Hey Badass, how is January treating you so far? How is 2025 rolling for you? Oh my gosh, I have been reflecting a lot about 2024 because it was such a hectic year for me, with the baby arriving, being pregnant, having a baby, having a newborn, going to France, like there were a lot of things going on and it really felt like a bit of business hibernation in that I needed to just You know, hide away, stay on track, stay focused on the few things that would shift the dial.
And it was a really interesting one. And there was a part of me that felt like. It was not enough, like it was a slow year or it was a chaotic year or it was a clunky year and it didn't feel like, my full maximum potential in business. However, 2025, oh my gosh, the things that are going to click into place this year, I am so excited because I've done all of this groundwork and it made me realize that.
Sometimes we look at our year, sometimes we're working away and it takes a whole year and we're really disappointed at what was achieved in a 12 month period. But then if we zoom out, the thing with this kind of business model is that the pace can pick up from there really quickly. It can really snowball when you're doing the right things and making the right moves and have this real J curve effect.
The J being slow and a grind at the bottom and then suddenly it takes right off. Yeah. Yeah. My first year of business at Badass Careers, it felt the same. It felt a little bit clunky, a little bit random, a little bit test and learn at times. And yet, you all know my story, by year three, I had my million dollar year in business.
I think when you're setting your goals for 2025 play hard, go hard of course, and what you can achieve in one year isn't representative of what you can achieve in two, three, four years, okay? It can change very quickly leave room for that magic. So even if you've gotten off to the start of 2025 feeling, Oh my gosh, I'm still not onto it.
It's not moving as quickly as I thought I would. I set these goals to show up every day and I haven't even posted yet. Things like that stick to it. Keep going because. That lack of momentum sometimes will kill you, and it'll make you doubt yourself. But if you just keep going, while it feels hard, and while it feels foggy, and while you're not sure if it's gonna pay off or not, honestly, again, 12 months can feel a little bit messy sometimes, and feel like you haven't achieved much on paper.
And then everything starts clicking into place. So this is your reminder, keep that energy high, keep that momentum high, have an exciting vision for this year, but just plug away at it in silence, doing your thing. And it will be incredible when it all comes together.
The Power of Storytelling in Social Media
Overtime okay it's compounding interest all of the time and energy that you're investing right now will pay off in compound rates okay so let's talk about how we can blow up your socials in 2025 and when I say socials no I really do mean Any platform, any major platform that I have in mind, I'm thinking about YouTube, podcasting, Instagram, of course, TikTok, LinkedIn, whatever it is.
I'm going to talk about the change in consumer psychology, right? The content that people like to consume. So it doesn't matter what the platform is. I don't care if I'm talking about like a carousel or a text based post on LinkedIn, or, A YouTube video. It's all the same. Okay. These principles, these marketing psychology principles will hold true across every platform because it's about the kind of content that people enjoy more than ever due to major societal technological shifts that are going on over the past few years.
Okay. So I'm very much keeping my finger on the pulse. Of the shift in behavior, because that's how we can keep creating that content, which is timeless. I believe in timeless marketing principles and put an emphasis on the areas that people want more of right now.
Leveraging AI and Human Connection
And I would say one of the most fundamental shifts behind my recommendations today as to how you can really explode your social media growth and stay ahead of the curb and not be I guess repeating the same old formulas that used to work that don't work anymore is the fact that people are really starting to leverage AI and I know we've been talking about AI for a long time, but now it's finally at a point where the everyday social media manager or content marketer.
Is using chat GPT and using these basic prompts saying, Oh, can you help me, come up with a social media marketing plan and chat GPT is yeah, here we go. Number one, speak to your audience pay points. Like it's just super generic and everyone's doing it, but you can also use AI to create content, to write content.
There are even people using their Avatars, they're, they're AI twins to represent them on video. There are waves happening now in content creation, which is still very early days and are still very unknown. But when you see shifts like that, you can see instantly a need for the humanization of content and for more emotion to come through in content because if robots are able to spit out three resume tips, three LinkedIn tips, overnight, we can't like, why play that game?
It's going to be completely oversaturated. No one's really going to be hearing anything that they haven't heard a hundred times before, like it's, how AI works essentially just it's consolidating all of the information that's already out there and riffing on that, so it's going to start feeling very repetitive, very, basic, very info heavy and quite boring for people. The more human competencies that can shine through the emotions, the storytelling, the connection, the personality, the more people will gravitate towards your content. It's going to be very hard to become someone's favorite content creator in 2025, in my opinion, by just sharing information and tips, it's going to be very important to have that human connection.
Now human connection doesn't mean exposing who you are, crying on camera, talking about your private life. Human connection is just being as you as possible, which people find ridiculously difficult because they haven't learned to be them and found their voice yet on content. But really, the more you do it and the more you show up and the more you show those glimmers of your personality, the better it's going to be.
Okay. So for most. Of the points that i'm going to share today there's a massive driver from there okay and it's like this has been happening for a while you've heard me say it before but people don't need more information we can learn how to do anything we can get chat gpt pulled together a workout plan for us we can go on youtube and curate a beautiful playlist of you know how to get your splits videos like we've got the information But what people are lacking is that transformation actually doing it and what makes human beings actually do things.
It's that they feel inspired. They, are called into action. They've had a fire lit up their ass or in momentum. They're being taught how to not just learn the how, but to actually implement it and so on and so forth. And so that's where we come in as coaches, as educators, as human beings to help other humans achieve their goals.
We all have the information we need to do anything, right? If you want to stop drinking, go vegan, lose weight, like whatever it is, you know how. You do know how, right? The principles are out there. It's the doing it that people are craving and people are lacking, right? And that's where we can also help in our content because we can move people, we can make them feel something.
So the first lever that I want you to implement in 2025, that's going to really explode your social media growth is storytelling. And I know that's a buzzword right now. Let's talk about what it actually means. Okay. Storytelling, everyone's saying that 2025 is the year of stories, but why stories work because humans are wired for story from an evolution perspective.
Think about it. For hundreds of thousands of years, humans evolved to transmit knowledge, to transmit skills, to transmit emotions through an oral culture, through stories. When you're looking at some of the oldest cave paintings in the world, tens of thousands Of years old, you've got storytelling drawn on the walls, stories of hunting and gathering stories of trials and tribulations stories.
And when stories are told chemicals like cortisol oxytocin, they're released in the brain. And it not only helps us to retain information and to make emotional connections, but it allows us to experience genuine empathy. It elicits this emotional response. And as a side, a report from Harvard University found that 90%, 9 0 percent of purchasing decisions are made subconsciously and based on emotional connection.
We knew that, right? People make emotional purchasing decisions but try to justify it with logic. So storytelling creates a sense of emotion, empathy, connection, me too, relatability, and massive trust. And it also helps massively with dwell time or watch time because people become invested. They want to know what happened.
Humans are innately nosy. What happened next? We want to know how the story ends. Starting to infuse storytelling and storytelling principles into your content can come in many different forms. Okay. It can come in the way that you. You just modify your hook slightly or paint visuals or even using actual storytelling framework.
So I'm going to cover all of these right now. So the first step when you're thinking about hooks or titles for your content, YouTube video titles or hooks for your reels or whatever that looks like. You can already humanize your content and add a bit more of storytelling into the hooks. Okay.
So instead of saying how to make money selling digital products, you can say four months ago, I started my digital product business and here's how I made my first three K. Okay. So storytelling, bringing people on a journey of where you're at now, a journey of your past. It can be as simple as changing a hook that was, tips for new parents to the 3 a.
m. newborn screaming match that taught me the most valuable parenting lesson. Or instead of, welcome to my workout routine, what about how I went from couch potato to marathon runner in six months. And some of the mistakes I made along the way. Okay, do you see how it starts to feel like you're drawing people in through your lived experience?
Not just giving them the tips, but showing them how you know that those tips work. And extra points if You can use language or terms that attract in your ideal person, right? So instead of welcome to the day in the life, what about welcome to the day in the life of a Latina, small business owner selling handmade products on Shopify, if you are targeting Latina woman who wants to.
Sell their own handmade products as their side hustle or as their business. That's a great way to hook people in. That's telling the story, but it's also bringing the people who are like you into the picture. It's also a good challenge to, to paint more powerful visuals when it comes to storytelling.
It's I want you to be able to give such explicit visuals and paint such colourful visuals for people that they can actually imagine, okay? So instead of saying, I was broke, what about, I was broke living in a tiny studio and Googling how to sell my blood plasma, right? Details, metaphors, analogies as well work really well.
Using those kinds of tools, it's like this. No, just a rocket ship takes 50 percent of its fuel just for takeoff, I knew, da, so using tools like that, or again, instead of just saying I was in a dark place, saying, I hadn't showered all week, living like a troll, surrounded by empty chip packets, leftover tie and the shame of stalking my ex on Facebook.
Obviously, we have to balance this with time. If you're creating the 60, 90 second video, you're not going to be telling extensive, long winded, fluffy stories and using going over the top as if it's a piece of complex poetry. But just little infusions like this and potent moments and the hook and an example can really bring it to life.
And then we've got the literal storytelling structures, the way to structure your entire videos as well, which you can use. I'll give you a couple of examples. I've got about, I think, 40 inside Empire era, but just a couple. So the first one is called the epiphany. And this starts with backstory. So you start with your personal story background, you establish that context and relatability.
So where were you? What, what was going on for you? Then. Desire. You want to describe the goal or desire that you were striving for before you had an epiphany. So where you were at and what you wanted. And of course you want to use language and emotions that reflect into your ideal person that you're trying to speak to.
Struggle. Outline the challenges and struggles that you faced while trying to achieve your desire. Okay. So every good story has tension. It has a struggle point. It has, Challenge a roadblock like we like to see people overcome things. Okay. So what were the specific challenges and struggles again? You want them to relate back to what your person's currently going through then the epiphany the moment or realizational breakthrough that change your perspective and approach.
The change, how that led to a transformation in your actions or your mindset, somehow the results that you got from that change. So highlight the positive outcomes or benefits that you experienced as a result of this change. And then the application, encouraging your audience to apply the insights or the lessons learned from your journey to their own journey.
Okay. So that's a beautiful storytelling structure. The epiphany, another one struggle straight. What are some struggles your ideal client is facing right now? And what are some of the things that you've overcome that are similar to the struggles that your ideal current client is currently facing? Okay.
So if you don't have specific examples, you can leverage past client transformations or other people, or in your life, even public figures that you've witnessed it, you've observed that represent where they are today. Okay. Some people do a great job of this, even using like movie characters and things like that.
I think it's ideal if you can use your own story or someone that you know, or a client, but right, it can still work. So paint the picture. Where were you at? What were you faced with? It's were you at a rock bottom? Were you at a low point? What was going on? And then concretely, what are, for example, three things or five things that you did to overcome those things, to get out of that place?
And for each thing that you list, like what happened. Once you implemented it, I did this and then this was the change. And then I did this and this was the change. And then I did this and I did this was your chain. And then what happened once that you, once you had implemented all of those things and overcame the struggles, what were the results?
Where are you at today? Okay. So it's like basically a point A to point B with some steps in the middle there. So that's another good one to relate back to your person. Okay. So there are loads of storytelling frameworks that exist. I've come up with my own custom ones personally for. Educators coaches, but there are some also generic ones that we can recommend people look into, like the hero's journey, like the typical Pixar storytelling framework, like there are a lot of storytelling frameworks that you could get into and just read about at least to start thinking about how to structure your actual content delivery.
Specificity: Speaking to Your Core Audience
Moving away from storytelling, although it is quite related in some ways, but the next thing that's really going to blow up your content in 2025 is specificity, getting laser focused on one person. Okay, so in empire era, we teach you how to speak to your core audience and then within that core audience.
So these are people who might be generally. Interested in what you have to say, but there are different levels of readiness. Some of them are very much ready. Some of them are just learning about it, but quite into it. And some of them are only just discovering it. But you have this core audience that are made up of different profiles and not completely different profiles, but different profiles in terms of the same kind of person that you're targeting, but different readiness and different mindset right now, right?
They need different things. But out of the people who are ready and wanting to work with you and are keen, you've got what we call your main character client, the person that is your dream client, the person who is in your audience right now, so excited to work with you, willing to pay you what you're worth and just get into it and change their lives, okay?
And so we create everything, our offers, our content for this person. You want to get wildly specific and speaking to this person hyper relevant examples and keywords that your main character client can understand and relate to. And when you're sharing things like hooks, you want to reflect back what they want.
Okay. So if you have a channel, that's all around becoming smarter. There are channels like this that are dedicated to meta learning, learning faster, better memory retention, becoming smarter, quote unquote, by being able to better, input, retain, recall information. Instead of a video that says seven tips for becoming smarter, Maybe you've done lots of market research and you've been chatting to your person and really listening to them and hearing what they want and what they truly desire.
And they keep saying that one of the reasons they want to become smarter is because they want to become a more interesting person. They want to be that interesting person who can chat to anyone about anything. And so instead of a video title saying seven tips for becoming smarter, it could say something like seven tips for becoming smarter and becoming smarter.
The most interesting person in the room, for example. Okay. So reflecting back what they want, what they've told you that they want using their language. Okay. And another thing around specificity, and this is, this is in your everywhere, this is in your messaging and your emails, and your website and your whatever, but you want to get crystal clear on how your transformation feels on the other side for your person.
And it's in that language and that specificity of the description that people are going to say, yes, this is what I need and this is the person for me. So instead of saying, feel more confident as a mum, you would say something like, look, instead of begrudgingly letting it slide the next time granny wants to give them the iPad and treat them to a McDonald's soft serve cone yet again on the way home, and telling yourself, One time won't hurt, I should just back off.
When you know damn it's not this one time, it's much bigger than this small instance, you're going to actually be able to say no, they can't have that. End of discussion. Like imagine being so grounded in your decisions as a mum that you don't even feel the need to defend them. And as for what other people think, especially your in laws, none of your business.
Do you see how speaking to someone in that way, it's like oozing its personality, it's conviction, it's brand voice and it's really clear of what this, like what this community is about, what this content is going to be about and what your offer is about. Same thing for careers, right? So many career coaches use the words stuck, stagnant, lost, unfulfilled, right?
I'm guilty of it. I use that language too. When I was, like it's, I get it because that those are the words to some extent that people use sometimes to describe. How they feel. Okay. Especially because I've read it elsewhere and they're like, I think it's lost is what I'm feeling. Cool. Got it. But what does that mean?
Because you can feel lost and unfulfilled in a relationship. You can feel lost and unfulfilled at work. You can feel lost with your finances. You can feel unfulfilled in your friendships. Lost and unfulfilled is such a generic state. Such a generic state. Instead of just using vague, generic descriptors like that, I want you to be able to speak to your client like this, or your core audience like this, who will eventually become your client.
Being able to write content that says something like, You've been working your ass off your whole career for something you don't even like that much. Gaslighting yourself that it's fine, you should be grateful, it's gonna get better, when? All because you're scared. You're scared of the judgment, you're scared of the justification, you're scared of rejection.
But you're not that person who can just suck it up and spend 40 hours a week doing something that doesn't matter to you. You need your life to mean more than that. You are an empathetic, highly sensitive soul, so when the energy's off, it's soul destroying for you. You see the difference, right? It's a lot more powerful than, are you feeling lost and unfulfilled?
And if you're saying to yourself I can't speak like that. I can't write like that. I would say back to you, like you haven't listened hard enough. In empire era, I get my students to have hours of market research calls. To go onto the internet, like a detective, like a sleuth, and find their language, find what they're saying, see how it feels, how it truly feels, and validate that through real life conversations with human beings.
You can't tell me you want to be a coach and you want to work with people and help people if you're too scared to even talk to them. You need to converse with these human beings. How can you help them? We do a lot of work so that actually writing like this is easy. In fact, you've got too many words and too much language to use because you've actually intentionally listened and noted down exactly what these people are going through.
Building Values-Driven Communities
And the third big shift that I want to highlight today is around community, but values driven communities. Okay. So not just, I'm going to post some funny memes and have, a community online of 500, 000 followers who don't know who I am, but we all laugh at the same memes, like not. Values driven communities, and that will require you as the personal brand, as the thought leader, as the authority to be very loud and clear about what you stand for, what you believe in, what you reject from the status quo, from the norm, from what other people are doing.
You need to create a rally cry around what you do. Like for badass careers, it's not just Hey, get a job. It's I'm so sick of seeing top tier talent, smart, bright goal, getting people underemployed, stagnant, and their potential wasting away in companies that don't appreciate them, the world. Needs good people making an impact and working hard like the world needs help, right?
We've got so many things that need to shift and yet we've got all of these talented wonderful humans Trapped in roles. They don't like they're underpaid and they're feeling miserable And what if we can lift these people out and put them into roles that appreciated them that paid them that allow them to fly Imagine the ripple effect on them and their mental health, on their family, on society, on the company it's just win let's get incredible purpose driven people into aligned roles.
And it's a very different vibe, okay? It's also been brave enough to say, hey. Those resume writers trying to fearmonger you about the ATS. It's a money grab. Do not trust them. That's not right. I'm standing for what's right. It will piss people off. You have to be able to piss people off. You have to tell your people what not to believe.
You have to one of the ways, let's actually take that example, one of the ways you can create a really strong community is having a villain in the story or a set of villains, okay? Just thinking about this account that I saw the other day, it's a community around women who have decided not to have children.
Okay. So it's like a child free account and it can be so simple. It can be like creating a video. And I saw this video, she said, 10 reasons why I love not having children as a 34 year old woman. And it's number one, pissing off the conservative men of the world. And guess what? Then they're in the comments and that kind of stuff.
By having a villain. Like every good story has a villain, right? Who is Batman without the Joker? By having a villain, it can represent very quickly and easily. What you reject, what you stand against, like conservative men that want trad wives and have 10 children, like they're the embodiment of what we're not.
You'll see Tori Dunlap from her first 100k does this all the time. She uses Dave Ramsey. If you just scroll her content honestly for five minutes you'll probably find three mentions already to Dave Ramsey. For her I feel like he represents the old white man who has very conservative financial advice around saving and being frugal and not enjoying your money.
And because she Preaches the opposite of that. She's always nigging on him. She's always calling Dave out and it creates. A thing in the community that's just one way you can do it, but there are many different ways that you can create a very strongly. Like tight knit communities strongly driven by values and beliefs that you all share and that's also when you become like the one person they want to work with because yeah other people are offering the same service but not in your way so it's super powerful so if you can work on that.
Improving those three big shifts. If you can infuse more storytelling, be more specific than anyone else, and share values, beliefs, convictions that your community rallies around, you are going to be streaks ahead and you're going to blow up. And yes, that might come in the form of followers. But it will absolutely and most importantly as business owners come in the form of sales because you will become the no brainer option for your human for your main character client.
So let me know which of these you are most excited to implement. Come over to the DMs over at badass empires underscore and say hi. And let me know what you learned from this episode. And I would love to hear some requests from you as well, because I have got a juicy podcast plan for this year. However, I want to know what you want to hear from me because I've got lots to teach on and I want to have requests, honestly, request an episode.
I'll probably honour it for you. So might as well give it a shot. So if you can think of anything that you would like me to develop a mini audio training on just like this, you let me know. Otherwise, keep the momentum high, keep building that empire badass. I can't wait to see where you are by the end of this year and otherwise, thanks for listening.
Thanks for being here. Stay badass and I will see you in the next episode. Bye!
