030 Can This Personality Quirk Become Your Personal Brand?

We have lots of stories of celebration, where people talk about their wins. What we need are more stories of pulling the plug. 

For example, in this episode I talk about someone who decided not to get a drivers license. In a typical story, she'd try and try to pass the test. She'd spend hours studying. 

But in this story the woman decides she won't bother. She'll move to a city where she can take a car or just ride public transit or even walk.

A variation of this story is a "you can go home again" story. You can quit and then go back.

The original idea for this story comes from research psychologist Barry Staw. You can read his ideas in this article from HBR.

If you’re a service based solopreneur, entrepreneur or independent professional, your brand is YOU. Your About Page will be critical to your online success.

And yet, if you’re like most business owners, you’ll tell me the About Page is the most difficult page to write for your website. 

That’s because most people hate to talk about themselves. And business owners are people! It’s easy to feel like you’re boasting. It’s common to wonder, “Will I come across as an obnoxious jerk?”

The truth is, your About Page isn’t about you. 

Your About Page answers the client’s question: Why should I hire you and not someone else? 

You don’t need to share your life story. You probably don’t need to share your company’s mission. But if you do, you need to create a context.

 I’ll show you exactly how to frame your story and avoid the most common mistakes of About Pages.

 What you’ll learn in this episode:

• What “likable” means to a prospective client (it’s not the same as being a good friend)
• What story really matters when you write your About Page (and it’s not your life story or origin story)
• Why most websites don’t need a mission statement (and what to write instead)

Resources:

My course on finding your client’s backstory - Click here

My course on “Bragging 101” - How to find your personal brand by telling stories - Click here

My course on “Write your About Page” - Click here

Strategic Intensive - a 2 week sprint to overcome your biggest marketing challenge (which might be writing your About Page) - Click here.

Free webinar recording - Write your About Page with Stories 

Numbers make stories more vivid. When we say, "Apartment 101," you may get a picture in your mind of the door with the number.

But there's a downside. When you use numbers to suggest how you value something, your audience will be judging you. They assign their ow values to every story.

In this episode you will learn...
...how the vividness of numbers makes your story more clear (and how that can be a downside)
...how casual references to certain details will send a message to your audience (and it may not be the message you want them to hear)
...how context will be important to your audience's response to your story

Resources:

Strategic Intensive Program
Background on story archetypes - FREE guide
Understanding your client's backstory - FREE guide

 

This week's episode is an encore presentation. It's designed to introduce new audience members to a podcast they may have missed. And it's one of my favorites!

We rarely associate"productivity" with "storytelling."

But content creation is the biggest driver - and the greatest challenge - of online marketing. Storytelling helps you create more high-converting marketing content more quickly. 
Using your story archetypes helps you know what stories to tell to support your brand. 

Learn how storytelling helps small business marketing (especially for solopreneurs) with creating content, branding, and targeting, with examples and how-tos. You'll see why we no longer think of storytelling as right-brained and productivity as left-brained: they work together to support your marketing strategy. 

You will learn...

...how to use stories to develop and build your brand (and why this method makes you a better marketer)

...what is a client's backstory and why their backstory should be your target (not their demographic)

...how to create more content faster by using stories to set up your structure.  

Don't forget to leave a review and a rating!

More about branding with archetypes: Free report here.

Book on Amazon Kindle: Grow Your Business One Story At A Time
(free with Kindle Unlimited)

Strategic Intensive Consultation

Find your client's backstory: My video self-paced course

 

 

Many service-based entrepreneurs tell me, “My services seem so ordinary! I want to create a sense of excitement among potential clients.”

It’s how lots of small business owners (including me) begin looking at their websites and sales letters.  

That doesn’t mean inventing wild stories or digging into your distant past for inspiration. Any story comes with hidden pitfalls and many people resist getting started.  

We can learn from a unique, creative experiment co-created by an anthropologist and a writer. They transformed ordinary thrift store purchases (none more than $2) into valuable objects that commanded high prices. 

Their secret? Writers were asked to invent stories surrounding each object. 

As business owners, we can learn from their story. 

Of course, business stories must be accurate. You can’t deceive your audience. But you can apply these principles to describe your offer. In fact, that’s what we do in a story that sells.  

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Examples of how stories can transform ordinary objects into valuable treasures (including a close-to-home example from a business owner)
• Qualities of stories that increase the value of ordinary offers (while remaining completely truthful)
• What you get people to say when you tell a selling story (which is why these stories succeeded)

RESOURCES:

My self-paced video course: From Storytelling to Story-selling

My self-paced video course: Brand Your Business With Stories

“Borrow my brain” consultation on storytelling

FREE: 17 Surprising Ways To Use Storytelling For Your Business Growth - Click here.

 

MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:

Original article about the Halston mug 

 

 

 

“Should I tell this story? I don’t feel comfortable sharing.”

Or

“I *really* feel I should tell this story, even if it makes me uncomfortable."  

If you’re like many of my clients, these questions arise when you’re wondering about sharing a story, especially a personal story. You feel deeply about the topic but you wonder if it’s a good idea to put it out there for all the world to see.  

You have doubts:

• What if the story backfires and makes you look like an idiot? 
• What if the story turns away potential clients who feel that’s TMI? 
• Maybe there’s a better story…but now you wonder if that one’s good, too.
  

Recently I’ve heard expert marketers - people I respect - encourage others to follow their enthusiasm.

If you’re excited, there’s probably a good reason. Don’t let the idea die!  

But others will tell you to slow down. Do the research. Get feedback from colleagues you trust or mentors who will be honest with you.

The truth is, either scenario could be a win for you. You’re being guided by your intuition, which can speak to you in many ways. 

For some business owners, being hesitant to share that story is a big “GO” signal. They tend to resist good things.

For others, being enthusiastic is a “STOP” signal. (I’m one of those!) They tend to jump into something and later wish they hadn’t.

On this episode of the Strategic Storytelling podcast, I’ll give you a new way to think about your decision to share a story…or not. 

 

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• what is intuition (it’s not as trendy as it was a few years ago) 
• how to use your intuition to sort out good vs bad advice
• how to recognize whether that “YES” or “NO” comes from your intuition (or is a false warning that you should ignore)
• why you’ll see business owners win with outrageous stories (and realize why you need to find your own style)

RESOURCES:

• My website - Click here. 
• Amazon ebook on intuition for business and careers - Click here.
• 3 common story mistakes and how to fix them - Click here.
• Storytelling consultation - Click here.

One of the biggest challenges for a business owner is getting seen as a credible expert in your field…even a thought leader in your industry.

Last episode we focused on being seen as an expert. However, not everyone will promote expertise the same way. 

If you’re a Role Model, you want to continue to tell stories that support your promise, “If I can do it, you can do it.” If you’re an Educator, you demonstrate knowledge. You tell different stories.

The one thing you don’t do: you don’t follow the advice to “be vulnerable” when you’re telling a story to promote your expertise. There may be a place for those stories…but not now.

In this episode, you will learn how to promote your expertise within your archetype. You will recognize how other archetypes use stories. It’s not just your story, but the way you tell your story, that builds expertise.

RESOURCES and mentions:

Find your archetype here. FREE checklist.

FREE training to use the archetypes to position yourself as an expert.

Brand with archetypes.  

Podcast with Cindy Bidar (Role Model archetype)

Podcast with Ellen Finkelstein (Role Model)

Cindy  Bidar's Website

Ian Brodie's articles

Connie Ragen Green (product marketing example)

Christina Hills 

Note: Some links are affiliate links. 

 

What’s the one thing you need to demonstrate in order to be seen as valuable…so you charge higher prices and clients feel lucky to work with you? In a service-based business, you’re selling expertise. You’re offering knowledge and skills beyond what “everybody” has. You hire a licensed electrician because a handyman might do the job...but you want to be sure they won't set the place on fire by mistake. You hire a professional decorator because you want someone with flair who adds something to the project…something you couldn’t get from anyone else. Your clients hire you when they see you as an expert. How do you make that happen? You can present credentials and testimonials. You can talk about how long you’ve been in business and point to a list of satisfied clients. But your most effective strategy for presenting yourself as an expert will be the stories you tell. They won’t necessarily be about you or your successes. These stories have specific qualities that communicate, “I know what I’m talking about.” You’ll never have to say that directly. Your audience knows. In this episode, you’ll hear examples of 2 stories from a business book, The End of Average. One story comes from the author; one from an area outside his experience. They position the author as an expert on a topic that’s new. We’ll analyze these stories to explain what makes them successful - and how you can use them in your own marketing to communicate your expertise and authority. MENTIONED: Todd Rose, The End of Average Article: The Flaw of Average RESOURCES: How to create content that establishes you as a credible expert in your field - Self-paced course FREE Report - 17 surprising ways to use stories to market your business - Free with Kindle Unlimited - Grow Your Business One Story At A Time

“Every year I say I’m going to plan better. And it never happens.”

“I make great plans. But I never seem to finish carrying them out.”

“I’m a small business. My brand is ME…which means my planning is all about ME and what I’ll do. All the planning advice seems geared to big business.”

How many times have you said that?

If these scenarios resonate, you’re hardly alone. 

Planning can seem like a useless exercise. We attend planning workshops, make notes on our calendars, match tasks to dates ...and then nothing happens.

But as your business grows, you’ve probably been advised to get serious about planning. And yes, there IS a better way.

In this episode, I share...

...3 reasons why most planning doesn’t work (especially for small businesses)

...3 reasons why storytelling is a surprisingly useful planning tool 

...3 types of stories you can use for realistic planning (with examples)

...Why and how each type of story works 

...How to create a reward that will motivate you through the hard slog

RESOURCES 

The 12-Week Year by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington

Strategic Intensive Consultation for planning your business

90 Days To Complete Your Next Big Thing

Video Course: How to research your client’s backstory (and understand their motivation) 

 

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