Here’s The Thing People Don’t Understand About “Authenticity”

When running a business, congruency and consistency are vital, but often forgotten.

People talk about authenticity, and that’s all well and good. But it’s not enough to be you; you have to be you all the time. If not, there’s a disconnect. 

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, if you’ve read anything I’ve ever written, you know that I really like (love) my dog. You know that my body’s got a lot of real estate covered in tattoos; my hair’s been nearly every shade of the rainbow.

And you also know I’m passionate about writing: my own, as well as the writing of others.

I want to help as many people as possible become truly great writers.

Because I’m sick of reading writing that’s just mediocre. (And because it’s the #1 thing you can do to move ahead in your careers. More of that below.) The difference between a good writer and a great writer is dramatic, and even a great writer isn’t great all the time. Every piece I write is a battle.

That’s all to say you know who I am.

And you’re smart, so if we’re emailing or DMing, you have certain expectations engrained in you about our interactions and if I don’t meet them, you’re going to pick up on it quickly.

Example: one of my business coaching clients, Amanda Edell, gets the majority of her leads through Instagram. On her IG stories, she’s silly and casual.

She posts videos of herself dancing, lip-synching to 90s hip-hop, and sipping the occasional cocktail. However—when people applied for coaching, she would reply with super professional emails. They didn’t just sound stiff, they sounded like someone else wrote them.

Like many people, Amanda was working under a false premise. 

If people are inquiring about your professional services with the intent to decide whether they want to give you money, your interaction should be “professional.”

That’s a disconnect.

You display your professionalism and credibility through your knowledge and its application, and more importantly, the results your clients receive from those things; not responding to emails like you work for a big box gym and you’re worried about staying in line. 

Always remember: people don’t buy coaching, they buy coaches.

You want to be on brand, and you’re the brand.

Back to Amanda, it’s easy to see why this was hurting conversions. Her prospects would go from watching her sing along to “Put It In My Mouth” on her IG story, one minute, then fill out a coaching app and get a corporate sounding email from her the next.

We dug in and rewrote all her templated responses, as well as broke down how to engage more conversationally.

I checked in a week later, and she’d signed up six new clients in 48 hours.

Congruency. Consistency.

Check this out:

Everything should sound and feel and read like you. Just you.

Easy game.

Learn to write well, like really, really well, and it’ll be a force multiplier in your lives and careers. This is one of the reasons I focus so so heavily on writing in my mastermind group, The Wellspring Society.

I teach a score of other things, from marketing to networking, but I believe writing is the core of it all.

If you’re interested in improving your business through writing and storytelling, or learning more about the Mastermind in general, check it out here, and let me know if you have any questions.

I’m here to help.