Bonjour and welcome to the MLM Trigger, I am your host Corine Arnaud and this PODCAST is to help you LEVERAGE Your Network Marketing Skills using the internet to grow your MLM downline.
We are going to dive into [Positioning Your Story To Inspire Your Audience] and we'll talk about depth for each of the 8 core sections that pull you through the hero’s two journeys.
THE EPIPHANY BRIDGE SCRIPT which follows a similar path as the hero’s two journeys, but has to be build it in a way that makes telling your stories very simple. Let’s go into more depth for each of the 8 core sections so the first core section is:
#1 Who (The Backstory) “What is your backstory that gives us a vested interest in your journey?”
Most good stories start with the backstory— that means remembering where you were before you had your big “aha”. Go back to that time and place, and remember the circumstances that caused you to start on your journey. Usually this backstory starts at about the same point where your listener is in their life right now. They desire the same result that you have already achieved. But when they see you as THE expert and see what you’ve accomplished, it can be really hard for them to relate to you and trust you. That’s why you must come down from YOUR positioning as an expert, and return to the beginning where you were struggling with the same things they are. When they see that you were once where they are NOW, they will have faith that you can take them where they want to go.
#2. What (Desire) “What is it you want to accomplish?”
Here is where you talk about what it is that you desired the most. What most people miss is that there are always two types of struggles keeping you from what you desire the most: The first one is on the surface level— external struggles and more importantly, the deeper one is the internal struggles that you (and your listeners) are experiencing.
The first type “What is the external struggle you are dealing with?”. The external struggle is what drives the journey of accomplishment the hero’s first journey. It is tied to your desire and is usually based on one of the goals — to win - to retrieve - to escape - to stop. People are usually willing to share their external struggles, “I’m trying to lose weight, but I can’t give up carbs.” Or “I want to start my own company, but I just can’t find the time.” But these are rarely the real issues they are dealing with. To find out the true cause of their pain, you need to dig deeper and share your internal conflicts.
The second type “What is the internal struggle you are dealing with?”. The internal struggle is the journey of transformation from fear to courage—the hero’s second journey. This is the root cause of your struggles. Sometimes it’s hard to share, or even know, what the actual internal struggles are. But if you’re willing and able to get vulnerable and share your internal struggles, this will build rapport faster than anything else you can do. Why? Because your audience also share these same internal struggles. Most people never talk about them, but when they hear you get vulnerable and expose what you are really struggling with, the audience will form an almost instant connection with you.
For example, if someone tells you they want to lose weight, ask them, “Why?”. Well, because I want to be healthy. “Why?” Because I have three kids, and I want to keep up with them. “Why?” Because by 5:00 p.m., I’m completely out of energy, and I just want to lie down. “Why?” Because I don’t want people to think I’m a bad mom. “Why?” (Notice that the first few reasons are almost always tied to status.) Because I want my kids to know that I love them. “Why?” Because I never knew whether my mom loved me... (Notice that this one is tied to love.)
The internal struggle is not that they want to lose weight, it’s that they want their kids and spouse to love them. It’s usually tied to love, security or status
Those people who are dealing with the same internal struggles will have instant rapport with you, and you’ll be speaking to them at a subconscious level. They’ll be thinking about feelings they’ve never really shared in the past, but know are true.
When you get to the end of the story, typically you’ve solved the external struggles and accomplished what the hero has set out to do. But for your story to be really impactful, the hero needs to have done more than just accomplish their goal. They need to have become someone different in the process.
Michael Hauge said that the internal journey is all about the death of our IDENTITY, and the rebirth of our ESSENCE. If you took away all those things, what is left would be your essence. Realizing that your kids love you no matter what, and that others don’t really care about your status that much, that is the essence of happiness.
So while we want our hero to achieve his/her goal, it’s more important that he/she becomes someone different along the way. There has been a death of his/her internal struggles and a rebirth of something more.
#3. Problem “What was the wall or problem you hit within your current opportunity that started you on this new journey?”
The backstory builds rapport with the character, then takes the listener to the moment of frustration that causes our hero to start on their journey. That wall is the frustration you felt because of the current opportunity you have been using to try to accomplish your desires. This old opportunity is not working and is the reason you (as well as your listeners) are willing to go on a journey to try something new. This is what drives the emotion for the listener and sets up the correct circumstances for them to experience the epiphany. Something happened on your journey that has kept you from your desire. The wall is often a point of frustration, fear, or hopelessness. So be sure to spend time here describing how you felt. This will help to get them into the same state you were in— when you had your big epiphany.
#4. Looking for a solution (Epiphany & Plan) “What was the epiphany you experienced and the new opportunity you discovered?”
So far, the hero has been introduced, we know what the ultimate desire is, and we also know the wall that kept them from their goal. This is the point where something happens that shows them the path they need to follow. It could be a person who helps them understand something. It might be an idea they had while reading, or it could be a breakthrough they discovered while trying to overcome a conflict. Something happened that gave them the epiphany, which changed their perception of reality. Now that you’ve had this epiphany about what you needed to do, what was the new opportunity it led you to? The epiphany is the idea— and the new opportunity is the vehicle you’ve decided to step into— to accomplish that goal.
#5 The Plan “What was the plan you created to achieve your desire?”
Now that you’ve had the epiphany, and you’ve learned about the new opportunity, now we talk about the plan you’ve created to see if this new opportunity will lead you to what you desire the most. What is the plan, and then what are the steps you took to get to your goals? Inside this plan, you are going to run into conflict, which is where we start to get the emotion from the story. Remember, it isn’t the desire of the character that causes the emotion— it comes from the conflict they experience while they are trying to reach that goal.
#6 The Conflict — The Struggle “What conflict did you experience along the way?”
After the hero develops a plan, they move forward on it until something happens, they start to run into conflict. We call this the POINT OF NO RETURN because before this point, they could have easily just walked away from the plan and things would have been okay... here something happens where they must either decide to go back to their old life, or burn the boats and keep moving forward. In spite of all the reasons you may have said no in the past, this time it’s different. This is when the desire shifts from a SHOULD to a MUST. You move from “I should lose weight.” to “I MUST lose weight.
This will sound like a battle cry to your prospects because they, too, have been “should” for too long. It’s time to finally make the change once and for all. They will see you as someone who successfully took a stand and shifted from SHOULD to MUST. And you will inspire them to do the same. Describe for them the moment you made the shift, including how it felt inside.
In all good stories, after the hero has moved past the point of no return, things start to fall apart. They discover the journey isn’t as easy as they had assumed in the beginning. If they had known all the pain they’d have to go through, they might never have started the journey at all. Describe the major setback and conflict you experienced that made you feel like all was lost. But then...there was a glimmer of light, one last way you could accomplish your goal. You alter your plan and go for one last final push.
#7 The Achievement “What was your end result?”
After your final push, something happens. Either you achieve your external desires, or you don’t. Share what happened so people can see the results that you got from the new opportunity.
#8 The Transformation “What was the transformation you experienced?”
Here you talk about who you became through this process. This is the resolution of your internal struggles, and is the death of the hero’s identity and the rebirth of your new belief systems.
As you will see the goal of all good stories is to break old belief patterns and rebuild them with new ones. When you create your stories this way, you are helping people to break free from their old belief systems and create a new future. That is the goal of a good Epiphany Bridge story.
Thank you so very much for tuning in. Next week's episode is all about the power behind each section of the Epiphany Bridge story.