Alana Muller 0:09
Welcome to Enterprise.ing, a podcast from Enterprise Bank & Trust that's empowering business leaders, one conversation at a time. We'll hear from different business leaders about how they found success in cultivating their professional networks and keeping them healthy and strong. I'm your host Alana Muller, an entrepreneurial executive leader whose primary focus is to connect, inspire and empower community. We at Enterprise Bank & Trust thank you for tuning in to another episode.
Alana Muller 0:41
Hello, listeners, welcome back to Enterprise.ing podcast. As many of you know, every now and then we do an Enterprise.ing rewind to listen back to prior episodes and highlight insights shared by previous guests. Today, I want to spend some time on Episode 29, which featured Jason Terry, Principal at Blue Gurus, where he helps companies and organizations to tell their stories through blogging, website development and LinkedIn™ training. Jason is the ultimate storyteller. During my conversation with him, I asked how he decides what types of information to share with his community, which is comprised of friends, family, clients and prospects. Here's what he had to say.
Jason Terry 1:21
I think it starts out with the motivation. You have to ask yourself the question, what's the point of the stories that we're going to tell? What's in it for the customer, the audience, your vendors, your peers, whatever. For me, it's — I learned this from my grandfather — you can take care of business with your heart and your hands with the relationships around you. That has been a life thing for me. So when I was starting this whole storytelling thing, it's always been about educating people.
Alana Muller 1:49
Jason went on to say…
Jason Terry 1:52
I don't give every single thing away in my content, but I give a lot of it away in little bits and pieces. And so here's the way I come up with it, and this is — I tell everybody, this is the easiest way, because this is the number one thing that people struggle with on social media: How do we come up with content? Quick aside, the mistake that a lot of companies make that I see is they will either outsource to ghostwriters or they'll buy industry-standard content. And it's not about their people, it's not about their company and it's a huge disconnect. There's some place for some of that, I'm not saying all of that's bad. But the most valuable stuff — people want to do business with people that they like.
Alana Muller 2:32
Essentially, storytelling is an important skill that we should all embrace, hone and master. Stories draw us in, they paint a picture, the best among them make the listener feel as if they were there. A good story can help us to influence, lead and sell more effectively. Stories offer one of the most potent ways to deeply connect with others. As professionals, stories are the basis for setting ourselves and our businesses apart and ensure that we are memorable in a good way. Friends, commit to crafting a few stories that you can use to engage others. Remember, the beauty of storytelling is that your stories are your own. You were there, you know the particulars inside and out.
Alana Muller 3:14
To be effective at imparting the information and engaging the listener, document your stories, actually write them down. Think about this: What was the situation? Who was there? Where did it take place? What was the big moment or the punchline or the poignant lesson or whatever? After you have written down the information for the first time, reread it, cut out all of the extraneous information that creates noise around the main point of your commentary, then practice. Practice in front of a mirror, practice in front of your dog, practice in front of your spouse, partner or networking buddy. If you do this, you will be ready in the moment when it's time to reveal those great stories. You'll feel confident knowing that you have something important to say. And if you're wondering what to talk about, Jason has some great ideas for that, too. Let's listen.
Jason Terry 4:04
So here are the two simple things that I do. Every time I sit down each week to come up with a YouTube video… well, first of all, I keep a Google Drive document with ideas. So I have primed my brain when I hear a nugget of truth out in the community or at a client or whatever, I'm very quick to think, "Oh, that's a good story title," or "That's a good article title" or "That's a good video idea." And I will throw that into that Google Drive of just ideas for the future. That's a discipline you have to kind of develop when you're going to start telling these stories. You also have to be disciplined to get your camera out and take photos of stuff or you have no pictures to capture any of this.
Jason Terry 4:42
But the simple answer is, I sit down at my desk and I look at my calendar for the last week, maybe two. And I look through all the stuff that was going on. If that hasn't generated an idea, I might think about, "Oh, I was at that blogging client. Oh, and they talked about Fathers’ Club that month and I've totally needed to do that on my stuff with my social media." Because I do the website and blogging with the Fathers’ Club here in town. They're not-for-profit. And so that's one of the ways, is looking at the calendar. People miss that all the time. "Oh, my life's boring. I'm not doing anything interesting." I challenge you. Because every time I've sat down with somebody and looked at their calendar with them, I'm like, "What's that about?" And they told me, there's three stories that come out of that one thing that happened on their calendar. Like, come on, you just have to understand how to turn this into a story, right? The other thing I tell people is, "Hey, get your phone out and look through your photo gallery for the last two weeks."
Alana Muller 5:30
So listeners, you heard it here first. If you can't think of any stories off the top of your head, look at the camera roll on your phone and review the last two weeks' worth of photos. There's a story in there somewhere.
Alana Muller 5:42
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Enterprise.ing podcast. If you haven't listened to it already, be sure to check out Episode 29 with Jason Terry on bringing your whole self to digital networking. It's available at enterprisebank.com/podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. I look forward to connecting with you next time on Enterprise.ing podcasts.
Alana Muller 6:09
Thanks for joining us this week on Enterprise.ing. Be sure to visit our website, enterprisebank.com/podcast, to subscribe so you'll never miss an episode. If you found value in today's program, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or telling a friend about us. Enterprise.ing: empowering business leaders one conversation at a time. The views expressed by Enterprise.ing presenters or guests are those of the presenter or guests and not necessarily of Enterprise Bank & Trust or its affiliates. All content of this podcast and any related materials are for informational purposes only. Enterprise Bank & Trust does not make any warranties, expressed or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and specifically disclaims any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information presented. Enterprise Bank & Trust is not under any obligation to update or correct any information provided in this podcast. All statements and opinions are subject to change without notice.
