Finding Your Voice in Business
The universe has been sending me multiple messages about using my voice in business and I pushed this podcast ahead on my editorial calendar schedule because I believe the message is so important to share!
Over the Thanksgiving break, I ran into this incredible singer who was belting out blues songs. I was in awe of her voice and her ability to sing. I got to speaking with her after she was done and she repeated told me I had a voice too and I needed to learn to use it.
While you might be thinking, “Jam, why are you sharing this?” I believe it is important to talk about how to find your voice and what it means and why it is so important to peel back the layers in business and truly share your voice.
Over the years, I have become more and more transparent in business. I stayed small because I believe I could do it all myself. I didn’t say what I meant and I was afraid of what others might say about me if I owned who I was and truly was myself.
Over the last several months, I have had more and more test about using my voice especially in business and standing up for myself. I’ve had to stand up for my team members, my business, my content and have hard conversations. If I hadn’t embraced myself and learned to speak my voice I wouldn’t be where I am today. I thought this was an important message I MUST share.
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Transcription Below
Finding and using your voice in business. So I am bumping this podcast up in front of a couple of other things that I’ve recorded cause I think it’s a really important topic to talk about. And I’ve had several things happen to me that just really make me want to share this with you guys sooner rather than later. So over Thanksgiving break I was away on vacation with my family and we were at this bar and there was this woman who was like this cute little older woman and she has um, she had like this white hair and she was just this awesomely cute little woman. And so she walks up to the karaoke and it wasn’t even karaoke, it was like karaoke with the live band. So it was kind of crazy. And she starts belting out like Bonnie Raitt and all of this like bluesy music.
She actually saying like two or three songs and she was sitting behind us. Um, we’re sitting like kind of standing behind us at the bar and I got to chatting with her after she was done cause she was phenomenal and I was just totally in awe of this woman. And I was like, I could never do that. That was so amazing. And you know, she looked me dead in the eyes and was like, you have a voice, you can, you need to learn to use it. And you know, she just shared this really like very touching story with me about her life and I’m not going to go into details about it cause I don’t feel like it’s appropriate for me to share. But essentially she’s here this very inspiring story about how she found her voice and how it really changed the whole trajectory of her life.
And you know, it was just, it was really, really cool. And you know, she said to me, she just, like I said, she looked me dead in the eyes and she’s like, Jamie, you need to learn to use your voice. Um, because you have one and it’s gorgeous and it’s amazing. And, you know, I only talked to the woman for maybe half hour, 45 minutes, but I will remember that interaction probably, um, until the day I die because it really had a crazy impact on me. And she’s like, you got to use your voice. You got to use your voice. She kept saying that over and over and over again to me. And I was like, well, this isn’t a sign. I don’t know what is. Um, and you know, I’ve had a couple of other things that have come up that have, you know, also forced me to use my voice, one of which was some of my content that was, um, someone was using and we’ve since worked out, uh, what’s going on.
But somebody was essentially using my content and as part of their course, um, not exactly but closely enough to, to consider it, um, questionably ethical. And you know, it was something I had to stick up for myself. And I share this with you because I think the more and more that we put ourselves out there and the more and more that we, you know, stand up for ourselves and the more and more we learn to speak our voice and be true to who we are and really stand up for what we believe in. Um, you know, the more that this stuff is going to happen. Cause I know for me, you know, 2019 was definitely a learning year and a transition year for me. My business was kind of like half done for you, half done with you. And I did not give either side of the business as much attention as it fully deserved.
And as we’re coming into 2020 I’m already realizing that I, I’m seeing all these, I don’t want to say mistakes, but lessons that I learned along the way that really got me to where I am today and not lessons in a bad way, lessons in a good way. And so you might be thinking, well Jim, why are you sharing with this with us? It doesn’t seem like crazy important. Um, but I actually think that it is, I think that it’s really important to find your voice and own your voice and really just be confident in that. And you know, I stayed small in my business for a very long time out of fear, out of, um, scarcity out of belief that I was the only one who could do certain things and it kept me small and it kept me, um, it kept me in a, it forced me to just not grow as much as I wanted to as quickly as I wanted to in my business.
And you know, we, we oftentimes as a society, we don’t say exactly what we mean. You know, we say things like, we would prefer that you didn’t do X. Instead of saying, I don’t like, or I don’t want you to do X. And we kind of like round about things instead of being super duper direct. And it’s really unfortunate I believe because we’re just, we’re all kind of like, we’ve got these masks on and we’re all walking around not saying exactly what we mean. We’re staying small, we’re not as happy as we could be. We’re not living as fulfilled as we possibly could be. And you know, we’ve, we fear like truly being ourselves and saying what we mean because of what other people think or what other people might say and because of that judgment and you know, I am just at this place in my life and perhaps you’re there too. I know that many of my listeners kind of on a similar life trajectory as I am and you know, maybe just not quite as far along or or whatever. I dunno, I I share this cause I just, I think it’s important to talk about because I’m at this place where I don’t want to live as with a mask on anymore.
I don’t want to have to skirt around saying what I mean. I don’t want to have to stay small to make other feel people feel comfortable. I don’t want, I am very much comfortable in my skin to say what I mean and not worry about how others might judge me or my comment on it because it’s really more about their judgment is really more about them than it is about me. And I think, you know, we live in this society where we either move too fast and make decisions too quickly and then regret it later on or we move too slow and the opportunity passes us by and in our, in decisiveness, we didn’t make a decision anyway, which is really making a decision anyway. And you know, I’m, I’m tired of that. And I think when you can own your voice and own your authenticity and own where you’re at and just take, you know, radical responsibility for where you’re at and what you’re saying and how you put yourself out there in the world and you can truly be yourself. Like it is a really freeing feeling. And I’ve kind of been on this journey of self discovery now for probably about two and a half, three years, and I can’t help but just feel a sense of relief really as I’m like taking off this mask and stepping into myself. And I’ve had so many quote unquote coincidences of stuff lately that has forced me to use my voice and really step into my own voice.
And I shared this with you because I don’t know if this is a theme for 2020 or what not, but you know, I think the more that you can show up and be yourself, the more that you can, um, feel comfortable exercising that voice. And I, you know, I, I think it’s, you know, even one step further, you know, every day is an Instagramable, like every single moment, you know, there’s ups and downs and all sorts of crazy stuff. And I share that with you guys because I think that if we as a society can just all like take a layer off, and I’m not saying you have to be completely vulnerable and share like all your darkest secrets.
That’s not what I’m saying, but I’m saying if you can just say what you mean and, and be authentic and show up and not be afraid of what others think, like the whole way in which you present yourself really, really can change for you. And so I share this story with you because it’s something that I’ve been on this journey of more and more and more and more and more transparency with you guys. And I always try to tell it like it is. Um, the good, the bad, the ugly. Um, and I want to continue to do that. And I just felt like this was a really important message to share because as you grow and as you really start to put yourself out there on the internet and as a business owner and as an entrepreneur, it can be really, really scary and it can be really, really hard.
And like I said, there’s so many ups and downs and lessons and all that sort of stuff, which I can get into at a later date in time. But I felt like this was a really, really important message to stair because the more that you can just own and use your voice, the better off that you’re going to be in the long run. And for me, I, I’ve, this lesson keeps coming up and it keeps coming up and I keep learning and exercising my voice more and more and I am feeling more and more confident. And I think that it’s important to share with you guys because you know, as you know, I’ve been on this journey of like growing my online business and getting vulnerable and putting myself out there and you know, the results aren’t always positive and it is definitely a challenge and it’s scary and it’s trying and you know, you just, it’s uncomfortable.
Um, but I share this with you because like you guys are my podcast listeners. You guys have been with me for a very, very long time on this journey. And I know that for many of you, you know, I just saw one of my listeners, they, they’re starting their own podcast and you know, I see a lot of that stuff that’s going on and I’m so grateful for each of you, like seeing you guys do that sort of stuff just makes me so happy and so excited and I’m just like proud that you’re living and you’re practicing what you preach. And that’s something that I’ve always strive to do and I’m not perfect. I’m human and you know, I’m, I just want you to know that I appreciate you and I think as this year progresses more and more, you’re going to keep seeing more and more layers of kind of peel back and even more layers I already share with you guys and really just kind of see this transformation on fold. So, you know, use your voice, find your voice, it’s uncomfortable, it’s hard. Um, I’ve certainly said shed some tears over it because you have to make some decisions that are really, really hard. Sometimes you have to say things that are really, really uncomfortable, but you know, I, I just want you to know that I believe in you and you can do it too. So it’s, um, I hope this message resonates with you. Thank you so much for tuning in. I super appreciate you and have a fantastic day.
