Ascend 101

Lessons about building a one-person business, writing, and self-improvement

If you’ve been on Money Twitter (as the cool kids call it) for a while you’ve undoubtedly come across people talking about ‘storytelling’.

But what do we mean when we say 'storytelling’?

No, we aren’t all secretly in the fable crafting business.

True storytelling is all about sharing personal stories.

They have to be personal. Because the aim is to build a deeper connection with your audience.

We tell stories to express our hardest, best, and most authentic truths. To share our deepest desires and greatest fears. To build trust and a feeling of resemblance with everyone.

Storytelling is the single greatest skill to have. It has been used to win elections, build fortunes, and conquer nations.

Let’s dive into the wonderful world of storytelling.

Everything changes

Let’s start off with the number one most important rule of storytelling.

What constitutes a story to begin with?

Is it that time when you got blackout drunk and woke up missing a tooth?

You might think it’s a funny story. And while it certainly can be entertaining.

It’s not an actual story.

It doesn’t hold any intrinsic meaning.

A real story revolves around change.

You must start out as one version of yourself and end as another.

That change doesn’t have to be huge. It can be as minuscule as realizing you liked bananas more than you originally believed you did.

But something had to change.

Every story is a transformation story.

This is also the key concept of your story.

Every great story revolves around one moment where something changes.

If I were telling the story about how I came to love bananas, it would be nothing more than a 5-second moment of how I came to realize it.

And I’d package that story with carefully chosen events that lead me to this moment.

Pay attention next time you’re reading a book or watching a movie.

Even your latest 3-hour-long Hollywood blockbuster is nothing more than events leading up to a 5-second moment changing the protagonist for good.

You ARE the main character

Every story you tell should be about you.

Don’t tell stories you’ve heard about other people.

Your audience doesn’t care about others. They care about you. They’re your audience.

Do you want to tell a story about how your brother fell into the lake during your camping trip? Sure go ahead. But tell it from your perspective.

Describe what you remember, what you saw, and how you felt.

Why wouldn’t you tell your stories?

Are you telling the stories of someone else because you’re not interesting enough?

Let me tell you otherwise.

You have a lot more stories to tell than you can imagine.

Your Turn

It’s time for me to give you some actionable steps once again.

Think about moments in your life. Anything really.

Think about experiences that affected you, memories you keep holding onto.

Occurrences you don’t want to forget.

Write them down.

Next try to pinpoint what your 5-second moment is.

What was the change that occurred?

Try to be as specific as possible.

Last think about what events came prior and craft write out your story.

I probably gave you enough content material for the next weeks (if not months).

You’re welcome.

Wrap-up

If you can’t tell already.

I’m having fun writing these newsletters, exploring different topics, and sharing my thoughts about them.

I’m well aware jumping into storytelling can feel awkward and weird for some of you.

But trust me. You’ll soon get the hang of it.

And It’ll be worth it.

Let me know how you’ll incorporate storytelling into your life and if you want me to delve further into how to actually craft your story.

Until next week.

Cheers,
Alex.

P.S.

If you’d like more help, I’ve got your back:

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P.P.S.

For those interested, these are the most important pieces of software I use:
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Beehiiv for my newsletter: One of the biggest, easiest, and best providers for people wanting to build their newsletter. A logical choice to make with its abundance of integrated solutions for easy growth. (e.g., an integrated referral program)
TweetHunter for everything Twitter: From scheduling tweets to gathering inspiration and engaging with others. TweetHunter has everything you need if you’re serious about building your business on Twitter.
Carrd to build my landing pages: We’re building a business, not a blog. We have a need for simple and effective landing pages for our funnels. Carrd is an easy-to-use website builder that does exactly what it needs to.

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