Learning from our entrepreneurship story

During Thanksgiving week, I got away for a couple of days.

I went to Branson, Missouri to have some fun time. You know Branson. It is a little like Vegas minus the booze and casinos and in the heart of the beautiful Ozark Mountains.

While we were in Branson, we saw a film at the Imax theater. The film was called National Parks Adventure.

The film was a documentary on the national parks, but with a twist.

The film followed three friends as they visited many of our country’s great national parks.

The trio climbed the Devil’s Tower at Devil’s Tower National Monument, rode bikes on slick rocks, and cross country skied into an area with a frozen waterfall and witnessed an amazing winter wonderland in Pictured Rocks National Seashore in upper Michigan.

The trio consisted of Max, his step-father Conrad Akard and a family friend, Rachel Pohl.

They canvassed several national parks during their adventures.

We learned how the use of nature helped Max Lowe heal when his father passed and brought him closer to Conrad Anker, his late father’s close friend. In the opening segment, we learned how nature helped Teddy Roosevelt heal upon the loss of his wife and mother on the same day.

Essentially what we had, was a story set within the backdrop of nature, specifically National Parks.

Effects of Storytelling

Storytelling, it seems, is a technique that helps things be more memorable, more connected to who we are. In essence, stories are a much more powerful way of sharing information. Science even backs it up!

So, how can we as entrepreneurs use storytelling to help our businesses?

Here are seven ways that storytelling can contribute to improving our entrepreneurship journey.

1. Learn to break through.

One of the elements of a story is that our protagonist, in our case us or our client, overcomes adversity. It happens in every single story, and it is ultimately our story.

When we begin to overcome our adversity, we encounter a breakthrough point. We get past the roadblock holding us back.

Buffer talked about a few of their breakthrough points in a recent post.

Co-founder and COO Leo Wildrich mentions three breakthroughs for Buffer. The first one was when Buffer chose to live and work transparently. The second breakthrough was when they decided to work remotely, and the final breakthrough for Buffer was when they decided to build a culture-first company.

This is Buffer’s story.

What is your story?

What was your point of breakthrough?

What is the point when everything began to click for you?

2. Do something different.

Do something different, because everyone else is doing the same thing. Have you noticed that? 

It has to be calculated and not just for the sake of doing something different.

Differentiation is one of the most fundamental parts of business. How does your company differentiate itself?

Now, doing something different doesn’t mean to do it just for the sake of doing something different.

It does mean, however, that you are free to question every process.

Jason Fried of Basecamp mentioned this in his book Rework when his company questioned conventional wisdom in various areas.

“We know because our company fails the real-world test in all kinds of ways. In the real world, you can’t have more than a dozen employees spread out in eight different cities in two continents. In the real world, you can’t attract millions of customers without any salespeople or advertising. In the real world, you can’t reveal your formula to the rest of the world. But we’ve done all of those things and prospered.” Rework

Remember, each context is different. What worked for Basecamp (then 37signals) may not work for you. While there are lots of startups who have used content marketing build growth, I also know a startup which used traditional salesperson model to ignite its growth. 

The point is to figure out works for your context. Also, the point is to differentiate yourself in a positive way.

3. Learn to be flexible.

One of the hallmarks of a newer and smaller business is the ability to be nimble. We live in a day when we have access to data faster and more efficiently, and we can make decisions quickly (see Momentum by Shama Hyder).

There is no reason for us to wait until the end of the year to make the necessary adjustment for our business. Real-time data can help us make those decisions much quicker.

This is a real advantage over the big agency down the street. They are larger and slower to change and to make necessary adjustments.

4. Failures aren’t the end.

Jason Fried says in his book Rework that failure is overrated. I certainly understand. Why fail at something when you can learn from others!

The truth is that sometimes failure is the best way for us to learn.

We can’t allow our failures to prompt us to give up.

So many had many failures before they found what worked.

So, learn from your failures, or, learn from other’s failure.

Failing and not learning from the failure ceases to be a learning opportunity.

5. Mastermind 

In all stories, our protagonist has a mentor or a guide.

Entrepreneurs can find their mentors and guides and lots of insight in a mastermind group or by using a business coach.

We have to look outward to help us inward in our entrepreneurship pursuit. We can learn from the guidance of others who can help us look with new eyes.

Who is your mentor? Who are your guides?

6. Tell your customers’ story.

Companies just don’t do that, but those that tell the stories will win the race. It’s that simple.

Shane Snow quotes an old Native American Proverb that says, “Those that tell the stories rule the world.” They painted it on the wall at Contently.

People listen to stories.

Your customer is the star of your company’s story. Did your product or service solve a problem?

You need to tell that story.

There are lots of different reasons that we go into business.

Maybe you wanted freedom or to make a better living. Maybe you didn’t want to work for anyone else. Maybe you wanted to help people and found being an entrepreneur is the best way.

7. Share your own story, your own journey.

This kind of window into your journey is something people appreciate, and they can look at what you do, what you have done, and learn and grow.

People love to see that we are as they are, that we have struggles and adversity and that we have worked hard to overcome them. People love to know what our breakthrough (see above) moments are.

Your customer is the star of your company’s story, but people will relate the fact you have a story as well.

Wrapping it all up

Entrepreneurship is a journey and, ultimately, our story. We set out on our journey, find out own way, become agile, learn from our failures and find breakthroughs.

Along the way we find help.

We share our story, and we share our client’s story.

How does your story look?

How does your story look different this year from last year?

What is your client’s story and how can you help the story change?

Finally, who is your Jedi Master?