Taking the power of story to these topics is fun, but taking them to some deeper and more important topics that you all have touched on would be powerful, and I long for it when I listen. Family, sex, Jesus, and so on. Grateful for you both.

Holy cow, Donald Miller. You were on a comedic role with this “Valentime’s” episode. ♥️ Cold plunge ftw! 😆 This pod is like the post-conference banter you overhear at the hotel bar - business-adjacent and entertaining. I’ve consumed every episode of the Storybrand pod, applied all of Miller’s frameworks, and watched my nonprofit clients benefit immensely. Thanks, Don, for making us all smarter, more engaging, and more effective storytellers. PS/Confession: I consumed Storybrand content for at least a year before I realized that this was the same Donald Miller that I shook hands with in 2005 at UTexas campus on his Blue Like Jazz book tour (a formative book in my Christian journey).

I absolutely loved the business made simple podcast. I listened to every episode and they were extremely helpful for my business. I am absolutely loving the shift in topics and ideas with this new podcast direction and it has been so refreshing and up lifting. Thank you for producing great content that makes us think and inspires us to achieve greater things.

Love the simplicity shared of how to create a framework.

The last two episodes have been life changing!! Keep up the great work!

This is pure marketing, with all the fat trimmed off. Don Miller walks us through compelling stories and examples that I have walked away, used, and immediately seen the benefits of. Only tune it if you want to change (spoiler alert, you want that)

I’ve enjoyed Business Made Simple for its practical business advice, but I’ve had some reservations. The podcast leans noticeably to the right, and I’ve found the frequent religious content a bit overbearing. While I appreciate when successful individuals share how their faith guided them, some episodes felt excessive. And it’s almost always Christian perspectives, with little representation from non-Christian business leaders. Curious to see if others felt the same, I checked the comments—and wow. The reaction from some listeners was surprising. For a group that often calls liberals “sensitive,” the defensiveness from Trump supporters over any slight criticism was hard to miss. Were we even listening to the same podcast? Don’s political stance is clear—he’s openly stated that social issues don’t influence his vote, which typically aligns with a more conservative, profit-driven mindset. I personally disagree with this approach, but I stuck with the podcast for the value it provides. So, here I am, giving a 5-star review on principle. I don’t align with Don’s politics (it’s puzzling that he can have a gay cohost and a daughter yet remain unmoved by social issues), and I wish there was more religious diversity in the content. But at the end of the day, the podcast delivers on its promise: solid advice, great storytelling, and it's free. They’ve earned the right to throw in as many ads as needed to keep producing this valuable content week after week.

I love listening to this podcast, I learn something new each time. Thank you for your insights and wisdom.

….made me ill. More than once it was strongly suggested that you treat your employees “as if” they’re family in order to trigger loyalty and dedication in them to strengthen their dedication to the “mission” of making money. This episode sounded like a tent revival of a cult where the leader’s biggest brownnosers regurgitate the lessons (and and the leader’s name repeatedly to his face) to garner praise and…mashed potatoes. I have purchased courses from major online businesspeople who are Donald Miller customers and proponents who have had to apologize publicly to their students and followers for using this cringingly fake “family” language in business. When it comes down to it, your employees and coworkers are not your family (unless they happen to also be your family). You’re not emotionally, financially, psychologically, and in every other way connected to AND INVESTED IN them in the same way and to pretend that you are selflessly interested in their dreams and goals and that as someone’s manager you are a source of no-strings-attached unconditional support is to be dishonest and frankly emotionally and psychologically abusive.

This post probably won’t be interesting unless you own a business or are in marketing, but I want to create it because it is a major thinking shift for me as a UX designer, designing apps and websites. In business, we commonly hear: to sell, you need to talk about the customer’s problem. And that is true. There is a place for that. But a lightbulb went off when I realized: you need to speak to your customer’s WHY in design and then dig deeper to get their core WHY, their core reason for buying your product. For example, for your target market- if you are selling your product to a small business, you figure out why the small business owner would buy from you. The first obvious WHY is that the business owner can make money if they buy your product. But it goes deeper when you continue to ask why. Why do you want to make money? Because I want to be able to provide for my family. Why do you want to provide for your family? Because I didn’t have a lot of money growing up and I want to start a new life. Why do you want to start a new life? They then say an answer like: because I did drugs when I was younger and I want to have a happy family and mother who is proud of me. There. We got to his emotional why. What do we do with that? We design a website that shows pictures of a happy, healthy father with a happy family. We have written copy that speaks to the life the customer really strives for. This why is the greatest motivational factor that moves a customer to buying your product.