The good news is you don’t have to be a great writer to craft an unforgettable personal brand story, you just need to work with a dependable writing method.

 Evercoach co-founder Ajit Nawalkha uses a story framework that has been proven to work again and again for himself and for his clients and students.

Ajit’s framework is based on a simple trifecta of elements that are designed to bring forward the strengths and polarities in your character and in your storyline, so you’ll end up with an authentic, rich, multi-layered and ultimately irresistible personal brand story.

Building your character is about reflecting on your personal strengths and weaknesses as well as your values, likes, and dislikes.

One good way to do this is to think of the milestone moments in your life – major wins and losses. Then, dig deep so you can uncover the insights, lessons and character traits behind your failures and successes.

Building your character for your personal brand story also has to do with understanding your polarities.

Polarities are the extremes in your character that make you memorable and make you uniquely you. Nobody is 100% brave or 100% scared.  We are all made up of multiple levels of positive and negative traits depending on where we are in life and the situation or challenge that happens to be in front of us.

If you’re feeling a little nervous about sharing the “negative” polarities in your character, know that the “negative” traits we feel we must hide are the very traits that make us human, relatable and interesting. Your audience won’t connect with -- or likely even remember -- a one dimensional coach who’s “perfect” (read: boring!) in every way.

There are 3 key polarities you need to uncover and focus on in your personal brand story:

Superpower

This is your core strength or your superpower. It’s essentially something that’s highly positive.

Think of your superpower as a character trait or skill you want to highlight in your personal brand story. It needs to be something that you want people to know about that will inspire them to find out more about you and follow you.

For instance, if we think about a story-based character such as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), one of his major positive traits or superpower is that he’s a genius.

Fatal Flaw

This is usually the other side of your superpower.

It’s a counter-intuitive polarity and sometimes it could even be an opposite of the superpower you identified earlier.

For instance, if you’re usually confident around meeting new people in social situations like at a party,  your fatal flaw could be a sense of intense nervousness and insecurity when you’re speaking on stage. Going back to Tony Stark, it could be that his fatal flaw is arrogance or hubris.

North Star

This is basically your non-negotiable value or vision for the future. It’s something that you abide by and it’s something that you won’t compromise on.

Your North Star is usually tied to your ultimate goal.

For example, it might be about being honest with your clients no matter what or running your business with full integrity. For Tony Stark, his vision and non-negotiable value is protecting the world and keeping people safe at any cost.

A lot of coaches resist writing their personal brand story because they think the act of storytelling is super complicated – a task that’s reserved for professional novelists and writers. This is simply not true.

The story of your life is unfolding even as you read this and when you break it down to the basics, a story is simply about sharing a series of events. Like all great stories, your personal brand story will follow a tried-and-tested story arc that’s sometimes called a “hero’s journey.”

A “hero’s journey” is when the key character or hero – in this case, you – is called toward a goal or vision. The hero starts out feeling lost, confused or overwhelmed and then overcomes obstacles and challenges before finally achieving their goal or vision.

Here are a couple of expert tips to keep in mind before you start crafting your personal brand story…

Your story can be short and sweet or lengthy – a couple of paragraphs to a few pages long -- but we’re definitely not going for a novel-length epic story here.

Before you begin working with the framework in this chapter, start with an intention of cultivating a high level of self-awareness. When you’re self-aware about the positive and negative polarities in your character, you’ll see yourself accurately and you’ll be able to write a story that’s authentic, powerful, and unforgettable.

For instance, think about emailing major podcast hosts or magazine and community-style websites who’ll be happy to publish or broadcast content from a skilled coach in a specific niche or area of expertise.

You can also try going down the traditional route. Reach out to non-virtual magazine writers and editors who are always looking for interesting, unusual and inspiring stories, and expert insights they can share with their readers.