Speaking and messaging strategist. Trusted by creators, consultants, authors, and brands like Mailchimp, Wistia, and Salesforce to find the big idea, clarify the message, and craft stories and experiences to differentiate and resonate. I help experts and service providers compete on the impact of their ideas, not the volume of their marketing. (I’m also an author, keynote speaker, and host of How Stories Happen.)
“I’m always afraid others will pop me into their system used by 500 clients, but Jay saw MY vision. He helped me hone it, made it a thousand times better, and helped me embody it. The mark of a true expert is someone who can understand how to meld best practices with what is right for you. That’s who Jay is and what he delivered. He’s just that good. He knows what will work and how to make it work for you. Hire Jay. He gets it, and he’s worth it.”
—Michelle Warner (business designer and strategist)
(not the volume of your marketing)
Turns out “power” and “volume” are very different things.
My best-fit clients:
Established experts worried about feeling generic
Leaders and big thinkers, struggling to differentiate
Soloists and owners who want to be known for their ideas, not just their services
Creators and service providers who want deeper connections with better clients, not just “more followers”
You’ve seen the famous storytelling and marketing methodologies sold by thought leaders today. It all feels like applying someone else’s template or list of tactics to your business.
You bring genuine expertise and perspective, but it’s a struggle to transform that into differentiated and highly resonant work, let alone a cohesive, high-impact public platform.
But it has to start from what YOU bring. I start with your unique perspective and help you build from there in a cohesive, productive way, evolving your perspective into a premise and your expertise into IP.
I help you move from an expert with traction to a distinctive voice in your field, shaping how others think and act.
“Jay doesn’t really help people create a talk, though that is an outcome. He helps them better understand themselves and what they think. There's a lot of business power in that beyond speaking.”
—Devin Bramhall (agency growth advisor and fractional CMO)
Made in collaboration with Pennant Video.
My advantage is one-on-one, sustained context on YOU, so I can offer personalized support. I work with only a few clients at a time to ensure a different kind of feel than batch-trainings run by scaling companies, and my clients love working with me for a specific reason. I’ll let Sarah explain:
—Sarah Stockdale (CEO of Growclass)
Like Justin Moore, founder of Creator Wizard and one of the best-known voices in the creator economy.
Steve Pratt booked me for my short-turnaround “punch-up” offer to develop the keynote associated with his book.
Steve is a veteran of the podcast industry and has worked with clients like Slack, DELL, Shopify, Atlassian, and Adobe.
“Jay’s commitment to craft is contagious. Even rarer, he’s skilled at breaking down and explaining how to assemble specific ingredients for achieving greater resonance in your work.”
—Jenny Blake (globally touring speaker, 2x author, podcaster with 2m+ downloads)
Hire me to speak to your organization, or retain my services to work with your team, your leaders, or your speakers as a dedicated public speaking and storytelling coach and consultant. I’m lucky to have worked with great brands like these:
The impact of an idea is directly proportional to its value + its originality. It’s time to escape the commodity cage.
✅ You’re smart enough. ✅ You’re expert enough. ❌ But your IP may not be strong enough.
Where are you on the Idea Impact Matrix?
“It felt like he had known me for years. He made my message super clear and powerful to both me and others — waaaaaaay better than I could have done alone. In a few short conversations, he totally understood my voice and gave honest feedback throughout.”
—Shawn Shepheard (business coach, speaker, and podcaster)
My mission is to help others make what matters to their careers, companies, and communities. My premise is that we should all prioritize resonance over reach to grow our businesses, audiences, and causes.
I was an early voice in the rise of content marketing, emphasizing quality, creativity, and storytelling in jobs at Google, HubSpot, a tiny startup, and a premier VC firm (NextView Ventures).
Since starting my business in 2016, I’ve written books and built a six-figure speaking business (with speeches in 25 states and 3 countries and mentions in three different books about public speaking and creative entrepreneurship). I’ve partnered with brands like Mailchimp, Salesforce, GoDaddy, Wistia, Podia, and Help Scout, and I’ve consulted some of the most incredible voices leading the way in their respective niches, helping them turn their thinking into IP and their IP into speeches, shows, messaging, and thriving businesses.
It starts with going beyond “creating content” to learn to craft your thinking into IP: your big idea and all the thinking behind it. This empowers you to develop, distribute, own, and monetize your ideas.
This is about so much more than building a following. This is about making an impact.
Despite what internet gurus would have you believe, you don’t need clickbait or grimy tactics. You need to dig down to the root of your perspective, develop that into readily apparent language and ideas, and distribute that through thought leadership and storytelling. In short, substance can still stand out—if it arrives with story.
Imagine a room full of your ideal audience, and the person they mention most when discussing their work is you.
Your peers, your industry’s influencers and analysts, and your ideal customers or clients are all together. They swap notes, discuss trends, and share their opinions — but a handful of them can’t stop repeating the same phrase before they speak:
“It’s like [YOUR NAME] says…”
They quote you, cite your ideas, and share your frameworks and stories. Those who don’t know you whip out their phones and join your email list. This represents something more important than followers: actual influence. You didn’t resort to hollow stunts to juice reach. You shared thinking capable of resonating. (That makes the reach bit easier and stickier.)
That’s the power of a well-developed premise and the surrounding IP that helps you grow.
That’s the power of a storyteller.
“I never had a creative partner until hiring Jay. He is so strategic and ruthlessly practical. My work ended up lightyears ahead.”
—Mia Quagliarello (Head of Creator Community, Flipboard; prev. Apple, YouTube, Viacom)
“You can go ahead and create more content. Or you can create something special that stirs hearts and engages minds. If you are the kind of person who wants your work to really matter, listen to Jay. He’ll be your perfect guide.”
— Ann Handley (WSJ Bestselling Author of Everybody Writes; globally touring speaker; Partner at training org MarketingProfs)
A refreshing and inspiring look at the storytelling mastery of guests like Seth Godin (marketing legend with 22 bestselling business books), Ann Handley (WSJ bestselling author of Everybody Writes), Chase Jarvis (one of the most influential advocates for creativity in work and life), Laura Gassner Otting (2x WSJ bestseller; Good Morning America correspondent on work and career), Andrew Davis (globally touring keynote speaker), Rand Fishkin (CEO of SparkToro), and bestselling author Simone Stolzoff, who worked out a draft of his entire TED Talk!
You’ll walk away ready to compete on the impact of your ideas, not the volume of your marketing.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Together with Arbez Films, I created a four-part limited series taking you inside my process of developing and piloting my podcast the year it launched.
I partnered with the brand Help Scout to create a three-part docuseries about businesses who believe there’s a better way to build than growth-at-all-costs.
With a diverse range of real-world stories, Break the Wheel offers a simple but powerful way to think for yourself when surrounded by endless advice and conventional wisdom. Say goodbye to average work and hello to doing your best.
