Staying True to Yourself A M A N DA SAU C E DA MS, RDN, CLT CHAIR
Much like the advice a lot of us preach, “there’s no one-size-fits-all diet,” there’s no one dietitian that can fill the need for each niche.
“You write like you talk; this needs to be more professional.”
Here are three pieces of advice to build authenticity in your business.
This feedback was given to me in the margins of my thesis in graduate school. I really took those words to heart. I thought that meant I was a bad writer. It didn’t help that I have always struggled with writing.
1 Trust your gut. We all have an inner instinct – stay in touch with it as you make business decisions. Don’t always solely rely on what we “should” be doing.
Those words really shaped how I felt about writing. I assumed that because one person thought I wasn’t a professional writer it automatically meant I wasn’t a good writer. I figured writing would be out of the question for me as a nutrition entrepreneur. Looking back at that experience, it feels more like one of my core experiences that is a blend of happiness and sadness. If you’ve seen the Disney movie “Inside Out,” then you know exactly what I am talking about.
2D efine your story. No one will have the same story as you and that alone will help you build authenticity and trust with your audience. 3D itch perfection. Perfection is boring and it isn’t real. Embrace all the messy parts of being a business owner – it leads to growth.
You might be wondering if there’s an amazing ending to my story of thinking I’m a bad writer. Not quite. I’m still not that confident in my writing but I did have a major breakthrough. I’ve realized that the 700 captions I’ve written for my business Instagram account have allowed me to be able to connect with thousands of people. All thanks to my authentic writing which to this day is in the style of how I talk! Amanda Sauceda, MS, RDN, CLT, loves pizza. She has a running list of her favorite places and places that she wants to try. Her number-one pizza place used to be a luggage room in the golden days of Hollywood and has a fermented sourdough crust that is to die for.
The happiness comes from the lesson I’ve now learned. Writing like I talk can be my superpower. How? It allows me to be authentic. Merriam-Webster defines authenticity as being “real or genuine: not copied or false.” Authenticity is huge when it comes to business. I’ll give you a scenario. Let’s say you’re getting ready to pick a new niche, you’re super-excited, but when you research a bit … you find a bunch of people in the space already. You start to wonder if you should pursue it because it feels like there's already a thousand people out there talking about it. When you stay true to yourself, when you stay authentic, it won’t matter if there’s one or a hundred people in your niche. Your story, your approach, the way you work with your clients is unique.
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