Transcript

Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
You are listening to the Sigrun Show, episode number 388. In this episode, I talked to Celinne Da Costa about how you need to pivot your content in the age of COVID.
Welcome to the Sigrun Show. I’m your host Sigrun, creator of SOMBA, the MBA program for online entrepreneurs. With each episode, I’ll share with you inspiring case studies and interviews to help you achieve your dreams and turn your passion into profits. Thank you for spending time with me today. Building an online business takes time. I share with you proven strategies to help you get there faster. You’ll also learn how to master your mindset, up level your marketing and succeed with masterminds. Today, I speak with Celinne Da Costa, a writer and story strategist who helps high profile entrepreneurs create powerful and captivating stories. She has been featured in publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur and Business Insider, has told her story on the TEDx stage and has visited over 60 countries while running her online business. In this episode, we talk about how you need to pivot your content in the age of COVID.
Summer is the perfect time to prepare for the fall. This week, I’m starting a new sprint inside my Momentum group coaching and accountability program. Most online entrepreneurs plan and prepare their launches too late, or just a couple of weeks before they want to launch. With this new 60 day sprint, our Momentum members will create a runway so their launches can take off in the fall. I call it the runway sprint. I have always had a runway in my launches, and this is the first time I break down exactly what you need to do to have a multiple six and seven figure launch. I’m so excited to see everyone in Momentum and my other programs, VIP and Red Circle, take off in the fall with a great runway. If you are making money in your online business already, but not yet at $20,000 a month, then Momentum might be something for you. Go through the show notes at sigrun.com/388, where you will find out more about Momentum, plus all the links to Celinne Da Costa.
I am so excited to be here with Celinne Da Costa, and talk about how you need to pivot your content in the age of COVID. Celinne, welcome to the show.
Celinne Da Costa:
Thank you for having me. So excited to be here.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
As I said to you, before I hit the record button, it’s so unusual for me to be recording here early in the morning, and that’s because you are somewhere else in the world. Where are you now?
Celinne Da Costa:
I’m currently riding it out in Bali, Indonesia.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
So did you go there because of what’s happening or where are you already based there?
Celinne Da Costa:
So I’ve been flirting with Bali for four years now, coming in, coming out as I’ve been traveling almost full time for the past four years. And I increasingly come more and more here. And then I arrived here in February and then COVID hit, and I was like, you know what? I think I’ll just stay here for now.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Yes. I think that was a wise choice. How has Bali been around Corona? Have there been many cases?
Celinne Da Costa:
Actually no, at least not the that we know of. I mean, as you know different governments tell you different things, but it’s been quite relaxed here. Obviously there’s been social distancing, not necessarily quarantine, but there doesn’t seem to be too many cases, at least that we know of on the Island. And so it’s been … Either with the social distancing, you get to go outside and enjoy the sunshine so I can’t complain.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
You’re making us jealous. So I want to know more about you. I want my listeners to know more about you before we dive into the actual topic of the episode. Besides you being in Bali right now, and it’s obviously not where you come from and how come this topic, give us the whole story.
Celinne Da Costa:
Yes. I know you mentioned despite where I come from, it’s going to be a shocker to a lot of you listening that I’m actually originally from Italy. I’m not from the US. However, I immigrated to the US when I was a child and that is where the story begins. I grew up as an immigrant in America and a big, big part of my upbringing was that classic, hey, you’re here. Now work for the American dream. Go work super, super hard, make it to corporate, climb the corporate ladder, prove yourself to the world that you are American. And so I grew up with this big expectation of me and who I had to become. And I ended up going into corporate and working extremely hard for me to become this version of who others wanted me to be. And I hit corporate, and I’m sure you know where this is going.
I started to work for this big agency in New York city. And I had the life. I was living in Manhattan in this fancy job, working super hard, doing everything that for years and years and years, and worked hard too. And I felt miserable, completely empty, no sense of purpose, lost because I realized that I’d spent so many years working towards an identity that I never signed up for, for dream that wasn’t mine. And so long story short, I had a moment. I had a crisis moment where all these things started happening in my life, where my grandfather died. And then I got broken up with on my birthday and I didn’t get a promotion I wanted. And my rent like went up 30%. And over the course of a couple months, I just hit a boiling point. When I said, no, I cannot live another day like this. My life changes now. I have to, things have to change.
And that’s it. I made that decision. Nine months later, I was on a one way ticket to Europe. And I created a social experiment, a project where I challenged myself to circumnavigate the globe by couch surfing, never using a website, only human connection. So similar to six degrees of Kevin bacon, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it, but that theory that you’re connected to everyone on the planet by six degrees. I tested that theory and I spent a year sleeping in the homes of strangers around the world, over a 100 people and over 20 countries. And that is what takes us, that was the first chapter of this new story that takes me to where I am today, sitting with you, which is my biggest insight that I tapped into that year traveling abroad, staying in the homes of people all around the world is that every single person on the planet, I can say this with conviction. I’ve interviewed hundreds of people all around the world. Every single person on this planet has a story to tell and how you choose to tell that story changes your reality and your circumstances.
And so that was the insight that I took to start my business around brand story coaching, around helping people tap into their true, authentic story, get really clear, on who it is that they are, who they want to be and then turn that story, articulate it into a powerful brand and a message that gets you results in your business. That gets you more income, visibility, reach and helps people get on board with your mission. And that all came from this decision of saying no to a story that I wasn’t aligned with, designing my own story, my own life, that I wanted to live and then seeing the results that come from tapping into the power of storytelling firsthand. And now that’s what I do for others.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
So you discovered this by couch surfing. How did that epiphany come about? Is this because you stayed with different people in their homes, and then as you stayed with them, you obviously heard some stories. You listen to their story, you shared your story. Was there a particular moment where you say I am onto something here?
Celinne Da Costa:
Yes. So that’s a very good question. When I was in New York City, I was already working as a brand strategist. So I already had this background in branding, social media, getting yourself out there. So when I decided to do this project, type A me, I’m very ambitious, career oriented. It was so hard for me to quit everything I’d worked years and years and years for, to just kind of jump into the abyss. And so what I said to myself is I’m going to create a plan, a strategy. Even if I have no idea where this is going to take me, I still want to make something of this project.
And so from the very beginning, I package this project as like, this is the story that I want to tell. And so I decided that as I was traveling the world, I would tell every single day on social media, I would tell a story either around what I was doing or the people that I was meeting. And so every single day, my goal was to either share a story. I was using Instagram mainly. And back in the day, well, I say back in the day, like four years ago, people were not doing long form Instagram captions. And I was one of the people that was really telling long stories on Instagram, even though people were like, no, one’s going to read that.
And so I started to tell every single day, a story around a farmer I met in Myanmar, my host in Greece, something interesting that I learned about somebody I met in Indonesia. And I would just start telling a story either about that or my own journey and what I was feeling. And I realized people were so responsive and so involved in my journey. And I had publications approach me, including Forbes, asking me to document my story. And it just started to essentially become this momentum, this domino effect, where the more I would tell stories, the more people would approach me and asked me to tell more stories. And that’s when I realized there’s something really powerful about storytelling. It instantly captures people’s attention, it gets them engaged, it makes them completely involved. Everyone wanted to know where I was going next, what I was doing next. And it’s a powerful way to capture attention.
And the more I did this, the more I would talk to my hosts and see what stories they had to tell. And I was like, wow, everybody has stories that they can share. And when they share them, it creates an entire movement. So that’s how I tapped into that.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Oh, that’s beautiful. I also love it actually in Michelle Obama’s book, that she ends the book with reminding the readers that everyone has a story worth sharing. So that sounds like a similar philosophy that even if you don’t think you have a story, everyone’s got a story. Does everyone know how to tell their story though?
Celinne Da Costa:
Oh, no. That’s why I exist. Absolutely not. And I believe this, my mission is to help people, is to be that bridge, to give people the tools and resources to go from, well, number one, problem number one is what is my story? Do I even have a story? Because so many people feel self conscious about this. My story is not interesting enough. I don’t have a story to tell. I don’t know how it connects to my business. That’s a big one as well. And then even when you do have this feeling of, yes, I have a story I want to share. I know I can influence people. I know it can impact others. I know I can build a business around this. Then the second hurdle is, well, how do I actually take what’s inside me and translate it into a clear message that impacts people and gets me results. So for sure, it’s a two way hurdle for a lot of people.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Yeah. I have currently program going on and I’m asking people to tell a story in an email. And it’s interesting how a lot of people who are not used to this go into a lot, too much detail where the the reader or the listener would get lost. What do you feel is the essence about a good story?
Celinne Da Costa:
The essence of a good story, and this is something I teach my clients over and over again is you need to start with why. So the reason why people are getting lost in the details is because they’re not paying attention to the big picture. Story, at least, when it comes to building a brand and building a business, it’s not just about saying whatever’s on your mind and whatever it is that you need to say and blah, blah, blahing all over the place about yourself and about your life. But rather starting with the end and asking yourself, okay, what is the story? What is it meant to do? What is the intention behind a story? Where am I trying to take people? Who am I trying to take? And what is the transformation as a result of this story?
When you start with the end and for an entrepreneur, it would be, this is the product that I’m selling. This is the mission that I’m spreading. These are the people I want to serve. When you start with that, it becomes very clear when you’re sharing your story, what details need to go away, and which ones need to be brought to the forefront, because what you actually share, it needs to serve that end goal.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
That makes absolute sense. So let’s dive into what kind of content people should be sharing, or what is the message around COVID? Like what has changed now? What do people need to put out there so that it actually makes sense and speaks to their audience at this time?
Celinne Da Costa:
Yes. So what has changed now is a little bit less now, but a few months ago, especially this whole thing, shebang, happened and everyone’s panicking and essentially projecting all over the internet. So what I observed, definitely a few months ago, it’s still happening to a certain extent is people being like, oh I have to react to this. I have to respond. And so they just start blasting things online without actually thinking about the bigger picture, around their business, taking a step back and being like, okay, how does this again, relate to my why and my vision and the people I’m trying to serve? But rather just trying to get their foot in the door so that they can say something and not fall behind. And a lot of just copying and people just kind of like … The vision I had in my head. It’s kind of like, you’re running towards something and everyone’s just climbing on top of each other. And so it just creates this big mess that people have been involved with.
And so there’s been different ways that entrepreneurs have been responding to this. Either they’re joining in and they’re just throwing more crap into the pile, or they’re completely quiet. And they’re like, okay, I’m not going to say anything and hope this is going to pass off. Nobody’s going to notice this. Or they feel frozen or they feel frustrated and angry like, oh, why is this happening? I was just having such a great month in business and now this is happening. Or they’re projecting their own crap all over the internet, their own things that they’re going through without actually processing their emotion first. And instead of processing their emotion and their triggers, they’re just vomiting all over the internet as opposed to coming at it from a place of, hey, I’m going through these emotions. My audience is going through these emotions. How can I show up as a leader in my space?
So that is what I’ve noticed that is happening. The shift that needs to happen is you need to come back to yourself. And I know it sounds so simple, but it really is. There’s a lot of chaos coming out there, a lot of reacting and not a lot of responding. So when it comes to your messaging, the first thing that needs to happen, and you need to come back to your bigger why and your bigger vision. Why are you doing this? Why does your business exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? What’s the bigger purpose of what you’re doing? And what is it during this time and [inaudible 00:15:51] that you want to create for your ideal audience? Taking a step back and actually digging within and understanding what’s the bigger why.
And once you get clear on the bigger why, then you need to ask yourself the second question, which is what is the content that is going to serve my audience right now? That is still serving my why but it’s also not blind to the events that are happening? So looking at COVID, obviously it’s a big thing that’s happening. It’s, I would say a bigger hurdle than many, many business owners have been facing for a long time. However, rather than just jumping into this and making it super … Like almost like feeding into the drama, take a step back and everything, like this stuff happens, things happen. Challenges happen in a business and we all happen to be facing a pretty big thing, big change. So now taking a step back, this is testing how you handle conflict, what is the bigger message that you want to share? And how do you need to show up? So I can go deeper into that, but I didn’t want to [crosstalk 00:16:56].
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Yes. Well, we love to go deep. We need step-by-step.
Celinne Da Costa:
Yes. Yes. So step number one, as I said, is really reconnecting to your why. Step number two is understanding, is asking yourself, what does your audience need right now? So there’s a hint of what followers like your followers and your tribe is aching for right now, this is pretty universal. What people need right now is comfort, they need direction, they need vulnerability. So your stories around you’re like 100K months, or hiking Mount Kilimanjaro and going on crazy adventures and vacations. Those stories were inspirational when people believed that it was real for them, when it was something, oh, wow. I love that you’re going on this amazing vacation and I’m going to get there someday, but not right now.
But right now, these big, big, big stories, they feel like almost untouchable by people. Because right now people are very focused on survival mode. Like how do I take care of my kids at home? How do I just keep my [inaudible 00:18:08] floating? Like, how do I not go crazy? And like, not want to strangle my partner? So people’s problems on a global level right now, your audience’s problems have gotten more, I don’t want to say smaller because the problem isn’t smaller, but it’s shifted. The nature of the problem has shifted. So when you’re showing up and you’re talking about content, what you need to be doing is showing people, number one, where you’re at right now. So vulnerability, looking at people, for example, if you look at leaders in industry like Jenna Kutcher comes to mind. She’s talking about being at home, about spending time with her kid, about the challenges she’s facing at home and showing her audience, what are some things you can do as well.
So really bringing it back down to Earth and helping people understand, I know, I see the challenges you’re going through right now. I’m going through these as well. Here’s how I’m showing up. Here’s how you can as well. Here’s a way for you to get through this.
Number two is comfort, short term security. So a lot of entrepreneurs that are really thriving right now, they’re offering solutions in the short term. So right now might not be the time where you’re saying within two years, learn how to build your seven figure business, but rather how to inject some income into your business in the next 30 days. And these are the solutions you want to offer people. So things like short term, let me help you. Let me be there for you.
The third part is brand building. So right now, people, not everybody might have the resources to invest in you in this moment. But what you want to do is create that connection. That inspiration, that hey, here’s my vision. Here’s what I’m about. Here’s what I want to do for you. And continuing to give your people value, whether it’s in freebies or lower and masterclasses, even your higher end products, just continuing to give, to give, to give, reaching out to your clients right now, involving them back into your brand story, into your bigger mission. Because in six months from now, a year from now, when this passes, you’re going to be the one that they remember when they have the resources again to invest. They’re going to remember the brands that gave them that hit of inspiration, that gave them guidance, that showed them the way.
And so that is a really powerful way if we were to summarize it, is number one, ground it, bring it back to Earth and what people are going through, but do not project on others. Number two, find small ways to give people comfort, to give them that sense of vulnerability, to give them direction. And number three, continue discussing your brand story, your bigger vision, your bigger why, and pulling people into you, into your values, even if you’re not seeing results come right away. So those are some three ways that could really start shifting your content.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Absolutely. So what have you done in your business that, if you gave us a concrete example.
Celinne Da Costa:
Yes. A couple of things. Number one, I’ve made a shift. For those of you who might be following me on Instagram, you’ll see that I have a very heavy travel account. So I’ve been traveling full time for four years now. So lots of pictures of me in beautiful places. So a big shift that I’ve made is I started to post content that is more at home, more selfies, basically showing people, no, I’m not in Petra, Jordan right now, like enjoying the monastery. But rather I am also at home and here going through the social distance and going through similar things as you guys. So number one, there’s been a shift in showing people a different part of my lifestyle. This nature of my stories have also changed and I’m seeing a response to that. So I’m addressing rather than ignoring it and being like, hey guys, go tell your story. Everything’s okay. Everything’s amazing. Build a perfect brand. Frequently when I say, hey, I woke up today and I felt like crap. And here’s how I worked through it.
So actually marrying, here’s what I’m going through. Like I too am going through fears. I too am going through moments of uncertainty. I feel you, but here is how I’m processing this. And here’s the techniques that I teach. So still maintaining this position of authority and this position of, hey, I’m a leader, I’m showing up. But also being vulnerable and open instead of ignoring that I too am going through consequences that come from COVID. So that’s another thing that I’ve done.
Other thing is I’ve been offering, I’ve been creating offers to help with this. So recently I ran a masterclass on how to pivot your messaging and lead with heart during times of crisis. And I offered it for $97, which is one of the lowest masterclass offers I’ve ever offered. So to really make it accessible to people and helping entrepreneurs essentially take their story and shift it. So those are three ways, three concrete, tangible ways that I’ve created a shift in my business. And I’ve been seeing the results as well. I did take a … In March, it was like, whoa, what’s going on? And there was a dip. And now I’m seeing everything regulate and get back to normal as I’m getting in the flow of … And another thing I also did is reaching out to my past clients and really bringing them back into my story, into my brand, not to offer them anything, but just to see how they were doing and to reconnect with them. So those are four ways.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Yeah. Oh, I love that. That is fantastic. Celinne, you talked about your Instagram account. You have a lot of followers on Instagram. Do you think that’s mainly due to the storytelling that you started? Did it start to spike from the storytelling?
Celinne Da Costa:
100%. That is how I built my following. It was from telling the stories every day, so the element that … Everyone tells you this. Consistency, consistency, consistency, is it was really about posting every single day. Obviously with my brand strategy background, I knew strategic tricks to get myself more visible, but the main ways that I build my following was number one, storytelling consistently, every single day and doing it, as I mentioned before, starting with the end, with a bigger vision in mind, helping people, essentially building a community around the art of storytelling and how that can help you heal yourself and heal others.
The other way, I actually recently did an Instagram poll. 75% of my followers found me through publicity, media. So, podcasts such as these, I write for Forbes. So people find me through my articles. They find me through the things I’m featured in. So a lot of people find me through the work that I’m doing. So that’s a big, big traffic generator for me, as well as collaborations that I do with other entrepreneurs and the clients that I’ve had. So it’s really a really good mix. But I would say to answer your question shortly, yes, absolutely. It comes down to storytelling, building a tribe around that, keeping people engaged and looking out for my posts, training them, to look for my post every day. I have people message me saying, I drink coffee and look for your post every morning. I read it as, a bed time story every night. So I’ve had these sorts of comments and I can see the ways that stories have really been able to gel my community together.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
How do you get into the habit of writing daily? Do you do it at the same time of day or is it like, I haven’t written the story today, I have to write one before I go to bed?
Celinne Da Costa:
So there’s two strategies for these and the quote that came to mind when you said that is a famous Picasso quote, which is “Inspiration comes, but it has to find you working.” So, first of all, most days I can’t sit here and preach that every single day I wake up at 6:00 AM and I do this. But most days, the first thing I try to do is write for at least an hour. So it could be captions, it could be my book, anything really. I just sit down and I write something. And so the first step is, for writing, is you just got to do it. There’s no easy way. And trust me as a writer and I’ve written a couple books, like I’ve looked for easy ways and over and over again, like writers who are way more successful than me, tell me, sorry, Celinne. But the only way to write is to write. And I’m like, okay, there’s no other hack round it.
But there is another thing, is the second thing that makes it easier is setting up the conditions through which inspiration flows. And what I mean by that is doing things that are really creative, going outside, meditation, like actually giving myself space to think or not think. And what I have is a Word pad on my iPhone. And sometimes like I’m posting a caption today, I woke up in the morning and I had an idea and it just flew out of me. And I wrote that caption in like 5 minutes as opposed to another similar length caption, which might have taken me 40 minutes.
So step one is just get up and do it. Step two is every time you have an idea, just get out your phone and just write it down and then clean it up later. And that’s another way that I’m able to tell the stories, but I’ve trained myself through the work that I do and I teach my clients. One of the main things that I teach is just train yourself to look for stories in everything. Everything is a story. So just capturing the moment, write a few notes in your notepad. And then when you come back to it, just write something about it.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
So I’m such a nerd. Now I’m curious about, do you have a database for your stories? Like, because if you just put them on Instagram, they’re kind of like lost in space and it’s going to be hard to find them again. And if you ever want to use them again for a book or rotate stories or whatever, like do you have a system?
Celinne Da Costa:
So you and I have something in common, we are both nerds.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Great.
Celinne Da Costa:
Yes, yes. I have a system. I actually have an Airtable documenting all of my stories. And basically I have like hashtags. I can’t take credit for this because my brain, like basically I used to dump everything into a Word document to back up my stories and I would just like control find. And then my team was like, no way. We can’t do this. And they put everything into an Airtable with hashtags. And so now yes, when I write something, I just tag it and then my team categorize it for me. And it’s interesting, you say, to find a book because I actually have already written a book of short stories and I used, I essentially pulled from my Instagram stories from when I was traveling around the world and I cleaned it up and essentially repurposed that content to publish a book. And then now I’m writing a memoir and I keep going over and over again, back into the database and pulling copy from that and reusing it.
And even now, I’m launching my group coaching program next month. And just earlier today, before we hopped on this call, I was going through my database being like, okay, where’s my content around storytelling that I can just pull and repurpose for this email sequence this time around. So yes, I write the stories on Instagram, but it’s not like I’m just shooting them down an abyss. Or that would be a lot of time and effort wasted, which I am efficient, I am an entrepreneur, I don’t like to just shoot things down the rabbit hole and never see them again.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Very good. That calms me down very much.
Celinne Da Costa:
Yeah. I have a system and then I teach it to my clients as well because I don’t want you guys just writing stuff and then just forgetting about it for all of eternity. That would not be fun.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
So now we’ve made people super curious about reading your story. So tell us, how do we find you online?
Celinne Da Costa:
Multiple ways to find me online. That’s the fun part. So, number one, I would encourage you to visit my website. It is celinnedacosta.com. I’m going to spell this out because there’s a lot of misspellings of my name. It’s C-E-L-I-N-N-E-D-A-C-O-S-T-A.com. I have two ns in my name. Don’t ask me, ask my mom. So my website has tons of resources, of blogs so you can poke around and really understand what storytelling can do for you now.
Another way to find me, and this is the way that I highly, wink, wink encourage is that you come follow me on Instagram. It’s at Celinne Da Costa. Come see these stories yourself. Every day, I’m posting inspirations, either in stories or my posts, tips, tricks to really help you as well as free resources. So come join us at Celinne Da Costa. You can also find me, same handle, I made it super easy on Twitter, on Facebook, on all the platforms I am the same.
And another thing I would love to offer your audience is a free guide for those of you who are thinking, oh gosh, I would love to share my story. I don’t necessarily know or unclear of what makes my short story special. And even if I know what makes my story special, I’m not sure how to communicate it. If that’s something that came across for you during this interview, what I would recommend is you go download my guide, which is how to unapologetically share your story even if you’re uncomfortable opening up and that guide will get you started on how to get your story out there in a really powerful way and get your brand noticed.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Beautiful. We’ll link this all up in the show notes. Thank you so much for joining the show today, Celinne and all the best, all the way to Bali.
Celinne Da Costa:
Thank you so much for having me.
Sigrun Gudjonsdottir:
Go to the show notes at sigrun.com/388, where you will find out more about Momentum, group coaching and accountability program. And if you decide to join us, you can be a part of the runway sprint this summer so that your launch takes off in the fall. In the show notes, you will also find all the links to Celinne Da Costa. Thank you for listening to the Sigrun Show. Did you enjoy this episode? Let me know that you listened by tagging me in your Insta story or Instagram posts, using my handle, sigrun.com and the hashtag Sigrun Show. See you in the next episode.