How sharing your story can make you more successful.

One thing you forget about when you’re growing a business is the power of sharing stories from your past.

I’m talking about what happened during the years leading up to you starting; those wild early days, the struggles, successes and your thoughts and decisions throughout it all.

Today I want to share how you can put these genuine stories to good use inside your company to connect your team and kickstart some growth.

Let's dive in...

You know how you often form a stronger connection with someone once you know their story and understand what they've been through?

It's the same for brands, founders, and leaders as it is for any human on earth.

But most entrepreneurs get tied up in growth and forget to share their rich past. 

I did the same thing for years.

Partly because I move on from the past quickly. 

And partly because you get a bit sick of telling the same story over and over again to every new person you meet.

But I’ve learned that other people rarely get tired of hearing those stories because they aren't hearing it as much as you.

They find it inspiring to listen to your hardships, mental and physical struggles, and journey of overcoming the odds to transform and succeed.

Every time they hear it slightly differently and it connects them because they can relate.

But how does that help you grow your business?

If you’re going to build a company, personal brand, charity organisation or wonderful friendship group, you’ll need to attract people to you like a giant human magnet.

But attracting genuine attention these days is waaaaay harder than you think.

There’s so much noise out there already. 

And the biggest obstacle is trust.

You have to build it with each new person you meet and not assume they already trust you.

The best way I’ve found to establish trust in this low-trust world is through sharing honest, raw, uncut stories about your past with people.

It demonstrates vulnerability at the same time as establishing credibility.

How you felt during hard times, what decisions you made, how you motivated yourself to keep going and what behaviours led to your success are critical details.

When you tell stories the right way you’ll:

Attract people to join your companyAttract clients who share your values
Attract advisors who share your passion
Attract people to join your management team
Attract suppliers who are aligned with your quality
Attract contractors who are aligned with your process
Attract an online audience who can relate to your words

These days, as a leader of a company, attracting people and holding their attention is one of your key responsibilities. 

And telling stories is your secret weapon for making it happen.

Another way I've been exploring this lately is to tell stories that demonstrate our values.

See, most companies (including us) over-distill stories down to single buzzwords.

Creating values is an iterative process that starts with a story and slowly gets refined to a single word.

The problem is, future employees weren't part of that process.

They miss out on the story!

To give you an example, one of our values is: GENEROSITY.

As a word without context, someone has to interpret it and figure out how to act on it within the sandbox of your company.

It's harder than you think in reality.

Instead, I could share a real story about someone being generous which would show them everything about why it's important and how to implement it.

For example:

"Last year, a regular customer came into our city store upset that they'd broken their favourite keep cup that was gifted to them by a previous love. So the team took the initiative to find a replacement. They ended up tracking down the exact same one, purchased it and surprised the regular customer with it when they came in next."

See how that is way more vivid than posting a decal of the word GENEROSITY on your meeting room wall?

It's your job to seek out these stories inside your own company and connect them to the vision and values you're trying to establish.

And when you decide to share them, they’re incredibly motivating and inspiring for everyone who interacts with your company to hear.

Here's a few ways we've shared these stories in the past:

Video - Share your stories in 1-5 minute videos with your employees during the onboarding and training process.

Written - Slip them into your employee handbook, website or quarterly objectives.

Verbally - Share them during annual meetings, events and milestones where you used the same techniques to overcome new challenges recently.

There are dozens of uses for them!

My hope is that you carve out some time to document your rich personal story and begin to share it with others.

Your company, your team and your reputation will be so much better for it.