Everyone can tell a product story. The business story is the one that builds teams. Most people never tell it. Build yours in three lines. Thirty seconds, out loud.
First, where's your belief today?
Out of 10. Be honest. Nobody's watching.
The story is written in the firsts, not the milestones. Big results create distance. Small firsts create possibility.
i.One moment
A specific scene from your business, not a summary. Your first cheque, your first customer, your first yes. Where were you? What were you doing?
ii.One detail
The small, ordinary thing that makes it real. The amount. The time of day. The kitchen bench.
iii.One realisation
What that first told you. Not what happened next. Not a result.
The screenshot rule: only say things that would survive being screenshotted and shared out of context. A small first always survives. A claim never does.
Your first story. 30 seconds, out loud
Take it with you
The 30-Second Business Story
i.Before
One line on where you were. "I was working full-time and had never made a dollar outside a paycheque."
ii.I was introduced to the business by…
The person, not the pitch. "…a friend I trusted enough to look."
iii.My first…
First cheque, first customer, first yes. Give it one small, ordinary detail.
iv.What that first told me
A realisation, not a result. "It wasn't the amount. It told me this was real."
v.I now believe…
"…anyone willing to start small can build something real."
"It wasn't a big result. It was a first. And the firsts are the ones that change everything."
Then end with a question, not a close: "What was your first?" A story that ends in a question starts their story.
Run it this week
The 7-Minute Team Huddle
i.
Build. 3 minutes. Everyone fills in the five beats. First cheque, first customer, first yes. No wordsmithing.
ii.
Say. 3 minutes. Everyone says it out loud, 30 seconds each. Out loud is the training. Reading it isn't.
iii.
Share. Before tomorrow. Everyone sends it once. A DM, a voice note, a post. That's the whole job.
New person on the team? Their first-story huddle happens in week one, before they have a big result. That's the point.
From the session
Belief has a birthday: the day evidence arrives.
Belief is built in the mirror, not the meeting.
A 10/10 is just someone with a thick folder of evidence.
Your story's job isn't to convince. It opens the door so someone can collect evidence of their own.
The two questions that run your business
i. Distribution: how many times does a first story get shared today?
ii. Production: how fast does your system create the next first?
Collapse both, and belief stops being something you pump up at events. It becomes something your business makes on its own.
A launch is a production machine for firsts. Your next launch is about to hand your team a wave of brand-new firsts. Capture every one.
Built for the Shaklee Leadership Academy Brett & Sammie