Belly Flops and Oddvocados

Intro Music:

Welcome to An Owner’s Guide for Your Life, the podcast that combines psychology, coaching, common sense and fun. I’m Tracey Browning, an entrepreneur, life coach, and lover of people. Now let’s talk about how to live love, make money, and change the world.

Tracey:
Hey, I’m glad you’re here. This is episode 27, and I’ve got some words for you.

Belly flops, Oddvocados and Misfits Market.
What do they have in common?
All of them are celebrating and purposely selling imperfect products.

Now I found a bag of Belly Flops the other day, which I think it’s just absolutely hilarious to say.
I got a bag of Belly Flops. Belly Flops, in this case, are irregular Jelly Bellies and Belly Flops are my favorite jelly beans. A bag of Belly Flops.

I’ve got a bag of Belly Flops on the counter in my kitchen. What they are are avocados. That nothing’s really wrong with them, I guess they just don’t quite meet, like an industry size or shape standard. I don’t know. They’re not gross. They’re not mushy. They’re perfectly good, Oddvocados. But they’ve put them in a mesh bag and branded them as Oddvocados. It’s genius!

I don’t know. Maybe you’ve heard of Misfits Market. It’s an online grocery store that they say they help fight food waste by selling premium groceries that would otherwise go, I don’t know, get wasted somehow because they too, don’t meet commercial standards of looking a certain way. With Misfits Market, you get great food at a good price, and you help the environment.

So Belly Flops, Oddvocados and Misfits Market. All of these, they’re celebrating imperfection. And I’m fascinated by this idea.

Instead of railing against it, they’re encouraging us to notice, hey, we’re imperfect.
They’re not hiding.They’re highlighting!
They are profiting from imperfection.
How about that? They are making money from not being perfect.

What if we did the same thing with our own imperfections?
Now, maybe not necessarily make money from them. But I don’t know, maybe.
What if we did make money from our own imperfections?

And listen, I can hear you saying, “Oh, oh, oh,wait a minute, sister.”
Because I have already said that to myself multiple times.
My inner shrieking voice is going, “Gasp, don’t even go there, Tracey. Oh, do you know what you’re saying?”

And as a matter of fact, I do know what I’m saying.

I’ve spent most of my life trying so hard to fit in, to measure up to, never let them see me sweat, which I think is like a deodorant commercial from way back. I am a recovering perfectionist, a perfectionist in many areas of my life, not every area, but in a lot of them. But I’m recovering from it.

So it’s not an easy thing for me to talk about being imperfect, even though I full well know that I am not perfect. Nobody is.

But you know what happens when somebody shares an imperfection?
We see ourselves in them.
We feel a connection.
We feel better.

Now, okay, yeah, maybe some of us are feeling better because we’re thinking, “Dang, I’m glad I don’t have that problem.” Honestly, sometimes that is my thought, but then I feel connected because I feel less alone. Don’t you?

When you see somebody share something where they don’t measure up, do you feel that connection and you feel like, “Oh, good. I’m not the only one that’s struggling and failing and trying and not measuring up.” Not good in a “Haha, they got what they deserved” way, but “Good. I’m not alone”.

And we usually pull harder for the underdog.

Unless you’re the top dog, but usually we pull for the underdog.

So imperfections.
I’ll share some imperfections with you, and I’m having to take some deep breaths because sometimes it’s hard.

All right. I’ll start with one that’s kind of easy and obvious.

I laugh too loudly and probably too much for some people.
I know, I laugh loudly. It’s really hard for me to laugh quietly.
I sneeze so freaking loud. Oh, my gosh. But sneezes are to clear your head. So there you go. So I laugh too loudly.

I’ve lost money in business deals.
I’ve worked really hard at things and not gotten what I set out to get.
I worry too much about being liked.
Marketing and selling my own services has been one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever had in my life.

These are areas where I am so far from perfect. And you know, now I haven’t published this yet. I’m only recording it. Still. I’ve got a knot in my stomach and my muscles are tense, and my voice is quivering a little bit because it can be hard to share our imperfections.

But when we do that… I’m being real.
I’m being human.
I’m reaching out to share a connection with other people.

Not everybody is going to want to do it.
Not everybody is going to like it, even though we all know we’re not perfect.
Admitting I’m not perfect.

Here’s some areas where I know I’m not perfect, but I’m real.
Is it Pinocchio? [who says] I’m a real boy.

So here’s my belly flop. Here’s my own Oddvocado. Here’s my Misfit Market.
I’m sharing some imperfections.

Thank you for listening. I appreciate you!

For a transcript of this episode or for more information about life and mindset coaching, visit my website https://www.tbrowning.com/.