August 4, 2025 • 38 mins
Your most powerful business asset isn’t your product—it’s your story. In this episode, filmmaker and storytelling coach Ryan Koral shares why authentic stories build trust, how to overcome fear in sharing them, and why showing up as yourself is your biggest differentiator in a world of AI-generated content.
Where to Find Ryan:
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LinkedIn: Ryan Koral on LinkedIn
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Website: Tell Studios
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Join the Cohort: tellstudios.com/cohort
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Free Video Ideas Download: tellstudios.com/videoideas
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Email: ryan@tellstudios.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:01):
Ang, hello, everybody. I am Angie Callen, and this is
no more Mondays. Good Mondaymorning. This is the podcast
where we believe you can have athriving career or business and
an amazing life on your terms.And I bring you people who are
walking that walk and talkingthat talk with amazing stories,
strategies and tools to help youlive and work more
(00:22):
authentically. Speaking ofstories, today's guest, Ryan
quarrel is the founder of tellstudios and enroll films. He is
a guy who has built his entirecareer around helping people
tell stories that matter. Buthere's the thing, this isn't
going to be another conversationabout how to create content and
how to make a video, becausewe've talked about that a lot,
Lady lately, today, we'redigging in to a much deeper
(00:46):
topic around stories, and thatis the why behind them and why
it is so important for us totell them. Ryan believes that
people connect with people, notbrands, and I wholeheartedly
agree and that telling yourstory might be the most
courageous and impactful thingyou ever do as a leader, as an
entrepreneur and as a human onthis planet? Why are we so
(01:06):
hesitant to share the truthbehind our work and find out
what happens when we do but mostimportantly, how do you tell a
story that doesn't just tell,doesn't doesn't just sell, but
says something meaningful? We'regetting into the good stuff.
Ryan Cora, welcome to no moreMondays. Angie, thanks for
having me super pumped to behere with you. I love this, so
(01:27):
I've got to give everybody thebackstory. I think Ryan, you are
the bookend of all the things. Ithink you're the last one in the
series of interviews that camefrom the thing. And everybody
that listens regularly now knowsall about the thing, and so it's
always really fun to have aconversation with somebody that
you got to spend a weekend withat a conference, get to know I
(01:49):
got to be teaser on Ryan'spodcast, and so I'm excited to
flip the script and and chatabout why stories are so
important, so welcome. Thankyou. And funny enough, after our
time together. I'm interviewingPhil mercen for my show after
this. So I've done the speaker,you know, just hit them all. So
(02:09):
it's great. One big, happyfamily.
I love it. So you you saidsomething, and as I was like
researching how you talk aboutstories, and even how I've heard
you talk about stories inperson, I really love the people
part, and I have a hashtag onLinkedIn called humans still
matter. So that should just tellyou how much I think. I think it
is very true that people connectwith people and not brands. I
(02:32):
want you to tell me more aboutyour perspective on that.
Well, I mean this, we're in suchan interesting time. I just
posted something on my LinkedIntoday. I was in Google, messing
around with VO, I think is howyou pronounce it, and I just
made, I made two video clips andinsane, like, you know, I gave
it this prompt, and it made itnow. It talks, right? These AI
(02:54):
generated videos. They talk andoh my gosh. And just I shared
them with my wife, and she'slike, Wait, those people aren't
real. It is wild. I think Jimshowed me one of these a few
days ago. And I mean, they even,like, they even intentionally
put slip ups and, um, yes,unlike a guy dropped his phone
into a cup of coffee in thevideo to make it look
(03:15):
legitimate. And it was like,this is a little bit scary,
yeah, yeah. So, you know,
we're, we're in this space wherepeople are probably feeling
like, oh, gosh, I don't have toshow up now I can, you know, we
can. We don't even have to hirea production company. We don't
need tell studios. We can justmake up, you know, all the video
(03:36):
content that we need. I thinkwe're, we're a ways away from
that definitely, you know, withall of
the opportunities to create, AI,generate stuff, it's really
cool, and there's definitely ause for it. I think when, when
we start thinking about thekinds of
(03:58):
products, services that we need,we are drawn to connection. And
if we don't feel connected to abrand, there's a lot less
likely, lot less likely of achance that we're going to work
with that, that company, if itcan feel human, if it can feel
(04:20):
real authentic. You know, we buythrough emotion, and we justify
the decisions to buy throughlogic. And so, like, if you can
tug at somebody's heart strings,then you are winning. You're
going to get people to lean inand to care and to want to know.
(04:40):
And then, if you're looking atCompany A versus Company B, and
Company A made them feelsomething they're they're going
to want to work with company Aand company A might be more
expensive, but people are goingto justify that because they
feel this connection. They wantto support that worker. They
want to be aligned with thatthat business. So, you know.
With all of the AI generatedstuff, it's like so much more
(05:05):
important today for us to beshowing up like our real selves.
The competition is going tocontinue to become more and more
soulless, even though it's goingto look and sound and might even
feel kind of real, but as soonas you realize that it's not
real, there goes the trustfactor, you know, and that's the
(05:28):
thing, like, what is it like?Know, like and trust, you know,
if we can get people to know ushealthy, right, they're gonna
weigh they're gonna want to workwith us, and that whole trust
factor, you know? So I'm gonnamake content, and I'm gonna say,
Hey, this is not like, this isthis is fake, you guys. But
like, like, can you believe itto to exchange that for this,
(05:51):
this ability, especially, like,you know, if you're a coach or
you have a service basedbusiness, and people are
actually going to be interactingwith other people from your
company, why wouldn't you wantto introduce your company, your
people, yourself, to the peoplethat you might be working with,
like that's where trueconnection begins, and to just
carry that through, you know,
(06:14):
inviting people into your story,into your Why? Why you care
about this work, why you careabout this thing, why you care
about your clients, why you careabout the results that you're
able to bring them. Those arethe things in my mind that
really are going to make adifference, especially in these
days where
you don't know what you'rewatching. Is this real?
And yeah, so, and I thinkthere's the punch line, and I
(06:37):
love where you took us, becauseI think the people connect with
people is more important nowthan ever. I feel like I can
actually, instead of humansstill matter, it can say humans
mattered more now. And I thinkwhat's going to happen is, and
I've actually even seen italready, the gravitation towards
something that is clearly human,or clearly created by a human,
(06:57):
over something that could havebeen or clearly was robotically
generated, and I think that thatseparation is going to become
clearer, clearer, clearer. Andwhat I think is so interesting
is this, this goes into the ideathat story Trumps production and
and I'm curious when you,because you, I mean, you've been
doing this way before AI wasaround, or at least accessible
(07:19):
to anyone outside of the medicalfield. And so I'm curious when
you really first realized thatit was the story, not the
production, that was really theasset. Yeah, probably at the
very well, I don't know if atthe very beginning I've, you
know, I've gone through phasesin my work, but probably in the
last I've been doing thisprofessionally for 20 years,
(07:40):
running my video productionbusiness for 20 years, and when
I started, the productionquality was not good. And so I
every time people, yeah, yeah,exactly. And
every time we book a job, I tryto buy another piece of
equipment that would make itlook more professional. And and
then, and then, you know, 2010or so. As cell phones, the
(08:02):
quality got better and betterfor shooting photo and video.
More and more people wereproducing content. There's more
and more, a lot more forgivenessfor stuff that looked bad and
that was frustrating as acreative, as somebody who's
trying to light everything tomake it look so good and feel
cinematic to whereas today it'slike it doesn't, there was a
time and place for that.Obviously, I still care about
(08:25):
it, because I look pretty goodright now. I mean, yeah, you do.
Your
background is I'm jealous.There's a little jealousy there.
But when, when it comes to like,I know what builds trust, and
it's the it's the realness, it'sthe rawness, it's the showing
up, not having all of your stufftogether when we're doing
testimonials. Now, I'm tellingclients like, hey, if we're
(08:48):
going to be at a big conferenceand you're going to have all
your big people there, that's agreat time to get amazing sound
bites, feedback, all this stuff,some of that we can light and
have it look like this. Butthen, you know, we should, we
should also just get some stuff,like little shaky camera, you
know, not the best. Let's standby a window instead of, like,
having a three point lightingthing, like, let's make it feel
(09:08):
like we're working with anorganization right now where the
video that we're creating is isfor high school students. And
I'm like, we're definitelyshooting this vertically, and it
probably should feel like it wasshot on an iPhone. It doesn't
have to be shot on an iPhonenecessarily, but it needs to
have that realness to it, tobuild that trust with our ideal
(09:30):
audience there. So my desire forperfectionism in the way that we
shoot and everything to look andfeel a certain way it's like,
man. It doesn't. It doesn't needto be like it used to be. It
shouldn't be well. And I thinkwhat's interesting there is,
again, it goes back to the storybeing the asset, and the
production could get in the wayof telling that story or having
(09:52):
that story connect with thepeople that you want to connect
to, if you're not careful basedon kind of how people currently
consume or perceive.
Of information. Yeah, well, youknow, if we just look at what's
happened the last, well, I don'tknow, 1000s of years, story is
the thing that people are drawnto, whether it's around a
campfire or it's, you know, froma stage or, you know, wherever,
(10:17):
but that's, that's the thingthat we just crave. That's why
people binge shows is because,like, the story is story just
it's how it's also how weremember things, right? Yeah, I
always say there's a reasonJesus taught in fables, right?
There's a there's, like, alittle bit of a show not tell,
and a little bit of aninterpretation, and then there's
the ability to remember thestory instead of necessarily the
(10:39):
ending. Yeah, well, and so toyour point there, when you talk
about stories, like when youshare your perspective or your
experience or your journey, thatsticks with people. So if you're
not telling your story, you'renot sticking,
you know, and there's thingssticky is important in this
(11:00):
mark, in this current market,and all the distractions that
keep people from sticking 100% Ithink about Harmon brothers. I
don't know if you know these,this production team, but
they're the ones who made, like,Squatty Potty Oh, yeah. Oh,
that's good old Shark Tankstuff, right there? Yeah. So,
like, hilarious, like, thosecommercials are unforgettable,
right? And there's no storythere. It's just production.
(11:22):
It's like this amazing scriptand hilarious, whatever. So
people remember that. But thenwhen you are the brand, or
you're a key piece of who yourbrand is, if you're not sharing
your story and telling yourstory and creating connection
and showing up and lettingpeople know that you're, you are
a real person. You're a realbusiness owner. You're you're
somebody who cares. That's thething that's going to help them
(11:46):
differentiate between the othercompany, the other coach, the
other brand, whatever thatdoesn't they're not sharing
their story. It's like, oh man,well, I feel really more aligned
and connected over here. So whoam I going to work with? You're
going to work with the peoplethat you remember. And if you
look and sound like everybodyelse, or you don't show up
online like everybody else, thenyou're not going to be
(12:07):
remembered, and it's just goingto be harder and harder. You're
making it harder to get hiredand to be able to, you know,
build something that issustainable and that is
truer more in knowledge andservice based, not like IP based
business, even then products,yeah, but to go back to
something you said at thebeginning, you know, there's the
perfect poster child for theemotional sale, the selling
(12:30):
emotionally, even if the productis more expensive and maybe not
the prevailing technology. Youprobably have it in your hand,
people, you might be listeningto us on it right now, and it's
a little thing called Apple,right? They nailed the emotion
of what a phone can do, not thetechnology that you'd be having
in your hand. And that's thepower of stories. And so now is
(12:51):
the perfect time to understandwhat you see is holding people
back, right? What? Why? Why arewe so scared to tell our
stories, own this voice? Why isit so hard to get into this kind
of narrative base and you'resmiling, which means I hit
something? So tell us, yeah,it's just, it's probably it's
become one of my biggestfrustrations. And here's the
(13:13):
thing, I have not always feltlike this when I started my my
business,
the the
the old name, or whatever. OurLLC is epic creative group. And
I chose the word epic becauseI'm like, man, we all have these
like, epic lives. We don't thinkof our lives being epic. You
know, you talk to most people,it's like, no, it's just like
(13:35):
whatever, normal life orwhatever. But my thing was,
like, Man, I want to help peopletell their story and help them.
Believe that they have somethingto offer that can help somebody
else. And I believe that we alldo our journeys. Have wherever
we've come from, we've learned,we've taken away, we've survived
this long. We have something tooffer to somebody else to help
(13:56):
them. And so that's kind of beenmy mission. But as I've, as
I've, as the turntables haveturned and I've, I've wanted to
do more than just be behind thecamera and help people tell
their story. I'm like, Man, Iwant to help people empower them
to be telling their storywithout me. And as I've been
doing that more and more andtalking like, Dude, you just
(14:17):
need to show up like, you know,just grab your phone, shoot the
video. Forget about the lightingor whatever. People need to hear
this. This is really, reallyimportant. Stop putting this
off. It's become really easy forme to say that, but then when I
look at my own story and my ownpassion and all this stuff, I'm
like, well, there are a lot ofpeople out there doing this way
better than I am, so I'm notgoing to get out there and do
(14:39):
this like I'll let the otherpeople. And so I've just
realized, like, oh my gosh, Ifell into this trap that the
comparison trap, yeah,comparison trap, in, in, in,
just don't share. Because, youknow what somebody else has,
they've got a YouTube channel,they've got a million subs. I'm
not even gonna like, I do notwant to compete with it. I'm
going to be.
(15:00):
Embarrassed. I'm going to getlike, 17 subs in, you know, 100
people, maybe at most, mightwatch my videos. My mom hitting
refresh until it gets to 100 orthat's me.
So I believe so much more.There's this saying that I say,
is that what that's what you do,is saying, that's okay, that's
(15:23):
great. Just kidding, she got itright. Your your mission is more
important than your mug. And I,I've kind of expanded that your
mission, your ministry, yourmessage, is more important than
your mug, whatever you you know,I don't like how I look on
camera. I don't like how Isound. I'm, you know, compare.
(15:44):
I'm not as good as you know, soand so whatever, it doesn't
matter. Like the thing that youcare about, the why behind your
business, and why you do yourbusiness, and how you help
people, that's the mostimportant thing, right? The
thing that like how you arehelping transform people's lives
that is beautiful and amazing,and don't, don't get in the way
(16:10):
of that. In the way that we getin the way of that, well, lots
of ways, way that we get in theway is, is by, by not showing up
and not believing that, that webelieve that we can help, but
it's not gonna, you know, if Ishow up on video, like, what's
that? That's just gonna, I'mgonna be embarrassed, and it's
just, you know, not gonna getthe views, and it's gonna live
(16:31):
there forever, and that'sembarrassing, and whatever. Or,
like, a year from now, I'mprobably not gonna think the
same, like my i i evolve and thethings I think about. So if I
say this and take a stance, ayear from now, people are gonna
say like, well, you'recontradicting yourself, because
you used to say that it's like,get out of the way. If you want
to help as many people, if youreally believe that what you
offer can be helpful, then thebest thing you can do is to show
(16:55):
up for your people and to shareyour story, your passion, your
why, to give them insights, tohelp them along,
you know, for free, or whateveryou want to call it, on social,
until they're ready, until thetrust is there, or it's the
right time for them to reach outand say, Hey, I would love to
actually work together with you.This, this I've been listening
(17:15):
to for a long time. I hadsomebody reach out to me on
today on LinkedIn, and he said,Dude, I met you in Austin at
this event that we were at, Idon't even know 1214, years ago.
He's like, I've been listeningto you for forever. That's
sticky, baby. Yeah, and I'm sosorry. I should have reached out
sooner. I said, bro, you know,don't worry about it. I'm still
alive, so you didn't, you knowyou're not too late. Didn't miss
(17:38):
vote. He's just Yeah, but he wasasking me about this cohort that
I'm doing. He was like, man,like my wife and I were
listening to you. You re sharedthis thing, that this wasn't
your own content, but the thingsthat you're sharing are so
helpful, insightful. And I justwanted to say thank you. So
that's like, if I'm not showingup, I'm not helping. And you
know, so just come back to thisthing, like your your your
(17:59):
message is more important thanall of the excuses that you're
going to come up with. I don'thave the technology. Yeah, you
do, because your phone canprobably definitely, you don't
have a light. Well, if you have,there's a thing called the sun.
Yeah, yeah. So it doesn't haveto be perfect. And that's, I
think, what people crave and canrelate with more. And I probably
got a minute my own way, becauseI've, I've tried so hard to make
(18:23):
everything look so good that forsome people, it's like, oh gosh,
my stuff's never gonna look asgood as Ryan's. It's like, well,
it doesn't have to be like, getthat's been my excuse, and now
I'm fully embracing this thing.No, no. I gotta stop hiding
behind the camera or behind mycomputer and start showing up so
I can help more people and servemore people.
I think there's a reallyinteresting way to bring several
(18:46):
little things we've talked abouttogether. Is that, you know,
people connect with peoplebefore they connect with
anything else. And and the andthe people to people, connection
will be the stickiest ever.Yeah. But I also think what's
interesting is we talk aboutthis. Why? Or the the mission,
your ministry, the message,however you your purpose. You
know, however it feels sticky asto you to define that to
(19:08):
yourself, you have to be reallyconnected to that in order to
then go have people connect withit. And if you're really rooted
in that, now, you just got toget over yourself and take
action in order to get outthere. But I want to go
somewhere, a slight tangent, andtalk to people out there who
might not know the why yet.Yeah, so how do you kind of so
(19:28):
the vulnerability is one thing,and that's a little bit of Get
over yourself, stop comparing,stop using excuses. But if
you're not even to that pointyet, and you you feel like you
may have something, but youhaven't necessarily identified
the story or the why? What aresome little tips in that you may
have in identifying it?
(19:48):
Yeah, that's really good. I wastaking notes. As you said that
if you're if you're reallyconnected with your why, it
becomes a lot easier. Yeah,right. But if you're just kind
of like, Wait, why do I do am I.
Making an impact.
So I think asking the peoplethat you're working for or with
(20:08):
how you might be helping them,you know, a lot of us were
either humble or fake humble orwhatever, like, we know we're
supposed to be humble. So wedon't, you know, we don't want
to gloat and say, like, oh, youknow, you know, people make X
amount of dollars, or, you know,whatever, there's just like this
ickiness that I've had to kindof overcome and just say, like,
no, I need to really find outwhat are some of those real data
(20:31):
points? Because, like I said,people will buy because of
emotion, but they're going tojustify through logic, and so
they need some of those stats.Or what's the ROI on this? Or
how many people have you helped,or how long you've been in
business, or whatever thosethings are. So
asking the people that you'vebeen working with, how have I
helped you? Have I helped you?Question mark, and if people say
(20:53):
no, then it's like, okay, well,that's probably why they haven't
hired me. But if you've got morethan once, yeah, go get some
evidence. Get some get, youknow, have other people help you
figure out how you've helpedthem, and that can help you see,
like, oh, okay, so I am servinga purpose.
And then, and then, you know, Ithink just being able to
(21:14):
articulate, like, why do you dothe work that you do? Like, what
do you love about it? Oh, man, Ilove when, when I get an email
back from a client that justsays, like, this video was the
whole experience was amazing.Your team was super fun to work
with. And you know, we've gotall these people have seen the
video. People have signed up toour program or whatever. Thank
(21:34):
you. I'm like, okay, all right,this feels good. I feel like I'm
serving a purpose. So, you know,getting those receipts and
really understanding why do youdo
sometimes, if we dig deepenough, we might realize, like,
I don't really like my why Idon't in why am I doing this
work I should be doing?
(21:56):
So that could, that couldactually happen, but that can be
okay, because if you're notsupposed to be doing that work.
Get to doing the work thatyou're supposed to be doing.
Yeah. Now you at least have you,you have the awareness, and
that's where some of this isalso now, now you've created
vulnerability for yourself, oflike, okay, maybe I'm not
telling the story because Idon't, I'm not connected with
it, I or I don't like the storythat I have to tell. You also
(22:16):
have the power to kind of changethat a little bit. Yeah, yeah. I
also think, you know, I'm inthis video production space, and
I'm friends with so many otherfilmmakers and video businesses
all throughout, just all overthe world, and there's this,
there can be this fear of like,Oh, I'm going to
(22:39):
take their business, or they'regoing to take business for me.
And I think at the end of theday, like I'm not for everyone,
like, you know, my personality,some people love it, and other
people are, like, annoyed by it.I don't want to work with people
that are annoyed by mypersonality, because it's just
not, it's just going to not feelgood for anybody. And so just
knowing that you're not foreverybody, and if you show up
(23:00):
and you're vulnerable. You shareyour story. Know that some
people are gonna be like, it's apass, it's a no. You just save
yourself a 20 minute discoverycall. You just save yourself. In
our case, sometimes it's weeksand weeks of working together
with a client. You just savedyourself all this, like, stress
that you just didn't need tohave because, because you showed
up and you you shared what youcare about, and you shared your
(23:21):
why, and you share you know, howyou help and and you were
actually a little bit goofy andkind of sarcastic, and you
weren't afraid to be yourself,like, that's me when I when I've
done that in the past, I've hadpeople say, like, dude, like, if
you can do that for our brand,we're going to win. And then
I've had plenty of people thathaven't hired us because they're
like, that's not their gym. Andthis is why we get along,
because I'm not everybody'sflavor, because I take
(23:43):
everybody, I take everyoneelse's world very seriously. I
just don't take myself thatseriously, because we only got
this one life, and I'd like toget out alive
with you. You know, you saidsomething a minute ago that hit,
and it was the, you know, wehave this feeling like or we
feel like we're supposed to behumble, we can't brag
(24:05):
and and I started putting somedots together in this, in this
idea that it's, it's differentto be confident and humble
versus egotistical, there's athere's a huge space in between
there. But I think what a lot oftimes we end up doing to
ourselves and this, this comesright back to why we may not
tell our story, is then we turnI can't be confident and humble,
(24:25):
or the assumption that we can'twithout being egotistical, into
therefore I must play small.Yeah,
and so therefore now we feellike we don't have a story to
tell, right? That's why the workthat I've gotten to do for the
last 20 years has been sofulfilling. Because as people
are like, you know, some aremore hesitant than others. Of
(24:48):
like, Yeah, I know we should betelling our story. I don't know
what our story, you know, it'swe're just doing the same thing
that everybody else is doing.But okay, yeah, somebody told us
we need to tell our story. Yeah.
To be able to pull the thingsout, the things that to
everybody else. It just is like,this is just what we do. You
know, this is normal. It's like,it's not normal when you just
(25:10):
explain how you started and whyyou started in the challenges
that you went through, but youkept pushing through like most
people would have given up, likepeople wouldn't have gotten this
far, like, it's amazing whatyou've come through that so to
have somebody pulling that out,that's why, you know,
consultants and coaches andstrategists and all that,
they're so great to to inviteinto your space. So you can
(25:34):
start to see, like, Huh, okay,yeah, I guess we'll do these
brand videos and give them to aclient, and they'll they'll be
like, Wow, I actually soundlike, I know what I'm talking
about. And they wouldn't createthat on their own, because it
does feel like, Yeah, I'mbragging, or I'm overconfident
or whatever, but we help them
(25:55):
come from a place of like, Hey,you don't have it all figured
out, but you have figured somethings out, and you're figuring
things out and you're failingforward. So in that spirit, tell
me, like, what's what's beenworking what would you say is,
like, one of the keys to yoursuccess in all of this? Like,
oh, well, you're right. Like, wedon't have it all figured out.
Like, so when you start fromthat place of humility and just
(26:16):
assume, like, yeah, we're stillfiguring it out. Well, yeah, but
you're one or two steps ahead ofme. So how did you get there?
Yeah, it's very different whenyou have somebody guiding you
through that. Then for you toask yourself, like, okay, like,
Can I can I take this? And thewhole time you're questioning
yourself, like, is this humbleenough? Is this am I being
honest? Am I being authentic inall of this? Because I think
(26:40):
there's that fear of peoplefeeling like you are. You're
trying to paint a better pictureof yourself than you actually
are. You're putting a filter onyour yourself and showing up
better than what life really islike. You bring a third party
into that, and all of a suddennow you have an unbiased
perspective that kind of givesyou permission to own something
(27:02):
that otherwise, you know, we'rereally good. The story we tell
ourselves is the loudest and thestrongest, and so that's where
this idea of like staying,staying in that without somebody
tugging the thread outexternally, can keep you playing
small, because you don't feellike you're allowed to validate
your accomplishments and yoursuccess in the way you should,
(27:22):
and you can, and you almost needto, in order for them to kind of
resonate from from a businessperspective. And so I want to
flip the script for a second.You ready? I don't know. We've
talked lots about stories. We'vetalked a lot about our whys.
We've talked a little bit aboutvulnerability. So I'm curious,
Ryan, what story have you beentelling yourself lately? Oh,
(27:43):
come on.
Oh, right. On the podcast,y'all, it's live
story I've been telling myself.It's i
Okay, so because, because I'vebeen practicing this, the story
that I've been telling myself isthat I have what it takes.
(28:04):
I've I've come through, if youhave, you know, I've got 400
something episodes of mypodcast. I've been doing this
for I've been showing up for along time, but there's a
majority of that time where Iwas like, I'm not, I mean, I can
have a conversation withsomebody else. I can have a
guest on and invite them intoconversation. But to make, to do
a solo episode, or for me tomake a, you know, a 10 minute
(28:26):
long YouTube video where I'm,like, teaching something like
I'm not doing it because I knowthis person is better than me,
this person, this person. But asI've flexed that muscle, stretch
that muscle, worked out thatmuscle of showing up and and
failing forward. It's like, No,you know, I actually do have
(28:46):
something to offer, and it's notwhere I want it to be. I'm not
as put together. You don't haveall the things the way that I
want them. But I'm still I'mgoing to do it and and that
feels really good. It feels alot better to be on the side of
like, you know what? I've beendoing this for a long time, and
(29:08):
I have learned some things, andI want to show them, and I want
to practice them. I want to putthem into practice as I'm
challenging and encouragingother people. Like, hey, you got
to start that YouTube channel.That's what I'm doing, starting
YouTube channel, doubling down.I'm doing the things that I've
been it's been real easy for meto tell and help other people do
it. And now I'm like, you know,what's going to be a lot more
(29:30):
believable is if I strugglethrough that, but, but most
importantly, if I do it, yes,Ooh, thank you for sharing.
Because that is, that's the kindof like, that's real, and that
is the I'm going to own what Iknow I have to offer, instead of
thinking I can't because someoneelse has already owned it.
Nobody's that you know you'regoing to gravitate people are
(29:51):
going to gravitate towards youversus other people, right? Just
like you said, not everybody'severy flavor. So I appreciate
you sharing that, not onlybecause there's.
Somebody out there who needed tohear it. But I'm in a similar
space, space. So as a moment ofmeet you at vulnerable, I've
been really because I'm in a I'min a point of shifting my
business from the thing I usedto do to now supporting the
(30:12):
people who do that, right? Soit's kind of that similar thing
of after all these years ofbuilding this experience, I now
know that's competence, and Ihave a new zone of genius that I
need to go operate in, and that,you know, there's a certain
little level of scary when youkind of make that leap and
owning the fact that, like,Okay, I have credibility, I know
what I know, and I'm I'mallowed, and people want to
(30:35):
learn the knowledge is exposingand so we can live in this world
together. Ryan, I love it. Ilove it. I mean, it is, I'm
learning it's the better placeto live in little bit of
uncertainty. You got to takesome bigger steps of faith. But
the reward on the other side,it's just like, oh, man, I'm I'm
doing the thing. I'm taking someswings, I'm missing, but man, I
(30:59):
would rather be. You know, sorryfor all the sports analogies,
but you know, sports analogy, sono worries, you know, doing the
thing. So yeah, for that, I'mgrateful. I love it. And so
speaking of you now putting thisthought leadership out in a new
way, this seems like the perfectsegue to to let everybody know
how they can tune into it. Sowhere do we find you and learn
(31:23):
more about how to tell a greatstory? Oh, man, well, my
favorite place for posting onsocial is LinkedIn. So you can
find me. Ryan coral, it's K, O,R, a, l, so it's pronounced like
under the C, but spelled totallydifferent. So on LinkedIn, and
then I'm launching, you know, asthis is not going to go to your
(31:44):
people till after this currentcohort is launched, but I'm
really trying to build acommunity of people that say I
want to show up on video. No,they're probably saying I don't
really want to show up on video.I know I should. I don't have
the confidence or the tools orstrategies or anything like
that. So I'm trying to build acommunity of people that are in
that spot that want to take thatstep, and I want to coach and
(32:07):
encourage and equip. So if thatsounds like where you're
currently at, tellstudios.com/cohort
is the best place to learn moreabout how I'm trying to help
people that are in that space toshow up. Because again, I really
believe that your message is, Ialmost said it backwards, but
(32:28):
your message is more importantthan your mug. So let me help
you, or find somebody else thatis really going to encourage you
in help get you out there. But Iwould love to be that for you.
So that's Telstudios.com/cohort,
and then if you're just like,No, I've kind of have some
confidence. I just don't, Idon't even know what video to
(32:49):
make. I don't, you know, shouldI do this about me video? I
don't feel comfortableconfident. Does that have to be
the first one? If you want 27video ideas, then go to tell
studios.com/video
ideas and free download. Give meyour email address, I'll give
(33:10):
you a free download that willhave all these different video
ideas and even some like promptstarters to help you think,
like, oh, okay, let me justanswer this question, and I can
do this video.
And yeah, couple of places. But,and if you just want to email
me, my email is Ryan R y n atTel studios.com, but be happy to
help any of your people that
(33:31):
are looking for something that Ihave to offer. He's got great
offerings. And I will, I willchime in with a small
commercial. I know a lot of youout there listening are coaches
who feel vulnerable aboutputting your thought leadership
and your opinions in your domainout there on LinkedIn for all to
see. And this cohort is exactlywhat you need. So Ryan doesn't
(33:52):
have to sell. I will be thethird I will be the third party
confirmation that this isexactly the kind of thing
that'll push you over the hump.I am going to get the 27 because
we all struggle with blank page,even those of us who have never
ending opinions abouteverything. So it's always nice
to be like, What am I going totalk about today? Let's see what
Ryan thinks I should talk about,because it could just get you
out there in a new way. So kindof you know, no matter what
(34:13):
stage you're at, whether you'retrying to figure out the story
to tell, how to how to starttelling the story, how to tell
the story better or moreconsistently. That is exactly
why we wanted to have Ryan here.Is to reinforce the fact that
you have a story to tell and itmatters, your mission, your
ministry, your message is moreimportant than your mug. People
(34:35):
matter, and connecting with themthrough your story matters, and
getting that truth out into theworld is exactly why you're
here, and it could be your mostunderutilized asset. There could
be one person that you met 12years ago who needs to hear that
story, and then you'll find out12 years later that you did. So
you don't need a production teamto tell it, you just need the
guts and maybe a phone to getthere. So this has been amazing.
(34:57):
I love I love hanging out andchatting with you and.
As we kind of wind as we kind ofwind down. Let's, let's give
everybody one little lasttidbit.
So somebody sitting out theregoing, crap, they're talking to
me.
You, you're talking to me. Ihave a story to tell, and I and
(35:17):
I haven't started yet. What?What do you want to say to that
person.
I mean,
if you don't believe it, asksomebody else you know. Do you
think that? Do you think Ishould be sharing this? My guess
is the person that you pick toask that to is somebody that you
trust and that somebody that isfor you. And they're going to
(35:39):
say, yeah, yeah, please do usall a favor and get out there.
So yeah, I mean, just start.It's going to be scary. Your
first video is going to suck.It's going to be really bad. And
your second one is probably notgoing to be a lot better to get,
but it might be a little bitbetter. So it's just something
(35:59):
that you're going to have to,you're gonna have to make a
handful before you feel a lotmore confident. And but
publishing in, in practicingthat is really you're going to
do yourself a favor, but you're,you're also going to do a favor
for a lot of other people. Sobelieve in that. Believe that
you, you've got something tooffer and and get started, yeah,
(36:21):
believe in yourself, connectwith yourself and with that
message, and then give it toothers. And I love the idea of
you don't have to turn on thephone video as the first pathway
or first medium to telling thestory. You could go talk to
somebody you trust and tell itand and put it out there, right?
Because that's that's a littlebit of goal setting, a little
bit of intent, and that you getsome feedback in a trusted,
(36:42):
smaller space than YouTube. Sogreat, great way to start. And I
want to challenge all of you outthere to think about the part of
the story that you've beensitting on because you didn't
think it matters. How could youuse it to connect more
meaningfully this week, whetherit's with a client, a teammate
or a bigger audience? What isthat little piece of story that
(37:02):
you've been holding back andputting out there? You can even
go so far as to tag Ryan and Iand tell us what it is. If you
want a little human behind yourbrand, you want a little human
accountability. But I want to, Iwant to remind you all that you
have a story and that storymatters. So connect with it
yourself and allow others toconnect with you through it, and
you will leave your little markon this world. Love that. Ryan
(37:26):
Crowell, thank you so much forjoining me, Angie. You're
awesome. Seriously, thank youfor having me. Thanks for
inviting me into your world andtrust me with your people. But
love, love the work you'redoing. Keep it up. Oh, you're
stuck in my world now, so I'mglad you're here, and to all of
you out there. I'm Angie Callen,and this has been another
amazing episode of no moreMondays. A big thanks again to
Ryan for reminding us thatbehind every brand is a beating
(37:48):
heart. Your story might just bethe greatest strength that you
have, both in business and inlife. So I'll catch you next
week for another awesomeconversation to help you live
and work authentically. You.
Ang, hello, everybody. I am Angie Callen, and this is
no more Mondays. Good Mondaymorning. This is the podcast
where we believe you can have athriving career or business and
an amazing life on your terms.And I bring you people who are
walking that walk and talkingthat talk with amazing stories,
strategies and tools to help youlive and work more
(00:22):
authentically. Speaking ofstories, today's guest, Ryan
quarrel is the founder of tellstudios and enroll films. He is
a guy who has built his entirecareer around helping people
tell stories that matter. Buthere's the thing, this isn't
going to be another conversationabout how to create content and
how to make a video, becausewe've talked about that a lot,
Lady lately, today, we'redigging in to a much deeper
(00:46):
topic around stories, and thatis the why behind them and why
it is so important for us totell them. Ryan believes that
people connect with people, notbrands, and I wholeheartedly
agree and that telling yourstory might be the most
courageous and impactful thingyou ever do as a leader, as an
entrepreneur and as a human onthis planet? Why are we so
(01:06):
hesitant to share the truthbehind our work and find out
what happens when we do but mostimportantly, how do you tell a
story that doesn't just tell,doesn't doesn't just sell, but
says something meaningful? We'regetting into the good stuff.
Ryan Cora, welcome to no moreMondays. Angie, thanks for
having me super pumped to behere with you. I love this, so
(01:27):
I've got to give everybody thebackstory. I think Ryan, you are
the bookend of all the things. Ithink you're the last one in the
series of interviews that camefrom the thing. And everybody
that listens regularly now knowsall about the thing, and so it's
always really fun to have aconversation with somebody that
you got to spend a weekend withat a conference, get to know I
(01:49):
got to be teaser on Ryan'spodcast, and so I'm excited to
flip the script and and chatabout why stories are so
important, so welcome. Thankyou. And funny enough, after our
time together. I'm interviewingPhil mercen for my show after
this. So I've done the speaker,you know, just hit them all. So
(02:09):
it's great. One big, happyfamily.
I love it. So you you saidsomething, and as I was like
researching how you talk aboutstories, and even how I've heard
you talk about stories inperson, I really love the people
part, and I have a hashtag onLinkedIn called humans still
matter. So that should just tellyou how much I think. I think it
is very true that people connectwith people and not brands. I
(02:32):
want you to tell me more aboutyour perspective on that.
Well, I mean this, we're in suchan interesting time. I just
posted something on my LinkedIntoday. I was in Google, messing
around with VO, I think is howyou pronounce it, and I just
made, I made two video clips andinsane, like, you know, I gave
it this prompt, and it made itnow. It talks, right? These AI
(02:54):
generated videos. They talk andoh my gosh. And just I shared
them with my wife, and she'slike, Wait, those people aren't
real. It is wild. I think Jimshowed me one of these a few
days ago. And I mean, they even,like, they even intentionally
put slip ups and, um, yes,unlike a guy dropped his phone
into a cup of coffee in thevideo to make it look
(03:15):
legitimate. And it was like,this is a little bit scary,
yeah, yeah. So, you know,
we're, we're in this space wherepeople are probably feeling
like, oh, gosh, I don't have toshow up now I can, you know, we
can. We don't even have to hirea production company. We don't
need tell studios. We can justmake up, you know, all the video
(03:36):
content that we need. I thinkwe're, we're a ways away from
that definitely, you know, withall of
the opportunities to create, AI,generate stuff, it's really
cool, and there's definitely ause for it. I think when, when
we start thinking about thekinds of
(03:58):
products, services that we need,we are drawn to connection. And
if we don't feel connected to abrand, there's a lot less
likely, lot less likely of achance that we're going to work
with that, that company, if itcan feel human, if it can feel
(04:20):
real authentic. You know, we buythrough emotion, and we justify
the decisions to buy throughlogic. And so, like, if you can
tug at somebody's heart strings,then you are winning. You're
going to get people to lean inand to care and to want to know.
(04:40):
And then, if you're looking atCompany A versus Company B, and
Company A made them feelsomething they're they're going
to want to work with company Aand company A might be more
expensive, but people are goingto justify that because they
feel this connection. They wantto support that worker. They
want to be aligned with thatthat business. So, you know.
With all of the AI generatedstuff, it's like so much more
(05:05):
important today for us to beshowing up like our real selves.
The competition is going tocontinue to become more and more
soulless, even though it's goingto look and sound and might even
feel kind of real, but as soonas you realize that it's not
real, there goes the trustfactor, you know, and that's the
(05:28):
thing, like, what is it like?Know, like and trust, you know,
if we can get people to know ushealthy, right, they're gonna
weigh they're gonna want to workwith us, and that whole trust
factor, you know? So I'm gonnamake content, and I'm gonna say,
Hey, this is not like, this isthis is fake, you guys. But
like, like, can you believe itto to exchange that for this,
(05:51):
this ability, especially, like,you know, if you're a coach or
you have a service basedbusiness, and people are
actually going to be interactingwith other people from your
company, why wouldn't you wantto introduce your company, your
people, yourself, to the peoplethat you might be working with,
like that's where trueconnection begins, and to just
carry that through, you know,
(06:14):
inviting people into your story,into your Why? Why you care
about this work, why you careabout this thing, why you care
about your clients, why you careabout the results that you're
able to bring them. Those arethe things in my mind that
really are going to make adifference, especially in these
days where
you don't know what you'rewatching. Is this real?
And yeah, so, and I thinkthere's the punch line, and I
(06:37):
love where you took us, becauseI think the people connect with
people is more important nowthan ever. I feel like I can
actually, instead of humansstill matter, it can say humans
mattered more now. And I thinkwhat's going to happen is, and
I've actually even seen italready, the gravitation towards
something that is clearly human,or clearly created by a human,
(06:57):
over something that could havebeen or clearly was robotically
generated, and I think that thatseparation is going to become
clearer, clearer, clearer. Andwhat I think is so interesting
is this, this goes into the ideathat story Trumps production and
and I'm curious when you,because you, I mean, you've been
doing this way before AI wasaround, or at least accessible
(07:19):
to anyone outside of the medicalfield. And so I'm curious when
you really first realized thatit was the story, not the
production, that was really theasset. Yeah, probably at the
very well, I don't know if atthe very beginning I've, you
know, I've gone through phasesin my work, but probably in the
last I've been doing thisprofessionally for 20 years,
(07:40):
running my video productionbusiness for 20 years, and when
I started, the productionquality was not good. And so I
every time people, yeah, yeah,exactly. And
every time we book a job, I tryto buy another piece of
equipment that would make itlook more professional. And and
then, and then, you know, 2010or so. As cell phones, the
(08:02):
quality got better and betterfor shooting photo and video.
More and more people wereproducing content. There's more
and more, a lot more forgivenessfor stuff that looked bad and
that was frustrating as acreative, as somebody who's
trying to light everything tomake it look so good and feel
cinematic to whereas today it'slike it doesn't, there was a
time and place for that.Obviously, I still care about
(08:25):
it, because I look pretty goodright now. I mean, yeah, you do.
Your
background is I'm jealous.There's a little jealousy there.
But when, when it comes to like,I know what builds trust, and
it's the it's the realness, it'sthe rawness, it's the showing
up, not having all of your stufftogether when we're doing
testimonials. Now, I'm tellingclients like, hey, if we're
(08:48):
going to be at a big conferenceand you're going to have all
your big people there, that's agreat time to get amazing sound
bites, feedback, all this stuff,some of that we can light and
have it look like this. Butthen, you know, we should, we
should also just get some stuff,like little shaky camera, you
know, not the best. Let's standby a window instead of, like,
having a three point lightingthing, like, let's make it feel
(09:08):
like we're working with anorganization right now where the
video that we're creating is isfor high school students. And
I'm like, we're definitelyshooting this vertically, and it
probably should feel like it wasshot on an iPhone. It doesn't
have to be shot on an iPhonenecessarily, but it needs to
have that realness to it, tobuild that trust with our ideal
(09:30):
audience there. So my desire forperfectionism in the way that we
shoot and everything to look andfeel a certain way it's like,
man. It doesn't. It doesn't needto be like it used to be. It
shouldn't be well. And I thinkwhat's interesting there is,
again, it goes back to the storybeing the asset, and the
production could get in the wayof telling that story or having
(09:52):
that story connect with thepeople that you want to connect
to, if you're not careful basedon kind of how people currently
consume or perceive.
Of information. Yeah, well, youknow, if we just look at what's
happened the last, well, I don'tknow, 1000s of years, story is
the thing that people are drawnto, whether it's around a
campfire or it's, you know, froma stage or, you know, wherever,
(10:17):
but that's, that's the thingthat we just crave. That's why
people binge shows is because,like, the story is story just
it's how it's also how weremember things, right? Yeah, I
always say there's a reasonJesus taught in fables, right?
There's a there's, like, alittle bit of a show not tell,
and a little bit of aninterpretation, and then there's
the ability to remember thestory instead of necessarily the
(10:39):
ending. Yeah, well, and so toyour point there, when you talk
about stories, like when youshare your perspective or your
experience or your journey, thatsticks with people. So if you're
not telling your story, you'renot sticking,
you know, and there's thingssticky is important in this
(11:00):
mark, in this current market,and all the distractions that
keep people from sticking 100% Ithink about Harmon brothers. I
don't know if you know these,this production team, but
they're the ones who made, like,Squatty Potty Oh, yeah. Oh,
that's good old Shark Tankstuff, right there? Yeah. So,
like, hilarious, like, thosecommercials are unforgettable,
right? And there's no storythere. It's just production.
(11:22):
It's like this amazing scriptand hilarious, whatever. So
people remember that. But thenwhen you are the brand, or
you're a key piece of who yourbrand is, if you're not sharing
your story and telling yourstory and creating connection
and showing up and lettingpeople know that you're, you are
a real person. You're a realbusiness owner. You're you're
somebody who cares. That's thething that's going to help them
(11:46):
differentiate between the othercompany, the other coach, the
other brand, whatever thatdoesn't they're not sharing
their story. It's like, oh man,well, I feel really more aligned
and connected over here. So whoam I going to work with? You're
going to work with the peoplethat you remember. And if you
look and sound like everybodyelse, or you don't show up
online like everybody else, thenyou're not going to be
(12:07):
remembered, and it's just goingto be harder and harder. You're
making it harder to get hiredand to be able to, you know,
build something that issustainable and that is
truer more in knowledge andservice based, not like IP based
business, even then products,yeah, but to go back to
something you said at thebeginning, you know, there's the
perfect poster child for theemotional sale, the selling
(12:30):
emotionally, even if the productis more expensive and maybe not
the prevailing technology. Youprobably have it in your hand,
people, you might be listeningto us on it right now, and it's
a little thing called Apple,right? They nailed the emotion
of what a phone can do, not thetechnology that you'd be having
in your hand. And that's thepower of stories. And so now is
(12:51):
the perfect time to understandwhat you see is holding people
back, right? What? Why? Why arewe so scared to tell our
stories, own this voice? Why isit so hard to get into this kind
of narrative base and you'resmiling, which means I hit
something? So tell us, yeah,it's just, it's probably it's
become one of my biggestfrustrations. And here's the
(13:13):
thing, I have not always feltlike this when I started my my
business,
the the
the old name, or whatever. OurLLC is epic creative group. And
I chose the word epic becauseI'm like, man, we all have these
like, epic lives. We don't thinkof our lives being epic. You
know, you talk to most people,it's like, no, it's just like
(13:35):
whatever, normal life orwhatever. But my thing was,
like, Man, I want to help peopletell their story and help them.
Believe that they have somethingto offer that can help somebody
else. And I believe that we alldo our journeys. Have wherever
we've come from, we've learned,we've taken away, we've survived
this long. We have something tooffer to somebody else to help
(13:56):
them. And so that's kind of beenmy mission. But as I've, as
I've, as the turntables haveturned and I've, I've wanted to
do more than just be behind thecamera and help people tell
their story. I'm like, Man, Iwant to help people empower them
to be telling their storywithout me. And as I've been
doing that more and more andtalking like, Dude, you just
(14:17):
need to show up like, you know,just grab your phone, shoot the
video. Forget about the lightingor whatever. People need to hear
this. This is really, reallyimportant. Stop putting this
off. It's become really easy forme to say that, but then when I
look at my own story and my ownpassion and all this stuff, I'm
like, well, there are a lot ofpeople out there doing this way
better than I am, so I'm notgoing to get out there and do
(14:39):
this like I'll let the otherpeople. And so I've just
realized, like, oh my gosh, Ifell into this trap that the
comparison trap, yeah,comparison trap, in, in, in,
just don't share. Because, youknow what somebody else has,
they've got a YouTube channel,they've got a million subs. I'm
not even gonna like, I do notwant to compete with it. I'm
going to be.
(15:00):
Embarrassed. I'm going to getlike, 17 subs in, you know, 100
people, maybe at most, mightwatch my videos. My mom hitting
refresh until it gets to 100 orthat's me.
So I believe so much more.There's this saying that I say,
is that what that's what you do,is saying, that's okay, that's
(15:23):
great. Just kidding, she got itright. Your your mission is more
important than your mug. And I,I've kind of expanded that your
mission, your ministry, yourmessage, is more important than
your mug, whatever you you know,I don't like how I look on
camera. I don't like how Isound. I'm, you know, compare.
(15:44):
I'm not as good as you know, soand so whatever, it doesn't
matter. Like the thing that youcare about, the why behind your
business, and why you do yourbusiness, and how you help
people, that's the mostimportant thing, right? The
thing that like how you arehelping transform people's lives
that is beautiful and amazing,and don't, don't get in the way
(16:10):
of that. In the way that we getin the way of that, well, lots
of ways, way that we get in theway is, is by, by not showing up
and not believing that, that webelieve that we can help, but
it's not gonna, you know, if Ishow up on video, like, what's
that? That's just gonna, I'mgonna be embarrassed, and it's
just, you know, not gonna getthe views, and it's gonna live
(16:31):
there forever, and that'sembarrassing, and whatever. Or,
like, a year from now, I'mprobably not gonna think the
same, like my i i evolve and thethings I think about. So if I
say this and take a stance, ayear from now, people are gonna
say like, well, you'recontradicting yourself, because
you used to say that it's like,get out of the way. If you want
to help as many people, if youreally believe that what you
offer can be helpful, then thebest thing you can do is to show
(16:55):
up for your people and to shareyour story, your passion, your
why, to give them insights, tohelp them along,
you know, for free, or whateveryou want to call it, on social,
until they're ready, until thetrust is there, or it's the
right time for them to reach outand say, Hey, I would love to
actually work together with you.This, this I've been listening
(17:15):
to for a long time. I hadsomebody reach out to me on
today on LinkedIn, and he said,Dude, I met you in Austin at
this event that we were at, Idon't even know 1214, years ago.
He's like, I've been listeningto you for forever. That's
sticky, baby. Yeah, and I'm sosorry. I should have reached out
sooner. I said, bro, you know,don't worry about it. I'm still
alive, so you didn't, you knowyou're not too late. Didn't miss
(17:38):
vote. He's just Yeah, but he wasasking me about this cohort that
I'm doing. He was like, man,like my wife and I were
listening to you. You re sharedthis thing, that this wasn't
your own content, but the thingsthat you're sharing are so
helpful, insightful. And I justwanted to say thank you. So
that's like, if I'm not showingup, I'm not helping. And you
know, so just come back to thisthing, like your your your
(17:59):
message is more important thanall of the excuses that you're
going to come up with. I don'thave the technology. Yeah, you
do, because your phone canprobably definitely, you don't
have a light. Well, if you have,there's a thing called the sun.
Yeah, yeah. So it doesn't haveto be perfect. And that's, I
think, what people crave and canrelate with more. And I probably
got a minute my own way, becauseI've, I've tried so hard to make
(18:23):
everything look so good that forsome people, it's like, oh gosh,
my stuff's never gonna look asgood as Ryan's. It's like, well,
it doesn't have to be like, getthat's been my excuse, and now
I'm fully embracing this thing.No, no. I gotta stop hiding
behind the camera or behind mycomputer and start showing up so
I can help more people and servemore people.
I think there's a reallyinteresting way to bring several
(18:46):
little things we've talked abouttogether. Is that, you know,
people connect with peoplebefore they connect with
anything else. And and the andthe people to people, connection
will be the stickiest ever.Yeah. But I also think what's
interesting is we talk aboutthis. Why? Or the the mission,
your ministry, the message,however you your purpose. You
know, however it feels sticky asto you to define that to
(19:08):
yourself, you have to be reallyconnected to that in order to
then go have people connect withit. And if you're really rooted
in that, now, you just got toget over yourself and take
action in order to get outthere. But I want to go
somewhere, a slight tangent, andtalk to people out there who
might not know the why yet.Yeah, so how do you kind of so
(19:28):
the vulnerability is one thing,and that's a little bit of Get
over yourself, stop comparing,stop using excuses. But if
you're not even to that pointyet, and you you feel like you
may have something, but youhaven't necessarily identified
the story or the why? What aresome little tips in that you may
have in identifying it?
(19:48):
Yeah, that's really good. I wastaking notes. As you said that
if you're if you're reallyconnected with your why, it
becomes a lot easier. Yeah,right. But if you're just kind
of like, Wait, why do I do am I.
Making an impact.
So I think asking the peoplethat you're working for or with
(20:08):
how you might be helping them,you know, a lot of us were
either humble or fake humble orwhatever, like, we know we're
supposed to be humble. So wedon't, you know, we don't want
to gloat and say, like, oh, youknow, you know, people make X
amount of dollars, or, you know,whatever, there's just like this
ickiness that I've had to kindof overcome and just say, like,
no, I need to really find outwhat are some of those real data
(20:31):
points? Because, like I said,people will buy because of
emotion, but they're going tojustify through logic, and so
they need some of those stats.Or what's the ROI on this? Or
how many people have you helped,or how long you've been in
business, or whatever thosethings are. So
asking the people that you'vebeen working with, how have I
helped you? Have I helped you?Question mark, and if people say
(20:53):
no, then it's like, okay, well,that's probably why they haven't
hired me. But if you've got morethan once, yeah, go get some
evidence. Get some get, youknow, have other people help you
figure out how you've helpedthem, and that can help you see,
like, oh, okay, so I am servinga purpose.
And then, and then, you know, Ithink just being able to
(21:14):
articulate, like, why do you dothe work that you do? Like, what
do you love about it? Oh, man, Ilove when, when I get an email
back from a client that justsays, like, this video was the
whole experience was amazing.Your team was super fun to work
with. And you know, we've gotall these people have seen the
video. People have signed up toour program or whatever. Thank
(21:34):
you. I'm like, okay, all right,this feels good. I feel like I'm
serving a purpose. So, you know,getting those receipts and
really understanding why do youdo
sometimes, if we dig deepenough, we might realize, like,
I don't really like my why Idon't in why am I doing this
work I should be doing?
(21:56):
So that could, that couldactually happen, but that can be
okay, because if you're notsupposed to be doing that work.
Get to doing the work thatyou're supposed to be doing.
Yeah. Now you at least have you,you have the awareness, and
that's where some of this isalso now, now you've created
vulnerability for yourself, oflike, okay, maybe I'm not
telling the story because Idon't, I'm not connected with
it, I or I don't like the storythat I have to tell. You also
(22:16):
have the power to kind of changethat a little bit. Yeah, yeah. I
also think, you know, I'm inthis video production space, and
I'm friends with so many otherfilmmakers and video businesses
all throughout, just all overthe world, and there's this,
there can be this fear of like,Oh, I'm going to
(22:39):
take their business, or they'regoing to take business for me.
And I think at the end of theday, like I'm not for everyone,
like, you know, my personality,some people love it, and other
people are, like, annoyed by it.I don't want to work with people
that are annoyed by mypersonality, because it's just
not, it's just going to not feelgood for anybody. And so just
knowing that you're not foreverybody, and if you show up
(23:00):
and you're vulnerable. You shareyour story. Know that some
people are gonna be like, it's apass, it's a no. You just save
yourself a 20 minute discoverycall. You just save yourself. In
our case, sometimes it's weeksand weeks of working together
with a client. You just savedyourself all this, like, stress
that you just didn't need tohave because, because you showed
up and you you shared what youcare about, and you shared your
(23:21):
why, and you share you know, howyou help and and you were
actually a little bit goofy andkind of sarcastic, and you
weren't afraid to be yourself,like, that's me when I when I've
done that in the past, I've hadpeople say, like, dude, like, if
you can do that for our brand,we're going to win. And then
I've had plenty of people thathaven't hired us because they're
like, that's not their gym. Andthis is why we get along,
because I'm not everybody'sflavor, because I take
(23:43):
everybody, I take everyoneelse's world very seriously. I
just don't take myself thatseriously, because we only got
this one life, and I'd like toget out alive
with you. You know, you saidsomething a minute ago that hit,
and it was the, you know, wehave this feeling like or we
feel like we're supposed to behumble, we can't brag
(24:05):
and and I started putting somedots together in this, in this
idea that it's, it's differentto be confident and humble
versus egotistical, there's athere's a huge space in between
there. But I think what a lot oftimes we end up doing to
ourselves and this, this comesright back to why we may not
tell our story, is then we turnI can't be confident and humble,
(24:25):
or the assumption that we can'twithout being egotistical, into
therefore I must play small.Yeah,
and so therefore now we feellike we don't have a story to
tell, right? That's why the workthat I've gotten to do for the
last 20 years has been sofulfilling. Because as people
are like, you know, some aremore hesitant than others. Of
(24:48):
like, Yeah, I know we should betelling our story. I don't know
what our story, you know, it'swe're just doing the same thing
that everybody else is doing.But okay, yeah, somebody told us
we need to tell our story. Yeah.
To be able to pull the thingsout, the things that to
everybody else. It just is like,this is just what we do. You
know, this is normal. It's like,it's not normal when you just
(25:10):
explain how you started and whyyou started in the challenges
that you went through, but youkept pushing through like most
people would have given up, likepeople wouldn't have gotten this
far, like, it's amazing whatyou've come through that so to
have somebody pulling that out,that's why, you know,
consultants and coaches andstrategists and all that,
they're so great to to inviteinto your space. So you can
(25:34):
start to see, like, Huh, okay,yeah, I guess we'll do these
brand videos and give them to aclient, and they'll they'll be
like, Wow, I actually soundlike, I know what I'm talking
about. And they wouldn't createthat on their own, because it
does feel like, Yeah, I'mbragging, or I'm overconfident
or whatever, but we help them
(25:55):
come from a place of like, Hey,you don't have it all figured
out, but you have figured somethings out, and you're figuring
things out and you're failingforward. So in that spirit, tell
me, like, what's what's beenworking what would you say is,
like, one of the keys to yoursuccess in all of this? Like,
oh, well, you're right. Like, wedon't have it all figured out.
Like, so when you start fromthat place of humility and just
(26:16):
assume, like, yeah, we're stillfiguring it out. Well, yeah, but
you're one or two steps ahead ofme. So how did you get there?
Yeah, it's very different whenyou have somebody guiding you
through that. Then for you toask yourself, like, okay, like,
Can I can I take this? And thewhole time you're questioning
yourself, like, is this humbleenough? Is this am I being
honest? Am I being authentic inall of this? Because I think
(26:40):
there's that fear of peoplefeeling like you are. You're
trying to paint a better pictureof yourself than you actually
are. You're putting a filter onyour yourself and showing up
better than what life really islike. You bring a third party
into that, and all of a suddennow you have an unbiased
perspective that kind of givesyou permission to own something
(27:02):
that otherwise, you know, we'rereally good. The story we tell
ourselves is the loudest and thestrongest, and so that's where
this idea of like staying,staying in that without somebody
tugging the thread outexternally, can keep you playing
small, because you don't feellike you're allowed to validate
your accomplishments and yoursuccess in the way you should,
(27:22):
and you can, and you almost needto, in order for them to kind of
resonate from from a businessperspective. And so I want to
flip the script for a second.You ready? I don't know. We've
talked lots about stories. We'vetalked a lot about our whys.
We've talked a little bit aboutvulnerability. So I'm curious,
Ryan, what story have you beentelling yourself lately? Oh,
(27:43):
come on.
Oh, right. On the podcast,y'all, it's live
story I've been telling myself.It's i
Okay, so because, because I'vebeen practicing this, the story
that I've been telling myself isthat I have what it takes.
(28:04):
I've I've come through, if youhave, you know, I've got 400
something episodes of mypodcast. I've been doing this
for I've been showing up for along time, but there's a
majority of that time where Iwas like, I'm not, I mean, I can
have a conversation withsomebody else. I can have a
guest on and invite them intoconversation. But to make, to do
a solo episode, or for me tomake a, you know, a 10 minute
(28:26):
long YouTube video where I'm,like, teaching something like
I'm not doing it because I knowthis person is better than me,
this person, this person. But asI've flexed that muscle, stretch
that muscle, worked out thatmuscle of showing up and and
failing forward. It's like, No,you know, I actually do have
(28:46):
something to offer, and it's notwhere I want it to be. I'm not
as put together. You don't haveall the things the way that I
want them. But I'm still I'mgoing to do it and and that
feels really good. It feels alot better to be on the side of
like, you know what? I've beendoing this for a long time, and
(29:08):
I have learned some things, andI want to show them, and I want
to practice them. I want to putthem into practice as I'm
challenging and encouragingother people. Like, hey, you got
to start that YouTube channel.That's what I'm doing, starting
YouTube channel, doubling down.I'm doing the things that I've
been it's been real easy for meto tell and help other people do
it. And now I'm like, you know,what's going to be a lot more
(29:30):
believable is if I strugglethrough that, but, but most
importantly, if I do it, yes,Ooh, thank you for sharing.
Because that is, that's the kindof like, that's real, and that
is the I'm going to own what Iknow I have to offer, instead of
thinking I can't because someoneelse has already owned it.
Nobody's that you know you'regoing to gravitate people are
(29:51):
going to gravitate towards youversus other people, right? Just
like you said, not everybody'severy flavor. So I appreciate
you sharing that, not onlybecause there's.
Somebody out there who needed tohear it. But I'm in a similar
space, space. So as a moment ofmeet you at vulnerable, I've
been really because I'm in a I'min a point of shifting my
business from the thing I usedto do to now supporting the
(30:12):
people who do that, right? Soit's kind of that similar thing
of after all these years ofbuilding this experience, I now
know that's competence, and Ihave a new zone of genius that I
need to go operate in, and that,you know, there's a certain
little level of scary when youkind of make that leap and
owning the fact that, like,Okay, I have credibility, I know
what I know, and I'm I'mallowed, and people want to
(30:35):
learn the knowledge is exposingand so we can live in this world
together. Ryan, I love it. Ilove it. I mean, it is, I'm
learning it's the better placeto live in little bit of
uncertainty. You got to takesome bigger steps of faith. But
the reward on the other side,it's just like, oh, man, I'm I'm
doing the thing. I'm taking someswings, I'm missing, but man, I
(30:59):
would rather be. You know, sorryfor all the sports analogies,
but you know, sports analogy, sono worries, you know, doing the
thing. So yeah, for that, I'mgrateful. I love it. And so
speaking of you now putting thisthought leadership out in a new
way, this seems like the perfectsegue to to let everybody know
how they can tune into it. Sowhere do we find you and learn
(31:23):
more about how to tell a greatstory? Oh, man, well, my
favorite place for posting onsocial is LinkedIn. So you can
find me. Ryan coral, it's K, O,R, a, l, so it's pronounced like
under the C, but spelled totallydifferent. So on LinkedIn, and
then I'm launching, you know, asthis is not going to go to your
(31:44):
people till after this currentcohort is launched, but I'm
really trying to build acommunity of people that say I
want to show up on video. No,they're probably saying I don't
really want to show up on video.I know I should. I don't have
the confidence or the tools orstrategies or anything like
that. So I'm trying to build acommunity of people that are in
that spot that want to take thatstep, and I want to coach and
(32:07):
encourage and equip. So if thatsounds like where you're
currently at, tellstudios.com/cohort
is the best place to learn moreabout how I'm trying to help
people that are in that space toshow up. Because again, I really
believe that your message is, Ialmost said it backwards, but
(32:28):
your message is more importantthan your mug. So let me help
you, or find somebody else thatis really going to encourage you
in help get you out there. But Iwould love to be that for you.
So that's Telstudios.com/cohort,
and then if you're just like,No, I've kind of have some
confidence. I just don't, Idon't even know what video to
(32:49):
make. I don't, you know, shouldI do this about me video? I
don't feel comfortableconfident. Does that have to be
the first one? If you want 27video ideas, then go to tell
studios.com/video
ideas and free download. Give meyour email address, I'll give
(33:10):
you a free download that willhave all these different video
ideas and even some like promptstarters to help you think,
like, oh, okay, let me justanswer this question, and I can
do this video.
And yeah, couple of places. But,and if you just want to email
me, my email is Ryan R y n atTel studios.com, but be happy to
help any of your people that
(33:31):
are looking for something that Ihave to offer. He's got great
offerings. And I will, I willchime in with a small
commercial. I know a lot of youout there listening are coaches
who feel vulnerable aboutputting your thought leadership
and your opinions in your domainout there on LinkedIn for all to
see. And this cohort is exactlywhat you need. So Ryan doesn't
(33:52):
have to sell. I will be thethird I will be the third party
confirmation that this isexactly the kind of thing
that'll push you over the hump.I am going to get the 27 because
we all struggle with blank page,even those of us who have never
ending opinions abouteverything. So it's always nice
to be like, What am I going totalk about today? Let's see what
Ryan thinks I should talk about,because it could just get you
out there in a new way. So kindof you know, no matter what
(34:13):
stage you're at, whether you'retrying to figure out the story
to tell, how to how to starttelling the story, how to tell
the story better or moreconsistently. That is exactly
why we wanted to have Ryan here.Is to reinforce the fact that
you have a story to tell and itmatters, your mission, your
ministry, your message is moreimportant than your mug. People
(34:35):
matter, and connecting with themthrough your story matters, and
getting that truth out into theworld is exactly why you're
here, and it could be your mostunderutilized asset. There could
be one person that you met 12years ago who needs to hear that
story, and then you'll find out12 years later that you did. So
you don't need a production teamto tell it, you just need the
guts and maybe a phone to getthere. So this has been amazing.
(34:57):
I love I love hanging out andchatting with you and.
As we kind of wind as we kind ofwind down. Let's, let's give
everybody one little lasttidbit.
So somebody sitting out theregoing, crap, they're talking to
me.
You, you're talking to me. Ihave a story to tell, and I and
(35:17):
I haven't started yet. What?What do you want to say to that
person.
I mean,
if you don't believe it, asksomebody else you know. Do you
think that? Do you think Ishould be sharing this? My guess
is the person that you pick toask that to is somebody that you
trust and that somebody that isfor you. And they're going to
(35:39):
say, yeah, yeah, please do usall a favor and get out there.
So yeah, I mean, just start.It's going to be scary. Your
first video is going to suck.It's going to be really bad. And
your second one is probably notgoing to be a lot better to get,
but it might be a little bitbetter. So it's just something
(35:59):
that you're going to have to,you're gonna have to make a
handful before you feel a lotmore confident. And but
publishing in, in practicingthat is really you're going to
do yourself a favor, but you're,you're also going to do a favor
for a lot of other people. Sobelieve in that. Believe that
you, you've got something tooffer and and get started, yeah,
(36:21):
believe in yourself, connectwith yourself and with that
message, and then give it toothers. And I love the idea of
you don't have to turn on thephone video as the first pathway
or first medium to telling thestory. You could go talk to
somebody you trust and tell itand and put it out there, right?
Because that's that's a littlebit of goal setting, a little
bit of intent, and that you getsome feedback in a trusted,
(36:42):
smaller space than YouTube. Sogreat, great way to start. And I
want to challenge all of you outthere to think about the part of
the story that you've beensitting on because you didn't
think it matters. How could youuse it to connect more
meaningfully this week, whetherit's with a client, a teammate
or a bigger audience? What isthat little piece of story that
(37:02):
you've been holding back andputting out there? You can even
go so far as to tag Ryan and Iand tell us what it is. If you
want a little human behind yourbrand, you want a little human
accountability. But I want to, Iwant to remind you all that you
have a story and that storymatters. So connect with it
yourself and allow others toconnect with you through it, and
you will leave your little markon this world. Love that. Ryan
(37:26):
Crowell, thank you so much forjoining me, Angie. You're
awesome. Seriously, thank youfor having me. Thanks for
inviting me into your world andtrust me with your people. But
love, love the work you'redoing. Keep it up. Oh, you're
stuck in my world now, so I'mglad you're here, and to all of
you out there. I'm Angie Callen,and this has been another
amazing episode of no moreMondays. A big thanks again to
Ryan for reminding us thatbehind every brand is a beating
(37:48):
heart. Your story might just bethe greatest strength that you
have, both in business and inlife. So I'll catch you next
week for another awesomeconversation to help you live
and work authentically. You.
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