How your story can INSPIRE your customers – Evan and @SKellyCEO

and welcome everybody we are live again
super excited to be on with with Stephen
Kelly again for another YouTube hang out
Stephen welcome back Greta be revered
today we’re talking about a really
important subject how you can use your
story to inspire your customers and I
know we’ve got a ton of questions they
already came in Steve and I both have
some thoughts and expertise to share
Steven before diving into the questions
just like high level what’s the
importance of storytelling for an
entrepreneur why does it mean so much
yeah Evan I think it’s so important I
think on this we’ve lost our way a bit
when I think about sort of the
pre-digital age if you go back to you
know communities in Italy or Greece and
I’ve told no receptionist in Estonian my
wife students and studying of oral
history of Ireland in all these great
communities of the Irish and the grease
just used to every evening because there
was no entertainment there was no
YouTube they used to tell stories I
believe we’ve got an innate human need
to listen to stories and that still
carries on and I think the potential
given that’s a massive human need to
understand and relate to stories and the
simplicity and the beauty and connect
the heart and the head to a story now
for entrepreneurs i think is a huge
opportunity that with authenticity can
be being exploited to grow your
businesses and really tell your story
through your products and services to
make it real and make it land for the
community your servant i love it and i
think really your story is your
competitive advantage as an entrepreneur
a lot of entrepreneurs try to be too
professional to corporate and lose the
personal aspect where you know a
customer is going to buy from you
instead of the big guy because they like
the passion and the story otherwise it
just can compare it on price if I can
tell the difference between you and some
other company I’m just going to beat you
down on price and that’s the last place
you want to be as an entrepreneur so
let’s get to some questions the first
one came in from arturo who says what
details would you say are most relevant
in
story I tend to talk too much come on
Tara would you tell Arturo I think I
Tara that’s a great question and with
stories is it’s part of it is kind of
listening and asking the right questions
but first of all you’ve got to go where
your audiences and then secondly you
gotta look at what is your audience
needs and relay that to your story I
think they are the key things and then
connect your story with the needs of
your customers and if you do that I
think particularly through kind of
social media and make it authentic and
super clear I’m really crisp then then
it’s very very powerful and compelling
and I think to Evans point as well you
know if you look at these big companies
you want to get away from that don’t
follow the big guys be true to yourself
follow your story because make it
personal because that’s what people want
to hear and anybody can get these big
brand agencies coming and you know
rewrite their website you look at any
other big corporates in you know kind of
NYC companies or big companies and they
look the same but your story is unique
to you and be proud of it and make it
part of your DNA so everything you do
around your product and your services
connect it with your audience and really
apply it to them and I think they’ll
follow you I think the most important
part of the story the first store you
have to tell us your foundation story
why did you start this thing why is it
so important to you what makes you come
alive about your business and you don’t
have to be great on camera and you don’t
have to be you know great at speaking
you can just start by having on your
website on the about page don’t just
give me your resume give me some emotion
like let me feel something when I read
your bio or when I do hear you speak I
want to I want to hear something I want
to feel like man that guy really really
cares about what he’s doing and so the
foundation store is really important and
just before we started Steve and I were
talking about stage summit that’s coming
up and Richard Branson and and seeing
was telling about how Richard started
Virgin Airlines maybe you want to recap
that story quickly Steven yeah and this
says something you know it’s so
important if if you’re angry about a gap
in the market then that means you’ve got
a product you’ve got an opportunity to
solve that
manson was stuck down in the Caribbean
and he got bumped off a couple of planes
and he got stranded and because of that
that gave him the incentive and the
anger and the passion to say I’m gonna
I’m gonna have a low-cost airline that
is front and center focused around
customers and you know the rest is
history is built Virgin Atlantic
probably one of the best brands highest
customer service all these sort of
things and he stayed true to to that
that foundation story that drove his
passion in the first place didn’t know
they were awakening a sleeping giant
there that the Menace he created and by
providing him terrible service so true
it’s so trend and a no se you know it’s
great to have when you’re you know when
you’re a young scrappy and hungry it’s
great to have a gorilla to go after so
in the early days he kind of went after
british air and the kind of
transatlantic airlines because they were
kind of you know not doing a great job
in terms of customer service they were
expensive they were late they didn’t
care about customers they worried more
about the unions for their employees and
they did about their customers to be
honest with you so he saw a gap in the
market he got angry he got surrounding
the caribbean and he said actually i’m
going to change that i’m going to give a
service that customers really value and
build an airline around customers and do
it cheaply for them so they can travel
around the world and do what they want
to do and pursue their dreams yeah what
i love about it is a lot of companies
will say you know we value our customers
and customer service is number one and
this is what we stand for but when you
hear the story of branson being you know
upset at an airline and being kicked off
the plane and you’ve been so frustrated
with it that kind of brings it home a
little bit more makes you feel like he
actually does care about customer
service and isn’t just paying lip
service to it I think that’s important
less at least that I take out of it for
entrepreneurs is you can have your
mission statement and you can have your
values you can have what you’re all
about it that’s fine but to make it
believable you have to tell me the
background story behind it so that I get
emotionally attached to it cool so
moving on next question comes in from
Trudy I’ve been telling my story since
90 I’ve done a lot of training in the
early 90s and in my surveys I found
eighty percent like the fact i was using
a story to reinforce something twenty
percent did not do you have any advice
so most people are liking this you worry
about the other twenty percent he just
keep going on the 80 or can the stories
be better what would you tell Trudy I
think Trudy I think if you do a few
things and it probably was your story
from the 90s around connect in your
heart in your head connecting to the
audience being authentic making years
stories super clear you know making it
hopefully visual as well you’ve got
eighty percent love from your community
I’ll kind of go after the other twenty
percent I’m kind of what are they miss
it because eighty percent connected
totally with your story and that I’d say
that’s good enough but you can always
improve and you know actually one of the
interesting thing one of our customer
stories from a company up in Oregon two
shoots craft brewery their kind of motto
is do you best and next time do better
now they build a they build a social
enterprise affecting this business
they’re never going to sell out to a
conglomerate so they are grounded by
producing awesome beer and every time
they sell a crate of beer they basically
give a dollar to a community charity so
they’ve raised I think last year a
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in
the communities where they sold the beer
but also they’ve given every one of
their employees stock ownership in the
company to make a really clear statement
that we’re all in this together we’re
following our dreams we’re producing
awesome beer and we’re going to play a
role giving back to the communities so
with that the reason why I tell you that
story is every time they do anything in
their business they want to make it
better so were those twenty percent that
you left behind why didnt you know in
the world of the social media now you
could access every one of those
individuals and find out what is it what
is it they’re missing in terms of the
connection with your story and and you
could get up into the high 90s and
touching a hundred percent I love it I
love you I love to drive and ambition
there yeah I think eighty percent is a
good number if you’re starting on 80
that that’s quality if you’re if you’re
speaking and you’re moving eighty
percent of the room that’s definitely
great start and
yeah I would just echo stevens point
there too like always try to get better
it’s a good mark but let’s how do I get
to 100 what do I have to do to get there
right how can my storytelling be better
whether it’s his advice of going out and
trying to find them on social media
whether it’s you know recording your
speech back and watch it again and
seeing where you might be able to
improve you know doing surveys over the
room trying to find people who like left
the room and ask them what happened that
can be a tough pill to swallow like hey
why did you leave my session we go get
some honest kind of truthful advice that
will help you get better and you could
do coaching with other professional
speakers or speeching coaches to give
you guidance on how your next speech can
be better i think if you want to be good
at something then you should want to be
great at something and every time you do
it you may you may suck at the start but
the most important part is that you were
better than yesterday and you keep
working on and most people would start
with their stories it’s uncomfortable at
the start you feel like who wants to
learn about me you know and you have to
understand that you telling your story
isn’t about you it’s not an ego trip for
you it helps the customer connect to you
better it’s for them and it’s for your
business and so the start you will
probably be terrible telling your story
and then every time you do it you’ll get
better and better and better and better
you move the eighty percent move the
nine percent hopefully move up to the
hundred percent that’s a great question
um next up M so easy hope I pronounced
that okay he’s saying he designed smart
homes he’s saying he agrees that when
he’s working in b2c market all they want
to hear about as a story and why he
created his business when he’s selling
to builders and his in b2b all they care
about is price they don’t care about a
story all they care about is offering
something cheap how do I overcome this I
want to make more money selling b2b yeah
i think it’s the case a little bit in
some even in houses i think there’s a
kind of blurring between kind of b2b and
b2c and yeah everybody wants to store in
terms of you know you think about you’re
gonna buy a house it’s your dream isn’t
it especially if it’s your first house I
can remember the day we walked in and
took the keys on our first house and I
still remember as if
there today how it just kind of thought
wow you know what a sense of
responsibility did I really make this
this is my own place you know and and
the level of the clean rooms the the
Hoover and all that sort of stuff went
up through the sky now builders
obviously they’ve got an economic model
they’ve got to make money they’ve got to
be profitable and in that business kind
of builders can live hand to mouth
they’ve got a lot of subcontractors
they’ve got a lot of people that need
pay like every week and a lot of their
payments in that business are staged on
kind of milestones of completion of
building the house so I think you have
to be sensitive to that but also I don’t
know anybody in business and builders
are the same they don’t want to do a
great job they want to build great
houses they want to they want to make
people proud I’m s the story you could
connect with because so that not only
you know great house builders get talked
about in communities that everybody
wants one of their houses and it’s no
good you know when they go to the golf
club or a dinner party or kind of some
sort of chat room and they’ll be there
and someone will say something awesome
about that house that was built by then
they will be swelling up with pride so I
would find the story that connects to
them being very cognizant that they have
to make money out of it and the
sensitivity of you standing in their
shoes and to what Evans point of going
where the audiences with a build of and
understand their business model and it’s
very kind of cash constrained and they
got a kind of make money and that comes
down to cutting costs it but more than
that everybody I know everybody who’s an
entrepreneur and everybody’s dialed into
this yeah you want to do things great
few customers you want to do things in
terms of treating the company’s money as
if it’s your own and making sure every
expense dollar gets her kind of return
on investment but more than that you
want to do it the right way you want to
build awesome products you want to build
awesome awesome alders I think that
echoes Stevens Point from the very top
of the show as long as you’re dealing
with a human stories matter people care
people are guided by their emotions they
want to feel connected to you now not
every customer will be able to afford
what you’re doing right if you’re if
you’re the
ling with a high-end product and you’re
dealing with very price sensitive
customers they may love your story but
it doesn’t mean they can afford it right
the stuff that I do not everybody can
afford it and that’s fine so I think I
don’t think the story hurts you but it’s
not everything right like the stories is
not going to the story will win some
clients over that if there’s an
accredited situation you’ll get the
business but you also have to give them
a good business case right if you have a
bad product or your you are to overprice
the story is not going to be enough just
to get you over that hurdle so I think
it’s just understanding understanding
your customer base I would I would
disagree that all b2b people only care
about price I think there’s a lot of
emotion that goes into every business
deal that happens just looking at my own
business I get opportunity to work with
a lot of different companies and brains
and the ones that I say yes to are the
ones that I connect with the leadership
and their story and what that are all
about and I think they connect with me
because of my store when i’m all about
and it’s not just hey can you do it for
a thousand dollars cheaper and then
that’s what you know makes the mixer
shift as long as you’re doing with
people stores are going to be important
whether you’re selling to customers in
the b2c space or b2b space hey Evan I
think on that well the power what you
said is when your story becomes the
audience’s story and the connection
between your story and this is where the
heart kind of kicks in I don’t know and
a story could be a question as well so
if you asked a house builder how did you
feel when you took the keys to your
first apartment or your first house that
individual will go back 20 30 years ten
years and the emotions will flooding and
secondly I think it’s really important I
don’t know any house builder if you ask
them the question what was the first
house that you built how did that feel I
guarantee they put the best taps on they
would have been really proud of the
house they would have wanted that house
to be the best house the best home
experience that was on the planet and
they’ll remember that first house they
built just
I as an entrepreneur I remember the
first sale i made i remember the first
customer we had I remember the first
employee we hired because those things
connect your heart totally and your head
in your memory and you get flooded with
emotion and that’s the way you unlock
the human I love it I love it ok next
one is coming up from Julia I’m a
weight-loss educator / coach I’ve only
been about 20 pounds overweight so not a
great story numbers wise but the victory
in my life against an emotionally driven
overeating is to me significantly huge
is my story enough for Julie yeah hey
Julia I think speaking for for me I
think you got a great story just the way
Evan said that you can aid to my heart
straightaway you know I think I think
we’re all bombarded honestly through the
media and every celebrity is
photoshopped and we are absolutely
pounded with images of what we should
look like and you have to remember
you’re an individual everybody’s an
individual and you’ve got to feel good
about yourself when you wake up in the
morning so your stories just compelling
and it’s real and it’s authentic and it
just connects to me straightaway so I
think that’s a great story in and the
more you tell your story honestly the
more confidence you get and the more you
build your self-esteem and the more you
can go out there with your story and the
more you feel confident the more you’ll
go to the next stage of this story and
write the second chapter and the third
chapter and the fourth chapter i agree i
would say i would want to learn a little
bit more about the emotionally driven
over eating so that the story isn’t that
you were 20 pounds overweight and God
under 20 as much to me as uh what caused
you to motional e / eat like where did
you have parents who picked on you or
friends who didn’t believe in you or did
you have a lot of stress at work or like
what caused this thing for you to always
emotionally overeat because that’s what
people will be able to connect with
right like oh yeah I have parents like
that or I have friends like that or my
work places like that too and that’s
what I end up doing is overeating and
how have you solved that and crack that
for yourself we’re now
you’re confident and happy and so the
numbers don’t have to be the core part
of the story it’s more the background
and emotion that goes into it i gue
Steve when I can feel the the love and
energy and passion that comes out of it
and just you need to believe that your
story is enough right like you don’t
need our permission to say it’s good
enough like you need to believe this is
enough when you’re on a powerful
powerful mission to go up and help are
the people who are emotionally
overeating yeah i think this you’ve
touched a raw nerve probably with Evan
and me here as well Juliet so we’re not
clinical psychologist or anything like
that but we know that no person on this
planet is perfect yet when you’re an
entrepreneur you kind of think of these
perfect people they don’t exist we’ve
all got kind of stuff in our lives and
we’ve all got burns we carry and this
stuff around particularly with the
exposure of social media whether you’re
talking teenagers you’re talking any
generation there’s this perfect kind of
image that you’re presented with and
it’s just not real so I think something
to help us all is when you think about
your customers the people you’re serving
just say they’re like us they’ve got
their vulnerabilities they’ve got their
weaknesses they’ve got their anxieties
they got their worries they got you know
and if one of them could be body image
so I think we have got so many kind of
manufacturers elements out there and one
of them is this kind of pursuit of
perfection and it doesn’t exist
especially relative to kind of wait so I
you’ve walked this journey you’ve
experienced it personally and you you’re
able to tell your story today I think
it’s a very compelling story love it
Arthur is writing in hello Evan and
Steven thanks a lot for your amazing
work and inspiration as for my question
what advice would you give for a young
media startup that writes about business
and career trends for Millennials are
all I offer I think you have got you
live in the drain so you’re very clearly
connected to Millennials you want to
connect to their life so kind of a few
things obviously you’ve got that
authenticity I’ll hang on to put
yourself into their shoes what are their
dreams one of their ass
operations what can you bring that super
clear and crystal clear in terms of vice
and help for them and then tell them
your story through that media and I
think we’re that way you’ll connect to
them and create that emotional
conversation for your story they could
be very powerful yeah I would also look
at you know if you’re watching this
video from me and Steven and you know
you think it’s amazing where you think
it’s inspirational I mean we’re both
humbled by that and in love you know be
no play a big role in your life you got
to take action on it right you got to do
something about it I would rather you
watch you know only this video and no
more YouTube videos for the rest of the
week but then actually go work on your
story right you may be sold on the
importance of right in the store and how
important it is by listening to this but
doesn’t do you any good unless you go
out and create your story so what I want
to see is hey when I visit your website
you didn’t tell us what it was but I’m
curious I want to go to the about page
and see all about Arthur why he started
this why it’s important to him and you
know that I think taking action on the
advice of you here because too many
people just get inspired and they get
pumped up but they don’t do anything
about it and nothing’s going to happen
till you actually take some action on it
yeah and I’ve been all these things take
the first step you know Arthur just take
your first step get on your website and
then kind of test drive it don’t kind of
try and boil the ocean don’t do anything
gold-plated again just get some of your
buddies in her Millennials and test
drive it with them how does the story
land with them what do they like about
it what how would you improve it and
make you kind of always stick to the
authenticity so that kind of has your
foundation and your personality but kind
of to Evans point yeah it’s all about
action take that first step test drive
it iterate road test it and get get the
community of Millennials who are your
buddies your friends your community to
start saying what’s it like how to
improve it and how do we really serve
them and connect them cool Valley wrote
in a long post basically wondering she’s
basically worried about that her store
is going to be on there forever and then
you’re going to
up there we wouldn’t look at it you know
no way to take it down how do you kind
of get over that fear being so public
and open that your story is there
forever from Valerie well I think
Valerie’s is it’s a valid element once
you post something on on the internet it
is there forever so just need to be I
think thoughtful and careful about what
you want to post and something you know
it’s almost cast yourself and visualize
yourself in the future and if you came
back and read what you’ve written today
would you feel proud of it I think it’s
really important to be authentic the
other thing I’d say is you know again in
this water perfection that we all live
in you know people the authentic people
have vulnerabilities and they share
their vulnerabilities and I think you
know in terms of telling your stories
riya gehen emotionally humans connect to
people who show vulnerabilities people
who you know like superman and
superwoman who are perfect you know they
kind of repel people people who show
that vulnerability draw people towards
them and especially if you’re connecting
the heart and the head you know you
connect the emotion you bring people
with you so I’ll be advocate a massive
advocate for sharing your story turn
your vulnerability and be really clear
about how you can help other people like
you who’ve got a product or services
neither you can provide I think one of
the hardest parts of sharing your story
is worrying about being judged and being
ashamed of certain parts of your story
right let back to one of the people’s
questions about overeating now you have
to you know admit that you’re an
overeater and share all the deep things
that you get stressed out over and
that’s what causes overeating like
that’s the juice that’s going to connect
me to your story really deeply right
like if your parents got divorced and
you know mistreated you or whatever it
was like if that’s what led you to that
moment that’s what connects with me but
it’s also the hardest like deepest
moment that you have to share and expose
and it’s having the courage to do that
and yes some people will judge you you
know if nobody is judging you there’s no
uh if there’s no fear then it’s you’ve
lived it so safe you’ve written
something so safe that it’s not
impacting anybody so some people will
judge you that’s okay and you are the
champion of truth for your people right
like you started this business your
visionary you’re an entrepreneur you’re
leading the way in some paths and people
who have lived that same story or going
through the same problems that you went
through before they want to rally around
you and they’ll do that by understanding
your story and so it’s a to see this
point of a being vulnerable and being
open that’s where that’s where the real
juice is that’s that’s the heart of it
if you gloss over it then the story
won’t have the impact and so part of
telling your story is being prepared for
a little bit of a judgment but for the
most part every time I put something up
it’s it’s 95 99 percent positive um so
just like as you get bigger you’re gonna
get haters it means you’re doing
something right means you’re doing
something important yeah as you get most
successful you’ll get more more critics
the other thing I was we were a massage
foundation event last week up in the
north of England we had 75 kids from
disadvantaged backgrounds between about
11 and 25 and the old ethos of them is
they came in to sort of do pitches and
and these kids just are ah they were so
inspiring because they told their story
that was so authentic there just to
Evans point they told about their own
personal story the tragedies that
overcome all the difficulties they had
and honestly you just could you could
drop a pin in that room and like I was
leaning forward I just wanted to know
more about these kids and their story so
I think you’ve got to be honest you’ve
got to be open you’ve got to have that
sense of vulnerability that’s relevant
to your story because the reality is
again people are people are humans and
people are compassionate and people want
to build and by awesome products from
entrepreneurs like on this
you know Google how now that are really
good to meet the needs because you’ve
been there you’ve lived their anger or
the gap in the market you’ve identified
that and you’ve connected your story to
the community you’ve made that
connection and I think very much part of
that Valerie is is your personality and
you you want to bring it out look how
you remember everybody’s name too you
could have a nice nice touch there
adding it at the end I like it I like it
Stephen Kelly the man who cares i love
it um Evan Carmichael the man who
believed I loved it Alex that we got we
got married writing in uh where do you
tell your story I deal with business to
business and do not utilize social media
at this time so where am I telling my
story if i want to sell b2b i think you
always have to go golden rule number one
it go where the audiences so where’s
your audience if it’s be to be you know
again just our God the I said to these
kids I’ve said never ever hold back or
think that people like me live in an
ivory tower if you you’ve got to be to
be proposition you can guarantee to find
people who will give up their time to
help you on your product innovation
adventure so if you’ve got an idea
you’ve got a passion you got a story a
guarantee there’ll be people in your
community you can go to to basically
test-drive it refine it and get it kind
of fit for really kind of launch and
then you can think about website social
media and all those sort of things and
so I think with all these things it
comes back to web and just take that
first step you know up that John
staircase you’ve got to take that first
step you’ve gotta go and test drive it
you’ve got a road test it and and
everybody out there don’t don’t have
this image that people are too busy
everybody will make time if you’ve got a
compelling story and sit down with you
and everybody wants to help honestly
everyone wants to help someone in a
younger generation or a young
entrepreneur people you know Evan Evan
gets people coming up to him in the
street and say can I just have two
minutes on the story or Evan gets
thousands of inbound on social media and
these people are Evan with
blessed because they’re so generous with
their time because they want to through
this kind of media and create the next
generation of entrepreneurs and you know
we know that you guys create the
prosperity the job creation all these
sort of things you matter and you should
feel that in your heart to build your
self-confidence and self-esteem to go
and ask the question and say you know
can I have literally two minutes your
time on a test I want you to hear my
story a hundred percent agree you know
marketing 101 is going your customers
are you’re fortunate now if you’re
selling b2b there’s so many platforms
like businesses everywhere now uh the
default ants would be to go on linkedin
that’s the that’s the king of b2b right
now but you know you got to be good at
writing you want to be go to telling
your store in the written format if you
want to do well I’ll linkedin if you if
you want to do more youtube stuff you’re
more of a video person you can get a bit
look most of my deals come through
YouTube brandeal speaking gigs booked
opportunities I sell b2b and most of it
happens because of my youtube channel
and so I would I would combine where the
audience is with what are you good at
are you a good writer okay this
platforms are you good in front of the
camera there’s platform did you rather
just speak and you want a podcast those
platforms so combining those two things
I think you find some success and just
start like start stop thinking you can
tell your story anywhere just start and
combine that not only just social media
on your website right when I go to your
about page does it tell me your story
when you give me your business card do I
have an emotional like most people’s
business cards are so boring do I have
an emotional connection to your business
card is there a picture something on
there that ties me to your story adds
that you’re taking out online or offline
media that’s written about you like
everything becomes a boat store you can
inject it everywhere on social but also
off cool Randy’s writing in should your
story be as long as it takes to tell it
or should it be quick and to the point
randy wilson hey
Andy I think a really good story is
something that’s compelling short pithy
punchy and captures the emotion the
imagination and connects the the
receiver the audience and then what’s
really cool if you’ve got kind of
strands where you can unpick the story
and bring it to life for the people
you’re serving so so it’s kind of almost
like you’ve got a it’s like a kind of 80
wedding cake so you go in you look at
the top to you think wow I want some of
that and then you can I get unpicking it
the next tier the next tier the next
tier and it’s all relevant and as you
get to the bottom it really kind of hits
the sweet spot in terms of the need that
the customer has and the audience has
and you’ve kind of absolutely smashed it
so I kind of think you need to think
about it quick six inked in motion ille
compelling what is that couple of
sentences that really captures your
heart and imagination and then what is
it um pic what’s the night because you
want them really after you tell them the
story to say that’s really interesting
so tell me a bit more about it yeah and
then you want to be prepared for how how
does it meet their need what is it
you’re solving that there is a problem
in their life and that really kind of
translates to b2b or b2c one hundred
percent agree I was going to go with an
onion analogy I love that there’s layers
but I think a wedding cake is more
appealing to want to eat than an onion
so hook up with wedding cake um but yeah
like when you’re meeting somebody for
the first time they don’t have this was
a big problem I had with my first
business we felt like if somebody would
just sit with us for half an hour we’d
be able to explain what we’re all about
and and they would feel like we have a
good business but at the start people
aren’t willing to sit with you / half an
hour you need to say something quickly
that piques your curiosity and get some
interested and excited and so you need
to have like a five second version of it
or 15 second version of it but then also
being willing to stretch it out if
somebody has five minutes with you or 10
minutes or an hour or you know a weekend
you can stretch out your story but I
agree with Steve 100% you need you need
the you need to bang you need the
something something that makes
ask oh that’s interesting and then opens
the door to be able to do more and so it
comes to practice at least at least it
did for me and I get where you’re coming
from like it feels like you take too
long to tell the story practice practice
practice more you do it the better
you’ll get yeah and I think so important
and I’m actually have an on-stage summer
you mentioned it earlier we’ve got you
know people like net Yancey Strickler
there Ashley Kuchar gwyneth paltrow
zooey deschanel Branson all these
amazing speakers and they’ll be telling
their story and you know kind of
obviously brought worth going on the
save sammy website i’m a look at the
individuals and the kind of speakers and
all that sort of stuff but it’s all
about stories it’s all about the stories
of the heroes economy the entrepreneurs
the business owners the people who have
spotted a gap in the market the people
who have been frustrated by not being
able to have products and services that
meet their need that sake well I’ll go
and create that you know it’s driving me
crazy there I can’t do a lot like
Branson’s example it’s crazy that these
aircrafts bump me off and they don’t
care about customers I’m going to solve
that I’m gonna actually kind of change
the world in my little way to fill that
gap in the market place so it’s all
about creating those stories and refine
them now good thing is to Evan if you
want this guy this ever come hike and
kind of give him a shameless plug the
what he does brilliantly is build you
know Eve angelically almost like a
religion around believe a renowned
empowerment around you know step up and
take that first step and everything you
hear is authentic is it’s almost like
that beautiful wedding cake or the onion
where everything’s are kind of the
pillar the foundation is believed and
within that there’s so many rich
materials that give you the tools to be
successful so everything’s connected
everything is integrated everything
holistic everything’s aligned and where
you have that beautiful lineman you have
real power yeah and maybe they take that
analogy little further I think
entrepreneurs need to unpack their story
and get used to telling it because if
you want to make that beautiful wedding
cake that people look at and and want to
eat it and want to learn more and go
with the wedding cake is
a lot of entrepreneurs just have like
eggs and flour and milk and they just
mash it all together and like all the
elements are there but it’s not
appealing right and like you’ll get the
same taste after a while like if you can
get them to sit there and eat it but
it’s not appealing and so you need to
have a presentation the translation is
hey you need to have like that five ten
second intro that creates a curiosity
that people then want to learn more I
think a lot of entrepreneur have all the
ingredients I just haven’t presented it
and unpacked it in a way that causes
curiosity and gets people to want to ask
questions and learn more interested
actually I don’t know what allows your
work on the wedding cake but what you
could do create that vision of the
wedding cake and then you have kind of
12 rich beautiful fruit cake with
incredible i sin then you have another
tier gluten-free and then you have
another tier you know without raisins
then you have another tier chocolate
cake then you have another tip but
nothing so you can appeal to a wider
wider audience and I’m not suggesting
you do that from day one because you
won’t have the bandwidth but with your
business start really focused around the
need but then you find you can expand it
to reach further communities broader
audiences and I think the around this a
great customer of ours actually ever
price from super food markets she just
was passionate about awesome organic
products awesome organic food and she’s
built a multi dollar million business
based on following a passion stand true
to it and expanding the products to
really me the involving kind of healthy
food needs absolutely out there in terms
of lifestyle improvement feel like this
wedding cake deserves to be its own
infographic with the different layers
will share it out um cool I like it I
like it Deepak is asking do you
recommend the story sharing in a video
format or some other way to hey deepa
that’s a great question so if i get back
and if i sat in a bar in ireland 50
years ago there’d be storytellers who
were trained
through the generations now what’s
changed today is the digital revolution
social media has given us the
opportunity for awesome levels of
visualization and having that story
literally in six seconds ubiquitous
around the world through the internet I
would say if you’ve got a compelling
story I personally says it’s a very much
a personal preferences thing however for
me I love to see video I love to see
video and you know just rings brings
your story to life otherwise pictures
are really are very powerful in again
another little customer story we got a
great guy Steve piston from Atlanta and
we’ll put all these links on the the the
broadcast afterwards Evan but he
basically was passionate about two
things jewelry and motorbikes and he
found a way he went on a community
education program around a build of
silver jewelry jewelry and if you look
at his website all pictures if you look
at his product basically he have sort of
Indian Head Nichols arm and he’s made
him into rings but he’s got amazing kind
of products that are very connected to
motorcycling and jewelry and and he’s
used photography he also does another
arm is business which is professional
photography and he’s used pictures to
tell his story so I kind of think back
to your question is all about where the
audiences secondly what’s the most
effective means of communicating and
bringing your story to life generally I
think the power of pictures and
visualization is absolutely compelling
and that’s where I’d start in terms of
kind of the first phase I love it
standing the comments is saying she
wants to make that wedding cake
infographic so we want to see it make
wonderful graphic of the wedding cake
and we’ll share it we’ll both tweet it
out so let’s see it happen sandy um in
terms of the video yeah I think most
people are visual learners I I much
prefer to learn from watching something
but it’s also like don’t feel you have
to do it right if you can do it expect
to suck at the start every time you do
it’ll get better if every time you go on
it just feels like you want to kill
yourself then then don’t
do it like right take pictures like
Stephen said uh do a podcast right at
make an audio version of you telling
your story the key thing is that you
start right a lot of people say oh I
need to do a video okay great well to do
a video I need to have the gear I need
to have the lights I need to have the
camera person I need to have the editor
you make it this huge big complex task
than you ever do anything where sage one
is just write something down and put it
on your website that’s the easiest start
and then practice sending tweets out
that mean something to you that also
help share your story and the stories of
others like Stevens shared I don’t even
know how many stores are ready of other
people to help bring homes from the
points as and bring it up and it’s great
and it works and you can move up to
doing a video but don’t make it some big
project that then is so huge that you
never actually start on yeah and
actually you’re surviving the great
thing about things like video you know
we go out video and when I’m in the
states when I’m in New York and I’ll do
a video for all our colleagues we
haven’t got some fancy fat film crew
I’ve got my kind of CFO next to me doing
the filming on an iPad or an iPhone and
we did post it and you know it’s pretty
edgy it’s not high-tech but it’s very
authentic is spoken from the heart ah
and i think that’s it i think the other
thing you want to be different you don’t
want to be the same so when you tell
your story really connects but it’s also
a little bit out there saying this is me
this is why I’m different and then as
you get momentum I think it’s still very
powerful that the case to get your
customers to tell their story and and
again if you can make it really sure
very authentic about why you’ve changed
their lives and what difference you’ve
made for your product or service it’s so
compelling to have someone else tell how
amazing you are through their eyes and
that’s a great way to tell their story
and again people can just post these
videos to you so you just pop up on your
website it’s really low cost yeah it
means real cost we’re doing this my
google hangouts right we will have a
webcam here we are child and making a
video and I have a channel of 350,000
subscribers almost you know your four
million views plus a month and I’m
making videos off my web
too right you know one of the first
video Stephen I did together was on the
floor of sage summit last year where I
think he got Gemma with just like his
marketing assistant to come and had her
phone and we just recorded something
quick and we posted it up that’s a video
um you know just don’t let the gear hold
you back just do it those good times we
should do something like that again yeah
it’s almost like your first home the
first video we made together I can
remember exactly where we stood Evan and
you said she would try something crazy I
said yeah let’s do that is to try it and
Jenna I said you go your iPhone yeah
let’s just make it happen and then we
were right in that kind of middle hub
bit and we just talked we just chat
what’s on your mind we choose kind of
stuff over this important to
entrepreneurs and posted it and that’s
the start of something special but I’ll
never forget that that moment Evan when
we just took the initiative for me to
happen and big credit so you guys
noticed even on that one because I’ve
worked with a number of different CEOs
of big companies that I won’t mention
and anything slightly outside the box
like no no what’s the script what are we
doing we can’t do that that what if you
say something wrong it’s just like panic
mode immediately and Stephen was a total
opposite it’s just yeah let’s do it
we’ll do it live let’s go and we didn’t
know we’re going to talk about yet we
just went and did it so uh I love it I
love it it was good it was a good start
start of a beautiful relationship you
know correlation and then I realized
Evan was a Blue Jays fan and it made it
perfect Georgie’s this is a good season
20 days we’re gonna do it I’m a good
years move over Maple Leafs exactly oh
cool Alicia’s writing in so I’m a young
entrepreneur how do I build confidence
in telling my story Alicia I think Evans
said this beautifully actually take the
first step you know it was it Martin
Luther King he said how do you climb a
John staircase you just take the first
step and i think you know i can i can
fill in some of these questions a very
natural level the I you know I feel it
sometimes I wake up in the morning
I feel anxiety about you know is it
going to be a good day is it going to be
a great week and the way you kind of
overcome that is just take the first
step so with these things I think if
you’ve got any level of anxiety or
you’ve got these voices in your head
that’s just undermining yourself
confidence your self-esteem the best way
to overcome that is to take the first
step if you’re not confident in that
you’ve probably got a network of mentors
or fine folks around who can coach you
support you maybe family friends or
other people who have taken those steps
and who you see as successful you you
kind of hold up and put them on a
pedestal but they’re just people like
you that started once and they’ve
obviously built great businesses but
they they will feel the same
sensitivities the vulnerabilities that
you feel but it all starts is it is you
create Rolling Thunder by taking the
first step the next step the next step
and then the drumbeat of confidence
builds within you and then you know you
you’ll start flying you know it’s just
incredible fly with the Eagles I love it
yeah I mean I would echo a lot of the
things Stephen the same I think that it
starts with your practice the more you
do it the better you get it just like
anything else riding the bike you fell
down rollerblading you fell down you
know you go to France and try to learn
French you will suck at the start just
expect to be bad and get better with
practice the second part was I would say
just feeling like your story is valuable
and not being ashamed of it and not
feeling like like Who am I right the
stevens point of like all these people
have done a lot more sure you may not
have as much experience or much value to
give as someone who’s done you know 30
years in your field but there’s a lot of
people who are still below you there’s a
lot of people who look up to you as a
lot of people who would see what you’re
doing and wish that they could do it
even quitting a job to go start a
business and taking that bet on yourself
is something that a lot of people wish
they had the courage to do and you share
in your journey and why was important to
you is valuable is is inspirational to
people and so yes the practice and to
the mindset of understanding that what
I’m going through can be a value to
other people I think that’s such an such
a mind game for a lot of people where
they do still have enough confidence at
all they don’t believe enough the last
thing hey I haven’t I think with that we
acknowledge talk about vulnerabilities
earlier but I think with with the
confidence exactly as you say is take
that first step and dumb and the more
you try the more people will get drawn
to you and you’re out there you’ll
create a volunteer army of helpers for
your business your idea and when I was
up in Montreal a couple of weeks ago
ever naturally we work with obviously
french-speaking and I could have tried
to speak shut up an American English or
English and I guarantee the people
talking to me they all speak English
cool sick speak English but by trying to
speak French they were drawn to me they
were connected you know those
relationships right away because I try
to be on their terms i tried i was in
their home turf i try to try to just go
that extra mile and I think you’re
absolutely right any any analogy riding
a bike learn the language if you take
that first step you see people around
you who will come and help you you know
like a wounded soldier fall off your
bike there’ll be ten adults within four
seconds there to help you pick you up
and get you back on the bike and go for
it so it’s exactly the same in a
business there’s lots of people out
there they’re all resources for you and
if you’ve got a compelling story with
kind of one or two liners that grabs our
attention they’ll help you refine it and
they’ll invest time with you to actually
support your success and allow you to
follow your dream I love it you’re
getting a lot of love in the comments
today Steven want to read out a couple
give some acknowledgments gri the saying
as Cal is different than most CEOs
sandy’s right in to say that’s why i
love sage so authentic the accessibility
of Steven Kelley is so admirable CEO of
the people wow you’re getting some love
I like its CEO of the people that might
stick we may have to get that trending
Evan I’m a humble guy oh hey thanks guys
out at high fives all around big hide
fights I love it okay let’s move on this
is the one Jake is asking so many
questions as crazy
what if you’re in an industry that you
have no educational background in at all
well I think you need to go well first
thing is probably do some research on
the internet there’s tons of stuff on
everything god it’s just all out there
it’s just like a library in space is
available for you so you can refine and
learn pretty quickly you can be an expo
almost in anything for the internet now
secondly then I think then you need to
generally probably go and talk to
experts about your big idea so first of
all I’m assuming you’ve got an idea
secondly you need to do the research and
and again boo Evans point I wouldn’t
worry about going to do a PhD and spend
three years in college I’d think about
spending you know maybe maximum of a day
on the web surfing it educating yourself
and then find people out there who are
spokespeople if they got kind of a
website or they’re on Twitter connect
with a connect with them their resources
they could be part of your volunteer
army it’s amazing when you fire off a
tweet to someone if they follow you back
you send a direct message to them
they’re up for a conversation and then
you can start refining your proposition
your idea to say what’s really going to
land so i kind of think you need a sort
of structured approach but again if you
don’t know about an industry I think
candidly is probably it’s probably a bit
riskier than knowing about something you
really passionate about I’d always kind
of advise you to stick to what you know
and what you love and what you’re
passionate about and if that’s where
you’re going to spend you know a tourist
statistic I think it’s three quarters of
our conscious life it’s been working
because we will love it the blurring
between our lives outside work and
inside work is is kind of pretty pretty
clear now it’s just very blurred
particularly through social media so if
you’re going to give so much passion
about your energy the hours you really
want to be sure that you’re on something
you really care about and it’s an
industry that you you want to change and
you want to disrupt and you want to be a
real innovator in yeah I mean to echo
Stevens Point business all about value
if you can provide value will be
successful you’ll make money if you
can’t provide value you don’t have the
business and value comes from experience
and a lot of the experience comes from
your education whether that’s
formal education or on the street
hustling learning about your industry
I’m hedging us a little bit because he
asked educational background and I’m
just wondering if that means if he’s
trying to think like university training
formal training like maybe he has the
experience in industry but didn’t get
formally trained for it and so that’s
the case you you could like that’s that
could be part of your mantra that could
be part you know what the way they learn
it in school that’s not the real deal
you got to learn it on the streets and
that’s part of your story um if you have
to Stevens Point like no no back on it
at all you’re just learning this thing
for the first time your story could be I
want to learn this like join me on my
journey to learn how to be a great piano
player or whatever it is you’re trying
to do but yeah like you got to get to
the point where you can provide value to
your customers if you can’t do that then
you don’t have a business yeah I think
on that if you’ve been to the university
life that’s that’s a great education and
you learn on your way there’s there’s
one thing related to this edgy Evan you
you might by pursuing your dream come
across another idea which is a bigger
idea example again a customer of ours
Johnny Ross basically the biggest
e-retailer of sunglasses that’s what he
really wanted to change and he got
slammed because he got good or penalties
and go from going from the top kind of
Google search on the front page he went
kind of cascading down and it took him
three years and basically of kind of i’m
picking all the algorithms and three
different SEO sort of agencies that he
brought in to try and work his way back
now why am I telling that story his
dream and he start as an entrepreneur
with selling sunglasses what he realized
was through adversity where he had a
business on the top of the world that
kind of collapsed because of google and
the penalties he actually through
adversity used that to his advantage and
now he offers a consultancy for other
businesses how do you get stat ranked in
terms of social media how do you get
really good online presence how do you
optimize your Google profile all these
sort of things
and now he’s running a successful
consulting business so i would say again
take your first step you need to have
the flexibility and agility to be able
to evolve your business idea and you
might find in 10 years time five years
time three years time you might end up
in a different business from where for
you started and if you provided value
real value for your customers your
consumers the audience then that’s no
bad thing you just pursue that value and
pursue the audience yes thanks Ronald’s
asking how do you share your personal
story in a way that is exciting
compelling and leaves the room for
someone to inquire more and be
interested in you um I think it’s a
great question i just think it’s back to
authenticity you know i’ve shared on on
this channel before my personal story
coming from a family of small businesses
dealing with adversity tragedies my
dad’s ill health have to go and get jobs
get my first job understanding the you
know the volatility of a small business
when you have to sell your car you know
you have to downsize your house all
these sort of things i live there and
that gave me a DNA so deep within my
blood around the passion for small
business that now I find myself servant
small businesses through sage but but
the the essence of my personal story
allow me to have our lifelong dream and
I think with with you and how you tell
your story you just kind of connect
yourself back to the essence of what is
it your big idea is what is your passion
and then also find a way not just
rationally and logically to connect that
but bring the emotion in what is it
really gets you at a better you know
whatever time five six seven o’clock in
the morning just absolutely desperate to
change the world and put the flag on top
of the mountain and if you know that and
you can tell it in a way that’s extinct
and compelling I think you’ll get people
you’ll get lots of people who become
evangelists and part of your volunteer
army to really be successful and create
value for the minute in your business
yeah I agree totally I think where your
passion can
from like when you’re excited when
you’re feeling some kind of heightened
emotion then it’s easier to get other
people to feel emotion to if you’re very
monotone and born in telling your story
nobody’s going to write like you’re
gonna start pretty good will sleep so
like doesn’t mean you have to be overly
excited but you want to try to put
yourself back to that point of
frustration or happiness or anger or
whatever it was that led you to start
your business that’s the key part of the
stores if you can feel it like that like
a singer who’s going on and just like me
wrote a song out of crazy heartache and
they’re on stage some people just mail
it in and just singing the words and
others like you listen to adele singing
and like feel the angst and the pain
right and it’s like it that’s what draws
you in so you need to be able to tap
into that every time you tell in your
story and going back to our wedding cake
and in Stevens like gluten free and like
no raisins or whatever you can then
customize your story based off of who
you’re talking to like know your
audience right if Stevens talking to
entrepreneurs he’s going to focus at the
store in message and entrepreneurs if
he’s talking to government he’ll be
focused slightly differently it’s still
like maybe the same vision what he wants
accomplished but everybody has their
self-interest in their path and
understanding who you’re talking to can
help you customize your story to better
reach them I love that I love I love
your idea T I’m thinking that because
then you got ingredients to your story
what’s your story how’s it emotional
what’s the top line what’s the top layer
and then how do you I’m picky and you’re
absolutely right you serve in a diabetic
market gluten free market who you serve
in but the essence of the story is the
same and the foundation of it is a magic
Evan credit to you what you’ve built
through believe you know it is a
movement now and I think credit to you
you’ve stayed very authentic to that but
you can unpick it and you can unpick the
ingredients the emotional ingredients
the Russian all ingredients and all the
elements of how they get a plan and a
dream actually landed in terms of a
business idea
scale we talk this kick analogy so much
somebody has to make this infographic
believe nation rise up let’s create an
infographic around this cake strategy I
want to see it we’re going to share it
we’re bumping up against the clock all
right it’s crazy how quickly time flies
final thoughts words of advice wisdom
for the audience I think I’m Evan on top
layer of the cake I want to see a model
of you and and the Canadian flag only
only if you’re on there with me that’s
it we’re there man we’re there will be
that they’re together we’ll be up there
together and no I think I think thanks
to you guys the questions have been
awesome I think it really has given us
just a platform to share how we really
bring your business and your dreams to
life through a story that connects you
know what your product or service does
but actually connects the heart and the
emotion of you bring your story to life
so not only do you kind of get a one-off
sell but you actually get Raven fanatics
as customers who invest in your story
and invest in you as an individual and
an entrepreneur and will allow you to
scale a business and you know they’ll
tell their friends they’ll be your best
fanatics to tell their friends how good
you are and they’ll turn it you know
you’ll find if you do this right your
story will get replayed and you know
you’ll you’ll be I don’t know your kids
will be at Harvard or Stanford and
they’ll be using you as a case study of
how that story translated itself and I’m
really build a hugely successful
business so I think the essence is as we
said so many times just start and take
that first step and keep authentic to
your story keep that foundation
absolutely together make it sure it’s
really authentic make sure its real make
sure it’s super-clear with social media
if you use that make sure its visual if
you can do I’m compelling and then if
you don’t know how to start just test
drive your story get friends family
communities but most of all make a start
then don’t let your dreams get exploited
by someone else who come
the long and steals your story I love it
I think it’s a great point end on we’ve
been getting just an insane number of
positive comments happening the chat
which is awesome we mentioned the sage
summit I’m going to link that up with in
the description after this goes to
youtube and then Stephen if you if you
want to send me the links of the people
that you’ve mentioned this will link
that up to thank you guys so much for
watching I really appreciate it Stephen
again thank you for the time and i’ll
see you on the next one grab whatever
high five to you buddy thank you very
much thanks everybody thank you