Three storytelling examples from African and African-American entrepreneurs
You want to share your story in your business and in order to do that, you need to do at least three things. The problem is, that you have no idea what these things are and haven’t spent enough time analyzing other entrepreneurs’ stories. This is why I want you to look at the following examples from three entrepreneurs who got their stories right.
Lisa Nichols identifies the core stories
Lisa Nichols is a master storyteller. But she wasn’t always, her mastering took practice. And the reason she started sharing her stories is that as a transformational coach, she realized how storytelling was motivating people to change and get out of their situations, the same way she did. When you start listening to Lisa Nichols’s stories, you will soon notice that she often shares the same stories with different audiences.
Why does she do that? We are often afraid of repeating ourselves thinking that people will get bored or annoyed. But the truth is that people won’t spend their time consuming our content the entire day. And some of the things you share, they will miss. However, if you repeat the same story with the same learning elements attached to it, it will reach more people. It is very tempting to share new stories every time but it’s a great exercise to repeat the same ones: you will master your storytelling skills and how different audience receive the same story.
Rachel Rodgers backs the story up
Rachel Rodgers is on a mission to support entrepreneurs from historically marginalized groups to become millionaires. She is a US-based African American entrepreneur herself and has a weekly newsletter. The content of her newsletter varies on the theme of money, money mindset, inclusion, and antiracism but oftentimes what she does beautifully is to start with her personal experience and then relate that to the stories of so many others. And the way she often does that is by using data: she shares pay gap information, wealth distribution statics, etc. And what this does is give even more substance to the story because suddenly is not just about her but about everyone. That’s the sweet spot of storytelling when you connect your story to those of many other people: that’s one of the purposes of sharing your story.
Salem King entertains
Salem King is a Nigerian content creator and entrepreneur who is very active on Instagram. And I can anticipate that once you’ll get on his profile you will stay there for a while. Why? Because it is really entertaining to listen to the stories he shares. He talks about creating a business out of content creation, and of how he has evolved throughout the years, but he does that in a very light, brief, snappy way that is true to his personality. This is a great way for him to gather a big following. Does that mean every follower will become a client? Probably not but he creates the visibility for himself and for his services.
So here is how three entrepreneurs are getting their stories right, by identifying core stories to share; backing their stories; entertaining. Having looked at what these three entrepreneurs do, what do you think would be your own style when sharing a story?
Remember that there is no right or wrong in this list. Each entrepreneur uses something that represents them. You are you, you have your own thing, take a minute to figure it out, and then share what that is in the comment.