Once upon a time, there was a little girl who used to love dressing up in her mother’s jewellery and high heels, getting into her makeup kit, painting her sister’s face with said makeup, hanging out with her older cousin who had the latest in fashion and a zig-zag perm, and going shopping.
She loved shopping so much she would squeal with excitement. She was three and it was already one of her favourite past-times. One day, on the way to the shops, she was misbehaving. Her mother warned if she “didn’t cut it out” there would be no shopping. She continued to be naughty, so her mother turned that car around and they went home. There was no shopping that day, but there was an almighty performance, followed by bellowing from this small child that could have lifted the roof off every house in the street.
She also loved to write and draw and penned her first book when she was just four years old. She enjoyed being read to but not so much reading, loved English at school, and went on to have a wonderful career as a writer.
That little girl was (and still is) me.
When all things beautiful and writing come together it makes my heart do a little dance. So when I received this feedback from a client after a one-on-one consult, it brought tears to my eyes.
You really have no idea how impactful your words can be. You’re not just another small business owner, or a coach, or a consultant. You are an online content writer and you have a space and many platforms to share your voice and more people need to hear from you.
Ready to read one of the stories you must share?
I’d love to share it with you.
You have played a BIG role in my motivation. You make it (online content writing) sound easy and doable for someone that doesn’t find writing easy.
One thing that you said keeps resonating is you are only limited by your imagination. My self-esteem has been shot lately (always been an issue really!) but you helped the other day. I think I care too much with what people will think of me so I limit myself too much. How I talk, how I write, what I wear, etc., which really stuffs up the self-esteem even more!
You told me to be myself and write that way. I like helping people and write how I speak. So that is what I’m going to do. Be myself. This is already helping. People at work think I have some great ideas for the company/website. The website is already looking better *happy dance*. Only problem is…now I can’t sleep as I have sooo many ideas flooding my mind again on what to do.
It’s like you have triggered something in my brain and it’s exploding with goodness. You are giving a wealth of knowledge and not holding back to help others get somewhere. I think there are too many people around these days that won’t help or offer advice because they think you will steal their thunder or something. Even if you teach all your “secrets” people will put their own spin on things and that shouldn’t affect your business anyway!
Anyway, this is all of what you told me. SO THANK YOU!”
This woman totally melted my heart, when I first started out I had no idea this is how people could feel after listening to me (babble on about content and copy). You have this superpower too!
The 5 epic stories you must share now!
- CLIENT STORIES
This is just one story you need to share – your client stories and feedback. You can share them in a blog like this or just on their own as a social post. But they will have more meaning and impact if you give them some context.
- IMAGINE IF STORY
The “imagine if” story. This is where you paint a picture of the future to show your target audience how their life, business, health, wealth, etc could be if they followed your methods. Use your imagination for this one and really dive deep into what could happen. Show them what is happening with your clients now.
- SHOCK FACTOR STORY
Journalists do this all the time – but you don’t want to turn it into that “click bait” business owner. If you’ve got something shocking to share, write it and post it!
It’s been reported that “Social scientists believe that shocking content actually increases attention and helps the reader retain the message better. When compared with content that is ‘run of the mill’, content with shock value does impact the target audience far more effectively.” (Source: Go Dot Media)
- FEEL IT STORY
Can you feel it, can you feel it, can you feel it?! Amen to The Jacksons for that awesome song! Have you ever thought about writing a story that touches the senses? Not just the imagination like the “imagine if” story, but one that actually made people feel something? You can do this a number of ways – but in this story you can get to be really descriptive!
When I ran face-to-face workshops I would use an example of a coffee shop client. Now instead of writing they just sold coffees and the different types of coffee they made, what if they actually wrote about how the coffee smelled and described how you would feel when you dropped in for a cup? People who love coffee would LOVE to read this and probably go out for a coffee straight away!
And what about the power of the lemon?
For this experiment you need to picture what you are doing in you mind:
- Just imagine you have been given a lemon, a big juicy yellow one.
- Hold it and feel the texture, as you smell it, it gives off that unique citrus aroma.
- As you begin to cut the lemon with a sharp knife you notice the juice coming out of the sides and dripping down the lemons side
- As you cut again into quarters and put a piece in your mouth and take a nice juicy bite.
- Now take note of the experience in your mouth.
Now, I can’t take credit for that story – I found it here. However, I first heard it when I was listening to Marissa Peer.
So did your mouth water? The power of the written word! Imagine if your stories could do that to your readers! Wow!
5. YOUR STORY
How did you get started? When did you know what you were doing was your passion? When was the exact moment you knew you were on the right path?
I decided journalism was my chosen path when I was about 14 – by accident really.
We were living in a small country town out west, in Roma, Qld, and as part of career studies I had to do a bout of work experience.
I really wanted to do radio hosting, I have no idea why, but to a 14-year-old it was going to be a high-flying career full of glitz and glamour. Either that, or becoming the next Miranda Kerr…who had only just been discovered.
Well, I sure as eggs did not become the next Miranda and I didn’t get the radio posting. We had to write down 3 places for work experience … My second was Just Jeans because I loved fashion and I wanted the 20% discount on some denim shorts I desperately wanted. But I didn’t get that either.
I got my third option, journalism at the Western Star newspaper.
I was bitterly disappointed.
That is, until I got my first story published and had my name thrust on to the 7500-odd people in the town. It was certainly no Miranda moment, but to me it was my name in lights and I was sold!
This was my week of glitz and glamour – and I loved it and never looked back. I’ve been writing ever since.
Ready to learn how to write better content more confidently?
Would you like to get into better writing habits and write online content that actually works? Like, it really gets you the results you desire? Of course you do!
If your content is mediocre, boring, pushy, too salesy, or non-existent (I think I’ve covered everything there!) due to:
– No time to write.
– Lack of experience or no writing skills.
– Scared to put yourself out there.
– You’re just starting or getting back into it.
– Past strategies aren’t working any more.
OR
– Doing your washing… or any other procrastination tactic you have up your sleeve?You can rest easier now … and learn to fuel your business with amazing copy and I’m covering how to write confidently in my latest training here.
