I used to downplay my introductions when meeting new people.

“Oh, I make websites,” I would say.

People would assume I was a freelancer working with local small businesses. Nothing wrong with it, but also not memorable.

Over time, I got comfortable sharing more details – that I ran my own business I co-founded with a friend, that we worked with X, Y, Z brands, and produced this and that kind of work. More people seemed to remember what I shared. I started connecting with more people this way.

When I started posting more regularly on LinkedIn nearly two years ago, sharing things I learned, things about my business, and things about myself, I saw a similar pattern. More people remembered me, more people wanted to connect, and more people wanted to help or collaborate.

It’s always interesting to hear what people pick up from my posts and what they choose to remember.

People say they appreciate the tips on running an agency business or the lessons on being a leader, but what they most remember are my stories – how Sei-Wook and I started Barrel after meeting at Columbia, how our holding company formed with the spin-off of Vaulted Oak and BX Studio, how I used to live in Brooklyn but now live in the Hudson Valley, how our leadership team read over 40 books that changed our lives, and more.

Stories are valuable. You can treat them as its own asset class. You have your cash, your stocks, your bonds, your real estate, your crypto, your private equity and venture investments, and whatever else you deem valuable. How about investing in stories?

The wonderful thing is, it doesn’t cost a thing.

No matter where we are in our lives professionally or personally, we all have plenty of raw material to develop into compelling stories.

It’s easy to think that storytelling is best left to the masters – those who create great novels, films, TV shows, comedy sets, etc. but stories are useful in day-to-day interactions, at work, with family, and friends.

If you really think about it, we have multiple opportunities each day to tell some kind of a story. “How was your day?” “How was your weekend?” “What were you up to?” Of course, for most of these, we choose to go with a plain vanilla answer and not think about it too much.

But there are occasions when it would be handy to have some good stories ready – like when you meet someone for the first time, when you’re trying to teach something, when you’re trying to make a point, or when you’re trying to entertain.

This is where the “investment” – spending time crafting, practicing, and refining your stories – can generate a great deal of value in the long run.

I personally don’t think stories need extra embellishment or outrageous hooks. Most stories can be interesting with an easy-to-follow structure, clear characters, and a few very specific details. And the foundation of your story cache can be built with stories about who you are and what makes you, you:

• Where’d you grow up? What was it like?
• Where’d you go to school? What did you study? How was your education?
• What do you do?
• How did you end up doing what you’re doing now?
• What were you like when you were younger and what are you like now?
• What are your interests and how’d you get into them?
• Where do you live now, and how’d you come to live there?
• Who are your people? What’s your family situation? Who are your friends?
• What are your values, what do you care about?
• What were the significant influences in your life? Who or what had the greatest impact on you and how?
• Any particular setbacks or challenges you’ve overcome in your life that you’re proud of?
• What are you working towards and why?

These questions can be answered with very boring, generic answers. But they can also be answered in interesting and compelling ways. No matter who you are, you’ve lived a unique and interesting life. You always have the option to turn your experiences into good stories.

Will every story resonate and land with everyone? Of course not, but by making the effort, it increases the chances that it could resonate. A story that lands in the mind of someone else can go a long way. It can influence the way that person perceives you. It can open doors to new opportunities. It can help you cut through the noise and stand out.

As you become a more experienced storyteller with repetition, stories can be personalized and tweaked for different types of audiences. Personally, I’ve found myself emphasizing different aspects of my business origin story depending on the listener – a prospective client, an agency owner, an employee, a family member, someone I’ve met at an alumni event, etc. Having spent time investing in my stories helps me more comfortably adjust and reshape my stories on the fly so that it connects better with the listener.

So how does one go about making the investment in stories?

My preferred approach is to write. Writing in my journal, writing on my blog, posting on LinkedIn, and sending texts to friends – these are all ways to practice, test out, and refine my stories.

There are many other ways to practice. Recording yourself talking on video, making an audio clip, getting someone to interview you, talking to yourself out loud, thinking about it on long walks – the ways are countless. What matters is being deliberate and having the courage to tell the stories to others.

The more you get your stories out there, the more people will be drawn to you and the more they’ll want to hear these stories again and again. When certain stories about you precede someone meeting you, letting them already form a positive impression of you, that’s when you know your investments are starting to pay off.

We all owe it to ourselves to be investors in stories. It’s not something just available to creators and influencers. It’s something every person should consider as part of their net worth.