00:00:31Hello, and welcome to women conquer business. I'm Jen McFarland. I recently gave an interview on business and life conversations with Angela Henderson. It was really great. She asked me a question at the very end. What's the most important thing?

00:00:50And I'll admit that I had a lot of different things just tumbling around in my brain, because I think for all of us out there who run businesses, who own businesses. There are so many things that we've learned so many mistakes that we have made. And so many steps along the way that were like, that really worked. And then other things that are like, that really didn't work. So you kind of stockpile all of that, and I'll be honest, when she asked me that it was like, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is to that, and then I realized that I knew the answer all along. I said, authenticity.

00:01:32When I first started my business, I was so focused on the things that I thought that I didn't know that, I didn't take the time to recognize the things.

00:02:22Instead of putting my focus on all of the Lac and all the things that I didn't have.

00:02:39In the post, I say that too many so-called business Cruz claim to know what authenticity is about. They promised that once you find your authentic self, your business will Blossom like cherry trees in Spring.

00:03:54Means of uncovering my authentic self. And this is why authenticity was one of the most important lessons. I learned early on the authenticity in business is about finding your own way. It's about understanding best practice and going about it in a way that is true to your personality Spirit of character.

00:04:40That's why when I've worked with a lot of entrepreneurs who are just starting out and we look at their digital marketing and the steps that they can take to really Advance their business. People care about who they're doing business with. When you're small, sometimes more than whatever it is that you're offering but it always has to be done authentically.

00:05:19Cuz I don't know about you, but I can sniff that out. I can find that I can, I can hear it and I can see it just as much as I can hear it or see it in myself when I say something. And I'm like, wait, what? No, that's that's somebody else's stuff. That's not my

00:05:53But they want you.

00:06:19Confuse authenticity with. And I came across this article in the Harvard Business Review, called the authenticity Paradox, because sometimes we think that, when we're being authentic, or actually being is transparent. And I think sometimes when we think we're being vulnerable, it's also being transparent. I'm not saying transparency is bad.

00:07:44I'm saying is that transparency? You don't have to share that part of you. The part that helps other people undermine you that part that the positions you and helps you feel better by being authentic about your emotions that you're losing credibility. At the same time. You can be authentic without sharing everything that you're thinking and feeling and it makes a lot of sense, right? You can totally do that, but it's hard, right? Like we want to feel like we can share anything with people want to feel like saying that we're scared is part of our vulnerability. Right? What I'm saying is you can still be you without letting people know transparently.

00:08:43Being grateful for what you have, join everything that's around you that you already have. I think at times, I've talked about the problem with the word should should takes us out of authenticity and vulnerability. Should is about living the way that other people want us to live should is about working with somebody on your business who is placing you in a different place, who is wanting you to show up differently than you are now shouldn't different like, you know things like tracking your accounting, and things like that. Yeah, those are things that you should do, but anybody who's trying to tell you that you need to be different than who you are, fundamentally as a person.

00:10:28From achieving those Higher Goals, those big things that we want to do. It allows us to stay small and allows us to say to stay safe in that place and we say, oh we're doing it. Authentic Lee hoo. Yeah, but also we're keeping ourselves from reaching out and crash bring that gold ring. Whatever. That is because we're living in the land of should we share those emotions that are holding us back with other people and we are allowing them to continue to hold us back. I should lose weight. It's really scary for me to be up here on the stage talking you today. Cuz I don't think I look as good as I should and then you give the rest of the speech. These are the moments that I'm talking about. There is a difference between authentic City. Transparency.

00:12:24Show up and service in authenticity, and be ourselves without sharing. How scared we are.

00:12:42Just because you don't believe that you're enough today, doesn't mean that you won't believe that tomorrow. I'm holding out. Hope holding out hope for all of us and all of those areas that we do believe that we are enough. But tomorrow, we will begin to believe that we are the best that we are enough. We have to stop telling everybody all of the things that are holding us back in ways that make us look like. We don't know what we're doing. You know what you're doing. Get out there and share it. I sent it clearly and your people will come. They will follow you. Do you have to show up? And you have to be out there? And it doesn't have to be completely transparent about every emotion that you're feeling. I love you. And if this helps you, please share it with a friend.