Adam Street's Blog
The spiritual and practical path to freedom to do your art

Storytelling advice from JK Rowling

Want a fast and easy way to tell better stories for your emails?  Start your story the opposite of how you will end it.  

That’s why in romantic comedies they start with a girl getting dumped by her long-time rich CEO boyfriend.  And to up the stakes she was probably tossed to the curb with a text message.  Or she found out her man was cheating on her with her best friend.

When this happens you know by end of the movie she’ll have found “true love” with some broke fun-spirited guitar player.

This is exactly what JK Rowling did to start Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. In the beginning, there’s no magic, no nuttin’.  She doesn’t even talk about Harry the star of the book!

She starts immediately with the Dursleys, Harry’s anti-magical boring aunt and uncle.

Her first line in the book is:

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

[Which means Harry is abnormal….]

“The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.”

[Which means Harry is NOT a fine boy]

For Harry Potter to graduate into a world of magic and wonder he first must drudge in the opposite of that.  

Your message is the same way.  It needs contrast.

I talk about the contrast principle in my free PDF: 7 Mistakes Coaches and Course Creators Make Promoting Products and Services with E-mail.  

You can download it for free here:  https://adamstreet.net

Adam

Mamby Pamby Land: Fun to visit but don’t stay there

I read a post the other day by an info marketer who struggled with getting leads.  Just about any business on Earth can relate to this problem, right? 

She said maybe she needed to create free weekly content, start a podcast, or maybe her team could do more on social media .

This gal is an accomplished info-marketer.  So I was surprised she never mentioned e-mail marketing.  Which is odd because e-mail still blows the socks off most digital sales methods.  Especially over time.   So I asked her about it.

She said, “I already crush at that.”  

Even John Holmes would call that answer cocky…

After her response, I was out.  Everyone else kept talking about SEO, funnels, limited time offers (LTO), and all the normal business paradigm stuff.

She may be “crushing” her e-mail marketing but I say she’s living in Mamby Pamby Land.  You know why?  Because she is NOT building relationships with her e-mail list if her sales are sucking wind.

She’s focused on finding a lot of people and saying YOU need to buy this before the sale price ends or before this bonus goes away.  And before you know it you’re back head-hunting for more people.

You can run a business like this but it’s exhausting.  Us artist paradigm types are different.  

And when you use a Blockbuster approach and entertain and teach with your e-mails a strange phenomenon happens.  Your readers actually give a shit about you and read what you say.  

Maybe they buy maybe they don’t but they stay on your list.  And the longer people stay on your list the more they usually buy.  

I may not have a list the size of Tony Robbins’ but I can spot an e-mail marketing problem.  I’m not a nutritionist either but I can tell you eating  a box of brownies will make you fat.

I just call them like I see em.

If you’d like to know how I could help you attract super high-quality, clients who are fans of your work holla at me:  https://adamstreet.net/contact-me/

Adam

Turn up your volume

“Those who tell the stories rule the world.”  

Hopi Native American proverb

I disagree.  Those who tell entertaining stories will rule the world.  

That’s why I’m always rambling about adding Blockbuster Storytelling or SHOW to your words.  An ounce of entertainment can go a long way.  It’s like adding caramel and candy sprinkles to vanilla ice cream. 

That’s why the media loves Donald Trump.  You may not like what he says but you know it’s probably going to be interesting.

‘Entertaining’ is also how we can connect with our audience.  But it doesn’t always come naturally to most of us.  

So how can you do it effectively and keep it real?

When you return calls, send emails, and post on social, it’s you.  It’s you BUT with the volume turned up.  

If you listen to “Stupid Love” by Lady Gaga on level 3, you’ll hear it.  If you turn up the volume to level 9, it’ll be even louder.  Same song, same lyrics.  

Just louder.  

You give your audience more of you.  More of your thoughts, philosophy, personality…all the good stuff.

What you’re doing is what Perry Marshall calls racking the shotgun.  When you press send or post you’re qualifying and disqualifying leads.  The louder you and your message are the wrong people leave and the right people lean forward to hear more.

Adam

Why Stan Lee is my role model

Most people think I admire Stan Lee because he created Spider-Man or The Avengers.  True, I definitely give him his super-hero props.  As a comic book reader I grew up seeing his name in comics and hearing his voice in Saturday morning cartoons.  

But that’s not why he’s one of my role models.  

What makes Lee special to me would hit me later in life.  It was when I learned he didn’t work for Marvel until his his 40’s!  

When I left my insurance job for Marvel Comics I was in my 30’s.  Even though I snagged my dream job, I still had a ton of head trash.  Why couldn’t I have done this earlier?  I should have went to art school.  Everyone is so much better than me!

The list goes on…

Once I learned Lee didn’t work his magic till his 40’s.  That helped me clean up all my negative self talk about what I should have done .  Or all those missed opportunities.  

And don’t think Lee didn’t have head trash too.

“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing.”

Let me tell ya, everything you have done to this point makes you uniquely placed to do something.  I don’t care what your age is.

Oprah Winfrey said, “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

So suit-up like the X-men, and live YOUR adventure.  Head trash is like your mother-in-law.  It doesn’t go away but you ain’t gotta listen to it either.

Excelsior!

Adam

2 Ways to Improve Your Reviews

I used to suck at getting reviews of my work.  I’ve gotten better but I’m still no where near AKC best of show.

You want to get reviews.  They help people trust you and believe in what you do  Whether you get a few or a bucket load.  There’s a couple of things you can do to make the ones you get better.

First, show the diversity of your clients.  Like attracts like.  

If you have a course that teaches cats to pee on a toilet (don’t laugh, this is really a thing) and one of your testimonials is from a retired grandma.  There’s another Meemaw in Oklahoma captivated, thinking…  Hey, I can do that too.  

Let’s get fancy and put it in a more scientific way.  Author and most bad-ass psychology professor ever Dr. Robert Cialdini said in his book Pre-Suasion, thinking is linking.  

“The brain’s operations arise fundamentally and inescapably from raw associations.  Just as amino acids can be called the building blocks of life, associations can be called the building blocks of thought.”

You also want to add some drama when you can.  Which sounds better?

• Adam coached me and helped me lose 30 pounds. 

• I struggled with my weight for nearly a decade after the birth of my second child,  After I was coached by Adam I lost 30 pounds.  

Same result but the second one is much more impressive and relatable with some back-story sprinkled in there. 

“Readers want to see a character overcome obstacles.  They want to live vicariously through the character in your book, feeling every setback.  Feeling the conflict.  And getting the satisfaction of accomplishment when the character finally reaches his goal.”

Debra Dixon, from Goal, Motivation & Conflict

In the movie Iron Man, imagine if they glazed over Tony being captured and creating his armor out of necessity?    They could have done that but the movie wouldn’t have been no where near as good.

And neither would have Spider-Man.  Thor.  Or any other super-hero movie.

Don’t for a minute think I’m telling you to make this stuff up.  Pay attention to what your clients say and their individual experiences.  And when they give you a review coach them on framing their story. 

I used to work at an insurance company and we used to joke that all the customer reviews started in the rain or with some other melancholy situation.    

You don’t have to get all Joseph Campbell on them but do what you can to get great feedback.    It is for you after all.

Adam