I overthink so you don’t have to.

The Red Thread® Newsletter

Stories, examples, images, and data you can use to help bring your ideas and messages to life.

The best ideas aren’t found — they’re built. Get a weekly dose of strategies, studies, and stories — direct to your inbox from me — to help you make your ideas strong enough to build change on.

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FRESH THREADS

The Freenoter Podcast

There are lots of resources out there on how to become a paid speaker or keynoter, but what if you speak to build your business, as a FREEnoter? Each week, join me and Tom Webster as we cover all the angles of how to profit from speaking for free. If you are looking to grow your business from the stage--without "selling from the stage," this is the show for you. We will cover EVERY aspect of building your business through speaking, and even share a different craft cocktail recipe every week, just because. Subscribe now!

How to structure a talk about research

A grad student recently posted this question on Reddit: “Any tips on structuring/presenting talks on your research? I struggle to know where to start.” Fun fact: that’s the whole reason I came up with the Red Thread® in the first place. I hate staring at blank page or screen!

How to summarize yourself on social

A few weeks back I talked about how to summarize your idea in both 30 and 60 seconds. This time? It’s all about how to summarize yourself in 30 or 60 seconds or in the word-count equivalent (150ish words or fewer). One of the places you need to do that? Social bios.

How to “proverb” to power up your message

One of my favorite examples of a powerful message is the DeBeers diamond tagline, “a diamond is forever.” There’s a reason “a diamond is forever” was and is so powerful: it sounds like a proverb.

How to summarize your idea in a single sentence

It’s the last in my mini-series about how to build your own Red Threads for your own messages and content. Last up, something I’ve talked a bit about before: how to summarize your Red Thread® in 30 seconds or less.

How to craft the 60-second story of your idea

If you’ve been following along in this “how-to” series, you’ve now found all the pieces of your Red Thread. That means it’s time to put all the pieces together. It’s time to build the Storyline of your idea.

How to clearly and concisely define your audience

Your message is a signal. And that’s probably why it’s not always clear. See, when you have to choose words to capture your idea, you have to choose meaning, as well. You can’t break the two apart.

Does your message have a “free prize inside”?

Finding the Red Thread® of your message is usually linear — you know, like a thread!

Does your home page answer this question?

Here’s a question to think about: do your clients and customers know you sell pants?

How to create actionable change

It’s time for the penultimate installment in your step-by-step guide to building the Red Thread® of your message or content: all about how to turn your big idea into action.

Two ways to create desire

One of my favorite TED talks of all time is Joe Smith’s How to Use a Paper Towel. If you’ve seen it, I’m willing to bet you’ve never looked at a paper towel the same way again.

The Red Thread® Newsletter

Stories, examples, images, and data you can use to help bring your ideas and messages to life.
The best ideas aren’t found — they’re built. Get a weekly dose of strategies, studies, and stories — direct to your inbox from me — to help you make your ideas strong enough to build change on.