Storytelling & The Dramatic Demonstration of Proof™ | Jude Charles | 293

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October 12, 2020

Jude Charles is a renowned brand strategist, filmmaker, and speaker. For almost 15 years, Jude has helped purpose-driven entrepreneurs bring their stores to life through documentaries and videos. Using his Dramatic Demonstration of Proof™ process, Jude has produced compelling stories for several high-profile clients, including Google, Coldwell Banker, and Steve Harvey.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Jude Charles talks about the power of storytelling
Jude recalls the turning point in his career that helped him take his business to the next level
The biggest mistake business leaders make when trying to tell their story
Jude breaks down his Dramatic Demonstration of Proof™ process
Five steps for bringing a story to life
How visual storytelling helps entrepreneurs connect with their audience on a deeper level
Three strategies you can use to start documenting your story today
Jude’s final advice: be vulnerable

In this episode…

How can you start making an impact and connecting with your audience on a deeper level? Two words: visual storytelling. While many entrepreneurs are hesitant to share their authentic stories with their customers, filmmaker Jude Charles believes that storytelling is one of the most powerful marketing strategies of our time.

With his Dramatic Demonstration of Proof™ process, Jude helps entrepreneurs express their values, missions, and transformations in ways that invite audiences into their world. His documentaries and videos have catapulted dozens of businesses to success, resulting in increased leads, sales, and impact.

Join host Dan Kuschell in this episode of the Growth to Freedom podcast as he chats with filmmaker and brand strategist Jude Charles about the untapped power of visual storytelling. Discover Jude’s five steps for bringing any story to life, the biggest mistake to avoid when telling your story, and how to create a video that takes your business to the next level. Document your journey, connect with your audience, and start making a greater impact today.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode

Thanks for listening to this episode of growthtofreedom.com.

Are you struggling to get a steady flow of new clients every day? Or maybe hit a plateau or hit a wall in growing your business? Well, let’s help you solve this problem today. Let’s review your business and have a conversation. You can do that for free today at breakthroughstrategycall.com. That’s breakthroughstrategycall.com.

In addition, if you’re looking for a simple way to implement some of what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode, I want to encourage you to get our free small business toolkit. You can get that at activate.breakthrough3x.com. That’s activate.breakthrough3x.com.

If you’d like access to the special resources and all the show notes for this special episode, make sure to visit growthtofreedom.com.

Episode Transcript

Dan Kuschell 0:02

Welcome to growthtofreedom.com, the show that brings you inspiration, transformation and leadership. We’re helping you connect the dots, see the blind spots, get unstuck. So you can go out, create more leads, create more sales, create more profits. More importantly, you can create a bigger impact, have a bigger reach, and make a bigger difference. Is that what you want? If that is what you want, you’re gonna love today’s episode, which is all about storytelling, using storytelling in your business using storytelling to persuade, and influence to turn skeptics into fans to turn fans into superfans. You’re gonna want to grab a pen grab a piece of paper, jot down some notes if you want to come back to this episode by the way you can do that at growthtofreedom.com/293, that’s growthtofreedom.com/293 so thanks for making us part of your day. If you never want to miss an episode and go to growthtofreedom.com/subscribe, that’s growthtofreedom.com/subscribe. Our guest expert today is all about story. Right? And more importantly, he’s all about the story that no one else has. And he helps you tell the story that no one else has heard before the way he helps you deliver it so it helps you create leverage to be able to get greater impact make get more new clients go from unknown to well known to go from known to iconic, right he’s helped do stories and build stories for people and companies like Google, Coldwell Banker, Steve Harvey, to name a few. His dramatic demonstration of proof process will help you influence and persuade and turn suspects and prospects into clients. Is that what you want? Well, then you’re gonna love this he helped seven and eight figure clients like you tell a better story so that you can get more clients and have a bigger impact a greater reach and make a bigger contribution. His name is Jude Charles. Jude, how are you my friend?

Jude Charles 2:04

Good to have you. I am doing well Dan, it is great to be here with you.

Dan Kuschell 2:08

Same here and I want to dive right into it. Because we got a chance to meet it. I got to give a shout out to Brian Kurtz. Brian Kurtz, he hosts a master mastermind called Titans. And we got a chance to meet there and connect there. And now it’s been like six months later. And here we are having this cool conversation. I look forward to taking a deep dive on your process because it is very unique. Before we get into strategy, which we will and by the way, grab a pen grab a piece of paper, you’re gonna want to jot some notes. Jude’s gonna share with you. I know I’ve got mine here, too. Yeah, do Why are you doing what you’re doing? Right now? Tell us a little bit about that.

Jude Charles 2:46

Sure. So you know, as a kid, I have always been fascinated about storytelling. I wasn’t the kid that used to like, go outside and play basketball or football. Even inside the house. I wasn’t the kid who played video games. Instead, I would lock myself in a room and I would write. And what I ended up doing is I would write 100 page books of what I thought my future life would look like they were stories. So at one point I wrote about the the bit I call it, the book was the baseball life of Jude Charles. And another point I wrote a police life of Jude Charles growing up, I wanted to be a police officer. And so I’ve always just been fascinated about the power that storytelling has and how you can you can almost envision what the future is like, but you can also change the story that’s in your head, so that you can so that you can, you know, understand how to get through a difficult moment. And so that’s why I do the work that I do is I love telling stories. I love bringing stories to life, especially specifically for purpose driven entrepreneurs, who are making an impact on their audience. And they just want more people to know that they exist, they want more people to know, this thing that they have to help them get a breakthrough. Right. And so that’s why I love what I do I get to impact thousands of lives through the entrepreneurs that I work with.

I love bringing stories to life, specifically for purpose-driven entrepreneurs who are making an impact on their audience. - Jude Charles Click To Tweet

Dan Kuschell 4:05

Now speaking of impact, and speaking of stories, right, like the the most common movie theme that exists is almost like you know, the rags to riches kind of turn transformation, speak to that storyline just a little bit. And a way that, you know, our listeners, our viewers can be thinking about building that into what they do and how they present all their stuff.

Jude Charles 4:30

Right? So the rags to riches storyline is basically about coming from nothing, like absolutely nothing. I mean, like coming from a place where you just were not in a position to win ever right? But somehow you have the resilience over time to be able to, to win. And so I’ll give you a story actually, part of my story is not exactly rags to riches, but this is an example of coming from nothing or coming from a very low moment in your life and then succeed. later on so I can remember a time I woke up. at seven o’clock in the morning I woke up to the sounds of chains hitting the floor. And this had always been a nightmare of mine that I would wake up to the sounds of chains hitting the floor in this day it was happening. When I rent got up out of bed I ran outside, what was happening was that a tow truck driver was there to repossess my car for the second time in eight months. This was at this point, I had been in business for five years. I started the business at 17. And I had been in business for five years. So I was 22 at this time, but I was still struggling to make $30,000 a year. And I was struggling to keep keep up with my bills because the money was coming in inconsistent. And so this tow truck driver was there to repossess the car and I pleaded with him, please, please just act like you haven’t seen the car i’d like you haven’t seen the car. And of course he had a job to do. So he took the car. And I remember coming back inside the house and I sat on the edge of my bed with my my head in my hands and just thinking you know what, I’ve given it a good five years. Maybe it’s not meant to be maybe I should just quit now while I’m ahead try to do something else. And in that moment, I get a phone call from a client that I had been working with for a year Her name was Keyshia Ka’oir. In case she your calls me she’s excited. And she’s like Jude Jude, you won’t believe you won’t believe it. And I’m like, What happened? Keyshia and she’s like, you know, I just got off the phone with my accountant. And he told me that, you know, it’s been 12 months and I’ve crossed over the seven figure mark. I’ve made a million dollars in this business. Now for context, Keyshia Ka’oir was running a cosmetic business selling covered lipstick back in 2010 2011. And colored lipstick, if you think of blue, purple, green, it wasn’t popular at the time. But here she is. 12 months later, we’ve created a documentary together, she’s promoted the documentary. And from this documentary, and social media, she’s made $1 million. And I’m sitting here in this moment, after five years struggling to even make $30,000. But because of a story that I told myself, I slipped flip that into Wait, I’ve created something of value for my client. There’s something bigger here, I don’t need to quit, I just need to figure out how to promote and market myself to get the right kind of clients to make the right kind of money. And so that’s somewhat of a rags to riches story, because 15, almost 15 years later now, I’m still here, and I’m running a successful business because of that moment, this moment that my car was being repossessed, that I felt like I had kind of lost everything, right, like this is a vehicle that I use to get to my productions. I turned it into a moment of teaching lesson from a client and was able to catapult my business to another level. That’s somewhat of a rags to riches story. It’s not as dramatic as someone who’s living in the gutter and homeless and things like that. But you take yourself from a very low moment of your life, where everything just seemed like, you know, you were you were it’s over. Like I could have been very bitter in that moment. And he called me to tell me she’s made a million dollars. If we want to bring it to a real dark place I could have wanted to take my life because it’s like, what what is wrong with me? Like, why can I do that? But I didn’t do that. Instead, I use it as a moment to change my life. And so that’s a rags to riches story. And that’s I think, for people listening, that’s a way to look at how do I create a story for myself?

Dan Kuschell 8:25

Yeah, and I think another term that you use frequently right is the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey. Yes. rags to riches may be a nuance of the the hero’s journey itself. Right? You went from a place to then become the hero, right?

Jude Charles 8:39

Not only Right, exactly

Dan Kuschell 8:40

where your clients or you made them a hero, as well. There’s so many new It’s so fast. I love talking about Hollywood kind of tie ins because I’m a big movie buff my wife and I love you know, documentaries, we love movies. We love seeing how the storylines and guessing like what’s happening way before it actually, if you’re watching, maybe you can relate to that right now. Now, Jude, you know, before we get into some of the other strategies around this, I mean, that’s a great strategy. Like if you’re watching or listening right now. And you come back and replay this and hear how he built this up and how he went through the process of it from beginning to end. You’ll you’ll see some common themes here. And then when you watch Hollywood movies, you’ll certainly see how they do it two in three, yeah. as well. So what’s the biggest mistake Jude, that you see that most people make when they’re trying to tell their story? You know, for their business, to attract clients, let’s say what are some of the common biggest mistakes?

Jude Charles 9:38

Yeah, I think the biggest mistake is not being vulnerable enough, right. I think that when entrepreneurs tell their story, they only look to tell the good parts of the story. And that’s why rags to riches is so, so important. And that’s why the hero’s journey is so important because here’s one thing that we know as human beings, we’re not perfect, right? We don’t have perfect journeys and so I think if you’re willing to be vulnerable enough, you’re what you can build a connection to your audience, you can build a connection to the person that’s sitting across from you willing to listen now and trust you, because you’re willing to tell them a story about where it wasn’t so rosy, it wasn’t so perfect, right? Oftentimes, I’ll use an example where I say, you know, tell the client when you messed up, like you really messed up on another project, but then tell them how you fixed it. Because then I’ll believe that when you say to me, I’ll do anything, and I’ll make sure this project is going to be perfect. I’ll believe you at that point, because I know you know what it feels like when a project doesn’t go well. Right. And I and I got to hear the story of you telling me that this is what you were able to do to fix it. This is what you were, you know, you stayed up all night to fix it. Right, you have that integrity to fix it. And so I think that’s the biggest mistake. That’s something that even with my own clients, I’m pushing them always to just be vulnerable, show them show the ugly side or the messy side, show that it’s not perfect. But that’s the imperfection is what makes it perfect, right. That’s what makes us build connection. That’s what gives me a three dimensional view into your world. So that I understand who you are as a human being, and not just who you are as an entrepreneur.

Dan Kuschell 11:18

And as you’re listening or watching right now, what’s your takeaway from that? Right? What can you do to actually show the vulnerable imperfect side of you the mistakes, the failures, the, you know, the issues that have popped up in a real, genuine simple way, to then show them how you fix that how you solved it, how you broke through? Well, guess what, we’re just scratching the surface here with Jude and his amazing process to help you tell a better story, to help you attract more clients to make a bigger impact that have a bigger reach and make a contribution. When we come back. We’re going to take a deeper dive into this process to help you tell a better story to that and a whole lot more coming up with you, Charles, on growthtofreedom.com right after this. Thanks for listening to this episode of growthtofreedom.com. Are you struggling to get a steady flow of new clients every day? Or maybe hit a plateau or hit a wall and growing your business? Well, let’s help you solve this problem today. Let’s review your business and have a conversation you can do that for free today at breakthroughstrategycall.com, that’s breakthroughstrategycall.com. In addition, if you’re looking for a simple way to implement some of what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode, I want to encourage you to get our free small business toolkit, you can get that at activate.breakthrough3x.com, that’s activate.breakthrough3x.com. If you’d like access to the special resources and all the show notes for this special episode, make sure to visit growthtofreedom.com. Welcome back to growthtofreedom.com, now Jude. being vulnerable, the the perfection is in the imperfection, right? You know, the idea of the hero’s journey, maybe even a nuance of that the rags to riches journey. So like let’s say, I’m an entrepreneur, right? And I want to go about telling a better story. What is a strategy? You’ve got your process that you teach? Right? Yeah. Which is, you know, proven to work. I mean, you’ve done documentaries for Steve Harvey, you’ve done stuff for Google, you’ve done stuff for Coldwell Banker, their dramatic demonstration of proof process, speak to that a little What are a few steps that someone could put into action today to make this work for them to help them grow their impact?

Jude Charles 13:43

Sure. So dramatic demonstration of proof is broken down into three different phases. And how I normally go about doing this with my clients is a very first step in us working together as I go through what’s called a road mapping strategy session. roadmapping simply is all about before we ever turn on the camera, before we ever press record, let’s figure out what is your story? How do we show that story? And then how do we make sure to share that story with as much people as possible, right. And so those three phases are broken down to what I call dramatic clarity, dramatic demonstration, and then dramatic leverage. So I’ll break down each part. Dramatic clarity is all about your core values, your philosophies, let’s really get a deep understanding of who you are not just the thing that you do with who you are as a human being. It goes back to what I mentioned in the first segment with the three dimensional view into your world. Again, core values, philosophies, stories. Another way that I look about this is what are your What is your business? Where are you personally? And then what are your interests like what do you do when you’re not working, but you may not do it on a day to day basis, right like an activity. So for example, I love a drilling and field x Right, so I’ve been skydiving before 10,000 feet from the air, I’ve gone zip lining, right? Those are activities that helped me step outside of my comfort zone, it helps me open my mind to other possibilities. The same way I do that, in these activities. That’s what I take to my work, right. And so I want to I want to know that about you as a human being. Dramatic demonstration is okay, we’ve we’ve taken all these core values like integrity and, and leverage and things like that. But how do we bring that to life? You may have told me some stories and dramatic clarity. But how do we bring that to life. And then I look at five different things bring that to life in dramatic demonstration, dramatic demonstration of five steps, five demonstration. But behind the scenes, live illustration, social proof, transformation and unique mechanism. You’ve been in the marketing world for a long time, you’ve heard all these words before. But again, I’m looking at how do we show that though? How do we show behind the scenes of maybe you spending time with your family? And what that means to you? Right? How do we, with social proof? What do other people have to say about you? And then more importantly, how do they physically react to you? Are they taking notes, right, like Dan is doing right now? Are they? Are they do they put their hand on their heart when they’re talking to you? Because that means they’re having a deep conversation with you, right? This is all social proof. transformation is probably one of my favorites. We know transformation from the fitness world before and after, right? Like before, you were 300 pounds after you lost 150 pounds. But what I look for in transformation is what does life look like after? What’s the deeper impact? One of the great illustrations I’d love to give with that is a fitness coach who talked about a story of her clients sending her a picture into the picture is this woman getting on a plane? And what the picture represents is for the very first time in her life, she’s she hasn’t had to act for seatbelt extent. Right? That’s the transformation, not just losing weight. Unique mechanism is, is is all about like your character traits. What is something that you have that someone else cannot copy? What is your mission? Right? And how do we how do we bring a three dimensional view around this mission that you may have in life? And then live illustration is? How do we bring an object in to illustrate a point? Right? How do you like? Well, for one example is I’ve seen a pastor bring a boat on stage to illustrate the point and tell the story of, of the disciples of being on a boat, right? He could have just told the story. Instead, he brought the boat on stage so that you can tangibly see it right? The Rubik’s Cube Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s an example. Right? And so Exactly. Domino’s, like, how do you line up the Domino’s so that it falls in your favor? Exactly. Lighting a match? Exactly. Right. That’s all perfect. All perfect. And then so

Dan Kuschell 18:01

I never use these. I never use these at all.

Jude Charles 18:04

I actually don’t what is that? It’s a hinge. A little a little

Dan Kuschell 18:09

swings a big door?

Jude Charles 18:11

swings a big door. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so all right, we’ve gotten dramatic clarity, we’ve gotten a great idea of who you are at your core. And we’ve talked about your core values and your philosophies like what is time mean? What does success mean to you? What is health mean to you? And then we brought that to life in video form with dramatic demonstrations. But now, let’s, okay, we’ve done all of it. But a video is only powerful. If you share it with people, it’s not enough to just say, hey, let’s upload this to YouTube and put up a Facebook post and say, hey, check out our video. And that’s it. No, let’s actually make sure that the right people are seeing it at the right time. Let’s use this over and over and over again. In the beginning of this, I mentioned that case should be or took her business from zero dollars to $1 million in 12 months. Part of that is because she took this documentary that had created for her and used it over and over and over. We created it back in 2010. It was a three part documentary series. As of 2017. I saw and I have it, I have a picture of it a Facebook post of her still promoting the same documentary that we had completed years ago. Right. That’s the way you think of dramatic leverage. How do I use the story that I’ve told, created this great video, this great story? How do I make sure that people continue to see it and they understand who I am at my core, not just surface level things. And so that’s a dramatic demonstration of proof. That’s how you take your story from just a story that you’re telling to showing it, bring it to life and then sharing it with as many people as possible.

Dan Kuschell 19:42

And as you’re listening or watching right now how would it impact you if you were able to get the process of clarity, demonstration? leverage, right if you were to get deep into who you are, right if you were able to have people in a unique, simple way Understand your values, what it’s like, for your business you personally, right? What you do when you’re not working? What would it then be worth for you to actually be able to demonstrate that in a fun, simple, short, cool way? Right? going behind the scenes with you and your family and showcasing it right? There’s a lot of this can be considered like show and tell, which is my favorite class in school. Social proof, right? The unique mask mechanism highlighting the transformation, right? The live illustration, right? What if you put these in place? How do you think these would impact your ability to a tell a better story be have a bigger impact? And we’re just scratching the surface on the wisdom that Jude shares and can show you right? to then be able to go out there and not just leverage? I’m going to call it super leverage, right? Yeah. How do you go out and create super leverage with what you do? There’s all kinds of strategies that are simple that you can put in place now. Jude, what is? Like, I know, we’re just scratching the surface. But if people want to go deeper with this process with you, right? I mean, you have a lot of tools, resources, if they just go watch, like Mike getting ready for this, if they just go watch a few of the docu series that you’ve created that you make available online, and kind of start, you know, charting the journey and then look okay, how can I apply that to me? Man, you’ll be a better storyteller in minutes by model does. So where would you want people to go to connect with you learn more about you get access to the resources you’ve got available?

Jude Charles 21:30

Yeah, I teach on this almost every single day. And the best place you can find to to connect with me is judecharles.co/list. I know Dan will put that in the show notes for you. But judecharles.co/list. And that’s where I teach on personal branding, elevating your personal brand storytelling, persuasion, and dramatic demonstration of proof. Right? And and because it’s it’s very important to not just tell your story, but show your story. Because I believe that hearing something said 1000 times is not as convincing as seeing it once. Right? That’s the power of visual storytelling. That’s the power of bringing people into your world, giving them that three dimensional view into your world.

Hearing something said 1000 times is not as convincing as seeing it once. - Jude Charles Click To Tweet

Dan Kuschell 22:12

And if you want to build people into your three dimensional view of your world, do you think it helps you get more clients? It would, right?

Jude Charles 22:19

Oh, yeah.

Dan Kuschell 22:20

Right. Now, if you don’t want three dimensional, and you want to stay too dear, so late and out of business, in some point in the future, but on the other hand, if you’re looking for a way to be better at persuasion, you elevate your brand, use the dramatic demonstration, improved process to attract more clients easily and effortlessly. Tell a better story, do it in a fun cool way. Right. And you’ll have your friends and family giving you a high five because you become iconic and a lot of ways. Well, then I encourage you go check out what he’s doing at judecharles.co/list. That’s judecharles.co/list. The link will be in the show notes you can come back to the show notes at growthtofreedom.com/293, that’s growthtofreedom.com/293. Now Jude, what, what’s something I should ask you that we haven’t covered yet? I’m curious.

Jude Charles 23:15

Um, you should ask me. That’s a great question. I thank you for asking it. And you should ask me. Guys, I think I’m even taken aback by this question.

Dan Kuschell 23:32

Well, let’s talk about the transformation when people work with you. Sure, right. You know, you you help people create stories, and then like a high level version that you do this for as high level entrepreneurs like Google Steve Seymour, right. And like when someone gets like a docu series or a documentary, right, this isn’t just for the biggest names in the world anymore. This is something that business owners entrepreneurs can really leverage their brand to uplevel 1000 times. Right. Yes. persuade much easier than ever before with credibility and authority and respect and trust. And also be able to, you know, go out there and have a demonstration of proof. Right? Yeah. So speak to like what you see like, like, let’s go in, you know, a time capsule together. Right? We’ll go and dock and Michael Fox is Back to the Future machine. We’ll put the garbage in the back. We’ll jump in together. Here we go. Shut the door. You’re in the driver’s seat. You take me down the path here, but we’re gonna go about six, nine. Now let’s go a year out. Yeah, tells a better story. Maybe they put it in a video docu series or document or like what are some of the common things that you see happen for your clients who put a process like this in place and commit to it?

Jude Charles 24:47

I think what I see is that clients often don’t realize the power of their own story. What I mean by that is I’m in the process of creating a documentary series for a business coach. write her name is Danielle and Jeremy Harmon. And Danielle shares the story of her journey through motherhood and one of the videos that we do. It’s a story about her journey through motherhood. And at first, she was very apprehensive and sharing the story because it’s a vulnerable story for her. But the story is about, she gotten married at 42. Started to try to have kids at 43. And she’s now 44. The first pregnancy, unfortunately, it was a miscarriage. The second pregnancy, she did a round of IVF. And there was the bad it was about a round of eggs. And here’s a woman at 44 who believes that she is going to have children through natural birth, right. But yet keeps running into obstacle after obstacle. And in the story that we share, what I show is that she believes it’s so much that she has built a nursery at home, it’s a fully built nursery with a crib in there. You know, teddy bears affirmations on the walls. And then what I didn’t know until I interviewed her for the for the documentary is that she goes in there and prays every day. Hmm. So we show all of this on camera. Now, I started by saying she’s a business coach, there are thousands of business coaches out there. But by sharing that story, she shared it with a potential client, the person that I wanted to work with her this video hadn’t even been out yet. And she just because I had given her a rough draft. And she loved the story so much. She shared it with this client, that client who was on the fence, working with her, decides to sign up for $30,000, right? Because she saw this story because she saw a business coach, who in her own personal life, had to figure it out, had to have faith and have confidence. If she can do that for herself, what can she do for her clients? Right? That’s the power of storytelling video, that’s what I see happen over and over is that people connect so deeply with the human being, not the entrepreneur. It’s who you are. And that’s why I always go back to that it’s Who are you? If I can show who you are at a core level, people connect with that. And that’s what I see happening with my client. A Stefan Georgi is a copywriter. I just want to give one more example. He’s a copywriter, he writes words for a living. Now outside of that, yes, he did. He’s an entrepreneur, serial entrepreneur. He does other things, but his primary business is entrepreneur is copywriting. Right. And we created a video Thank you. You’ve watched the video. You know, Stefan as well. Yep. And

Dan Kuschell 27:39

Amazing story I love when he was playing the guitar, right is amazing.

Jude Charles 27:44

Yeah, exactly right. That first scene, the first two minutes of that documentary is him playing the guitar, which Dan just mentioned. And what happens 30 seconds, and I’ll give it away, because I do want you to watch the rest. But the first 30 seconds in, his daughter comes in yelling and crying, asking him to stop playing the guitar, because she actually doesn’t like him playing the guitar surface level. If you just watch it, like, first of all, if you hear about Stefan Georgi, you know, he’s a copywriter surface level that makes no sense at all. Why are you showing him playing a guitar? Why are you showing him with his daughter, but that moment represents the way that he feels about Parenthood, the way he feels about raising his daughter. And you’re instantly connected to him beyond just the words that he writes on a screen, right? Yep. Stephen told me a story of how recently someone reached out to them via email. And I was like, you know, I’ve heard of your name before. wasn’t sure if you are real tonight, if the things that you talk about is real or not, but I watched your documentary and I decided to buy your online course. That’s $3,000. I decided to buy your online course because I watched your documentary, because I got a real understanding of why you’re so passionate about copywriting and teaching and mentoring and all these other things that we talked about in the documentary. They got a good sense of it. That’s the power of dramatic demonstration of proof. I’m not just showing the entrepreneur doing their job, which I do show that I do show Stefan as a copywriter, I show Danielle as a business coach. But I’m also showing their heart I’m showing who they are as a person as a human being, even if they weren’t doing the thing that they were doing. The business idea that they were doing, I’m showing who they are. And so that’s the power again, I go back to that thing that I said in the beginning hearing something said 1000 times is not as convincing as seeing it once. This is the three dimensional view that can truly help you connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Dan Kuschell 29:42

Yep, one dimension here at two dimension a picture which is worth 1000 words. A video is worth 1000 pictures, right? 3d go 3d encourages you’re listening or watching go 3d. If you’re listening, go watch the video on this. Just a different context of seeing a smile together and laughing You know, the gestures and all those sorts of things. You can see the funny faces. I’m making it Jude as we go through this. So let me let me flip this just I want to put like a devil’s advocate hat on for a second. Sure. Did you know what about someone who might be watching or listening right now who might be Oh, this sounds good for those people? I don’t I don’t think I have a story. Like, what would you say to that? That person who might have that little voice of doubt, or that big voice of doubt in their heart and in their mind right now is we’re talking about leveraging story.

Jude Charles 30:35

After doing this for almost 15 years now, one thing I can tell you with assurance, with confidence, with vigor, every single human being on this earth has the story. And that story, whether you know it or not yet, that story is what led to you doing, the business that you’re doing even if you say it’s just for money, even if you say it’s just for your family, or because you got tired of working a nine to five, there’s more to that story than that. And I’d encourage you to dig deep in finding the the dots connecting the dots from your past that has led you to this moment, there’s a why there, I always start with why. And in my opinion, the why starts with who but I always start with why which is Simon Sinek. And I would encourage you to to believe and own your story. Own it. Like I’ll be honest and say it myself like, I didn’t always tell my own story. I started this business as 17 year old my teacher, high school teacher encouraged me to start the business so much so that she gave me my first set of business cards. She didn’t let me say no to doing this business. For a very long time. My first at least seven years of business. I never shared that story because I felt like that’s that’s nothing people would care about. I use this story now every day even while I’m if I’m sitting in a room with lawyers, like if I’m working on a project with a group of lawyers, or I’m here on the podcast talking to you, I share that story because that moment, have the teacher not given me the business cards would not have given me the courage to be an entrepreneur, right? Or the moment with Keyshia, you’re in her calling in my car getting repossessed that day, and then getting the phone call from her. had that not happened. I wouldn’t have the resilience that I have today and saying, look, I struggled for the first five years, or I you know, those first five years was within the 2008 recession, right, I wouldn’t have the resilience to say 2020, when we’re in the midst of, you know, a pandemic, I wouldn’t have the resilience to say I can get through this because I’ve been through it before, right? That’s connecting the dots, right, I connected the dots from 17 years old to 22 years old to 2008 to 2020. There’s moments that have happened in your life that you’re downplaying. But they’re very significant to where you are today.

One thing I can tell you with assurance, with confidence, with vigor: every single human being on this earth has a story. - Jude Charles Click To Tweet

Dan Kuschell 32:54

So I encourage you, as you’re listening or watching, stop downplaying your story, you have power to make an impact, a bigger impact have a bigger reach, right. And it starts with your belief that you have a story. And if you want the tools to help you get that story out to get the ability to have a bigger impact. Go to judecharles.co/list, that’s judecharles.co/list. Again, the links will be in the show notes where you can come back to a growthtofreedom.com/293. That’s growthtofreedom.com/293. Now what are 1 to 3 action steps, dude, oh, wait first, for those action steps. We got to fly back in our time machine. So we got to get back in the time machine that we just took as you share the amazing stories of Darnielle and also Stefan, we’ll get back in we fly back to today. So what you’re getting started, like what are 1 to 3 action and so so we just got back, right? We’re just having this open back up. So what are 1 to 3 action steps that we can take? From what what would be 1 to 3 action steps you hope our viewers or listeners listeners would take as a result of our time today?

Jude Charles 34:03

Sure, I think the first step we talked about at the beginning of start working on your story, start looking at movies, and then jotting down the patterns that are happening, and how you can replicate those patterns. And I’ll give you the very simple step. Because I want to simplify it just one more step. A story is about a very specific moment in time. That’s what story is, right? It’s about a very specific moment in time, just like I did the 17 year old story five years later, it’s a very specific moment in time. Think about the very specific moments that have happened in your life. And how would you string it together in a movie, right? The same way you’re watching the movie and you’re seeing these scenes happen. How would you string together your own life? So that’s the first thing the second thing is that the most powerful tool you have is already in your hands. You may not even need to call me you may not even need to say Hey Jude, I want to work with you and have you document my story. It’s the most your cell phone is the most powerful tool and that What I’m holding up in case you’re not watching the video, you’re watching on the, you’re listening on the podcast, I’m holding up your cell phone, your iPhone, your Android, it is the most powerful tool where you can begin to document your story today. I’m in the I’m in conversations with a guy that owns a skincare company. He started in 2012. And he said to me how he had just documented everything from like him mixing the contents in his living room by himself, he was just documenting everything. And I told him, he has gold, because I can’t go back in time and film that, right I can’t show where this company has come from how he just started with one person in a living room, right. But he has it and he has gold. And that’s what I would encourage you to do. That’s the second step document everything, whether you take pictures or you do video, it doesn’t have to be perfect. I’ve used old cell phone footage or old pictures in the documentaries that I create that are high level, I still use them because again, there’s that authenticity to going back in time. And then the third thing is share your story. So now, the step one, you’ve figured out how you might tell it in a movie, you figured out the very specific moments in time. And so and then you may have even documented pictures or videos, share that with someone see how they react, because that will show you how powerful your story is to that will show you how you give someone else hope or you inspire someone else. So share it. Write your story, document your story, share it, it’s the same exact thing that I do with my clients, those same exact steps you can do at home today, as you’re listening to this. Just I don’t think about it twice, just hold your camera up, document it and create magic and connect with your audience.

Storytelling & The Dramatic Demonstration of Proof™ | Jude Charles | 293 Click To Tweet

Dan Kuschell 36:42

create magic and connect with your audience. And you can do that and go deeper with what Jude’s been sharing with you. And I’d encourage you even if you can do this on your own, go check out what he’s got, go check out his resources, it will open your mind your heart, your soul, your innovation, insights, wisdom on how to do this at a deeper bigger level, better level, new level, judecharles.co/list. That’s judecharles.co/list. And oh, here’s it. Here’s a quick story, dude. You know, My son is 12 years old. And over the last three years, he’s you know, really gotten excited about football. And he’s a quarterback. And he’s, you know, done some really, he’s won three city championships doing doing this thing. He’s thrown a lot of touchdowns and such. And we’re having a lot of fun. And so he’s excited to want to get to the next level. And one of the things that we I’ve been looking at is how can I get him the coaching, right? being someone who helps CEOs and founders, you know, grow their business, you know, 235 10 times with less stress. I look at like, how can I help my son, right? So I went out and searched like who were the top coaches and as a quarterback around it, you know, the the Arizona in the whole state, and I found somebody. And lo and behold, as luck would have it, they had a docu series that was created about them, their two brothers that are co head coaches and ones and offensive coordinator. So I literally reached out to them. Because it was so easy to say wow. Like values, alignment, regardless of what he even does with my I want to help these guys go and enhance their impact in the world with kids because it’s all about the kids for them as I view it as I have experienced it. Yeah, now you no longer fast forward a little bit. This quarterback coach is working with my son because of not only for me, but my wife watched a few minutes of the dog like oh my gosh, their story is amazing. Yeah, my son watched the docu series, a few pieces of it was like that story is amazing. These are amazing beings first, and it just so happens oh my god if they’re as good of a football coach as they are as a human being. But what a magical combination. And so, if it can work for a football coach, or a mom, right stressing motherhood, it can work for a guitar player, demonstrating family to get more clients with copy. What could Jude’s strategy do for you? Yeah, what could the idea of this process do for you? Well, if it intrigues you a bit, I encourage you go deeper at judecharles.co/list, that’s judecharles.co/list and take advantage of the tools that he’s got available. Now dude, real quick before we get into this, or before we wrap this up for the show when you were a kid, right? Can you think of a time I don’t know whether whether you were eight or 10 or 12, 13 whatever. Were you kind of knew at that point, that moment and you talked about your stories like your baseball life, your police officer life? Was there a point in time when you knew Deep down, you are going to do things different and you are going to be inspired to be an entrepreneur and help people craft stories.

Jude Charles 40:08

I think that some way somehow I’ve always had that in my mind, because it was stories that I wrote, specifically the police life of Jude Charles, I think it was, or it might be another story. I was actually rereading this recently, because you’ll find great, you’ll find this very fascinating. I recently proposed to my girlfriend of four years. And in one of my old books, I wrote that the same girlfriend who I’ve known since elementary school would come back into my life and we would get married. I wrote that when I was, I think, 10 years old. Wow. But in the book, I also wrote about becoming an entrepreneur running a security firm. So some way somehow I just knew I would be around protecting people. Right, I find that what I do now is I protect my clients stories, I showed them how impactful it is. And because it’s vulnerable to them, I show them that they can still protect pieces of it that they may not want to share. But I always knew I would be an entrepreneur. I always knew I take the road less traveled because I am the youngest of 10 children. Wow. And the only one that did not complete college, I decided after going to one year college that I would do the business full time. Right? So I always knew I was different. I don’t think I understood the power of it when I was younger, but I just always knew there’s a different way to do this. How can I do that? That was always in mind. And that’s why I started reading stories why I just always wanted to envision what’s a different way this could happen. So yeah, I think that’s that’s how I’ve always gone about it.

Dan Kuschell 41:45

And as you’re listening or watching right now, if some of what Jude is sharing with you, connects with you, I encourage you to go deeper with what he’s sharing with you judecharles.co/list, you’ll go beyond the business side of what he does to help people bring out their stories. Look at the human beings side, His story is fascinating, right? He can help your story be fascinating in your niche and your market in a variety of industries. Right? At the end of the day, even if you’re saying yours, I don’t know that I’ve got a story, reach out and just see the wealth of resources you’ve got because you’ll be inspired to go Yeah, I can do this. Yeah, I deserve this. Yeah. And what what kind of a difference will it make if I’m leveraging my story more if I’m, I’ve got clarity, I’ve got demonstration and I’ve got leverage, right? What I do for you. So I encourage you to take action with what Jude has shared with you today. Apply it, put it in place any last minute things you want to share Jude as we wrap up.

Jude Charles 42:43

Yeah, the last thing I want to share always want to wrap up with is the one thing if you didn’t, I don’t know maybe you tuned in and out of this and maybe you didn’t hear everything I want you to hear this today. be vulnerable, even if it’s with a stranger, be vulnerable. Open your heart. Allow people to see the real you and be surprised at how much of a connection you guys will make together. be vulnerable.

Dan Kuschell 43:11

Take action be vulnerable, strangers, friends, family like be vulnerable. I encourage you to take action with what Jude’s been if you want to come back to this episode, go to growthtofreedom.com/293, that’s growthtofreedom.com/293, if you never want to miss an episode, go to growthtofreedom.com/subscribe that’s growthtofreedom.com/subscribe, seize the day, make it a great week. We’ll see you next time on growthtofreedom.com. Thanks for listening and watching. Bye for now. Thanks for listening to this episode of growthtofreedom.com. Are you struggling to get a steady flow of new clients every day? Or maybe hit a plateau or hit a wall and growing your business? Well, let’s help you solve this problem today. Let’s review your business and have a conversation you do that for free today at breakthroughstrategycall.com, that’s breakthroughstrategycall.com. In addition, if you’re looking for a simple way to implement some of what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode, I want to encourage you to get our free small business toolkit. You can get that at activate.breakthrough3x.com, that’s activate.breakthrough3x.com. If you’d like access to the special resources and all the show notes for this special episode. Make sure to visit growthtofreedom.com.