🟢  Dear Unthinkable listener: Thank you SO much for your support over the years! I invite you to find and follow the new show, How Stories Happen, in your preferred podcast player in just 2 taps right here:https://episodes.fm/1736586770

Every episode, an expert, entrepreneur, creator, or communicator dissects a single story or draft piece by piece. Hear how they found it, how they developed it, how it might improve, and how they're using it to build their business and leave their legacy.

You'll walk away thinking more about the power of your words and less about the volume of your content.

Find the show here: https://episodes.fm/1736586770

ABOUT THIS EPISODE OF HOW STORIES HAPPEN:

When so many people are excited to create a higher volume of content, shouldn’t we think more about what gives our work greater power? That’s what our guest today understands better than most, and she draws that power from everyday moments she hunts out, like a squirrel finding nuts in the yard.

Meet Ann Handley—she’s a best-selling author, a pioneer in content marketing, and a popular B2B speaker with a knack for imbuing ordinary moments with extraordinary meaning.

Ann reveals her morning routine, her idea capture system, and most importantly, her process and practice of becoming a word-class noticer of stories during a time when so many people simply stuff a screen in their face or turn to cheat-sheets to produce generic content.

In this episode, we dissect a signature story shared to her newsletter, Total Annarchy, which she sent to just over 50,000 readers. We zero in on a pivot point in the middle that makes the work resonate, and we find plenty of existential debates that unfolded in her writing process.

Together, we discover how to connect with an audience on a more personal level and leave a lasting impression, ensuring your stories aren’t just heard but felt. The best part? You don’t need to experience anything groundbreaking for your words to hit hard. But you do need to become a notice.

Jump into the conversation: 
(04:48) Meet Ann 
(19:36) Ann’s Story 
(26:21) Dissecting the Story

Resources:

⚫ Follow Ann on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhandley/

⚫ Check out her website and subscribe to her newsletter here: https://annhandley.com/

⚫ Read Ann’s book, Everybody Writes: https://annhandley.com/everybodywrites/

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

🟢  Dear Unthinkable listener: Thank you SO much for your support over the years! I invite you to find and follow the new show, How Stories Happen, in your preferred podcast player in just 2 taps right here:https://episodes.fm/1736586770

Every episode, an expert, entrepreneur, creator, or communicator dissects a single story or draft piece by piece. Hear how they found it, how they developed it, how it might improve, and how they're using it to build their business and leave their legacy.

You'll walk away thinking more about the power of your words and less about the volume of your content.

Find the show here: https://episodes.fm/1736586770

ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
Meet Andrew Davis. He is a powerhouse business speaker who’s given speeches in 35 different countries, at more than 50 events every year. He speaks to audiences ranging from marketers and entrepreneurs to plumbers and physicians — and there may not be a storyteller who is this craft-driven and obsessed with telling amazing stories in the worlds of business, marketing, and customer experience.

Andrew hosts a popular video series called the Loyalty Loop on YouTube, and he’s had a long career crafting stories of all kinds, including jobs as a producer for NBC and a writer for the news legend Charles Kuralt.

As an entrepreneur, Andrew has built and sold a marketing agency, produced docuseries for brand clients big and small, and authored multiple books about marketing and customer experience.

In this episode, we dissect one of his signature stories. It's been with him for almost ten years, and he can customize it across audiences and projects to arrive at basically any insight he needs to teach. It’s a rare look at how a true master of the craft executes the tiny things that create a big impact both for his audience and his business.

Jump into the conversation: 
(06:27) Meet Andrew 
(14:18) Andrew’s Story 
(22:38) Dissecting the Story 
(39:02) First, Last, Favorite

Bonus Video:

🎨 Watch a video animation of Andrew’s signature story:

https://jayacunzo.com/blog/how-stories-happen-episode-1-andrew-davis

Resources:

⚫ Follow Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewdavishere/

⚫ Explore his speaking: https://www.akadrewdavis.com/

⚫ Watch the Loyalty Loop: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeegDFQqmxjBUpr5FCHzlpsKVyeEmPuf3

🔵 Follow Jay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Video animation by La Hacienda: https://www.lahacienda.media/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

Find and follow How Stories Happen in your favorite podcast player, or visit howstorieshappen.com to learn more about the show and find the appropriate link for you.

Every episode of the show, we’re dissecting stories and drafts with incredible storytellers to understand how they found their ideas, how they developed their work, and how they’re using their stories to build their business and leave their legacy.

You’ll walk away ready to differentiate on the impact of your ideas, not the volume of your content.

It’s a show for business storytellers focused on standing out easier and resonating deeper through substance and stories, not hollow stunts.

***

You can also subscribe to my free newsletter, 💌 Playing Favorites,  and learn more about my coaching for experts looking to differentiate and my membership for business storytellers (the Creator Kitchen) at jayacunzo.com

***

ABOUT ME:

Jay Acunzo helps business leaders develop more original premises — the big ideas they become known for publicly. His work focuses on his core belief in prioritizing resonance first, not reach.

After starting his career in media and marketing roles at Google and HubSpot, Jay authored the book about questioning best practices, Break the Wheel, toured as a professional speaker, giving keynote sin 25 states and 3 countries, and cofounded the mastermind for business storytellers, the Creator Kitchen.

As an advisor, he’s worked with more than 200 individuals and teams to help them differentiate through the impact of their ideas, not the volume of their content. Past clients include Salesforce, GoDaddy, Wistia, Drift, and Help Scout, as well as hundreds of individual thought leaders and experts, including the author behind Google’s innovative employee training program and the performance coach who helped Kobe Bryant develop his Black Mamba persona.

Jay is a proud New England resident, a troubled Knicks fan, and an obsessive grilled pizza chef. His grandest aspiration (though he’d say delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!

Why do we constantly underestimate how long something will take in the short-term? In other words, we tend to over-estimate just how much we can achieve right now. Then, when we think long term, the reverse tends to happen: we actually UNDER-estimate what we're capable of achieving over time. 

Today, we want to know more about the promise of a popular trend, the creative streak, and whether they can help us overcome our constant battle with planning our time and achieving something greater.

This week, Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of the world-wide phenomenon NaNoWriMo (aka National Novel Writing Month) gives us a peek into the power (and potential pitfalls) of creative writing streaks. Meanwhile, Giorgia Lupi, an information designer and partner at the firm Pentagram, reflects on her famous, collaborative creative streak, Dear Data, with Stefanie Posavec -- a year-long journey of sketching personal data-based postcards, which eventually led to exhibitions, book deals, critical acclaim, and internet fame. 

Can we change our relationships to deadlines? How might we banish our inner editors holding us back during crucial early stages in the creative process? And how might we reconcile both the short-term and long-term work we do? 

Let's go streaking.

***

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, differentiation, and getting off the content hamster wheel to make things that matter more (because when your work matters more, you can hustle for attention less).

***

WORK WITH JAY:

✅ If you're an expert/entrepreneur looking to develop and differentiate your personal brand, podcast, speaking, newsletter, or other pillar project, learn more about Jay's coaching.

👋 Or you can book Jay to speak to your organization or event.

📚 You can also explore Jay's books.

***

ABOUT JAY ACUNZO:

Jay Acunzo helps business leaders develop more original premises — the big ideas they become known for publicly. His work focuses on his core belief in prioritizing resonance first, not reach.

After starting his career in media and marketing roles at Google and HubSpot, Jay authored the book about questioning best practices, Break the Wheel, toured as a professional speaker, giving keynote sin 25 states and 3 countries, and cofounded the mastermind for business storytellers, the Creator Kitchen.

As an advisor, he’s worked with more than 200 individuals and teams to help them differentiate through the impact of their ideas, not the volume of their content. Past clients include Salesforce, GoDaddy, Wistia, Drift, and Help Scout, as well as hundreds of individual thought leaders and experts, including the author behind Google’s innovative employee training program and the performance coach who helped Kobe Bryant develop his Black Mamba persona.

Jay is a proud New England resident, a troubled Knicks fan, and an obsessive grilled pizza chef. His grandest aspiration (though he’d say delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!

As Ira Glass said, "Great stories happen to those who can tell them." This idea says everything we need to know to develop stronger stories in our work, so we can stand out easier and resonate deeper.

But we're asking the wrong questions and searching in the wrong places. Let's rethink some things together...

For the full transcript of this episode, read the original article.

***

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, differentiation, and getting off the content hamster wheel to make things that matter more (because when your work matters more, you can hustle for attention less).

***

WORK WITH JAY:

✅ If you're an expert/entrepreneur looking to develop and differentiate your personal brand, podcast, speaking, newsletter, or other pillar project, learn more about Jay's coaching.

👋 Or you can book Jay to speak to your organization or event.

📚 You can also explore Jay's books.

***

ABOUT JAY ACUNZO:

Jay consults clients on the importance of resonance in a world obsessed with reach. He’s helped more than 200 individuals and organizations differentiate by getting off the hamster wheel to produce more valuable, more original content. Jay has been called a “creativity savant” by the marketing team at Salesforce and was named one of the 50 most influential B2B marketers in the world by influencer marketing firm TopRank. His podcast Unthinkable has been called a "must-listen" by the editors at LinkedIn.

An early advocate for creativity and quality in content marketing, Jay has held marketing and media roles at Google, HubSpot, a tiny startup, and a seed-stage VC firm, NextView. His work has been cited by thinkers at Harvard Business School and the Washington Post, and his clients range from brands like Drift, Wistia, and GoDaddy to influential voices like the author behind Google’s innovative employee training and the performance coach for Kobe Bryant.

As a storyteller, Jay has written books about questioning best practices, hosted docuseries about values-based business, and given speeches in 25 states and 3 countries. A proud New England resident obsessed with the Knicks and homemade pizza, Jay’s grandest aspiration (though he’d admit delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!

The story of a surprisingly dynamic and captivating idea from a (sometimes) bland and boring space -- and what we can learn about crafting more resonant work.

What does it look like when an organization, project, or individual’s work resonates so deeply that they have passionate fans and loyal followers who declare them a favorite? This week we start in the sometimes bland, boring space of team training software and follow the story of a surprisingly dynamic, brilliant and captivating idea from 360Learning -- an original series called Onboarding Joei. This short docuseries follows Joei Chan, a new employee, as she navigates her first 3 months on the job. 

The docuseries has become a phenomenon for the brand, earning Joei Chan devout fans and 360Learning followers, viewers, and customers that feel connected to the show and compamy. Highly personal and transparent, the show proves that when a company does something risky, sometimes the reward is more than they’d ever expect. 

The most important theme through it all? The audience consistently reacting with a very emotional, very rare comment: "I feel seen." 

***

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, differentiation, and getting off the content hamster wheel to make things that matter more (because when your work matters more, you can hustle for attention less).

***

WORK WITH JAY:

✅ If you're an expert/entrepreneur looking to develop and differentiate your personal brand, podcast, speaking, newsletter, or other pillar project, learn more about Jay's coaching.

👋 Or you can book Jay to speak to your organization or event.

📚 You can also explore Jay's books.

***

ABOUT JAY ACUNZO:

Jay consults clients on the importance of resonance in a world obsessed with reach. He’s helped more than 200 individuals and organizations differentiate by getting off the hamster wheel to produce more valuable, more original content. Jay has been called a “creativity savant” by the marketing team at Salesforce and was named one of the 50 most influential B2B marketers in the world by influencer marketing firm TopRank. His podcast Unthinkable has been called a "must-listen" by the editors at LinkedIn.

An early advocate for creativity and quality in content marketing, Jay has held marketing and media roles at Google, HubSpot, a tiny startup, and a seed-stage VC firm, NextView. His work has been cited by thinkers at Harvard Business School and the Washington Post, and his clients range from brands like Drift, Wistia, and GoDaddy to influential voices like the author behind Google’s innovative employee training and the performance coach for Kobe Bryant.

As a storyteller, Jay has written books about questioning best practices, hosted docuseries about values-based business, and given speeches in 25 states and 3 countries. A proud New England resident obsessed with the Knicks and homemade pizza, Jay’s grandest aspiration (though he’d admit delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!

No matter your craft, when you develop an idea, a project, or a key moment within a piece, the power of what you're sharing tends to start with the same question:

Can you be more honest with yourself?

In this one-shot episode, a dense dose of a single idea that can help us become stronger storytellers and produce higher-impact content, so we can get off the hamster wheel and produce more work that actually works. Plus, the backstory of a high-stakes moment when this question was put to the test.

***

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, differentiation, and getting off the content hamster wheel to make things that matter more (because when your work matters more, you can hustle for attention less).

***

WORK WITH JAY:

✅ If you're an expert/entrepreneur looking to develop and differentiate your personal brand, podcast, speaking, newsletter, or other pillar project, learn more about Jay's coaching.

👋 Or you can book Jay to speak to your organization or event.

📚 You can also explore Jay's books.

***

ABOUT JAY ACUNZO:

Jay consults clients on the importance of resonance in a world obsessed with reach. He’s helped more than 200 individuals and organizations differentiate by getting off the hamster wheel to produce more valuable, more original content. Jay has been called a “creativity savant” by the marketing team at Salesforce and was named one of the 50 most influential B2B marketers in the world by influencer marketing firm TopRank. His podcast Unthinkable has been called a "must-listen" by the editors at LinkedIn.

An early advocate for creativity and quality in content marketing, Jay has held marketing and media roles at Google, HubSpot, a tiny startup, and a seed-stage VC firm, NextView. His work has been cited by thinkers at Harvard Business School and the Washington Post, and his clients range from brands like Drift, Wistia, and GoDaddy to influential voices like the author behind Google’s innovative employee training and the performance coach for Kobe Bryant.

As a storyteller, Jay has written books about questioning best practices, hosted docuseries about values-based business, and given speeches in 25 states and 3 countries. A proud New England resident obsessed with the Knicks and homemade pizza, Jay’s grandest aspiration (though he’d admit delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!

We want to make things that matter. To our careers, companies, and communities. 

When THAT is our aim and THAT is our driving belief, and yet our work comes out feeling like THIS? The way it is right now? Oof, that can cause all kinds of existential crises or at least panic-induced researching and debating and analyzing and asking.

It's time to get to the next rep. It's time to cross the gap.

***

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

💌 Playing Favorites is the newsletter from Jay about resonance, storytelling, differentiation, and getting off the content hamster wheel to make things that matter more (because when your work matters more, you can hustle for attention less).

***

WORK WITH JAY:

✅ If you're an expert/entrepreneur looking to develop and differentiate your personal brand, podcast, speaking, newsletter, or other pillar project, learn more about Jay's coaching.

👋 Or you can book Jay to speak to your organization or event.

Jay has helped over 200

***

SPECIAL THANKS TO THOSE HEARD IN THIS EPISODE:

Jeremy Enns, Jeanne Ivy, Molly Donovan, Tallie Gabriel, Telyse Adams, and Michael Ashford.

"The Gap" quote is from Ira Glass and can be heard here.

***

ABOUT JAY ACUNZO:

Jay consults clients on the importance of resonance in a world obsessed with reach. He’s helped more than 200 individuals and organizations differentiate by getting off the hamster wheel to produce more valuable, more original content. Jay has been called a “creativity savant” by the marketing team at Salesforce and was named one of the 50 most influential B2B marketers in the world by influencer marketing firm TopRank. His podcast Unthinkable has been called a "must-listen" by the editors at LinkedIn.

An early advocate for creativity and quality in content marketing, Jay has held marketing and media roles at Google, HubSpot, a tiny startup, and a seed-stage VC firm, NextView. His work has been cited by thinkers at Harvard Business School and the Washington Post, and his clients range from brands like Drift, Wistia, and GoDaddy to influential voices like the author behind Google’s innovative employee training and the performance coach for Kobe Bryant.

As a storyteller, Jay has written books about questioning best practices, hosted docuseries about values-based business, and given speeches in 25 states and 3 countries. A proud New England resident obsessed with the Knicks and homemade pizza, Jay’s grandest aspiration (though he’d admit delusion) is to be the Anthony Bourdain of business storytelling.

💛 Keep making what matters!

Have a wonderful holiday season and a beautiful start to your 2024! Back in the new year with more...

UNTHINKABLE IS TAKING A BREAK -- BUT DON'T UNSUBSCRIBE

We're back with more soon. In the meantime...

BECOME A STRONGER STORYTELLER:

1. Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's free newsletter, Playing Favorites, and learn what it takes to stand out easier and resonate deeper by communicating with greater power, everywhere you show up. Join free at  jayacunzo.com.
2. Join the Creator Kitchen, a mastermind of smart experts learning to become more influential voices -- NOT by relying on any cheap tricks, but by mastering their craft and creating higher-impact content. Community, masterclasses, 1:1 and 1:few coaching from Jay Acunzo, and more. Learn about membership and see what's inside the Kitchen at creatorkitchen.com.

Keep making what matters!

Signature Stories is a miniseries where world-class business storytellers take us inside one important story and dissect it with us. It's like Song Exploder meets storytelling for our work! In our sixth and final episode of the series, bestselling author and Hall of Fame keynote speaker Jay Baer brings one of his oldest, most proven stories to the show -- and we learn the two habits most driving effective storytellers like Jay. And also Jay. Both Jays. (There are two Jays on this episode, is what I'm saying...)

1. Collecting stories regularly, in the seemingly mundane moments of life
2. Designing stories so they arrive at an insight

Jay Baer is the author of the book The Time To Win and six other business books. He's a globally touring keynote speaker, brand advisor, and marketing and customer experience thought leader. Jay is among the more process-driven storytellers in the world, and he takes us inside that approach in this episode in a refreshingly transparent way.

UNTHINKABLE IS TAKING A BREAK -- BUT DON'T UNSUBSCRIBE

We're back with more soon. In the meantime...

BECOME A STRONGER STORYTELLER:

1. Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's free newsletter, Playing Favorites, and learn what it takes to stand out easier and resonate deeper by communicating with greater power, everywhere you show up. Join free at  jayacunzo.com.
2. Join the Creator Kitchen, a mastermind of smart experts learning to become more influential voices -- NOT by relying on any cheap tricks, but by mastering their craft and creating higher-impact content. Community, masterclasses, 1:1 and 1:few coaching from Jay Acunzo, and more. Learn about membership and see what's inside the Kitchen at creatorkitchen.com.

***

IN THIS EPISODE:

Jay Baer: speaker site - book site - LinkedIn - Instagram

***

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

• Creator, host, writer, editor: Jay Acunzo
• Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins

Signature Stories is a miniseries where world-class business storytellers take us inside one important story and dissect it with us. It's like Song Exploder meets storytelling for our work! In our fifth episode of the series, a globetrotting, bestselling, keynote-giving, smart-opinion-having, big-idea-distributing author takes us inside what was ultimately a tiny moment in his life that sparked all that "big" stuff.  

Simone Stolzoff is the author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work. He's written for the Atlantic and Wired, worked as a design lead for the innovation firm IDEO, and even got his creative start in school delivering spoken word poetry from the stage.

Together, we dissect a signature story that's become "mythology" to him from his own life, and we talk about what makes it work -- and why he approaches it with such restraint. Then, we learn why and how effective storytellers imbue stories with meaning to ensure they matter to others.

BECOME A STRONGER STORYTELLER:

1. Subscribe to Jay's free newsletter, Playing Favorites, and learn what it takes to stand out easier and resonate deeper by communicating with greater power, everywhere you show up. Join free at  jayacunzo.com.
2. Join the Creator Kitchen, a mastermind of smart experts learning to become more influential voices -- NOT by relying on any cheap tricks, but by mastering their craft and creating higher-impact content. Community, masterclasses, 1:1 and 1:few coaching from Jay, and more. Learn about membership and see what's inside the Kitchen at creatorkitchen.com.

***

IN THIS EPISODE:

Simone Stolzoff: website and books - LinkedIn - Twitter - Threads - Instagram

***

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

• Creator, host, writer, editor: Jay Acunzo
• Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins