Discover Your 3 Core Stories - Wendy Babcock

Website: http://wendybabcock.com

http://whenstories.com

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/wendybabcockspeaks

00:00 Hi, I'm Wendy. I have been writing songs and poetry since I was about 11 years old. Now when I say I've been writing songs since I was 11 mean like those deep dramatic lyrics written from the floor of my bedroom, heartbroken over some boy who probably didn't even know my name. You know the usual like tortured artist vibes with influences like the Go Go's and Air supply in my P aging myself.

00:27 But Fast forward to 2006 something wild happened. I had a song judged by Norah Jones and Steven Tyler from Aerosmith in a songwriting contest that I won the January round of of the VH one song of the year contest. Which small town made me famous, at least in my own mind. But hey, it was kind of validation enough just to keep going. And I continued to write through most of my life. But then life happened about 8 years ago.  

01:03 I unintentionally hit pause, hit hit the pause button on writing. Not even intentionally, I just stopped. See, I started my speaking career and honestly, I didn't have the bandwidth to be writing songs and chasing speaking gigs. I was spending all my time pitching myself to events, creating talks, sending awkward, you know, just circling back type of emails. And then, just like everybody else, probably you included, 2020 happened and the world shut down. Speaking gigs just disappeared.

01:40 I was supposed to speak at Lambeau Field that year, which I was so looking forward to, but then it just went away. Things went virtual or they just cancelled all together. So I did what any recovering people pleased there with the mic and a lot of opinions would do. I started coaching other people how to get paid to speak because that's what I knew how to do that's what I had been doing pre pandemic is I was getting paid to speak.

02:06 So I'm going to let you in on a little secret and what might and what you might call a little bit neuro spicy, which is just kind of my way of saying that I get distracted a lot. Like the oh look, another business idea like every 5 minutes I have like these rabbit squirrel brain squirrels. So my brain is kind of like a toddler with an on a Nespresso.

02:32 It is constantly running off in different directions and coming up with new ideas. Until last year when two things happen at the same time. So one, I, I came up with this idea, right i, I kind of had all these squirrels running rampant in my brain, but I came up with this one idea because it's something I thought my clients really needed and it, and it was true. I came up with this idea for one stories when everything changed it was this, it's this Ted X style stage invisibility platform for women with a story to tell.

03:07 And two, I decided to write a theme song for my women's event and empowerment, sorry for my women's business and empowerment event. And something kind of magical happened. Writing that song, remember, I hadn't written for about 8 years. It reawakened something inside of me and suddenly I wasn't chasing every shiny idea anymore because my creative brain had an outlet again. And since then, my business is more focused, it's more aligned, and I have released over 28 songs on Spotify and iTunes. Crazy right Now, why am I telling you all of this you're like, why are you why are you telling us about songwriting? Because that story I just told you was part of my origin story.

03:55 And in less than 5 minutes, you now know that one i'm a songwriter, I'm a speaker, I coach other speakers. I'm neurodivergent, I run events for women, and I founded one stories. And I didn't just tell you all that I showed you because that's the power of storytelling. So why does story excuse me? Why does storytelling matter well, let's talk about it. So why is storytelling such a game changer in business? It's because people don't remember data. They remember drama, they remember moments, they remember emotion and connection, not bullet points and pie charts. Stories are 22 times more memorable than facts and figures alone.

04:45 They want you to think about your favorite brand or your favorite business. Maybe you've worked with a a life coach, a business coach and you probably didn't fall in love with like their features of their pricing. You fell in love with their story. Maybe it's that single mom who started a candle business right at her the kitchen table, or the coach who turned her pain into a purpose, or the guy who turned his grandma's cookie recipe into a multi million dollar empire.

05:15 Stories build trust. They make you human, not just the headline. Stories make your message sticky, right they make things stick they make them memorable. They give your audience something to hold on to. And let's face it, stories sell. People buy with emotion and they justify with logic i'm going to say that again, people buy with emotion and they justify with logic. If you want people to buy into what you're doing, don't give them a pitch, give them a story. So I want to share with you the three core stories that every entrepreneur needs. So let's let's break it down there's three core stories. So number one the origin story.  

06:00 This is your how it all started sort of story. It's what led you into what you're doing now. So what lightbulb moment or left turn got you here? So the story that I opened with, that's my origin story or at least one of them i have different variations of my origin story. You get kind of a peek into my journey and hopefully a few laughs because I like to be humorous. But you can use that origin story when you're networking, introducing yourself on podcasts and discovery calls or even just opening a keynote it's it's kind of like a highlight reel, but with heart. So I want to talk a little bit more about this so your origin story, excuse me, if we're in business, we hear, you know, what is your why all the time we talk about that a lot.  

06:47 We focus on it, but I like to ask people, what is your wet? When did everything change for you? When was that pivotal moment because in the, when is is that origin story it's, it's how people can see what our story is and, and who we are because as I said, people buy within motion they buy from your story, not just the features and and all the great things that you can offer them.

07:15 So when I hired a marketing coach, I probably knew at least 10 marketing coaches at the time, but I picked the one that I picked because of her origin story, because of who she is at the core of, because of her back story, because of, yes, of course she's brilliant at what she does, but so are the other nine people that I could have hired.  

07:36 But it's it's we purchase from story, not from features and data. It's as simple as that. So when you share that you can share this in all different ways like you know, I mentioned, you can open your talk with this just as I did. So I tell people like when you're, when you're creating a talk, your opening is very important because it's what people are going to hang on to as as you speak and either they're going, it's going to fall short and they're going to be bored or not engaged they're going to have a bad first impression.

08:07 You need kind of that mic drop opening and a story does just that. A story brings people into why they should listen. It answers the like The Who cares question. Every talk should answer who cares and if you're not opening with something really important, then people don't care. So if you bring them people to a place in time, that origin story, how old were you, right, when this happened or where were you standing what were you doing? It brings them into that moment, right that's that origin story tells them who you are, what your character is, why they should want to hear from you and it does so in a way that's not braggy or look at my titles.

08:46 So for example, I could have opened with Hi, I'm Wendy Babcock i'm an international and Ted X speaker, author, the paid stage speaking coach and the founder of one stories and all that might sound impressive, but who cares, right? They're just titles. It doesn't tell you who I am. You're not going to hire me because of my title you're not going to say, oh, she's a TEDx speaker i'm going to hire her on the spot. Now you need to hear more about me than just my title. Ok, so let's let's move on to the second core story, which is the excuse me, which is your your testimonial story.

09:27 So your testimonial story, it's not just reading off a client quote that's saying that she's great 10 out of 10 would hire again, a testimonial story shows transformation, right? You have to think before, during and after so when you're on on stage or on a discovery call, instead of saying like I can get you to six figures and here's how right giving a past client experience is going to meet that person where they're at so, you know, I had a client who came to me and she'd been speaking for years. The problem is she was never getting, she wasn't getting paid for what she was providing.

10:14 And so I asked her, I'm like, well, why haven't you gotten paid and she's like, well, that's a great question like, well, have you ever asked to get paid? And she, she said, no, they never offered. Like you have to make sure that you are letting them know that you expect to get paid you do that by asking what their budget is you do that by using the wording in your cold emails, as in who hires your speakers instead of who books your speakers. And so when working together, you know, she signed up for one of my three day boot camps to learn how to get paid to speak.

10:49 And within the first six months of working with me, she made over 7000$ in in paid speaking fees. Now I can tell you right, within six months, you're going to make, you know, X amount of dollars. But by sharing that visionary story or death berries, you know, the testimonial story from a client that I personally worked with, I'm sharing her pain points, right she'd been speaking for years she and never asked to get to get paid, but she'd also never been offered to be paid.

11:20 And so by working with me, right, we we went through like how to do the things. And so in the story you learn, maybe you see some point pain points that you recognize, like oh man, I've been speaking for years too, or no one's ever offered to pay me. So when using that testimonial story, it's not just be telling you I can I can help you accomplish those things i'm giving you a story from a client that you can see at the same pain points and has gone to that same journey, right? So this brings me to that visionary story.  

11:49 So you have your origin story we talked about, right it's who you are. It's, it's your personal story, the testimonial story of how you can take people, you know, who work with you by telling them a story of people who have worked with you in the past. Now that visionary story, this is the one that gets people really fired up. So it's not about where you've been, it's about where you're going and where they are going specifically where with you. So what do you stand for? What kind of future are you building? Why should someone want to be part of that big mission with you, right this is the story that invites people in not just to follow you, but to to join you.

12:30 So when I'm speaking to somebody who might want to join into when stories, right my my program right, I might explain to them about what it is and on all the features and all the things, right? But the visionary story is they need to see themselves on that big stage. So I do this by sharing the story of, OK, this is not just a cold conference room you just be speaking in, you know, it's not standing in a conference room with a step and repeat banner this is a theatrical stage. So I take them through envisioning themselves on a theatrical type of stage with a full production team that's professional, right they, they build this, this great video for them that that will be on this on the YouTube channel when they have their big premiere.  

13:19 And I walked them through the story of that i want you to close your eyes and imagine you're on this incredible stage and you're telling this story, this origin story of where you've been and what you've been through. And then you take them through to what you do now, right so I want them to have this visceral reaction of feeling themselves on that stage with the spotlight because when you just, when you've, if you've never been on a stage like this, there's a spotlight that shines on, sometimes more than one and it's almost blinding. And so, you know, I walk them through that and so there's that visionary part of it where they're visualizing themselves on the stage.

14:03 So you want to take those people, whether it's in an audience, whether you're networking, whether you're having that client discovery call on that visionary story so they can see what it's like to work with you. You know, Even so with my client Barb, I could take her through like, imagine now that you're sending out these cold emails that has the language that you know, these conferences need to, to read to know that you get paid to speak where it's not even a question so now when you're having that discovery call with them, now they know you get paid so they're asking you that question, Well, can you share what your fee is? They know that you're getting paid and how does that feel? Right and so then the client can take that and say, wow, you're right how would how would I feel if they knew that I got paid to speak? How would I feel if I got up on this big amazing stage and told my story? What would that be like? Right so it's a visionary thing.  

15:00 And the other way the visionary story works is you taking them on the journey for what you're building let's say you're building a platform like I am with one stories, right? I want to take them on this thing where we're like we're growing really quickly. We're filling events really quickly and, and you know, it went from having, you know, maybe just one event or maybe 2 events a year to now we're hosting 4 events a year and we're filling these programs quickly.

15:22 And so you want to take people along with the rides so I might say something like, you know, if do you know who Mel Robbins, Simon Sinek, brene brown are? But they got their start with Ted X so when Ted X launched, within that first, I think three years, Mel Robbins, brene Brown and Simon Sinek had had viral Ted X videos and this is what launched their careers.

15:47 And so for something like my platform for like 1 stories, sometimes people might be hesitant like, well, it's not really like, you know, really big out there yet it's not Ted X yet. But I remind them that these big name speakers that they've heard of who have written multiple, multiple books and are just like, for a while, Mel Robbins was like the most booked female speaker, right and that's because she got in with Ted X when it first started. And so I, I take them on that visionary journey of here's what's possible, here's where we're going with this. And so it helps people put themselves in those shoes. So using these three core stories, right, the origin story, testimonial story and your visionary story.

16:34 So here's here's how you can use these in your business, OK, here's how you can actually put them to you so it's simple. You can build your talks with these, right so and when you build a talk, it should incorporate all three you. Well, when you're doing, let me back up just a second. So if you are a coach, someone who is getting on stage to essentially market yourself, gain visibility and possibly gain clients, who should be using all three of these, you should be opening with that origin story. You should be somewhere in the middle talking about how you work with people, how you know, using that testimonial story, what were the success stories, and then closing with that visionary story so they can see themselves working with you, right so you can build your talk using all three stories, your bio, you can use your origin story and your visionary stories and your bio in your marketing this is so important to put yourself out there on social media using all three of these things.  

17:32 Storytelling is the best marketing you can do. It's the best marketing you can do because people don't feel like they're being sold to. Nobody likes to be sold to. But when you share stories, that's what brings them in and makes them want to work with you, right? So start with your origin story, you know, as a hook to really reel in your audience and create that connection. You use the testimonial story to build credibility and trust, and then you end with a visionary story to inspire action. So let's say you're doing a workshop, right? You open with the story about how you struggled with the very thing that you now teach, which is most of us, most of us are out there teaching something that we've already, you know, gone through and have figured out the answer to the problem.  

18:19 So you share a client's journey as proof that it works here's somebody I've already worked with here's, you know, their big before, during and after they've worked with me. Then you close with your your big why and what you want the audience to do next that's the visionary. And then you just made a talk that connects, converts, and inspires. And guess what? There's no sleazy sales tactics, no jargon. Just real stories that create impact. Storytelling isn't just a nice to have right it, it is the heartbeat of your business.

18:56 If you've been wondering how to connect with an audience or how to grow without feeling salesy, it's how to finally be seen for who you are. So the answer isn't more marketing, it's more story because you already have powerful stories and you probably tell these all the time i want you to think about that one moment. When did everything change? Most of us have multiple of those. So, you know, the question is, are you already using these? Your audience isn't waiting For more information. They're waiting for a connection and it's your story. It's your story that's the bridge.  

19:32 So this week I want to challenge you, write down some of your origin stories. Think of at least one powerful client story to use as a testimonial and define your vision. So we'll, and I want to pray this on two two points. Your vision is what you're building and why it matters and the vision for how you take your, where you take your clients. What is the story what's the vision that your clients have when they work with you? And then simply start sharing that.  

20:02 Somebody out there is waiting for your story to make their next move and this is how you make a difference this is how you build your business this is how you use it in all aspects of your business. Those 3 core stories, Origin, Testimonial and your visionary story.