MBA2322 Must Have: Storyteller Tactics
2 Feb 2026 · 14 min
This is a "Must Have" episode of the 100 MBA podcast (host Omar Zenhom) focused on Storyteller Tactics, a storytelling card deck from Pip Decks authored by Steve Rowling. The host explains the deck’s structure (recipes for different story purposes, five archetypal story cards per recipe), use cases for business communication (emails, copy, webinars, ads, onboarding), available formats (physical cards, PDFs, Miro board, video tutorials), and a personal endorsement while noting a past shipping delay. The transcript also contains multiple sponsor ad reads (Intuit QuickBooks, Dell Tech Day, Metro by T‑Mobile, Capella University).
Questions this episode answers
2023-06-12
Steve (Stephen) Rowling
About $130 (host's reported price impression)
About four to five weeks (host's experience)
One line of 5G for $25/month; $30 first month and $25 after with autopay (ad copy)
Chapters
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Hey O welcome to the Hundred Doll RMBA show helping you build a better business with our practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started back in 2014. And today's episode is a must have episode. We do a must have episode from time to time where I share with you a product, a service, a tool that can really, really help you move forward in business. I don't do this type of episode that often because it's not that often that I find a product service that actually has that kind of impact that is worth sharing on the show and dedicating an episode to. But today I do have one of those tools I want to share with you. In fact, I have to share with you. It's that good. And as always on these must have episodes I'm not getting a kickback. This is not some sort of affiliate play. This is just something that has helped me and my business that I just have to share. I share with you how it's impacted my business, how you can use it in yours, and what you could expect to see in terms of improvement in your business journey with using this tool. So today's this must have episode is all about storyteller Tactics. This is a deck of cards that helps you tell better stories. I've mentioned this product a few times on the show before, but I wanted to dedicate an episode to do a deep dive on why I think it's such a brilliant, brilliant tool for you to use in your business. Storyteller Tactics are gonna help you write better sales emails, better sales copy script, better webinars, create better ads on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you name it. Create better videos for your products and services. Anything that deals with communicating your product or service, this is going to be a goldmine. This is going to be something that's going to really level up your ability to communicate value to your customer. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. Storyteller Tactics is a deck of cards by a company called Pip Decks. Their tagline is expert knowledge in your back pocket. Now, Storyteller Tactics is their flagship product. They have other tactics like Workshop Tactics, ui, UX tactics, all kinds of different decks of cards. But this is the mother. This is the foundation of how this company became successful. Now, Storyteller Tactics, this deck of cards is written by Stephen Rolling. He's the author of this deck of cards. And I'll explain what I mean by deck of cards. It's literally a bunch of cards that you would use to help you tell stories. But we'll get into that in a second. Steve Rowling, the author, is a. A former TV journalist who, his job was to bring in great stories to share on the news. Some stories would be great and would make the evening news, and some would get a pass, would seem like they're boring. And he wanted to break down why some stories seem to be better than others. After 20 years of researching, pitching, telling stories, Steve became somewhat of a storyteller expert. He left journalism and started his own business and started using these tactics. Now, in this deck of cards, there's a bunch of different types of stories with different types of purposes. They're called recipes, really. So you can learn how to tell different kinds of stories in your business. Stories like stories that motivate, stories that connect, stories that convince, stories that sell, stories that explain, stories that lead, stories that impress. Now, each of these recipes to tell these types of stories are broken into five typical archetypal stories. And these are explained in each card. So imagine five cards, and each card tells you how to tell a different kind of story that helps you convince somebody of something. So now that I've had to explain how these cards work, why would these be helpful? We're telling stories all the time. Well, at least we should be. Stories are the best way to explain, to get people on board, to get them to be a part of our tribe. This is just human nature. This is how we best understand concepts. So anytime you're communicating with your customers, whether it's on your website, whether it's on a landing page or a sales page, or a sales video, or through email, or through an email sequence or a newsletter, or you have an offer, all these are opportunities to tell really short stories, to convince people to do what you want them to do, whatever it is, whether it's to buy your product, to listen to your podcast, to watch a YouTube video, to support your sponsors, whatever it might be. And most of us are kind of like, how do I do this? How do I actually write great stories, that is great emails, great copy, to get the people on the other side to do what I want them to do. And storyteller tactics helps you do that in a very easy way. So anytime you want to do something, like say for example, you want to sell something, you just pull out the recipe in these cards for stories that sell and there's five stories that you can use and they kind of are all connected to sell something. For example, in the stories that sell, there's a card called Rags to Riches. It's a story structure that is optimistic with your customer at heart. People can always relate to classic storylines, things that we've seen over and over in our favorite movies and books and even songs and plays. So you're going to use the same structure as Rags to riches in your own story, taking a rags to riches story in your own life. And these cards help you pull out these stories from your own experience and share them with your audience so they can connect with you and do what you want them to do. How brilliant is that? Gas, snacks, tolls. This trip is draining my wallet.
Yeah, but we'll be with family.
You're in a good mood.
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Just bring your number. $30 first month and 25 after with autopay not available.
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Now, is Storyteller tactics perfect an absolute science? No, of course not. Every product is not perfect, but it's pretty near damn perfect. When I bought this product, I was actually quite surprised how much I got. Yes, it's a deck of cards for over $100, but they're really well made, they're really sturdy. I have on my desk all the time so I can go through them as I'm writing something, creating something, writing a tweet, whatever it might be. But they also come in PDF version. It comes in a mirror board so you can move them all around. And there are great video tutorials for each type of story. So there are examples of how to tell these stories. So it's kind of like you're buying a deck of cards. Plus you're buying a really cool online course. If you love a good story and want to be able to tell a good story through your business so you could sell more products and services, so you can grow your email list so you can be more of a thought leader and influencer in your space, then you're really gonna love this deck of cards. You're gonna really use it every single day like I do. But that's the thing. This is the thing I have to tell everybody that is thinking about buying it. You have to use it. This doesn't work if it's just sitting on your desk. You have to actually pick it up and follow the instructions and make it happen. The more you use them, the more they make sense, the more each story kind of works with each other and they all kind of connect. The more you start not reaching for the cards that much because you already know what you have to do. For example, you might understand that in this process of onboarding a new customer, you might want to give the pride and fall story that you've used before. It really worked well and it really fits in on this step of onboarding. Or maybe you don't even know where to start on this onboarding sequence of emails. And you know, hey, I know there's a car for that called Voyage and Journey that puts the reader on an adventure and ties your product to the concept of home and where the home is, where the heart is, and gets them prepared for this journey to going home, to finding their place, their people through the onboarding journey of your product, your community, your course, your Training. This stuff is brilliant and it's well researched and well written, but it's not going to tell you what to write, meaning it's not going to give you a script. It's going to give you a framework that you can use. It's going to take a little bit of you thinking about your own life, your own stories. You're going to be taking down some notes, but it's going to give you that spark you need to get going and, and to start writing and start using these concepts. They're like jumper cables to get your battery running. If you want to purchase Storyteller Tactics, just go to pipdecks.com I bought Storyteller and Workshop Tactics. I use Workshop Tactics in our team retreat. A lot of great workshops to run with your team, whether virtually or in person. Now I got to speak the truth. I have to share the whole truth with you guys. When I bought this deck of cards about a year ago, maybe a little bit more, it took a while for it to arrive at my home. The shipping was really, really sl. I want to say it took four to five weeks to get to my house. Now, having said that, you get instant access to the PDF versions of these cards, all the materials, the courses, the videos I talked about so you actually can get started immediately. But the actual physical cards did take time to arrive at my door. They are just so overwhelmed with so many orders because it's so popular. I think that's where the delay came from, from the manufacturer. But this is actually a really good example of what people will put up with because of a great product. It's such a great product that, like, I didn't mind so much that it delayed that long. I wish it came sooner, you know, in a few days, but I still love them regardless because the product was amazing. But maybe where you're based, wherever you are in the world, you'll get the card sooner. Just wanted to share the real truth of my experience. That's the only downside. I would say maybe things got better since then. Remember, I think we were still in Covid days, so maybe there was a lot of delays in shipping and things like that. Well, there have it guys. Thank you so much for listening to the 100 MBA show and listening to our must have episode on Storyteller Tactics. I highly recommend you pick it up, check it out. It's really, really fun to use actually, and allows you to not feel lost when it comes to writing anything for your business. If you love this podcast, if you love this episode, if you love anything about what we provide every single episode. Please share it. Share it with your friends over on social media. Send them over to 100-NBA-NET so they can subscribe and listen to the show themselves. It's the best way to help us out and spread this show to other business owners. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. A lot of people tell me, wow, this deck of cards is like $130. I just checked the price. Is it really worth it? And I'm here to tell you it's well worth it. Some things just help you so much it's worth the price. And it's an investment that you can make in your business that not only going to help you, but everybody else on your team. You can share this with everybody on your team. The PDFs, the mirror boards, the videos so they can tell better stories as well. And what they created is timeless meaning. These concepts, these structures, these stories, they're not going to change. They've worked for us for centuries. So it's actually an investment that you can reap the benefits from years ahead. So you don't have to really worry about being obsolete or anything like that. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Wednesday's episode Q and A. Wednesday. I'll see you then.
Take care.
Gas, snacks, tolls. This trip is draining my wallet.
Yeah, but we'll be with family.
You're in a good mood.
What's your deal?
What's my deal? I saved at Metro with no activation fees and I got 1 line of 5D for just $25 per month. Kept the phone I love and a 5 year price guarantee on my top.
Text and data detour to Metro. Get that more for your money feeling only at Metro by T Mobile.
Just bring your number. $30 first month and $25 after with autopay not available.
If with Metro or T Mobile in the past 180 days.
