Make Your Mess Your Message- Robin Roberts

Things are a bit….messy. No?

Some people believe this is what the Mayans predicted, they just wrote 2012 when they meant 2021. Others are blaming a President, blaming the hoarders, blaming the beach-goers, blaming Carole Baskin. Huggers are depressed for what their future may hold and handshakes may never again be the same.

 

It’s a mess. We don’t know what to expect because no one has seen something of this magnitude in their lifetime. For some it’s terrifying and debilitating, for others it’s no big deal. People are dying, people are recovering, people are getting sick, people are losing their jobs, people are missing out on life events….but the sun is still rising each morning.

And some day we’re all going to have one hell of a story.

We’ll be telling our kids and their kids (riding around on whatever technology has done to a hoverboard by then) about how they don’t know how good they have it because in OUR day….and you’ll tell them the good, the bad, the memorable and the ugly. You were worried your kids were getting bored but they remember what a cool fort that was the night they got to camp in the living room! You felt devastated when you lost your job or another client dropped you….but remember when we took our anger out with art projects we didn’t have to clean up and finished that book you were always too busy to read?

 

The art of storytelling is what gets branded in to the minds of listeners. The sights, the smells, the funny one-liners that never die and get passed on for generations. “We can laugh about this someday”, “Remember when” and “You’re gonna miss this.”

Anything can be memorable just by forming it into a great story. And we can focus on the chapter being written right now.

What did 0 look like for you?

Did you have a nasty breakup, your cat died, you lost your job and the car broke down all in the same week? Yeah, that sucks.

Was it losing your job with no backup plan (low), starting your own business (high), all the roadbumps and pitfalls (aaaAAAhhhhHHaaahhh) that came along the way?

We’ve all got a 0. What did yours look like? What did it feel like to claim the spot on your least desirable list?

 

If this feeling of being in your entrepreneurial job or personal life were a place, where would it be? Maybe you’ve been furloughed from a job you were just in for the money and you dream of taking a big a** pension to fly yourself to a private island. Maybe this really does feel isolating to you so a crowded beach, the lawn under the Eiffel tower or even a movie theater with sticky seats sounds great.

If people were running to your business, what would be the attraction drawing them in? Distraction, entertainment, love and affection, a friend to talk to?

 

If you threw a dinner pity-party, what would you serve? Who are you inviting? Mine would probably be a grilled cheese, pizza, ice cream buffet with me as a party of one. And two begging dogs.

Maybe quarantine will offer up some creative dishes you had to create without eggs, meat or basic grocery supplies because of hoarders. Are you never going to eat canned beans ever again? Much like your poor-kid (or just gross-kid) college self, don’t you ever forget the creativity that you felt and the shoulder shrugs you had while eating breakfast leftovers at 7:30 on a Tuesday.

Just so you know, I’m not a picky eater.

 

 

The core of Local Collaborative is simplicity and authenticity. We’re more beer and pizza than we are cavier and champagne. The people we work with are small businesses, often just 1-3 people, who acted on their dreams and big ideas to make them a reality.

What are yours?

When things get slow and people start dropping off in seasons like this I have to remember what words are synonymous with this brand: clarity, understanding, transformation, truth telling, self-help, deep-cleaning, freedom and vulnerability.

What are yours?

When I’m trying to connect to the world through the typing (btw anyone else has PTSD from those rubber keyboard covers?) I ask myself is this as authentic and vulnerable as I can be? Is this teaching people in the most simplified way what I learned from my 0?

I really hope so. 

If I have an internal dialog phrases that help drive my messaging are are solve a problem, creativity to express truth, a trusted friend, clear picture/mind, transparent story and doing what you love.

What are yours?

Even if it means losing money, losing a client, dropping my productivity because my husband needs to use the one working computer in our home 5 days a week….will I allow that to happen? What happens to me? If me and my business take a backseat, will I still feel fulfilled and valuable and contribute to my household? Can I help others by granting their requests or wishes and still be okay if I get nothing in return?

If I’m leaning in to truth-telling and authenticity: it’s scary. It’s uncertain. I have been burned numerous times in my life because of things like this.

But I’m going to do it anyway.

Because at the end of the day if you can, you should. 

I can’t go out and cure people. But I can stay home.

I don’t know the first thing about innovating ventilators. But I know this will lead to transformation in the future. When we know better, we will do better.

I can’t make your business decisions for you. But I can trust you’re doing what you feel is best. I can accommodate the best I can. I can offer you all of my free blogs, resources and products to help in the meantime.

 

Lastly, as you’re telling your story, there’s going to be the question of how.

How did you know? How did you do it? How did you get through it? 

In times like these, we don’t know. That’s the thing. You don’t know that you’re resilient until you look back at all of the 0s you’ve moved forward from. You did the best you could, with what you had and persevered. You made your next best move. You did the next right thing.

And it got you here.

 

Lastly, if you’re religious, God is not in our comfort, He is in our character.

These are uncomfortable times and they may be dark for you. If you can’t trust the public door handles, the government or the security of your job, trust that something much bigger than you is in charge. In an unknowing world, we can trust an all-knowing God. He is not an excuse to shield you from an uncomfortable conversation but the lesson is instead in standing firm and unwavering in any uncomfortable situation you face.

 

I hope you’ve been writing in a journal or compiling your thoughts in a blog. If not, now is the time to start. You will be asked about this someday. It might be for a homework assignment or sheer curiosity but good stories are made in times like these.

 

Cheers!

Marin

Want help marketing your business during these times? Curious how your brand can streamline messaging and storytelling? We would love to help! Book a FREE DISCOVERY SESSION here.