152: Craft Your Billboard Statement - How to Tell the Right Story
Building a successful business can take years, then add in sharing your story on stage—that's scary. We can hide behind the beauty of our brands and the success of our clients, but when we have to step in front of our peers and put ourselves out there, the fears start to sink in.
If we prepare for and approach speaking opportunities with intention and craft our stories well, we can set aside those fears and succeed on stage without misrepresenting who we are and what we do. Let's craft your statement so that you're telling the right story.
If you loved this episode and it motivated you to work on more polished presentations, I’d love for you to leave a review on iTunes and tell me about your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @jessicarasdall.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
YOU WANT TO MAKE A DEEPER CONNECTION WITH YOUR AUDIENCE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW HOW.
You’ve worked really hard to build your business and as much as you want to be a storytelling ninja, you’re scared. You’re scared to get up on a stage and not look as polished as you do on your website. You’re scared to overshare and have people think differently of you. You’re scared of possibly tainting the thing you’ve worked so hard to build.
I get it, friend.
That was me as I prepared to take the stage at my first creative conference in 2016. At that point in my career, I had been speaking for a decade. I was comfortable in front of audiences as large as 3,000. I had delivered presentations on stages all across the country and shared my story on major international media outlets like ABC 2020, Good Morning America, The Katie Couric Show and many more
SOMETHING ABOUT THIS TALK WAS DIFFERENT
This presentation was in front of my peers. If I’m being completely transparent, I wasn’t fully convinced that I deserved to be on that stage. Who was I to pour into these incredible business owners?
My business journey didn’t start like theirs. I didn’t leave a corporate job to pursue a passion. I didn’t have fancy credentials and a college education to back up my business title.
What would they think when I told them that I was the girl who dropped out of college so that I could go to prison? How could I possibly be of service to them?
STORIES UNITE US
Even though my story was so different from anything these women had experienced (and hopefully it’s far different from anything you have experienced), they were able to connect with my message. They understood guilt, shame, fear, and trying to take the next best step after failure - because we all fall down, right?
Neuroscience has also shown us that when you focus on finding common ground with your audience, they’re much more likely to see the world from your perspective.
YOUR STORY MATTERS
Maybe you’re thinking, “my story is not enough” or “my story is TOO messy to share”. Stop right there!
Your story matters. It matters just as much as anyone else’s.
BUT Your story isn’t actually the most important part of the equation.
It’s WHY you’re telling your story in the first place that makes all the difference.
STORYTELLING DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HARD
Here’s the secret no one wants to tell you: Many of us struggle with sharing our stories because we’re trying to share the wrong story.
We THINK we should be sharing a particular story (origin, failure, etc.), but quickly start to feel overwhelmed when it becomes time to craft it. We spend hours staring at the blinking cursor of death wondering why our story isn’t effortlessly flowing out of us. We waste away days, weeks, and even years focusing on what stories others are telling only to find ourselves saying, “I’m not like THEM…”
It’s time to keep your eyes on your paper and serve your people. I know you want to leave a legacy. You want to make a difference in the world long after you’re gone. But unless you draw a line in the sand and say, “this is the message I’m leaving with the world” and you commit to actually sharing it, that legacy could be lost.
You're not sharing your story for fame or glory. You want to make a difference. In order to do that, WE HAVE TO START WITH YOUR MESSAGE.
From there, we determine what story best supports the message.
If you’re ready to craft your billboard statement and tell the right story, you can walk through this process in our Speak to Scale Vault.
If you're not already a member of the academy, we'd love to invite you to apply to join The Speaking Strategy Academy. You'll get instant access to our A-Z speaking training system with video lessons, transcripts, scripts, templates, and more.... access to our live group coaching calls, personalized 1:1 feedback on your work from me, and an opportunity to present your work live in front of our community for hot seat coaching and feedback. What are you waiting for, friend? Apply today!
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Read the Transcript from this Episode
Transcript for Episode 152:
0:00
We know that stories and storytelling are essential to our business and our speaking presentations. But sometimes, figuring out the right story to tell, can feel a little overwhelming. And you're not alone in that. But if you've been fixated on selecting that story based on what's going to be the most exciting story, or what's going to draw the most emotion, or what's going to make me look the best, that my friend feels incredibly overwhelming. And today, I want to show you a simple exercise you can do to make a deeper connection with your audience, even when you don't know what story to tell. Today, we're going to figure out your billboard statement, and determine what story your audience actually wants to hear.
1:05
Welcome back to another episode of The speak to scale Podcast, where we're helping small business owners just like you grow and scale their businesses by speaking on stages, podcasts, webinars, and more. I'm your host, Jessica Rasdall. And I am so excited for today's episode. This is one that I have been meaning to record for, I don't know, like 150 episodes, it's one of my favorite exercises to do with our students, and with my clients. And I'm pumped to share a little bit with you today. Because I know you want to make a deeper connection with your audience. But sometimes we're not sure how to do that. We're really good at our craft. And we get tempted to use industry jargon, or to jump to our teaching points. And we don't always know how to connect the dots. I know, as an entrepreneur myself, I know you've worked really hard to build your business. And as much as you would love to be some storytelling Ninja, you're scared. Maybe you're scared to get up on that stage, and not look as polished as you do on your website. Maybe you're scared you're going to overshare and have people think differently of you. Maybe you're scared of the possibility of tainting that brand that you have worked so hard to build. And listen, I get it friend. That was me. I have been there. And yes, I've been speaking for 15 years at this point. But as I prepared to take the stage at my first small business conference in 2016. Listen at that point in my career, I had already been speaking on stages for a decade, over a decade, probably. I was comfortable in front of audiences as large as 3000 people. I had delivered presentations on stages all across the country. I'd shared my story on major international media outlets like ABC 2020, Good Morning America, Katy Kirk show so many more. But something about that first presentation in 2016 was different. See that presentation, he was in front of my peers. And if I'm being completely transparent with you, I was not fully convinced that I deserve to be on that stage. All I kept thinking was, who was I to pour into these incredible business owners? See, my business journey didn't start like theirs. I didn't leave a corporate job to pursue a passion. I didn't have fancy credentials and a college education to back up my business title. What would these women think? When I told them, I was the girl who dropped out of college so that I could go to prison?
4:07
How could I possibly be of service to them? Have you ever questioned yourself like that? Have you ever whispered that thought of Who am I to do this work? See stories unite us. And even though my story was so different from anything these women had experienced? And hopefully it's far different from anything you've experienced. They were able to connect with my message. They understood guilt, shame, fear, and trying to take the next best step after failure, because we all fall down. Right? See, neuroscience has shown us that when we focus on finding common ground with our audience, they're much more likely to see the world from our perspective. Now maybe you're thinking my story is not enough. Like I was, my story is too much to share. I need you to stop right there, friend. See your story matters, period. Point blank, hard stop. It matters just as much as anyone else's story. But your story isn't actually the most important part of the equation. And I know that probably sounds a wild coming for me. But why you're telling that story in the first place? Is the piece we need to talk about why you actually want to share that story is where the magic happens. Storytelling doesn't have to be as hard as we've made it. And here's the secret no one wants to tell you. Many of us struggle with sharing our stories. Because we're trying to share the wrong story. We think we should be sharing a story. Maybe it's the origin story or failure story. But we start to feel overwhelmed when it comes time to craft it. We spend hours staring at that blinking cursor of death in our Google Doc, wondering why our story isn't effortlessly just flowing out of us. We waste away days, weeks, even years, focusing on what stories others are telling, only to find ourselves saying, I'm not like them. My story isn't good enough. Or my stories too much. Or my favorite? I don't have a story. Spoiler. Yes, you do. It's time for us to keep our eyes on our own paper, and focus on serving the people we've been called to serve. Because I know you want to leave a legacy. You want to make a difference in the world long after you're gone. But unless you are willing to draw a line in the sand and say, This is the message I'm leaving with the world, and you commit to actually sharing that message. That legacy could be lost. You're not sharing your story, for fame, or for glory. I know you want to make a difference. And in order to do that, we have to start with your message. From there, we can determine what story best supports the message. So how do we get clear on that? This is what I like to call our billboard statement. We want to figure out that big thing we want to leave with the world. And when we define that statement, our next step is figuring out what story supports that statement. What story best illustrates that statement becomes so much easier. It's no longer a question of emotion, right? And what story makes me feel good? Or what story positions me? Well, it now becomes a strategic decision based on what story will best help my audience absorb this message.
8:06
So let's figure out your billboard statement first. The very first step is we've got to determine who it is that you're speaking to. Who is it that you're going to be sharing your story with? Who is it that you've been called to serve? Who is the audience you want to speak in front of who is the audience you're currently serving right now in your business. Depending on why you're speaking, who you're speaking to how this fits into your business, it might be a little bit different. Now, if you have a mixed audience, I want you to get really clear here. So this is especially particular if you are a service provider who serves two different audiences. If you are like a done for you service provider who also teaches people how to do this. So let's look at the example of saying you're a wedding photographer, who also coaches, new photographers, I want you to select with this story with this message with this presentation. Are you trying to speak to brides to future couples you'd be working with? Or are you trying to speak to other photographers that you would be coaching to very different audiences who are gonna need a different message for you. So step one, determine who it is you are speaking to. Now, we craft our billboard statement. Now this friends is one of my favorite exercises. So I want you to imagine that you are in Times Square, and it's New Year's Eve. Ball is about to drop. It is like body to body which at the time that I'm recording this makes me a little uncomfortable social distance And such, but let's imagine, it's like 2017. Okay, I feel it's pretty good, then it's 2017. And it's New Year's Eve, and the ball is about to drop. In New York City, Time Square is packed, and it is packed with all of your ideal clients. All of those people you mentioned in step one, what a dream, right? Have them all there together. And now let's say, I give you the opportunity to put up one of those giant, neon billboards, for all of them to see, all of your people are going to see your message in bright lights.
10:43
What is that billboard going to say? What is the one message you want to leave your audience with? Even after you've left the stage? If you could only say one thing to your audience? What would you tell them?
11:00
What is it that they're going to be talking about in the hallway, after your presentation, the one piece that they remember, now, as much as we'd love it to be your, you know, your opt in, or your offer, or those teaching points. That's probably not the thing. They're going to remember. What is the life you're going to speak into them? I've done this exercise live at conferences, which is so much fun. We do this inside of the speaking strategy Academy. It's one of the first steps before we actually write our talk. So our students get clear on this first, and I want to urge you to try this right now. Now, if you need some examples, let's talk through this. So if you are thinking, Okay, what, what story like what would my billboard statement be? So my friend Trina Liddell, she's I talked about her on the podcast, a lot, student of ours, she helps business owners use YouTube to scale their business. Now, she's not going to tell them her big thing she wants to leave them with isn't going to be, you should use YouTube for your business. No, the message she wants to leave them with his you are good enough to be the face of your business. Because she knows her audience feels like they're not enough. They're afraid of showing up. They're intimidated by being on video. And when they can get over that hurdle, then they're more likely to listen to Okay, how do I actually do this. So her big message to them is you are good enough to be the face of your business. And I think that's a great statement. I'm going to come back to her story and her statement in a minute. But once you figured out what that thing looks like for you, it could be things like, I'm going to share with you a few examples of statements that I've collected from our audience members at presentations. So for example, this statement I'm about to share with you came from a CPA, and she helps small business owners, you know, do their bookkeeping file their taxes. But sometimes as a business owner, we're scared of our numbers, and we don't want to look at them. And in turn, we end up not hiring somebody to help us. So her message to them is you don't need to fear the numbers. She wants her audience to leave her presentation, and powered by their numbers, not intimidated by it. Or what about this one, you can market your business and still have time for the life you love. That statement is from a marketing strategist, who instead of focusing on the How to strategies, right, she wants to empower her audience to realize when they market their business, well, they have more time to live their life. Are you starting to get the gist of this? Right?
13:52
Our big billboard statement is less how to, and it is more of speaking life into your audience. The how to comes later. Once you know what your billboard statement is. Now we can pick our story. Now that you know the message you want your audience to leave with, we can look for a story that supports it. So what story can you share that backs up that message? What story can you share that brings it to life? To illustrate why this message matters, or the difference that the message makes? Some things you might want to consider when you're trying to select your story is if you specialize in helping business owners achieve the success that you have had. Your Own Business journey is probably a good story to start with. If you help individuals achieve a result that's not similar to your story, a story of another client success might be a great fit. If you're sharing a motivational message aim to inspire How can you illustrate With that message has done for you or for others. So Trina, for example, right we shared her billboard statement of you are good enough to be the face of your business. As a YouTube strategist who wants her audience to know that there are more than enough, she shares her own experience with facing that fear and that imposter syndrome. She shows her audience, why we have to stop letting what others might say, stop us from going after our dreams. She shows her audience how getting to the other side of imposter syndrome. By pushing through that fear and feeling good enough to be the face of our business has helped her grow her company, serve other business owners and provide for her family.
15:50
When we can get clear and focused on that singular message, that giant neon billboard for our audience, we put our audience front and center, and we share our story and create our presentation around what they need. Spoiler alert, that in turn results, and a bigger impact, a memorable presentation and higher conversions. So if you haven't done this exercise yet, I want you to sit down today and carve out some time. Go through this and figure out what that statement is you want to share with your audience. And when you do I want you to write it down, snap a picture of it, share it in your Instagram story so that your audience knows so that they can already see the statement. And will you tag me, I want to see it. I want to see my Instagram Stories flooded with your powerful billboard statements. You have an important message to share, and your audience is waiting to hear it. If you feel like you're trying to force your story. Try the billboard statement exercise. I want you to go through this. Now, most of us once we get through this exercise, and now we know Okay, I'm going to share the story of like my business or my experience my success. We start to overcomplicate crafting it. So I've taken the guesswork and the hard work out of this process of writing our story. And I've created a Mad Libs style, plug and play exercise that will help you write your story. Fast, like super fast. It's a really cool workbook that you just go through and you answer some questions, you plug in the prompts and boom, the first draft of your story is written in minutes.
17:54
Now, this workbook lives inside of our speak to scale vault, which is for one fee $49. But I got a discount coming for you unlocks an entire vault, or resources, trainings, checklists and more. From this exercise on how to craft your story to how to select your speaking topics, what goes into your presentation, how to find events, all of it. And you can go through it in our speak to scale framework order. So you know exactly what to do, and when to do it to scale your business from the stage. Now if you want this workbook that helps you write your story, all you got to do is go to our show notes and click the link or go to speak to scale vault calm. But be sure to use the code podcast. If you use that code, you'll get a special discount, and instantly unlock all the resources inside of the vault. I really hope today's episode helped you get clear on really putting the blinders on focusing on our audience and defining the message we're going to share with them. Now before I leave you, friendly reminder, when you do this exercise today, don't just do it in the dark and nobody sees it. Write it down. Share it with your audience. Let them know what it is that they need to hear speak that life into them. You have no idea who is waiting to hear that today. You've got this friend, go write that billboard statement.
19:35
Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of The speak to scale podcast. If you chat a little bit about today's episode, or connect with other business owners who are working to scale their business from the stage. I would love to invite you to join us inside of the speak to scale community. We're hanging out every week in addition about the podcast and giving you some behind the scenes tips. And I know we'd love to Howdy there, just head on over to your show notes. Click the link, join the group. And while you are there, would you mind leaving us a review in iTunes for the podcast? Your support allows us to continue creating content like this. And I appreciate it more than you know. All right, friend, as always. I'll be over here cheering you on, and I'll see you next week for another episode of the speed to scale podcast.
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