Patrice Poltzer Shares Why and How to Tell Your Founder Story

Video storytelling expert Patrice Poltzer shares how to tell your founder story so you can get paid for who you are, not just what you do.

2:14 – Introductions

2:50 – Why should a new business owner focus on their story, not just their brand? 

The barrier of entry to starting a business is lower than it has ever been. This means that virtually every market is saturated with people who offer the exact same service or product that you do. As much as you’d like to think you’re offering something completely unique, chances are, you’re a small fish in a big pond. The way to stand out is your story, your background, and the unique experience you bring to the table. 

4:34 – Terry tries out telling his founder story, and Patrice tells us how a impactful founder story works

• Owning your struggle. Particularly when you’re starting a business, you feel like you need to project a perfect image, when this actually makes you seem distant and impervious. 
• People don’t care about your story. They care about what your story means to them. What can they learn from your story that will help them? 
• You don’t have to have an epic story to have an epic story. In other words, you don’t need to have backpacked across the country on a quest to start your business. As long as you touch on relatable human emotions and struggles, you will connect. 
• Keep it short and sweet. It’s not an autobiography, so feel free to include impactful moments, but maybe don’t chronicle all of your high school breakups (unless you’re running a dating app)

12:52 – Why so many businesses struggle with an about section + how to mine for your story

First of all, there are a lot of things you need to do when you start a business – a website, opening a business account, maybe registering your business with the state. And it’s also strangely difficult to talk about ourselves. 

But if you want to make a legacy business, you need to know who you are, and what you offer to the world. Patrice says that it’s worth putting in the time and introspection up front. 

17:50 – What to talk about when you’re “boring” 

Patrice repeats her thesis: You don’t need an epic story to have an epic story. 

You don’t have to have a traumatic childhood or a time when you were terrified about being able to pay rent to be able to connect with people. 

You might have to dig a little deeper, but everyone has something that they struggle with.

22:42 – How to get comfortable telling your story on video

Video is the ultimate goal – in addition to telling a compelling story, you get the chance to connect with your face and your voice. Big brands spend millions trying to get that kind of connection. 

Even if you aren’t ready to be on video, you can start with just writing it out. Then transition that to a quick Reel or TickTock that shows your face, and just point to the text. You can also use audio voiceover.

Before you take your story public, you do need to tell it and listen back to yourself. You’ll notice where the story is slow, or what part of the story was actually interesting. 

A good thing to keep in mind as you write a mini script: 150 words = one minute of audio. People rarely make it past the 30 second mark, so you need to make it count. 

28:51 – Patrice’s definition of success

Connect with Patrice

Website: patricepoltzercreative.com 

Instagram: @ patricepoltzer