If you missed part I, click here!

Yesterday I hopefully convinced you that embracing and using your gifts is where the magic happens. That’s what the world needs. For passionate people to embrace who they are and where they shine and then share that shine with the rest of us.

I don’t just need a Gary Vee to feel motivated.
I don’t just need a Marie Forleo to feel empowered.
I don’t just need a Simon Sinek to feel inspired.
I need all three of them.

How lame would that be if Gary Vee, the king of telling it like it is and tough love, decided he liked Marie’s voice better and adjusted how he spoke to the world to be more like her. Um… no way. What a terrible idea. We have a Marie. We need a Gary. The same applies to you. This truth is so important to me that a quote about this exact thing is literally at the bottom of every single page of my website.

But this is part two, so let’s move down this road.

In 2015, I went to the Amy & Jordan workshop. After the workshop, I sent them reusable grocery bags from Dosey’s market to thank them for the experience. They’re Gilmore Girls fans so I thought it would be a fun gift. We saw each other that Christmas at a party and Amy informed me that my love language was gift giving. I had heard that before from people and obviously the second Amy said it was the first time I actually looked at Love Languages.

I immediately knew she was right. I’ve always been a gift giver. In Junior High I would keep a box of birthday candles in my locker and give one to people I knew who had a birthday shout out on the morning announcements with a note that said, “Make a wish and have a beautiful day!” It was too much. People didn’t like me in Junior High, but dammit, I tried. I efforted the heck out of Junior High.

My love of giving gifts is still alive and well today and showing up all kinds of ways in my business. From sending a Greetabl after an engagement session to giving a home made candle at the initial client consultation and sending a gift from my Etsy shop to a random email subscriber each month.

I thought about what a great presence gift giving has in my business and I thought that infusing your love language into your business might have the same positive impact. So what’s your Love Language? (Quiz Here!)

If you’re not familiar, you can take the quiz linked above, or see which of these stand out to you:
•Gift Giving
•Quality Time
•Words of Affirmation
•Acts of Service
•Physical Touch

If you are a quality time type, could you take your clients out to dinner after their engagement session? Or maybe you set a coffee date to connect a month before the wedding.
If you’re an acts of service person, maybe you show up that way by sending monthly emails that outline each step and give useful advice about planning their event. Or maybe your packages include hair and makeup for the engagement session.
If you’re a words of affirmation person, maybe you leave comments on their social media and write a crazy thoughtful blog post for their wedding day.

What do you naturally do well? How can you use those gifts to shine brighter in your business? I’d love to hear your side of this… are you already doing this in your business? Were you previously someone who fought against the grain and now embrace your natural talents? How has that changed your business and your life? Let me know your thoughts in the comments or head over to my home page and see if you can find a secret message so you can send me one back!

Denise Karis is an Arizona photographer who enjoys musicals, Doctor Who and breakfast burritos. IG @denisekaris

Thanks to Element 5 Digital via Unsplash for the heart candy photo!