Why I Stopped Trying to Sound Like an Expert (And Started Writing Like Myself)
For years I wrote like I was trying to prove something. Every post and email, every piece of content I created had this underlying pressure to sound credible and knowledgeable. To sound like an expert.
And I did know what I was talking about. That part was fine. But the way I was communicating it didn’t sound like me. It sounded like what I thought an expert was supposed to sound like.
Polished. Professional. Distant.
I was running a multiple seven-figure coaching business at the time, deep in the online marketing world. And in that world, there’s this unspoken rule that you have to position yourself a certain way, use certain language, and project authority constantly or people won’t take you seriously.
So I did. I crafted every sentence and optimized every hook. I performed expertise instead of just sharing what I knew.
And it worked, for a while. But it was exhausting. And something about it never felt right.
What Changed
When I walked away from that business and started rebuilding my life from the ground up, I didn’t have the energy to perform anymore. I was tired and healing. And I didn’t care about sounding impressive.
So I just started talking. Writing the way I actually think, using the words I actually use. Saying things the way I’d say them to a friend sitting across from me at the kitchen table.
And something interesting happened. People responded more. Not less. More.
The content that felt the most vulnerable and unpolished, the content that sounded the most like me, got more engagement than anything I’d ever written while trying to sound like an expert.
The Performance Was the Problem
Looking back, I can see it clearly. The performance was creating distance. When you’re trying to sound like an expert, you’re putting yourself above your audience and teaching down to them. And people can feel that, even if they can’t name it.
When you write like yourself, you’re standing beside them and sharing what you’ve learned as someone who’s been through it, not as someone lecturing from a stage.
That shift changes everything. The trust is different, the connection is deeper, and the response actually means something.
What Writing Like Myself Actually Looks Like
I use fragments now. I start sentences with “And” and “But” and “So.” I write the way I talk, including the pauses and the asides and the moments where I circle back to make sure I said something clearly.
Sounding smart stopped mattering to me. Clarity became the goal. Perfect hooks went out the window. I just start where the thought starts now. And instead of worrying about whether every sentence was optimized, I started asking whether it sounds like something I’d actually say out loud.
And this matters even more now because of AI. AI can write polished, professional, expert-sounding content all day long. It’s very good at performing expertise. What it can’t do is sound like you. That’s the one thing that’s still yours.
If you train AI to write like an expert, you get content that sounds like everyone else’s AI content. Train it to write like you, and you get something no one else can replicate.
I have something very exciting coming for you in a few days that I’m so excited to share. And it’s going to help you do this and more.
The Freedom on the Other Side
Stopping the performance was one of the most freeing things I’ve ever done in my business. I don’t have to maintain an image anymore or remember what version of myself I’m supposed to be projecting. I just get to be me.
And it turns out that’s enough. More than enough, actually. Because the people who resonate with the real version of you are the people you actually want in your world. Anyone who was only attracted to the performance was never going to stick around anyway.
If you’ve been exhausting yourself trying to sound like what you think an expert should sound like, I’d encourage you to try something different. Write one piece of content the way you’d actually say it. Skip the polish and the optimization. Just you.
See what happens.
If you want to learn how to train AI to write in your actual voice instead of generic expert-speak, that’s exactly what I teach inside my process. Subscribe to get access to the guardrails document I use to keep my AI content sounding like me, not like a robot pretending to be credible.