Pay attention. Be astonished. (Part two.)
May 30, 2026Last week I told you about the Camino, and about a line that's been rattling around in my head ever since. It's Mary Oliver's instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
I figured that was a Spain thing. A trail thing. Something that only happens when you're walking across a country with a backpack and nowhere to be.
Turns out it followed me home.
A few days ago, a guy named Jon was at my studio for a meeting. Jon LoDuca. He's the founder of a software company called PlaybookBuilder that helps businesses systematize how they run. Sharp guy. We're standing in the lobby, where I've got a big screen playing behind-the-scenes footage of my team working, vintage cameras on the shelves, the whole vibe.
And he looks around and asks me, "So... what do you guys actually do here?"
And here's the thing that should've embarrassed me more than it did in the moment: he was standing in my building, surrounded by twenty years of evidence, and he had no idea what we do.
So I told him. I said we tell stories for businesses and brands. That we get to the heart and soul of who a company actually is, and we turn that into video. And I watched his face change. His eyes got big. And then he asked the question that cracked the whole thing open: "Who are your ideal clients?"
Now, if you've been around me for a while, you know I'm terrible at niching. I'm the guy who says "everybody!" and means it. But instead of giving him some mushy non-answer, I just told him about a workshop we'd recently done with a financial advisory firm. A founder who works with high-net-worth clients. We were telling his story for two audiences at once: the referral partners who send him business, like the law firms serving that same high-net-worth world, and the prospective clients who'd watch it and finally feel like they actually knew the guy behind the firm.
That's all it took.
Jon lit up. Turns out that's the exact industry he used to work in. He started telling me about the great wealth transfer happening right now. There's something like eighty-four trillion dollars about to pass from one generation to the next, the biggest in history. And he told me how the wealth managers chasing that money all look identical on paper. Same suits. Same credentials. Same promises. The only thing that actually sets one apart from another is the story behind the person.
Then he said, "I need to introduce you to a couple of people."
I drove home kind of giddy. And then a little annoyed with myself.
Because here's what I realized. I'd just had a fifteen-minute conversation that lit up a stranger, opened two introductions, and confirmed everything I believe about my work. And it only happened because somebody happened to be standing in my lobby and happened to ask the right question.
How many people haven't asked? How many people in my own world, friends, family, the folks who've watched me run this thing for two decades, have no idea I'm even available for hire?
I think a lot of them assume the opposite. They see me post about a project and think, "Wow, Ryan's swamped. He'd never have room for something like mine." And it's the exact opposite of the truth. We've got capacity. We've almost always had capacity. In twenty years of running this business, I can count on one hand the times we've actually had too much work. The difference now is that I've finally built the systems and the team to take on more without anyone drowning.
But none of that matters if the people who could send me work think I'm too busy to want it.
So I'm taking my own medicine. Mary Oliver, part two. I paid attention. I got astonished. And now I'm telling about it, to you, today, out loud:
We tell stories for founders and brands. We find the heart of what you actually do and turn it into video that sounds like a human, not a commercial. And we're taking on new clients. If that's you, or if you know someone who's the best-kept secret in their industry (a coach, an advisor, an author, a founder doing real work nobody knows about), I'd love an introduction. Just hit reply.
That's it. That's the whole ask. I should've made it years ago.
Want proof this stuff is fun? Our course-creator partner Susan just got hired by Dolce & Gabbana to make a hundred hair flowers for a major fashion show in Italy. (Not Spain this time. Italy. I'm clearly on a European kick.) And we get to go capture the whole thing: the behind-the-scenes, the artistry, the story of how a maker from the Midwest ends up backstage at a luxury fashion house.
That's the work. Finding the person whose story is too good to stay hidden, and refusing to let it.
Yours might be too.
Go tell your story,
Ryan
P.S. If you're anywhere near Ohio in a couple of weeks, come find me. I'm speaking at Social Media Week Lima on June 17-18. I've been part of this event for a few years now, and I'll just say it plainly: the speaker lineup they pull together for what the ticket costs is kind of absurd. Pound for pound, the best value in the whole social media space. (I'm not saying I'm the reason to come. I'm saying look at everyone else on that stage.)
P.P.S. Seriously, the reply button works. Tell me what you do. I want to know, and I might know exactly who you should meet.
