Really? Are you sure there’s not a story?
There wasn’t a moment when the idea for your business struck you? Or when you knew you’d had enough of the regular 9 to 5?
It doesn’t have to be epic. Not everyone is Richard Branson or Anita Roddick, but every business does have a story.
Does every business need to tell a story?
Well, that’s an interesting question. It made me think about when I was looking for a plumber.
Did I want to know why or how he got into plumbing? Did I want to know his philosphy on plumbing?
Not really.
I wanted to know he was qualified, that people recommended him and that he was available. Which in their own way are stories. They may not be exciting stories, but they are right for his business.
Sometimes it’s as important to know which stories to tell, as to how to tell them. You have to know what’s useful, interesting, motivating to the people you want or have as your customers.
Then you can think about how to tell the tale in a way that shows them that you get them.
That’s how you tell your story, or stories, really well.
But how to do that is a whole other tale.
Back to the story of your business.
I think you’ll find that you probably have more than one story, so start writing them down. You don’t have to write the whole thing, start with a headline, a sentence, a paragraph if you want.
The important thing is to start writing.
Then you can work out if it’s what your customer wants to hear.
But if you’ve written down the philosophy of plumbing, well, you can probably scrub that one out now.
