In October of 2010, I was in my house in Toronto, drumming on the wall with my fists. After months of preparation, my house had just sold. I was elated!
Why the drumming? It was my voice awakening. Through my hands, but still, my voice.
I'd spent the previous 5 years feeling more and more that I was not in the right place. I had lost my voice, in my business and everywhere else.
After trying all kinds of remedies for those feelings, I'd come to the point that I decided to give up the life I had known and travel. I sold my house. I sold or gave away most of my belongings.
That day my house sold, my voice started to come back to me.
You don't have to sell your house or your belongings to find your voice! You just have to listen.
Your voice is essential. It's essential to your business.
Your voice is irreplaceable. No one sounds like you.
Your voice is what translates into your unique brand. It sets you apart from others. What and how you offer what you do, when done from your unique voice instead of someone telling you what you should do, is what distinguishes you from all others.
That's why programs that show you "The Way" to business success, based on someone else telling you who you are and what you should do, are bogus. So are marketing consultants who don't listen.
Even the well-meaning spiritual person who tells you, "I have this tool that will tell us who you are, and then I'll use it to tell you what to do in your business."
Anyone who tells you that they know what is right for you? A false prophet.
Be a first class you, not a second class somebody else.
Only you know what is right for you and your business. Finding your own voice, opening to your own inner wisdom about what is right for you, that is precious. And irreplaceable.
So the work becomes clearing away whatever interferes with listening to that voice of yours. And listening to it.
You may be someone who doesn't feel that your voice matters. You may be out of practice listening to that voice. That's OK. Your voice does matter. You can find it again.
Once you do, you'll find decision-making easier. You'll have more clarity with clients. Selling becomes simpler.
You'll begin to live out the impact that you want to have.
Your impact, making a positive difference within your business and outside of it, is what we need. Your unique voice is essential to your impact.
It won't look like anyone else's. And we want to hear it. We want what you have to give. You discover what that is through your voice.
So how can you find your own voice in your business? Here are 3 ways:
1. Tell stories from your own experience. Your stories can be compelling! Your choice of stories will tell you something. What's important to you? What have you learned? Those stories are unique to you, so they'll reveal something about you, something real, in your voice.
2. Say it in your own words. Avoid jargon or catch phrases. Create your own metaphors and quotables.
3. Play with the energy and tone of what you say. There are many ways to say something. Try out 3 different ways, and pick the one that feels best to you, one that expresses something fundamentally true about you. Would someone you know well recognize you? That's your voice.
Bonus strategy:
No peeking! Give up the temptation to check out what others are saying or doing before you give it your imprint. You'll bring out your voice when you practice and allow it.
That's what happened for me, starting on the day my house sold. I found my voice again. I spent that year traveling, an intentional nomad. By the end of it, I'd uncovered my calling, which is coaching. I'd revealed my unique voice.
You don't need to do the radical things that I did to regain your voice. You can start listening right now. You can find your voice and use it in service of yourself and your work in the world. You can use it in service of others.
How important is your voice? It's priceless. Both to you personally, and to your business.
It's that unique voice of yours that rings out and speaks to your ideal clients.
It's that unique voice that lifts you up and apart from other businesses.
It's that unique voice that creates impact.
Your voice matters. Finding it is a worthy quest. Revealing it is a gift to us all.
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