Content for Your Business vs Content for Your Soul: with Jilliane Yawney

podcast Apr 10, 2021

We are super excited to share our recent podcast interview with Jilliane Yawney – Story Coach. Knowing what to post on social media, blogs or how to present the "perfect story" to your audience can be an overwhelming task.

I know you'll love the information in this blog, and the conversation we had in the podcast interview.

Together Jilliane Yawney and I dive into understanding your power when you have a difficult story, choosing the story to share with the world & knowing how to captivate people with intention.

The Vulnerable Stories

How do you know if your content is for your business or content for your soul? It is such an important question;the concept of vulnerability is trending thanks to Brene Brown. There is so much value and meaning with that but there is a difference with putting that out there with the concept of my business is my personal journal. There is a fine line between sharing your story with your business. Do you want yourself to be out there or your story?

What is the goal with your post?

As business owners, we need to be clear on our goals. It comes down to the purpose of the content and what the ultimate outcome is. How often should business owners be creating content. Are we as business owners flying by the seat of our pants, being busy solopreneur or planning it out?

The apps we use put so much pressure on the content we put out. Instagram reels favour certain songs, IG stories favour certain tags and newsfeeds love specific hashtags and unfiltered images right now. HOW the heck do you keep up with knowing WHAT to do?

It all comes down to story telling. Every great business, every great sale is based on a story, that triggers an emotion for an audience member to click BUY NOW.

The most important lesson about content and story telling: Make sure your content is for the AUDIENCE.

Posting with intention vs posting just for the sake of it. Sometimes we tell stories for ourselves to feed our soul, and sometimes that is 100% okay, but as a business who wants to bring in an income ask yourself: does align with our business?

It's about creating lines and boundaries around what is going to serve us and what will serve our audience. Really being clear on what the goal of the communication is. How can YOU as a content creator and business owner tell a story that will captivate your audience and have them eventually spend money at your business.

Think, Feel or Do

In the podcast episode Jilliane does an amazing job at explaining the THINK, FEEL, DO portion of content. If you have a story you are dying to tell, ask yourself what value will my audience take from this or what does my audience want from this?

Going back to the lines & boundaries, looking at what the content serves. If you are in the middle of a launch of a product or new service you want to make sure you're telling a story that's relevant to that type of launch. If you're diving into selling tiny homes -- and you veer off in your storytelling about botox and yachts --- it may push your launch into a direction that you weren't anticipating. Focus on targeting the IDEAL client you know you want to work with with your stories.

When you know the story is more for you than your business, then pick the right venue to share that story. An individuaI that Jilliane loves and admires is Elenore Beaton (podcast Power Presence Position), she shares portions of herself and portions of her life always to express purpose of education. She shared a personal story on car shopping to illustrate a point and educate others. Stories can help motivate, inspire, teach, build relationships, and sell.

4 things to consider before you start sharing your story with the internet:

1. Do I want to teach?

2. Do I want to inspire?

3. Do I want to motivate?

4. Do I want to sell?

What are your communication priorities?

If you are brand new here I own a Tiny Home (the kids named her The Tinyrosehip) and the tiny little 420sq ft home sits on the side of a mountain. It has quite the story to tell.

Which is a perfect example of storytelling. I have many stories as an entrepreneur, business owner and tiny home owner. I ask Jilliane "how can I really pick". I have a divorce that resonates with people, a tiny home that attracts a human being who loves tiny home adventures & have built a successful marketing business with 2 kids who were under the age of 5. What do I focus on? You ask yourself - how do I want people to feel, what action do I want people to take, and it circles back to the inspire, motivate, sell etc type of message.

When Dwell Magazine approached Megan on featuring her story, they wanted to share her experience with The Tiny Home & divorce.

When Insider Magazine reached out, they wanted to know how do you live in a tiny home on the side of a mountain and choose what style of home.

Every story is different and the key ingredients to consider WHO are you talking to, and WHAT is your goal?

I can't wait for you to listen to our chat together on the podcast, it's on Itunes, Spotify or press play.

Podcast Highlights

2:10 the reality of the pressure that comes on entrepreneurs to create content all day every day

4:44 The think feel or DO way of creating content.

15:15 Jilliane tells us specifically what to focus on before putting a piece of content out.

19:00 how to take ONE story and turn it into many stories.

23:00 If you can decide what your CORE stories are as a business - you will have 100’s of stories to share and never run out of content again.

30:00 Key ingredients in a story - press play here if you want to dive into HOW to express the emotion in a reel/ instagram story etc.

34:00 Get her free guide to dive into better story telling HERE

More from Jilliane Yawney

I took a ton of notes during this interview, Jilliane Yawney is a genius! She is constantly posting valueable information on her Instagram, as well as her website. Say hello to her and let her know you found her through this site!