The Storytellers Podcast with Alex Demczak & Will Severns

Businesses that lead with story are 22 times more likely to convert a sale. That stat alone should change how you think about trust.

In Episode 5 of The Storytellers Podcast, co-founders Alex Demczak and Will Severns explore why storytelling is a trust-building strategy backed by real numbers. Will opens up about being fired from a marketing firm in 2019, a moment that felt like broken trust at the time but turned out to be the beginning of something bigger. He shares an emotional team dinner exactly seven years later where he finally understood why.

Alex reflects on leaders who build trust in the small, unseen moments and unpacks an exercise from his book The Sale on replacing the false stories we tell ourselves with truth. The episode closes with a challenge: where in your life, this week, do you need to go first?

0:00 Storytelling as Trust-Building

3:00 Truett Cathy, the Wright Brothers, and Going First

6:00 Talk the Talk or Walk the Walk?

9:00 Businesses That Lead With Story Convert 22x More

11:00 The 34-Year Caregiver

13:00 What Story Are You Telling Yourself?

16:00 The Pastor Stacking Chairs

20:00 Will's Team Dinner, Seven Years After Getting Fired

26:00 Summer Fri-Play

29:00 Building Trust When No One's Watching

32:00 Closing Question: Where Do You Need to Go First?

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Read stories from our clients HERE. 

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The story people know about you is almost always just the tip. 90% is still hidden below the surface. In Episode 4 of The Storytellers Podcast, co-founders Alex Demczak and Will Severns dig into that idea.

Alex opens up about being cut from his college football team, a story he was once embarrassed by and now leads with on stage, while Will shares a painful late-night conversation at Disney World that reshaped how he shows up in relationships. 

Along the way, they talk through practical tools for getting below the surface with the people in your life, from the GiANT 5 Voices framework to the power of a five-minute phone call, and share real stories from ShareYourStory.com clients, whose most difficult chapters became the foundation for their impact. The episode closes with a challenge: what's below your own waterline, and are you willing to sit in the discomfort of sharing it?

0:00 The Iceberg Analogy

3:00 Game of Thrones and What Happens When You Stop Talking

9:00 Alex Gets Cut From the Team

13:00 "Adversity Introduces a Man to Himself"

15:00 Will's 2 AM Moment at Disney World

21:00 Getting Below the 90%

26:00 Wise Counsel and Filling Your Cup

30:00 The Five-Minute Phone Call

33:00 GiANT's 5 Voices Framework

44:00 Client Stories: Beau Payne, Brandon Puffer, Leslie Wyrick

Watch stories from our clients HERE.

Read stories from our clients HERE. 

Say hi to the founders on LinkedIn! 👋

Follow Alex HERE.

Follow Will HERE.

→ If you’re enjoying the Storytellers Podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review. This helps more people discover the show.

You probably know more about your favorite influencer's morning routine than your next-door neighbor's name. That's not an accident. It's the algorithm doing exactly what it's designed to do.

In Episode 3 of The Storytellers Podcast, co-founders Alex Demczak and Will Severns unpack the difference between passive consumption and active proximity, sharing real stories along the way, including a friend who welcomes new neighbors with cookies, the Table Setters community Will co-founded to bring men together without cost or pretense, and their own experience watching "influential" leaders lose it all once the cameras were off. 

They challenge the listener to rethink what real influence looks like, arguing that some of the best influencers in your life are already in your own network — you just haven't picked up the phone yet.

0:00 Welcome Back & Episode Recap

3:00 What is an Influencer Really?

6:00 Competence Over Confidence

11:00 Tim Tebow, Taylor Swift & Being the Same Person Everywhere

13:00 How Alex Neglected In-Person Community

17:00 Why We Know Influencers Better Than Our Coworkers

22:00 Will's Growing Cynicism With 30 Under 30 Lists

25:00 Passive Consumption vs. Active Proximity

27:00 Tablesetters

31:00 Closing Question: What Does Real Proximity Look Like?

Reflection questions from Alex & Will:

1. What does real proximity actually look like in your life, the kind a like or a follow online can't replicate?

2. What's the cost of chasing influence on the world's terms rather than your own?

Watch stories from our clients HERE.

Read stories from our clients HERE. 

Say hi to the founders on LinkedIn! 👋

Follow Alex HERE.

Follow Will HERE.

→ If you’re enjoying the Storytellers Podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review. This helps more people discover the show.

In Episode 2 of The Storytellers Podcast, co-founders Alex Demczak and Will Severns ask a simple question with a surprisingly big answer: when did we stop caring about story? We read to our kids every night without a second thought, but somewhere between childhood and professional life, story got replaced by bullet points and data.

Alex and Will trace that shift through their own lives, including:

→ A one-and-done visit to an Adventures in Odyssey fan club

→ A semi-fabricated Little House on the Prairie pitch to a roofing company

→ Alex's college class stunt: hunting down embarrassing Facebook photos of all 27 classmates to build the ultimate presentation

They also unpack a telling business trend: companies are now hiring Chief Storytelling Officers, proof that even in the age of AI, organizations are realizing story is the competitive advantage. The episode closes with a challenge: who in your life needs you to tell them a story this week?

0:00 The Story Onion

3:00 Why Childlike Wonder Gets Left Behind

6:30 Will's Dream Keynote is at Home With His Kids

11:00 Two Questions to Sit With

13:00 Fortune 500s Are Hiring Chief Storytelling Officers

18:30 Storytelling Isn't Linear. It's a Circle.

22:30 When Did We Learn to Lead With Facts Instead of Story?

29:00 Will's Little House on the Prairie Pitch Deck Story

35:00 "Everyone Communicates. Few Connect."

43:00 Why Will Quit Social Media

46:00 Closing Question: Who Needs You to Tell Them a Story This Week?

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Watch stories from our clients HERE.

Read stories from our clients HERE. 

Say hi to the founders on LinkedIn! 👋

Follow Alex HERE.

Follow Will HERE.

→ If you’re enjoying the Storytellers Podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review. This helps more people discover the show.

"My story is too ordinary, has already been told, or is not worth anyone's time." For years, co-founders Alex Demczak and Will Severns let that lie keep them from sharing parts of their stories. Maybe it's had the same effect on you.

This episode dismantles all three beliefs. Using a simple medicine analogy: you don't hoard a cure, you share it. But in order to do so, you have to believe you have the cure.

Alex and Will make the case for why your story matters, drawing on real moments from building ShareYourStory.com, including Will's decision to quit college baseball and Alex's story of speaking to an audience of one. They close with a question: if the people closest to you never heard your story, what would they lose?

0:00 How Will and Alex Met at Camp

3:30 Reconnecting in 2020 and Why This Podcast Exists

4:30 Does My Story Matter?

9:30 Will Quits Baseball and the Starbucks Conversation

12:30 Alex Speaks to One Kid in Iowa

15:30 Story Hunting and "Someone You Have Yet to Meet"

23:00 You're an Anybody

29:30 Platform vs. Character

33:00 Stories Start at Home

43:30 Closing Question: What Would the People Closest to You Lose?

Watch stories from our clients HERE.

Read stories from our clients HERE. 

Say hi to the founders on LinkedIn! 👋

Follow Alex HERE.

Follow Will HERE.

→ If you’re enjoying the Storytellers Podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review. This helps more people discover the show.

As kids, we told stories constantly: at bedtime, with friends, without a second thought. Somewhere along the way, most of us stopped.

Welcome to The Storytellers Podcast, hosted by Alex Demczak and Will Severns, co-founders of ShareYourStory.com. In this trailer, Alex and Will introduce the show's mission: exploring why storytelling matters more than ever in an age of AI-generated clutter, and why the companies now hiring Chief Storytelling Officers are onto something bigger than a single role.

Season One digs into storytelling and story hunting, plus the leaders and everyday people Alex and Will have worked with. It's for anyone figuring out what it takes to bring their story to life: a parent at home, a leader in their community, or someone who's always wanted to share their story but didn't know where to start.

Subscribe now to get notified when Episode 1 is live!