Rain Bennett
- Apr 8, 2021
- 4 min read

Ep. 87: Turn Your Story Into a Business

Storytellers, are you ready for some very exciting news?! On this episode of The Storytelling Lab, Rain announces that his online course "Uncover the Story to Launch Your Personal Brand" is officially available for pre-order! If you're ready for some invaluable tips and tricks about how to turn your story into a profitable business, then this is the episode (and the course) for you.

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Let me tell you a little story.

In 2012 I was making my first feature documentary. It was called Raise Up: The World is Our Gym and it was about the rapidly growing “freestyle calisthenics” fitness culture.

I remember sitting on the bus going back to our hotel after the World Championships in Riga, Latvia, when one of the athletes was showing us his Instagram profile and how it worked.

I had heard about Instagram, but didn’t really like it’s format and honestly I didn’t want another social media account. At that point, I already had Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube.

But this athlete was showing us how you could use hashtags, especially in a growing field like calisthenics, to increase your following and engagement. You could easily find people who liked the same things you did and they could easily find you. He was on his way to 300,000 followers.

I still didn’t bite.

The next year, I finally created two Instagram accounts: @rainbennett and @raiseupthemovie -- one for me personally to interact with friends and one to promote the movie. I spent much more time on the movie’s profile, posting workouts and crazy clips from the film. On my personal account, I just posted images from my experiences and travels that I thought were interesting (or poetic or something…).

I grew my film’s account to over 5000 followers but my personal one had only 500. However, it wasn’t my aim to grow it and I kept it private for years, so the low count didn’t bother me at all.

But then in 2017 when I finally released the film, I had a new problem.

I didn’t know who I was without the film. I had been married to this project for almost a decade. It was a huge part of me. But I was exhausted after what felt like carrying a weight up a mountain by myself for years. So I needed something new, but my mind and body felt like I couldn’t do that again.

I tried several attempts at other shows and films with partners because I thought it would be easier. For each of them I created their own Facebook pages and Instagram accounts.

Then I saw the writing on the wall. Time would pass and those projects would end and I’d be exhausted with their brands, as well. So I’d let their accounts (and their brands) essentially die.

And I’d be left with nothing.

I think back now what would have happened if I put more attention on my personal brand when I was making Raise Up. I was in the unique position of being the first person to make a movie about a community that is now in the millions.

Without even trying, the movie’s social accounts grew to thousands of followers and not only did I not capitalize on that community I’d created, after the movie was released, I had nothing more to offer them.

Now I imagine if I’d built that following around me, the guy making the film.

Well, I might lose the calisthenics folks (maybe) when I went on to new projects, but for those who liked me as a person, or who liked filmmaking and writing, or who wanted to learn how to do what I did, they’d stick around.

And with the next project, I grow my community even more. And so on.

Now, my personal brand, purpose, and mission is at the heart of anything I do. There is alignment. There is a specific direction. There are clear goals.

I can do all types of different projects -- write a book, direct a new film, host a podcast, create a course, etc. -- and I have a singular narrative thread woven through them all.

This is what you must do if you want to create a business out of your story.

What you offer to people must be clearly defined and you will discover that through the story of your unique skills, passions, and experiences.

But above all, that way you can just be you AND make money doing it.

And that's exactly what my online course will teach you. We go through my step-by-step process on how to uncover that story to propel your personal brand into a profitable business.

For the next 25 days, my course "Uncover the Story to Launch Your Personal Brand" is going to be available for pre-order at a special price. I hope you'll join me so I can help you harness the power of just being YOU.

For more information about the course, check out this link:

https://rainbennettstorytellingschool.thinkific.com/courses/uncover-the-story-to-launch-your-personal-brand

Peace and Love,

Rain

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