How to Replace ALL Your Marketing with One Story ft. Kris Jones

The Productive Therapist Podcast with Uriah Guilford

Uriah: [00:00:00] Hello, Chris, welcome to the podcast. 

Kris: Uh, hello, Uriah. It's so lovely to see you. 

Uriah: Yes. I'm particularly excited about this conversation, um, because I think some of the topics that we're getting into, I know they're your favorites and they're Oh, yeah. Also some of my favorites, so this is, this is gonna be a good time for sure.

Kris: Yes. I'm looking forward to it. 

Uriah: Before we dive into talking about how to replace all your marketing with a single story, I have to ask you two specific questions, somewhat related, but kind of unrelated. Is that okay? Yeah. 

Kris: Oh yeah, I'm open. Fantastic. Yep. 

Uriah: So, uh, I'm just curious because I don't know, I'm wondering if you can tell me the story of the name of your business, which is Red Door.

I know there's a story, I just, I'm curious to know what it is. 

Kris: Yeah, absolutely. I founded the business 23 years ago, which is hard to even believe. Wow. Yeah, I've, I found my purpose early in life and, um, red was my [00:01:00] longtime favorite color. It's since shifted slightly into the hot pink tones. Nice. 

Uriah: Um. 

Kris: But I, I love the color red.

I loved what, what it represented, and I really love this idea of a red door and the meaning behind that. So a red door signify signifies prosperity and also just like a nurturing, um. Experience. And so I love the idea of like combining those two things. That's what I help my clients do and that's what I want them to experience with with me.

Uriah: I love it. That's fantastic. Yeah. One of the things that I actually really enjoy doing when I travel, um, whether it's in the United States or in other countries, is taking pictures of, of two things. For some reason, street art and interesting doors. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I know it's kind of random. Yeah. But, um.

My wife and I were recently last month in [00:02:00] Ireland for a couple weeks. Yep. For a vacation and then, then also for a, a therapist retreat. And that's why I was taking pictures of doors. Um, so this is my second question for you though, because I was in Dublin. Um. I went and visited the Guinness Storehouse and did various Guinness related activities.

And I saw on your website that you've worked with a number of iconic company companies, one of them being Guinness, and I'm curious if you have any stories about that. Yes, 

Kris: yes. I, of course, I lived in Dublin. And Did you? So yeah, I was able to get a job with Guinness and work in their marketing department.

Wow. So the St. James' gate and the whole place that you were at, that's where I went to work every day. I took two bus. That's amazing. Two buses to work there every day. Um, and it, this was in my twenties and. Guinness, if you worked there, they, you had free food, which for me, at that phase of my life, I was like, oh my gosh, [00:03:00] free food and you got one free beer a day.

I can't remember if it was one free beer, two free beers. And so we would like. Stockpile and this lot of employees would do this. They'd just stockpile beer underneath our, 

Uriah: oh my gosh. 

Kris: Cubicle desk. And yeah, it was amazing. It was amazing, you know, that smell of, um, a brewery and how like anytime I smell that I.

Go back to that time in my life. And, um, and yeah, it was, it was pretty epic. They, those guys That's so cool. They know how to brand. 

Uriah: Yeah, I was thinking about it because I went through their, you know, tour experience and it was really, really well done. Yes. But the most interesting thing to me as kind of a marketing nerd, right, was the floor, the, the section where they talk about their marketing campaigns over the years.

Everything that they've done and really, truly brilliant. Um, the one that's one of the ones that stands out for me is, uh, some of the old ads that say like, Guinness for strength [00:04:00] or, you know, like, yes, they're really, yes, just like branding beer as like, you know, it's good for babies, it's good for men and, and, and all it's so, so funny and, and wonderful.

So they do a really good job. Yeah. 

Kris: Yeah, they do. You know, when I lived there Guinness, everyone drank Guinness. Um, and. Women would drink Guinness and Black Current. Have you heard of that? So like, wait, is that 

Uriah: like with the syrup? 

Kris: With the syrup? Yes. We tried it. Yeah. Yeah. Did you? Okay. So it's still, I wasn't sure if it was that was still going on, but um, definitely, uh, yeah, I was telling my partner about that the other day.

I was like, we need to go try it. Guinness and Black Current. 'cause it, it's a totally different it. Tastes so, so decadent and very different. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah. You, you don't want more than one. 'cause it's like, it's a lot. 

Uriah: Definitely. Definitely. But yeah, that's so great. Thanks for sharing that. I, I had no idea that you actually worked there.

I just kind of thought maybe you worked for them for a period of time or worked on a [00:05:00] project, but that's fun. Yeah, 

Kris: yeah. Yeah. I was really a, a lucky, lucky experience. 

Uriah: That's fantastic. Yeah. So the idea of replacing all of your marketing with a single story. Sounds enticing, but almost too good to be true.

Mm-hmm. So tell me a little bit more about this idea. 

Kris: Yeah, so really the idea is that. Story is the way that we connect with other people. And there's a lot of psychology around story as you know. It's a beautiful way to build connection, build trust, and so we, we clearly want to be using story in our marketing, but how do we do that?

I believe. Every, every business or business owner needs one signature story for their business. And that same story can be used in every area of your marketing. And the reason that you can use one story everywhere, the same story everywhere, [00:06:00] is because your signature story works a lot like an accordion.

It might be a longer story, like on your homepage, it might be a, in a video script, it might be. This length and, and, and as a one-liner or an elevator pitch, it's the shortest version of the story, but the fundamentals of the story, the components of story, are the same no matter where you're telling it, no matter the length.

And so when I work with my clients. We put together their story, we craft their story, and then we give it to them in all these different versions from long to medium to short. So then you can show up online. Very congruent, very consistent. If somebody happens upon you on social media and then they go to your website, it's all really in alignment with each other, that that doesn't mean you're being lazy.

Like yes, it is [00:07:00] less work, which, what a gift. But, um, it, it's actually the, it's less work, but it builds trust quicker and half the battle as self-employed people. Is really just being remembered and being known for the thing that you do. And if you want that, um, this is the, the easiest path to get there.

Uriah: Yeah, I like that you said alignment. You talked about alignment where everything kind of has a similar I. A through line. Is that, is that, 

Kris: yeah. Like a golden thread. Is that the word? 

Uriah: A golden thread, yeah. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that very much. 

Kris: Exactly. Yeah. 

Uriah: So many questions in my head, but the first one that comes to mind is do you think that most business owners don't really think, when they think about branding, messaging, marketing, they don't really start with story.

I. Yeah. Do you think that's true or not? 

Kris: Oh, oh, it's so true. So true. And why so do you 

Uriah: think, why do you think, I 

Kris: think that, you know, um, part of it is just when you [00:08:00] become self-employed, um, the, the things that that sound the most fun are like, I need a logo. I need, you know, I need brand colors, or I need a website and I'm gonna.

Crank one out, um, without really taking the time to figure out what do you want to say? What do you want to be known for? What type, what's the problem you wanna be known for solving? What kind of transformation do you wanna provide for your clients? Um, so. The, the story work that we do is the foundation.

It's, it's that fertile soil in which everything else grows from. So if you can imagine really, truly, like dirt on the ground, and that is your story, that's the foundation of everything. And then as the tree grows, then that's like your website is informed by that, that soil, your branding [00:09:00] is informed by that.

Everything that you do. Visually or in written form is informed by the the foundational story that we craft. 

Uriah: But it takes a little bit of work to pull that out. I imagine with some business owners, I. Because they don't start there. They need to do, they need to kind of discover? Do you help them discover their story?

Kris: A lot of people that come to me, they're a year in. Mm-hmm. Or two or three years in and that's fine. Like I don't think that anybody can really shortcut those first year, that first year or two. Like sure. There's so much bootstrapping and so much DIYing that is. So hard and so much learning going on. Um, and I, I just don't think that there's a shortcut around that.

I think what's best is for you to do what you, you need to do. Slap up a website, you know, get your logo, get out there, [00:10:00] like, just get, get the wheels going, get a year under your belt and. You learn so much during that year around the type of people you like to work with and how do you like to deliver? Do you wanna work with groups?

Do you wanna work one-on-one? And so at that point, I think is the time most people come to me and they say, you know, and I think back on the last year or two, no clients have come to me through my website. 

Uriah: Oh, interesting. I'm, 

Kris: I'm relying only on referrals. And referrals are great, but they're not a consistent way to grow your business, and you've got to have marketing tools set up for you on autopilot to continually keep your pipeline full.

You know, potentially, hopefully get you a wait list. Um, so you constantly like have people that are lined up, excited about working with you. That's really the [00:11:00] goal. I think any therapist that goes into business wants to make an impact, wants to make a difference, wants to genuinely help people, and. They don't do that because they also wanna become a part-time marketer.

You know, the, the marketing piece, true marketing piece is like this. Oh yeah. I didn't realize like I got into this business. 'cause I love to work, not because I want to be a part-time marketer and posting on social media and all the things that we can feel like we have to get involved in. We don't necessarily have to like.

Social media being a perfect example. If you have a website that is set up to sell and you're doing a couple of activities to send people to that website, that's all you need to do. You don't have to be on social media all the time unless you really want to be. Um, but there are [00:12:00] so many options that require much less effort to.

Huh? Create a profitable practice. 

Uriah: I like those words. Less effort. Yes. You make a really good point. And, and this is probably true of other industries, but therapists in particular, we got into what we do because we, it's part of our story is helping other people being a provider of services and yeah, definitely marketing is not the zone of genius.

So we kind of like do what we have to do to get the word out. Um, but we do. I think this is true of a lot of therapists. We do have a very personal story of what brought us to this work, and for a long time we were not, we were sort of discouraged from using that story because we were told not to self disclose to our clients and those types of things.

Mm-hmm. One of the successes that I had early on in my solo practice was telling my story because I was a troubled teen. Mm-hmm. Who. Did [00:13:00] like try to, my, my parents tried to get me into therapy and that didn't really help. Mm-hmm. And I was a troubled teen that ended up becoming a therapist for troubled teens.

Mm. And so I decided to just use that and tell that story. 

Kris: Yeah. 

Uriah: And once upon a time, years ago, actually hired a very talented copywriter to help me like actually put it into a story form. Mm-hmm. And that was basically my homepage for the longest time. And I. If, if I remember correctly, the, the title was something like From Troubled Teen to Successful.

Therapist or something like that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And the message was basically like, this is, this is who I am and what my story is. And now I've become the therapist that I wish I had when I was 16. Mm. And I told, I told some specifics about my struggles, you know, as a teenager, like. Real specifics, right?

Mm-hmm. And what happened with that is I got so many clients because parents read that and they said, wow, this is a, a therapist who I think my son or daughter can really connect with. And this is a real person who has like, overcome things in their lives. And [00:14:00] it just unintentionally became very like magnetic, I guess.

Mm, mm-hmm. Um, so that was a success that I had early on. Mm. And very happy about that. 

Kris: Mm. That's it's really powerful. Powerful. I think part of what was. Working in there it sounds like is that you were of course showing that you struggled with similar issues as their children. You came out the other side as a therapist who now understands the problem so thoroughly, so intimately, and when we can show up and show.

Our potential clients that we truly get the problem. We really get it through and through our brains or their brains automatically think you're the best one to solve it. It's, it's click connection. Incredibly powerful. Right? Yeah. They feel seen, they feel heard. Mm-hmm. You've shown some vulnerability and, and so we, there.[00:15:00] 

There. Stories like that are irresistible to our brains. We cannot help but engage. And so you did such a beautiful job and you saw firsthand the power of a great story. 

Uriah: Definitely. I think I had some challenge. I. Translating that into my group practice when I started that about 10 years ago. Mm-hmm. Which was Guilford Family Counseling, and now it's Intune family counseling like I was telling you earlier.

Mm-hmm. And that that then became much less and less about me and my story, and people who were coming to us didn't really know Uriah or didn't really care about Uriah. Mm-hmm. Which was hard for me in a moment, but then it was fine, you know? Yeah. Um, so I guess I would ask you this question. Two potential scenarios.

So let's say there's a solo or a group practice mm-hmm. Is, um, more general in nature. Mm-hmm. Like, they kind of work with all kinds of people, all kinds of problems. So there's not like a through line necessarily, or a golden thread. Mm-hmm. How, how would a business like that tell a compelling [00:16:00] story? 

Kris: Mm, well.

I would encourage that practice to really get clear on the problems that they solve and they could hone in, and maybe it's two or three problems that they solve, but I, if you're everything to everyone, you're nobody to anybody, or whatever that phrase is. Sure. It's like you, you actually kind of can't have a compelling story if you're not clear on.

Essentially a single problem that you solve. Um, right. There are lots of creative, creative ways to keep things broad but clear. So you could create, um, a larger bucket like, you know, kids with anxiety or mm-hmm. Um, like families right there, there's. Endless issues that a family might have, but you're very clear that you're helping [00:17:00] families and you're very clear that you're creating connection, getting them in, in sync, and in tune with each other, um, in rhythm with each other.

I really love that word rhythm. Um, yeah. When you're old, old name, um. There's, I have yet to meet a client where we haven't been able to do it. Um, there's always a way and I know how to ask the right questions that pull that story out. And because I'm not as business owners or as therapists, we're so close to our own selves.

We're so close to our own practice, we're inside the bottle trying to read the label that can only be read from outside. And so. I'm able to come in, ask the right questions, and truly because of that perspective, I can identify that golden thread and right. It, it really just bubbles up to the surface.

Uriah: That's helpful. So it sounds like part of the answer to that would [00:18:00] be probably choose a couple different focuses or niches as we like to call them or niche. 

Kris: Yeah. Yeah. Um, 

Uriah: and then that allows you to clarify the messaging. And, you know, yeah. Classic Donald Miller example, right. With the website that sells pet food and they've got two buttons, one for cats, one for dogs.

Yes. Is that a good example? Maybe? Yeah. Yeah. That's 

Kris: a great example. Yeah. I mean if, if you're really, I would say 99% of the clients that I talk with are like, but I have two very different types of clientele. Mm-hmm. And I say there's always. There's always like an overlap on the Venn diagram. There's always a way we can essentially craft a story.

So it speaks to both people. There are ways to set up the page that truly does connect with both people. Um, but in a situation where you're, you know, um, where you really wanna separate that out, then yeah, create a [00:19:00] page for this audience and a page for that audience. Sure. Then, then. You know, customize the message to each of them.

Uriah: And then also possibly there's a way to take a, a business that serves multiple different populations and have sort of an overarching story or theme. Everyone deserves good mental health, or something along those lines. And that's for sure. And then you can talk about why that's important and, yeah. 

Kris: Yeah.

Yeah. So you can really, as, as, there's so many ways to skin the cat, but 

Uriah: sure, you 

Kris: can create like a homepage that is an overarching message about what you stand for, um, who you work with. And then you can identify and give them the option to choose which one they are, and then go to that page and. And learn what you can provide for them there.

That makes sense. Yeah. But I'm a big fan of, you know, doing the work and doing the heavy lifting to get clear, to [00:20:00] really have one message and one page. Mm-hmm. Most people will not navigate to a secondary page, and so I really like to kind of include multiple pages. Just on the homepage, meaning integrating the about page on the homepage, integrating the services page on the homepage.

Mm-hmm. And not when people land on your website, you don't wanna send them on a scavenger hunt to try and gather the information they need to, to take that next step. So 

Uriah: definitely, 

Kris: yeah. A lot of times, um, we wanna be helpful and we wanna, you know, show. Our potential clients, all the things that we know.

But your website in particular is like a first five minute coffee date. It's just there to create enough interest, intrigue, trust for them to wanna, you know, hop on a call or take whatever that next step is that you want them to take, fill out your form. [00:21:00] Um, it's just to get them to. Excited about moving forward if they're the right type of client for you.

Uriah: Yeah, there's it, it you only have nanoseconds if that seconds to like grab the attention of somebody. Yes. Yeah. And what do you, what do you think are some of the best ways to do that on a website, on a homepage with, without scrolling? I have some ideas in my head. I'm sure they're probably the similar ideas, but how can a therapist, once they craft a compelling story, how can they best present that on their homepage so that when somebody lands on it, they go, oh, 

Kris: mm-hmm.

That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Or this is, 

Uriah: I, I want to know more. 

Kris: Well there, there's nothing wrong with having a, having them scroll on your homepage. Sure, it's much clunkier to move from mul to multiple pages, but if they land on your page, that upper section, which I call the hero or the header section, right?

It's the first thing that they [00:22:00] see on your website. It's usually a big image and a big headline, and a subhead and a. And a button. And, um, this is really the most important work that you can do because when they land on your website. They're wondering, am I in the right place? And you have to give them the information that they need to identify that.

And then that way, people that aren't looking for what you're doing leave, which is a good thing. And the people that are looking for what you're doing stay. And if you've done the heavy lifting of getting clear. And you're able to, within about five seconds, communicate what you do, how it's gonna make my life better, and what do you want me to do next?

You need to do those three things in about five seconds. If you do that, well, then they're gonna continue to scroll, right? And so that's really the top priority. If, if you get that wrong, they're gonna bounce to another website and you've just [00:23:00] lost a potential client. 

Uriah: It's amazing to me how much effort and work it takes to actually put together that image in those maybe 20 or 30 words.

Yes. But how powerful they are at the same time, right? Yes. Yeah. 

Kris: Yeah. It's very, very hard to do for yourself. It really is. Um, but if you have help and you have somebody who understands story and, and is good with keeping things clear and simple, it, it doesn't have to take very long. 

Uriah: Absolutely. Yeah. As we're talking, I'm thinking about productive therapist and thinking, I need your help crafting a better story because.

Uh, over the last seven years of having productive therapist as a business, we do have a core service and we do have a core sort of transformation that we provide. But me, with my creative entrepreneurial brain, I've created a directory and written a book, and I have a podcast, and I feel like I've got to the point where I've got.

Too many things to where when I meet people sometimes, unless they already have been on my list and know me and know us. Mm-hmm. They're like, so [00:24:00] tell me, what does productive therapist do? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And really what I want is for everyone out there to be learning about productive therapist and telling some, some similar story, right?

Oh, productive therapist. Yeah. X, Y, Z. Right? They're 

Kris: known for, yeah. When you, when they ask you that question, how do you answer it? Like when they go, what does productive therapists do? How do you answer that? 

Uriah: I just had that, I was at a conference, I was speaking in Austin, Texas to a small group of therapists and, um, a number of them knew of us and had, you know, engaged with us before and purchased our products and and services.

But I was sitting at a table eating breakfast with a group of therapists and one of them who had clearly heard of me and us said, so tell me about productive therapists. What do you do? And so I told them about our core service, which is providing virtual intake coordinators for mental health practices.

Hmm. That's the main thing that we do. Mm-hmm. But, mm-hmm. I spent a lot of time and energy talking about AI and like, you know, operations mm-hmm. And all kinds of other different things. So [00:25:00] it's, yeah. It's not as focused as it could be, to be honest. 

Kris: Yeah. Yeah. I, I mean, every good story begins with a problem.

So when you answer that question, you know, I, I mean, you're clear on what you provide, but what's. The problem that you're solving, like many therapists mm-hmm. Waste hours of their precious time managing in the intake process or whatever is the problem. Um, tell me what is, what is the problem? 

Uriah: Yeah. When therapists become successful, they.

Find themselves overwhelmed and overworked. They become too busy because they're wearing all the hats, they're doing all the things, and then they wonder why they got into it in the first place. Mm-hmm. But the, the real problem is they just. Need some help. They need some help answering the phone, answering the emails, talking to new clients, matching them with the right therapist.

Mm-hmm. And it turns out when they get a good intake [00:26:00] coordinator to take over that role, their life dramatically improves. And they're like, oh gosh. Reconnected with their mission. They feel like they can make a bigger impact and do what they're really meant to do. Something like that. That's good. Right?

Kris: That was so good. It was so good. It gave me context around what you do and this struggle that these therapists are dealing with, right? They've finally reached like success. They should be happy. They're probably making good money, but their quality of life is like they're spread too thin, they're exhausted, they're on their way to burnout, and right then how are you gonna make an impact when you're burnt out?

So. It's powerful. Really powerful the way you position that. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. I need to work 

Uriah: on that, that accordion piece that you were talking about. I like that analogy of like. Same story, but sometimes it's long, sometimes it's short. Yes. But it's all the same, the same focus in a, in a sense. It's, yeah.

Yeah. 

Kris: The, the core foundations of every story [00:27:00] are, it be, it begins with a hero or a character that has a problem they don't know how to solve. Mm-hmm. So your clients are the hero of your story. You are the guide. Who gives them a plan that calls them to action and it results in success and helping them avoid failure.

But you can, you communicated all of those components in what you just shared with me that was, you know, we could even go shorter. Um, mm-hmm. For sure. Definitely. And then definitely we could go longer, we would go deeper into all of those components on your website, for example. Yeah. I've done 

Uriah: a lot of this work, Chris.

I just need help, like refining it. 

Kris: Totally. I'm here for you. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. 

Uriah: I, I wanna read you a quote from a book I'm reading recently, and you might have already heard this, but I'm curious, well, of course you'll agree with this quote. The book is called Same as Ever, by Morgan Housel. Mm-hmm. And the subtitle is A Guide To What Never Changes.

Have you heard of that book? No. 

Kris: No, but I, it's actually 

Uriah: fantastic. Yeah. 

Kris: Really? Okay, I'm gonna write that. So here's [00:28:00] a 

Uriah: quote that I pulled out. Okay. Um, he said, the best story wins not the best idea or the right idea or the most rational idea. Just whoever tells a story that catches people's attention and gets them to nod their heads is the one who tends to be rewarded.

Kris: Mm. Wow. Isn't that good? Yeah. That's really, really good. Yeah. I mean, and I think it's a relief in many ways. Like I. You don't have to, to have the best idea, you don't have to have 18 certifications. You have to have a story that mm-hmm. People truly connect with that. That's compelling, that's consistent, that's transformational.

And when once you have that, like everything else kind of falls down like dominoes because. Just life gets a lot easier and you win. It kicks into place. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally. 

Uriah: It also occurs to me that this might be one of the better ways to AI proof a business. Right? Because like [00:29:00] AI can do so many amazing things and it will continue to, to get better and better.

Mm-hmm. But there's nothing that can quite replace. Uh, an interesting human story about somebody who did something, overcame something. Like you said that that hero's journey, right? 

Kris: Yes. 

Uriah: Like, how do you, AI will never tell you a story that you're like, oh, I feel that, you know, it's just totally, it's not gonna happen.

I hope it's not 

Kris: gonna happen. I mean, the beauty, the beauty of AI is that once you've got your signature story, once you've. Gone through the process of crafting your mm-hmm. One powerful story that you use everywhere in your business, then you can feed those components into mm-hmm. Chat, GBT, but you know, garbage in, garbage out, so you wanna feed it gold essentially, and then it can actually help make your life easier for other things that you want to create.

Um, love that. Yeah. Yeah. 

Uriah: That's really good. [00:30:00] Okay. So I'm a person that's very actionable and like, you know, practical. Yeah. I think that's why people like to listen to this podcast, hopefully Uhhuh. Um, so all these ideas, I guarantee you that every therapist listening to this right now is nodding their head saying yes, this, um.

So what would be some first action steps for someone to take? Who's listening? Who's thinking, I want to take the story that I have and make it better? I wanna, I want to build this golden thread with the accordion. All of it sounds amazing. Where do they start? 

Kris: Well, I mean, I. You can read my book. I was thinking that.

Yeah, the book, I have a book called From Click to Client and um, the book will is probably the most affordable way to really start implementing this work. Everything like my book and my freebies. Um, there's a lot of free resources there that people can tap into. It can all be found@reddoorstories.com.

[00:31:00] And I would really encourage people to go through my five minutes to compelling copy process. It's a five minute video with a companion worksheet, and it's gonna pull that story out of you. Once you go through that. It won't take you very long, but that's gonna change the lens at which you look at your business and, and what the lens in which you.

Talk about your business. Write about your business. Um. It's gonna change that lens for you, which I think is the most powerful thing that you can do right now. And then I would always encourage people to, you know, if you're in D, if you're in early days in your practice and you're wanting to DIY, great.

There's a lot of free options out there. I've got a bunch of resources on, um, on my website if you wanna work with me. You can always book a call with me on my website too, and we'll talk about your story. [00:32:00] Um, my calls, I don't charge anything for the call, so we can look at your website, talk about your story and, and map out a plan.

Um, so those are good. Those are really good first steps for people. 

Uriah: Yeah, you have some excellent resources and your emails are really, really good. 

Kris: Ah, thanks. 

Uriah: Yeah. And I always know that when I get an email from you what it's gonna be about, which, you know, there it is. Yeah. Yeah. You practice. Exactly.

Practice what you preach. Yeah. 

Kris: Bang, bang in the same drum over and over again. It works. 

Uriah: I think it's an important one. Yeah. I appreciate what you're doing for all the businesses that you've helped in the past and, and present and future. Um, I think. This is what makes us human and this is what helps us to stand out.

It's not hopefully dancing on TikTok or like broadcasting constantly on social media, but if you have a compelling story, people do want to repeat that, don't they? I mean, I think that's just kind of the nature of, of. How it works. Have you heard about [00:33:00] this? Have you heard about so and so? Yeah, 

Kris: yeah, yeah. I mean, they're, uh, stories are like 22 times more memorable than just facts.

So yeah, again, it's like how to be remembered and also people need to hear things about eight or nine times in order to even be able to commit them to memory. So the more you repeat, like when you start getting mm-hmm. Sick of your own story, that's when it's gonna really start to gain traction. That's the 

Uriah: problem I need to have.

Yeah. Why am I saying the same thing over and over again? Oh, maybe people are actually getting it. 

Kris: Yes, totally. That's 

Uriah: good. I've always seen myself or or thought of myself as someone who's not good at telling stories, and I admire people who can do that, like, you know, live in person at a party or around a campfire or those kinds of things.

Yeah. But I literally have on my board, um, in my office it says, uh, tell more stories, but I haven't quite figured out how to practice that. I mean, I'm doing it in my writing, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, but like how to practice that in my [00:34:00] day-to-day life, how to think about. Mm-hmm. Talking and, and writing in that sort of format, you know, I dunno if you have any thoughts on that.

Kris: Yeah, I mean, uh, so many there, but I do have a book recommendation around that. Please. If you're wanting, wanting to really practice that. There's a, um, a book called Stories, I think it's called Stories Sell by Matthew. Dickman, let me double check on that stories. Yeah. Matthew Dix sell, um, stories Sell Okay.

By Matthew Dix, and he is like a 10 time moth, uh, storytelling grand. Slam champion, whatever it is. Like he is, he is a great storyteller. He, um, managed to McDonald's for many years in his younger years, then became a teacher and used story to like un, un like unconsciously used story. Um. [00:35:00] It got him to these incredible places.

So, uh, he, it, it sounds like a book about selling, but it's really mm-hmm. A book about storytelling and also being able to do it verbally. Yeah. 

Uriah: That's fantastic. Yeah, I'm definitely, I'll put that in the show notes and I'm going to go get that book today. Thank you. So 

Kris: good. He, I listen to it on audio and I really feel like I got to know him better.

Oh, good. I love books. That's, I know if you love audio books, but Yeah, I do. I'm all about the audio 

Uriah: books. I like try to think of myself as somebody who sits down and reads books. You know, I still buy books and I put them on my shelf. Yeah. And then I go get the audio and I listen to the audio, which is kind of funny, but.

I like, I like books. You know, you're 

Kris: not alone. You're not alone. I do know when I sit down to read a book, which is not often the feeling of having the page pages and to be able to kind of underline things like it, it truly is like such a different experience. Um, but I think as [00:36:00] you know, business owners and professionals, sometimes we just wanna like.

Have it in our ears while we do the dishes or on a walk or whatever. And that's delightful. Like I, I think I'm an auditory learner and so I think it sinks in deeper when I'm, when I'm doing audible. 

Uriah: Definitely. I agree. Mm-hmm. However, I will say this one thing before we wrap up. When I really want to like soak in the content of a book, usually it's nonfiction, of course.

Right. But there are times when I will be diligent enough to sit down with the book. And a highlighter. Listen to the audio and then highlight as I go through. Ooh. Yeah. That it's a pretty good strategy actually. I like that. 

Kris: Yeah, because then you're like 

Uriah: taking it in in multiple different ways, and then you have a touch point for getting back to the things that were interesting.

Yeah. Oh, I should do that more. That's good. Yeah, I should do that more 

Kris: that like, if you really wanna get, get really good at something fast. That's like the, that's the fast track study. Yeah. And, and then a little, um, [00:37:00] sticky note to mark, like certain pages. Yeah, 

Uriah: definitely. Well, Chris, thank you so much for your time today and for people who are listening.

Absolutely. Go directly now to red door stories.com and sign up for all the things, and by the book really truly, you won't regret it. Definitely worth it. Yeah. 

Kris: Thank you for having me. It's been such a delight to talk to you. 

Uriah: Absolutely. Have a good one.

All right.