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Have you ever felt like you're living someone else's life, constantly comparing yourself to others and feeling unfulfilled? In this episode of Imperfect Marketing, I sit down with Wendy Gunn, a confident Christian entrepreneur who helps people uncover their unique identity and purpose.
Wendy shares her incredible journey from battling cancer to becoming a successful online business owner. Her story is a testament to the power of faith, perseverance, and embracing one's true self.
Discovering Your Unique Identity
Wendy emphasizes the importance of recognizing that each person's story is different. She offers practical advice on how to:
- Reflect on moments when you felt truly alive and passionate
- Identify your strengths and talents
- Utilize personality tests and spiritual gift assessments
Overcoming Obstacles to Personal Growth
We discuss common barriers that hold people back from achieving their goals, including:
- Fear of failure
- Resistance to change
- Procrastination and perfectionism
Wendy shares her personal experiences of how God has worked in her life, using challenges as opportunities for growth and transformation.
Building Authentic Relationships in Marketing
As a marketing expert, Wendy emphasizes the importance of:
- Treating marketing as relationship-building
- Communicating clearly who you are and what you offer
- Creating opportunities for deeper connections with your audience
"Marketing is really building relationships. You have to communicate clearly who you are and your desires."
This episode is packed with valuable insights for anyone looking to align their life and business with their true purpose. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a marketer, or simply someone seeking personal growth, you'll find inspiration and practical tips to help you on your journey.
Are you ready to uncover your unique identity and purpose? Tune in to this episode of Imperfect Marketing and take the first step towards living a more authentic and fulfilling life.
Resources and Next Steps
Wendy offers a free resource for listeners: 10 Questions to Identify Your Ideal Client Fast. You can download it at yourhomeforgod.com/10-questions.
Additionally, Wendy invites you to book a free session to explore how she can help you discover your purpose. Visit calendly.com/wendygunn/connection to schedule a call.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wendygunnyourhomeforgod
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmMr5g_UMZ1BStDYkJPEUyg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendygunnyourhomeforgod/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
Whether you’re looking to gain clarity on your purpose, improve your marketing relationships, or simply feel inspired by Wendy’s incredible journey, this episode is packed with actionable
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Gunn, and I am really excitedfor our conversation today,
because we want to talk aboutfinding your identity and
covering your expertise andpurpose.
Okay, wendy, like, how did youget into this?
(00:23):
How did you start helpingpeople find their purpose and
achieve their, their God givengoals?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, first of all,
thank you for having me, kendra.
I'm excited to be here and Ilove this topic and love your
podcast, so it's gonna be fun,thank you.
A confident entrepreneur,christian entrepreneur, who
feels like I'm aligned with mypurpose and love.
(00:49):
You know life, but I haven'talways been this person and
(01:09):
years ago I was copying friends'lives and comparing myself
unfavorably and competing andcoveting, and I was very obese
and I was miserable, as you canimagine.
And then one day, on Tuesday inMay, I was diagnosed with
ovarian cancer and that changedmy life.
Of course, but it changed mylife in a good way and I am a
(01:29):
walking miracle because I wasdiagnosed with two
football-sized tumors.
They did not think they'dcaught it early and they thought
it had spread, and God was atwork and did so many things.
One of the first things that hedid was to get me into surgery
within three days and in thosethree days, everyone I knew, and
(01:51):
many who I didn't, were prayingand when the surgeon went in
three days later, there was onlyone contained tumor and it was
caught early and I knew I was awalking miracle.
Either a trained professionalhad seen and written down the
(02:12):
dimensions of a non-existenttumor or a miracle had been done
in my life and my body.
Of course, that changed my lifeand I went through chemo and
I've been over 20 years cancerfree, praise the Lord.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yes, but the next
year.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I was desperate to be
healthier and in that
desperation I lost 50 pounds.
That was the first domino ofgoal achievement that took place
in my life, because I thought,if God can do that in my life,
he can do anything, and I begansetting and achieving big goals.
(02:54):
Over years, I went from beingdisorganized to organized.
We raised our children myhusband and I have been married
for over 40 years and raised ourchildren to become adults who
we like and they like us andthey're walking with the Lord
(03:14):
and we even were able to take adream trip to Italy, all of us
with miles that I'd saved up.
And then some of my biggestgoals were achieved after the
age of 60, when I started myonline business and I grew an
email list from nothing to 12,over 12,000 in just a couple of
(03:37):
years, with a 37% open rate andthe averages, or industry
averages, about 18 to 20 percent.
So when I got had cancer, one ofthe things that God impressed
on me was that I was different.
My story was different fromeveryone else's in the world,
(04:03):
and he gave me a passion becauseI recognized that that's true
of you too.
You and you and you.
It's true for all of us, andeven if we could achieve all the
goals of someone else, we'd bea failure in life because we
(04:23):
would have missed our purpose.
And so I love talking aboutyour identity and your purpose,
and it's often your quirks thatmake you special, and it's not
just what you like or are goodat, but it's you know.
(04:45):
To be real Well, no, I don'tlike that and I'm really not
good at that and to be real andvulnerable and recognize and I
love the title ImperfectMarketing, because there is no
perfection, that's.
Another thing that I was ableto overcome was procrastinating
(05:05):
perfectionism.
And it's just there are so many,so many ties together with all
of this topic, so that's that'sthe shorter version of how I
came to be involved in thiswhole topic.
Topic.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
That's just a great
story, so thank you so much for
sharing it and sharing how yougot there, because I think
there's a lot of people who havehad God sending them messages
and maybe not as big or asdirect as you have, but he's
still there sending us messages,and I think that it's important
to have your own personalpurpose and passion, and I
(05:42):
really liked how you talkedabout that, because we do have a
tendency to compare ourselvesto other people a lot, right.
Social media, I think, has madeus even more, given us more,
comparisonitis than ever before,right, and so I think knowing
that you don't have to compareyourself to somebody else is
(06:04):
huge and that there's a plan foryou, which I think is great.
So let's talk about helpingpeople find their identity and
their purpose.
How do you do this?
What's your system?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, I love to meet
people, so I talk about email
list as marketing.
That's my thing, really justasking questions, learning to
ask questions, and so in mybusiness with clients, I first
(06:36):
have them think about your past.
What are moments when you justfelt lit up?
You just felt like you were,you know, way up here and
(07:09):
immediately you will probablythink of a specific time and
times when you were doingsomething that you just felt
like, ah, I could do this allday, every day, you know, 24-7.
Actually, this is one of thethings that I feel that way
about.
I absolutely love being a gueston a podcast, but people, they
aren't thinking about that.
We tend to think about thenegatives, and so I really
(07:30):
encourage people to think aboutwhat do you love, what have
people told you you're good at,what have they affirmed you in?
And then write it down.
And then there are manydifferent personality tests that
(07:51):
I recommend you delve into.
They're not only helpful butthey're fun, and, as a Christian
, there are spiritual giftassessments to start there,
figuring out what are you goodat, what do you love.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
So that's where I
begin.
That's very good.
I love starting with questions,because I think asking people
questions, asking them toreflect, is just so, so
important, and I lovepersonality tests.
One of the ones that I talkabout all the time is
CliftonStrengthFinders.
I don't know if you use thatone, but it revolutionized my
marriage.
My husband and I took it whenwe were going through our MBA
(08:32):
program, and he is analytical.
I am achievement oriented, Ilike to check things off.
I will put things on a listjust to check it off.
He is analytical to the pointwhere he needs to know what's
going to come out of everyoption, and it literally I think
it actually had the example oflike ordering food off a menu at
a restaurant.
You haven't tasted it all, soit's harder for him to make a
(08:53):
decision, and so that was he canorder off a menu.
Fine, you know, but it addsadditional stress and additional
thought process right that Idon't have.
Cause I'm like let's check itoff and let's go.
And he so I didn't order forhim because it didn't look right
sometimes to other people onthe outside.
Nope, now I just order.
(09:14):
I narrow it down or I'll order.
I'll say this is what you want.
We take all that stress out.
Or if we're going someplacewhere he's never been before,
we'll pull up the menu online.
You know, I take the stress outof it because there's just you
know, that's where it is, but heslows me down and actually
thinks about things and other.
You know that have longercomplications than necessarily
(09:36):
just ordering dinner on a menu,so which is also- good, it's so
important, so it works well.
Yes, but it gave me such suchinsight into how he worked in a
way that I understood that Ijust didn't understand before.
I understood that I just didn'tunderstand before, and it's
just been.
It's amazing how much thosetypes of tests can can help you
(09:58):
and guide you.
So we talk about all of thatall the time.
So let's let's talk about whatholds people back, right,
because we're just talking aboutpersonality tests and the
differences and things like that.
I recently had a podcast gueston who was not happy in his job
and waited, and then you know heended up getting getting laid
(10:25):
off during COVID and found hispassion and it was because there
wasn't any fear holding himback anymore of leaving that
secure job and things like that.
What holds people back that youfind from achieving what they
want to achieve?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well, you've
mentioned several fear of
failure and we have this falseidea that we actually have
control.
We don't actually have control,but we think we do and so we.
It's so common.
And again, I say God, sometimes, you know, there's a whole
analogy that I might share.
(11:02):
But the guy who found hispurpose when he lost his job
which normally would besomething that would be a
tragedy, right, but in that case, you know, I see God doing this
in my life over and over andover and over, and I am going to
share this because it's justbeen so much a part of my
(11:26):
understanding of my life and howGod works, helped me to
overcome procrastinatingperfectionism, to recognize this
.
So, about every seven yearsactually and seven is a really
important number in the Bible,but it's not exact but about
every seven years God starts.
It's a gardening metaphor.
(11:46):
My husband's family are allgardeners.
I'm not really a gardener, butgardening is a really strong
again, the analogy metaphor inthe Bible too.
And when you want to have a bigharvest, there are things you
have to do, one of which is thatfield or garden, you know, the
(12:07):
tiller comes out and the groundgets tilled up.
Think of this as your life.
You are the garden.
Well, god comes in and he justrips up my life with the tiller
and then he fertilizes it andthe manure and you know he works
(12:31):
it in, and so sometimes it'sreally, really difficult things.
You know, one of the times wasI felt like God removed
everything that I loved.
My mom passed away in that yearbefore my brother passed away in
(12:52):
that seven months after my mom.
In between those two things, Isuddenly had to have foot
surgery, which was unexpected,and I was laid up for a long
time.
I had had a nanny job at thattime, and so I found a friend
who took over for me for aboutsix weeks and I gave her very
(13:12):
strict instructions Don't domore than my contract.
This is what I do, don't domore.
Well, it went like this and sheunintentionally stole my job
from me.
Bam, bam, bam bam.
And it was devastating in a lotof ways, but the soil of my
(13:39):
heart was totally prepared thento say God, change me, changed
my life.
I was ready, I was surrendered,I was ready.
And that's when I lost mysecond 50 pounds.
(14:02):
So I've lost over 100 poundstotal, and I was 60.
Was I 60 or 62?
I was, you know.
I mean when people say it'simpossible to lose weight or
it's very, very difficult, andthat is the way that God has
worked in my life over and over.
But we're resistant to change.
(14:25):
So what holds people back?
The thought that we are hangingon to security, the thought
that we think we know what'sgoing to happen next, that we
have some kind of control overwhat's going to happen next, and
to a degree we do.
God is very gentlemanly and hedoesn't, you know, force us, but
(14:49):
we are averse to change oftenand some personalities, what you
were talking about with yourhusband, my husband, he's very
averse to change and I likechange.
That I think I'm in control ofand I've learned again over the
(15:12):
years that it's actually me thatneeds more time, that God has
to repair me and it takes longer.
So because once my husband doesdecide to do something, it
happens so fast that it you know, if I wasn't prepared, if I
(15:32):
hadn't been prepared it wouldhave just totally thrown me.
But we, just, we, yeah, we'rejust really reluctant, we
procrastinate and we think wewant it to all be perfect before
we decide to go forward.
So you know, I think that allof these things that I went
(15:52):
through, and then you know whereI felt like I was grieving, but
it was preparing my heart andto be surrendered to okay, all
right, I'm ready.
I'm ready, I'll do whatever,you know, and that desperation,
(16:13):
especially with weight loss, andthat desperation, especially
with weight loss, I've seen youcan lose weight any way and at
any time if you're desperateenough.
That's just my theory, anyway.
But we have to get to a placeof emptying ourselves, being
willing, ready, and it can takea lot of different things to
(16:36):
make us ready for that,especially a big change.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah, I mean, things
happen for a reason, right?
Don't let fear hold you back.
You cannot wait for perfection.
I mean, I talk about that onthis podcast all the time.
If you're waiting forperfection, you're never getting
it done and everybody else isgoing to beat you to market and
have an audience and you'regoing to be, you know, sort of
(17:01):
left off to the side because youjust didn't get it done.
And done is always almostalways, I should say better than
perfect, right?
So I think that that's that'sreally important to do it.
That's really important to doit.
So what do you recommend peopledo if they're interested in
(17:24):
learning more about themselvesand their passion and what tools
God has given them?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Well, I mentioned the
first steps and I really think
that prayer along with that,because I really believe that
God wants us to know.
He wants us to know how youknow and he wants to use us.
And the online world and thespace and business is very much
(17:58):
relationship building and I knowyou talk about this a lot too.
It's very relational andoftentimes people miss that
because they forget that it's arelationship.
And in email list buildingespecially, I always say you're
talking to one person.
You can't think I'm talking to12,000.
(18:19):
You're talking one person opensan email and to explore who you
are in.
Well, what have I succeeded atand what do I love to do?
Because so many people, what doI love to do?
Because so many people,unfortunately, they succeed in
business and they're down theroad a ways and then all of a
(18:42):
sudden they're like I hate this,I can't imagine doing this for
the rest of my life, and maybethey don't even like their
clients all that much becausethey haven't identified that
person that's also their idealclient.
So it's just so important torecognize that and be real.
(19:04):
Be you, be authentically, yoube genuinely caring about your
people that you're going to helpand really delve in.
Take the time.
It does take a little time.
Take the time.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, no, it
definitely takes time to do it
the right way and to get theinsights that you need, which is
hugely important.
Wendy, this has been an awesomeconversation.
Thank you so much for your time.
I do hope that everybodywatching or listening will take
a few minutes and reflect ontheir journey and where they're
(19:38):
at and where they're headed andwhat brings them joy, because
life is too long and we work waytoo many hours to not be happy
and enjoy what we do at leastthe majority of the time,
because they do call it work fora reason.
So it's not all fun and games,but a lot of it can be and it
can pay off for a lot.
Before I let you go, I have onequestion I ask all of my guests
(20:02):
, and that is that this showcore at the base that marketing
is really building relationships.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And then I think one
of the biggest lessons that I've
learned is just like example,in a dating relationship, you
have to communicate clearly whoyou are and your desires.
If you don't actually ask forthe date, you have to ask and
(20:52):
then you have to build deeperconnection.
You know connection, deeperconnection and to create
opportunities for deeperconnection.
But it moves at a little bylittle.
You know you don't dive in andask them to marry you when you
(21:14):
first meet.
Don't dive in and ask them tomarry you when you first meet
and to just, you know, recognizeand to genuinely this is so
important genuinely care aboutyour client.
(21:36):
That is going to resonate,that's going to connect.
You know all these C words Ihope will help you remember this
.
But you know the connection,the caring, the authenticity and
then the creating opportunitiesfor deeper connection, and
don't forget to ask.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yes, do not forget to
ask, because people are too
busy with their own stuff toremember sometimes what you do
and that you're there for them,and it is all about connections
and relationships and building.
So I think that's a really goodand helpful insight that people
do.
And then I love how you saidthe word help, because I think
(22:13):
looking at it as truly caringand helping takes the sales out
of it.
People don't like sales.
People don't like sales.
People right, that's just theway we've been for so long and I
think that it's so important tothink about it that way right,
to think about it as helping, asguiding, as caring, and that
(22:34):
makes it a lot easier to tellthem what you do and how to work
with you.
So, wendy, thank you again, soso much I love this conversation
.
I think that there's a lot thatpeople can get out of it,
especially if they take sometime to reflect, and I again, I
appreciate your insights andeverything with it.
If people are looking for morefrom you, where should they go?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Well, I have a free
PDF for your guests that can be
found at yourhomeforgodcom slash10 dash questions.
It is 10 questions to identifyyour ideal client fast.
And yes, if you want to get toknow somebody, ask questions
(23:19):
there you go.
And then if you want to connectwith me more, if you've liked
this and you want more, you canbook a free session with me at
calendlycom.
Slash Wendy Gunn, g-u-n-n.
Two N's slash connection.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Perfect.
Thank you so much and we'll besure to have those links in the
show notes.
Thank you all so much fortuning in wherever you're
listening or watching.
We do appreciate it To help usout.
It would be awesome if youwould rate and subscribe
wherever you're listening orwatching.
Until next time, I look forwardto seeing you on another
episode of Imperfect Marketing.