What Not to Do on a Podcast

Natasha Bazilevych [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend. Welcome to Speak with Power podcast. I’m Natasha Bazilevych, a business trainer, speaker and public speaking coach. I teach entrepreneurs and executives all over the world to build confidence, craft their clear message, and deliver it with power. Would you love to master your presentation skills, learn how to speak with persuasion, and get inspiration from powerful speakers all around the globe, then stay tuned and don’t forget to subscribe. Welcome back, my dear friends. Welcome to Speak with Power and I have another amazing guest for you. It’s Sara Lohse.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:00:40]:
She’s a storyteller, marketer and brand architect with a knack for turning narratives into connections. Through favorite.media, she works with businesses and entrepreneurs to help them develop their brand stories and connect with their audiences. Her book, Open This Book, The Art of Storytelling for Aspiring Thought Leaders, is now available on Amazon dotcom. Welcome, Sara.

Sara Lohse [00:01:02]:
Thank you so much for having me. I’m happy to be here.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:01:05]:
It’s exciting. I we will be talking about storytelling. I am gonna be I will say that in advance to all of you friends. And but first, of course, Sara, I would love to hear you talk about your story. How did that start? Why are you teaching this? Why is this your message?

Sara Lohse [00:01:21]:
Yeah. My my story and storytelling really go hand in hand. Because when I first started in the podcast world, which was back in, like, 2021, I wanted to get a host of a show I was producing on one of the biggest finance podcasts. And I pitched him after stalking him at a conference for, like, 3 days. And I finally pitch him, and I tell him what an expert this guy is and how awesome he is, and he’s does this and this, and he has this many years of experience. And the host looks at me and says, yeah, that’s great. But I don’t want an expert. I want someone with a cool story.

Sara Lohse [00:02:00]:
And I just came out with, do you wanna hear about the time I got a really bad tattoo in Ireland? And he did. And I told him that story. And he booked me on the show on accident. And the way that he guided me through telling the story on his show because he needed to make it worth having other than just it was a funny story. So he guided me through telling it, and he pulled out all of this value and, like, wisdom and all of this through what I thought was just a really dumb story that was embarrassing. And he reframed the way I told it, And it has changed the way I’ve told stories ever since.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:02:39]:
Wow. That’s amazing. When was that? 2021?

Sara Lohse [00:02:43]:
That was podcast movement of 2021. 2021.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:02:48]:
Wow. So, the story of a tattoo and what was the biggest lesson that he drew out of that tattoo story?

Sara Lohse [00:02:57]:
So I got the tattoo while I was on a solo trip. And I had taken the solo trip because I had a trip booked for me and my boyfriend to get engaged in Greece, and we broke up. So I had to take myself on a trip somewhere. I already had the time off approved. I already saved all the money. I still wanted to go. So I picked where I would feel most comfortable going as a solo person. I picked Ireland.

Sara Lohse [00:03:26]:
And that point in my life, I was kind of just in a rut. I was not happy in my career. I wasn’t happy in my life. The breakup was awful. And I take myself on this trip, and that was the first time I had done something by myself that was that scary, just going across the world completely by myself. And I learned from that that I can do the things that scared me, and I saw how much more there was to the world that I was missing out on. And when I came back, I quit the job, and I packed up my life and just moved to Texas because I just wanted something else. I wanted something different, and I was tired of settling for this life that I had found that I just wasn’t really enjoying at that point.

Sara Lohse [00:04:09]:
Mhmm. So the tattoo is now that reminder of taking risks and having them pay off and the, the idea that life is always going to get better if you make those big changes and you take those risks and do the things that scare you. That’s amazing. What’s the tattoo? What is it? So it is currently an airplane because I covered it up. You covered it up?

Natasha Bazilevych [00:04:35]:
It was something different? Yes.

Sara Lohse [00:04:38]:
It looked like a penis. Oh,

Natasha Bazilevych [00:04:41]:
my gosh. Okay. Was that because of the breakup? Or

Sara Lohse [00:04:46]:
No. It was meant It it was because I asked for an airplane, and the guy didn’t like tourists, I guess. It was not on purpose.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:04:56]:
So he was trying to make a, an airplane, and it just turned out to to look like that.

Sara Lohse [00:05:02]:
Yeah. Pretty much. And it’s I thought it was just a funny story to tell at a bar. I got a tattoo of a penis while I was in Ireland.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:05:12]:
Wow.

Sara Lohse [00:05:14]:
And Joe wanted that on his show, and now it’s it taught me that any story, no matter how silly or embarrassing, there’s always value if you take the time to find it and if you learn how to tell it right.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:05:27]:
Exactly. Yes. And you know I don’t have to be ashamed. Absolutely. Yes. So you found someone who would discover it and and turn it into a into an airplane?

Sara Lohse [00:05:37]:
And now it looks like an actual airplane. Yes.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:05:39]:
Yes. It does. Well, friends, I just saw it. It’s a beautiful airplane. Yeah. And there’s, of course, there’s so many metaphors that you can connect with airplane just flying free in the air and

Sara Lohse [00:05:50]:
yes. The idea was to make it a reminder to always find the next adventure.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:05:55]:
Mhmm. Perfect. So now it’s

Sara Lohse [00:05:58]:
a reminder to not trust foreign tattoo artists.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:06:01]:
Yes. Exactly. Or you’re gonna find the ones that you can trust because that’s for life. Yeah. But also another story or another lesson here is that if you don’t like something, you feel like it’s forever. It’s for life. Like, for example, that first tattoo, but you can always change it. There’s still ways of how to improve it and how to get out of that situation that feels like there’s no way out of it.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:06:24]:
You know how

Sara Lohse [00:06:24]:
we say it. In a full panic until I was just okay. It’s it was just an outline. It was very simple. Like, someone can fix this. I’d already been calling, like, tattoo removal places and, like, full panic. I’m like, I’m just gonna cut my arm off. I’ll just I’ll be an amputee.

Sara Lohse [00:06:40]:
It’s fine. Make up a story. I was attacked by a shark. I don’t know.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:06:44]:
My goodness. Yeah. That’s quite a story. So tell us you wrote this amazing book. It’s called open this book, the art of Storytelling for Aspiring Thought Leaders. Why specifically for aspiring thought leaders? So I’ve

Sara Lohse [00:07:01]:
been in the podcast space. I’ve been public speaking for years. I think I probably spoke at maybe 6 to 12, conferences in the past, like 18 months. And one of the things that I’ve learned through being in this space is that you need to tell stories. And whether it’s a podcast or you’re on a stage or even social media, anything that you’re doing, if you’re not telling stories, you’re not being memorable because people don’t remember data. They they just don’t. They don’t wanna hear facts. They wanna hear stories.

Sara Lohse [00:07:36]:
They wanna have those connections. Mhmm. So I wanted to help people that were in my position that were going on podcasts or going and speaking at different places. I wanted to be able to help them be more memorable and have those connections so that they really can use it to drive their business. Because all the things that I do, I do it to grow my brand.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:07:55]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:07:56]:
So I wanted to help them do the same.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:07:59]:
Nice. So when you go and you speak at those conferences, do you have a theme? Do you have a specific message? Or you actually talk about storytelling?

Sara Lohse [00:08:09]:
It cut it depends on the event. I’ve done some on storytelling, but I also I have a background in all types of marketing and, also a podcast producer and a podcast guest coach. So I’ve spoken on how to be a great guest. I’ve spoken on why your business needs a podcast, how to turn a podcast into leads. Basically, any topic for around marketing, podcasting, branding. I’ve talked about all of it.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:08:36]:
Okay. And so when you let’s let’s maybe focus on storytelling. These are amazing. But storytelling is definitely instrumental in speaking with power. And when people want to give these powerful presentations and create speeches. Now when you choose your stories, what is your decision making process? Because maybe there are lots of them that you have, but you want

Sara Lohse [00:09:01]:
to pick the ones that really work for this specific topic. How do you do that? Yeah. When especially when it’s the professional stories and things that you’re trying to have impact on someone’s, like, professional life, you I always start with the message I’m trying to get across. So, like, what is the lesson that I want them to walk away with? What is that key action item? What is the point? And then it’s just thinking back. How did I learn that? And what were what was I doing when I figured this out? When was there a point that everything changed because I started to understand that? And when you think about it that way and just how did you learn the thing you’re trying to teach, the circumstances around that becomes your story. Mhmm.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:09:50]:
And it’s always easy for you to pick the right story for your speech? No. It’s fine.

Sara Lohse [00:09:56]:
It is not always easy, but it’s been fun, and it’s kind of a I’m I feel like I’m kind of a special case because my sometimes what I’m talking about is just the idea that you do have a story.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:10:10]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:10:10]:
So the story I get to tell is my stupid tattoo story because the the message is you have a story. That story has value no matter how small you think your story is. I thought it was just something, a joke I told at a bar, but it turned out it changed my life. So it it can be hard, but if you really just, like, take the time to think about it and think back to what you were doing and what happened, who was around you, all the little details you can remember and pull those back, you will find it.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:10:43]:
Mhmm. Well, a lot of people who, work in the area of storytelling, who teach storytelling, they have their methods of how to collect them. Sometimes you would call them story library, story banks, and stuff. What is your method? How do you make sure that there’s always a list of stories that you can pick from or any kind of collection?

Sara Lohse [00:11:04]:
That’s a really great question. I I don’t so much have, like, my set collection because I always basically come up with them on the spot. But I do when I’m talking to other people about their stories, I always think in terms of conference presentations. And when you’re submitting to be a speaker at a conference, they ask for a few things. They ask for a a catchy title, a short description, and then key takeaways. So I actually recommend writing your story in that format. Mhmm. So what is what is the story that you’re trying to tell? What are some of the key details that that, you wanna make sure that you cover? And then what are those key takeaways, from your own story? And putting them in that format makes it really easy to then you have the topic, you have the message, just go back and find the one that fits.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:12:03]:
Perfect. Yes. I love that. So when you apply for conferences and you write those points and key key takeaways, do you do that based on a story or you’re thinking about the speech and the story is just like a part of that speech? How do you choose what to write, what to reply?

Sara Lohse [00:12:24]:
Yeah. There’s kind of 2 methods. I call, like, the perspective and the retrospective methods of finding that story. And the perspective is the one where you’re you know what you want let the story you wanna tell.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:12:39]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:12:40]:
And now how do we look forward and come up with, okay, how do I find a message from this? So how do I take this story and turn it into a presentation? And then you can go work backwards instead and go retrospective, and this is my message. I have to think back and figure out what are the stories. So the retrospective, I call, like, the maid of honor, way of of storytelling because it’s we’re here. We’re at the wedding. Now I have to tell all the stories of all of the embarrassing mistakes my best friend made that led her up to getting married today.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:13:14]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:13:14]:
So it’s this is where we’re at. How did we get here? So that’s that’s the other way of doing it. And it’s really just depends on what your goal is. Do you have something I I really want people to understand this topic, or I really want people to hear this story? And that’s gonna determine which way you go. Do you

Natasha Bazilevych [00:13:35]:
have your favorite way? One of these retrospective or prospective? What was that one?

Sara Lohse [00:13:42]:
Mhmm. The the prospective one was is the tattoo method. And that is I knew I wanted to tell this tattoo story because that’s why he booked me on the show. But now we have to figure out what the real story is there to have make it have value. So that one’s a little close to my heart because that’s the one that got me started on this path. But the retrospective is definitely the easier way to go. Mhmm. That is that is just I know I need a story.

Sara Lohse [00:14:08]:
I know this is what I need to teach. Let me think back to how I learned it.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:14:13]:
Well, sometimes people have this thing that happened to them, and they base their whole message and their speeches on that story, so then it will be this perspective. Yes.

Sara Lohse [00:14:23]:
Exactly.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:14:24]:
Then it will be easier. Yep.

Sara Lohse [00:14:25]:
Yeah. And that that way is really easy when you have that big story. But there’s so many people that think that they don’t have a story at all because we have we’re in a 247 news cycle. We’re seeing headlines every second of the day. So we think that our story, if it’s gonna be worth telling, it has to be big and traumatic, dramatic, or sensational, but it doesn’t. So when you go the other way, the retrospective one, that’s the one you start thinking to those little stories. If you don’t have that story that you think this is that big story, I have to tell this story, just go the other way. Find the little stories that are going to, make your point come across.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:15:05]:
Mhmm. Mhmm. And that’s how people because I wanted to ask you. So how would you recommend for people to find their story? And not just any story, but the one that would be interesting and others would want to hear. Yeah. Those are That’s what you would recommend or something else? Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:15:19]:
Yeah. No. I I think those two methods are the main ones I use to find, to find them. But I think the biggest thing that they have to get past is that idea that they just don’t have a story.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:15:31]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:15:32]:
Mhmm. And that’s why I love my stupid tattoo story is because that’s how I can convince people. Just if this story can have value, yours can have value. So, honestly, the first step isn’t even finding the story. It’s just accepting that, okay, I have a story. I may not have found it yet, but I have one and it’s gonna be worth telling at the time that I do. Yeah.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:15:55]:
Yeah. That’s so true. So in your book, what do you think and this is the art of storytelling. What do you think is the most valuable thought that if people learn and remember that one thing, then that’s that would be enough for you that you just you want them to know this. What is that?

Sara Lohse [00:16:17]:
Oh, goodness. I cover a lot, but I think the part that I got the most out of just from writing it is I have a chapter about, imposter syndrome. And that is something that everybody suffers from. No matter you could be the CEO of the biggest corporation in the world, or you can be an intern on day 1. It doesn’t matter. You probably have imposter syndrome. And it’s so hard to get past it. And especially with thought leadership, if you’re trying to put yourself onto some public stage, whether it’s in person, virtual, behind the screen, whatever it is, you have to convince yourself that whatever you wanna say is worth saying and worth being heard.

Sara Lohse [00:17:04]:
So I in that section, I give my recommendation on how to work past it. There’s nothing as conclusive because I haven’t done it yet. I I still have it. But there are things that I’ve done that have helped. Things like making changing my thought patterns to it’s not, treat others the way you wanna be treated, it’s treat yourself the way you treat others. When you mess something up and you feel like this is the worst, I I I should be fired, I don’t belong here, think about what your best friend would tell you or what you would tell your best friend in that situation. And we’re so much nicer to other people and so mean to ourselves. So I think if people can just read my book and walk away thinking I need to be a little bit nicer to myself, give myself some grace, and let myself make mistakes, I’ll be happy.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:17:58]:
Yeah. That’s beautiful. I love that. Well, you also talk and teach on how to be a great podcast guest, how to tell stories on podcasts. And I always recommend it to my clients and friends to even just go and practice speaking on a podcast. It’s one of the easiest stages. You’re talking to basically one person even though a lot of people will hear it, but it’s, feels like just a conversation. So what would you recommend for people who want to go and tell their story on podcasts? What is the most important thing that the most important principle about this?

Sara Lohse [00:18:34]:
Number 1 is always I mean, it’s gonna sound repetitive, but it’s lead with stories. And it sounds kind of obvious since we’ve been talking about it, but it’s what I see people get wrong all the time. They just wanna give facts. They wanna just talk about their business. And the other one is make sure you’re not turning this into an infomercial. Mhmm. This has to be a conversation. You have to the reason that you’re leading with stories is so that you’re leading with value.

Sara Lohse [00:19:02]:
You’re giving them something. You’re teaching something. You’re giving a message. You’re giving a piece of yourself, whatever it is. It’s not about you. It’s not what can I get out of this? And some people have been a little confused when they find out that I’ll tell you the entire all the steps of how I do what I do. Whatever it is, I will outline it for you. Here you go.

Sara Lohse [00:19:26]:
You can do it yourself. And when you do that on a podcast and you really just give everything, you build trust.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:19:33]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:19:34]:
And just because you tell someone how to do something, doesn’t mean they wanna do it for themselves. That’s so true. They’re they’re still gonna hire somebody, and you just prove that you know how

Natasha Bazilevych [00:19:44]:
to do it. Yes. Yeah. And you’ve given. Just give value. Give it as much as possible. Yes. Well, some people have trouble thinking of the right story and especially on the spot.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:19:56]:
And I know podcast environment is where you have to be able to speak on the spot because you don’t always know most of the time. You don’t know the questions that will be asked. And then someone asks you a question and you want to tell a story, but it’s like nothing comes to your mind. What would you recommend in these cases? How to really remember. Panic? Panic. Like and be okay with it. Right?

Sara Lohse [00:20:19]:
Just just don’t say anything. No. That’s that is something that happens. And it’s happened to me, and I’ve tried to I’ll just I’ve just started. I’m not saying this is what you should do. I’ve just started talking and just hoped it would find its way. And because it gives me more time to form the thoughts, and that has worked occasionally. But a lot of the times, I’m podcasting with my friends, and they just cut they call me out on it.

Sara Lohse [00:20:46]:
But, honestly, if you do the prep work, people kinda walk into podcast guesting thinking it’s like, I can just show up, and I don’t need to prepare. But you do. There is some preparation that goes into it, whether it’s the technical stuff of having things like lead magnets and lead gen funnels and all of that. But also it’s the knowing what you’re gonna say. So have that bank of stories, have the ones that are your go to’s. And podcast audiences are different for every podcast. So if you tell the same story on every podcast, you’re talking to different people every time. So if you have a few stories that can almost be universal, you can tell them over and over again without just go to’s, I can say this on the spot, no preparation, just go to’s, I can say this on the spot, no preparation.

Sara Lohse [00:21:43]:
That’s gonna really help.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:21:45]:
Yes. That’s great. Like, have the 3 ones that you will Mhmm. Kinda put in your pocket, almost imaginary pocket, and you can always pick the one that will work in this or that case.

Sara Lohse [00:21:55]:
Yeah. You don’t always know the questions, but you know the topic. So you know what topic you’re gonna talk about. So you can probably if you have those key stories around that topic, you can finagle them. You can make it work. Like, even if you have to just tweak something on the spot, at least you’re not starting from scratch.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:22:13]:
Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Well, what’s interesting is this this method of just starting to talk. This is one of the ways of how to do impromptu speaking. If you don’t know what to say, you just have to start speaking and trust your brain to come up with the right thing. And it works. It’s it’s actually a very legit method of impromptu speaking.

Sara Lohse [00:22:33]:
I thought the only other person that does it is Winnie the Pooh. So I’m really glad that it’s not just me and a cartoon bear. So No. Thank you.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:22:41]:
Maybe you will not come up with that story, but you will find what to say, and you will find something pretty smart to say because your brain will just remember things from from your experiences, from what you’ve heard before, what you read, what you watched. And so you will be able to share some thoughts. But a lot of times, people just get paralyzed and they don’t say anything, and it’s really important to to start speaking even if you just say, know, there are so many thoughts in my in my mind right now, and I would love to share with you. I just have got to pick you know, it’s it’s almost like you’re just thinking out loud. I don’t know how you’ve done that.

Sara Lohse [00:23:13]:
Works. Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. I’ve even been like, okay. We’re gonna come back to this. Like, I know I have a story. It’s it’s it’s coming to me.

Sara Lohse [00:23:22]:
Let’s we’re gonna come back to this. Like, it needs a minute to marinate.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:23:25]:
And Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:23:26]:
I’ve done that.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:23:26]:
Yes. Yeah. Another way is just be honest about it and say, you know what? Absolutely nothing coming to me is coming to my mind right now. It’s like, my mind is blank. Let’s come back to this later. Yes. That happens too.

Sara Lohse [00:23:38]:
I’ve even changed the question. I’ve been like, alright. I’ve got nothing for that, but and then I just say another question to myself and answer it. Yes. Which it’s somehow, they don’t notice. It’s a trick. They’re not like, okay. But that’s not what I asked you.

Sara Lohse [00:23:56]:
They’re like, oh, yeah. That’s a great that’s a great point. And then they just roll with it. Yeah. So if you have nothing to answer the question with, answer a different question. Yeah.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:24:06]:
It’s a politician method. Exactly. Exactly. And you don’t even have to be, like, sleazy and about it. You know? No. You can be totally open and authentic about it and say, you know what? That’s a great question, but I would love to actually answer a little bit different one. And then you you just change this question. You know, you don’t change it completely, but you you still, like, divert from it, and you answer what you want.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:24:28]:
Yeah.

Sara Lohse [00:24:28]:
You don’t go from, like, what’s your favorite food to what’s your favorite movie, like, a completely, like, unrelated. But if you tweak it just a little bit

Natasha Bazilevych [00:24:35]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:24:35]:
They’re not gonna stop you.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:24:37]:
No. No. And they they like the flow. They want a good flow. And as as long as you’re sharing something that’s valuable, then that’s good for the show. Yeah. Exactly.

Sara Lohse [00:24:49]:
No. It’s and I also like, I have really bad ADHD, so my brain moves a mile a minute. And I I don’t like this about me, like, because I’m such a bad, like, active listener. But when someone’s saying something, my brain is just cataloging stories. And so it’s like, I’m just waiting. I’m like, I know you’re gonna ask this, and this is my story. I got this. Alright.

Sara Lohse [00:25:12]:
Hit me with it. Hit me with it. And it’s but it’s it does that constantly. It does that at restaurants. Like, cons I could be reading a book, and I’m just like, oh, that reminds me of a story. Like, I can’t tell it to them. They’re on a book. But that’s just that’s how my brain works.

Sara Lohse [00:25:26]:
So, thankfully, I don’t often get caught with I can’t think of something because I’ve thought of 14. My problem is which one.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:25:33]:
Which one to choose from them? But how do you not record that? How do you not write them down, type them in? You you remember all of them? Yeah. All those stories, they’re in your brain. They’re in your mind. That’s good.

Sara Lohse [00:25:48]:
And it’s not something that I ever, like, noticed. It wasn’t I don’t actively try to remember these. But that’s the great thing with leading with stories is you’re gonna remember it. If if something triggers a memory, run with it. And I talk a lot I mean, with thought leadership, and that’s like I talk to thought leaders. And when they especially with public speaking, people are so afraid of public speaking. And a lot of that fear is that they I think I was just looking at statistics, and it was like 90% of that fear is because you you feel like you’re unprepared. And if you’re leading with stories, you’re never unprepared because you know your story.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:26:35]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:26:36]:
And the way that go ahead. No. Go ahead. No.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:26:38]:
No. Well, I just wanted to say that you that’s your story. Because, you know, sometimes when we say stories, people might think, oh, well, you know, story of a famous person or story of this example. So it’s your personal story. Something that happened to you. That’s why you will remember it. Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:26:53]:
Yes. So when I when I put together, like, presentations to go speak at a conference, I don’t have a lot of content on the slides. I basically just have whatever I need to jog my memory to think of the story I wanna tell. Because once I see that, if it says tattoo, I know what I’m talking about. And I don’t need to rehearse it. I don’t need to study it because I lived it. What this what happened? This this is what happened. And if you have if you tell it multiple times, you don’t tell it exactly the same right every time, that’s fine.

Sara Lohse [00:27:27]:
And one of the things I also that I love about it is no one can tell you that you’re wrong. Mhmm.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:27:33]:
It’s your it happened to you. It’s your story. Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:27:35]:
If you give facts and statistics and all of this stuff, people can say, no. You’re wrong, and they can just prove you or try to. But if you’re telling your story, they can’t say anything. And that’s another thing that kinda gets some of that fear away because we’re we’re always afraid of being judged. Yeah. And we’re afraid that we’re gonna say something wrong. You can’t say something wrong if you’re just telling your story.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:27:57]:
Exactly. It’s all about that credibility. I mean, how can you not be credible when you’re telling your story? No. Exactly. No one can say that that is not true because it happened to you, and then you’re just using the lesson, the takeaway from its story and and give you a message. Yes. Exactly. That’s beautiful.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:28:18]:
Sara, this is amazing. I love it. So let’s go back to your book just to to, you know, make sure that people want to get it, and we’ll say it again. The book is called Open This Book, The Art of Storytelling for Aspiring Thought Leaders. Now why do you call it the art of storytelling? I love this phrase. You know? I mean, it’s we all think of it as this is art. What is it for you? How do you understand the art of storytelling?

Sara Lohse [00:28:44]:
You’re the first person’s ever asked me that. That’s a really good question. I think people always say there’s an art and there’s a science. And I really think storytelling is an art because there is no way to do it perfectly. And like I said before, you could tell the same story over and over again and tell it differently every time. In science, that doesn’t work. Like, you have to get the same result every time or else you throw it out. So I think with stories, it really is an art, and it’s like you’re painting a picture.

Sara Lohse [00:29:16]:
There are no mistakes, only happy accidents. I we gotta love Bob Ross. But you’re creating a piece of art out of the things that you’re saying out of your life. You’re painting a picture of what happened in your life. So it really is an art. And just like any other art, you can practice and get better at it. And some people need to practice. Some if for some people, it comes naturally.

Sara Lohse [00:29:40]:
I’ve always been told I’m just naturally a storyteller. I think it’s because I don’t stop talking. But for some people, it doesn’t, and you have to practice it, and you can get better at it, and you can learn the different techniques. And put but it’s not a science because you use the techniques in the way that fits you. It’s way more customizable. Mhmm. And you change it to fit you. You.

Sara Lohse [00:30:08]:
I don’t have a hard and fast rule of you have to tell it this way. I have suggestions and ways you can tell it. But if that doesn’t work for you and if it doesn’t fit your story, throw it out. Do it your way. So I think it’s just science is boring.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:30:26]:
Okay. Well,

Sara Lohse [00:30:26]:
maybe I can be creative. I want you to be creative with it. I actually there’s a chapter at the end when I talk about expertise. Mhmm. And people shy away from trying to be a quote, unquote thought leader because they think that them saying, well, I’m an expert in this. And how? Like, how do you know you’re an expert? And that’s hard to answer. Because what is the definition of an expert? There’s so many different definitions. And people with actual expertise hate to say they have expertise because it just sounds like, oh, I don’t I don’t know.

Sara Lohse [00:31:01]:
It’s yeah. That’s the word. Thank you. So I have my own definition of what an expert is, and an expert is somebody who is just endlessly curious and always trying to learn something new. And if you are endlessly curious about what it is that you’re talking about, not only are you going to become more of an expert as you go, but you’re already one because you’ve spent so much time just looking into this and learning more about it. And I think when you just reframe it away from, I have to know everything to just being creative with it and learning and shaping it to be what you want and how you wanna learn it. It’s just such an art.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:31:46]:
It is. It is such an art. And I absolutely agree with you. When we when we say that the art of storytelling, then we make it a creation.

Sara Lohse [00:31:54]:
Exactly. You

Natasha Bazilevych [00:31:55]:
are creating you are a creator and it’s unique. It doesn’t have to follow rules. I mean, of course, there are different rules of storytelling, but still you are that creator. And you can break all those rules and you can create something on your own. You can write your own rules, create them for yourself, and it will still be fine because the best artists are the ones that broke those rules and they became famous. And so just don’t be afraid to risk and to create that unique art of your story.

Sara Lohse [00:32:25]:
I think that that’s so powerful. I broke so many rules with my book. I did not write it with perfect grammar. I did not write it. It’s supposed to be a business book, and I put a story about a penis tattoo in it, in a book that’s supposed to be positioning me as an expert. Like, that’s not normal. And it’s fully illustrated just because I like doodles.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:32:47]:
Mhmm.

Sara Lohse [00:32:47]:
So I had an illustrator fully illustrated. And some of them are, like, infographics and educational illustrations. One of them is a seagull with a french fry on its head. Because that seems like fun, and it makes me smile. Seagull. There’s so many rules. Like, my book does not fit into the business book category even though it is one. I don’t like rules.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:33:09]:
I did it my own way. Good. And that’s perfect. I think that’s the best. That’s just that’s the way to do it. Well, Sara, thank you so much. Before I let you go and ask you before I ask you my favorite question that I ask everybody, I want to make sure that people can find you. So you’re offering a free journal with all of the storytelling exercises.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:33:30]:
Right?

Sara Lohse [00:33:31]:
Yes. My book is part book, part memoir because it’s all my stories, but it’s also part journal. So every chapter has writing exercises to help you start writing out and figuring out what your story is and how to tell it. So I pulled all of those out, put them into a separate journal, and you can download it for free at open this journal.com. Open this journal.com. Very easy, my friends. So just go to open this journal.com, and we will also put the links

Natasha Bazilevych [00:33:58]:
in the show notes. And you will see there favorite daughtermedia.com and you’ll see, again, this open this book.com and all the social media, links for Sara. You can connect with her and learn from her. Now, Sara, I would love for you to imagine that you are on the stage and now the whole world is listening to you, not just that one conference, but Oh gosh. Somehow all those 8 or whatever billion people can hear you and you have 60 seconds. What will you say to the world?

Sara Lohse [00:34:28]:
I would probably spend that 60 seconds just kind of hyperventilating. If it’s everyone, I’m gonna tell them to buy my book. But, oh, that’s a that is a good question. Gosh.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:34:40]:
What comes to mind? What comes to mind? It doesn’t have to be perfect, but, like, what do you think right now? What would you say?

Sara Lohse [00:34:47]:
I I think I would just have to go back to you have a story. Every single person in this world has a story and the impact that your story can have is way more than you’ll ever know. I’ve heard there, there’s a gentleman that in the podcasting space that he just talks about podcasting. And someone reached out to him saying that I was in such a dark place. I didn’t wanna live anymore. And I found your podcast, and you inspired me to start a podcast. And I have so much fun with it. This like, you’re you talking about a podcast saved my life.

Sara Lohse [00:35:25]:
That’s that’s not what he set out to do. He was talking about a podcast. So the power that you have with your stories and what you’re able to tell, you have no idea the impact you’re gonna have until you have it. And if you don’t say anything at all, you’ll never change anything.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:35:44]:
That’s so true. What you just did look at this, my friends. She just used that 60 seconds. She used that minute to tell a story. And that was a perfect example. It’s your life. It’s more than a habit, probably. It’s okay.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:35:58]:
See, it’s your nature.

Sara Lohse [00:36:00]:
It really is. I can’t turn it off if I try.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:36:04]:
That’s beautiful. And thank you so much, Sara. I think this was wonderful and an amazing conversation. I learned a lot and got inspired so much, and I know that our audience also loved it. Thank you for being on the show.

Sara Lohse [00:36:19]:
Thank you so much for having me. This was great.

Natasha Bazilevych [00:36:22]:
And of all those of you who are listening, remember, openthisbook.com and just go to the show links and learn from Sara. Get to know her, connect with her. And remember, you have a message in your heart. So go out there into the world, share it, and always, always speak with power.