Does this make me a hypocrite? ... [🐝U]

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There’ve been a lot of changes in my business this past year.
Some have worked.
Others haven’t.

That’s how it goes when you’re building (& living) honestly, isn’t it?
You try.
You learn.
You tweak & try again
You figure out what fits & what doesn’t.

& that brings me to something I genuinely never thought I’d say…

I’m starting a podcast!

You may have already seen the half-baked announcement on LinkedIn.

That was intentional.

I know enough people there who know me in real life that once I said it publicly, I’d have to follow through.

Now here’s the part that might sound a little contradictory:

I’ve talked a lot about authenticity in marketing & business.
I literally named my business Be Yourself Marketing.

I’ve shared the 0% extrovert score on the Wealth Dynamics assessment.
I’ve said I have a visceral reaction to things like podcast, webinar, and anything that smells like a presentation.

Does that make me a hypocrite?

A big part of me wondered that too.

Because if I’m going to talk this much about building a business around who you are…

Then what in the frilly heck am I doing stepping into something that has always felt so not me?

But the more I’ve sat with it, the more I realized…

The podcast was never the problem.
But my idea of what a podcast had to be was.

The first time I tried this 3 years ago, I started building how I thought I was supposed to

& it flopped before it launched … even though I…
→ bought the mic & camera
→ set up a nice background for the video part
→ talked to other podcasters to get their advice & recommendations
→ even reached out to some big-name marketing people to be guest speakers

& then…
I didn’t hit record.

Not once.

Because every time I sat down, it felt like I was about to perform… not talk.
& I couldn’t make myself do it.

I remember sitting there staring at the mic thinking…
‘If this is what it takes to grow my business, I don’t think I want it.’

Not because podcasting itself was wrong for me.
Because the version I was trying to create was.

It felt forced.
Performative.
Like I was trying to squeeze myself into someone else’s template of what “works.”

& that’s where so many of us get stuck.

We borrow someone else’s strategy.
Someone else’s process.
Someone else’s order of operations.
Then we wonder why it feels like we’re wearing stilettos while climbing a mountain

A square peg doesn’t fit in a round hole …
But there’s a work-around!

Then when it creates friction, drains our energy, or flat-out dies on the table … we assume:
the strategy doesn’t work
or we don’t

But usually neither is true.

Sometimes the strategy isn’t wrong.
It obviously does work & others are seeing success.

It’s just wrong for you right now
→ or wrong in that format,
→ or wrong at the stage your business is in
→ or wrong in order you’re using them

That’s different.

Because there’s a real difference between stretching & forcing.

Stretching = growth.
Forcing = self-betrayal.

& confusing them can cost you.

So yes, I’m launching a podcast.
But I’m doing it differently.

In other words …

Being myself while doing ___

Yes, that ___ is on purpose.

Because this isn’t just about being yourself while building a podcast.

This is me being myself while doing something I once wrote off completely.
That matters.

It’s about being yourself while …
→ building a business.
→ selling
→ marketing
→ trying anything new.
→ growing into a version you haven’t fully seen … yet

Too many people treat authenticity as avoiding discomfort:
“Well, that doesn’t come naturally to me, so I guess I should never do it.”

I don’t believe that.
But for a minute there, I forgot.

Authenticity isn’t about avoiding the thing.
It’s finding your way to do the thing.

That’s a huge difference!

Especially right now, when so many people are freaking out about AI & algorithms & changing platforms & whether any of this still works.

There’s a lot those tools can do.
But they still can’t be you.

They can’t replicate your lived experience.
Your perspective.
Your values.
Your energy.
Your way of connecting.
Your way of seeing what others miss.

Which means the real work isn’t becoming more generic, more polished, or more like the people you’ve been told to copy.

It’s becoming more honest about who you are … & building from there.

That’s what I’m learning again in this season.

Not “never do hard things.”
Not “reject every strategy that feels uncomfortable.”
Not “if a mentor suggests it, it must be right.”

Just this:
A “proven” strategy that disconnects you from yourself will exhaust you … fast.
And in some cases, it quietly kills the business before it’s had a real chance.

Because what works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you.
Especially when it goes against your nature, or asks you to do things in the “wrong” way, in the wrong order, for the wrong reasons.

So no … I don’t think launching a podcast makes me a hypocrite.

I think it’s giving me another chance to practice what I say I believe:
Be yourself.
Then build from there.

Authenticity is not refusing to do the thing.
It’s refusing to do the thing in a way that betrays who you are.

So now I’m curious:
What’s one thing you’ve been resisting because you assumed there was only one way to do it?

Because those are the things I’m bringing into this podcast:
not performative,
not polished for the sake of polished
… just real conversations in a format that actually fits & shares success stories that came from being yourself.

Make it a great “ authentic“ week!
EG

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