This week on the podcast, I chat about the power of storytelling in your business with my guest expert Janika Galloway. 2023 is the year of storytelling when it comes to your business. Now is the time to shine through our stories as business owners and really step into your version of storytelling, not selling. Janika Galloway is a storyteller guide. We discuss all things storytelling and your ability to strengthen, craft & share your narratives in business, life, relationships, work and more.
Links
Janika Galloway Instagram
Janika Galloway Website
Hayley Osborne Facebook
Hayley Osborne Instagram
Introduction
Thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show. We are up to episode 46. Oh my goodness. And we are almost at the end of November. Wow. Wow. Wow. Can I just say December is one of my most favourite times of year. I absolutely love Christmas and the magic that comes with Christmas. I feel like there’s such a beautiful story and narrative around Christmas. And it’s so lovely to take your children on the journey of Christmas and you know the family and the food and everything that comes with it.
And with that today, we are talking about the power of storytelling and in particular, I have an amazing guest expert join me today. Janika Galloway is a storyteller guide. She has such an absolutely inspiring story. And this conversation is nothing but inspiring. So it is unique. It is thought provoking, and it is centered around storytelling power. In today’s episode to give you a bit of a summary before we get started, we talk about what storytelling is, and how using it can change your life. We talk about finding your voice and recognising the narrative you create in life, in business and in relationships. We talk about managing impostor syndrome, fear of being seen and understanding that your story is yours to own claim and share. We talk about the importance of storytelling and how it can help yourself and others to heal, grow, change and move forward. 2023 I am claiming as the year of storytelling when it comes to your business now is the time stepping into a new year to really shine as business owners through storytelling and through the stories that we tell through our marketing through our all of our words through our actions, everything. So without further ado, welcome and let’s get started with today’s episode.
Transcription
Hayley Osborne:
Hello Jankia. And welcome to my podcast. I am so happy that you are joining me.
Janika Galloway:
Hello Hayley thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be here.
Hayley Osborne:
Well, thank you. So I have done a little intro about you and what we talk about today, but I love to have every guest that I have on my podcast, I would love you in your own words to tell the listeners who you are and what you do.
Janika Galloway:
I love this question. Who are you? And what do you do? It’s always such a segue into like, a word vomit of the story of your life, right? I’ll give you guys a short little snippet of it. So my name is Jankia and I am a storyteller guide. It’s what I like to call myself. And so that’s a bit of a little term that I’ve coined myself you know, you can’t apply on seek for a storyteller guide. So let me explain what I mean by that. So essentially I’ve been working in storytelling for over a decade in a PR and marketing and brand strategy, capacitive capacity. And I essentially decided that I’ve been helping brands and people tell their stories and really harness and craft these narratives for work. And it wasn’t until I suppose like everybody during COVID I had a bit of a moment, you know, I had two children through COVID babies as they called.
And I through the birth of my son I actually had a near death experience that really, really shook me up as it would right and it really honestly realigned me with what I want to do and what I want my story to look like in life and what my passion is and that was helping everyday people understand and that their words hold weight and that their stories are powerful. And they can be used throughout business and everyday life, in relationships, and even in personal self. So, right now how I connect through storytelling and helping others step into their power of being storytellers, is I hold space for community around this, I also do consultancy, and I’m a creator, and I create content around storytelling. And, yeah, it is my real intention to just empower others to understand the importance that storytelling can have in their everyday life, and particularly for this podcasts, you know, specifically in your business and how important it is to understand that you as a person have weighed in your story.
Hayley Osborne:
I know, and just quickly, you’ve worked on some very big brands, you hold some serious street cred?
Janika Galloway:
Yeah. Yeah, I have. I’ve had such a fun career. And it’s still growing. So I’ve worked in the PR teams for Netflix, and that was one of the team members that brought that to Australia and got to be involved in the launch of that, which was such a fun project. And, you know, Microsoft and, Xbox and eBay, you get a couple of couple of big clients in there.
Hayley Osborne:
Oh fun. And we kind of have very similar stories. So you are a mom of two little children as am I, we both have very curly hair.
Janika Galloway:
We do I know we’re both a little fro’s rocking today.
Hayley Osborne:
Although I’ve cut my shorter than yours! And we both obviously started off working on some really big brands. So I love that. And I feel like I know you so well, we would share very similar daily experiences, I’m sure. So now, I also like to ask so how long have you been running your business for?
Janika Galloway:
Yeah, so kind of in a similar spot to you where it started quite organically. So I was working as a professional marketer, and brand strategist, and I’d have friends come to me with questions. And then friends turned to friends, parents and friends, acquaintances, and the list kind of grew. And I had these different people that I was essentially helping them craft and, and share their narratives and telling them okay, well, you’ve tried this, why don’t you try this angle? You know, you really could get this business on morning sunrise, why don’t we try and pitch it to the media. And so I was helping in that capacity.
And it’s really been around since I went on my first maternity leave. So it’s probably been around two and a half years where I’ve really stood into my own two feet of actually, this is the way that I’d like to go. And I’d like to help in that direction. So in terms of leaving the corporate life, I still have one foot in, I still enjoy working during my consulting hours with professionals and business owners and ranges from big business to a mom and pop shops. And I’ll help through, you know, individual crafting of narratives and business. But it’s really been a short journey through a long journey. If that makes sense.
Hayley Osborne:
Absolutely it does. And I feel like I don’t know if you feel the same way. But in terms of you being able to have more of an impact. Do you feel like you have more of an impact now when you’re running your own show, so to speak, and you get to see through? I mean, storytelling is huge, but you get to see that firsthand play out. And that’s all you bringing, what it’s the clients that you work with, but bringing to life their stories, one question do you find that most people that you work with really struggle with this aspect, like the extraction period?
Janika Galloway:
Oh, definitely. Especially if they’re on that smallest scale where it’s, you know, their passion and their baby is their business, and they’ve worked very hard to get it to where it is. It is really challenging when you work with a consultant to sit one on one through storytelling workshops to be like, Okay, so who are you and what are you trying to communicate? Because often, as business owners, you’ll have one main message one main core piece of yourself that lives in that business, otherwise, you probably wouldn’t do it, it’s that’s hard work. And it is quite an endeavor. And so I find that business owners, it is really hard to get them to extract that. That one main piece. What is the story that if you know, if your time on this earth, knock on wood ended sooner rather than later? What is that one thing that you would like to communicate through your everyday doing and your business is a huge part of that, if not one of the main priorities.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah. So what would you tell business owners for example, what would be the one thing you would say would be the game changing to add into their business message because you’re message as a business owner isn’t necessarily your story. So like, how does that kind of fuse together? Most people listening like, yeah, what I’ve got my message, but I’ve also got this other story over here about myself like, how do they come together?
Janika Galloway:
Yeah, I love that question. So I am a really big advocate for teaching the storytelling power method. And what that is, is it’s a jumble of words that essentially sum up that exact question you’ve asked, because, like you said, there’s that identity issue where you have these other pieces of your story, you know, who you are, what you’ve been through, and etc. But then you’ve also got your core product or your core service, and that has its own individual messaging around that as well. And they don’t always connect. But sometimes when you’re able to connect them, it’s quite powerful. And so I teach this method really, to help business owners and just normal everyday storytellers understand that they have this innate power in them to be able to communicate effectively through whatever method they’re using.
And so it starts off with just knowing the authentic you. And we touched on this a little bit in our conversations on my podcast, but essentially, yeah, starting off with just knowing who you are as a business owner, and how you sit, and understanding that every single business owner, every single product, every single service is unique. And if it’s not unique, it’s likely not going to work out. It’s important to know that your unique aspect is one of your main selling pillars. And especially if you’re an individual business owner, and if you’re a team, then there’s a collective core of you that will have authentic pieces that need to be expressed as part of your business, because that’s what’s going to help someone connect and choose you over a competitor in the end. And then through that, you’ll move into understanding your narrative up until now. And what I mean by that is that you’ll have all of these different aspects of who you are as a person that make up the authentic you. But your narrative up until now are all of the different ups and downs, learnings and achievements that you’ve had as a business collectively. And so understanding that your narrative holds weight in who you are, as a person can help you really get quite a grounded approach to your storytelling.
So those two pieces really sit with who you are, and what your stories might be as a business, and then moving through into how you communicate that so you’ll need a very strong core message. And I like to think of your core message is almost your intention for your business. And it can help you as well come back to the reason why you started in the first place. Often, a lot of business owners will find that their core intention relates to their real gut, why did I start this? And why am I doing all of this for what is it for, and everybody will have one main reason that they’re doing. And, particularly, and hopefully it will be expressed through your business. And then as you move through your core, you’re going to have effective expression. That’s your message, your mediums, how you’re doing it, and also your audience. So you’re going to want to make sure that you have a very clear idea of who you’re trying to share your story with, and what those key messages are.
And then through that, the last little piece of it is just avoiding any pitfalls when it comes to your storytelling power. So making sure that you’re not falling victim to impostor syndrome, or, you know, comparison and even with feedback assessment, understanding that, you know, you’re gonna want to have feedback from a select amount of people and a particular type of audience that not all feedback warrants a response. And not all feedback warrants your energy as a business owner as well. So, yeah, that is a mouthful. But I really feel like that answers the question of, you know, if you have these multiple pieces of storytelling going within your business, you’re going to want to make sure that you’ve tied yourself into the correct pieces, and that you’ve got those clear in terms of messaging and intentions, and that you’re going through with effective expression and not falling victim to any pitfalls.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, I love what you’ve just said. And also, you know, if you are not being authentic and true to yourself, then unfortunately, you fall flat along the way very quickly, because people can sniff bullshit a mile away.
Janika Galloway:
They can smell it from a mile away. Yeah, they can. trained to do that. We know. That’s not right.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, that’s right. I think constructive criticism is really important as well. But how you take that on board really defines you, whether you move through it, or whether you like take it on board and make changes without it taking to heart because that could be crippling but I think it’s how you take things that define you as a business owner. And you collectively kind of spit them out the other end.
Janika Galloway:
And I also believe that, you know, as a storyteller, when because that’s effectively what we’re doing in business is we’re trying to create awareness so that we can connect and get advocacy for our brands and our businesses. And I think that when you give, when you receive feedback, you want to make sure that you’re assessing who it’s coming from. So I love Brene Brown, example of you want to assess who’s in the ring with you to decide whether you’re going to get the feedback. So you wouldn’t take feedback from someone who’s not in the ring in the fight with you. So you want to take it from people who are buying from your brand, or they’re using your service, and they’ve got, feedback that is warranted. You want to also maybe get feedback from mentors or people that are in your industry that have knowledge around it, but you’re not going to want to get any feedback and take it to heart from people who are just spectators who are just watching you.
Hayley Osborne:
That’s a really important message there for people to like, listen, take it in, and, like absorb it, because there’s a huge we often fall victim, like you said before of imposter syndrome, and we compare ourselves to other people. And really the only feedback that you want is for with from people that are in the ring with you, I love that so much.
Janika Galloway:
Yeah, I’ve that’s really helped me through stepping out into my storytelling power, which is like, it’s an ongoing thing. I think you always, if it’s not like a university degree where you, you achieve it, and you’re like, okay, I’m good to go for the rest of my life, I’m gonna go forth and share my story powerfully. I think, every day, you’ve got to wake up and make a conscious decision to be in your own feet and understand that, you know, through your grounded expression, you hold weight. And so yeah, you definitely want to be assessing who you’re getting feedback from.
Hayley Osborne:
There’s a saying that I like to often say, and this goes kind of hand in hand with storytelling, and its power, is that selling on social media, or selling in general, is like throwing water balloons at a porcupine, you know, it’s never gonna work ever. And so you have to remove yourself from that selling and replace it with storytelling, and its power. And then it’s not like throwing water balloons at a porcupine because storytelling is kind of foolproof, but it’s, you’re not selling. And often I see as well on, especially on social media, business owners fall victim to look at this, buy my stuff, rather than telling the story. And it’s because it’s the easy option right? Whereas what you do it’s a really hard space to step into for people. And that can be quite confronting as well. And when you master it, and you get it, right, you know, you will reap the rewards.
Janika Galloway:
Definitely. And you go back to the mirror, and you look at yourself day in and day and day, and you understand where you’re at, and then come back to your intention and go forth with it.
Hayley Osborne:
Another question I have for you. And this is more of a, what is the one thing that you’re most proud of? In your business to date? Or in your career to date?
Janika Galloway:
Oh, I honestly my answer to that, that came straightaway. So that’s the one I’m going to go for is my ability to share my story and others through my podcasts that I’ve started. So that was such a big step for me because listening to your own voice over and over again, it’s kind of awkward, right? I had been behind the scenes, I was working with brands for most of you know, my career and putting their voice out there. And so opening up the floor to have my own voice and my own expression and, and really teach through through that medium. It’s honestly something that’s made me really proud of myself to be like you did it, you know, you put your voice out there, it’s hard showing up and I you know, preach all day long to my clients about showing up and speaking out.
And I also get that not every story needs to be shared on a world stage, you know. One of the big things is you can pick your audience as a storyteller, and it could just be simply telling the story to yourself and that holds power and wait. But when I decided and I made the decision that part of my business was going to go through doing a medium through podcasting. It was it was huge. It was a big step into the dark unknown. And I’m really proud of myself. I’ve had some incredible guests, and I’ve had great conversations and, and friendships, and I’ve had, you know, listeners write in with their incredible stories and pieces that they’ve taken. So yeah, I think that’s a proud moment.
Hayley Osborne:
I was going to ask you something. And now as it slipped my mind, it’ll come back to me. Oh, my God. And you know what I find more and more this is happening since child number two. So it’s flow. And then it goes away. Why does that happen? All right. So it looks it’ll come back to me. But what so do you what’s the one thing you’d wish you’d done sooner?
Janika Galloway:
I wish that I had been an early adopter with social media for my own personal self. Yeah, I think I, you know, was managing social media for clients. And so I was exhausted at the end of the day, I didn’t want to jump on and start doing my own socials. Right. That is one thing that I think for anyone out there listening, who’s thinking about maybe making the jump and start posting on their socials and showing up a little bit more on that avenue? Do it 100% do it because yeah, I know, on this show on the Hayley Osborne show, you’ve talked about it a lot about how important that is. And I couldn’t agree with you more, I think it’s key, if you want to have a message to share social media is a free platform to do that. So that’s something I wish I would have been a little bit more receiving. If I wasn’t so exhausted with managing all the clients, I probably would have done it.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, that’s a really great answer. It did come back to me. So do you listen to your own podcast?
Janika Galloway:
Okay, so I definitely do listen to it again. But I’m cheeky. And I listened to the interview. So I don’t necessarily go back and listen to my workshops all the time. I’ll go back and listen to the words from my guest. But yeah, I don’t really I’ll answer it. Honestly, I don’t listen to it again.
Hayley Osborne:
I really disliked the sound of my own voice. So I will listen to it really fast to make sure that there’s no errors so that the user experience is lovely. I can’t do it. You know it’s cringy.
Janika Galloway:
It is cringy. I don’t think you’re a normal person, if you like the sound of your own voice.
Hayley Osborne:
I agree. So what’s the number one piece of advice you’d give? But you would give business owners right now aside from getting on social sooner, more in line with storytelling and its power?
Janika Galloway:
Love that question. I think that the advice that I would give to business owners about storytelling, and how they can use it, and why they should use it is because you want to connect to the right customer and the right audience. And I think that is such an integral part of marketing, storytelling can really help you get into the emotional captive of the right audience member, the right customer, and you need to make sure that you’re constantly showing up in the way that the right customer demand and the right audience is going to receive it. So storytelling, if you craft it correctly, it can do exactly that.
Hayley Osborne:
I feel like a lot of business owners do need to understand that you don’t have to be everything to everyone.
Janika Galloway:
No, and it really depends on your customer and your audience. Because you don’t necessarily if your audiences a particular way, then you will only need to communicate with them and X Y Z. You know, it really is tailored down to what your business is and who your customer is. So you don’t have to be a storyteller to everyone. And you don’t have to use storytelling in every single medium that it exists.
Hayley Osborne:
And one last question. So where do you see your business in five years time?
Janika Galloway:
Oh, my goodness, I would absolutely love to be just every day helping people step in to feeling like they have ownership of what they want to say and help them with their expressions. So I would love to run workshops and have more speaker sessions on that. I would love to write a book on storytelling power. I would love to connect with people in person because I’m a big people person. And yeah, just have more conversations, which I mean, spoiler alert, I love storytelling. And you know, I love verbal storytelling as one of my main loves of life. So I think yeah, speaker opportunities and workshops and connecting with people through the written word would be wonderful.
Hayley Osborne:
Well, I’m based in Adelaide. So when I’m up at the lovely Sunshine Coast, next when my, when I’m not babying and doing the things I would love to meet with you, it’s so nice to meet people in person in business. I feel likem the world is becoming smaller and smaller. So you know, we’re connecting from opposite sides of the country. And that’s awesome. But, you know, you meet such great people and yeah, that’s, there’s I have like a handful of people on the Sunshine Coast that I will be over as quick as I can to arrange, meetings because he just, yeah, when you connect with someone, you just connect with them. And I really want to meet you and have a coffee with you in person.
Janika Galloway:
We can rock our curly hair together. The weather will be good the kids can just run riot! That sounds like my children.
Hayley Osborne:
So just to end this, I would love you to tell the listeners where they can obviously connect with you online and learn more about you if they would like to.
Janika Galloway:
Yeah, so I am on Instagram primarily @justwithjanika. And I also have my bio site up on the link there. So you can have a look through all my little pieces and my website. And I am making the move on to YouTube as well. So that is something that I’m really excited about. Because then I get to talk so I’ll be popping all of that information through on my Instagram.
Hayley Osborne:
Yeah, Janika, this has been such a lovely chat. Thank you for taking the time to come and chat with me on the podcast. And I look forward to catch up with you soon. It’s been awesome. Thank you.
