CaboPress 2019: Telling a Better Story

It was my 3rd year attending CaboPress, and for those keeping score, I’ve gotten fantastic advice each year. Year One was about figuring out who I was talking to. Year Two was about figuring out what I was telling them. This year, it’s all about how I’m telling it.

The Hero’s Journey

Earlier this year I read Building a Storybrand, and it really helped me hone my messaging. In that book, Don Miller talks about the hero’s journey, and how it’s our job to make the customer the hero in our story.

My friend Shawn talked all about this, and it helped really drive the point home for me. Between his examples, the questions being asked, and the setting, it helped me realize that I wasn’t doing this as well as I could – especially in video.

It also made me realize that I was missing something very important on my own home page: a video!

Talking to the Right People

By the time Chris spoke the next day, I knew I needed to make a video for my site. During his session, I actually thought of the opening 2 sentences.

But he helped me gain clarity in another way: how to speak the language of my potential students. And, as it turns out, it goes back to the way I’m telling the story: I want to know how they are struggling. But I was framing it as, “how can I do my job better?”

Doing More, Less.

Now, figuring this out wasn’t my actual goal going into CaboPress. My main goal was to figure out how I can focus my efforts and do less while doing more. With the who, what, and how of it all answered, I was able to flesh out some ideas I got from Brian Casel’s session on productizing services.

The clearest way for my to fund my endeavors (like my courses) is by doing client work. But that’s not something I want to keep doing in the long term. I want to add some more predictability to my work life.

Now that I know which niche I should focus in on, I can start offering more streamlined services in that area. This allows me to still do client work, but the scope and expectations is very clear. I can also make sure I stay in the same lane where I want to be as far as my courses and other offering go.

A Class Reunion

Aside from the fantastic business advice, I love CaboPress because it feels like a class reunion – even more so this year! We were heavier on alumni than usual, and I think both alumni and new attendees benefited from that.

As always, CaboPress was a great event. Thanks to Chris Lema for putting it all together. Just like the last 2 years, I’m confident my business will grow because I attended.