Creating Your Brand Story with Kris Jones

Redefine Business Podcast with Brittni Schroeder

Brittni: Hey there. I'm Brittany Schroeder, and business and marketing are my jam. I'm here to walk you step by step through this crazy thing we call business. I'm a small town girl, chocolate Eden, diet Coke, drink, mom, marketing guru automation, Jedi, and all around good time. This is your weekly dose of all things business and life sprinkled with some fun.

This is the Redefine Business podcast.

Welcome to another episode of Redefine Business Podcast. I'm excited for my guest today 'cause this is something a little bit different that. I know it's important and, but I haven't really talked about it a ton on the podcast, so I'm excited to dive into this topic. But welcome to the podcast [00:01:00] today, Kris Jones of Red Door Stories.

Welcome, Kris. 

Kris: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Brittany. I'm thrilled to be here. 

Brittni: Awesome. Kris, go ahead and tell us, uh, all about you to, to my listeners, who you are, where you got there, all the things. 

Kris: Oh my gosh, that's a big question. Mm-hmm. Um, I am in, in Portland, Oregon. Um, I have a business called Red Door Stories, as you heard, and I've been in this industry, in the marketing industry for 23 years.

I started out as a visual storyteller doing brand, brand design and visuals and working for big companies like Nike and Adidas. And as time went on, I really began to follow my heart and start working with small business owners, solopreneurs, um, people that I could really relate to because I was on a similar journey with my business.

So I pivoted the business. [00:02:00] I started working with, you know, a different type of clientele, service providers, and, um, I continued on with my visual storytelling. My. Brand design, beautiful website design. And then over the course of several years, the landscape online really changed. Um, industries were becoming more saturated.

More and more people were becoming self-employed and the beautiful websites. That I had been building for my clients weren't as effective as they had been originally. I mean, back in the early days of the internet, all you needed was a beautiful website to be a legitimate business and to thrive. And then as, uh, the landscape changed online, I.

You really needed more than that. You needed to tell a, a beautiful, a beautiful visual story, but you also needed the words that really communicated the essence of what you do, the essence of what makes [00:03:00] you different, and why you're the best choice. And so. At that point in my business, I was like, essentially my clients were the ones that had to give me the, the content or the messaging that they wanted on their website, and I watched them time and time again, struggle with this.

And it's really hard to write about yourself. It really, it's really challenging because we're so close to our own business. It's like we're inside of the bottle trying to read the label. That can only be read from outside. Side of the bottle. And so I talk with a lot of clients who come to me and they're like, I'm, you know, I'm frustrated.

I'm paralyzed. I don't know why I can't do this myself, and I, and I tell people, it's not just a writing problem, it's a perspective problem. Like you're so close to your own self and your own genius. That it's really hard to find the words to write [00:04:00] about it in a clear and simple way. And so watching many of my clients struggle with this and you know, full transparency, even my own website at that point in time wasn't.

Really getting me the consistent results that I really craved. I was relying on solely on referrals at that time. And even though referrals are wonderful, um, and a huge compliment, it's, they're very inconsistent and it can be a very. Stressful way, at least. At least it was, it was a very stressful way to run a business, and so I just, I made it my mission to crack the code on this.

Like, how can I tell a, a very compelling written, I. Narrative on a website and for a, like a, a brand story or a signature story for a brand. How can I do that with words and how can I pair that with visuals that are really in [00:05:00] alignment with and bringing to life that written story that we was so carefully crafted?

And once I, you know, at, at that point in time, I. I just delved deep into storytelling. I became one of the very first, uh, certified StoryBrand coaches before the, the book building A StoryBrand even came out. I got to be mentored directly by Donald Miller, the author of that book. I read all kinds of other books.

I traveled across the country to workshops. I, I just immersed myself in it and. Uh, the more I learned, the more I applied to my own business, the more I applied to my client's businesses. And it was mind blowing. What, what happened? Truly, it was like, I've just never, after, after so many years in this industry, I've never come across something that can.

So effectively help a business grow, get [00:06:00] results, get more clients, whatever they're wanting to do, sell their, their program or their course. Um, story. Really is the thing that I doubled down on because I, I literally watched the results that it, that it provided. And the reason I love it so much is because it's timeless.

Like we are, our brains are wired for story and we, when we hear a story, our brains can't help but engage. And that's such a challenge when we're talking about our own business. And when we're, we have our own website, it's really hard to get people to engage. I mean, how many times do you go to a website and then you click away and you go to the next website?

It's because they haven't properly. Told their story in a way that's truly compelling and really inviting you into that narrative. And so, um, that's a very long answer to your question. Yes, that was good. 

Brittni: What I, I, I love this because, you know, we talk [00:07:00] about, I help a lot of clients with like marketing and we talk about this like how powerful copy is, and that's a.

A mistake that I see with a lot of entrepreneurs is they're not clear on their copy. Like it's, it's very confusing. So what are some of the, like the mistakes that you see people making when telling their stories? 

Kris: Well, I'll start by saying they're number one. Everybody has a, a compelling story inside of them.

There are people I talk to and they go, uh, my story is boring. It is not. Trust me, everybody has a compelling story inside of them. The story that I'm talking about is really what I call your signature story. It is your main brand business, personal. Story all wrapped up into one. And ultimately this is a narrative.

It's a narrative that invites your potential clients or your potential students or or [00:08:00] whoever you are trying to draw into your business, it invites them into the narrative and it positions them as the hero and it positions you as the guide in this story. So when you think back to like. Star Wars, for example.

Luke Skywalker is the hero. Yoda is the guide, and the thing that happens most often is that. Well, number one, let me just start by saying you don't wanna be Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker is the hero. He is actually the weakest character in this story. Yoda is the strongest character. Yoda shows up with empathy, wisdom, knowledge, Yoda, you know, puts his hand on Luke's.

Back and says, follow me. I can guide you to success. And that's who we wanna be. In our signature story. We are the guide. We are not the hero. And the thing that I would say, 99%, 99.9% of the [00:09:00] websites I. On the internet, the business or the founder, um, or the business owner is positioning themselves as the hero of their own story and.

As I mentioned before, the hero's the weakest character in the story. We don't wanna be the hero. Number two, there's only room for one hero in every story. So when we're the hero of our own story, we're literally kicking our potential clients out of a narrative. Out of the narrative, and that's why they bounce onto the next site.

Brittni: Mm. That's interesting. So I, I love that because I, I've read, you know, I've read his book, the StoryBrand book, and it's really good and, and it talks a lot about that. And because a lot of times we, I. We we're trying to hype ourselves up. And again, it's not about us, it's about how we can help them and how we can do this together.

So, um, what is it if people like work with you, like what is kind of the process? Do you, do you dive into [00:10:00] their story? Like how do you, how do you find that story for your customers? 

Kris: Well, step one is the most important part of the process and I call that the mind for gold phase. And this is really where I remind you that your story is not invented or created.

It's really mind. And so at that, in that phase of our work together, I know exactly the questions to ask you to pull this story out from inside of you. 'cause it's. In there, it's just, it's just mixed in kind of like, you know. A lot of people's garages have piles of boxes in there. Some of them are treasures, some of them are clutter and trash and need to be donated.

Um, and so when you walk out into the garage, it's hard to decipher what, where's the treasure versus the trash. They all, they're all piled boxes on top of themselves, and our brains [00:11:00] are a lot like that. We're just. So close to it that we can't really identify what is really the gold in our story and what is the clutter, what is the noise that we need to filter out?

Brittni: Mm-hmm. And, and, you know, talk a little bit about how did they, how do they tie that story into like the, their niche? You know, 'cause it is a story. Is it, is it a story about where they came from, where they went? Or is everybody's story different? Like, how do they find that story that connects with their audience?

Kris: Yeah, I mean, it's part of that mining for gold process, so I know exactly which questions to ask in order to pull that story out from you. Your story isn't necessarily about your upbringing or your background. It's really a story that's relevant to your potential clients or your potential customers. So it's in, it's all about inviting.

Your potential clients into a story with you, A story where they [00:12:00] can envision themselves as the hero. They're the central character in the story. You play a very important role in the story as well as the guide. Yeah. I love that. Does that make sense? 

Brittni: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Um, Kris, tell my, tell my listeners how they can find you and how they can work with you.

Tell them. Tell them a little bit more about what would be the next step if they need help with, with creating that StoryBrand. 

Kris: So, um, maybe I'll walk you through briefly the, the process of working with me. 'cause we touched on the mining for gold. I. Phase. There are four phases of the process. So first we mine for gold.

I pull that gold, that raw gold out from inside of you, and then I take your answers and I write your signature story for you. I do that because you're. Stuck in the bottle and struggling to read that label. And I can come in and look at you and look at your business and look at your brilliance and really [00:13:00] write your signature story for you, um, in a way that's really clear and compelling so you don't have to feel stuck looking at a, a blank Google doc.

Um, so I write that story for you when I talk about. Signature story. Um, tangibly what that means is your website copy your elevator, pitch a video script for you, your signature story. Um, once we create it, we use it in every area of your business. So it works a lot like in accordion. You, we've got a longer version of your, of your story, maybe for your website, a shorter version of it for a video script, a shorter version of it for an elevator pitch.

But it, it, depending on where it lives, it's gonna expand and compress. And so what we do is I craft your signature story and then I. Create all the different variations of it, so you never have [00:14:00] to create copy again for your business. You can just repurpose this and you might think like, well, really, can I just tell the same story over and over again?

You can. The more you tell the same story, the more attraction you get, the more people feel confident that you know what you're doing, and the more. Easily they can remember you and you are, you become top of mind when they're struggling with whatever problem you solve. So step two, I write your signature story for you, and then we get on a, a collaboration call and refine the story together so it's perfectly and beautifully aligned with your own voice.

And then. We build out your website and, and create all your other deliverables and apply that story to your website and infuse it into every area of your business. And then the last phase is signing more clients. So just you get to reap the rewards of having a really [00:15:00] powerful, compelling story, and you get to attract more clients.

And when you get off on the phone with them, they're already pre-sold because they've felt such a connection with what you're putting out into the world and such confidence and trust. In you that by the time they get on the phone with you, they feel like they already know you. They're, they're already sold.

So your sales calls actually become quite a bit shorter too. 

Brittni: Yeah, yeah. I love that. And that's what marketing is, is becoming memorable. You want people, they might not need your service or product now, but when they do, you want them to remember you, and that's really powerful to, to build that connection.

For sure. Well, awesome. Well, Kris, tell people how they can work with you. 

Kris: You can find me@reddoorstories.com. That's R-E-D-D-O-O-R-S-T-O-R-I-E s.com, and my main offer is on that homepage. You [00:16:00] can also check out my private podcast. Um, which you can sign up for. It's eight episodes that really delve deeper into how to use story in your own business.

And that can be found at my website too Red. It's actually at a unique url, red door designs.com/profit-stories. So those are the two places that I'd recommend you go. 

Brittni: Yeah, we'll put that in the show notes for sure. Well, this has been so good, Kris, and I'm gonna check out those podcasts for sure. Kris.

Okay. I like to end all of my podcast episodes with asking my guests two questions. So, um, the two questions are, what is your pet peeve and what is a simple pleasure? So what is your pet peeve? 

Kris: I would say dove covers. I. Drive me nuts. Like there's gotta be a better way. 

Brittni: They are, they are the worst. 

Kris: They're an nightmare when they don't, they don't, they're not aligned with the corners, and then they jumble together, and then the [00:17:00] actual duvet clumps together.

It just, they drive me nuts. So, 

Brittni: yeah, that is, that is a good one. I haven't had a duvet cover for years, and I don't miss 'em, I'll be honest with you. And I don't miss 'em with my kids either. Do you have like a comforter or is it just a plain, a plain 

Kris: duvet with no cover? 

Brittni: I just have a plain duvet. I sleep weird because I like my, I have a plain cover and then I like to sleep with a blanket on top of that, so I'm, I'm a weirdo, so, but.

Kris: You are not a weirdo. I have a plain duvet with no cover too, but my partner really likes to have a cover and so we're navigating this back and forth. Back 

Brittni: and forth. Yes, I know. Yes, it's true. 

Kris: Simple. Pleasure is getting into my pajamas at like 5:00 PM 

Brittni: Oh yeah. That is, that is. That's a good one for sure.

Yeah. Well, thank you Kris, so much. We'll put all that information in the show notes and on the website so you can give Kris a follow and reach out to her and learn more about learning how to tell your story. So thanks Kris. Uh, [00:18:00] thank you.

Let's not stop the party here. Head on over to my Instagram or Facebook group. Redefine your business. And let me know your thoughts about today's show. I will see you again, same time, same place next week.