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It never gets easier

I’ve been running a business since 2012 and even after all this time, bad feedback can knock me sideways.

That’s exactly what happened recently, when I got less than ideal feedback from a client I’d thought I’d done a really good job for.

Without going into too much detail, my initial reaction was “I need to do something about this, I need to fix this.” My gut reaction was to jump into my emails and get in touch to figure out how I could make this better.

Thankfully, I took a second to think and, instead of emailing the client, I sent a message to my business bestie, Carla Watkins. And I’m really glad I did. She talked me off the ledge and helped me to see the feedback wasn’t a direct critique on my work, but rather on their experiences of the process, something no one else had ever had an issue with before (after many years of dealing with this type of offer in the same way every time).

Without reaching out to my friend, I dread to think what I would have done that day.

The funny thing is… I know all the stuff my business friends advise me. It’s just so much easier to hear it from someone else than to try and tell it to yourself. Right? If you’re nodding along to that, then you definitely need some business friends in your pocket.

Keep listening for tips on how to widen your business friends circle.

Links:

👉🏻 The Creative Reboot Podcast

👉🏻 Carla’s website

👉🏻 And if you’d like one of those “Little Chats” with me, drop me an email and I’ll send you the link!

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

I know, right?

I’m often surprised how many people only ever consider social media as a marketing tool and nothing else. But there’s a lot more tools at your disposal (and no, it doesn’t have to be icky networking or paying for ads, either).

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An apology

Forgive me, this episode is definitely longer than my usual 10-ish minutes but only because there were a lot of things I wanted to share with you. So, I’m hoping that the additional 5ish minutes won’t be too painful for you. What can I say? Grab yourself two snacks while you listen? ;-)

In this episode I figured I’d talk practicalities (given my last episode was all about you being more visible in your business). So, I dig into all the ways in which you can market yourself and your business outside of posting on Instagram.

The overriding message, though, is that you don’t have to do ALL the things. Just pick the ones that feel most doable and stick with those. And I’m betting you’re already doing more of them than you think!

Got questions about any of this episode? Feel free to drop a comment below!

Links

👉🏻 Quiet by Susan Cain

👉🏻 Company of One by Paul Jarvis

👉🏻 Deanna Seymour’s guide on how to create a static grid

👉🏻 How to build an Instagram 9-grid (with practical sizing guide)

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

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Here’s what I know…

This belief is holding you back. It’s stopping you to be more visible (even just a little bit - I know, that’s an uncomfortable word for us introverts!). And yes, there are lots of ways to market your business but, for the most part, they all pretty much entail one thing… talking about yourself and what you do.

That’s why I’m digging into this topic in this episode. I want to remind you that it’s ok to talk about yourself on social media. It’s ok to send out emails about your business and your offers. It’s ok to proudly stand up and say ‘Hey, I’m a [what you do]!’ and be confident in that.

And if you’re up for it, there might be a teeny-tiny little challenge for you at the end of the episode. If you give it a whirl, please drop a comment below and tell me how it worked out!

Links

👉🏻 Being Freelance podcast episode with Katie Chappell

👉🏻 All the ways to get on my mailing list: The Home Page Copy ReviewThe Brand Voice Guide Notion TemplateGet Great Testimonials freebieJust get the emails

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

If you saw my post on LinkedIn, you know that’s not something I’m mad at. If anything, I’m seeing it as a sign that I’m finally making it as a writer! All the best writers have had rejections, don’t you know.

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But what does that have to do with making more time for creativity? Well, I obviously go into this more in the episode, but one of the ways in which I’ve made more time to write in the last 18 months or so has been to enter competitions, just to prove to myself I can do it.

The delicious side effect of making more time to write, though? I’m feeling more creative than I ever have before. So much so, I’ve already got a title and idea for my next novel, before I’ve even finished my last one.

Another thing I’ve dabbled with of late has been writing groups and writing buddies, both of which I’m very excited about. So much so, I’m actually considering setting up my own online writing group this year (drop me a comment or email if that sounds like something you’re interested in).

Links:

👉🏻 I couldn’t find the specific 100 rejections person I’d seen previously, but it seems this article might be the thing that started it all: Kim Liao’s ‘Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year’.

👉🏻 Lauren Kay’s free Critique Partner Connection directory. Well worth signing up to her mailing list too!

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

I asked that question of myself recently, after reading a beautiful post or email (I can’t remember which) from the very lovely Laura Robinson over at Worditude. She talked about how she knew she’d finally found her crowd after sharing about some of the more “secret” parts of her life when they made random comments to her about looking at the moon, or talking about being woo.

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And then I got to thinking about “professionalism”. I have a love/hate relationship with that word. Not because I don’t believe in being professional and providing the best possible experience for my clients. I absolutely do! But more because I don’t believe to be professional you have to look or behave in a certain way.

Yes, I get on my high horse about this (for just a minute!), but only to make the point that you can still be professional and be yourself, quirks and all, in your business and brand.

Look, I might be neurodivergent and, as a result, a chronic oversharer, but even I have a line and I don’t share absolutely everything with you all. But there’s quite a lot that I do share. I don’t mind talking about my previous life as a paramedic, or sharing how frazzled my brain can get (with a combination of AuDHD and perimenopause, thankyouverymuch). I often share when I make mistakes (because #relatable) or when I’ve been a total klutz (read: A LOT). And everything I put out into the world very much is in line with my values, because it’s important to me that the people I work with align with them too.

Consider this episode a reminder to talk about yourself a little bit more! I promise, your audience (the ones that matter, anyway) will stick around and love you all the more for it.

And because I promised in the episode… here’s a photograph of me for the folks who haven’t seen me before! 👇🏻

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

Ideas, for me, are much more likely to be curated, found, sent down from the big idea cloud in the sky (very occasionally), but I’m not someone who can just reel a bunch of ideas off at the click of a finger.

I wish I could.

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That’s the premise of this episode. I talk all about people who generate ideas vs people who gather them (like me!). Chances are, you’re mostly one more than the other, although maybe you flit back and forth between them, or you’re mostly one but a little of the other.

Whatever your mash up, I riff on this idea for a good 10 minutes (don’t worry, I include some excellent tips along the way).

I’d love to hear what you think about this topic, though. Let me know in the comments what side of the line you fall and whether you think I’m on point or not!

Links to things I’ve mentioned:

👉🏻 If you haven’t yet read it (and why the heck not?!), here’s the book I mentioned and quoted from: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

(The answer is how can I possibly decide? There are so many amazing words out there.)

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The point being, when I say there’s a word I genuinely hate (and I use that word sparingly, too), then you might have some sense of how much this word makes my skin itch and my eyes burn. I physically react to its use.

That word is “should”.

I go into all the reasons why this word is no longer part of my vocabulary in the episode (it’s barely 10 minutes long, grab a cuppa and give yourself a well earned screen break… you deserve it!).

If you often find yourself saying you should do this thing, or you should do that, then this is an episode I’m sure you’ll get some benefit from. It’s time to quit shoulding all over yourself!

I made mention of a few great links/resources in this episode. You can check them out here:

👉🏻 The Creative Reboot podcast (I co-host this with the excellent Carla Watkins).

👉🏻 The best advice I ever got about the word “should” was given on this very podcast episode.

👉🏻 And it was given by an exceptional artist and wonderful woman, Sarah Sovereign. Here’s her website so you can check out her work.

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

Thanks for reading Deeper Than Words! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

The art of freewriting might sound like something from the swingin’ 60s but I swear this s**t works. Freewriting has done more to unstick the ideas caught up in my brain than any other ideas-based exercise ever has. And the more you do it, the easier it gets and, usually, the more you get from it.

This episode gives you a little taster on what freewriting is all about and how to incorporate it into your regular practice but, for lots more information and guidance, you should check out the most popular blog post on my website about it: The Art of Freewriting.

What I love about freewriting is that it taps into something at a subconscious level. It’s as close to meditation as you can get, without closing your eyes and saying “ommmm”. I love how, when I do it, the ideas start flowing, and I usually end up finding some phrases and word choices that appear in later pieces.

Other links I mentioned in the episode:

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Morning Pages

750 Words

Writing prompts that’ll keep you entertained for years

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

Thanks for reading Deeper Than Words! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Without giving it all away, because I explain it in the this bitesize episode, my sister called me out. And I’m not mad about it!

She called me out

And before you all jump to my defence, I totally agree with what she said. Here’s the cliff notes:

* In amongst the awesome words of praise, she pointed out that she could tell I was reading from a script.

* And the bombshell was when she reminded me that I talk about how imperfection and being unpolished is totally ok in my brand ALL. THE. TIME.

She got me and I’m so pleased she did. Because this entire episode was just me talking (based on some bullet points I gave myself) and it turns out that I can do it!

The messages we tell ourselves

I had written a script for my first two episodes because I firmly believed I couldn’t “adlib” my way through an episode. I’ve had hang ups about my ability to speak publicly for a long time and I’m sure that’s had a part to play in my thoughts about speaking off the cuff in something like a podcast.

Ironically, I co-host a podcast with my lovely friend, Carla (the Creative Reboot podcast, check it out!) and there are definitely no scripts going on over there. And I’ve guested on many podcasts over the last few years (here’s my playlist!) all, again, with no scripts in sight. So, why on earth did I think I needed a script for my own little podcast?

Even more ironically, all this from the person who was known as Little Miss Chatterbox as a kid. I’m really unsure about why I thought I couldn’t speak for 10 minutes.

Lesson learned.

So, what are you doing in your business or brand that you need to be called out on? Drop me an email and I’ll gladly call you out (gently!). My email is hello@sarahwayte.com.

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

It helps if you know a couple of things about me first…

1. I’m a card-carrying, proud hand-waving INTROVERT.

Yes, I really am! I know I might not look it—given my penchant for bright colours, neon hair and ability to use swear words like punctuation, but I really am.

2. I’m neurodivergent.

And as part of my neurodivergence, I’ve learned that I’m a total rebel. If someone tells me to do something, my immediate reaction is to do the exact opposite and then figure it out later. Even if that someone is ME. It makes things complicated, I won’t lie.

By the way, if you’re wondering where you land on Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies, try the quiz over here. You might find the results surprising!

Anyway, I’ll let you listen to the podcast for the full explanation (it’s less than 7 minutes long!). I hope you enjoy it. Drop me a message below if there’s something you want to ask or have me talk about in a future episode.

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!

Honestly, just a few years ago, I would never have dreamed of being the host of a podcast all of my own. For many years, I absolutely HATED the way I sounded. My voice was too nasal and I don’t have one of those lovely, smooth voices that always sounds wonderful to listen to.

It’s ok, you don’t have to placate me. I’m not saying that to fish for compliments! It’s just what I’ve always thought.

And then, in 2020, my lovely friend and creative bestie, Carla, suggested we co-host a podcast. So we did! The Creative Reboot podcast has been going since just before the pandemic and has around 8 seasons now. I do love our many chats about all things creative and, over the years, I’ve learned to tolerate the sound of my own voice. Which is why I didn’t laugh myself silly when I thought to myself… ‘Hmmm, maybe I should start my own podcast?’

And here you have it. The Loud Words for Quiet Rebels Podcast is finally live. It promises short, sharp episodes where I muse on all things words, storytelling, business and creativity (because it’s all interlinked).

You can expect spicy opinions, wistful wanderings, unapologetic insights, paramedic anecdotes and definitely neurodivergent tangents aplenty!

If you like what you hear, please do subscribe so you’ll be the first to hear when new episodes go live. I’m also a sucker for conversation so if you want to carry on from where I finished up, drop a comment and say hi. I’d love to chat some more with you.

You can learn more about me, Sarah Wayte, on my website. Thanks so much for listening!