Owning your truth
Me with our “Jeans Wall,” the place where team members sign their names when they grow beyond Student Maid | ©The Bees Knees Photo
I’m writing this on Sunday, May 2nd. And that means that exactly one week from today, our Student Maid transition will take place.
One week from today, I will walk into our Gainesville headquarters for what will likely be the last time. I will share a meal with our team members and thank them for their commitment to us throughout this change, and I’ll give them the best send-off I know how to give. I’ll walk the halls and look at all the pictures and memories beautifully hanging there, spending however long I need to in order to really soak it all up. I’ll stop by the pair of jeans hanging in our entryway, and I’ll read all of the signed names of our team members who have spent time with us over the last 14 years. I’ll think about where they are in their lives now. And then I’ll leave, I’ll go to sleep, and I’ll wake up on Monday, May 10th, to the first day of our next chapter.
It’s hard to believe all that has happened since we announced the news in January. I remember sitting in a coffee shop all day and writing the blog post that would announce our transformation to the world. It felt vulnerable and scary to share it before we had figured it all out, and I was afraid of what clicking “publish” on that post might mean.
Even though we told our team members before the news went public, I had a fear that they would all leave us as soon as we publicly announced the change. I feared a mass exodus.
And even though we told our clients before the news went public, I feared they would leave us, too. I feared they would find new cleaning services immediately instead of staying with us until the end.
I feared what it meant for our leadership team. While they supported the change, I feared it might cause them to make a change, too. I feared they might not want to come along for the next chapter.
I feared what it meant for our leadership development company and brand, the one that has been around for 7+ years and that the new Student Made will now be a part of. I feared that clients would no longer want to hire us for speaking or leadership work because we would no longer be operating a cleaning business.
I feared what it meant for you and the other members of our amazing community. I feared that you wouldn’t want to be a part of our community anymore because of our new direction.
I feared what it meant for myself. I didn’t know who I was beyond Student Maid, and I was deeply afraid to explore that.
And now here we are, nearly four months after that coffee-shop blog post was published. The journey since then hasn't been perfect. But we’re here. We did it. We made it. We have team members and clients who have stuck with us through the end. Our leadership team is going with us to the next chapter. Our leadership development company is growing. Our community has been loyal. And I have the most peace with myself that I’ve ever had in my life.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how we got to this place. When so much could have gone wrong in this transformation… Why didn’t it?
Before I tell you what I think the answer might be, let me first be clear: I’m not saying that we have successfully avoided things going wrong. There have been plenty of things that didn’t happen like we hoped they would, and we’ve made plenty of screwups. Change is hard. Transformation is hard. No matter how you slice it, this stuff is challenging, and there will be hiccups and disappointments. What I am saying is that it could have been a heck of a lot worse.
So why wasn’t it?
I think it boils down to one thing: I owned my truth.
You see, here’s the thing: No matter how many times I heard from our leadership team that they were more passionate about leadership development than cleaning, and no matter how many times I heard from others who cared about me that I was meant to do more than what I was doing, nothing changed until I decided to own my truth and do something about it.
And then, once I owned my truth to our team, I made the bold decision to own that truth publicly before we even had a plan in place. And actually, I want you to know that that wasn’t how I originally intended for this whole thing to go. My vision was that we would work behind the scenes to bring the new Student Made to life, and then we would announce our transformation to the world after it was all figured out. If we did it that way, we could wrap our news in a big, beautiful, perfect bow. The headline would read something like this: Guess what?! We started a student leadership development arm of our company, and it turns out we love it and it’s growing, so we are leaving cleaning!
But my coach challenged me on that approach. He asked me, “Is that the truth?”
It wasn’t.
The truth was, I had come to a place in my life where I didn’t want to run a cleaning business anymore. The truth was, I wanted to put 100% of my focus into where I am most passionate. The truth was, I wanted to expand our leadership development company to reach students. The truth was, I wanted to make a larger impact. The truth was, I had no idea how I’d do any of it; I just knew it was something I needed to do. And so, I decided to own the real, honest-to-goodness truth, even though I was terribly afraid of what doing so might lead to.
Before meetings with our team members, I reminded myself: Own your truth. In writing communications to our clients, I reminded myself: Own your truth. Before writing each blog post, I reminded myself: Own your truth. Before every speech, I reminded myself: Own your truth. Before talking to friends and family, I reminded myself: Own your truth. Any time I felt like telling the truth was the opposite of what I should do, I reminded myself: Own your truth.
The more I told my own truth, the more it gave those around me permission to own theirs. If a team member disagreed with the new direction, it was okay. That was their truth. If a team member decided they couldn’t stick it out until the end, it was okay. That was their truth. If a leadership team member questioned their role in the new chapter, it was okay. That was their truth. If a client decided to find another cleaning company before our transition date, it was okay. That was their truth.
It became freeing. I learned to let go of my fear of the outcome. I realized that what I cared about most was owning my truth so that I could be in integrity with myself and giving others the space to own theirs. I realized I couldn't control anyone else’s actions or decisions, no matter how hard I tried. The only thing that will ever be in my control (and in yours) is living a life that is honest, transparent, and authentic, and I’ve learned that there isn’t anything better than living that way. For me, that has been the greatest lesson of the last four months.
I’ve also learned that owning your truth as a leader and as a company—and especially in times of change—builds trust. For the most part, you will find that telling the truth minimizes the chances of your fears coming true. For the most part, you will find that telling the truth is met with “thank you.” For the most part, it leads to “Thank you for your honesty” and “Thank you for your vulnerability” and “Thank you for your transparency.” Not always. But most of the time. At the end of the day, we trust leaders and brands who tell the truth—not the ones that only give us a part of the story.
When I look back on this journey, the one thing that I will always be the most proud of is that I chose to own my truth when I was afraid to do so. I hope in some way it inspired you to own yours. And in this next chapter, I promise that I will keep owning and keep telling my truth, no matter how hard it might be or how scary it might feel. My hope is that you’ll be there, owning your truth right along with me.
As I think about all that has happened from January until now, I want to thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. Thank you for the “thank yous.” Every time I told my truth, it was your thank-yous that gave me the validation and courage to do it again the next time, and I’m not sure I will ever be able to properly express just how much it has meant to me and taught me.
As one of our members of this amazing community so beautifully stated, this isn’t really the end of Student Maid. We aren’t going in a completely different direction. We are evolving. We are taking everything we’ve learned with us. It’s a metamorphosis, not an ending.
So with that, thanks for being here for this part of our journey. I’ll see you next week as we continue our evolution!
Hugs through the screen,
Kristen
PS: Join us for our LIVE show this Wednesday (and every Wednesday!) at 11 a.m. ET! This week, we’ll have a shorter (and extremely special) program honoring our transition. You can register here: https://bit.ly/3kWe2kT. Hope to see you there!
