Life feels like an illusion sometimes.
Make sure you create your own reality.

There are two parts to this: what has happened and how you choose to react to it.

I just got some bad news, a huge setback. I am choosing to turn this into a challenge and use what happened as motivation instead of a failure.

Same thing, different reaction. Control the desired outcome.

In today’s Storyletter:
• Chief Emotions Officer
• No More Leads
• Fun Stuff – Weekend Vibes

Key learning

A smile is one of the most powerful tools your business isn’t using.

Every interaction you have with your customers is a chance to do better than before. When done right, you might learn that even when you fall short, your customers will tell you it’s ok and that you did your best.

A good friend of mine owns a chicken fast-food chain. The food is amazing, with a dozen types of gravy you can add. The chicken is always tender. But once in a while the 6-pack has a few small ones, so they add another piece. Nice, right?

Well, clients complain because they now feel every chicken was small. Over a cup of coffee I suggested adding a small note: Hey, we wanted to make sure you get at least the amount you deserve, so we added one more piece, just to be on the safe side. Have a great day.

Same thing, different emotion. Going from the minimum to over the top for the client. And you can do the same thing in your business.

Working with some clients on their pitch, I often keep calling them after we wrapped up and they paid. I care. I want them to succeed. They understand it was more than just the money. They usually refer people and mention how they felt I was part of their core team.

I think some businesses should have a new role: the CREO, chief real emotions officer. A person in charge of assigning emotions next to everything an organization does, internal and external.

Whether it’s HR or marketing, we all trade emotions. That’s the currency, yet we never use them, write them, or assign them next to our tasks. Don’t wait until the other side tells you how they feel about your offer or your actions. Make sure they feel what you want them to.

During my work for my upcoming book, The Business Catcher, I learned most businesses do not have an improvement funnel. They often work on getting more, not necessarily better.

I introduced this idea to a few of my bigger clients, and the results are staggering. More leads turn into clients. It’s easier to go from discovery to closing, as we have proven less resistance in each step. And this is just one part.

Review every interaction you have with leads and clients, from the awareness stage to retention, and make sure in each of them there is an opportunity to do better.

Review the process every quarter and keep improving.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Just reply to this mail.

Sometimes all it takes is a smile, a note, or an extra piece of chicken to turn good into unforgettable.

Building in public

My sales funnel is empty, and that’s a good thing. Or is it?

For the first time since April 2024, my deal flow is empty, and it’s because every relevant lead has signed and onboarded. It has been a great few months.

But with the September motorcycle trip in South Africa coming up, I need to push harder than ever. Almost every client I currently work with has been a referral. While that’s great, it also means I haven’t been building a steady pipeline.

October, after the trip, will be my chance to push my lead-gen plan with a goal of signing a few more consulting clients. From then on, the focus will be balancing client work, writing, and creating videos (which has always been hard for me).

Here are 3 things that are helping me scale:

1. Only the right clients.
I’ve created three types of offers. If a lead doesn’t match, I can’t bring them on as clients. The main reason is simple: my process works, so why try changing it?

2. Better tools, better results.
Over the last two months, I’ve added tools, frameworks, and ways to help clients succeed faster and in a more organized way. Better metrics, tighter meetings. I’ll keep iterating and bringing more value. A good example is the discovery call phase, which is quickly becoming a tool of its own that I can teach with great success.

3. Content is still the hardest part.
This is the hardest part for me. Creating and uploading content consistently has been my Achilles heel since 2013. I’ll share more about this in future updates.

An empty funnel isn’t the end. It’s the signal to start building the next chapter.

Just for Fun

Chill & Enjoy

🎧 Music
This week’s newsletter was created while listening to Coffee Break Jazz.

🎬 When Batman is the Villain
In a different world, in a different comic, who knows, this might have been true. Watch here.

🍿 Family for Rent
Brendan Fraser’s comeback is getting better and better. See the trailer.

Resources

📺 How to win the SEO game and AI search in 2025 - Full episode here

💡 The Business Storytelling Guide - A complete guide on how to implement storytelling to improve your business quickly. Available here 

📕 My Amazon best-selling book F*ck The Slides - How to Create a Winning Pitch. Available here: Kindle/Print/Audio

📺 My YOUTUBE Channel: Interviews, tips and some fun content Available here