Building an empire, girlboss, authentic, alignment, speaking your truth, goal digger…
In my time as a blogger, I have definitely used these words/phrases more times than I care to count, but the longer I find myself in this digital space, the more tired I get of the same terms/ideas/messaging being used over and over again.
Especially for women in business.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to bash anyone who celebrates women pursuing their goals, and I’m all for some pretty pink branding and overly feminine design (hello, my blog is called Hustle and Hearts. It doesn’t get much more feminine than that).
But man, does it ever feel like there’s this one very specific cookie cutter model going around of what a “women in business” is supposed to be, and everyone is just doing their own version of that model?
To me, it almost feels like there’s two extremes. On one hand, there’s the overly positive, you-go-girl model, or, on the other hand, there’s the share-your-vulnerability-and-you-become-relatable model.
Neither one is necessarily a bad thing, but I mean, what ever happened to just being a human? Why does everything have to be branded for women.
Again, let me reiterate that I think women pursuing businesses is fantastic, and I’m not hating on feminine branding.
What I think I’m getting at here is more about the messaging. Is the messaging for women in business all the same?
In other words, are we just in a vicious cycle of women feeding the same messaging to each other just with slightly different variations?
Maybe Sally will speak in a more formal manner, while Lucy throws in a couple swear words to keep things “real”? But, at the end of the day, what Sally and Lucy are saying is basically the same thing, just dressed up differently.
Having said that, though, now you’re probably wondering what the solution is?
Well, in my opinion, I think we all need to stop emulating each other. Stop going on your favorite blogs with the specific intention of seeing how your favorite blogger is doing things. Stop trying to write in a way that’s not natural to you (i.e. if you wouldn’t use the word girlboss with your best friend, don’t use it anywhere else), and my god, can we just stop being so damn female focused?!
Okay, okay, maybe that’s a little aggressive, but I just think the more wrapped up we all get in each other’s lives, the easier it becomes to put on these personas of “I’m-a-woman-in business-so-these-are-the-words-I-use.”
Maybe that’s the writer in me, but I just want more people to write the way that they actually talk.
Anyway…
I know this is a ridiculously short blog post (probably the shortest I’ve ever written), but I’m going to cut it off there.
As I’ve come back to Instagram, this is something that’s been on my mind, and I should probably think through it a little more before expanding. I just wanted to see if there was anyone out there who could possibly relate or understand my perspective,
If you do agree, or even if you totally disagree, leave me a comment below sharing your thoughts. Like I said, I still think I have a lot of thinking to do before this is a fully formed opinion, but it would be interesting to know if anyone could relate.
(And yes, other than using it in a hashtag on Instagram, because it’s still popular, I have officially retired my use of the word girlboss… ha!)
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