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About Page: Write Your Story

We talked a lot about story and I want to ask you a couple of questions as you are thinking. I know some of you already have an idea of your story. Some of you might not really know what, what your stories or while you're doing it. So I want to ask you a couple of questions to get him thinking about why you do what do you do? So think about why they just start your company. I know for me, it's because I saw a t shirt that really inspired me, and it made me stop in my tracks, and I was like, whoa, ok, that is a message that I need to hear right now, right? There are many other times before where I could have walked by the same person wearing the same t shirt and it did nothing for me, right? That happened. So what is, you know, what's? The reason what's your big ah ha moment for me. The ah ha was wow. This one t shirt and two words on that t shirt really inspired me and threw that like, ivan, I ended up selling over twenty thousand t shirts, that's twenty thousand people that have those...

messages that they are inspiring other people in the world, right, so, yes, it's, just a t shirt. But there's so much more to it than that and I think to all of our products because we put so much love and intention and care and attention and everything else that comes around it, it does have an impact so really think about that as you are writing your product descriptions which we're going to talk about in the next segment as you're writing your home page and you're about page but then also, what inspires you to keep going, right? I know for you, tracy, your why was different when he first started, but you're still doing this after so many years of doing it, what inspires you to keep going? You have a great story about what inspires you to start this, but again that my change maybe five years from now, you realize that there's something else that inspired even more than what was already inspiring you so again your story can change, it could evolve, it could be different. It could be totally different reasons why you're doing something now as opposed to why you started red and I have experienced that every single one of my business is the reason I started it sometimes wears off and I need to find a new y and I really have to dig deep and be like, ok, why am I still doing this? So you constantly have to reevaluate that as you're going throughout your business and as your business changes and grows because your why we'll change not all the time but it will change or in my change as well so I keep thinking of those questions and I wanted to share a couple of more examples about really great companies that I think they're about paige is really great soap ngo organics is a skin care company I'm sure a lot of you have seen it but they are this that they've been around for a while there were one of the first organic skin care companies that used a really great natural you know plants and oils and and really great ingredients but they're saying here you know their mission is to create a new, more sustainable future we've chosen to do so one bottle bar and jar at a time or a community who believes in creating products that help rather than hurt every stage of their life cycle so again they're not necessarily saying what you go down on their about page they talk about you and why it's important but again you've read this and you know what their mission is and you have to decide do I want to be on board with this mission and if so great you're their ideal customer they've already got you if not you know this is not for you and you really want tio set up your web site and I know this might seem really crazy but you really want the people who decide that their product is not for you, you want them to not come back, and you want them, tio not be part of, um, I mean, not necessarily you you don't want them there, but, you know what I'm saying, right? Like, you want as many people who couldn't relate to what you're doing and he want to be part of your mission, and I know we all have a mission here, you want people to be in that community and the people who don't you wantto give them the time, and this stays to find the community that they actually can relate to more than you, and you might be thinking, but I'm losing customers, and yes, you are and that's totally okay, because the customers that you do have are going to be with you for a really long time, and they're going to tell their friends and their friends and their family, and it really is anaugh something to see when you are really specific about what it is that you're doing, why you are doing now, let's, talk another company on this is maruca designs, and they're also based out of boulder, colorado, and this is a little different, too, and I wanted to put this out here again, it's not all about you and it's, not about what's in it for them, but if you read it, this is a man who designs thes, and he really shares the story behind his brand. And why he's doing this? And again, I think not everyone couldn't relate to this, but again that's totally fine and you want to on ly speak to the audience who can who it is that you want to attract, so I love I mean, I love their bags, I have them! I bought them even before I read the story because I simply just like the the look of the bag. But again I purchased that bag in a store where I can actually see it. I didn't go to their website if I had gone to the website, I might not have purchased that based on the looks alone, but if I wrote his story and then went through his website, I probably would have bought it because I really could get on board with his mission and with his style and what he's doing for for this really great company. So again, it's such a different experience when someone buys your product in a store because it doesn't come with a story, right, unless you have it on your hang tags or your product label by you. You just have such a little space you don't have a whole of the space to write your story and they're so your product has to do the selling for you if it's in a store but if it's on your web site you have to do the selling with your story and there's such a huge difference there because your products sitting on a website just with the photo are not necessarily going to do selling for you so it's your job to do the selling for your products by having the story and sharing a story that really engages with your audience yes, it is how important it is to have, um really obvious and literal terms for the different tabs like about is it is it really important to stick to a word like about or can you be a little bit more fun and obscure about it? Yeah, I think it totally could be fine as long as it makes sense and as long as someone who goes there knows exactly what it is so I've seen you know our mission I've seen our story I've seen about or about us our manifesto like all of those words that are obvious to your audience what it is yes you absolutely complete around with those and see what feels right to you it doesn't have to say about us but it can if that's what feels right to you all right so we've already covered this but if there's anyone else who wants to share their big why we could do that now but I know a lot of you have shared it or we could move on yes our company is called photo slabs way print photographic images and fine art on fix that slabs of metal and wood so our purpose is to create art for people's homes um or for photographers for their clients how we got into it is that I'm a photographer and was looking for new and unique offerings for my clients um so that was you know my my husband is in the graphics industry and so the two of us were able to come up with a unique product that we're able toe toe offer yeah and I think that's really going I was on your your website before the class and I do love that because literally I was thinking this is so different than anything I've scene and this is so cool and I think a lot of photographers if you're trying to have your website appeal both two photographers who would buy for their clients and then the un consumer I think on your about page maybe you could have two different sections maybe one that speaks directly to the photographer and then because they will want that right they want to stand out they want to offer something different and unique to their audience but then, if you also have people that are un consumers are buying it, you should also be appealing to them. So again, think about who if you may wanna work mostly with the photographers, and that should be your main focus. But again, like you had two different sort of things that you were combining together, you can think about that, too, and see what makes sense. But if you're appealing to both, then I think you're about paige. You should speak to both, and I do love the uniqueness of it. And again, being unique and different is what sets you apart. And we all want to be that, and sometimes it's hard to do that with jewelry, but with a product like here's that super easy to do because there are many others that are out there like it. So you do have an advantage in the way of having something that's truly unique. Yeah, yeah. So but your story that goes along with that, I think, is really important to you. Yes, I just want to say it's really helpful listening, tio everyone story minus similar it's a combination of what a few people have shared, but next year next month is thirteen years that I owned until six months ago, I owned a retail store so called relish design, and I love that, he said the why might change or what inspires us might change because after thirteen years, I'm in a big shift right now and what I wanted to share and also asked the question, you know, I originally started my business because in a mass produced world, I wanted something you know, I've I've seen handmade products and beautiful things transform people's home, and so how you can, you know, in a if you're working with handmade, beautiful, we'll tactile things, how you bring that presence, if you can't feel it, touch it, see it, how you bring that to a digital experience, how you can pretty much, you know, articulate that online that's been my personal challenge? I don't know if, yeah, I'm sure a lot of other entrepreneurs have the same, and designers have the same challenge because right, someone can touch it or smell it or put it on to see what it looks like or try it on to see how, if it but I think a great way to do that against through your the words they use the descriptions, but also through your photos. S o if you know the way you style, your photo shoot or the way you show your product can evoke totally different feelings and things that people are going to take away from it, right, like you can have the same product, maybe on a patch of grass and it's totally different if it's like in a fancy bathroom ad like a high and spa or something like that, so again, their products are your product photos totally can show people the lifestyle or the different ways that your products can be, or or things that they could do without you actually saying it. So I think for you photos are going to be really great, but also describing all of those things as well, yeah, all right, so thanks everyone for sharing that this is great. And I agreed, the more we hear other people shared their story, the more like, oh yes, I I get that I couldn't. You know, I have something that I thought about that I maybe have not thought about before that you could share us part of your story as well. So this is really great. Thank you to everyone for sharing.