um welcome everybody to another YouTube
hang out super excited to be back here
with you guys I have a repeat guests
Mike Smith from Aweber and we’re going
to be talking about how to make your
story remarkable now I’ve been in a
weber client for I don’t know 10 plus
years I use it every week to send my
emails out a lot of you guys probably
found out about this episode from an
email that came from a weber and they
live entrepreneurs and we have this
monthly series to help give back and
teach you about some of the things you
need to know to help you run your
business and so today’s topic is how to
tell a remarkable story Mike welcome
back hey thanks thanks for having me you
were one of our most popular guests so
we said we got to have Mike back on to
talk more about storytelling and how it
can benefit entrepreneurs there’s a ton
of questions already coming in but
before we kind of get to those at a high
level what’s your view like what do you
need to make your store remarkable what
are some of the components that can help
the people who are watching yeah a
strong viewpoint is always is always a
great place to start you know any
stories going to need a hero and heroes
a great place to start so you know
figuring out who that is for you and how
are you going to tell your story whether
that’s you or your customer um it’s kind
of a high-level beginning starting point
of any story cool characters I think in
terms of entrepreneurs to that’s your
competitive advantage I think I think
people look at big companies and they
try to be like them but if you’re going
up against big companies who have you
know more of a track record than you do
more reputation than you do the thing
that separates you is your story why
you’re so excited and passionate about
this and if you don’t have it then
people just beat you down on price and I
think not enough entrepreneurs are
willing to share their story might be
afraid of what people may think of them
they may feel like you know their story
isn’t that great it’s not about me it’s
not about my ego it’s about you know the
product my service is that what I’m
putting into it what would you tell that
entrepreneur who might be afraid to tell
their story afraid of being judged
afraid of like it’s not a great story
yet you know I have
made millions of dollars yet you know
potentially what would you tell them
yeah I mean think it through it like
some favorite stories that I love or TV
shows even that are telling a long tale
story the thing that I love is that
character development so like while you
may not sink anything in your story is
remarkable or incredible letting people
get a glimpse of your development your
character development whether it be
where you came from and where you are
now or where you are now and where
you’re heading is all like very enticing
and like giving someone that inside view
into you know what you’re all about what
makes you tick what are the stories that
made you into who you are today whether
they be you know simple home stories or
you know major life events that
character development piece is really
intriguing as a human to like understand
where someone came from and where
they’re going to so yeah I mean everyone
has a unique position they have a unique
way they were raised they haven’t unique
experiences and I know for me anytime I
meet someone I always try to dig in into
like what makes them tick and what you
know what are those things along the way
that influence them to become the person
they are today so even if you think it’s
simple it’s still really engaging yeah
and the thing that helped me get over it
was understanding that when people
understood me better they would
understand what I was doing more so
wasn’t about me and my ego and just
trying to be a bright light by telling
my story people connected better to what
my message was and what change I was
trying to make so for those of you guys
watch am I telling your own personal
story that can help give your customers
a greater appreciation for what you’re
doing and help them take action so it’s
not about you it’s about them and making
them feel something and get closer long
the lines of helping them make a
purchasing decision but also helping
them make a positive change in their
lives yeah I’ve been really enamored
lately reading a lot thinking about a
lot about empathy and if you think about
so like if I didn’t know who you were
Evan and I didn’t know your story I
could
I don’t relate as well to you because I
don’t know anything about you but when I
put myself in your shoes and I start to
begin to understand your thoughts and
begin to empathize with you you know I
start to trust you and I start to think
oh wow this guy is really legit he’s got
a lot to offer and the more I find out
about you the more I trust you the more
I can relate to you and like the better
suited we are to move forward with you
know having people make decisions based
off of what we say cool well this
session is about you guys watch you want
to answer your questions help you tell
more remarkable stories you have both of
us for an hour so whatever questions you
have you can leave it up on the side and
we will do our best to answer first up
is j reyez who wrote an essay i enjoy
mike smith last time glad he’s back so
you got a fan club there thank you story
feels like an underrated uber powerful
business foundation but seems really
taught in the early stage of
entrepreneurship any insight on this oh
that’s loaded um yeah you know I think I
think part of it is because telling
stories hard and there’s a lot of
obstacles to to doing it like I know
even getting on this google hangout and
knowing that there’s gonna be live
viewers i have self-consciousness about
you know how are people gonna what are
people gonna think about me what if i
say something stupid what if i say
something wrong what if i say something
they don’t agree with and and kind of
getting over all that is really hard to
teach an entrepreneur when they’re
trying to launch a business or you know
figure out how to launch their website
and and make their logo and all of that
and i think the story aspect of things
kind of is this underlying thing that
just gets lost or or um you know breezed
over because uh it’s it’s a harder piece
then you know the tactical things like
what am I going to say and how much of
my story do I tell I don’t know do you
feel the same way or yeah you know I I
have a lot of opinions on what should be
taught in the education system and you
know there’s not enough lot that goes to
entrepreneurial teaching period lettle
own story telling is a component of it I
think I think the solution to it is is
do what we’re doing right like we’re
having this entire session here to learn
about how the total story about talking
about the importance of it to raise
awareness of it when we sat down and
figured out hey what’s our schedule
going to be like one of us what’s the
episodes are going to put out the first
one in the new series is about a remark
oh I think just a message that I would
have d’entre burners if you feel this
there’s an underserved niche if you feel
like there’s a message people need to
hear go and create it yeah like be the
provider that’s what entrepreneurs do
right like there’s not enough about this
out there like go make it right if you
have the expertise then go create it if
you don’t have the expertise go learn
about it and then share your learnings
there’s a lot of stuff I wrote
entrepreneurship that I wish I knew
before I became an entrepreneur that
nobody was teaching you know I went to
university I took a fourth-year level
course on entrepreneurship and I’m not
using a whole heck of a lot of that
information and actually running my
business to be perfectly honest and so
like that’s part of the genesis of my
channel two is being able to share
information knowledge that I’ve learned
that I wish somebody told me when I was
younger yeah cool um Rishi cup Evan and
Mike what’s part of your own story what
part of your own story has proven to be
the most important for your business has
sharing about a particular event
motivated your clients um I mean Evan I
were chatting about this before we got
on I think the part of my story that
motivates me and I hope motivates other
people is that you have to start
somewhere you have to do something if
you just sit with an idea and do nothing
then you’re just squandering time so
what has inspired me and kind of at a
weber we’re moving towards this campaign
I was giving them and some insight about
earlier but like today is your day to do
something whether you want to launch
your first youtube video
or create your first first facebook ad
or anything like that like today is your
day to do that and when you get that
mentality like I’m going to I’m going to
check this one thing off my list today
and it moves me one step closer to the
dream or where I want a head next you
start having this bias for action and
those small wins start building on top
of each other and then all of a sudden
you’re like oh way back then I didn’t
think I could do anything but now I feel
like I can do anything so um I mean
that’s the part of my story when when i
launched oh you know little projects
that I’m working on like just taking
that first step of like all right
tonight I’m just gonna get this thing
done because it’s in my way but I know
as soon as it’s behind me I’m gonna feel
so much better and inspired to do the
next thing so I think small steps small
wins is is part of my story that just
launches me forward and I’m looking
forward to that campaign yeah August
August first right august first game two
in disdain to it i want to tweet that up
um the most important part of my story i
would say i would probably go with two i
would start with one people understand
what I’ve gone through to get here so
like when I started my business I had no
mentors I had no money my parents didn’t
line me up you know I struggled I almost
quit my my business I turned away
high-paying jobs has started and I’ve
told this story over and over and over
again on my channel because people keep
asking about it but it shows just the
kind of connection of where I came from
to give context to what I’m saying and
that’s helped me for anybody was in that
same position it’s easy to talk down on
somebody and say you should be doing
this well like I lived that life i was
making three hundred dollars a month i
was eating beans for lunch every day
right like I know where you’re coming
from and I think that helps me at least
in my industry and what I’m trying to do
I think the second part of it is people
feel the passion for what I’m do i make
videos not because I want to be YouTube
star because I enjoy making videos like
it’s my passion we’re doing this hangout
because i love entrepreneurs and anger
but loves entrepreneurs and Mike loves
entrepreneurs and even though he’s
afraid to come on and how people may
judge him or whatever by the way doing a
good job like people love you but
like pushing through those fears because
you love the opportunity to be able to
give back and help others and so I feel
like people can see the passion in
everything that I’m doing and hopefully
people see the passion what you’re doing
to and you’re doing projects that you’re
passionate about few guys the audience
so think those who things people
understanding where I came from and
people understanding that i’m doing this
out of something that I love to do I
think those that’s helped propel my
business career forward um our two rows
writing in Evan and Mike how long would
be too long when making a video about my
story mmm yeah that’s that’s tricky and
and Evan you have more experience on
video length than I do particularly but
you know if you if you’re a good
storyteller I don’t know if there’s a
too long all right there’s a too long
but I we recently had a guy come into
the office that was instructing a lot of
us on public speaking and one of the
things and what are the pieces that I
took from his instruction was practice
use small groups to practice your your
presentation techniques so for instance
improv people do this all the time if
our comedians I should say not improv
comedians do this all the time they’re
thinking up a new joke and then they
practice it with a dinner party or they
practice it with a group of friends and
they see how it lands and based on how
it lands they tweak it and they you know
they keep adapting that joke and I think
it’s the same two to be said for your
story is if you can practice it in front
of a number of people and refine it over
time then when you go to shoot that
video you’ll have a much more compelling
and concise video that it could be three
minutes or it could be 30 minutes but
either way people are engaged because
you’ve kind of perfected the
presentation of that story I think about
my channel and one of the videos that I
was most nervous about when i launched
it it was as eight minute long video but
believed and one of my one of people my
net
work who was you know knew the video
market really well said no video should
be longer than six minutes ever period
uh and that could have been an easy
moment to say oh like this guy knows
what he’s talking about I should listen
to him you know he is way more
experience than I do and this is the
genesis of this shirt this is the no
little man shirt he and his friend
college had the little man as a joke and
so it became this like don’t listen to
the little man idea and I just loved the
video and I’m I thought y’all gotta put
it up and it was eight minutes long and
it did really well and it became my most
popular video and has over a million
views now and what if I listened to this
guy who was an expert because he said it
was too long and I should shorten it
down I think people will listen to
quality you know uh the most popular
video on my channel is is with this guy
Steve Jobs and it’s 40 minutes long like
if you can tell a great story for 40
minutes do it but if you can’t don’t
repeat yourself until the same thing
over and over and over again I think
that’s the dangers your story that is 10
minutes you could really get everything
out into and work to be a better
storyteller for longer periods Tony
Robbins have sessions that are entire
weekends long and he’s on stage for
almost the whole time like screaming at
people and tell you gonna go tell Tony
Tony listen you can only talk for an
hour this is how a proper seminar is
done right like he’s he’s great at what
he does and so there’s no time limit at
least in my view and how long a video
should be just making sure that every
sentence that’s in there matters and is
important yeah yep totally agree we’ve
run some tests to on on some products
that we’ve sold where we cut like a two
minute video and we cut a seven-minute
video I think we cut a 12-minute video
and you know there’s a lot of factors
involved with with video length so it’s
not just the length alone um that
matters but I’m glad that you didn’t
listen to that guy I am too cuz I almost
I thought about it and it’s a CSI your
story agrestic I’m eight minutes all
right eight minutes
tell my story and it’s and is effective
and I feel good about it right story was
six minutes right and it applies beyond
just video right you’re saying in the
newsletter out well how long should a
newsletter be sure to be one sentence
and a link or should it be ten sentences
it should it be ten paragraphs right
there’s no like one answer it’s how good
is each of those sentences that you’re
writing yeah absolutely uh safa is
running in I’m a new indie author how do
i make my book noticeable and remarkable
yeah well I i I’d be interested to hear
a little bit more about the book and
what kind of book it is but um no
there’s probably some reason you wrote
that book and within the book there is
probably some story whether it’s
nonfiction or fiction um and I think you
need to tell your story you need to find
an audience that you can tell your story
to so that they fall in love with you
and what you’re doing so that they fall
in love with your book kind of like Evan
and I were talking about earlier if I
don’t know Evan I trust him less I don’t
necessarily want to buy anything from
him or I don’t want to read his book or
watch his youtube channel but the more I
get to know him the more compelled I am
to say now this is this is legitimate
this guy has a good view point and the
more you know we’d like to think that
our decision-making process is a very
logical process and in reality it’s all
of these micro decisions that are are
mainly emotionally based that we don’t
even realize that kind of lend us
towards that so the more you can share
your story even in how you wrote the
book or any number of other things about
that book you’re um you’re better off to
get an audience that’s willing to listen
to you yeah I I echo Mike’s points I
would love to know why you why you wrote
this book and anytime you’re talking
about it you want to tie into the
passion I went into creating this book
so all you wrote to us here was I’m a
new indie author how do it my book you
know how do I get a notice make it
remarkable I would have loved to know
like what’s the reasoning behind it tell
me a little bit more about safin why
you became an author and what the
message behind this book is and
obviously you can’t go on right you know
pages of stuff it’s going to gonna fill
up the chat stream but how can you that
quick like how can you in one sentence
explain what you are about and what the
motivation behind this book was just to
give a little bit more context a little
bit more curiosity and if that ties into
the same beliefs as other people they’ll
want to stand up and take notice like
Mike was talking about his idea of small
actions right and this is a campaign
yuppers launched it in August as soon as
he told me about it like in our pre we
should have been recording the green and
I’m talking about as soon as he tel aviv
i love that that’s great it’s really
related to what I’m all about about
belief right taking a small action today
not waiting a year for that because of
some big huge project that you’re never
going to take action on break it down
into something you can start and doing
it today and so you know if Mike wanted
to get that out talking to me is great
because I’m aligned along the same lines
as he is and I have an audience people
to share it with so if we know what your
book is about and while you are talking
about it you’re sharing the relief
systems behind it then connect with
other people who share those same
beliefs they’re going to like it David
audience I’ll help you share it to right
now even the way you present yourself is
not coming off as something that I would
notice i mean we noticed your comment
enough to be able to you know put it
into the show but when you’re talking
about what you do you want to inject a
little bit more emotion values into it
um to spark curiosity yeah yeah I’m
totally aligned with that and yet um
something you hit said I just lost it oh
well it’ll come back yeah um cool drone
Boston can you please reflect on how to
make new employees feel like they’re
part of the story and thus can use it
when speaking with clients yeah that’s
interesting i actually have a
opportunity to do that here at a weber
and for
us our brand is a big part of our story
in the recent months and if you watch
the last hangout we talked a lot about
the brand funnel and the target and all
that kind of stuff but I have the
opportunity when when we hire new folks
that in their second week on their on
their last day of training I have 45
minutes to present to them are our
overarching brand and what does it look
like and so I think opportunities like
that where you give some under the hood
coaching to the team of new hires of
like hey this is our story this is where
we came from and this is who were trying
to be today and you tell it in an
inspirational way even to them they’ll
pick up on that and I mean now they’re
working for you with you you know how
much more inclined are they too want to
be able to tell that story well and so I
think what you have to do is inspire
them that the story is worth telling and
it’s worth telling well and I I lead out
that any new employee wouldn’t want to
be able to go home to all their friends
and be like this is the company I work
for can I tell you about it and now
they’re practicing the story on the
group of friends so that when they go
out to a conference or something like
that they can now tell the story
effectively to everyone I’m like super
excited about that because new hires are
it’s like it’s it’s a it’s a unique
opportunity to make a huge impression
and I think that it’s the best
opportunity to really get more advocates
for your brand and your company out
there I love it I think just like the
education system is broken I think the
hiring process for most companies is
broken as well where you want to hire
people who love the story and what
you’re all about not just hire someone
who has the skills and then try to train
them to love your story yeah right you
know so people like what culture being
super important that’s what it’s all
about so I’m hiring Mike not just
because he’s got you know some kickass
design skills but because he believes in
the mission of what we’re doing as well
so when I’m bringing people on board my
team we always talk about why do you
love entrepreneurs and I want to hear an
actual story and not just oh well you
know entrepreneur
just shape the world there see like some
you know which is true but you could
tell they don’t actually mean it like
there’s no passion behind there right so
I want that people have the skills plus
love the story and want to be a part of
it and want to help add to it with
through a little bit and so if I were
you I would back up and inject more of
that into the hiring process so you
don’t have to worry so much about
teaching it and training it once they’re
on board yeah that’s a good point um men
mains are Jamal is asking about small
wins how do we keep ourselves on the
path to our goal through small wins so I
guess related to your August topic
that’s coming up yeah III mean I have a
personal I don’t know if you’ve read the
book essentialism I haven’t have you
read that book no not yet yeah basically
it’s a book all about stripping down all
of our contracts in life to the most
simplest forms and one of those things
one of the things he talks about in the
book is priorities and that priorities
is not a word its priority there’s there
can only be one thing that is the most
important there is no list of priorities
there is the top most important thing
and then there may be other things on
the list that are less important than
the main thing so for me when it comes
to having those small wins you have to
figure out what’s what’s the biggest
impact you can make with the smallest
amount of effort and put that at the top
and when you check that off the the
adrenaline rush that you get just from
like I accomplished something is going
to spur you to create to accomplish the
next thing and the next thing and the
next thing and if you can continue to
doing that day after day or hour after
hour you’re in a better place to
accomplish huge things but when you try
to just accomplished the huge task you
know by itself it’s it’s de motivating
yeah and there’s no perfect timing and
there’s no perfect first step that
everybody’s looking for this magical
like what’s the first step that I need
to take will just take a step like any
step get some momentum any momentum and
I think what happens is we we as
entrepreneurs we tend to have these
to boldness we’re like I am gonna do
this you get all excited with this idea
and then and then you sleep on it or you
tell a friend or whatever you get up the
next day and go I can’t can’t do that
that’s crazy right that was too big and
i did forget that i’m going to just go
back to what is doing before and
continue on in your mediocre life that
you’re not happy with so like when you
have that moment of boldness take
immediate action and especially you can
commit to somebody else yeah send an
email to somebody trying to set up a
coffee meeting do something to move the
ball forward then if you have that
meeting you got it you got to go to the
meeting right not going to cancel on
Mike because you said you’re going to
meet him to talk about this big idea
that you had and so whenever you have a
goal you need to take immediate action
somehow towards it’s a team needs a tiny
step you know realizing that to reach a
goal it’s not just going from here to
here it’s rarely a big leap forward it’s
just like mike is talking about little
steps little steps little steps and you
hit your goal when you look back it’s
just accumulating all those little tiny
steps instead of a massive leap forward
yeah and and today is your day so don’t
put it off so tomorrow I know my mom
would always be like don’t procrastinate
and I’m like okay mom but like she was
right and today is your day to
accomplish just that small thing because
tomorrow you’re gonna feel better about
it that yesterday you did something
today is the day I’m excited I wish it
was August I once his campaign I’m
building a lot of hype you got me hyped
you got me am I through your story um
kamar is asking about our thoughts what
are your thoughts on storytelling in
podcasts um yeah I don’t know if it
differs too much I mean storytelling
video only adds one other aspect of
being able to see a face but store and
deli and podcasts is I think all the
same rules apply yeah I agree in it like
in any marketing you sending emails out
you want a story tell podcast you want a
story tell if you’re having like most
small successful podcasts are interviews
with somebody else and so I would like
to combine your story like why did you
launch a series what is it about is it
about successes about guitars that about
Saul says if
the Toronto Blue Jays is you know
whatever it is I love my blue jays I
like why you started this what this team
is all about but then also when you have
your guests come on try to get their
story what they’re all about and not
just kind of answering a question but
trying to dig a little bit deeper some
of the most the pockets that I enjoyed
the most is when the interviewer goes
deeper with that person instead of
asking the same questions that everybody
else has asked and they like they check
out too when they’re when they’re
answering the same question they’ve been
asked a hundred times by other
interviewers it’s a boring interview for
them and I’m going to do the same thing
to you where if you ask them something
different ask them what themselves go a
little bit deeper understand their
values what makes them tick you’ll see
them start to get a little more animated
and excited I noticed as we do these top
ten compilations for my channel and some
people are great I do it as interviews
like if there’s an Oprah interview or
George Stroumboulopoulos you know like
there’s some guys who are just really
really good at pulling and going deeper
and then others are just answer and
asking the same boring questions and in
the person interview checks out so I
would make sure to tell your story and
also bring out the story of the guests
you have coming on yeah I think that’s a
really good point and you even brought
up newsletter so like if you send out a
weekly email to two folks either too so
just tell them about what’s going on
your life or two to send them back to
your blog content or anything like that
we heard an interesting story yesterday
we were interviewing a customer and we
asked her what emails were most
effective when she sent them out so she
sends weekly emails out she calls it her
weekly love note and her her company is
she coaches women in the 40 to 50 year
age range to that weren’t active in the
past to get active and learn how to run
and we said you know what emails
resonate the best with your audience and
she said the ones were I tell a personal
story by far they convert the best
people respond people click through
people want to know more and they feel
more engaged with me so they stick
around longer so I mean stories is
everything
I love it um Jamal is running in Evan
and Mike how can we stay calm when we
present our story and it doesn’t make
sense uh that’s a loaded that’s kind of
loaded cuz cuz it’s really hard to know
how a story lands so if if your audience
is silent you may think that you didn’t
communicate very clearly but in effect
one person might have taken something
away or been inspired by it so um it’s
hard to answer that question directly
without you know some context around you
know who the audience is and and how
confusing the story really is but I
think if it makes sense to you it’s
probably going to make sense to someone
else even if that someone else is just
one person um and you have to be okay
with with small numbers you have to be
okay with just inspiring one other
person or helping one other person to
understand your story cool I would say
one just like anything else the first
time you start anything you’re gonna
suck at it you’re Paul going to be
nervous at it you know anything
snowboarding playing baseball getting on
Google Hangouts you know telling your
story whatever right so to get through
the nerves and staying calm is practice
one so the more you practice telling
your story wasn’t from with a big group
whether it’s in front of the mirror
where this everybody you know you meet
for coffee whatever um and anything your
sales pitch everything the more you
practice it the more home that gets the
more you see how it feels come out of
your mouth to see how the reaction is
you know there are some stores when I’m
selling something I have a mastermind
group that I have for Toronto
entrepreneur to meet once a month and
people who are interested in it they
asked the same questions I tell the same
stories like Ben is it’s this refine
machine that has been honed over ten
years where I know what to say and how
to say it and I know how it’s going to
get reacted for the most part and there
aren’t that many questions anymore that
come up that I haven’t already answered
before but you know the first time it
comes up you may stumble a bit on it and
so like just go out
practice and don’t don’t put so much
expectations on you to come out and be
able to tell a story like Martin Luther
King the first time you get up and on
stage right like it’s not going to
happen so understand that’s where you
are and practice to get better the
second thing I found really helps me
personally is I had a huge thing about
storytelling again I touch them before
but it been about me and my ego and I
you know I’m here to try to help the
audience and just going in with that
mindset of I am here to help this person
solve a problem right if you’re if
you’re an entrepreneur you’re helping
your customers solve a problem somehow
and your story has to help them get
closer to them solving that problem and
not just you building yourself up and so
going in that’s always my intent and I
find that that helps calm me down even
like going on stage I’m here to go help
you know this audience of whoever
talking to you guys I’m here not to puff
myself up or Mike the puff himself up
its to try to give you guys feedback and
advice and so I find at least going in
with that intention um not just counting
down what gives me confidence as well
but like today is a day gonna go inspire
some entrepreneurs um is solutions is
asking about the PDF and what’s in it
Valerie is her name so values i put the
PDF so for those who don’t know in the
link of the description is a PDF that
Mike and Tom from Aweber created about
how to make your story remarkable might
want to just quickly touch on that
what’s in there what people can get yeah
so um within the PDF it’s it’s only
three pages and it’s kind of a worksheet
so the first page well I should say it’s
four pages one is a cover so once you
get past the cover that should be the
easiest one once you get past a cover
there’s a nice introduction um my my
coworker Tom help me or actually wrote
it uh he’s a much better writer than I
am so which kind of lays out the
framework as to what the worksheet is
about and it’s all about the the
unlikely hero story so if you look at
any story that captures your attention
whether it’s Harry
or Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or any
of those types of things there’s
generally this arc of a story about you
know the unlikely hero the challenges
and trials he faced is how a mentor
helper comes in and then he is
victorious he or she is victorious so
the worksheet is kind of laid out in a
more simplified format to kind of walk
you through a series of questions so
that you can figure out like who is your
hero what are your challenges and trials
who is the mentor helper that’s going to
come in and what does victory look like
for you so um like I said the the
worksheet itself is really only two
pages and there’s maybe 10 or 15 blanks
to fill in but it will really help you
refine someone was asking earlier like
how do I know what story to tell this
worksheet would help you will help you
do then cool and for you guys watching I
mean that’s a totally free worksheet
yeah there’s no there’s not even like
they’d only mask your email just like
the straight link to a PDF just get it
so low friction it’s a downside I hear
you guys to go check it out the link is
below um Diana when can sharing your
store become too much meaning can you
share not enough but also share too much
of you sure um I know a lot of people
are concerned about some privacy you
know I have a I have a blog about my
family and and there are some concerns
time to time about privacy and and
things like that and I think you have to
do you have to tell what you feel
comfortable with and those that you have
you no direct influence in your life so
if my wife feels uncomfortable with me
sharing something about our life then I
have to consider all right that section
needs to be left out of the story and
also challenge you to consider as you’re
formulating what the story is that
you’re going to tell is there anything
that you can leave out that will still
convey the meaning and the inspiration
and the encouragement that you’re trying
to convey so that will help you tweak
your story and really get it to a point
in which people aren’t getting bored but
they’re not you know snoozing in the
background but they’re you know all of
the critical pieces to be able to tell
the overarching story are within there
but you’ve left out some of the details
that may not be helpful I grew up with a
kid who loved telling stories the key
would watch TV show we read a book and
then he would try to give me the
synopsis and I would like man I did not
need to know half of these details can
you just like cut them all out and it’s
something I’m conscious of as I’m
working through storytelling like what
can I leave out to still convey the same
message and get it done in a quick way
and my wife is good at helping me bet
that that I practice stories on her all
the time I like how you answered the
question with a story about just kicking
grew up with it’s good I liked it um I
think I think Diana the fact that you
are conscious of it and that you’re
worried about sharing too much indicates
that you won’t share too much you know
there are some people who are over
sharers and i’m sure you have friends
like that who would just like tell you
about their day and just go on and on
and on and on and like okay way too many
details I need to get on this is not
important uh I don’t think those
overshares don’t usually say I wonder if
I’m sharing too much like it’s just part
of their nature so the fact that you are
conscious of it likely means you’ll
never get that far you probably don’t
share enough about yourself and your
word that it won’t be impactful in
person that you’re talking to I agree
with Mike in you need to be conscious of
when involving other people you know my
youtube channel you see my wife you see
my son a lot my parents don’t want to be
on the channel much there in the
background they’re like this third
picture that’s me when I was like six
years old and my parents and they don’t
want they don’t like they love what I do
but they don’t want to be in the channel
and cool right like I can tell my story
about them and it’s you know all five of
these people are part of my makeup and
what believes and where it came from and
how I execute on it and I can honor them
in the right way without exposing too
much while still telling my story and so
basically for me to be figuring out what
are the key components that make up who
you are Diana like what got you to this
point and then how can you kind of
condense that into a short story that
helps me understand you and why you’re
doing this and why are you so excited
about it and where you want to go next
but I don’t think I I don’t think you
have to worry too much about oversharing
just a sense just a feeling um Nate hey
guys I’m wondering how you would get
people to care about your story
regardless of how good it is I do keep
in mind that people don’t care how much
you know until they know until they know
that you care you got that going to read
it again yeah just restate the beginning
of that yeah so hey guys I’m wondering
how you would get people to care about
your story regardless of how good it is
was the question sure there you can’t
expect everyone to care first how long
there are a lot of people that listen to
my story because they are somewhat
forced to and a lot of them um you know
could probably do without it it doesn’t
mean my story’s bad it just means that
what I have what I’m saying that person
isn’t resonating with at this time so
actually there’s a great quote so I’m a
huge seth godin fan Seth and I actually
had the opportunity to meet on Saturday
which was awesome but he posted a blog
post today and at the end of the blog
post that said if you want to change
people’s minds you need more than
evidence you need persistence and
empathy and so the first time you tell
someone your story they may not care the
second time they hear your story they
proudly still don’t care but the more
that you continue to tell this story and
the more that they get to know that no
you hopefully they begin to empathize
with you and start to care about your
story so it’s not a perfect science I
mean some people still will never care
and it’s probably because what you have
to offer they don’t have a need for and
um that’s okay not everyone’s going to
be your customer not everyone’s going to
be your cheerleader not everyone’s going
to be your advocate I’m sure there’s
people even within the chat that are
kind of like who is this mike
I and why is he had the opportunity to
talk but you know what it’s all up and
it’s all over the chat there’s rats on
meeting set oh yeah that’s a great guy
um really cool but so is Evan so and you
all have an opportunity to meet Evan so
yeah I say like yes it’s something that
you should be concerned about making
sure that you’re telling a story that is
good and that would people would care
about but also know that not everyone
will yeah it’s it’s a interesting
question I didn’t I’m not a hundred
percent how to process it you know we
both kind of read it a couple times um I
would address it like this one I don’t
focus much effort on getting people to
care about stuff like I don’t want to
convince people of anything and that
maybe not typical sales stuff and maybe
terrible business advice but I spend my
time like if you don’t agree with me I
don’t need to spend my time trying to
convince you that I’m right I would
rather go and find someone else who’s a
little bit further along the path so
there’s a lot like the guy who didn’t
think an eight-minute video would be
good me investing time to dealing with
the little man to prove to him that it
would be great and follow up like in so
much negativity in that that I don’t
know it’s just not worth my time so I
don’t I don’t if somebody doesn’t like
what I’m about I don’t really care and I
don’t want to try to force them to care
I want to focus on being me and fortunes
a number of people out there who like
that stuff so um so that’s the first
part and then kind of how do you get
people to notice or care regardless of
how good it is that’s tough because if
it’s not good people aren’t going to pay
attention right like if you don’t have a
good product they’re not going to buy it
right and good as subjective right
doesn’t mean to tell a good story you
have to be you know Stephen King or some
you know really great writer it just has
to be something passionate and something
that means something to you but but it
should be good like it’s important you
want it to be remarkable that has to be
good you got to practice
you got to write it out you gotta say it
out multiple times because if you want
people to be moved by it then it needs
to be good that’s my tape yeah hopefully
that helped between the between our
acquaintances there we got some got some
wisdom for Nate there um marriage
amazing is asking when telling your
story should you start with the negative
details and then move on to a positive
outcome yeah I saw that one pop up in
the chat and I was kind of like hmm
that’s a really good question and it
depends on it depends on what you do
with the negativity it it’s not bad to
have unfortunate circumstances in the
beginning of a story that lead to a nice
resolution however you need to be
careful in my opinion you need to be
careful on how you present the
negativity so that it’s not bringing
others down or yourself down because you
don’t want to paint a picture of
yourself that is that is overly
self-conscious and overly negative
towards yourself but you also don’t want
to sugarcoat the details so I think
they’re like for me when it comes to to
negativity and starting a story and in a
more somber way you just have to be
aware of what are those details that can
convey this story in an effective manner
so that the resolution becomes something
that is is triumphant or or
inspirational or helpful so like I don’t
I don’t say avoid negativity but I would
say you know just be careful and how you
present it and I think once again Evan
said something earlier if you’re aware
that that could be a potential issue
you’re probably in the camp of not
having to worry about it as much when I
see this I think about Mike’s worksheet
talk about the hero’s journey which is
one of the classic storytellers of you
know you start off you know you you’re
not really good at something you get the
call and you don’t believe in yourself
and you fail and
like some some mentor comes along and
shows you the path you know Yoda shows
you the way and then you get good and
then eventually you win and that’s one
structure of storytelling that works
very well Hollywood uses it every day
you can go to any movie theater right
now and see five of those stories so
that’s kind of tried and true and tested
to echo Mike’s point uh you know I think
it has to be authentic it’s got to be
who you are you’re not just making up
some pain it didn’t exist right your
story has to be real and it may not have
a positive outcome yet Yeah right like I
haven’t figured it out yet this is what
this is a journey that i’m on i’m trying
to figure it out that maybe that’s why
you have your podcasting you’re you’re
inviting these guests on because you
want to talk about fear because you’re
afraid of everything and it’s hurt you
and you can tell why fear is hurt you in
the past and it still hurts you today
and i don’t know how to get out of this
zone of fear so I started this podcast
interview people about how they get over
their fear right like you may not have
the answer yet and don’t feel like that
means you don’t have a story just
because you haven’t solved it and you
don’t have a positive outcome doesn’t
mean you have a story that isn’t
valuable and helpful people
understanding where you’re at yeah um
Joshua is writing about how to get
people to understand his story how do
you get people to understand your story
um yeah I mean a lot of what we talked
about earlier of practicing and and
refining and all of those kind of tips
helped bring clarity to other people on
your story um talent in doses you know
here’s a here’s part one here’s a part 2
here’s the part 3 that could be helpful
for people to kind of understand the
full journey you went through and let’s
say like you know back to Evans example
of his story being eight minutes long
maybe your story is let’s see what’s 8
times 3 24 maybe that’s 24 minutes long
and you break it up into three eight
minute segments so that people kind of
can
digest it at a more reasonable pace
rather than having to sit and watch you
know a 30 minute video to kind of get it
all so you know that’s that’s one
tective one tactic um you know also
being aware of who your audience is and
speaking the language that they would
understand and that’s not you know
dialect specific it’s just you know
certain people use certain terminology
to refer to certain things and and
making sure that your story is
resonating with your audience will help
them understand it as well it’s kind of
my take we get you getting some feedback
here I’m honored to have met Mike here
great advice from him so tearing it up
mike has turned it up um I got I got
asked this question on youtube earlier
today I was in the comments responding
somebody he was asking uh is it okay if
somebody outside my target market does
not understand my story and I think you
know you’re telling your story obviously
for your market for the people who you
are trying to influence and there may be
some terminology in there that somebody
outside may not understand you know if
if Mike is telling his door and he’s
talking about Photoshop and other tools
and you know things that a non designer
may not understand you know maybe that’s
part of it and that’s definitely
designed for a specific niche but what
has to be included in there is the
emotional journey which should be part
of any story which I should be able to
understand Mike story coming from a you
know if he’s doing graphic design oh
this is another you know Jill who’s an
archer or you know Jimbo the sumo
wrestler or whatever right like yes and
maybe thanks something specific to that
industry but on a whole that the story
should tell me your emotional journey
where if I go into a movie theater and I
watch five different movies that all
have the same hero’s journey you know
the ones that get so technical about
what that character is all about I’m not
going to connect with as much as a
people who you see overcoming obstacles
and then reaching triumphs and their
journey that they went on and the
beating on the craft and the hard work
whether he’s drumming and practicing her
in the weight room and like practicing
like crazy or whatever
is like you can relate to it somehow
right I understand your story when I can
relate to it somehow into something in
my life something that I’m trying to do
or have done or my friend is going
through if I can’t connect it somehow to
my life and I’m losing interest ASAP so
that’s a challenge yes it might be some
specific things to your inner street but
on the whole it should be something that
anybody can look at and find some way to
tie it to their life yeah and why are we
talking there I thought if it’s if it’s
really important that a certain under
individual understand your story and you
don’t feel like they’re getting it use
whatever other tools you have available
to you so if that’s visuals use visuals
if that’s a diagram use a diagram it’s
video use video if it’s words these
words like any of those tools that we
now have easily available at our
fingertips let’s use them all to make
sure that we can convey that the highest
level understanding yeah and I might
even reverse that to figure out what
you’re best at yeah like I am best at
visual I’m a visual learner I would like
if somebody I would have a hard time on
your side where I’m just reading you the
question cuz i might just hear it I
don’t process it as much as if I can see
it so this is why I feel to the good but
so like you need to default to the way
of communicating that you can be best at
two right unless it’s some really rare
situation where you know your customers
all want to only be written to and
nobody’s on video you know I think this
is a big enough market in any of the
spots right I could if I’m trying to
help entrepreneurs I could have done it
through block like you know if Mike
loves to write maybe his ways to do it
through a blog if I love to you know do
interviewed maybe I do it through a
podcast or maybe I do it through a
youtube channel or whatever it is like
figure out what you like best or what
you want to learn and chances are that’s
going to be the best evolution of your
storytelling and you know hopefully your
audience is there I think there’s enough
of an audience in each section that if
you tried to force me to do something
like I don’t want to do a pod I had a
radio show I didn’t like the radio show
as much but I wanted something more
visual you forced me to do a radio show
do a good job at it but it wouldn’t be
as good as I do on my youtube channel
and so having a self-awareness to know
what mediums to put your story into and
how to do it could be super helpful for
you to be a better and more effective
storyteller um sure ice is right in to
ask about how do you tell a story on
some of the non-traditional things like
a sales page or advice tutorial video
infographic pieces of content that at
first glance don’t seem to lend
themselves the storytelling so it’s a
good point like on somebody’s a bell
page you expect the story but on an
infographic talking about email
marketing you know how do we then inject
storytelling into that or should we yeah
I think it’s possible i think it’s
powerful if you can figure out how to do
it you know on a sales page is there
some sort of story that you can lead
with to get someone interested in you
know let’s just say we have a course
what to write in your emails so what do
you say how do you tell a story about
what to write in your emails well maybe
tell a story about someone that had a
hard time writing in their emails and
because of that they use this course and
can then do better so you know i think
that there’s opportunities to surround
the main content of like what we’re
trying to communicate with story to draw
someone in you know famous speakers do
that preachers do that all the time they
tell a story first to draw you in and
then they get into the meat of the
content which you know you know is the
kind of like the middle of the story and
then like the end they wrap it back up
and they probably tie it back to where
they started so you know I think there’s
this this formula where you can start
meet finish to wrap it back up so uh but
I mean like infographics it’s difficult
but if you if you can add context to the
infographic maybe you can tell a story
of why that infographic is important and
then that’s just the data visualization
of that portion of the story yeah i
agree i mean i agree i think in any in
any time you’re trying to move somebody
to action a story can help infographic
is another way to be able to do it
as the YouTube show or email newsletter
or whatever it is I think that two ways
to do it could be one through a persona
right in markings on creeks these
personas so okay we’re going to have you
know a weber we’re going to try to
target musicians you know musicians are
entrepreneurs to they need to have
newsletters they need to tell their
audience about what you know where
they’re going to be performing so they
could create a musician persona and on
that page everything speaks to me as a
musician and it could guide me along the
path of Johnny the musician and
everything that he has to go through and
how that I can apply to a newsletter um
the other side of it could be case
studies and instead of reading this
boring long huge case study how do you
represent that data more visually and so
a weber is putting out infographic on
the 10 things you need to know how to
create a great newsletter you know one
right a great headline right great like
so many info graphics suck because they
don’t have extra context yeah which is
where the storytelling comes in so if
you told me that okay write a great
headline awesome but then you know show
me a good one versus a bad one and how
that impacted reynolds drum shop because
you change it from this to this and i
had a 35-percent decreasing this open
rates like now you’re giving me more
contacts through that story about
Grendel’s drum shop we’re so I mean I
mean Mike you got to see this too so
many the infographics are so is so easy
to create them now yeah that most of
them suck yeah and so by added extra
context you can do a much better job
yeah I cringe now when people say the
word infographic just because I’ve seen
so many bad ones and I’ve created bad
ones myself real to make it super
valuable um yeah so infographics are a
hard a hard hard thing to crack um Rishi
is asking Evan and Mike what are a few
examples of other people’s stories that
impact it and motivated you to
I something um so uh I’m not I can’t
think of something immediately for
myself but going back to that customer
interview yet we did yesterday with Jill
the runner she told a personal story in
one of her emails and someone that was
on her her list had been reading for a
while and that story was the final kind
of the final piece that convinced her I
need to sign up for a year-long coaching
program with jill and so uh was it that
one story that did the trick i don’t
think so i think it was the the
relationship that Jill that Joe built
with her email list over time and then
one day she told the right story to the
right person and they made a connection
and that led to a sale so um yeah that
that’s the story that came to mind for
me um I had the luxury of an extra
minute you to think about it as my
cuisine uh one thing i bought recently
was i bought the headspace meditation
app now I’ve never been a great
meditator I want to say for like five
years has been on my radar of like to do
and I start and stop and start and stop
mostly because I never realized the
benefits personally like people say they
get extra clarity and focus and I would
come out of meditation and just not feel
that even when sitting with people
comment on guided ones so the
storytelling part comes in where I was
watching Louis house who runs a youtube
channel called school of greatness and a
podcast tube and he had the guy from
headspace on his show and lewis was
talking about how his sword base is the
same as mine how he can never get into
it he’d like try and stop try and stop
so instantly now I’m connected to him
because I feel like I’m going through
the same thing now i’m curious ok Lewis
like how did you get out of it or did
you did you fail and like gave up on it
or you tried and kept going and what he
said he tried was doing the headspace ab
every night and after that he would go
to sleep
which is the opposite of most people
it’s like I meditate in the morning that
gives me focused on energy and I’m then
ready to go lehren he’s interested I
guess decompress and go to sleep so the
hey that’s a different approach I’m
gonna try it out and so I download the
app and it’s free for 10 days and my
wife and I would would lie down for 10
days in a row and listen to the app and
fall asleep faster and then we bought
the app and so I’m paying 15 bucks a
month for the headspace happened at
night not every night but we try to be
consistent uh listening to some
meditation and I’ll just fall asleep and
so um by connecting to Lewis a story
what he was facing the same challenge
and I was facing my ears perk up because
I want to hear how he handled it and now
I’m willing to try and like you know
invest my time put my money on the table
to do this thing and a work and a lot of
times it doesn’t work either but the
fact that he was going through the same
thing that I was going through the
connectivity there that now we have
maybe some of you listening like oh I
try meditation didn’t work for me maybe
now you guys go and Mike’s raising his
hand there maybe you try follow the sink
to it with head space right like maybe
this is another way to do it um and so I
like spent real dollars on that not a
lot of dollars but real dollars because
I heard about it through Lewis’s stored
he’s a great job of telling his story
yeah it’s cool well we are at time it’s
crazy how quickly it goes uh Mike kind
of last thoughts on it and in a shout
out to you know the link that we have
talking about the the PDF with all the
stories down below yeah practice
practice practice small steps today’s
your day make sure you check out that
link below because you’ll get a pretty
pretty valuable worksheet a one approach
to how to how to tell story yeah and
thanks Evan for having me on love it
thank you guys so much for watching
thank you Mike for spending your time
people love you in the comments continue
to believe everyone one small step every
day and we’ll see you next one
hang out super excited to be back here
with you guys I have a repeat guests
Mike Smith from Aweber and we’re going
to be talking about how to make your
story remarkable now I’ve been in a
weber client for I don’t know 10 plus
years I use it every week to send my
emails out a lot of you guys probably
found out about this episode from an
email that came from a weber and they
live entrepreneurs and we have this
monthly series to help give back and
teach you about some of the things you
need to know to help you run your
business and so today’s topic is how to
tell a remarkable story Mike welcome
back hey thanks thanks for having me you
were one of our most popular guests so
we said we got to have Mike back on to
talk more about storytelling and how it
can benefit entrepreneurs there’s a ton
of questions already coming in but
before we kind of get to those at a high
level what’s your view like what do you
need to make your store remarkable what
are some of the components that can help
the people who are watching yeah a
strong viewpoint is always is always a
great place to start you know any
stories going to need a hero and heroes
a great place to start so you know
figuring out who that is for you and how
are you going to tell your story whether
that’s you or your customer um it’s kind
of a high-level beginning starting point
of any story cool characters I think in
terms of entrepreneurs to that’s your
competitive advantage I think I think
people look at big companies and they
try to be like them but if you’re going
up against big companies who have you
know more of a track record than you do
more reputation than you do the thing
that separates you is your story why
you’re so excited and passionate about
this and if you don’t have it then
people just beat you down on price and I
think not enough entrepreneurs are
willing to share their story might be
afraid of what people may think of them
they may feel like you know their story
isn’t that great it’s not about me it’s
not about my ego it’s about you know the
product my service is that what I’m
putting into it what would you tell that
entrepreneur who might be afraid to tell
their story afraid of being judged
afraid of like it’s not a great story
yet you know I have
made millions of dollars yet you know
potentially what would you tell them
yeah I mean think it through it like
some favorite stories that I love or TV
shows even that are telling a long tale
story the thing that I love is that
character development so like while you
may not sink anything in your story is
remarkable or incredible letting people
get a glimpse of your development your
character development whether it be
where you came from and where you are
now or where you are now and where
you’re heading is all like very enticing
and like giving someone that inside view
into you know what you’re all about what
makes you tick what are the stories that
made you into who you are today whether
they be you know simple home stories or
you know major life events that
character development piece is really
intriguing as a human to like understand
where someone came from and where
they’re going to so yeah I mean everyone
has a unique position they have a unique
way they were raised they haven’t unique
experiences and I know for me anytime I
meet someone I always try to dig in into
like what makes them tick and what you
know what are those things along the way
that influence them to become the person
they are today so even if you think it’s
simple it’s still really engaging yeah
and the thing that helped me get over it
was understanding that when people
understood me better they would
understand what I was doing more so
wasn’t about me and my ego and just
trying to be a bright light by telling
my story people connected better to what
my message was and what change I was
trying to make so for those of you guys
watch am I telling your own personal
story that can help give your customers
a greater appreciation for what you’re
doing and help them take action so it’s
not about you it’s about them and making
them feel something and get closer long
the lines of helping them make a
purchasing decision but also helping
them make a positive change in their
lives yeah I’ve been really enamored
lately reading a lot thinking about a
lot about empathy and if you think about
so like if I didn’t know who you were
Evan and I didn’t know your story I
could
I don’t relate as well to you because I
don’t know anything about you but when I
put myself in your shoes and I start to
begin to understand your thoughts and
begin to empathize with you you know I
start to trust you and I start to think
oh wow this guy is really legit he’s got
a lot to offer and the more I find out
about you the more I trust you the more
I can relate to you and like the better
suited we are to move forward with you
know having people make decisions based
off of what we say cool well this
session is about you guys watch you want
to answer your questions help you tell
more remarkable stories you have both of
us for an hour so whatever questions you
have you can leave it up on the side and
we will do our best to answer first up
is j reyez who wrote an essay i enjoy
mike smith last time glad he’s back so
you got a fan club there thank you story
feels like an underrated uber powerful
business foundation but seems really
taught in the early stage of
entrepreneurship any insight on this oh
that’s loaded um yeah you know I think I
think part of it is because telling
stories hard and there’s a lot of
obstacles to to doing it like I know
even getting on this google hangout and
knowing that there’s gonna be live
viewers i have self-consciousness about
you know how are people gonna what are
people gonna think about me what if i
say something stupid what if i say
something wrong what if i say something
they don’t agree with and and kind of
getting over all that is really hard to
teach an entrepreneur when they’re
trying to launch a business or you know
figure out how to launch their website
and and make their logo and all of that
and i think the story aspect of things
kind of is this underlying thing that
just gets lost or or um you know breezed
over because uh it’s it’s a harder piece
then you know the tactical things like
what am I going to say and how much of
my story do I tell I don’t know do you
feel the same way or yeah you know I I
have a lot of opinions on what should be
taught in the education system and you
know there’s not enough lot that goes to
entrepreneurial teaching period lettle
own story telling is a component of it I
think I think the solution to it is is
do what we’re doing right like we’re
having this entire session here to learn
about how the total story about talking
about the importance of it to raise
awareness of it when we sat down and
figured out hey what’s our schedule
going to be like one of us what’s the
episodes are going to put out the first
one in the new series is about a remark
oh I think just a message that I would
have d’entre burners if you feel this
there’s an underserved niche if you feel
like there’s a message people need to
hear go and create it yeah like be the
provider that’s what entrepreneurs do
right like there’s not enough about this
out there like go make it right if you
have the expertise then go create it if
you don’t have the expertise go learn
about it and then share your learnings
there’s a lot of stuff I wrote
entrepreneurship that I wish I knew
before I became an entrepreneur that
nobody was teaching you know I went to
university I took a fourth-year level
course on entrepreneurship and I’m not
using a whole heck of a lot of that
information and actually running my
business to be perfectly honest and so
like that’s part of the genesis of my
channel two is being able to share
information knowledge that I’ve learned
that I wish somebody told me when I was
younger yeah cool um Rishi cup Evan and
Mike what’s part of your own story what
part of your own story has proven to be
the most important for your business has
sharing about a particular event
motivated your clients um I mean Evan I
were chatting about this before we got
on I think the part of my story that
motivates me and I hope motivates other
people is that you have to start
somewhere you have to do something if
you just sit with an idea and do nothing
then you’re just squandering time so
what has inspired me and kind of at a
weber we’re moving towards this campaign
I was giving them and some insight about
earlier but like today is your day to do
something whether you want to launch
your first youtube video
or create your first first facebook ad
or anything like that like today is your
day to do that and when you get that
mentality like I’m going to I’m going to
check this one thing off my list today
and it moves me one step closer to the
dream or where I want a head next you
start having this bias for action and
those small wins start building on top
of each other and then all of a sudden
you’re like oh way back then I didn’t
think I could do anything but now I feel
like I can do anything so um I mean
that’s the part of my story when when i
launched oh you know little projects
that I’m working on like just taking
that first step of like all right
tonight I’m just gonna get this thing
done because it’s in my way but I know
as soon as it’s behind me I’m gonna feel
so much better and inspired to do the
next thing so I think small steps small
wins is is part of my story that just
launches me forward and I’m looking
forward to that campaign yeah August
August first right august first game two
in disdain to it i want to tweet that up
um the most important part of my story i
would say i would probably go with two i
would start with one people understand
what I’ve gone through to get here so
like when I started my business I had no
mentors I had no money my parents didn’t
line me up you know I struggled I almost
quit my my business I turned away
high-paying jobs has started and I’ve
told this story over and over and over
again on my channel because people keep
asking about it but it shows just the
kind of connection of where I came from
to give context to what I’m saying and
that’s helped me for anybody was in that
same position it’s easy to talk down on
somebody and say you should be doing
this well like I lived that life i was
making three hundred dollars a month i
was eating beans for lunch every day
right like I know where you’re coming
from and I think that helps me at least
in my industry and what I’m trying to do
I think the second part of it is people
feel the passion for what I’m do i make
videos not because I want to be YouTube
star because I enjoy making videos like
it’s my passion we’re doing this hangout
because i love entrepreneurs and anger
but loves entrepreneurs and Mike loves
entrepreneurs and even though he’s
afraid to come on and how people may
judge him or whatever by the way doing a
good job like people love you but
like pushing through those fears because
you love the opportunity to be able to
give back and help others and so I feel
like people can see the passion in
everything that I’m doing and hopefully
people see the passion what you’re doing
to and you’re doing projects that you’re
passionate about few guys the audience
so think those who things people
understanding where I came from and
people understanding that i’m doing this
out of something that I love to do I
think those that’s helped propel my
business career forward um our two rows
writing in Evan and Mike how long would
be too long when making a video about my
story mmm yeah that’s that’s tricky and
and Evan you have more experience on
video length than I do particularly but
you know if you if you’re a good
storyteller I don’t know if there’s a
too long all right there’s a too long
but I we recently had a guy come into
the office that was instructing a lot of
us on public speaking and one of the
things and what are the pieces that I
took from his instruction was practice
use small groups to practice your your
presentation techniques so for instance
improv people do this all the time if
our comedians I should say not improv
comedians do this all the time they’re
thinking up a new joke and then they
practice it with a dinner party or they
practice it with a group of friends and
they see how it lands and based on how
it lands they tweak it and they you know
they keep adapting that joke and I think
it’s the same two to be said for your
story is if you can practice it in front
of a number of people and refine it over
time then when you go to shoot that
video you’ll have a much more compelling
and concise video that it could be three
minutes or it could be 30 minutes but
either way people are engaged because
you’ve kind of perfected the
presentation of that story I think about
my channel and one of the videos that I
was most nervous about when i launched
it it was as eight minute long video but
believed and one of my one of people my
net
work who was you know knew the video
market really well said no video should
be longer than six minutes ever period
uh and that could have been an easy
moment to say oh like this guy knows
what he’s talking about I should listen
to him you know he is way more
experience than I do and this is the
genesis of this shirt this is the no
little man shirt he and his friend
college had the little man as a joke and
so it became this like don’t listen to
the little man idea and I just loved the
video and I’m I thought y’all gotta put
it up and it was eight minutes long and
it did really well and it became my most
popular video and has over a million
views now and what if I listened to this
guy who was an expert because he said it
was too long and I should shorten it
down I think people will listen to
quality you know uh the most popular
video on my channel is is with this guy
Steve Jobs and it’s 40 minutes long like
if you can tell a great story for 40
minutes do it but if you can’t don’t
repeat yourself until the same thing
over and over and over again I think
that’s the dangers your story that is 10
minutes you could really get everything
out into and work to be a better
storyteller for longer periods Tony
Robbins have sessions that are entire
weekends long and he’s on stage for
almost the whole time like screaming at
people and tell you gonna go tell Tony
Tony listen you can only talk for an
hour this is how a proper seminar is
done right like he’s he’s great at what
he does and so there’s no time limit at
least in my view and how long a video
should be just making sure that every
sentence that’s in there matters and is
important yeah yep totally agree we’ve
run some tests to on on some products
that we’ve sold where we cut like a two
minute video and we cut a seven-minute
video I think we cut a 12-minute video
and you know there’s a lot of factors
involved with with video length so it’s
not just the length alone um that
matters but I’m glad that you didn’t
listen to that guy I am too cuz I almost
I thought about it and it’s a CSI your
story agrestic I’m eight minutes all
right eight minutes
tell my story and it’s and is effective
and I feel good about it right story was
six minutes right and it applies beyond
just video right you’re saying in the
newsletter out well how long should a
newsletter be sure to be one sentence
and a link or should it be ten sentences
it should it be ten paragraphs right
there’s no like one answer it’s how good
is each of those sentences that you’re
writing yeah absolutely uh safa is
running in I’m a new indie author how do
i make my book noticeable and remarkable
yeah well I i I’d be interested to hear
a little bit more about the book and
what kind of book it is but um no
there’s probably some reason you wrote
that book and within the book there is
probably some story whether it’s
nonfiction or fiction um and I think you
need to tell your story you need to find
an audience that you can tell your story
to so that they fall in love with you
and what you’re doing so that they fall
in love with your book kind of like Evan
and I were talking about earlier if I
don’t know Evan I trust him less I don’t
necessarily want to buy anything from
him or I don’t want to read his book or
watch his youtube channel but the more I
get to know him the more compelled I am
to say now this is this is legitimate
this guy has a good view point and the
more you know we’d like to think that
our decision-making process is a very
logical process and in reality it’s all
of these micro decisions that are are
mainly emotionally based that we don’t
even realize that kind of lend us
towards that so the more you can share
your story even in how you wrote the
book or any number of other things about
that book you’re um you’re better off to
get an audience that’s willing to listen
to you yeah I I echo Mike’s points I
would love to know why you why you wrote
this book and anytime you’re talking
about it you want to tie into the
passion I went into creating this book
so all you wrote to us here was I’m a
new indie author how do it my book you
know how do I get a notice make it
remarkable I would have loved to know
like what’s the reasoning behind it tell
me a little bit more about safin why
you became an author and what the
message behind this book is and
obviously you can’t go on right you know
pages of stuff it’s going to gonna fill
up the chat stream but how can you that
quick like how can you in one sentence
explain what you are about and what the
motivation behind this book was just to
give a little bit more context a little
bit more curiosity and if that ties into
the same beliefs as other people they’ll
want to stand up and take notice like
Mike was talking about his idea of small
actions right and this is a campaign
yuppers launched it in August as soon as
he told me about it like in our pre we
should have been recording the green and
I’m talking about as soon as he tel aviv
i love that that’s great it’s really
related to what I’m all about about
belief right taking a small action today
not waiting a year for that because of
some big huge project that you’re never
going to take action on break it down
into something you can start and doing
it today and so you know if Mike wanted
to get that out talking to me is great
because I’m aligned along the same lines
as he is and I have an audience people
to share it with so if we know what your
book is about and while you are talking
about it you’re sharing the relief
systems behind it then connect with
other people who share those same
beliefs they’re going to like it David
audience I’ll help you share it to right
now even the way you present yourself is
not coming off as something that I would
notice i mean we noticed your comment
enough to be able to you know put it
into the show but when you’re talking
about what you do you want to inject a
little bit more emotion values into it
um to spark curiosity yeah yeah I’m
totally aligned with that and yet um
something you hit said I just lost it oh
well it’ll come back yeah um cool drone
Boston can you please reflect on how to
make new employees feel like they’re
part of the story and thus can use it
when speaking with clients yeah that’s
interesting i actually have a
opportunity to do that here at a weber
and for
us our brand is a big part of our story
in the recent months and if you watch
the last hangout we talked a lot about
the brand funnel and the target and all
that kind of stuff but I have the
opportunity when when we hire new folks
that in their second week on their on
their last day of training I have 45
minutes to present to them are our
overarching brand and what does it look
like and so I think opportunities like
that where you give some under the hood
coaching to the team of new hires of
like hey this is our story this is where
we came from and this is who were trying
to be today and you tell it in an
inspirational way even to them they’ll
pick up on that and I mean now they’re
working for you with you you know how
much more inclined are they too want to
be able to tell that story well and so I
think what you have to do is inspire
them that the story is worth telling and
it’s worth telling well and I I lead out
that any new employee wouldn’t want to
be able to go home to all their friends
and be like this is the company I work
for can I tell you about it and now
they’re practicing the story on the
group of friends so that when they go
out to a conference or something like
that they can now tell the story
effectively to everyone I’m like super
excited about that because new hires are
it’s like it’s it’s a it’s a unique
opportunity to make a huge impression
and I think that it’s the best
opportunity to really get more advocates
for your brand and your company out
there I love it I think just like the
education system is broken I think the
hiring process for most companies is
broken as well where you want to hire
people who love the story and what
you’re all about not just hire someone
who has the skills and then try to train
them to love your story yeah right you
know so people like what culture being
super important that’s what it’s all
about so I’m hiring Mike not just
because he’s got you know some kickass
design skills but because he believes in
the mission of what we’re doing as well
so when I’m bringing people on board my
team we always talk about why do you
love entrepreneurs and I want to hear an
actual story and not just oh well you
know entrepreneur
just shape the world there see like some
you know which is true but you could
tell they don’t actually mean it like
there’s no passion behind there right so
I want that people have the skills plus
love the story and want to be a part of
it and want to help add to it with
through a little bit and so if I were
you I would back up and inject more of
that into the hiring process so you
don’t have to worry so much about
teaching it and training it once they’re
on board yeah that’s a good point um men
mains are Jamal is asking about small
wins how do we keep ourselves on the
path to our goal through small wins so I
guess related to your August topic
that’s coming up yeah III mean I have a
personal I don’t know if you’ve read the
book essentialism I haven’t have you
read that book no not yet yeah basically
it’s a book all about stripping down all
of our contracts in life to the most
simplest forms and one of those things
one of the things he talks about in the
book is priorities and that priorities
is not a word its priority there’s there
can only be one thing that is the most
important there is no list of priorities
there is the top most important thing
and then there may be other things on
the list that are less important than
the main thing so for me when it comes
to having those small wins you have to
figure out what’s what’s the biggest
impact you can make with the smallest
amount of effort and put that at the top
and when you check that off the the
adrenaline rush that you get just from
like I accomplished something is going
to spur you to create to accomplish the
next thing and the next thing and the
next thing and if you can continue to
doing that day after day or hour after
hour you’re in a better place to
accomplish huge things but when you try
to just accomplished the huge task you
know by itself it’s it’s de motivating
yeah and there’s no perfect timing and
there’s no perfect first step that
everybody’s looking for this magical
like what’s the first step that I need
to take will just take a step like any
step get some momentum any momentum and
I think what happens is we we as
entrepreneurs we tend to have these
to boldness we’re like I am gonna do
this you get all excited with this idea
and then and then you sleep on it or you
tell a friend or whatever you get up the
next day and go I can’t can’t do that
that’s crazy right that was too big and
i did forget that i’m going to just go
back to what is doing before and
continue on in your mediocre life that
you’re not happy with so like when you
have that moment of boldness take
immediate action and especially you can
commit to somebody else yeah send an
email to somebody trying to set up a
coffee meeting do something to move the
ball forward then if you have that
meeting you got it you got to go to the
meeting right not going to cancel on
Mike because you said you’re going to
meet him to talk about this big idea
that you had and so whenever you have a
goal you need to take immediate action
somehow towards it’s a team needs a tiny
step you know realizing that to reach a
goal it’s not just going from here to
here it’s rarely a big leap forward it’s
just like mike is talking about little
steps little steps little steps and you
hit your goal when you look back it’s
just accumulating all those little tiny
steps instead of a massive leap forward
yeah and and today is your day so don’t
put it off so tomorrow I know my mom
would always be like don’t procrastinate
and I’m like okay mom but like she was
right and today is your day to
accomplish just that small thing because
tomorrow you’re gonna feel better about
it that yesterday you did something
today is the day I’m excited I wish it
was August I once his campaign I’m
building a lot of hype you got me hyped
you got me am I through your story um
kamar is asking about our thoughts what
are your thoughts on storytelling in
podcasts um yeah I don’t know if it
differs too much I mean storytelling
video only adds one other aspect of
being able to see a face but store and
deli and podcasts is I think all the
same rules apply yeah I agree in it like
in any marketing you sending emails out
you want a story tell podcast you want a
story tell if you’re having like most
small successful podcasts are interviews
with somebody else and so I would like
to combine your story like why did you
launch a series what is it about is it
about successes about guitars that about
Saul says if
the Toronto Blue Jays is you know
whatever it is I love my blue jays I
like why you started this what this team
is all about but then also when you have
your guests come on try to get their
story what they’re all about and not
just kind of answering a question but
trying to dig a little bit deeper some
of the most the pockets that I enjoyed
the most is when the interviewer goes
deeper with that person instead of
asking the same questions that everybody
else has asked and they like they check
out too when they’re when they’re
answering the same question they’ve been
asked a hundred times by other
interviewers it’s a boring interview for
them and I’m going to do the same thing
to you where if you ask them something
different ask them what themselves go a
little bit deeper understand their
values what makes them tick you’ll see
them start to get a little more animated
and excited I noticed as we do these top
ten compilations for my channel and some
people are great I do it as interviews
like if there’s an Oprah interview or
George Stroumboulopoulos you know like
there’s some guys who are just really
really good at pulling and going deeper
and then others are just answer and
asking the same boring questions and in
the person interview checks out so I
would make sure to tell your story and
also bring out the story of the guests
you have coming on yeah I think that’s a
really good point and you even brought
up newsletter so like if you send out a
weekly email to two folks either too so
just tell them about what’s going on
your life or two to send them back to
your blog content or anything like that
we heard an interesting story yesterday
we were interviewing a customer and we
asked her what emails were most
effective when she sent them out so she
sends weekly emails out she calls it her
weekly love note and her her company is
she coaches women in the 40 to 50 year
age range to that weren’t active in the
past to get active and learn how to run
and we said you know what emails
resonate the best with your audience and
she said the ones were I tell a personal
story by far they convert the best
people respond people click through
people want to know more and they feel
more engaged with me so they stick
around longer so I mean stories is
everything
I love it um Jamal is running in Evan
and Mike how can we stay calm when we
present our story and it doesn’t make
sense uh that’s a loaded that’s kind of
loaded cuz cuz it’s really hard to know
how a story lands so if if your audience
is silent you may think that you didn’t
communicate very clearly but in effect
one person might have taken something
away or been inspired by it so um it’s
hard to answer that question directly
without you know some context around you
know who the audience is and and how
confusing the story really is but I
think if it makes sense to you it’s
probably going to make sense to someone
else even if that someone else is just
one person um and you have to be okay
with with small numbers you have to be
okay with just inspiring one other
person or helping one other person to
understand your story cool I would say
one just like anything else the first
time you start anything you’re gonna
suck at it you’re Paul going to be
nervous at it you know anything
snowboarding playing baseball getting on
Google Hangouts you know telling your
story whatever right so to get through
the nerves and staying calm is practice
one so the more you practice telling
your story wasn’t from with a big group
whether it’s in front of the mirror
where this everybody you know you meet
for coffee whatever um and anything your
sales pitch everything the more you
practice it the more home that gets the
more you see how it feels come out of
your mouth to see how the reaction is
you know there are some stores when I’m
selling something I have a mastermind
group that I have for Toronto
entrepreneur to meet once a month and
people who are interested in it they
asked the same questions I tell the same
stories like Ben is it’s this refine
machine that has been honed over ten
years where I know what to say and how
to say it and I know how it’s going to
get reacted for the most part and there
aren’t that many questions anymore that
come up that I haven’t already answered
before but you know the first time it
comes up you may stumble a bit on it and
so like just go out
practice and don’t don’t put so much
expectations on you to come out and be
able to tell a story like Martin Luther
King the first time you get up and on
stage right like it’s not going to
happen so understand that’s where you
are and practice to get better the
second thing I found really helps me
personally is I had a huge thing about
storytelling again I touch them before
but it been about me and my ego and I
you know I’m here to try to help the
audience and just going in with that
mindset of I am here to help this person
solve a problem right if you’re if
you’re an entrepreneur you’re helping
your customers solve a problem somehow
and your story has to help them get
closer to them solving that problem and
not just you building yourself up and so
going in that’s always my intent and I
find that that helps calm me down even
like going on stage I’m here to go help
you know this audience of whoever
talking to you guys I’m here not to puff
myself up or Mike the puff himself up
its to try to give you guys feedback and
advice and so I find at least going in
with that intention um not just counting
down what gives me confidence as well
but like today is a day gonna go inspire
some entrepreneurs um is solutions is
asking about the PDF and what’s in it
Valerie is her name so values i put the
PDF so for those who don’t know in the
link of the description is a PDF that
Mike and Tom from Aweber created about
how to make your story remarkable might
want to just quickly touch on that
what’s in there what people can get yeah
so um within the PDF it’s it’s only
three pages and it’s kind of a worksheet
so the first page well I should say it’s
four pages one is a cover so once you
get past the cover that should be the
easiest one once you get past a cover
there’s a nice introduction um my my
coworker Tom help me or actually wrote
it uh he’s a much better writer than I
am so which kind of lays out the
framework as to what the worksheet is
about and it’s all about the the
unlikely hero story so if you look at
any story that captures your attention
whether it’s Harry
or Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or any
of those types of things there’s
generally this arc of a story about you
know the unlikely hero the challenges
and trials he faced is how a mentor
helper comes in and then he is
victorious he or she is victorious so
the worksheet is kind of laid out in a
more simplified format to kind of walk
you through a series of questions so
that you can figure out like who is your
hero what are your challenges and trials
who is the mentor helper that’s going to
come in and what does victory look like
for you so um like I said the the
worksheet itself is really only two
pages and there’s maybe 10 or 15 blanks
to fill in but it will really help you
refine someone was asking earlier like
how do I know what story to tell this
worksheet would help you will help you
do then cool and for you guys watching I
mean that’s a totally free worksheet
yeah there’s no there’s not even like
they’d only mask your email just like
the straight link to a PDF just get it
so low friction it’s a downside I hear
you guys to go check it out the link is
below um Diana when can sharing your
store become too much meaning can you
share not enough but also share too much
of you sure um I know a lot of people
are concerned about some privacy you
know I have a I have a blog about my
family and and there are some concerns
time to time about privacy and and
things like that and I think you have to
do you have to tell what you feel
comfortable with and those that you have
you no direct influence in your life so
if my wife feels uncomfortable with me
sharing something about our life then I
have to consider all right that section
needs to be left out of the story and
also challenge you to consider as you’re
formulating what the story is that
you’re going to tell is there anything
that you can leave out that will still
convey the meaning and the inspiration
and the encouragement that you’re trying
to convey so that will help you tweak
your story and really get it to a point
in which people aren’t getting bored but
they’re not you know snoozing in the
background but they’re you know all of
the critical pieces to be able to tell
the overarching story are within there
but you’ve left out some of the details
that may not be helpful I grew up with a
kid who loved telling stories the key
would watch TV show we read a book and
then he would try to give me the
synopsis and I would like man I did not
need to know half of these details can
you just like cut them all out and it’s
something I’m conscious of as I’m
working through storytelling like what
can I leave out to still convey the same
message and get it done in a quick way
and my wife is good at helping me bet
that that I practice stories on her all
the time I like how you answered the
question with a story about just kicking
grew up with it’s good I liked it um I
think I think Diana the fact that you
are conscious of it and that you’re
worried about sharing too much indicates
that you won’t share too much you know
there are some people who are over
sharers and i’m sure you have friends
like that who would just like tell you
about their day and just go on and on
and on and on and like okay way too many
details I need to get on this is not
important uh I don’t think those
overshares don’t usually say I wonder if
I’m sharing too much like it’s just part
of their nature so the fact that you are
conscious of it likely means you’ll
never get that far you probably don’t
share enough about yourself and your
word that it won’t be impactful in
person that you’re talking to I agree
with Mike in you need to be conscious of
when involving other people you know my
youtube channel you see my wife you see
my son a lot my parents don’t want to be
on the channel much there in the
background they’re like this third
picture that’s me when I was like six
years old and my parents and they don’t
want they don’t like they love what I do
but they don’t want to be in the channel
and cool right like I can tell my story
about them and it’s you know all five of
these people are part of my makeup and
what believes and where it came from and
how I execute on it and I can honor them
in the right way without exposing too
much while still telling my story and so
basically for me to be figuring out what
are the key components that make up who
you are Diana like what got you to this
point and then how can you kind of
condense that into a short story that
helps me understand you and why you’re
doing this and why are you so excited
about it and where you want to go next
but I don’t think I I don’t think you
have to worry too much about oversharing
just a sense just a feeling um Nate hey
guys I’m wondering how you would get
people to care about your story
regardless of how good it is I do keep
in mind that people don’t care how much
you know until they know until they know
that you care you got that going to read
it again yeah just restate the beginning
of that yeah so hey guys I’m wondering
how you would get people to care about
your story regardless of how good it is
was the question sure there you can’t
expect everyone to care first how long
there are a lot of people that listen to
my story because they are somewhat
forced to and a lot of them um you know
could probably do without it it doesn’t
mean my story’s bad it just means that
what I have what I’m saying that person
isn’t resonating with at this time so
actually there’s a great quote so I’m a
huge seth godin fan Seth and I actually
had the opportunity to meet on Saturday
which was awesome but he posted a blog
post today and at the end of the blog
post that said if you want to change
people’s minds you need more than
evidence you need persistence and
empathy and so the first time you tell
someone your story they may not care the
second time they hear your story they
proudly still don’t care but the more
that you continue to tell this story and
the more that they get to know that no
you hopefully they begin to empathize
with you and start to care about your
story so it’s not a perfect science I
mean some people still will never care
and it’s probably because what you have
to offer they don’t have a need for and
um that’s okay not everyone’s going to
be your customer not everyone’s going to
be your cheerleader not everyone’s going
to be your advocate I’m sure there’s
people even within the chat that are
kind of like who is this mike
I and why is he had the opportunity to
talk but you know what it’s all up and
it’s all over the chat there’s rats on
meeting set oh yeah that’s a great guy
um really cool but so is Evan so and you
all have an opportunity to meet Evan so
yeah I say like yes it’s something that
you should be concerned about making
sure that you’re telling a story that is
good and that would people would care
about but also know that not everyone
will yeah it’s it’s a interesting
question I didn’t I’m not a hundred
percent how to process it you know we
both kind of read it a couple times um I
would address it like this one I don’t
focus much effort on getting people to
care about stuff like I don’t want to
convince people of anything and that
maybe not typical sales stuff and maybe
terrible business advice but I spend my
time like if you don’t agree with me I
don’t need to spend my time trying to
convince you that I’m right I would
rather go and find someone else who’s a
little bit further along the path so
there’s a lot like the guy who didn’t
think an eight-minute video would be
good me investing time to dealing with
the little man to prove to him that it
would be great and follow up like in so
much negativity in that that I don’t
know it’s just not worth my time so I
don’t I don’t if somebody doesn’t like
what I’m about I don’t really care and I
don’t want to try to force them to care
I want to focus on being me and fortunes
a number of people out there who like
that stuff so um so that’s the first
part and then kind of how do you get
people to notice or care regardless of
how good it is that’s tough because if
it’s not good people aren’t going to pay
attention right like if you don’t have a
good product they’re not going to buy it
right and good as subjective right
doesn’t mean to tell a good story you
have to be you know Stephen King or some
you know really great writer it just has
to be something passionate and something
that means something to you but but it
should be good like it’s important you
want it to be remarkable that has to be
good you got to practice
you got to write it out you gotta say it
out multiple times because if you want
people to be moved by it then it needs
to be good that’s my tape yeah hopefully
that helped between the between our
acquaintances there we got some got some
wisdom for Nate there um marriage
amazing is asking when telling your
story should you start with the negative
details and then move on to a positive
outcome yeah I saw that one pop up in
the chat and I was kind of like hmm
that’s a really good question and it
depends on it depends on what you do
with the negativity it it’s not bad to
have unfortunate circumstances in the
beginning of a story that lead to a nice
resolution however you need to be
careful in my opinion you need to be
careful on how you present the
negativity so that it’s not bringing
others down or yourself down because you
don’t want to paint a picture of
yourself that is that is overly
self-conscious and overly negative
towards yourself but you also don’t want
to sugarcoat the details so I think
they’re like for me when it comes to to
negativity and starting a story and in a
more somber way you just have to be
aware of what are those details that can
convey this story in an effective manner
so that the resolution becomes something
that is is triumphant or or
inspirational or helpful so like I don’t
I don’t say avoid negativity but I would
say you know just be careful and how you
present it and I think once again Evan
said something earlier if you’re aware
that that could be a potential issue
you’re probably in the camp of not
having to worry about it as much when I
see this I think about Mike’s worksheet
talk about the hero’s journey which is
one of the classic storytellers of you
know you start off you know you you’re
not really good at something you get the
call and you don’t believe in yourself
and you fail and
like some some mentor comes along and
shows you the path you know Yoda shows
you the way and then you get good and
then eventually you win and that’s one
structure of storytelling that works
very well Hollywood uses it every day
you can go to any movie theater right
now and see five of those stories so
that’s kind of tried and true and tested
to echo Mike’s point uh you know I think
it has to be authentic it’s got to be
who you are you’re not just making up
some pain it didn’t exist right your
story has to be real and it may not have
a positive outcome yet Yeah right like I
haven’t figured it out yet this is what
this is a journey that i’m on i’m trying
to figure it out that maybe that’s why
you have your podcasting you’re you’re
inviting these guests on because you
want to talk about fear because you’re
afraid of everything and it’s hurt you
and you can tell why fear is hurt you in
the past and it still hurts you today
and i don’t know how to get out of this
zone of fear so I started this podcast
interview people about how they get over
their fear right like you may not have
the answer yet and don’t feel like that
means you don’t have a story just
because you haven’t solved it and you
don’t have a positive outcome doesn’t
mean you have a story that isn’t
valuable and helpful people
understanding where you’re at yeah um
Joshua is writing about how to get
people to understand his story how do
you get people to understand your story
um yeah I mean a lot of what we talked
about earlier of practicing and and
refining and all of those kind of tips
helped bring clarity to other people on
your story um talent in doses you know
here’s a here’s part one here’s a part 2
here’s the part 3 that could be helpful
for people to kind of understand the
full journey you went through and let’s
say like you know back to Evans example
of his story being eight minutes long
maybe your story is let’s see what’s 8
times 3 24 maybe that’s 24 minutes long
and you break it up into three eight
minute segments so that people kind of
can
digest it at a more reasonable pace
rather than having to sit and watch you
know a 30 minute video to kind of get it
all so you know that’s that’s one
tective one tactic um you know also
being aware of who your audience is and
speaking the language that they would
understand and that’s not you know
dialect specific it’s just you know
certain people use certain terminology
to refer to certain things and and
making sure that your story is
resonating with your audience will help
them understand it as well it’s kind of
my take we get you getting some feedback
here I’m honored to have met Mike here
great advice from him so tearing it up
mike has turned it up um I got I got
asked this question on youtube earlier
today I was in the comments responding
somebody he was asking uh is it okay if
somebody outside my target market does
not understand my story and I think you
know you’re telling your story obviously
for your market for the people who you
are trying to influence and there may be
some terminology in there that somebody
outside may not understand you know if
if Mike is telling his door and he’s
talking about Photoshop and other tools
and you know things that a non designer
may not understand you know maybe that’s
part of it and that’s definitely
designed for a specific niche but what
has to be included in there is the
emotional journey which should be part
of any story which I should be able to
understand Mike story coming from a you
know if he’s doing graphic design oh
this is another you know Jill who’s an
archer or you know Jimbo the sumo
wrestler or whatever right like yes and
maybe thanks something specific to that
industry but on a whole that the story
should tell me your emotional journey
where if I go into a movie theater and I
watch five different movies that all
have the same hero’s journey you know
the ones that get so technical about
what that character is all about I’m not
going to connect with as much as a
people who you see overcoming obstacles
and then reaching triumphs and their
journey that they went on and the
beating on the craft and the hard work
whether he’s drumming and practicing her
in the weight room and like practicing
like crazy or whatever
is like you can relate to it somehow
right I understand your story when I can
relate to it somehow into something in
my life something that I’m trying to do
or have done or my friend is going
through if I can’t connect it somehow to
my life and I’m losing interest ASAP so
that’s a challenge yes it might be some
specific things to your inner street but
on the whole it should be something that
anybody can look at and find some way to
tie it to their life yeah and why are we
talking there I thought if it’s if it’s
really important that a certain under
individual understand your story and you
don’t feel like they’re getting it use
whatever other tools you have available
to you so if that’s visuals use visuals
if that’s a diagram use a diagram it’s
video use video if it’s words these
words like any of those tools that we
now have easily available at our
fingertips let’s use them all to make
sure that we can convey that the highest
level understanding yeah and I might
even reverse that to figure out what
you’re best at yeah like I am best at
visual I’m a visual learner I would like
if somebody I would have a hard time on
your side where I’m just reading you the
question cuz i might just hear it I
don’t process it as much as if I can see
it so this is why I feel to the good but
so like you need to default to the way
of communicating that you can be best at
two right unless it’s some really rare
situation where you know your customers
all want to only be written to and
nobody’s on video you know I think this
is a big enough market in any of the
spots right I could if I’m trying to
help entrepreneurs I could have done it
through block like you know if Mike
loves to write maybe his ways to do it
through a blog if I love to you know do
interviewed maybe I do it through a
podcast or maybe I do it through a
youtube channel or whatever it is like
figure out what you like best or what
you want to learn and chances are that’s
going to be the best evolution of your
storytelling and you know hopefully your
audience is there I think there’s enough
of an audience in each section that if
you tried to force me to do something
like I don’t want to do a pod I had a
radio show I didn’t like the radio show
as much but I wanted something more
visual you forced me to do a radio show
do a good job at it but it wouldn’t be
as good as I do on my youtube channel
and so having a self-awareness to know
what mediums to put your story into and
how to do it could be super helpful for
you to be a better and more effective
storyteller um sure ice is right in to
ask about how do you tell a story on
some of the non-traditional things like
a sales page or advice tutorial video
infographic pieces of content that at
first glance don’t seem to lend
themselves the storytelling so it’s a
good point like on somebody’s a bell
page you expect the story but on an
infographic talking about email
marketing you know how do we then inject
storytelling into that or should we yeah
I think it’s possible i think it’s
powerful if you can figure out how to do
it you know on a sales page is there
some sort of story that you can lead
with to get someone interested in you
know let’s just say we have a course
what to write in your emails so what do
you say how do you tell a story about
what to write in your emails well maybe
tell a story about someone that had a
hard time writing in their emails and
because of that they use this course and
can then do better so you know i think
that there’s opportunities to surround
the main content of like what we’re
trying to communicate with story to draw
someone in you know famous speakers do
that preachers do that all the time they
tell a story first to draw you in and
then they get into the meat of the
content which you know you know is the
kind of like the middle of the story and
then like the end they wrap it back up
and they probably tie it back to where
they started so you know I think there’s
this this formula where you can start
meet finish to wrap it back up so uh but
I mean like infographics it’s difficult
but if you if you can add context to the
infographic maybe you can tell a story
of why that infographic is important and
then that’s just the data visualization
of that portion of the story yeah i
agree i mean i agree i think in any in
any time you’re trying to move somebody
to action a story can help infographic
is another way to be able to do it
as the YouTube show or email newsletter
or whatever it is I think that two ways
to do it could be one through a persona
right in markings on creeks these
personas so okay we’re going to have you
know a weber we’re going to try to
target musicians you know musicians are
entrepreneurs to they need to have
newsletters they need to tell their
audience about what you know where
they’re going to be performing so they
could create a musician persona and on
that page everything speaks to me as a
musician and it could guide me along the
path of Johnny the musician and
everything that he has to go through and
how that I can apply to a newsletter um
the other side of it could be case
studies and instead of reading this
boring long huge case study how do you
represent that data more visually and so
a weber is putting out infographic on
the 10 things you need to know how to
create a great newsletter you know one
right a great headline right great like
so many info graphics suck because they
don’t have extra context yeah which is
where the storytelling comes in so if
you told me that okay write a great
headline awesome but then you know show
me a good one versus a bad one and how
that impacted reynolds drum shop because
you change it from this to this and i
had a 35-percent decreasing this open
rates like now you’re giving me more
contacts through that story about
Grendel’s drum shop we’re so I mean I
mean Mike you got to see this too so
many the infographics are so is so easy
to create them now yeah that most of
them suck yeah and so by added extra
context you can do a much better job
yeah I cringe now when people say the
word infographic just because I’ve seen
so many bad ones and I’ve created bad
ones myself real to make it super
valuable um yeah so infographics are a
hard a hard hard thing to crack um Rishi
is asking Evan and Mike what are a few
examples of other people’s stories that
impact it and motivated you to
I something um so uh I’m not I can’t
think of something immediately for
myself but going back to that customer
interview yet we did yesterday with Jill
the runner she told a personal story in
one of her emails and someone that was
on her her list had been reading for a
while and that story was the final kind
of the final piece that convinced her I
need to sign up for a year-long coaching
program with jill and so uh was it that
one story that did the trick i don’t
think so i think it was the the
relationship that Jill that Joe built
with her email list over time and then
one day she told the right story to the
right person and they made a connection
and that led to a sale so um yeah that
that’s the story that came to mind for
me um I had the luxury of an extra
minute you to think about it as my
cuisine uh one thing i bought recently
was i bought the headspace meditation
app now I’ve never been a great
meditator I want to say for like five
years has been on my radar of like to do
and I start and stop and start and stop
mostly because I never realized the
benefits personally like people say they
get extra clarity and focus and I would
come out of meditation and just not feel
that even when sitting with people
comment on guided ones so the
storytelling part comes in where I was
watching Louis house who runs a youtube
channel called school of greatness and a
podcast tube and he had the guy from
headspace on his show and lewis was
talking about how his sword base is the
same as mine how he can never get into
it he’d like try and stop try and stop
so instantly now I’m connected to him
because I feel like I’m going through
the same thing now i’m curious ok Lewis
like how did you get out of it or did
you did you fail and like gave up on it
or you tried and kept going and what he
said he tried was doing the headspace ab
every night and after that he would go
to sleep
which is the opposite of most people
it’s like I meditate in the morning that
gives me focused on energy and I’m then
ready to go lehren he’s interested I
guess decompress and go to sleep so the
hey that’s a different approach I’m
gonna try it out and so I download the
app and it’s free for 10 days and my
wife and I would would lie down for 10
days in a row and listen to the app and
fall asleep faster and then we bought
the app and so I’m paying 15 bucks a
month for the headspace happened at
night not every night but we try to be
consistent uh listening to some
meditation and I’ll just fall asleep and
so um by connecting to Lewis a story
what he was facing the same challenge
and I was facing my ears perk up because
I want to hear how he handled it and now
I’m willing to try and like you know
invest my time put my money on the table
to do this thing and a work and a lot of
times it doesn’t work either but the
fact that he was going through the same
thing that I was going through the
connectivity there that now we have
maybe some of you listening like oh I
try meditation didn’t work for me maybe
now you guys go and Mike’s raising his
hand there maybe you try follow the sink
to it with head space right like maybe
this is another way to do it um and so I
like spent real dollars on that not a
lot of dollars but real dollars because
I heard about it through Lewis’s stored
he’s a great job of telling his story
yeah it’s cool well we are at time it’s
crazy how quickly it goes uh Mike kind
of last thoughts on it and in a shout
out to you know the link that we have
talking about the the PDF with all the
stories down below yeah practice
practice practice small steps today’s
your day make sure you check out that
link below because you’ll get a pretty
pretty valuable worksheet a one approach
to how to how to tell story yeah and
thanks Evan for having me on love it
thank you guys so much for watching
thank you Mike for spending your time
people love you in the comments continue
to believe everyone one small step every
day and we’ll see you next one
Please follow and like us: