Resonance in the Workforce:
A Conversation With
Sarah Lock
Feature Article/Interview With Sarah Lock
Finn Kitchen - April 12, 2023
As I wrapped up the final semester of my BA I remember being conflicted. The constant questioning of, “what will you do next?”, “You spent all that money and you havent read...?”, or my personal favorite, “an English degree? What are you going to do with that? Read?!”.
The confliction never arose during my degree progress. I actually was so enthralled to make the switch from a music degree to English. It was in the deep theoretical conversations on 12th century British Literature that I found my passion for the degree program. I found such wonders in analyzing and creating work that expressed my own takes on this ancient texts.
Where I found the most confliction within these questions is the feeling of entrapment. In my readings of Emerson, Dickens, or even Chaucer I found a sense of freedom in their livelihoods. Of course, not in ever aspect, but within their freedoms to write and express. My confliction arises as I enter this “workforce” because I so desperately crave a resonance with whatever work I do. I want to be sparked, lit, forced up the tree to grow!
Someone who has genuinely inspired this resonance is Sarah Lock. She is a business owner, content creator, holistic life coach, podcast host of The Wellness Wave, and marketer passionate about bringing people to their true sense of resonance in their jobs. I had the pleasure of getting to interview her in mid-April where our conversation led me back to my own personal resonance. My interest in diving deeper into what Sarah creates sparked from a journey to discover a means of creation. Not only did her message of self-resonance lead me to this interview, but her work with content creation, writing, and her skill in creating a brand (Slock Sounds).
Sarah Lock
“Modern-day consumers no longer resonate with unrelatable, inauthentic, and ‘manufactured’ advertisements.” - Sarah Lock
The Face Behind Slock Sounds
Slock Sounds is a holistic business built by Sarah with foundations in communication. Sarah’s clients are offered a wide range of services: holistic life coaching, UGC services, and the knowledge she has gained to help her clients better their businesses. What makes her work special is her services are built around the client. From this, Sarah has found that there follows a more genuine acceptance of resonance from her clients.
One of Sarahs biggest aids to her practice is the methodology that, “everything in existence is vibrational”. It is an excellent practice for everyday life, and for her client outreach. Through this mindset clients have come to her more naturally. For instance, one of her clients, a holistic skin therapist, was brought to Sarah this way. Sarah began her healthy skin/living journey with visits to a skin therapist. After a couple visits and conversations with this business owner Sarah began to make content for]them. It points to the beauty that comes from a vibrational existence where like attracts like.
Personal Consumerism
How can having this vibrational connection change your work? What is the benefit of personally relating to your client’s brand? Of course, a personal understanding of your client’s business is not always necessary. Still, the pull towards it resonated through our conversation. For Sarah, her holistic skin therapist (now client) was a means to heal herself; now, she is building a new relationship with this business. A relationship to help her client grow through a more personal lens.
Bringing the personal into your work is something few companies or businesses are looking for, but what if we brought our personal to our work more? What if instead of working for corporations/businesses that don’t resonate with us, we shifted to a new way of creating?
Within Sarah’s own personal journey to discovery her business has blosomed. With a focus on personal advocacy she has been able to bring new projects and clients under her belt. All while continuously being invested in their growth and success. The difference between Sarah’s collegues is her personal investment is not out of personal gain, but rather a genuine joy to see clients click with the growth they have produced.
“Your time is worth way more than minimum wage. Even in the beginning. Don’t sell yourself short and set those boundaries at the beginning.“ - Sarah Lock
The Shift Behind the Screen
A shift has happened and will continue with how consumers want to experience brands. I think about this a lot when I go to buy anything these days. Who am I buying from? What are their values? The less authentic a company is, the less I want to buy from them. Moving me (and assuming many other consumers) towards a more moral buying stance.
How do we, as writers, know what style is appropriate and who the audience is? For example, within my poetic work, I write more flowery and romantic lines. Which is something beautiful within poetry, but how could this affect my writings for clients? On the one hand, I want to provide my twist into curating a beautiful piece of work, but on the other, I want to fit the style of writing that matches my client, audience, etc.
Sarah gave me some good insight into this. One of her clients is an HVAC company. Very different than the holistic skin therapist. Very different in the audience, aesthetic, tone, colors, etc. Her challenge was to switch between these two styles of writing. A great way to go about this switch is to think about three types of people:
-Enthusiastic: they want to see what’s exciting about this company, act fast, and see the WOW factor.
-Analytical: they want to see the statistics, numbers, and more skeptical facts.
-Emotional: they want to feel like you care, that you are looking out for their best interest only,
The style of writing shifts as the type of client changes. More emotionally interested clients and their consumers may want more flowery, romantic language. In contrast, a more analytical client may want a more straightforward writing style. Sarah mentions that her writing style became more flowery within her work for the holistic skin therapist. The consumers for her client tended to reach women and dealt with a more emotional product. Compared to the HVAC company, the consumers for that client were more “masculine” oriented, straight to the point, etc.
To Finish
Our conversation brought much insight into the field I am interested in. Her knowledge and immense skill set taught me much about where I want to go. But, the biggest takeaway for me was to keep your resonance resonating. Let what is meant to be, come, and understand it will all work out in time. The key to it all is passion, strive, and hard work. I will cherish this interview and the tools it has given me for the future.
View this as a feature article here ︎