Welcome to Issue 27 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.)

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Hello Reader,

My mother laughed at me on the phone last week when I told her I might have a future as a personal organizer.

“Oh really?” she said, mockingly. “That would not be my first choice for you.”

Fair. Growing up, I wasn’t the most organized kid with my room, my homework, or any of my stuff, really.

And for the past 10 years, I’ve been juggling work and kids—for the past 6, as a single parent and business owner.

I used to tell myself (and my mom) that modern life is just too chaotic to keep things perfectly in place.

But then I discovered the transformative world of systems, and everything changed. I changed.

For the past three weeks, I’ve spent most of my free time helping my boyfriend move from his tiny, post-divorce dadchelor pad into a cute little grandma cottage down the street from my house.

He handled the big things like hanging art and moving furniture, while I tackled the finer details.

The method to my madness went like this:

Kitchen: Spices and cooking utensils go directly under the stovetop for easy access. Cups, plates, and utensils? In the cupboard next to the dining table.

Bedrooms (tight on space): Lesser-used clothes in bins under the bed. Sweatshirts, t-shirts, and jeans get prime real estate in the closet.

Living Room: Books, board games, electronics, and remotes in the buffet next to the TV. Decorative baskets for extra blankets and pillows by the couch.

It just makes sense.

In his old place, my dude (love him) couldn’t find a damn thing in his mess. So, he’d often just buy new stuff and add to the chaos.

But now, he’s got systems—a logical order to his space so he can find what he needs and move on to more important things. (Like hanging out with me and our four girls.)

Thanks to my newfound organizing skills, his new spot is a thing of beauty. (Also: I might actually have a future in something AI can’t automate.) (Also also: I may have a touch of OCD.)

But having order and structure isn’t just about making a space look like a magazine clipping.

Having order and structure helps me feel calmer. More in control. And, most importantly, freed up emotionally and mentally to tackle the chaotic, messy, and constantly challenging work of creating.

Not only that, when everything has a place, you don’t waste time searching for what you need. You don’t get overwhelmed by clutter. You can actually see what’s in front of you.

And the same, believe it or not, is true for storytelling.

A Good Lesson

One of the most important things I’ve learned about great storytellers is that they have a skill most people overlook:

They notice more.

But noticing isn’t something that just happens—it’s a practice.

And if you don’t have a system for capturing ideas, you’re less likely to pause, reflect, and make connections. You’ll move through life, absorbing things passively, but never quite pulling the threads together.

When you create a practice of collecting—whether it’s moments from your day, insights from books, or the words your audience uses—you start to see patterns. You start to make meaning.

This is what storytelling really is. It’s not sharing what happened. It’s making sense of things.

The more you capture, the more you train your brain to look for meaning.

And the more you do that, the better you get at drawing connections that make your stories resonate.

A Good Takeaway

To recap, great storytelling starts with noticing. And noticing starts with practice.

And just like my boyfriend's old, disorganized apartment, if you don’t have a system for capturing ideas, moments, and insights, they get buried under the chaos of daily life. You don’t see the stories in front of you.

So, here are three of mine to get you started:

1. Homework for Life

The simplest system I use to capture personal stories comes from renowned storyteller Matthew Dicks. It’s called “Homework for Life.”

The way it works is at the end of each day, take 5 minutes to jot down something notable that happened.

Not a full story. Not a journal entry. Just a few notes about something that could be a story later on.

That moment could be something that made you feel or think. It could be something that made you laugh, cry, get confused, or feel angry, joyful, or calm.

The trick is to not overdo it. Because if it feels like a chore, you won’t do it.

That’s why I’ve never been able to consistently journal. I’d miss a day, lose momentum, and then capture nothing at all.

This, though? This takes five minutes.

These notes later become story seeds for workshops, speaking events, newsletters, LinkedIn posts, networking—even casual conversations. (Forget work—do this and you’ll be way more interesting at parties.)

As for where you keep it? Doesn’t matter—just make sure it’s accessible.

Matthew uses an Excel sheet. I use my Apple Notes app because it's easy to scroll and search for keywords when I need a story idea.

2. Spark Files

Some of the best stories don’t come from your own lived experience. They come from books, podcasts, articles, videos, and conversations that shift your thinking.

I collect these in a simple spreadsheet, organized by:

• Made me feel
• Made me think
• Taught me something
• Changed my mindset

For each entry, I link to the source and jot down why it resonated.

That way, when I’m writing about a topic, I can reference and restructure these insights into stories that lead to meaningful takeaways.

Lately, I’ve also started using Sublime to collaborate with others who are collecting and organizing insightful ideas from around the internet.

3. Call Mining

One of the best ways to create stories that resonate with the people you're trying to reach? Use the exact words your audience is already saying and connect with them over their hopes, dreams, fears, and struggles.

Here’s how I do it:

First, I record all my client and prospect calls. Then, I run the transcript through ChatGPT and prompt it with something like:

"Synthesize this call and list all problems, pain points, desires, hopes, dreams, goals, and prior solutions my client has tried. Give me a list in the form of questions I can answer."

If something new stands out, I drop it into my content calendar (another system) under a section labeled “ICP Questions.”

Later, when I need story-driven content that's aimed at conversions, I pull from these and find a personal story (either from my memory bank or my homework for life) that highlights a time I faced the same problem.

Or, I take a client story and turn it into a transformation story about our work together.

If you want evidence of these in action, here are examples of stories pulled from my Homework for Life, Spark Files, and Call Mining database.

So, there you have my top 3 systems. But with any of these systems, the most important thing to internalize is this:

The things you notice aren’t stories—yet.

They might become one later. Or they might turn into a metaphor, an anecdote, or a simple detail that makes a story richer. The point is that you now have them.

The idea here is that when you get into the habit of capturing, you start to see connections you would have otherwise missed.

You train yourself to think like a storyteller. You start to recognize themes, contrasts, and moments of meaning in everyday life.

Without this practice, you risk falling back on surface-level content like tips, tricks, and generic ideas that don’t really connect.

Hope this helps.

A Few Good Resources

1. If I've sold you on systems, Josh Specter shared this epic notecard system in his daily newsletter last week. It's insanely involved but brilliant.
2. If you're a founder looking for funding, the Funding Breakthrough Lab kicks off next month and is packed with the resources and the network you need to navigate the world of investors. I'll be leading a workshop on honing your fundraising story.

Hope you have a good one,
Renee