The Hero’s Journey - Stage 01: The Ordinary World

The first stage in the Hero’s Journey is what we call the ‘Ordinary World’.

Think of Luke Skywalker on Tatooine or Katniss in District 12 or Frodo in the Shire.

This is their everyday status quo - nothing too exciting, mostly a comfortable, same old-same old everyday routine.

This is where life is normal before the adventure begins.

Think about your audience: what is their everyday life look like right now? They may not realize it, but there is at least one unmet desire or problem under the surface that needs to change.

One of the characteristics of the Ordinary World is a lack of awareness. We don’t know what we don’t know - and that includes what we don’t cognitively realize.

Here is the question you need to ask about your audience in their Ordinary World: “What do they not realize?”

Until you realize what they’re missing or not aware of, then you cannot help them start on their Hero’s Journey with your message.

That’s your quest for today: identify what your audience isn’t aware of.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

The Hero’s Journey

I love studying the architecture of stories - how different stories are built and all the elements that we see working together.

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book and thought, “Huh, this story sounds a lot like that other story in that one book or movie…”

It’s because there are patterns of stories that we tend to follow as a society and in different cultures.

One of the key story structures we see throughout history is what is now known as the Hero’s Journey.

Thousands and thousands of stories seem to follow this story structure. From ancient stories to modern-day Hollywood blockbusters, there is the story of a hero who sets off on a quest to accomplish one burning desire or conquer a challenge.

Joseph Campbell wrote a fantastic book called “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” in which he talks about the twelve stages or steps of the Hero’s Journey. It’s a fascinating read if you’re interested in studying the structure of stories.

Over the next few days, we’re going to work through each stage one by one, and I’m going to share some ideas on how to connect your audience’s story within each stage.

I can’t wait to dive into the Hero’s Journey and share more with you. For now though, make it a great day.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Showing the Love to Your Audience

Today is Valentine’s Day, so I hope you’re feeling the love from your friends, your kids, maybe your spouse or that special someone.

How are you showing the love to your audience, the people in your target Market?

Have they heard from you this week? Have you sent them a gift recently, like a free training with no strings attached or a piece of content that you know they’ll love?

What’s one way you can show your audience you’re thinking of them and caring for them today?

Brainstorm a few ideas and be intentional, thoughtful, and selfless in how you show your audience you love them.

Just like a romantic restaurant or a Valentine’s Day card can light up our loved ones with a smile, this is your chance to love on your audience.

Hearing from you can bring a smile to their faces and remind them that they matter to you.

Also, when it comes to your significant other, in case you forget it’s Valentine’s Day, now is a great time to go make those reservations and get that gift.

Have a great rest of your day!

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

One Intentional Action

For a lot of speakers, coaches, and consultants, it’s easy to get stuck with Choice Paralysis.

Do I spend a good amount of time on Twitter today? Do I do a Facebook Live this afternoon? Is now a good time to launch my podcast? Why haven’t I blogged yet this week?!

If that sounds exhausting, guess what, it is!

There are no shortage of opportunities and actions you could take when it comes to sharing your Message with your audience today.

So, where do you start?

Decide on one action, and complete it well. If it’s a Facebook Live, spend some time prepping for it, taking a minute or two to focus on what you want to say, and then going live.

When that’s done, if you still have time, do a different action to share your Message.

If you do only one action, that’s better than none. It also means you’re getting good content out there instead of half-a-dozen pieces of content that aren’t the quality you expect for your audience.

Do one thing well today, and be proud of yourself. And, enjoy your day.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

People Crave Hope

What are the top desires each of us as human beings have?

We want freedom. We want more time. We need to know we have a place to belong and that we matter.

At the heart of your audience is an appetite for hope.

They hope what they’re going through can be fixed.

They hope you hold the answer to solving their problem.

They hope you understand what they’re going through and that you see them as a person, not a label or a number.

And it’s our job, as speakers, podcasters, YouTubers, coaches, consultants, authors, as rising thought leaders, to show we are worth their hope.

Our books, our courses, our messages, our responses, our nonverbal body language that shows we’re listening, all of these hold the chance to give our audience more hope that we hold the key to giving them more of what they’re wanting out of life.

How are you showing up for your audience today that gives them more hope for tomorrow?

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Creating Great Content In a ‘Boring’ Industry

A few days ago I shared that there are some industries that are not that exciting. They’re highly technical or maybe more mundane. Let’s be honest: there are just some industries that are not sexy to write about, talk about, or even think about.

A new client recently told me, “That perfectly describes my industry! I do back-end IT consultations for hospitals. Sure, it’s highly lucrative, but it’s super boring!”

There’s a reason why these industries aren’t that exciting - it’s because people aren’t connecting great stories with those products or services.

Let’s use the IT consultation for hospitals as an example. What’s the story we can clearly draw from this industry?

It starts with the people: who are the people benefiting from a better IT solution at the hospital? The administrators, the doctors, the nursing staff, the lab technicians, the processing department working with insurance providers.

At every level of the hospital, medical staff are able to provide better care because they know they have an IT network that’s reliable and helps them be better at their jobs.

If we just stop there, we miss the ultimate audience: the patients and their loved ones. Because our client is a world-class IT consultant, it means people are getting better care through his support.

Connect your story to the people you serve, and I guarantee your industry will never be ‘boring’ to you again.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Helping Your Audience Sleep Well at Night

I guarantee there are people in your target Market who are losing sleep right now because they haven’t heard your message.

They can’t stop thinking about their problem. They can’t stop searching for answers to their problem. They can’t stop waking up at three in the morning because they still have that problem.

That’s where you come into the picture.

Is what’s keeping your audience up at night the same thing that’s keeping you up at night?

Now, I’m not advocating for sleepless nights because if your schedule is anything like mine, you could use a lot more sleep.

And yet, when was the last time you woke up in the middle of the night thinking about how to better serve your audience?

Having a solid understanding of your audience and a product or service you know solves their problem can give you the peace to go back to sleep.

And today is your chance to start connecting with that sleepless, frazzled, frustrated person you would love to serve so they can have the peace to sleep again too. If you ran into that person on your way to the office or in the school dropoff lane today, what is the ONE piece of wisdom you would love to share with them.

Tweet that wisdom. Share that post. Go live in your Facebook group, and give them everything you’ve got with what you know works.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Show Up for More Than Your Talk Time

We’re just getting into the first part of event season here in the U.S. Conferences, seminars, summits, you name it, they’re being hosted all over the place.

If you’re speaking at an event anytime soon, here’s one piece of wisdom I learned from two different meeting planners shared with me in two separate conversations.

Stick around for more than just your talk.

If you’re a keynote speaker, try to stay for the whole day that you’re speaking. You can interact and engage with attendees beforehand. It also means you can listen to a few other speakers, see if you can pick up a few techniques and takeaways that can help you continue to improve as a speaker.

Most importantly, it shows everyone at the event that you truly support the event. If you fly in or attend just for your talk, it’s telegraphing to the attendees and the meeting planner that you only support your time there, not everyone else’s time.

I’ve seen a few speakers do this really well by showing up for more than just their talk time. It allows others to ask follow-up questions, get to know you as a person, not just as a speaker, and see how you show up in the world around you.

It may mean you’re inconvenienced a bit more, but in the long run, it means you’re showing others they matter just as much, if not more than you do.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Quality of Your Content

I like to think of creating content like being a parent. So many speakers, coaches, and consultants, just like parents, are doing the best they can with what they have right now, but they’re aspiring to do so much more because they love the people they’re doing all of this for.

That’s the message I want you to focus on today. Over the past week I’ve shared ideas about how to improve the quality of your content, but when it comes down to it, give yourself some grace.

The amount of time and quality of time you have right now will change.

The amount of interest you and your audience have in your topic will change.

The amount of your expertise will change as you continue to push forward in your industry.

Give yourself some grace. Sure, you can be creative with how to improve the amount of time, interest, and expertise in your content, but it may take longer than you’d like.

And, that’s okay. Remember why you got into this in the first place. Think about what ignites you inside to connect with your audience.

And one more time, give yourself some grace to create the best content you can right now. Your audience will love you no matter what as long as they know you love them.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”

Adding More Expertise Into Your Content as a Speaker, Coach, or Consultant

Today is about creating an intentional plan to raise the level of Expertise in your content. Research, third-party data, and industry-leading resources are great ways to add more Expertise to your content.

Podcasters do a great job of inviting guests to share on an episode. That allows the host to ask questions, add more questions for follow-up or clarification, and put their audience in the conversation.

It also means the podcaster doesn’t feel any pressure to have all the answers.

Using live video at different conferences and events is another great way to add expertise. If I’m at a conference, sometimes I’ll walk out into the hallway and share what I just learned through an Instagram post or a Facebook Live.

If I see another leader in the marketing industry nearby, sometimes I’ll ask them to share on a Facebook Live or invite them to join me on my podcast.

You can also include another person’s content by appropriately quoting them and of course, give them full credit for their content, but then, add your opinion and takeaway based on what they shared.

Do you agree with what they said? If so, share why you agree. If you disagree, give a clear, thoughtful, and gracious response to their content so you can share another perspective.

This allows you to show your audience you’re not parroting back someone else’s content, but that you intentionally thought through what their content meant for your audience and how your perspective aligns or contrasts that idea.

Those are just a few ideas of how to add more Expertise to your content today.

Copy and Content for Thought Leaders is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to the Copy and Content for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/CopyContentFlash and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”