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Having trouble connecting your audience? Storytelling might be the missing piece!
Tamara Melton has utilized storytelling techniques as an educator; in numerous public speaking engagements; as a media spokesperson and in written work. An entrepreneur since 2007, she has studied the art and science of using storytelling to attract and retain clients.
TRANSCRIPT:
Jessica Freeman
Welcome to the Work Your Wellness Biz podcast, a podcast for nutrition and fitness professionals. I’m your host, Jess Freeman here to help you save time and look good online. Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the work your wellness biz Podcast. I am so excited because today I have my friend Tamara Melton, here to talk about storytelling in business, which we’re going to cover a lot of different aspects of this.
And I’m just excited because I think not I think I know, this is something that is not talked about enough. I think it’s a big piece that is missing from a lot of business owners. So that’s why I wanted to bring her on. So Hello, welcome to the podcast. I’m so happy to have you.
Tamara Melton
Hello, I’m glad to be here. And I was we were talking before we went live and recording that we have like concentric circles of friends, or at least some of your clients and everything. So it we needed to meet.
Jessica Freeman
We did we’ve been we’ve been chatting for like 20 minutes before we started recording. And I was like, I guess I should stop taking up your time and we can actually record something. But yeah, we both live in Atlanta. And we both work in the dietitian space. I mean, I’m not a dietitian, obviously. But I work with dieticians.
But I would love for you to share what you do, because you have a lot going on. And I want people to know about it.
Tamara Melton
Yeah, so I have really two different businesses, three different brands. So the one that I think a lot of at least dieticians, or people in the nutrition space know about is a nonprofit that I co founded called diversify dietetics. And our goal is to help to recruit and support people of color who are going into the nutrition profession, because there’s so few artists of color.
And why that’s important is because everybody, right and food is so closely tied to people’s culture and so are in game we always say is to not just to diversify the profession, but also to provide really adequate, really culturally sensitive care for all the communities that we work with. So we provide programming for students, we provide programming for professionals, and then also for educators and preceptors, because they’re the ones who actually decide what the profession looks like, just because of the way the educational pathway works.
So I’m the executive director and co founder of that organization all if you’d like, Oh my gosh, that seems like a job in of itself, which it is. We are a huge proponent of hiring people. So we have, you know, some staff that we’ve brought on recently, and contractors that we work with, which is awesome, because we’re able to actually hire some of the folks in our community who have kind of been like day one supporters, who helped us with different programs, some of those programs that we have going on. So that’s one of my gigs that I have.
And then I also own a company called TSN, nutrition consultants, I started it in 2007, I was a baby dietitian. So I just, you know, started practicing, I think, in 2007. So I will give credit to my husband who’s an entrepreneur, he was like, you need to set up your LLC, because anytime somebody asked about nutrition, you need to charge him. So he works in banking.
So I did, and I’m glad I did, because I always had a way to be able to take on projects and run it through my business. And so I was recently able to work, start working for myself full time, thanks to a corporate related layoff, there was a blessing that happened in fall of 2020. And so I decided that I wanted to do take my practice that I’ve had since 2007.
And really focus on working with people of color, women of color, who were just women’s health, just because of my own health journey I had really around reproductive health and with my infertility that I dealt with, and then having my daughter’s and then also dealing with fibroids in that condition. So that I do group coaching with my ladies as I call them, which I really love because in a previous life, I was a professor at Georgia State University here in Atlanta for about 10 years. And so I really love anything that feels like teaching.
And group coaching to me feels like teaching it is teaching and I just love that kind of camaraderie and everything so and then I also love public speaking and all things about books. And I love book nerd and very proud of it. And I love writing and I have written for a very long time. And so I think very unconsciously used to storytelling and like everything that I do. I just use it a lot and work when I was teaching my students when I was trying to convince somebody to hire me too, for whatever reason, in public speaking and writing and things like that.
And I noticed that not a lot of registered dieticians were using Storytelling, a lot of people don’t write, they just if they’re unless they’re really accomplished, you know, speaker, people love it. That’s why we watch movies and why we read books and everything, they love it. But I think especially in any sort of a science field related field that people get so caught up with evidence based and making sure they’re doing this and that.
So I had seen an opportunity, I have a need, if you will, kind of in this kind of business coaching space for someone to teach registered dieticians specifically or other wellness professionals, how to use storytelling, not only in public speaking, but also in marketing, because it’s such an effective marketing tool and strategy. Like really, if you can, if you can tell stories you can sell, you know, anything to anyone, basically.
And so I just didn’t see that happening. I don’t see people, I saw people talking about storytelling, but they really met copywriting, which has storytelling to it. But that’s a very narrow view of what storytelling and how it can be used. It can be used in any sort of communication, audio, visual, written, those sorts of things on and once I kind of set up shop, with my, because I’m the type of person like if I’m like, I’m setting up shop tomorrow, I don’t know what I’m doing. I figure it out in the builders play as I fly it, this is what we’re doing.
So I set up shop where people do on Instagram. So that’s where I set it up. And I put it out there like hey, this is something I’d like to do. The reception was great. But as I got to kind of talking to some dieticians, who I thought I’d be providing services around, like, hey, do you have a signature presentation that you want to really amp up the quality of I will help you with that, it became very clear that and I and I should also mention I focused on like side hustlers and startups, I just really think that those folks, it was really fun to work with her in that space, became clear that actually understanding how to build a business, that is a brand that someone or a business, I should say that they really love, and that it’s their lifestyle.
And that’s not just cookie cutter, what everybody else is doing what’s missing. There are no shade to other coaches, by any means. I think that people, you can learn anything from anyone that you work with, I feel like just a lot of prescriptive. Like, here’s how you build a business, here’s how you do it is what’s being taught. And that means that a lot of people are ending up with businesses that are very similar to other businesses.
So it’s not differentiated to the market all the time. And then they don’t really like it. Like they’re like, I don’t want to do this group coaching or I don’t want to do you know, I’ve talked to introverts who like group coaching exhausts me, I’m like, then why are you doing it? There’s like an infinite amount of like,
Jessica Freeman
That’s me. That’s me.
Tamara Melton
Like this? Yeah. Right. And so you’re, this is not what you have to do. You know, the cool thing about being dieticians is we’re literally the only, that’s the only, I guess, chefs or someone to ask, but we’re one of the few very, very few professions on the planet where literally everybody can potentially be a client, what’s really is everybody, there’s really no other profession out there.
Um, like, there’s plenty of work, y’all plenty of work to do. So you don’t have to do, all you want to do is take pictures of food, that’s all you have to do, and you can do really well. So I decided to expand my services to kind of go into storytelling for business coaching, because I can see that people needed more help with just really figuring out the strategy behind their business.
And you can use storytelling as a tactic for really building the base of your business you know, your mindset, the story, you tell yourself the story telling me to go traditionally, you know, in advertising that type of stuff. So I set up shop TamaraMelton.com on the internet, I did an Instagram versus a storytelling dietitian, which I still have that. And then I created the website to say like, Oh, I’m gonna really focus in on like, really business strategy.
And I think my experience doing so many different things. I didn’t go into my whole history, but you read every website, I’m done a lot of different things. I have about a three to four year cycle in a job, and I’m good. And I try to take the thing that nobody has ever done before. Like, I just must have a high tolerance for risk. And clearly, I’m this person was like, I want to do all the things.
I don’t know what I’m doing. Let’s go. And so because of that I’ve had experience with building a lot of things, a lot of different types of businesses. So yeah, so that’s what I’m doing now. It’s a lot of fun. I’m really going to enjoy it.
Jessica Freeman
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, it is storytelling is so key. Like I’ve seen people teach it like you take like this Instagram course. And then they’re really talking a lot about storytelling, or you take a course about public speaking. And then they’re talking about telling your story. Like it weaves into everything. Like and I think that people think that like oh, but like they don’t really care about my story, but like we like to work with people.
Goal, not logos. Like, we want to work with people. And I have to remind this to my clients sometimes because they want their logo, like five inches tall on their website. And they’re like, but like, make the logo bigger. And I’m like, I don’t really want a picture of me on the website. And then like, what like, but like, we are working with you, right? Not not your logo.
Tamara Melton
Yeah, when you get to the point where you’re like apple, and you’re a brand like that, then you can put your logo out there. We are at the point where people are going to choose to work with us because of who we are.
Jessica Freeman
Yeah, totally 100% 100%. So the reason that you and I even started having this conversation about storytelling, is because of something I posted on Instagram, a while back, and I was talking about because a lot of people, when they’re writing sales pages on their websites, they have a section that’s like, this is a good fit for you. This is not a good fit for you if and it’s basically just kind of like you know, oh, like, if you’re a mom, this is a good fit for you, if you’re not like this is really for moms or whatever it is. But sometimes those bullet points are not, are not great descriptors,
Tamara Melton
Right?
Jessica Freeman
They’re not they’re not great qualifiers, because they’ll say they’ll say things like, this is not for you, if you don’t want to live your best life. And I’m like, literally, no one is going to be like, Oh, no, I don’t want to live my best life today. Maybe next year, right. So, um, so you and I started talking about websites and coffee and dietitians and their websites. And so I wanted to, there’s, like we mentioned a little bit ago, there’s a lot that storytelling can apply to with Instagram and public speaking.
But I really wanted to talk about it in terms of our websites, because that’s where people come in to hire us, where they learn about our group coaching program, or one to one services or whatever. So I would just love to hear like your, your thoughts about how we can incorporate more story on our websites, whether it’s a sales page, or, or otherwise. And like how we even start doing that.
Tamara Melton
Though, I think that there’s so many different places where you can weave in stories on your website, which is your home, right? Literally where people are coming to, to learn about you to see if you align with their values, to see if you make them feel good to see if you get them to see if you understand what their problem is, what their troubles are, where they’re trying to get to.
So you could help people that in these bullet points, I have eight modules, and we’re going to talk about these different things and that people honestly don’t care, they don’t care. They could care all the way less. I always tell people, people hire us to help them to get to something else. So by that, I mean, when somebody comes to me, and let’s say I work with women’s health, and they want to find a way ladies that I work with, they want to find a way to get healthier, they don’t really care about the nutrition.
And by that I mean, they really want to be around to see their grandchildren grow up, they really want to not have to deal with maybe some of the conditions that their grandmother dealt with. That’s what they want to get to. So they are using me and hiring me as a dietitian to be the guide to get them there. So the stories that I need to tell them, need to show them.
When you work with me, I’m going to help you get there so that you’re going to be able to see play, you know, get down on the floor and play with your grandchildren. That’s a story. What I just said to you in those little words, everybody knows a grandparent who’s down on the floor, playing with a toddler, and the baby’s like laughing. And that’s a story. And that’s what people want to hear.
And so if you really put the work into your website, and there’s different types of stories for different reasons that you might have, but if you’re putting work into the copy, then you’re going to be thinking about what’s a way that I can use stories to basically show to this person that I understand what you’re going through, I’m going to help you get to where you want to be, and you’re the person and the person that you want to work with. And oh boy stories, they do such interesting things in our brains. They release oxytocin, which is that feel good hormone to the storyteller.
So when you’re the person telling a story to someone else, that person starts to feel good towards you. They start to trust you more people who trust you will buy from you. And so on your website, if you’re putting in stories about clients stories, who are clients who have overcome whatever challenges because they worked with you, not so much about the appointments with you, but what did the client what was life like before they met you?
I couldn’t get down on the floor of my grandchildren. You know, I just really had a hard time doing that, versus afterwards like, now I’m able to have all this energy to work, you know, to be with my grandchildren, and I’m gonna be around for a long time to watch them grow up. That’s what they want to hear. And that’s what they want to see not the features of the program.
And so I think we’re going to talk about it. But I think that there’s different areas that this really you should really, if you’re just starting out, because you might be overwhelmed. Like, I’m, I’m not gonna take a creative writing class. And it’s not that deep. There’s ways I think, ways that you can kind of get started with this on your own website.
Jessica Freeman
Yeah, I think speaking of the client stories, that’s one of my favorite things, like favorite tips to tell people is instead of just emailing clients and being like, Can you send me a testimonial? Okay, like, Jessica was great. Like, they don’t know what to say, you know, like, she was so nice. Okay, that, that, thank you. But like asking something, I’ve shared this on the podcast before but sharing, or asking something along the lines of like, what were you struggling with before? And like, Did it come true?
Or like Arden? Sorry, that’s two different questions I just combined in my head. What was something you were struggling before? And then like, what was the fear that you had about working with me? And did it come true, because then they’re like, Oh, I was really struggling with getting healthy and not feeling well. And then they’re like, I was so scared that you were gonna, like, take away all my favorite foods. And, and it didn’t. And now I feel great. And you know, like, I’ve seen this, this and this happen in my health. And there you go, now you have a very nice testimonial that actually shows the before and after that, like you just mentioned, instead of just, she’s really nice.
Tamara Melton
Because the testimonials are going to do the same thing over and over. She’s really nice. I got what I thought I’d get, you know, that’s and that’s not evoking any emotion out of the people who are reading about these testimonials. You know, the best deal previews of stories and then good or bad, right? Yes, sir. Bad, they tell a story of this waiter coming in.
And he or she did like the best thing ever, or, you know, he or she, and they, the more details they put into it, the more we’re like, oh, oh, I didn’t do this. And when I did that, and then I did that the person is telling you a story, right? That’s what you also want your future clients to read. But you had to do your point, you have to guide your happy clients, to help them to write those stories.
So I actually at the time that this airs, people can go to my website, and I have a free downloadable client story template, perfect. And you can get, and you can take, and you can use to gather these. They’re not going to be testimonials at this time. You can call them that. But they’re actually going to be client stories. Yeah, that they can actually use. So. Yeah. So I think that another place where people can tell their story.
And here’s the thing about, especially in nutrition, or wellness, you know, we’re working with clients who sometimes look at us, and they look up to us and feel like where we are is not achievable for them. you’re somebody who has a degree in nutrition. And you are, you’re like the person who is like the pinnacle up here. And so there is a risk that we take when we share our own story, especially if we don’t have the same health condition of the groups that we work with. If we’re where they think they want to be, even though they don’t know what’s going on in our personal lives.
We might be. But they don’t know that right? So how do you craft your own story? On your about page, your About Me page, which I always tell people should be your story page? Well think about what is it that you can present about yourself, and describe about yourself that will help the person who’s coming to your page to say this is the person I want to work with. So they don’t really care about all the schools you went to. They don’t care about that. Unless there’s something happened at that school that said to them, wow, this is why this person is passionate about this.
Of course, if you share the same condition that you help other people to overcome or manage, you can absolutely tell that story about how your own nutrition has helped you there. But you want to think about that and crafted into a story. It’s not a bio. It’s not like a biology and have somebody read off. And actually a story has a beginning a middle and end it has some authentic emotion to it. It has specific details in there. It’s gonna be those sorts of things. And it’s something that you really want to spend a good amount of time on and creating it.
I will say, you know, I’m working with a copy editor right now who’s on my TamaraMelton.com where I’m talking about storytelling. I put my story and I told her tear it apart. Having an editor to work with is so helpful. I do think that people should write their own copy. That’s just my opinion, because you know your story the best. Yeah, and it’s your voice. Like you said, people are hiring you.
But I do think you also should work with a copy editor. And that person should you know, really come back and tear it apart. Like that’s what anybody who’s been writing knows the editing process is painful. But let me tell you that any books that you love, trust me, somebody edited that.
Jessica Freeman
Yes.
Tamara Melton
Right? Yes. If you have somebody who’s editing that, and really looking over your story, think about what it is that you can say about yourself, you still showing that you have the credentials are really showing why is it that people would want to work with you. So it’s now bio, that’s something I work with my clients on.
With my coaching clients, we look at their websites, if they haven’t built already, if they don’t, then we’re going to look at their copy and create the story, was it we can craft the story into, it’s gonna be very strategic about what you have to say everything you’re gonna reveal certain things and the stories you craft are going to get you in the person’s mind of like the expert.
Jessica Freeman
Yeah, yeah. And I think that’s one thing that people struggle with is they’re like, Oh, I like I have to tell my story. So then I have to spill all these details. And I’m like, Well, no, you get to dictate like, what details are included or not included? And that just depends on how comfortable you are with sharing that information. Like, it’s just up to you. There’s no, I don’t think there’s any right or wrong with what you share.
But since you mentioned it, because I do know that yes, there are a lot of dietitians who are like, Oh, I have IBS, so I help people with IBS. But I do know, because I’ve had clients who were like, I don’t have IBS, but I do help people with IBS. And like they have felt like, I don’t know, like, I’m not supposed to help these people, because I don’t have this, this condition.
But it’s like how that you know, their internship or whatever, like got them onto this path. And now they love it. So how would they craft their story? Since it’s not like, Hey, this is like how I dealt with my diagnosis. And like how I’ve handled my own IBS? Like, what kind of stories do they share on their website to help connect with their clients.
Tamara Melton
So I think what you just said, the first one being I was on my internship, and then I got exposed to this, and then I fell in love with it. Because why usually fell fall on that because we were able to see how you’re able to help people. Or you’re really keeping it client focused. So telling people why you decided to go into this area, that way they can start to trust you like you’re not just trying to take advantage of their situation, there was this genuine feeling of wanting to help.
And then that’s when you shift into what are your clients success stories, those can be about your story to them, when you had that first client that you really helped them to reach their goals. That’s when you knew you wanted to stay in this area. And you could have been an intern while you were doing it. You could have been a dietician working for a few years, or 10 years or whatever. But that can be part of your story too, that can be on your story, your page doesn’t only have to be about you, it’s your story as to why you got to where you are.
And that helps them to feel like wow, this is why he or she decided to go into IBS and working with clients like me who have this condition. And then oh, wow, this is how they help somebody really to reach their goals, which is to live life without being interrupted by all the symptoms of IBS, then that’s what you can do and share that. So I always tell people, there’s lots of Obstetricians who are men. And they’re so good at what they do, right?
Jessica Freeman
Yes, yes, that is very true.
Tamara Melton
A person who who has the condition? Or who is that person who actually would have that, that whatever, to be able to practice in that area. We know that right? There’s a lot of Doc’s who are oncologists, they don’t have cancer. And there’s I’ve never removed that.
Jessica Freeman
I have never I’ve had Type One Diabetes for 27 years, and I’ve never had a doctor who was actually diabetic.
Tamara Melton
Exactly. No, endocrinologist that you met. No. It’s so remove that kind of limiting thought from yourself. That you if we dietitians only work with people who have the same conditions as us, there wouldn’t be enough of us working with people. We get trained in that, right. There’s there’s not enough of us right now to work with literally all the people on the planet, right? possibly work with us, right?
Think about it. Not enough of us. So we have to be okay with having that. But yeah, showing sharing your story of, I always tell people I went into nutrition because I was going to be a chef. I was planning to go to Miami, I had my little acceptance to live in, in Jacksonville, Florida. I was going to go to Miami and go to Johnson and Wales University and I was chatting with my grandma one day and I remember she was cooking in the kitchen and everything.
And she mentioned that she had been diagnosed with diabetes. And I was like, okay, and I said, Well, what are you supposed to eat? Because she’s cooking in the kitchen? And she turned me into like, I don’t know. And I said, Well, how do you not know what to eat? And she said, they didn’t tell me what to eat. And I found that day I was like, well, who are the people who teach people how to eat if they have diabetes? And that’s when I discovered a dietitian.
Jessica Freeman
Nice.
Tamara Melton
That was my story of why I went into nutrition. I also did something very well. I told you a story. Yes, you did. Your Sunday. I did.
Jessica Freeman
And I literally was like I had like a video in my head playing of like you in the kitchen. Like, there’s imagery playing in my head, as you even earlier when you were talking about being a grandparent on the ground with your grandchild, like, I had that image in my head of it was, you know, stock footage. But, yeah, it’s like a commercial playing in my head. But right, like it that helps. Like, that’s so much more engaging than like, just talking about the modules and how many worksheets and
Tamara Melton
like, or even like, Hey, I wanted to go into nutrition because I was gonna be a chef, but my grandma got diagnosed with diabetes, and I decided I want to become a dietician. I mean, it’s the same thing. Right? But are different experiences. He was a listener.
Jessica Freeman
Yeah. And that’s one thing, I mean, going back to talking about like the sales pages, and like your, your service pages whenever you want to call them. It is like I’ve seen people, dieticians, who have their sales pages where it’s just like, this is what I do, here’s the three month meal plan, or I do this six month program, or I have this other thing.
And like that’s it, there’s no like the before and after hear your pain points. Here’s how I can help like, it’s just like, this, is this how I work with you. This is what’s included, you get five calls, and a PDF. And I’m like, there’s no connection on this page, like,
Tamara Melton
No connection like that’s, and then also, I could really interchange you with any other dietitian, yes. No, I can take you out and plop somebody else in. And there’s nothing about you that makes me remember you a differentiate you from a different person. Now if you were to say something that made me remember you because you had some sort of element that you talked about either your program itself and how it was going to help me as a client to get where I want it to be.
For even if it’s talking about if you feel the need, like you got to describe your your program, like do you need to describe like what it feels like to be in the Zoom Room with you? Is it a fun engaging Zoom Room? Is it like a safe space? You know, do you have a story around a client who described that I had told a story the other day where I was teaching, I was telling this before we started recording, I was teaching a couple weeks ago to my ladies in my group coaching about the woman cycle and the female cycle.
And a lot of them thought before they learned it, they knew this, I asked them like raise a hand. You know, I have six ladies in the room so I can see them like on the screen. And I’m like, Oh yeah, we know this. Well, not everybody but most of them. And they realized I could see their faces progressively realizing how little they knew to one person got to the point to where she was visibly agitated.
And she just towards the end, she unmuted and she said, I have to say something. She’s like, I’m so angry that I did not know this. And my doctors never talked to me about this. And they’ve been putting me on birth control. And I’ve been having these issues. They’ve just been asking about putting me on birth control. And she said, I’m just so I don’t really know. And I said I know you kind of have to sit with this.
And all the rest of the ladies are like nodding their heads thinking Yes. Well, that would be giving you a story what happened in the Zoom Room with me that can sell my services to you. If I really didn’t feel the need to talk about a feature, I talked about a feature of my program, but it was through a client story. How she had an aha moment. Feel centering the client.
Jessica Freeman
I love it. Love it. Okay, so we’ve convinced the listeners they’re like, Okay, I’m ready. I just I can feel it. They’re convinced. They’re ready to include more story. They’re like, Okay, ladies, I’m listening. I’m going to do it. What do we like? What are the elements we need to include in our story, like what makes a good story in our on our website?
Tamara Melton
So I and if you’ve heard me on any other podcast or anything, or follow me on Instagram here that I love this book by Kendra Hall called stories that stick. I know there’s a story brand guy out there. He’s fine, too. But this is the one I like, why because she don’t like that he’s fine. And he is but you know, I think that once she’s a storyteller, she’s somebody who’s gone to I think it’s like Jonesboro, Tennessee.
And that’s where they do like the great storytelling festival, nice shoe, they legit trained storyteller, and does those sorts of things. And she has four elements, that I when I read that I was like, that resonated with me, no matter how big or small The story is that you’re telling that you would have a relatable character. She says You don’t have to be a hero, which I think it’s interesting, right?
It does need to be relatable character. Right, because sometimes the villains a relatable character, and I understand where they’re coming from, like, I understand why you grew up that building. Right? Yeah, you’re relatable character. They also have a story too. So you have a relatable character, which for us a lot of times would be our client stories or something like that. And and then you want to have specific details. So as I was telling In a story about the Zoom Room where my grandma in the kitchen, or the grandparent on the floor with a toddler who’s like, there’s a specific details, right, that’s what you just said, allows you to form the picture in your head and stock photo.
But still, you formed a picture in your head, because I just gave you a few different details and you kind of colored it around it, there had those specific details. The third element is authentic emotion. So having authentic emotion and be it happy, sad by frustrated, irritated, agitated, I use that word just a second ago, those sorts of things, that people all have felt those emotions too.
So if you there say that words, you describe the emotion, somebody through booked out, well, they might be upset. So you’re describing an action, that means that the person was has authentic emotion. And then you want to have a significant moment, in the significant moment when you’re telling stories in a business perspective is really important. Because that’s usually the moment not with a person, it’s usually not with you as the, the practitioner, right?
Because remember, we’re trying to help them get to where they want to be, it’s usually when I can now get down on the floor, and I realized that it down here for 20 minutes with my grandchild and I don’t feel exhausted, and my knees don’t hurt. That’s a significant moment, right? That’s what you want people to really hear. So those four elements, you know, that relatable character, you want to have specific details, authentic emotion, significant moment, you can put that into every story that you write, and it doesn’t have to be in that order. Let me just say that.
So I’m not saying like you’re putting that in this order, you’re just writing a story. And I tell people, like do a brain dump, I’ll tell my clients, if you’re struggling with actually writing it down or typing it out, walk away from any sort of device where you can scribe it, walk away and actually talk about it. Because we all talk in stories all the time. And then take your phone, because we all have this and voice note it to yourself, have it transcribed to your notes.
And this talk we call stream of consciousness and writing does talk. And then you’re going to get down, the writer’s block will tend to go away, or go and watch stories, go watch Netflix or something. And then you’ll come back more energized. But usually you need to walk away from the paper or the laptop or something like that. And then that’ll get your stories going. And then you have stories all around you.
So start to keep them like keep notes to them about clients, your children, yourself, you know, things that you heard on the radio. If you think there’s a shortage of stories, you’re just not thinking about what stories can be like, you can make a story out of anything. We have seen stories of some of the best movies, right? Or some stories where people were, like, enclosed in spaces by themselves and can become a whole movie or something. So their story is all about you.
Jessica Freeman
Yeah, I think sometimes it can be helpful, just I’ve heard before, like, at the end of the day, like just scribble down like things that happened that day. Like maybe not every single like okay, I answered emails, like, maybe not the boring things, but like, think about like, what were some like, either just like nice moments like fun moments, something interesting.
Something like there are always things that at least in my day that I’m like texting or voc stirring, or Marco Polo being my friends about and being like, Oh my gosh, can like, I have to tell you this thing.
Tamara Melton
Right? You know, I did that same thing with you. And I have, she’s actually my absolute best friend. But she’s been a crime dress Carrie Roberts, and we walk through our text or call every day. And I was talking to her this morning about the group that I’m in the group but Facebook group and there’s somebody on there talking about how they, they they didn’t get their client to like sign their coach.
And so they didn’t get the client to sign a contract. And I’m like, in her screenshots like, what do you make my kick if the client like booked the call? I’m like, how are you charging this much and you don’t have a contract. And she think carries like, I know, this is crazy. And but these people are charged this money. I’m like this to shows that you can charge all the money in the world.
And that’s the whole story. And that was just a text exchange between two really good friends that could maybe prove the point when I’m working with a coaching client, hey, there’s people out here who don’t even have sense enough to send out a contract. Now if you’re listening, and you’re not sending out
Jessica Freeman
Get a contract,.
Tamara Melton
Get a contract. That’s the moral of the story. But um, I could use it as a story to say, you know what, there are people out who aren’t even as thorough as you who are charging three times as much as you. That’s a story about a mundane thing of texting a friend.
Jessica Freeman
Yep. Yep. Just keep track of those little stories. And they can relate to something. You can use them at some point, like, just jot them down. You never know you. Maybe you don’t use them. Maybe you do. But you have them. You have a story bank full of ideas. So yeah, well, this has been super helpful. And I hope that people right now are writing it down in their planner.
They’re gonna go read a story for their wedding. sight. I hope it’s on their to do list because this is so important. It’s so important. We cannot have these stale websites, we need to, to know the person behind the logo behind the name, like we need to know who you are. So start telling your stories. Before we hop off, I’d love for you to share where we can connect with you online and learn more about working with you.
Tamara Melton
Yeah, so you can find my website is tamaramelton.com and then on IG for my storytelling business coaching is at the .storytelling.dietitian. That’s where you can find me there. So and then from there, you can find me everywhere. So just find me there. I’ll meet you there.
Jessica Freeman
Just find her there. I will put the links in the show notes so you guys can go follow her connect with her. She’s amazing. Make sure you get connected. But thank you so much for being here.
