Authenticity In Life [& What it's Like to Work With Me]

This solo episode of Picture Love Podcast, is a bit different, as host Kris LeDonne shares more of her perspectives, leading into how she serves her clients with authenticity.

Authenticity means something different for each of us, and Kris shares her current-day perspective, and relates it to the roles we all play in our lives.

In addition, she shares how she serves her private clients through her business "Reminiscence by Kris LeDonne, LLC" & shares openly about the biggest sticking point she finds with folks who "just want a quote" in writing with no further contact.

We can show up in our true authenticity, when we don't mute, muffle, hide and mask our identities... and online written words can only give so much information.

The illustrations Kris shared, highlight the idea that communication is one of the many ways we can show up (or hide from) our authenticity.  When distrust and fear keep people hiding behind electronic messaging, restricting the information and human contact, our egos keep us "safe" from harm... and also block us from potentially meaningful exchanges.

You'll hear a bit about what it's like to have a fact-finding call, why its so easy to receive and how the worst case scenario is CLARITY if it's not a good fit.

Not mentioned in this episode, is the fact that this example is intended to support better communication between other relationships, and model how time spent on a short phone call can free up hours of frustration, misinformation and email confusion. (Great for entrepreneurs, small businesses of all kinds and any important relationship.) How is it that people can start personal relationships with someone allegedly typing you a message, with no human trace of voice, image or contact? When did we get so separated? Is the pandemic REALLY to blame? I don't think so. 

How do YOU show up in your authenticity?

"Welcome to the Picture Love podcast! I’m your host Kris LeDonne and it’s my purpose to see the good in others and mirror the love back to them, and photos are one of the ways I love to do this. You’ll hear a mix of solo episodes with lessons I love to share and heartfelt interviews and valuable resources to support you with the parts that resonate. As an encourager, it’s my joy to help you picture love better in your life and if you need help curating photo evidence of lives well lived… I

You can help other optimists and storytellers find this podcast by sharing and leaving us a rating/review.

Find me on Social @KrisReminisce or visit my website krisledonne.com

Grab Kris's freebie HERE: Obliterate The Overwhelm

Happy Reminiscing!
<3, Kris

Support the Show.

You can help other photo lovers and storytellers find this podcast by sharing and leaving us a rating/review.

Find me on Social @KrisReminisce or visit my website krisledonne.com

Grab Kris's freebie HERE: Obliterate The Overwhelm

Happy Reminiscing!
<3, Kris

Transcript

Kris LeDonne: 0:37

Hi friends. Welcome back to picture love podcast. You know, I'm recording this and realizing I never properly said happy pride month. That's a really important topic. To acknowledge and it's one of the ways that people that I love in life are showing up in there to authenticity is by claiming how they identify. And I love the many voices who express acceptance and whether they understand or not the desire to unconditionally love one another. Even if you don't agree on a topic or understand somebody's perspective. So unconditional love is definitely a life lesson that I have chosen to go deep and to understanding right now, And part of that is showing up in my authenticity. And authenticity happens to be the theme of my pride month. Personally from conversations I've already had on this podcast to in life, and offline. I'm really excited about what authenticity means and I'm going to share my definition of it and how I'm applying it in my work with my clients and those that I serve. And I'm eager to hear your thoughts on authenticity as well./ My definition is really showing up in my truest sense of self giving you the most honest version of who I am today. And I know the concept of'self' is very fluid; it's a very liquid thing that as we grow as humans, we develop new understandings. We unpack old beliefs, we introduce new beliefs. And so you know who we are today. Is a different version of who we were a week ago, a year ago, a decade ago. And that being said, showing up in my authenticity and my business, which is called reminiscence. I help people. Unpack and preserve and share their life's most special stories that are usually captured in photo and video. And, you know, whether it's creating albums or beautiful wall galleries that express. Really how you're picturing love in your life. You know, current memories, personal history, nature and things that inspire you. I think photos and videos are exceptional tools for retelling stories and sharing them and inspiring new, beautiful ones. And my most authentic state. This is the version of myself that my clients are greeted with today. I am a creative entrepreneur with a service-based business. And my goal is to only sell. A service or a product that's truly going to serve my client. Or the person that they are trying to. Buy something for. And I'll give you a couple examples. So I frequently will get a random mention on Facebook and a stranger who knows somebody who knows my name or what maybe I served. In an older version of my business would recommend me to help them. Oh, rescue some old videotapes and film reels. And I'll get a, a DM saying, what does your service cost and. Immediately. I want to give them all the information they're asking for, but so often. That one question, what does it cost? It means so much more than a price. They're asking, can I trust you? They're asking. Why can I trust you? You know, why were you recommended? And it's so impossible to create a relationship in a DM. Can you hear me? Can you relate? So I'll usually, offer them my website so that they can see I'm a legitimate business, and I'll try to set up a short phone call. And it is amazing how many people are afraid to have a phone conversation with a live person, whose service they're inquiring about. I've wasted many hours of trying to be a good communicator to somebody who's not willing to talk to me and give me information. I'll give you an example, somebody, I asked him three different times; okay. When do you have five minutes to talk? And he didn't ever answer the question. Instead. He said, I have 20,000 photos. I have 40 albums, photo albums, and I have 40 DVDs- what does it cost? And what a contact is asking me that question. In their mind, they think it's obvious because they have a vision in their mind. But what they don't know is- I'm thinking, what does, what cost? Am I tidying them? Am I digitizing them? Am I helping you downsize them? As there is there any repair that needs to be done? So there's literally a scope of questions that's floating through my head when I get that simple,"what does it cost?". And so instead of playing an email tennis match, it's just so much faster to not only give information, but build rapport-to find out if we're a good fit- on a short phone call. So call me old school if you like, but I can learn a lot about somebody by their willingness to come talk to me. And how the conversation goes. And they can learn that I'm a real human being who really cares about giving them the best service I can. Or if it's not a good fit, maybe I can make recommendations on another option for them, because quite honestly, at the end of the day, I know I'm not everybody's person. And not everybody is my person. And it's so okay. But I think the most beautiful authenticity is showing up with information. Listening. And finding the best solution for both sides. So. That is my definition of authenticity. And the reason why some people choose not to work with me- because they're just not open to communicate. Right? It's not obvious, not everybody wants all of the scans, everything scanned. Some people want the highlights to be put in an album and just have those. I don't know. Thousand items scanned instead of 20,000. I just want to know what is that ideal outcome before you pay me for many layers of services that are going to take months longer than they need and tens of thousands of dollars more than they need. And so I really don't give blind quotes anymore because I'm realizing that I'm not being my authentic self when I'm trying to give them all of the possible scenarios. I trust me. I've been doing this work for over two decades. I have served pretty much every personality type who would possibly hire me at this point. From all economic levels, to geographical areas of the United States and it's been joyful to have all of those really easy and fun jobs and all of the challenging ones that gave me all the lessons. Because I come to this, knowing that like, when you go to a restaurant and you see on the wall,"Owner reserves, the right to refuse service." I get to choose who I work with. And if somebody is not willing to communicate with me, I am not going to be able to give them a good service. So that's not a good fit. Because I'm really here to serve from my heart, the best possible work that in my life review. Is going to feel good to have on my record. It's not just about the economic value. It's about the soul value of the work. Now, I didn't mean for this little talk to be about communication. It is evident to me that communication is one way where we reflect and we show. Where we are in our authenticity. And when we're trying to communicate in everybody else's style. Then who gets pushed last. Our own self. And so I really love the opportunity to continue to learn about myself so that I understand how I tick. And with all this information. Then I know who I am when I'm showing up to listen to somebody else. And he never do it with the assumption that somebody else shares my unique perspective. That's where communication comes in. It's it's two ways. It's not just speaking. And knowing and believing what we want or think. It's also about discovering what is somebody else's need? What is somebody else's role in this interaction? And are we aligned? Are we just in two different places in order to proceed with whatever it is we're trying to accomplish. So entrepreneurship is just one of the many scenarios that we can go through. I mean, you could be. Shopping for a car, a home, a new career, a new relationship, any number of things where we're trying to have a desirable experience, we have a. Uh, goal and outcome. And we need to know, honestly, What do we each ourselves need in order to come out of this with a greater sense of satisfaction and success. So what's our goal? What's our intention? And every time. My intention is to be true to myself. And. In that way. Showing up. Honestly, and clearly for somebody else to make their own decision about this alignment. Dan, I feel like that's when true authenticity grows. It roots. And I think we give each other permission to be fully authentic when we're showing up as exactly that. That's pretty much the extent of the heart sharing that I wanted to make in this episode. And so if you've filled up your cup, feel free to move on, but if you are somebody who has been wanting to talk to me and you are communication shy, for whatever reason, I just wanted to give you the next couple of minutes to get a glimpse inside my head. And see what it's like to work with me. And what that conversation could sound like so it's not so scary. When you hear that camera click sound from now on, on picture love. That is a cue that lets you know, I'm talking actually about photos, not metaphorical, picturing love. So a phone call might sound like this. It would be a greeting. And what, what made you want to reach out and what are you looking for? Literally. The basics. I'll ask you what kinds of media you're talking about? Is there a special occasion? You're doing this for. Is there a deadline you're doing this for. What have been the sticking points. I want to know. What, if anything, you've tried in the past that didn't work out so that we don't repeat history. And then I want to know what is the shortest distance between where you are right now, and where would you like to be? And usually that's the part where the conversation starts to get really fun because everybody needs to feel understood when they're in a state of need. And this might be the part where somebody is dealing with some emotional backup, or this might be the part where somebody is like, I don't need any handholding. I just need you to get this job done. A B, C, D E, yes, please. And so I love to accommodate people's timelines when it's possible. I want to make sure they have reasonable expectations. If they feel like the technology has just basically abandoned them I like to just make it easy so that reminiscing. Is easy again. So that the memories are easy to recall when you want to or see on the wall when you want to and not be bothered. Now, quite honestly, what I do is not rocket science, but people keep coming back to me because they know the job is going to get done. Now there have been projects. I have turned down because quite honestly, I didn't feel like the customer or the contact. Cared as much as I did. And in that case, that imbalance is just as bad as them wanting something special and talking to a professional who does not give a flying flip, whether their family legacy is preserved or not. So it is really important to find that balance. And yes, that initial call can literally be five minutes. And then we know if this is a good fit or not. And I'll offer timelines next steps. If we decide we are a really good fit, I will give you very reasonable deadlines. Keep you in contact with me and you don't have to dial some overseas 800 number with somebody who may or may not speak. English because, well, that's my only language I really show up with. And lastly, if it's a pretty straightforward project, we'll hang up and you'll know what it'll cost. And if it needs a little bit more detail and some number crunching, I'll just send you a quote in an email. So it's pretty straightforward. There's just nothing to hide. But there's a whole lot of decision-making that happens in my head that I don't have to bother with you because quite honestly, I'm not here to clutter your mind. I'm here to make life. More pleasant. And to help you picture love better in your days.