Alright, here we go!
You finally get to focus on you!
I know you’ve been waiting on this one since it gives you the chance to brag about how awesome you are.
I’m just joking. You never need to brag about yourself.
Guides don’t do that and that’s what you need to be for the main character.
The Main Character needs a Guide because without a Guide they can’t transform into who they want to be. If they could do it without a Guide then there wouldn’t be any problems.
The Guide is the person that sees the problems the main character is having and will help them overcome those problems.
In this case, your audience has to see you as that person that will help them move forward.
Expert
I figure I should address this right off the bat because it becomes a huge sticking point for people.
Many people seem to worry about the fact that they aren’t an expert in whatever they are talking about and because of that they shouldn’t be writing about or teaching this stuff to others.
That’s just patently wrong.
In fact, there aren’t many experts in the world and most people actually wouldn’t want to learn from an expert because experts usually have a hard time putting into words the things that you should learn.
It’s called the Curse of Knowledge and it is rough.
Have you ever heard an expert speak? They might as well be speaking Latin to you because everything is spoken at such a high level.
Instead, the Guide is merely someone that is at least one step ahead of the Hero. That one step shows the Hero that at least the Guide has walked the path.
(Pssst, this is why Instagram, YouTube, and blogging can be so powerful. When you share your experiences and the journey that you’re on, it builds a connection with your Hero.)
Think of how many searches you’ve done on Google or YouTube for how to do something. How often do you go and check the credentials of the person to see if they’re an expert?
Just the other day I was doing research on celery juice fasting and I was learning just as much from the non-medical people as I was from the actual doctors.
Why?
Because the non-medical people actually showed what happened to their bodies as they moved along with the celery juice fast. I got to see them take the journey with my own eyes.
And that’s all you need to do.
You just have to show the Hero you have or are currently walking the path.
If you wanted to start a gardening blog but haven’t done a damn thing with gardening you can still talk about it by showing your progress. The ups and downs and everything in-between.
Your audience will appreciate you that much more than if you tried to fake the funk about it all.
Understanding
Have you ever seen a product that everyone seems to jump on and you look around and feel like you’re taking crazy pills because you know that it isn’t the best product?
You can list all of the amazing features of the product to your friends, but they still go with the alternative.
Why?
The alternative understands their story.
People choose the Guide that understands their story.
Music is a great example. Everyone has their specific tastes in music and they can argue with everyone else about how the music they like is the best.
The fact of the matter is the music they like is the music they can relate to the most. They listen to that music because the artists speak to them and show they understand their story.
Have you ever gone to the YouTube comments for an emotional song? Don’t be surprised if you see a comment like this:
This song got me out of a rough patch in life.
People choose the Guide that understands their story.
This is why we started off with trying to identify the Hero and their Problems.
When you know those things then you can better position yourself as a Guide that can help them.
And how do you position yourself as the Guide? Let’s take a look at the next lesson.