The Art of Telling Your Story

At the end of the day, sharing our story really does go beyond us. It's about the people that we're called to reach. Today I am sharing with you four tips that you can use when you are telling your story, especially as an entrepreneur. This is the art of telling your story. 

Tip #1: Remember the basics. 

We think of telling our story as this big elaborate thing and while sometimes it can be a big elaborate thing, it doesn't have to be. Go back to the basics: The who, what, where, when, and why of your story. 

Tip #2: Know the purpose of sharing your story. 

Really dig into the why. This is twofold for me. On one side, I remind myself that I'm sharing my story to reach people. It's bigger than me. On the flip side of that, when I share my story, I think about what parts of the story I want to share. I want to think about the reason why I'm sharing the story and make sure I am really honing in on the part of the story that makes the most sense for what I desire to communicate. I may share a story with you, and it may take me one or two minutes to share the story, but the story actually took place over a three-year, five-year, 10-year period. Well, I'm not going to give you all the details that happened in those three, five or 10 years. I'm going to give you a little snippet. I'm going to think about what parts of it makes sense for me to tell in this moment. What's my reasoning behind even bringing this story up? You must know the purpose of why you're sharing your story. 

 Tip #3: Be vulnerable 

If I'm honest, I don't really like this part of sharing my story. I am not one to just be vulnerable for many different reasons. I remember growing up in a home where we were encouraged not to share things that happened within our home or within our family. Not even that the things were bad necessarily, but we were encouraged to not share or spread the business. You know that saying, what goes on in the house stays in the house. I think because that was the mentality that I had growing up, or at least that was the perception that I had as a child, I am hesitant to share. Now as an adult, it's really hard at times for me to be vulnerable. A second reason why I think it's hard for me to be vulnerable sometimes is because I already feel like so many people know so much about me already because my husband and I pastor a church in our local community. Let me add this detail... My husband is an open book. Sometimes when he preaches, I hold my breath, preparing for what he might share next, lol. Sometimes I want to keep some parts of my life hidden just for that level of comfort. I hide parts of my life so I can feel like not every part of my life is on display. 

God has helped me in this area. There are lots of things that I have shared recently in different sermons that I've preached or different live videos I have done on social media that I wasn't comfortable sharing in the past. Now I'm much more comfortable sharing because God's helping me to see this level of vulnerability helps me connect with the people I am called to reach. So as an entrepreneur, as you're telling your story, I want you to embrace a level of vulnerability. 

Tip #4: Connect the takeaway of your story to your business. 

This is huge, especially as an entrepreneur. When we tell our stories, it's because we want people to know the transformation that we experienced. It shows that we can help them on their journey. We want to make sure that we're helping our audience make that connection. So, think about how you can connect your story to the solution that you provide. How can you connect this story to a service that you offer? I want you to be thinking about that as you're telling your story. 

My prayer is that you were encouraged today to embrace opportunities and share your story. I want to encourage you to really embrace strengthening this craft.

To further connect with me visit www.aprilnicolescipio.com