Transcriber: David DeRuwe Reviewer: gaith Takrity
So I came to America with just $100 and a suitcase of clothes.
I’d come in search of the American dream.
I’d come initially to become a medical doctor because all my dreams,
all my life, was being gynecologist,
because I felt like that was going to be the best way
that I can change lives and make a difference in the world.
Interestingly, too, one of the reasons why I wanted
to become a gynecologist was because born in Nigeria
either you are a doctor, a nurse, an accountant,
or you’ll be seen as a failure
So I had that pressure on myself, too,
to try to fulfill the dreams my parents and the society had for me.
But a few years in -
I’m taking classes, I’m going through the whole, you know, sciences and stuff -
I find that I’d lost passion for science,
but that there was a higher and greater purpose for my life.
And I found out what I really enjoyed doing was not being in the lab
and trying to fix people in the hospital,
but was actually to empower entrepreneurs and creators to launch businesses online
and share their passion.
And that journey led me to found Vonza,
which is the first Black-owned all in one platform
for creators to launch a business online.
But the interesting thing about this story was that even though, you know,
starting a tech company as a Black man,
I found myself initially having what they call “the impostor syndrome.”
I thought I needed to be, you know, so funded like our competitors
or have all these big resources behind me before my company could be successful.
It wasn't until I began to look back
and see that what really sets me apart from the competitor,
from the business place, from the marketplace, was my story.
So that’s how I went back and discovered the power of the story.
What happens with a story
is that your story is what separates you from other people
and separates you from the business players or your competitors.
And if anybody would take time to begin to pay more attention to their story,
you’re going to find that in your story lies your superpower and your genius.
One of the biggest misconceptions in life
is that a lot of people feel like for them to make a big impact in life,
they have to be a nuclear physicist or they have to be an innovator
or be like Elon Musk or take people to the moon or to the stars.
You really don't have to do all that to make a difference in the world.
There are a lot of people in the world who think like you,
who feel like you, who have the same pain and experiences like you do,
and when you tell your story, you are able to connect with them, empower them,
and also to help them to get to the dream that you’re trying to help them to do.
There are three things a good story does and why it is good to tell stories.
You know, stories is what differentiates
a winner from somebody that’s not going to make that much difference out there.
There are three things a good story does:
Number one, a good story helps you build trust with your audience or with society.
A person who tells the best story
will always, always win, no matter the odds against them.
If you look at the world today,
even great religions and great philosophers
and great movements are based on a good story.
So if you learn how to tell better stories,
you'll be able to not only change your life,
but also change the world all around you.
So let me talk about three main things that a good does:
Number one is trust.
A good story helps you to build trust with your audience and your community.
The second thing about a good story
is that a good story also helps your audience to better connect with you.
If we look at the time of Steve Jobs,
when Steve Jobs was talking about introducing the iPod,
he didn’t focus on the features the iPod had.
He just talked about a story and shared the story,
and that story painted a picture in the mind of the ecosystem
of how a little device can house a thousand songs
instead of having a thousand CDs as it was at the time.
So just by telling a better story, Steve Jobs was able to make
Apple and iPod a very profitable and successful product.
The third element of a good story is it motivates
and mobilizes people towards action.
You know, I don’t know what faith you might be in,
but if you read the Bible,
you read the story of a man called Jesus, and he told a very good story,
told a story about the kingdom of God, told a story about life after death.
He told a story about all these great things that’s possible,
this great kingdom that nobody really had ever seen or experienced,
but was able to galvanize billions of people just by telling a good story.
So it doesn’t matter what it is you’re trying to achieve in your life or dreams,
if you can tell better stories, you’ll be able to impact more people,
you’ll be able to change more lives, and you’ll be able to change your world.
Once again, I’m Abraham, I came to America with $100 and a suitcase of clothes,
and that’s my story,
and that’s the story that’s helping me to make a difference in the world.