I don’t love being rude. But when someone asks me, “Marsha, how do I tell MY story on my About page?” — and that happens a lot — I’m always tempted to say,
“Um… what makes you think anyone cares..?”
Ok, so that’s a bit harsh. But generally, when business owners (who want to get clients via their websites) tell me they want to tell their story on their about page, before I give them any advice on how to do this, I lovingly remind them this page’s function:
It’s to tell a new reader whether or not this website (/business/person/service) is meant for them.
So the first part of your About page should be spent on making it clear what it is you do and for whom. Ideally, it should be directed at the reader. Laying out who they are, what’s going wrong for them and what they want that you offer. Here’s an example on the website some random lady you’ve never heard of.
Then, you introduce yourself as the solution. And if you want to do this with stories…
Here are the ONLY three stories you need on your About page:
(1) A Pain Point moment
(2) The Transition moment
(3) A Desire moment
The most important of these is (1), followed by (3), followed by (2).
Let me break these all down for you.
(1) A Pain point moment — a time when you felt the pain your ideal clients are in RIGHT NOW
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that, when it comes to telling stories, ACTION SCENES are more important than narrative.
So all you need here is an action scene of you being in the same place your ideal clients are, when it comes to the problem that you solve. Ideally, this isn’t going to be some big ticket terrible moment. More of a day-to-day example of how life was hard.
Examples*:
A scene of you trying to write a sales page but having no idea how to do it (or worrying like you sound like a creep), and feeling disheartened.
A scene of you trying to make a video of yourself, but coming across as totally wooden and HATING the way you look and sound.
A scene of you sitting alone having visited at loved one who’s at end of life, feeling helpless and hopeless around not knowing what to do.
Never had the exact same problem? Doesn’t matter — just think about where your people are emotionally. Think of a time you had that same emotion. Write about that.
Why is this important?
(i) Because you want to show your potential clients that you GET them. If you’ve been through what they’ve been through, it will.
(ii) You want to make them feel safe.
Hiring someone to help you solve a problem is scary, because it means admitting to them what your problem is. You need show potential clients that when they tell you what they’re going through, you’re not doing to go,
“Urgh, omg, what’s WRONG with you, you loser???”
Because if you’ve been through it too, you’re unlikely to shame them for it.
(iii) You want to show them you’re not right for everyone, but you are for THEM.
Often, there’s nuance to our problems.
Maybe we’re not getting enough work done because we have terrible time management.
Maybe we’re super-organized, but having some psychological or emotional stuck-ness around this work.
Maybe we’re not the best with words and all the solutions to getting work done out there are very right-brained.
By describing how you relate to this problem, they’ll get a sense of whether YOUR solution is for THEM — or not.
(2) The Transition moment — where it all changed for you
As I said above, this is the least important part. A little more important if it introduces the solution you’ll be using with them, but still not essential.
Therefore, keep it short (and consider telling it in voice-over or montage — ie broad brush strokes).
(3) A Desire moment — showing them what life can be like on the other side of working with you.
Your potential clients are looking to you in order to get a certain result. Whether that means achieving one thing or ridding themselves of another they don’t want, if you’re telling your story, you want to show how you did it. This’ll illustrate what you do. Also, because of the magic of storytelling, will make them feel like it’s already happening to them — increasing their hunger to make that daydream a reality.
Again, this doesn’t have to be a GRAND SCENE. A more pedestrian (day-to-day) moment of how life is nicer now is going to be much more effective.
Going back to those examples* I mentioned above, this could look like:
A scene where you send someone your new sales page, knowing it feels good and reflects you and then having them buy straight away
A scene where you hop on yet another Facebook Live, totally confident you’ll nail it (because you’re so comfortable on camera)
A scene where you leave your loved one’s room, totally at peace, having been present to them in each moment, now you know what you need at each moment.
As I said, I don’t think you need to tell story on your “About” page. But if you feel compelled to, make sure you’re telling it through one (or all) of these action scenes.
Any questions? Thoughts? Favourite examples? Let me know in the comments below!
Thanks so much for reading. If know anyone that struggles with this EXACT thing, I’d be thrilled if you shared this blog with them, using one of the round buttons below.
You rule,
xx (Yes Yes) Marsha
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