How can you build a career as a storyteller?

Once you have a good understanding of your vision and purpose, you can start to develop a plan for achieving your goals. It may also involve building a network of other storytellers and creative professionals. Be authentic. The best stories are those that come from the heart. Tell stories that you are passionate about. Be persistent. It takes time and effort to build a successful career as a storyteller. Keep practicing, keep networking,and keep telling stories. Be open to feedback. Ask other storytellers and creative professionals for feedback on your work. It can help you to improve your skills. Be creative. Don't be afraid to experiment with different storytelling methods and to find your own unique style. It can take time to build.

Don't define your goals Storytelling is a craft honed through practice; your true potential will only emerge through practical application rather than theoretical contemplation. Therefore, don't define goals prematurely. Consequently, you may not fully grasp your strengths until you've immersed yourself in the process. Some individuals excel as speakers who story-tell well, others, such as myself are able to add a lot of value in the journalistic facets of storytelling. When I embarked on my storytelling journey a decade ago, I had no inkling which style would resonate with me. Experiment with various approaches. Only then will you discern which one aligns best with your natural inclinations.

Storytelling takes on all different shapes and sizes. It's not just about putting pen to paper anymore. Storytelling is an expression of feeling, emotion, creativity, philosophy. There are so many ways to express your stories--via media, podcasts, print/digital articles, radio, blogs, social media, even through photography and art. Find out which formats serve you best and hone what it is you want to say. What do you have to share that the world needs to hear? Once you've answered that, it's about getting experience, and sometimes writing or "storytelling" for free. Spend 15 min. at least every day free writing and 1 hr. learning how to pitch and craft. Think outside the box and don't rely on AI to do the work for you.

When it comes to B2B storytelling, understanding your audience is critical. How do they spend their time? What are the most frustrating parts of their job? What do they love about their work? What's the terminology of the industry? Spending time to get to know real people in the business is a non-negotiable if you want to tell stories that matter to them in a way that resonates. Doing your due diligence in this area will also give you a greater respect and appreciation for the professionals to whom you're working to connect, and that will come through in your storytelling.

There are so many professions that revolve around storytelling. From Madison Avenue to Hollywood. From social media creators to journalists. First, you must decide how you wish to tell your stories. There are so many formats available today. Social media. Podcasts (audio and video). Film. If you're proficient with one or more of these formats, that may be where you start. Establishing consistency is critical, so stick with what you know before branching out into new territory. It's also critical to define what unique personality you'll bring to your stories upfront. There's only one you, so be sure to layer your personality throughout your storytelling.

Reps. That's how you develop your skills and get better. You need to have amazing performances, "meh" performances, and bomb a few times in order to perfect your storytelling.

Be comfortable with sharing your work with others. This takes practice as no one enjoys being criticised or having their perspective being scrutinised. But the more you take feedback, the better your work becomes. It's also crucial to read everything and anything you can on storytelling. As storytelling transcends fiction, you might learn a thing or two from how a press release is structured or from how a research paper is written. Films are your go-to for good storytelling as the use of acts are a visceral layout of how to build a story. Read, Watch, Share - absorb like a sponge.

Build it in public. Your audience will let you know what works. Be relatable, be authentic, and welcome feedback. It's difficult to write in a vacuum. While you're practicing you can be already building. Medium, LinkedIn and newsletters are good options for sharing your stories and accumulating samples of your work.

Study story structure. Learn why stories resonate with people. Learn how to communicate conflict in a useful way. Learn to show how the result is relevant to the listener or reader. Then practice, practice, practice.

Start by studying the basics. Booker's "Seven Basic Plots" will help you tune into story structure in everything - movies, TV, books, podcasts, even campaigns. Start by knowing the type of story you're trying to tell. Then progress to some of the modern storytelling gurus like Nancy Duarte who have analyzed the best stories ever told. Understand their perspectives to build a baseline of confidence and layer on your own to refine your unique storytelling brand.

Write from the heart. The best writing is the bravest. And only you can tell a story like you. Find your own voice and write what you feel.

Find your own style of voice and way of delivery that suits you, but have a collection of many stories that you can use. Your stories may be in a similar theme, for example 'leadership' (my focus is on business storytelling), but you want to have plenty of stories that share wisdom, challenges and transformation that are relevant and relatable to leadership skills.

Finding your niche is defining your why! And it starts by understanding: Why do you want to help a specific target audience? Why do you want to create a particular type of content? Why do you want to offer that transformation? Why do you believe your experiences will benefit others? Why you? These questions help you go deeper into what you want, and at the same time, they help you avoid creating vague content.

Storytelling is a diverse field with many options. Storytellers are great performers. You can explore your niche, you can tell stories to children if you are passionate about storytelling for children or you can be a corporate coach where you can coach professionals on Business storytelling. You can also help people in building their brands as a coach for entrepreneurs in building their brand story!

Identify your unique strengths, interests, and experiences that set you apart as a storyteller. Consider specializing in a particular genre, style, or subject matter that resonates with you and your target audience. Explore various storytelling mediums and formats to discover where your talents shine brightest.

Every platform, service and app is saturated with "storytellers" but no one is telling the stories that only you can tell. Once you know what those stories are, then you tell them. Every day. You tell them on several platforms until you find one or two that feel like you. Then keep going. That's the big one - keep going.

Once you've worked on a few projects, take time to interview your favorite customers to understand what problems you solved for them and how they viewed your help. By using their own language from real conversations with them in your marketing, you'll instantly attract more customers just like them!

While you are honing your storytelling craft, practice your pitch: who is your audience, what will they learn, what will they take away? Then tell everyone. Building your platform starts with word of mouth. People--friends and strangers alike--love to help. They become your team. Remember the adage: If your mouth is closed, your business is closed.

The simple Way is to SELL yourselves in your stories ... Ok..okay not literally. As Storytellers, we have the knack to make everything more real and feel like it's a life in front of our eyes. Using it as our leverage to promote our stories and selling it through words.... The platform that we pick says our format. only THING we have to be clear is HOW we find/crave a niche for ourselves and not be everybody's person

Storytelling's impact is truly remarkable. Thanks for sharing this perspective! As an educator i believe that Education empowers both children and teachers to craft their own narratives, becoming the heroes of their life's story.

Storytelling is a trade and you need to continuously practice it and remember that every time you tell a story it is the first time you tell that story (that particularly version of it).

The best storytellers are on a never-ending journey of discovery. The only “bad” storytellers I’ve ever met are the ones who thought they had nothing left to learn. The moment you stop learning, you freeze the narrative of your journey. You stop moving forward. The best way to enjoy and advance a career in storytelling is to keep it exciting via continuous discovery. Absorb others’ stories with a critical eye/ear, but with an open mind as well. Allow others to do the same with your stories and be genuinely receptive to feedback without getting defensive. Every story evolves and so does its teller. You will succeed at a career in storytelling if you stay curious and eager to learn.

You know what? Learn the 9 act plot structure. You'll never enjoy a predictable movie again but you'll spot where modern stories are lacking.

Be part of a storytelling community that regularly gets together to share. If there is not a group near you, then find an online group. If you are starting out on your journey, then you may consider offering to share your story for no fee or low fee to get some practise.

Never stop learning and adopt a growth mindset. You have chosen this path for a reason, if this is your calling, don't give up. Seek out a mentor or coaching who can offer guidance. If you are not getting the bookings and fees that you want, then it is possibly a positioning and marketing problem. Learning the business side of speaking and storytelling is as important as honing your craft.

The keys to enjoying a career in storytelling is to be a lifelong learner and to make time for your own art. This helps you avoid burnout after spending creative energy on client stories. Storytelling is a way to share knowledge, but storytellers must also be lifelong learners. The best way to enjoy the journey is to keep yourself open to new stories, media and content. Watch documentaries and films, talk to your neighbor down the street, read books. Another key element to ensure you enjoy your career in storytelling is to make time for your own work. If you are a writer, carve out 3 hours a week to work on your own book or memoire. If you're a filmmaker, make time to create the weird films that only you can make.

Personally, this is the most important part of storytelling for me. I want to enjoy telling stories like I did when I was a kid just waffling to my siblings. I don't want to ever lose the wonder of being creative and enjoying it. The demands of a career might place stricter boundaries around your freedom, but always find a way to retreat into something you enjoy. It could be talking about stories with a group of people or doing a podcast about storytelling, whatever your hand finder to do - to it, but make sure that you never forget the joy you first had when you started.

As a child, I wandered the streets of Hong Kong around my home, listening to the stories from the old people who would talk about their lives and families. They rarely knew I was listening but when they realised, would muss my hair and make a big fuss of me. When I was learning English in the UK, I read through the primary school library and loved living out the lives of those characters in my imagination. I created miniature books that I bound together with needle and thread and wrote tiny stories for myself, my friends and my paper dolls. But I've realised storytelling isn't just for connection, learning and business, it can be used for English learning too and understanding who you are and what you were placed on Earth to do.

Revel in the joy of stories. Set your expectations high and start at the bottom. With each small success, return your gaze to your high expectations and notice how much closer you are to your goals. If something pulls you below center, refocus and take the time to find the things that pull you back above center. The key is to celebrate every step along the way. Every day.

Here are the opportunities to use your skill of storytelling to make a career: - Become a Storyteller in terms of Arts (participate in literature shows) - Write storybooks - Write scripts for brands/personal reels for others - Write a brand story - Become the ghostwriter (for books and LinkedIn posts)

Building a career in storytelling can look like many different things. But everyone has to start somewhere. Think about the stories you love, the ones that have changed your life. Think about your strengths- what do you know the most about? What are you uniquely positioned to help with? Then just start. Start writing, start making. Don't worry about being perfect at first. The key to improvement is to make as many things as you can.

Simply keep your eyes and ears open.. As they say Universe is made up of stories not atoms… So your inspiration lies out there at every ounce of observation around you. For becoming a storyteller - Focus on its two parts - story as well as telling- What is the story and how your narrate.Also a prerequisite to storytelling is storylisrening??

There is a 1% genetic gap between us and a chimpanzee. Yet whilst the latter can deftly crack a nut, Homo sapiens have put a man on the moon and built an iPhone. We are the architects of narratives, the conjurers of 'What if...' moments that give birth to new realities. Every human achievement begins with a story, they are the crucible of innovation. Put another way: change the story and we change the future. ??So what is it you want to achieve? What does it look and feel like? What obstacles must you overcome to reach it? What is your secret superpower? And who is your mentor and guide on the journey? That is your story. And ultimately, it's the same set of questions that put a man on the moon and an iPhone in your pocket.

There are so many stories to tell and so many different ways of telling them. Great or small, silly or emotional, take them all seriously. I think as creatives we often get stuck trying to tell stories in either a) The same manner that we've heard them or b) The way that we usually tell them Interrogate until you reach the core messaging. Think of something visually that resonates and is memorable. Challenge yourself to create something you've never seen before. Don't make something that reminds you of anything else. Make the story its own. Work your butt off, care about the details. Get different opinions. Listen when you need to. Fight when necessary. Don't give up and good luck!