no to the niche
My brand will remain undefined. Uncategorized. Out of the box. Unorthodox. Part of my magic IS the inability to describe what it is that I do. The fact that it is hard to pin down. Hard to name. Hard for others to define. That is part of what makes what I do really special.
In a world full of niching, narrowing, and knowing, I am choosing to stand in the unknown… I am choosing to be ambiguous, even if that means selling less, being less understood, and not having “clarity” around what it is that I DO. Because what I offer is not what I do, it’s who I am.
My business, my offerings, my courses, programs and memberships are not one thing. And I am proud of that.
Voicing Grief, Stillness Sessions, The Voice Collective, The Embodied Voice, Creative Partnerships, Meditation Sound Journeys, Heal Your Voice from the Inside Out, Performances, Sound Environment Enhancement Programs, Scoring and Sonic Branding, Voice to Vision, Campfire Jam Camps, Seasonal Stillness Virtual Retreats, Virtual Voice Retreats… The Wisdom of The Voice (a podcast that I’ll be launching soon 🥰 )
…all of these things I’ve built and continue to build are connected, and yet distinct and often hard to describe on their own, never mind trying to describe them as a collective identity.
Although, I realize, there is one, and that is ME.
I am the magic in my business. I am the thread between offers. I am the glue that creates cohesion. My values are woven throughout my creations, whether that’s an album of original music, a class I’m teaching, a photograph I’ve taken, or a 1:1 creative partnership helping someone explore and express their voice.
I create a safe environment, a permission slip to take risks, a loving embrace to explore vulnerability, a reminder that creation is life, and we need it to breathe… I hold others in their sense of purpose by seeing and hearing their truth, their brilliance, and shining it back to them. I create the sense of peace and sanctuary that helps people ease into stillness, and into carving out the space they need to hear themselves. I encourage creative risk, collaboration, weird ideas, bold action, and conviction in finding that aliveness that comes from hearing that aligned truth and acting on it.
My brand is ME, and who I am… not what I DO.
My brand is my BEING. My offerings are the result of that.
Often I hold back in sharing because I don’t know how to position myself, or talk about my work. But I’m taking this moment to re-orient my perspective so that I can embrace WHO I am more than WHAT I am doing. And in that, I can still share my offerings, but the call to action is always going to be come and join ME.
Come join ME. Because that’s what you get around here. My full commitment to showing up for you. That brings me so much joy and life.
Yesterday my client found this moment of peace in herself with ONE NOTE. One note brought her back to the essence of who she was and it brought tears to my eyes. I didn’t say anything, I just held space for her to keep singing, and fully embrace that peace she found in that moment, to feel it deeply. She told me later she hadn’t felt that good in a while.
What often happens when people show up after a while of not using their voice is this general malaise of “I don’t even know why I’m doing this. I’m not good at this. Why am I bothering?”
To see the flip of this script by the end of an hour, to see them sink into a place of pure alignment and soft epiphany of “oh right. This. This is why I’m doing this” makes my heart want to burst out of my chest. This is why I do this work. This is what I’m “selling”. This is what moves me to keep going, when it feels blurry and undefined… when I feel like I don’t fit in after “all these years”.
My job is not to fit in. My job is to be myself.
Remind yourself of this. Say it out loud. Write it on all the sticky notes you can.
Your job is not to fit in. Your job, is to be yourself.
And that is enough.