Asking More Beautiful Questions
In fiercely difficult and unbeautiful times.
In my last post, I shared a glimpse of the breakdown breakthrough I experienced while on vacation. (If we don’t have the occasional existential crisis in our career, are we even working?)
Stepping away from the content machine gave me time to reflect on the purpose of creating content in the first place. This was not just a self-directed inquiry about The Soul of Brand, but also a broader exploration of how to best support clients in crafting differentiated beauty brands and effective marketing strategies that break through the noise with meaningful, relevant, resonant, and, dare I say, beautiful content - the kind of content that people actually seek out.
With overflowing inboxes, incessant text spam, and phones buzzing with notifications, we rarely have the time or attention span to seek out the content that truly interests or inspires us. We're too busy trying to catch and consume the barrage of information constantly hurled our way. When we do “sign up to receive” anything, it’s often an impulse we later regret, especially after we’ve cashed in on that 10% discount.
As a content creator, a content consumer, and a strategist who advises brands on content creation, I’m painfully aware of how content can take over our minds. Not just in the obvious ways, like the amount of time wasted or focus lost. But in more subtle ways, like in how influenced I am to want something, think something, that never occurred to me before opening my phone. While I welcome inspiration and diverse perspectives to fuel my growth mindset, I can’t help but wonder which ideas are my own, and which belong to someone else? Are these new ideas and desires helpful or harmful? Do they add value to my life, or are they out of alignment with the values I want to live by? Am I being inspired or exploited? Persuaded or pursued?
These questions leave me feeling ungrounded; a sign that I need to find my footing and proceed with caution.
Ask More Beautiful Questions
Several years ago, my dear friend treated me to David Whyte’s weekend retreat at Asilomar in Monterey Bay. For three days, I soaked in the philosophy, poetry and prose of one of the greatest living poets of our generation. I left changed. Soft. Clear. And with a bag bursting with books. Whyte’s work challenges our small and narrow understanding of this world and our place in it. He invites us to:
“Ask more beautiful questions, of ourselves, of our world, and of one another, in fiercely difficult and unbeautiful moments.”
He urges us to go deep in, rather than searching for a way out. His words and work have stayed with me, and as I’ve been contemplating the power of content, and seeking to answer for myself and my clients how to break through with messages that matter, I am reminded of Whyte’s prompt: ask more beautiful questions.
And so I am daring to ask - and answer through my work - bigger, more beautiful questions:
How do we take up space on these platforms and use them to share our humanity, creativity, and journey in an earnest effort to connect with those on a similar path who might benefit from what we offer? How do we do this consistently enough to grow organically, build community, and even scale abundantly without losing sight of our purpose? Without losing our soul?
These questions are upending my process a bit, forcing me back to the drawing board to reimagine what Go To Market Strategy can look like for a brand with soul. Over the next many weeks, I’ll share my “new GTM playbook” in a series of posts. I welcome your feedback.
Seek And You Shall Find
We need Beauty.
We seek Beauty.
Beauty inspires and illuminates. It heals and restores.
Beauty catches our attention, and if we sit with it long enough,
it takes our breath away.
We can find Beauty everywhere. Even online. If we seek it out.
I have long believed that Beauty is Love and Love is God and the three of these things are exquisitely and eternally intertwined.
The beauty industry in which I work is not the Beauty of which I speak. But maybe, if we dare ask more beautiful questions, and dare to create more meaningful content, we can begin to bridge the gap.
I needed this today. I’ve become so disillusioned with using social media as one of the supposed pillars of a brand’s reach and presence. It feels like screaming into the void and doing nothing more than feeding the beast while driving myself crazy.
I like to believe that people seek out beauty and knowledge in the content they consume, but it becomes so deflating when I create content to strike wonderment that falls on deaf ears, whilst some gimmicky wellness bro brand account that follows soundbite and meme trends gets 10 X engagement.
I refuse to fall into that trap, regardless of how well their posts appear to perform in comparison. Every time I create something and put it out for consumption, I try to ask myself, “does this spark curiosity?“
But perhaps platforms like Instagram and TikTok are too far gone. Maybe it’s time for brand founders who want to create beauty and contribute meaning and curiosity and wonder meant to do so elsewhere.
Excited to see the go to market playbook roll out 🫶🏻
LOVE LOVE LOVE!