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October 6, 2025 12 mins

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We break down seven essentials of business storytelling—from purpose and tension to transformation and a clear call to action—so you can craft stories people remember and act on. We keep it tight, practical, and focused on moving listeners from problem to decision.

• defining the purpose of your story and desired action
• making it personal while staying relevant to your offer
• opening with tension and clear stakes
• using specific details to spark emotion
• showing the client transformation from dark to light
• connecting your experience to their current pain
• cutting fluff to keep stories tight and persuasive
• ending with a strong, explicit call to action

Be sure to comment story on this podcast and let me know that you're interested in jumping into the story lab

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
You know, as a business, you have so many

(00:02):
amazing stories you can tell.
But what are some of the keyfeatures?
What are the few things that youneed in order to have a really
successful story?
Imagine this.
You walk up to the microphone,and you start to get ready to
tell your story, and you realizeit's gone.
You don't have any recollectionof it.
And you're there in front ofeverybody, feeling vulnerable

(00:27):
and open.
So you sit down in front of thepodium and you start to ramble.
And some places there your storycomes out, but what do you need
to have a really good story?
What are the key aspects of astrong business story?
Not a rambling story that justgoes on and on and on, that has

(00:47):
no point, that doesn't connectwith your audience.
What do you need to have areally, really good story?
That's what we're going to talkabout today.

(01:12):
Good morning, good afternoon,good evening, everybody.
Thank you for joining me here inthe Story Lab, the place where
we make your story the one theyremember.
Now, we're going to talk aboutthe seven things you need in a
business story to make it onethey remember.
So we're going to really jumpinto the key things.
Now, I'm going to I'm just goingto start going because you need

(01:32):
all these things, and there's alot of them, and I'd like to
keep these at 10 minutes.
Here we go.
Every good business story has apurpose.
You need to have a purpose foryour story.
Why are you telling that story?
What is the reason?
What do you want them to doafter you tell that story?
Start by knowing your point.
Know what you want to accomplishwith that story.

(01:55):
Do you want to inspire peoplewith that story?
Do you want to build trust withthat story?
Do you want to show atransformation, like a client
transformation with that story?
Get clear on what you want theaudience to see so that you can
then craft a story that helpsthem reach that outcome.
All right.
So that's number one.
Number two, make it personal butrelevant.

(02:17):
It needs to be personal in thesense that people need to know
that you're a human.
People need to connect with youon that human-to-human level.
But it needs to be relevant toyour business.
Whatever you're talking about,try to tie it back to your
business.
That way, there's a humanelement within your business.
And that's what you want.
You want people to see the humanin you in your business because

(02:39):
that's very, very important foryour success.
All right, next, you gotta startwith tension.
You've got to start withsomething that's exciting.
Start from the action in thestory.
Don't start and start like abook report.
I was 15 years old when Idecided that I would have my

(03:01):
first podcast.
And at 15, I really knew that itwas going to be the best thing I
could ever do.
Then I turned 16, and I really,really wanted to have a podcast.
So I started to record things onmy tape recorder.
Podcast didn't exist yet.
But anyway.
Okay, that's boring.

(03:22):
That's boring.
And we don't need tension to besuper dramatic.
But we need tension.
There needs to be something.
What are we worried about?
What are we hoping for?
What's at stake?
What problem are you facing thatyou're you're trying to
overcome?
What is the tension?
What is the problem?

(03:44):
What is something that's goingto be interesting to start the
story with?
And this is especially true ifyou're telling this business
story on social media.
Now, next, be specific.
The details that you have willcreate emotion.
So imagine if I told you thisstory.
I walked up to the podium and Iwas nervous.
I didn't know what I was doing.
So I started to speak my speech.

(04:05):
And then it was over.
Okay.
But if I actually put details inthat story, just feel how
different that story is gonnafeel to you.
I walked up on stage, my handswere sweaty, my knees were
trembling.
I wasn't sure I'd even remembermy speech.

(04:29):
I took a deep breath and exhaledloudly.
And hoped that the words wouldremain in my head.
I'd seen them there a fewminutes ago, but now everything
was racing.
It was like the teleprompter hadbeen turned on.
Fast forward.
My god, I'm starting to I thinkI'm starting to have a panic

(04:53):
attack.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
What am I gonna do?
How am I not gonna know thesewords?
Take a deep breath.
Open your eyes.
Don't look at the crowd.
But envision your words right infront of you.
Okay, I got this.

(05:13):
I started to breathe normally.
And then I started to speak.
Two different stories.
They're two of the same stories,but they're two very different
stories.
I'm very specific in the secondone.
I'm telling about what I'mfeeling, what I'm doing, and the

(05:36):
details are painting a pictureas to what I'm experiencing.
That's a good strong story.
Okay.
Number five, show thetransformation.
Show from where they started towhere they will go, and be very
descriptive in what is going tochange internally, externally,

(05:57):
what it is they're gonna get outof your product or service.
Now, this is where I tell peopleeverybody sells happy.
What you're selling is happinessbecause you're solving a problem
that your ideal customer has.
So when you do that, you'regonna show them the darkness and
show them that you understandthe darkness because you've been
there.
But then you're quickly gonnabring them to the light.

(06:19):
And the light is your solution.
The light is what life is gonnabe like after they win because
of you.
The light is what your promiseis.
That's the transformation.
They're in darkness, they're inpain, but you're selling happy,
you're bringing them to thelight.
And that's an oversimplificationof what you're doing, but you
have to look at how am Ibringing them to happiness?

(06:42):
I sell happy.
Everybody does.
So make the shift obvious, andbecause this is what makes your
story really persuasive.
Make where they started to wherethey end very, very obvious.
All right, before we get numbersix and number seven, we are
going to jump to a quickcommercial break and we will be
right back.

(07:03):
I gotta hit the button.

SPEAKER_02 (07:04):
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You get a clear, actionablestrategy to confidently become
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SPEAKER_00 (07:27):
All right, and we are back with the last two
things that you need to have asuccessful business story.
Number six, you've gotta connectthe dots for them.
Always bring them home byconnecting your experience with
what their current pain pointis.
So you can do this by trying,like, maybe you're at the same

(07:50):
place, wondering if you made ahuge mistake, and then connect
them in.
Here's what I wish someone hadtold me when I was in your
shoes.
Or maybe even that's exactly whyI created this offer, because no
one should have to figure thisout alone.
See how you're bringing thestory back.
You told the story, now you'rebringing it back to what they're

(08:11):
experiencing.
That's an important aspect ofyour storytelling for a business
because you have a goal.
You want them to accomplishsomething, you want them to
purchase your offer.
It's not just a story.
Connect the dots so theyunderstand why you told that
story.

(08:31):
All right.
Number seven, maybe I'll giveyou a bonus one.
Number seven, keep it tight.
Keep it emotional anddescriptive, but tight.
You don't need extra fluff.
You don't need things that arejust not important.
Cut out all the stuff that's notimportant.
Focus on the one story thatyou're telling that's important

(08:53):
and impactful.
Make sure it's detailed, makesure it's emotional, make sure
it connects with your audience,but don't have extra fluff in
it.
The more you can the more youcan tell a story without the
fluff, but with the big impactand the buildup, like the
crescendo, and you get there,and the more you can tell a
story that builds up and isdirect but descriptive and is

(09:17):
going to connect with youraudience, the better.
You gotta keep your story tight.
Get rid of the excess, get ridof the things that don't impact
the current situation, get ridof the f the fluff.
Just get rid of the fluff.
If it's fluffy, get rid of it.
Make sure your story isdescriptive and emotional and
leads your customer to adecision.

(09:41):
But you don't need the extrafluff.
And then finally, your bonus.
You need a call to action.
You need to get them to dosomething.
You're trying to connect withyour audience and get them to
convert.
So you need to have a point andyou need to just say, hey, your

(10:02):
story should move them forward.
They shouldn't be meandering.
You need to give them a call toaction.
At the end of your story, youbrought them on this journey,
you showed them all thetransformation they can have.
But without a call to action,your story is gonna flop.
It's not gonna get peoplemotivated.
You need to drop that call toaction.

(10:23):
It needs to be strong.
Say, if you are feeling theexact same thing as I was, if
you are struggling with exactlywhat I was a year ago, then this
program is exactly what youneed.
I designed this program to helpme get out of the struggle I was
having, and now you're havingthat struggle, and this program

(10:44):
can absolutely help you.
Be sure to comment story on thispodcast and let me know that
you're interested in jumpinginto the story lab.
Something like that.
Don't you don't have to commentstory, but you need something at
the end of your story that's acall to action that tells them
what to do next.
All right, there you go.

(11:04):
Seven tips plus a bonus.
And now you have all you need totell a successful business
story.
Keep these things in mind, makea checklist, whatever you need
to do.
These are the things you need totell a successful business
story.
And I hope that you are excitedto start telling those stories.

(11:24):
Thank you for watching anotherepisode of The Story Lab.
I am thrilled to be here andproviding this information, and
I hope that you're finding itbeneficial.
If you haven't already, pleaserun over to your favorite
podcast platform and give us arating, share some feedback, and
let us know what we're doingwell and what you want to see.
And I hope that these tips willhelp you make your business

(11:47):
story a story they'll remember.
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