How to Amplify Your Authentic Voice to Become a Leading Authority in Your Industry

Welcome back to Be the Sought-After Entrepreneur Podcast, this is episode #4 and I’m your host Kathryn Thompson. It’s been so fun recording these episodes for you, and as always I’m grateful and honored you’re tuning in with us today as I share how to amplify your authentic voice so that your brand message is heard and you become a leading authority in your industry.

In today’s episode we are covering one of the most common questions I get asked, which is what to say, and how do I say it to stand out online and attract more clients? 

I call this the million-dollar question that most struggling entrepreneurs are trying to figure out, and it hinges on the strength of your brand message, if you’re speaking your truth, and owning your authentic voice. It’s also the second pillar I believe all entrepreneurs need if they want to create consistent income in their business, but beyond that do it in a way that feels authentic. 

So if you’re struggling to get people to pay attention to your content and what you’re selling, you’re going to BE surprised with my response, because it’s not another 10 step brand message framework or step-by-step process I want you to follow. 

I know your logical mind right now is probably freaking out, saying, “just give me the answers, the solution, the easy 1,2,3 way to get this right.”

But the logical mind is the thing preventing you from amplifying your authentic voice, speaking your truth, standing out online, and becoming the sought-after entrepreneur in your industry without having to chase clients. It’s the disconnect from our body, and the rhythm of it, and keeps us stuck in the rigidity of getting our brand message right.

And it’s preventing you because it’s your thinking brain that’s trying to get this brand message right, it’s the thing that talks you out of owning your authentic voice and self-expression, it's a nagging voice in your head telling you not to speak your truth in case other people judge you. It’s the thing telling you if you pivot in your business, or go against the grain things will fall apart.

It’s the thing telling you, you need to color inside the lines and follow exactly what your mentor is saying about what makes a strong brand message and if you don’t follow it you’ll fail or things won’t work. The ego loves to talk us out of creating and sharing our authentic voice and self-expression because speaking our truth is scary for most people.

You may or may not fall into these categories, but for most entrepreneurs, they struggle with ‘rocking the boat' or creating content that is polarizing because they don’t want to offend people.’ But most people say to create a strong brand message, it needs to be polarizing to stand out online.

So this was totally me. I’m an empath who has a knack for seeing both sides of peoples’ beliefs and opinions so the whole rock the boat, creating polarizing content always felt like the big old but going on in my head. But...I can see why this might not be true or that people do things another way. It’s the libra in me, the balance, the neutral perspective. So speaking my truth, and owning my authentic voice was a challenge because I always saw both sides of everything. When I was doing my thesis, that was the advice and edits I got back, you have to take a stance one way or the other. 

Now my stance is offering perspectives of my own but encouraging others to develop their own. And accepting everyone's stance. 

OR…

Maybe you are scared of showing up as their true self in fear of what people will say (and usually it’s the fear of what their close friends and family will think) the family obligation and going against what your family believes is the right path is a big problem for many people. Preventing you from speaking your truth and owning your authentic voice. It often looks like you go to university and when you come out get a good-paying job. Going against that grain is frowned upon. 

OR…

Another big one is they don’t want to come across as too much, or too pushy especially when it comes to sales and this is especially true for my heart-centered, impact-driven entrepreneurs. Sales feel a bit icky, or almost guilt-ridden that you’re getting paid for doing work that is fun, and easy for you.

And the last one I hear and see so often is, entrepreneurs (especially the high-achievers) try to perfect every piece of content. They spend so much of their time making sure their brand message doesn’t go out without a mistake, curating everything so it looks and sounds perfect and typos send them over the edge. So much energy is spent in the weeds as I call it, giving our power away to perfectionism. 

If you resonate with any of those or identify with them in any way, it’s common when it comes to trying to stand out, getting your brand message out. 

And when we try to create messaging without embodying our truth so that we can speak our truth, the first pillar I discussed in episode #3, we create messaging that sounds like everyone else, that doesn’t resonate with our audience, and it feels like you’re screaming into the void. It’s very robotic and scripted. 

It’s exhausting, right? 

So once you embody your truth *which is an ongoing process, how do you actually amplify your authentic voice the first step is gaining awareness about how much information are you consuming? Self-development, free downloads showing you how to get more clients, course hoping, and 

And you have to be honest with yourself. If you tried all the courses, had many coaches, and still didn't see the results you desire...you’re filling the void, seeking the quick fix, and your brand message is going to feel robotic, inauthentic to your audience, and disconnected. This likely makes a lot of the listeners feel uncomfortable because for so many of us we are addicted to learning. The idea that we need more information, more training, more, more, more to get what we want. It’s also this overconsumption that’s blocking your unique inspiration and downloads. The creative sparks and ideas prevent you from sharing your creative self-expression.

So when you don’t know what to say or how to say it, or you feel uninspired it’s likely because you’re consuming WAY too much information. You’re stuck in the learning, and it doesn’t allow you to get the inspiration to hit. 

The second step is letting go of the shoulds, the rigidity of what you think is the RIGHT way to create a powerful brand message, or what to say things, or there is some hidden secret you need to hack to write correctly in order to be successful. This goes back to being graded in school for our writing. And if you’re like me you were told you weren’t a good writer or led to believe you weren’t a good writer. So you want to get it right based on traditional ways we were taught. 

So I invite you to pause and notice WHEN your brain starts to feed you with what you should do, need to do, and WHY you’re performing a specific action when it comes to trying to figure out what to say...is it attached to the need to GET more or to SERVE more. 

There is a big difference. It’s why I say BE seen and heard versus get seen and heard. It might seem like semantics but our words carry energy and they are what creates a powerful brand message. And 93% of our communication is non-verbal. So getting...is a very plucking, seeking, chasing energy.

I believe you can BE seen and heard without force. Pure presence when you walk in a room or how you show up. Speaking your truth through your brand message is that essence, that presence. So, back to looking at WHY you create content and how you show up online. The first step is taking an inventory of this. It’s in this awareness that change can happen.

For example, 

Are you creating content and forcing yourself to come up with something to say every day because you believe this is what you need or should do in order to get seen and heard as a leading authority in your industry? 

Do you have a cohesive brand message? 

Are you writing emails every week to your list because you believe you need to nurture them in a specific way?

Amplifying your authentic voice doesn’t mean turning up the volume, or speaking more. Imagine being at a house party and everyone is chatting and getting to know each other, but the host of the party likes the song that just came on but the chatter was too loud so he cranked the music, but all that did was get people to talk louder. One that would be super annoying and hard on the ears, but more importantly no one can hear anyone. That’s what happens when we try to force our brand message out into the world and believe we need to turn it up, say it more, do more in order to get seen and heard.

And that’s what is causing the burnout, disappointment, discouragement for most struggling entrepreneurs when it comes to content creation. We speak more or try to speak over people to get seen and heard. Amplification carries the meaning that we need to turn things up. But speaking your truth and owning your authentic voice, and expressing it through self-expression doesn’t require the volume or frequency to get dialed up.

So the more we can gain awareness of whether we are overconsuming information and where the shoulds and needs are showing up, the more we can start to craft a really compelling brand message that is aligned with who we are. 

And then you can tune back into the truth of who you are, and drop deeper into embodying it. And you can start to ask questions like:

What do you want to express? What does speaking your truth mean? What is my authentic voice and story? Am I willing to go to places that might not make sense? Am I willing to share and test and get creative with how I share my message? Am I willing to create from a blank canvas? 

It’s from this place that a captivating, and compelling, brand message and content comes from. The artistry of your authentic voice and unique self-expression is what will stand out online and help you become a sought-after entrepreneur instead of a commodity of businesses already in your space. 

And this doesn’t come from following 1,2,3 step and you’re done. It’s that approach that creates minions that emulate everyone else and creates a brand message that blends in. It’s that type of content that feels forced. It’s that type of content that is uninspired and unintentional and your audience feels it. It’s devoid of any character and personal flair. 

Think of a musician making music. Imagine if they followed a script for writing songs...all the songs would sound the same to some degree. Your content, your brand message, your authentic voice are the same as writing music. It’s not meant to fit in a step-by-step, perfectly curated script. It’s meant to sound like music. Authentic to you, and your authentic voice. Recognizable because of the uniqueness of your self-expression. It’s what makes a killer brand message!

As I mentioned during the trailer of this show, my intention isn’t to give you quick fixes, step-by-step instructions. It’s designed to help you break out of the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. The days are done to follow the leader style content creation. 

Because it’s this step-by-step content I believe is doing us a disservice. It’s playing into the quick fixes people want and it either works for a bit but it doesn’t last. 

So before we wrap up, I want to leave you with this: the ultimate key to amplifying your authentic voice to become a sought-after leader in your industry hinges on you speaking your truth so that your brand message doesn’t sound like everyone else. It’s this authenticity that stands out. And if you try to create a brand message from a place that isn’t from the embodied truth, you’ll continue to feel like you’re speaking into the void where no one hears you. 

I want to thank you again for joining us. It’s always my pleasure to share with you my unique gifts, in the hopes of helping you unlock yours!