Our Story Provides A Unique Opportunity To Connect With Our Customers

What if effectively leveraging your well-positioned story could make it easier to grow your business? 

Ironically, most founders fail to use their story in a compelling way. But, business owners started their company for a reason. They connected with someone’s problem and pain and that point of connection is worth sharing. 

Several years ago, I ran into a chiropractor at a networking event and asked him why he chose that path. He told me the story of his mother's chronic pain and how her health was restored by a skilled chiropractor. After witnessing this transformation, he knew he had to become one and help others like this one helped his mom. 

Wow. If you were to choose between this chiropractor and the one who’s parents pushed her to become one, who would you choose?

Here’s another. 

During the Noodlehead Marketing journey, we worked with a high-end home kitchen remodeling business founded by a former chef. But in his marketing efforts, there was no mention or use of this origin story. 

What better person to design your kitchen than a professional chef?

Yeah, that’s compelling and relevant. 

Our story, done right, quickly and emotionally differentiates us from the competition. If you're not using it, you could be missing out on your strongest business development asset. 

A Multi-Generational Entrepreneur Empowering Small Business Owners To Move Their Company Forward

My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were all entrepreneurs (on both sides of the family). The entrepreneurial vein travels through across four generations (that I know of). 

I've witnessed how my grandfathers conducted their businesses, and how their death affected the next generations. One left the family in financial distress while the other in financial prosperity. Their examples illuminated how to leave a legacy as a founder, and how not to. 

Growing up, I experienced the fruit and pitfalls of being a child of a business owner. But while there were downsides, my father's path was distinctly different from the fathers of friends whose dad's did not prioritize their faith and family. The teachings and example of my parents, both active contributors to their business, played a role in instilling best practices and guidance for business success. 

But not only did I witness, learn, and experience what it was like in a multi-generational entrepreneurial family, I also experienced that same journey launching my own company. 

How do I navigate starting a new business, building a team, setting up systems and growing as a leader? What do I do when there’s no easy answer or a good decision? Witnessing and learning was one thing but experiencing for myself provided an entirely different level of understanding. 

And for the past four years, I’ve garnered another layer of understanding, experience, and perspective working alongside digital small business owners by improving revenue and growing teams using a hybrid approach of both strategic and tactical involvement.

Being affected by small business, living as a company founder, and guiding owners provides a complete picture of what entrepreneurs face in their journey and how I can best serve their unique needs. 

Bringing Your Story To Life + 4 Starter Questions

My story as a multi-generational entrepreneur guiding fellow founders is a unique differentiator as I compete with other digital marketing & communication specialists. It allows me to relate and connect where others cannot. 

It’s also a different perspective of my story compared to my marketing company and will likely shift as my working career changes over the future. 

Our stories are usually quite vast, providing an abundance of material to use in connecting with our audience. It’s the resource you must use to connect with your prospective customers. But, don’t think you must have it mapped out and finalized immediately. Start testing it out with people you know, practice with prospective clients and explore where and how it can effectively be tapped. 

Here are four questions to help get you started. 

• What about your journey is unique to you? 
• What’s the origin of why you creating your business? 
• What value do you bring to customers? 
• What unique experiences do you bring to the table that others would not likely have?

Take the answers, orient them in the language and perspective of your customer and continue iterating until you’ve landed on a solid message for growing your business. 

Hero Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash