The Radical Power of Infusing Self-Expression Into Your Business

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Standing out in the online business world can feel both incredibly hard to do -- and incredibly vulnerable. Listen as self-expression and creativity coach Caroline Scruggs teaches how to use the inherent power of your voice to tap into your unique form of self-expression within your business.

Caroline Scruggs (she/her) is a professional songbird, artist, and creativity + self-expression coach. Her gift and mission is to help big-hearted visionaries to ignite their creativity, raise their authentic voices, and let their gifts shine in the world.

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The episode:

Katrina Widener: Hello and welcome to the Badass Business Squad podcast. Where I help entrepreneurs like you feel lit up in their businesses by connecting them with the best community, education, and business strategy. I'm your host Katrina Widener. Tune in each week for bite-sized episodes where I'll share implementable advice, interview guest experts, and highlight key takeaways from real hot seat meetings inside the Badass Business Squad group coaching program.

Hi everyone, it's Katrina. I am back with the Badass Business Squad podcast. I'm very excited because today we have Caroline Scruggs on. We're going to be talking all about how to infuse creativity into your life and your business. But before we dive in Caroline, if you wouldn't mind introducing yourself to everyone?

Caroline Scruggs: Absolutely, hi everybody. So my name is Caroline Scruggs, like Katrina just said, and I am a self-expression coach as well as a creativity coach, as well as just kind of like a unicorn of many different creative vocations and projects. I grew up as a musician and I'm primarily a singer, I'm a trained singer and voice teacher. I then kind of took that as well as my love for coaching people, mostly women, just in their lives in general and in their businesses, and I kind of infused the two together. So now I help unlock people's voices and help them activate them to their full extent, in order to have them break through these blocks of shame and embarrassment and all this weird stuff that all of us kind of have been conditioned to hold around our voices. If that makes sense? Help you drop all that shit and just move on and reach your dreams and live your greatest life kind of out loud to the fullest extent.

Katrina Widener: I want to say, like on a personal note, I absolutely love that. I used to be a singer. I almost went to school for singing and ended up choosing not to.

Caroline Scruggs: No kidding!

Katrina Widener: So I was just like, "Oh my gosh, I totally know everything that you're talking about right now." And I am following along.

Caroline Scruggs: I love it.

Katrina Widener: Yeah! So for anyone who is not me, who does not know exactly what you're talking about, can you kind of give people a little bit of an example of some of the ways that this sort of creative self-expression can really benefit you and really have an impact on your life? Cause I know that it can change a lot.

Caroline Scruggs: Yeah. Oh my gosh, absolutely. I guess first off I'll say because so many people that grow up at least in our Western culture, they aren't taught that the tools of music and art are tools that they can use. Not just in childhood, but like growing up into adulthood. They are these amazing tools that humans have had forever, like literally since the beginning of humans. Somehow in our culture, we've started to separate and put artists and musicians up on a pedestal and everyone else just, it feels very foreign to them and can feel really inaccessible. It can feel really intimidating to be like, "Oh no, I could not possibly ever sing. Ever. Like not even in my shower." A lot of people feel that way, right? And that's completely a hundred percent normal.

But the thing that I try to kind of open people's minds up to is that every single one of us was born using our voice to its full capacity. Your voice is a tool. It's also an instrument. It's the instrument that you were born with, that you were given. It's this incredible gift to communicate, to heal, to express your true self. When you were a baby, you were using that voice like to its full extent, right? Babies have no problem, no shame in vocalizing their needs. That's what we do as humans, and so it is our true nature to use our voices. And then you get a little bit older as a little kid and you're like singing, you're like running around just singing with joy.

Then what happens is sometime for the first time, somebody kind of thoughtlessly tells you to, "Shut up, be quiet. You're being too much. You're being too loud." Particularly for women, right? In this culture we are taught that our full selves are too much, and so we need to quiet down. We need to shrink ourselves a little bit to be an acceptable volume, if you will. And so that's where all of this shame and embarrassment and misunderstanding about our voice comes from. Generally, people grow up who aren't singers like you and I, who kind of push through that stuff, even though we probably still hold a lot of that conditioning, right? But most people grow up losing that. So you'll hear a lot of people say, "Oh I used to be a singer when I was young and I wanted to so bad, but so-and-so told me that I was bad or that I should stop." And you just hear the longing in their hearts because we are all natural singers, right?

So what I do is I basically help you find that connection with your voice again through music. Because it is, like I said, it is an accessible tool for every single human. You have music in you, your heart is rhythm. You've had a beat in you since you were born. So I help you access that voice again, through the music and through singing and through songwriting even, sometimes in some of my programs. And what that does is, it's so magical Katrina because I watch every person that I guide through this process with music, I watch this complete transformation in them when they realize that they are capable of taking up that space and using their voice in this way. And particularly like singing, which is the most courageous thing, the most vulnerable thing that you can do. Once you do that, that's like the top of the mountain and everything else is kind of... it just turns into being very doable.

So the clients that I work with, my coaching clients and my students in all of my music programs and my coaching programs they're badasses. Most of them are women, I work with some men too, but there's such like bad-ass forces of humans and they have these big dreams that they very much deserve to be living, right? And they have these callings, like they have these senses of a higher purpose. But there's a big gap in between them where they are right now, and that dream life. They do all of the things. They go to school and they get the degree, and they go get the training and they do this and that and all of the accolades and stuff.

And yet what's really happening is they're still holding onto this idea that was told to them that "You can't be your full self. Sorry. You can't use your full voice to its full capacity." And if you're not doing that, if you're not showing up a hundred percent in your fullest capacity, you're not going to get that dream life. It's as simple as that. And even if you did kind of get close, it's not going to feel right because you're not being completely authentic in order to get there. So this is just on my journey, on my dharmic path, this is the answer that I've kind of found in my own path. Which I went through all of this shit so I know that it's real. I've been so conditioned, I'm a born people pleaser. So I use these tools for myself and then I turned around and I'm giving them to other people and it's just fantastical to see the transformations once people feel empowered again and realize and remember the power that lies in their voices.

Katrina Widener: I absolutely love that and I'm really glad that you're doing this work, right? Cause I feel like this is something that's a little bit more unique, but it's still very important. I'll even admit, I trained professionally in singing for... I dunno seven years ish or something? And I still don't sing in front of people.

Caroline Scruggs: Right.

Katrina Widener: Because it's just so internalized. And I'm sure that that came from me being a really talkative, loud kid and people being like, "Katrina, this is quiet time," or "You're talking too much," et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And the thing is I have definitely found my voice in other ways, right? I am a podcast host, I love speaking. I love showing up for other people on their shows, et cetera, et cetera. But when you are holding your voice back, you are holding yourself back and you're holding a huge part of who you are and a huge part of owning who you are. I think that's a big thing for people. You might do the work to know who you are, but have you really owned it yet? That is so empowering and gives you that trickle into all the other areas of your life, because you can really stand in your own power and stand in who you are. So I'm a big fan of all of this.

Caroline Scruggs: I love that so much, wow. Yeah, absolutely. That's the thing, so many people are so self-aware and so open to personal development world, right? You're a coach. We see all of these people that go into the courses, do the masterminds and do all of the things and take everything in. And yet when it comes time to step up and do the hardest thing... like I'm not saying it's easy and you know it's not easy. What we're saying is, I went to school for music too and we're here talking about how we still have problems.

Katrina Widener: Oh yeah.

Caroline Scruggs: It's still freaking scary no matter what! But the thing is once you step up and you do it and you're supported in raising your voice in this capacity? I think that's what it takes, right? I think that it does take an amount of support so that you feel safe to do this.

Katrina Widener: Oh definitely.

Caroline Scruggs: It's a huge thing. But once you take that step and step up and take action, then your world starts changing actually. Like not only your inner world, but your outer world, and it starts changing so quickly and so intensely. It's amazing.

Katrina Widener: I really appreciated what you were saying about people go and they're like, "I'm going to sign up for this course. I'm going to do this training, or I'm going to join this coaching. I'm going to take in more information and I'm going to learn more of ways that I can be like you." That's like the big thing with my coaching and my approach to coaching is it's very much like, "No, I'm here to guide you to act like yourself as opposed to act like me." I'm not telling you, "Here are things for you to go do and to go and change." Because I feel like there's a lot of focus on the personal development world of, "Where can I improve? How can I be better?"

Caroline Scruggs: Yes.

Katrina Widener: And I'm not saying that any of us are perfect. And I myself, as someone who puts a lot of emphasis in my life on being self-aware and learning more about myself, I'm also standing strong in the parts of me that I'm like, "I am talkative. I know I'm talkative. I can be long-winded." And you know what? That's not something to be ashamed of. That's not something to be afraid of. I have had a nine to five world. I had like a former C suite executive say behind my back, "Well Katrina just talks to hear the sound of her own voice." And I'm like, "Well you know what? I don't. But I am going to stand up and talk about the things that I believe in and that I feel strongly about. Just because you're a white dude who didn't like to hear what I said, that doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to speak up and use my voice."

And so, yeah I really appreciate that this is what you're doing with people. Cause I feel like it's very similar end goal to the work that I do as a coach. Where it really is saying like, "No how do you operate? Who are you? How do we own that? How do we build our businesses around that, and allow that to be the thing that makes you money?" Not looking outside of yourself for someone else to tell you how to do that.

Caroline Scruggs: Yes. Absolutely. Like a hundred percent, it goes hand in hand, right? Because it's all leading to the same place, and the underlying vibe is all the same, which is just empowering people to be their truest selves. Because that's what we need them to be, you know? And once they do that, like everything will fall into place, right?

Katrina Widener: Exactly.

Caroline Scruggs: But one thing about the voice that I get into, is a lot of people come to me. I work with women who would not count themselves singers, like they're terrified and they're uncomfortable and like, that's okay! And then I work with like seasoned singer songwriters who have been doing this forever but still hold a lot of conditioning, right?

That they really need to let go of and work through. We do the same kind of work on our physical voice, on their physical voice. Because so many people come to me and they're like, "Ugh. I hate my voice. I hate this thing that it does. It's like breathy or it's raspy and I can't move it the way I want it to." and it's just as if it completely mirrors when people think about themselves like parts of their personality. Or if they're told that they talk too much, or they're too intense. With your voice, it's like a little microcosm of that. So whatever perspective you have on your voice is going to be mirrored in your life. Like how you're showing up with your voice equals how you're showing up in your life. So the things that are unique about their voice that make them cringe right now, I have this mantra that I like to use. It says embrace the cringe, embrace the cringe.

Katrina Widener: Yes!

Caroline Scruggs: Because usually what makes you cringe about yourself is like your super power, right? If you have a really like wispy airy voice? Hell yeah! That's freaking amazing. Own it versus being ashamed of it, trying to hide it, trying to sound like somebody else. And likewise when you're an entrepreneur or some kind of influencer and you're showing up online and you're kind of trying to emulate somebody else's voice, writer's voice is now what we're talking about. You're not going to see any results and you're not going to feel fulfilled because you're not being you, right? You're not using your own voice.

So this is the ultimate goal is to have people really, truly embrace and love their voice in this really radical way that society is just like not about right now. But I truly believe the more people we can get to do this to radically embrace their voices and to feel free and okay, and empowered to take up the space they were always meant to? This world is going to change in unimaginable ways, you know? So that's my M.O. and it sounds like it's your M.O. too, so.

Katrina Widener: Yeah, I love it. When you were like "Some people's voices are more breathy, some people's voices are more raspy." I was thinking to myself, some people are naturally marketing in this way. Some people naturally show up in the world in that way. I have moments with my clients where I might be like, "This is what feels natural to you." And they'll be like, "No that feels too easy. I don't think that's going to work," or whatever that might be or how that might look. And the thing is there has to be a certain letting go of our control to say like, "I'm just going to allow things to be how they are instead of trying to have the control over this."

That's the line between owning who you are in terms of your actual physical voice versus owning who you are in every other aspect of your life. Because it really is saying once you have gained this skill and have this tool in your tool box? "I now know what the process is to have something that I used to look at and not be confident in and now have just fully owned it. I can do that here, and I can do that here, and I can do that here. Because I know that I have done it there."

Caroline Scruggs: Yes.

Katrina Widener: And it feels less scary. It feels less like you're taking a risk because you can say I did that and I survived and now I have this new found level of confidence, of self-empowerment, of peace in who I am, et cetera.

So I love all of this. We're of course already reaching the end of our time, but before we end I want to make sure that I also get this question in. Which is just for people who are like, "Okay this sounds really exciting. I can totally see how this would be powerful in my life." Where can they get started on their own? What would you recommend?

Caroline Scruggs: I love that. So what I really want to recommend is, I have this free five day experience that I put on seasonally, like quarterly. It's called uke camp, U-K-E. All you need is a ukulele, which you can buy for 20 bucks like on Amazon, or you can borrow a friend's or anything. It is for people with like absolute zero musical experience, all the way up to seasoned songwriters again. And its focus is just a creative container to feel super safe to dive into yourself, explore what's in there. Explore your voice and to write. I challenge you, I challenge everyone to write five songs in five days. Which I know sounds crazy, but you can do it in an hour a day.

There's a live lesson each day with me. So it's like super high value, completely free. And I swear I've had 300 people who have never written a song before? They come out and they write either one or three or five songs. They just come out being like, "Holy shit. I can't believe that that was in me. If that was in me, then I can't imagine what else is in me, right?" So it's this super like, concentrated fire igniter for people. I absolutely would love to invite you and anyone that's listening. You can sign up, you can register at theukecamp.com. Like I said, it's quarterly, so I think the next one will be in August which will be coming up pretty soon after this air. So that's perfect. So that's what I would recommend, that's like a great fire starter. And then after that, you're just like, "Pew pew pew!" you can do anything, yeah.

Katrina Widener: Perfect! Great. Thank you so much this has been amazing. I feel like we're on the same wavelength, which I always love. So the last thing before we jump off is just where can people find you?

Caroline Scruggs: How can they follow up with you after this? So I'm actually offering a very special deal right now. So if you hit me up on Instagram message me, or go to www.carolinescruggs.com and then my Instagram is @caroline_scruggs_ gimme a shout and mention this, I'm giving a free 30 minute creative pep talk to anyone who messages me right now. And I'll give you a little bit of reflection in how you can infuse creativity into your life and your business right now, and just kind of blow things up, shake things up, and radiate new energy!

Katrina Widener: Perfect. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much. I'll also share your information when the podcast comes out, this will all be on the show notes and the transcript for everyone listening. So we will get you in touch! But anyway, thank you so much for coming on. This has been great.

Caroline Scruggs: Thank you.

Katrina Widener: Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If what you heard was impactful in any way, it would mean the world to me if you left a review on iTunes or Apple podcasts. And if we aren't friends on Instagram yet, come join the party at @katrina.widener or come visit the website at www.katrinawidener.com.