Stef is a master storyteller and public speaking coach who has dedicated his life to helping individuals and businesses harness the power of storytelling. As the founder of Uberboyo, Stef has spent years honing his craft and building a reputation as one of the most dynamic and engaging speakers in the industry.
Through his workshops and coaching programs, he has helped countless individuals and businesses develop their own storytelling skills and become more effective communicators.
Additionally, Stef runs a personal brand where he shares his own stories and insights with his followers. Through his social media channels, he inspires others to embrace the power of storytelling and become more confident in their own abilities.
For more information on Uberboyo visit the website here.
Today, we sit down with Stef to learn more about his journey as an entrepreneur.
Q. Tell us a little more about your journey – how did you get started?
Stef: So, we’re all taught that the purpose of the education system is to bring out your potential and set you on a path to add value to society, generate wealth, and do well for yourself. But my experience in college opened my eyes to reality. I studied music, English literature, and all these things in humanities, but I didn’t feel like I was being educated properly. Though I didn’t fully understand it at the time, I was realizing that the education system is more primitive than we’re led to believe.
I had all these people I looked up to; great speakers, writers, singers, etc., and I remember looking at them and realizing they were categorized by the one skill they excelled at. Meanwhile, I wasn’t being taught any skills, I was just being handed information to process and regurgitate. There was no action and, looking back, I don’t think there was ever any action in my journey within the education system.
So, I decided to drop out and take my education into my own hands. All I understood is that I wanted to find skills, but I was young and broke, and I had no idea what I was doing. I started teaching English because it was the most accessible job and I took the money I made to pay people to train me on their skills. I reached out to all kinds of people; writers, poets, singers, musicians, MMA fighters, salesmen, public speakers, and more.
That’s how I learned about a lot of different things in a very messy way. Over the years, I got very competent! I went from working as an English teacher to being hired by tech companies who’d pay me €180 an hour, so I was finally making a living. Eventually, I started a YouTube channel and it started to take off because the skills I had worked very well in the online space, especially storytelling. That’s the background of it all!
Q. You’ve accumulated all these skills, how do you use them today?
Stef: I guess I would call myself an internet entrepreneur. I’ve learned that skills don’t turn into results on their own, you have to learn to apply them. If I was an MMA fighter and I was really good at taekwondo, that wouldn’t make me the UFC champion. To achieve that, I would have to learn how to combine taekwondo with boxing and wrestling. We need to test and challenge our skills to find the best applications.
I went through that journey. I dropped out of college and learned all these things, and then I asked myself: where’s the best place I can test my skills? So, I went on the internet. On my YouTube channel, I talk about topics I understand and tell good stories to get people’s attention and build an audience.
A lot of doors started to open! I started getting offers, making new friends and meeting new people to collaborate with. I even started getting calls from guys running massive businesses who wanted me to coach them, which was a full-circle moment. So, I used my business sense and interpersonal skills to make the most out of those opportunities.
At one point, I decided to focus on what I understood. So, I started teaching clients how to become better speakers, better writers, and think more clearly by leveraging my experience as an English teacher and combining my skills with psychology principles.
Eventually, people also started to ask me to make content for them or help them build their YouTube channel, and I got into that as well. I help with content planning based on the stories they want to tell, create marketing strategies, and more. In short, I do a lot of different things because I enjoy using my skills and combining them in a variety of practical ways.
Q. There are millions of YouTube channels out there, what do you think helped you succeed in that space?
Stef: There are two aspects to it. I have a lot of soft skills; I’m a very good storyteller. I could talk about the phone book and make it sound interesting. I have a colorful imagination and a lot of general knowledge about different things, except maybe mathematics.
I’ve also had a lot of training in different areas, so I’ve built an amazing repertoire of powerful skills that can make me interesting in any setting. Most people don’t have that and it’s where the education system fails us. That’s why this is the era of self-education. It’s our responsibility to develop these skills for ourselves if we want to have opportunities.
Now, it has taken years to get to where I am, but I’m positioned for the rest of my life. So, there’s a faster way to achieve it and it’s to be more precise. Pick one niche, study the target audience, and determine how to narrate to them. If you have structure, you will dominate the algorithm and convert your audience into clients. Combine that with charisma and personality, and you’re golden. After all, people want to be informed and educated, but also inspired, empowered, and entertained.
Q. Is there a framework you use to understand your audience?
Stef: In theory, I would sit down to try to understand the audience and use that information to strategize. For example, I’m working with someone in fitness and they want to target older men who want to achieve more longevity through workouts.
So, I have to sit down and think of ways to reach the target audience, understand their pain points, and get inside their world to make a plan. However, plans rarely survive contact with reality. Planning is essential, but in practice, the things you think will work don’t always do, and vice versa.
You just have to try things based on that plan and see what sticks, be in the trenches, and learn from the mistakes. It’s also important to become astute at observing the people you want to reach to inform your decisions.
Q. What’s a simple thing content creators can do to make money?
Stef: This is a difficult one to answer. I think that when you’re creative and entrepreneurial, you risk poverty. It’s part of it. For example, think of the sheer number of creators in Hollywood who are broke right now. But one day, their script gets taken and turned into a film. They get the break they were looking for and have the potential to scale.
When it comes to YouTube, you’re doing it for free, hoping to scale enough to be able to monetize, so it’s different. If you want to be a creator, you have to be good at getting attention because that’s where the value comes from. You need an audience first and building one requires skills.
This is a whole area of discipline that you need to study if you want to successfully monetize. Otherwise, you might end up getting good attention online but broke, which is a horrible place to be. One thing I learned from my first mentor is that, to start a business, you need to find out what people want and give it to them. Taking the time to do that will yield a better, more stable business, instead of relying on quick cash grabs.
Q. You’ve made thousands of phone calls with clients, what would you say is the biggest takeaway?
Stef: The biggest takeaway is that people want to understand why they’re struggling. They want to theorize and figure things out. In other words, they want a narrative. They want to feel empowered and like they’re able to do things. They want to feel confident and competent because that makes them fit to go out there and make things happen.
However, a lot of people are not serious or focused enough. They let their emotions, fears, and anxiety dominate them and blind them to the simple actions they can take to change their situation. Emotions can get in the way of clear decision-making and people can get stuck in their feelings instead of asking, well, what can I do? There are many other takeaways, but that’s one of the main ones.
Q. What’s a one-sentence piece of advice you’d give to someone starting their entrepreneurial or creative journey?
Stef: I’m not a concise man, but my advice would be to tell more and better stories. That’s what it’s all about in the age of the internet. So, don’t ignore structure, but also be creative and leverage what makes you unique.
People respond well to good narratives and creating a good narrative is the first thing you need to learn. Tell real stories that move people! It’s not all about strategy and algorithms, it’s also about human connection.
So, ask yourself, how do I present stories in a way that will stick with people? Focus on this and then you can apply structure and strategize to share them on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or whatever other platform you want to penetrate.
To keep up to date with Stef, connect with him on Twitter!
