Good morning. I’m Stephen Woessner, the CEO of Predictive ROI and the host of our daily podcast for business owners called Onward Nation.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week.

However it is that you’ve come to our website, I want to thank you. Listeners of Onward Nation know that I say this often — and if you’re a listener, I cannot thank you enough — but I am so grateful that you would spend some of your valuable time with us by listening to Onward Nation — and — reading this blog post. We all have the same 86,400 seconds in our day — and I thank you — from the bottom of my heart — for spending some of your time with us.

If you’ve never listened to Onward Nation — I urge you to please give us a listen. I know what you’re thinking right now. You’re thinking Stephen, you just want my download. You just want your numbers to grow. It is true — of course — that all of us here at Predictive ROI want Onward Nation to grow. Producing Onward Nation is a major time commitment — and of course — we want to see our numbers build. However — I believe that the lessons our guests teach us — day in and day out — are lessons that you can use to grow your business and improve your life.

And I’m going to share one of those lessons with you today.

Yesterday, our guest on Onward Nation was Michael Hauge — one of Hollywood’s top script consultants, story experts, and speakers for more than 30 years. He’s consulted on films starring — among many others — Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts and Morgan Freeman. He coaches screenwriters, novelists, filmmakers, professional speakers, internet marketers and corporate leaders, helping transform their stories and their audiences using the principles and methods of Hollywood’s most successful movies.

Michael Hauge is an absolute master of storytelling, and he shared with Onward Nation exactly what eight pieces have to be in every story to make it resonate with and move its audience. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a Hollywood screenplay or trying to sell a product — the same principles must be in place for every story.

Here are the eight steps that Michael laid out in our interview:

1. Identify the hero of the story — who is the main character?
2. Create a setup — describe the life the hero was living before the story began
3. Present the hero with opportunity (and create empathy in the process)
4. Put the character in a new situation based on the opportunity
5. Create a clear, visible goal with a clear finish line in the end
6. Create conflict
7. The climax of the story — paint a picture of what success was like
8. The aftermath — paint a picture of the new life because of making the journey

With these eight steps, you will be able to create a story that will resonate with your audience — who will then become your clients. Michael would know — he’s seen it in action time and time again.

Thanks for reading.

Onward with gusto!

 

This week on Onward Nation

 

Episode 181: How to work a room, with Susan RoAne — can be found here.

Episode 182: Audit your own behavior as a mentor, with Lori Highby — can be found here.

Episode 183: Resistance is part of the chemistry of success, with Steve Rodgers — can be found here.

Episode 184: 8 steps to a great story, with Michael Hauge — can be found here.

Episode 185: The Four Enriching Rituals, with Michael Maher — can be found here.