TWC S02 E20: Stepping into Your Authentic Self, Part 3: Communicate Effectively

The final episode in my three-part series on Stepping into Your Authentic Self is where I talk about how to effectively communicate our authentic selves to our business world and why it's been a surprisingly healing journey for me.

Katherine Burrows, Big Impact Ghostwriter
Katherine Burrows helps purpose-driven experts make a bigger difference by getting their big ideas into books and out into the world to multiply their impact and their profit. She is known internationally for her intuitive understanding, perceptive observations, and ability to write accurate descriptions. 

Katherine hosts The Write Connection podcast, which is designed to help you choose the right words and stories in your business book to create authentic connections with your prospects, clients, network, and communities.

Katherine’s personal alchemy of literary storytelling, human psychology, business marketing, and unwavering passion provides her with the unique and powerful insight to bring out the authentic character of the expert and their business in a voice - YOUR voice - that will improve lives, influence others, and even change the world.

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Connect with The Write Connection
Email: thewriteconnection@katherineburrowscreative.com

Platinum Podcast Production Services by Carl Richards of C.A.R.L. Speaks https://carlspeaks.ca/podcasting/

Podcast Music by Nathan Symen of NST Music: https://nst-music.bandcamp.com/

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P.S. To see if 90 Days to 90 Pages is right for your book idea, schedule a call with Katherine.

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Email: katherine@katherineburrowscreative.com

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Business Character Analysis Workshop information: https://katherineburrowscreative.com/index.php

Premium Podcast Production Services by Carl Richards
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Podcast Music by Nathan Symen of NST Music: https://nst-music.bandcamp.com/

Transcript

Intro: This is The Write Connection. This podcast is designed to help you choose the right words and stories in your business content to create authentic connections with prospects, clients, partners and colleagues. Now the host of The Write Connection, Katherine Burrows.

 Katherine Burrows: Thanks so much, Carl, welcome to The Write Connection today we're in the middle of a three part series on stepping into your authentic self. In episode one, I shared the five steps I took to create the clarity I needed to step into my authentic self. Those five steps were clarifying my values, educating myself, practicing critical thinking, finding confidence and living my purpose. Then in episode two, I talked about what it took to actually do the work that was getting rid of mind set blocks, drilling down into my niche, building systems, creating routines and finding balance. So at this point I felt super connected with my authentic self and I had the foundation in place to fully live and run my business as my best self. Once again, it seemed like I was in the right place, but I started to notice that there was a disconnect between how I was showing up as my authentic self and how people were seeing me.

 So if we go back to my house analogy, now I've got those four walls up and I spent lots of time working on the rooms inside, but I realized I needed to find ways to communicate my authentic self out to the audience, out to the world I needed to put on the siding and the roof, maybe plant a garden with flowers and definitely add an inviting walkway to provide a path for people to approach me today I invite you to listen. As I talk about five steps, I have taken to communicate my authentic self more effectively. The first step is to connect with the pain points of my ideal client to do this, It helps define the places where your ideal clients are and then spend time there really listen to what they have to say. What questions are they asking? What comments are they making?

 What are their deepest desires? And what's keeping them from getting there? What keeps them awake long past bedtime? For me, the most effective way to connect with people is through networking groups and online communities. Getting to know people in mastermind groups, courses and workshops, taking the time for coffee chats on zoom, where I really get to find out a lot more about what the other person does. And I get to tell them what I do and I listen to how they respond as I'm on those zoom calls I take the time to think about what struggles are they talking about in their own business. Maybe they find it's difficult to explain exactly what they do, or maybe they have trouble getting the word out about their offering. Also, I pay attention to how they respond to the things that I say, what questions do they ask?

What about the things I do seems unclear to them. What comments do they make? Maybe they confide that they've always wanted to write a book. Maybe they confess that they know a book would benefit their business, but they just don't know where to start. And maybe a book is something they've never even considered before. But now, because of chatting with me, they're thinking about it. And maybe they ask how a book could help them get more clients, so I make notes during or after each conversation and then I started to notice patterns. Those similarities are the things that our ideal clients have in common with each other and I was able to use those similarities to create ideal client profiles. Then with all of my communications, I make sure that I'm getting the point across that I understand their pain, I know what they're going through.

 I really feel empathy and understanding with those struggles. And the second way I've been able to communicate effectively is to educate. So we really wanna educate our ideal client about our offering, but we need to speak with a very gentle form of authority because our goal is to empower people, not to impress them with our credentials. We want them to view us as a trusted guide, sharing reliable information, not somebody preaching from this high platform, but somebody who's there on that same path. Who's just a few steps ahead and is willing to share with us the things they've learned to show us the way I'm sure we've all had a colleague who told us about a new process or platform they just discovered and they're now recommending. Or a friend who discovered a new product service recipe or movie they thought we would like, that's the kind of tone we wanna strive for.

 Like hey, I was thinking of you and I really thought this would help you, this would interest you, I thought you'd enjoy doing this process. The third step I've taken to communicate effectively is to work towards motivating change. We've each started our businesses from a desire to help others, a place of genuine heart centred service, which means we really care about the people that we serve and about the world in general, we know that our ideal clients will be better off after they experience our offering. And because we have their best interests at heart we want them to see that too. Remember the pain points we talked about in number one? Well, we wanna poke those a little, not so much that we're pouring a box of salt on an open wound that's just overwhelming and paralyzing, but we wanna remind them how uncomfortable they are in their current situation.

 They're unhappy with relationships, maybe they're not making enough money, maybe they're health isn't as good as they would like it to be, or maybe they don't have enough time for the things that matter to them. So to do this, it's best to show them a contrast between where they are now and where they would like to be, where they will be after working with you, bring in all five senses to make that description. That contrast really rich, really powerful. And if you have questions about how to do that, definitely listen to my five part series on the five senses from season one of this podcast. Show that audience that you understand show your ideal client that you've been where they are now. You're the best person to show them the way forward. Albert Einstein said, "Everything is energy match. The frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help, but get that reality.

 It can be no other way". This is not philosophy, this is physics in communicating effectively we also want to inspire action. The fourth thing that I have done and am doing, of course, this is an ongoing process stepping into one's authentic self and I don't wanna claim that I'm all the way there or anything. I just have been really giving it a lot of thought lately and working on it a lot and just wanted to share those insights and experiences with you. So to inspire action, you really wanna give your ideal client an easy way to take the next step, to walk up that beautiful pathway ordered by flowers and knock on your inviting front door, provide a clear call to action. So your audience knows how to take that next step and then add some urgency to inspire them, to take that step.

 Now, so this urgency could come from a bonus offer, a limited time opportunity, or simply by showing them how much more money, health, time and relationship improvement they'll have. Why waste another year when you could be making an extra $50,000 this year? Why wait to address that health issue when you can start feeling better today? Why risk losing your closest relationships when you could spend the next few months enjoying the change for the better? And why waste any more time working harder than you have to, when you could be taking more vacations this year? That brings in the contrast of where they are now and where they would like to be, how you can help them get there, how you're the best way for them to get there and why they should do it now, and then reach out on multiple channels that is the fifth thing that I've been doing.

So get your message out in as many places as possible. I truly believe that your ideal clients are out there and seeking you right now just as you are seeking them. So make it easy for them to find you connect authentically I know that putting ourselves out there, especially our real selves can be scary. We open ourselves up to possible judgment criticism, even rejection, but let the haters hate they're welcome to do it somewhere else be strong in your authentic self, allow your ideal client to see who you really are know that those who see your value and want to work together in reciprocity are the ones that matter. What resonates with our ideal clients is when we let ourselves be real, then our content is relatable and relevant to them and their life. The deeper your relationship is with your authentic self. The more strongly you will connect with your prospects, clients and network.

I really want you to think about that so I'm gonna say it again. The deeper your relationship is with your authentic self, the more strongly you will connect with your prospects, clients and network in continuing to be honest and real becoming my authentic self in order to be my own ideal client has been a challenging and amazing journey. But again, I want to be clear that it's an ongoing one. I really believe in lifelong learning to thrive, we need to learn and grow throughout our entire lives. Constantly striving to improve, to find new ways of applying the knowledge we have and new sources for additional wisdom, we need to push the boundaries of our comfort zones. Face the things about ourselves we may not like and sometimes take a flying leap of chance off the cliff of opportunity. That's what being an entrepreneur, CEO and expert is all about, that's what being human is all about if you are ready to start communicating your authentic self more effectively, I'd love to book a zoom call with you. Just click on my calendar in the show notes below and pick the best time for you. Thanks for listening today I hope today's episode inspired you to tell your own story more creatively, please join me next time for more about how words and stories from our authentic selves, create The Write Connection.

 Outro: Thanks for listening to The Write Connection. What did you think of the show today? Give us a rating and leave us a comment if you have a question for Katherine, reach out to her by sending her an email, The Write Connection@KatherineBurrowscreative.com or visit her website, Katherineburrowscreative.com. And don't forget to follow Katherine on social media thanks again for listening to The Write Connection.