What’s up people,

Have you noticed all the best creators and entrepreneurs have the ‘perfect’ story?

It’s almost as if they created it.

Well, it’s true.

Your favourite creator has broken down their journey so clearly, they can wrap it up and give it to you like a gift.

You fall in love with their journey and follow them for years.

(Oh and you spend a shit tonne of money on their products too…)

Why?

People buy the story, not the product.

In a sea of sameness, your story is the differentiator.

This is what BLOWS up creators’ content by 500% or more.

I made this change, and it’s had a +500% increase in views, downloads, and engagement.

It works.

I’m going to break down exactly how to structure your story and a format you can follow clearly.

Everyone has a story. You just need to pull it out of you.

With this story, you can build your tribe of loyal followers and continuously increase your engagement.

I recently recorded a podcast with Eric Siu. He’s released over 3000 podcast episodes and scaled several companies to the +$1M/year club.

As we discussed his journey, he even admitted he hadn’t documented some events that happened along the way. This needs to be in front of mind as you develop your content and business.

Structure of Storytelling

The structure provides you with pillars to return to in your content. You can have multiple stories, but it’s important to make this relevant and relatable in your content.

Your story must be real and not fabricated. It’s pretty clear when something is BS and gone past the threshold of original.

“I left my 9-5 in McDonalds and now I’m a 21-year-old crypto millionaire living in Miami. Oh, and you can do it too if you buy my course” sounds pretty familiar…

I like to move viewers through a timeline:

1. Personal Experiences:

These are events relating to your content or business that have had major significance.

Why you started, how you started, early wins, feelings and emotions.

Example: I started with a $60 microphone and a 30-day-money-back guarantee because I genuinely believed I was going to return my microphone. I wanted to record three episodes and if I completely sucked, I would return the mic and not tell anyone about it. 31,528,924 views and 181 episodes later, I’m happy I didn’t turn back.

2. Share Transformations:

Show a sharp contrast between point A and point B.

This can be your total journey from the beginning to right now, or updates you’ve made on the journey.

You don’t need to win every day. It can be minor changes you’ve made along the way.

Example: I used to record podcasts in a small, dark, flat in rainy Dublin during lockdown. Now I record podcasts in world class, beautiful studios in spectacular locations like Bali, Singapore and Dubai.

Create a visual image in the viewer’s mind.

3. Share Challenges:

These are relevant and relatable to your viewer as it’s genuine pain you and the viewer have shared. The journey comprises a handful of problems we all face.

The wisdom comes from the pain.

Example: For years I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I’d record each week not knowing was I was even doing it right. When most people were out having fun, partying, enjoying life, I would stay up until 2AM at weekends, testing different aspects of podcasting. It was only by making these sacrifices I could break through.

4. Share Solutions:

This is how you solved the issue with your time and effort. It positions you as an authority because you did the work. Something people aren’t willing to do anymore.

Example: I spent 1000 straight days doing one thing - podcasting. I solved some pretty rough problems doing the same thing every single day.

Next is the format.

I recently watched Jenny Hoyos on Jay Clouse’s podcast. She’s 18 years old and generated over 600,000.000 views in one year…

So, there’s a lot to learn from her work.

She referenced a simple format that we can combine with our story:

The And-But-Therefore Format

This format adds a twist to your story. It creates tension and suspense in the viewers’ mind, and forces them to close the loop by viewing more.

Traditional stories are events one after another.

This happened AND this happened AND this happened.

Boring…

You want to hook users, build tension and then deliver on that expectation with a twist.

Here’s an example:

I was offered a job in Dubai AND

I was going to make $250,000 a year BUT

I recorded over 100 podcasts with top entrepreneurs AND

I wanted to build my own dream, not someone else THEREFORE

I turned down the job and went all in on my podcast.

(This is a real example, by the way)

Go back to the structure section, walk through this example clearly, and follow the storytelling format.

This works perfectly to build your tribe and drive more engagement.

See you next week internet friends!

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

→Schedule an Introduction Call: Voics is the straightforward podcast agency that creates, markets, and scales your podcast in a “done-for-you” model.

→Podcast Accelerator: Remove the stress, pressure and countless hours of growing a podcast. This comprehensive course will teach you the system I used to grow Kickoff Sessions and record with the sharpest minds in the world.

→Listen to Kickoff Sessions: Learn from 145+ entrepreneurs who have scaled businesses to millions in profit that will help you on your journey.