In this Internet and social media age, aren’t we all seeking a connection? There are millions of content options out there so when we find authenticity — we connect, we relate, we follow along. We want to know what this genuine person or animal (who doesn’t trust animals more than people?!) has to tell us. We want to know their story. We want to know their why.
But how can we show our authentic self online? How do we show up as authentic?
The authenticity is in the why.
When you share the story behind the why, your community begins to know, like and trust you more and more. And when you show up as your authentic self you get to be the best version of you! There is no need to act like someone else, no need to feel like an imposter, because you are you and you’re awesome! Show up as yourself and your community will value who you are.
Subscribe for more authenticity.
My Why
I started my coaching business because I wanted to impact the world in a larger way. I wanted to have both income and impact and I wanted the freedom to be able to it my way.
I have been laid off from corporate jobs 3.5 times. Never at any fault of my own. But when contracts are not renewed, start-ups fail and pandemics hit, it’s the employees not the CEO’s who usually feel the biggest effects. After the final layoff I was done. I was done with large corporations who didn’t even know my name dictating my income, my daily tasks and my life. The excellent benefits and salary security are no longer enough for me. When it takes three years to get a promotion and an average salary increase for a job you had already been doing for a year prior, the incentive to work harder for that corporation weakens.
Struggling with Writer’s Block?
But I knew I would never leave that job and salary security and fantastic travel perks on my own. It took a pandemic to rip it away from me unexpectedly to realize I didn’t want it anymore. I realized I had the potential to make even more money by building a business of my own. There is no salary cap or long wait for a promotion. I realized I could impact more women in business if I coached them and helped them to grow their own businesses. It’s a snowball effect that has the potential to impact thousands, even millions some day! When I impact a woman through my coaching business and help her to tell the story of her business and shout it from the rooftops, she is able to help more people through HER business, and so on and so on. The snowball picks up more momentum as it grows bigger and bigger. That snowball effect in a corporation snowballs for the corporation, not the individual. I also realized that I could have more freedom than I had ever had in building my business. Are there huge risks, hardships and uncertainties, absolutely! It’s tenfold terrifying! But it’s also exciting, and the potential financial, location and time freedom are too enticing to hold back.
The impact, the income and the freedom are all my why. Why I decided to build a coaching business. I want anyone who wants a business to go after it and have that same impact, income and freedom and if I can be a piece in their puzzle to help get them there — that’s reason enough for me to build a coaching business.
I’ll always be building my business, even once I attain “official” success. I have only a tiny bit of income, impact and freedom to show for my business so far. But the little bit of impact, income and freedom that I do have in my first newborn year of business has me seeing how this snowball can pick up momentum. This newborn business baby is ready to start walking, running, and talking into the next stages of business soon to come.
And THAT is my why!
Related: Layoffs Lead to Impact and Income
Sunflower field; Courtesy of Courtney Elko
What Is Your Why?
So let me ask you, what is your why? Think about your business and your life, there’s a reason you decided to do what you do. Was it a layoff? Was it a divorce? A loss? A success? Maybe you saw a need that you could fill. Maybe YOU needed something that didn’t exist yet so instead of wishing it did, you created it for yourself and then helped others by creating it too. Maybe you turned a hobby into an income. But why did you start the hobby initially? Were you depressed or lonely and needed an outlet? Why were you depressed or lonely?
Feeling stuck in your business?
These are the questions to ask yourself in telling the story of your business. I coach my clients on the importance of answering the 5W’s when writing a story: who, what, where, when, why (and sometimes how). When the 5W’s are answered in your story, you’ve told the full story. But when you’ve answered the all-important question of why, that’s what connects your community to you and to your business.
Your why is not an easy question to answer but when you do, you’ll understand for yourself why you do what you do, and you can return to that answer whenever things get hard. Because things will get hard, it’s inevitable, no matter what stage of life or business you are in. But when you are secure in your reasoning, you won’t have to question your purpose.
Related: How a Puzzle Led Me to Starting My Own Coaching Business
Share It, Shout It, Be Authentic
Once you answer your question of why. It’s time to share it and shout it from the rooftops. When you share your authentic why with your community, they can relate to you. They may have even gone through the same hardship as you. We aren’t alone in our struggles and when we share them publicly we help ourselves as well as others.
If you’ve been struggling with showing up and telling your story — share your why. If you feel like you are hiding from your community and not showing your true self — share your why. You won’t be disappointed. When you know your why, and then share your why, you are being authentically you.
Be you, be authentic, be your why.
Because, the authenticity is in the why.
Related: A Blog is Not a Business: Learning the Hard Truth
