Authentic Brand Voice with AI: Write Like You Talk! with Kim Scaravelli

Episode Summary

You can find Kim Scaravelli at:
Website: https://kimscaravelli.com/
Book: Amazon link
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimscaravelli/

#WriteLikeYouTalk
#AuthenticBrandVoice
#KrisWard

Kim Scaravelli Podcast Interview

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day. And I am your host, Kris Ward.

[00:00:04] Kris Ward: And today in the house we have Kim Scaravelli. And Kim is a professional brand voice coach and the author of Making Words Work. Welcome to the show, Kim.

[00:00:15] Kim Scaravelli: Hi. Nice to be here.

[00:00:17] Kris Ward: Okay, so you the first time we chatted, you said a lot of interesting things that I’m gonna start with the first, and I think the funniest is that you’re talking about AI being the Botox of 2025.

[00:00:30] Kris Ward: Yes. Okay. Where do you wanna start with that? When it comes to words and the power of words and what we’re doing with them right now. 

[00:00:39] Kim Scaravelli: I think that. I don’t think AI is a terrible thing at all. Yeah, just like I don’t think Botox is a terrible thing. I think it’s a lovely way to touch things up, but obviously if you go too far you end up with a whole table full of people that look exactly the same.

[00:00:52] Kim Scaravelli: We’ve all run into them in pubs and restaurants and nobody can make a wrinkle and and they’re undistinguishable from each other, and so you [00:01:00] don’t want to do that. What you want is to use AI enough to maybe up your sparkle a little bit or make life a little bit easier, or maybe even make you feel a little more confident about what you’re putting out in the world.

[00:01:11] Kim Scaravelli: But don’t put so much of it into your writing that you lose yourself ’cause you are more valuable than perfection. 

[00:01:19] Kris Ward: And that’s, I think, a really profound thing that you’re saying. And I agree. There’s this big divide about AI and we use it or not use it. I liken it. Somebody said to me once about it being like a calculator for math, which I will tell you the calculator did not solve my deficit in math.

[00:01:33] Kris Ward: But it is a tool. So is it a tool to flush things out? Yes. And I agree with you, but I still have to have my story, my voice, my tone, because that’s. I think as we push deeper into all this AI communication, the individuality, and as you talk about making words work and all the voice that we have is going to be the only thing that distinguishes us.

[00:01:54] Kris Ward: So we better learn how to even clarify and hold onto that. I think it’s [00:02:00] gonna be more important than ever. 

[00:02:01] Kim Scaravelli: Also AI is a tool. Yeah, it’s an appliance. As I mentioned the other day, if you think of it like your toaster, yeah. We all know how that works, but you can’t put a slice of white bread in your toaster and have it commodus whole wheat or french toast.

[00:02:15] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. It’s not going to work. So you have to decide what you’re using that for and what you want your end to be and make sure your ingredients line up. It is very similar. So when you use AI, it’s more important than it was before. Or when you even use a virtual assistant or you use an employee to do things for you, you need to have a strong handle on what you sound so you know when it’s hitting it correctly and you know when it is missing the mark.

[00:02:42] Kris Ward: I think for so many of us. Sometimes we get lost or I think seduced into the idea of trying to be professional. And I know I did that and I still struggle with that sometimes. Whereas instead of talking, you’re presenting, or like when I wrote my Win The Hour, Win The Day book, one of the things the editor [00:03:00] kept coming back to me on as a Kris, you can’t say cannot, will not.

[00:03:04] Kris Ward: It has to be, can’t won’t. It has to be the way you talk, not the way you write. Yeah. So we’ve got a couple things coming at us. We have to keep our voice and then it has to be. Our, what I call our actual voice, meaning how I write is different than how I sound when I’m talking to you, right? So now we have to be social media.

[00:03:21] Kris Ward: So we wanna make it sound conversational. And I think for many of us, we underestimate the individuality of our voice. I think we don’t like you. I know when I’m texting different people like, oh, that looks like. My, a Kelsey text or that looks like my niece’s text or I know different personalities who they’re texting, how they, how their the cadence of their sentences or whatever, their emojis, or just the whole navigation of how they communicate.

[00:03:48] Kris Ward: And I think we forget. That as people, it’s people first, not professional first. And I think that’s a big power of what you do, understanding that. 

[00:03:58] Kim Scaravelli: Absolutely. And I also think that we were, [00:04:00] maybe a lot of us are done a disservice. Yeah. In the early part of our education because we are told that. We are on the playground, we’re playing with other children, and we’re allowed to communicate freely and we’re having these great conversations and our arms are waving around and we’re colorful and it’s fantastic.

[00:04:17] Kim Scaravelli: And then we come in and we’re asked to, write your 100 words about your weekend. 

[00:04:23] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:04:23] Kim Scaravelli: And suddenly, if we write that 100 words the way we would tell someone about our weekend, maybe the grammar isn’t ideal, maybe the wording isn’t perfect. So we’re encouraged to become increasingly artificial.

[00:04:36] Kim Scaravelli: From an extremely young age. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, welcome to the internet. Hello. Social media. 

[00:04:43] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:04:43] Kim Scaravelli: Realistically, written words are ruling. They remain ruling. 

[00:04:49] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:04:50] Kim Scaravelli: Casual things. They’re all starting with a script at some point, and we have to start breaking down that barrier between how we use our words when we write them, how we use them, when [00:05:00] we speak, and realize that it’s all just one big, glorious mishmash of us.

[00:05:05] Kris Ward: Yeah. And the energy that those words carry I know I was thinking, wow, like I don’t regret my education at all. But if I had known in college and university that I would be trying to take work, like things I write and bring it down to a grade life, grade five level, and then put little emoji pictures in it, I might not have worked so hard on some of those essays.

[00:05:23] Kris Ward: So I think it is. Also a certain energy. Like one of my downfalls too, is being efficient in my language and my clients like that. When I’m working with them, we get stuff done. It’s to the point, there’s no flowery dancing around it. But then I do get emails from other people that are much more energetic or dynamic or thoughtful, or there’s more personality in it where I’m just like, just the facts kind of deal.

[00:05:49] Kris Ward: So I think. We probably also don’t see the power in our words on paper and the energy attached to them because we’re just, we’re using them. [00:06:00] Sometimes I don’t think we think about it as much. I think we’re just looking at for what you need, asking for something and hoping to get it in an email or a text.

[00:06:06] Kim Scaravelli: We know it when we get it back. We know it when we, 

[00:06:10] Kris Ward: yes, it. Yeah. 

[00:06:11] Kim Scaravelli: When we receive a communication, and that’s actually part of where you get this very odd sort of imposter syndrome, like as a professional, you will go to the website of another professional, does what you do, and they’ll seem like they’re, somehow they’ve got something going there that you don’t, and you can’t quite put your finger on.

[00:06:31] Kim Scaravelli: It won’t happen with everyone. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re quite superior, in fact, but the ones that really feel like they’ve got lightning in a bottle. What they really have is that they’ve judged, managed to insert their personality Yeah. And their authority into their sentences. I break it down, we do a lot of exercises when I’m working with folks where I just ask them simple things like before you send an email, turn your phone on and read it to yourself.

[00:06:55] Kim Scaravelli: Just literally look at yourself saying those words and think, yeah, that’s how I would say it, or. [00:07:00] Who is this human being? The one that always got me is for probably the first five years of my professional life, I signed everything sincerely. 

[00:07:08] Kris Ward: Okay. 

[00:07:08] Kim Scaravelli: A teacher in grade three who taught us letter writing.

[00:07:11] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. Yeah. Like I’ve never used the word sincerely in my entire life. I have never walked away from someone. In a mall or a restaurant, something gone. Sincerely, I will see you this speak. No one does that, and I think that sort of formal code ju it just has to go. And I you find younger entrepreneurs and younger professionals maybe have it a little better.

[00:07:34] Kim Scaravelli: I, because you don’t go so far that you’re talking slang, 

[00:07:37] Kris Ward: right? 

[00:07:38] Kim Scaravelli: We just bro speak. But we can relax. A little bit of relaxing is valuable. You and I language just talk. You and I stop talking about your customers and your, we do this for our customers. I do this for you, 

[00:07:52] Kris Ward: right? 

[00:07:54] Kim Scaravelli: If you had a customer and you were talking to them, if you had a lead and you’re having a conversation, you’re not gonna keep referring to that person as the lead or the customer. You’re gonna say you. So say you. 

[00:08:04] Kris Ward: Okay. Now on that though, like I do hear you. If I’m writing a post, I’d say I, whatever. But I do use the word we a lot ’cause I do think my team is my, like there is a we to us to the point that when I wrote my book, ’cause I think everything is we, there’s a we to everything.

[00:08:18] Kris Ward: So when I wrote my book, I’d say something like We, and they like, who else wrote it? I’m like, oh, I saw my team attached to it. Because they gave me the space to write the book or help me pick out the cover or help me. So they didn’t write it, but I saw them as part of the process. But I think you’re right.

[00:08:35] Kris Ward: When I’m posting or if I’m talking online about something, the we sounds distant, maybe professional, but I don’t, that’s where my mindset is 

[00:08:43] Kim Scaravelli: I think. I think we is a double-edged sword. Yeah. Oh, such a double-edged sword. And because when you use it to acknowledge the people who are helping you and supporting you, then of course it is valuable and inclusive and actually charming, to be honest.

[00:08:59] Kim Scaravelli: People like people who acknowledge the work of other people. But when you lean on it and it becomes your sort of go-to, it diminishes your accomplishment. The thing that if you are the person that did it. And you’re not saying I, or if you are the person who’s gonna provide this service and you just keep talking about we do this.

[00:09:19] Kim Scaravelli: If they have never seen the rest of the we and they are not going to see the rest of the right again, why bother?

[00:09:27] Kim Scaravelli: I think that goes back to a time, I’m not sure if you remember this one, but I do remember the time when small business owners and entrepreneurs, consultants especially, were very much encouraged to create team pages on websites.

[00:09:39] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:09:39] Kim Scaravelli: And they would have everybody on that team page from their bookkeeper to their accountant. 

[00:09:43] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:09:44] Kim Scaravelli: Not a real team. These are just people who hire to do things. 

[00:09:47] Kris Ward: Yeah. Vendors. 

[00:09:47] Kim Scaravelli: You get it to create the look of being a small business. But it really leads to a weird kind of imposter syndrome because if you are you and you do, you own it and just move on.

[00:09:58] Kris Ward: And so I do. I still [00:10:00] believe that when I’m working with a client I do the bulk of the face-to-face work, but my client, my team really does do such amazing things. But I think you’re right. I’m distancing myself by the we, not the I. 

[00:10:15] Kim Scaravelli: I think it’s distance. Yeah. I think I, I think it’s more diminishing.

[00:10:18] Kim Scaravelli: Because the idea, as an example, I have been married for 4,000 years. Dinosaurs roam the earth when my husband and I first met, and I often talk about we when he’s not even there and they don’t even know who he is. Yeah. I’m just so used to being part of this little pair. And I caught myself doing it a lot where people would say something like, I had a friend come over to the house and say, that is an incredibly beautiful painting over your sofa.

[00:10:41] Kim Scaravelli: Isn’t that lovely? And I said, yeah, we got that from a friend of mine. We didn’t get that from a friend of mine. I have a friend who’s a glorious artist, and somehow when I put the we in there, I don’t know. That was me. I found that beautiful piece of art. It’s okay to not always share credit where sharing credit is important, but when it’s your expertise and you are in the room, own the room, there’s no harm in that.

[00:11:07] Kris Ward: Okay, I’m hearing that differently now. So I think what you’re saying is like a lot of other things I think I certainly have done on the, in the past online is whitewash it, water it down, be generic, be polite, be inclusive. So really at the end of the day, you’re saying a lot, but you’re saying nothing.

[00:11:26] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. Or saying less. Always be inclusive, always use, they should be banished to a far away island. So I don’t really mean that your language but what I do mean is, 

[00:11:35] Kris Ward: and I don’t mean not being inclusive, but I just mean like I’m being over inclusive when it’s not relevant. If I freaking did this, then I don’t need to include everybody on the team.

[00:11:44] Kris Ward: I, ’cause I did, I wrote the book, but, and people would be saying, you wrote the book. Yes. Your book. I wrote the damn book. And then people would be saying who’s the we? And I’m like, I’m so sorry. I’m just so used to saying we. That, I guess even the, we has no value anymore because it’s not pertinent to that story.

[00:11:58] Kim Scaravelli: I think, and here’s the thing, I don’t think [00:12:00] it’s gonna turn off a client that wants to work with you. Yeah. I think it’s wonderful, but I also believe that happiness and joy and a sense that you’re making progress.

[00:12:09] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:12:09] Kim Scaravelli: You are always little like picking feathers off that bird. You are always giving away little bits of your accomplishment and it’s not necessary. Like just own it. Think if you were sitting at a coffee shop with a girlfriend. 

[00:12:22] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:12:22] Kim Scaravelli: You were just talking shit about this thing you did. There’s no way in that coffee shop that you’re gonna be saying to her, we are really struggling to get the last part of this book done. We’ve been trying to edit this for months.

[00:12:32] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:12:33] Kim Scaravelli: Me.

[00:12:33] Kris Ward: Yeah. That’s true. And then I, by diluting it, what I think is you can also make it sound like, if you work with us, you might not actually get to work with me. Even though so that’s the thing is where I say I think I’m diluting it. 

[00:12:47] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. We’re special and yeah.

[00:12:49] Kim Scaravelli: And that’s specialness and that uniqueness and that marvelousness, it does not mean you have to be. This is not influencer bro. Speak stuff. I don’t mean that, [00:13:00] but when you own your words and you use that, you and I language, and you are clear about your accomplishments and about your abilities and about what you can do for someone, it has gravitas, it has weight, and it holds you in the space.

[00:13:14] Kim Scaravelli: It makes you memorable, and most importantly, it builds the most priceless business asset on earth. It builds trust. 

[00:13:22] Kris Ward: Yeah. And co and the confidence,

[00:13:24] Kim Scaravelli: trust, and confidence. Yeah. And you can’t there’s no way to buy it. You can’t SEO it, yeah. You can’t it on social media. That trust element is what really grows your success in significant ways, because when you grow it based on that kind of trust, the other thing is that allows you to keep growing.

[00:13:44] Kim Scaravelli: It’s no longer rinse, repeat. If you pivot a little in your business or if you decide to do something a little differently, people will hang with you when they’re, when they already have faith and trust, they’ll try something new because you’ve suggested it. Don’t, it’s just, [00:14:00] it just makes life easier.

[00:14:02] Kris Ward: Okay, I get it. All right. That makes sense. That was, it’s very simplistic, but deep at the same time. So that’s me. Simplistic. Yeah. So then we talk about really finding your voice, your what, your why and your natural tone. And I think back to school, we have a natural tone, a pace, a cadence. And then I know the hardest thing, like I said before, is learning how to write like a talk because that natural tone is.

[00:14:29] Kris Ward: Frankly beaten or squashed out of us. And you’re just trying to make it sound generic and polished, but then you sound like everybody else. So really leaning into whatever it is you. ’cause you are the only one that can be you. 

[00:14:45] Kim Scaravelli: Yes. And there’s that horrible thing we learn in school. The dread it three paragraph essay, right?

[00:14:49] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:14:50] Kim Scaravelli: And everything has to have an opener, and then three salient points and then a conclusion. 

[00:14:55] Kris Ward: Yeah. Firstly, secondly, thirdly. I love that. 

[00:14:58] Kim Scaravelli: It, there’s, it is, I [00:15:00] get it. It makes sense and in a math equation it’s logical, but it’s taking. Picture how glorious I’m not, I’m honestly not trying to be hippie dippy about this, but you put a bunch of preschoolers around a table with a bunch of paint.

[00:15:12] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. And they will have the greatest time and they will make some pretty impressive looking stuff. 

[00:15:18] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:15:18] Kim Scaravelli: Now you take a 12-year-old and you put them at the same table with the same paint, and they will spend the first 10 minutes just standing there. 

[00:15:24] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:15:25] Kim Scaravelli: Trying to figure out the right way to do it. 

[00:15:28] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:15:28] Kim Scaravelli: And communication isn’t like that. Communication is supposed to be fluid. It’s supposed to feel good. It’s supposed to have a little bit of a shimmy to it. 

[00:15:37] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:15:37] Kim Scaravelli: And you can’t have that when you just keep overthinking yourself. 

[00:15:41] Kris Ward: Oh my gosh. Okay. All right. Oh, and I think this is so interesting.

[00:15:45] Kris Ward: Thank you. Because we, I know that was the hardest thing at first like with a book or coming back on social media going, all right, so I gotta stop trying to sound professional and polished. I have to chat it up like as if I’m talking in this written content. And [00:16:00] now we’re leaning into this even deeper because now everyone’s looking at the whole, is this AI generated?

[00:16:06] Kris Ward: Is did there’s te tells of AI and they’re looking, or now people are starting to say, oh, I’m gonna make spelling mistakes because I want people to know it’s not AI. Which then you could also just tell AI to make a couple spelling mistakes so people don’t think it’s AI. But now it’s the rush and the push to, you even now have to have a stronger connection to your voice because it’s gonna get lost fast.

[00:16:31] Kim Scaravelli: It’s like that in all elements right now. I. I going, not going back to the Botox thing, but just the other day I had, I took a photo and I went to post the photo and I realized, oh, isn’t this cool? I can get rid of the, there’s like a fork on the table. I didn’t want the fork, so I get rid of the fork and then I looked and I don’t really like that Turkey wobble I have underneath my chin.

[00:16:50] Kim Scaravelli: So I tried to erase that. I got, I kept going and eventually I looked at this photo. This, a photo could be absolutely any [00:17:00] relatively reasonably decent looking woman my age. But everything was gone. My freckles were gone, my neck waddle was gone, my fork was gone. So the question becomes, are you trying to share a perfect version of yourself or are you trying to connect with people because it’s very difficult to do both things. At the same time you can do, I did think it. 

[00:17:29] Kris Ward: I did think of that when Photoshop, we started using it much more at already instead of photographers. And I thought, will this next generation be looking at pictures and go, I’m not aging well, but no, you don’t know that none of these pictures are real. Like we, we tweak them all.

[00:17:42] Kris Ward: So you can’t, you can’t look at, I can look at a picture of my mother’s age and see, oh, what do I look like compared to my mom? But everything’s so filtered or zoom lens or whatever. So it’s, 

[00:17:50] Kim Scaravelli: yeah, again, it’s not a fair comparison. So realistically what we do know is that people are going to use AI.

[00:17:56] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:17:56] Kim Scaravelli: And we know that’s just an, that’s gonna happen. What you want [00:18:00] is to use it the way you use your toaster or your fryer or whatever it is that you’re using. You want to give, you wanna know who you are, and then you wanna give that to AI. So as an example, if I’m trying to, I don’t know, I just wanna make a quick blog post and I’ve got a topic, I’ve got a few ideas.

[00:18:16] Kim Scaravelli: I’ll just write down a bunch of posts, a bunch of ideas I have on that topic. But then I actually have certain things that I will say every time I’m like Haiti, ho. I’m from Nova Scotia. I don’t say a, I am, this is my age. This is my gender. I use, they, not he, she, I’m Canadian. So give me the Canadian spelling folks.

[00:18:34] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. And I’m not Jenna Kucher, so don’t keep saying darling. ’cause I’ve never said darling. 

[00:18:39] Kris Ward: Yeah. It doesn’t work for me.

[00:18:40] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. And then I, yeah. And then I see what they throw at me. And a lot of the time what comes out will be a little better. 

[00:18:47] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:18:48] Kim Scaravelli: But then that I will never ever publish that.

[00:18:52] Kim Scaravelli: So maybe they saved me a little bit of structural time. They took that. Yeah. 

[00:18:56] Kris Ward: I do find it’s good for that. And I know even one day last week I had to schedule, [00:19:00] reschedule a couple appointments. One of my neighbors had passed away and I was in a rush and I wanted to make sure that this sounded thing, so I had said something like in my email I’m so sorry, I have to reschedule.

[00:19:11] Kris Ward: My neighbor passed away and I have to go to the funeral. And AI, I threw it in AI just ’cause it was in a rush. It made a good point. I don’t need to tell that the person died. If there’s a funeral, somebody died. You know what I mean? So I was like, oh, very good point. So my, we’re not gonna have a funeral with someone.

[00:19:31] Kris Ward: Not funny folks. I’m sorry. She was very important, but it still is, but, so I was like, oh, okay, I can tighten this up a little bit. So it just pointed it out, silliness in it deal. 

[00:19:41] Kim Scaravelli: My favorite thing to use AI for? Favorite? Favorite. Actually, besides researching, because really it is not the best content writer on Earth. It really is. 

[00:19:49] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:19:49] Kim Scaravelli: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put content into AI, had it play with it for 30 minutes, and then I’ll put what I put at the top in and it’ll go, oh, yes, that’s better. 

[00:19:57] Kris Ward: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:19:58] Kim Scaravelli: Talk about it, it fickles. Yeah. [00:20:00] Anyway, but what I do find it’s good for is if I’m sending out an email and I read it to myself and I’m like, oh, that’s a little spicy, because I’m annoyed.

[00:20:10] Kim Scaravelli: Yes. I’m annoyed. Where I find it is when I’m annoyed, because you know what? AI doesn’t get freaking annoyed. Yeah, it’s nothing, right? It has no emotions. So if you just put that in and go take the heat out of this. 

[00:20:24] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:20:25] Kim Scaravelli: Which is the opposite of what you normally want to do. Yeah. But yeah, I find it really helpful.

[00:20:30] Kris Ward: I’ve done that too. Can we stop this? Because my direct tone is gonna come out and not in a way that might be well received, especially if I’m having to deal with something. So I think though, back to the governing theme of this conversation is I think we have to remember that our words are not to be fixed.

[00:20:49] Kris Ward: They are our voice. We, this is, and if we could fix ’em on paper, then what’s the point? ’cause when they meet with us and we talk this way and we’re presenting that way, there’s gonna be a disconnect anyway. So we’re [00:21:00] not doing anybody any service by trying to, as you said, you can be perfect or relatable, but you can’t be both.

[00:21:07] Kris Ward: And I think that is really a powerful thing that we’re not talking about right now enough. We’re just thinking, oh, is this another tool that can make me better? Okay, better. But it still has to be you. 

[00:21:18] Kim Scaravelli: And also I think that sometimes we are comparing apples and oranges in the world. Yeah. So for example, me comparing myself to some Instagram influencer, I have to pull myself back and say, how do I earn a living?

[00:21:35] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. Do I earn a living by going to Italy and having pictures of myself taken in a bikini on the beach? Not recently. 

[00:21:42] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:21:43] Kim Scaravelli: Do I earn a living by Hawking? A million different things that I put in my household and the car seat I put my baby in and the power shake I stirred into my morning coffee. No. So really I do not need to have half a million followers on Instagram, [00:22:00] right?

[00:22:00] Kim Scaravelli: I do not need to be that. That big. I don’t need to be that loud. These are the ways, iron money, these are the people that I want to work with. How do I connect with them and how do I be real for them? 

[00:22:13] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:22:13] Kim Scaravelli: If it’s really hard, but I think we have to just let go of some of this. Yeah. Because it’s irrelevant.

[00:22:20] Kris Ward: Yeah, you’re right. Even if you could say, I’m going to be like that heavily. You know that big influencer Instagram, those are not her people are not your people. 

[00:22:31] Kim Scaravelli: I make a joke about it. The vast majority of influencers who are, I say this with love. The vast majority of influencers who are selling courses on how to improve your brand do not make their money. Helping people improve their brand. 

[00:22:49] Kris Ward: Yeah. 

[00:22:49] Kim Scaravelli: They’re actually making their money, which is no crime, but they’re making their money on the sponsorships of their newsletters and the placement of their advertisements and [00:23:00] the product placement in various things. The that thing, that course that they’ve just made, it’s just a lead magnet.

[00:23:08] Kim Scaravelli: It only exists to drag you over to their website where you’re going to eventually get a. Bunch of collagen powder. I don’t know, whatever. 

[00:23:16] Kris Ward: Yeah. And you know what’s really funny? I don’t know if I, it’s not in my at atmosphere or universe as much as it used to be, but there was a time where you’d run into people where they just started a business and they’re a business coach and they’ve been a business six months.

[00:23:28] Kris Ward: I’m like, how are you a business coach? I don’t understand. It’s like I don’t get it. And then the other thing too. We do have to be on social media. It is powerful networking when you use it correctly. But I do think every once in a while it’s good to remember. I remember, a friend of mine, back when we were on Facebook more and she had posted a, like I had stopped by to see her.

[00:23:49] Kris Ward: Her son had turned 19, it was a big birthday and all this stuff. So I popped in to see them when I popped in to see them full family fight. ’cause he had been out the night before and he drank too much and got in a [00:24:00] bit of trouble. And so guns are blazing. It was a hot mess, right? And I left and I was like, all right, you guys fight with him.

[00:24:05] Kris Ward: I’ll be back tomorrow. Then I saw on fa, I was there, some cousins had dropped by, so they took a picture with the son that was in trouble with the two cousins, blah, blah, blah. So the next day I see on Facebook this picture of this happy moment that his cousins are visiting him. I’m like. Had I not been there, I would’ve been sad that I’m like, oh my gosh, I missed his birthday.

[00:24:21] Kris Ward: And the cousins were there. That was a horrible 20 minutes that I was there and that picture was taken, so I would’ve felt like I missed out. And I’m like, no. Yeah, that was four seconds of what happened, but the rest of it, so we have to remember that on social media. 

[00:24:36] Kim Scaravelli: We’ve absolutely all had that. I’m from a big, crazy family.

[00:24:40] Kim Scaravelli: I’ve got three daughters and they’ve got a million friends, and we’re, we’ve got that Italian vibe going. Our Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever it looks like. An explosion. Yeah, it looks like maybe a reverse home invasion kind of situation. There’s Turkey dripping off every possible countertop and pasta on top of it, and I’ll go in the next day and [00:25:00] there’ll be these photos of these.

[00:25:01] Kim Scaravelli: Incredibly beautiful. Yeah. I always say this is the story I always tell people. I fell into a funny little puddle a few years ago, many years ago now when my kids were in elementary school, and I made friends with what was really like the perfect mom. Like she, her house was perfect.

[00:25:17] Kim Scaravelli: She was perfect, stunning woman. And one day, one night we went out drinking and the next morning we were hungover. There’s no getting red. It’s not me. And so I spent the whole day with my kids on the sofa with my pounding headache. I fed them pizza. We washed a Harry Potter marathon. I’m just trying to survive here, folks.

[00:25:35] Kim Scaravelli: Yeah. When I said to her on Monday, oh my gosh, wow, that was a crazy Sunday. I can’t do that again. And she goes, oh, it was so beautiful. We watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy and we had a charcuterie board, and I’m like, oh my God, is this woman immune to gin? What is happening? The next day on Tuesday, her daughter comes to my house.

[00:25:58] Kim Scaravelli: And I’m like, I hear you had this really [00:26:00] beautiful weekend. She goes, what are you talking about? Mum threw us in front of the TV for 10 hours of watching every single thing and threw all the salami and a bunch of pickles from the fridge with some Ritz crackers on a board and went to bed. I’m like, oh, okay.

[00:26:14] Kim Scaravelli: So A, you’re right. A lot of it is image and how you wanted depict it. The problem with this, and there’s no problem with doing it now and again, even if it makes your neighbor feel like a shitty mother. The problem is when you keep doing that over and over, this is not just about branding, it’s not just about marketing.

[00:26:34] Kim Scaravelli: It’s about being able to have a successful career that fulfills you, that has some flexibility in it, that gets you where you want to be as a person, and you are never going to get there. As long as you keep being the person pretending that her salami is a charcuterie board. 

[00:26:55] Kim Scaravelli: ‘Cause when I really think about it, what was the point of all that [00:27:00] nonsense? 

[00:27:00] Kris Ward: Yeah. No, I hear you. Oh my gosh. Okay. 

[00:27:02] Kim Scaravelli: That’s just, that’s all I’m saying. Five years later, this woman has spun through like a dozen friends who eventually all just feel really bad and leave. That’s not the goal. The goal is to move.

[00:27:10] Kris Ward: To be relatable. Yeah. And that’s a good point to end on. So I appreciate you, Kim. I think it was a meaningful conversation about. Something that I think we, if we’re not paying attention, it can slide by and we take a little bit for granted right now. So making words work. I think it was well titled, where can people find more of your Brilliance?

[00:27:29] Kim Scaravelli: Of course you can find my book on Amazon in every possible format that could ever be invented, including an audible book where no, it is not my voice. It is a wonderful woman named Suzanne Bernie, who is much more articulate than me in that format. If you go to my website kimscaravelli.com, the one thing I have, which really cool, is I have a seven day brand voice.

[00:27:49] Kim Scaravelli: That you don’t have to pay anything for. Okay? It just lands in your email. Just plop one every morning for seven days. And it’s just little activities you can do to maybe see where you are, see how close you are [00:28:00] to being real or authentic. Put a few little worms in your ear, get you to start thinking about things a little differently, and it doesn’t cost anything.

[00:28:07] Kim Scaravelli: It’s just there to I don’t know, a karma. 

[00:28:10] Kris Ward: Ah, fantastic. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much everyone. We appreciate all your reviews. Please keep them coming. Your we, I read each and every one of them, and thank you again, Kim. There’s nothing more important than someone can give you than their time and their energy, so we appreciate yours.

[00:28:24] Kim Scaravelli: Thank you very much. I appreciate your energy as well, Kris. 

[00:28:29] Kris Ward: Thank you.