Your Signature Story

Posted on by Jennifer Henczel

Paul and Jennifer Henczel share with you how to prepare your story for a talk or podcast interview using their STORY – TEACH – TOOL model. As promised, download the “Your Signature Story” workbook that goes with this episode Get our framework for attracting your ideal audience.

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The Inspiring Show

Stories help to draw people in and build a connection with your listeners and clients. Stories are what I call connection magic!

Have you ever heard a great storyteller, and told yourself you wanted to do that? To be able to keep people on the edge of their seats? But maybe you thought you don’t have a good story. Something that you might not think is good, could be exciting to someone else… Others see your story from a different perspective. You have no idea who you can help with your story, and you really won’t know unless you share what you have to say.

I also want to dispel the myth that you have to be naturally social or outgoing to share your story. You don’t… you just have to be passionate in what you do, and who you are.

Story

We’ve identified 3 story themes that we’re looking for to feature on The Inspiring Show podcast. You can also use these to clarify your story for a talk, book or interview:

Any talk is better with a good STORY. I want to tell you about the 3 themes that we’ve identified, and that we will be featuring in this podcast. These follow the hero’s journey:

The first one is Overcoming Adversity. Like my story. Moving from tragedy to triumph is the focus of the “Overcoming Adversity” story. The stories of struggles and challenges are the stories that need to be told, be honest about your obstacles and how you overcame adversity. Making the decision to overcome shows the hope and possibilities in a situation. Even when things seem lost, change happens that can make life even better and more fulfilling.

This story immediately rings true for the listener, because they are authentic. Everyone experiences obstacles and loss, they are a part of life. Hearing how others have risen above is inspirational, and reminds us that we are not alone, because everyone can relate to experiencing challenges. The situations we have gone through to get here may be different, but there are similarities in each of our stories that we can draw from. You have no idea who you can help with your story.

The next one is Astounding Achievement – In the “Astounding Achievement” story, you have experienced success. At the core of every achievement, there is an awareness of the difficulties that are present, and having the confidence, persistence, and patience to realize your goals.

With this story, you may have tried something and failed. However, you learned from what went wrong, and that experience taught you the right way. You might have lost something, but then came out gaining even more.

Perhaps, somewhere along the way, you discovered your vision or a key idea that led to your success or achievement.

The last story theme I want to mention is Amazing Adventure – The “Amazing Adventure” story includes an exciting or unusual experience. It may also be bold, involves some risk, and has an uncertain outcome.

For some people, adventure leads to amazing feats of mental or physical strength, endurance, or creativity. This ‘adventure’ may have resulted in a discovery that inspired you to develop a particular product or service. Adventures can be major life undertakings that led to an ‘Ah-ha’ moment.

This is a story that may include venturing away from home geographically, or outside your comfort zone psychologically. Adventurous stories are exhilarating for the listener and can make us feel a part of something bigger.

Teach

Stories will help establish your expertise… on a subject, and as a leader.

There are two ways to share your knowledge: 1.) You can push the information out, or 2.) you can pull people in with a story. I encourage and challenge you to be creative, incorporate different forms of story into your learning.

Here are a few ways you can bring INSPIRATION to your stories and teaching points:

Be You – Be original… share from your own true experiences. Inspiration comes from you, your stories, and how you frame things. Be passionate in who you are, and what you do!
Be Vulnerable – Vulnerability shows you are real and authentic. Also, use emotion in your story.
Be a Model – a good example, someone worth emulating.
Be Positive – This is the primary goal. Being positive inspires positivity in others.
Be Encouraging – Encouragement fosters confidence! Be caring, ask questions, and take an interest in people. Inspire others to see a new change in themselves.

When teaching others, be engaging and participatory. Also, incorporate the different learning styles into your learning; Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. Knowing your audience and understanding their mindset can also help you to be more engaging. Here are some questions you can ask to reveal this information:

What problems or challenges does your audience face?
What motivates them?
What are their beliefs and ideas?

Also consider, what level of knowledge do they have? Take a look at the Bloom’s Taxonomy model to identify where your learners are at and what types of materials to create for them. It can help guide you in creating your learning points. Think of it like walking up stairs and each level is a new, more advanced level of learning understanding. We’re not diving in too deep on this today, but watch for future episodes. in the meantime, here are a few different ways to view this model:

Inspirational stories follow the conflict-to-resolution plot arc, which is always inspiring to the listener. Metaphors are another great way to bring variety to a topic. In future podcasts, we’ll dive into other story types of stories like metaphors, humor, and manifestos, to enhance your stories and learning points. But, for now, let’s move onto the third part, tool.

Tool

Thanks for listening and supporting us in this venture of changing the world, one inspiring story at a time.

This section includes any tools, resources, gifts, and soft offerings.

Remember, it’s about leaving people wanting more. If your stories and teachings are compelling, then the audience will want to connect with you further. You need to have a very clear and concrete way for people to get to know you more.

You need to offer something to entice them onto your list or into your group. For example, you can offer a gift, like a complimentary download, such as:

A worksheet, template, checklist, guide, report, a webinar, a mini-course, a challenge, or a discovery call… Paul even gives away a digital copy of his book for some audiences.

All of these things should be set up as lead generators so you can grow a relationship with your audience.

For podcasts and talks, you should offer free or low cost gifts like these. Then, as people become part of your community, you can offer your higher ticket products or programs.

Conciseness

Focus on one thing in your talk and in your interview application. One topic. You might have 3 – 5 points in that topic, but don’t offer several topics. You’ll get better results. If you have too many things, your message will be diluted and it’s not understandable.

What’s the top thing you’re an expert in?

It’s important to keep your stories simple for your listener. Be CONCISE!

Use shorter sentences – 10-13 words
Use shorter words – don’t use a 3 or 4 syllable word when you can use one with two syllables
Keep your audience compelled and engaged. They do not need to hear every detail, just the most important ones