The Canadian Powerhouse: Inside the blog, podcast, and products of Jessica Moorhouse

Updated

January 29, 2018

Listen to my episode with Jessica Moorhouse:

or listen on Apple Podcasts \ Google Podcasts \ Spotify

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Show notes and referenced links

Jessica’s blog/podcast! Go show her some love 🙂
Erin’s site, Broke Millennial
Tanja, from Our Next Life and The Fairer Cents Podcast (who I’ve also had on this podcast here!)
Cait Flanders (FANTASTIC minimalism/finance blogger)
Desirae from Half Banked (her episode on this podcast is coming soon!)
The Millennial Money Meetup – Really, really cool idea that Jessica’s done. I want one of these in the SE.
Purple Cow – How to stand out in a good way.

Key takeaways from today’s episode with Jessica

There were a ton of incredible takeaways from this talk, but of course only five I’m going to share here 😉

1 – The key elements of effective storytelling

So we’re constantly being told to tell stories in connection with her blogs… our marketing efforts, etc.

Often this leads us to pondering “Okay, what the hell does that mean?” and Coming up with answers like:

Have a beginning. Introduce a character and problem.
Stoke the fire of said problem/conflict
Resolve/climax, etc.

While those solid tips for crafting a narrative, it’s obviously missing several key components for actually being useful for bloggers.

Jessica brought up two important points that DO help us produce better content through storytelling.

First, know the take away.

It definitely helps whenever you were crafting a story, or telling a story, to know the takeaway the reader gets beforehand.

What will they learn?
What will they walk away with? An idea, some inspiration? A laugh?
What’s the point of the entire story?

Know these things before hand, else don’t bother us with telling the story lol. Nobody wants to have their time wasted on the story that I don’t take away anything from.

Sorry, crazy marketers telling us to spam stories.

Two, your story needs an element people can identify with.

And Jessica’s own words, “It’s how you impact people.”

Usually, it is a character in a story that we can identify with (us being humans and all). However, it could also be a situation.

For example…

I’d love to share with you the story about Mete PcPherson…

He was a struggling blogger in his own right, who was actually on the verge of quitting after about 3 to 6 months in the process.
He really couldn’t figure out if it was going to be a success in the long term, and he was constantly doubting whether or not he was wasting his time.
yada yada yada yada yada.

The beginning of that story…hopefully you can identify with (I would imagine all bloggers could at some point).

In any given story, include some aspect that people can identify with. It helps them stay engaged.

2 – Online business and blogging is a becoming a level playing field.

Male. Female. Doesn’t matter so much anymore.

The Internet itself is blind (Its users…not so much of course), But the fact that anyone can get a blog or on my business up and running in no time…is completely empowering to women and minorities.

That’s really cool:-)

I’ve interviewed some incredible women on this podcast already…

Rosemarie Groner (POWERHOUSE blogger)
Eden Friend (Incredibly strong-willed businesswoman)
Jillian from Montana Money Adventures (She’s amazing, and has an incredible community).
Tanja from Our Next Life (speaking of insanely incredible communities..she’s also brilliant)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a pretty boring white dude from middle-class America, but I think it’s absolutely incredible so many women have built blogging empires.

3 – Your blog is your own, and say whatever the *$&#&@ you want. Seriously.

I’m totally in love with this point right now.

At one point, Jessica caught a bit of flack for running a sponsored post. In general, this is silly, as Jessica works closely with her sponsors to make sure it’s a great fit for audience…but it’s also silly for another reason: IT’S HER BLOG.

She can do she wants with it.

Similarly, this is my blog, and if I want to send out 13 words sales emails, I will do so.

YOUR blog follows the exact same guidelines. You’re free to write about whatever you choose to, and say whatever you want. In fact, there is no better way to stand out in a crowded niche.

4 – Events are not just for learning. This includes online events.

Meet ups, seminars, webinars, conferences…these are all fantastic places to learn new things…but mark my words…

NOBODY would go to them if they weren’t also FUN.

People are craving connections every day, not just new opportunities. In person meet ups should ALWAYS have an element of fun.

In fact… I will go a step further.

I believe there is a space for fun only events…ESPECIALLY In overcrowded learning niches such as blogging 🙂