Do you use the words ‘authentic’ or ‘conscious’ to describe your business or any part of your work? I’m curious. If you do, what do those mean to you? Please comment.
I see the word ‘authentic’ used a lot to describe healing helping solo entrepreneur businesses. I see it a lot in my other area of interest—voice work—i.e. ‘your authentic voice.’
I’m Confused, and Maybe Suspicious
Authentic is one of those words that’s been used enough that we think we know what it means when we see it. It’s become a short-hand meme for ‘something other than the uncomfortable layers of personality that living in society has caused us to develop’ or ‘something Essential,’ or ‘something other than creepy pushy manipulative business practices.’
It’s also one of those words that’s been used with enough frequency that it has lost its relevance, and subtly enchants us to make a bunch of assumptions that may or may not be true. Which is kind of ironic.
Similarly, the idea of ‘Conscious’ business. It seems to be used as a synonym for ‘heart-felt,’ or ‘awakened,’ or ‘healing/ helping’ or ‘spiritual’ or ‘helping folks become more conscious’ or again, ‘something other than creepy pushy manipulative business practices.’
But, if I don’t make assumptions and simply allow myself to be curious: I don’t actually know what people mean when they use words like ‘authentic’ or ‘conscious’ to describe their healing/helping/creative work.
Also--with my English geek hat on--I always remember what one of my high school teachers told me. If you have to include a qualifier like honest, true, authentic, or conscious, it instantly raises a red flag just below the surface of folks’ awareness, because it suggests the opposite. i.e. that at some level, you are trying to hide that which is dishonest, untrue, fake, or unconscious.
It’s a Process
That might sound a bit harsh, if you haven’t thought about it this way before. So maybe this will help: if I think of Authenticity and Consciousness as processes rather than meaningless descriptions, that is something I can get behind.
Most of us doing healing work are constantly stripping away the conditioning that has been layered on, over whatever essence we came with. We are seeking greater awareness of ourselves and the nature of the universe, i.e. consciousness.
But we never get ‘there’. It’s never a static thing that we can stop and say ‘now I am Authentic, now I am Conscious; now my work is Authentic, now it is Conscious.’
Precision is Let’s Your Unique Work Shine
So what is the point of all this verbal meandering? Well, it’s the English Lit geek in me teaming up with the School of Kind Business instructor to suggest that when we are describing our work or niche, when we are writing our Filter (aka Sales) pages or About pages on our websites, that we always ask ourselves: how could I describe this in a way that is more precise?
Our words reveal our thoughts patterns. What we are saying, omitting or implying gives potential clients all the information they need about whether or not they can trust us. If we desire the best possible relationships with our ideal clients, it is to everyone’s advantage to be as precise as possible, from the first introduction.
If you say -for example- that you are teaching ‘Authentic Voice’, what does that mean? Does it mean the voice is more resonant and powerful because you teach breath practices that give it more support? Does it mean that people are comfortable to drop more into their natural range rather than hold tones and textures and habits that they were conditioned to? Does it mean that they will find more range in expressing themselves in all areas of life? Will they feel less self-conscious about singing? Will they start bursting into spontaneous song on the subway? J
As healing helping creative solo- or micro- entrepreneurs, our work is by definition unique. Let’s not hide our lights behind vague, over-used terms, or let ourselves be lazy in how we talk and write about it. Digging more deeply, finding more precise words or images, and expressing them creatively is a practice to learn something new about ourselves, and be even more attractive to the people we help. Clarity is kind.
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School of Kind Business is developing a comprehensive About Page workbook that will help you with your website. It will also help you refine your niche and point of view, share a process you can use for future copywriting, and give you lots of compost to recycle for your social media posts. Coming soon, in early 2025!
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