Small Business Content Series: Creating Your Story
In the last post we talked about why we're creating content and more so how a story can help us frame that content. Just like if you're building a house - you don't just start on one wall, put the lumber up and then put the drywall up and start the next. We've got to build up the structure of the whole house and then start building out the walls, insulating and so on.
I want you to think of a story and the content you're going to create around it like that. This is how we are going to approach it.
Social Capital and Connecting With Stories
2020 has been tough, everything that we knew is turned on its head and as a result, social capital has diminished. Social capital being this idea of people being together, interacting with each other, learning from each other. Social capital was diminishing before the pandemic with technology, with social media and gaming online, everybody being on a device. Now we're purposely distancing ourselves, we stand on stickers on the floor so we stay away from one another.
It's very rigid, right? So now the challenge is, how do we connect as the business owner, a steward of the business, in order to convince these people that they want to do business with us?
It's not easy. The first thing you have to understand is that people connect with stories. The concept of story and storytelling has been around for as long as humans have been around from hieroglyphs to sitting around the table and reading religious scripts - they're all stories.
We can remember something better when someone tells us an anecdote. If you’ve ever come to my virtual classes you'll notice I don't just sit there and read off stats I'm telling stories so that you can remember things of bringing real life examples into it. That's on purpose, because I want you to remember the stories and see how those stories can actually have an effect on your business. If you were to put into practice the same thing that these stories are doing.
So stories are as important. When we're talking about our business we really have to focus on the story. What made us start? Where are we? Where do we want to be? And that's where I've developed a framework. And it's based on something I've borrowed from the late, great NCAA basketball coach, Jimmy Valvano. There was one speech of his that really stuck with me. In that speech, Jimmy Valvano said, there are three things that I always remind myself of and always check myself with: where I was, where I am, and where I'm going.
Knowing that it's so difficult to create a story about yourself, about your business, I want you to think in that framework.
Where I Was
So, number one, where were you? What's your origin story? Why are you doing what you're doing? What made you start? Was it a family business? It was passed down to you - so now the responsibility of continuing the legacy is on you? Did you find yourself in a situation where you needed to create a business, you needed to innovate or make sure that you are providing for your family? Or is it because of something really powerful happening to you, something traumatic? For instance, you see people who have suffered from disease and all of a sudden they become doctors. They can help others.
That is a real situation and a fascinating story. Not long ago I met a woman through my classes and we started talking and she told me that one day years ago, she picked up the phone, literally just answered a phone call, and hackers had taken over her phone. As a result, her identity was stolen. They destroyed her life. And as a result, she dedicated herself to learning about I.T. security. And she's become an expert on that topic and now coaches and teaches others how to keep themselves safe. I mean, that's an origin story if I've ever heard one. Right. So there has to be some reason that you started the business and people want to know why. People want to know why you want to sell your product or service to them and if you're passionate about it, if you actually care about how that product or service is going to serve them.
Where I Am
Now, after that, we need to know where we are. What are we doing right now? Do we have a team under us? Have we grown the business? Do we have multiple locations? Are we selling online? What have we done from where we started? What kind of progress have we made?
Where I’m Going
Finally, where do we want to go? Where do we want to take this? If you’ve ever built out a business plan, one of the components would have been your mission statement and or your vision statement. And your mission statement is something it's what you want to accomplish through your business.
What are you trying to do? How many people do you want to help? How do you want to help them? Do you have a goal? Do you have something that you're trying to accomplish with the business or are you trying to help a certain amount of people? Are you trying to make them feel better to transform their lives?
Final Thoughts
I want you to think about where you were, what your origin story is, where you are right now and where you want to be. Iit could be in six months, a year, five years. Where do you want to be with your business and how do you want to drive value to your customers and clients? How are you going to increase their quality of life with your product or service?
I'm going to leave it at that, we'll do our next post and we'll talk about how to take this story and create content.