#132 - The True Key to Most Success
AKA She’s Back
I’ve written before about one of my core weakness (#11 here). It’s a clear case of physician heal thyself because it is also the thing I preach most to my clients when helping them build or evolve their brand. It’s the thing that studies have shown is the one attribute consistently tied to success of all sorts–of course having a trust fund or access to generation wealth is also helpful.
When you have a story you want to share with the world, particularly a brand story, nothing is more valuable to its ability to flourish and evolve and have impact than showing up and sharing it in a consistent way.
How would you feel if tomorrow I started sending you weekly emails about estate and tax planning? What would you think about me and my business, Ramsay & Co? What associations would you develop? What if the next week I came to you with a treatise on the state of crypto and it being our hope for the future? Confusing right. THEN the next week I wrote to you about the things I really loved about storytelling and how it changed my life.
I bet you’d be confused. You wouldn’t quite know what I was about or why you had agreed for me to come into your inbox every week. A good number of folks may even unsubscribe (though I hope I’ve built enough trust with you that you’d go with me on that strange journey). That is the impact of inconsistency. Confusion and detachment.
That’s not to say I ONLY write to you every week about a very narrow niche topic. No. I find ways in that always take us back to the thing that guides my work and writing: storytelling and how it can help you communicate. I try to keep it interesting and varied, but I also try to be consistent.
And it’s not just about content. It’s your customer experience or the way you interact with people at work.
Because strong brands share a consistent story. And great storytellers show up with consistency in the world. Because consistency also breeds trust which is really what makes consistency so powerful. When people trust you, they get you and they buy into you. That means they then feel safe to buy from you, or hire you, or let you into their life in some significant way. Consistency is the foundation of any great brand, business, or career. And maybe even parts of life (I can’t claim expertise there). Consistency is the key to impactful storytelling and experience creation through storytelling.
But it isn’t easy. As I’ve shared, I struggle with it. It’s something I have to practice. I make time for it, I lean into WHY I’ve chosen to do something (like write a weekly newsletter) and I dive into it every day and every week to ensure I show up with something interesting and worth your time that helps you think about storytelling in your business, your work, and your life in new ways. It’s a muscle I have to exercise every single day as a business owner. And so do you.
Marie Forleo, one of my favourite teachers and coaches, shared five tips that help with consistency that helped me get focused in my career and life. I’m sharing it with you now in case, like me, you struggle in this area and you find it helpful.
Question for you: how do you show up with consistency in your work and business? Are there areas where you could be doing better?
And on the note of consistency, I wanted to share that I’ll be back to weekly emails for you starting today. I’m headed back to Toronto after four months in Mexico City with a lot more clarity about how I want to shape my life over the next little while. I took some time off to make space for exploration and am ready to get back to sharing with you regularly (and consistently).
A Story Well Told
I love Marie Forleo and her youtube show MarieTV. I work as a mentor in both her programs (B-School as a marketing mentor and Time Genius using all I learned on my burnout healing journey to help others). She is a storyteller I admire. But this older episode on consistency has really stayed with me over the years. So resharing in case you ignored the link above. It’s a short one–many of her videos are–but super helpful.