootcamp
Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (IPEC) - Coach Training
What I’m reading:
Authors and books that I frequently reference and who influence my work include:
Win Without Pitching and The Four Conversations - Blair Enns
The Business of Expertise - David C. Baker
Give to Grow and The Snowball System - Mo Bunnell
Stand The F*ck Out - Louis Grenier
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
Emergent Strategy - adrienne maree brown
Proposals for the Feminine Economy/Business Birthing Handbook - Jennifer Armbrust
Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive - Jonathan Fields
Working Genius Podcast - Pat Lencioni
The ONE Thing - Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Deep Work and Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport
