About April Adams Pertuis: April Adams Pertuis is the visionary Founder and CEO of LIGHTbeamers, helping mission-driven leaders and entrepreneurs discover their inherent ability to reach people by teaching them how to share their stories so they can create deeper connections and build strategic relationships. When April speaks, audiences discover the power of their own story to create more cohesive communities, build stronger relationships, and attract ideal outcomes. The key message is always “everybody has a story,” which is a powerful beacon used to shine a light on others. April is also a #1 Bestselling Author of 3 compilation books: Elevate Your Voice, Step Into Your Brave, and Shine Your Light, and a host of the top-rated (top 2 %) Podcast, The Inside Story with April Adams Pertuis in 4th year of weekly production. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about April.
In this episode, Nancy and April discuss the following:
- April’s expertise in storytelling across various platforms
- LightBeamers: the origin of her company name
- Methodology behind crafting a compelling story
- Significance of storytelling in business and its impact on audience engagement
- Challenges people face in sharing their stories
- “Little” stories vs. “Big” traumatic stories
Key Takeaways:
- We learn by listening to other people’s stories and how they navigated their choppy waters.
- There is a natural, magical way to share that story in a way that will be light. There are light beamers.
- You’re human, and nobody wants to do business with robots.
- In the digital age of AI, we will do a lot of business with robots in the future.
“It’s innate in who we are and how we’re designed as human beings that storytelling resonates. We tend to learn through storytelling. This is why storytelling has been around since the beginning of time. We can date it back to the caveman days, and that’s how they communicated. They documented their existence by painting in the caves and telling a story. And so, stories do just that, right? They help document our existence. We’ve come a long way since the caveman days, and storytelling is very sophisticated. There are many ways we can utilize storytelling in our communication. We have unlimited ways to do that now in the digital age that we live in. But at the end of the day, it’s still just about connecting with another human being and using storytelling to show that we are all kind of alike.” – APRIL
“The number one soft skill that most business owners overlook or disregard altogether. And it’s what it is really like. I call it a secret weapon in business. This relates to sales, building an audience, and connecting with future and potential clients and existing clients storytelling; we can go so much further with our businesses if we incorporate more storytelling. What performs well on social media is when people, businesses, and the humans behind the business show up and tell real stories. It’s not the marketing, it’s not the sales pages, it’s not even the beautifully crafted testimonials, although testimonials are a form of storytelling. It’s just the human being a human. And so, I always say storytelling is going to be the thing that humanizes your business and will allow you to be seen differently than all the other fish in the water because it will make you unique. This is especially important right now in the world that we’re entering with AI because AI cannot reproduce your story. So we’re going to be bombarded, we are already being bombarded, and I think there’s a place for AI; I’m not poo-pooing it, but we need to be careful not just to use AI, we need to use AI and use storytelling, and when you use storytelling, you’re going to be able to infuse your personality, your own set of values kind of what you stand for, your flavor, you know, your personality. And that will help create conversions in your sales and your conversations; it’s going to bring more people to you and into your audience. It’s going to increase your engagement. All those things that we’re all looking for as business owners.” – APRIL
“I’m a big fan of video because you’re hearing my voice right now on the podcast. You don’t broadcast anywhere on video. So you won’t find me on video listening to this episode. But even just the voice, you can hear my voice and the intonation and the way I have inflection. But if you were to see me on video right now, number one, you would see my face. You will see what I look like. You would see my hand gestures because I’m quite animated when I talk, and I use my hands a lot. And I smile, right? I smile, or if I’m feeling something emotional, I might show a little more emotion in my face. And that allows, as human beings, it allows a visual clue as to who we are as people.” – APRIL
Connect with April Adams Pertuis:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lightbeamers/
- Lightbeamers: https://www.lightbeamers.com/
Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/
Connect with Nancy Calabrese:
- Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsales
- Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/
- Website:https://oneofakindsales.com
- Phone: 908-879-2911
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncalabrese/
- Email: leads@oneofakindsales.com
Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, it’s Nancy Calabrese, and it’s time again for Conversational selling – the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today. And it always starts with the human conversation. Today we’re speaking with April Adams Pertuis, a storytelling specialist helping business leaders expertly tell their story, on stage, in books, on podcasts for social media and engaging an audience in general. April uses all her skills from her 25-plus year career in journalism, video marketing and digital storytelling to teach other people how to craft and deliver their message and find their story. She also teaches other people how to get more comfortable being on camera for video and live streaming on social media. And this includes getting over the fear, learning critical techniques for mastery, and incorporating key storytelling prompts to give you endless ways to show up for your audience and share your message in a way that will connect. Well, everyone loves a good story. So welcome to the show, April. Let’s get started.
April Adams Pertuis: All right, Nancy, thank you so much for having me today. [1:32]
Nancy Calabrese: I am really excited. Why does everybody love a good story?
April Adams Pertuis: Well, you know, it’s innate in who we are and how we’re designed as human beings that storytelling just really resonates. We tend to learn through storytelling. This is why storytelling literally has been around since the beginning of time. I mean, you know, we can date it back to the caveman days and that’s how they communicated. That’s how they documented their existence was by painting on the caves and telling a story. And so, stories really do just that, right? They help document our existence. And today we’ve come a long way since the caveman days and storytelling is very sophisticated now. There’s a lot of ways that we can utilize storytelling and into our communication. We have unlimited ways to do that now with the digital age that we live in. But at the end of the day, it’s still just about connecting with another human being and using storytelling to show that we are all kind of alike. We think as humans, especially in the world we live in today, that we’re all really different and we’re so diverse and in a lot of ways we’re very dissected, if you will. We come in these glumps of people. You’re either Democrat or Republican, right? But really, honestly, we are all so much more alike than we are different and storytelling really highlights that. [3:10]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. Wow. Your company name is LightBeamers. Did that, how did that get created that way? How did you choose it?
April Adams Pertuis: Yes, LightBeamers. Well, that’s a story in itself. That was a time when I was kind of really searching and seeking and asking for guidance from God, really. Just like, you know, I’ve been working in storytelling for a long time. It’s really the only work I’ve ever done. I was a journalist and a video producer and digital storyteller for a very long time in my career. And I loved storytelling, but it got to be… I got to be a spot in my career where I just kind of felt like at the same time I was doing it just for a paycheck and that didn’t feel good to me. I really looked at what I thought. I just kind of asked myself a few key questions. Okay, April, what do you really believe and know to be true about storytelling since you’ve been working in it for over 20, 25 years, now 30? And I just thought, you know, really just what I said earlier, you know, storytelling connects us. It helps us know that we are more alike than we are different. And when you share your story, you innately shine a light for other people. You shine a light to illuminate a way. You know, when we share our experiences and our ups and downs and our journey, we showcase what’s possible for other people. And that’s how others learn. We learn by listening to other people’s stories and how they navigated their own choppy waters. And that whole idea that when we share our story with Shana Light, that was where light beamers came from. It was this idea that I want to go teach more people how to do that. I want to go show them how to share their story in a way that will illuminate the way for other people. Not, a lot of people are dragging around old stories and letting their stories have power over them. And they tend to think that they’re super negative and that there’s no way that story could ever be shared. But that’s actually just not true. There is a real magical way to share that story in a way that will be a light. And so there you go. There’s light beamers. [5:23]
Nancy Calabrese: I love it, I love it. So what is the methodology? I mean, how do you craft a good story?
April Adams Pertuis: Honestly, it’s pretty simple, but it’s not always easy for people because when you’re in your own story, it’s kind of like being in the forest and you can’t see the trees because as humans, we have lots of stories inside of us. And so, you know, a lot of people always ask me, well, how do I know which story to tell, you know? And really the nugget that I would share here is you need to think about what you need to think about your audience. I always say the number one rule of storytelling is to know who your audience is. So in whatever case that you’re wanting to use storytelling, you need to first identify who are you talking to? Who are you trying to reach? And when you know who that audience is or who that group of people are, you can identify, okay, well, what did they need to hear from you? What are they struggling with? And what story could you tell that would connect you to them in a really cohesive way. And that’s when you can step back and open up your forest, if you will, and find the tree that you need to, the story, right, that you need to tell that’s gonna be really connected to that audience. [6:46]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. What? Well, how does story relate to business?
April Adams Pertuis: Oh my gosh, there’s so many ways. I mean, I think this is the number one, the number one soft skill that most business owners overlook or just disregard altogether. And it’s the thing that is really like, I call it a secret weapon, you know, in business. This relates to sales, this relates to building an audience, it relates to connecting with future and potential clients and existing clients is storytelling we can really go so much further with our businesses if we would incorporate more storytelling. If you look at how we perform, if you will, on social media these days in the digital age, like I said, storytelling has come a long way. But what performs well on social media is when people, businesses, real humans behind the business are just showing up and telling, real stories. It’s not the marketing, it’s not the sales pages, it’s not even the beautifully crafted testimonials, although testimonials are a form of storytelling. It’s just the human being a human. And so, I always say storytelling is going to be the thing that humanizes your business and it will allow you to be seen differently than all the other fish in the water because it’s going to be what makes you unique. And this is especially important right now. [8:20]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
April Adams Pertuis: In the world that we’re entering now with AI, because AI cannot reproduce your story. So we’re going to be bombarded, we are already being bombarded, and I think there’s a place for AI, I’m not poo-pooing it, but we need to be careful to not just use AI, we need to use AI and use storytelling, and when you use storytelling, you’re going to be able to infuse your own personality, your own set of values kind of what you stand for, your flavor, you know, your personality. And that is going to help create conversions in your sales, in your conversations, it’s going to bring more people to you, into your audience. It’s going to increase your engagement. All those things that we’re all looking for as business owners. [9:09]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, well, I think, you know, storytelling is a way of actually, you know, making you vulnerable in many ways, right? You’re sharing who you are. Um, and, and I work. Oh, really?
April Adams Pertuis: Well, that’s exactly it which is why most people don’t want to do it, which is why people struggle with it, because we want to, you know, we want to pretend that we have it all figured out and that we’re perfect, and especially as business leaders, right? Like it feels a little counterintuitive to show up as the expert in our field while also showing up as, you know, the hot mess express that we might be on any given day. And really, it’s when you start to marry the two, when you show that you can be the expert in your field and you can also be a real human being who stumbles and falls down every once in a while, man, that’s the magic bullet that everyone should be going for. [10:03]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. You’re human.
April Adams Pertuis: You’re human and nobody wants to do business with robots. And like I said, in the digital age of AI, we’re gonna be doing a lot of business in the future with robots. And I’m telling you storytelling is more important now than it’s ever been. [10:22]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. And so, you said there are three stages of storytelling. Can you describe what they are to the audience?
April Adams Pertuis: Yeah, yes. Again, I try to make it simple and simplify the process. When I really looked at my own methodology, when, like I said, I’ve spent a lot of time in my career interviewing other people, that’s what I did as a journalist and a video producer and a storyteller. And, you know, every time I went and did an interview, and even today, you know, on my own podcast, I’m always looking and listening for these three things. And I’ll say what they are and then I give them certain labels and then I’m going to describe them. But they are really the before, the transformation, and then the other side. Those are the three storytelling elements that if you look for them in your own story, you will tell a great transformational story, which you need to be focused on transformational storytelling instead of just storytelling that goes from A to Z. A lot of people tell stories in chronological order, and you don’t want to do that. That’s a boring way to tell a story. You’re going to lose your audience. And it’s just more like ticking off checks on your timeline or kind of reading your story like a resume and you don’t want to do that. So instead, if you focus on the transformations that you have experienced in your life and in your business, and these can be big and small, you’re going to dramatically improve your storytelling. So, the before, remember earlier when I said know who your audience is, you need to identify in your own story, in your before, which is your historical context. Where did you come from? What’s the historical context of when were you once just like your audience? When were you once struggling or dealing with something that they are dealing with? That allows you to connect deeper with your audience. Typically, this is going to be where a lot of vulnerability lives. [12:25]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
April Adams Pertuis: Because you do have to show that you didn’t always have it figured out. There might’ve been some failure in your past and those types of things. And then the transformation is when did you, what changed in your life or business? What was the, uh, kind of big moment or series of events or season of life that you started to see things differently and transmute that problem? How did you change? What did you learn? You know, what was that experience like? So that’s that transformational piece. And again, the reason why that’s so important is you want to give clues in your own storytelling as to what your audience needs to be looking for. Remember, the storytelling is the light. It’s illuminating the way. So, you’re giving the path for the audience who is in that seat of struggle bus, right? They’re struggling. And the other side is in your own experience, what did you learn through that experience? What lessons did you take away? What wisdom do you now have? What do you now know to be true? As business owners, this is often where our key message lives, right? This is where you have something to say now, so go say it. And that’s really the message you want your audience to hear, which allows you to really live in that expert space, right? Like this allows you to showcase yourself as the expert, someone they can trust, someone that they may want to come alongside with you know, whatever it is in your work, right? So, in terms of business, this is why storytelling can be so effective. So again, the before, where were you once, just like your audience, the transformation, how did you transform through that experience and get the knowledge that you now have and the wisdom? And then what is that overall message that is on your other side of that story? [14:16]
Nancy Calabrese: I think that’s great. You know, and I also read somewhere that, what do you do? And I was surprised to read this about if people don’t have a big tragic loss or trauma story, why is that important in storytelling?
April Adams Pertuis: Oh, well, there’s a lot of people. I’m one of them. The storytelling person over here, I struggled with my own storytelling for a long time because, you know, as the career that I had spent in interviewing people, typically I was being sent to interview people who had very giant stories, right? They had something really big going on that they had overcome or challenges or whatever. And so I fell into a big comparison trap. [15:08]
Nancy Calabrese: Okay.
April Adams Pertuis: You know, like, oh, well, I don’t have one of those stories. You know, I’ve never overcome battling cancer. I’ve never overcome the loss of a child. I’ve never had catastrophic financial failure in my business or in my life. You know, like some of these big things that a lot of people are navigating. And so that leaves about half of the population thinking they don’t have a story. And that’s just not true. And the real truth of the matter is our stories can be small, but when we share our small stories, they allow other people who also have small stories to realize that their story isn’t so small, right? So again, just as I said in the beginning, it allows you to just showcase who you are, some of the maybe smaller trials that you’ve been through, but that you still have have a message to share and it can showcase that to other people who are just like you or similar to you. And so those people are looking for a light as well, just as much as the people that have giant stories. And I think this happens a lot in business. We really, really need to examine this side of things in terms of our business. [16:24]
Nancy Calabrese: Now obviously we’re doing this audio, but you believe that video plays an important role in storytelling. Can you expand on that?
April Adams Pertuis: Yeah, I think video, I’m a big fan of video, I’ve worked my entire career in video. I’m a big fan of video because, yes, like right now on the podcast, you’re hearing my voice. You don’t broadcast anywhere on video. So you’re not going to find me on video listening to this episode. But even just the voice, you can hear my voice and you can hear the intonation and the way I have inflection. But if you were to see me on video right now, number one, you would see my face. You would see what I look like. You would see the hand gestures that I make because I’m quite animated when I talk, and I use my hands a lot. And I smile, right? I smile or maybe if I’m feeling something emotional, I might show a little bit more emotion in my face. And that allows, as human beings, it allows a visual clue as to who we are as people. [17:37]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
April Adams Pertuis: And if we will get comfortable getting ourselves on video, number one, in today’s digital age, it’s just pretty much non-negotiable. And I know people don’t want to hear that, but I’m here to just say it’s non-negotiable anymore. You really do need to be on video if you really want to make an impact and if you really want to grow your business. People need to see you. They need to feel like they can know you, that they can trust you. And some people need to work on that because sometimes being on video scares you to death, right? And so, you might show up being very rigid and kind of stoic and unless that’s your personality. But if it’s not really your personality, you need to get comfortable on video so that you get your more of your personality really does shine so that people can feel your authentic self and we can communicate that so much easier if we are on video. [18:35]
Nancy Calabrese: Huh, interesting. Well, I’m going to keep that in mind as my podcast continues to move along. I mean, I’ve debated doing it on video. One of the reasons I do audio is because that’s the nature of our business, right? We prospect over the phone. And so, we sell over the phone basically, but video is probably going to come out in 2024. So, when I need advice, I know who to call.
April Adams Pertuis: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know what? It’s perfectly okay to just take one thing at a time. To be honest with you, when I first started podcasting, even though I have all this video experience, I did not produce on video either. And even now we produce our podcast on videos so that we can do a lot of the video promotions, right? So, we’ve just taken things one thing at a time. And I just encourage you to do that too. Just one thing at a time, but even if it’s not for your podcast, maybe it’s for your social media, using live streaming tools and things like that are available to you. [19:44]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. Yeah, yeah, I do video in other projects, but just not in my podcast, but wait and see everyone next year, you might see me go live. I can’t believe we’re up with time and we could go on and on. How can my people find you?
April Adams Pertuis: Okay, that’ll give us something to look forward to. I love to connect on social. So, I encourage anyone who would like to connect with me just to reach out on social. I really do love meeting new people. I welcome conversations and the DMs, and I hang out on LinkedIn. That’s where you and I connected, Nancy, was on LinkedIn. And I am on Instagram and Facebook. And if you just search for Light Beamers, that’s probably an easier way to search me than my last name. I have one of those hard last names, but if you search for Light Beamers, L-I-G-H-T-B-E-A-M-E-R-S, you will find me on all three of those channels. You can also go to my website, lightbeamers.com, and find me there. You can email me, connect with me on social, check out my website, any of those things. I have a podcast too called the Inside Story Podcast, so you can come check us out on your podcast channels. [20:57]
Nancy Calabrese: Awesome. Love it. Love it. April, you’re a lot of fun to speak with. And I know that we’re going to continue talking over the coming months, especially when I go live with the video. Everyone, I will do it. So, everyone reaches out to this fine lady. She’s an expert in what she does. You have an interesting career too. I think you were a journalist at CBS.
April Adams Pertuis: Yes, yes, do it Nancy. Yes, I was a journalist for a long time at CBS and then I transitioned into producing content for HGTV, DIY, Food Network and some other pretty big private industry brands. It taught me a lot. I had a great career and it led to the creation of Lightbeamers. So, I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to spend 30 years doing something that I love. [21:56]
Nancy Calabrese: Is that true? Yeah. Yep, it’s so important to do things that you love. So, people reach out to April, have her share her expertise to bring your story to life. And April, thank you so much for being on the show. Appreciate it and make it an excellent, let’s say story day out there, okay? Till next time. [22:19]
