All About Podcasting With Phyllis Nichols

business Sep 06, 2019
 

Have you ever thought of starting a Podcast? Do you think you've missed the boat and it's too late to get in on that wave of business-building momentum???

Follow along as I chat with Phyllis Stubblefield Nichols from SoundAdvice Sales and Marketing.

Phyllis has been helping Podcasters launch and market their podcasts with amazing results -- and she's filling us in on the power that STILL exists in podcasting -- even if you have a small audience and are starting from scratch!! 

Tune in to this FB live interview!

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The Secret Weapon I Use to Help me GROW

business Sep 03, 2019
 

Listen to our daily blog-casts on Amazon. Enable our "What's Your Story" daily flash briefing and listen using your Alexa device!

I have a secret weapon in my business and it's been a GAME CHANGER in how I operate, how I think, how I attack my goals, and how I lead as a CEO of my business.... and it's even had a dramatic effect on my personal life.

Can you guess what it is?  

ACCOUNTABILITY  

With everything I do, there is accountability built in.

3 years ago, I started a weekly accountability call with Alexandra Taketa.

We meet every Wednesday via Zoom and we discuss everything going on in our business, in our lives, and in our minds. ('cause it's never just about business, y'all)  

EVERY. SINGLE. WEDNESDAY!

Why? Because we both have seen what a dramatic difference this has made in our businesses and in our personal lives.... and it's highly important to us to keep this going! 

We help each other bust through fear, set big bodacious goals, build...

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The Importance of Testimonials to your Brand Story

 

Listen to our daily blog-casts on Amazon. Enable our "What's Your Story" daily flash briefing and listen using your Alexa device!

Do you actively seek out Testimonials for your business and brand? Let’s talk about Testimonials and why you need them.

The number one reason why brand stories fall flat is because there is no human connection with the story being told.
Far too many brands today are focused on their products and services rather than the emotional benefits. Companies are too buttoned up. It's time to drop the corporate veil and start sharing stories through the lens of a human being.

People can't see themselves reflected in a story of a faceless organization.

This is why testimonials, and stories of real-life humans is so valuable to your business.

Great emotional brand storytelling must be told by real people -- and it's going to be especially effective if those people are the closest to the front lines in your business.

A customer
A passionate Employee
A dedicated...

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How to Open a Curiosity Loop with Your Story

 

Listen to our daily blog-casts on Amazon. Enable our "What's Your Story" daily flash briefing and listen using your Alexa device!

I know this happens to you — You go to a networking event, or you meet someone new, and they ask you the simple question: What do you do?
And suddenly, you feel unprepared! It’s like all of a sudden what you do for a living has to fit into this tiny capsule. And it seems no matter how you answer the question, it never feels adequate… and it certainly doesn’t spark conversation.

Here’s the deal — these moments aren’t about selling yourself…. they are about piquing the curiosity in others.

How can you answer that question in a way that will make the person who’s asking want to know more??

The one thing you don't want to do is to answer them in a predictable way.... "I sell insurance" or "I am a nurse" or " I'm with a networking marketing company that sells essential oils"

BOR-ING!

Instead you want to...

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You Can Be Like Debi

 

Listen to our daily blog-casts on Amazon. Enable our "What's Your Story" daily flash briefing and listen using your Alexa device! 

Every Monday I share a photo in my online community for the members there to practice their own storytelling skills using the photo as a visual trigger.

I want to share with you an example of how one of the Community Member’s used this prompt recently.

The photo was a winter wonderland scene where the entire landscape was covered in beautiful white snow, except for one tree, that was sticking out in the middle of the photo — a beautiful red Japanese maple tree — the contrast between the bright red leaves against the all white landscape is what made photo interesting.

One of the women in my community later shared how she’d taken that photo and written an entire post for her LinkedIn Profile.

Debi is an accountant, who has her own business helping other small business owners with their accounting and bookkeeping needs.

She...
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An Interview with Sarah Harmeyer

 

Last week on the blog & Alexa Flash Briefing, I shared the story of Neighbor's Table after having heard about their organization through my Pastor. He shared their mission in one of his sermons as he preached on the Commandment of "Love Thy Neighbor".

I was so taken with Sarah's story, I left church that day and googled her and her 'love mission'.

I quickly shot off an impromptu email, gushing about how much I admired her story, and requesting an interview. 

I knew I would be in the Dallas area the following weekend, would it be possible to stop by and chat with her.... at the table?

As luck would have it, Sarah was available and said YES to my interview request. 

I stopped by her house in downtown Dallas, and after a quick welcome and introduction, we stepped into her backyard to sit down for this Facebook Live interview. 

What unfolded was nothing short of magical and inspiring.

Sarah shared how her entire business is founded on the power of Storytelling, and to this...

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The Emotion of Storytelling

 

Listen to our daily blog-casts on Amazon. Enable our "What's Your Story" daily flash briefing and listen using your Alexa device! 


There is a Key ingredient of storytelling we need to talk about. Emotion.

If you want to use your story to build your business, your brand, your influence, or have a greater impact … you’ve got to do one thing: Make people feel something!

Stories that make us feel something, make us take action with our money!!

Yet all too often, we leave this piece of the puzzle out …. and then wonder why our stories aren’t connecting with our audience. 

You have to use emotional language to spark a feeling….to get your audience to sit up in their chair and take notice.

We can add emotion into our stories in a variety of ways.

VIDEO — Video is one of the most powerful tools of visual storytelling because you can add in so many subliminal elements like music and graphics that aid in the story telling.

PICTURES...

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The Good News about Marketing

 

Listen to our blog-casts through Amazon on your Alexa device. Subscribe to our daily Flash Briefing called, "What's Your Story?" 

I listened to an awesome podcast yesterday that has me still thinking about all of the wisdom nuggets that were shared, and especially how they relate to business owners and how they show up for their audience.

The podcast was Jen Lehner’s The Front Row Podcast for Entrepreneurs
and she was interviewing Seth Godin all about his newest book called This Is Marketing.

Let me tell you why I loved it so much.

As business owners, or anyone who has a message they want to get out into the world — authors, healers, coaches, entrepreneurs, network marketers… the list goes one — I think we can all agree that trying to figure out the best way to share your message and engage with your audience is something that can keep you up at night.

Let’s face it — we’ve got all the Guru’s in our industry telling us to...

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Storytelling Can Sell Your House

 

Listen to our blog-casts through Amazon on your Alexa device. Subscribe to "What's Your Story" daily Flash Briefing

Just before my first child was born, my husband and I were shopping for a new house. We had just moved to a new town, and knew we needed to look for a home that was going to be suitable for raising a family.

We looked at a lot of houses….. week after week, our agent would set up appointments and we traveled all over town looking for something that ticked all of our boxes.

We had a certain number of bedrooms we wanted.
We had a price range.
We had school districts to consider
We wanted to be close to my husband’s work.

Each of the items on our wish list were easily searchable in the local MLS — and each week, our realtor showed us houses that ticked off all of our required boxes —

One day, after exhausting our search, she says to me,  “You know what? We’re just going to drive around and you tell me when you see a house...

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Your Business is a Mountain

 

I want you to imagine a Mountain-- picture in your head the landscape of this mountain, and imagine what it might look like if you were looking at this mountain from afar. You’d see the base, the peak, and the other side.

The mountain is an image I use in all of my storytelling classes to help people understand their own story, and how to craft their message in a powerful way.

This applies to all great storytelling — for businesses, for people, for analysis of politics — everything.

Here’s how this mountain relates to storytelling.

What makes up a great story is the element of transformation. When people tell stories without this ingredient, the stories fall flat and are very boring. Think of a movie script — can you imagine watching a movie without experiencing the buildup to the climax? It would be a disaster.

For my illustration today, I’m going to use a business as an example — because I think too many businesses overlook the...

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