If you’ve ever struggled to explain what makes your business different—or why people should care—this episode is for you.

In this Mic’d Up Marketing session, we break down Simon Sinek’s Start With Why and explain how to use the Golden Circle framework to transform not just your marketing, but your team culture, customer loyalty, and long-term growth. You’ll hear real-world examples (Apple, Southwest, Patagonia) and personal client stories—including how one backyard structure company is changing lives in Africa—and how it all connects back to purpose.

We’ll walk you through:

• Why most companies start with what they do (and why that fails)
• How to uncover the real why behind your brand
• How your “why” impacts employee retention, customer trust, and sales
• What it means to have a purpose that actually drives business decisions
• How to write your own why statement with simple, clear steps
  

If your marketing feels flat, your team feels disconnected, or you just want to feel inspired again—you need this episode. It’s the foundation we use with every client before we touch content, strategy, or offers. And if you’re ready to craft a story your audience actually roots for, start here.

Tim (00:00)
And welcome back to the brand roots podcast in our segment, miked up marketing, where Sarah and myself talk about marketing and yap about stuff that we yap about anyway. So today we're going to talk about one of most popular books by one of the most popular Ted speakers, Simon Sinek. And this was actually a really famous

Ted talk that he gave that kind of a lot of people are exposed to who he is as a as a writer entrepreneur And so his book is called to start with why now Sarah, we both read this. We've read it multiple times. We've even read the follow up book, which is more like a workbook.

we can get into that a little bit later. what's the best way you can summarize start with why and the book itself.

Sarah Faith (00:40)
Yeah, it is such a great read. he basically goes in, he talks about like the golden circle. And there's three different levels of it. The innermost circle is the why, the second is the how, and then the third is the what. it helps you to understand your business from the inside out. A lot of companies will really focus on the what as in their products.

instead of why they do what they do. Simon drives home this thought that people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Then that's an easier sell to people and it's more story led versus just focusing on the product itself. He really talks about the company Apple and how they really differentiated themselves in

the market and there were other companies out there who were making really great equipment and phones and tech and being leaders in that. And then Apple came in and became this huge disruptor because they built their business from the inside out. They really focused on their why. Why are we doing this? Why is this important to us? Are we just making

iPods and eventually iPhones and Macs or is there something bigger at play here? And it's such a foundational part of business because so many companies just kind of gloss over this. Not even that they gloss over it because that would insinuate that they know that it's important. Most people don't even know it's important. But if you

Do not know why you are doing what you do in your business, whether you are a multiple seven figure owner, a multi-billion dollar business owner, or whether you're just a freelancer who's like, hey, I want to make some side income. If you have no idea why it is you do what you do, then the whole foundation of your business will be off and you will not...

be able to really communicate and understand your customers and be able to actually create products and services that actually benefit them and then things that you actually enjoy because business can be hard and it can have a lot of ups and downs. But if you know what your why is, then that can mitigate a lot of frustration that's going to naturally come up because you have a big picture vision and you can actually get your customers.

on board with that big picture vision. So that's the Sarah version of kind of the premise of the book, but we'll go more into it. But Tim, how would you share about the book for anyone listening?

Tim (03:16)
Yeah. So, you know, Simon's, he's actually a really great storyteller. I think it really helps kind of walk through the framework by just these several different examples. Like Sarah mentioned, he talks about Apple and their why first kind of approach to the business, where if the, a product didn't make sense for their why they wouldn't pursue it. And another example is Southwest Airlines and

Sarah Faith (03:25)
Thank

Tim (03:43)
He has several other business examples of companies that kind of change challenge of status quo by just kind of marching to the beat of their own drum. know, Walmart initially, when the original owner owned the company, he was one of those people. He talks about that in the book as well. And even another example would be Costco, you know, these, these other kinds of companies that they are, I would say Costco and Walmart, the owners of those co each those two different companies. They, they'll both of those guys were inspired.

Sarah Faith (03:51)
Yeah.

Tim (04:12)
by this other person who had this other business, but they kind of did different things. know, one has a subscription based model that has affordable bulk pricing and where they won't compromise on things like prices for the hot dog. You know, this is one of the famous things and with Costco and Walmart was like, I want to give affordable items to everyone. I want to give communities lots of jobs.

And so, you know, the original owner of Walmart, not his son or anything, anyone else that succeeded him, like he had the right why behind the business. And he talks about the even the downfall of Walmart and in a lot of ways. But all that to say is like Sarah was saying, the golden circle is his framework that he uses to articulate how you should approach your business. And so at the very center is the why, which is like you start with the why, you know, like you want to start with the why the center, because that is a thing you need to focus on.

and then the layer outside of that circle. So why and then right outside of it is the how, which is like the principle, the guiding principles of how you're doing what you're doing. ⁓ And then what you're doing would be the last one. And that's like what specifically you're doing based on the why and how. so with that golden circle, you're able to then put the priorities in the right place. And I also I think this is related to your

Sarah Faith (05:11)
Hmm.

Tim (05:27)
company culture as well. Maybe this podcast for a different day. But I think that your your company culture, which in theory are your values and why you're doing it informs so much of your business. So sorry, if you want to go if you have more in depth stuff about the why I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.

Sarah Faith (05:29)
Hmm.

Okay.

Yeah, so I'm glad you brought up the company culture thing for a moment because so many people, they'll come into a company and it's like they'll walk in the doors of it and all of a sudden they realize, wait a minute, this is not what I thought it was or this or I don't understand like why I'm here or what's like the company goal or

why this company does what they do. I just feel like it's just about a paycheck or it's just about money. if you want to retain customer, excuse me, if you want to retain your employee retention or your team members and really build a foundational team that is going to create lasting success, because I don't care who you are, you're nothing without your team.

Think of every business out there, like Walmart. Imagine if every team member just decided to walk out. There's no Walmart. So then if you want to create a lasting brand and everything, you want to make sure that your team members understand your why. I think it should be part of the onboarding process. When anybody comes on, they need to understand what they're doing and

why they're there and what is the big picture vision and the big mission behind it. Because

you know that scene in Separance where he's like, hey kids, what's for dinner? What's his face? He tells Mark, hey, if Helly is looking for a mission and a bigger understanding of why we do what we do at Lumen, take her to this...

to that little corridor where all those creepy statues are.

Tim (07:23)
That you need to have your why established so that anyone can jump on board and be part of the same mission. Like essentially being on the same train. Cause it's like, look, if we're all supposed to be going towards the same destination, we should know what the destination is and why we're going there. But if you have a destination, which is make a billion dollars and you're not informing people why we're doing that. Like, is it just to fill the guy's pockets or what? And I think.

Sarah Faith (07:30)
Right, yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Tim (07:50)
Anyway,

Sarah Faith (07:51)
Yeah,

So a big thing with companies is they often negate their why because they don't think it's important. And you really see this show be exposed, especially in the onboarding process for team members. And somebody will come in to work at a company and at first glance, they're so excited and they're ready to kind of have a new chapter in their life working at a company.

And then they start to see, wait a minute, it's almost like, don't know why I'm here, what this company is about. I don't know the mission. I don't know why we're waving this flag. And they don't have a sense of purpose. And so then when frustrations naturally arise, they're more likely to dip out because they don't know what they're on board with. don't feel like they have a business that they can rally behind.

I've seen companies that it doesn't matter what that company goes through. The team members are just like, we love this place. We're going to do everything in our power to make it work and do our best. And then some companies, as soon as one little thing goes wrong, they're like, I don't want to be a part of this. And I think that when you have a strong why, that comes from the business owners, first and foremost.

If you know why you do what you do, you're able to communicate that to your team members and then your team members are able to trickle that down to your customers. And so it goes from the inside out. You're able to connect more with your audience because you're first connecting with your why and then you're bringing your team members on board with that. And it just gives people this feeling of

purpose and a sense of mission. And it's like, this isn't just about a paycheck. This isn't just about making money. It's like, wait, I feel like I'm actually doing good or I'm making a difference in people's lives. But I've talked to different companies before, like maybe I'll meet, I'll randomly meet the owner and then I'll talk to the employees. And it's almost like you're talking to two completely different...

people that are in different businesses and you would never guess that they're part of the same business. And I think that's because like the owner didn't take the time to actually work on their why and to educate and inspire their team members. And this all comes back to like frameworks and systems too. It's like in that onboarding process, you have to get people onboard with your mission.

Just as much as like if you were, let's say, training someone at a hotel on how to check people in and hand out key cards and welcome them when they drop off their luggage, just as important as those daily tasks are, you have to think of educating people about your why and what is the purpose behind this company and why do we do what we do.

If you think that that's not important, then that's a huge problem. And this is something actually that Tim and I are very passionate about. And we are sharing it with our clients because we know that there's a lot of success in it in the long run and the short run as well.

Tim (10:55)
Yeah.

Yeah. And like, if you want to say like, what's the result of a why it's like you have internal alignment, like Sarah's saying, like your team is on the same page, like on the actual same page on the same paragraph, they know exactly where they stand. Also you get much faster decision-making because you know exactly why you're doing what you need to do within your business. And so Simon Sinek talks about this, where he was going to do a potential business partnership in the, in the book. and

He had this one guy who he wanted to partner with him in business and said, I have this idea. we, we would love to work with you. And, and, and so they had aligned with the same why they're the same. Why they, they both understood the value of this thing. And then when they got a level deeper, which is the, the what they saw that their what and the how were misaligned. And so that helped him make a quick decision. you know,

because he knew exactly where he stood as his business and what was going to further his goals and direction as a business. And with that, you can make clearer, more sound decisions that are not distracted by fluff and all the extravagance because you know exactly what the heart of your business is and that helps you steer the ship. And also your marketing resonates with people. When you have your why out in the open,

That's something that you can incorporate into your marketing. Again, Sarah was talking about that. That's what we do. That's something that we're really passionate about. And that's the place that we start as the foundation is what's the why behind your business. And also then you have customers who become advocates and who love your brand, become loyal to your brand because you're including them in part of that why you're allowing your customers and clients to be part of that with you. And, know, so essentially what you could say is you have the why and how do you get there?

Sarah Faith (12:32)
Mm-hmm.

Tim (12:38)
So I would say there's kind of like six different kind of steps you can get to do the why if you're doing it by yourself or just at least some brief analysis. So, you know, one of the biggest things that you can do is collect stories. think that's like really one of the first steps is because, you know, just like in a previous podcast episode, me and Sarah were talking about is just kind of you need to hear everything, all the noise within the company, yourself, co-owners, but also

not more importantly, but almost equally important, important is hearing what other people are talking about when it comes to your business. So this stories that really reflect what makes the work meaningful. You know, like, if you own a company that has a product and it's in the landscape edging, you know, industry, you know, some of the stories you should be listening out for are, why do people purchase our products? You know, like,

Sarah Faith (13:11)
Yeah.

Tim (13:28)
because you might say, well, this product is, no, it's only for elderly people. And that's who buys it. I'm like, well, OK, well, maybe. But there are not only elderly people buying this. So let's figure out who else is doing this, and let's listen to them. Let's really listen to the heart behind them. And then also, you need to listen to the people doing the selling. So if you have a customer service person who's always listening to customers,

If you have people who are interacting with other people within the company, it's like, are the stories? What makes them get out of bed and come into work and what drives them within the business? Because you might, it might reveal so many great things about your business and how it operates and why they're doing what they're doing and how other people are responding that it might inform your why, you know, that even if you don't have it explicitly written out or even in your heart, because, we, and maybe Sarah can talk about this. We we've known people where they're like,

We ask them, hey, so why do you have this business? And Sarah, what's the answer that we hear a lot?

Sarah Faith (14:22)
money money honey money money money

Tim (14:23)
money. And,

and that is a kind of a why, you know, but that's not even a real that's like skin, skin surface like a surface level. It's

Sarah Faith (14:34)
It's a lazy answer. It's such a lazy answer.

Well, because the reason I say it's lazy is because I think it's like the expected answer. It's like, no, obviously I went into this because of money, but I'm like, but why? And then they'll be like, well, you know, want to give my wife and my kids, or I want to give my husband a great life. And we want to pay off debt.

Tim (14:50)
WAH!

Sarah Faith (14:58)
Okay, but why? Well, we like to travel and we want to just not live paycheck to paycheck because we know what that's like. Yeah, but why? Well, because we grew up poor and we actually had this issue with a health issue and everything and we couldn't afford health care. Okay, but why? Well, and then you get to the heart of why they started a supplement company.

You know, was the end. So like the end result is like, okay, yeah, like you make more money and that's great. We're not against making money. We don't think that it's wrong to make money. But if you get to the heart of why you started something and what kept you going in spite of all those challenges, I guarantee you it's not because of the money. It's because there was something inside of you that was

like pulling you toward that because you can only like push yourself so much before the human side of you is going to be like, wait a minute, this is stupid. You should probably just get a real job. But when you have a why, it's like this internal pull that allows you to overcome hardships and everything. And that's a story that people can get on on board with. and then that's where that trust and that loyalty and that sense of like a clear direction.

internally and externally can come from. And then it can also differentiate you from a crowded market because you could have a company and 20 other of your competitors could have the same product, but your why could be the one thing that sets you apart. then there's going to be people, they're going to be like, I don't know what it is, but there's something about this company that makes me want to buy from them. It's specific to them.

and no amount of ad spend, no amount of fancy editing in a video or hiring a marketing team or anything, you take the time to work on that and really understand, you will differentiate yourself in a way that you didn't know is possible. And it just takes self-awareness, I think, to be like, know, and honesty of like, okay, it's not really about money. Money is a benefit, but it's not the core driver.

Tim (17:05)
Yeah. And I think like a great example would be Apple. Like if you kind of want to do like a five layer deep of, of Apple, you're like, right, what's the surface level? Why does Apple build computers and devices? So it's like to make beautifully designed, easy to use products. That's the surface, you know, they do it because they value design, well designed things and easy to use products. That's kind of been always their, their surface level for Apple.

Everyone knows that they're easy to use. Everyone knows they're beautifully designed. A level deeper would be why must they be easy to use? So it's like users who do not fight with technology can focus on the creative work as an example. And they can focus on other things that are not fighting with operating systems and difficulty. Like Apple was the first person that had a visual interface for computers. No one else had that before, before Apple did.

You know, and that just shows you easy to use that that's part of their, their, their mantra and it goes deeper. And so why, why do they care about everyday creativity? Cause personal creativity powers people to express themselves and solve problems in fresh ways. And why is individual empowerment so important? Cause when individuals feel powerful, they are more willing to challenge accepted limits and why challenge limits at all? Apple's core belief is to challenge the status quo and champion those who think different, driving progress and society.

So that is all the way down to their deepest level of why they do it. Their core belief and their why is to challenge the status quo and champion those who think different, driving progress in society. That's their why. And so everything that doesn't fit within that, it doesn't make sense to Apple. Of course, you know, with Steve Jobs passing and having different heads of Apple, you know, there are differences and there might be inconsistencies, but

Usually with the founders of the companies, like they hold that why. And, you know, the book talks about this too, why it's important to continue to pass those on as difficult as it is. And, you know, actually we can talk about one of our clients that has a really great why. One of our clients that we adore is Fisher's backyard structures. And they, they create stunning, beautiful backyard structures like gazebos, pavilions, pergolas, timber frames, all that stuff.

Sarah Faith (19:09)
Mm-hmm.

Tim (19:09)
They're

a great team of people. They're right in New Holland here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And they're a great group of people. love, we love working with them. We love talking with them and collaborating with them in the ways we can. Getting coffee with them. just met with one, one of the, one of the Fisher's guys recently, Brad was up. so, and so, and with them, there's something that Manny who's essentially the CEO of the company.

Sarah Faith (19:20)
and getting coffee with them when we can.

Tim (19:36)
something that is so important to him is this ministry that he partners with is Shigamani. And Shigamani is this ministry that they fund where they go over to Africa and they build these structures themselves and help the communities over there. And you can read all about it. There's tons of information about them. But that's part of the big part of the why behind Manny's business is so that he can help others have a beautiful structures themselves. And also more importantly, to help those

Sarah Faith (19:40)
Mm.

Tim (20:03)
in need who could use those things themselves. It's not about getting rich for him. That's not his motivating factor. His why is for the betterment of other people. And any success that he has within the Fishers Backyard Structures company is to then help other people. And so he is truly like one of the most genuine business owners I've ever met because it is not about money for him. It's not about getting rich and famous or

Sarah Faith (20:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm.

Tim (20:28)
you know, or, you know, any of those other things for him is about helping people and, and helping his employees, helping them live better lives, you know, and, then they all share that together. They all share that value of, of helping people have these beautiful yards, beautiful structures, spending time with family members, you know, that's something that's really important to them and creating these structures that enable families to have intentional time and intentional places to do that, you know.

Sarah Faith (20:55)
Yeah, yeah, it's their beautiful people, beautiful client, beautiful business. And also we were really happy to get on board with that mission and everything. like that makes for a great purpose driven story too. Because imagine if like you went to their site and they're like, hi, we make structures because we want to make money. I mean, like no company would ever admit that. But it's like that's what

people are kind of doing as an undertone, whether their about page or their website could say something else, but the undertone of it is like, we don't really care about you. We just care about making a bag. Versus if you have a company like Fisher's who has outreach and it's like their own ministry.

It's really beautiful because then people are like, wait, I can connect with that. It's almost like they feel good about their purchase because they see this other company doing goodwill. They feel like they're part of that story and everything. Even in Lancaster, there was this lemonade truck, I forget what it was called, but it's sometimes in the park near my house.

And once in a while, if they're there, I'll get a lemonade. And they started their lemonade truck because they wanted to be able to put their daughter through college. And so it's not just about lemonade for them. It was about, hey, we didn't get to go to college, but we have this gift of entrepreneurship and we're willing to put ourselves out there, but we want to give our daughter a better experience for life.

to give her an education and be able to pay for that. And that's a really great story, you And so they know their why, they're doing it for their daughter and they're changing their daughter's lives and just one lemonade at a time. It's like your story and your why, it doesn't have to be this whole drawn out cinematic Steven Spielberg blockbuster story. It could be something really simple, but to you, it's meaningful.

And you'd be surprised at sometimes how like simple sells and how like having a simple why that's at least just deep is more impactful. And well, again, it's going to differentiate you. It's going to make your marketing more powerful because when your messaging flows from your why, it feels more human. It feels more meaningful and persuasive and it gives people a reason to care, not just to buy.

And then I think, Tim, you mentioned earlier, it's like it creates these raving fans and almost like they're ambassadors for your brand. The best kind of marketing is the people who just yap about your brand and they talk all day long about it. They can't shut up about it. And that holds more weight than any amount of ad spend that you could ever do for your business.

Tim (23:45)
Yeah. And so once you collect the stories like we were saying before, and you spot those patterns from that, you can kind of see like, this is really, it really informs the why of what we're doing. And then once you do that, you can actually start drafting your why statement. And it's usually a very concise, like log line or sentence that starts with we, we, we do our contribution so that there's a certain impact, you know, it's like to give you some like brief examples.

like Simon Sinek and his team was like, to inspire people to do things that inspire them so that together we can change the world. That's in his book there, you know, and Southwest Airlines to connect people to what matters in their lives through friendly, reliable, low cost air travel. So everything is centered from that for Southwest. Disney is to make people happy so that families create lifelong memories together. Patagonia to save our home planet so that future generations can thrive.

And notice Patagonia, their mission is that, they sell clothing. And so that why informs how they do what they do or why they do what they do. And then the how is determined because of that. So what they do is they sell clothes, they sell outdoor clothing, and their why is to save Earth. So they're very eco-friendly, eco-conscious. And so they have to meet in the middle somewhere.

So what they're doing is informed by their why. So they're not going to be using harsh chemicals in their clothing. They're going to be using things that can't be recycled. That informs so much of how they operate their business. Apple, obviously we talked about this already, but challenges status quo by making beautiful design, easy to use tools so that ordinary people can unleash their creativity. Even for us, we probably have several statements of why.

And we use them on LinkedIn, we use them different places to set our website. Like what we do is like our, want to craft compelling brand stories for hardworking companies so that their businesses grow, their teams prosper and their communities flourish. know, like there's so many, there's our why is so important. And, and so when you actually grasp that, when you are able to work alongside and say, this is why we do what we do. We sell.

landscape edging because we want people with physical disabilities, people with limited movement to still have beautiful gardens and have a beautiful oasis in their yard that they can do themselves. That was one of the main things that we did at the company we worked at before. That was the why statement that we crafted and that informed everything. That informed the videos that we made, the kinds of videos we made, the way we were marketing to our primary audience.

Sarah Faith (26:09)
Yeah.

Tim (26:17)
And that really informs, at least while we were there, the kind of products that they offered. ⁓ I can't say that's still the case, but while we were there, that's something that we made sure to do. And that was something that so deeply important to us in everything we do. that's why that's something that we start with for all of our clients. do this start with why or brand roots or getting to the root of your brand. That's what we are so passionate about is finding your why.

Sarah Faith (26:21)
Yeah.

No.

Tim (26:42)
your company's why your business is why and and using that to kind of steer the direction of your content of your marketing, you know.

Sarah Faith (26:49)
Yeah.

Yeah. And notice too, those statements and they kind of sound like taglines in a way, or like a different version of the tagline. But notice that they're very benefit focused. They're not feature driven, like to the point of talking about the landscape edging. Imagine if it was, well, we like to sell fake landscape edging rocks because

They were like, yeah, they're really cool and they do well on Amazon. And yeah, that just seemed like the right decision to make. It's like nobody would get on board with that. we, for that company specifically, another thing we wanted to show that they were a safer option for children and for pets, for little ones and older people. I remember we did like, I think it was like a poster, like we're...

Tim (27:16)
They're cool.

Sarah Faith (27:41)
Yeah, and like people were commenting and saying, hey, this is a safer option because when I was younger, I one time fell and I sliced up in my knee on this sharp landscape edging and we were like, wow. ⁓

Tim (27:52)
Metal edging, And then we made content around that. We

made some like, this is your head bouncing off of our landscape edging versus your head bouncing off of metal edging. And we used like a watermelon and it was a lot of fun actually to do. And that was a showing the why of the business. It's easy to install and it was for the benefit of the people installing them. And I think that's what you have to really go in with.

Sarah Faith (28:01)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Tim (28:18)
start with your why your why is so important for your business because it it helps solidify who you are and why you do what you do. It tells you what you should do as far as offering it informs what you do for your product offering if you should pursue certain avenues for your business if it aligns with your core values and you know I think every company has a why.

Sarah Faith (28:21)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Tim (28:41)
and your why is not to make money. That is not a why. No one can rally around that except for you because as a business owner that only benefits you.

Sarah Faith (28:46)
Amen.

And your team

members will definitely not rally around that because they're going to be like, great, you're making way more money and we're not. And they're not going to care. You know what's coming to mind too, Tim, is the show Shark Tank. So, yeah, so Shark Tank, I think they just wrapped for filming in the US at least. if you go on there, one of the...

Tim (29:05)
Sharkbait, ooh-hah-hah.

Sarah Faith (29:16)
One of the ways you can get on the show is a compelling story. they have, have to like tryouts and like do auditions for your product. They don't just let anybody on there. And there's countless businesses that want to be on that show. It's great publicity. Some people just go on for publicity. Others are, they're like, no, I really want an offer from the Sharks. But if you look at like the top companies that have been on there,

It doesn't matter what the product is. It could be something like honey, or it could be like those, there was a guy who made one, it's like a little black belt that goes around when you're driving and it like stops your phone from falling in between your seat. It could be something like that. It could be, what are they, those little sticks that you put up your nose, boom boom sticks.

Aromatherapy, pocket-sized aromatherapy. It doesn't matter what it is. The most compelling businesses that do the best are the ones with the best stories every single time. they might not remember anything else, but they remember the story. And they're like, wait a second, that's why? Oh, okay, I want to be a part of that. it can be...

Tim (30:18)
Yeah, people relate to stories.

Sarah Faith (30:34)
It could be honestly, like not to be dramatic, it could be the thing that is the difference between your business blowing up in beautiful success versus you completely failing and having to close your doors. I'm not kidding. Like that's how important it is.

Tim (30:49)
Not to

be dramatic, but here's something that's so dramatic. Either you will win a billion dollars or you'll die.

Sarah Faith (30:52)
It's so dramatic.

Yeah, mean, that's just the way that... But truthfully, I think if people can just... Yeah, no, it's a legitimate game changer. And we've seen companies do this the right way and we've seen them do it the wrong way. And we want you to do it the right way. We share a lot of frameworks with our clients. This is one of them. And we've been known for doing Storybrand.

Tim (31:01)
It's a legitimate game changer.

Sarah Faith (31:21)
which is a really fantastic, it's like a seven-part framework to help you make you the guide and then your customer the hero. It's very in-depth. It's based off of a book. And that is very important. However, that is not the foundation. And I think that's the problem with like story brand, not story brand, but people use it as like, it's the end all be all. I think the foundation

is the start with Y, hence the name start with Y. It's not start with story brand, it's start with Y.

Tim (31:49)
Yeah.

Yeah, well, because

it's just your why will will then help you do your story brand or brand stories that much better because you have a proper foundation to rest it upon. But, you know, if you don't have that, it's just kind of like you start in the middle of the page. like, hey, start at the top of the page when you're writing a story, you know, and you have to start with why you're doing what you're doing. ⁓ And if you need help crafting your why statements.

Sarah Faith (31:58)
Mm. Mm.

Yeah.

Tim (32:19)
That's what we're here for. when any client works with us, when we onboard any new client, we sit down with them for an hour or two hours sometimes and just go in depth on what their business is, what their products are, and more importantly, why they do what they do, you know, cause sometimes people fall into businesses or they inherited business or whatever. But I think in a true sense, there's always reasons why we continue to do it.

Sarah Faith (32:33)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Tim (32:43)
Because it's like, why

didn't you sell it before? Why are you still operating within the business? You can get to the heart behind why, you know, and then so.

Sarah Faith (32:49)
Yeah.

One of our earlier clients, I remember we asked them so many questions about their business and we were just like, what about this? What about that? Because we don't, who are we to think that we know your business? Like we're not in it. You are. So you are the gatekeeper to that information. And I remember, I think it was in an email, they said to us later that

They were like, you asked us questions that we've never even thought to ask ourselves. And like, it's not surprising to us when we ask a question to a company and they don't have an answer because if they've never thought about it, then they're going to be like, hey, you know what? I have to get back to you on that. And like, we want our questions to be so...

Tim (33:16)
Yeah.

Sarah Faith (33:33)
It's like it permeates into their mind and also into their heart of like, wait, like, why am I doing this? Like, what really is important to me about this? Because those, all those little sound bites, all the little comments, we can take even the smallest statement and create a whole marketing campaign around it. I can't tell you how many times I've done that, how many times Tim's done that. Like they say one little thing and it's like, there it is.

Tim (33:51)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's like the floodgates

open.

Sarah Faith (34:00)
Yep. And it's just like all these ideas just come bursting through. And so if you're like, hey, I really struggled to a talk about my business. I also don't really know why I'm doing this, but I know it's important. And you're just like, I need somebody or somebody's to help me. A Sarah and a Tim, then reach out to us because we just we love this stuff.

we gobble it up and we just really enjoy doing it. And every single time without fail, there's always a light bulb moment that goes off in the client's head and they're like, And even if it just gives them peace of mind and they're like, wait a minute, I know how to talk about my business now and I know how to share about it in an authentic way because part of what we're doing is we're helping you

create a story that your audience roots for. And you want people rooting for your business, you want them rooting for your story. The sales will come, but if you don't have a good story, it's because you don't have a good why. So start with why. We are like more than happy to help you with that. And it's not just that we do the questions. We actually do like a whole presentation on it. It's like you get a whole guidebook, you get...

You just get a bunch of stuff that will really help you to take with you after the fact. So even six months from now, you can actually share it with your team too so that they know. And it's not like you're having to remember all that information and it's super, super powerful.

Tim (35:30)
And our why, like to summarize with that, it's like we do what we do because we love helping clients, businesses find the root behind what they do and why they do it. And also then, cause then when you'd have that, why, when you are able to have this unified sense of understanding of what your business is all about, that just gives you so much clarity, you know, it allows you to kind of focus on the, on the work.

that you love doing and also maybe even inspire you to go further when you didn't really, if you were just kind of working, droning, doing day in and day out without any purpose, it's like, let's find that purpose. Let's find that purpose for you and your business and, create this rallying cry for you and your employees that you guys can march forward in, that you can kind of be re-inspired and reinvigorate you. And we are so passionate about helping businesses and helping companies find that.

That's why we love creating content so that you guys can grow your businesses and grow your companies, because that's something that's so important to us. We love seeing other people's lives be transformed because they were able to work with us and do this marketing efforts and and see great success because of that. And so please reach out to us. We're always here to work alongside you. We pride ourselves first and foremost as collaborators.

as we work with you. We don't work under you or you don't work for us. Like it's we it's hand in hand that we do this and and something that we are passionate about doing.

Sarah Faith (36:59)
Yeah, if you feel overwhelmed in any part of your business, sometimes too, it's just nice to get a second or, you know, and third pair of eyes and have someone who can have an aerial perspective on it because as a business owner, you're kind of in the middle. You're like in the trenches. You're muddy and you're like, I just need someone to see above me on what I'm doing wrong or

how I could do something different. And I can't tell you how many businesses I've seen where they thought that if they wanted to make more sales, oh, they need to change the logo or they need to, you know, just hire another salesperson. That's always like the typical like remedy in their mind. And it's not, I'm like a lot of times, 99 % of the time, it's probably because you just don't have a compelling why.

Tim (37:36)
hire a salesperson.

Sarah Faith (37:50)
once you have that, then it's like, okay, well, now let's look at your story brand. Okay, well, now that you have that, let's look at your offer. Are you doing an offer that people can really get on board with and that they're like, they feel stupid if they say no to it. Doesn't matter what it is. It could be you're selling water, you could be selling a laptop, you could be selling a service as a coach. And there's all these different frameworks that can stack on one another.

But the core of it is your why. So let us help you start with why.

Tim (38:22)
Yeah. So thanks for listening to this episode of the Brand Roots podcast. We always have fun talking about this stuff. So please feel free to write in to us via email on our website, stumpandroot.co or if you want to email us, like I was saying, hello, stumpandroot.co is where you can find us or LinkedIn, you know, we're both on LinkedIn, very active on there. So please feel free to reach out to us if you need help with crafting your why statement.

Sarah Faith (38:37)
Mm-hmm.

Tim (38:46)
or if you need help figuring out what it is that you even do or why you're doing it, we would love to collaborate with you.

Sarah Faith (38:52)
Let's do it. Thanks guys.

Tim (38:54)
Bye bye.

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