Finding Your Voice

By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation; Creator of RESI Conference Series

As a writer, I have my colloquial style (informal and conversation) – it just falls out of my fingers. My voice has naturally surfaced through lots of practice communicating: through speaking and writing, which is seminal to my work in the world of business development. If you do a half-decent job at the crafts of speaking and writing, then the listening/reading public can hear your voice.  It is a combination of speaking through words, to your audience, translating and surfacing your knowledge feelings, and passion, and mostly, feeling like you have something important to share. This should be communicated in the way that you want and that feels natural.  Most importantly, the voice that you decide to develop and use has to be understood by the target reader/listener.  For me, It is very natural to communicate informally, conversationally, telling stories to make things easy to comprehend, using easily understood metaphors that help net out a point I want to make. It works for me and it can work for you. So you, dear reader, have to spend the time to see what works for you, and this is called practice, practice, practice. Practice your pitch, practice your writing, learn as you go, pivot, recalibrate and repeat the process on and on until you find your true voice or you collapse and die. C’est la vie.

When you find your authentic voice it will resonate with who you are speaking to. How will you know? You will know because you can see it and you can feel it.  When you resonate with your audience, you become engaged in dialogue. This dynamic is the holy grail of voice because it fosters relationships.

If you think about it, you will see the gravitational impact of finding your voice. Drum roll please…you voice will resonate with the subject and the audience.  Later in the series we will talk about your brand and your message, but what we will be really building on is your authentic voice.  Entrepreneurs pay big money to professionals to get help developing their brand and their message and what these consultants will do is sit in a room with you to try and listen for your voice. It ain’t easy to hear and find.

The entrepreneurial voice that you need to develop is a hybrid of your authentic voice and the potential validation of your product and market.  The entrepreneur has to first believe in him or herself, and second, but just as important, is the integrity of the product they are creating for a market.  Your entrepreneurial voice is your message to your marketplace.