Make Marketing Suck Less

Why You are NOT Your Message

You are your message.

You've heard that one before, right? Books are written about it. It seems like every messaging, marketing and branding coach will tell you that you are your message. It's a piece of advice that we take on face value.

We will say, yes I am my message. I live it every single day. We buy the book, we comment heck yes on Facebook but we never examine what it really means.

What if you are not?

Wow, what if this is bad advice? What if it's counterproductive to the impact that you want to make in the world?

What if you are not your message and thinking you are is keeping you stuck and playing small.

So that's what we are going to break down today on this episode of the Rebel Rising Podcast, we're gonna talk about why you are NOT your message.

Tune into the audio:

“You are your message” is advice that shouldn't be followed or how you should approach your message.

Instead,  “you are your message” keeps you stuck and while I believe your message comes through you, it allows you to double down on who you are, what you believe and your strong viewpoints.

There is no case where I think that you are your message, so hear me out here.

I want you to think of the consequences if you and your message are one and the same. When someone says, hell no. They are not just rejecting your message. They're actually rejecting you as a person. When someone disagrees with your message, they are not just disagreeing with the message itself. They are disagreeing with who you are. When someone says, oh, that's stupid. They're saying you're stupid not just the message and man, all of that hurts when it's intertwined. It's so personal and why would you want that? You wouldn't want to put yourself out there because of all of that rejection.

When you and your messages are one and the same. A message and how people react to it (or reject it) should never be personal.

The second reason I think this is harmful advice is that “you are your message” causes you to beat yourself up for not having your message nailed down.

Ever since the 3 Word Rebellion book has launched, I've been speaking to a ton of entrepreneurs, business owners and speakers who have been struggling to find their message and how to say it for months, if not years.

Not having that foundational part of their business nailed has cost them income over the years and it's cost them money because they've invested in countless courses that couldn't get them the results because they don't have their message.

If you are your message, shouldn't it be easy to find your message? And if you are the message, how come you haven't found it already? It must be right there in front of your face.

The rebel truth is messaging is hard because we are so close to it.

We are in the work day in and day out and we can't even see it when it's right in front of our face.

For example, my client friend and a past guest on the Rebel Rising Podcast, Stacy Fisher, when going through the 3 Word Rebellion messaging process, we came up with “create how you feel”. A few days later she emailed me and sent me a PDF that she had created ages ago and right there on the title page in big bold font was her 3 Word Rebellion. She just couldn't see it.

So you when “you are your message” it makes it feel like messaging should be easy, but it never is because we need some distance in order to be able to see it.

And finally “you are your message” limits the impact of your work.

This one is a biggie. When “you are your message”, you are the only one who can effectively spread it. You've got to do all of the work to make the impact.

I am the steward of the message. I am the conduit of the 3 Word Rebellion. I am the biggest fan of the 3 Word Rebellion.

But that message itself, it is its own thing. It's for people who resonate with it. It's for people who want to talk about it. It's for people to tell other people about it.

Just like a parent is not her kid. The 3 Word Rebellion is not me and I am not it. Just like Simon Sinek is not Start With Why. How do I know this? Because he's advertising on Facebook right now for a course. What course? He doesn't even teach. He has let that message go and let others run and lead with it.

So think about how much more impact you can have when you let your message go.

When you let others lead and be the steward of your message as well, you can create a massive impact by letting other people step up and be the messengers of your message.

If you need to find that message that can be bigger than you and your business, please do check out the 3 Word Rebellion book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. And if you have the book, please leave a review. It is by far the best way to help me find more people who need their own 3 Word Rebellion.

Ditch the advice of “you are your message”. Stop limiting your impact with this faulty thinking. Stop being stuck and playing small with your message.

Be the steward of your own 3 Word Rebellion, advocate for it. But let it go, detach from it and let it have a life of its own with the people who it's meant for.