MICHAEL HAUGE

6-STEP SUCCESS STORIES

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Stories That Sell

Imagine if every time you gave a speech or presentation, wrote a book or a blog or a marketing email, made a sales pitch to a prospective client or buyer, or tried to inspire an associate, a team member or an employee, you had the power to persuade them to take action. What if you were able not only to describe the benefits of your product or process, but could give your potential clients or buyers an immediate experience of the success or the happiness you’re promising? You can. By harnessing the power of success stories. Well-told stories do many things: • They entertain • They educate • They inspire • They hold the interest of listeners and readers • They create a stronger connection between audiences and

storytellers • They deliver information in a simpler, more involving way than

facts and figures and diagrams • And they move people to action But outstanding stories achieve one more powerful objective: they give listeners and readers the emotional experience of success. A truly effective marketing story is presented in such a way that your potential buyer, client or subscriber identifies with the hero of that story, and experiences the emotion of the story through that character. When you tell a story about someone whose life was improved or transformed by your product, process or principles, your potential buyers will feel the way your hero felt when he or she succeeded.

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With a properly told story, your target market has already experienced – on a subconscious level – the positive feelings that you are promising them. And those feelings will change buyers’ minds – and persuade them to pay for your service or your product or your process. You can create and deliver this kind of story simply, powerfully and profitably by effectively taking the hero of the story through six simple steps. My background is in Hollywood. For more than 30 years I have worked with screenwriters and filmmakers, studios and stars, helping them create film and television scripts that will touch people deeply and powerfully. When my clients incorporate these same six steps into their scripts and films, they have the potential to change the emotional state of audiences around the world, and transform their lives. This means that when you use the Six Step Success Story™ process, you’ll be using the same magic formula that Hollywood has been using so successfully for more than a century. To get a glimpse of how to apply these six steps to your own stories, look at the description of the six steps below, along with the chart at the beginning of this eBook. Then read the example of an inspiring success story I was told by a top business leader, which I then wrote following the 6 STEP method in order to bring out the strongest emotional elements, and to convey the storyteller’s powerful achievement and message. Following the story, I analyze the way it illustrates the six steps in action, and why I made the choices I did when I put it in writing. Here you will see a number of key story tools and elements that I offer in much greater detail in my book Storytelling Made Easy: Persuade and Transform Your Audiences, Buyers and Clients - Quickly, Simply and Profitably.

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Selecting the Hero of Your Story The HERO of a story is simply the protagonist – the main character whose pursuit of a goal drives the story forward, and the character readers and audiences want to see succeed. By my definition, a hero is NOT someone who is heroic – at least not at the beginning of the story. It is someone who has the potential to become heroic. Finding the courage to move forward to achieve his goal will make him heroic. If your story reveals how you, in a time of personal difficulty or despair, found a way to transform your life, or your business, or your relationships, or learned a principle or method that has guided you toward your own success or fulfillment, then you are the hero. These autobiographical success stories accomplish a number of objectives: they create a closer connection to your audiences by allowing them to experience your story along with you; they show potential clients that you are one of them, who has suffered some of the same challenges, and if you managed to turn your life around, so can they; they reveal the problems – and solutions – that led to your product or process, they give whatever you’re offering greater credibility; and they allow you to acknowledge those who guided and helped you reach where you are now. If the story is about someone other than you – a former client, or customer, or mentor, or inspiring individual – who transformed his or her life or thanks to your product or your system or your principles or your coaching, then that successful person is the hero. These stories give your audiences and readers the emotional experience of being exactly what you want them to become: clients or buyers. They instill a desire to work with you because your readers identify with the hero of the story, and now they want you to lead them down the same path that led to your hero’s success.

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The Six Steps Now it’s time to introduce you to the Six Steps…. STEP 1: Setup Every good story is a BEFORE & AFTER picture. It begins by revealing the life the hero was living before anything extraordinary occurred to him, and it ends by showing the new life he is living after achieving his goal and completing his journey. It’s the same with your success story. Begin by giving your readers and audiences a picture of your hero before he began taking action to solve his problem, and before he heard about, or began using, the product or process you’re selling. Besides introducing us to your hero, your primary objective in Step 1 must be to create empathy with your hero in order to ensure that your readers and audiences identify with him, and experience his success on an emotional level. You’ll accomplish that by making him sympathetic, putting him in jeopardy, getting us to like him, and/or giving him some specialized skill. In other words, empathy will grow out of the conflict your hero has experienced. So if your hero was broke, or stuck in a dead end job, or lonely, or ill, or simply unfulfilled in some way, we’ll feel sorry for him, and that sympathy will get us to empathize. If your hero was given a negative medical diagnosis, or his business was about to go under, then the jeopardy he was in will accomplish the same thing. Likability is related to how your hero deals with the conflicts others face. If he was desperate to give his family a better life, or his foundation wanted to help people who were in dire circumstances, or

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he longed to put his daughter through college, his love and generosity will also get us to empathize. And if your hero has exhibited a high level of skill in overcoming great obstacles, your audience will want to experience the feelings if they too were that accomplished. A good setup always portrays a hero who was stuck in some way – either unable or unwilling to take action against a negative situation, or unaware that a major problem was just ahead. And this situation or looming crisis will be the one that your product solves by the end of the story. STEP 2: Crisis Once you’ve painted a picture of your hero’s former everyday life, you will reveal the single event that forced her to solve her problem - the moment where things got so desperate, or the prospect of change became so appealing, that she had to do something. It’s not sufficient to simply say, “And finally she decided to take action.” You must reveal the specific event that moved her from procrastination to action. Was it a foreclosure notice? An inheritance that forced her to start managing her finances? Yet another lonely night that was the last straw, and made her determined to start dating? Whatever the crisis was, her response was to formulate a specific goal or outcome: lose 40 pounds; double my revenue; get off my medication. But before she could move forward, she had to figure out how she was going to solve her problem and achieve that goal. So she researched, and asked a lot of questions, and considered other alternatives, and hesitated, until she finally chose you or your company or your product or your process. In writing Step 2, take us through this period of questioning – these reactions to the crisis. Because whatever her concern or resistance,

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these are the same questions your potential buyers will have. Revealing the answers your hero found provides your readers with the same answers, which will move them closer to purchasing what you’re offering. STEP 3: Pursuit Once your hero answered his questions and finally overcame his concern, he declared, “I’ll do it!” And he began using your product, or he began working with you. Include this moment in your story. Show us what it was like for him to take that first step toward success. And then detail at least a couple more specific actions your hero took – tasks he had to perform – to achieve success. It’s not sufficient for you to say, “Then he began using my unique method, and 6 weeks later he was a professional ventriloquist!” You must give your audiences the experience of following your process. They want to know what results they can expect, but they also want to know what will be expected of them. Step 3 will address those questions in the most direct – and emotional – way possible. STEP 4: Conflict Goals and desires give stories their momentum, and give audiences something to root for. But it’s the obstacles the characters face that keep us emotionally involved. Show us the problems, the frustrations, the fears and the setbacks your hero experienced as she pursued her desired outcome. Not only will this increase the emotional power of your story, it will show potential buyers how your process enabled your hero to overcome the roadblocks to success. Buyers and clients know that success always takes effort and commitment and courage, and that there will always be some

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unexpected setbacks. Including the hurdles your hero faced – and overcame - will give your buyer the emotional experience of solving the problems that they are already anticipating – and worrying about. STEP 5: Climax This is the peak moment of your story - the victory your hero was striving for, and that your readers and listeners have been rooting for. It’s that emotional scene when your hero crosses the finish line – and wins. Never omit this event. Let us relish the feeling of accomplishment that comes when your hero ultimately knew that all his work and courage paid off. STEP 6: Aftermath Step 1 was the BEFORE picture of your hero, before his journey with you began. Step 6 is now the AFTER picture. The Aftermath paints a vivid portrait of the life your hero is now living as a result of using your service or product and achieving his goal. Is his family living in a new home – the first they’ve ever owned? Is he finishing a triathlon? Is he able to speak, comfortably and powerfully, to an audience of 300? Is his business thriving? Is he happily married? Is he getting his inspirational message out to thousands more people than he was at the beginning of the story? Whatever the aftermath, it gives your readers a snapshot of the rewards that hiring you or buying your product will ensure – a vivid description of the new life your potential customers can experience if they only follow in your hero’s footsteps. So as you complete this final step of your story, be certain that the picture you create for your hero’s Success Story matches the dreams your target market has for their own lives.

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That’s it. Those are the six simple steps. Now, using the chart as your roadmap, read the story that follows to see the Six Step Success Story™ process in action. And always remember this…. As a marketer, consultant, speaker or business leader, you are giving others the opportunity to change their lives for the better. If your stories inspire them to do that, and they are told from your heart, they will be transformative – for you and for them.

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The Six Steps in Action

I regularly interview top business leaders, asking them to tell me their own success stories – either about themselves, or about others who have benefited from their consulting, guidance, principles or products. These renowned executives and entrepreneurs will tell me their stories in their own words, and I will then ask them a lot of questions to get as many of the physical and emotional details as I can. Then I put their stories in writing, using the Six Step Success Story™ process I reveal in detail in my book Storytelling Made Easy: Persuade and Transform Your Audiences, Buyers and Clients - Quickly, Simply and Profitably. This enables me to bring out the emotion of the stories, and to make certain that the storytellers’ messages come through clearly and powerfully. But though I may restructure their stories and emphasize specific details of setting, action and dialogue, the stories are theirs. The first person narration is in the storyteller’s voice, and I am only relating the events they told me. I chose Michael Maher’s story for this book because it’s not only entertaining and inspiring, it has the ability to transform readers and audiences by taking them through a variety of emotional responses, then urging them to incorporate Michael’s hard earned lesson into their own lives. At the end of the story I discuss what makes Michael’s story so effective, and why I made the choices I did in putting it on the page.

MICHAEL MAHER is known as North America's Most Referred Real Estate Professional. He founded one of the top real estate companies in Kansas City, and in just his third year of real estate, he netted one million dollars. He and his team have received over 500 referrals and averaged over 200 transactions per year for the last 8 years. After conquering incredible challenges and a near-death experience, Michael designed a system, the (7L) System, based around a philosophy of generosity. He and those who have implemented the system have found that a business based on generosity leads to reciprocity in the form of referrals, help, and good beyond anything they could ever imagine. Michael’s book, 7L: The Seven Levels of Communication has been Amazon.com’s #1 bestseller in the Real Estate Sales category for 5 straight years.

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Michael inspires audiences with his powerful, true story and has shared the stage with President George W. Bush, Tony Robbins, and John Maxwell. Now thousands upon thousands of professionals see him speak, attend his events, and go through his trainings every year. When I met with Michael, my intention was to ask him to tell me two stories that reflected the benefits of his approach to business, and his underlying philosophy. But his story about his experience in the Marine Corps Marathon was so riveting, and its message so powerful, that there was no reason for a second story; I knew this was the one I wanted to share.

Michael Maher Beat the Bridge

I want to tell you a story…. This is a story about armed guards, a bloody sock, a big yellow school

bus, Drew Carey… and a bridge. The story begins in April of 2011. James Nellis, one of my very closest

friends, asked me if I’d be willing to run in the Marine Marathon that October in Washington, D.C.

Some years before, James’ mother Vicky had passed away from brain

cancer, and ever since, cancer research has been an important issue for him. By getting people to donate money for every mile I ran in the marathon, I could help him raise money for his cause.

Of course, I could have just written him a check instead. But I believe in

doing things for charity, and I’d do anything for James. And I told myself this would be just the incentive I needed to get back in shape. So I said yes.

Unfortunately, I knew nothing about marathons at the time. But I was soon

to discover that the Marine Corps Marathon is the hardest marathon in the United States.

Even though I had six months to prepare for the race, and even though I

knew I should be training, life and work got in the way, and all at once October was staring me in the face, and I was nowhere near ready to run 26 miles.

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I figured I’d better do something, so two weeks before the race, I tried running a half marathon.

This was not the best strategy. I was so sore from the half marathon that I

couldn’t run at all for the next week. Then the week of the marathon, I was consumed with a big Generosity

Generation event I was putting on in D.C. So not only wasn’t I prepared for the race, I was getting stressed out.

James happened to be there as a guest on one of my panels, so I asked how he was feeling about the marathon. “Pretty good,” he said. “This is my seventh marathon, and I’ve been training for the last few months, so I think I’m ready.” Not wanting to sound like a slacker, I told him I had run a half marathon two weeks before. “You’re not supposed to do that,” James said, looking concerned. “You need to let your body rest a little bit before you do the real marathon. Otherwise you might have a hard time beating the bridge.” “What do you mean, ‘beat the bridge?’ ” I asked. “What bridge?” “The 14th Street Bridge. It’s at the 20 Mile mark of the course. If you’re not there by 1:15 in the afternoon, they raise the bridge, and you’re not allowed to continue. They have ‘slacker buses’ waiting to drive you to the finish line, and you won’t finish the race. Or get a medal.” This was NOT good news. I had figured that no matter how bad a shape I was in, I could still walk some, run a little, and finish the race.

I quickly calculate that I’ll have to run 14 miles per hour to get to the bridge on time. That’s faster than I did the half marathon two weeks before – when I was running as fast as I could!

That night I had a nightmare where the bridge was going up and I was running up one side of it and jumping off, just so I wouldn’t be put on that slacker bus.

By the next day I was ready to back out of the race entirely. But my event

was going great, and during his panel, James declared to the whole audience, “Isn’t it great that Michael is running in tomorrow’s Marine Corps Marathon? He’s generated a lot of money for cancer research, and I know a lot of you can’t wait to watch him on social media. He’s gonna do great!”

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“I am NOT gonna do great!” I kept thinking to myself. But now I was really committed.

Thanks to the stress and the nightmares and the lack of sleep, by that

night I had developed a pinched nerve in my back. So I had to find a massage therapist, who came to the hotel to give me a good massage.

Then Saturday morning arrived. Marathon Day. I was up at 4am and took a good hot shower, so my back was feeling

pretty good. And I had purposely chosen this hotel because it was close to a Starbucks. I’d be able to get some nourishment – and a jolt of hot coffee – before I had to grab a cab to get to the start of the race.

I walked out the door of the hotel to discover it was 30 degrees. It was

also so early in the morning that the nearby Starbucks wasn’t even open. No food, no coffee.

I was able to get a cab to take me as close to the starting line as it could.

But because of the growing crowds and the blocked off streets, that was 2½ miles away. From there I had to walk. And with every step I’m thinking Beat the Bridge… Beat the Bridge.

By the time I arrive at the starting point, I’m already out of breath from

walking so far. And the race hasn’t even started. 35,000 other runners are also arriving, and they’re all being herded into

corrals in order to stagger the start. I’m thinking, “If I want to have any chance of beating the bridge, I don’t want to be in a corral stuck behind 20,000 other runners. So my best strategy is to get as close as I can to the front line.”

At least I was smart enough to wear a heavy thermal sweat suit. It’s 30

degrees, and there’s ice on the ground, and there’s a frozen mist in the air. So as I start weaving my way through a throng of 35,000 people, I’m wearing three layers of clothing and a stocking cap.

As I begin getting closer and closer to the front, I notice that instead of

looking like me, the runners are just wearing thin sweat suits. And by the time I get to the front, I see runners dressed in even less.

“What idiots!” I think to myself, until I realize that these are the professional runners. So I’m standing in my bulky blue outfit surrounded by a bunch of Nigerians and a lot of other skinny, sinewy guys in shorts and tank tops.

As I’m waiting for the starting gun, wondering why no one stopped me as I

crowded my way to the front of the line, I gaze into the cold, dark, cloudy sky,

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and I can see the Pentagon in the distance. And then I see that atop the building are armed soldiers standing guard. It feels weird, and ominous, and does nothing to improve my feelings of impending doom.

Finally the opening ceremonies begin, and comedian Drew Carey takes

the stage to welcome everyone. It seems Drew is a former Marine, and he’s going to be the honorary first runner.

“Wow!” he shouts into the mike. “I’m really looking forward to today’s

Marine Corps Marathon! How about you guys?” And while 35,000 other runners are cheering in reply, I’m saying to myself,

“Oh, crap. Beat the bridge. Beat the bridge.” Then Drew finishes his introduction and leaves the stage to join the race.

And all at once he’s standing right next to me. Now you may have this image of Drew Carey when he weighed 260 or

270 pounds. But this was not The Drew Carey Show Drew Carey. This was The Price is Right Drew Carey. He weighed about 150 pounds.

“Wow,” I said. “You look fantastic, man.”

“You look overdressed,” he replied. Then the starting gun goes off, and we bust out of the gate. At first it feels great, because all the people are cheering, and the race

starts on a downhill street. But as I’m running in my three layers of thermal sweats and my stocking cap alongside all these professional racers, I’m thinking two things; these guys are running really fast; and I’m starting out way too fast for a marathon.

Drew is right next to me, and he says, “We should probably slow down,

because all these guys are going to run at this pace for the whole race.” “Okay,” is all I can reply, because I’m already feeling the pinched nerve in

my back starting to tighten. So I slow down to a jog and let Drew run ahead on his own.

By the time I’m only as far as mile three, I have a huge cramp in my side,

I’m really starting to sweat, I’m breathing hard, and I’m desperately in need of someone to say, “You can do it, Michael.” Fortunately, I’ve made plans for my wife Sheri to meet me at mile three, mile six, and so on throughout the race, because I knew I’d have to shed this outerwear and get some kind of nourishment.

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But Sheri is nowhere to be found. “She must have gotten delayed,” I think, trying to overcome my

disappointment. But I remind myself that when you run distances like this, you’ll be exhausted for a little while, and then you’ll get a second wind, and then a third, and sometimes even a fourth, when the pain subsides and you’re reenergized. So I keep going, knowing that mile six is coming, I’ll meet up with Sheri there, and I can shed all these extra clothes.

I get to mile six, and Sheri’s not there either. And neither is that second

wind I’m expecting. What I didn’t realize at the time was that it was never going to show up – not then, and not for the entire race.

So at this point I just take off my sweats and my stocking cap, throw them down on the curb, and keep going.

That’s when my foot starts to hurt, and I realize I’m getting a blister between my toes. By the time I get to mile 10, my foot is on fire.

Then I spot Sheri and my son waving from the side of the course. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “Max’s stroller got a flat tire, I had to carry him through the crowds, and I couldn’t be where we planned.”

I’m so happy to see her I don’t care. “I don’t think I can do this,” I moan.

I’ve got a cramp and my back hurts and my feet are killing me and I’m going to have to run faster than I did in Kansas City or I won’t beat the bridge, and I …”

“You can do this,” Sheri says. “You’ve never given up on anything you set

out to do. You’re going to make it.” This was the shot of adrenaline I really needed. So I told Sheri and Max

goodbye and got back on the course. That’s when I begin to notice how many people are running past me.

Starting out at the head of the pack as I had, quite a few runners passed me in those first six miles. But they were sprinters – professional runners and highly trained athletes, so it was to be expected.

Around mile 7 I had seen some of the regular runners moving by me as

well. But it was sporadic, or maybe I just didn’t notice it because of the crowds and the pain I was in.

But by now it’s become apparent that I’m falling drastically behind.

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I see uniformed Marines run by in combat boots, carrying 40-pound backpacks. I see children go by. A 70-year-old woman runs past me, then an 80-year-old man. But all I can do is keep shuffling along; pretty sure I won’t even make it to the bridge.

I figure about 10,000 people have passed me by the time I reach mile 16.

That’s when I hear my son cheering, “Go daddy! Go daddy!”

But with every fiber of his being, Daddy just wants to stop. I stumble up to Max and Sheri. I can tell by her expression that I’m not

looking good. Then I take off my sock and see that it’s a bloody mess. “What are you going to do?” Sheri asks, looking worried. “What do you think I should do?” “I’m not going to answer that,” she says. I know she’s right. I have to decide for myself. So I turn both my socks

inside out, put them back on and strap on my shoes. “I don’t think I’ll beat the bridge,” I tell her. “So you might as well meet me there.”

“Michael,” she says. “I’ve been carrying Max all day. I’m going to the finish

line. I’ll meet you there, however you get there. If you’re on the bus, you’re on the bus.”

From this point forward, with four miles to go to beat the bridge, I’m in full body breakdown. I try counting to myself to take my mind off everything. I figure out how to run on the different parts of my feet to ease the pain: inside heel . . . backside . . . outside heel . . . toe . . . inside instep . . . inside heel.

But the limited training, the stress, the lost sleep, the pinched nerve, and the dehydration – everything has slowed me to a shuffle. And to top it all off, my amazing, expensive watch quits. The battery has died. So I have no idea how long I’ve been running or how far I have left to go. As I struggle forward, the questions in my head get louder: Why are you doing this? If you die, you’re of no value to your wife and child. So why are you here? Yet I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I just have to keep going. Then, as I hobble past the crowds at the National Mall, I see them. Police cars.

Six of them, one after another. No lights or sirens, but all moving past me.

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And right behind them, a giant yellow school bus. The Slacker Bus. It says

so, right on the side of it. And it’s headed to the bridge. Then come the next slacker bus… and the next … and the next. They’re

going to be loading all the people who don’t beat the bridge – the ones who won’t get to finish the race.

I turn the corner and know I’m at Mile 19. I’ve got one mile to pass those

busses or my day is done. Thousands of people now line each side of the road to the bridge. They’re

all cheering, “Beat the Bridge! Beat the Bridge!” There’s even a guy with a boom box playing the Chariots of Fire theme. And in the distance I see a guy holding a giant spinner pointing at the bridge next to him.

And something in me kicks in. I’m up on my toes, and I’m running. I’m literally running. I’m sure some

people would call it shuffling, but for me it’s a sprint. I am NOT getting on that slacker bus. I’m totally out of breath and I’m getting passed left and right, and I almost fall – twice. I can barely look up to see the man holding the giant spinner looking at me. But I keep going, until I’m right next to him.

“You’ve got it,” he says. “You beat the bridge.”

I look up, and there it is. I step onto the Washington Bridge. Then I stop,

nearly falling down with exhaustion. I’ve done it. As I finally start to move, only five or six runners are on the bridge as well,

far in front of me. After all the racers, and the thousands of cheering crowds, I’m walking in solitude.

I stop to text my wife. TELL JAMES THAT I MADE IT. At least that’s what I think I’m texting. When Sheri showed me the text

later, it read TLE JZUXS INAS OT. I hadn’t been able to see the letters on my phone because I had broken down crying.

From there I walk and shuffle through Mile 24, where I begin the final stretch of the race. It’s known as The Mount of Iwo Jima, because it’s straight uphill. But somehow I manage to jog it, until I cross the finish line.

Waiting for me there is a Marine, who drapes a very big, very shiny medal

over my head. Then I spot Sheri and Max. I give them as big a hug as I can muster, and we head home. It’s over.

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* * * * *

When you work in real estate and in business, they give you trophies for

almost anything. So I’ve got quite a few. But of all my awards in all my trophy cases, the one I’m most proud of is the one that Marine gave me at the end of the Marine Corp Marathon. Because finishing that race was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

9,000 people didn’t finish the marathon that day. And out of 27,000 who

did, more than 26,000 of them passed me. But I finished it. That’s all I did. And even today, thinking and talking about that race makes me tear up, because I had never overcome such mental and physical challenges in my life. I’m repeatedly asked why I did it. Why did I endure so much just to complete a race? Why didn’t I just quit? I’m not certain I’ll ever be able to answer that question completely. But here’s what I think kept me going…. We all go through times of pain and difficulty and struggle in our lives – times where we just want to give up. But it’s in those moments that we have to keep going, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, no matter what. No matter what, we have to beat the bridge. Because that is where we’ll find the person we truly want to be. For that entire race, every time I was tempted to quit, I remember thinking, “If I give up, what kind of message am I giving my son? If I stop now, what am I teaching Max?” But I knew that if I could just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I’d have a story to tell him about something he was a part of. I could show him that even if it hurts, it’s important to keep going.

So what is the race you’re running right now? What is the bridge in your life?

Whatever it is, just keep going. You’re going to have suffering. You’re going to be exhausted. You’re

going to get passed by 26,000 others. You’re going to keep asking yourself, “Why the heck am I doing this?” And you’re going to want to quit.

But you can’t. You have to keep going, even if it hurts a bit. You’ve got to

take personal inventory and ask yourself, “What will it mean if I give up now?” Then just keep putting one foot in front of the other until you beat the bridge.

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It’s been more than six years since that Marine Marathon. But just recently, Sheri and I were asking Max some survey questions from some article about family communication. One of the questions was, “What does your mom always tell you?”

“She always says, ‘I love you,’ “ Max replied.

The next question was, “What does your dad always say?” Now remember, at the time of the race Max was only two. So he can’t

possibly remember it consciously. But his answer was, “Daddy always says, ‘Never give up.’ ”

I don’t remember ever saying those words to Max. But somehow, maybe

from stories, and maybe from seeing my medal from the race, or maybe from dozens of other things I’ve said or done, he sees me as someone who never gives up.

And knowing that makes me feel blessed.

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Michael Hauge’s Analysis

From the moment he told it to me, the most striking thing to me about

Michael Mayer’s story was how emotional it was. This is what makes it such a terrific story – because the primary goal of any story is to elicit emotion.

So it translating it to written form, I was intent on conveying that same

emotional quality. I wanted readers or audiences to feel engrossed, smiling, curious, worried, hoping, excited, touched and elated.

So let me show you why I wrote Michael’s story the way I did, and how I

used the Six Step Success Story process to make it such an emotional experience:

CONFLICT. From beginning to end, I wanted to focus on the obstacles Michael faced in running the marathon. The lack of preparation, the worry, the pinched nerve, the cold weather, the sense of foreboding, the thermal clothing, the blister, the fatigue, getting passed by the other racers, and numerous other elements all make it seem impossible that he’ll ever beat the bridge or finish the race.

More than anything else, emotion grows out of conflict. So the story keeps

piling one obstacle on top of another to achieve that emotion. HUMOR. Good stories don’t try to sustain a single emotion; they give us a

roller coaster ride with a variety of feelings. So I wanted to add the humorous moments of the story to all the action, tension and drama. But notice that even the humor grows out of the conflict Michael experienced: his neglected preparation, the bad dream, no Starbucks, Drew Carey’s comment about his outfit, and looking completely out of place among the professional runners.

These experiences were no laughing matter to Michael at the time; they

were all quite worrisome or painful. So when you want to create effective humor in your own stories, do your best to make your readers and audiences laugh, but never let your hero think what they’re up against is funny. That character must take everything seriously, or the conflict – and the emotion – will dissipate.

VIVID DETAIL. When I first heard the story from Michael, I asked him for

lots of details about what he saw and heard and felt. This made it possible to paint vivid pictures of the settings, the other characters, and his own sensations. As the narrator, he never generalizes with comments like, “The other runners were faster,” or, “I was in a lot of pain.” We see the crowds, his bloody sock, the runners, the buses and the bridge. These details draw us into this world and put us into the story as participants.

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HIGH STAKES. To get us to care deeply whether your hero succeeds or

fails, that character must put everything on the line. If Michael’s narration didn’t make clear how important it was for him to beat the bridge and finish the race, we would have no investment in the outcome, and no real emotional involvement. If at any point he implied, “If I wasn’t able to finish the race, then no big deal,” the story would fall flat – or we’d simply stop reading. Instead the narration shows how much it means to him - especially as a father – that he not give up.

STRUCTURE. As with any story you develop, be sure you take your hero through all six steps:

® STEP ONE: The SETUP immediately establishes Michael as the

hero (since he is both the narrator and the main character of this autobiographical story. To create empathy with him in the setup and the crisis, I showed him as likeable (he wanted to help his friend), sympathetic (he was unable to prepare adequately and was stressed out with a pinched nerve), and in jeopardy (he was likely to humiliate himself – or actually hurt himself – by running the race).

® STEP TWO: The CRISIS begins when our hero is invited by his

close friend to run in the marathon. Then he must learn about the race, do whatever he can to prepare, and ultimately declare his goal. One of the unique (and emotionally captivating) elements of this story is that instead of making the finish line of the race his primary objective (as most other competition stories would do), the initial motivation is to beat the bridge. Finishing the race then becomes a second visible goal.

® STEP THREE: The Hero’s PURSUIT includes everything he does

during the marathon to beat the bridge and then cross the finish line, and…

® STEP FOUR: The CONFLICT includes all the many obstacles

listed above that he must overcome. ® STEP FIVE: Because the hero has two visible goals, it then must

include two moments that qualify as a CLIMAX: beating the bridge; and crossing completing the race.

® STEP SIX: The AFTERMATH is everything that happens after the

race is over. The medal in his trophy case, and the conversation with his son years later, both show the new, more fulfilled life this hero is living having been transformed by this journey. This final step conveys the theme of the story – Michael’s message about how we should all live our lives.

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One final element of the story we should consider is its length. Because of

the emotion of the story, and all the vivid details, its length is more than justified. But a story this long isn’t appropriate for a short speech, a quick anecdote in an interview, or a brief article.

A story like Michael’s would be outstanding as a keynote speech, as part

of a lengthier speech, seminar or training event, as a chapter of a book, or as a full article in a professional or trade magazine, or a large circulation periodical.

When I coach speakers, marketers or executives who have stories this

long, we will always explore possibilities for segmenting or serializing it. If Michael were giving a one-hour presentation about commitment and

perseverance, he could weave this story through the entire speech. He might open with the setup, then stop with the line, “Then Saturday morning arrived. Marathon Day.”

He could then begin the “content” part of the presentation: information and

data and research about anything to do with his topic. This would leave his audience in suspense, making it easier to hold their emotional involvement through the more theoretical or analytical portions of his speech.

When that section of his speech is complete, he would then return to his

story, saying something like, “I know I left you hanging just as my Marine Marathon was about to start. So let me tell you what happened the morning of the race. I was up at 4am and took a good hot shower…”

Now the story can continue to the next “commercial break,” perhaps this

time to conduct hands-on exercises with the audience, or to provide instruction on how to instill a “never give up” attitude in a leadership team.

Alternating between direct instruction and the story would continue with

whatever number of breaks is most effective, based on the topic covered and the time allotted. But no matter how many breaks in the story, the presentation should always end with the speaker vividly describing the climax and aftermath. The audience will then leave the presentation on an emotional high, which will make the entire experience more powerful, memorable and transformative for them.

I apply the same principles when I coach digital marketers who want to

craft a series of marketing emails or a soap opera sequence. We just have to be certain that the “to be continued” breaks occur at moments of anticipation and conflict.

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As always, emotion is the key. Just as I tried to do with Michael’s engrossing story, you always want your readers and audiences hungry to learn what will happen next. Hold your prospective client or buyer’s attention in this way, and by the time you reach the end of the story, they’ll be ready to begin working with you.

SEND ME MY COPY OF Storytelling Made Easy

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MICHAEL HAUGE works with people who want to change more lives, and make more money, by telling compelling stories. He has been one of Hollywood’s top consultants and story experts since 1985, and has worked with countless writers and filmmakers, as well as every major studio, on projects starring (among many others) Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon. Applying those same powerful story principles, Michael now coaches independent consultants, speakers, marketers, entrepreneurs and business leaders, and has presented seminars, lectures and keynotes in person and online to more than 80,000 participants worldwide. Michael is the best selling author of Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read, as well as the 20th Anniversary Edition of his classic book Writing Screenplays That Sell. His latest book, Storytelling Made Easy: Persuade and Transform Your Audiences, Buyers and Clients – Simply, Quickly and Profitably, has just been released in digital, audio and print formats. According to Will Smith, “No one is better than Michael Hauge at finding what is most authentic in every moment of a story.”

* * * * *

To see Michael’s latest articles, or for information on his one-on-one story coaching, his speaking schedule and his books and recordings – including Storytelling Made Easy: Persuade and Transform Your Audiences, Buyers and Clients - Quickly, Simply and Profitably –

please visit his website at www.StoryMastery.com