| Friend,
In my last couple of emails we talked about why you need an inspiring mission to fuel you...
...and, we also talked about how that can provide you with a legitimacy and uniqueness that will set you apart from other dojos and instructors.
It's all about how relatable you are - how well people can relate to your story. And whether you realize it or not, we're all hard-wired to relate to each other and the world through story.
Neuroscience tells us that we think in stories, and we communicate in stories. Again, our brains are hard-wired to do this - it's an automatic process.
So if you want people to understand you and relate to you, you need to have a compelling story.
There are many people who are successful, but success does not always engender respect. With that in mind, think about the type of people who are both successful and respected. By and large, those people all have a compelling story.
People like Oprah, Richard Branson, Chuck Norris, the late Steve Jobs, Navy SEAL Marcus Lutrell, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ronda Rousey... these people are all highly successful in their fields, and they all have a highly compelling story.
And although the average person may not be able to relate to their wealth or achievements, they can relate to their struggles and story.
Here's the really good news about this quirk of human nature - you don't need to be famous to use the power of story to gain the admiration and trust of others. You just need to know how to tell your own story, in a way that is clear and authentic.
All skillful selling is based on story-telling. And why is that? It's because relationships are at first built on the stories we tell about ourselves, and also how we interpret the stories others tell about themselves.
Think about the last time you met someone and thought, "Wow, this person really gets me!" They probably had a story that was similar to yours, and you likely had a lot of shared experiences as well.
We connect with others, at least in part, through our shared experiences, and we relate most readily to others who have experiences similar to our own. We say things like, "They're my kind of people" or "they know how it is" when we meet someone who has a story, experiences, and values similar to our own.
Stories allow us to connect with people, even people we just met. That's why it's so important to have an authentic and compelling story to share with the world - it helps them understand you and relate to who you are and where you're coming from.
Tomorrow I'm going to talk about how to tell your story compellingly, and how to use that story to set yourself apart from other dojos and instructors.
But for now, just think about your story and how you've arrived where you are right now. You might even want to take the time to jot it down, because tomorrow we're going to start using that story to make your school stand out from the crowd.
Until next time,
Mike Massie
P.S. - Don't confuse story-telling with lying. People routinely make this mistake, because we often tell children to "stop telling stories" when they are lying. We also say someone is "spinning a yarn" when they are exaggerating or embellishing the facts. But authentic story-telling is merely telling your own story in a way that is relatable and powerful. That is all.
P.S. - Lying and embellishing the facts only serves to weaken your story. If you don't think you have a story that is compelling enough to share, instead of embellishing it do something amazing and then tell that story instead. Better that you wait until you have an amazing story to tell instead of lying and ruining your credibility forever.
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