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E59: Lights, Camera, Action: Storytelling That Sticks (with HappyBox Productions)
13 Plays11 days ago
This week, we’re joined by the crew, Ryan and Amber, from HappyBox Productions—the video pros who prove you don’t need fancy gear to tell a powerful story… but you do need actual storytelling skills.
We dive into:
- Why emotional connection > shiny equipment
- The myth of “I can just do this myself” (in both video and estate planning)
- How even a meat market can make you cry
- And why your legacy is less about paperwork and more about being remembered
Oh, and we end with some absolutely unhinged rebrand name ideas for HappyBox that no one asked for—but you’ll be glad we delivered.
If you’ve ever thought “How hard can it be?”—this one’s for you.
Join us every Wednesday for new episodes! Subscribe now to get notified.
Where you can find HappyBox:
Where you can find Burch Law:
- IG @BurchLawTX
- FB @BurchLaw
- YT @LorieBurchLaw
- hello@burch-law.com
- (972) 385-0558
Visit burch-law.com/podcast to reach out!
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Transcript
Introduction to Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of One of Us Knows What They're Talking About and the other one is you. I'm Lori Birch, your host. Join us as we discuss and unpack wills, trusts, estate planning, and probate law in a way that's actually informative, interesting, and well, hopefully entertaining. Because if you don't have a will, the state of Texas has one for you.
00:00:27
Speaker
Let's dive in.
Introducing Happy Box Productions
00:00:40
Speaker
So very exciting today. Not always do we have guests, but when we do have guests, they're amazingly awesome. But these guests today are probably at the top of the guest list and why we've taken so long, I'll tell you why. Because um you all, Happy Box, do not know that we are about we're at the cusp of an initiative. We had kind of a failed start to it but that's fine. you know We're doing our best over here.
00:01:07
Speaker
where we believe that we can make anything about estate planning. And the way we're doing this is um these silly holidays that are like every every day, if not
Estate Planning and Holidays
00:01:25
Speaker
more than that. So we're sitting in my office with Sarah and Cynthia, and I'm introducing this idea.
00:01:31
Speaker
And Sarah... is skeptical no more but skeptical at the time about when cintia and i are like we can make any of these holidays about estate planning we need to start promoting this and i'm like give me one and she's like hot dog day and we're able to just like riff and then what was another one that you're like no way can you do this sarah what was it There was one like... Do remember? Chicken wing day. Chocolate day.
00:01:58
Speaker
They're food days. Tequila day. And drink days. So, again, literally anything. So that that's something we've been playing with. We even did a podcast about it.
00:02:08
Speaker
ah But we're going to continuing and continue to incorporate making anything about estate planning. What is the holiday, though, Sarah, that is... It's either actually two-day...
00:02:21
Speaker
It is today. What is today's holiday, Sarah? Whoa. It is International Friendship Day. Yeah, an International Day of Friendship. Whoa. yeah i love it. So, serendipitous that this is the day that we are having you on.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yes. So, that is how today, um yeah even though people won't be listening or watching to the watching this on the actual day, but... um International Friendship Day. So people who are not only colleagues and associates, but friends are joining us today.
Meet Amber and Ryan from Happy Box
00:03:00
Speaker
i would like the two of you to introduce yourselves. Tell us who you are and and really whatever you want to share frighteningly. Who are we, Amber? Rock, paper, scissors. Nope. Nope. This one's you.
00:03:14
Speaker
We are Happy Box, Happy Box Productions. And as the name implies, we're a video production company. Just kidding. It doesn't imply that at all. But we do love delivering happiness as though it were in a box.
00:03:26
Speaker
and And so there it is. um We did video production together for a bigger corporate entity as employees. And then after our departures from that company, we decided to just kind of like do that anyway, but for ourselves. And so Happy Box was born because our friendship was ah was forged in the fires of collaborative storytelling on on video and on camera. So um that's what we're doing today because we can.
00:03:53
Speaker
Excellent. And I had the good fortune of being introduced to Happy Box via one of our advertising um partners, Plano City Lifestyle.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah. Which do you all get them at? Do you all look at the magazine? Of course you do. I think sure you get it. I do. I get it. and't I looked at it a lot more vehemently when our ads were running in it.
00:04:19
Speaker
ok Okay, okay. You know, we're we won, and I have a good feeling we might have a second win in a row, of best advertising campaign.
00:04:31
Speaker
oh yes don't doubt that at all. So we we are, yeah at least we edit her podcast. That's one of the things that we do
Connecting with Happy Box Productions
00:04:38
Speaker
for her. And so I saw your episode with her in the first like 20 minutes. Yes. Where y'all just like, you win everything. You win everything. You win so many things.
00:04:48
Speaker
I win a lot of things. ah But this next one is real, like, they're all really, really good. But this next one, the theme of the, and one thing that they love about us is we actually follow the theme of the month.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yes. which it didn't occur to us not to do that. So the so the theme is fashion. And again, we can make anything about a state planning. yeah I just can't wait for this. But anyway, so we met through that because part of this association, we get to meet, um we get a video done. And fortunately, or unfortunately for the previous production company, something happened to them. i think it was kind of actually tragic or something. So they had to find a new ah company.
00:05:29
Speaker
And so you all come into my office and it was just, it was, it was instant. Was it instant? It was so instant. It was so instant that I, I have burned into my brain that I I'm looking at you and I'm like, you're just my favorite. Yeah.
00:05:44
Speaker
yeah
00:05:46
Speaker
We hotly debated. I hate that for me. Lori, we hotly debated that instance for several weeks afterwards because do you remember what you said when she said that to you?
00:05:57
Speaker
It's on video. ah indeed But does she remember? You looked back at her. don't remember what looked back at her in her eyes and you said, you're my favorite too. But then you looked at then you looked at me with these shifty eyes when you realized that you said that to her in front of me And Amber took those shifty eyes to mean, I don't think she means it. i don't think she meant that. That was a pressure favorite. That wasn't a real favorite.
00:06:24
Speaker
And so we were like, we were debating. Yeah, it was such it was a whole thing. And so now we finally got her around to believing that you meant it when you said that. Oh, Ryan. Yeah. I do mean it. i know that, like, Lori is really hitting it off with someone because we share a wall whenever she's in the office. And it gets really loud in there.
00:06:43
Speaker
and then we just start making plans with them for later. How often happens? That does not happen. So if she's legitimately, like, making plans, it's like, okay.
00:06:55
Speaker
These people are going to be sticking around. Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah And i and that's that's a good... That's a good segue because I am constantly thinking of ways for us to do stuff together, whether it's professionally or socially, spiritually, whatever it is. And so this is the next iteration of that. But, you know, as as you know, Amber and Ryan, that our podcast is themed on one of us knows what they're talking about and the other one is you.
Misconceptions in Video and Estate Planning
00:07:22
Speaker
And so when we have guests on, we like them to be able to share things that they know about, that there's either misperceptions or people think they can, spoiler alert, like DIY in our world of legal planning and do that.
00:07:38
Speaker
And I do think it's interesting because it's In the 20 years that I've had this business and had to do marketing and videos, it really is, and the same thing with the legal profession, it's more accessible, the technology.
00:07:52
Speaker
Very much. And I think that's what makes it harder, which you're gonna make it not hard to understand in a moment, but makes it harder for some people to so understand why why do we need professionals to do this thing that I can download an app for free in-app purchases.
00:08:11
Speaker
I can download this app for free and do all of this stuff. And so I know that that's one thing. And then I know there's something else called the thing behind the thing. So those are topics. And then um yes if anybody has watched or listened to this podcast, you know that Sam and Sarah will have something.
00:08:32
Speaker
I just want to say I'm so worried a little Sam's face. They cannot be reined in. Sometimes I try. let work Yeah. so So let's start there. Like, tell us, like, what what do you know? What are you right about that everybody else is wrong about?
Unique Approach to Video Production
00:08:52
Speaker
That is a question you've been waiting your whole life to answer. Oh, gosh.
00:08:59
Speaker
We have like a whole list of things here. Yes, but it all it all seems- So start with them. Start at the beginning. What a great segue. Read that list. We're going to read it to you word for word. And this is going to be the opposite of storytelling, by the way. Right. So kind of like to your point.
00:09:20
Speaker
People, we we keep our, we keep it as lightweight as possible. So one of the things that makes us different than every other film production company in the area is that they will show up with their big giant fancy cameras and their big giant expensive lenses and they will visually conspicuously validate the enormous expense that comes along with having them set up shop and film you.
00:09:42
Speaker
We use our phones. I mean, when I say we use our phones, we use like, we're using this, right? So it's like people be like, what kind of camera is that? Because it looks more like a camera than a phone after we're done decking it up. And that comes down to the fact that as some of our camera crew have certain ergonomic ah limitations where carrying around a big giant heavy camera all day is bad news bears. So we have to downsize for those reasons.
00:10:05
Speaker
But at the end of the day, when we tell a potential client we're filming this on our phone, instantly it's almost like all of our street cred goes out the window and they're like, well I have a phone. My phone has a camera. Why can't I just do that?
00:10:17
Speaker
And at this point in in our but in our business lifespan, my response is, okay, go ahead. And then call us when it sucks. I mean, I say it nicer than that, but you know what i mean?
00:10:30
Speaker
yeah say like that I should. i should That is more on brand for us actually. like You suck at this. That's why you need to hire us to do this. um yeah But at the end of the day like these are tools that we know how to use better than people who just have it in their pocket and got it because you just need a phone in our society and it happens to have a camera and you can push a button to make a video. right like We both went to art school.
00:10:53
Speaker
There's film school under here. There's 20 something years of experience learning how to not just do all the technical aspects of using a tool to to achieve a product, but also what are we filming and how are we filming that?
00:11:07
Speaker
And tons of people will sit down for an interview, but not every interview is going to make the audience cry when they watch it. Right. And so there are so many like invisible, intangible,
00:11:18
Speaker
almost impossible to teach little intuitive things that we've learned over the years from doing and doing and doing that we bring to the table that ah phone just doesn't come with out of the box.
00:11:31
Speaker
Right. and Unless it's a happy box. Unless that's the only box. It's a happy box. Right. Hang on I'm going to write that down. Where's phone? Oh, wait, no, need a phone. It's okay, this is being recorded. Okay, yeah.
00:11:42
Speaker
So, So, reality is, yes, anyone can pick up their phone, take a video. And but we were actually discussing this earlier.
00:11:53
Speaker
You can go on TikTok and scroll and you'll get like hundreds of people, you know, within a few minutes who are telling you information, right? Or right or they're they're explaining something about their day.
00:12:08
Speaker
But that That type of thing isn't necessarily the storytelling aspect of it. Like you can make content, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are telling a story.
Authentic Storytelling Techniques
00:12:20
Speaker
And when we tell stories, because we have the experience that we have and um and so many years of figuring this stuff out, um we ask questions to get to the thing behind the thing.
00:12:37
Speaker
So everyone um but has a story to tell, right? and And we were talking about this too, Laurie, because when we came in to film you, there was no wall, there was no mask, we were already there.
00:12:55
Speaker
Like, you were you were like, this is this is it. You know, we're already just damn who i am already at that thing, right? But there are people that we sit down and we have we have like multiple questions and we are pulling this out of them, right?
00:13:13
Speaker
To get to like the real reason why they do what they do. The real thing that makes them tick. the the The thing in the background that but isn't normally seen, right?
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah, um no. And that's true. And I didn't know that that's how you approach things, because what was one of the funny things about when we first met and you were doing that? I mean, these questions are really good and probing. And I can see for people who are less comfortable or don't you know aren't top of mind for that to draw it out but what was funny is every single one of your questions just happened to coincide with a story that i already had developed and it got to this point where you're like okay and just here's this question i'm like oh okay you want one i got i got something for that too and then you ask this other thing oh i got another one are you ready
00:14:07
Speaker
Oh, we're like, we have so much here. Yeah, I don't know that I have a story for everything, but I certainly had a story for all of your questions. Well, that's the beautiful thing about it is you the stories that you jumped to were stories that deeply resonate with who you are and who you've become since the events in that story happened.
00:14:27
Speaker
And when you tell that story, all of that resonance comes through, not just while you're telling it, but for the rest of the interview. So we definitely had like a snowball effect And you would not believe how often we show up, we set up, we shake hands, get introduced, and we we sit down for an interview, and we ask the same types of questions, but all they give us back is information.
00:14:48
Speaker
You know, like, we we may as well have been able to do this over email and then have you read it off because it's the same thing. But then you find out that they're into scuba diving. It has nothing to do with the business, but what am I going to do? I'm going to dive into that.
00:15:00
Speaker
pun intended, and get them to like show that passionate ah side of them and the thing that really lights them up. And then from then on for the rest of the interview, that they carry that light with them.
00:15:11
Speaker
And so there's also a craft to the interview process where we dig down however we have to to find the deepest levels of humanity that you're going to give us.
00:15:22
Speaker
And we bring that out. we We hang out there for a bit. And then we circle it back around to get the content that we need for the video. And once we've gone all the way there and brought them back, they bring something back with them.
00:15:35
Speaker
And that's not something you're gonna see in the closed captions or the transcript of the thing, but it's when people watch our videos and they say they feel something. They're not really talking about the words that the person said.
00:15:47
Speaker
Like, when this person said this, it really made me feel. No, they just they just feel it. Right? And that's the difference between relaying information about things that happened and storytelling is in one, they're watching someone go through a journey. But in the other, they're going on a journey with them.
00:16:06
Speaker
And a lot of what we do that that kind of, I think, sets us apart and makes us good storytellers is when people watch our videos, by the end of it, even if it's a minute long, they feel like they've gone on the journey with the person in the frame.
00:16:23
Speaker
Because of how, because of everything. And it's not just the interviewing. It's like she just basically has a camera and just goes crazy getting all kinds of really neat shots and all kinds of things. And partially from a technical perspective, it's for coverage. But there are so many moments where she just intuitively is in the right place at the right time doing the right thing to complement what is happening.
00:16:42
Speaker
And so there are all these other psychological visual elements that are going on that will put the... audience exactly where they need to be for what they're watching to hit them exactly how it needs to hit.
00:16:54
Speaker
Which is, right on the surface, it looks like you're pointing a phone at someone and watching them talk. But there are so many layers upon layers upon layers of intangible things informing
The Complexity of Professional Storytelling
00:17:04
Speaker
that. And a lot of times I'll i'll talk about how I couldn't swim until till I was 13.
00:17:09
Speaker
And my next door neighbor with the pool tried her darndest to get me to learn how to swim. i was like a mission for her to teach me how to swim our entire childhood. And she she started with teaching me how to tread water. So she went out of the deep end and she just treaded water. And she was like, just do this with your arms and legs.
00:17:24
Speaker
So i'm I'm out there and I'm doing what I see her doing, but I'm sinking like a rock. Because what she wasn't able to relate to me were the ah the motivations behind those movements. I was just looking at the end product and mimicking it.
00:17:37
Speaker
So when people see our end product, there is um a narrative in their head that feels really rational. It's like, I could mimic that end product. And you put a phone in their hand and say, go for it.
00:17:49
Speaker
and And then like, yeah you know what i mean? Like, it's hard it's hard to even express what that is until someone experiences it for themselves. Well, and we were discussing too how go ahead amber it's very similar. It's similar to what you go through, right? And wills and estates.
00:18:08
Speaker
And people people think, yeah, I can do that. I can use a word processor. So therefore, I can make my own will, right? Like like you you kind of have the same thing. know it's I mean, who would ever think that there's a parallel there, but it that it absolutely is. And one of the things I was going to mention from what you're saying is both in the legal field, but also as as you know, and some people know, i have a great deal of experience speaking and and so forth. And it's something that just, it's in my blood. It comes naturally to me. And so I've been asked many times about, you know, how do you do that? How are you able to, and i but I tell people that it's,
00:18:48
Speaker
you have no idea how hard it is to to make it look so easy. Yes. And so if I get up and give a speech and it seems like so natural and eloquent, do you have any idea how much thought and precision and use of the thesaurus I have gone through and the practicing, like for you, you all came to our 20th anniversary and My six-year-old heard me practice.
00:19:18
Speaker
um Even though I used notes, I still wanted to make sure that I would envision like where I'm hitting this and who I wanted to look at and this, that, and the other. And so Adley was like out on the patio while I was like going through and like rehearsing that.
00:19:35
Speaker
to make it look so easy and natural. And so when when you're saying that, like, yeah, it can look so easy and even in the link world, like I just, so um I'm going to do a quick deviation just because we did a seminar last night. And one of my part of one of my segments is I talk about DIY stuff and I use examples, but I actually have on my screen right now some other slides I'm going to add.
00:19:56
Speaker
And no lie, this is from somebody's online will where I'm just going to say, I'm goingnna i'm going to recap it, and then I want to see if it hits you.
00:20:06
Speaker
Where they're saying, i want my estate to be distributed as follows.
Pitfalls of DIY in Estate Planning and Video
00:20:11
Speaker
50% here, 100% here. Yeah, now. What? last
00:20:18
Speaker
come off? fuck That's a really weird Venn diagram. Pardon? um get us started on the diagram ah Sarah's an expert in Venn diagrams, so this would be the kind of Venn diagram that Sarah would come up with. Right, any chart, really. Yeah, can you believe? So yes, like it it really, there's a lot, and I think the swimming analogy is so good because there's so much behind it. It's not just mimicking the the movements. There's a lot of training experience, in some cases education.
00:20:55
Speaker
That goes in. and even with having, you know, younger attorneys, when i am you know, they're presenting something to me and I'm able to say, oh, X, Y, Z, bla bla blah, blah, blah.
00:21:06
Speaker
And like, that sounds really easy, but it's just taken so much time to really learn and know the intricacies of the stuff. There has to be, there has to be something um, education and experience and and all of the above.
00:21:21
Speaker
I'll actually use another good example that you like. I use this with the team recently where a a mentor and coach of mine, he was talking about how he he had just bought this house. it was like his first big, really nice home.
00:21:33
Speaker
And the AC went out and a guy came out and said, all right, that's going to be, I can fix this in six minutes and it's going to be, or I mean i can fix this in five minutes and it's going to cost $600. Mm-hmm. And he was outraged because he had never heard of $600 to fix something. He said, especially for five minutes, like how can you charge that much for just five minutes? And he's like, because of all the time because of all the time and experience in education, it took me to know how to fix that in only five minutes.
00:22:04
Speaker
Right. Exactly. That's exactly it. and And that's one of the things that you learn at film school is when you give a kid ah a DSLR and a decent lens and he'll think he can go out and make a movie because it looks better than anything he's ever done before.
00:22:17
Speaker
But do they know lighting? Do they know composition? do they know how like it's's it's more yeah It takes that much more know-how to achieve the same look with a mobile device that doesn't have all those bells and
Value of Professional Expertise
00:22:27
Speaker
whistles.
00:22:27
Speaker
But by the time we we give you the end result, it looks like we did. and And that's a big part that people like. we he see Exactly. We had someone contact us recently who was like, hey, here's a thing I would like.
00:22:39
Speaker
What are your prices? And we sent it to them and they're like, oh, no, that's too expensive. And i'm like, I know. can you imagine we're the cheapest in the industry? Crazy, right? Like it is it you're you're paying for all of the expertise that that it takes to be able to create something that looks like it was done in Hollywood on what you have in your pocket right now.
00:22:59
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, don't want to, I want to make sure you hit all the notes on your list, but I do have um questions, but I also have some editorializing. So before we started recording, I was telling Ryan that I'm reading his book that he gave me.
00:23:14
Speaker
yeah And so one of the things in the last story that I i most recently read over the weekend I thought I was the only person that would tell a story and then stop it and then say, but I need to give you backstory here and then stop backstory and backstory to the backstory. I'm just this thing. and This guy's crazy. but But then like it all like comes together. I'm like, oh good. I'm not the only person that will like not finish a story and then say, okay, but now I got to go back.
00:23:50
Speaker
And then, well, now this, I got to explain this, but then you're able to bring it. And that's storytelling. like So it is related. I can't wait until you get to the end because, again, everything...
00:24:02
Speaker
It is so... Yes, and Amber edited this book, right? Like, we keep calling it my book. It's my stories and everything, but she was the editor, the illustrator, the cover artist, wrote the blurb on the back. Did you the turtle?
00:24:13
Speaker
She did the turtle. She did the turtle. like Is that yours? Okay. Yeah, the gummy bear, that's hers. slight Yes, yeah she did everything everything else. so It's definitely a they like collaborative thing. But yeah, the the when you get to the end, I want you to text me. I don't care if it's 3 in the morning. Once you get to the end, and I mean like the very the very last cover, text me and tell me how you feel in that moment.
00:24:35
Speaker
yeah Okay. I promise I will do that. Thank you. So getting back to, I mean, not getting back, but we're talking about storytelling.
Storytelling as a Legacy
00:24:42
Speaker
And obviously that's something that we've resonated a lot with and something that is just a future project, mission, passion in life of really being able to help people tell their stories. Because to me, it does interrelate to their estate plan in the sense that it's their legacy. It's who they are. That's going to carry on so much, so much more. And, you know, a story that I told recently is that I told a lot, but I actually just told it yesterday is that client, and I told it in in the um one of the seminars that you recorded, but it so resonates with me where I, within the first, you know, five or so years of practicing, I was going through a probate hearing. So, you know, this guy's loved one, um his partner in life, she had died.
00:25:30
Speaker
young in her 50s, like wasn't expected, just a terrible cancer diagnosis. And the whole thing with like a will is to say, this is my stuff. And it now goes here. And so we're at the probate hearing, and I'm walking through the typical stuff like, okay, now you can take this and, you know, close out the bank accounts, you can get the credit cards out of her name, this, that and the other. And he's just sitting there saying, it feels like I'm erasing her.
00:25:53
Speaker
and that just sat with me so much like yeah that it really feels like that and then again because i do stories and then back stories and that there's no chronology to them at all you know when i look at my own experience and knowing that you know the death of my stepfather was a pivotal moment and it was at the beginning of me starting my own law practice and how him working for mobile oil and the Pegasus at, you know, downtown. And so now the Pegasus is a symbol of of Birch Law because of the connection it had there.
00:26:23
Speaker
And then my firstborn daughter, Adlee, is spelled L-D-L-E-E, Lee, after him, because that was his name. And you look around our office and all you see is, you know, Mobile Pegasus, his train, his hard hat that he had from Indonesia, all of that.
00:26:39
Speaker
And it just occurred to me that no, he doesn't have any credit cards in his name or bank accounts or a home, but he's far from erased.
00:26:51
Speaker
And so the idea that what we do is really interrelated to helping people tell their story and who they are. And I think like we get really emotional about Disney Pixar movies. So Coco's one of them.
00:27:03
Speaker
I'm more of an Encanto person, but Coco fits this narrative better where it's like the idea of it is that, you are oh you are alive or you are you are carrying on as long as there's a living person who remembers you.
00:27:19
Speaker
And it's not about money, stuff, tangible. It's not about any of that. So here's my segue to a question for you. I can see, because you're a company that wants to help create videos and production for other businesses to promote themselves.
00:27:36
Speaker
I think very naturally that fits in with an estate planning
Universal Importance of Storytelling
00:27:40
Speaker
practice. Like what's the story there? Tell me what the hell storytelling matters to a construction company.
00:27:51
Speaker
Go. Go. Why me? Why do you keep looking at me? like ah so So if I'm a construction company or a roofing company and I'm like, hey, we need to do a video and you and i you guys will go on all out about touchy feely, life changing, who I am as a person, all of that.
00:28:11
Speaker
I get the connection. But if you've got, you know, this East Texas construct, you know, guy like what does that matter to them? Like how what do you do with that? So one of the things that I did you say you got it?
00:28:26
Speaker
i want to hear I want to hear it. It's very simple. So, okay back to let me let me go back a little bit and then we'll come forward again. One of the biggest things that you have to do, I feel like with what we do and with you guys do is making people feel comfortable with the discomfort of like having the emotions be in the forefront of having that human spark to connect with somebody.
00:28:51
Speaker
i feel like that is one of the biggest things where we struggle with people like wanting to hold on too much about over like, no, I don't want to talk about my demise, but you have to plan for the future. So you have to do it.
00:29:04
Speaker
It's really emotional process. But if you have somebody, so when I grew up in East Texas, So for Lori over here saying, OK, you have a construction person, East Texas, they're contractor. They what do they build like or just homes?
00:29:19
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. OK, so what you're doing here is you're going to them and saying, OK, We're going to talk about building this house and then we're going to talk about the family that's going to move into it.
00:29:31
Speaker
The young couple that's going to buy it, who's going to have their family there, who's going raise their kids there. And this is all because you do what you do and you've done it for yourself. Right. And typically they're like, yeah, well, I mean, I've either built my home or I've done a lot of improvements to a home I bought, but that's.
00:29:46
Speaker
You go back to that and that's how you can tie it all together with their story, how it's going to resonate to future people. Like you just have to be, i feel like both parties have to be willing to be in touch with a emotional side or with the vulnerability of, Hey, what's actually going to capture another human's attention.
00:30:04
Speaker
Well, and that right there is great marketing. Yes. Because not only are you um you're making that emotional connection, but you're showing someone um how they can also feel that way.
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah. And add to that. Are you saying Cynthia's right? She's right. happens. have a feeling that's very rare that she's not. So not only that, but if if we look at how um like a there business with.
00:30:42
Speaker
a um an appetite lately for people to know who they're doing business with Right? um And that's that's part of why we came to, you know, do a video for you, Lori. It's getting to know the person behind the business.
00:31:02
Speaker
And if we are helping, like, a construction company tell their story, we're helping tell the story of the person behind that as well.
00:31:16
Speaker
So... There's there's ah actually a lot of ways that I can help, but Cynthia, you were definitely definitely there. Right. It's if we use... Okay, fine.
00:31:27
Speaker
Fine.
Connecting Customers through Storytelling
00:31:28
Speaker
Cynthia. All right, now it's a meat market. Okay. All right. it It's a deli. They have meats, all of that. So where's the story there? what what's the What's the passion play here?
00:31:43
Speaker
It's like a deli. is a Is it local? Is it something? Where do they get their... You know exactly what I'm talking about. I'll just say they're clients of ours and we love it. So Hersh's Meat Market.
00:31:54
Speaker
Okay. In Plano. But highly recommend. Highly recommend. They're down the street from me. What? I yeah love them. Okay, so Hersh's Meat Market. They're somebody who does things in a way that's like still, like you go in you take a number, the people talk to you, they ask you what you want.
00:32:12
Speaker
They have the folksy, they write like the the amount and how much it is like on the packaging, on the parcel. paper, yeah. They like go around with you. um They gatekeep the andouille sausage, by the way. That's one thing that I'm like, okay, fine, sir. Let me tell you my plans for the sandouille sausage. I'm making red beans and rice.
00:32:34
Speaker
I'm going to put it on a cast iron skillet, render some fat and get that. Like seriously, so this man tried to keep the sandouille sausage for me. But I feel that that shows a little bit more to me. Like, no, he's this like nice old grandfatherly man who's just asking me, hey, what are you actually going to do with this?
00:32:53
Speaker
How are you going to enjoy this product? Because if you have vegetarians, you have people who, you know... They're like, no, I'm a carnivore, whatever. but it's if you're having somebody sell you something that they're like, no, how are you going to treat this?
00:33:08
Speaker
What are you going to do with it? Let me give you some advice on how to do it. It shows, no, you know, a place that they know what they're doing. They care about you and they're going to help you. They're not just going to sit there like, OK, bye. Here's a sticker. Let's go. It's like and it's also a little folksy. Also, they remember you whenever like you come back frequently.
00:33:27
Speaker
See, okay i all right got so that that's price that place is right down the street from me and I've never been and now I really want to go. Because of the story. If I had seen something, yeah, especially if I had seen a video that encapsulated all of that, absolutely.
00:33:44
Speaker
And the thing is that that like when we go back to home builders, if we can create content that goes from the mindset of they're building a house to the mindset of they're building a home. Yeah.
00:33:55
Speaker
All of a sudden it becomes real. And it's and and the story is the way that we made that conversion. Right. If you're an old fashioned meat market, you're not selling meat. You're selling an alternative to the grocery store.
00:34:07
Speaker
Right. And so the question is, when people stopped going to Kroger to go to this meat market for their meat, what caused them to make that shift? And you know what their answer is going to be? It's going to be a story.
00:34:20
Speaker
Like the first time I bought meat not from a grocery store, it was at a farmer's market. And it was this this guy with, ah just with this trailer, it's just like a refrigerated trailer with some meat in the back and he would just basically say, what do you want and how much of it do you want? So i was like, I want some bacon, like a pound of bacon, sure, i don't know.
00:34:37
Speaker
So he goes in the back and he gets it and he comes out with this this rock hard frozen thing of bacon and he holds it out and I grab it. But after I grab it, he doesn't let go. so I look up at him and he's looking at my eyes and he goes, nah, I birthed this pig.
00:34:52
Speaker
i And then he goes, i raised this pig and I slaughtered this pig. You take care of this meat, it'll take care of you.
00:35:03
Speaker
And then and I'm looking at my hands and my hand is shaking. Like I had never had someone so like stare into my soul and tell an entire lifespan worth of story in three poetically symmetrical sentences. Then all of a sudden that like I had more reverence for that meat than I've ever had for any meat ever.
00:35:25
Speaker
Right. Like I called friends over. We like cooked it together. We it was the whole meal. Right. It was such an event. and More stories were shared around that table than had then had grace that dinner table in years before Right, and if I tell every time I tell someone that story the next thing they ask me is where's that farmer?
00:35:46
Speaker
right like he doesn't he didn't that wasn't advertising that wasn't marketing that was him just being who he was and that could becomes gift wrapped in a story and then that story is bringing him business that he has no way of knowing was tied to those three sentences in that one interaction
00:36:05
Speaker
All right, I'm convinced. You know, you can make anything about estate planning. You can make any basic, boring business about a story in storytelling. Yes.
00:36:16
Speaker
It's all good marketing is storytelling the end of day. It seems so simple now. And it's not good storytelling, it's not good marketing. Right? Yeah. I know. You're welcome. We should do it. yeah Yeah. yeah We'll send you an invoice after the part.
00:36:28
Speaker
That's fine. ah So...
00:36:33
Speaker
Do you, um so I want to make sure that we we still catch any of the the the top items that you really want to hit on when it comes to this concept. But I also know that Amber's got stop here and I don't want her to miss out Sarah and Sam's presentation. I mean, hit on the whole list, I think. What are we missing?
00:36:54
Speaker
We're through. We got it. Like we talked about the thing behind the thing. we talked about misconceptions. Okay. So let's go.
Conclusion: The Need for Professional Expertise
00:37:02
Speaker
So takeaway here though, is that, you know, even in this day and age of highly developed technology, that when it comes to video production, marketing messages, storytelling, that it's not as simple as just taking a lens and pointing it. It's when it comes to putting together a plan that's going to help support your loved ones and family, it's not pulling up a Word document or filling out some blanks.
00:37:27
Speaker
That there is experience or education or a combination of the two that's behind that. And that you're really doing a disservice if you are not employing professionals who know what the hell they're doing.
00:37:42
Speaker
Does that, yeah, that's perfect. so up I'm going to take that and put it on our website as soon as we get the transcript. So there you go. All right. So now, um, Sarah and Sam, they've given some thought to the two of you and your topics, but more, more specifically the name of your business.
00:38:00
Speaker
And so there, um, I don't know which one's going to introduce this, but I'm turning it over to them. And again, I am sorry. but you're so sorry um i mean she said it um so we have some new names um and then some video ideas that we think you should use for like oh my god i'm gonna do all of your video ideas say that right now okay so the first uh we we took happy box and kind of did someone
Humorous Business and Video Ideas
00:38:28
Speaker
with it i'm so sorry i just looked at some of them um the first one are are you doing are the two of you doing this back and forth like yeah Yeah.
00:38:36
Speaker
Okay. All right. So Sam, you're starting. Okay, good. All right, let's go. Okay. So the first one is Doom Cube. Doom Cube. A cube
00:38:48
Speaker
ah cube of doom. There's a Rubik's Cube story in there that I'll tell you off the air. Yeah. ah Next one we have for consideration is ah Nervous Tupperware.
00:39:01
Speaker
That's my personal favorite, I think. So are you all just doing like an emotion and then like some sort of receptacle? is that what's going on? Basically, yeah. clear yeah Is that why the typewriter burps when you open it? Because it's nervous? Nervous typewriter. Okay. Okay, the the third one, angry oh Oh. that right I feel like y'all should name your company the Angry Casket. Because it didn't because it didn't have a plan. It's mad now. Right.
00:39:33
Speaker
Alright, fourth consideration. ah Sweaty hamper.
00:39:42
Speaker
Sweaty is not really a feeling. You're the one that decided to keep that one in there. Wait a second. I have a question. no question Is the hamper sweating? Or is it just yeah coated in the sweat of the clothes that are in It itself is it is itselfest sweating?
00:39:57
Speaker
yeah Yeah. So it's nervous like the Tupperware. Don't write that down. Now I have sweaty Tupperware. But this next one is going to make up for it. So let's make sure it's safe. Sam, Sam.
00:40:11
Speaker
Clearly and slowly. Okay. oh
00:40:17
Speaker
Panic at the box.
00:40:22
Speaker
Good Lord. um um i already have a logo in mind. I can put it. Where did Sam go? no, we lost Sam. That was the ultimate mic drop moment ever. Sam, do you just want to come around? Because you're still on the microphone. No, that's the best exit from podcast I've ever seen in my life.
00:40:44
Speaker
but And we never heard from Sam again. panic at the box. Boom. That was her exit from the podcasting bed right there. But we do still hear her That's terrifying. So she's just going hear her.
00:40:57
Speaker
Why does she just saddle it next to you? I think y'all are hearing an angry casket, actually. Oh, there she is! There you you can stand. Yes.
00:41:10
Speaker
and need you to draw a logo for this. Panic at the box. Alright, they have one more, I believe. all right Our final consideration is cry-angle. Like a triangle. ah But...
00:41:24
Speaker
Okay. pretty good All right. There's something we can do with that. We really love some wordplay. They put it on the list. They TM'd it. So yeah, they put it out. That's what we need to say is when people joke about like, get my good side. Like actually we're going to get your cry angle.
00:41:40
Speaker
but oh yeah Oh, shoot, that's really strong. yeah getting cryangled that down. I was making a list, and this one's cry angle. I'm legit like, we're going to work that in somewhere. We're going to credit you, credit where it's due. Get your little backlink there.
00:42:02
Speaker
But yeah, triangle, that's strong. This whole podcast was worth it just for that one thing. We're not done. We have four more. They have a final offering of video ideas they think you should use. Oh, that's right, video ideas, yes.
00:42:17
Speaker
Yeah. right ah So the first one is to interview mid-skydive. Ooh. You know how hard it is to like do anything?
00:42:29
Speaker
going down that fast. Exactly. With DaVinci Resolve, a new audio reduction, we could get some crisp audio from that. Who skydived? Anyone? She has. No. no no I haven't. No. Not on our side. Kimberly, my wife has skydosed. I know. How do you say that? I don't know. Is that the past tense of skydive?
00:42:52
Speaker
I think it's skydive. I think skydived is a the only oldde time it's okay to say dived. Skydived? i don't know. Skydived? I'm just not gonna say it because I'm not gonna do it. I skydive. Skydive. Oh.
00:43:05
Speaker
the a sky dive oh I'm just going to make it as worse as possible. Okay, interview while skydiving. Yes. it's Okay. Yes.
00:43:16
Speaker
Okay. All right. Next. ah Next consideration is an interview while fighting a bear, ah but the bear has a sad backstory, and this is their one last redemption. ah ah fun years but was That Wasn't that the movie that Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar for? Did he win an Oscar? That's disappointing. He had such a good role. Yeah. i i yeah I immediately pictured us just like in a in a gay bar.
00:43:43
Speaker
Like, just... oh Oh! Like, we could definitely... know about... How loosely are you using the word fight? i mean, it could look like a fight. We could stage...
00:43:56
Speaker
I'm going to do this on my own spare time anyway. He's I'm busy this week. Interview me while I slap this guy. This is a bad idea to give us these ideas.
00:44:08
Speaker
Okay. are there there all are yeah There's two more. two ah The next one is to do like a jail interview. So one person is behind the glass and you're talking like through the phone.
00:44:20
Speaker
um But the video is to help them get out of prison. Okay. So this is like cereal, but like... Dude, I was on a film crew with for a video that was made to be shown in court and only in court where oh a lady had... um I'm not gonna get into what it was, but basically someone had died and the there was a court case around it and all we did was went around the entire small town This was one of those like one stoplight, one school, one... you know like Everyone knows everybody, small towns. We literally interviewed everybody who knew this old lady and just got ah just a whole collection of sob stories.
00:44:57
Speaker
And when the lawyers watched it because they watched it before they put it in court, when the lawyers watched it, they just threw it out. They're like, okay, there's no way we're going to win against this video. that that It's going to be a landslide. and The whole town won the lawsuit without even having to play in front of a jury.
00:45:14
Speaker
so yeah let's do that all right okay okay all right last one last one i sarah are you reading this one that would be correct i'm gonna go out on a limb though and say did sam type this one you would be correct i know that for a fact um okay you need to read it exactly as it is right you need to that's why it that's why i kept exactly read it last consideration Birch Law searches for a real-life, alive Pegasus.
00:45:46
Speaker
This is the gig we've been waiting for! Oh my god! Have we told y'all about Good Norman?
00:45:56
Speaker
Party double! when we were not when we When we were when we were when we were co-workers at the corporate entity that we worked at. Okay, we were given a project to do with a scarily low amount of specificity. and So we've we filled that with our imagination and created a mini-series within this organization in which we played gnome hunters who were trying to track down a running renegade gnome who was running rampant on campus.
00:46:31
Speaker
Yeah. But his name was Gnorman, but you you you had to pronounce the G. like everything thats like It was Gnorman the gnome. And so we like had gnome props and this whole intro, this story. like it was it It was an all out.
00:46:46
Speaker
They canceled it. No one was ready for that. We have a pilot and a blooper reel. Birch Law finding... oh What was it? Live? live real real life. A real life, Well she's right, if we find a real life, not alive one. Yeah.
00:47:12
Speaker
And then all we can get is a video of you standing by being like, it's in the state of Texas, it's hands down. and have a plan that could be the that's all that we need we just come across it it's a search for it we have been there it is we have been needing someone to commission us to do something where we hunt down mythological creatures that's on our bingo card and bucket list as happy box so yes okay let's do it we're doing it we're on board it's gonna be called just now
00:47:46
Speaker
Just another project that we're going to do called Cry-angle. The Cry-angle. Oh, man, you stole my call back. I was like, it's going to be called Cry-angle. Yes. ah Oh, man. Yes. This is the so best day ever.
Episode Wrap-up
00:48:01
Speaker
We really appreciate the two of you being on. And if you would, come join us again. Yes. Oh, any time. Any time. Like every week. Okay. Sarah, it's time for you to drop the anvil.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yes. yeah Thanks for listening. And just to cover all our bases about what you just heard, I'm sorry and you're welcome.
00:48:24
Speaker
Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about us. We do webinars and live events. The best way to stay up to date is to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
00:48:38
Speaker
Links are in the show notes. If there's a topic you'd like us to cover, maybe you have a question you'd like us to answer, or maybe you just want to say hi, hit the link in the show notes or go to birch-law.com forward slash podcast and fill out the contact form.
00:49:02
Speaker
Much better. Yeah, I thought that had a lot of energy.