Authenticity and Vulnerability: The Power of Storytelling Today

Remember Barbie collecting days? Those tiny dolls were my first brush with storytelling, leading me to encounter pioneers like eBay and Amazon in the digital era. I'm here to share my journey and emphasize how powerful storytelling can be in building successful ventures. Stories have the power to connect and inspire; they're the essential tool in our digital age to forge unique relationships. Our stories are not just about us, but they are about bravery, vulnerability, and authenticity. 

This episode explores storytelling's significance in our lives and how it can make a remarkable difference. How do these narratives bring people together and how sharing them is an act of bravery?  I’ll touch on the creative side of storytelling and how it brings excitement and energy. So gear up to learn the art of crafting compelling stories that engage, captivate, and inspire. Don't shy away from sharing your story this weekend!

Chapters

• 0:01 Digital Age Storytelling's Power
• 14:25 The Importance of Sharing Your Story
• 21:31 Storytelling and Creative Collaboration

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome back to Brutally Made Happy Friday. Very excited to be with you again. Let's see what our doodle is going to be today with a one-a-drop hardcore biker. If they were a magic girl, oh my, I just got a little bit of a comedic spin today. That's good, that's all right. So happy to be back.

Speaker 1: 0:35

I love getting a second to share my thoughts around all different things creatively, and today I want to talk a little bit about storytelling. I think that people really connect with others when it's engaging and it's a beautiful way to, you know, hear someone's account of everything, from something they've experienced in their life to really connecting with someone's interpretation of like a movie and how they felt in their opinions. And I think that when we want to create something of our own, we're trying to find the right voice and the right way to share our story. And I shared a couple of episodes ago how I had traveled to my first art and creative convention and that was a huge topic on their manufacturing and their brand was how that was. Like. One of the core features of what they do is that they want to connect by telling their story or a story about if it was a product that was being made or just the concept around a collection, and that's really what we do as a creative person or people, and I think, being an entrepreneur, you're wanting to share. This is what you're passionate about and this is why you feel so strongly that this needs to be out in the world and it really is a form of storytelling, and I think we connect with people when we really feel part of their story or that we can relate to their story and we're entertained by their story. It's just very easy to connect with someone that is easy to talk to and that is easy to have a conversation with or easy to listen to, because you're like me. I can really connect with what they're saying and I really feel a connection to what they're creating. You'll get a feeling when you see a piece of art that you either like it or you don't like it, and there's a reason that and that is part of your story is, you know, your opinion and your connection to that. So I really think that, talking about storytelling, it spans across any business that we're creating and anything that we're building upon, and I think, in the digital era that we're in right now and we have been for a long time. I've been in the digital world since the 90s.

Speaker 1: 3:22

I started creating kind of a following on Confuser. I worked with Confuser from home so I could get my internet for free and it was dial up at the time and I collected dolls, specifically Barbie dolls. I loved playing with Barbie dolls when I was growing up and I played with dolls, I swear, until high school. I just I loved making my curtains and cutting the Priscilla frill off the bottom and making skirts for my dolls. I mean I would make clothes for my Barbie dolls and play Barbie dolls forever. I loved it. So when I had children, I had daughters and I was just like Cloud9, this is awesome, they will play with Barbie dolls too. And so I started collecting dolls and I would find cool sets. I still have a lot of my sets that I had collected. They always had themes. Christmas themes were huge then. I loved the Christmas Barbie dolls.

Speaker 1: 4:28

I collected those and then I started sharing them on these. They were kind of like chat boards at the time and you could sell extra ones or ones that people wanted. You could go find them in the stores for them. So I would share those stories about those dolls and why I loved a certain collection and you would talk to other collectors all over the world about these dolls. So I was approached by the owner. I remember his name, david Cunningham. He owned the pink box Barbie dolls board that we were on and they reached out and said would you like to be an admin and your internet would be paid for because you were on there a lot, and that you would just engage other people that loved these dolls. And there were different levels, like there were some that did vintage Barbies, there were some people that did the Kin dolls, there was a skipper line, there was just different ones and mine was pink box Barbies.

Speaker 1: 5:38

So every day I would go online and I would talk about the ones that were coming out that I would see in stores and then people would say, well, I found this one with the different marking or different words and it was more collectible, and how do you find out how much this one's worth? And it was so much fun, I loved it and I would take pictures and share the pictures and I really got into being part of that whole world. And people got out of hand. I had permissions to go out there and kick them out of the boards and they couldn't post anymore. It was empowering, but it was so much fun to find other people that had that passion and loved talking about their dolls and so I ended up going to like all these different doll conventions and meeting all these other collectors. I would make custom dolls, sell dolls.

Speaker 1: 6:29

It was like this amazing world was opening up and at the time, jeff Bezos had not started Amazon to what we know Amazon today. It was still a bookstore. So I remember talking with him in these chat boards as he was investigating how our logistics were flowing and we got to shop on Amazon early on in different ways and that we were like testing out the platform and I really wish I still had this. But he like sent a thank you pack to me and all these other items for shopping and I remember he had an Amazon pencil and a letter from him and there was like a ceramic mug and my mug arrived broken and I was just like dang it. It was like one of this Amazon branded thing. It was like this. It was so surreal thinking about it now and that eBay was just starting so that was a platform that when we were buying and selling bulk dolls, we worked with eBay. It's just incredible to think back how things have changed, and being part of all of those social media platforms and shopping platforms and their infancy, it was just a lot of fun. So I've been part of building websites and working in social media since the mid 90s since that time, and it was all based on the ability and the love of telling a story.

Speaker 1: 8:06

So I think that the digital age really is based on people. When I say influencers, I can't see my hands, I'm like drawing, but I want to do air quotes. That is a story somebody is connecting with. It's that person's personality or what they love, or their passionate about something that everybody else is. It's cooking, it's pies, it's baking, it's something coffee, it's clothing. It's their story and their fashion and their style it doesn't matter, it's a connection, it's a story. You are connecting with that person and their storytelling. So it's huge. It's huge in social media because people want a connection and, good or bad, they feel it with somebody online and they follow them, and so it's all based in storytelling and there's, I know, so many studies on how negative it can be, especially when it's children and teens connecting with this person. That could be a bad influence. So there's a lot of science behind storytelling.

Speaker 1: 9:19

So we really have to take a big responsibility for it and, I guess, craft and be careful of how we share our stories, because we don't want them to be seen as negative and we want them to be positive and I would hope we would want them to be positive and inspiring and funny and engaging. So really think about when you're sharing something. It is important to show all sides. If you're having a good day, a bad day, it's being very realistic, being vulnerable, and I think that that's also a part of having a good voice in storytelling is that you're authentic. So really think about when you're presenting information. Think about it as a story and think about how whatever you're going to share and say and present out in the world, you know that is part of you and that you want to be responsible for that. Hey, I hope you're enjoying this episode about storytelling.

Speaker 1: 10:28

Here's the little bit of a list of helpful hints. If you're creating anything that you want to get out there and you want people to connect with you, know your audience and decide what your message is going to be and also tell it authentically. If it's a sad story, frame it that way. Be real. Use visuals if you can and really have a narrative. You want to have a beginning, introduce it the middle and then also end it Showing as much as you can visually, especially on social media. That's really a great connection. And if it's a story that you can create a little bit of suspense, go ahead and do that, but keep it personal. Make it personal and encourage engagement. Ask people to comment on how they feel about what you shared and maybe ask if somebody else has similar experiences and share it across all platforms. Everybody is getting their information in different ways and just listen to the feedback and adapt as best as you can. So hopefully these will be some great tips for you to continue on your journey and help you in storytelling.

Speaker 1: 11:41

So it's very fun for me to take my love of art and then make it a little bit interactive this way by doing while I talk, because that's part of me, that's part of my story, it's part of what I love to do and I know there's so many other people out there that love that. So it's just another way to engage and tell the story and use visuals, because I think that that's a lot of fun to do that and I think that I don't know if it's not a new niche. People talk on blogs and things and paint and draw and do instructions all the time. But I think it's fun to present it this way, because some people may not be able to doodle along with me. They're just listening to podcasts while they work or while they're exercising or where they're driving. And then maybe there's others that you know.

Speaker 1: 12:36

I need a prompt for this week to draw something. Let's see what this is. And, oh, I want to see what everybody else is drawing with this thing prompt. And you know, even though if it's a biker, that's a magician, a little girl magician, a little to-do, so I don't know, it's just, it's just a. It came to my mind and I wanted to do that because it's part of my story. So I wanted to give permission to think outside the box and, you know, present my story and what I like to do in a different way. So I think that if you approach what you're doing with the idea that you're telling a story, I think it will help you be more authentic.

Speaker 1: 13:17

So, if you're starting a business and you know you're passionate about presenting, I don't know you're going to do something with pets and that you really need to share that reasoning why you feel so strongly to have a store that offers, you know, pet collars and treats, and maybe you'll do pet portraits and you know pet sitting and you invite people to bring their pets to your store. You know, is it because you have pets? Talk about your pets, talk about when you were growing up. Maybe you weren't allowed to have them, and now this is, you just standing up to that and this is what I'm going to do because I never got to have them. I'm making up for that. It's compelling and it's part of you and someone's going to connect with that. Because I couldn't have pets inside. My mother, when we were growing up, would not allow us to have pets inside and we had pets outside and our pets would hit it by a car. They were going to run away and it was so heartbreaking and sad. And I am making up for that now because I have four dogs and four cats.

Speaker 1: 14:25

Now, granted, my daughters brought cats home every year. It seems like from college. They all went to high university and talk about a story. Let me tell you a little story about how we got one of our cats. My daughter made up a story and I never knew it was made up until years later. She tells me she's driving along on Route 50, coming home from OU, and some lady was kicking this cat on the side of the road. And she stopped and scooped up that cat and got in an argument with that lady and brought home this little kitten. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's horrible. I can't believe that you would do that. You don't know there's a stranger. You know you can't do that. She argued with me and can we keep this cat? Can we keep this cat? We ended up keeping the cat and it was going to work for me. It worked. It was at our work, my work, for a long time when I worked at a location it was an event center, and so eventually we brought it home.

Speaker 1: 15:21

You know her name is Lily. And I find out, and this is this is see, halle was in college. She's 30 now. So this story had been in my mind, that's true, for a good five to eight years, a couple of years ago. I find out as I'm telling this story to someone, and Halle's with me. She's like mom, that didn't happen, but even that's how we got Lily. You rescued her off the side of her, but now she was just in Grandma's yard and I wanted a cat, so I just scooped her up and brought her home. I didn't think you'd let me keep her if I told you. I was like, are you kidding me? She was ordering this kid. I swear that's what story she told me. I believed it forever until she realized I was recounting the story about my, her old child rescuing this cat. She just got a stray cat out of my mother's yard when she was visiting grandma, when she was down at OU. Oh my, yeah, the things that we weave, the stories that we tell and the visuals that it creates, since like, oh my goodness. So just really think about when you're creating something, that you're going to want to tell a full story and that sharing your story it's very helpful for others, because a lot of people I don't know the official percentage of people don't like to talk in public or to a lot of people Married to a very quiet guy, he does not like to talk too much in public and I am the complete opposite.

Speaker 1: 17:06

So I always laugh that I make up for that. But he has wonderful stories. I mean, he's a veteran and he has amazing accounts of every place that he's been and I wish he would share more because he is funny and he is a wealth of knowledge and it's amazing to hear the things that he has experienced. But he's extremely shy and very quiet and that's just not his personality. So sometimes I'll tell his stories for him, because he doesn't say too much when we're out with other people he doesn't know. Now when he gets to know him, he does open up and he's very chatty, very funny, very rotten. He loves playing tricks. He plays tricks on me constantly. He thinks I'm balmy all the time. I guess it's startled so easily and he just thinks that's hilarious. But it's part of his story. I mean, he is. That's just his personality. But once you get to know him, he is very, very funny and he does have a lot to share.

Speaker 1: 18:13

But there are people that just don't like to share their stories. So if you're on social media following someone and they are being vulnerable and they're talking about their passion, about their business, and they have ways to follow them and support them and they're really wanting to share what drives them and you're interested in that field or that product and it's not going to hurt, to follow them and to support them, and that's a dream, and to support someone's dream is huge. We support big box companies and celebrities in a heartbeat because they're like enamored or we're entertained by them. And really to fangirl over the locals that do amazing things and that are really working hard to try to get their work out there, that's huge and it's authentic and you should honor that.

Speaker 1: 19:13

And, as a creative, if you're following prompts or challenges and everybody's doing the same thing and you're just like man I'm just not as good as so-and-so or I wish I had that talent or that skill or that tool that I can draw or create like that person try not to compare yourself. Your story is going to resonate with someone that's in the exact same boat that you are in, that needs to do the same things that you need to do. And if you're just a smidge braver, and just share it anyway, it's so inspiring. So please stop hesitating and just share your work, because when these months pass and these years pass and you go back and you look at the progress you've made, you are going to be blown away.

Speaker 1: 20:07

It is incredible your story. No one else owns it. It is so unique. It is yours. So please support it with your dreams. Get all of this out there in the world. They are needed to be heard. I'm telling you, people need to hear it because that is going to help them.

Speaker 1: 20:30

If you could just do one thing and be brave and do it anyway, even if you don't think you're ready, it doesn't matter, if you wait to be ready, you're never going to be ready, just do it anyway. That should have been like you saying do it anyway, not just do it anyway. That's how we get better, that's how we learn. That's human and it's good. It's good to just put your work out there and make it known, because it does give back to a lot of people. That energy, that true, vulnerable, authentic energy, is so unique and it's so needed.

Speaker 1: 21:14

No one wants perfection. I will talk about that forever. No one expects anybody. There's no such thing as perfection. Nothing is perfect. We have got to just share and put your dreams out there.

Speaker 1: 21:31

That's a little bit about storytelling on my mind today. I'm anxious to continue to share my story and what I've been doing and how I've been working and learning and trying new things and illustrating some stories that I have been working on and it brings me so much energy and excitement to do that and I love that. I've got a moment to share that with you. So hope you like my little biker magician girl and beard oh my gosh, so funny and what a story you know that want to draw. Pick that story for me. I would have never thought of that in a billion years. This is what I need to write a story or a draw story on and look out for you. So create a new story this weekend, enjoy the process of doing it, document it here or there and share it, and if you do it along hashtag BroodiflyMate, I can see it. I'd love to see somebody else's biker magician girl. So have a great weekend and it is Veterans Day, so happy Veterans Day and I will talk to you next time. Bye.