Professionalism
There’s a misconception that I still see being fed to new bodyworkers, and it’s that you have to be professional. With all due disrespect, I think it’s bullshit.
As someone who’s been in the industry for 4 years, tried the “professional” thing, and decided to throw that out the window and be myself, I’m here to tell you: you are more valuable to your clients, the industry, and the horses you work with if you are being your authentic self. Let’s talk about it…
Society in general demands conformity, and as humans, there’s a desire to conform. A desire to fit in and be liked. A desire for community and acceptance. No one wants to feel like they’re on the outside looking in, or like they have to quiet or eliminate parts of themselves to achieve something. And honestly, you don’t have to!
There is a sense of freedom in being yourself. In being able to connect with clients on a personal level and be accepted for everything you bring to that table. For me, I’m serving up a lot - I’m what people call “a little rough around the edges,” often late, bad at responding to texts, unfiltered, won’t bullshit you, and I laugh pretty loudly. I am buddies with most of my clients, and I’m not trying to impress anyone when I’m around. And I feel so much better than when I was trying to be what I was supposed to be. I tried the whole demure, mindful, whatever schtick where I was pretty sterile in my approach - all business, it is business, after all. I was super hard on myself about what I shared on social media, and felt like everything had to be so proper and educational and aesthetic and perfect. And here’s the thing - it was SO exhausting!
Constantly having to be something else in the name of “fitting in” to the industry standard. Anyone who knows me knows that’s a recipe for disaster; and it was. I hated it, dreaded making content, felt nervous and anxious meeting new clients, and it was just overall a low-quality experience for me. So I quit that shit. I decided that if someone wants to work with me, see my social media posts, read my emails, whatever, that they’re gonna get me, and if they don’t like it, they can see themselves out. But what happened was pretty interesting. Instead of losing clients and having everyone hate me, basically the opposite happened. My clients were so much more at ease and happier with me, and they felt comfortable to ALSO be themselves in return! My followers on social media love the raw and sassy content I post. My email list subscribers are always resonating with things I share. And overall, my little cult has never felt so close.
In life, I haven’t often felt like I had a seat at the table, and when I stepped back and looked, I didn’t really want to be at those tables anyway. So instead of continuing to be miserable trying to fit in, I created my own table. It might be one of those foldy white tables with a folded piece of paper under one leg, but it’s a good table. It’s a table where all my little misfit buddies can join me, and we can be ourselves.
All that to say, it’s important to be yourself in your business. People don’t want to hear the same shit in the same way like some little equine bodyworker robot factory created them. People want to hear from YOU. They want your stories, your tips, your memes, your content delivered in your way. Just because someone is making money doing something their way, doesn’t mean that has to be the way you do it. They are them, you are you - act accordingly. If that means bringing your own damn table, do it. I’ll be the first one to pull up a seat.