profile

SCOUT YOUR STORY

Get weekly, actionable storytelling hacks to help you captivate, sharpen, and make a lasting impact—whether in business, branding, or everyday conversations.

Featured Post

Stranger Things Knows Your Audience — Do You?

Excited Finn Wolfhard GIF by Stranger Things Does it ever feel like everyone in your audience seems to want the something completely different from the same story? Email readers want clarity. TikTok scrollers want punchy visuals. YouTube watchers want context and payoff. And you podcast audience? They’re half-distracted in the kitchen. Storytelling isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s like hosting a dinner party for people who all speak different languages, except the languages are attention spans,...

Movie gif. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay in the Great Gatsby dons a tux and slick hair. He smiles and tips his head forward as he lifts a glass of wine, fireworks erupting in the background.

Celebrate In Love GIF by HBO Max What if 2025 was the year you finally left perfectionism behind? What if 2026 could be the year your messy drafts, awkward sketches, and half-baked ideas became your biggest creative wins? Perfection is a trap. You know that feeling? You stare at a blank screen. Blink. Delete. Restart. Nothing works. Here’s the truth: messy ideas are gold mines. Yes, messy. Ugly. Half-baked. Awkward. The ideas that survive editing, pivoting, and real-world testing? They’re...

Lonely Doors GIF by Adult Swim You have a story. But here’s the problem: Your audience isn’t in one place. YouTube. TikTok. Email. Instagram. Shorts. Reels. Newsletters. Podcasts. Everyone is scrolling somewhere else. One story. Many doors. Many platforms. Many audiences. How do you keep it coherent without rewriting from scratch a billion times? The Multi-Platform Reality Recent research shows the typical user visits nearly SEVEN different social platforms each month, highlighting how...

amazon review GIF People don’t type searches the same way they talk. So why are we still writing like they do? As more users speak to devices—from phones to smart speakers—content creators have a new challenge: make your storytelling sound human. Voice assistants don’t read like we do—they listen. The content that rises to the top won’t be keyword-stuffed; it will answer a real question in the language people actually use. Some content creators are already feeling the impact. A friend who...

When Your Story Flops: How to Recover, Learn, and Get Better BELLY FLOP!!!! Even the best storytellers bomb sometimes. You spend hours crafting a message. You believe in it. You put it out into the world—and it falls flat. The audience doesn’t respond. Or worse, they respond in the wrong way. It happens to brands. It happens to leaders. It happens to people who tell stories for a living. The key isn’t to avoid failure. It’s to know what to do after your story flops. Why This Matters Every...

Thanksgiving Chaos = Storytelling Gold

Episode 8 Cheers GIF by Friends The story potential around the Thanksgiving holiday is as rich as the gravy pooling around a perfectly roasted turkey. Between burning the dinner rolls, navigating politics, and kids running around screaming, you’re dealing with chaos—but that chaos is packed with potential. Here’s what holiday chaos teaches storytellers: Embrace the Unexpected – The best stories often happen when plans go sideways. Don’t shy away from surprise moments. Conflict Drives...

Tag Create GIF by Stylefile The storytellers are taking back control—and creators are leading the charge. From the newsroom to the brand studio, power is shifting to the people telling the story. Think of journalists leaving legacy networks. From Jim Acosta’s move from CNN to independent platforms or Terry Moran stepping away from ABC News to strike out on his own. These voices are now building audiences directly, without the old gatekeepers. At the same time, creators in the brand world are...

Schitts Creek Do Not Want GIF by CBC Ever handed your work over and felt that moment of dread? It’s like you’re waiting for a verdict… or a guillotine. Feedback can feel like a threat to your creativity. But smart creators know it’s a goldmine if you know how to use it. Whether you’re sharing a storyboard, dropping a social post, or pitching a brand story, feedback doesn’t have to derail you—it can refine you. According to Harvard Business Review research, people working on creative tasks...

Filming Recording GIF by GifGari The hero of your story isn’t always the person on camera. Sometimes it’s the B-roll—the small details, cutaways, and background moments that make your content feel alive, layered, and unforgettable. A fleeting glance, a messy countertop, a hand reaching for a coffee cup—these tiny visuals carry narrative weight, mood, and emotion that words alone can’t. For social media creators, B-roll is where subtle storytelling lives, and when used thoughtfully, it’s what...

I LOVE COMMERCIALS!

the middle popcorn GIF by ABC Network Unpopular opinion here, but I LOVE COMMERICALS. Not all commercials, but most. They are the OG of short-form storytelling and teach how to communicate efficiently and emotionally. Really good commercials stop you in your tracks, even before a single word is spoken. That’s the power of visual storytelling—and OpenAI’s latest ads nail it. Whether it’s hitting the right tone on date night in Dish with ChatGPT or a dude just trying to get toned with Pull-Up...