Reverse Storytelling + Story Branding

Business Brain, episode 502 for Casual Friday, November 17, 2023. Greetings, folks, and welcome to Business Brain, the show where we take an idea or three, we crunch it, we dissect it, we run it through the ringer so that we can each tune our business brains in order to keep living our charmed lives. Sponsors for this episode include fastmail.com businessbrain. That's where you're gonna go to get 10% off your first year. We'll talk more in depth about that in a little bit. For now, here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

I'm still out here in California. Dave, this is Shannon Jean. Happy Friday.

Happy Friday. Hey, Shannon. We made a mistake. Actually, we made probably 15 of them.

Dude. It's ridiculous. But I'm happy to be able to talk about it and to. I have so much experience making mistakes over the years and recovering from them that I know the secret is, you know, like, I know we're going to talk about our courses. Well, we suck at courses right now, but we're not going to suck forever, right?

We're okay. We're okay sucking at this, right?

Yes.

Yeah. I saw a thing the other day, it said that failure stands for first attempt in learning.

Yeah, I love that.

That's so true. Yeah. And so we have made our first attempt and we are learning. One lesson is when you're going to give the free course away. Like, you know, we have our, our productivity course and it. Feedback about the content of the course has been fantastic. And then we've had a few of you point out that when you get to the end of, you know, we, we, we lamented in the previous episode that we had a bunch of you go do the, the two day, the free two day sort of trial and no one had signed up at that point in time. This has changed since then. We've actually had some, some sales which is woo. Like, you know, great.

That's right, man.

We, we lamented that none of them had converted and you pointed out to us that you didn't know that there was a conversion to happen because we didn't put a button in the email to convert. So you finished the next step, second day. And then it was like, all right, all done.

It's so obvious and it's like how many, you know, like we were just talking today, we've launched like over 20 companies between us.

Yes.

And it's just, you know, doing something brand new. You're like, oh, yeah. Hey, where's the call to action on the next thing, where's the button that. Okay, you've enjoyed these two. You want to do the third one? And so, yep, you know, we're, we're doing our, our due diligence and getting everybody's feedback, which is terrific. And we're learning every day we will never make that particular mistake again.

Well, at least not out of, out of ignorance. Like, we might make it out of oversight, but it won't be ignorant. You know, you say anytime somebody says, oh, yeah, you know, I've launched a company, or you guys together have launched 20 companies, which is actually true. I think it's, it's more than that. I, you know, I always, I stop and I have, like, one of those moments where I, My, My body, like, tenses because launch is not the right word. It is willed into existence beyond all odds. Right. Like it's against all odds. I have, I have willed a company into existence because I was, I just was not. I wasn't going to accept there's no other option. Yes, there was no other option. It was like, no, I believe this can work. I know I keep screwing it up, but it's my fault that it hasn't worked yet. I'm gonna make it work, and then I make it work. Now, sometimes they don't work for very long. You know, it might be a year or two, and then it's like, whatever, okay, move on. Like that kind of thing. That's fine. You learn, you move on, you iterate. But sometimes they last for decades and. Yeah, that's great, too.

Yeah, it is. Yeah. And you're always learning better, in fact. Yeah, yeah. And you're always learning something new, and you just don't know where things lead. You know, you could start, get something going and, you know, we've talked to lots of examples on the show over the years, but things usually don't turn out exactly the way you think they will, but they lead somewhere positive when you're willing to put your neck out there and talk about it in public. And, you know, one of the things, like, I'm on the X platform a lot, and I always tell people, you know, if all you talk about success, sometimes I, I think it turns people off or it can demotivate them because they think, wow, this guy just did it. It was so easy for them, and I'm really struggling. Well, talking about the failures is just a great way to connect and to help other people get motivated. So I think it's. We're going to build here in public and we're Going to get better at it.

Yep. Yeah. You know, you say that things always change. You know, things are never what you plan for them to be. And that's true. A lot of people talk about how, oh, yes, we had to pivot our company. I think pivot is a word that is used in hindsight. I'm not sure how many times I know of, like a small business who sits and says, I think today, time to pivot. We should pivot. Usually it's like, holy crap, we're not making any money. What are we going to do? We got to figure this out. You're in blind panic. There's like, you know, your hair's on fire and you wind up changing. It's like, well, I don't know, let's try this. And you try it and it works, but it's not the first thing you tried. You say, well, let's try this the 20th time. And it's like, oh, holy crap. Wait, wait, wait. That worked. Oh, it did. Oh, I expected that to fail too. Great, let's do that. And then in retrospect, you say, oh, ah, yes. Well, you know, 2018 was the year that we pivoted from doing this.

Fancy word.

It's a fancy word.

I associate it with like startups and venture capitalists and all that kind of stuff. And we don't typically talk about that.

But I mean, we do run startups, but they're self funded, maybe not venture funded, but it's like. But it's still, I think even in that world, it's the hair on fire. We need to change. We need to try something different. And you just throw, throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and whatever sticks, like that's what you're doing next. And it's not. Yeah, it's, it's, it's not. It's not the calm planned thing that.

It always sounds better after when you're looking back.

The dots are easier to connect when you're looking backwards. All right, look, folks, let's talk email. It's essential, right? We can't run our businesses without it, but it can be a bit of a hassle, right? Privacy concerns, managing different accounts, It's a lot. And this is where our sponsor, Fast Mail, comes in. They've been the champions email Privacy for over 20 years. And what does that mean for you? No ads, no trackers, just your email, as it should be. With Fast Mail, you get your calendar, your email and your contacts all neatly packaged in one app and service. And their features, game changers, Massed email protects your real email address. Scheduled send lets you control when your emails go out and snooze. Well, just handy, right? And they've got various plans to suit everybody, whether it's for just personal use or your business needs or all of the above. Worried about switching providers? Look, Fast Mail makes it super easy to move over from your current service. I did this with my email six or seven years ago. I've been on Fast Mail now and I migrated from Google like Gmail. I gave my Google credentials to fastmail. It logged into my Gmail account, started slurping things over. I went to sleep. By the time I woke up in the morning, all my email was moved over. Everything was done. And then let's talk about customization. Folders, labels, custom swipes, themes. You can tailor everything to fit your style. Plus, with human support always ready to help, you're never alone in your email journey. So if you're looking for an email provider that values privacy, productivity and personalization, Fast Mail is the way to go. To learn more, visit fastmail.com businessbrain for 10% off your first year. And don't forget to follow them on Facebook, X Mastodon and LinkedIn. Fast mail simplifying email, prioritizing you and our thanks to Fast Mail for sponsoring this episode. Hey Shannon, you are one of the best storytellers that I know in that you have embedded storytelling in everything that you do. And that includes telling stories to yourself. The yeah. Where, you know, you say the most important kind. This is the yeah, this is how I want this story to end. And then you. What path you're supposed to walk to get there. So you started earlier this week, you started sort of workshopping this idea of a storytelling framework. And I think it's more about the storytelling lifestyle perhaps.

Yeah. As I've kind of been working this through, I realized there's really two aspects to it. And one of them I've talked about before, but the other, the second one, I don't know if we've talked about it a lot, but I know you know a lot about it, so I'd like to jump in and. Yeah, let's talk about. My favorite is from a personal standpoint is this concept of reverse storytelling. And in, in a, in a nutshell, it's basically, it's a system where you decide what you want your life to look like a year from now, 5 years, 10 years, 25 years, whatever time frame you want. And you, you need to envision yourself telling that story to. I typically do it to A group of people sitting around a campfire. That's just my mental image. And then once you create that, that story in your head that's at the end, then you can create this roadmap to get there. Right. And it's, it's. There's a lot more nuance to.

You make sure you tell, you come up with this story and then you tell it to other people to make it real for yourself. Is that right?

Yeah. Well, but I don't talk about what I'm going to do.

Oh. I only talk about what I've done. I see. You don't actually tell them. You envision telling them at the campfire. I misunderstood. Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Got it.

That's my anchor. So I'm throwing this anchor way out down the road.

Right, right.

I wanted to live in, you know, certain kind of house. I wanted to do this, I wanted that. I wanted these businesses. I wanted to feel like a member of the community. All these things that I have kind of visualizing the end game, but I've done it along the way, like, okay, he's five years, this kind of thing. And so it works both ways because in addition, and we've talked about this, Dave, at the same time, I'm really focused on this story of success. I also chunk out a part of my brain to focus on the story of failure. And what would it look like if I failed? And what would it look like if I wasn't able to pay back the million dollar mistake that I made, you know, 15, 20 years ago? What would my life look like if I had declared bankruptcy? What would it look like if I was not a. I do this personally, too. What if I was not a great spouse and I wasn't surrounded, you know, So I picture myself living in a little studio apartment, just miserable because I live most of my life outside. And so, you know, you want to. I, I always picture myself like, basking in the glory of success. But then real quick I'm like, oh, this could be the opposite of that. So that reverse storytelling is a. Just a massive motivator for me. And, you know, I, I've, I've made it to a certain step and I, I kind of. We say now I've, I've made it to the other side of the grind, the daily grind, but there's still a lot that, like unknowns of where I want, what I want to do next. And I'm creating that new story of what I want to be able to talk about five Years down the line, when somebody's, a group, people are sitting around the campfire and they ask me.

What do you do?

Because I get asked that question all the time, and it's kind of a. It's not easy to answer. What do you do? So that's, that's that part of it.

Yeah, people ask me, and I, it's like, what I, I usually do is start with. I used to use Mac observer as the thing because it was the most public of the things that I'd done. Like, most people over their lives, heading if they were interested in technology or, you know, had an iPhone, they encountered Mac observer at least randomly once, you know, and so I could say that and be like, oh. And it would at least just let them understand what I did. And I think that was a big part of why I declined offers to sell it for so long. In, in retrospect, you know, it's like, well, then what am I gonna say? Because now I, I tell people, I, I, I'm a professional podcaster. That's not the only thing I do. But it is one of them, and it's not incorrect. And it's, you know, especially when, like, a comedian asks, what do you do for a living? I'm a professional podcaster. They, they have a field day with this, you know.

Yes. But I, I always give them a quick and easy answer, and then I'm able to tell a lot about that person. If they want to dive a little deeper, they want to know. I always say, yeah, yeah. Oh, I own small businesses, and many people, maybe most say, oh, that's cool. And, but others that I maybe find a little more engaging say, oh, what kind of small businesses? You know, that kind of thing. So, yeah, so that's reverse storytelling. I'm working on some stuff with that because I think it's really important. It served me so well. The second part of storytelling that I think is great for your business is story branding. And that's like, I use Apple as a great example because they don't really sell their product in the commercials and the marketing. You know, they sell what you can achieve with their product and how they make you feel. You know, you see, when the ipod was. It wasn't. Ipod does all this great stuff. It was a thousand songs in your pocket, because you could envision that that's a great story. And even the outdoor advertising back then, it was the silhouette dancing around, right? And it just had. You knew exactly what it was, and it sold that product. You know, same with the phone. You Know, it's all about photos and video, all that kind of stuff. Not a big focus on specifications, details and all that kind of stuff.

Oh, in fact, there is an intentional lack of focus on specs. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter.

Well, that's what they've always said and they've made it true. That's right.

They made it through that. They manifested it because it always used to be intel, yada, yada, and we would always compare specs, but Apple was always the one saying, that's not a re. That doesn't matter. You know, it's what they can do with these things. So you can do the same thing with your, your business. I guarantee it. Like if you're an H VAC company or whatever, installation, service, sell comfort and sell security, you're going to be warm, you're going to be cool, all this kind of stuff. If you're an accounting firm, sell peace of mind, you're not going to get audited, and here's what you're going to be able to do with the money that we save you. Right? If you're building houses, sell dreams, not houses. Right? All that kind of stuff. How are your products going to make people feel? What's the impact on their life? That's what story branding is. And you know, when I did it with Tech Restore, our mantra was changing the world one repair at a time. And, and we marketed that to customers to try to elevate ourselves and not have to compete on price and everything else. But we also marketed it to our employees because it gave them a stronger sense of purpose, which is what all of us want, right? Just a job. And so I would constantly tell the story about how, hey, that repair you did, look, this person used it or this student achieved this thing. This person had to turn this thing in. You recovered this guy's thesis. All those are powerful stories. And I think that's the, you know, that's the way you should be branding and selling your products because it's, it's, it's just more powerful than trying to push something out there and compete with somebody, you know, to be a nickel less.

If you're having trouble coming up with this for your business, shoot us a note. Feedbackusbrain show. Tell us what your business does, and you can be very brass tacks about it. You know, I, I fix computers, I sell air conditioners, whatever it is, and we'll workshop it with you. We're happy to do that.

I would love that.

Yeah. Feedbackusbrain show. And if it's something that warrants a deeper discussion, we can do it on the show. It's gonna be a blast. So, yeah, let us know. We want to do this with you.

Love to help.

Yep.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And we'll do it. We'll ask you for help. In fact, I'm gonna ask you for help. We've put this productivity course together. What's the right way for us to market that? You know, right now we're selling a productivity course. We're not following our own advice with this, Shannon. We. It turns out that I've identified another mistake we've made.

Of course. Of course.

So let us know. We're going to come up with some ideas because it's what we do. But let us know how we should be doing this. Feedback at BusinessBrain show. We really. We want to know. It's. You know, we'll do this together. Yeah, absolutely.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Have a great weekend. Make sure you check out fastmail.com businessbrain for your 10% off. Remember that fail means first attempt in learning and keep living that charmed life. We'll see you next week.