Will the REAL you please stand up???

0:00
May I have your attention, please? Will the real you please stand up? And that of course was adapted from Eminem. Today on the podcast, I'm going to start sharing my journey to building a business based on my unique gifts, talents and expertise, rather than someone else's.

0:21
Welcome to Episode 294 of the Amplify Your Awesome™ podcast. I'm your host, Yong Pratt, also known as Dr. Content, because I help my students and my clients fix what's ailing their content. Whether you're new to this content creation journey, or you're a seasoned pro looking for ways to leverage that content for maximum benefit, you, my friend, are in the right place.

0:47
If you didn't happen to see my announcement on Facebook recently, I wanted to share it with you today here on the podcast. Are you ready for it?

0:55
Something big is coming September 28, 2020!!!

0:59
Leading up to the 28th, I'll be sharing stories here on the podcast that I've kept locked away for literally years. Why? Because I've been scared to be vulnerable, really vulnerable. I've been embarrassed to share some of my life-defining failures that I've only ever admitted to myself. And that stops today because since February of this year, I've been on an amazing adventure, discovering more about myself than I ever thought possible. And I'll be revealing my revelations and a-has along the way.

1:39
You see, I'm really on a quest to build this business based around me...all of me. I know for some of you listening, you may seem like that's an obvious statement to say. Build a business around you, the business owner. Even if it sounds obvious, I've found that in reality, it's been much harder to do.

2:00
As we move closer to September 28, I'd love for you to go on this journey with me. As I reveal how I'm learning and leaning into building a business built around my unique gifts, talents and expertise. I'm leaning into the ways in which I have been uniquely designed. I'm leaning in and showing up and serving you with my message, my content and my business, and more importantly, how you can learn to do the same.

2:31
So let's dive into a story that begins 20 years ago by repeating what I said in the intro. May I have your attention, please, will the real you please stand up?

2:44
Back in the days of running my Performing Arts Studio, I had the idea that my personal life along with my quirks and my weirdness needed to be sheltered from my business life. This was the way my mentor ran his business and I thought well if it's good enough for him, because he ran a multi million dollar multi-location Performing Arts Empire, then it must be good enough for me.

3:10
Here's something you should know about me. I'm a really good student and I follow direction well, especially in subjects at which I am not a natural, like running a successful business. So I emulated what was being taught and modeled. I had systems in place to shelter my name as the owner of the business from information seekers. My admin staff were instructed to say the business was privately held, and that people who asked for the name of my owner would never discover who I really was.

3:40
It even got to the point that many of my newer families in the business didn't even know I was the owner. I could literally walk up to them strike up a conversation in the lobby or at a performance, and they would literally look at me quizzically asking who I was this.

3:58
I thought was what a successful business look like. And this is how I ran my business for many years. The business wasn't well-oiled machine with hundreds of systems in place. And it ran so well, in fact, that I left for an entire month during my busiest time of the season, and the business was thriving without me.

4:20
I had a staff of 20 plus and we were serving several hundred families each and every week. I taught only a few classes each week and spent the rest of my time focusing on projects like investing in real estate, and going back to graduate school. And this is how my business ran for years...until some of my more, I'll call them more vocal staff, started questioning the absence of me in my business.

4:49
Say what?

4:50
It turns out that by creating a business devoid of me and my fun and quirky personality, I begin losing my unique position in the marketplace. The business I spent decades crafting, molding and extricating myself from strategically was becoming a commodity. So much so that what we offered, quote unquote, looked the same as all the others centers popping up around town. And even though we had the most well trained and qualified staff, the most variety of classes, a gorgeous facility with top notch flooring and equipment, people began exiting. A slow trickle at first, and then we experienced what I refer to as the mass exodus.

5:41
And all this came about because I was afraid to let the real me shine through in my business. I was afraid that my perceived flaws or shortcomings would drive people away or worse, they would judge me. I was afraid that if people knew the real me, they just wouldn't like me.

6:02
It turned out that the exact opposite was true.

6:07
The less people knew about me, the less likely they were to do business with me. One of the defining moments of that season of entrepreneurship was that I discovered I had spent nearly two decades building a business that I didn't even like in the end.

6:27
Don't get me wrong, there were absolutely things I loved about the business. I loved the families be served. I loved our philosophy. I loved the impact we were making in our community, and I loved the creative outlet that the arts provided. I just didn't love the vehicle the business was being driven in at the time.

6:52
So today, my friends, do me a favor?

6:56
I ask that you celebrate YOU today and celebrate all the things that make you unique. I invite you to stand confidently, center stage, fully in the spotlight of your business by amplifying all that makes you awesome.

7:18
And if you'd like support and a community to cheer you on as you make your way to that spotlight center stage, join me inside Creators Landing while we're still accepting new members. I'll be sure to share the link on today's show notes at www.YongPratt.com/294.

7:38
I hosted our first co-creation session the other day. We're throwing a welcome party for new members this week. And I have so much more fun planned for all of us because when it comes to building a business, based on who we are, there's so much I want to share with you.

7:55
I've learned so much on this journey. I am tired of hiding it. Tired of hiding behind my failures or my perceived failures. Because now I know that all those failures and challenges were put there for a reason. Just like those same obstacles may have been put in your way as well.

8:14
As I have leaned into discovering my Human Design, which I'll be sharing more about in upcoming episodes, I have learned that I'm here for a unique purpose. There's a reason why I was placed on this planet at this time. And the more I learn about myself and discover the subtle nuances of my design, the more I understand why I spent all those years struggling, trying to build this business based on other people's models, other people's ideals, and why it never felt quite right.

8:51
In the coming weeks. I'm gonna be sharing more of this journey because I am loving the fact that I feel so confident uncomfortable in my skin, which is crazy because I've been on this planet for more than four decades now. And it's not until now that I'm starting to really feel like me, the real me. And I feel like you listening to this podcast and hearing this journey may inspire you to tap into the hidden new.

9:20
I'm currently reading a book by Todd Herman called the Alter Ego Effect. It's fascinating how great athletes and great performers of our time have created these alter egos to do things like take to different fields of play, to show up online in bigger ways. And what they discovered at the end was in reality, their Alter Ego, was their everyday selves. And the real them was being able to shine through on their fields of play.

9:50
So, my friends, I have so much to share with you on this journey to building this incredible business based on you. Based around your gifts. Based around your unique talents. Based around your experiences and your expertise. You all have things inside of you that you love that you may have been keeping hidden. And today, I invite you to dig deep. Dive in. Explore those things. Explore those dreams you had, even as a child and see how you can extract them and use those in your business.

10:29
Because I have to tell you that building this business now that I have, presently, it's so joyful. And this is gonna sound really crazy that I'm gonna say this, but I'm gonna say it because it just is true. It feels so easy. Now, I know society says that, if something is easy, then it must not be worth pursuing. But I have to tell you, finding this alignment, finding this ease, finding this joy has literally in the past couple of weeks, opened so many doors.

11:04
With that, my friends, I'm going to wrap up this episode. It's a little bit shorter than the ones we've done in the past, but I really want to give you these little bite-sized nuggets to take away. So my challenge for you today is to think about all the different quirks you may have. And don't think of quirks as bad things. Don't think of things that are weird as as bad things. Think of them as your unique selling propositions, right? These are the things and the reasons why people choose to come to you versus somebody else who could be offering the same exact services or products. And I know that sounds also a little bit counterintuitive. But hear this...

11:40
You are unique. You were put here for a specific reason. You are meant to serve. And to show up for your tribe in your own unique ways, and in ways that feel good to you. So I invite you to dig in today and then come on over to today's show notes at www.YongPratt.com/294 and share with me what you are discovering, because I have been loving this journey that I've been on. This quest to really understand and dig a little deeper. And I hope you will come on this journey with me and share what you're learning about yourself and how you can apply it in your business. Again, come on over, continue the conversation on today's show notes at www.YongPratt.com/294.

12:28
Next week, I'm going to share with you a little bit more about this idea of Human Design, what it means, and how you can discover your design as well. Cheers, my friends