Welcome back to Lending Leadership: The Creative Brief.

We’re excited to bring you part three of our special series on the power of storytelling, featuring Will Greenblatt, founder of Outloud Speaker School. If you’re just joining us, now’s a perfect time: over this three-part journey, we’ve been unpacking not just why stories matter, but also how to craft your own compelling narrative, especially as a leader or sales professional.

In this episode, we put the three-act origin story framework into practice. Will sat down with both of us to help shape our personal stories in real time. You’ll hear us dig deep—sometimes with vulnerability, sometimes with humor—reflecting on our backgrounds, challenges, and the moments that shaped us as people and professionals. We also discovered that telling a true story about who you are isn’t just engaging—it’s transformative, both for your audience and for you.

If you’re in sales or a leadership role, or if you ever have to “tell your story” to anyone, this episode is packed with practical tips, real examples, and a dash of courage.

Five Key Takeaways:

1. Your Story is Your Superpower
2. Both the winding path and the struggles along the way are assets. Sharing the “nonlinear” reality of your career, or admitting you don’t always have it figured out, helps humanize you—building deeper trust with teams, recruits, and clients.
3. Know Your Three Acts, Pick Your Anecdotes
4. A three-act origin story structure helps you share a concise, powerful personal brand story. But anecdotes—like that embarrassing moment in music class—add color, relatability, and memorability to your introduction.
5. Vulnerability Connects, Accomplishments Convince
6. Listing accolades is fine, but “real” stories make a greater impact—especially in sales. Opening up about moments of doubt, change, or fear (like thinking you’re unemployable!) allows others to see themselves in you and puts you on their side.
7. Tailor Your Story to Your Audience
8. Adjust the focus and details depending on who’s listening—internal teams may appreciate more detailed, “inside” stories, while external clients may need clarity and brevity. Always ask: What helps this audience know, like, and trust me?
9. Use Your Story Consistently—But Make it Conversational
10. Don’t memorize a script. Instead, get comfortable with the broad beats of your story so you can share the right piece at the right moment. Infuse your story into presentations, meetings, and even LinkedIn posts. The more you use it, the more it becomes a natural extension of your brand.

A huge thank you to Will Greenblatt for guiding us through this live coaching session and sharing his ebook, which you can download here. Whether you lead, sell, or simply want to connect better, remember: people don’t just buy products, they buy people. Tell your story, stand out, and watch deeper connections—and better business—follow.

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and check out the ebook below. We’ll see you next time on Lending Leadership: The Creative Brief!

Rach & Rinn

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Lending Leadership the creative brief. And if you're just tuning in, you picked a great time to join. We've been sitting down with Will Greenblatt, founder of Outloud Speaker School, talking all about the power of storytelling. And in part one, we explored why stories matter. In part two, we learned Will's three act origin story framework. And now in part three, it's time to put it all into action. Will's coaching both me and Corrine through our own stories and helping us to find clarity, connection, probably a little courage.

So pull up a seat and jump in with us. Here we go.

Here's a first draft that I'm going to propose to you. Grin, and then you tell me how it resonates. Rachel, you too. So I grew up in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia, a place called Buck County. Buck County, Bucks County. Very comfortable, middle class, but a little less wealthy than a lot of the people around me. And that made me feel a certain way. I'll leave you to fill in that blank.

But what I did have that maybe the other kids didn't have was the best and biggest family around. I had cousins and grandparents and this aunt who ended up being my mentor. Sorry. And this aunt. I'm not gonna say that part yet. And I was voted most talkative. I had this amazing, amazing social network of. Of family.

But inside my house, it was a bit strained because my older brother was very quiet. He was a rule follower. He didn't blaze the trail for breaking rules like my parents did. So I became the rule breaker. I was always breaking the rules, but it was because I loved partying and I loved being social. And I went out and they didn't want me to, and they were really strict. And that caused a lot of conflict between me and my dad. And my mom often played the middle.

But I always loved writing. And that's how I express myself. And I don't know why, but writing was something that, for me, gave me a voice, and it allowed me to articulate things that I couldn't even articulate through speaking. And enough people told me, hey, you're good at this. So I went into journalism. But like so many things in my life I never knew, I still to this day suffer from a I don't know what I want to be when I grow up mentality. And. And the same thing happened with journalism.

So I went into sales and then realized, oh, I have, you know, I'm really talkative. I'm great at sales. And then I went into advertising and I went home and I wanted to live with my family and be back amongst the people I felt most comfortable with. And then I kept doing sales and then things were going great. And then in 2019, or right before, in 2020, before COVID I got let go and I didn't know what to do. And as I said, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grow up. So my aunt who I told you about, who was my mentor, said, why don't you make a list of all the people in your network? And so I did. And then I called a guy named Dave Holland and we had this hilarious story which blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Since then, I've risen through the ranks to blah, blah, blah. I'm now the head of. I'm so sorry I forget your job title, Corinne, but I am the VP or director of this I've achieved. And here's where we can start to put in the accolades. I've achieved this, this, and this. And it's been great. And, and what I love most about this job is, is the people. I've always been a people person.

I've always loved having lots of fun, wacky, funny conversations. And this is the kind of place where not only can we do great work, but I get to be a real person and, you know, whatever. So that becomes your story, your three act origin story. And that takes a. That's going to need a lot of work because to make this really tight and clear takes time, repetition out loud and it takes the removal of stuff that's maybe not necessary. So maybe the fighting with your parents wasn't necessary. Maybe the moving back to Pittsburgh from Pittsburgh wasn't necessary. We're looking for all of the information that is relevant to find the minimum viable story, you know, the minimum viable product.

We're looking for the minimum viable story. How do we tell the story in the fewest words? The themes I'm getting from it are sociability, but. But a desire to prove yourself and a bit of a shiny object syndrome that may have seemed like a downfall when you graduated university, but ended up being what makes you look so good, makes you so good at your job now.

Yeah, I think that that really nailed it. I mean, I've actually heard Corinne tell part of that story. What she was saying, you know, my, my funny story with calling Dave Holland because one of her best friends from college, you know, she went out to school in Pittsburgh and she died. We're gonna leave it in here. It's real.

Oh, I thought you meant her I thought you meant her friend died.

No, no, no. Sorry. I was like, her computer died. Her computer totally just died. No, but her friend Adam, Pittsburgh, one of her best friends. When she made this list, it was Lindsey Holland, who's Dave Holland's wife, who owns this mortgage company. And she's just talking to him about, like, I don't know, do you know anybody? And then it turns out the end of the conversation, he's like, oh, I don't know. Can you start like, next week? She's like, wait a minute.

I didn't ask you for a job. I was just asking you if you knew somebody. And all of a sudden, great.

Yeah.

You know, basically hired her and. And she never left, so. Amazing. Yeah.

So this is just to anyone listening and to you, Rachel, this is the power of this is that it's also depends on who you're talking to. So if you're talking to internally in the company, that story about Dave Holland is amazing. If you're talking to externally company, it's maybe not as funny because they don't know Dave who he is. Right. So you always want to think about the audience. Basically, what we're trying to do is get a sense of Corinne's character. And. And that's what I'm starting to get from her.

Yeah.

Is this, you know, family. She's family oriented, and that was really lucky and great for her to have, but she's also quite flighty, and she doesn't stick to one thing, and she's jealous of people who can do that, but it's kind of her superpower. So even Corinne, as you were getting your charger, I was starting to think like, we're homing in now on the real thing is what we're trying to learn about you. Why are you here? Why are you doing this job? What. What is it about you that. That. That makes this a fit for you? And what I'm. The theme I'm getting is basically family per family girl with all these cousins and grandparents and this aunt who ended up being amazing, talkative, social, loves people, but had a hard time focusing and had never knew what you wanted to be when you grew up and was always jealous of people who did.

And then you went from journalism because you're like, hey, maybe I can do that. And then you went to sales. You're like, who event? But then you're like, I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go back home. And then you did this. But all of that led to you to right now. And is actually a superpower because you have the strictness from your parents that allows you to run a tight team. You have the wackiness and the goofy goofiness from your cousins and your.

These family events that allows you to be a fun person and have a fun, loving environment. You've got this. These amazing. You've got this sales experience and this ability to communicate, to speak and to write that allows you to be, you know, and that's the story to me, is like someone who grew up a rule breaker, but with a strong family network, had a hard time focusing and was jealous of people who didn't. Who knew what they wanted to do and doesn't. Still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up, but has found the perfect place to make that her superpower. Does that. Does that resonate?

Most of it's. Most of it's pretty accurate. A couple tweets. Yeah.

Yeah, totally. And again, this is the first draft.

Yeah. Yeah, you pulled that together pretty well.

Yeah, you're not going to. This isn't going to be done until you stop talking to people about who you are in your life.

And honestly, Ren, I feel like you do tell that story of how you called Dave and said, hey, you know, like, I'm looking for somebody. He hired. He hired you at the end. You're like, hold on, I have a job. What are you talking about? But I think you could take that deeper and give the beginning part just a little bit of, like, you know, it's kind of funny that you grew up in a house that was very strict. And, you know, I think pulling that a little bit into the story and showing that humanizes why you are the perfect person for this position and how it's. How it's. That.

That domino effect of life where, you know, you had all these different positions too, worked for agencies that led us to where we are with. With Loma and the loan officer marketing agency and how that fits into hma. And I think. Yeah, I think just expanding on that would be really cool.

Cool.

And the way to deploy this is not to write a script and then read it every time you have to introduce yourself.

Sure.

The way to deploy this is to understand the basic three acts. To know that, okay, what's relevant about my childhood, I think for me, so far, it's. I didn't hear any recurring themes about the not growing up as wealthy as everyone else. Maybe that does show up somewhere, but I just didn't hear it this time. So for now, we just cut that and basically the most interesting thing I find about your family is that you had strict parents and a big family network and your brother was not a rule breaker.

Not necessarily a big family network. That's one word I have to tweak. Just a, just a consistent family network. Like, more. I was very friend oriented.

You were very social.

Very social. Yeah.

And your family and friends were very. You had a strong network.

Like, not like an Italian family. That's like. We weren't like that. But, but there was some consistency to it and structure to a degree. Yeah.

So just family and friend oriented, social, you know, all that sort of thing. And then, but then you were, you had issues with following rules despite having strict parents. And you, weren't you the kind of person who knew what you wanted to be when you grew up? And there was always this, oh, maybe I could do that too. And that led you to a bunch of different places. You went into journalism and then, then you left that. You went into sales and then you went into advertising. It's still sales, but it was a different industry. Then you moved cities and you went back home.

So, so it was this kind of like nonlinear, almost distracted, you know what some people almost what looked like distracted. So then when you let go, all of a sudden it was like, oh, shit, you know, how do I explain this career path maybe to, to people? Like, maybe there was a moment of doubt that you had. Maybe there was a moment of, you know, that would be very vulnerable to let us into. Like, what did, what did you think your prospects were? Was it bleak? Was it scary? Was it emotional? Like, I don't know, I'm just, I'd be curious. And then you made this list with your aunt who. That's a recurring theme of like reaching out to your network. You reached out to your network, so it's the power of the social network. And you got this funny job, but it turned out to be the best thing because you got to use, you know, what you learned from your parents about being strict.

You got to use all your sales skills. You got to use all your, your, you maybe use your event skills. You've used your agency experience and now. And you just love the culture of this place because blah, blah, blah, blah. And it fits your personality because of all these things we've learned about you. So to me, you knowing that story means you can tell a piece of it. You can tell a piece of it when you're talking to somebody one on one. You can post about it on LinkedIn, you can reiterate it to your team whenever you have a meeting.

It's like your personal brand story. So you know that that's the story of why Corinne works here. And then you're just able to draw on it to tell little anecdot and pieces from it now and again, reinforcing it every time and helping people understand that. Came from this kind of family, had this weird career path, found this job. Love it. Great.

I like it.

Makes sense.

It does. Yeah. I am getting from that.

I'm gonna send you guys and we can link this in the show notes, an ebook that I've written. It's like a 17 page thing where I tell my story and then I provide some, some further reading on this kind of stuff. And so one thing I'd suggest Corinne, you. You and Rachel do is read that and then do the exercises because it'll help you go deeper into this. Okay. Okay, Rachel, I'm just going to sum up what we had as your snapshot.

Yeah.

Middle of nowhere.

I think I want to, I think I can take a stab at it actually, because I like, I have a story that I tell and my kids think it's the funniest story ever. So I think I could kind of weave it in. But tell me if it's weird or if I like, you know, I'm, I'm imagining this story when we're meeting with a recruit or we're going through a marketing plan and we're trying to, trying to get someone to come into our company. You know, a story that I might share to just warm up the, like. Rachel, tell us about yourself.

That's, that's, I mean, that's the perfect deployment of the whole three act origin story is tell us about yourself or how did you get into this work or introduce yourself, please. That's the perfect time for a very short version of your three act origin story. And it can be as short as. I grew up as a child actor, but you know, after, after quitting theater school, I, I wandered the world teaching English and finding entrepreneurship before I realized I could use my skills to become a public speaking coach. So that's a very quick version of my three act origin story that I sometimes will bust out some form of that at a networking event. I don't go into my brother's death because it feels a bit shocking to drop on them in two sentences.

Sure.

And so, but you know, it's just a kind of a, like, this is where I came from. This is what happened to me along the way. And here's. And this is what I am today. So it's. It's still the three acts. It's just much lighter and quicker. So.

But basically, anytime someone says, tell me about yourself or how did you get into this work? That's the perfect time for a three act origin story.

Yeah. And this first story, I don't know if this is probably too much, but I'll. I'll tell you the story, then you guys can dissect it. So, you know, grew up, like I said, always performing, always putting on shows. And I would have. My mom was very into to Bette Midler and Cher. So that's like all we listen to and show tunes. And she would always say, when we were at home singing, like, Rachel, use your show voice.

And my show voice was like this like, very throaty kind of sound. And I'm like, no, mom. Like, that's just. That's just for me, it's just for at home. And I remember being in music class in probably kindergarten or first grade, and I remember my piano, my. My music teacher teaching us this song. And I remember thinking, like, I'm gonna. I'm use my show voice.

Like, today's the day I'm gonna use it. And so I remember this stupid song that they had us sing, and it was like. So I'm like, I'm going for it, right? So she starts to play and I'm like, mustering up the courage and I start singing, oh, the big baboon One night in June. And I'm singing down here and it's terrible. And she stops and she looks around and she's like, who's singing like that? And like, obviously I look around because I'm like, well, obviously it's not me because I'm me.

Because I'm amazing.

Yeah, I'm amazing. And so she's like, well, whoever's singing like that, you better stop singing like that. So I'm like, okay, well, now I'm really going to turn it on to drown out this terrible singer who's singing somewhere. So I like, turn it on even more. Oh, the big baboon One night in June. Buried them. I'm like, I am going all out now. And she stops again.

And the kid next to me, I'll never forget Billy. Zachary looks at me and he goes, it's Rachel. Rachel singing like that. And I was shocked. I was like, what? I am incredible. What are you talking about? And that realized, that moment, I realized like, okay, mom, you are an incredible cheerleader. You might not be the best singer, but I'M going to request singing and acting lessons from a true professional and get some true coaching. And, and that kind of put me on the path of really, you know, kind of fine tuning my craft.

And we'd always, I would always sing it. Holiday parties that my family had and did theater growing up and just always loved that. Always loved being silly and out there and fast forward to, you know, my career. I, I gave voice and acting lessons to kids for about 11 years, and I, I, I was okay being out of the limelight. Like, I just always loved to see other people shine and, and do things that maybe, you know, not make the mistake that I did of singing down here. A couple little tweaks, and I can get them singing up in their head voice and sounding beautiful. And I always love to kind of take credit for that magical musical fairy godmother moment. And that really kind of transitioned to what I do now.

Even though I was working with kids on performing and acting for so long, the parents would always say, you know, if I had this man, I could really use this in work, or I could really use these skills in presenting and, you know, just being in front of different audiences. So I feel like what I try to bring to the table is a lot of that. Helping people get out of their comfort zones, helping them shine, do something that's a little bit scary, and then also give them a safe space to be like, no, that was weird. Don't talk down there. That's kind of strange, or whatever it may be, you know, to try to just help them be the best versions of themselves. Is that too much?

No, no, it's not too much. I'm just thinking. So, but that. Was that as a consultant or was that as a, as a, as a leader at this company?

Like, I mean, that's really. I kind of skipped a lot. I skipped around a lot. But yeah, that's, that's now, you know, like, as a, as a leader within the company.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. The only thing I'm missing is just the, the, the transition to the corporate world from helping kids do voice and acting lessons.

Okay, so enter the scene, Covid. Just like Corinne, things really changed. Family dynamics changed. My husband ended up, you know, losing his job after years and years in radio, and I was like, well, you know, I've been doing this for a long time. Let me just dip my toe in the corporate water. I honestly thought that I was unemployable because I'm like, I like to do whatever I like to do and beats the artist.

Artist.

My Own drum. And this position kind of fell out of the sky. I wasn't looking for it at all. And someone that I knew said, hey, talk to this guy. And I talked to Tom Mills and then he hired me. And when he hired me, I said, tom, this is great, but I don't know the name of your company and I don't know what you do. And I was hired as a recruiter at first, and then really it transitioned to what I'm doing now as the director of sales and marketing.

And so you worked up the ranks? Kind of, yeah. Okay, lovely. So right away, such a snapshot of your childhood. It's so clear. So, so, yeah, so vivid. And that scene of Billy Zachary and the show voice. So there's, I always say, there's the story and then there's a story. A story, a story.

A single anecdote is about zooming in. It's about going to a single moment and saying, hey, When I was 7, I was on stage and my mommy, my mother used to teach me to use a show voice. And then I used it in Billy Zachary. Goddamn Billy Zachary. So that's a story. That's an anecdote.

Yeah.

The three act origin story is like the, like the life memoir.

Right.

So we need moments of specificity and zoom in. But in general, we're trying to say, like, how did you get from childhood to here? Okay, what I would say is save the Billy Zachary story as an anecdote. But if you're just getting to know somebody that you're recruiting, we want to know like one little snapshot per act or two.

Okay.

You know, so singing show tunes with my mom, then getting embarrassed, you know, singing a show voice, you can tell. Very quick version. I used to sing like this. And then I got embarrassed. A kid named Billy Zachary told me that, like, Rachel's singing weird. And then I realized I had to take acting lessons or I wanted lessons. Then as I grew up doing it, I realized I, I wanted to pass that on. And I started teaching voice and acting lessons to kids.

Loved helping them get out of their comfort zone, providing the safe space, blah, blah. I did that. And then, of course, Covid hit. My husband lost his job, and that was hard. And then again, like, like with Corinne, like, what was the vulnerability of that moment? Like, you know, how did you feel? Was there fear? Was there uncertainty? What was it like in that moment? Because right now, Rachel and you, I think you and I have talked about this, is sometimes you have a very casual, humorous, light style, which is lovely. And it's entertaining and it's fun, but it. But it. But it can miss deep moments.

And I do this too sometimes. I use humor to skate over difficult things. I've had to work on this. And if it's just funny, then we miss the vulnerable moments. Like, if it's all funny, then it. Then it's. Then we never get to go to the, like, the tricky parts.

Yeah.

You know, I thought I was unemployable. Was that, like a real thought or is that a joke? Oh, no. Yeah, real thought.

Yeah.

So you can make a joke out of it. I thought I was unemployable. But then you can, like, sit in it and just be like, I have no resume. I have no leadership experience. I. I don't know what ROI means. Like, how the. Am I supposed to feed my children? Right.

Like, at a certain point, that's what we're dealing with here. When we're talking about losing a job, when we're talking about not knowing what comes next, it's not as simple as, like, what am I going to do? It's like, there's real fear. There's. There's real uncertainty when. When. When things aren't going well, especially once you have kids. Right. It's like, it gets really intense.

So I want to. I want to just maybe see you go there. The other thing with the show voice is like, yeah, Billy Zachary, that's a funny story. But, like, I'll just tell you, if that had happened to me, I would have been humiliated. Yeah, maybe you had more. Maybe you had more confidence and resilience as a child. I would have been humiliated if that happened to me.

Yeah, no, I laughed it off. I still thought, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

So. So a level of self, a level of self awareness to step outside yourself and go, honestly, I don't know why, but for some reason, I. It wasn't humiliating. I just knew that I needed voice lessons. And for whatever reason, the confidence my mom gave me. Because when I hear that and I. And you say, oh, I laughed it off. Like, until.

Until you tell me why you were able to laugh it off, I don't believe you. Because I go, I wouldn't have been able to laugh it off. So if you go, for whatever reason, the confidence my mother instilled in me, the. The loving family I was raised in, the doting parents I had, that gave me the confidence to. Instead of, like, being like, I'm never singing again, it allowed me to go home and say, hey, Mom, I want real act singing lessons. Right. Because that's amazing. That's incredible that you did that.

Like, I really feel like I never would have sung again if that had happened to me, you know? Yeah, that's.

That's a good.

It's really. That's unique. That's different. And so we want to know why. Then the voice lessons. Yeah. Then the losing of the job, and then the. And then the.

The unemployable. And then getting that job. And then again, it's about the. I thought I was unemployable is really beautiful because it's vulnerable. It's like Corinne saying I was jealous of people who had their. Together. It's. You got to think of your audience, too.

Like, a lot of these people are looking at you guys, and there's like, these are the leaders of our company. They are. They have it all together. You know, they. They're. They're just like totally functional adult human beings who never have any problems. They never question themselves. They never.

You know, they're just like. And then you say something like, I thought I was unemployable. And they're like, oh, wow. I guess Rachel's not just the perfect, most amazing, like, person. Like, she's got cracks or whatever. That's a beautiful thing we do when we tell stories, is humanize ourselves for the audience, especially if we're in a position of authority and we're talking to our direct reports, team members, whatever. To be vulnerable enough to say, I don't have everything figured out. I'm not perfect.

I don't, you know, like to say that. Not even beating it over the head, but just to say, I thought I was unemployable, that strikes me, and I'm like, wow. Someone as qualified and awesome as Rachel had that moment. Like, that's really cool and interesting. You know what I mean?

Yeah. No, thank you. And I think that those are definitely good, constructive criticism points. Yeah, I can weave in.

Yeah. And one thing, too. Just from a public speaking perspective and a storytelling perspective is very. Variety is interesting. Variety keeps people's attention. So if a story is only scary, and it's scary the whole time, but there's no moments of relaxation, then we stop watching. If a story is sad all the way through and there's no moments of lightness or. Or.

Or humor, we can't watch it because we just get sick of it. So for you, Rachel, knowing that your tendency is humor, you know, performance, which is great, it's very entertaining to watch. If you can Find moments of stillness, of calmness, of fear, of quiet, of, like, oh, I don't know what's going to happen next. It's going to be all the more powerful because it's contrasted from your. Your usual mode of fun, confident, witty, quick. You know, it's going to be like. Especially the people who know you. If you can find that in the middle of a story, they're going to be like, holy shit.

Yeah. Okay, this is different.

This is some. This is something new. It's beautiful. Both of you did really, really beautiful work. And you. You opened yourselves up and that's. That's ultimately, I think, what it's about is, like, let people into the scary parts and the childhood and everything, and you'll just notice the difference in your audience's engagement, in the feedback you get from talking to people or being on stage. And I will send you guys and anyone watching this, this ebook, and it'll just give you a lot more understanding of where do you use this? How do you use this? But I just say, like, anytime you're meeting someone for the first time, anytime you're giving a presentation, put it at the beginning of your presentation.

Quick version, short version. And then also start to tell it, bits and pieces of it in conversation to the people you see every day so that eventually they can tell it for you. They don't even need to hear it again. They go, oh, that's Rachel. She grew up in the middle of nowhere. Her parents were really loving. She grew up performing, singing. Billy Zachary yelled at her one time.

You know, like, literally, people will be able to do that.

Yeah, yeah. No, this is great. And I can definitely see that. You know, I'm. As you were just saying that Will and Corinne, like, how many times we're giving a presentation, right? And it's like, okay, well, here's Corinne. Corinne, tell us a little bit about yourself and then. And then get started. Or what do you do here? It's always, what do you do? So rather than, like, what do you do? I feel like something like this in a bridge version, of course.

Yeah. Short, very short version.

Just to kind of get people into. So I am sort of all about, this is. This is where I've been, and this is what I have.

The best way to start a presentation versus. Hi, my name is Will Greenblatt. I'm a speaker and a story coach. I've worked for Google, Erickson, Wayfair, Techstars. I've helped my clients raise over $350 million. You know, the fucking listing of Accomplishments.

It's just, okay, yeah, he's listening to that stuff. Yeah. And it's just like, cool. Very good.

Yeah, great. Cool, cool. But then if I get up there and I go, when I was seven years old, I became an actor, I auditioned for a movie, and all of a. And I got it, all of a sudden people are just like, whoa, I don't know where we're going. But this is a story, and human beings love story time. So here's another trick, and this is the final little tidbit I'll leave you with. Start your story with a time statement. Growing up, blah, blah, blah, when I was seven, blah, blah, blah.

In 1998, blah, blah, blah. When I started my business 20 years ago, blah, blah, blah. Right. Starting with a time statement in the past instantly signals to our brain, oh, it's story time. And then people are leaning in. And as long as you get to the point of the story, which is why I'm here today, you don't even have to say it out loud. But if you're just like, you know, Corinne, just sort of saying like, I grew up in Bucks County, I don't know how many people, you know that. And I had a wonderful family, wonderful friends, and I was voted most talkative in, in high school and.

But I was always jealous of people who just knew what they wanted to do for a living. I thought there was something wrong with me because I didn't know. But then as I went to journalism school and then left that, and then went into sales and events, I didn't realize it, but I was slowly building all the skills I needed to. When I lost my job in 2019, have reach out to my network, find David hall and get a job working for this weird, wacky organization where I get to bring all my seemingly disparate skills together and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, what a way to start a presentation. And then we just know something about you. We know your childhood, we know what matters to you, and we've got this snapshot of your life and we're paying attention and, and I, I just, I see it time and time again. You start your presentation with your three act origin story, even the shortest version, and it's got to be relevant, it's gotta be interesting.

But start it with that story, set up what you're gonna talk about in terms of what you say, and then you've got the audience's attention, they're on your side, they're rooting for you. They, they like you, they feel connected to you okay, I'm done. I know we're over time.

That's great. This has been fun. This is fun.

Yes. I'm sorry, it's. No, I'm used to working with, with one person over 90 minutes. So I was trying to balance the time and, and make sure I got to both of you.

So good nuggets on both of us. That'll be for a good podcast too, right, Rach?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I want to make sure we're going to put the ebook in so people can find you. And I just, I think this is really cool and I think a lot of people have never even thought about, you know, approaching something like this. It's totally foreign to them. But how unique and different and how, how much it can just connect people automatically.

So thank you. And important for sales people, which is who you're talking to. That's our audience. And this is super important for salespeople. Sales people are told, but sales people can really get some nuggets from this that'll help them in their conversations and communicating.

Yeah.

And most salespeople are told, don't make it about you, make it about the prospect. But if I'm your prospect and I don't know anything about you, I'm not going to trust you.

A balance. Yeah.

Just tell me a little bit about you something and you tell me a little bit about your childhood, a little bit about your values, a little bit about how you became a salesperson for this company and why you care about it and why you're here and not somewhere else. And all of a sudden I'm listening a little bit more and I feel like I know you a bit better. And then if it comes down to your product or another person's product and they're equal, but I have a relationship with you based on the story you told me and the way we opened up together and talked about our families and our childhoods or whatever, I'm going to choose you.

Yeah.

I love it.

I love it. Well, we're going to end it there, guys. Don't forget to like and subscribe to Lending Leadership. Thank you for joining us in this three part series and make sure to check out Will Greenblatt. We'll put his his ebook down below and we will catch you next time. Thanks, everybody.

Thank you, everyone.

Thanks for listening. Wow.

What a great series. Huge thank you to Will Greenblatt for helping us unpack the power of storytelling, why it matters, how structure it and how to actually use it in real life. And for anyone in sales and leadership. This is everything. Because people don't just buy our products, they buy you. And when you tell your story well and you create that connection, once people know, like and trust you, that's when the real business happens. So go back, listen to part one, part two, part three, and start sharing your story. That's how you stand out.

Thanks for. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time on Lending Leadership the Creative brief. Bye, guys.