Powerful stories build attention, connection, and status

But you already know that – from TV, books, movies, video games, and roleplaying. You get it. But how can you bring that power into your business to build attention, connection & status?

I’m Nick. Like you, I binge-watched Breaking Bad, obsessed over The Last of Us on Playstation, and laughed and cried through Critical Role.

But I’m also a business geek with clients around the world. This is me on the left, chatting with marketing rock star, Seth Godin, for my scrappy podcast … but I’ll get to all that later.

Seth Godin (Marketing Rock Star) and Nick Warren (Stories Mean Business) are laughing as they discuss storytelling for episode 1,000 of the SMB podcast.

At Stories Mean Business, I help founders, entrepreneurs, and fellow geeks tell their story through:

  1. Story.Business – deep dive email series.
  2. Your Origin Story – step-by-step course.
  3. Work with Nick – personal ghostwriting.

This site also hosts a learning zone with numerous goodies. (BTW, here’s that map at full-size, just in case you love maps as much as I do.)

But wait … why does this matter?

Because people who tell better stories get better lives (and build better businesses).

I want to share a message I got from Luke Murfitt, the UK Entrepreneur of the Year.

Nick, you've taken my story and brand to the next level.

*Actually, he said ‘Dude’.

Luke had just given a keynote speech I’d written for him – and the audience had gone crazy. Standing ovation. Later, a professional speechwriter told him it was the best speech he’d ever heard.

It would be easy to list the tools, techniques, science or strategy behind it – but the takeaway is so simple, I named my company for it.

Stories mean business.

To prove the point, I used a story to trigger the chat with Seth for the 1,000th edition of my Stories Mean Business podcast.

(If we speak in person, remind me to tell you the subject line of the email I sent him. It told a story, and he responded within 40 minutes!)

Meanwhile, back to Luke.

He’d delivered a story-driven keynote, but stories work just as well for personal branding, thought leadership, social content, website copy, advertising, and any piece of communication that seeks to engage, persuade and influence.

In fact, without a good story, we’re kind of invisible.

In 1997, I founded a digital agency with an old PC and a story. By 2018 – when I sold that business to start this new adventure – we had clients around the world. No cold calls. No advertising. No sales team.

Just a story that others wanted to share.

The world is different now. Busier. Louder. And it’s easier than ever to get sucked into the shady, short-term tactics of digital marketing… the kind of thing that reduces customers to numbers.

But that’s NOT the kind of reputation most of us want to build.

We want people to engage because they feel drawn to us and our work.

And for that, we need better stories.

This isn’t just good behavior though, it’s good business. When Tim Ferriss launched The 4-Hour Work Week

I quickly found that most media rightly don’t give a rat’s ass about book launches. They care about stories, not announcements, so I asked myself, “What if I couldn’t pitch my product directly? What if I had to sell around the product?” … People don’t like being sold products, but we all like being told stories. Work on the latter.

The Nobel Prize-winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, said something similar in his New York Times bestseller, Thinking Fast and Slow.

“No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story.

The bolding is mine, but you get the idea. If you want to be invited into other people’s brains, you need to tell a better story.

Founders who tell better stories – carefully and consistently – build attention, connection and trust.

Luke’s story didn’t stop with the speech by the way. It generated huge PR and approaches from major clients. In 2022, he appeared in the Amazon Prime series – Business As Unusual. In fact, they introduced him using the start of the story we had written together.

If short-term tactics aren’t for you, welcome to Stories Mean Business. You’re one of us.

Choose your path…

We offer the free email series, Story.Business, a 7-day Origin Story course, or one-on-one collaboration.

At the wheel
Story.Business
The FREE email course

Explore the art and science of business storytelling. The rabbit hole goes way deeper than you think.

Your Origin Story
1 week. 8 Emails. $150 + tax.

Learn to tell Your Origin Story with my simple, proven process.

Learn about the Course.

Nick Warren
Professional Help
Story, copy and consultancy

Writing services for smart, successful people looking to build their reputation and influence.

Or check out the thoughts of my clients.