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The Story Lab
The go-to podcast for business owners and marketers who want to harness the power of storytelling to stand out, connect, and grow their brands using the power of stories.
The Story Lab
Business Storytelling Arsenal | Ep 4
Grab the Free Resource: https://successon.social/sevenstories
Ever find yourself struggling to know which stories to share with your audience? The right story at the right time can transform how people connect with your business, but many entrepreneurs freeze when trying to figure out what narrative to use.
Drawing from years of storytelling expertise, this episode delivers five powerful story frameworks you can immediately implement in your business communication. These aren't just random anecdotes—they're strategic narrative structures proven to build trust and create genuine human connections.
The founder story sits at the heart of your brand, but are you telling it effectively? Most business owners make the critical mistake of sharing a chronological resume instead of focusing on the emotional pivot points and values that truly captivate an audience. We break down how to transform your origin story from boring to brilliant by emphasizing the moments that matter.
Client breakthrough stories demonstrate your impact in the most compelling way possible. Learn the simple yet powerful "sad to happy" framework that showcases transformations while ethically leveraging social proof. The contrast between where clients start and where they finish creates an irresistible narrative that prospects naturally want to experience themselves.
Perhaps most valuable is our deep dive into why sharing failures actually strengthens your authority rather than undermining it. In a digital landscape flooded with curated perfection, your willingness to show resilience through setbacks creates authentic connections impossible to forge through success stories alone. The secret lies not in dwelling on the fall but highlighting the rise that followed.
Take these storytelling frameworks and weave them into your content strategy. Remember that when someone thinks "that's so me" while hearing your story, you've created magic—the kind of recognition that transforms followers into clients and clients into advocates. Your story is the one they'll stay for.
Leave us a review on your favorite podcast app and let us know which of these story frameworks you're implementing in your business!
You're tired or struggling and not sure what story to tell and when. Today I've got five stories that you can always tell in your business, from your founder's story to life moments, things that are always going to work. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and I hope everybody is ready for another episode of the Story Lab, because today we're going to jump into five stories that you can always tell in your business, from your founder's story all the way through to life moments. These are key stories that you can always have in your back pocket. So whenever the moment strikes, you have a story that you can tell. So we're going to start from the top and I'm going to jump right into these five stories so that we can get them out to you and you can go start telling them. So I'm going to share this quick resource so that you guys kind of know. These are seven of the five stories, so there's obviously more than the five, but we're going to go through five of them the the founder story, breakthrough stories, failures and setbacks behind the scenes and life moments. So those are the ones we're going to touch today. I will make this resource available to you in the show notes, so you'll have it, but I just wanted to give you a quick look at it. So these are the stories that we're going to be talking about today.
Speaker 1:The first one is your founder story. This is your origin story. This is how you got to where you are. But what you really want to make sure you're talking about in the story is the narrative you don't want to talk about. You know, once upon a time I did this and then this happened and then this happened. That's boring for people. They don't care about all the different steps that you took to get to where you are. They care about the stories, the narrative, the things that happened that are interesting, that brought you to where you are and why you're doing certain things. Make sure you talk about your passions and how you got to this point, what was the moment that you decided to start your business and what happened after that. That's a good founder story that's going to build trust and show what you're made of, what you believe, your values, and it's going to let them see more of who you are, which is what we want to do with our stories. We want to share who we are. We want them to connect with our stories, and a founder story is a great story to do so.
Speaker 1:The next one and I said I'm going to fly through these, so we're going to move pretty fast, but the next one is breakthrough stories. These are stories that show your client's progress. They show where your client started and where your client got you. And I always talk about this story in the sense that they were sad and now they're happy because this is a breakthrough story. They came to you in a place where they had a problem and then you, with your service, with your product, whatever it is you offer, got them to that place of being happy. And that's powerful, because people want to be happy. That's always our goal.
Speaker 1:Every single business sells happy. So share that story. Share where your client started. Let's say you're a health coach and you're helping a client who started out with their health in a downward spiral. Maybe they had diabetes, maybe they were overweight, they had a problem and through your meal planning and your health coaching, you got them to be at a point where they were happy with who they were, where they were healthy, where the diabetes was gone. Share that, but make sure you focus on the contrast where they started and where they were healthy, where the diabetes was gone. Share that, but make sure you focus on the contrast where they started and where they ended. The more dramatic that contrast, the better it is for your business. So, focusing on that sad to happy story Now, if you can get your client to tell that breakthrough story, that's even more powerful.
Speaker 1:The reason that's even more powerful is because a client to client connection is going to help you because they believe your client. You have a vested interest in selling what you're selling, but your client doesn't. So when you can get your client to tell those breakthrough stories directly, that's even better. All right, now this next one. This next one's hard for people and this next one's hard for people, understandably, but it's so important. And the reason it's important is because people buy people, people they like, know and trust people, that they can connect with people that show up as a human.
Speaker 1:And this is that's why this story is so powerful, because failures and setbacks are real, why this story is so powerful. Because failures and setbacks are real. The things that you went through, the moments that things didn't quite work, those are the moments where you learn the most. Those are the moments you should be sharing so that people can connect to you on that human to human level. Because guess what? We all know? Shit ain't perfect. We know it. And anybody that pretends, especially in the coaching industry, that shit was perfect for them, everything went according to plan, we know is a lie, because everything doesn't go according to plan. Everything isn't perfect. So share the setbacks, share the failures. No, it doesn't undermine your expertise. It shows you as a human.
Speaker 1:Don't just say, oh my God, my launch failed, because, yes, that's a failure and a setback, but share what you did to get over that, what you did to overcome that downfall, what you did to stand up and keep going. That's what people want to see. It doesn't matter that you fell, that's not the important thing. How you stood up and kept going is the important thing people want to see. It doesn't matter that you fell, that's not the important thing. How you stood up and kept going is the important thing. Tell that story, share this happened. You fell and something wasn't right. Maybe you cried that night that your launch was a huge failure, but the next day you got up and you plan for your next launch. Or the next day you got up and you tweaked your current launch and made an offer for a class and got people to buy from it. How you got back up is the important thing in that story, because it makes you human. So that's number three, and we're going to continue on this human thing and we're going to go into number four.
Speaker 1:And number four is the behind the scenes. It's the stuff that really happens in your business. It's showing the messy. It's showing that. I'm recording this podcast on either side of me I got pages of notes from this podcast, from the last podcast. It's showing things that are really happening in your life. Why? Because the messy is interesting, because the things that aren't perfect is interesting. Again, it makes you human and we should all be showing up as humans. That's what we want.
Speaker 1:Your audience wants to see the real you. Everybody loves that peek behind the curtain. So share, maybe, how you put a product together. Share what you do to get ready for a podcast. Share how you prepared for your launch. Share things like that because people want to see that, they want to know, they want to see and compare themselves to you. Maybe they want to feel a little bit better about themselves. Whatever it is, behind thethe-scenes content connects. So share that behind-the-scenes content. Make it feel real. Your business is real to you. It should feel real to your audience. You should be that person behind the scenes that is doing the business. Okay, and the last one, and this one's fun to play with.
Speaker 1:Actually, it can be a lot of different things. I know I've told the story of my nephew giving me a birthday card a couple years ago when he was just so excited and everything was perfect about this card because he had done it, and I wanted my clients to feel that way whenever they created anything, my clients to feel that way whenever they created anything. So I shared that story and I tied it back to how I wanted my clients to feel that their creation was worthy, because my three-year-old nephew could see nothing wrong with his card, because it was perfect, because he made it. So I want you guys to feel that way, so I shared that story. I also shared a story of my dogs throwing ice at me. Not exactly, but I got hit in the head with a piece of ice. My dog kicked it and I shared that story as a way to say that you need to start your stories from where the excitement happens. So I could have said I was walking my dogs and I was doing this. No, I started the story from. I was walking, I got hit in the side of the head with a piece of ice. I didn't know where it came from. I looked around trying to figure it out. But see, I started walking my dogs earlier during the day and you know, it was icy out. It was probably about minus 30 degrees. We were freezing. My dogs don't like the ice either. All that stuff.
Speaker 1:That's an everyday story that happens to anybody. Anybody can walk their dogs. Guess what? When you tell that story, anybody who's walked their dogs connects with it. Anybody who's been hit in the side of the head with a piece of ice they didn't know where it came from. They connect with it. Maybe they haven't had that.
Speaker 1:Whatever it is you're telling, it's a real human story. It's something that happens in your life and it's something that they connect with and it's something that they can go. Oh my God, that's so me. And when that oh my God, that's so me happens, so me. And when that oh my God, that's so me happens, believe it or not, that's magic, because you've got them. They feel connected to you, they feel seen. And that's the power of stories Stories can make people feel seen, connected to that person, and when you do that, they're more likely to continue following you, trusting you and eventually buying from you.
Speaker 1:Stories have incredible power. So these five stories, in any form, are powerful stories. They're powerful stories you can tell to connect with people. They're powerful stories you can tell to show client transformation you're able to achieve. They're powerful stories you can tell that show that you're a human and things don't always go according to plan. You can share behind the scenes and you can share those life moments that actually make a difference and will connect you with your audience and make them feel seen. So those are five stories you can tell in your business.
Speaker 1:I am going to provide that reference in the show notes, but I want you to do something for me, if you haven't already. Head on over to your favorite podcasting app, wherever you listen to this podcast, and give us a rating and review us, if you can. Reviews always help podcasts and I want to know what you think of what we're doing so that I can make it better for you. I look forward to seeing you on the next Story Lab and remember your story is the one they stay. This is your time to brighten up the never. You've got something to say.
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