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Paul Pape: Can an RPG could save your business?
Paul Pape is the barkeep and game master at Gamify Business, where he converts business strategy, marketing, and operational obstacles into role-playing game mechanics. He has run a successful freelance art and design practice for over 20 years, spent six years coaching creatives on Twitch, and holds two TEDx talks to his name — with a third on the way in October focused on dispelling the myth of the starving artist. He works with entrepreneurs at every stage, with particular expertise in serving neurospicy clients — linear and cloud thinkers alike — through his customized Gamify Business consulting process.
What We Cover
Episode Highlights
The moment everything clicked. Paul's origin story isn't theory — it's a room with a stuck CEO who happened to love gaming. Paul improvised a session where the characters were the CEO's own roles, and the monsters were actual business obstacles: cash flow, unfocused marketing, hiring decisions. After four hours, the CEO said, "Is this what business is? Because if it is, I think I finally understand it and it seems fun." That light-bulb moment became Gamify Business. Paul now runs the game master role for every client until they're ready to take over the campaign themselves.
The neurospicy distinction. Paul divides his clients into two types: linear thinkers (neurotypicals who can follow a process A to Z) and cloud thinkers (ADHD, ADD, autism spectrum — who go A, B, G, Squirrel, Clouds, Graph). He has ADD himself, and his son has ADHD — so the framework is built from lived experience, not theory. His books are engineered with variability baked in: sometimes fill in a blank, sometimes draw circles, sometimes roll dice. He also runs a business personality quiz that places clients into one of six categories — and says he can tell you almost everything he needs to know about someone just from which category they land in.
The authority machine confession. Paul gave one of the most honest answers I've heard on any podcast: despite 18 months of podcasting, TED talks, and speaking events, he hasn't cracked customer acquisition. "I've built an authority machine and not a getting-customers machine. And that's some honest tea from a guy who's in the machine right now." This maps directly to the brand-building vs. conversion split that affects every consultant and content creator — they don't run on the same clock, and confusing one for the other is expensive.
Ride the dragon of passion — and the Rule of 100. Paul's first handhold for any struggling small business: stop chasing fame and fortune directly. "Fame and fortune are two dragons that are very fast. The only way to catch them is to strip away everything that you are. Ride the dragon of passion instead — and then the dragons of fame and fortune follow behind you." His Rule of 100 supports the same logic: you don't need a million buyers to be successful. A hundred consistent customers will make you successful to a point of comfort. A mom-and-pop store dealing with 100 people a day can run for 80 years. Going viral would destroy it.
Connect with Paul Pape
Website: gamifybusiness.com
Business Personality Quiz: gamifybusiness.com/quiz
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulericpape
YouTube: @paulpapedesigns
Design site: paulpapedesigns.com
Books: Search "Gamify Business" on Amazon
About the Show
The Unscripted SEO Podcast is hosted by Jeremy Rivera and features candid, unscripted conversations with SEO practitioners, agency owners, and marketing leaders. New episodes drop weekly at unscriptedseo.com.
View all episodes
By Abbey CranePaul Pape is the barkeep and game master at Gamify Business, where he converts business strategy, marketing, and operational obstacles into role-playing game mechanics. He has run a successful freelance art and design practice for over 20 years, spent six years coaching creatives on Twitch, and holds two TEDx talks to his name — with a third on the way in October focused on dispelling the myth of the starving artist. He works with entrepreneurs at every stage, with particular expertise in serving neurospicy clients — linear and cloud thinkers alike — through his customized Gamify Business consulting process.
What We Cover
Episode Highlights
The moment everything clicked. Paul's origin story isn't theory — it's a room with a stuck CEO who happened to love gaming. Paul improvised a session where the characters were the CEO's own roles, and the monsters were actual business obstacles: cash flow, unfocused marketing, hiring decisions. After four hours, the CEO said, "Is this what business is? Because if it is, I think I finally understand it and it seems fun." That light-bulb moment became Gamify Business. Paul now runs the game master role for every client until they're ready to take over the campaign themselves.
The neurospicy distinction. Paul divides his clients into two types: linear thinkers (neurotypicals who can follow a process A to Z) and cloud thinkers (ADHD, ADD, autism spectrum — who go A, B, G, Squirrel, Clouds, Graph). He has ADD himself, and his son has ADHD — so the framework is built from lived experience, not theory. His books are engineered with variability baked in: sometimes fill in a blank, sometimes draw circles, sometimes roll dice. He also runs a business personality quiz that places clients into one of six categories — and says he can tell you almost everything he needs to know about someone just from which category they land in.
The authority machine confession. Paul gave one of the most honest answers I've heard on any podcast: despite 18 months of podcasting, TED talks, and speaking events, he hasn't cracked customer acquisition. "I've built an authority machine and not a getting-customers machine. And that's some honest tea from a guy who's in the machine right now." This maps directly to the brand-building vs. conversion split that affects every consultant and content creator — they don't run on the same clock, and confusing one for the other is expensive.
Ride the dragon of passion — and the Rule of 100. Paul's first handhold for any struggling small business: stop chasing fame and fortune directly. "Fame and fortune are two dragons that are very fast. The only way to catch them is to strip away everything that you are. Ride the dragon of passion instead — and then the dragons of fame and fortune follow behind you." His Rule of 100 supports the same logic: you don't need a million buyers to be successful. A hundred consistent customers will make you successful to a point of comfort. A mom-and-pop store dealing with 100 people a day can run for 80 years. Going viral would destroy it.
Connect with Paul Pape
Website: gamifybusiness.com
Business Personality Quiz: gamifybusiness.com/quiz
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulericpape
YouTube: @paulpapedesigns
Design site: paulpapedesigns.com
Books: Search "Gamify Business" on Amazon
About the Show
The Unscripted SEO Podcast is hosted by Jeremy Rivera and features candid, unscripted conversations with SEO practitioners, agency owners, and marketing leaders. New episodes drop weekly at unscriptedseo.com.