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Bring On The Storytellers

I can remember as a child while attending school, the term storyteller was attributed to people who lied. These liars would try and convince (or rather manipulate) you into believing whatever they would pass off as the truth.  I’m sure you knew a few classmates like this yourself. Heck, you may even be friends with them on Facebook at this point in time!

But there is a small group of storytellers that can tell a story where people (fans) hang on every word they write. These storytellers are not trying to get the best of anyone (well not in the literal sense, anyway). They live for the story.  They get joy by transforming words into pure magic in a way that makes us all gasp or cry or laugh. These are the true storytellers. Their stories will will bring us to new places, can ruffle our proverbial feathers, for which we will pay big bucks for their stories.

If you are good at telling stories, I have some great news – you have what it takes to survive in the 21st century! You will be able to earn a living, and if you do it right, quite a comfortable one at that!

Why Storytelling is Great

If you can tell a story and people are aware that it’s a story and not just some lie, you’re sitting on the Golden Goose.  I do have a point to all this which I will get to later. But first,

Have You Ever Seen the Television Show, “Once Upon a Time”?

If you have never seen the show, it means one or more of the following:

If you haven’t seen the show, look it up online to get information about it. If you don’t have internet access, how the heck are you reading this article? Just kidding (sort of).

To give a very brief summary of the show, the characters involved are taken from stories that many of us heard about as children.  Rumplestiltskin, Snow White, Prince Charming, etc., they are all familiar to us.

What’s brilliant about the show is that the writers took stories we are all familiar with and tied them together to form a cacophony of stories, or rather one main storyline with subplots of familiar stories. I know I already stated that this show is brilliant but THIS SHOW IS BRILLIANT!

This article is not about the brilliance that I hold towards the show. It’s really about the impact of storytelling and how it can have a major impact on people!​ I really will get to my point soon. I Promise!

​Storytelling – It’s the new black!

Okay, all subheading cliche’s aside, storytelling has been around for a long time and is still very much in vogue. But the point is, it can be used in other areas of our lives that we wouldn’t normally consider. I’ll explain by way of example.

Suppose you were trying to sell people on becoming an author as just one example. What you are trying to sell is coaching sessions on how to publish a book.​ If you can capture emails from potential prospects, than you can give that list small, but useful tips about the publishing business.  So as a short term goal, you need to capture emails of potential clients that you feel could benefit from your coaching. Getting people on any email list is a big marketing goal for many, but this task has become increasingly difficult to do.

You have identified your task as getting as many people as you can on your email list so you can give them teaser information about writing, publishing, the industry, etc., in the hope that you can get them to pay for your coaching sessions. Great! That is a worthy goal! But since I have already stated that the task of getting people to sign up for your list is much more difficult, you need to figure out a way to accomplish this daunting task.

I have created the following two scenarios to show you two different ways that you can use to get people onto your email list. Following the scenarios, I will describe how these scenarios fit (or don’t in one case) into the whole concept of storytelling. By the way, Scenario 1 is completely true while scenario 2 is completely made up.

Which Scenario Resonates Stronger With You?

Scenario 1

My name is Jim. I am an author and a writer. I wrote six books (and have more in the pipeline, ready to be published) and I can help you write books too. Just leave me your email and I will get back to you about how I can transform your life for the better through publishing.

{Display some kind of email sign up form here}​

Even if you’ve never written a book before, I can help you get over that hurdle and bring you to a place where you will feel confident in writing your book. Look, I know your struggles. You don’t want to be “Working for the man” for the rest of your life!  Break away from all of that. I can give you the lifestyle you deserve. I can turn you into a writing superstar!

— End of Scenario 1 –​

Scenario 2

This is the story about Jim. He’s a writer. Jim had been struggling with how to come up with that next great concept for his new book.​ His publisher gave him an advance based on his previous bestseller, but Jim has spent most of that money and doesn’t have much left. He always thought it would be easy to come up with a great new bestselling book at the time he got that advance. After all, he already wrote a bestseller, for goodness sake!

But ideas were just not coming to him. If only he would have listened to his wife before spending all of that money…

​”Show me your next money maker, Jim.”, Daniel asks. Daniel is Jim’s publisher.

Jim was unsure how to respond. His mind had been blank for weeks. He had often heard about that infamous writer’s block, but he never believed it would actually happen to him.

Jim knew he should have called Daniel earlier and let him know of his struggles. But publishers don’t seem to give a shit about anything these days. It’s all about the money, Jim thought.

“Well, ah, I ​know I should have more to offer you, Daniel. But the truth is I am in a bit of a rut…”, says a hesitant Jim.

The silence was deafening.​ After what seemed like an eternity, Daniel finally spoke.  Jim knew what was about to come out of Daniel’s mouth next was not going to be easy for Jim to take.

“Listen, Jim. You were completely aware when you took this deal that you needed to produce three more best sellers. And you were given a set amount of time to do it, along with that huge payout, I might add!” Daniel’s tone was measured but stern.

— End of Scenario 2 –​

Which Scenario Resonated Stronger With You?

I am fairly certain you chose scenario 2. Who knows? Maybe you like sales pitches. In which case, knock yourself out! Choose Scenario 1.

But Scenario 2 Isn’t a Sales Pitch? Why is This Better?

The great aspect of storytelling is that you can go anywhere you want with it. Imagine after reading Scenario 2, I wrote something like the following:

What would you do if you were in Jim’s position? Can you think of a way he could have handled it differently? Perhaps if he had some kind of technique that broke him free of writer’s block, Jim would be in a much better position. How different would the outcome for Jim be then? Give us your thoughts here:

{Put some kind of Sign Up Form Here with a field for comments}​

Please be aware that if you really want to be in a better position than Jim was, you’ll need to provide us with a valid email. This will enable us to send you some great writing and publishing tips that will help you avoid falling into the same traps that Jim fell into.​

So What’s The Difference?

The HUGE difference is that Scenario 2 connected with your emotions. You suddenly know somebody named Jim who is in a sticky situation. It makes you think about how you can 1) try to help someone like Jim and 2) how a solution is being offered (in a subtle way) which can help not only Jim, but anyone that is looking to publish.

Storytelling is a great way to connect with your readers. It doesn’t matter if those readers go to your website, your book, or what have you. If you are good at storytelling than you need to get busy writing stories.

But ever iIf you are not good at storytelling, there is a glimmer of hope. You still can learn everything you need with my step-by-step tutorial on what it takes to become a great storyteller.

​After You Write Your Story, You Need To Have a Place to Publish It!

​ Obviously, simply writing a story is not enough. You have to get it out there with exposure to the masses. This requires a bit of skill and finesse because there are a lot of choices and people can get this wrong. You hear everyone talking about making a blog or some other means of publication. That’s not necessarily bad advice but once you have a blog, then what?

I have learned the correct way to set up my blog from the techniques taught to me by Wealthy Affiliate. They have a complete training program that not only shows you how to go about structuring the framework of your blog, but they teach you how to write quality content as well as teaching you how to promote your blog. Read more about it from the review that I wrote here:​

https://getpaidbootcamp.com/wealthy-affiliate-evaluation