Part 2: Rags to Riches

7 Simple Storylines for Content Marketing Index

Using Story Archetypes in Content Marketing
​Overcoming The Monster

The Rags to Riches narrative is all around us. We tell it to ourselves as encouragement. We use it to convince ourselves to keep working towards success.

It's what Tony Robbins uses to get people to shell out thousands of dollars for his self-help stuff.

Rags to Riches is basically the American Dream.

It's built on the idea that growth, change, and maturation leads us to success.

Here are its 5 parts:

1. Initial Wretchedness & The Call: our protagonist lives a very impoverished life either spiritually, monetarily, emotionally which totally consumes and defines their identity, but something calls them to change.
2. The Initial Success: our protagonist ventures out and has some initial success, things seem to be going well...
3. The Central Crisis: our protagonist hasn't entirely left their old life and habits behind so something comes back to bite them in the ass. They hit their absolute low.
4. The New Deal: our protagonist learns from their mistakes, their success returns and the take on the final conflict with ease.
5. The Final Union and Fulfillment: our protagonist claims their reward, they are a better person.

Like Overcoming the Monster, the success of a Rags to Riches plotline also lies in connecting the audience to the protagonist. To inspire the audience to also follow the same transformative experience.

Some examples from pop culture:

• Cinderella
• Jane Eyre
• Aladdin​
  

Okay... more fairytales? How do I apply this in real life?

Very carefully...

Actually just kidding. It's really super, super simple.

Does this sound familiar to you? "I was once in the same place you were, unsuccessful or unfulfilled or poor, but because of [insert some kind of new or different or exciting product or service or workshop] I am now successful or fulfilled or rich."

It should because it's everywhere in the business world. 

This plotline relies on our belief that we are individuals capable of changing our current situation. It requires belief in the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" mentality.

Rags to Riches is perfect for framing testimonials, selling big-ticket workshops and courses. You will provide your audience or clients or students with the tools to change something they are unhappy with. You impart some pearls of wisdom to ignite their self-discovery or to achieve their goals.

But a word of warning: Rags to Riches also heavily reliant on real examples of the transformation, growth, or change. People need to see it to believe it because, without proof, it will just sound like a fairytale.