Want to hold a room without trying so hard? We break down a five-step storytelling framework that turns scattered explanations into clear, high-impact narratives people actually remember. No jargon, no theatrics—just a simple arc that ties head to heart and moves listeners to act.

We start with why stories outperform facts for memory and empathy, then introduce the sequence you can use anywhere: Belief, Remember, Taught, Passion, Challenge. You’ll hear how we coached a great but sprawling origin story into a tight message for a realtor who loves serving single moms, and how Chad shaped his own mortgage narrative around hospitality and human connection. Along the way, we connect the dots to neuroscience—how core memories often forged between ages nine and thirteen anchor your deepest convictions—and show you how to mine those moments without drifting or oversharing.

You’ll also learn to partner with AI to refine your message. We share prompts and guardrails for using tools like ChatGPT to condense, clarify, and soften your close without losing your voice. The result is a reusable story you can deliver in an elevator, on a sales call, on stage, or on social—always landing with focus and heart. If you’ve ever felt your message was good but your delivery wandered, this is your blueprint to captivate, differentiate, and invite action.

Subscribe for more practical frameworks, share this with a friend who over-explains, and tell us: what’s your “I believe” statement? Your story is the one thing no one can copy—own it.

Ready for a year that doesn’t wait for permission? We break down the “big leap” into five moves you can actually execute: identity awareness, smart subtraction, an environment upgrade, decisive action, and microhabits that stick. If you’ve felt the drag of burnout, stalled markets, or the hangover of easy post‑COVID wins, this conversation turns vague motivation into a repeatable system for change.

We start by naming the parts of you that belong in your future—and the parts that must stay in the past. That clarity powers subtraction: fewer anchors, fewer fears, fewer time sinks. Then we dig into the engine of lasting change: your environment. Rooms set ceilings, and the people you spend the most time with calibrate your standards. When you upgrade your circle, your baseline rises faster than discipline alone ever could. From there, we push for action bias. Move before you feel ready, fail fast, and use short, reversible steps to convert ideas into momentum. Think “get the bus rolling” first, optimize second.

Finally, we anchor the leap with microhabits: tight social media limits, protected green time, daily identity check‑ins, and one metric that proves momentum. Reinvention isn’t one decision; it’s a thousand small ones aligned with where you’re going. If you’re craving a clear path to make 2026 your breakout year, this is your playbook to choose better rooms, release old loyalties, and build the next version of you one step at a time.

If this sparked something, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s ready to upgrade their room, and leave a quick review telling us the first anchor you’ll subtract.

AI won’t replace your voice — but it can help you discover it.

In the 2nd WTF ChatGPT episode, Chad Trease and Lacey Moores break down one of the simplest yet most powerful AI prompts you’ll ever use — the Brand Voice DNA exercise. This single ChatGPT prompt acts like a $100K brand strategist, helping you define, refine, and repeat your authentic brand voice across every message, email, post, and client interaction.

You’ll learn:

• How to uncover your true brand voice (in under 30 minutes)
• The exact ChatGPT prompt that guides you, one question at a time
• Why consistency in tone is the secret ingredient behind audience trust and brand growth
• How to train your team to communicate in one unified, on-brand voice

Whether you’re a realtor, lender, or entrepreneur trying to build a consistent online presence — this episode will give you the clarity (and the free AI tool) to finally sound like you everywhere you show up.

🎧 Listen now and get the exact Brand Voice DNA prompt in the show notes or comments.

Ever feel like you’re sprinting in ten directions and somehow standing still? We dig into why high performers get trapped in endless tactics and how a single, deliberate focus can flip chaos into clean momentum. Through two real coaching stories—a planned move to Florida weighed down by scattered prospecting, and a top producer stacking deep initiatives while asking for “two more things”—we unpack the invisible cost of divided attention and the power of alignment.

We talk about the difference between working in your business and working on your business, and why overwhelm often pushes us back into comfortable busywork instead of strategic action. You’ll hear how a simple question reframed a relocation plan, turning guilt into clarity and scattered effort into a targeted roadmap. You’ll also learn how cutting initiatives, not adding them, compresses learning cycles and reveals what actually drives results. This is where monomaniacal focus becomes more than a buzzword—it becomes your compass and your filter for every new request, tactic, and “shiny object.”

If you’re ready to lighten your load and go faster, we’ll show you how to define your one thing, set boundaries that protect it, and enlist honest accountability that doesn’t just echo your preferences. Expect practical tools, clear language, and zero fluff: choose a 90-day outcome, pick the highest-leverage motion, pause the rest, and measure the lift. Keep the main thing the main thing, say not now without guilt, and watch compounding finally work in your favor. If this resonated, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who’s overwhelmed by options, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

Ever wondered if your everyday work conversations could become viral content? Lacey Moores just experienced exactly that when she doubled her Instagram followers overnight through a video that garnered over 400,000 likes—and the most surprising part? She's not even a social media enthusiast.

The journey began with a practical problem: a client's grandfather wanted to gift money for a home purchase but was concerned about tax implications. Lacey turned to ChatGPT with a simple prompt asking it to "act as a CPA advisor and mortgage loan officer" to confirm gift tax regulations. The AI provided a clear explanation about the difference between the $18,000 annual gift limit and the $13 million lifetime exemption. After successfully resolving the grandfather's concerns, Lacey took two additional steps that made all the difference: she showed her processor how to use ChatGPT for similar questions, empowering her team member, and then created a quick video explaining the concept.

This story illustrates a powerful content creation strategy that anyone can implement. Rather than obsessing over algorithms or trending topics, focus on sharing your genuine expertise about questions you answer repeatedly in your work. By leveraging AI tools to articulate complex concepts clearly and building a library of "evergreen" content, you're not only providing real value to your audience but also creating resources that continue working for you long-term. The content that connects most deeply isn't always what you expect—it's the authentic sharing of knowledge that people genuinely need.

What conversations are you having daily that could become your next piece of valuable content? Stop overthinking it, start recording, and you might be surprised by what resonates with your audience.

Love her or hate her, Taylor Swift has built one of the most powerful brands on the planet. Ignoring her playbook might be the biggest mistake entrepreneurs and creators can make.

In this episode, we break down why Taylor Swift is not just a pop star. She is a master strategist. From billion dollar album launches to Easter egg marketing, reinvention, fan engagement, and protecting her energy, every move is a case study in business and branding.

Even if you do not listen to her music, you will walk away with lessons on:

Building a loyal fan base (your client community)

Reinventing yourself and staying relevant in any industry

Protecting your energy so you can perform at your best

Using storytelling as the ultimate marketing superpower

Why boldness, like Travis Kelce shooting his shot, changes everything


If you are serious about growing your brand, marketing smarter, and creating raving fans, do not miss this one.

#TaylorSwift #Marketing #BrandStrategy #Entrepreneurship #Storytelling #BusinessLessons #TaylorSwiftMarketing #TaylorSwiftBusiness

 Most people follow the map that’s already drawn. But the real breakthroughs — in business, in life, in legacy — happen when you create your own. In this episode of The Secret Sauce Podcast, Chad and Lacey explore what it really means to take the road less traveled. From Sarah Blakely’s Spanx empire to redefining how lenders and Realtors connect, you’ll learn why differentiation isn’t optional, how to rebuild stale processes from scratch, and why fulfillment is the best ROI. 

Struggling to get useful results from Chat GPT? You're not alone. Most people approach AI tools like a Google search and end up with mediocre output. But there's a simple framework that can transform your results immediately.

In this eye-opening episode, Chad and Lacey introduce their new recurring AI series with a powerful three-part framework for crafting effective AI prompts: Role, Goal, Context. This straightforward approach dramatically improves what you get from Chat GPT without requiring technical expertise. The hosts share their own journeys from AI skepticism to enthusiasm, revealing how proper AI usage saves incredible amounts of time while producing higher quality content.

The real magic happens during a live demonstration where they compare a basic prompt to their structured approach. The difference is stunning – generic, forgettable content transforms into an emotionally engaging story that connects with readers. As Chad explains, "The outcome is going to be as good as the input... crap in, crap out." Their framework ensures you get exceptional results every time.

Whether you're completely new to AI or looking to refine your approach, this episode provides actionable techniques you can implement immediately. The hosts emphasize that AI adoption isn't optional – those who refuse to adapt risk being left behind professionally. But with simple frameworks like this, anyone can harness AI's power to build bigger businesses and live bigger lives.

Ready to transform how you use AI? Listen now, and join us for future episodes as we continue building your AI toolkit with practical, powerful techniques.

What if the very mindset and drive that made you successful in your early career is the same thing holding you back now?

In this episode of The Secret Sauce Podcast, Chad and Lacey unpack one of the most emotional — and liberating — transitions in any high performer’s journey: the pivot from achievement to fulfillment.

Whether you're feeling a subtle nudge or a full-on identity crisis, this episode explores what it looks like to climb your “second mountain,” drawing inspiration from the book From Strength to Strength, personal experiences, and even a bit of Darwin.

In this episode, we cover:

-The two types of intelligence (fluid vs. crystallized) and why your value shifts with time

-The emotional signs that you’ve outgrown your first mountain

-How clinging to past success can block your next evolution

-Why mentorship, coaching, and teaching can be more fulfilling than achievement

-Three reflection questions to help you identify your next mountain

Ask yourself:

-What am I clinging to that’s no longer working?

-Who could benefit from my hard-earned wisdom?

-What part of my life could be richer if I stopped chasing and started teaching?

This isn’t just for entrepreneurs or mortgage pros — it’s for anyone who’s been grinding for a while and quietly wondering, “What’s next?”

🎯 Share this episode with someone who’s ready to grow — or who might not even know they need to hear it yet.

🔁 Subscribe for more ingredients to build your secret sauce.

#podcast #mindset #business #entrepreneur #secretsauce #growth

Storytelling may be the single most powerful tool you're underutilizing in your business. In an age where every industry faces increasing commoditization—particularly in real estate and lending—your ability to tell compelling stories could be the difference between thriving and merely surviving.

"The most powerful person in the world is a storyteller," Steve Jobs once said, and we couldn't agree more. The problem? Most of us are telling the wrong stories in the wrong way. We position ourselves as heroes, boasting about deals closed and numbers exceeded, without realizing our audience simply can't relate to these achievements. They scroll past, unmoved by our professional victories.

What if there was a better approach? In this episode, we unpack a powerful three-part storytelling framework that transforms how you connect with clients. First, start with a moment of conflict or challenge your clients faced, not a dry summary of what you did. Second, make your clients the heroes of the story, positioning yourself as the guide who helped them (think Yoda to Luke Skywalker). Finally, close with meaning—showing how your clients' lives improved because of the outcome, not just the transaction metrics that matter to you.

The beauty of this approach is that while your clients remain the heroes, you become endeared to your audience as the storyteller. People connect with you on a deeper level, understanding your values and approach through the stories you tell. In a world of commoditized services, this emotional connection becomes your greatest competitive advantage. Ready to transform your marketing and client relationships? This episode gives you the blueprint to get started.