JB Owen

#354: How to Fire Up Your Business Storytelling With Ignite Moments

#354: How to Fire Up Your Business Storytelling With Ignite Moments

You might be thinking that your experiences and past are not worth sharing. If you can find those moments in your life that awakened you, then you have the ability to connect deeper and share a story that can transform lives. But to create that connection and emotional impact, you need to tap into the emotional experience. 

Known as the ‘Pink Billionaire’, JB Owen shows us how to find these moments – or as she likes to call them, your Ignite moments. JB is the CEO of Ignite Publishing and is leading the industry in empowerment publishing with 12 internationally best-selling anthologies in just over 12 months. Her company is dedicated to producing heartfelt and meaningful books, videos, magazines, products, training, and community connections of fulfilling her grand mission of Igniting possibilities in 7 billion lives.

She combines her unique business style of fierce determination with femininity and fun, and has catapulted her to success in building worldwide brands, manufacturing award-winning products, publishing international best-selling books, and creating multiple transformational platforms in the areas of health, wellness, personal growth, and eco-conscious improvements. 

Her companies JBO Global and Lotus Liners (featured on Dragon’s Den) continue to thrive as they bring innovative and eco-conscious products to consumers that benefit the planet and raise the bar on product development.

JB loves mentoring on a diverse array of topics around entrepreneurship, creativity, personal transformation, self-improvement, healthy lifestyles, parenting, and conscious leadership—as well as sharing her incredible personal journey from small-town girl to working in major motion pictures and growing a global 7-figure business success followed by bankruptcy.

Join us as you will learn how to find your ignite moments to fire up your brand storytelling, the concept behind Agoo and how you can step into the emotion of your story.

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Tim James

#353: Is “Word Painting” a Thing in Your Brand Storytelling?

#353: Is “Word Painting” a Thing in Your Brand Storytelling?

A well-told story can transport us to another world. We see the characters and setting, visualizing every detail as if the words spoken have become a picture in our minds. But how do you share something that goes beyond simply telling a story? One that can light up the theater of your audience’s mind to deeply connect and move them into action?

An extremely gifted story composer, Tim James, founder of Chemical Free Body, models how his marketing is exclusively storytelling as a podcast guest and on his own Health Hero Show.

His remarkable personal health journey transformed him to live a radical life. Tim is one of those guys that will leave you feeling younger and more energetic just by hearing him speak. His passion flows out of him like a fresh waterfall in a dry desert, like the Steppes of Central Asia. 

He’s turning 49 but feels like he’s 18. What’s his secret? After suffering from multiple health issues, including rectal bleeding, two separate skin issues, chronic acid indigestion and surgery to remove one of his organs due to serious digestive issues, Tim knew something had to change. But it was only after watching his closest friends die of cancer and the untimely death of his younger brother that he finally decided to take action. 

Tim’s journey led him to a shocking discovery, which helped his friend beat cancer and transform every area of his life. Feeling charged with a duty to help others he started sharing his knowledge with anyone that would listen. This led him to produce his own chemical-free food products. ‘Chemical Free Body’ was born.  (more…)

Dan White

#352: The Value of Visual Metaphors in Your Brand Storytelling

#352: The Value of Visual Metaphors in Your Brand Storytelling

You may well have your brand, sales or marketing story dialed in and feeling pretty confident about it clearly stating the problem you solve for your clients and customers.

But what’s bumming you out is that your story is not having the impact you believe it deserves.

Maybe it’s not your prose but your pictures. Or more specifically, perhaps you are not using metaphor in your storytelling as effectively as you can to connect on a deep, primal level with your audience.

Well, you’re in luck. Because Dan White joins us this week on the Bussiness of Story.

Dan is a visual storytelling expert and marketing insight innovator. He joins us to reveal why clear and engaging visuals are essential for communicating complicated ideas. Some of Dan’s contributions to the industry include identifying what makes global advertising effective, scrutinizing the potential for viral, search and ‘depth’ marketing, and championing innovative marketing measurement techniques. 

His frameworks and visualizations have influenced generations of marketers and are built into the world’s leading brand measurement, media evaluation and copy-testing systems including Kantar’s BRANDZ, LinkTM and Cross Media solutions and Unilever’s PreView & Brand Health Check systems. 

Dan’s career includes a decade as a marketing analyst, another as a brand and communications consultant and a third as a Chief Marketing Officer. Dan splits his time between client consultancy, training, platform speaking, illustration and writing. He is the author of two best-selling books, The Smart Marketing Book and The Soft Skills Book.

Join us as we explore the power of visual metaphors in your brand, sales and marketing storytelling and how you can use imaginative visuals to bring your marketing concepts to life.

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Christopher Lochhead

#351: 7 Ways to Capitalize on the Direct-to-Creator Model

#351: 7 Ways to Capitalize on the Direct-to-Creator Model

As a creator, you have never had a greater opportunity to monetize your content. But old-fashioned publishers and big tech want to relegate you to their platforms where they make the money. 

Therefore, on today’s show, we explore the relative new direct-to-creator model where you earn the income you deserve for your creations.

Known as the “godfather” of Category Design, Christopher Lochhead joins us today to share the director-to-creator model and how it’s disrupting the old ways of publishing. Chris is on a mission to help people design a different future. He is a nine-time #1 bestselling author, #1 charting Apple podcaster and top 0.5% business newsletter creator and his team now also have one of the top-performing newsletters on Substack. 

Being a dyslexic paperboy from Montreal who got thrown out of school at 18, he was left with few other options. Chris became an entrepreneur, then moved on to become a three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an investor/advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups.

Chris has also co-authored two books Play Bigger and Niche Down becoming the first on the management discipline of brand Category Design. This followed shortly a host of more #1 accomplishments including The Category Pirates Newsletter being the #1 paid newsletter on Category Design and the Category Pirates Series being the #1 charting Amazon mini-books, Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different is a #1 charting business dialogue podcast and Lochhead on Marketing is a #1 charting Marketing and Category Design podcast.

Tune in as we explore why categories make brands and not the other way around, insights into the disruptive direct-to-creator world on platforms like Substack and how you can earn what you deserve from your creative content. 

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Park Howell

#350: How to Craft Your Brand Story Strategy With the Story Cycle System™

#350: How to Craft Your Brand Story Strategy With the Story Cycle System™

Feedspot just named The Business of Story the #1 business storytelling podcast for 2022. It’s an overnight sensation!

But it only took 350 episodes.

So I’m celebrating by taking you by the hand (ok, ear) step-by-step through the Story Cycle System™. For those of you with short attention spans, you get the abridged version in the first 20 minutes of the show (I’ve become a big Blinkist fan).

For heartier listeners, we take a deeper dive in the following 40 or so minutes with loads of examples and exercises for you to start clarifying your brand story strategy. Ok, so this special episode is a scooch over 60 minutes because it’s dripping with practical brand storytelling insight that you can use immediately.

It was almost two years ago when I published my first book, Brand Bewitchery: How to Wield the Story Cycle System™ to Craft Spellbinding Stories for your Brand. Consider this its companion episode. In it, I also talk about finding the authentic personality archetype for your brand. This is more of a visual exercise, so here is the brand archetyping guide just updated this past weekend for your exploration:

Please share this special 350th episode with anyone you know who will benefit by dialing in their brand story strategy. And be sure to listen for the special promo offer on our two online quick courses, The ABTs of Branding™ and The ABTs of Selling™.

Story on, my friend.

≈Park

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Paul Scanlan & Jeff Annison

#349: Crowdfunded Storytelling: Becoming a Big or Small Movie Mogul

#349: Crowdfunded Storytelling: Becoming a Big or Small Movie Mogul

Crowdfunding has become an increasingly popular way to raise funds for specific causes. But how do you execute an effective crowdfunding campaign that inspires, engages and attracts support organically?

It all lies in crafting a powerful story for your campaign that can move people to action and get your investors excited to be a part of your project.

With a first-of-its-kind production company built from the ground up to be owned by fans, serial entrepreneurs Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan, co-founder of Legion M know a thing or two about how to use their community as their superpower.

The duo formed the company in 2016 with the purpose of allowing fans to invest in and be part of the creation of entertainment from movies, television shows, virtual reality and now, Broadway plays. For $100, people are able to buy shares of the company – giving them the opportunity to add notes to the story, details for characters, provide props used in the projects – resulting in a built-in fan base for original IP guaranteed to bring in an audience upon release.

Legion M is revolutionizing the way entertainment is made in Hollywood by uniting a growing fan community of 130,000+ members with nearly 30k investors who have both equity and emotional stakes in the outcomes of the pictures they make. Projects in “various stages of development,” include the epic fantasy, The Emperor’s Blades; comic book and feature film Girl With No Name, and documentary Memory: The Origins of Alien. 

Their work also includes multiple original television series including Evermor, Airship Cowboys, and Malice; as well as interactive and VR-based projects, like ICONS: Face to Face, starring the late Stan Lee of Marvel Comic fame and Kevin Smith. Legion M also invests in partner productions, including Kevin Smith’s feature film Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, as well as the critically acclaimed Colossal, starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis. (more…)

John Livesay

#348: The Sale Is in the Tale: 5 Storytelling Secrets

#348: The Sale Is in the Tale: 5 Storytelling Secrets

We all know when it comes to sales, you need to build rapport and build it fast to win over your customers’ trust. But your message is being lost in the sea of clutter because you’re pushing out facts that nobody remembers, leaving your sales pitches to fall flat and easily forgettable.

Known as the Pitch Whisperer, John Livesay shares in his new book, The Sale Is in the Tale, his five storytelling secrets to keep your sales from drowning in a sea of sameness. John is a keynote speaker who shows sales teams how to turn mundane case studies into compelling case stories so they win more new business. 

From his award-winning career at Conde Nast, he shares the lessons he learned that turns sales teams into revenue rock stars. His TEDx talk: Be The Lifeguard of Your Own Life has over 1,000,000 views. John is also a guest lecturer on how to leverage the power of storytelling in sales at multiple universities including the University of Texas at Austin, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, and University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his book is now required reading for the UTLA (the University of Texas in LA) course on Entertainment and Media studies.

He is the host of  The Successful Pitch podcast, which is heard in over 60 countries. He has been interviewed by Larry King and appeared on TV as an expert on the power of storytelling as a sales tool. John currently lives in Austin with Pepe, his King Charles Spaniel, who reminds him every day of the importance of belly rubs. (more…)

Paula White

#347: How to Connect With Your Authentic Story Through Music

#347: How to Connect With Your Authentic Story Through Music

Most leaders believe those practical, hard skills that conform to a job description will take themselves and their people to the next level.

But soft skills are where it’s at. Your ability to reconnect with your authentic self will help you deeply connect with that colleague or customer sitting across from you. Plus, you will find a better fit with your interests and talents to grow your career.

Paula White shares how you can change your leadership soundtrack to work for you and how to uncover and develop your Side B tracks in her new book, The B Side: Remix Your Leadership Style. Paula has an unwavering passion for music that she applies to open new perspectives and possibilities for leaders. She is a globally recognized sales expert who has leveraged her talents to scale Inside Sales Teams into multi-million stand-alone sales channels. Helping organizations achieve 8% – 10% yearly compounded growth, demonstrating success in a wide variety of industries to include travel and tourism, investments, veterinary and healthcare distribution. 

Paula has served as a member of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals Advisory Board and was previously honored as a Top 25 Most Influential Sales Leader recipient for three consecutive years by the organization. Impressively being recognized as the award winner of Excellence in Execution in 2017. (more…)

Park Howell

#346: The ABT’s of Branding: How to Romance Your Customer with Your Story

#346: The ABT’s of Branding™: How to Romance Your Customer with Your Story

You have an important brand story to tell and if you are compelling with your prospects then you can convert them to life-long customers. 

But you’re not connecting like you could because your brand narrative is muddled.

The Narrative Gym series now includes four books covering science, business, law and politics. All are available om Amazon.

Therefore, on this special Valentine’s Day edition of the Business of Story, I’m excited to gift you with the launch of my new ABT’s of Branding™ online course.

The ABT (And, But, Therefore) is the foundational narrative framework introduced to me by my good friend, Dr. Randy Olson back in 2013.

I’ve learned that the ABT is where ALL compelling business communications begin: from inspiring leadership presentations to compelling sales pitches to marvelous marketing messages to building camaraderie among your colleagues.

But it all starts with crafting an irresistible brand narrative that places your customer at the center of your story. The quick course is this:

1. Who is your customer, what do they want AND why is it important to them?
2. BUT why don’t they have it?
3. THEREFORE, how are you uniquely equipped, better than anyone else, to help them get what they want through your product or service offering?

The power of the ABT comes in its use of the three forces of story: agreement, contradiction and consequence. Our cause-and-effect, pattern-seeking limbic brain  – where all of our buying decisions are actually made – loves this story form of setup, problem, resolution.

Today, I’ll walk you through all of my 3 storytelling frameworks and how to use the five primal elements of a short story for big impact to turn your prospects into life-long, brand-loving customers. I’ll also be sharing with you how you can take advantage of my ABT’s of Branding online course for free.

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Carla Johnson

#345: Storytelling and the 5-Step Perpetual Innovation Process

#345: Storytelling and the 5-Step Perpetual Innovation Process

Bad stories kill great ideas. If you aren’t able to tell the story of your magnificent idea, then it isn’t going to go anywhere. But we often throw cold water on them because we think we’re not up to the task, it’s too complicated, that we’re not good enough. 

So how do you ignite innovation that captivates and transports your audience from what is today to the possibilities of what could be?

It’s actually through a simple 5-step framework that anyone can follow which Carla Johnson demonstrates in her new book, RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes. Carla is a world-renowned storyteller, an entertaining speaker, and a prolific author. Having lived, worked, and keynoted on five continents, she’s partnered with top brands and conferences to train thousands of people how to rethink the work that they do and the impact they can have. Her visionary expertise has inspired and equipped leaders at all levels to embrace change, welcome new ideas, and transform their business.

Her work with Fortune 500 brands served as the foundation for many of her books. Her tenth, RE:Think Innovation, busts the myth that innovation is something that requires a specific degree or special training. In fact, Carla explains why, to be a successful company in today’s hyper-competitive, customer-driven world, finding opportunities through innovative thinking must be everyone’s business. Her goal is to teach one million people how to become innovative thinkers by 2025. Consistently names one of the top influencers in her field, Carla regularly challenges conventional thinking.

Today, she travels the world teaching anyone (and everyone) how to cultivate idea-driven teams that identify undetected opportunities that lead to extraordinary outcomes. (more…)