How to Turn Everyday Moments Into Stories That Sell

Do you know how many great stories are happening around you that you’re not even noticing? In this episode, Chris and I talk about why storytelling is one of the biggest differences between people who are remembered, followed, and paid and everyone else. We break down what we’ve seen from hundreds of podcast guests, why relatable everyday moments can be more powerful than your biggest accomplishments, and how I’m learning to notice and turn my own experiences into stories. Tune in to learn why stories don’t write themselves and how telling yours can help people connect with you and want more of what you have to offer. Check out our Sponsors: Shopify - Launch your business before Black Friday, go to http://shopify.com/happy to start your free trial. Monarch Money - Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off at http://Monarch.com with code EYH. Northwest Registered Agent - Visit http://northwestregisteredagent.com/EarnFree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Fabric - Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes at http://meetfabric.com/EARN. Meetfabric.com/EARN. Quince - Find the fall pieces you’ll reach for most at Quince. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns and when Quince asked how you heard about them, let them know it was here on Earn Your Happy. Gloss Genius - Run a business that takes appointments? Use code HAPPY at https://glossgenius.com/earnyourhappy for 50% off your first two months of a premium plan. Faire - Sign up today and get 50% off your first wholesale order, up to $100 at https://faire.com/happy50. Terms may apply. Life at the Speed of Play - Go to http://getmarksbook.com/earn to get two copies for the price of one—one for you and one for a friend. HIGHLIGHTS What I have learned from 1,000+ podcast interviews about memorable storytellers. How Rob Murgatroyd turned Florence stories into a thriving business. The little neighborhood moment that made me want to be a better “day maker.” Why your biggest accomplishments aren’t always your best stories. The storytelling exercise Chris gave Found Trip guests to capture their best moments. RESOURCES DM me “VIP” on Instagram to apply for my VIP Podcast Experience Get on the waitlist for Mentor Collective Mastermind HERE! Try glōci for 40% off your first order with code HAPPY at checkout - head to getgloci.com FOLLOW Follow me: @loriharder Follow Chris: @chriswharder Follow glōci: @getgloci

• 0:01Speaker 00

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• 0:43Speaker 00

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• 1:20Speaker 00

  Okay, whenever I'm traveling, I love to skip like the main mall of the town and I like to hunt down all of those little shops on the corner where the locals love to go where all the good stuff is. So candles made by local people, a sweatshirt with the town's name on it, hot sauce made 20 minutes away and the owner knows everybody's name. And I've also been on the other side of that shelf because I built a product from scratch and I'll never forget, the first independent store who believed in it enough to put it on their shelves. Big box stores sell stuff, but small shops tell a story about people. So if you own one of those shops, you need to know about FAIRE. FAIRE is a B2B marketplace that makes it easy

• 2:04Speaker 00

  for independent retailers to stock products from over 100,000 unique brands worldwide. It's perfect for planning your holiday inventory right now. Unique quality products are what get new customers through your door and keep your regulars coming back. Plus eligible retailers get 60 day interest free payment terms and free returns on your first order with every brand. So testing something new feels less risky. Sign up today and get 50% off your first wholesale order up to $100 at F A I R E.com/happy50. That's F A I R E.com/happy50. Terms may apply. I want to get better at storytelling and I want to be able to teach it really deeply because

• 2:49Speaker 00

  that is the number one thing that I have seen that is the difference between the people who get paid the most out in the world. And so it's the noticing of the stories in your life. And by me even noticing that story in my life, it created a more meaningful day for me and made me want to create more meaning in my life as well.

• 3:15Speaker 01

  And we're back.

• 3:16Speaker 00

  For another episode of He Said, She Said.

• 3:18Speaker 01

  I think that's the first time you kind of changed it up. It's usually like, yeah, with another and you're like for another. I like it.

• 3:24Speaker 00

  Yeah, I didn't know what I was gonna say because I was like, I forgot what I say. Do you know how many episodes I have and intros to different things?

• 3:31Speaker 01

  How many episodes have you done? Seventeen hundred?

• 3:34Speaker 00

  Seventeen hundred.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  Okay, real talk. In those 1700 episodes where you've done interviews, probably half of them, right?

• 3:42Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 3:42Speaker 01

  Okay, more than half of them, actually.

• 3:44Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  So let's call it 1,000 interviews.

• 3:47Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 3:47Speaker 01

  How many of those guests were actually really good storytellers?

• 3:51Speaker 00

  I was actually just talking about this because I have learned that what makes someone memorable is because they tell stories when they teach.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 4:02Speaker 00

  And so what I can tell you is that majority of them are forgettable and I feel terrible saying that. But I have had podcasts where I can't even remember who I interviewed the week before. And even though I think that they were awesome people, even though they might have taught something good, there is a difference between people who are memorable and get followed and get paid and get customers. And the main difference is being a great storyteller.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  You know, it comes to mind right away when you say that? Rob Murgatroyd.

• 4:34Speaker 00

  Yep, I talk about him all the time. Just talk about him.

• 4:36Speaker 01

  Sixty years old.

• 4:36Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 4:37Speaker 01

  Has become TikTok famous. He has no storytelling, you know, background or, or formal training, but he's a natural good storyteller because he cares about telling good stories. And he's become the most interesting man in the world. And what is the business effect of this? He and his wife, Kim, dear friends of ours, they moved from Manhattan Beach, California, seven years ago now, seven years ago, to Florence, Italy. And they said, well, we got to make a living, right? They had some other incomes that were coming in, but they're like, we got to make a living. I know, let's do trips for people that want to come over and experience Italy. And in order to fill those trips, he started going

• 5:19Speaker 01

  around Florence with his phone and just telling stories about things from the perspective of an American that just moved there. Oh my gosh, this bread, look at how fresh it is. Oh my gosh, this wonderful bottle of wine, look how inexpensive it is because it comes right here from the hills. Oh my gosh, did you know that these soap stores are set up this way and they're 1,000 years old? And like, he just tells stories. And one by one, story by story, people started to recognize him. And one by one, story by story, he started going viral and then more viral and then more viral, to the point now where he can't walk around Florence, this is not exaggeration, without two, three, four, five, as many as 10 people stopping him. Matter of fact, they even had to train their, their daughter, Sophia,

• 6:05Speaker 01

  because she didn't want to be in the pictures when people stop them. So they trained her, okay, the minute someone stops dad, all you have to do is say, here, give me your phone, I'll take a picture. So she could be the one taking a picture. Like that's how, how, how recognized he got. But guess what the end result was as a business person? They now launch a trip, they typically take 15 to 20 people per trip, and it sells out, not in days, not in hours, now in minutes. It now sells out in minutes because he became such a good storyteller. And it's not about building a big audience. This is where people need to get it. You can't have a big audience and think you're just going to sell a lot. It's because he tells the story so good that people feel romanticized and they want

• 6:47Speaker 01

  to experience this visceral feeling that he's giving them when he tells the story and they say, okay, it's like a drug. I just got, I tasted it. Now I want, you know, more and more. And that's what a good story does.

• 6:59Speaker 00

  Stories give meaning to our life. And so there are a million stories going on around you at all times. In fact, every single day of your life, there is an incredible story that happens that you don't even realize because you're not looking at from that point of view. And so the best storytellers in the world take these insignificant moments in their day and they make them the big moments. So the little things become the big things. And the reason that these are actually the best stories that work and that sell is because they're relatable. You might've had something extremely traumatic happen. You might've had something incredible happen. You might've won an insane award that most people never win. You might've exited your company for hundreds of millions of dollars. And while

• 7:44Speaker 00

  those are really cool things that people like to hear, the stories that people love to hear that actually convert the highest are the most relatable stories. So for example, I just told a story about two puppies in our neighborhood. And recently, a couple had moved into a house and we saw all the boxes stacked up in the windows and there were two dogs that come running out, a puppy golden retriever and a puppy pointer. And they're, you can't even handle the cuteness. It's just all this fur and cuteness coming up and they jump up with their paws over the gate and our, our dogs are sniffing them and they're sniffing our dogs. And all of a sudden, we look to the right of the gate and there's this box overflowing with dog toys.

• 8:27Speaker 01

  Outside the gates.

• 8:28Speaker 00

  Outside the gate, there's ropes, there's stuffies, there's balls and our dogs spot it and they sniff it and they dive in for their treasures. And what we know about our dogs is that we can buy them all the toys in the world, but if they find a treasure on their walk, it quickly becomes their favorite toy that they obsess over. So they dive in and they each grab a toy. We try not to let them grab too many toys. They each grab a toy. And in that small moment, Chris and I had just our day completely made. Like it was the cutest thing we've ever seen. We're snuggling this other person's dogs and petting them. Our dogs get toys. They're having a great time. They're kind of playing through

• 9:09Speaker 00

  the fence. And I had this moment of somebody in this neighborhood decided to be a daymaker for other people. Now, the neighbor didn't even come out.

• 9:19Speaker 01

  Nope.

• 9:20Speaker 00

  They have these moments that literally was probably one of the happiest moments I've had in a while. They're having people have these moments every single day, multiple times a day, outside of their gate without even knowing they're happening because they just want to be a daymaker in the neighborhood. And so what happened to me after that moment is I started thinking about my life differently. I thought, I want to be a really good community member like that. And I think sometimes when we think we have to be this great community member, it's these big ways, right? Like you have to do these really significant things where the people who are on our walks are bringing us so many moments of joy by putting dog treats out on their patio.

• 10:00Speaker 00

  Or putting dog toys out in a basket. And it made me think about how we can do this in small ways and become a daymaker. And so that was a story that I didn't even think to tell you guys until I started reading this book called Storyworthy, where, because I want to get better at storytelling and I want to be able to teach it really deeply, because that is the number one thing that I have seen. That is the difference between the people who get paid the most on my podcast. And so who are getting paid the most out in the world. And so it's the noticing of the stories in your life. And by me even noticing that story in my life, it created a more meaningful day for me and made me want to create more meaning in my life as well.

• 10:44Speaker 01

  Okay, so I had no idea that that was your perspective on storytelling, but I just got done running the found trip. And if you remember, the whole point of a found trip is, you know, found is where you can come find the bigger version of yourself. Because found gives you unmatched founder access, unbelievable and sometimes uncomfortable experiences that'll allow you to come home with better stories worth telling and new ideas worth pursuing. And so at the end of the trip on last day, we have a whole day called set cool goals, right? And I told them, I said, guys, remember what the promise of a found trip is. It ends in allowing you to come home with better stories worth telling and new ideas worth pursuing. Except stories don't write themselves.

• 11:24Speaker 00

  No.

• 11:24Speaker 01

  And then I repeated that. I said, let that sink in. Stories don't write themselves. You guys just met a billionaire TV famous founder. You guys just did the longest, tallest, fastest zip lines, probably you've ever done in your life. Definitely the tallest, fastest, longest in the US here. You guys just had bonfire dinners by the water. You guys just had life-changing conversations. You guys just went to a winery and met a pro athlete that bought the winery and turned it into number one winery in San Onofre Valley. Like, I reminded them of all the things they did. Oh, duh. You guys just had a nineties day, which was a totally phone-free day for the whole day where they all gave up their phones so that they could just be present and have fun.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  And so I said, you guys had all these events, but the events are not stories until you script them into stories. And so we literally took some time and they recorded the events first. I gave my memory jogger. I said, I'm going to walk you through the whole agenda, everything we did. And I want you to write down events that could be stories. And then the second part of the assignment was, okay, now I want you to write down notes that turn them into a story. Because stories don't write themselves. And otherwise, what would happen? They would have gone on this trip and they would have told everyone, it's the coolest trip ever. It was amazing. I did some ziplining and I met Rob Dyrdek, this really cool founder. And I met Matt McKinney, this pro athlete turned founder, and I met cool people, but they wouldn't tell stories.

• 12:53Speaker 01

  And being able to tell stories is how you enroll people in caring about you and your life. And when you enroll people in caring about you and your life, suddenly they care about buying from you. And that is the point of becoming a great storyteller. Add value to other people's life by being a great storyteller. And they will want to invest in more value from you. And so by doing that exercise of, hey, guys, stories don't write themselves. And actually having them form their stories based on everything that happened that week. They're now walking away with that promise of better stories to tell. Therefore, they will be more interesting founders. Therefore, they will have better ideas and they will absolutely make more money, whether they're on a podcast, whether they're talking to a customer. Who knows? Who knows when you're going to pull these stories out and use them? But it's about practicing them and knowing them.

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• 16:22Speaker 00

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• 17:45Speaker 01

  Now, you've had people come on your podcast, like we started this out with.

• 17:48Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 17:49Speaker 01

  And in a thousand interviews, you said, most haven't been memorable, like no diss. But we're talking about who can you actually remember was a good storyteller? You never gave me a number. So I have a thousand interviews. Do you think it's 100 that were good storytellers? Do you think it's 50?

• 18:02Speaker 00

  Maybe 50.

• 18:04Speaker 01

  Maybe.

• 18:04Speaker 00

  Maybe 25, if I'm being honest.

• 18:06Speaker 01

  Okay. So guys, out of a thousand interviews, not to say they weren't good interviews, but 25 to 50 were actually good storytellers. And I know the good storytellers, they walked away with $25,000 in purchases from your podcast. They walked away with $50,000, $60,000 in purchases from your audience. They walked away with six figures in purchases over the next couple of weeks from your audience. Like, we have real proof that because they're a good storyteller, they walked away with a ton of money from being on one show. And what happens when they do that on five shows?

• 18:40Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 18:40Speaker 01

  On 10 shows, on 20 shows.

• 18:42Speaker 00

  Exactly. So I'm really excited, you guys, because I actually have one spot that I wasn't even going to open for the public at all. But I am offering a VIP spot on my podcast. And I will tell you that I launched this off of the back end of million dollar guest, which is my offer on helping people monetize podcasting. So get paid by going on other people's podcasts. And what it is, is it's a full day in-person workshop with only four people here in Newport Beach. And then we go to a beautiful dinner that night. And the next day is a full podcast episode for you.

• 19:25Speaker 01

  An individual one.

• 19:26Speaker 00

  An individual podcast episode for you, where during the workshop day, we workshop your entire podcast. So obviously this is not for everyone. I actually want somebody who already knows kind of what offer they would be offering on there. And we also send you some homework to do prep work so that our workshop day is used really, really well so that you are dialed in for the podcast. This is an application process. It is an experience that is obviously going to push you to your edge in the best way possible. But it can be a life-changing experience for you if you really understand how to use this, like these other guests that we were just talking about.

• 20:06Speaker 00

  So that is in November and I have one spot left. It was full, but the person can no longer make the date. So I'm opening it up and hope to fill it literally from this podcast. So just DM me on Instagram, the word VIP, and I will send you the application and we can start talking there.

• 20:25Speaker 01

  When is it? What month?

• 20:26Speaker 00

  In November.

• 20:27Speaker 01

  Okay. So in November, you'd be coming out to Newport Beach, California with just three other people.

• 20:32Speaker 00

  And the other people are awesome. I literally.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  So it's like a built-in mastermind, basically. You're probably going to get new relationships. But more importantly, you're going to spend the whole day with Lori scripting out and practicing your story and your conversion plan. And then they get to be on your show by themselves the next morning.

• 20:47Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 20:48Speaker 01

  Okay. Freaking best thing on the whole wide world. This probably was a million bucks.

• 20:52Speaker 00

  What's that?

• 20:52Speaker 01

  Is it a million bucks to be on?

• 20:54Speaker 00

  It's a million dollars.

• 20:55Speaker 01

  Yes, exactly. Just kidding. It's worth a million dollars. All you have to do is go DM Lori on her Instagram, VIP. She'll send you the application because it's application only because she has to control the quality of her show. But go to Lori and DM her VIP. She'll send you the application, fill it out. And it's probably, what do they call it? Kismet or serendipitous? That the date didn't work out for the fourth person because someone listening right now.

• 21:17Speaker 00

  It might be you.

• 21:17Speaker 01

  Yeah. They're like, I need this opportunity to have momentum going into 2027. If this is recording in November and coming out in early 2027, then that could be like the one thing that slingshots their year.

• 21:28Speaker 00

  Yes, I love it. I can't wait. I hope I get to meet you and spend the day with you. Truly, these three other people that are coming are so fun, so brilliant. And don't get me wrong, everybody's nervous, guys. So, you know, not everybody is, you're, even if you're ready for this, I promise you're probably not going to feel 100% ready, but that is what the pre-homework and the workshop is for. So I feel really, really, I feel really solid in getting you ready if I vet you for sure. So if I say that you're ready, you're ready.

• 21:58Speaker 01

  In other words, you're not going to take a penny from them unless you know they're going to.

• 22:00Speaker 00

  Exactly. I've already turned down quite a few people because they're just not ready yet, but I'll, I'll take them next year.

• 22:05Speaker 01

  That's why you're a class hack, babe. All right, guys, go DM Lori, VIP. Be on her show, kick off your 2027 right. Meet some other cool people, have dinner. I mean, that's the coolest offer ever. All right, guys, thanks for listening. Go learn to tell good stories. They don't write themselves. The events happen, but you have to write the story.

• 22:22Speaker 00

  And we'll see you next week.