This document provides tips for entrepreneurs on using their business's story to promote and grow their company. It recommends entrepreneurs craft their story by reflecting on where their business started and the challenges it overcame. The story should follow a classic structure and be told honestly and engagingly. An entrepreneur can then use their story to shape their company's mission and vision statements by clarifying why the business exists and where it aims to be in the future. Telling an authentic, well-structured story about a company's origins and goals can help the business stand out from competitors.

1. Creating an Epic Business:
Slides for Entrepreneurs

2. YOUR STORY
Everyone has a story in life. We all come from
different backgrounds, work hard for what we
have, and jump over a few hurdles on the
way.
The same thing goes for your business.
Every business has its own story about how it
started and where it came from. And, your
business probably had to leap over a few (or
more than a few) hurdles to get where you’re
at today.

3. THE BOULDER AND THE ROADWAY
Let’s kick things off with a short story about the importance of hard work for success:
“In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. He then hid himself and
watched to see if anyone would move the boulder out of the way. Some of the King’s
wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many
people loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them did
anything about getting the stone out of the way. A peasant then came along carrying a
load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden
and tried to push the stone out of the road. After much pushing and straining, he
finally succeeded. After the peasant went back to pick up his vegetables, he noticed a
purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold
coins and a note from the King explaining that the gold was for the person who
removed the boulder from the roadway.”

4. JUMPING OVER
HURDLES
The moral of the story is this: Every obstacle we
come across in life gives us opportunities to
improve, learn, and grow … and use it as part of
our story.
You’ve faced and are going to face roadblocks as
a business owner. But the truth is, the roadblocks
you face along the way become part of your
business’s identity and foundation.
And, the challenges you faced in the past help
you form your future and form your story.

5. HOW DO YOU USE
YOUR BUSINESS’S
STORY?
So, how do you use your business’s
story?
Do you shout it from the rooftops to let
everyone know where you came from?
Or, do you let it collect dust on a shelf
for no one to see or hear?

6. STORIES CAN BE UP TO 22 TIMES MORE
MEMORABLE THAN JUST FACTS
SOURCE: MEDIUM
Stories can be up to 22X more memorable than
just facts.
So if you want to have an epic business, you need
to hone that story. And once you do that, you can
use your story for bigger and better things … like
creating (or tweaking) your business’s mission and
overall vision.

7. Think about where you were when you started your business.
How did you get started? What were the first few months or years like? What kind of challenges did
you face? Use the answers to these questions as building blocks to not only shape your story, but
also your mission and vision.
Maybe you’re picturing the small office space you used to share with 10 other people because
that’s all you could afford at the time. Maybe you’re thinking about how much debt you had just
trying to get your startup off the ground.
Whatever memories are running through your mind, use them to tell your story.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU STARTED
YOUR BUSINESS?

8. CHARLES DICKENS STEPHEN KING
To tell your story, you need to become a
storyteller.
OK, OK, so we know you’re business
owners, not storytellers. But, we’re not
asking you to be the next Charles
Dickens or Stephen King.
And, we’ve got plenty of tips to help you
out. To become a pro at telling your
business’s story, you need to:
BE A GREAT STORYTELLER

9. FOLLOW A STRUCTURE
To help your story flow, follow the
classic story structure.
Aka, this pattern: Exposition, rising
action, climax, falling action, and
resolution.

10. BE 100% TRANSPARENT
Everyone loves a good story.
But if you're making yours up and passing it as
fact, nobody's going to like it.
Customers want and need you to be honest with
them.
If you want your customers to trust you, show
them they can trust you by being honest with
your story.

11. STAY ON TRACK
When it comes to your story, the last thing
you want to do is jump around.
Going off track is a surefire way to get
people un-interested in what you have to
say.
Stick to your story and stay on track to get
people to listen up.

12. CHOOSE YOUR
WORDS WISELY
What you say is just as important as how you
say it.
Make sure your tone and voice are
appropriate when telling your story in person,
online, or on paper.

13. TELL YOUR STORY
Once you craft your story, then comes the fun part:
telling it!
Don’t hold back when you tell your story to
customers.
Your story shows your business’s passion, the
hardships you faced, and how you overcame them.
It can help you rise up and stand out from other
businesses.
Not to mention, it shows your customers that they
can relate to you and your past challenges.

14. MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT
Chances are, when you first began your business, you created
a mission statement and had a vision.
Your mission statement is supposed to highlight why your
business exists and your overall goal. Your vision also
includes where you want your business to be in X years, and
your goals for the future. As a business owner, your mission
likely includes something about providing exceptional
services or products as well as going above and beyond for
your customers.
Your mission, vision, and overall goals can potentially change
over time, especially when you start diving deeper into your
business’s story.
So, why not use your newly-crafted story to adjust your vision
and mission?

15. ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
To tweak your current mission statement and focus
on your vision for your business, ask yourself some
questions like:
● Why am I in business?
● How do I want to help my customers or clients?
● What are my goals?

16. WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN ___
YEARS?
This is similar to your vision. Except this time, ask yourself this:
Where do you see your business in 10 years? 20 years? 30? Figure out what goals you want your
company to achieve in the next few decades and go from there.
Written down or not, your story plays a huge role in your business’s mission and vision. So, don’t be
afraid to embrace your past and share your story.

17. “IF YOU CAN DREAM
IT, YOU CAN DO IT.
— WALT DISNEY
To wrap things up, let us leave you with this quote from a guy
named Walt Disney. Maybe you’ve heard of him before.
“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Whether you’ve heard this quote before or not, you’ve
definitely followed that mantra when it came to growing your
business. Keep that quote in the back of your mind.
Keep dreaming big, setting goals for your business (both big
and small), and doing everything you can to make your vision
become a reality.