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December 7, 2025 18 mins

Company: An Agency Story

Guest: Russel Dubree

Year Started: 2022

Employees: 1-10

Most agency owners underestimate the most powerful differentiator they have, their personal story. In this episode, Russel breaks down why your authentic “why” matters and how sharing it can deepen connection with your team, attract the right clients, and clarify your purpose.

Key Takeaways

  • Why your personal story is the strongest positioning tool you’re not using
  • How authenticity creates instant connection and builds trust with your team and clients
  • The hidden reasons owners avoid sharing their story
  • A simple way to uncover the deeper “why” behind your work
  • How consistently telling your story makes you memorable in a crowded market

Want a more clarity and control for your agency in 2026? An Agency Story has three coaching spots available for 2026. Let’s see if one of those spots is right for you. Visit AnAgencyStory.com and click “Let’s Talk.”

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (01:16):
Welcome to an agency Story podcast where owners and
experts share the real journey,the early struggles, the
breakthrough moments, andeverything in between.
I'm your host Russell Dre,former eight figure agency
owner, turn Business coach.
Sold my agency and now helpsagency leaders create their
ideal business.
Every agency has a story, andthis is your front row seat.

(01:38):
This is an agency story.
What is your story?
I'm Russel Dubree, host of anagency, story podcast and
business coach for agencies.
And today I wanna talk aboutwhat is your story?
Are you sharing it and are youleveraging it in your business?

(02:01):
And I was recently inspired bythis topic at the Elevate
Workshop I hosted in Austin inearly November.
I was fortunate enough to have aspeaker there that means a lot
to me.
Rich Allen with Tour to Profit,who was my business coach and
running my agency, and evenafter, for many, many years, I

(02:22):
can't tell you the relationshipwe have, but I was inspired and
glad that he was able to sharehis story again with others, and
the focus of his topic was.
To help owners create a moreconcrete vision for what they
are trying to achieve, what theywant, what are the big goals and
dreams with their business, andwithin that vision, what he

(02:45):
talked about is having yourstory.
Not only having it but sharingit anywhere and everywhere,
which quite honestly, he is amaster at.
I honestly can't tell you howmany times I have heard Rich's
story over the years and sooften it's gotta be dozens, if
not well, over a hundred timesso much that I can tell his

(03:07):
story myself.
I won't get every detail rightand keep it condensed for
today's time's sake.
But it starts off with him and Ithink eight siblings total that
he has and his dad's windowwashing business.
How him and his brothers and hisfamily lived and breathed this
business as oftentimes freelabor.

(03:30):
He also talked about his dad'sstruggles within that business,
how that impacted his family,how the inconsistency of even
having food on the table, thatthey ended up growing up very
poor, and that the culminationof Rich's story is.
When he basically shares thatwhy he does what he does today

(03:51):
as a business coach.
If his dad had someone like him,someone to help him through all
the challenges and struggleswith his business, that it
wouldn't have turned out thatway.
The things could have beenextremely different for his
family.
After listening that story, youcan't help but to not remember
it, and you can't help but notto be inspired by that.

(04:13):
You were automatically going toconnect with Rich and you know
that he has a true, genuinepassion for what he does.
Another example of why this isresonating with me a lot lately
is an agency I'm working with,two fellow female founders that
are partners in the business,have probably what is the most
inspiring missions, uh, goals,what they're trying to

(04:36):
ultimately achieve with theirbusiness.
And every time I hear them talkabout it with me, I get jazzed
about it.
And even more jazzed about whatthey're trying to create is
equally excited about the why.
When they share why that'simportant to them and why they
wanna create what they want tocreate.
In talking about this one day,what we uncovered is that they

(04:58):
don't really share this storywith their team.
Just for context, by the way,their inspiration, their mission
is that they want to somedaycreate camps for young teenage
or young women to getmentorship, to get guidance, to
become empowered in what they'retrying to do in the world.

(05:21):
And equally the reason why thisis important to them, their own
why, is that they had a lot ofrelationships in their life and
their career that were extremelyimpactful on them, that helped
propel them to where they're attoday.
They also have examples wherethey didn't get that, where
quite the opposite, where it wasdisempowerment or being kept at

(05:42):
bay from opportunities that werein front of them.
But going back to the reality isthat they don't share this with
their team.
Through our conversations whilethat's going to change, how long
have they had this veryinspirational, very significant
component to their businessthrough their story that they've
missed out on?

(06:05):
One other example that is top ofmind lately is the most recent
podcast episode I did withChelsea Flower, with Scott
Social.
I have no idea how much Chelseahas practiced or worked on
telling her story, but if shehasn't, boy does it come
natural.
She was sharing things in ourconversation about her dad

(06:26):
having this near deathexperience.
Going back to she was been sortof a rule breaker.
To elementary school and how shedidn't believe that the rule of
not using adult scissors countedfor her to being told by
multiple people she couldn't dosomething to having a crappy
first job, all being reasons whyshe started her business, and

(06:49):
that ultimately why she builther business to what it is
today.
And a big motivation behind thatis to create the work
environment of her dreams forherself and for others.
Chelsea's telling this story.
You can't help but to be drawnin, to feel a little bit of

(07:09):
connectedness, to reallyremember these different points
that she talked about in thestory.
It's certainly no secret thattoday positioning is a hot topic
amongst agencies.
How can you better articulateyou do X for Y type businesses?

(07:30):
And that's great and importantwork.
I'm not going to diminish any ofthat work for a second, but if
we take a step back and thinkabout why does that matter, why
is that important work?
And the answer you might quiteeasily be able to get to is it's
to stand out, to be seen asunique and different, to be

(07:51):
remembered, and not just beanother name on a list of names.
Is there anything more unique inthis world than your own story?
As much as I help shape polishand help clients with their
positioning and tell theirstory, one of the things I can
be honest about is tell you thatI'm as bad as it gets when we

(08:15):
talk about this subject.
That was made very evident to mein a recent conversation with my
wife.
And our little inside joke isthat she has her own small
business and that we both firedand rehired each other well over
a hundred times in thatcapacity, where I try to help
give her some guidance on herbusiness.

(08:35):
This was one unique time wherewe had a reversal of roles.
She was actually giving me someguidance on how to better run my
business.
What we were actually talkingabout, she's often overheard is
how I share and talk about mystory when I'm introducing
myself to someone like you wouldexpect your spouse to, that she

(08:56):
was, uh, not sugarcoating this,but basically saying stop saying
the boring stuff.
Say the meaningful real stuff.
The stuff I know that isactually true to you.
So what that looks like for mepersonally is oftentimes I
mention and share to folks thatI had a coach in my business
journey that was a pivotal pointin kind of us turning the

(09:18):
business around, but I kind ofjust gloss over it.
It's just a quick littleanecdote in the overall context
and that I don't tell them howtruly impactful that
relationship was in my journey.
That this was a person thathelped encourage me when not
only not being my best, butsometimes at my worst, that if

(09:39):
I'm being truly honest in tearsthat taught me things that I
would have never known or beenexposed to or learned left to my
own devices, or would'veencountered those way later in
my journey perhaps.
Connected me to people that wereof like minds or even of
different minds, and sometimesthat was clients, sometimes that

(10:02):
was other business owners.
Overall, just being an amazingsounding board for me and
helping me just reframe how Iwas looking at the business,
even if only so slightly, andhow that could have a massive
impact on all the differentthings that we were trying to do
within our business.
Perhaps the biggest impact ofthat relationship was how it's

(10:26):
inspired me to do what I dotoday to help create what I had
in that relationship and thatengagement, and build that for
others to help owners create thesuccess that I had, or even
better to create amazing placeto work, to have profit and
ultimately get to financialfreedom or some form of freedom

(10:49):
that be an exit or whatever.
Essentially to help others getto do something very similar to
what I do today, and that I'mliving that dream, that I have
financial freedom, that I amdoing the job I would pick to do
if I didn't get paid a dime.
So the question I ask myself inlight of all this is, why
haven't I shared my story?

(11:12):
And I'm just wondering if it'smaybe some of the same reasons
why you folks out there mightfeel, and hopefully this can be
insightful and helpful for you.
The first thing I can tell youis that it just feels very
personal, and while I'm prettygood at connecting with others,
I can admit that there'sprobably always a little bit of
a shell that I don't overlyenjoy the spotlight on me, that

(11:36):
I generally think myself as asupport guy, a behind the scenes
guy.
Another thing that can get in myown way here is that it might
feel like bragging or that I'mbeing conceited.
By talking about the success Ihave had and why I am excited
about what's behind that successand how that impacts what I do

(11:59):
today.
Then another thought that justcomes to mind is that maybe no
one wants to hear it or thatit'll get old and might get
tired of hearing it myself.
But if I were to take a stepback and eat some of my own
medicine.
The same advice I do give andwould give to another owner is

(12:21):
first and foremost, you'reright, it is personal.
I think in 2025, maybe the morethan ever we've just evolved to
this point, that there is noseparation between our business
selves and our personal selvesfor being true to ourselves.
And that ultimately if someoneasked or was inquiring about

(12:42):
putting the spotlight on me, ifyou will.
I can promise you that they'drather hear a good story over
the same old business jargon.
And when we talk about thebragging piece or what might
make it seem bragging, reallyjust comes down to one aspect is
the why.
How you end it, how you makethat matter in telling your

(13:05):
story.
That's the only way that couldturn sharing something you're
excited about into bragging.
We know this from so many otherforms of media and different
things in our life.
Is that a good story never getsold?
How often do people read thesame book, watch the same movie,

(13:26):
or consume other forms ofcontent?
The reason they do it is it's'cause it's a good story and it
never gets old.
No different than Rich.
My business coach example thatagain, I can't count how many
times I've heard his story overthe years, it simply never gets
old.
I'm still inspired by it almost20 years later.

(13:48):
Here's the best part of sharingall this with you, is that I
don't need to give you a list oftips on how.
If you're just inspired andresonate with the idea that you
could show up and be moreauthentic in telling your story
that this could be a betterleverage point in your business,
then all you need to do is justtell it.

(14:10):
Maybe like me, you might needyour spouse, a friend, or even a
coach, help you bring out someof the more real parts, the more
authentic parts to keep you fromthat shell.
But one thing you can't tell meis that your story isn't
interesting.
You're just simply not beingreal or authentic enough.

(14:30):
You're not going deep enough.
You're not getting to the corewhy you are what you are and do
what you do.
We might have some deep, darkthings that might be behind some
of what we do, and that's okay.
I would far rather have someoneacknowledge that.
We can always polish the what weneed to for a PG 13 audience or

(14:50):
whatever.
Once we've gotten to the heartof why.
But I'd rather start there thanstart at the surface level and
be the same old story.
And here's one thing that provesthat, is that I can promise you
after hundreds of interviewswith agency owners and some
going very deep into why andwhat they are trying to achieve

(15:11):
in their business.
No one's net story or why is tomake a lot of money and be rich.
And even if they think that fora minute and they say as much
when you get to the heart of it,that's not the case.
Yes, there is a component ofhaving financial freedom, but

(15:31):
the question ultimate comes asthe freedom to do what?
For most folks, it's to travel,to spend more quality time with
family.
To be more involved in creativework, creative projects, to be a
thought leader, write a book,start a nonprofit, get behind a
cause, or just simply invest inpersonal projects.

(15:55):
And while.
Yes.
Some of those do take finances,that the root of that is freedom
and that the financial freedompart is really just the means to
achieve those things they wantto achieve in their life.
That they don't have to wake upand have to do something, that
they get to wake up and choose.

(16:15):
As we wrap this up, what I'dencourage you to do is right
now, if you can.
If you've been inspired by this,go think about, write about, say
out loud to yourself, your mostauthentic story, your why, and
even the unfinished parts.
The raw stuff, the deep stuff.
Go all the way.

(16:36):
We can always polish it later.
Once you have that, just starttelling it.
Tell it to your team.
Tell it to your clients.
Perhaps tell it to anyone thatwill listen, tell it to your
family, tell it to your kids.
It's gonna take some reps to getit down right, but that's like
anything in life.

(16:56):
No secret there.
And that's it.
Some resources that might helpyou uncover ideas or make this
resonate more.
One is a great book I'm hearingabout from a lot of folks.
I've recently read it myself, ismade to stick by Chip and Dan
Heath.
Building a story brand from alittle more technical business

(17:18):
aspect is another great one byDonald Miller and then the age
old classics.
Start with Why by Simon Sinek.
For the few that want to gethelp, positioning and living out
your true why and your purpose,and how to leverage that within
your business, you can visit anagency story.com.
Click the Let's Talk button andsee if coaching might be right

(17:40):
for you.
Last but not least.
If this has inspired you to tellyour story better, I would
certainly love to hear it.
Send a note, tell me your storyif you want.
But send a note.
Let me know how this hasimpacted you to Russell.
That's Russell with onel@anagencystory.com.
Thank you so much for listening.

(18:00):
Keep showing up and doing thehard thing you do.
Keep doing your best.
I promise you've got this.
Thank you for listening to anagency story podcast where every
story helps you write your own,subscribe, share, and join us
again for more real stories,lessons learned, and
breakthroughs ahead.
What's next?
You'll want to visit an agencystory.com/podcast and follow us

(18:22):
on Instagram at an agency storyfor the latest updates.
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