What is your American Idol Story?
Jay Clouse
Founder of Creator Science — helping creators get uncommon results. Studying others, running experiments, and sharing it all with 60,000+ readers!
I watch more American Idol than you may expect for a man in his 30s.
Mallory got me into it when we started dating and just like live sports, there's something special about knowing you're tuning into something?live?with the rest of the world.
It's cozy, OK???
And not only do I enjoy the show for its talent and entertainment, but I love thinking about the business and marketing machine that is American Idol.
As the season progresses and the judges whittle down the field to a top 20 or so, you start to notice that the show invests a LOT of time and effort into constructing vignettes (pre-recorded segments) about the contestants.
And every vignette focuses on the unique, emotional, even troubled part of their past. They want us to see ourselves in these singers – the parts of ourselves that struggle, get discounted, or have made mistakes.
The whole idea is to show that regardless of your background, challenges, or mistakes, you can overcome and reach absolute heights as an American Idol!
This contestant overcame a terrible diagnosis.
This contestant survived a drunk driving incident and gave up alcohol.
This contestant grew up in a small town and just felt?different?from everyone else.
And as the contestant goes deeper and deeper into the competition, you can feel the producers turn those stories up to an 11. They REALLY dig into those mistakes and challenges.
The cynical part of me sees this as putting singers in a box and even over-dramatizing their story for the purposes of marketing and entertainment.
But then I started to see this type of storytelling all over the creator world too.
I'm from Columbus, Ohio, so I've been following Lewis Howes for a while. I've literally watched the story on his?About page?change over the years to emphasize a couple of key moments in his development:
"Growing up in the small town of Delaware, Ohio, I overcame feeling dumb, feeling lonely, and being bullied for being in special needs classes by dedicating myself to becoming the best athlete I could be.”
In recent years, he's started leaning into the story of his dad's accident and how that impacted his life and journey as a creator.
Another great example comes from Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche:
Tiffany's story focuses on her start working at a daycare, a financial scam that left her in terrible debt, and how she overcame that debt.
What I've come to realize and appreciate more and more is the power of storytelling. Storytelling is how we connect to people. It's how we see ourselves in others.
...and as a self-obsessed species and culture, we NEED to see ourselves in your story to care.
So it got me thinking...
What is my American Idol story?
What are the most relatable, pivotal moments in my creator journey that I can use as signposts to show people that I've been on their path and can help show them the way?
What are the human aspects of my story that emphasize the struggle more than the victory?
领英推荐
People aspire to victory...but we?understand?and?empathize?with the struggle.
Yet, we tend to emphasize our accomplishments almost like a resume on our About page. And that may be great for social proof and showing that you're an impressive person with a lot to teach...
But do we want to learn from you?
While we may aspire to your same success, we want to know that you understand OUR path to get there.
We want to see ourselves in your story. And if you're just showcasing your accolades...we may not be able to identify with that.
So now it's your turn...
What is?your?American Idol story?
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#102: Tiago Forte [Signals] – How Building a Second Brain went from public rant to thriving cohort-based course
Tiago Forte is the creator of Building a Second Brain. Tiago has spent more than 10 years researching and personally experimenting with a new way of organizing our digital lives and improving our productivity as creative professionals.
The Building a Second Brain system is the result of thousands of hours spent teaching, speaking, coaching, and writing about Personal Knowledge Management.
In this episode, we talk about Tiago’s interest in digital organization, how he came up with the name Building A Second Brain, the course and his email newsletter’s growth over time, and how listening to signals from the market guided him to write the book and start a YouTube channel.
About Jay Clouse
Hey, I'm Jay! I'm a writer, podcaster, and community builder helping people build their creative platform and become professional creators.
I'm the founder of?Creative Companion?and the host of?Creative Elements, a narrative-interview podcast exploring how today’s top creators make a living with their art and creativity.
I previously led the Community Experience team for Pat Flynn and Smart Passive Income, designing their paid membership community and cohort-based course programs.
Senior Copywriter | Positioning, Storytelling, Email Marketing
2 年Omg Jay Clouse. “What if you focused more on your struggle?” People will relate better.
Career and Executive Coach
2 年I also think it’s important, especially as a coach that I’m not putting myself out there as someone who knows everything. Far from it! I’m totally messy in so many ways, I need to get better at writing more about that stuff I think.
Career and Executive Coach
2 年I do sometimes feel like people like to read stories where people overcome difficulty but it can be quite a vulnerable place as the writer of these stories. It's really exposing but I get how important it is for clients and others to see our humanness.