If you haven’t gotten serious about email marketing, it’s time. In this episode of the Building a StoryBrand podcast, we’re going to take away the confusion behind getting started with email marketing. Donald Miller sits down with Francis Jones of Infusionsoft. Francis shares eight common email mistakes he sees beginners make when they start email marketing -- plus what to do instead. Listen to this episode and schedule an hour of time to implement even one of these ideas, and you’ll make a dramatic impact on your business. http://buildingastorybrand.com/49

Imagine you see a homeless couple on the side of the road holding a sign that says “Ugly, Broke, and Hungry.” You stop to hear their story and take them out to dinner. And before the last course is served, you’ve invited them to be your business partners. That’s the story of Caitlin Crosby, the founder and creative visionary behind the company The Giving Keys and this week’s guest on the Building a StoryBrand podcast. The Giving Keys employs people who are trying to transition out of homelessness to engrave keys with different inspiring words. You buy a key and wear it for awhile, and then you look for a chance to pass it on and pay it forward to somebody you feel needs the message on that key more than you do. Caitlin’s story is remarkable for so many reasons, not the least of which is that she never set out to be a social entrepreneur. If you’re a creative person running a business or believe in the power of entrepreneurship to make a difference in the causes we care about, don’t miss this inspiring interview.

Go on, admit it. If you’re a business leader, you’ve stayed up late binge-watching -- no, not Game of Thrones -- but TED talks. And it’s totally understandable. TED talks take complex topics and present them in a way that everybody understands. There’s something about making things clear, regardless of what you're talking about, that the human mind engages. That’s the magic of TED. This week on the Building a StoryBrand podcast, Donald Miller sits down with Chris Anderson, the CEO of TED. Chris shares six principles that make a TED talk successful. If you need to communicate any big idea to a large group of people, whether it’s in a speech or a board meeting or a lecture, you’re going to find his advice invaluable.

Can you be both a disciplined, focused business leader and a deeply creative person? For us here at StoryBrand, the answer is a resounding yes. In fact, the worlds of creatives and business leaders overlap more than we might assume. If you’re leading a business, you need to embrace your creativity. When you do, you’ll unlock levels of innovation and inspiration in your work that will give you a competitive advantage. And anyone who does creative work needs to focus and master their industry so their work gets the attention it deserves. To help us as business leaders understand the creative process better, Donald Miller invited Luke Laird to join this episode of the Building a StoryBrand podcast. He’s a Grammy-award-winning producer and songwriter who’s penned 23 number-one hits for major country artists like Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Eric Church, and Tim McGraw. Whether you’re a business leader trying to embrace your creativity or an aspiring artist trying to make it, here are three takeaways from Luke Laird about the creative process. He also brought his guitar along to showcase some of his work, so make sure you give this episode a listen! http://buildingastorybrand.com/46

If you’ve ever smelled that warm and buttery smell in the mall, and minutes later, had an Auntie Anne’s pretzel in your hand, you’re not alone. Auntie Anne’s has 2,000 locations in 26 countries. They’ve made 1.8 billion pretzels -- enough to go around the Earth 50 times. And their success is about a lot more than just that amazing smell. Auntie Anne’s founder, Anne Beiler, is an incredible leader with a unique backstory. She joins Donald Miller on this episode of the Building a StoryBrand podcast to share the lessons she’s learned growing this company. Her story will inspire you in so many ways, especially if you’re passionate about personal growth and building a company with a greater purpose. For a blog post summary of the episode with practical takeaways, visit http://buildingastorybrand.com/45

Is it possible to live a life of service and sacrifice even while pursuing a career that matters deeply? When you look at the life of sportscasting legend Ernie Johnson, Jr., you can’t help but say yes. On this episode of the Building a StoryBrand podcast, Donald Miller sits down with Ernie Johnson. They share a heartfelt conversation about leading a life of significance and making room to help others, even while we pursue our careers. Don’t miss this inspiring episode. The life lessons here are rich and hard and absolutely worth your time. Get the worksheet that goes along with this episode at http://buildingastorybrand.com/44 to help you apply what you learned in the interview to your life and business.

What if there were a roadmap that showed you all the major milestones your business was going to hit as it grows? Wouldn’t it be great to know what’s coming next and how to navigate well? That framework exists, and we’re going to explore it in depth on this week’s episode of the Building a StoryBrand podcast. Donald Miller sits down with David McKeown of PredictableSuccess.com. He and his father Les have developed this framework over decades, and they’ve seen it prove out in countless companies, regardless of their size or industry. When you understand these seven stages, you’ll understand how to strike a perfect balance between innovation and processes. And when that happens, the success of your business becomes a lot more predictable. Listen now and take the guesswork out of growing your small business. Get the worksheet that goes along with this episode at http://buildingastorybrand.com/43 to help you apply what you learned in the interview to your business.

The better we understand people, the better leaders we’ll be. And one of the best tools for understanding yourself and those around you is the Enneagram. If you haven’t encountered it before, the Enneagram is simply an ancient personality framework. There are nine core types, and we tend to gravitate toward one of them in our youth as a way of coping with the world. This week on the Building a StoryBrand podcast, Donald Miller talks with Enneagram expert Ian Cron about how to use this powerful framework to make both yourself and your business healthier. They unpack each of nine personality types and then discuss how understanding the Enneagram can help you become a stronger, more empathetic leader. Get the worksheet that goes along with this episode at http://buildingastorybrand.com/42 to help you apply what you learned in the interview to your business.

What’s the most powerful tool in the world for captivating the human brain? It’s storytelling. As business leaders, sometimes we struggle to keep our audience’s attention for a few seconds. But storytellers have figured out how to keep an audience’s attention for hours. If we want to captivate our customers, we need to understand the art of storytelling. So today on the Building a StoryBrand podcast, Donald Miller talks with Allan Heinberg, one of the world’s most accomplished storytellers. He’s written for Grey’s Anatomy and Sex and the City and is currently the showrunner for Shonda Rhimes’ show The Catch. In this episode, you’ll find a wealth of wisdom for how to captivate your audience of prospective customers. (There’s also a fair amount of geeking out about character development and the creative process!) PLUS! Don’t miss the BONUS SEGMENT with musician Drew Holcomb. Drew stopped by our office to talk about the business of music and to play a couple of songs for us. Listen now! Get the worksheet that goes along with this episode at http://buildingastorybrand.com/41 to help you apply what you learned in the interview to your business.

Most of us business leaders are glued to our phones. Work can feel all-consuming. We end each day fatigued and overloaded, and everything suffers as a result. But life isn't supposed to look like this. We need what Juliet Funt calls “white space” -- strategic rests and pauses between our busy-ness. This week, Juliet joins Donald Miller on the Building a Story Brand podcast, and she helps us understand the importance of these pauses for our work, the four big reasons we struggle with it, and what we can do to reclaim our rest and thoughtfulness. This is an inspiring conversation, and the wisdom Juliet shares has the potential to give us better quality of work at the office and better presence with our loved ones at home. Don’t miss it! Get the worksheet that goes along with this episode at http://buildingastorybrand.com/40 to help you apply what you learned in the interview to your business.