Stories Mean Business - Nick Warren

Every so often, I come across Michael Simmons Blockbuster Mental Model for Viral Content, and kick myself that I haven't done it ... yet. Maybe this time will be different, but I also cut myself a little slack... Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/780:-The-BIG-Idea-(Again)

In his book The Four Hour Work Week (and later in Tools for Titans ), Tim Ferris set out his simple, practical method for taking big swings. Imagine the worst case scenario in detail. He called this Fear-Setting, based on the Stoic idea that we should inhabit the worst case from time to time. (Seneca supposedly spent days wearing rags and going without food.) In Ferriss's case, the dream, was a tr...

In many ways, Stories Mean Business is an ongoing argument for depth. Yesterday, Wendy and I went to see Magic Goes Wrong , a show by the Mischief Theatre Company ... but co-written with Penn and Teller! As in all their plays (so far) the audience is treated to actors playing ... actors (or in this case magicians) who are putting on a show that is falling down before their eyes. Often literally. A...

A couple of day's ago it was the anniversary of the battle of Agincourt, where the battered English army of 6,000 defeated a French force of five or ten times the size. But how? Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/777:-We-Few-We-Happy-Few

Why do people buy your thing? Commonly, we point to our ’sales funnels’ – our ads, and landing pages and check outs. But is that really why they did it? There's a myth in business that we can map the "sales cycle step by step." Usually, this is visualised as a funnel. We pour a load of traffic in at the top, and the proportion that come out at the bottom is your Conversion Rate. The stages in betw...

I've been circling the ideas laid out in the last few episodes, and we have another brick for this thing that we're building. Vulnerability – which I've talked about often – is honest, but so is the anger and frustration we sometimes feel. Both come out of the darkness, and both – over time – build attention. Not the thin, brittle attention of short-term tactics ... but deeper attraction of people...

A friend of mine thinks it might. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/774:-Does-All-Creativity-Come-From-Darkness? See also: https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/277-casting-your-shadow/

So anyway, I've been wondering about the nature of reality, and how bad I am at understanding it. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/773-Whats-the-Reality?

A client of mine was struggling to thread some work together ... overwhelmed all the directions he could go, and going nowhere as a result. A couple of days ago, we talked about the value of choosing a theme. Not the scary, confusing "theme" of English literature ... but the reassuring foundation of a simple, controlling idea. The theme for my first thriller was right there in the title – executio...

As I've mentioned before, I do a lot of my best thinking on the page. Yesterday, I was writing the sign-up copy for my mailing list ... and a whole lot of stuff came out ... including this idea that attention is a trap. I'm not going to repeat it all here, because it's all there on the page ... but you can see how this works. Telling stories. Taking readers on a journey. Demonstrating proof. Openi...

A week ago, I had a down day – but it wasn't writers’ block. Having written for years – including 120,000+ word thrillers – I don't believe in it. There were certainly days that my writing was terrible, but there were never days when I just stared at the screen. I think the ’block’ happens for some people when they let the ’vision’ of the thing get in the way of the reality. In reality, nothing is...

Yesterday, we talked about Walt Disney's strategy map , and how he explicitly connected his empire's assets to grow his business. In this episode, I discuss how I'll be bridging the gap between my podcast and my my course. The scale is different, but the principle is the same. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/769:-Nick-Warrens-Strategy-Map

In 1957, Walt Disney produced something extraordinary. But it wasn't a movie or a TV show or an animation ... It was a map of his business strategy. In some ways, it's exactly as you might image. Mickey, Donald and Pluto are all on show providing personality ... but they don't distract from the insight. Disney understood franchises. He understood how the movies fed the theme parks, and how – in tu...

Let's see how the experts do. We're searching for contrast in the opening lines of Dracula, On The Road, The Sandman, The Prophet, War of the Worlds, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and Die Trying. Not a bad bunch of mentors. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/767:-Engines-of-Energy

Early in his book, The Path of Least Resistance for Artists, Robert Fritz talks about the fundamental engine of art – contrast. We talked about Fritz's work back in episode 681, but here he relates the the example of Paul McCartney writing "Hello Goodbye". If you check out the lyrics of that song you'll see that it's a masterclass of lean contrast ... and each line is a little engine that moves en...

We've just finished watching season 2 of Ted Lasso, and loved it. The whole show – from the basic premise to the interplay of characters – is a study in contrasts. You can see it in the basic premise – American Football Coach vs. British Soccer. You can see it in the tone, American Enthusiasm vs. British Cynicism. You can see it in the dialogue ... schmaltz vs. swearing (often in front of kids). T...

It's a pretty simple idea ... if you can't draw your business on a single sheet of paper, you don't understand it. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/764:-Can-You-Draw-Your-Business?

There are two ways to sell stuff. First, sell harder. Make your signs or buttons bigger. Make them flash. Do discounts. Do time limited promotions and tripwires. Make people more afraid, or more angry. You know the drill. Or, you can create an environment where the right people want to buy. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/763-Selling-By-Not-Selling

Note: I'm NOT a doctor. Do not take mental health advice from storytellers! Yesterday, I was feeling blue and inneffective and the Stoic thinking WASN'T WORKING. So, I fell back to my second strategy, taking action. This episode of the podcast is about the difference between interpretation and action, when we need to tell ourselves a better story. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podc...

It feels like one of those days, but I’m doing the work… Just not the work I should be doing!

The strategic model that underpins Amazon's growth contains just 11 words. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/760:-Amazons-Flywheel

What if we didn’t start with the product or service we are selling? Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/759:-Working-Backwards

At the Be World Class Leadership Conference, Simon Hartley told three quick stories to illustrate creative, entrepreneurial thinking. I love this type of thing, because it opens a window in our mind. Hear them in the podcast. Episode home: https://StoriesMeanBusiness.com/podcast/758:-Thinking-Around-Corners

I’m outside Lord’s Cricket ground, but it’s not what you think.

Yesterday, I got a fantastically honest voicemail from a client. She was feeding back on a first draft I'd done for her. It's not just "wrong" she said, "it's REALLY WRONG". Then, at the end of the call, came the line that mattered. "This is why I love working with you, Nick. I know I can be honest." Three reasons this matters: A relationship without honesty is useless (business or otherwise). Mos...