The Five Revolutionary Principles of Vibe Branding With Sean Schroeder & Park Howell

How AI Transforms Intuitive Brand Development in Minutes, Not Months

Entrepreneurs and business leaders know that authentic branding drives sustainable growth.

But most struggle with the overwhelming complexity and time investment that traditional branding requires. What if you could develop a comprehensive brand strategy in hours instead of months?

In this groundbreaking conversation, StoryCycle Genie™ co-creators Sean Schroeder and Park Howell explore the revolutionary concept of vibe branding.

Vibe Branding is combines human intuition with AI-powered cognitive amplification to transform how brands discover and articulate their authentic stories.

The Five Principles of Vibe Branding

Principle #1: Developed Intuition Over Discovery Sessions

Move beyond exhausting interrogation sessions to intuition-driven brand excavation. The StoryCycle Genie™ analyzes your existing content – websites, marketing materials, presentations – to reveal how you’re already showing up in the world.

Principle #2: Systematic Amplification Over Creative Translation

Replace disconnected exercises with systematic frameworks that tap into your developed business instincts, creating a coherent map of how you solve problems and deliver value.

Principle #3: Market Experience Over Theoretical Frameworks

Shift from abstract positioning exercises to absolute resonance with your authentic brand truth, eliminating the need to misappropriate someone else’s brand identity.

Principle #4: Integrated Execution Over Strategy Implementation Gaps

Destroy the “three-headed brand monster” of separate strategy, rollout, and content phases. Build one unified brand brain that generates everything from foundational narrative to campaign-ready content.

Principle #5: Intuition-Guided Systems Over Manual Creative Development

Systemize your intuition to access 50,000 stored patterns in seconds, enabling lightning-fast pattern recognition that keeps you in cognitive flow.

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The Generosity-Driven Storytelling Strategy for Small Business Growth With John Whitt

Strategic Chess Meets Heart-Centered Leadership: Why Small Business Owners Are Hitting Growth Ceilings (And How to Break Through)

You’ve built a successful small business. You’re doing everything right. And you know there’s so much more potential waiting to be unleashed.

But you’re hitting that familiar ceiling between $500K and $5M.

More effort isn’t translating to proportional growth, because you’re trapped managing everything instead of leading strategically.

Imagine accelerating your growth by learning how chess-inspired strategy, combined with generosity-driven leadership, creates the systematic breakthrough that transforms overwhelmed business owners into confident, scalable leaders.

John Whitt, Founder & President of BusinessWhitt and author of Checkmate: Winning Tactics for Translating Ideas into Money, is not your typical business coach.

He’s a “heart-centered tactician” who combines 30 years of corporate experience managing billion-dollar construction projects with chess strategy principles and a generosity-first leadership philosophy.

From managing 1,500 Bank of America projects worth $500 million to helping small business owners break through growth constraints, John’s proven that strategic thinking plus authentic values creates an unstoppable competitive advantage.

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From Newsroom to Boardroom: AI in Storytelling With Pete Pachal

How AI Is Transforming Media: Essential Insights for Content Creators

Discover how AI is revolutionizing journalism and content creation with Pete Pachal, founder of Media Copilot and veteran journalist with 25+ years covering technology.

Pete has consulted on AI strategies for The Washington Post and BBC, appeared on CNN and Fox Business, and teaches AI implementation to media professionals worldwide.

Key Takeaways for Content Creators:

AI Implementation Without Losing Authenticity:

Learn Pete’s “Level 1-2” approach to AI collaboration—using tools like Claude Opus for research and brainstorming while maintaining your unique voice and editorial integrity.

The Future of Content Consumption:

Understand how AI is enabling hyper-personalized content delivery through podcasts, video summaries, and custom formats that deepen audience engagement.

Practical AI Strategies You Can Use Today:

Pete shares three actionable steps: build a custom AI assistant, use AI collaboratively (not as a vending machine), and leverage voice interaction for turning thoughts into insights.

Avoiding AI Pitfalls in Professional Content:

Discover how to navigate AI hallucinations, maintain fact-checking standards, and use AI to enhance rather than replace original research and reporting.

The Evolution from Aggregation to Originality:

Learn why AI is forcing content creators back to authentic, original work—and how this shift benefits both creators and audiences seeking trustworthy information. (more…)

How AI is a Storytelling Collaborator, not a Competitor, with Hamlet Azarian

Is AI your adversary or your ally?

Are you feeling burned out from all the AI talk? I get it.

But dismissing AI today is like complaining about cars in the horse-and-buggy era. “Giddy-up, Trigger.”

That’s why I brought Hamlet Azarian onto The Business of Story. He’s not just talking about AI, he’s helping companies harness it to grow smarter and faster.

Hamlet is the founder of Azarian Growth Agency, based in Los Angeles, and a pioneer in using agentic AI to streamline everything from lead generation to creative production.

He reveals how agentic AI is revolutionizing marketing, sales, and operations, not by replacing humans, but by enhancing their creativity and decision-making.

With over $269 million in startup funding raised under his guidance, Hamlet shares how to use AI as your strategic sidekick—from content creation to go-to-market execution.

You’ll learn how agentic AI helps startups and scaling companies identify go-to-market opportunities, craft customer journeys, and even evaluate sales calls—all without losing the human touch. Hamlet explains how these tools aren’t meant to replace your team but to free them up for more creative, strategic work.

We also dive into the brand storytelling side of things.

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Growing Revenue and Retention for Your SaaS Brand with Dan Balcauski

The Value Created in Your Product or Service Pricing Starts With Your Story

You want your pricing to communicate the true value of what you offer and fuel the growth of your business.

If you can find the right story to communicate your subjective price, then your customers will gladly pay for the outcomes you objectively deliver.

But it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and even a little paralyzed because pricing feels like a black box—confusing metrics, vague value, and no clear process to guide you.

That’s why today’s episode is such a game-changer.

Dan Balcauski, Founder of and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, a consultancy that helps high-volume B2B SaaS companies define pricing and packaging strategies that drive growth.

He shares how pricing is not just a number—it’s your brand narrative in action. So if you want to price with purpose and confidence, this one’s for you.

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The Five Essential Elements (the H.E.A.R.T.) of the Perfect Pitch With Ben Wiener

How to Pitch Like Your Life Depends on It

Want to create a winning startup pitch that actually lands funding?

In this episode of the Business of Story, storytelling strategist Park Howell interviews Ben Wiener, managing partner at Jumpspeed Ventures and author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Fever Pitch, a business thriller that brings pitch storytelling to life.

Ben is a venture capitalist, founder, and startup mentor who developed the H.E.A.R.T. Pitch Framework to help entrepreneurs tell stories that inspire action. Learn how to combine emotional resonance, narrative structure, and investor psychology into a simple five-part formula for communicating big ideas.

Whether you’re raising capital, launching a product, or convincing stakeholders, this episode will show you how to structure your pitch like a compelling story and radically improve your odds of success.

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Your Story is Your Strategy with Renee Frojo

How to Put Your Story in Service to Your Business

You are dedicated to building your brand and know how important brand storytelling is to generate the personal, professional and revenue growth you desire.

But you feel like marketing your business has become a grind.

Like the joy that once fueled your entrepreneurial journey has vanished behind funnels, frameworks, and fatigue?

Renee Frojo, former journalist turned brand storytelling coach, helps service-based entrepreneurs like you rediscover your purpose and passion by using your most underutilized asset: your personal story.

Renee’s mantra is simple but powerful: your story is your strategy. She shares how to turn real-life moments, your doubts, your wins, even your buyer’s remorse, into brand-building gold that creates emotional resonance and trust with your audience.

Whether you’re a coach, consultant, or creative entrepreneur, this episode will help you simplify your content strategy, strengthen your message, and fall back in love with your brand.

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The Human Story in AI-Driven Sales with Gaurav Bhattacharya

AI is advancing rapidly, making our lives as storytellers easier in numerous ways.

But at what cost?  Are we losing our human touch?

Gaurav Bhattacharya, CEO and co-founder of Jeeva.ai, shares how sales teams can harness the speed and scale of AI while preserving the essence of their storytelling.

You’ll discover how intelligent agents are freeing salespeople from tedious tasks so they can focus on what AI still can’t do: build trust through authentic human connection.

Gaurav shows you how agentic AI—tools with autonomy and awareness can help your team qualify leads, personalize outreach, and 10X your performance without losing your humanity.

He also explains why the most successful sellers still master timeless skills like empathy, reflective listening, and human-centric stories to build their businesses.

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How to Build Deeper Human Connections Online With Robin Nathaniel

AI has become freaky good. On one hand, the realism can blow you away.

But on the other, it can freak you out, an example of which you’ll hear on this show. So, how can your human stories be heard in a world flooded with AI sludge, automated posts, hollow comments, and voices that all sound the same?

Our guest today, Robin Nathaniel, author of Social Media SYNC: A Framework for Intentional Human Connection in the AI Era, is a former hip-hop artist turned social media strategist.

He shows you how to blend the best of AI tools with your authentic voice, so you can simplify your content creation and deepen the impact of your storytelling.

To use a singing metaphor, I think of AI as the inhale of air a singer uses to expand their lungs, ready to belt out a tune. But only the person can bring the tone, voice,  nuances, inflections, and passion to the song.

That’s what separates us from the bots. Robin will show you how to make your content sing.

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How to Catch Your Stories With Aaron Calafato

What if the shortest distance between two souls is a story?

That’s the big idea we explore today on The Business of Story with my guest, Aaron Calafato,

Aaron is a master of short-form, autobiographical storytelling. His podcast, 7 Minute Stories, has reached over 30 million people worldwide.

From performing off-the-cuff monologues in NYC cafés to now coaching C-suite execs and fast-growing startups, Aaron teaches the art of “story catching.”

It’s about paying attention to the world around you and harvesting those meaningful moments most people miss.

Aaron shares how to catch compelling stories in the wild, build a mental library of moments, and use those short, powerful narratives to connect deeply with audiences — from the boardroom to the podcast booth.

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