How to Tell a Story that Ignites Inspired Action: Are You Making These Income Shrinking Mistakes?

As you read this story, I want you to focus on the story, and then go back and identify the 3 elements of any good story. As you discover how to tell a story and you begin to practice, you observe that there are three elements that make a story a story. I’ll tell you what they are later. For now, experience the personal narrative examples in the story you are about to read.

I hope you are not approaching your business the way my friend is. One of my dear friends is building her online business, and she’s probably a lot like you. She has a family, hopes, dreams, and desires. She wants time freedom and prosperity for herself and her children.

She’s spent the past year learning strategies for building a business online. And she has created some problems for herself. Perhaps you can guess what the first one is simply by what I wrote.

I’ll call my friend Learning Laura. She puts a lot of time into learning about growing her business. As i said, she has children, and she isn’t seeing them as much as she wants to – because she’s spending so much time learning about growing her business. After all, there is so much to do – blogging, social bookmarking, social networking, growing a community (list) of loyal followers, creating info products (which, forging strategic alliances (joint venture relationships), mastering technology. You might be getting exhausted and overwhelmed just looking at the list of things to do.

Learning Laura even invested in an intensive year-long coaching program to give her the skills to grow her business. And at the end of the year, she complains that she isn’t making the 4–5 figures a month she felt the program promised her.

During this program, she discovered how to get traffic to her site, how to put together a sales page, how to write a lead capture page, how to blog, and so much more. And if you notice how the lack of one particular word, you will know why her results are far below what she wants. But I’ll get to that shortly.

Learning Laura is probably spending 30 hours a week learning how to get into action and maybe 10 hours blogging and probably another 15 on various calls and webinars.

Are you noticing the pattern here? Can you tell why Learning Laura isn’t getting the results she wants?

And when she’s not dealing with the business and the household chores, there are errands to run – and that other job she has so that she can put food on the table. Each night, tears wet her pillow as she realizes that she is no closer to her dream today than she was yesterday, and that tomorrow isn’t looking very promising either. So much to do. So little time.

Yet something I shared with her last week changed the landscape completely for her. What did I share that ignited her passion and sparked her into inspired action?

What I told her has nothing to do with time management, though mastering your time is essential. What I told her has nothing to do with taking ACTION instead of spending so much time learning, although this, too, would stop her from holding herself back.

yes. Taking a few simple actions to master her time will change her life. Only checking email 3 times per day and never first thing in the morning is a good start. Setting up filters so she never has to touch “join me on the __ network” and similar emails is another. Ruthlessly guarding every minute and putting her family time on the calendar is also critical. But it’s not enough.

And I am imagining how much more money she will make when she actually APPLIES what she has learned over the past year in her life and business instead of spending so much time in the pre-action stage. And yet she still complains about not seeing the kids as much as she wants, not having enough help, and not making enough money.

It truly makes me sad, because one of the things most everyone wants when you start to grow your own business is more time to spend with your family than you would have in a typical job.

The formula that I use for learning VS action is a gift from Tellman Knudson. He taught me to spend 2 hours of application for every hour of learning. Because applying the learning causes you to ask better questions and get RESULTS. Imperfect action is far better than perfect inaction. Thank you, Tellman.

Something Mike Litman taught me when I first started stuck with me then and still sticks with me today. “Every new level of success demands a new level of YOU.” And it’s not a new level of learning, but a new level of action.

However, without one critical element, all the action and learning in the world will never move you forward. This element is the spark that ignites everything else in your life. When you make decisions from this singular perspective, every moment – every action – has meaning, and every decision comes from a place of power.

What’s your ignition? John Di Lemme calls it your “WHY.” You might also think of it as your purpose or your “point” for living.

When I told Learning Laura to tap into her why/purpose, at first she related it to business goals – the why for her business (the reason she is starting her own biz). “I’m talking about the Big Why – your purpose for your life. What are you here on earth to accomplish?”

“Oooooh!”

I could feel her spark of knowing ignite from hundreds of miles away through the phone line.  When every action starts from the mindset of living from your purpose, it is so easy to make decisions and take actions that move you forward. “Write your ‘why’ on a card and read it first thing in the morning, during the day, and right before sleep.” Thank you, John Di Lemme, for teaching this to me so that I can pass it along.

My best recommendation for Learning Laura – and for YOU, best beloved, is to find your why right now, today, and start living from it. John has a wonderful special offer on a package including his fabulous book that teaches you how to find your why right now.

Learning Laura is finding her purpose – her why, and I know her business will explode into inspired action, grow a loyal following and earn reliable profits when she taps into that purpose daily and lives from it. And this will happen for you, too.

***

Now that you have experienced the story and taken the action you need to take, you can go back and notice the 3 elements of how to tell a story.

The first element is obvious. “Content.” Events. “What happened?” Notice those elements in the story you read in this post.

The second element is “Context” Relevance. “Which means what to me (the reader)?” You are here for storytelling, storytelling for business, business development, and the like. Notice how this story speaks to you as I have related one person’s story to YOU.

The most important element of how to tell a story is emotion. If I’ve done my job well, you feel emotion as you read about Learning Laura. You can relate to her situation, and perhaps you raise your hand as someone falling into the trap into which she found herself. Notice the emotions you feel as you read this post.

Resources

If you have not already done so, please register for your free storytelling lessons using the box in the upper right corner of the blog. You’ll receive storytelling hints, tips and strategies for your life and business.

Get in touch with your ultimate purpose – your why – right now. Be sure to pick up John Di Lemme’s incredibly affordable package that empowers you to find your why– and live it.

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• Today – Ronda Del Boccio, the Blind Mentor, Shares “Taking Inspired Action by Setting and Living SMA – Jun 19,2009 (shrinkwithme.com)

Ronda Del Boccio is a transformational speaker, mentor and author known globally as The Story Lady because she teaches authors, entrepreneurs and business owners to easily connect with your ideal customers and contacts through the power of your story.

She is the author of numerous stories, poems, and articles, as well as her books I’ll Push You Steer, and other upcoming books.

Discover how to explode profits, prospects and prime media opoprtuntiies with her latest book is the Instant Credibility system, which teaches any business owner, entrepreneur, coach, speaker or writer to craft a lead-generating book that grows your business.

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