ISI Brotherhood Podcast

113. Use Storytelling to Drive Your Business

• Aaron Walker & Kevin Wallenbeck

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"You’ve gotta get your story right so that your marketing is right so that your sales are right." Shane Sams, master storyteller, speaker, and owner of Flipped Lifestyle, gives us an excellent vision on how to transform your business by telling your own stories.

How did Big A use story to build ISI and write his book, View From The Top? We're getting into the nitty gritty of stories and how they lead to the best customers we've ever had. 

Key Takeaways:

  • How to find your best customer using storytelling
  • How should you tell your story?
  • Values and mission statements don't drive sales


With insights from the ISI Brotherhood community, we uncover how storytelling can drive human transformation and create engaging customer experiences. Featuring Shane Sams in our ISI Community Roundtable video, this episode serves as a guide to aligning your business narrative with core values, ultimately leading to meaningful connections with your audience. Don't miss out on these insights—tune in to learn how to harness the full potential of storytelling in your life and business.

Iron Sharpens Iron Community: https://isibrotherhood.com/community
What Do I Want Challenge: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/whatdoiwantchallenge

Connect with Shane Sams:
Website:  https://flippedlifestyle.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-sams-03199136/
Or listen to Episode 23 to hear more from Shane Sams on this podcast

If you want to hear more speakers like this every month and be with the guys on the call, join the Iron Sharpens Iron Community today: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/isi-community

Connect with Big A:
View From The Top Website: https://isibrotherhood.com
The ISI Newsletter: https://www.isibrotherhood.com/newsletter
Big A’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronwalkerviewfromthetop/

Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, welcome back to View From the Top podcast, where we help growth-minded men who desire momentum in their business, their family and their finances get through the valleys and up the mountain to their very own view from the top.

Speaker 1:

Hey, this week's episode is brought to you by the ISI Brotherhood and a quick question to pose for you men listening in today what tape are you playing in your head? What does the message on the tape say about you, your abilities, your identity, your relationship with your wife, your business? Well, this past weekend, at an ISI retreat, I personally was challenged about the tape that I've been playing in my head and I discovered some parts of the story that I've been telling myself that I need to change. And if it wasn't for these guys that know me, have context to my life, I wouldn't have made that discovery. So if you want to be connected and engaged with a growing group of growth-minded Christian businessmen and leaders who are also making informed, vetted decisions through a biblical lens, go check out the ISI Brotherhood for yourself at isibrotherhoodcom. All right, without further ado, let's get one of the best storytellers, the most captivating storytellers I know in the studio. Welcome, big A.

Speaker 2:

Wally, I couldn't be more excited about today. I've been labeled as a storyteller. I don't know if I'm a good storyteller, but I love to tell stories. You know, you were just talking about the live event that we were at just a few days ago and the stories that were going around the table. You know, at breakfast, during our sessions, at night.

Speaker 2:

You know, sitting around playing cornhole, walking out by the lake, the stories that I heard, man, I wish I was been recording them because they were phenomenal and what was really cool, though, is you said that some of the guys had said something to you that had context, and I think that's really important, because we have context to these men's lives, and when they tell the story, we can add to it, we can help, we can encourage, and there was one guy, kevin Calhoun, that was on the part of one of the guys, men in the Middle, that really opened my eyes, and I told him when we got back. I said, listen, that one minute of what you shared was worth the entire weekend to me, and it's just those nuggets that people drop, that we don't know what we don't know. And he was telling a story and it resonated. So, man, I couldn't be more excited about our episode today, how storytelling transforms our lives and our business, and so I'm fired up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm excited for today's episode too. We are going to do something a little different that we've never done here on the View From the Top podcast In our 113 episodes. We are going to do a. We're going to listen to, kind of get a sneak peek and kind of eavesdrop into a recent roundtable that Shane Sams did on storytelling. He is a master storyteller. We're going to listen in on some snippets and then we're going to break that down and then at the end of the podcast today we'll tell everybody how they can go listen to the whole thing on what Shane did and his framework for how he goes through storytelling man. It was a phenomenal talk and I know, big A, as you listen to that and I listen to that that we're going to be able to kind of listen to these snippets and bring out some action items, things through stories that we've learned, our own experiences that we can share with the audience today.

Speaker 2:

Wally, isn't Shane incredible? He's a guy that you want to run through a wall. After he gets through talking, you're like you're so pumped up. He was a football coach at his hometown and he had those kids going from never winning a game to I think maybe they were in the playoffs or even won the state championship. He took them to a whole nother level and I know it's because of his charisma, his ability to tell stories. He gets you motivated. He's exciting and I can't wait to break down these snippets as we kind of go along. So let's talk about it Storytelling.

Speaker 1:

All right, first snippet up, here we go, listen in.

Speaker 3:

In the first eight games of my head coaching career we got running clocked mercy rolled all eight games and throughout the season I was bringing kids in, I was trying to show them film. I was trying to show them what we did in college, trying to show them what we did at the high school. I worked at down in Alabama and these kids were just not getting it and what we were doing was just not working. So I called the kids in for film after that eighth loss and I said, hey, we're going to change the playbook, we're going to go to a simpler playbook. We're going to use this playbook that we use down in Mobile, alabama, to win the state championship. And when I said that, I'll never forget it, we had this kid. We called him big D, was like a 300 pound kid, couldn't move, he was our center and he was just there to take up space and he raised his hand and he said wait a minute, coach, you coached on a state championship team and I'm like you have been here 10 weeks.

Speaker 3:

Did I not say that? Or did you miss it? Like, how did you not know the story of how I got started in football? And I told them about the season and I told them the story of what got us there and I told them how this playbook was like, the thing that turned that program around and this is the playbook that we use to win those games. So I told them the story of why the product worked, the playbook. I told them the story of why the thing that I did could solve the problem and once they got the story, they believed in the product, the offer, the playbook. So we install this playbook and we go out and we win the last two games of the season. And it was all because they got the story behind what they were trying to actually implement on the field.

Speaker 1:

Well, there it is. Wow, man, you just talked about Shane and like getting fired up, and even that minute or whatever it was, I'm like, all right, let's go, let's go.

Speaker 2:

You're ready to go out and win the state championship. You know what I believe? What's a big takeaway from me in this particular clip is that once the men heard there were a pathway, there was a playbook and there's history I think the history is important because it was proven to be true they now knew that they had a coach that had taken a team to a state championship, and this is the method by which they did it. I think the story, the important part of the story, is that there's contextual information behind why the story was true and how it worked, and I think once people see the testimonials, the transformational experiences that people get as a result of the story, they then believe they can do it too.

Speaker 1:

You know, I think this so often in business and we think about you know he's talking about taking our customer. Essentially, you know these players were his customer. Let's just, let's just call it that Right? So we think in business, we think in our own families or maybe our own coaching that we're doing right, whether it's coach, business coaching or personal coaching, or whether we're just coaching our, you know, on our family, or we're actually on the field coaching something.

Speaker 1:

Um, when I, when I think about that so often, it's easy for us as business owners to go back to.

Speaker 1:

You know, we want to start our story with our customers often with, like, our own accolades, like specifically, like here's an award I got, or we've been in business for 35 generations, or, and that sounds really good, like it sounds good, but the challenge is it doesn't really relate. And so, as you heard Shane talk about and I know for you, I'd love to hear just a little bit from you on. The last business that you started was the ISI Brotherhood, and so when you started that, people flocked in. Essentially I hate to say that word, but it was like it was such an attraction for people and it had a lot to do with the way you approached, how you communicated, what the ISI Brotherhood was. So just share with us like your thought process and like maybe some of the things that you said early on to help others be able to kind of think through their own business, whether it's, you know, excavating or a dental office or whatever it is.

Speaker 2:

Let's go back just for a second, wally, and talk about something you just said. I think it's really important part of the storytelling you said most people start with really important part of the storytelling you said most people start with excuse me 35 years of or 35 generations.

Speaker 1:

I think you said yeah, I was exaggerating, right?

Speaker 2:

sure, but I think that is an important part of the story if it's placed properly at the right time. And I don't think that we necessarily can lead with that. But you want to give people something to support that. It's your area of expertise and I think you can do that confidently, yet humbly. And I always say be confident, void of arrogance, and so I think if you weave that into the story, they'll pick up on it rather than making it a point. So when you do tell your story, I do think it's vital, but I think the timing is of the essence.

Speaker 2:

You know, when I started Iron Serpents, iron Mastermind, it was now almost 12, 13 years ago when I retired yeah, so I was 50 when I retired and a couple of guys in my mastermind group encouraged me to coach some guys and really pour into them, and I didn't want to do that. Honestly, there was a lot of resistance to that because, honestly, the reason is I was tired. It was like I needed a break and I needed to take some time off. And one of the guys said hey, go ahead and take some time off, get rested up. You should take care of yourself. But I really want you to pray through what it would look like in coaching some other guys and kind of helping them. You've had a successful marriage and you've had a number of businesses that you've started, and don't you think it would be beneficial in the lives of other guys if you would teach them how to do that? So it was really convicting. Honestly, I didn't even want to do it and I prayed through it, talked to Robin about it. Then I agreed to coach a couple of guys. The irony of that is those two guys are still in Iron Serpents, Iron Mastermind here a decade later, which is pretty cool if you think about it.

Speaker 2:

But when I started coaching these guys, they started telling me, hey, this is really helpful. And so it started kind of pumping me up a little bit. It was like, man, this feels pretty good to get to help these guys. Someone suggested that I start doing some podcast interviews and I did and, as you said, they literally flooded in here for a period of time. I mean, you know, podcasting was relatively new at the time and I was on some pretty good-sized shows and guys started hearing about the transformational experience that we were offering as a result of being in our organization, and so they started coming and we started building the mastermind group, iron Sharpens, iron Brotherhood, and when we did, they were telling the other people it's like, hey, you've got to come.

Speaker 2:

Big A's had this transformation in his own life. He's teaching other guys and it's something that we can apply to our lives and they realized that they didn't know what they didn't know. They needed trusted advisors, they needed encouragement, they needed support. You know, they needed resources and networking.

Speaker 2:

And one thing led to another and as I was teaching these guys how to build businesses and how to have be the whole man, you know it was like pay attention to what's going on in your personal life and are you using up relationship capital to build your business? Because if you do, you're going to build a business and you're going to not have a family. And they were like man and I said you know, I personally have experienced this. I don't like to admit it, but the truth is there was a time in my life where I almost lost my family because I was so focused on business.

Speaker 2:

And they started hearing this guy that had been successful gone through similar things that they were experiencing and I'm like, hey, you can change too. I don't want you to have to go through the landmines and get blown up as a result of it. You can dodge these landmines if you'll do these things put these guardrails up, have these boundaries, have this accountability. And they were like dude, this works, like this really works, and I can see it now in my own life. And so the story that and I've got a pretty checkered past, you know, and pretty interesting story and so they are like man, I don't want to go through that, I don't want to almost lose my family and I don't want to almost lose businesses, like. And so the story of me and what had transpired in my life. I just conveyed it to others and said, hey, I want better for you. And they bought in. And here we are today, you know, 15 groups later, men all over the world, and their lives are being changed.

Speaker 1:

You know guys listening today. First of all, I love the story that you tell and there's so many different angles to it, right, there's so many one-liners that uh that you've said over the years. And as guys listen to podcasts, you know they, they hear them. Um and man, I just want to say thank you for uh. I know it's a kind of a weird thing to say right now on the podcast, but I just want to say thank you for uh getting out there and telling your story. And you know it was eight years ago that God allowed me to discover ISI and you know I've been a member ever since.

Speaker 2:

You know what's cool, wally, as we talk about story. In regards to that, thank you for your kind comments. First of all, I appreciate that Oftentimes we're timid to tell our story because we think we'll be misunderstood. And I think, if we share our story in a manner that is respectful of other people, not to bring you know highlights to ourself, but to say how you can transform your life as well, or, if you're not in that space, it's like you know we use being a CPA for an example, I think you said a while ago like how in the world could a story impact that it's like sample? I think you said a while ago like how in the world could a story impact that it's like well, we've got to be good stewards over our resources and what a delight it would be to be a CPA that is interested in your welfare, changing generations to come, and how that you can use your experience to help you. You know maximize. You know the resources that you have, how you can invest it wisely and you can be that steward that God's called you to be Like. What a cool story that would be.

Speaker 2:

And possibly these guys have gotten in trouble. I know Dave Ramsey is huge in his story how he went bankrupt and he's used that to help Like and he's touching millions of people today as a result of that. So, whatever industry you're in, you don't have to be in the coaching space or the mastermind space, but I think that you can look. I think of Brett Barnhart in the excavation business and you know he's there to change generations and how he helps people build the platforms to build their most valued asset their homes and businesses, to be able to minister to other people or help people or transform their lives, and he's weaved a whole story into that. Now he's like four generations deep into the excavation business and how people are like flocking to his company as a result of his quality of work. The story it matters, and I think any of us has a story that can transform lives in your own genre, whatever that is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think if you're struggling too, like you mentioned, you know CPA and you know some people get into business because a certain business, because they have their own story. Like for me when I started the Interact RV back in 2003,. Part of that was because I had my own experience, my own story, and as I built that business, my story continued to grow and build upon RVing and then I got into RVing with the family and that helped to change and evolve the story even more right? So it's not just a beginning story. I think we continue over as we build our business. Yeah, continue picking them up.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you're sitting here thinking today, well, I don't really have that compelling of a story, that's probably not true, but let's just say that for right now, you believe that If you have customers that have been successful using your products or services, you can borrow from their story. So we literally have no excuse not to dive in and begin to understand the root of our story, of other people's stories, of what we do in the world, what God's called us to do, our talents, our abilities, how that shows up and how that has an effect on them and the things that they're trying to accomplish. Whatever, that is All right. We're going to jump to the second snippet here, so hang on, let's get this rolling.

Speaker 3:

The story that you're telling in the marketplace is the most important asset for transforming your clients' lives. It's not the physical building that you own, it's not all the machines in your office, it's not all of that stuff. You've got to be able to get the story right so your marketing is right, so your sales are right, so that you get to go out and do all of those things. And it's because stories are how we're hardwired to operate in the world. Every lesson, every value, every belief you've ever learned came from the story. Look at the Bible. The Bible speaks in stories. It doesn't just give you a list of things to do. It drives it home with parable. It drives it home with history. It drives it home with story so that we can take that out and take it and move it into the lessons of our life. The same thing happens with your business.

Speaker 1:

All right. So Shane says the story that you're telling is the most important asset for transforming your clients' lives. Have you found that to be true?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for the most part. To be honest with you, I didn't really think about it in the early days of my career, so I'm not going to sit here and act like that. This was something that was second nature to me when I was in my 20s and 30s. To be honest, I didn't give it any thought. I really didn't. Looking back now, I wish that I knew then what.

Speaker 1:

I know now.

Speaker 2:

I would totally do it different. But I didn't have a clue then. I didn't have mentors and masterminds and people walking with me and helping me and telling me how important story was and to craft my mission statement and vision. I didn't have anybody to do that and that's one of the things that have propelled, you know, five or 10 year businesses. It's not too late to craft that story, to craft that vision, to be able to go out and share it, because it's a lot more enjoyable.

Speaker 2:

I find today in Iron Sharpens, iron Brotherhood, how much more pleasant and enjoyable doing business is when we've got a story that can transform lives. And I look back when I was in, you know, the construction industry and you know other industries that I was in, it was like that was cool and there was a story there like how I started really early and met two guys and, you know, got them to invest capital into a business when I was 19 years old, and how I worked hard at long hours and at night and took a bath in the sink and was ready for work the next morning. It's like literally never left the shop and it's like it's part of the story, it's motivational, it's like, oh my gosh and you have this cool story. You know I was thinking about when Shane was talking just now is that my grandkids. I have five grandchildren. They're from nine years old to 22 years old and some of them are rambunctious, you know. They're talking and going and moving but I can say, hey, hey, hey, hold on, big A's got a story I want to tell you. It captivates their attention. They're like they'll sit there and I remember as children when they were really small they're all teenagers now, for the most part, or married one of them but when they were little they would sit there and never lose eye contact with me and I could tell them this story and they were like Big A, tell us more, what else did you do, or where else did you go? They would dive deeper into the story and I don't think any of us ever get beyond that.

Speaker 2:

Shane was just talking about parables in the Bible and its stories, and it's the way that they conveyed history to their children in biblical days was telling stories so that they would never forget, and I just think it's such a cool concept to be able to craft your story. You know, just recently we've hired a person to capture all of our story and succinctly put it in a way that's abbreviated but people get the essence of it, so that we too can tell our story. We did an 11-minute video recently, kind of telling our journey and kind of telling our story, because we know it's important where we were, where we're at and where we're going, and people want to be a part of that. So, yeah, if it's not something that you've paid attention to in the past, I would certainly pay attention to it now and don't do like I do waste two decades of your life not capturing your story.

Speaker 1:

That's good. I think about the things that I know guys listening today too, right, you all probably think, if you really think about conversations you've had in the past with other people, I think that having a really cool building and having a ping pong table right, or having an air hockey table for your staff, or having how many thousands of square feet or having wrapped vehicles right, those are cool assets, whatever it is for you right, like those are cool assets. You know, having whatever it is for you right. We think about those assets of our business and they're like, factually fun to talk about to some degree, but it's just information. But you used a word that I think is really important is that when you start talking about your story, it changes to captivating, and I'm with Shane on this.

Speaker 1:

I think this story I never thought about it before in the same way.

Speaker 1:

But, man, do we give enough intention and attention to our story as one of the most, if not the most important asset that our business has?

Speaker 1:

You know, even in our families there are so many times where, if I just open up scripture or if I just share with one of my kids as they were growing, my daughters as they were growing up, or even now as adults. Right, if I just say, oh, I learned this, I learned how to do X, that's very different than saying hey, man, when I was 20 years old and I had this situation, right, like, mom and I were struggling, we got married early and these are the ways we communicated and they weren't very effective and some of the challenges that we had. These are some of the things that God taught us along the way, and we had this challenge and we had to overcome it together and you know, it took 12 years of this to get to here. And now we're here and this is what. Like, that's totally different than like yeah, we learned to communicate, you know it's way different than like yeah, we learned to communicate, you know, it's way different. Like I was getting interested in your story.

Speaker 2:

there I was like what happened in 12 years. You know, I'm like the anticipation of you know, wally, a few years ago I did something pretty fun and it was related to a story similar to what you're talking about. So I called Brooke and Holly, my daughters Brooke's 41, holly's 38.

Speaker 1:

I can't believe. You just told your daughter's ages. Yeah, that's okay, they're not. They're not old enough.

Speaker 2:

Don't believe it they're not old enough yet for it to matter. But uh, so I called him and I said hey, I'm gonna pick you up. Uh, saturday morning at nine o'clock we're gonna go eat breakfast. I've got a story I want to tell you and they're like okay, it's a victim of, we went and ate, that's probably all they could think about between when you asked them and when they got there, they're like what are you going to say?

Speaker 1:

They didn't know what was going on.

Speaker 2:

But you know what I did. We live here in Nashville, tennessee, and I've been here my entire life. I took them on my entire journey. I took them to every house I lived in, the schools, I went to the properties I had owned, the businesses I had bought. I took them through the whole journey, even drove them down into East Nashville where my grandfather's house was and where my dad worked, and I spent the whole day telling the story. And you know what they said and I was embarrassed about this. They said, dad, we didn't know 10% that. And I was like, wow, we leave out the story and it impacted them and they, even still today, talk about that. You know it's fun, wally, I did you the same way. I took you on.

Speaker 1:

You did.

Speaker 2:

I was very grateful, I was very thankful you on the journey and not to boast, not to brag but to share that at all you had an insight to my life, right, and you understood things differently as a result of that right. And so one of the guys I still haven't answered all those questions, but Ken Abraham, a guy in my mastermind group decades ago now encouraged me to write a book. And I'm like I don't want to write a book. Who would read Big A's book? Right? And so I started thinking through that, praying through that, and he said you know, it may not sell as many as other people's copies, but nobody can tell your story. But you, like, this is unique to you and if it would only change one life, would it not be worth it? And Ken Davis challenged me with that and I started thinking about that and I said you're dead gum. Right, it would be worth it.

Speaker 2:

So I spent 18 months writing a book called View From the Top helping people understand how to live a life of success and significance. And the reason that I chose that is because I had a measure of success financially from the world standards, but I had zero significance in my life and my life was. There was a huge gap, there was a void in my life because I had not impacted the other people's lives like I had really wanted to. And so I wrote the book how you Can Simultaneously have Success and Significance and it tells my story and people read the story now and they get it back. It's somewhat of a memoir. You know it's very raw. I mean it tells real stories in the book. I kind of lead as a lead for this book where I was going to kill a guy in Buffalo, wyoming, and really I got my attention and I physically literally was going to kill this guy and I tell the story in the book of why and why I didn't.

Speaker 2:

And so I think it's important that we're raw, that we share, that we're vulnerable, so that everybody doesn't think, well, yeah, big A, you've made a little money and you've had all these businesses and you've got it made. That's not the case at all. Like. The truth is is I've had multiple challenges and I tell in the book about those challenges. It's like, but I overcame them. That's the redemptive side of the story. It's like ran over and killed a pedestrian, took me five years to work through that, but I tell how I did that and how I was able to shake that off and move on. And so I think our stories are vital to the success of some, maybe not everyone, but I think it's vital for a few.

Speaker 1:

That's a good word. All right, let's go on to the third.

Speaker 3:

You know, I love when I walk into an office and I see a mission statement. That's important. You need to have a mission statement for your employees, right? And I love seeing under it. You see, here's our core values trust, integrity, strength right? You see all these little like accolades that are written on the wall? Like we don't take core values and mission statements and post them on Facebook and run an ad to them? No one would ever buy anything we do if we just listed our mission statement and our core values. But if we can tell a story to our avatar that clearly displays our mission and clearly displays those core values in action, now they're going to relate to it. Now they're going to get it. Now they're going to say, hey, these people can solve our problem. They're on a mission to solve our problem and I want to do that.

Speaker 1:

All right. So mission statement and core values are important, but what are they without a story of transformation? I think that's what Shane is saying. He says you know, no one would ever buy anything if we do what we just listed our core values and mission statement on the sales page. I think that's an interesting statement. Right Like that's true. I don't think anybody ever would. Do you agree with Shane, that statement?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. I think it's important that we do have a mission statement and again, that wasn't even on my radar when I owned my first three or four businesses, because I didn't have anybody to mentor me, to teach me and to show me. You know how vital it was and how important it is to have core values and you know, it was only in the past decade that we've really focused on that. Honestly, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that, but it's true, because we didn't have anybody at the time, you didn't know what you didn't know, right.

Speaker 2:

That's probably why we do this podcast, right, yeah, that it was out in front. And it's like, what is the reason you're doing what you're doing? Like, yeah, we all want to make a living, right? I mean, that's true, that goes without saying in any business. We all want to make money and we should make money. It's how we, you know, provide for our families. But the underlying theme to that is like who is it that's going to experience a significant life, or who is it that you're going to touch in a meaningful way, that you're going to help them and they're going to relate and they're going to understand.

Speaker 2:

And we try to help ordinary men become extraordinary in all that they do. We try to help the whole man. It's like, don't pay attention just to making money. It's like, what other areas, personally and spiritually and financially and professionally, how else can we make you whole? And that is our focus here at Iron Sharpens Iron. And the reason is because I tell people for years now I came home with a pocket full of money to a house full of strangers and Robin said thank you, I love what we've got, but I feel like a single mom and I'm like man. I do not want that for other men. So our mission is to help those guys be the whole man, be the whole ISI man that you can have success and significance in every area of your life. So, yeah, then the core values.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people start out with honesty and integrity. Well, that's the core value of being a human being, right? We all should have that. But what is unique to you, what are the things that are specific in nature to you? And I'll do this quickly, but for us here, relationships matter most. It's our number one core value. It's in our team, it's in our staff, it's in our colleagues, it's in our family, our friends, our business associates. Everything is run through that filter first, how is it affecting the relationship? And then no excuses. I hate excuses, you and I talk about this often. Is that a reason or is that an excuse? I don't know. I think the line gets blurred there a little bit sometimes I do that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm the words guy, so I do. I do blend those a little bit sometimes.

Speaker 2:

But I think sometimes it's like hey, just do the work and then then make it amazing, like, don't do it. If you're not going to do the very best, you can do it. That doesn't mean it's up to everyone's perfection, everyone's standards Right, standards, right. But the truth is is you did the best you could, right and try to grow, try to increase that, try to make it more amazing, and then everything is figureoutable. And my wife honestly hates that. She hates that that's our fourth core value, because she contends that some things are not figureoutable. And I'm like, yeah, it just depends on how your mindset is, how you look at it. I do think there's ways to figure it out.

Speaker 2:

My good friend Dan Miller rest in peace. He was one of the guys that was kind of behind that. He's like what does this make possible? We can figure it out, there's a way. If you really want to do it, you can. And then, finally, truth before opinion. And for us here at ISI Brotherhood, god's word is truth and that is the first filter we run it through, and then after that, your opinion matters. So truth before opinion. So I just want to challenge you what are your core values Like? How are you running your business. What is it that? The filters that you're using on a daily basis to make acquisitions or to treat your customers, or time off for your employees, or whatever the case may be what is it that you're running, the way you're operating the business through, and then why are you doing it? At the end of the day, what is the mission of what you're doing? It's vital to your story.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love blending those together. It's interesting. On the, you were talking about that, everything's figureoutable. I agree with that. I was part of the development of these with you, right? And so, as I thought, I think about that, something that the team actually gave us feedback on I think it was Brooke actually gave us feedback on. She said, well, what if it's not? Like what if the answer is no right? We always tend to think, ah, we can figure that out and Like what if the answer is no Right, because we always tend to think, ah, we can figure that out and it's like she's right, then it was figured out, then it was no, she's right, and it's like sometimes it is no, that's the answer Right. So you have to. It's interesting, though that like having getting other people involved in that process and how that adds to the story.

Speaker 2:

It actually does, making an assumption that it's going to work out the way you want, and for that reason they say it may not. And I contend then it was figured out, it wasn't meant to happen and so that's why it's framing. That's right. That's why it's the mindset that you look at it by. It's like okay, maybe God's protecting us from something and maybe there's a different avenue that we should take.

Speaker 1:

For me, that was figuring it out. Yeah, I think I've said this before on the podcast, but back when I had Interact RV, there was a lot of years I had it for 18 years but there was, I'd say, probably nine to 10 of those years that I didn't really have a mission statement really, or really a story. I mean, I had a story tied to what we were doing, but it wasn't really bigger than myself and so as we started to develop the team, I learned, you know, e-myth and entree leadership and all the books I was leadership books I was reading at the time and stuff. And we're like, hey, man, the mission is going to be really important for your team. And you know I really struggled and I'm sure a lot of guys listening out there are like, hey, you guys are ISI, you're about the whole man, like it's about a person, it's about generations, it's about legacy. Of course, there's lots of ways to come up with a really great story about what you do and you know I sell widgets in Kansas. Like you know, it's like what's my story, you know, and, and especially the internal story to our team, um is is really a even a more foundational, I think, story than what we tell. It feeds up into what we, the story we share with our customers.

Speaker 1:

So we struggled with that because it's like hey, we're developing websites and doing marketing campaigns for RV dealerships, like so, essentially we're. We almost felt like how are we making a difference in the world? Like what, what is it that we're doing? We're just helping these guys like sell more RVs. Like does that? Does that get me out of bed in the morning? And so we wrestled with that for quite a while and probably a few years, and so what we came up with was uh, it was interesting how you work through these things. And then one day it just like God's like boom, there it is.

Speaker 1:

And for us, what made sense for our business was something along the lines of this is that you know, we help families through the process of them buying their RV. We help them basically create memories and stories that they get to tell around the Thanksgiving dinner table for generations to come, because you know that if you've ever been camping, you have a really good story or a terrible story. It's still a story. It's still a story, but you get to tell it. And so all of a sudden it was like ah, that's what we're really doing, like, at the end of the day, we're we're making a difference for that end end customer. There's this purchasing that RV to have it create experiences for themselves.

Speaker 1:

And so I think businesses you know, guys, as you're listening and you're thinking about your own business, whether you're financial services or you know you're that widget in Kansas, whatever you are that there is, if you work at it, that there's some, some part of your story. There's some part of the story that you're fulfilling to your customer that will make a difference in their lives and that will resonate back with your team, as long as you tell it and you continue to tell it and you believe it and you live it out. All right. So finally, here at Big A, we're going to kind of go through four questions to help us build our own story of transformation for our own customers. After Shane gave the framework on how to set up the story behind your business which again we'll get that link down below you can listen to the whole thing he gave three questions to answer for your own business. Do you want to take us through those?

Speaker 2:

answer for your own business. Do you want to take us through those? Yeah, shane did a really remarkable job with this and that's the reason that we had him come and do the roundtable for all of ISI community because he is such a storyteller. He makes them a lot more exciting than I probably would. But his first question was what pivotal moment or experience led you to realize the problem you want to solve with your business? At some point you had that pivotal moment that you said I want to solve this. So you have to ask that, if you're starting another business, if you're already in a business, what was that? Number two was what personal obstacles or challenges have you faced along the way and how did these shape your approach to solving the problem? And it doesn't matter what business you have. I promise you there were personal obstacles and challenges along the way. It doesn't matter how smoothly it went, but just think about what those obstacles were and how you overcame them and who was the first person or customer that you helped and what was the impact on them.

Speaker 2:

When I think about that personally, some of these guys, like Brett Barnhart or Matt Miller, some of those guys, man, it was so fun, wally, to see. The light came on. You know, at that time, I think Brett was like 29 years old and I told him something that it was ordinary to me but it was extraordinary to him. It was like, man, I hadn't thought about that or I hadn't seen that. And then he implemented it and it worked for he and his family and you were like that was really cool and that made me want to do more.

Speaker 2:

And many of these guys over the years have experienced that same transformational experience. And then you got to think how did this experience confirm or inspire your mission? Like, what did you do from that point that helped you create that mission? Listen, there's not a business out there that's listening today. There's not a person listening today. Maybe you don't own a business yet, but maybe these, fundamentally, are things that you can put into place in order to create your story for when you go forward and change the lives and help people be much more successful and significant. Guys, thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

Today. I really enjoyed this. Hopefully you were able to take something from this that you can pivot and change in your life. You can think about the core values. You can think about the mission of your business. You can think about how vital it is to tell your story. Don't get caught in the trap of my story doesn't matter, because I did that decades ago and I want to assure you there are people out there that can have a transformational experience just because of your story. Your story is unique and God can use you in a unique way, because we want you, too, to have that view from the top.

Speaker 1:

Hey guys. So today we got you thinking about story. But if you want to learn step-by-step the framework that Shane Sams teaches for businesses across the country on how to tell your story in a way that relates to your target audience, you can go to isibrotherhoodcom slash community and join right there. There's a short trial there. You can get in and just listen to that round table.

Speaker 1:

If you go to community presentations, once you apply and get approved and get in there, or if you're already a member of the community, just head over to the community presentations page and click on the Unlocking Human Transformation Through Storytelling with Shane Sams and also, as Big A mentioned today, if you've not read the View from the Top book that Big A wrote a few years ago man, it's so relevant today, it's timeless you need to read it. So you can get that by going to isibrotherhoodcom slash resources. It'll be there at the bottom of the page directions on how to get that book. Be happy to get that to you guys. Remember, go to isidebrotherhoodcom to learn more about all this and get connected in the ISI community and we will see you next time.