A Good Reputation
When you become a better storyteller, you become memorable. Every week, get one story and one actionable insight on how to use storytelling to build your reputation, connect with your ideal audience, attract opportunities, and get buy-in for your business or big ideas.
Your life in six words
"He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still." Laozi · Chinese Philosopher Welcome to Issue 33 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, “My life, lived inside my head.” —M. Mazloumian This is one of my favorite six-word memoirs. Not for me, exactly, but maybe for a part of me I haven’t quite named. It reveals someone who thinks and feels deeply, but...
The emperor has no soul
"Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them." Frank Herbert · Dune Welcome to Issue 32 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, It was my last day in Oaxaca and I was thumbing through racks of the most gorgeous, hand-sewn dresses in this little side-street boutique, thinking to myself:...
It's a positioning problem
"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness." Brene Brown · Author, Speaker, Podcaster Welcome to Issue 31 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, As the resident writer in my family, I knew I’d be the one tasked with writing my grandmother’s obituary. What I didn’t anticipate was how hard it would be to do it....
What are you afraid of?
"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness." Brene Brown · Author, Speaker, Podcaster Welcome to Issue 30 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I remember the exact moment I realized my jeans no longer fit. They were crumpled on the floor next to a bed I’d never slept in—thrown off in a heated moment with a...
This is a good start
"Endings are simple, but every beginning is made by the beginning before." David Mitchell · Filmmaker Welcome to Issue 29 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand and get buy-in for your big ideas. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) ***Sending a few days late due to a bad taco situation. Don't worry—I am well again. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled Friday programming next week. Enjoy!*** Hello Reader, I’m in the middle seat at the back of...
Reflect on this
"You never realize that you are making a memory at the moment something is actually happening." Estée Lauder · American Business Leader Welcome to Issue 28 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, A friend messaged me recently about a problem I know all too well: She notices everything. So much so that when it comes time to tell a story, she doesn’t know which thread to follow. Every detail feels...
A system for storytelling
"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work." Gustave Flaubert · French Novelist 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.) 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...
Building credibility vs oversharing
"If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done." Thomas Jefferson · President Welcome to Issue 26 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I spoke in front of a conference room of a hundred founders this week and—although (I’m pretty sure) I played it cool—I was terrified. I spend most of Monday anxiously preparing for it and most of Tuesday wishing...
Actually, it is about you
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas Edison · Inventor and Businessman Welcome to Issue 24 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about a good brand move that helped grow a small business. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I deleted the post 20 minutes after I hit publish. I so desperately wanted to tell the world what had just happened. To expose myself and let the walls holding up this curated image come crumbling down. But—as soon as the...
You're trying too hard
"If you let it, the struggle can become one of the most beautiful parts of the story." Whitney English · Mindful Tools for a Meaningful Life Welcome to Issue 24 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about a good brand move that helped grow a small business. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I was singing to myself in the kitchen the other day when my daughter walked in and says, “Mom, you have such a pretty voice when you’re not trying.” “Thanks?” I respond. It’s the same...