CREATE YOUR STORY FROM SCRATCH
Growing a business is hard.
Telling your best story will help you succeed.
Every month over 500,000 businesses get launched.
That’s 500,000 businesses competing for attention, for sales, for funding.
I know it can feel like it’s impossible to stand out in this sea of startups…
But, there is a way to do it.
It’s with your story.
What if your founder or startup story could:
drive more sales
secure funding
get you press
grow your team
AND
help your startup stand out from the crowd?
Spoiler alert:
It can.
Welcome to the Create Your Story From Scratch course – a proven step-by-step system for you, first-time entrepreneurs, to create your best story so you can grow your business.
By the end of this course, you’ll have a compelling story that will help you achieve your business goals, communicate your brand effectively, AND help customers, clients, and prospects buy into your company and offerings.
Let me know if any of this sounds familiar…
You’ve heard “storytelling” is important for business, your branding, your messaging, your growth….
But you don’t know how to make it actually work for your business.
Or you don’t know where to start with creating one…
Maybe, you’ve looked at some REALLY expensive ad agencies
(where some contracts are $4,000-$5,000/month)
Maybe, you’ve talked to marketing experts to help with “branding”
(who are over $250-$350 an hour)
Maybe…
You find it difficult to get people to remember your business or startup (a.k.a stand out)?
You get that anxiety-driven feeling that there are 10,000 other startups just like yours out there?
You explain your product/offering/service/business differently to each person you encounter?
You want to be able to pitch efficiently to investors, funders, press, and prospects?
You just don’t have the TIME to work on your story?
Did you say YES to any of these?
It’s okay! You’re in good hands.
At Storytelling for Entrepreneurs, we’re here to help you solve all of that, and more.
And that’s exactly why I created the Create Your Story From Scratch course.
Create Your Story From Scratch (CREATE) is my proven system for helping first-time entrepreneurs and business owners use the power of storytelling to grow their business.
This is THE step-by-step course teaching entrepreneurs exactly how to discover, create, and tell their story so they can get new customers, get press, secure funding and grow the business.
It will take you from square one of not having a story (or maybe having an unclear or messy story)
…to the final product of having your own great story that will get you results!
This is the same system I’ve used to help 100s of first time entrepreneurs solidify their brand story to grow their businesses.
But, don’t take it from me.
Check out some real entrepreneur stories and course testimonials below.
I’m not exaggerating.
Stories are one of the most powerful tools for first time founders & entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
(Think about these founders who used STORY to grow their businesses from scratch):
Scott Harrison of Charity: Water
left his NYC partying lifestyle to change the world with water. And since then, through the help of incredible storytelling, the organization has raised over $95 million from 50,000 individuals and helped fund 17,000+ projects in 24 countries, benefiting over 2.5 million people.
Sara Blakely of Spanx
turned the tale of a cut-up pair of panty hose into a $300M in revenue per year business. Spanx is now sold in 30 countries with over 10,000 retail locations and is estimated to be worth $2 billion. Sara became the youngest self-made female billionaire in history and owns 100% her company while never spending a dime on advertising.
Drew Houston of Dropbox
turned the story of a forgotten flash drive on a 4-hour bus ride into the code for Dropbox, which now has 500 million registered users across 180 countries and generates over a $1 billion in annual sales.
Howard Schultz of Starbucks
used storytelling to turn his passion for coffee and his vision for people to gather outside of their home or work – in a “third place” – to create Starbucks––a $16B company and one of the most recognized brands on the planet with 22,000 locations in 65 countries.
& so many more…
Story was their secret weapon to growing their business, securing funding and investors, growing their team, convincing people to use their product or offering, and one of the most important tools to help them control their business growth.
And stories just cost a little bit of time and inner elbow grease.
Imagine you had a brand/founder story that could:
Convince an investor in a 30-second elevator ride to take a meeting wth you.
Attract the media to write a great article about you or feature your business on their podcast.
Position your company as uniquely YOU in a crowded marketplace.
Recruit driven, talented, and liked minded team members to grow your business.
Give you confidence in how your brand is communicated to the world.
Does any of that sound good?
Then come join us so we can help you create the BEST story for your business
Okay, okay… what IS this course?
The Create Your Story From Scratch course is an 11-module program designed to take you step-by-step and walk you through exactly how to find, create, and tell YOUR story so you can grow your business.
Through detailed, instructor-led lessons, you’ll learn the nuts and bolts, strategies, frameworks, examples, and action steps to creating YOUR best business story.
As soon you purchase the course, you get immediate access via username and password to the complete CREATE course.
What’s included in the Create Your Story From Scratch course??
11 Step-By-Step Expert Storytelling Modules
Lifetime unlimited access and login –– 24/7
Bonus: How to Shorten Your Story Video
Bonus: Finding Your Why Video and Exercise
Bonus: How to Make Your Story Stand Out Video
Bonus: How to Make Your Story Stand Out Video
LIMITED TIME – VIP LAUNCH ONLY:
3-30 Minute ‘Ask Me’ Q&A sessions with Lyn Graft
(1x/month over 3 months)
Yep, you’ll get direct access to me so I can answer any and all questions, provide guidance, and give personalized answers along your storytelling journey)
AND – the Monthly FB Live webinar/call with me to answer all student questions about storytelling for entrepreneurs, startups, and business owners.
And, with your purchase, you get a 30-Day Money back guarantee.
Yes… I mean, if you are not happy and satisfied with the course (only after you’ve gone through the course and done the work) we will give you ALL your money back.
We’re so confident you’ll love it.
What have previous CREATE course takers said?
Robin
Founder, Beauty and the Mess
Wow! Before this course, my story was weak, and I told it differently to each person I encountered. Going through the easy exercises from the Story Expert Lyn helped me pull the best story out of my head and I even started a completely new business right after the course!! I highly recommend it to any entrepreneur!!
Dario Antonioni
Founder of Orange 22 Labs
I manage and run three different businesses – each with its own compelling reason for being. But distilling their purpose into a powerful and concise message (story) was and still is a challenge… customers often are not sure what we do or would forget about us for future projects.
Lyn’s book “Start w/ Story” is helping me reframe our purpose and story across all three brands to make us more relevant and meaningful –– having our customers reengage and come back. Thank you Lyn!!
Kate Herling
Co-Founder of SWAY Water
Lyn’s CREATE course was instrumental in helping us fundraise, refine our positioning, and fine-tune our brand story. We instinctively knew what differentiated our product, but Lyn helped us articulate our competitive differences and really helped sharpen our fundraising pitch. Lyn very quickly figured out what set us apart and really zoomed in on what would appeal to investors from a business and emotional standpoint. Lyn’s advice has practical applications that we still use to this day in various aspects of the business!
SO, WHY ME? WHY LYN GRAFT?
Entrepreneurial storytelling is my life – all day, every day.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve filmed over 500 of some of the top entrepreneurs on the planet and studied 1,500 more.
I’ve worked with entrepreneurs such as the founders of Starbucks, Whole Foods, LinkedIn, The Container Store, Paul Mitchell, Dell, Dropbox, Fast Company, Keller Williams, FUBU, HomeAway, Playboy, Zappos and TOMs and brands such as WeWork, LeanIn.org and Global Wildlife Conservation. In that same timeframe, I’ve produced over 800 videos including CNBC’s first primetime TV, 200 videos for Dell and 35 videos for the Microsoft as well as videos for SXSW, Nestle/Sweet Leaf Tea, Razorfish and Entrepreneur Magazine.
MY BACKGROUND AS AN ENTREPRENEUR
Trust me. I get it. I live entrepreneurship and I’ve been doing this for a long time.
The hustle, the grind, the ups, the downs, the time crunch, the negative moments.
I live and love entrepreneurship.
Over the last 6 years, I’ve been speaking on entrepreneurial storytelling to share that knowledge along with what I’ve gained over the last 20 years as an entrepreneur myself. I’ve founded 8 companies and organizations, raised over $10.0M in venture funding, secured Fortune 50 clients and gotten national press for my company and clients.
I have produced, directed and/or executed over 100 promotional events and have written over 70 business plans. My marketing and PR efforts have received coverage in Fast Company, Fortune Small Business, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Software Success Weekly, Ad Week and INC Magazine.
WHY THIS COURSE VS. OTHER COURSES
There’s a crazy amount of information you can sift through when trying to figure what exactly a story is and how to create one for your business.
Search “how to create a story” (using quotes on Google) and you get 28M results.
There are courses, books, webinars, e-books, blogs, coaches, mentors, mastermind, and on and on and on…
THE CURRENT OPTIONS ARE COMPLICATED
The majority of structures, resources, and courses that teach people about “story” are not easy to learn or use. And, one soon discovers that the majority of these story frameworks are challenging to understand and follow. You need a dictionary or literary guide to know what the terms mean… words such as exposition, prologue, denouncement, apotheosis, and archetypal. It’s almost as if you need to already know storytelling before you can do it.
MOST STORYTELLING GUIDES & FRAMEWORKS ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR ENTREPRENEURS
The majority of these story structures, resources, and courses that were created for the purpose of learning and understanding how to build a story were not for business. They are tools that were designed for poets, scriptwriters, authors, teachers, and filmmakers. They don’t pertain to the business owner who has never taken a writing class.
WAY TOO COMPLEX
The resources are too complex, have too many moving parts, and don’t apply to your needs. Even if they did, business owners do not have the time or inclination that it takes to learn them. You could spend weeks or months getting a story perfected only to find it doesn’t apply to a business scenario.
You are not looking for a masters or bachelors in storytelling – you need a story for your business.
SOME COME CLOSE… BUT THEY’RE STILL NOT FOCUSED ENOUGH
Some guides focus on the business story, but are NOT focused on the specific needs, constraints and challenges of an ENTREPRENEUR. They are created for fortune 500 executives, managers, or team leaders. Or they are tailored for public speakers, advertisers, public relations staff or communications managers. Or designed for job seekers, podcast hosts, marketers, lawyers and financial advisors. Or what is really off putting to 1st time entrepreneurs, they are created assuming you have an ad agency, 6+ months of time to develop it, and/or the staff to work on it full time and tailor it across 10 different mediums.
Let’s take a look at the course:
MODULE
1
Entrepreneurship and Storytelling
Learn why ‘story’ is one of most powerful forces on earth and how successful entrepreneurs use it in every aspect of their business.
- 10 Reasons of Why You Need a Story for your Business
- How successful entrepreneurs use stories
- Why (and How) Stories Work (Hearts and Minds)
MODULE
2
Story Definition and Story Types You Can Use
Learn about the most common story types that entrepreneurs use and which one is best for you.
- So what exactly IS a story?
- 5 most frequently used Story Types entrepreneurs use and how they work
- The ONE story type you should start with and why
MODULE
3
Business Needs and Story Goals
Learn how to distinguish between business needs and your story goals and why it’s critical to keep them separate
- Separating the business needs from the story goals – why it matters
- Using stories to trigger feelings that elicit desired responses
- The 3 most important thing your story needs to do – every time
MODULE
4
How to Identify Your Audience
Identify the two types of audiences and learn how to design your story for one but tailor it for the other.
- The 2 types of audiences for your story
- Why you need to understand both, optimize for one, and customize for the other
- The 3-Step Audience Exercise
MODULE
5
The Storytelling Framework for Entrepreneurs
The 3-part framework designed specifically for entrepreneurs to help create your story.
- The Ideal 3-Part story Framework
- Beginning – The Set-Up and The Incident
- Middle – The Challenges and The Change
- End – The Outcome
MODULE
6
Building Inventory
How to organize all of your information into an inventory of Story Assets before you build the actual story.
- Start with the Background – 6 questions to get it started
- Using the Storytelling Framework to help guide the process
- Where to everything else outside of the framework or not sure where it goes
MODULE
7
Creating the Story
Learning what to do before you start, assembling the story from your inventory, and avoiding the most common story-building mistakes.
- Before you begin – Cherry pick the ‘selects’ that will go into your story
- Assembly – Drag and drop those selects into the Storytelling Framework and build your story
- The most common mistakes entrepreneurs make and and how to avoid them
MODULE
8
Review and Revise
Now that you have your first ‘draft story’ – what to do next.
- Before you begin – Cherry pick the ‘selects’ that will go into your story
- Assembly – Drag and drop those selects into the Storytelling Framework and build your story
- The most common mistakes entrepreneurs make and and how to avoid them
MODULE
9
Polish and Practice
The 3-step process to get help you practice and fine-tune your story before you go prime time.
- 4 Ways to practice your story by yourself
- Practicing with family and friends – electronically, verbally, and in-person
- Practicing with your business network – peers, mentors, advisors, customers
MODULE
10
Testing With Risk
Why (and How) you need to test your story in a LIVE environment that has risk associated with it and where to find willing audiences.
- Why you need test your story (repeatedly)
- How to find a LIVE environment to test your story on willing audiences
- Revise and test it again. And again. And again. And then do it some more.
MODULE
11
The Wrap!
You’ve got a finished story! Now what to do with it?
- Final review of the entire CREATE course
- Avoiding the Biggest Mistakes
- Overcoming your Biggest Challenges
- Troubleshooting and Next Steps after the course to bring your story to the world
PLUS YOU’LL GET THESE SPECIAL BONUSES!
1
How to Shorten Your Story - Video
Most stories are way too long. A vital step in creating a great, effective story is cutting out all the excess and shortening it to the good stuff. This video will help you shorten up your story.
2
Finding Your Why - Video
Most stories are way too long. A vital step in creating a great, effective story is cutting out all the excess and shortening it to the good stuff. This video will help you shorten up your story.
3
How to Make Your Story Stand Out - Video
People are incredibly busy, and there are a million things taking their attention every second. You need a story that will stand out from the noise and here are some great techniques to help do that.
4
PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP
Access to the Create Your Story From Scratch private Facebook Group. Networking, Support, Feedback, a private community of awesome budding storytellers like YOU.
5
LIMITED TIME OPPORTUNITY: 3 - 30 Minute ‘Ask Me’ Sessions with LG
- 3, 30-minute Q&A Sessions with me available a short time after launch
- You can ask anything (share your challenges, problems, questions, etc.)
- Use it after you’ve completed the modules, before you begin, or anywhere in between.
- This bonus is ONLY AVAILABLE FOR THE VIP LAUNCH.
WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?
New Entrepreneurs, Founders, Business Owners, Startups
First Time Business owner (0-24 Months)
Future New Business Owner (launching within 12 months)
Those with idea/vision, offering, and/or company in existence
Those with the desire to be successful and want resources to get there
Those who have a good idea of who the customer is or will be
THE ENTREPRENEUR:
You see a void in the retail market and you want to fill it with a physical product, but how? You don't need to have design skills, you just need a solid idea and our training to get it done.
THE MAKER:
Your craft is your passion and you wish you could fill larger orders for spotlight buyers. How do you take the leap to grow your product line while staying organized, profitable, and without loosing your personal touch? We'll show you how.
THE DESIGNER:
You have always wanted to have your own line of fashion, home decor, or textiles, but don't know how to get that product that is in your mind, into stores.
THE INVENTOR:
You've had this one idea for an amazing product burning a hole in your brain for years. You're afraid to put it out there too soon, but don't have the tools to create it yourself. Hone your idea and finally start building your invention today.
When you have an idea for a business, you need to tell a good story to make it grow.
ENROLL NOW!
JOIN NOW!
It’s time to tell your story. If you want to create a startup, brand, or founder story to truly grow your business, come join us in the Create Your Story from Scratch course. So, what are the next steps and how much does it cost?
#1. CHOOSE YOUR PAYMENT
#2. SIGN-UP and CREATE USER ACCOUNT
#3. LOG-IN Once you sign up, you have unlimited access to all the material offered, as well as the Private Facebook Group. That never goes away. And don’t forget… the 30 DAY GUARANTEE
ZERO RISK. 30 Day Money Back Guarantee.
If you don’t absolutely love the Create Your Story From Scratch course, I’ll give you a full refund. You can even keep the bonuses. We know you will love it, so we feel comfortable offering the guarantee.
IT IS RISK FREE WITH OUR 30 DAY GUARANTEE,
SO SIGN UP TODAY
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT LYN
Amy Cosper
VP/Editor in chief – Entrepreneur magazine
"Lyn truly understands the value and poetry of storytelling. He has become a trusted member of our team and a good friend. He's a film maker and an artist."
Ingrid Vanderveldt
Founder and Chairman – Empowering a Billion Women by 2020
"When I had a vision to get into television to host a show that would enable me to spread the insight I was gaining from my mentor to millions of people around the globe, it was Lyn Graft who helped tell that story in a way that it not only got picked up- but became the first original primetime series on CNBC."
Red McCombs
Co-founder of Clear Channel, McCombs School of Business
“‘The Story’ surrounding any product is more important than the product itself… Everyone loves a story so be sure you have a good one for your product of the moment. Lyn Graft is one of the top entrepreneurial storytellers I know. He helped capture my story and bring it to life for the CNBC TV series 'American Made' in a compelling manner. He told my business story, as well as shared 'who I am' and 'what I am about' in a fresh and entertaining way.
SIGN UP TODAY
