Introduction

The has been a common undercurrent that has run through a number of my episodes. You heard it with Josh Dovenbarger, Alex Menke, and, most recently, with Dillon Perron. And it is some variation on the admonition to do your own thing…don’t copy…be yourself. There is a lot of unpack there, but I‘d like to focus on a word that Dillon used when talking about putting together a podcast. And that was being authentic. I know we hear that word bounced around and we know it is a good thing. But, as with most words bounced around, the question becomes what does that look like in actionable terms.

So, What is Authenticity?

Authenticity is presenting yourself as you are. If your audience and customers knew the truth about you it would be exactly as they know now. Why is the truth hard sometimes? Because we feel like we need to be more. When we start a breeding business we feel we need to be industry experts. I mean, if you are going to buy a product you want the best, right? So we feel this push to downplay that we have been breeding crested geckos for only two years and try to distract from that by publicly challenging some recognized expert on some husbandry point. When we want to start a website, video channel, Facebook group, or anything else, we have this pressure to make a show of being the teacher and an expert. Because who would listen to someone just starting off? At last that is what our inner doubt voices say to us.

Why is Authenticity important?

You could Fake it until you make it. Isn’t that the reigning advice? I am going to give my personal philosophy here. Faking it until you make it doesn’t work when you are trying to build a long term relationship. And that is what we are doing. The more successful you are in establishing a close relationship with your listener, viewer, or customer, the more likely they are to find out if you are faking any aspect of your persona. It takes a lot to constantly maintain a façade. And it is even harder when the person you copied all your information from changes what they are saying. Whoops! Now, what? As time goes on it is harder and harder to keep up that façade.

Here is the truth about authenticity – You do not have to be more than you are to build a following. More so, you will build a stronger following if you come as you are.

In the end, we are all a collection of strengths and weaknesses. We have various levels of experience across a wide range of topics and situations. One of the greatest gifts I gave myself was to acknowledge those strengths and the improvement points. Not only acknowledge them privately, but have no problem acknowledging them publicly. And realizing that this perceived vulnerability is an illusion.  I need to work on organizing all the content I create. I am a complete novice with dart frogs. And I still haven’t developed a full understanding of the antagonistic relationship between vitamin A and vitamin D3. And, after trying for 14 years to play instruments I had to face the truth that I have absolutely no ability to keep a musical beat. Not only does you and the world knowing those improvement points not hurt me at all, unless I am giving advice on dart frog care or lecturing about vitamin interaction, none of you cares. Being authentic about who you are stops you from doing nothing but what you are unqualified to do. You can be a beginner breeder. You can be a beginner YouTuber. And you can be wildly successful at each as a beginner. Because success comes from people wanting to be around you, feeling comfortable around you, and trusting you. Let me say this again. People trusting you is more powerful than you being the biggest expert in the room. You only have to be what you are.

Now, all of this talking about what you are is enough and you only have to be what you are sounds like sayings you would find in a fortune cookie. But allow me to introduce you to Product Marketing Bill. This is the side of me that doesn’t care about your feelings and only cares about the health of your content stream or business. Podcast Bill cares about your feelings. Product Marketing Bill does not. So, you have heard a lot from Podcast Bill trying to encourage you. Let’s hear from Product Marketing Bill who gets to go straight to the point without sweetening or softening anything up.

Okay, here’s the bottom line. We all can eventually sniff out an imposter. The experienced people in your community already know if you have been exaggerating your experience. Your audience will find out one by one leaving you with only the audience members that don’t care and just want to be part of the social situation you have set up. Yes, this is often done. One look at YouTube and you’ll see this dynamic all over the place. But that doesn’t fall under what we are trying to build here. On this podcast we are trying to build businesses that build the reptile community.

The other bottom line is that we are all drawn towards people who are honest and, dare I say, authentic. A content stream or breeding business’s success will depend more on how much your audience trusts you and feels comfortable around you. Dropping pretenses and facades will make your channel or breeding business more successful. So, from a business perspective, your optimal success lies in showing your humanity.

Okay, back to Podcast Bill. Let’s make this actionable and talk about the specific situations of being a breeder and then having a content stream.

Authenticity as a Breeder

In different episodes of this podcast you hear me and my guests saying to not pretend you have more experience than you do. The message of today’s episode is simply that you do not have to. In order to have a successful breeding business you only need to know how to breed your reptile and how to help an enthusiastic beginner be successful with one of your babies. That is it. You do not have to be the smartest in the room. You don’t have to be the one who can face down the people who have been doing this for 20 years. There is really no benefit to your business to be the one to say your new way is better than the old way. Why would you want to? That does not get you sales. What gets you sales is your customers being happy. And customers are often confused by all the smack talking that goes on. They have no idea what you are debating. And they don’t care. They just care that they have a healthy reptile with the right colors and gender and know how to take care of it. If you know enough to breed a healthy reptile, sex it, and explain it then you are as expert as you need to be to have a successful breeding business. Don’t waste your time trying to spar with the experts. Not only will it not help your sales, but it is taking away from your sales. Just be the level that you are and have impeccable customer service. And give care requirements the best you can. If there is a controversy regarding husbandry for example, whether you should use UVB or not, substrate or not, misting or not,…don’t worry about entering in the debate. Just tell people what you have found to work. Relieve yourself of the burden of having to be right and require others to admit it and change what they do. Just share what you have found to work. And that is all you have to do.

Authenticity as a Content Creator

How about if you want to make a YouTube channel or podcast? Are you worried that you are not experienced enough? It is awful tempting to do quick research and repeat what you memorized so you can take that teaching tone. But you are faking it and will have to keep up appearances until you grow into your bravado.

I know there is pressure to be the knowledgeable one. There is a vulnerability to acknowledging your limitations. And how do you compete with all the other people starting their YouTube channel coming from a place of authority when they may have less experience than you. Yeah, it is hard to take a deep breath and accept where you are and move at your own pace when others are taking short cuts and fudging their resume. Here is the surprising news. You can be a complete beginner and start a successful YouTube channel or podcast. Because people love a story. They love a journey. If you can tell a story of your personal growth, you will be miles ahead of the person with more experience who is giving a lecture.

In our last episode we heard from Dillon Perron, the host of the Animals At Home Podcast. He wasn’t a beginner when he started his show, but he did relate that in some areas he felt unqualified to talk about reptiles he had little experience with. Thus, he brought on experts to do the talking for him. So, for the areas where he was experienced he spoke confidently. In the areas he was not, he brought in someone who could. Therefore, when you listen to his show, you are getting top quality information. Do you notice how his audience grows not because he knows all the answers himself, but because his show provides the answers. Think about that. Your show can contain the best possible information and understanding of that information without you having a full grasp of it. That is the magic of interviews.

There is tremendous value in you providing the conduit for information. What this means is that the value of your show is determined by the quality of the information you present. It is not based on whether it comes from your mouth or not. And so, with access to a literal whole world of experience, tell me again why you ever have to be more than you are.

Closing

The core value of authenticity is that you are on your own path. You are ahead of others and behind others. And this is where we all are. Even the world’s expert in one topic is behind someone in another. So, why not accept what we all know to be true?

 We all know those authentic people. They are the ones that seem so comfortable with who they are. They are gracious in sharing what they know and are apt students for what they don’t know. And there is no reason to be anything else. You know how these people are easy to be with and you seem to feel comfortable around them? That is why they can develop a successful following even though they aren’t the best at what they are doing or the world’s foremost authority. The secret is that no one really cares. It doesn’t take a world expert to help me have a pet crested gecko. But it does take a person that will take the time to help me with what they know and will refer me elsewhere when we are at the edge of what they know.  Any one of you can do this. No need to ride onto Facebook gunslinging. Make sure your breeding stock is the highest quality. Pour your heart into that podcast or video channel. And care about the people who have decided they want to see what you are all about. That’s it. I mean, that and a whole lot of hard work building. So, don’t take on trying to be something you are not. You don’t have time for that. Luckily, you’ll be more successful being who you are.