How PERSONAL STORYTELLING helps other people

Hey Greenblasters!

I was thinking this week:

What’s the point of this newsletter?

I don’t use my newsletter as many businesses do:

A way to remind you I exist and try to sell you shit (even though I do once in a while).

And I don’t follow the format that most business gurus tell me I’m supposed to, which is:

1. Pick a niche (e.g. married entrepreneur dads between 30-45 years old. Why? No reason…)

2. Figure out their #1 problem (e.g. they have a constant feeling of guilt and inadequacy as husbands, fathers and business owners… just guessing here!)

3. Offer solutions to their problems every week in a slick newsletter (e.g. “5 cars to buy that will fix your masculinity-identity crisis”)

4. Build an audience who perpetually feel like they need answers, monetize the shit out of them with courses and advertisements, and eventually outsource the writing of the newsletter to an intern or ChatGPT

Obviously I’m not into that, even though I know it’s good business practice.

So, again:

What’s the point?

Here’s what it is, to me. This is an email from a client below:

Hey Will,

I wanted to reach out and say thank you for your help and not just with our pitches.

The vulnerability of your book was refreshing and had a bigger impact than possibly planned.

Although everyone's story is unique, I found it easy to correlate emotions you felt in certain scenarios to similar stressors/emotions from my own stories.

My past caused me to grow up quickly compared to my peers, your book helped identify childhood traumas, and hidden scars from my last career that need to be resolved.

My wife will say "I told you so..." but your vulnerability helped show how these scars weren't suppressed in the past but are still holding me back. 

So thank you for being real and having a big impact.

THAT is the point of this newsletter, and my book, and most of my content.

I can share all the “tips, tricks, hacks, secrets” I know, but what I think has the biggest impact is sharing my story honestly, and making others feel:

• less alone

• less ashamed

• more hopeful

• more confident

• and, ideally, inspired to do the same

This is the impact I’ve found hearing other people’s stories, and it’s what I want to pass along as my contribution to this world.

So, I will definitely try sell you shit once in a while;

(Like my book Transform Your Speaking Skills. How did that get there?!)

But my mission will always be:

Share my personal story, and give you the skills to do it with clarity and confidence.

If you’re on board with that, please stick around, reply HUMAN to let Gmail know I’m not spamming you, and SHARE this newsletter with anyone who feels the same way as us.

And as the OG Brené Brown puts it:

“One day you will tell your story, and it will be someone else’s survival guide.”

See ya guys next week. Greenblast, out 🚀