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Julie Barnes Interview: Branding Through Storytelling

Therese Johnson interviews Julie Barnes, “brand story strategist”, about the importance of storytelling to set one’s self apart in one’s marketplace. Eldercare professionals are no different in this regard than any other business. Senior caregivers should tell their story to become more deeply rooted in their local senior caregiving marketplace.

Senior Care of Sacramento CEO, Therese Johnson, with host Jim Chong, on her Money 105.5 FM “Senior Moments” radio show.

Interview Transcript

Jim Chong: Welcome back and Tammy, I cannot wait for your house section this coming up. I know you have a very special guest and, you know before then, gosh, I keep forgetting what this moment called? This is called senior moments. I must be having my junior moment coz I’m not quite a senior, right? I’m turning 30 again. But I’d like to go ahead and introduce just an incredible individual, the sponsor of this section. She is from, the, where you from?

Therese Johnson: Auburn, hah hah hah…

Jim Chong: Hah, hah, hah… alright, I had to fool her! Senior Care of Sacramento, alright, there she is. No, I had to do that. I just, but we’re on Senior Moments, of course, and this person,
Therese Johnson, is a phenomenal individual that helps many people find placements for their love ones, and she highly recommends Gladding Ridge, a living community, you’ve heard about that. But this time, I’m going to go ahead and turn over this to Therese coz she has a very special guest. And, stories drive everything. And this person is going to really educate us on how your story can really make a difference and impact on the world. Therese.

Therese Johnson: Thanks Jim. Must be catching, I had a senior moments there. So, yeah, I want to talk to our caregiving managers. The caregivers out there that are managing their mom and dad, their loves ones, with care today. Some of them are like myself. I was taking care of my mom all last year, but now, this year, my sister is taking care of her, so we can share the duties. Even though my sister’s doing the hands on care, I’m doing, helping with some of the pain, dealing with the insurance and that kind of thing. So, if you’re splitting the duties but you’re still managing, I want to give you a quick tip. Since its tax time, a lot of caregivers aren’t unaware of this, even if you’re not doing the hands on, you can still qualify for a thousand dollar annual tax deduction for being a caregiver or being caregiver manager. So keep that in mind. And, also, one of the things that I used to do when I had a care home, was I used to encourage my families to record their loves one’s story, or a little bit about their background. And its really nice for their great grandchildren, who are really young and may not be around to get to know great grandma, so, and there are services out there that actually will help with that and recording that for you or putting it down on paper with photos and everything. But, also, the importance of storytelling is also very viable for our caregiver managers. If you’re a business women out there, and working full time, and managing your love ones care, it’s important to have your story down. And that bring us our guest today. I have here with us Julie Barnes, hi Julie.

Julie Barnes: Hi, thanks for having me.

Therese Johnson: Our pleasure. So, Julie Barnes is a brand story strategist, and a founder of Your Story Gold. She works with entrepreneurs and small business owners to give their business an identity through story. She is an award-winning entrepreneur and international bestselling author, advocate for change, certified coach, and a blogger for the Huffington Post. So, Julie, tell me, what happens to your brain while listening to a story?

Julie Barnes: Well, I won’t get too geeky on you, but this one of my favorite aspects of storytelling, but it’s really interesting on how the brain really lights up when it hears story. As opposed to, if you’re sitting a corporate board room, watching a slideshow that’s full of statistics; when you walk out of the meeting, very few people remember what they’ve heard because they kind of tuned out, because it’s boring. When you infuse a story and aspects of that, the people will walk away remembering different parts of that. So it’s really important to use a story because, also, when you think about the people that you meet, and the people that you remember meeting, when you reflect back it was a story that they told you, and that’s why you remember them.

Therese Johnson: So, why is it important to brand you and your business with a story?
Julie Barnes: Your story really makes you unique in the marketplace, and when you infuse different elements of your story, whether that’s why you started your business, something you overcame in life that you are using to inspire your audience and market, or maybe it’s a hobby. Your story is what connects with your target market, and really set you apart from any of the other people like you in your business. So, in a sense, you really have no competition.

Therese Johnson: Awesome. So, how does your story boost your credibility and create trust with your target market?

Julie Barnes: Well, when you use your story in the things that you been through, maybe it’s the things that you been through and overcome starting your business or in life. For example, if you’re a life coach, people really will connect with that and it really boosts and edifies your credibility, because they see what you been through in life as well.

Therese Johnson: So what’s the story behind your story gold?

Julie Barnes: Well, my story is, I used to go out and do a lot of networking, and I still do, and I would, for example, go to Chambers and people would stand up and, for example, say “I’m Jane Doe and I’m a Realtor,” really like a cold business transaction introduction. And when I would go around and introduce myself to them, and speak with them, I would hear the most amazing stories of things they were doing in life or why they started their business. And I would always leave wondering why they are not using that story in their business. And then it really dawned on me, one day, that your story is really your gold, and that’s what connects with your target audience. And I’m also a writer, so I love the story aspect, and it’s really profound how your story can really make an impact on someone’s life and business. You never knew whose life is changing by simple telling your story.

Therese Johnson: What inspired you to tell your story?

Julie Barnes: I know the impact that our stories can make in peoples’ lives. I always like to say “You never know whose life that you’re gonna change that day. There’s some people that may like your story, there some people will love your story, and then there’s one person in the audience that will walk out that room that day, and it will impact their life in a greater way that people never know, simple by being courageous to share your story.

Therese Johnson: That’s awesome. So, what I’m hear you saying is, “You want to connect to your humanity.”

Julie Barnes: Exactly, be authentic, yes.

Therese Johnson: So, if you are interested, if you’re a business entrepreneur out there and your’re interested in fine tuning your story, you can contact Julie at her website www.YourStoryGold.com or on social media: Julie Barnes Live, and that’s J U L I E, or at Julie@YourStoryGold.com. So, thank you Julie for being here with us today.

Julie Barnes: Thank you for having me, it’s been fun.

Jim Chong: Great. And I know that the Senior Moments, Therese, I know you help a lot of people, and it very exciting to see you bring this whole aspect of storytelling. And so you’re gonna wanna stay tuned here and listen to this great commercial for Senior Care of Sacramento – has some great rhythm.

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