Storytelling

How to get better at telling stories

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One of the biggest improvements I made in my email and business career was when I started telling more stories everywhere I went.

In my emails, in my (back when I did all of these) X or LinkedIn posts, during X spaces, during consultation calls, in the DMs to explain concepts and close prospects, or simply outside of business when talking with friends or family members. No matter when or where. It’s always a good time to tell stories—not to mention how good of a practice it is to develop your storytelling and, in turn, your copywriting abilities.

I've never encountered a situation in which sharing a well-told and relevant story didn’t help me out in some way, shape, or form.

And I don’t want you to read this and think you have to become a guru who doesn’t shut up about storytelling tips, tricks, tactics, or god forbid, teaches you how to use ChatGPT to tell better stories, yet never actually tells any stories. Seriously, there’s a direct inverse relation between how often someone shares storytelling tips and how often someone tells relevant stories.

Don’t listen to the person doing the most teaching. Listen to the person doing the most doing. (take that grammar nazis)

And talking about people doing a lot of doing—I happen to do a lot of doing, especially when it comes to sending emails, they get a lot of doing from me.

So much doing.

I sometimes even do the doing multiple times a day, as you may have noticed during my last promotion.

That’s a lot of doing.

Anyway.

If you want to learn how to do the doing as well, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


The secret boring life of yours truly

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Many moons ago a curious reader (not sure if he wants me to share his name) asked me an interesting question which went as follows:

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Hey Alex!

I’ve been reading your emails for a few months now and I have to let you know how much I love them. It’s become a daily ritual to read your email right after dinner.

I especially love how you’re able to take these seemingly normal and everyday stories of yours and connect them to business-related lessons. One of the most impressive ones for me was your email about the opening scene of How To Train Your Dragon and how you connected it to creating a lead magnet.

Here’s my question to you: How do you come up with all these topics? How do you have so much to talk about that you can write an email every single day?

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And that’s an amazing question. It’s also one I get quite often.

For one, coming up with stories to share is hard.

Coming up with connections to draw between these stories and valuable lessons is even harder—or at least that seems to be what most people struggle with.

But here’s the thing.

Many people expect some cool and sexy answer. An amazing solution that’ll solve all of their problems. A prompt they can enter into ChatGPT or a framework they can use that’ll spit out ideas and connections for them.

Far from it.

The true answer isn’t sexy at all. It’s boring. So boring that I barely talk about it. So boring that I didn’t deem it worthy to talk about it in the first place.

And yet it’s something I do every single day (which tells you something about how exciting my everyday life is). In fact. It’s one of the first things I do right after I wake up before I start working. And then, when I’m done working. It’s almost all I spent doing for the rest of the day.

I built my whole life upon this boring and simple method to get more stories and make more connections.

What method am I talking about?

I do stuff. I read stuff. I watch stuff. And I listen to stuff.

Exciting, right?

And yet, for me it’s the most fun and exciting thing I do.

You’ll hear me mention this phrase a lot. But I always pursue my curiosities.

I read books I think are interesting, not books others say will make me more money. I listen to podcasts I think are fascinating, not podcasts others say I have to listen to. I watch movies I think are cool as hell, not movies that won Oscars or IMDB says have a high score.

That’s “the secret”.

I consume information I find cool and valuable.

This builds my own world. This gives me my own unique ideas and perspectives. And then after consuming all that information, I do nothing. Literally nothing. I walk. I lie down. I think. I go to the gym. I take a shower. I do fun stuff with friends & family.

And all of that’s vital as well.

Your subconscious needs moments of relaxation to process all that information and give you ideas and inspiration about what it all means. Then those stories and connections come by themselves.

Do this and you won’t have any issues coming up with connections or things to share anymore.

While we’re on the topic of doing stuff I think is cool… have you considered writing entertaining daily emails to your audience to build a relationship, get yourself lifelong customers who don’t dare buy from anyone else, and build yourself a long-term profitable and reliable business?

That’s kinda cool if you ask me.

If you’d like to learn more about writing daily emails, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Brandon Sanderson’s 3-question character writing rule

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The quality of a story depends almost entirely upon the quality of the characters and their development.

Even more so if your story is told from the perspective of one main character the audience follows throughout the story. No matter how deep you explore real-life relatable topics, how detailed your worldbuilding is, how new and exciting your magic system is, or how epic your large-scale battles are, none of it will help you if the characters are lifeless, unrelatable, and devoid of true meaning, emotion, or ambition.

Writing good characters, however, is a whole art in itself.

But, luckily you can get almost 80% of the way there by simply asking yourself the following three questions, which I’ve first heard mentioned by Brandon Sanderson, best-selling author known for his works such as the Mistborn series or the Stormlight Archive (as well as many, many more):

  1. What does your character desperately want?

  2. What does your character need?

  3. Why can’t they have both?

Answering this will not only set you up with a good, lifelike character, but if done correctly, it could potentially help you create your entire story from start to finish with just these three questions in mind.

More.

You could ask the same question about your readers/customers/clients/whoever and come up with interesting and valuable information about how to 1) treat them as best you can and 2) dramatically improve your business because of it.

Hell, I’d even argue this could be the base of your entire marketing strategy.

  1. What does your average customer want?

  2. What does he actually need?

  3. What stopping you from giving them both of these?

Figure out the answers to these questions, entice your customers with what they think they want, then include the thing they actually want, and you’ll have yourself your golden ticket to success.

Let’s take you as an example.

I’m guessing, since you’re on my email list, you’d want to earn more money selling your own products, books, courses, art, services, whatever. But what you actually need is a simple and reliable way to get your stuff in front of your target audience so you can make sales while focusing on the stuff you do best—creating.

Well, the thing that’s been stopping me so far from giving you both is the fact that my paid ad course (which would give you both of these things) isn’t out yet… but it’s almost here!

All that’s left to do is for you to wait a little while longer and for me to finish the last bits and pieces of the course.

So definitely keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, check out my flagship course, Email Valhalla, which makes for an extremely powerful—and profitable—addition on top of said paid ads course I’ll be releasing shortly.

Click here to learn more about Email Valhalla: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


When 2+2 doesn’t equal 4

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A while back I came across a Ted Talk by famous film director, screenwriter, and producer, Andrew Stanton, who worked on films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Up, Cars, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Coco, and many, many more.

Long story short: he knows what’s up. He’s a master of his craft.

One of the storytelling devices he spoke about is, what he calls, The Unifying Theory of 2+2—where, when telling stories, you don’t simply give the audience the answer.

So instead of giving them 4. You give them 2+2. The audience wants to work for their meal; they just don’t want to know they’re doing it.

Basically, don’t tell the audience everything that’s going on.

Give them just enough information that they’re able to put the pieces together themselves.

If you’re writing a character in a story who’s running late for a job interview and has to wait for the bus.

Don’t make him say, “That damn bus is always late. I’m never going to get to my job interview in time.”

Make him pace around nervously. Have him look at his watch repeatedly and wipe some sweat off his face while adjusting his tie.

He’s in the same scenario, but it’s so much more enticing to watch. The audience has all the necessary information to deduct what’s going on.

Make your audience invested.

Now, you might be thinking. “That’s great, Alex. But I’m not a screenwriter. I just want people to buy my products.”

And that’s great.

See, this simple Unifying Theory of 2+2 works for everyone, even for you (regardless of what you’re selling or which market you’re in).

You might expect me to give you an example right now as to how I’m using it or how you could be using it for your own business. But I’m not going to give it to you.

You’ve already got all the pieces to figure it out for yourself.

So why don’t you simply head on over to the following link and, do whatever makes sense: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Got shot? No problem

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So Trump got shot.

And what did we get? A sad news report about resignation, corruption, or worse, death?

No.

We got to witness a historic moment with an already timeless and iconic picture that perfectly captures Trump and the American spirit he’s fighting for that’ll go down in the history books and will become a highlight for many years, decades, perhaps even centuries to come.

Whether you like the guy or whether you’re even paying attention to anything related to the presidential elections… you can’t deny the significance this moment has and will remain to have for god knows how long.

Was it an actual assassination attempt from other parties?

Was it an inside job?

Was it a ploy from Trump himself to improve his own campaign?

Who knows?

All very important questions, no doubt about it.

But think about the effect it has on the public perception. Think about the ‘lessons’ you can take away from this and how you could apply them to your own life (albeit in a different way—I don’t want you to get shot).

In the end, all this boils down to the classic story of the heavily-opposed man who triumphs despite the odds and despite the challenges and hurdles that are thrown against him.

Whether it’s showing your strength and determination after being shot.

Or standing back up, to keep following your dreams and your passions, after a failed project.

If Trump can get shot and use it to strengthen his campaign even more, then you can release your new offer and profit from it regardless of how it goes.

I once heard a man who was a lot smarter and a lot wiser than me say “Nothing bad ever happens to a writer”.

And oh boy, how true that actually is.

Every bad thing that happens to you can be and should be turned into content, into another offer, into another reason to create, to sell, and to thrive.

Many people love J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter.

And I believe that’s partly because Rowling got rejected a dozen times before her novel finally got published. Of course that’s not the only part. And only getting 12 rejections as a not-yet-established author is even LESS than average, sure.

But that doesn’t matter to the public perception.

It’s the fact that people kept going even though at times it felt like the world was against them. The public looks up to those types of people because it gives them hope. It gives them something or someone to look up to and believe in themselves, despite the many rejections they faced themselves.

So don’t you dare doubt yourself after a rejection or a loss.

Get back on your feet and keep creating.

And if you’d like to learn how to ideate, create, and launch profitable digital products in 21 days or less, then consider checking out Product Creation Made Easy here: https://alexvandromme.com/product


How to actually get betterr at telling stories

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I know I’m not new or original with this one, but one of the best skills you can develop to aid your marketing efforts is the art of storytelling.

People have been telling stories for thousands of years (the oldest recorded story in history—The Epic of Gilgamesh—is over 4,000 years old).

Stories are how we learn and remember.

We evolved that way.

There’s simply nothing more entertaining than a well-told story.

More.

We all know how to tell stories. We do it all the time.

When you’re talking about your vacation to friends and family, gossiping about that awful customer experience you had to your co-workers, or when you made up that story as to why you couldn’t participate in swimming class to Miss Stephanie, your 5th-grade science teacher.

That’s all storytelling.

So it amused me when, a few days ago, I came across a bunch of people online discussing the best storytelling books and courses to learn from.

Why?

Well, the best way to learn (or rather improve, because you already know how) to tell stories isn’t by buying books on courses on the topic. It’s by practicing, by simply telling (or writing) stories each and every day.

If that’s not enough for you.

Then the second best way is to immerse yourself in great storytelling, which is easily done by watching great movies, reading more novels, and, if this is your thing (which it definitely is for me), going through and playing the best story-driven video games and experiencing the rollercoaster of emotions it makes you feel.

I’ve picked up a consistent daily reading habit since late 2022 and have been (re)watching a lot of incredible classics for the past few months, as well as re-visiting some of the all-time best video game releases in the last decade.

Now I’m not saying you should do the same.

I’m interested in game development, for one, so this works out.

But find the medium you enjoy and truly immerse yourself in it. By doing so you’ll essentially pick up the skill of storytelling through osmosis.

That is, as long as you consistently practice telling stories while you’re immersing yourself in them.

And the best way I found to easily and enjoyably share stories with other people is by writing daily emails—not to mention the fact it’ll also get you paid.

Anyway.

Check out Email Valhalla here to learn more about daily email writing: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Start doing more doing

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One of the biggest improvements I made in my email and business career was when I started telling more stories everywhere I went.

In my emails, in my X or LinkedIn posts, during X spaces (when I used to do those), during consultation calls, in the DMs to explain concepts and close prospects, or simply outside of business when talking with friends or family members.

No matter when or where.

It’s always a good time to be telling stories—not to mention how good of a practice it is to develop your own storytelling and, in turn, your copywriting abilities.

I've never come across a situation where sharing a well-told and relevant story didn’t help me out in any way, shape, or form.

And I don’t want you to read this and think you have to become a guru who doesn’t shut up about storytelling tips, tricks, tactics, or god forbid, teaches you how to use ChatGPT to tell better stories, yet never actually tells any stories.

Seriously, there’s a direct inverse relation between how often someone shares storytelling tips and how often someone tells relevant stories.

That’s good life advice as well.

Don’t listen to the person doing the most teaching.

Listen to the person doing the most doing. (take that grammar nazis)

And talking about people doing a lot of doing—I happen to do a lot of doing, especially when it comes to sending emails, they get a lot of doing from me.

So much doing.

I sometimes even do the doing multiple times a day, like I’m doing right now.

That’s a lot of doing.

Anyway.

If you want to learn how to do the doing as well, then check out Email Valhalla: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Two things happened yesterday

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The first:

I didn’t send an email.

Not because I didn’t write one—I did. But for some reason, the scheduling got messed up and no email was sent.

The second:

I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time.

As of late I’ve been going through a list of good classic movies which I’ve never seen and watching them one by one. Both for the experience and the enjoyment, but also to study and learn from the storytelling, screenwriting, and other creative aspects that have to do with cinema.

Now, both of these might seem like they have nothing in common with each other.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

See, over the past year, I’ve come to learn that everyone is and always will be connected in some way or another. In fact, it might be better to say all things are one, and it’s an illusion differentiate between, for a lack of a better word, ‘things’ (which are never and can never be anything else but social constructs we use to better understand the world around us and everything in it).

But let’s not go there just yet.

The practical side is this:

There’s always a connection to find between everything. If it doesn’t look like there is, then you simply don’t know enough about the subject or you aren’t looking hard enough.

Let’s take yesterday’s 2 things that happened as an example.

I don’t know what happened with my email. So I could very well complain about Beehiiv and say they messed something up—after all, they might have, who knows?

At the same time, I could also take up responsibility and say it’s highly likely I am at fault and I messed something up myself.

Here’s (one of infinite) connections with 2001: A Space Odyssey:

If you’d ask our good friend HAL-9000 what’s more likely, Beehiiv (the software I use to send emails) messing up or me messing up, then he’d say I messed up, because whenever something goes wrong, it’s always a human error, no doubt about it.

So there you have it.

I messed up somehow (which, generally, is the better view to take as well than simply blaming errors on things outside of your control).

The practical takeaway of this email?

There’s many to be found.

But let me give you a marketing one.

Whenever you’re trying to market, promote, or sell something in an email. Don’t just think “what can I tell about this offer that might be interesting”. Instead come up with an interesting fact, story, or anecdote you’ve come across, a really interesting one (which is easy to do in today’s age of media overload) and then find the connection between that topic and your offer (again, there’s always some connection).

That’s how you write emails in a framework-like style.

Even better. You can reuse those exact emails for everything, everywhere, at any time, simply by switching out the CTA and drawing another connection.

Anyway.

I’m sharing too much here. This is too valuable and I shouldn’t be giving this away for free.

So if you’d like more tips, tricks, principles, and strategies to selling more via email using one of the simplest frameworks just about anyone could use, then check out Email Valhalla today: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


Why Every marketer should read more fiction

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It’s really ironic how I’m the person saying this.

See, I used to hate reading books. School forced me to write book assignments on stuff I didn't even care about, sucking all the joy out of it and making it feel like a job instead of enjoyment.

But I gave reading another go in late 2022.

And boy how everything changed. First of all, I got recommended to read the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson and immediately fell in love. I then bought myself the Stormlight archive and I'm already through the first two books.

In fact, I loved it so much that I bought a whole load of other fantasy novels and even started writing my own.

(I’m currently reading LOTR and ASOIAF)

But enough about that.

Why should YOU start to read?

Well, for one, marketing essentially boils down to telling a great story.

And if you want to be good at telling stories, then you'll first need to learn what makes up a great story and truly surround yourself with them.

You'll also learn what makes people emotional, how to use your writing to not just make people know what happened but to make them FEEL what happened.

To make them part of the story, almost as if it's happening all around them.

You want to grab their attention and suck them into your world so hard they'll never want to leave again and won't even think about buying from someone else.

That's what true writing is capable of.

And that's why, if you look it up, many of the top marketers and copywriters would spend hours reading, listening, and watching stories—many of them even write their own fiction.

So go get yourself a book (preferably one you truly enjoy) and start reading.

And if you want a place where you can apply what you’ve learned and share it with others, while getting paid for it. Then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


How Dune teaches the perfect business-building formula

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I saw Dune: Part Two a few days ago in the theater.

I won’t spoil anything, so no worries

But I can tell you this: it was an amazing experience. Excellent storytelling, wonderful world building, and an incredible score that perfectly blends in with every other aspect of the world of Dune.

Long-time readers know about my love for everything Hans Zimmer so I won’t go into yet another deep dive of the score.

Instead, I want to talk about world building.

More precisely, how everything just fits together—including the shots, the filming style, the dialogue, the music, the VFX, the sound design, and everything else that has to be taken care of when adapting a book into a movie.

Now don’t get me wrong.

Frank Herbert put a lot of time and effort into creating a huge, complex, vibrant and interesting world. But adaptation is a whole different beast of its own (case in point, the many, many previous Dune adaptations that all failed miserably).

But no.

Everything just felt right this time around. As if this could have perfectly well been a new and original work.

There’s enough detail into every scene to make the world feel alive and real.

The exposition is done in a natural way, which does not overwhelm the viewer while perfectly bringing everyone up to pace to understand just enough to follow the story, yet leaving out a lot of information to make the viewer wonder about what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

Who’s who? What do some of these things mean? Even though you don’t understand everything and everyone (unless you’ve read the books), you can still feel when something’s off, when people have ulterior motives, when there’s more going on behind the scenes (which there always is).

It’s the combination of just enough explanation combined with a giant, complex, and living world that creates the feeling of curiosity and intrigue.

And that formula of creating the curiosity to learn more, to stick around, to want to find out what’s happing, and to become obsessed with the world you’re getting sucked into, well, that formula isn’t restricted to film or story alone.

You can apply that same formula to your business and create a world of your own.

A world that captures people’s attention, brings them in with just the right amount of exposition, and keeps them there by leveraging the power of your well-blended collection of characters (offers), worlds (media), music (personality), and entertaining teachings (storytelling).

(Read that paragraph over and over until it sinks in)

And while it’s not something you’ll create overnight. You can start building your world today.

How?

By learning how to write emails and creating the perfect environment to introduce everyone to your world—all the while building your email empire.

Check out Email Valhalla today if you’d like to learn how.

Here’s the link: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/valhalla