Become a masterful storyteller and build a deep connection with yourself and your audience

This took me 4:50 to read

In 2022 I invested in a $6,000 program to successfully launch my coaching offer. A big part of the program was to host a 3-day training.

I went big.

I did ALL the optional bonus strategies taught in the program.

I tried out facebook ads for the first time.

I live streamed my training on Facebook AND turned the live streams into their own ads to funnel people directly to the trainings.

I made a workbook for the attendees to download digitally and fill out throughout the training AND I EVEN WENT IT GOT IT PRINTED AND SPIRAL BOUNDED!!

I did all this in a 300SF airbnb in the boonies of Big Fork, Montana.

Then came official open cart launch day.

On that same day I was driving all the way back home to Denver, Colorado.

It should have been simple day 1 open cart. Everything was set to go.

All I had to do was hit “post” on my Instagram carousel and add the “slide shows” I made for my IG Stories to further promote it.

I did that, jumped in the car and took off toward the mile high city.

About an hour in to the drive I went to check Instagram and see how the launch was going when I saw that my carousel didn’t post.

I pulled over in the middle of nowhere and tried again.

Poor service? Doesn’t look that way.

I tried again.

Restart the app?

Tried again.

Nothing

I was PAN-ICK-ING

Finally, 30 minutes later I checked my email and there it was.

3 emails from big creators talking about Instagram being down and why it’s sooooo important to build your email list because you can’t trust these platforms. They could shut down any moment and you’d lose your whole audience.

Yup… I was the literal case study.

Growing my list

Did I learn my lesson?

Not really 😂

I haven’t taken growing this newsletter as seriously as I “should” until last month.

So it only took me like 4 years, but you know what they say… the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

So let’s plant!

You may have seen, I created a 7-day storytelling course as my free opt-in to grow my list—and of course, support you all in telling your stories (if you want it, click here and I’ll send you day 1 right now).

Since launching that less than a month ago, here are the results:

Per ChatGPT:

The industry standard conversion rate for a landing page offering a free opt-in (like a lead magnet, freebie, or email subscription) typically falls within the following ranges:

• Average: 20–30%
• Good: 30–50%
• Excellent: 50–70% or higher

I have also gotten 6 more subscribers from other sources.

So that is 55 subscribers over 30 days.

I went from 525 subs to 580.

At this rate I will reach 1,185 subscribers by next year.

However, I would argue two points:

1. I still feel like I haven’t even promoted the 7-Day Story Course that hard
2. I will continue to learn what works to get more sign ups and I will lean into what works therefore I expect sign ups to be higher than 50 per month.

What is working?

The best freebie solves a problem and leaves gap for the next problem.

What is the best freebie to make?

Let’s first take a look at your business.

Every business exists because it solves a problem.

Great businesses get known for their unique zone of genius that solves the problem.

For example, if you not satisfied with your life, there are many solutions to help you create change, however James Clear has become the habits guy. Change your habits, change your life. Now he’s sold over 25 million copies of his book Atomic Habits.

Take a look at the fitness industry.

The problem could be a person being unhappy with their body.

One Solution. Become a Hybrid Athlete. Nick Bare is known as the Hybrid Athlete guy.

You could be the CrossFit guy, Ultra Runner, Carnivore diet, Body Builder, intuitive eating, and on and on.

What have I done?

My ideal client’s problem is that they are disconnected from their content.

My zone of genius to solve that problem: Storytelling.

Throughout the last year and a half I really leaned into being the Storytelling guy.

Which is why my opt-in conversion is so high.

So, what’s your zone of genius?

I have found it’s almost always right under your nose.

I heard a quote Ben Kuhn (the CTO of Anthropic) about finding your thing: “what does it seem like everyone else is mysteriously bad at?”

Maybe it’s something you’ve worked on so much that now it’s automatic.

Maybe it’s something from childhood you were always good at.

Maybe it’s something you’ve been doing for years without even realizing it.

It’s that last one for me.

My worst subject in grade school was English.

But in high school there were two English classes I got A’s in. They were both creative writing classes (aka storytelling).

When I rode my bike across America in 2016 I kept a blog of the whole thing. When I go back and read some of those blogs, there are some beautifully written passages (and that’s after a day of 8+ hours in 90+ degrees on a 90 pounds bike!).

When I look back on my Instagram posts from 2018, I was always telling stories.

When I made an announcement 1.5 years ago to become the storytelling guy (after some coincidental reflections from friends and my therapist came in all at the same time telling me to lean in), people replied with “yeah duh Matt. I’ve always seen you as the storytelling guy.”

It was right there in front of me the whole time!

And I can see so clearly now it’s the thing that I would always think, “why is it so hard for people to tell a story and be vulnerable?”

What is that thing for you?

What does it seem like everyone else is mysteriously bad at?

Once you have that, you can solve one core problem.

Your freebie should solve one core problem

As I mentioned above, every business exists because it solves a problem. However there are many subsets of the overarching problem.

Now that I am known as the Storytelling guy, it makes total sense that the first and most obvious problem I could solve is helping you tell a great story. So that’s the freebie I made.

[btw - I have some things I’d like to say on this. I lost my way a bit the last few months. I started a Substack called “This Might Ruin My Reputation” where I share some deeper vulnerable thoughts around what I’m working through as a spiritual-ahtletic-content creator. I won’t be sharing those in this space, so you can subscribe by clicking here and my next Substack will be about how I’ve lost my way a bit.]

Solving one problems gets people a win AND leaves room for the next problem.

Once you know how to tell a story, you will then be asking the next subset of problems like…

• Okay, but is this the right story to tell that will grow my brand? What’s my the strategy?
• How do I turn this into effective content? Should this be a carousel or reel?

I do talk about all this stuff in other newsletters, but the fact is, people don’t pay for information. ChatGPT could walk you through a story right now and will even tell you to make this story a carousel and here’s how to use Canva to do it.

When people invest in you, they aren’t really paying you for information.

They are paying for implementation and support.

People want feedback from a trusted source (not AI) that they are doing it all correctly for their specific situation.

So give away your best information by solving ONE problem.

My freebie solves ONE core problem. You will know how to tell a great story for short form content.

If you don’t actually solve any problem it will decrease trust with your audience because they will feel they have wasted their time. Do skimp on information.

If you try to solve too many problems all at once in a free recourse, it’s going to leave people overwhelmed (or you try to keep it short and concise because, it is free after all, and it ends up being incomplete and therefore not very valuable).

To get support growing your email list, this June’s monthly theme inside the Growth Community is all about using social media to grow our email subscribers.

I am hosting a live training inside Growth on June 2nd to support you with your freebie and throughout the month the community will have weekly action items to complete like exactly what to post on their IG stories that will help them grow their sign-ups and email list.

The person who has the greatest % increase in email subscribers will win $300!!

I will also be doing this right alongside the community too!!! (of course, I am not eligible to win the $300)

If you want to learn more about Growth or to sign up right away, click here.​

Our future monthly themes include:

• Mastering Carousel’s (talking to a special guest 👀)
• Craft your “Founder Story” (and post it)
• Repurposing like a pro
• 30-day habit/goal (embody your aspirational identity and turn it into content)

​Sign up for Growth here!​

Talk to you soon!

Matt

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