What it takes to craft a signature story | Susan Boles, CFO, Business Strategist & Podcaster

20 snips

Aug 19, 2024

Susan Boles, a CFO and business strategist, dives into the art of crafting impactful stories. She emphasizes the concept of 'calm as the new KPI' and how it reshapes business narratives. The conversation highlights the importance of clear communication and emotional understanding in storytelling. Susan discusses the challenges entrepreneurs face when aligning growth metrics with core values, advocating for narratives that resonate deeply with audiences. Tune in for insights on making your story not just informative, but transformative.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Clarify Your Message

Clarify your message by stepping back and identifying core themes.
Imagine drawing a circle around everything you do to find a unifying premise.

ADVICE

Read Aloud and Clarify

Read your writing aloud to identify areas for improvement, like wordiness.
Ask yourself or others "What are you trying to say?" for clearer communication.

INSIGHT

Creativity as a Process

Creativity is not a talent but a way of operating, often starting with frustration.
Focus on how you feel about something to uncover valuable insights.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

What should you include or omit to ensure your stories carry your message, resonate with others, and deliver something that could only come from you? That’s the challenge we encounter today.

In this special episode, Jay is joined by a favorite client, Susan Boles, to work through a draft of a signature story, which emerged on the back of their months-long work together developing Susan’s premise of “calm is the new KPI.” They apply Jay’s Align-Agitate-Assert structure, and they find the two biggest opportunities to improve the story.

Susan is the founder of Beyond Margins and host of the podcast of the same name. She teaches entrepreneur clients how to optimize their business for quality of life, not just profit margin, by making calm their focus and their literal KPI.

In the episode, Jay and Susan dissect her emerging, signature story involving Rand Fishkin, founder and CEO of SparkToro and, previously, founder and CEO of Moz. When one piece of the story runs too long, Jay shares some pointers for how to shorten it without sacrificing the story’s power, and the duo figure out what insights can be extracted and delivered from the story to teach and inspire Susan’s audience.

Whether you’re crafting your next keynote or fine-tuning your leadership communication skills, this episode will have you immediately elevating your storytelling in ways that illuminate insights others remember, share, and apply to their work or lives.

Resources:

⚫ Follow Susan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesusanboles

⚫ Listen to Beyond Margins: https://podcast.beyondmargins.com/

⚫ Subscribe to Beyond Margins Newsletter: https://beyondmargins.ck.page/21380f9bae

🔵 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

JOIN MY PUBLIC SPEAKING ACCELERATOR:
Enrollment is now open for my 8-week virtual program, with personalized 1:1 support and group coaching calls, along with video lessons, video reviews of your speech, and more.

Reserve your spot. Space is limited. Visit jayacunzo.com/signaturetalk — the next cohort starts September 8.