Use Storytelling To Bewitch Clients And Grow Your Business
If you’re pursuing only data-driven marketing strategies for growth, you’re missing out on a powerful yet ancient approach.
This tactic - done well - will lead to significant changes in client behaviour and potentially massive business growth.
The approach? Storytelling. Host Josh Steimle’s guest in this episode is a masterful storyteller, Park Howell.
TOP TAKEAWAY: HOW TO CRAFT SPELLBINDING STORIES
Park is the author of Brand Bewitchery: How to Wield the Story Cycle System™ to Craft Spellbinding Stories for Your Brand. This inspiring work helps readers clarify their brand story.
Founder of Business of Story, Park has more than 35 years’ experience with brand creation. He’s the creator of the Business of Story, a platform based on his ten-step Story Cycle System™. Park also hosts the Business of Story podcast.
Josh and Park explore Park’s 10-step Story Cycle System™ with depth, exploring what - exactly - story is, why it works, and how authors can use storytelling to write a book.
The key is, explains Park, to put the audience front and centre, understanding that the customer is the hero in the narrative arc. An author-entrepreneur must focus on where the customer is in life, what’s holding them back, and what can be done to resolve the customer’s challenges and move them forward.
OUR BRAINS CAN’T HELP BUT LOVE STORIES
“Story is a primal learning tool,” explains Park. “A story enables you to hack through the noise and hook the hearts of your customers, getting them involved because their brain can't help it. It just loves the story.”
In fact, Park’s story system works for all industries and all kinds of information.
Park has worked in advertising for decades, but didn’t thoroughly embrace storytelling until about 15 years ago.. His motivation? He thought everyone told stories, but he discovered that’s just not so. Brands around the world are either not understanding how to use story, or unaware of its transformative power.
THE HERO’S JOURNEY
Around the same time, Park’s son, Parker, went to film school, allowing Park to join his son vicariously. He asked his son: “Send me your books when you're done with them, because I want to know what they teach you about storytelling that I could apply in my own world.”
That’s when Park discovered the hero’s journey. It was his big “Aha” moment!
“These frameworks to story would work exceptionally well in branding and business, and why in the world doesn't anybody teach them?” he remembers asking back then.
The power of the hero’s journey is found within its ability to move and motivate. This potential sparked a passion in Park. He decided to teach people everything he’d learned about storytelling in business and branding.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Josh Steimle
Welcome to the published author podcast where we help entrepreneurs learn how to write a book and leverage it to grow their business and make an impact. I'm your host, Josh Stein Lee. Today, our guest is Park Howell, he's the author of Brand Bewitchery: How to Wield the Story Cycle System to Craft Spellbinding Stories for Your Brand, which helps readers clarify their brand story. He has 35 years of experience with brand creation, including 20 years running his own ad agency Park & Co. He's the creator of the Business of Story, a platform based on his 10-step story cycle system, which we'll hear more about today, and he also hosts the Business of Story podcast. If you're listening to this, you like podcasts, go check out the Business of Story podcast with Park. Park, welcome to the show.
Park Howell
Hey Josh, thanks for having me.
Josh Steimle
So one reason I'm excited to talk to you is that not only are you an author, you're also an entrepreneur, and you've built a thought leadership system for yourself that includes your book but also your podcast, and I suspect there's more to your platform that you can share with us. However, before we get into all that, tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? What was your upbringing like? What did you want to be when you grew up – just your life story.
Park Howell
Yeah, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest just north of Seattle, Washington in a town called Bothell, Washington, Bothell-Woodinville area. I am one of seven kids and we grew up – my mum and dad had this place, this little 12-acre ranch [inaudible 00:01:32] out there. My mom, my 95-year-old mom, God bless her, still lives on it to this very day, and that's a real blessing, considering COVID. So she's got her own little force out there that, you know, acres around her to keep her away from it.
Josh Steimle
She's got her own bubble.
Park Howell
She does, she totally has her own bubble. And my dad called it – he was like the first brander in my life, although he was a civil engineer. He called it the happy age, because that's just the way he went through life. He was a happy Norwegian Viking basically, and both of my mum and dad, just terrific people. And so I grew up with the brand and happy age, as I mentioned, one to seven kids, Dan, Melody, Tom, Steve, Chris, Mike, and Park. And you might wonder where does that name come from? Well, his very first job out of college, back in North Dakota, he went to University of North Dakota, was at Fargo, as a civil engineer, and he worked for the city engineer whose name was Park [inaudible 00:02:36] another Norwegian with the first name of Park. And apparently he passed away about the time I was born. And I asked my dad, I'd go, why would you give me his name, me being his namesake; and he said, because he always got things done happily and easily. I said, okay. I thought that pretty much summed up my dad anyways on what he taught us to do. And so I kind of try to live into that every day, I try to get things done happily and easily, even when I'm cranky and everything is really hard. But that's what I've done. And growing up, I always would, in the music, I started playing the piano in third grade, and I wrote music over and over, just all kinds of music, and got a degree in music composition and theory; but figuring I wasn't going to become a famous composer, I also got a degree in communications journalism and went into the public relations world, and then in the advertising world, had my agency for 20 years, and about 10 years ago started pivoting into brand storytelling. Storytelling was starting to creep into the scene. I was really fascinated by it, because I was like, duh, doesn't everybody tell stories, and then I realized, they didn't. And I want to get better at it, so I studied story in Hollywood. Actually, I lived vicariously through our middle child, our son Parker, who went to film school from 2006-2010 at Chapman University in Orange, California, and he's graduated, been in Hollywood ever since. But I said, send me your books when you're done with them since I'm paying for them, because I want to know what do they teach you about storytelling that I could apply in my own world. And that's when I found the Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell, Blake Snyder screenwriting books, and that was my big aha moment that these frameworks to story would work exceptionally well in branding and business, and why in the world doesn't anybody teach them. So I...
Josh Steimle
[inaudible 00:04:37] on my shelf right there. [inaudible 00:04:39] they are great books.
Park Howell
Yeah. And so that was fascinating to me because it also took me back to my music composition theory days when I started realizing that there's not so much difference between the composition of a song as there is the composition of a great story, they follow many of the same principles. So my work worlds came back together, and now, really for the last five years, that's what I've been doing at the Business of Story is consulting, teaching, coaching and speaking on the power of story in business, and I've been doing it pretty much around the world.
Josh Steimle
Great. Thank you for that background. So Park & Co., is that still around or did that get replaced by the business of story?
Park Howell
Yeah the corporation is still around us, my holding corporation, if you will. But yeah, I pretty much pivoted away from it. People said why didn't you sell it; and I said, because then I would be beholden to whoever bought it and couldn't really race into doing the business the story of what I really liked. So Park & Co. has been operating as a one-person agency, although I've got some virtual staff that come in and help. And so I do do some ad campaigns or some companies but really my 80 to 90% focus is the business of story.
Josh Steimle
That's your passion.
Park Howell
Yep, absolutely.
Josh Steimle
Now, your book, Brand Bewitchery, just barely came out in June, is that right?
Park Howell
Oh it barely came out, let me tell you. COVID, yeah, it whacked everything, it did, it came out June 1, and it was seven years in the writing. I wrote it, gosh, six years ago, and then let it sit, and then I rewrote the whole darn thing again starting about two years ago. And I spent another year and a half rewriting it, and I was interviewing a guy for my podcast one day and he summed it up best, because he had a bestselling book. And I asked him about his writing journey, and he says, you start writing a book to figure out what book you're writing. And I thought, man, that is so true, because my first draft, it's like, all right, there it is, but I felt like I needed to proof out and test out and add more stories to it. So I really, after having that first draft, spent the next four years, traveling and teaching it and just accumulating all these amazing stories and examples of how this works in every walk of life. And so, that's what caused me to go back and rewrite it, and then finally get it published June 1.
Josh Steimle
What was the initial inspiration for the book?
Park Howell
Well, I wanted to teach people what I had learned about applying the Hero's Journey in business and branding, because when I first learned about it and first [inaudible 00:07:20] it immediately hit me that this could be super powerful. And then, of course, my next question is, could it? So I mapped it to business using the 10 steps of the story cycle system, so that a business person could really relate to it. And then I tried it, I tried it out, it's basically a science experiment to see if it was going to work with a group here called Clinica Adelante. We took them through the process, they revised the 33-year-old story at the time, this is back in 2009, early 2010, and launched with a new updated narrative that still paid homage to what they were doing for 33 years of providing healthcare for all, regardless of your ability to pay. And we changed them from Clinica Adelante to Adelante Sustainable Healthcare that helped sustain the availability of healthcare, to sustain your own personal health through diet and exercise and trying to do preventive medicine, and then ultimately, sustaining the operations through [inaudible 00:08:24] their practices. And I can tell you that they have experienced 600% growth, and they will tell you it's precisely because they got their story dialed and they got it straight. And it's what they have been following really almost for the past 10 years now. When I saw the immediate impact that had, and then I did a thing with Coca Cola and an internal program they were doing there and saw the impact it had there, my science experiment then went to, oh my God, this stuff actually works. So I just kept molding it, applying it. Arizona State University called, they saw the work I was doing in the sustainability realm with it, had me come in and I helped create an Executive Master's Course. So I got to teach my story process to executives from around the world for five years that helped me proof it out even that much more. All that combined experience then came together to be within the book today. So my impetus was I needed to share with the world what I learned because it was blowing me away, and it was really powerful.
Josh Steimle
So why does story work, I mean, we hear these case studies, you help people with their story, they get great results, but why, where's the connection?
Park Howell
Story is a very primal learning tool. Now, think about it, you and I are back in a cave, it's 40000 BC, and we're on the savanna hanging out in a cave and I come in the doorway. You're sitting there, you say, Park, where you've been; and I'm pretty disheveled looking, and I say, Josh, I was down at river trying to catch saber-tooth salmon for dinner. And you go aha. I say, but saber tooth tiger show up. You go, oh ho, what did you do. Well, I gave salmon to tiger, it likes salmon better than Park, therefore I'm back here safe in fire with you. You go aha. Perfect story structure, set up problem resolution, whoa, oh ho, aha. So basic, even a caveman can do it, and I would argue story is more important for our survival than our opposable thumbs, because Homo sapiens are the only beings that we know that can think and act and bring people together in story. Imagine a different tomorrow than today, talk about how we're going to live into that whether we're going to attack another tribe or we're going to take on a woolly mammoth or whatever we're going to do. We can picture and think in story to do that as a socialized animal, basically a storytelling animal, a storytelling monkey, if you will. And so, that's how we have evolved from cavemen and cavewomen to consumers today. And yet, we have a whole new Savannah that we are trying to navigate and survive, and that is the internet, that is this bombardment of information that comes at each and every one of us. In fact, you and I, add to it. With every little piece of content we put out, there's just that much more noise. And while our frontal cortex, this brilliant brain of ours has been able to create this technology and this ability for you and I to broadcast 24/7 from the privacy of our kitchen table with global reach, we are compounding that at the rate of Moore's law, that famous law that says technology compounds about every six, eight, 10 months, doubles this power as it goes. Well, we're doubling and amplifying the amount of communication going out here. But Josh, here's the problem, you and I and everybody watching this is still walking around with the same limbic system, the same subconscious brain that has not changed appreciably since our ancestors were navigating and trying to survive the savanna. It has grown at the pace, the evolutionary pace of Darwin, while we have burdened it with all of this information and technology. What I have learned then is story, that very primal structure that identified with the caveman using it, is the exact same apparatus and software that is driving our brain today to try to make meaning out of the madness of being human beings. But what do we do in business? We don't tell stories, we just bombard you with features and functions and occasionally sprinkle in a few benefits in there. And it just adds to the noise, you don't get heard; you don't cut through a story because it is primal, and it is how our brains are wired to make meaning. A story enables you to hack through the noise and hook the hearts of your customers, of your audiences, of getting them involved, because their brain can't help it, it just loves the story.
Josh Steimle
So I've got a question for you: Is there any industry, any type of business where story is not appropriate, where story doesn't work as well, where stories are not the way that you would want to communicate?
Park Howell
No, they're all run by homo sapiens, they're all run by storytelling monkeys. We're apes. What makes us so different than the other apes is that we think, we plan, we pull people together and we act in stories. So an example of this, I was in Sacramento about four years ago now, I was brought up to present the keynote address at a developers conference, and then the next day was doing a half-day session on how to use brand storytelling for your business and whatever. There's 100 to 120 developers in the audience, you can just picture that, and I get up on stage; and I knew right away [inaudible 00:14:18] story was, well, I asked them, I just said, how many of you in here think storytelling is bullshit? Half the room's hands go up. I said, okay, well, let me tell you, our worlds aren't so different because I really know nothing about developing. However, I will say, our goals are the exact same. You are trying to write the cleanest, most pristine code you possibly can, so that that user interface is easy and delightful to use as possible. When you do, you convert them, people that are arriving in your software, your website or your platform more quickly because the experience is so wonderful. Well, that's the exact same thing that happens with storytelling. Think of it as the software that drives the motherboard of your brain. You are trying to entice somebody in. Give them an experience by telling them a story that transports them from one place to another place. Make them laugh, make them cry, scare them, whatever it is, to ultimately make it as easy as possible for them to buy into what you have to sell. Could be just a joke, and you're just trying to get them to buy into the punch line to get them laughing. Could be some code that you're trying to sell, and you're trying to get them to buy into that. So I said, we're basically operating in the same world, and we have that same goal, and that is excellent user experience. Then I just ask them, when was last time you were sitting in a presentation it was bombarding you with bullets and facts and charts and graphs, and you just started staring out the world because you couldn't keep your brain, your storytelling brain, functioning and focused, and they raised their hand. I go, that's horrible user experience, isn't it, precisely because they did not ever tell a story. So that's my way of saying stories work everywhere because what is sitting across from you is not a baboon, it's not a giraffe, it's not a dandelion, it's a Homo sapien, and we Homo sapiens think and act in story.
Josh Steimle
Your 10-step story cycle system, I assume this works for anyone, anywhere, regardless of the business they are in or organization or even if it's a family or some other situation. Am I correct there?
Park Howell
Yes, because it is that universal structure that Joseph Campbell had identified, and for those of your viewers who don't know who Joseph Campbell is, America's foremost mythologist, and he identified what he calls the Hero's Journey; and depending on who you read, it's anywhere from 12 to 17 steps, it's a narrative framework. He calls it the monomyth, because in his studies, he found that it kept showing up in story after story after story in one shape or form or another, and it didn't matter, the race, the religion, what part of the world they came from, it was this same pattern to the story. So it's an archetype I think that is completely better than our lives, because it's how we experience life. We are on this hero's journey. And so, by using that and mapping it to business, I have found and I have worked it on everyone, from executives that are trying to refine their own personal brand story to help them really understand what their narrative is, their story is, to companies. I especially like working with challenger brands, those mum and pop companies that have come up, five or 10 years old, and they've got a good business model going but now they're getting competition in or they really want to take on the big guy and help them craft that story around their particular brand to help them be even more of a powerful challenger brand, to internal initiatives. Like I had mentioned in Coca Cola, I taught folks at Cummins Diesel, Philips Electronics and others, American Express, on how to approach your internal initiatives as a brand in and of itself so that they can have greater meaning and impact in the minds of your colleagues, again, using the story cycle system and some other frameworks that come out of that to be able to think like a screenwriter, like an author, like a writer on what is your story. I just find it connects so much more of a human level than leading with logic and reason and ration. And I'd ask you, Josh, when was the last time you bought anything because of the data? You don't. You buy with your heart, then you justify your purchase with your head. So lead with the emotion of a story and then let the head come along and say, you know what, Park, you're pretty damn smart for buying that, whether I was or not, that's just the way it works.
Josh Steimle
I always buy based on the data, and that's the story I'm sticking to.
Park Howell
That number looks right to me, that chart feels right to me, let's get it.
Josh Steimle
So I want to put you on the spot here. I'd love for you to walk us through the 10 steps, if you're willing to, but can you do it from the standpoint or for the benefit of an author, somebody who's writing a book, how would they use the 10-step story cycle to make their book better – is that something you can do for us?
Park Howell
Fantastic. That is a great, great quest. Thank you, Josh. Yes, I can, give me a subject. What is the book about?
Josh Steimle
Let's say our audience is primarily entrepreneurs who are writing a book to benefit their business, something they want to leverage to grow their business, and so it's a how-to book, so let's say, actually, I'll pick a specific person. So there's a person in one of our groups, her name is Stacy, and she runs a company that helps index funds and other types of asset managers to raise money. So she's trying to write a book for that audience right now, and she wants to help these, she wants to help smaller fund managers compete against the huge funds, the huge index funds. So she's kind of in this David-Goliath type situation, or she's not in that situation, but she's helping David against Goliath in the index fund raising industry. So how could she use the 10-step story cycle system to write a better book for her audience?
Park Howell
I love that. All right, Stacy, congratulations, you and I share the same world, because it sounds like you're working with challenger brands as well, the Davids that are coming up through funding. So again, my book, you see these 10 steps right here. What I would ask you to do is when you, Stacy, start writing your book, is, I want to put your – I want you to put your audience at the center of the story. We're going to call your audience David or Davidette, if you'd like it to be a woman, I just [inaudible 00:21:11] in there. I want you to put that fund manager in your mind's eye at the center of your story. Then in act one or chapter one of the 10-step story cycle system, the back story – all I want you to do is quickly write what they want out of life but what is standing in their way, and even what the book is going to deliver for them to help them overcome it. I call this the and button therefore or the ABT, it's a story structure, it's not a story in and of itself, but the story structure setup, problem resolution, it might sound something like you are an up and coming fund manager, and your goal is to raise a $100 million in the next two years. But you are not being heard in your organization and are constantly being overlooked, therefore within my book you will learn, but I'm, but I'm, but I'm, but I'm... That helps you get focused and create the setting, the backstage, the back story of your story, of your book. Then you're going to go into chapter two and it's called heroes. And by the way, here's the biggest paradigm shift that happens, you, Stacy, are not the hero, your brand is not the hero, your platform is not the hero, your customer David is the hero in this journey. So I want you to get super focused on that persona. What is happening in their life? Where are they in their career stage? What is holding them back that you are going to be able to help them with? You get that in your mind, it will impact, how you are going to write that book, because you wanted them to sit down just as if they're reading it, and they say, God, Stacy, it felt like you were sitting right across to me, it just felt like you were talking to me. That's the goal what you want to get. So you want to get super specific on this. Now we're using the story cycle system as a strategy document at this point. And so you're going to start filling in these buckets.
Step three, stakes: What is at stake for David? It's got to be so compelling that he or she are willing to do whatever it takes morally to make that happen. So you want to ask yourself what do they wish for and want in the world? Wish is that emotional wish emotionally, I want people to really appreciate who I am, I want to look and feel smart, I want to have peace of mind, whatever it is. And then what do they want? And that is the physical want. In this case, it would be your book or your platform to help them get, tool them up to get what they want out of life. But you got to understand what's at stake for them. The other question I'd have you ask in the stake chapter is: what do they stand to gain by buying into what you have to provide them, and what do they stand to lose by remaining in status quo and doing absolutely nothing? Really important to understand that from your customer standpoint because that will inform how you talk to them, how you tell a story, are you going to be talking about here's all this opportunity ahead, or are you going to sprinkle in and emphasize here's what's you're going to lose if you do absolutely nothing. So you got to really get in their head and think what's at stake for them, what do they wish for, what do they want, what do they stand to gain, and what do they stand to lose by doing nothing.
Then you get to chapter four, disruption. All right, this is like the tornado comes in from the Wizard of Oz to propel that story forward. What is the disruption happening in their world right now that makes you and your thought and your platform the most timely and relevant offering to help them get through that disruption and get what they want out of life? Now, the greatest example or the worst example, I should say, is what we are all experiencing right now. We came into 2020 thinking this is going to be just a fantastic year, a brand new decade, and what happens? The universe pulls the rug out of every single individual on this planet. And it's this with COVID. It's disrupted everything. So it's caused people to go into bankruptcy, but it's also created an unbelievable amount of opportunity that status quo would have never created. So just using that as an example, throw COVID out to the side for a minute, what is the disruption happening in your audience's life that you are going to help them overcome? It's important to know that because you'll want to speak to it, you want to story to it, you want to demonstrate to them that you understand and appreciate and empathize with where they are. Should I take a breath, any questions so far, you want me to keep going?
Josh Steimle
This is great. Keep on going.
Park Howell
Keep rolling, all right. We're getting halfway into this. And do you notice, by the way, none of these first steps are about you, they're all about your audience. So step number five, we have disruption, we have the world, it's been pulled out from underneath us. Now, we're going to introduce the obstacles and antagonists that make your life even more difficult, because whenever we want something and go for it, what does the universe do? It punches us in the nose. How bad you really want it Park – and then it hits us to the cheek. I'm going to do this, I'm not going to give you enough time to do this, I'm not going to give you enough financial resources to do it. How are you going to dig deep enough? Oh, by the way, I'm going to throw some fear at you, so I'm going to have that little voice in the back of your head, say, you idiot, you can't pull this off. What do you think you're doing? Well, this is where you need to embrace all these obstacles and antagonists and I break it down into three categories just to have it be a little bit more story theatrical. I call it villains, fog, and crevasses. Villains are those competitive forces like not enough time, not enough money. There's actually someone else selling the same thing you are. Why are you any better than they are? It's any of those competitive forces that you are up against to get your people to buy into what you have to offer. And it's those internal competitive forces, that voice of fear of doom and gloom. What are they telling themselves? What are their anti-stories that you are competing against? How can you embrace those stories and tell a better story? Fog – simply blind spots – what don't they know, they don't know that you need to clear up for them so they can make the wisest decisions? And you do that by telling true stories about the real world impact you have had on other people that are just like your reader. So they go, oh, they can do it, I can do it. And then, of course, the crevasses are, we say one thing, we do something completely different. So what are the gaps in their performances that you are going to help them bridge through your platform, through your offering? Again, another ideal place where a short little anecdotal story that you can demonstrate the real world impact you've made on others, so that they can sit there and live vicariously through that particular story and go, I want to be just like that person, and I think Stacy can help me.
Chapter six, this is where you come in. This is where you play the role as mentor or guide. And in chapter six, as you can see, the first half the story cycle system is all about them setting the stage, what has changed in the world, what do they wish for and want in life, and then how is the universe pushing against them to try to keep them from getting it. This is where you arrive as their sidekick to help them get it. So here you want to talk about the emotional promise that they will have by being by your side, the intrinsic gift that they will get by working with you. And what I mean by that is so many people get lost in telling their brand story about what they make when their real story is about what they make happen in their customer's life, in their protagonist's life, and who's at the center of their story. And then finally, in that chapter I ask you to go in and look about – look at your archetype, your personality archetype based off Carl Jung’s, the famous Swiss psychologist, 12 primal archetypes. It's a great way to really understand what your core archetype is and then what maybe one or two supporting archetypes are, and these are important because they inform how you communicate, they inform how you show up on your website, the user experience, the tone of your content, and copy and so forth. It's really building a personality now and starting to humanize your brand story, in this case, humanize your book. One of the greatest compliments that I get that I was really working hard for in my book, I didn't have it in the first version of it, but I did get there in the second version, is people said, Park, it just felt like you were sitting right across from me and talking to me almost like you knew exactly what I was going through and then giving me the guidance on what I needed to do next. And that just came from a lot of hard work, it came from shelving my book and getting in the heads of my readers and being there as their mentor, guide, all along the way, teaching and coaching and branding with them so that I could then write down, I could document the highs and lows, what they're experiencing, where they're pushing back and be able to include that in my book. And that's what, Stacy, I want you to do in your book too. That fund manager has to feel like you know them inside and out, you are not talking to them from some brainy, logical, rational perspective, but you are telling them a story, and their logical mind is going to say, gee, she's really smart, she totally gets me.
All right, we've got four left, I'll go through them fairly quickly, we have the journey, is next. And these are where your worlds have now come together. Those first five chapters are about your customer, your audience, your reader, you have introduced yourself, and now you're melding your two worlds together. And in the journey section, on the strategy side of it, I ask you to go and find even more stories about your brand that you could put into your book that are going to make your business points for you versus you just making an opinion and assertion and rolling something out. Let your little anecdotal stories make your business points for you. And this is a place where you think about brand awareness, brand adoption, brand appreciation – if they're just picking up your book, it might be their brand awareness stage with you, just learning Stacy about you and what you have to offer. They start reading your book, now they're adopting you into their life because they are actually investing time and resources into you, that's the brand adoption phase. What do you want them to do with that adoption? How are you going to take them to the next level or whatever that next level might be with your platform or your guidance or consulting? Because you ultimately want to get them to brand appreciation, and that's where they're loving you so much that they are happily sharing your story with other people through word of mouth marketing, the most powerful form of advertising there is. That is all strategize that happens in the journey section, the journey chapter of chapter seven. Three more to go.
This is now moving into act three of the story cycle system, it's victory, moral and ritual. Let me just explain those real quick. So often, we get in, in advertising, marketing and sales, and we think we have to have a huge victory to be successful, and we ignore those little success milestones or scenes that we create on behalf of our customers. And it's a big mistake to ignore those. Map them out, and that's what you do in chapter eight. You're taking them on a journey, they're now in your story, and you want to map out where they have their moments of success with you, even the small ones, and you want to make sure they're there to recognize them and you are celebrating them with them, because you're building that brand bond when you do that, and you're demonstrating that their story is advancing with you.
Chapter number nine is moral of the story. Sometimes I even ask people to start with this. The moral of your story is your purpose. Why do you exist beyond making money? I exist to help people live into and prosper from their most powerful stories, plain and simple. So that is as powerful to me standing in front of a nonprofit group where I'm getting paid no money, but I'm teaching them how they can live into and prosper from their most powerful stories, as it is when I'm standing in front of a Fortune 100 company and training their salesforce and I'm making a really good living doing that. They both get the best of me because my purpose in life is to help every individual, no matter who you are, doesn't matter what age you are, if you are open to learning, how to live into and prosper from your most powerful stories, that's what I'm about. That's all I want you to do – what is the purpose of you, your platform, your book, and I want you to capture this. Stacy, my book exists to help people do what? What you're ultimately doing when you do think about it this way Josh is you are sharing what you believe in value in the world with what your customers believe in value, and you're trying to find those shared beliefs and values and connect them. There is no more powerful way to build trust than to listen to understand and empathize your audience and connect your beliefs and values with their beliefs and values in a very honest and humble way.
That leads to number 10, ritual, which is the most confusing chapter for all. So here's what ritual is: it's simply a call to action. How do you ritualize your story, your brand, your service into the lives of your customers, and I want you as you're writing your book Stacy, and anyone else as you're going through this, you just ask yourself, in the ritual section, what do I want my audience to think, feel, and do when they are done reading my material or hearing me or using my material – what do I want them to think, feel, and do? The idea here is to invite them into your story and have them activate your story in their world. And so that they build a ritual out of using you, they keep coming back to you but they [inaudible 00:34:56] market, they put posters in it, they share it with other people, and this is where you really build that brand awareness of adoption, appreciation into brand evangelism, because now they are happily sharing your story with the world. And then, an example of that, I guess, is my good friend Ryan Fallen who is Josh's good friend. Ryan and I have known each other over the years. He's read my book, he's been on my show, and he says, you know, Josh, you've got this great new podcast coming out about authors, you should have Park on the show. Josh reaches out, kindly invites me on, here I am, I'm so honored here to be with him, especially as he's launching his show. But that's a form of brand evangelism. It costs me nothing. And yet I'm getting this free exposure with this great guy coming from a great guy, because we have the shared belief of value system that we do similar things but in different ways to help people grow. That's where I want to get you to. That's what it's all about is how do you get people willingly living into your story, you delivering on the promises you make in your story, and then them sharing their experience and your story with their world, most powerful form of marketing there is.
Take a deep breath. That is the 10-step to the story cycle system. You can use it Josh as a strategy document, like I did right there, you would be filling in those buckets of content to help you create your arching narrative for your brand. But then you can go back and use it for long form communication pieces, for presentations, even for the book. In my book, I demonstrate how I use the system for an 18-minute TED talk, and take you right through every point I made in each section of the story cycle system as I went through it.
Josh Steimle
Wow. Thank you, Park. That was amazing.
Park Howell
I know. Sorry about that, I just had to get on a roll there.
Josh Steimle
See now, we didn't plan this out, I just threw that at Park, and I said, hey, can you do this, and he's got internalized because he went right through that with no notes, he just had the cover of his book to guide him through those 10 steps. So that was fantastic. I especially like ritual at the end, the call to action, because if there's no action, there's no change, nothing happens, behavior doesn't change. If you don't change behavior, you don't change results. So I love the action at the end, and the other one I really liked was victory, because it's easy, I'm helping authors, and it's easy to get focused on the book. Once I have the book in my hand, that's victory. But that's a long journey. There are a lot of steps that have to take place. And when you were talking, I was thinking, it is really important to recognize the victory of those small steps to say, hey, I got my title, I got my subtitle, I got my outline done; and to celebrate those little victories to say, hey, I'm making progress, I'm getting there, and if I keep on going, I'm going to get there, because, otherwise, you can really lose steam and get discouraged; because if you just keep telling yourself, well, I don't have my book yet, so I'm not victorious, because every step is a victory towards that ultimate goal.
Park Howell
You are so right on that, and because we all live with that negativity bias rummaging around, we think we're never quite enough, we're not really adding up enough – if we're not getting our book done, it's like, god, I suck, this sucks, I'm never going to get it out there, and it defines you, and it doesn't have to. One little trick I found in that victory thing, if you've got a blog or you're on Facebook or even Instagram, share moments from your book as you're writing it with your audience, because you get kind of that fun little feedback right away of people either digging something or maybe you don't get anything, a share on something, it'll kind of help inform what's working and what's not working. But I also found [inaudible 00:38:44] me up through the process too, because I could get some immediate feedback and some gratification that my words and my anecdotes and my insights and stories are actually helping people long before even my book comes out. And of course every time you post one of those, you can say, hey, keep an eye out, hope to have my book out in six months next year, whatever. And so you're doing some pre-marketing, while you're getting some love and joy out of the process, in the process.
Josh Steimle
So you've got your book which of course you hope is going to help you grow your business, the Business of Story, but if you've had your podcast for a while, when did you launch that?
Park Howell
I launched that in July of 2015, so five years ago, and I've got about 280 episodes, and it comes out weekly, every Monday I've got a new episode.
Josh Steimle
And how effective has it been for you to build your platform?
Park Howell
I think very effective. The funny thing about podcasts, and you will experience this too Josh, is after you get listeners, people will come up to you and there's like a little celebrity to it which I wasn't expecting which I thought was interesting. People go, oh my god, I listened to you, [inaudible 00:39:52] it runs all the time, it's so great to finally meet you, and put a face with the voice and that kind of thing. And so that's been really fun, and that's been really powerful. And then when I'm doing speaking engagements too, there's something about having a bit of that celebrity or the fact that I've been on air sharing my stories with people that gives you that much more credibility within that audience. And then I get now people will pay, come and pay to be on the show and you get an opportunity to build a bit of a, you know, monetize that platform. You still pick and choose who you put on the show because you want it to be in service to your people, to your listeners, but you can build it out as a smallish little side venture revenue stream too, so that helps.
Josh Steimle
Has the podcast been beneficial for you in terms of writing your book, in terms of getting case studies or getting information from people, like, do you go out and interview people that you say, I want to interview this person for the podcast, but I'm also going to use this content in my book?
Park Howell
Yes, I did not, when I first started, set out with the podcast, I did not do it specifically for the book. I just did it because there weren't very many podcasts on storytelling, and it was just a passion of mine, I loved it. So interviewed but I certainly learned a lot along the way, as I've talked to 280 some experts, and all walks of life around storing, some of them have become good friends and people that I've worked with since then. So then what I've learned from them did get put into the book, when I felt like it really worked, and it was more knowledge that someone needed, and I would source them, and I would talk about their book or their episode on my show and what I learned from them and how you could even do a deeper dive into their work and direct them in that area. There's also resources within the book that take you to landing pages on the business's story where I've got additional videos and these books. I [inaudible 00:41:50] invent storytelling, no one did, it's been around since the beginning of time. I didn't invent the hero's journey, all I did was mapped it to business. I took it and created the story cycle system so that businesses could more readily access it and use it. Steve Jobs didn't invent really anything in the computer world and the technology world. He just took these beautiful parts that were already out there and combined them in a different way to make the iPhone and to make his iPads and everything else, and that was the brilliance of Steve Jobs – essentially, not to say I am as brilliant as Steve Jobs, but that's all I've done in the story world. I've gone and done my research and found what works and proven on the science side, the neuroscience side, the Hollywood side, the business side; and I brought those together, that platform, and then I've learned from those people that have come on my show, and I've been able to talk to you one-on-one outside of the show and read all of their books and watched their videos, and just simply put together what I have felt to be the most powerful resources and narrative frameworks that businesses and brands can use today.
Josh Steimle
So would you recommend for authors that they start a podcast, is that a good idea for a first time author to say, hey, I'm going to start a podcast to build my platform, build my audience, my tribe, and do you think that's a helpful thing to do?
Park Howell
No.
Josh Steimle
And why not?
Park Howell
Here's why. Yes and no. If you are going to do a podcast, you have to do it, not with the thought or the [inaudible 00:43:26] is I'm going to do it to build my book. You have to love it, you have to love doing it. I mean, I put hours into it. Since COVID hit, I had another company producing my shows, now I produce them all myself. As a young man in advertising world, I produced radio commercials, theater of the mind radio commercials, so I learned production. I will spend four to six, sometimes seven hours per show, not only just the interview, but then cleaning up the interview and adding music and adding transitions and whatever. It is a labor of love, I love doing it, but it takes a lot of time. And if it were simply just to sell my book, I don't know that I would have the stick-to-itiveness to do it. I think if you are going to do a podcast and maybe you're experiencing the same thing with yours, it's something you're fascinated by, you're going to love doing, you're going to put in the time and effort to do it and do it really well, because when I started five years ago, you could get away with a crappy microphone and lousy audio, and the ums, ahs, err, people stumbling through their interviews can't do that anymore. The likes of NPR, the Joe Rogan show, and others have upped the production level of a podcast. And if you come out sounding amateur, people are going to think you're an amateur at everything you do. So you've got to put in that time and effort to do it really well, to do it right, and do it first and foremost because it's something that you are uniquely interested in and passionate about and you want to share that same interest with your listeners and you believe that they will come following you because they have that same interest. I think selling the book is a byproduct. It's a nice to have, but you don't have to have a podcast to sell a book. And it won't sell your books unless you do a really good job with that podcast which full circle back, comes – it just has to be new, it's got to be something that you want to do, and will put in the time and effort to do it.
Josh Steimle
Great. I love that, I was talking with Anne Janzer during an episode that we're recording yesterday, she's an author and she's written some books on the process of writing, but we're talking about how it's really hard to write a book and you've got to love doing it, and you've got to have a mission or a purpose behind it, because if the only reason you're writing that book is just, oh I want to make some money or something, it just doesn't provide the motivation to see the project through. And it sounds like that's what you're saying with the podcast as well is you've got to love doing it or you've got to have a purpose that is bigger than just, oh I'm doing this to build up my book, otherwise you're going to quit when it gets hard.
Park Howell
Yeah. And that book you're writing, I hate to tell you, you're probably not going to get rich off of it. So it's not like a gigantic moneymaker unless you're among those one percenters that really hit it big, it's a credibility piece. It's something that, as you said, is a labor of love, you're sharing your passion with the world, but there is huge credibility when you have that book out there, and people say, Stacy, let's bring her in, she's written a whole book on the subject and she makes a lot of great points in here, let’s talk to her. So it's a business building tool, it's like a big old brochure that you dedicate two and a half years of your life in writing essentially, and to get it out there. But to your point, if you're driven purely by money, chances are that book will never see the light of day, because that's just not enough intrinsic reason to give up your morning starting at 4:00 a.m. and write for two hours every single morning. You know something that helped me is there was a book I saw, gosh, Habits of the Creative Mind, that's not quite right, but it's something along those lines, and it details the habits of great writers and artists and painters and so forth back from the 16th century on to fairly modern day, and how the most prolific ones had a set schedule, get up at 6:00 a.m., walk the dog till 6:30, sit down and write till 8:30, have tea and crumpets till 9:00, write from 9:00 to 1:00, have lunch, two o'clock take a nap, three o'clock get up, write till five o'clock, go to the pub, drink whiskey with so and so, come home, read a book, go to bed by 10:00. And how they were maniacal on this habit over and over and over again, everyone had their own habit to do it. Well, I found I had to do something similar just to get this darn book done, and I would get up at 4:30 or 5:00 every morning, and I would write for two hours, and then I'd go over to my calendar and I’d put a big checkoff on to make sure that I did that, and I promised myself I would do that for a minimum of five days a week, didn't matter which five, I did five days a week, and mostly I got it done, sometimes I'd only go two or three checkoffs per week; if I was traveling, sometimes it’d only be once a week, but I would keep an eye on that, and that plus me wanting to share my experiences and how this can help grow people is what kept me driving. I didn't even think about the cost of it, or I didn't even think about the income from it because I know I'm not going to get rich on this, I'm not going to be the next Stephen King, but it can, and has already helped lots and lots of people, and that in and of itself is a reward that will keep you going through the writing of your book.
Josh Steimle
Park, thank you so much for being with us here today. Where can people learn more about you and about the Business of Story?
Park Howell
Yeah, right there, you go to businessesofstory.com, I've got everything about me, I've got my books, I've got workbooks, you can access Business of Story podcast on all the typical channels, Apple, Podcast, Stitcher, all of those. You can also get them and subscribe through the website. I also am now doing these three-week brand story sprints, it's called Build a Better Brand Story Sprint, and I've been having a lot of fun with them, a lot of success. People sign up, you go through the story cycle system, my online course, and over the course of those three weeks I do six live sessions, two a week, that take you by the hand, walk you through the story cycle system, and coach you and you learn from your cohort as you go as well. There's 10 people, 10 professionals in each group, and buying into that, investing in your brand story there, you get the book, you get the online course, you get some other workshop materials I have, plus you get then the live instruction with me too. You can learn all about that again at businessofstory.com.
Josh Steimle
Great. I know that will be valuable for a lot of members of our audience. Once again, Park, thank you so much for being on the show today.
Park Howell
Josh, thanks so much for having me. Next time, I'll dress up a little bit more, but you caught me really in the morning here in Phoenix, Arizona, and I appreciate it.
Josh Steimle
We don't care how you dress as long as you deliver the value and you did that. Thank you so much.
Park Howell
Thank you.
