20 Stories in 20 Days LinkedIn Video Challenge #20evyrgreenStories

One of the best ways to connect with your target market is by telling stories to them. Stories do not need to be long. 

As a matter a fact, I remember when I started my business, I wanted to tell stories but I had no idea how to do it. Then, one day I met a guy who told me how to tell a story, he said that you need a beginning, a middle, and an end. He also said that stories have a character, desire, and conflict. BOOM, now I can tell stories.

The fastest way to get your stories out of your system is to write down 20 bullet points with stories on your business, on your life, on growing up, that you can tell in 1 to 3 minutes. 

Our goal is to get 20 people to join this IDENTIFY YOUR STORY CHALLENGE in the next 20 days. Are you IN!? Let us know in the comments that YOU ARE IN! 

Below you will find the GUIDELINES for this challenge... READY?

Each story should be simple and have a clear lesson for the watcher to be inspired or have a learning moment. 

Here are a few ideas:

• Tell a story about you growing up.
• Tell a story about something that happened with a client
• Tell a story about your greatest success
• Tell a story about a book you read
• Tell a story about a challenge you overcame
• Tell a story about a lesson you learned when you were starting out.

If you cannot find 20 stories, start with 10 or 5 but get started and they will come to you. 

Here are a few of my stories to inspire you. 

• DAY 1 DONE: Here is the video about LUCK VS STRATEGY: https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6608351171293822976/

Mom used to buy the Lotto in her store, she said to be successful, you must have good luck. I learned that you actually need a strategy if you want to make millions. The best way to get lucky is to work hard and take risks when the opportunities arise.

• DAY 2 DONE: Here is the video about CHANGE if something does not work! https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_20evyrgreenstories-mojostories20-inspiration-activity-6610186745327730688-nNUW

If it ain't broke don't fix is, but MA you are broke, it's time to change and start using technology to get clients. Having a storefront is not enough. She went out of business. Lesson is, change or die, grow or die, there is no trying you need to transform.

• DAY 3 DONE: Here is the video about SALES REPS - Openers vs Closers https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joeapfelbaum_20evyrgreenstories-mojostories20-creativity-activity-6612402287702786048-U9N_

Do you trust your employees to just be employees? Watching my mom in the lower east side, she said never to trust people with sales because they might steal your business. I hired a sales rep first in my business. Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur.

• At 17, I had no talents or skills to make money, and I told my mom that I was very sad because I had no education, and I feared I would not make a living. She drove me to the library and told me that formal education will make you a living while self-education will make you a fortune. She was right, everything I know now is from self-education. 
• Make the CEO your friend, when I was the CMO of TheWatchery.com, the CEO was my mentor and friend, and I told him about Ajax Union taking off as a side hustle, that my partner wanted me full time. He said not only will he give me his blessing, he will become my biggest client. Make the CEO your friend and do not be afraid of him. 
• When I wanted to start working full time at Ajax Union, my partner sat me down and told me that I could not work in the business with 7 side hustles. He said I had to FOCUS on one product with one partner for one year for us to really take off. Where focus goes, energy flows. We hit INC 500 because we focused. 
• When we just started our business, I hired a sales rep and he made 100 calls each day and did not know what we were selling, all he did was get us on the phone with people that wanted to discuss marketing. You need more at batts if you are going to succeed.
• When I got featured on Fox Business network, 34 million people were watching but only one person called, a Rabbi asking for a donation. I realized that the power of PR is not the 15 seconds of fame but the 15 months after that, where we promoted the episode.
• When Google contacted me to be a Google Trainer and run seminars for them, I was SCARED that I would not be able to do it but I said yes anyway. I later realized that if I would have hesitated, I would have never gotten over my fear. 
• Every person has a nervous tick when it comes to public speaking. Some people say UHM, I used to say "Basically". The only reason I knew is because I got every seminar filmed and I actually reviewed it to improve my game. Each time, I got better. Review your stuff and improve. 
• I used to say I was a private person and never have my social media include photos of me. The truth is I was scared of what I looked like and did not want to get judged. The fear masked my real fear and hid it with excuses. We all have REASONS but what we really want is results, now I take a selfie each day to remember that action cures fear.
• The first networking event I ever went to was a chamber of commerce event in NYC, and the second I walked in, I wanted to get out. I was intimidated by the 100 people in the BAR having fun. The elevator would not come, and the person-in-charged asked me to get my beer. I had no idea what to do but a kind life insurance agent told me to just hand out all my cards and leave. I did that and till this day got NOTHING from it. But I learned how not to network. 
• A client once asked me for a discount and promised me that If I give him a large discount and lose money on the deal he would refer lots of other clients too. He was a terrible client and we had a really hard time finishing the job. He promised he would never refer business to us. Thank goodness for that! I don't want more clients like that. 
• Before I discovered my personal brand, I was speaking to many expensive branding coaches to find my brand and come up with an idea. One coach told me that I need to go on a 3-day retreat to brainstorm ideas for my personal brand. They were all wrong. You cannot make up your personal brand, you need to discover what is already there. 
• I used to try to write for an hour straight and got major writers block. One day, I was reading Stephen King's book called On Writing, and he suggested a NEW idea. Instead of writing for time, write for WORDS. I committed to writing 2000 words a day, and my life changed because I wrote a book in 20 days, and my next book in 10 days. Now, I write for word count instead of for time. I can do it in 20 minutes or in 20 hours but it doesn't matter.
• When someone would ask me why I didn't write a book 10 years ago, I would say, I am not a writer, I hire writers. I have a dozen writers that work for me. What I realized is that I just never picked up the skill because I didn't write enough. Once I got that belief out of my head, I started writing and realize that everyone is a writer with practice and persistence. 
• One of my CEO coaches once asked my why I thought my relationships with my top clients were not amazing. I said because they are too busy to build a relationship. He then asked me how often I went out to drinks with them to get to know them. I said business is business, we don't do that. He said when you make business personal, you have amazing relationships. Take your business more personal, and you will have to improve all your relationships. Now I take my partner, clients, vendors, and really get to know them personally. 
• A client once told me that NETWORKING does not WORK. He said he was in BNI for many years and never got results. I asked how many introductions he made a year. He said at least a handful. I said that I make 1000 intros a year and I generate millions from networking. It's not that networking doesn't work, it's that you don't work. Networking IS WORK. 
• I used to think that coaches were dumb and a waste of time. Why? Because if they were so good at business, why didn't they just run the business themselves. I had a major blindspot about coaches, I didn't realize that some people just like to coach and not to actually run the business, and I was robbing myself of the opportunity to grow. Now I hire coaches for each area that I want to improve my life. It's game-changing. 
• Snapple used to be my favorite drink, why? Because it's made from the best stuff on earth. I now realize that SUGAR was the main problem with my weight. I started drinking more water and I got a boost in energy and the weight fell off. I taught in my book, High Energy Secrets, that a 5% drop in hydration is a 30% drop in energy. No more sugar highs.

Our goal is to get 20 people to join this IDENTIFY YOUR STORY CHALLENGE in the next 20 days. Are you IN!? Let us know in the comments that YOU ARE IN! 

Here are some guidelines that might be helpful to get this story challenge off the ground for you. 

1. Create an article that will be your foundational article of your 20 stories. Think of this article as an INDEX that includes your 20; you will edit this article and add a LINK to each new video as you create and post it.
2. Do not stress out about WHAT the 20 stories will be, just pick 20 moments in your life that you want to share with the world. They do not need to be private stories.
3. Make sure that you use the HASHTAG #20EvyrgreenStories so everyone can track your progress. Also make your own HASHTAG that you ONLY use so you can track your own progress. 
4. Each time that you create a POST on LinkedIn post it in our GROUP MESSAGE with the other people doing the challenge. 
5. Make TIME in your calendar to get this done. It does not matter when you get it done, but you must make time for it in advance. Give yourself at least one hour this week or next to write down your stories and remember that you are making an investment in your asset library. Pick the dates and times NOW and get an accountability BUDDY that will pick the same times as you. DM me and I'll help you find someone in our group to partner with you and make sure you are working on it together.

SOOO What is your story called? Would love to see it! 

BOOM

Joe Apfelbaum - Ajax Union

PS: If you need more help with this we have a stories module in our Evyrgreen Networking LinkedIn Foundations Course at https://learn.evyrgreen.com Sign up today and get access to the 9 modules and frameworks so you can crush LinkedIn!