Signature stories aren’t just stories you tell a lot. They’re stories you’d sign your name to. In this episode, author and speaker Melanie Deziel shares a story that went from nerve-wracking to heart-wrenching the more she told it, as she found ways to tell it her own way (and as new details emerged from the story).

Mel is my cofounder in our Creator Kitchen membership, and this interview was part of the miniseries that helped me pilot How Stories Happen. The thing is, when you pilot something, you’re often piloting THREE somethings, so we should rethink the ways we actually test, validate, and improve those somethings. 

That’s a lot of somethings, but hey, this episode has everything. Or at least a handful of really freaking good somethings. 

We're putting on display the hidden details, tiny choices, and emotional moments, as we seek to go beyond telling stories to instead BECOME storytellers.

RESOURCES:

Learn more about Melanie at her website

Subscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

Join Jay and Mel’s membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

Produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting

Speaking

Contact

Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

"You have a real gift," we say to our storytelling heroes. But do they? Storytelling is a skill. Communicating with greater impact is a craft. It’s not something anyone is gifted. It’s something we all can master.

Today, it’s just me, Jay. Hello! I’m trying a solo episode, sharing my favorite trick for stronger ideas and stories.

Be forewarned: this trick involves sharing your thinking publicly. Not “building in public,” as many like to talk about doing, but by aerating your thinking to sharpen it.

So what “thinking” are you aerating? A very specific kind. To communicate in ways that resonate does NOT require you to experience a lightning strike insight or sensational story. This isn’t about doing something grand and newsworthy either. 

No, this trick requires us to do something which our society doesn’t often teach, but it’s free and easy to start.

RESOURCES:

Subscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

Produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting

Speaking

Contact

Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

It's time for a new edition of "Is This Anything?", the miniseries where friends and clients join me to work out new drafts and ideas for upcoming pieces and projects. In this episode, I help Justin Moore design his signature talk, beat by beat.

Justin is the founder of Creator Wizard, which helps creators secure more and better brand deals to grow their businesses. Through trainings, coaching, and his signature course, Justin has made a name for himself in the creator economy.

For both his book and for the next wave of growth that he sees for his business, involving a slightly new group of buyers, Justin wants to develop a talk capable of earning him the main stage, not just breakouts, where he's up against multiple speakers at the same time slot. 

Together, we work through a structure you can use to develop your speeches. We discuss the differences between breakouts and keynotes, virtual and in-person, and why Justin needs his "higher-order idea" or the idea BEFORE the ideas he's known for already, in order to inspire action in his audience and grow his business through speaking.

It's a rare look at the speech development process with two established creative voices, with one entrepreneur playing coach and the other the vulnerable but committed student. I hope this is both enjoyable and useful to your speaking journey!

RESOURCES:

Learn more about Justin's business at creatorwizard.com

Get a copy of Justin's book Sponsor Magnet, or join the waitlist now (coming in January 2025)

Subscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

Produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting

Speaking

Contact

Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

Today, it's a total treat as the one and only Seth Godin takes us into how he thinks about storytelling and the intersection of strategy and story, and then we hear him dissect a signature story. Plus, Seth and I trade stories in the back half of the episode—business storytelling nerdery on full display.

Seth is a world-renowned storyteller and thought leader, a legendary keynote speaker who helped disrupt the format, and the bestselling author of more than 20 books, including Purple Cow, The Practice, and This Is Marketing. His brand new book, This is Strategy, is available now.

Together, Seth and I discuss his delightful story about recumbent bikes. This "super-story" has found its way into Seth’s work repeatedly for over a decade. We discuss ‌the evolution of this story, how he conceptualizes status and affiliation, and why focusing on pedagogy as a storyteller is essential. 

Also in the episode: why the idea of your posture matters for storytellers, the role of the storyteller today (and why tiny stories make a big impact), and how can you make yourself, your work, and your stories truly stand out.

RESOURCES:

Learn more about Seth at his website and read his blog

Buy a copy of Seth's new book, This Is Strategy

Subscribe to Jay's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

Produced by Ilana Nevins

Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting

Speaking

Contact

Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

This week, we’re joined by our first-ever recurring guest. The brilliant Ann Handley (WSJ bestselling author of Everybody Writes and globally touring keynote speaker) joins us for a very special episode of “Is This Anything?”, the mini-series, where friends and collaborators join me to work out new ideas, unproven drafts, and hidden ideas to see if it is, in fact, anything.

But because it’s Ann, we’re renaming it Is This ANNything. Get it? Do you get it? (If you didn’t like that, you’re really not gonna like this episode…)

First, we discuss a story we co-wrote on Threads, sharing back and forth posts to build on each others’ previous ideas. Read that story here (you need to click into the first Thread for the threading to make sense. Oh, Threads…)

Then, we share drafts of our newsletters, each at different stages, and workshop improvements.

It’s a refreshing look at two prolific writers and speakers (and one bestselling author!) in the middle of their process.

Read Jay’s final newsletter version here. (Ann has not written the draft publicly as of this episode’s publish date.)

Listen to Ann’s first appearance on How Stories Happen as she dissects a published piece: “How do we all sign our work?” - Episode 3 with Ann Handley

RESOURCES:

⚫  Learn more about Ann at her website and subscribe to her newsletter 

⚫ Follow Ann on LinkedIn and Instagram

⚫  Buy Ann’s book, Everybody Writes

🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting

Speaking

Contact

Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

Why is candor essential for a good story? How brutally honest should you actually be in sharing a story with the world? 

The great Chase Jarvis brings us into his story of self-discovery, with the many twists and turns his professional career has taken, as he works through how to best tell that story ahead of his next book tour. 

Starting in second grade when his entrepreneurial spirit was snuffed by his teacher, Chase works to find acceptance by pursuing the “best” path forward, before realizing that maybe it’s not the best path for him. It’s a story that’s brutally honest, surprising, and carefully crafted so that listeners get an intimate look at the real Chase Jarvis and the themes of his book.

Chase is an award-winning photographer, entrepreneur, and the author of “Never Play It Safe," and he's widely considered to be one of the leading voices advocating for the importance of creativity in work, life, and society today.

Together, Jay and Chase extract the various blocks that create the flow of Chase's story, exploring what makes certain segments most compelling and how to best drive the story forward. They discuss how great stories are built, rather than experienced, and the importance of allegory versus illustration.

Whether you’re an aspiring author, artist or entrepreneur, this episode will compel you to slow down, reflect, and connect to your own unique path forward and all the stories that have shaped you and your work. 

RESOURCES:

⚫ Learn more about Chase at his website, or listen to his podcast, The Chase Jarvis LIVE Show

⚫ Follow Chase on X and Instagram

⚫ Buy Chase’s book, Never Play It Safe

🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's newsletter at jayacunzo.com

🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting
Speaking
Contact
Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

What is a super-story? And how can you flex yours to fit different audiences, mediums, or conclusions? That’s what we dive into today with powerhouse storyteller, Laura Gassner Otting.

Laura takes us into a small story about her first time decorating a Christmas tree with her husband’s family. Initially horrified by the chipped ornaments and tattered boxes, she grew to love these mismatched decorations. It’s a story about finding meaning in often unexpected, imperfect places—and it's full of callbacks and insights helping LGO serve thousands of attendees at events across the globe where she speaks.

Laura is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and executive coach. She’s a regular contributor to Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Harvard Business Review, and Oprah Daily. She also served as a Presidential Appointee in Bill Clinton’s White House, founded an international search firm, and has a superpower in seeing others’ greatness and reflecting it back to them. 

Together, Jay and Laura discuss her effective use of "the specific," finding wisdom in frameworks, and how LGO draws from her time in politics to imbue her speaking with musicality. Plus, they talk about the importance of having rounded edges to end in stories, how to immediately become relatable to your audience, and the art of using callbacks.

Whether you’re an aspiring author or keynote speaker, executive coach or entrepreneur who teaches through content, this episode will motivate you to resonate more deeply with your stories as you show up to any audience, in any medium. 

RESOURCES:

⚫ Learn more about Laura at her website and watch her viral TED Talk

⚫ Follow Laura on TikTok or Linkedin

⚫ Buy Laura’s books, Wonderhell, Limitless, and Mission Driven 

🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's fortnightly newsletter at jayacunzo.com

🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting
Speaking
Contact
Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

Go inside the development of a brand new TED Talk, as Jay offers notes to friend Simone Stolzoff on his v1 draft. Simone is the author of The Good Enough Job and a journalist whose writing has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and more.

This is the first episode of a new bonus episode of How Stories Happen called "Is This Anything?" which we'll occasionally run in our off weeks. During this miniseries, you'll hear Jay and friends actively develop and work through new material for stories, speeches, and other projects.

In this miniseries debut, Simone shares an 8-minute TED Talk draft as he prepares for the big day, and Jay offers some notes to strengthen the content, insert callbacks and other framing devices, and tighten the talk track. Simo responds in-kind with vulnerable sharing, piercing questions about what might make more sense, and brand new ideas brainstormed on the fly.

It's all in the name of actively developing the speech from raw material into something special. Because that's how stories happen.

(Whispers) hey that's the name of the show!

RESOURCES:

⚫ Learn more about Simone Stolzoff and join his newsletter at simonestolzoff.com

⚫ Follow Simone on Instagram or LinkedIn

⚫ Buy Simone's book, The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work

🔵 Subscribe to Jay Acunzo's fortnightly newsletter at jayacunzo.com

🔵 Join Jay's membership program for business storytellers and service providers, the Creator Kitchen

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads

🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink

***

ABOUT JAY:

Consulting
Speaking
Contact
Books

Jay Acunzo is an author, speaker, and differentiation-and-thought leadership consultant on a mission to help you make what matters to your career, company, and community. He's an advisor to experts, execs, and entrepreneurs who want to resonate deeper with others, not just reach them. To do so, he helps you turn your expertise into IP and your IP into differentiated messaging, exceptional speeches, and celebrated creative projects, equipping you with the communication techniques and power of today’s top thought leaders—because he believes in standing out through substance and stories, not hollow hype.

A leading voice in B2B content marketing for many years thanks to his roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, companies like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy have turned to Jay to strengthen their storytelling, while dozens of individual authors, speakers, consultants, and service providers hire Jay as their dedicated thought partner and exec. producer to help develop their premise, IP, speaking, and shows.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan. In the 60 seconds per week he's not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like that of his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

Telling stories about your life feels fraught. How do you weave together a story that is deeply personal to you and others, contains the right amount of tension without being too dramatic, and feels both gripping and accessible for your audience? 

In the case of our guest today, Nat Eliason, his story is about the moment he went from investing hundreds of dollars to having $10 million of his own money on the line, plus more than $100 million of others under his purview, when the whole system was hacked.

Nat recently published his first book, “Crypto Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance,” and in this episode, he dissects the choices he made writing his prologue (which he shared with more than 20 people to get right).

Together, Jay and Nat dissect Nat’s thrilling story, unpacking how he grounded the drama, making it feel authentic and relatable, while still embracing the primacy and recency effects in storytelling. Plus, they discuss strategies for getting more valuable feedback on your creative work, Nat’s decision to focus on such a dramatic moment for his prologue, and how to effectively combine educational or technical concepts into a story in a way that doesn’t lose or bore readers.

Whether you are an aspiring author, give keynotes, write articles, or record multimedia content, this episode will make you look a bit closer at how your favorite stories are told—from the very first hook to a perfectly placed detail to the closing line that makes you realize that although the story was specific … it was profoundly universal.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Nat on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nateliason/

⚫  Follow Nat on X: https://x.com/nateliason

⚫ Visit Nat’s website: https://www.nateliason.com/

⚫ Subscribe to Nat’s Substack: https://blog.nateliason.com/

🔵 Work with Jay to develop and differentiate your IP and stories: https://jayacunzo.com/

🔵Join his Creator Kitchen membership: https://creatorkitchen.com/ 

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Follow Jay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacunzo/

🟢 Produced by Ilana Nevins:https://www.ilananevins.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors

You know how a comedian will test out new material, and turn to their colleagues and ask, “Is this anything?” 

Welcome to a new bonus episode series—aptly named just that (Is This Anything), that will run on our off weeks from the traditional show, where a guest and I will take their ideas, put it under a storytelling microscope, and find out if these ideas have legs. So what do you get? A front row seat on how the pro’s develop and evolve their stories.

So for this episode, meet my friend, Simone Stolzoff. Simone is a unique voice in the intersection of journalism and design, and he’s has been invited to speak at conferences like TED, where he tackles the big questions around work-life balance and identity with practical, actionable insights.

In this episode, Simone and I dive deep into the art of balancing multiple professional identities and how this balance can transform the way you tell stories. We explore the importance of focusing on small details and individual experiences rather than macro explanations, providing a more relatable and engaging narrative.

Resources:

⚫Follow Simo & check out his work here: https://www.simonestolzoff.com/

🔵 Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵 Subscribe to Jay’s newsletter: https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

🔵 Learn about Jay’s coaching and consulting: https://jayacunzo.com/

🔵Work with Jay to develop and differentiate your IP and stories: https://jayacunzo.com/

🔵Join his Creator Kitchen membership: https://creatorkitchen.com/ 

🔵Follow Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/

🔵Follow Jay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacunzo/

🟢 Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

🟢 Cover art designed by Blake Ink: https://www.blakeink.com/

🟢 Find and support our sponsors: https://jayacunzo.com/sponsors