Storyhouse

One year and two seasons into podcasting, I want to use this final episode of Season 2 to peel back a few curtains in the world of stories and business.If you’ve got a LinkedIn feed or a TikTok reel or even a Substack account, then it’s hard to miss the blinking red light that indicates the importance for telling stories.I’ve talked about this before – but it warrants a repeat: When we look at stories through the platform of the bandwagon, then it’s easy to believe that story is the magic bean that we need to plant into the ground if we want it to grow into a beanstalk.What we forget, however, is that the beanstalk – even if it grows – is going to lead us to some treacherous journeys. We’ve got to fight the giant if we want to claim the treasure.Storytelling isn't always easy OR natural, and it gets even harder when you tune into and believe these 3 storytelling truths.Catch this final episode of Season 2 to hear the 3 storytelling truths that you need to forget.  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Free guide: How to own your calling and grow your impact STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

How do you tell stories in a world that's so highly divided?How do we invite audiences and team members into a brand story when they share different ideas on how the world SHOULD look and think and act?Even more, SHOULD we be telling stories that seek to pull others into our shared moral understandings?I think the answer lies in the words of John Milton, and when we lean in and hear what he has to say, I think we might be surprised at the answer we receive. Mentioned in this episode: Karen Swallow PriorJohn Milton: “He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring Christian.I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised & unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat." STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

We hear so much about purpose these days -- so much so that people are starting to push back against it.In this episode of Storyhouse, I talk about where we've gone wrong with purpose, and why understanding the difference between purpose and calling is so important for leaders who are trying to build strong cultures.A few highlights: The differentiating definitions between purpose and callingThe unearned criticism faced by today's leaders (and when meaning and purpose shouldn't be a leader's responsibility)The one thing you can't do with your callingHow brands like SPANX activate CALLING inside of its brand purpose   STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Tune into this episode of Storyhouse to learn about the concept of the sacred bundle -- what it is and (if you’re leading an organization or a business) why you need one.Here's what I'm sharing:1. When I first noticed the power of a sacred bundle in my own life2. What sacred bundles help you do as a business owner3. How Native American cultures used sacred bundles4. The 4 stories that belong inside your sacred bundle5. Where to grab my free guide to practice creating and sharing your own sacred bundles Mentioned in this podcast: Grab my free guide and journal: How to Own Your Calling and Grow Your Impact Peg Neuhauser STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

The world tells us that YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL, but what if that pursuit is the very thing that's robbing you of a life well lived?I'm exploring this idea in today's episode, so tune in to join the conversation. If you'd like to ask yourself more deep thoughts like this, sign up for my weekly prompts here. Each week, I'll send you a single prompt, and together, we can think bigger (and deeper) about the things that matter most.  STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

You turn everywhere and you’re being told and taught HOW to tell a story.If you’re leader who wants to lead better, learn how to tell stories.If you’re a biz owner who wants to business better, learn how to tell better stories.If you’re a manager who wants to manage better. . . . same drill.If you’re not tuning in closely and thinking critically, it’s easy to believe that story is that magic pill that’s going to take away all our problems.But I want to be really honest with you here right now and just say: STORY DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK.Tune in to hear 4 places in your business or organization where you might not want to lead with story. STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

If you’re human, then by design, you’re creating story every moment of your life.Some of us are in seasons of life where we're writing comedies.Others of us are writing mysteries, thrillers, or lyrical memoirs.For most of us, our lives will deliver stories of every genre. The trick is to just pause long enough to see what’s happening and view it as a story worth remembering and one worth telling.In this episode of Storyhouse, I'm giving 4 easy steps to help you find and tell your own stories.If you don’t see yourself as a storyteller, or if you know you’ve got stories, but you just don’t how to bring them all together, try these 4 easy steps and see if they don’t help. STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic storytelling studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find their tiny stories and amplify their impact. Find Lindsay and get more storytelling resources at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with Lindsay on LinkedIn. STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Overview:  When you're a leader of your brand or an organization, building and sustaining a strong culture of communication can feel hard, exhausting, and completely overwhelming. What's the magic formula for getting others to buy into your vision? How do you share your message when people are frustrated and complaining?  What does it mean to affirm, not agree? Tune in to this episode of Storyhouse to learn 5 ways to address concerns like this (and more), and walk away with a few takeaways on how you can start building a strong culture of communication. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:Read The Habits of StoryReach more people with Tiny Stories  STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Overview:  Why finding and telling our own stories can feel so hardThe Cool Kid Curse How to use The Habits of Story to find your own stories (even if your life feels "storyless") What storytelling ISN'T Mentioned in this episode:Brandon Stanton's Humans of New YorkRead The Habits of Story at Storyhouse Fifteen  STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Overview:  Purpose belongs to every brand, and it’s the responsibility of every brand to know its purpose – because brands are scaffolded by human beings, and one of the greatest longings of nearly any human being is to understand why we were put here on this earth. When you’re a brand leader, you’ve got to know why your company exists, and in today’s epidemic of loneliness and extreme search for meaning – existing just to make $$ isn’t going to cut it for most of your employees. They want to belong to something bigger, and they want to join forces with others who share their values and their ideas of a better world. . . In business, purpose and values aren’t a waste of space, as Nick Asbury would have us believe. They are the boundary lines for the very space we exist within – and without them, we become amoral and directionless business owners who are susceptible to scandal and distrust and a total lack of integrity.Mentioned in this episode: Nick Asbury's LinkedIn post Embrace Your Ordinary Life by Lindsay HotmireDownload The Habits of Story at Storyhouse Fifteen   STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Overview:  Listening well is super hard in today's culture, so how do we do it better? Tune in to this week's episode to hear what the leading researcher on listening tells us and to discover a few ways to think differently about how you're showing up as a listener.What you'll learn in this episode: Dick Bass: A modern day parable that warns us about the perils of not listening well Why listening has become a hard thing to practice The one thing we do that sabotages our listening What you can do to develop the habit of listening and become a better storyteller Find out more: Dive deeper with my guide, "The Habits of Storytelling," available at storyhousefifteen.com, offering 20 helpful questions to help you find and tell great brand stories.Resources mentioned in this episode: Read "You're not Listening," by Kate Murphy Download The Habits of Story at Storyhouse Fifteen    STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Overview: Ever wonder why you can use and reuse storytelling frameworks like Donald Miller's StoryBrand, but you still can't seem to tell stories that are connecting with your audience or your team? Listen in to this episode as I think out loud WHY that might be and point you to something else that needs to come before those frameworks. . . The Storytelling Habits. What You'll Learn in This Episode:  Why storytelling matters and where we've gotten it wrong The impact of story leaders like Donald Miller, Joseph Campbell, and Joan Scheckle Why frameworks aren't helping you tell great stories The Storytelling Habits you need to apply BEFORE following the frameworks Find Out More: Dive deeper with my guide, "The Habits of Storytelling," available at storyhousefifteen.com, offering 20 helpful questions to help you find and tell great brand stories.Join the Conversation: What stories have changed the way you think this week? Email me your insights and takeaways at lindsay@storyhousefifteen.com.Ready to rethink storytelling? Listen now for a compelling look at what truly makes stories work!Connect with Lindsay: Connect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedInRead The Habits of Storytelling STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Either/or is a choice for a narrow range of categories, and the rest of life generally fits into the wild, tangly box of both/and.You can chase your theater dreams AND be a story coach.You can keep your foot in the corporate world AND build your consulting business.You can position yourself in marketing AND deliver transformative, life-changing impact.But I think that maybe the linear promises of frameworks and 7-Figure Clubs have robbed us of the freedom to see the world through the lens of both/and – because, well, if there’s more than one way, then the power of the expert gets smaller and smaller.And that would suck for the experts.LINKS & RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE: Connect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIn STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

We might treat the big moments like signposts, but let’s not be fooled or pretentious. It’s the tiny stories that keep us connected. Join Lindsay Hotmire for this solocast where she defines what a tiny story is and give you two easy ways to start using them in your life, your business, and with your team.  Links + Resources from this episodeConnect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIn STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

If you want to see what relationship-first marketing looks like, spend a few weeks inside Stephen Woessner’s How to Fill Your Sales Pipeline facebook group. It’s free, and he legitimately gives away every ounce of what he’s got. He never holds back, and he never stops giving more. It’s humbling, really, to watch from the outside. He’s the embodiment of generosity and the living example of what happens when you lead with your values. For over 25 years, Stephen Woessner has been in the trenches of agency new business strategy, consulting with hundreds of agencies, business coaches, and consultants — and teaching them how to plant their flag of authority, grow their audience, and fill their sales pipelines with a steady stream of right-fit clients. Stephen founded Predictive ROI in 2009 and remains its CEO and co-owner, working alongside his business partner, Erik Jensen. Stephen hosts the "Onward Nation" and "Sell with Authority" podcasts with listeners in over 140 countries and over 1,000 episodes. His marketing insights have been featured in major media and he’s the bestselling author of five books, including his latest entitled, “Sell With Authority." Links + Resources from this episodeReach Stephen at stephen@predictiveroi.comFind Stephen at predictiveroi.comConnect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIn STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Eric White is the co founder of Ponder, a customer insight studio that delivers insight experiences to help growth stage companies increase win rates and explore new segments. Eric will tell you that one of his biggest beefs with data is that most market research companies just email you reports and give presentations and you're left thinking, "wow, that was really cool and that was really interesting, but what the heck do I do now?"At Ponder, Eric and his, his teammates produce immersive experiences to help your team immerse into customer needs and allow you to take actual action so that you can achieve your growth objectives. What does all that really mean? It means that Eric is an incredible observer. Actually he's a Jedi level listener and I know this because I've seen him at ground level in the work. He asks the types of questions that pull golden insights out of your audiences so that you can grow intelligently and confidently. In this episode, you're going to hear us talk about how small business owners can gather data without feeling overloaded on time or money. We dig into things like why is empathy not always a good thing? And we talk about what does it mean for research and insights to truly be actionable. Links + Resources from this episode: Connect with Eric on LinkedInFind Eric at ponderConnect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIn STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

In this solocast, Lindsay Hotmire shares why you might still be feeling stuck and frustrated even after investing thousands in business strategy and business coaches -- and she shares why alignment might be the thing you need instead.Links + Resources from this episode: Connect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIn STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

It’s funny to sit across the Zoom with a man you’ve known since you were 6 years old.The last time Alex Yeater and I talked face to face, I was 11 years old. We shared the same elementary school, and Alex has been a part of my story DNA for the majority of my life. Thanks to social media, I’ve watched Alex from afar since the mid 2000s, watching him go from working inside a Verizon store to owning and selling 32 of them.Today, he’s a franchise owner of Everbowl and partners with Drew Brees (former NFL quarterback who spent 14 years with the New Orleans Saints). Alex is a true entrepreneur – but more than that, he’s a man of conviction, of integrity, and someone who is redefining what it looks like to show up in business.I recently heard someone say that in the business world, there’s no room for grace.Well, if you believe that too, then tune in to meet Alex Yeater. He wears the power of grace on his sleeve, and when you stand close enough to him, you catch it.Links + Resources from this episode: Visit Alex on LinkedInLearn about EverbowlConnect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIn STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Lisa McLeod is an advisor, consultant, and speaker who works with senior executives and sales teams around the world. She is the author of five bestselling books including Selling with Noble Purpose. She writes for Harvard Business Review and she has inspired millions of learners on LinkedIn Learning with courses on sales, leadership, and purpose at work.In this episode of Storyhouse, she tackles some of the big myths we share around purpose, finding the "right job," servant leadership, and meaning at work.Links + Resources from this episode: Visit Lisa McLeod's websiteHarvard Business Review article: How to be a purpose-driven leader without burning out Read Lisa's book, Selling with Noble PurposeRead Lisa's book, Leading with Noble PurposeConnect with Lisa on LinkedInConnect with Storyhouse FifteenFind Lindsay on LinkedIN STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Bridget Hilton and Joe Huff are obsessed with experiences. Determined to unlock the secrets of their remarkable power to transform lives, they have spent years interviewing social science experts, conducting the largest study on experiences ever done, and turning themselves into experiential guinea pigs. Together they have trained to be samurai, danced with the northern lights, tracked silverback gorillas in a hail storm, stood face-to-face with a hungry lion on safari, visited 50+ countries and all 50 states, absorbed life lessons from Maasai Mara tribesmen, sped across a glacier on a dogsled, built schools for kids in need, lived with monks, helped give over 50,000 people hearing, swum with sharks, and explored the experiential riches life has to offer.Today, they are also the co-founders of LSTN,  the world's first inspirational electronics company. After seeing a viral video of someone hearing her own voice for the first time, co-founders Bridget Hilton and Joe Huff decided to focus their efforts on creating change through the power of sound & music, and make this incredible moment a reality for others around the globe.Since 2012, LSTN has traveled to help more than 50,000 people receive hearing aids through the proceeds from their headphones, earbuds and speakers with non-profit partner, Starkey Hearing Foundation. Access to hearing has improved the lives of these individuals, their families and communities and has since created a positive ripple effect with millions of people around the world.CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS EPISODE: Why we need to be constantly reminded to invest in experiences, and what’s at stake if we don’tHow to live an experientially rich life after you've already lived A LOT of lifeHow to understand and define our IDEAL SELFHow to tune out what doesn't matter and tune in to what doesThe Mori Memento Chart and its simple power to help you create a more meaningful life RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:https://www.experientialbillionaire.com/https://bridgethilton.com/https://joehuff.com/https://lstnsound.com/  STORYHOUSE is a production of Storyhouse Fifteen, a strategic coaching and branding studio that helps small business owners and do-good organizations find the clarity, the story, and the strategy to reach more people and grow their impact. Find Lindsay at storyhousefifteen.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.