A couple of years ago, I was fortunate to attend a business workshop in Nashville, Tennessee. It was two days so packed with business education that I thought my head would explode. Several of the sessions have since faded from memory, but a few have stuck around and changed something notable about how I do business. One of those was the presentation by StoryBrand. You can check out a couple of free videos here at the StoryBrand website.
Now, StoryBrand charges over $2,000 for their in-person workshops, so the chances that I’m going to be able to do as good of a job as them are slim to none. But I can tell you one simple idea that make me not only think, but also take action to make my branding more customer centered.
Here’s that idea: You are NOT the hero of your customer’s story. Your customer is the hero of their OWN story. And you are the guide.
It’s about connection
Here’s why that matters for selling stuff. Many of us know that we need to make a connection with our customers (or potential customers), and we try to do that by sharing our story with them. On the surface, it seems like a great idea, but we are missing a very important part of the puzzle. It’s so obvious, and at the same time so easy to miss.
Our customer doesn’t care about OUR story. They care about THEIR story. We’re all that way. We want to know what’s in it for us. Not because we’re horrible people, but because in order to survive and thrive, that’s what we have to do. We have to solve our own problems, not everyone else’s.
So if your ads, flyers and, and customer communication isn’t based around THEIR story, it might make them say, “Oh, that’s kind of cool.” But it’s a lot less likely to get them to buy from you.
The customer is the hero of their own story, so make it about them
Let me give you an example. Imagine a company that sells hand-made leather wallets. Their site’s landing page is all about how the founder’s grandpa, great-grandpa, or great-great grandpa founded the company on quality materials, integrity, and superior workmanship. It’s a cool story, but it doesn’t make you buy. They are the hero of the story, and you don’t really see your place in it.
On the other hand, imagine that same landing page paints an image of a friend of yours pulling a wallet out of his pocket for years, and each time treasuring the fine workmanship and noticing the softness of the leather. Then a smile spreads across his face as he remembers how you were the one who gave it to him for their retirement, or graduation, or other special life event, And then he starts thinking about all the special memories the two of you share. That wallet is a symbol of friendship, shared memories, and of course, your impeccable taste. Suddenly, YOU are the hero. You have a place in the story. Shoot, it’s not the company’s story anymore, it’s your story. They are just helping you get there.
Do you see the transformation there? Even if you don’t buy today, the chances are much better that the story –which is now YOUR story – will stick in your brain and that the next time you need a super special gift, you might return to that site and actually make a purchase.
My own StoryBrand re-write
So let me give you a real-world example. Prior to hearing the StoryBrand talk, the headline on my flyers was something like “Spanish Classes starting soon. Register today.” I know. The creativity! The poetry! How did I ever come up with it? Amazing huh?
After I stori-fied it? “You can give your child a ticket to the world. We can show you how.” I might be biased, but I think the second one is a ton better, because the parent is the hero. We are placing the emphasis on them, and my company is just a helper. It also subtly places us in the role of a trusted adviser, an expert of sorts, which is exactly how we want them to see us.
Now, I’ll be honest. I was a small business and I didn’t do A/B testing to see which tagline was more effective. So it might have made absolutely no difference in sales. I don’t know.
But placing the customer at the center of our tagline made a difference in me! Every time I saw those flyers, I remembered what our role was – a valued and trusted guide to parents who want their kids to learn a language. It made me fiercely protective of my customers because I was their guide. They were trusting me to show them how to help their kiddos in a way that they couldn’t. It was a powerful psychological shift. And that truly impacted how I dealt with them.
Your journey
Since then, I always try to make my customer the hero. I hope you feel that as you read my blog. Obviously, the examples are from my own life. But the blog is meant to be about you. About helping you to create the life you want through improving your personal finance and/or through teacherpreneurship. About helping you to create options for you and your loved ones. About you living your best life on your own terms.
After teaching high school for 17 years, I was pretty apprehensive about going cold turkey to preschoolers. I mean, high schoolers actually get jokes. And they have an attention span of more than 32 seconds (some days, although not always). I did have preschoolers of my own, and a sister and a best friend who were firmly in the early-ed end of things. But seriously, I could think of about 1,842 ways that I could totally screw this up.
So while this is certainly not the last work on the topic, I wanted to take a little time to share with you some of the most important lessons I learned when I left my adolescents behind an ventured in the much cuter, much more terrifiying (for me) world of preschool.
Be flexible.
This one is common to both ages, but possibly even more important in working with the littles. While older kids have more or less learned to function in a school setting, the littles aren’t necessarily there yet. A rainy day, a special activity, a sunny day, a friend being absent, a friend being present – all of these can send a student (or possibly your entire class) into a tail spin.
Honestly, I dreaded rainy days. It just seemed like the kids couldn’t concentrate as well. So if it turned out to be rainy, I almost always cut a storybook and added a song or two. Luckily, I didn’t have to cover a set curriculum, so I had the freedom to do that. And it really helped save my sanity.
And sometimes it worked the other way. After 15 minutes of trying to get them to chill and listen, we finished a book and were supposed to do a moving game. But they were sitting and listening SO well, I wasn’t about to lose that opportunity. So I’d get out another short book while they were in the mood, even if it mean breaking my “5 minute activity” rule. Occasionally I would regret it, but there’s no law that says you have to finish the book. If they lost interest half-way through, I’d say, “Hey. I think you are tired of reading. Let’s do something else.” And then it was time for the game.
So while you know rule #1 with older kids, it’s even more important with littles. Have a back-up plan. And a back up plan for your back-up plan. And a … well, you get the picture.
Give yourself time to get it right with preschoolers.
My first class was a nightmare. Really. I dreaded seeing those preschoolers. I tried everything, but it just didn’t seem to work. But I just kept reminding myself that it was, after all, my firstpreschool class. My second group went better. And my third was even better. Obviously, I never became the preschool whisperer, but it got to the place that I actually looked forward to seeing my cute little goofballs. And I think they looked forward to me, too.
So if you don’t get it right away, don’t be surprised. That’s part of the deal. Keep at it. Just keep learning every time you see the little darlings.
Movement, songs, and games are your friends.
This may go without saying, but it’s about the most important advice I can give, so I’m going to say it anyway. The less kids are concentrating on the language and the more they are concentrating on FUN, the better it is for everyone. So when you’re learning to count, count stuffed animals. Or count your jumps as you jump across the room. The less your classes feel like learning and the more they feel like play, the more engagement you’ll have. And – ironically – the more they will learn!
Short, short, short.
My rule when planning was to never count on any activity to last more than 5 minutes. So if we were going to read, I counted on a four-minute activity. (And that doesn’t mean sing one song for three minutes, then sing another song for three more minutes. It means completely change activities.) Then we’d sing. Then we’d do a movement game. Then we’d sing again. More reading. Then moving. Then another book. By that time, it was time for the good-bye song and stickers. As I mentioned above, sometimes I broke this rule if the kids were really engaged in a certain activity. However, I never plannedfor any one activity to keep their attention for longer.
Few words on the page, lots of discussion.
In an upcoming post, we’ll cover some of my all-time favorite books for preschool. But in the mean time, just let me tell you that they will all have something in common: very few words. “But Jill,” you might be thinking, “How are they going to learn if they don’t hear the words?” By responding to questions. For example, with on of my favorite booksEl Canguro tiene mama?there is only one short sentence on a page, but here is an example of the discussion we can have about it, all with very elementary vocabulary.
Teacher: Is the mom big or little?
Kids: Big.
T: Yes, the mom is big. Are the babies big?
K: No. Small.
T: Yes, the babies are small. Is YOUR mom big or small?
This exchange about big and small can be followed on the next page by questions about what the animals are doing, how many babies there are in the picture, how many mommies there are, is it the mommy or the daddy in the picture, where is the mommy (or the daddy), and do you like this animal?
You’ve still got to read your audience and make sure you are not boring them, but in my experience, kids respond a lot better when they are taking part in a conversation about the book than when they are just passively listening.
Praise, when possible.
It’s hard to remember, but kids often do better when you praise the ones who are behaving well instead of reminding the ones who aren’t. Our first instinct is often “Simon, sit down please,” or “Amari, please listen.” Instead, try calling attention to the kids who are sitting and listening already. “Maria, I love how you are using your listening ears,” or “Andy, you are sitting so well and keeping your hands to yourself. Nice job,” reminds the kids how to behave without calling anyone out for having trouble. It won’t work every time, but I found it to be particularly helpful with preschoolers.
Small groups – NO MATTER WHAT.
If you are starting your own business, please do yourself this favor. Keep your groups small no matter what. If that means splitting into two different classes or even starting a waiting list, do it. As you are getting your feet wet with preschoolers, you are going to make mistakes. That’s just a fact. But mistakes are multiplied in large classes. And they can make you really, really miserable! I didn’t let my classes get above eight, and that one thing helped me retain what little sanity I had left.
This applies even to one-offs. If you are doing a free class, don’t let the center persuade you to have a class that’s twice what your comfortable with. You won’t be able to do as much fun stuff, and it may actually hurt your enrollment since kids will think Spanish is boring. (Um, and they might get the idea that the Spanish teacher is grumpy for some strange reason, too.)
Cut your losses.
This doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes you’ve just got to cut your losses and close a class down. The very first class I started seemed promising at first, but the bottom line was that it just wasn’t working out. I had low enrollment, the management was a bit disorganized and completely unhelpful, and the kids didn’t behave well. I tried everything I could think of, but I finally decided that I was done. After thinking up a suitably diplomatic way to phrase it, I quit offering the class, and I was SO much happier. I found another center where the enrollment was higher, kids were amazing and fun, and the management actually had it together. Plus, my life got better just because I didn’t have to deal with that one group of kiddos.
Remember, part of the beauty of owning your own business is that you can make calls like that. So do it. If it just isn’t flying at a certain place, let it go. That location that isn’t working out might be keeping you from one that is amazing.
We all love our families – that’s a given. Usually, everything we do is for them in one way or another. Cook food – yup. Earn money – yup. Go to Disney – yup. Pretty much everything is meant for their benefit, either directly or indirectly. And yet, many of us don’t do the one thing that could prevent their lives from being a living hell in the time when they most need us.
Why? Because it is boring, mundane thing that seems like a useless hassle. I mean, we’re not planning to die. Yes. You read that correctly. This is something that we complete in case we die, in which case, they will be the very last act of love that we can ever do for our kids, or spouse, or whoever we leave behind. And it is indeed boring and a huge hassle. But not nearly as much of a hassle as our family will deal with if we die without it. So let’s take a quick look at the most boring thing you can do to show your family you love them: life insurance
Repeat after me: portable, 10-12 times annual income, guaranteed level term life. OK that’s all you need to know. Next topic.
Portable
Just kidding – kind of. Those three things are literally all you need to know, but you might like a little more detail than that, so here it goes. Your life insurance needs to be portable – in other words, it shouldn’t be tied to your employer. A lot of employers provide some life insurance, and if it’s free, great. But do NOT count on that. There’s a simple reason why.
Let’s say you are seriously ill. Like, sick enough you can’t work anymore and you leave your job. If your only life insurance is through your employer, it is gone, too. “Well, no worries, I’ll just get life insurance someplace else.” But will you? Will you qualify? Will you be able to pay for higher premiums? Or will you be out of luck just when you need life insurance the most?
That is why life insurance needs to be portable. It means more hassle when you get it because you will probably have to get a mini-physical and you’ll have to research it yourself to get the best rate. (Hint: apply with several companies because different insurance companies rate things way differently. Slightly elevated cholesterol numbers might not be a big rate changer with one company, but could jack prices way up with another.)
10-12 times annual income
When buying insurance, you should shoot for 10-12 times your annual income. For example, if you make $50,000/year, you should have between $500,000 and $600,000 in coverage. If you make $150,000/year, you should have between $5 million and $6 million in coverage. It sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? But here is the reason.
You should have enough insurance that you could invest it and the income would replace your income. Usually, 10-12 times your income, if invested well, will do that. That will allow your family to survive without your income, even if your kids are very young. They would never have to worry about the money running out.
Guaranteed level term life insurance
Next up, term life. For people not in the insurance industry or who are not financial geeks like me, (I really get into this stuff!) insurance can seem totally incomprehensible. But there are only two things you really need to know about the type of insurance to buy. First, buy term life insurance. Secondly, your insurance agent is going to give you 500,000 reasons that I’m wrong and you should buy some other kind of insurance. But don’t listen. I’m right. They are making commission. If you are ready to trust me on that, you can quit reading now. If you want a little more information on why I say those things, read on.
Term Life vs. Whole Life
There are basically two types of life insurance – term life and whole life – with some sub-categories. Term life insurance is just that. It is insurance that you buy for a certain period of time, usually a term of 10, 15, 20, or 30 years. If you die during the term, it pays out. If not, it doesn’t.
Whole life is life insurance that never expires (as long as you are paying the premiums) with a savings component built into it. It will cover you your entire life, you can borrow against it, and it actually has a savings component, so that its cash value accumulates. “Hold on just a second, Jill,” you may be saying. “That sounds like a WAY better deal. Why on earth would anyone go with a chintzy term life that expires when whole life offers all these benefits?”
What is insurance for?
And the answer to that question lies in what insurance actually does for us. What is life insurance for? Well, it is to ensure that anyone who is depending on us financially isn’t left in a big mess if we die. Kids, spouse, anyone who needs your income – that’s who life insurance is for. And it’s purpose – its SINGLE, SOLITARY PURPOSE is to provide for dependents.
It is not intended to be a savings account, an investment, or a bank to borrow from. It’s just to make sure that your family isn’t totally screwed if you die. And all those other bells and whistles? What do they hurt? Well, they cost money – a LOT of money. And they don’t do any of those extra things well.
Why your insurance agent desperately wants you to choose whole life
Whole life insurance can cost 10 times what term life does. I don’t know about you, but I’m not eager to pay ten times as much for anything that doesn’t provide a super-benefit. And one of the reasons that it costs so much is related to the second thing you need to know: your insurance agent is going to be convinced you are making a huge mistake if you don’t get whole life or some type of insurance other than guaranteed level term life. One of the reasons it costs so much more is that your insurance agent is going to receive a much, much bigger commission if he sells you that.
Now, I’m not dissing on insurance agents. Most of them have been trained to believe that whole life is really the way to go. Their company has a huge incentive to convince them to sell more expensive policies, but that doesn’t mean they are right. However, because they have been trained to believe it, they are going to give you 500,000 reasons that they are right and I am wrong. So no matter what arguments they throw at you, you just pat them on their little head and buy guaranteed term life. Then take the extra money that you WOULD have spent on whole life, and use it to get your financial life in order. Pay down debt, get that emergency fund in place, and invest the extra. If you do those things, it’s almost guaranteed that you will be better off by buying guaranteed level term life. If you take the extra and go to Disney? Well, then I can’t promise you anything.
But my agent says I will lose all my money if I buy term life and don’t die
Not really. Let’s go back to why we are buying insurance and fill in a little more detail. You buy insurance (of any kind) to transfer the financial risk of losing something from us to another entity. What’s the financial risk if your house burns down? You will have to pay for another house. What is the financial risk that is covered by health insurance? The need to pay medical bills if you are sick. What is the financial risk of dying? Your family will lose the benefits of your labor and the money it might have earned.
So when your agent tells you that you will have wasted your money if you buy term life and don’t die, he is referring to the small amount of cash value you would build up if you had whole life. But remember, you are not paying to build up cash value. You are paying to make sure that whether you die or not, your family is financially protected. If you don’t die, your family is protected – by YOU. Your income, your work, your effort. If you do die, however, your family is protected from financial devastation by the insurance. You got what you paid for either way – a family that is financially safe.
Just do it
So those are the only three things you absolutely have to know before buying life insurance. There are a ton of other boring details that geeks like me just love. If you want to know everything about insurance, you can check out any of these links. This one is great to find out if you actually need insurance. But if not, now you know the basics.
PS Do me a favor. If this post moves you toward getting life insurance, please post below letting me know. It would make me really happy to know you have taken the time to make sure that your family will be OK if anything should ever happen to you. If you don’t know where to start, check out this page of independent insurance agents. I don’t make money from you clicking on this link – now or ever. But being an insurance affiliate is big money, so be careful out there. Some web sites prioritize their profit over your best interests.
Whew! This is the point where you are really getting a handle on this whole personal finance thing. You have paid off all debt except your house, so you should have some significant wiggle room between your income and your expenses. You are starting to see yourself as a winner in the money game, and it’s true! Now it’s time for the final step of your financial foundation: 3-6 months worth of expenses in a safe savings account.
Why do you need that much in savings?
Now that you have extra money every month, isn’t it enough to just avoid debt and pay cash for your splurges? Well, having 0 debt does put you miles ahead of the average American, you’re right. But you’re still a few hundred yards away from the short-term financial stability finish-line. So don’t stop running quite yet.
The next and final step for short-term stability is having 3-6 months of expenses in an easily accessible savings account. This is your emergency savings in case life suddenly gets a little too real. I hope that this step is a complete waste of your time. And for a lot of you, it will be. But the truth is that some of us will face an unexpected job loss, a short-term disability, a seriously ill child, or any of a hundred other things that can turn your life upside down. And for those, this will be one of the most important things you can do to make the hardest time of your life a tiny bit easier.
Three to six months’ savings won’t protect you from every tragedy that exists, but it will cover the vast majority of them. And even more important, if the tragedy is even worse, it will give you some time to get your sanity back after the initial shock. It gives you breathing space while you grieve. It allows you to concentrate on the people who need you, instead of “How on earth am I going to pay the bills next week?” Having that buffer savings is a favor that you will NEVER regret doing for yourself if the unthinkable happens.
How do I get my savings to that level?
This should be pretty easy. You have been paying off debt at a rapid rate by really throwing every extra penny at the debt you have. Well, now you can splurge a little to celebrate that accomplishment. (And by splurge, I mean a weekend get-away or a special but smallish new shiny thing – NOT a cruise around the world or a Ferrari!) And after the splurge, that extra money in your budget that you used to send to the credit card company or whatever creditor you were paying off should immediately head toward the nearest savings account. Just take the money that you were already putting toward debt repayment and send it to savings.
Where do I keep my savings?
The big thing here is that this is an EMERGENCY fund. In case of emergency, you don’t want to have to do something super complicated to get your money. So just put it in a money market account or a savings account. “But Jill,” you say, “This is gonna be a chunk of cash. Wouldn’t it be better to earn a little something on it?”
NO. No it wouldn’t.
And this is why. That’s not its purpose This is not money that is intended to earn interest. It’s money that is going to save your butt if something bad happens. You will invest in the next step. You will invest for the rest of your life. The money you invest will make you rich. But this emergency savings is not investment money. It’s “in case of emergency” money.
Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish with this money. Just put it somewhere safe!
What if I’m a spender and don’t trust myself to keep it?
Ahhh, great question. If you are afraid that you will lack discpline to keep that money sacrosanct for a true emergency, then put it at a separate bank from where you keep your checking account. Maybe a bank where you don’t have your electronic login info memorized, so it’s a hassle to use it for an impulse buy. You just want to be able to get to it without TOO much trouble if you you should really need it.
How much savings?
Three months’ expenses? Six months’? Or somewhere in between?
And the answer: it depends. This is based on several parts of your personal situation.
The first issue to get an actual number for your monthly expenses. How much do you realistically spend on non-negotiable in a month? Include housing, utilities, gas, car maintenance, food, and other essentials. However, you can probably skip any frills like lunches out. Just add up what it would cost you to stay afloat for one month, bare bones. Once you have that number, we’ll figure where in the 3-6 month range you should aim.
How much stability do you need?
When I was single and childless, I was a risk-taker. I figured the worst that would happen is that I would move back in with family for a few months. Now that I have a family and live in a different city, I need more stability. It would be a tremendous disruption to pull my kids out of school. That not only means we couldn’t relocate on a whim. It also means I wouldn’t want them to know that we were having financial trouble. My kids are worriers, and it would be important for them to see our lifestyle going on more or less as they were used to before. So stability is a huge need for us at this point in our lives. We wouldn’t even want to cut too far into the extras unless it got pretty bad. This points us to the upper end of the range.
Next question: How stable is your income?
If your income is strongly commission based, or your company has a history of layoffs, you will want to shoot for six months of savings, maybe even more if you have a family. On the other hand, my husband and I are both in incredibly stable jobs. I’m a teacher with great evaluations and many years experience in this district. My husband is a lawyer for the state in which we live. Plus, we could live on either one of our incomes if we absolutely had to. This points us to a lower savings amount.
Last (and most important) question: What is your comfort level?
Don’t discount your own emotions. If having six months’ worth of expenses in savings just makes you feel better, then by all means do it. If the other two questions indicate that you could go with less, and you don’t lie awake at night worrying about it, cut it down to three.
For us, even though our jobs are so stable and we have extra in the budget, I grew up on a farm in the 1980’s. And even though we made it through, losing the only home I had ever known was a very realistic fear for me. So we stick with the 6 months plan.
Ok, so now you’ve got the final step in your foundation. Next week: building on that foundation to create financial independence.
