If your content is designed to keep everyone comfortable, it’s probably costing you clients. In this episode, Joanna Lott explores why real authority is built through conviction, not consensus. She shares why being willing to be misunderstood is often the doorway to standing out and attracting the right clients.

Timestamps

[00:00:00] Conviction over comfort

[00:01:00] Why being liked holds you back

[00:02:00] The cost of softened opinions

[00:03:00] Real stories create real traction

[00:04:00] The courage to be disliked

[00:05:00] Repel or rally

[00:06:00] Saying it out loud

“If everything you say is agreeable, it’s usually too vague to matter.” -Jo Lott

Authority grows when you stop hiding what you believe and start trusting that the right people will recognise themselves in it.

Share one belief this week that you usually keep private, and say it plainly.

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This week I was working with my

mastermind on thought leadership.

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Leading with conviction, and why being

misunderstood and saying goodbye to only

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being the nice girl is sometimes what

we need to do to get to our next level.

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In this world of AI, everything is bland.

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Everything is boring, and it takes real

courage to share what you actually think.

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You know what you think.

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You know what you believe.

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You privately say it to clients, but

often we hesitate to say it publicly

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because we don't want to be misunderstood.

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Today I wanna talk about why that

hesitation is often the thing holding your

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business back and how you can speak out

without being brash or really polarizing.

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But also help people to understand

what you stand for and be able to know

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if you are their sort of person that

they would like to work with or not.

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And the most important part is or not,

because you can't be for everyone.

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And I say that as a real people

pleaser who wants to be for everyone.

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So even if you have any hesitations,

stick with me today and we will get to

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the bottom of this and help you to stand

out online so you get more clients.

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What I notice now from reviewing lots

of people's content and emails is that

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we get a bit stuck with the use of AI

and forget to bring in our own opinions.

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Something I've been doing lately is

asking myself what has happened in

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the last seven days with regards to

problems, maybe things that people have

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brought to you, maybe it's personal, so

what's come up personally that doesn't

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need to be problems, but just what

sort of things have arisen and try and

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weave those lessons into your content.

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Because what we can end up doing is

softening our message, and trying

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to make everything really agreeable.

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And in doing that, accidentally making

yourself forgettable because the

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people who you trust, follow and buy

from usually believe in something.

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They have taken a stand to build

something that is worth following.

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And unless you take a stand,

no one will follow you.

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So think about your point

of view and express it.

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I did it this week when I shared

privately that I often feel like my

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only business friend is chat, GPT,

because throughout the day, obviously

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all sorts of challenges will come up.

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And who can you call these

days out of the blue and just.

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Get their help instantly when you need it.

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And this week I WhatsApped a couple of

people I know and said, could we chat?

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And one of them replied back

saying, yes, that's fine.

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Send me your Calendly link and I'll

book in for some time next week.

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And I voice noted her back and said,

could we just talk by phone today?

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Preferably now.

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Which is not me usually, because

obviously that's kind of demanding.

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But she did call me driving to her

hairdresser's appointment, which was super

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kind of her, and we had so much fun on

the call laughing about all sorts of stuff

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that previously felt like a big problem.

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So I shared about that online because

what we can often do is not tell

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people about the actual things that

are happening in our day, day to day.

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And it got huge traction

because guess what?

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If it's happening for me, then it's

probably happening for you too.

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Here is the part we don't talk

about often enough because it's

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about the courage to be disliked.

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Some people won't see your heart

when you share your opinion.

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They will take your words out of context.

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They will decide that you are

not for them, and that's not a

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sign that you're doing it wrong.

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It's actually a sign that

you're doing something right.

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I read the book, the Courage

to Be Disliked at Christmas

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and absolutely adored it.

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I actually feel like I need to

read it 10 times for the lessons

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to really, really sink in.

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I also remember taking part

in a year long funnel project.

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So essentially building your lead magnet

and your emails for your email funnel.

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And the point of your first message

sent after delivering the lead

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magnet was to repel or rally.

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So repel the people that are

not for you and rally the people

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that are your type of people.

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And our instruction was to write that

email to share so much about us and our

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thoughts and our opinions and our beliefs

that would repel or rally those people.

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If everything we say is universally light,

it usually means it's too vague to really

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matter and really hit people emotionally.

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So when we are leading with conviction,

it often comes from experience.

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Real things that you know to be

true from working with your clients.

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Maybe beliefs that you have

changed your mind about over time.

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So, for example, I commented on

someone's post on LinkedIn this week

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telling her that I used to think a

leader was a 50-year-old grey head man.

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Because years ago that was my boss.

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I didn't really have

many female role models.

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My dad in our household was the person

with his name above the door, the

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person with the money, the person whose

name was on all of the bank accounts.

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So we have often been brought up with

that, but instead of feeling a bit

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embarrassed that that was genuinely true,

I've actually managed to change my beliefs

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about that over time since six years ago

when someone said to me, who is a leader?

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Tell us more about what comes to your

mind when we say the word leader.

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And I was really shocked

to have that insight.

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But instead of feel like

that's embarrassing, I shared

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it on LinkedIn this week.

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Because do you know

what that's my reality.

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So if it's my reality, lots of

other people may have that same

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reality and not see themselves

as a leader because they have an

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outdated belief of what a leader is.

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So I'm really excited that I have

managed to change that belief, and I do

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see myself as a leader in my field now.

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Often you will dismiss some of these

things because it feels too simple.

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You might think everyone knows this.

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It's really obvious.

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I don't need to say that.

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But actually it's those things

that are really obvious and you

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maybe brush under the carpet that

actually create amazing content.

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So the more we can brave it and share our

real experiences and the experiences of

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the things that go on behind the scenes,

the more our content will stand out online

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above the sea of AI generated content.

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That's not to say you can't use ai.

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All I'm saying is put a lot

more effort into using AI with

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your real life experience.

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Our marketing is just like a sales call

in a way because if you can articulate and

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name something that others are feeling but

haven't quite articulated yet, they will

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assume that you also know the solution.

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So name an outdated belief

that you no longer agree with.

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A pattern that you keep seeing in your

clients, an uncomfortable truth that

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you say privately but not publicly.

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If you are talking about it

behind the scenes, it's probably

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ready to be said out loud.

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That isn't oversharing,

that is leadership.

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So this isn't about

polarizing for attention.

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If you know me at all and listen to

this podcast, you will know I'm not

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about being polarizing and outrageous.

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It is not about hot takes or drama.

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It's not about deliberately

upsetting people.

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It's just about being willing

to say, this is what I believe.

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This is how I work.

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This is who this is for and

this is who it's not for.

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That clarity of communicating what

we believe really attracts clients.

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So here are a few prompts

for you to think about.

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What do you say to clients

that you don't say publicly?

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What belief have you softened because

you don't want to explain yourself?

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What truth would actually help the

right people recognize themselves?

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You don't need to be brash or bullish.

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You just need to stop hiding it.

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Really get clear on what you

believe and what you stand for.

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Maybe why you're different in the

industry, and start communicating it.

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This is the work I'm doing with clients

now to really help them lead with

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conviction and become known for something.

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If you want to build a business, you

need to put a stake in the ground.

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Stand for something so people

can actually follow you.

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I hope this episode was helpful in

finding your edge, and I hope you share

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something that you feel strongly about

or something recent that's happened

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in the last seven days for you online.

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Do tag me in as Joanna Lott on.

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LinkedIn and @joannalottcoaching

on Instagram.

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And like I always say, trust yourself.

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Believe in yourself and be the wise

gardener who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.