Laura Stewart: Storyteller for businesses

Transcript 

00:00.60 Todd Hey everyone here I am here with my friend laura laura or lauren stewart laura laura Stewart I have known laura for a few months now. Thanks to the back room and the Steve roller community and we have.

00:06.51 Laura Laura yeah.

00:18.99 Todd Communicated before like done video calls a couple of times and she had me on her podcast actually guys I beg her to be on her podcast because her podcast is called barista talk and I’m like oh I want to talk about coffee. Please let me talk about coffee and she relented and let me come on. And so I was excited about that but laura is like me in that she’s a writer a copywriter and loves storytelling and actually if you listen to barista talk I was listening to 1 with her and her friend Taylor and that’s like all they did was tell stories when they were baristas and. There was 1 that stood out to me laura I actually looked up because I was doing some other things and I think it was taylor it might have been you told about a guy who was coming for a date he was gonna meet a girl for a date and he asked like what should I do and you know all this kind of stuff and whichever 1 it was. You were so sweet like you answered him. Oh do this do this and it turned out. He had a pretty good date and you you speculated whether or not they were married or not at this point but it was a really fun story and having gone to copy shops all my life. Well for years now I can tell you I’ve seen that over and over. Over the years you can tell somebody’s meeting somebody either for like a business or networking or if it’s a romantic deal. It’s kind of fun but that’s a brief to talk so I’m going to make sure we put that in the show notes so you can catch laura’s podcast but she’s like me and that she likes storytelling. And she’s a copywriter and so add something to that I don’t hope I didn’t take all the thunder away about who you are go tell us a little bit about yourself. Laura.

01:57.15 Laura Yeah I mean I I definitely am a storyteller copywriter I have a background in Multimedia so I’ve done video production photography tv production programming and so it’s fun because I can speak a ton of different languages with. Designers and photographers videographers. Um, and and be able to dialogue about it which is really interesting. So when I think about storytelling my brain goes to a visual story. Um, while I’m writing. And I think that really helps me find the words. Um, and I think it comes from that background in Multimedia and design which I am not a designer. Um you have to do it to know you’re not and so. I got to try a whole bunch of different things and realized the thing that comes easiest to me is interviewing and writing and I just love it. It’s it’s natural for me.

03:01.46 Todd Um, ah yeah I I feel that because I’m the same way now when I look at your bio and some of the things you say you used to be a barista and we’ll we’ll get into that in a minute because you know my love for baristes. And it also says you used to be a journalist can you tell us a little bit about the Journalist side.

03:21.80 Laura Yeah I did work as a journalist for a local newspaper and a magazine. Um, and I got into that actually because my degree is in Journalism with an advertising concentration. So I actually didn’t have true journalistic background or training I didn’t even know how to write an article when I started and I just googled like crazy and read so many articles to get idea of what what is the normal and. How do the pros do this? Um, and then I started college interviewing strangers because I was doing my own little passion project on the side and capturing stories of people around eugene where I went to school and that. Project I think that’s really what helped inspire me to want to continue doing interviewing um and it also got me into another project and eugene as a paid opportunity. Um, and and those stories help me get into true journalism. Um, and that job for me. Um, yeah, so that’s kind of how I got there journalistically and working as a journalist It’s super interesting because you’re meeting strangers all the time. You have to make them feel comfortable right away or else you get the 1 word answers or the yes no, you know? and and it’s just not a good quote. It’s not a good story. So the questions that I asked had to be very specific. Um. And broad at the same time so wise. What’s um, sometimes who just to get the details. Um, yeah, and and it’s enjoyable to me to hear their story and to hear their background get to know them and.

05:19.84 Todd And.

05:35.74 Laura I Think it truly you have to have a love of people or else. It doesn’t work if you’re not invested in who they are and their story. They can tell. Um, so if you don’t care. They’re not going to care.

05:53.62 Todd Um, and the passion.

05:54.34 Laura And I I think it all rounds back around that What was that.

05:59.46 Todd You you? what the passion project. You’re youre can you hear me? Okay, okay, the passion project. You’re talking about I think gets’s the 30 people in thirty days or something like that.

06:03.77 Laura Yeah, um.

06:13.33 Laura Oh yeah, yeah, so it was when it was during a leap year so February when they had 29 days so I did 29 days 29 stories twenty nine people

06:21.95 Todd Ah, yeah, now when you were doing journalism did you do Multimedia like video and and photography and that kind of thing or is that just kind of happening along the way.

06:38.60 Laura I did photography for the stories and then writing for it along with editing and some formatting in design. So a little bit was integrated.

06:50.29 Todd A. What were when you were doing Journalism was video something that you did or did you learn your video production elsewhere.

07:03.22 Laura I learned video through school. Um at university I didn’t really get to use it outside of that for journalism it was more of. Random side projects or school projects for video specifically and and some work for other companies those working for in the past so yeah that’s kind of my background and video I would say with video in particular I really enjoy storyboarding for it. So I can visually map out. Okay, we want this shot and then we want this shot and this is the transition.

07:50.69 Todd Oh.

07:54.40 Laura And then handing it off to an editor because editing is not my favorite. Um, so I I really enjoy creating what it should look like and then handing off to someone else who’s a specialist in that area.

07:59.39 Todd Um, yeah.

08:11.33 Todd Right? Yeah, okay now let’s let’s give some context for the listeners here. Um you grew up in Portland is that correct.

08:21.33 Laura Yeah, just round Portland come in the suburbs Portland organ.

08:27.60 Todd Yeah, and then you went to school in E Eugene that’s University Organ correct. Okay so you’re a duck.

08:31.79 Laura Yeah, correct.

08:38.82 Laura I’m a duck go ducks ducks for life work in luck and.

08:43.14 Todd You’re an organ duck. Yeah, okay then Clockck could quacking around. Okay and and you recently we just bound out move to oklahoma.

08:53.45 Laura Oklahoma I Know it’s a whole different world here from what I can tell yeah organ from or to okay.

08:58.30 Todd From 1 o state to another. Okay, yeah, yeah, youre yourre you’re staying married to the oh okay or the o states so states starts with. Oh.

09:11.69 Laura The O States I Know what’s next yeah, you know I’m not sure.

09:17.21 Todd I Don’t know how many more there are okay, let’s talk about your lovers. Let’s talk about your love of storytelling. Can you hear me? Okay, okay, yeah, it’s a little bit weird.

09:25.23 Laura Oh it kind of cut out there. You said I yeah yeah, it cut out there flip second but okay.

09:37.16 Todd Okay, to let’s talk about your love for storytelling.

09:39.45 Laura Um, yeah, so storytelling I think if we go way back to me as a kid my grandma and my mom would always read us stories.

09:51.69 Todd Oh.

09:57.50 Laura And that was our winding down to nap time moment and I loved it. It’s such a special memory to me. Um, and it’s evolved throughout the years but my.

10:00.58 Todd A.

10:15.20 Laura Journey through school. Um and middle school I started to write a little bit more and in the creative writing sphere my crave writing teacher was super generous as to the way she graded our papers.

10:27.31 Todd There.

10:34.77 Laura and stories um and I think that really allowed me the chance to grow as a writer because there were no limits or constraints other than a prompt and I loved that idea. Um, so. Truthfully I fell in love with writing in my middle school creative writing class and it evolved into high school. Oh Mrs cutler and I actually wrote her I think it was 2 years now on Facebook and said hey.

10:58.30 Todd Close your teacher’s name.

11:11.99 Laura Just so you know I’m a writer now and that’s partially because of how you taught me to write and allowed me to grow as writers. So thank you? Um, it’s always sweet. She did She did she said oh my goodness.

11:21.93 Todd Oh yeah, did she reply.

11:30.31 Laura Thank you so much. What are you up to these days where are you at? um and it was just so sweet to round back around the story I I think sometimes we forget who’s influenced our lives and really helped us get to where we are today. Um.

11:33.19 Todd And.

11:50.15 Laura And I think that’s essential for me because eventually I want to be able to do that for someone else to prepare them for their career or just help them out in life in general encourage them. So um, yeah, that was a really sweet moment for me. So. Storytelling writing really started in middle school for me as a writer and then evolved in high school and in college I actually started out as a digital arts major which gives me all the Multimedia background and.

12:24.53 Todd Here.

12:26.66 Laura All of that I thought I wanted to graduate and be a photographer full time. My brother-in-law and sister suggested well maybe if you’re gonna get a degree get something where you can make money. And you don’t need a degree to be a photographer. So let’s talk about maybe digital arts because it would encompass photography and a bunch of different things different types of Mediums. So that’s why I ended up starting out in that major um and then I quickly realized I didn’t want to be in that world I didn’t want to spend hours editing just 2 seconds of video or hours. Shifting a design slightly. The line is slightly off you know and I was getting so into the nitty-gritty of it that I would spend so long on these projects and I don’t think it was healthy for me. Um, and so I had to I had to take a step back that was my sophomore year I took a step back and thought okay what is it that I love about photography and can I integrate other parts of me that I also love into a major. And so I thought okay if I can do photography and writing together that would be ideal and it led me to advertising and journalism. So um, that’s how I landed in that major and I think all of the skills I learned at at. The university of Oregon really shaped my trajectory as ah as a professional and in my career now. Um I think you know we we learned how to tell a story for businesses in particular and how to tell it. And a very short concise manner that made sense to that business’s audience. Um, so it’s kind of fun because you know you go from the creative writing in middle school to Multimedia and college to.

14:40.35 Todd Right.

14:53.58 Laura How do you integrate multimedia in writing in a way that is helpful to a business in the world. Um, yeah.

15:00.14 Todd Yeah, that’s a unique skill being able to tell a company’s business in multiple different ways. So when you when you finished college you you went to work for the paper.

15:07.21 Laura Ah, home. Yeah.

15:15.27 Todd When did you transition to being a self-employed professional.

15:17.65 Laura Um, yeah, um, I actually started my business. My senior year of college and then I went full time my business this year so it’s been pretty recent. Um. That I shifted into that full time. Other than that I was part time or project here project there on the side. Um, which is really good. It’s just it doesn’t grow you quite like going full time There’s a lot more pressure and stress to. Perform and to get business. Um, but I don’t think it would happen if it were a part time gig on the side. There’s just no way there’s not that immediacy to it.

16:07.60 Todd Yeah, when you go full time. It kind of pushes you you know you have to learn different aspects of business that you’re not comfortable with that to kind of move forward. So I definitely understand that.

16:19.90 Laura Um, yeah, this.

16:22.69 Todd Now before we got on. We were tatting. You. You told me that the Chef’s table documentary on Netflix was something that kind of sparked. You know you already had this love for storytelling. You talked about you, you do it learn. Reading stories with your mother and your grandmother and your middle school writing in in the lab that your teacher allowed you to write stories basically which stressed you and help you grow as a writer somewhere along the way you know there’s ah, there’s a deeper understanding of your love for storytelling and. You know some of that I guess comes with that documentary on the Netflix the the chef’s table can you talk about that.

17:07.28 Laura Sure yeah I realized with watching this 1 story of a chef in particular. Um, so so I’ll back up and tell this story but the outcome I got from it was that storytelling can change. Someone’s life.

17:24.88 Todd Um.

17:26.15 Laura And it can change their career. So this particular chef he kind of was in a hole in the wall. What restaurant off a side street. So I think the way people discovered him were they were locals probably um. But this journalist was supposed to go interview the owner of a really well-known restaurant and I think his car broke down or something like that and so he decided okay well I’m going to grab some lunch so he walked into this restaurant and. So food was amazing and he was blown away by the presentation and so he thought ah well I’m here I might as well do a story. Um this um. And so the Journalist’s story allowed this restaurant to become super well known and to get on onto chef’s table as a show on netflix and the owner during the interview for the show said yeah this article. Totally changed everything for my business I don’t know how I would have grown outside of this. Um I don’t know how people would have heard of me and the power of the journalist in that moment I just realized oh my word I as a journalist at the time.

18:54.28 Todd Um, yeah.

18:55.43 Laura Had the power to change. Someone’s entire career path just based on the words and story I could tell about them.

19:04.30 Todd Um, yeah, that the the right Pr at the right time can make a huge difference is that something you feel like you do for businesses now.

19:10.33 Laura Um, who yeah.

19:18.74 Laura I think it’s a little bit different in some ways because journalistically you already have an audience that’s engaged with whether it’s your magazine or Newspaper or Radio. You already have listeners who are engaged. I think for businesses and advertising you’re trying to get their attention and their engagement. Um, and so in some ways writing a journalistic story is way easier because you already have the audience engaged and captured so when you share a story.

19:56.99 Todd A.

19:57.54 Laura The person’s story is is for sure going to be heard seen or read.

20:03.26 Todd Right? How do you help a business take advantage of that I mean can you tell me what it is that you do with storytelling for businesses.

20:14.95 Laura Um, yeah, so what I do is I try to weave in storytelling in whatever manner I am working in so for me copywriting.

20:27.83 Todd Yeah.

20:30.37 Laura It has to always do with the story whether that’s 3 words long 3 hundred words, whatever it may be so for website copy. Obviously every single word is is really paramount to the success of how you engage with people online. Um, so you have to be really careful as to what words you use? Um, and so for me I hope for a business I can weave in their story throughout. Whatever Avenue It is whether it’s social media copy.

20:52.52 Todd Um, and if.

21:06.14 Laura Or website copy or something else like an email. Um I hope to weave the same story throughout. So um I I say storytelling in the business and advertising sphere with what I’m doing right now and everything. But.

21:23.21 Todd Right.

21:26.80 Laura Yeah, and and you have to you have to tell a story Otherwise you’re not going to engage people and that’s the only way for me in advertising to be able to do that. There’s There’s a good visual for this I saw online um of legos And. Legos are all scrambled on a pile on the floor and then it goes to legos sort of in an arrangement and then legos um in a house and and I think the point of that was the house. 1 said this is.

22:04.17 Todd Um, yeah.

22:04.93 Laura Storytelling you know and then before that this is a visual but has no story. So it’s um, it’s all about a story and that’s how people remember you and that’s how ah your business gets attention. So yeah.

22:20.30 Todd Next a good visual I Ah I have used the Lego thing before with website copy. You know your your therere there your buildinging blocks right? You have oh here’s your unique value proposition here’s your pain points as you’re solving your your benefits your your.

22:26.62 Laura Um, you know.

22:38.63 Todd Creating all that and then you’re putting them together. You’re assembling them The old Eugene peters are eugene ah swartz quote about assembling copywriting is assembling and that’s kind of do you ever get push back from people about using storytelling or everybody’s like gung-ho.

22:40.39 Laura The eleven.

22:57.24 Todd To get you to use a story.

22:58.90 Laura Um, That’s a good question I’ve never had anyone say please don’t use a story to tell tell about my business um now length of copy Sure. There might be some adjustment there. Um. I’ve never had anyone say please don’t please don’t tell a story please don’t use that method.

23:20.42 Todd Yeah I mean businesses are I don’t really want to use the word obsess. But I think there’s a good word with ah Roi and I understand why I do don’t give me all ah 1 thing and that I’ve been chatting with some of my friends about is the r roi of customer service. Well.

23:28.80 Laura Yes.

23:39.69 Todd It’s hard to put an ah roi on customer service just like it’s hard to put an ah Ro on relationships and yet there they are crucial. Customer service is crucial if you don’t do it Well people will leave and not come back and you’re seeing ah right now I think a pandemic.

23:42.60 Laura The that you.

23:54.30 Laura Second.

23:59.61 Todd To use that. Ah I Guess a current term of customer service problems and it’s been going on for a while but it really just and now it’s kind of filtered down into retail and there’s different reasons for that you know supply chain and workers. You know, whatever the reasons are but I just don’t Think. Businesses have put a premium on customer service because they’re over there trying you know they look it as an expenditure you know and I think business storytelling is hard to put an Rl I mean I’m sure somebody can somewhere but it’s hard to put a a numerical.

24:23.93 Laura Fan.

24:32.11 Laura Yeah.

24:36.80 Todd Ah, Roi on using storytelling in your business but you’re absolutely right? It is ah it is I mean that’s why I have been happy to talk about things from you know, a couple of the leading experts in storytelling and data. Jennifer aker from Stanford and paul zack from Berkeley you know they talk about storytelling and and what it does for us and it does it creates engaging. But I think it’s crucial hub for things like customer service and. You know, loyalty and those kinds of things but I just feel like sometimes people are so obsessed with the numbers that they look at something like storytelling is unnecessary now. Maybe you haven’t had companies like that which is a good thing but I just wonder if you come across that.

25:26.69 Laura Um, actually that’s a really good point because I’ve thought about this with writing is my writing helpful is the question I ask is this. Going to improve this business’s bottom line because otherwise what’s the point in hiring me if it’s not helpful. Um, and I think it goes goes it has to go hand in hand with strategy and.

25:50.50 Todd No. Um, yeah.

26:02.58 Todd Um, yeah.

26:05.64 Laura I wouldn’t label myself as a strategist but that’s definitely a part of how my brain works with writing is okay where we want to position this business in ah and a good place and.

26:12.86 Todd And.

26:22.45 Laura How do we do that strategically without necessarily going into the marketing portion of that conversation. Um, yeah, and I it is it totally is it has to be um.

26:32.30 Todd Yeah, but I think it’s part of marketing.

26:40.83 Todd Yep.

26:40.87 Laura And I I do think it is hard to measure the success of copywriting because it has so much to do with how the business functions and follows follows up like you said with customer service. Um and a lot of times.

26:53.16 Todd That.

26:59.80 Laura When businesses are downsizing or doing not as well financially marketing is the first thing to go um, which is unfortunate because that’s how your business grows.

27:12.72 Todd Yeah, well in in every business has a message that they’re communicating and sometimes they just I mean I understand most businesses especially when you think about startup and tech those people are busy building the product and.

27:18.74 Laura Then.

27:31.85 Todd You know, vetting customers and those kinds of things and so sometimes getting the message that the right message at the right time is not always you know their thing which is why they need storytellers like us to come and help them with that.

27:42.89 Laura 3

27:46.33 Todd Um, and also you know I’ve been doing well I’ve done a couple of what I call messaging audits and they’re paid and you know I’m trying to take a robust look at the company if I can at least online I don’t really deal with the printed stuff. But. You know I realize everything has to do with the message that you’re telling everything even the privacy policy on your site or your if you have an accessibility notice those are things that copywriters usually they don’t talk about but you know I have I’m unique in the sense that I have 1 foot in the.

28:07.29 Laura And.

28:23.52 Todd Website development world and 1 foot in the copywriting world. So I can you know I think it’s uniquely allowed me to be able to assess things at a high level 30000 feet and and see but you realize that everything even the visual representation which you know about because you have.

28:32.66 Laura Um, and.

28:43.16 Todd Ah, visual rep background even that has to do with what you’re communicating so it really is best and I understand ah what the way a business evolves. It’s not always possible to do that at the beginning I get that but it really is best to build that core message and.

28:46.33 Laura Fair.

29:01.48 Todd Go out from there and you’re basically what I say defining and defining and telling a story right.

29:06.42 Laura Um, yeah, yeah I do find if businesses don’t have that strategy in place meaning they don’t know their why or their audience. It’s really difficult to.

29:18.20 Todd Um, yeah.

29:24.89 Laura Start with a copywriter or a designer saying hey can you create this website this logo I mean they totally can. But if it’s not in line with your strategy or the story you’re trying to tell or reach the audience that you’re trying to reach then it’s It’s really, it’s not pointless.

29:28.88 Todd Um, yeah, sure. Yeah.

29:44.26 Laura But it almost is pointless. Yeah yeah, it takes a lot of work to get your story nailed as a business and it can evolve and it can change but to really find.

29:47.79 Todd Yeah, agreed.

30:04.50 Laura Ah, niche with a really targeted audience I Just think it takes a lot of thought.

30:13.90 Todd What do you want businesses. Ah to know about storytelling.

30:13.78 Laura Specific.

30:19.58 Laura Um, it takes time it takes time I and it and it’s valuable I think those are time invaluable. Um. Which probably goes hand in hand because time is valuable time is money as they say um, but to be patient with the process as a business owner um to see the ah roi. It might take a couple of months or you may never see it because. You may not get a customer who can nail. The reason why they went with you or the reason why they bought your product they they don’t necessarily have the language to identify yes I bought your product because I loved the words on the packaging. You know it.

31:09.95 Todd Um, now it.

31:12.85 Laura They just may not know and so as a storyteller I just have to say be patient and also just understand it is valuable what you’re investing in it will help you? Um, yeah.

31:23.71 Todd Yeah, the roi as far as like taking time is I look at it similar to s using seo seo is and you know all most Seo experts will say you’re not gonna find this is not gonna pay off in the first month so you have to wait you could you know 6 day.

31:38.34 Laura The.

31:42.57 Todd Twelve months sometimes are as few as 3 but usually, you have to wait a while for I think storytelling is the same way. You know I watched peacock a lot on the peacock app and I’ve been watching a show called covert affairs which is film the early part of the decade last decade.

31:49.60 Laura Smith.

32:01.95 Todd Like 2010 really fun show and you get these commercials usually 30 to sixty-minute segments and they almost all the same ones every time so you know you see the same commercial like you know throughout. But there’s 1 that started popping up the other day and it was for a mattress company. I think they called themselves avocado which avocado stands out because having mattress companies are called avocado and it’s also green and so they kind of build themselves as a green company you know sustainable that kind of thing but the commercial was really good.

32:36.19 Laura So.

32:37.64 Todd Um, they show the facility in l they said that they were you know they made these mattresses in l they show some of the workers and as 1 gentleman says I really am proud to be a part of this company and I thought.

32:51.45 Laura Wow.

32:55.58 Todd That’s a really good memorable commercial. You know I mean I do like to state farm commercials because I want to hang out with Jake from State farm he’d be good on the good I should get him on the storyteller podcast. But um, you know the guy plays Jake from State farm I like those commercials I like him.

32:57.28 Laura Then.

33:13.12 Todd But those are all little stories. They’re all little stories, right? Everything’s a little story insurance. Companies are very good about doing storytelling in their commercials. My other favorite 1 is LiMu Emu and Doug.

33:14.77 Laura The first. They really are.

33:29.49 Laura Ah, ah yep I mean this funny and the Gecko from Geico but.

33:30.69 Todd I Love to Lee movie and ebook.

33:37.63 Todd Yeah, yeah, the little Gecko Yeah, they all do it. They do it really? well.

33:42.58 Laura Yep, it’s all a story.. It’s all a story even the the ads for a super bowl. It’s so much money these companies invest in such a short amount of time. But huge exposure for an audience and the ones that are the most vulnerable are usually the most outlandish or the most heartwarming. Ah.

34:03.35 Todd Um, yes, exactly yeah and Ken in you know the book I showing you before we went on Kindra Kindra Hall stories at 6 She talks about that and 1 of the chapters and see if I can find it real quick. Is hilarious. It’s like I don’t think I can find it real quick but it’s really good.. It’s like what beats. Ah, you know what commercial beats anything hands down and you know it’s about it’s basically heart heartwarming Commercials Wins every time.

34:22.40 Laura I.

34:34.11 Laura Are with you.

34:37.86 Todd But that it goes you show you a company with a lot of money to spend on advertising will invest in a storytelling type commercial that tells you it works.

34:44.44 Laura Um, yeah, they see the value in it. Yeah yeah, that was interesting talking about the positive spin on ads. Um they found psychologically that. What sticks the most for Journalistic stories are those that are a little bit more traumatic or those that are positive and so from a psychological standpoint. Um, obviously as a business you don’t.

35:12.66 Todd Then.

35:20.61 Laura Want to cause trauma to your audience or customers and so spinning your story in a really positive way will actually stick in your customers’ minds longer. Um, so I just find it fascinating. Of course, I Love talking about psychology as well. So.

35:21.99 Todd Um, and yeah.

35:40.85 Laura It’s all about people and humans and interactions. So.

35:42.34 Todd You know psychology is really just learning the why of what we do. That’s really what it is. Um I mean it’s not to say that we don’t do any. There’s not any science to it I’m not saying that at all. But when you really step back and look at it from 30000 feet

35:47.77 Laura And.

36:01.85 Todd You know I had a GenPsych class and always like I’m not a psychologist I don’t want to go there, people. Oh, I Love psychology. Well good for you. Glad you love when you step back and think about it I mean it’s what social sciences are it’s it’s studying why we do what we do? That’s what psychology is That’s what social science is so.

36:13.97 Laura Um, yeah.

36:21.31 Todd Amy Ferafaer That’s what she does in the Big Bang theory.

36:23.76 Laura But yeah, oh I Love that show. It’s a good show. Oh, that’s fun. Yeah, why.

36:30.56 Todd So let me let me close with a couple of questions First if you’re a business owner listening to this podcast. You know Ah maybe I should use some storytelling. What would you tell them about getting started and telling their story for their business? And then I’ll ask a second question when you’re done with that.

36:52.10 Laura As far as gain started with that before.

36:54.36 Todd Yeah, getting started with storytelling if they’re listening to you now and we’re talking about storytelling. So maybe I should do some storytelling. What would you tell them to do first to get started in storytelling.

37:09.33 Laura Oo yeah, good question. Um, well if you don’t feel confident in it as a business owner since you’re wearing 10000 hats already and you don’t necessarily feel like that is your niche or ability. Um, hire someone. Find someone who is the expert. It’s well worth your time and investment. You’ll get it back 10 fold. Um, but if you want to do a di y sort of path. Um I Always recommend trying it out and asking yourself the hard questions of what is my business. Why am I here who am I serving and why um those are the questions I ask anyways and if you can answer those in a very concise manner and tell that very well you’ll do well as a business I think. Um, once you get your message out there. So yeah, if you decide to do a Diy path or hire an expert I Just think it’s well worth your Time. Um and money to do that and again I Just think you’ll get back. Whatever you put into it. And then some so it’s again, Well worth your time as a business owner. Um, and if you’re if you’re looking for tips as to how to tell your story I would say Journalistically I start out with the present go to the past and then go the Future. So talk about where you’re at now as a business talk about how you got there and then where you’re going so people can get on board with it.

38:43.98 Todd Um, ah, good tip and the final question for you if somebody wants to learn more about Laura Stewart and. Your business your brand where can they find you.

39:03.64 Laura Mm yeah, um, you can go to buy laura stewart b y l a u r a s t e w r t dot com or split sparkk dot com that’s s p l I t s p a r k dot com. Um, both of them route to the same website and you can see some of my work there you can get in contact with me via the form there which will go to my email. Um or you can call me both ways I will answer and we can talk about coffee. We can talk about life. Could talk about Oklahoma & Oregon. So many things travel most days I answer unless I’m moving. Yeah let’s a moving.

39:41.60 Todd Most stage most stage you answer most stage. Yeah, unless you’re moving. Yeah I Hope Yeah well I hope I don’t move too much more in my life. But I know that’s pretty. Can be pretty traumatic sometimes.

40:02.80 Laura Yeah, it’s definitely a venture. You know I always have to shift my mindset from oh this went wrong or that went wrong too. Okay, well, that’s just the learning lesson or although I guess things are done a little differently here. Okay, that’s fine. But.

40:19.00 Todd Yeah, and you chose to move across the country. So that’s that’s a little bit more traumatic than just moving I move from 1 state to another 1 time. So.

40:21.10 Laura You know.

40:28.80 Laura Um, yeah I um actually moved to Massachusetts for part of high school as well. So I’ve done a crazy move once before it was a little different because I had other people my family moved with me.

40:36.85 Todd Um, oh.

40:47.39 Laura This time It’s just me so you know it’s an adventure. But yeah, thanks, thanks for inviting me on this podcast I Love talking about storytelling I know we didn’t talk much about coffee which is till I good I Love coffee and I think.

40:47.42 Todd Um, yeah, indeed.

41:06.56 Laura It’s fun to just gather around um and talk with each other around a cup of coffee.

41:09.53 Todd maybe, maybe 1 day you and I will sit down at a table and have a cup of coffee together.

41:18.19 Laura I Think that’s the proper way to do this.