[0:00] Music.
[0:13] Hey, welcome back. I'm excited to start a new series today. This is going to be a four-part series that I'm calling The Compelling Content Challenge. So basically, these episodes are going to be publishing during the holidays. You know, we're going into Thanksgiving, we're going into December. And so I know that a lot of you are already feeling the burn of the holidays, and you're feeling the burn of possibly heavy loads on your shoulders and on your mind for your families and for your kids and lots of fun projects that you're probably working on. Hopefully your business is still moving forward and you're still watching the needle move forward. But in an attempt to make this holiday season the most simple, beautiful, but also productive and effective and transformational holiday season you've experienced yet, I asked myself, what can I publish during this time of year that would be most useful to ladies? What can I share that they could take and implement immediately? And so that's what inspired this four-part compelling content challenge. And my hope is that as you listen to these episodes, you can take these tips and tricks that I'm going to share with you about your content.
[1:23] Hopefully you're still going to be posting content this time of year, even though you have lots of other things going on. Hopefully you're still going to be building your authority in your audience and starting to warm them up for offers that maybe you're selling right now, or possibly most likely prepping to begin selling in January or February. And so I think the effort of posting content is still as worthwhile as it is
[1:46] any other time of year, even during November and December. And so I'm going to break down four of my favorite strategies for your content and give you some exercises that you can use so that you can actually take this and implement it. So this is part number one. This is authority story. How to tell your authority story in your Instagram content. You've probably heard me talk about this a lot because I've realized that this is what's missing for a lot of business owners. A lot of us are sharing value, which we've been told to do all this time. A lot of us are posting offers.
[2:20] Most of us could increase the frequency at which we share our offers. I'll save that for another day probably. but the thing that I think is missing for most of us in our content is showing our audiences why we're so good at what we do why we are the ones that they should hire and not someone else why our life experiences our business experiences depending on what your offer is have taken us on this path in this journey where we created a ton of value for ourselves and it would be worthwhile for them to consider hiring you instead of someone else and making you stand out because no one else is going to have an authority story like yours. So I'll give some examples of some of my authority stories in just a minute and start to help you. And I'll give you a process that you can use to start writing your own authority story if you don't know what yours is yet. So first.
[3:13] I've heard a lot of content marketing gurus talk about telling your origin story. But for me, when I hear origin story, I'm like, okay, which one? I have like 17. I have lots of different stories about where I started because I've been doing this for a while and I've been serving lots of different people and testing lots of different things. And so for me to just say, like, what's your origin story? I'm like, well, do you want me to tell the story about how I started a floral design business or the one about how I started a product business or the one about how I started coaching on Etsy or the, you know, like there's so many. And so I think there's a difference between an origin story and an authority story. And I think that the art of crafting an authority story is that it shows where you were and where you are now that's relevant to who you're serving, which is different than an origin story. So in other words, I want to talk about how to tell stories that show people how you got or have the result that they want.
[4:09] Also, I want to say that you will probably have a different authority story for each of your offers. If you're like me and you have an offer suite that's designed to serve people at all different levels, I have the greenhouse, which is designed to serve ladies sort of at the, you know, they're approaching 100k per year mark. I have the launch crew, which is designed for ladies to exceed the 100K per year mark.
[4:34] And so those two different offers are designed for two completely different people. And so as a result, the authority story is different for both of them too. So let me give you an example. Let's start with the launch crew. Here's an example of how I would tell my authority story with the launch crew. And as I'm telling this, I want you to listen for the three different parts. The most important is the beginning. And the second most important is the end. And you'll be able to see in just a second as I speak that you'll hear how I am intentionally choosing a beginning point that the people in my audience can relate with. And I'm intentionally choosing an ending point in my story that really agitates the desire that my ideal clients for this specific offer have. So here's an example. I've launched 30 different offers in the last three years and 20 of those launches have been five-figure launches.
[5:23] And so because I'm so used to launching frequently, I have a ton of experiences from launches that were shockingly easy and I've also experienced launches that fell flat. I have real lived experience about what makes a launch fly and what makes a launch sink. And I created processes and patterns that I follow every single time I launch so I don't have to recreate the wheel. I've realized that launching can feel really lonely and confusing and overwhelming when you're writing solo and you don't have anyone to bounce ideas off or get feedback from. So I created the Launch Crew. It's a small group of ladies who are launching offers frequently and I get to be their strategic partner and their secret weapon with them during their launches to help them create the multi-figure launches they've been dreaming of.
[6:08] Okay, so that's an example of one authority story. Can you hear how I talked about where I started, which is that I started launching offers. I started by having launches that didn't go very well. And now I'm experiencing launches that are making five figures, multi-five figures. And so I can tell this story from a place of mastery. Like I've already done it, I've already figured it out and now I can help you figure it out too. And I want to help people see that I am the person, if they are someone who is launching offers frequently, I'm the person that you want to have on your support team. I'm the person who you want to invest in getting access to because I have a lot of unique value, a lot of unique experience, a lot of unique data that I've learned from testing, launching my own offers. Let me give you a second example for my program, The Greenhouse. Here's what that one might sound like. I built three six-figure businesses before I turned 30.
[7:03] Each business was completely different. One was a product business, one was an Etsy course business, and one was a coaching business. But the one thing that made them all work was the method that I used to market and sell my offers. And I realized that that method was the secret to my success. That method includes marketing on Instagram, using super compelling offers, and really clear messaging and content that is compelling and convincing for my Instagram audience.
[7:32] So once I realized that I had this really powerful method that could help a lot of coaches and service providers, I decided to sell my product business and stop teaching people how to hack the Etsy SEO. And I started teaching women how to leverage their personal brand to make sales through their Instagram marketing.
[7:51] So I wanted to paint two different examples for you. Like I said, there's lots of different stories I could tell from my business experience and you probably feel the same way too. And so when someone says, just tell your origin story, it's like, yeah, but like for what? Which one? So next I wanna give you a formula that you can use that will help you wrap your mind around what your authority story is so that you can start telling it over and over and over in your content. And I don't want you to just like copy and paste it and share it the same way every time. A lot of people in my audience know my story because I talk about it all the time because my story is what has created my authority. The reason why I'm so good at what I do and why I have the experience that I have is because of what I've been through and what I've experienced. I wanna show people that I know what I'm talking about, that I'm really good at what I do, that I've done it for myself and that I've done it for other people.
[8:41] So I think it's important for you to know that part of the magic of what will get me to hire you or of what will get anyone to hire you is knowing that you have or have created or received what I want. I want to know that you have expertise in my area. I want to know that there's something that you're doing that's working really well, and I want to know what it is. I want to know what your secret sauce is. I want to know what you are doing that's working so well for you that I haven't done yet. That gap is the authority gap. And that is the gap that will get her to hire you. I wouldn't hire a business coach who works 70 hours per week and has no kids and is stressed and hustling and pulling all-nighters. Not because I have judgment for that, but because that person is just not creating what I want to create. And I actually had to think about this a lot for a second. I was like, could I see myself hiring a mentor who's making seven figures, who works full-time and has no kids?
[9:42] And the answer is not at this stage in my business. I don't know. Maybe I would hire someone like that in the future, but at least for right now, I don't want to hire someone like that because I want someone who has created what I want. And I want someone who is making a lot of money and also working part-time and who is making multiple five figures per month. I wouldn't hire someone to be my fitness coach if she never went to the gym. I wouldn't hire someone to be my macros coach who isn't really good at tracking macros herself. I wouldn't hire someone to be my business coach who had never sold something online before.
[10:14] And so I want to call this out specifically for those of you who identify yourself as a mentor or a coach, that what people are buying from you, what they are hiring you to do for them is to help them create the result that you have created for yourself. And I think it's really important for you to own that and to start talking about it more loudly and to be more braggy and talk about the amazing results that you created more frequently. And I think there's a slight difference in the nuance for service providers. So I'll talk about that in just a second, but I want to hire someone who has embodied the results that I want, the change that I want in my life. Someone who is making the amount of money and they're making it the way that I want to make it and they're selling the type of offers that I want to sell. So you've probably heard people talk about this embodiment word before. It's a super buzzwordy coach speaky word that we throw around all the time that can mean something different to everyone. But when I hear the word embodiment, what I think of is the tangibles, like the physical results that I would see if I went over to someone's house today. If I went over to her house today, person who I want to hire, I want to see that things are even better in her life than she paints them on Instagram. I don't want her Instagram to be a highlight reel. I mean, it probably will be a highlight reel, but I want things in her life to be really good. I want her to be real. I want her to be authentic. I don't want her to be putting up any fake facade, no Wizard of Oz vibes.
[11:39] I want to know that she's walking the walk. And I want to know that the things that my mentor is guiding me to do are the things that she's doing herself too. Also, I think there's an intangible element of this too. I don't just want to hire the girl who's created the tangible results like the money, but who has also developed the character traits of the type of human being that I want to develop, the type of human being that I want to become. I really like the word personification, where it's like, I want to hire the person who is like the physical representation of the values that are really important to me. So like I said, I don't want to just hire the person who's making a ton of money. I want to know that her values line up with mine. I want her to be ethical and honest and kind. I want her to be like a rock, not insecure, no self-doubt, no imposter syndrome, because that's who I want to be. I want someone to be my mentor and my coach who doesn't get wrapped up in the drama. And those are character traits that I look for in mentors because those are character traits that I want to have so let's tie this back into your content how do you show people in your content the tangible results that you've created in your life and the intangible results.
[12:53] Quick side story about this to sort of paint an example, because I already know when I'm saying this, like talk more boldly, more clearly about the results that you've created in your life, whether it's the financial results, whether it's the health results, whether it's the money or the business or the home or the relationships that you've created, that some of you are going to be like, oh, I haven't created anything that's that cool in my life. And if that sentence has gone through your head as I'm saying this, that's imposter syndrome. Because I guarantee that if we look hard enough, we will find a unique result that you've created in your life that you may or may not even realize it, but is different than what most people are experiencing. I had a tiny moment of imposter syndrome a few weeks ago. I found a girl on Instagram who has a business model that I'm jealous of. And you guys know what jealousy is, right? Jealousy is secret desire. Jealousy without judgment will show you what you want. So I had this moment of like, oh, interesting. There's jealousy popping up here. And I kind of went inside and tuned in to my heart and my soul and was like, that's interesting. What is it that she has that you want, Kaylin?
[14:06] So I went down that road of observing my jealousy, but I also had this moment. She was talking about how her experience in launch, she's a launch coach, and her experience has come from being on teams that have created eight figure launches for some of the biggest coaching names in the industry. And she tells her authority story and her content a lot. So I'm reading this like, oh crap, I have not done that.
[14:32] I haven't created an eight-figure launch for anyone or for myself. And so who am I to be coaching people on their launches if I don't have that experience that she has? Can you see how it triggered a little moment of imposter syndrome for me? But then I looked around and I was like, oh yeah, I don't have that experience. But what I do have is a ton of my own experience selling my own offers and programs. And I have a ton of my own data about what works and what doesn't work as a result. And so side note, I just think it's important for all of us to remember that if you know 10% more than the average Joe about something, then you are qualified to sell an educational offer about that thing. A lot of us think like, oh, I haven't been doing this for 15 years. I know a little bit, but I don't know everything.
[15:20] If you know 10% more than the average Joe about something, that's enough. And so I can confidently say, I know 10% more than the average Joe about launching. Do I know how to create an eight-figure launch? No. But do I know how to create multi-five-figure launches? Yes. So what I want to really call out here is that there is no authority story that is better or more valuable or cooler or more special than someone else's. That's the cool thing about the story, right? It's like the story is what makes it special, not necessarily the beginning or the end result. And so I really want you to make peace with and lean into your authority story. Your authority story might have some pain attached to it. It might come with really hard things that you've been through, that you've endured, that you've experienced.
[16:11] And so I want to help you start to see that story differently and start to tell it differently and tell it a lot more frequently. But it's really important to me that as you start to learn about your own authority story and lean into it, that you honor it for yourself first. And things may not have turned out the way that you would have liked them to or that you would have chosen if you could. But that's exactly why your story will be so compelling to someone who's going through what you are going through, who's out there like, is there anyone anywhere
[16:42] who understands what I'm going through? I felt like this for a long time. When I was looking for a mentor, I'd been through a string of mentors where a lot of them had super successful businesses, but I felt like a square peg in a round hole because I was like, I want a successful business, but I have toddlers at home right now. I don't even have a kid in kindergarten yet, right? I felt like a square peg in a round hole because a lot of my business mentors were leaving their marriages. And I was like, I don't want that. And so I was just kind of like, is there someone out there who has all the things that I want, who has a lot of money, who has little kids at home, who was working part-time and making amazing money, who has a healthy marriage and strong faith in God? And the reason why I found the mentor who I have is because she told her authority story and I saw myself in it. That's part of the power of telling these stories when you connect where you currently are back to where you were. And another girl watching or listening to your story is like, that's me.
[17:40] She's describing me right now and if she can create that result for herself, she can help me too. The last little thing that I want to pull out in this is that the results that you enjoy in your life, like I've talked about, the money in your bank account, the house that you own, the furniture inside your house, the clothes that you wear, the people in your home, the relationships that you enjoy, your marriage, relationships with your kids, relationships with extended family and friends, your health, your fitness, your overall mental wellness. Those all are results that you've created in your life. But some of those things, some of those results might not be necessarily because of anything special that you did, but because of who you are. I was having a conversation with a friend a couple weeks ago who's a life coach, and she was asking me this question about how to tell her own authority story in her content because she was like, a lot of my clients are coming from places differently than where I've been. So how do I tell my authority story if our lives are so different? What she mentioned to me was that what makes me a really good coach is that I'm a really good listener and I ask really good questions.
[18:51] And when people talk to me, I can see areas where they're not being completely honest with themselves. I can see places where they're accidentally contradicting themselves. I can see places where they haven't identified their desires and wishes or they haven't owned them or been honest about them or been honest about their desires to themselves. And I'm really good at gently calling people out on that. And to her, I said, that's part of your authority story. I would start telling stories about how you've done that for people And I started to show her how you probably have tons of amazing results that you created in your life That you don't realize are connected to this gift This person that you are these unique abilities that you have that you have either developed Through your own hardships or that you have been given to you by god And so all of those things count There are probably amazing results that she's enjoying in her life as a result of these gifts that she has, she probably has super strong family relationships. She probably has super strong friendships. She's probably the person that people call when they're going through something really tough because they know that she will be the listener. For me, I think I have some gifts, some results that I enjoy too, not necessarily because of anything special that I've done, but because of who I am. I am like uncommonly persistent. I just like don't give up on things. I keep trying.
[20:15] And especially with launches, I have lots of stories that I could tell about launches, right, that have fallen flat where I picked myself back up. I didn't throw in the towel. I brushed myself back off and I said, I'm going to figure out how to sell this thing. And so I think the financial results that you enjoy, the tangible results that I've mentioned may or may not be a direct result from something specific that you've done. They might be the result of character traits that you've already developed as a human being that some people have not developed, and you can help them develop them as a coach or as a mentor. So in order for you to be able to tell a really good authority story, you have to be willing, one, to recognize and admit and see that you have created unique results, or to stop doubting the results you created and stop saying they're not good enough. It could be something as simple as, I have a really amazing marriage.
[21:08] It could be something as I have a really strong, a really close relationship with my parents. It could be I have a unique ability to be super present with my kids. It could be I have a unique ability to really take care of my body and prioritize my physical health. So if step one is to recognize and admit and see when you have created unique results.
[21:32] Number two is to be willing to tell people about it in a bold way and not sidestep it, not beat around the bush. I'm talking about bragging more. You've probably heard me say this phrase before to be super honest about what you created. And that's kind of just another gentle way to encourage you to brag more. Because I think a lot of times we think bragging equals bad because bragging equals embellishing the truth or bragging equals building ourselves up and saying that we're so awesome when in reality you are so awesome and that's what we need your content to show people. And so we do need you to build yourself up more. We do need you to talk about yourself in the most kind, honest way possible. I mentioned this previously, but I do wanna bring this up. I think authority stories are slightly different if you're a service provider. I think that if you're a service provider, so for example, you're a business owner and the work that you're doing for your clients is that you're a brand designer or a social media manager, or you provide email services, or you're a virtual assistant, I think that your authority story is going to be slightly different. Just because the type of business that you have is probably different than the clients that you're serving, right? So for me, I'm coaching coaches and service providers. So the person who's coming up in my world, I put myself more in a category of a mentor, where I'm helping them sort of like walk along in the path that I've already walked through and guiding them through it. Where if you're a service provider.
[22:57] Your job is a little bit different because the business that your client has is probably different than your own business. So I think that you can and should
[23:04] tell your own authority story about how you got to where you are. But I think the thing that will build your authority faster than anything else is showing your audience what results you're creating for your clients. And I'm not saying like, show how much money you're making for your clients. You can, if that's like something that is related to your offer. But I'm mostly saying like, show your audience how your clients freaking love working with you. Show screenshots of their messages to you. Screenshot what you're working on for them.
[23:35] Blur it out if you want to or if it's private. But this will be basically your authority story is look at what I helped this client create in her life or in her business. It will help your audience to see what you're working on on a daily basis and they will start to visualize having your help with their own business. So like I said, I do think it is important for you to tell your story of how you got to where you are. But I also think, especially if you're a service provider, it's very important for you to pair in stories about what you're creating for your clients. And that will help increase your authority. That will help when someone says, hey, I'm thinking about hiring a social media manager. Do you know anyone? And your brain goes to, yes, I do know someone because I follow someone. And I've always thought it would be amazing to be one of her clients. So she stands out in my brain. So you should talk to her. Here's a referral. No one talks about this, but one of my favorite ways to market is the way that requires no marketing at all, which is through word of mouth and being referred by friends and family.
[24:36] Okay, finally, if you're thinking all this talk about authority story sounds amazing, Caitlin, how do I create my own? Help me tease this out. I'm going to give you an exercise and it's a four-step process and I actually think you could take any one of these processes and pull them out singularly individually and they would still be super compelling but I think the combination of all them together is useful too. Here's what I would do if you want to begin writing your own authority story so that you can tell it in your content. I want you to get out a piece of paper and I want you to draw a line straight down the middle on the right side of the page. We're going to start on the right side and on that side I want you to write down the results that you have created that your dream clients also want to have or create. And I want you to make a list if there's a lot of them. You might write things about the type of income that you've created, the types of clients that you've created, the work-life balance that you've created, the family that you've created, the marriage you've created, the home environment that you've created. Okay, so write all of the results on the right side of the page. Then go back to the left side of the page. And on that side, I want you to start writing the story of how you did that. How did you achieve or receive or create that result that's on the right-hand side of the page? And I want you to make a list of all those things. How did you do it?
[26:01] Then I want you to go back and then circle the ending of the story, which will be on the right side of the page, that will be the most compelling to your audience. And then I want you to go back and circle the beginning of the story, which will be on the left side of the paper, that will be the most compelling to your audience. So this is the most important thing. And this is what I mentioned previously. I just want to call it out again. The most important part of your authority story is the beginning and the end. And that part of the story might be different depending on which offer you are selling. So you might want to do this exercise multiple times based on the offer that you're selling, based on the type of woman who is perfect for that offer. Like I used the examples before, the launch crew versus the greenhouse. Two different types of people at different phases in their business. Therefore, my authority story to speak to that woman is slightly different.
[26:50] Okay, next. Step two. Once you have clarity about which starting place and ending place you want, then we can start fleshing out the details in the middle. We can start writing out all the amazing, beautiful details in the middle of the story. And I want you to get specific on this. I want you to ramble. I want you to brain dump. I want you to try to recall the most granular parts of the memory. How did you feel during this process, during this experience? What were the challenges that you were up against? What hurdles did you run into? What things went really well? What things didn't go very well? Try to include as many details as you want and dump it. I really like doing this in a Google Doc. You guys have heard me talk about my morning pages routine. This is something you could absolutely do as part of your morning pages.
[27:38] Step three is to take that expanded version of the story and go back and try to condense it into seven sentences. This will help you cut out any extra fluff, any extra unnecessary details, any side notes, any tangents, so that you can keep the most specific details. I want you to keep the emotions as much as possible. Seven sentences. There's no significance to that whatsoever. It's just an exercise that I came up with on my own, but I think it's useful to help you start to practice speaking your authority story in a shortened version. I don't really like to talk about elevator pitches because I don't like to talk to people on elevators, so it makes me anxious to talk about an elevator pitch. But I like to think about telling your story in the most concise, precise way so that someone who's scrolling through their Instagram feed could read your story at a glance and could be moved and impressed by it and hit that follow button. So that leads us to step four, which is to publish that seven sentence story. Send it in an email with a call to action. Put it in one or two story slides with a call to action. Put it in a carousel. Put it in a caption on a reel. What's fun about this is I can pretty much guarantee this will be one of the
[28:51] best performing posts from this entire month for you because we humans love stories. We love realness and rawness and we love connecting with other humans, especially ones who are like us.
[29:05] To wrap this all up, I just think it's perfect that in order to tell your authority story, first we have to identify what your authority is in, and then second, we have to practice telling the story. So as a quick recap of this episode, the most important aspects of your authority story are, one, having a different authority story for each of your offers that's designed for the woman who is the person for each of your offers. The second element that's super important is thinking not just about the physical, tangible, visible results that you've created in your life, but also the intangible ones that include the kind of person who you are on the inside. The things that are more difficult to see, the character traits.
[29:47] The personification, the values that are important to you that would also be very important to the people in your audience who would love to hire you. The next aspect is setting down imposter syndrome, trusting that if you know 10% more than the average Joe, that's enough, valuing and falling in love with your own authority story. Even if it's painful, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's vulnerable and raw, those are the ones that people will resonate with the most because those are the people who are looking for someone out there who's like them. They're looking for someone who's talking about the things that no one's talking about. They're looking for someone who they can find and say she gets it She gets me She's been through and dealt with some of the same challenges and frustrations and limitations and annoyances That I have and she still did it She still figured it out. I want to be close to her And then finally go write and post your authority story I would actually love if you would send me whatever piece of content you end up sharing Send me the reel send me the carousel, screenshot the stories and or tag me in them I would love to see your authority story and I can't wait to read and your audience will too and I'm so excited for you to enjoy a little boost in your engagement when you start to peel back some of the layers and reveal the beautiful unfinished.
[31:13] Work in progress human that you are behind the scenes your audience is gonna love it I can't wait have the best week you guys hey I hope you loved this week's episode if you did I know you would love to be a member of my community, The Greenhouse. It's where I teach you how to build an amazing, fruitful life while you build an amazing, fruitful business. It is a movement for women who want to unsubscribe from the traditional success path that says that life has to be a struggle and instead learn how good making more money can get, how fun marketing can be, and how much joy and presence you're capable of feeling as a woman and as a mother. Find out more and join at katlynpriest.com slash greenhouse. And I'll see you there.
[32:01] Music.
