TOC #192: Mundane moments can be main character masterpieces (if you let them!)
(August 27, 2024) How to transform the most boring moments into the best stories
I'm starting a new video series on Instagram.
…or, I was starting a new video series on Instagram, until I remembered that required me actually editing said video, then posting that video.
So, yeah, the series has yet to see the light of day.
I'll just tell you about it here instead, if that's okay?
And then, when I *do* get around to posting it — aka next week, when my child is officially in kindergarten, I'm officially in my house, and we're officially not living in a weird state of purgatory-covered-with-boxes-and-slight-insanity — you can comment on it and tell everybody you were a wicked cool insider who knew about the video before it was even up 😃😃😃😃😃😃
OKAY SO HERE WAS THE PLAN:
I waaaanted to show how easy it is to write about boring shit, because everyone and their mother lo0o0oves to tell me how they “wish they could write a newsletter” but they “can't” because their lives are “boring” 🥱
(We went over this last week, remember?)
So, while I was thinking about how I could prove to y'all how 😡 not true!!! 😡 that was, I had a little lightbulb action in the squirrel brain:
A new video series, appropriately titled:
✨ 💖 Turning Mundane Moments Into Main Character Masterpieces 💖✨
The first video — coming soon to a theater Instagram feed near you — is of me, going on a run-of-the-mill Target run, to prove to you that absolutely NOTHING exciting or “story-worthy” would happen…
& then I'd turn that boring ass time into a list of newsletter ideas ANYWAYYYY because boring lives are relatable lives and relatable people get purchased from. 💅🏼
But, as aforementioned, this is my brain this week:
Safe to say ~execution~ at this stage of life is… nawt my strong suit.
(At least I had the foresight not to schedule any client projects due til after Labor Day, right? Can I get a round of applause for that? Or no, since it prob shouldn't have taken me 5+ years to learn not to overexert myself? Whatever. Clap for me anyway.)
HOWEVERRRR I refuse to leave you HANGINGGGG, so…
I present to you, 7 of the MOST mundane moments from my Target trip that — with the right storytelling techniques, and the knowledge I need to be able to connect these boring moments with the feelings of my readers — I can effortlessly turn into scroll-stopping, worthy-of-taking-a-break-to-read, engaging, MASTERPIECESSSS ✍🏻
#1 — Choosing to go to the Target that was 30 minutes away, because it's a way better Target, and how that didn't feel like a long drive for me at all, even tho other people might think it was stupid (could be about people paying your price no matter what it is, because we're always gonna choose what's the best value for US)
#2 — Seeing that Woo's kindergarten teacher recommended a specific brand of pencil case from Walmart, but I wanted to go to Target, so I ignored her choice
#3 — Being sucked into a product because of its branding
#4 — Resisting the urge to buy every single thing I see in the aisles because I'm moving and don't need a damn other thing
#5 — Being convinced to buy something specific bc of what it says on the packaging (do I need the tape that says 80lb of strength? I didn't even know tape had strengths? now I'm questioning everything? packaging copy rly matters guys… I'm spiraling)
#6 — Debating buying ANOTHER notebook when I have sixty five and a half empty ones at home already (could be about not buying another DIY resource without finishing the others, and how what you may actually need is help w/ something as opposed to another collecting-dust resource)
#7 — Singing along to Stick Season out loud when it was playing, bc Noah is my moment and I will not be stopped
#8 — Alwayssss buying more than you mean to, bc “Target tells you what you need”
#9 — Wanting to buy something cute but I don't need it, because it doesn't match my vibe or my house or fit in my space (could be about shiny object syndrome, or about how your favorite color shouldn't be your logo color, designers are always talking about that lol)
#10 — Having to go back and forth all over the god damn store because I didn't check the school list properly (could be about ADHD, about not paying attention to directions, about doing things out of order, about what happens when you ignore expert advice, etc)
& bonus number 11, something out of the ordinary did actually happen to me, because it's me, and why wouldn't this happen… I walked into the mens' room and DIDN'T NOTICE FOR THREE FULL MINUTES :-) that was traumatizing :-) I will not be writing about that :-)
SEE WHAT I MEAN?
So much possibility exists in the mundane moments of your everyday.
All you have to do is train your brain to tap into it.
How to turn boring moments into the best stories
The topic of your newsletter does not have to be exciting.
In fact, most of the time, it shouldn't be.
You're likely not spending most of your days getting tattoos with a boy on a first date, or catching a man cheating on his girlfriend at the airport. Those are not your normal real life activities.
…which means, while they may be exciting, they're not relatable.
It's fun to read those cool stories once in a while, but if you told them every single newsletter, you'd become real unrelatable, real fast.
So, instead of putting so much pressure on yourself to have wicked-interesting, super-thrilling, show-stopping, never-been-done-before stories, how about we mix in some boring ones?
The seemingly BORING ones are what will actually make people RELATE to you, and CARE about you, and — every marketer's dream — TRUST you.
They make you a real ass person. And in a world where everyone is trying to be a social media star or an AI queen or the richest girl boss on the planet, being a real ass person matters.
WHEN YOU HAVE A BORING STORY & YOU WANT TO TURN IT INTO A NEWSLETTER, DO THIS ✏️
Start noticing things. Put your “could this be a newsletter?” hat on when you do anything. Write these ideas / moments down in your phone (or wherever you keep your notes).
Think about the FEELING that the story gives.
Think about a time where your customers or clients experience that feeling.
Relate the two things to each other, by telling the (mundane) story with specific details, appropriate emphasis and tone (to make it engaging), .
& if you need help executing that — or growing your email list in the first place, so you have a slew of people who will actually read these great, boring stories — my email marketing course comes back in a few weeks, and I think you'll love it.
For context, my LIVE email marketing course begins the week of September 23rd, and includes 7 weeks of live 90-minute lessons.
As a student of the course, you'll learn how to:
Create the best lead magnets that attract the right people to your email list (ya know, the people who *actually want* to buy the things)
Convince people to sign up to your list & waitlists with bomb opt-in copy
Build a welcome sequence that makes people want to stay on your email list because they care about you and what you have to say
Plan the ideal newsletter strategy, so you can remain consistent and be excited about what you're sending
TELL AWESOME NEWSLETTER STORIES (rly tho there's a whole ass lesson on newsletter storytelling specifically - this is the best part IMO)
& if you sign up for the waitlist, you'll get access to an exclusive BONUS training all about appropriately incorporating elements of emphasis and tone, so you can learn even more about how to tell better stories in your emails. 👀
>> Click here to join the waitlist for The Email Chapter!
Boring story submissions!
ICYMI — I asked in last week's newsletter and on Threads for people to submit what they do, what they want to promote, and a random detail or boring story, so I could help them figure out how to turn it into a newsletter.
For the next few weeks, I'm sharing their submissions & my responses (!!!) so you can see just how easy it is to turn mundane moments into main character stories.
(And speaking of that - make sure you check out my new IG video series all about it!)
SO! LET'S GET INTO IT.
I'm planning on giving specific story connection ideas for each of these submissinos, and sharing a few per newsletter, but…
When I saw this submission from Meg at Tenth House Creative, I knew I had to choose it, because there's a ✨ teaching moment ✨ here.
She went through a shitty situation. That sucks. She can't change that. She just has to deal with it.
…but you know what makes it just a tinyyy bit better?
At least she can get something out of it!
Specifically: a bomb newsletter with an interesting story, that will likely get a lot of engagement if she tells it right.
Whenever something annoying / cringe / weird / uncomfortable / shitty happens to me, I love to write newsletters about it, because at least in my own little twisted marketing brain, I got something out of it. There was a purpose.
(It's like when you go through a break up but then you never date a cheater again and you no longer have to deal with their weird ass laugh or stinky work boots. It sucked, and you can't change it, but at least something good happened?)
ANYWAYYYY — here's what I'd do if I were her 👇
Think about how she felt during that event
Think about situations where her clients feel the same way, as it relates to her website design services
And then I'd connect them via that feeling, using as much detail as humanly possible. We all know specificity sells, especially in stories.
I don't know the details of her story, but for example's sake, let's say it went down like this:
It's Monday morning. She was running late for a rare in-person meeting. She wanted to dress to impress, because she never gets to leave the house, since she's a web designer working remotely. She couldn't find her favorite pair of nicer-than-just-sitting-at-home jeans.
When she finally found them, she noticed a rip in the thigh. She was pissed. She's also in her Luteal phase and is operating at a hates-everything baseline, so this was her 13th reason.
…or so she thought.
She walked outside to her car, juggling her coffee, and her water, and her green juice (haven't you heard of the 3 beverage rule?), and expertly placed them all in their cupholders without spilling. She plopped her work bag on the front seat, then ran back inside to grab her phone.
She always forgets her damn phone.
A few minutes later, she came back to her car — ready to finally get going — and slumped into her driver's seat.
She reached down to take a sip of one of her drinks, but didn't feel it when she reached into the cup holder.
Confused, she looked to her right, and found… nothing.
Literally nothing. Her car was empty. Her bag was gone.
…her bag with her computer, her AirPods, her iPad, and her Apple Watch.
/end scene! 🎬
At this point, we can assume she's feeling:
Defeated, annoyed, confused, shocked, deflated, angry, scared, helpless, pissed, sad.
Which one of those feelings is the most prevalent? And which one of those feelings is the most relevant to her ideal clients' struggles, when we think about relating this story back?
Here are a few ways we could frame the connection factor:
Something you really needed was stolen from you.
A shitty situation happened and now you have to figure out what to do next.
You made a small mistake (leaving car unlocked) that resulted in a big problem that you have to fix (reporting the crime & getting all new Apple products).
Being burned (having all your stuff stolen & having to rebuy it all) and now being wary to invest in something else because you're super sensitive about spending money now.
You never thought this thing would happen to you; you've only heard of it happening to other people, and now you need a professional's help.
If it were me, I'd talk about how getting my stuff stolen sucked at first, but ultimately it made me realize that my tech wasn't what made me a great designer, it was my skills. The strategy, creativity, and unique solutions are what's important; not which MacBook I have.
I'd relate that back to either people getting hyperfixated on which website hosting platform was “best”, or people ignoring strategy and caring only about surface-level website stuff.
Another great option would be to talk about security / protection, and how that's an underrated important piece of website health.
SEE? Meg's got lotssss of options for relating her stolen stuff back to her clients' needs for her website design services.
>> Subscribe to her newsletter to see how she tells the story!
THE TAKEAWAY? Include as many specific details as possible, and think about the common denominator between the feelings in your story and the feelings in your ideal clients' lives.
If we haven’t had the chance to *virtually* meet yet, hi! I’m Sara Noel—website copywriter and marketing mentor for creatives, copywriters, and all-around cool people. If you like my content and you want even more BTL in your life, here are a few ways you can connect with me:
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This newsletter was A++++++++++!!!!