Alan McLaren On The Power And Magic Of Story Telling To Build Your Brand And Grow Your Business (#250)

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast where you learn how to extract your business and personal Deep Wealth. 

I'm your host Jeffrey Feldberg. 

This podcast is brought to you by Deep Wealth and the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. 

When it comes to your business deep wealth, your exit or liquidity event is the most important financial decision of your life. 

But unfortunately, up to 90% of liquidity events fail. Think about all that time and your hard earned money wasted. 

Of the quote unquote "successful" liquidity events, most business owners leave 50% to over 100% of the deal value in the buyer's pocket and don't even know it. 

I should know. I said "no" to a seven-figure offer. And "yes" to mastering the art and the science of a liquidity event. [00:01:00] Two years later, I said "yes" to a different buyer with a nine figure deal. 

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At the end of this episode, take a moment and hear from business owners like you, who went through the Deep Wealth Experience. 

Alan McLaren's purpose in life is simple. Love and be loved. Alan wants every interaction he has to be positive and uplifting. Alan is here to help with a connection, a perspective or a hug. His business life has taken him to his hometown of Montreal to Nova Scotia. And now Toronto with a life-changing experience in YPO which took him around the world and [00:02:00] taught them what true leadership is about in a global context. 

Alan has always been a worker. He started early with paper routes that grew into summer jobs during high school, and then onto retail during his post-secondary years. This work ethic, took Alan through his career at Canon and into executive roles at IKON, JAWZ, WhiteHat and now infinitycomm. 

Alan moved from corporate life to a four person business partnership. And now with his business partner, Leanne to entrepreneurship. Alan says don't believe the hype. As entrepreneurship is not easy, but since we only have one trip around this rock, why not experience life to the fullest? 

Building something from nothing is cool. Specifically at infinity comm Alan and the team are focused on the personal branding practice called STRATA Originals. He believes that CEOs have a responsibility to inspire others to grow and learn by sharing their knowledge and experience. STRATA Originals is an [00:03:00] outsource model that helps CEOs uncover their passions , determine and build a content plan along with producing the content and distribution via social media to solve the problem of time for busy CEOs. 

Alan believes that human connections matter. And the importance of making deposits to be a giver and to love life. 

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast, and for all you business owners out there. Wow. Do I have a guest for you? And I'm gonna start off with a rhetorical question before we get to our guest. Although you heard 'em in the official introduction, all you business owners and listeners out.

Do you want to grow your business? Do you want people to know about your business before they even become clients? And I'm assuming everyone said yes. You better have said yes. Well, that's exactly what we're gonna be talking about today. Hidden strategies, secrets, powerful tactics that work. I'm gonna stop it right there, Alan, welcome to the default podcast, and absolute pleasure to have you with us.

And I'm curious, Alan, there's always a story behind the [00:04:00] story. So what's your story, Alan? What got you to where you are?

Alan McLaren: Well, you see all the gray hair. So, I think there's a lot of war stories that happen, but ultimately you know, the my life's taken me through many bit different business opportunities from corporate Canada public companies. Entrepreneurship. And then, you know, the last 18 years have had an agency, a marketing agency, which as you know, with marketing has flowed along the same path as technology, right?

It's changed so dramatically. So the business has changed and morphed in all wonderful things. And we made a bit of a pivot in at Covid where we recognized that the traditional marketing was getting tougher and tougher. So we said, you know, what's the white. What can we look for, where we can deliver great value?

And so we pivoted to this area of helping leaders and CEOs with building their personal brand to help them ultimately build their business. So all the experience that I've had over the last 35 years in several different verticals has kind of led me to this place where [00:05:00] I have to tell you, I don't think I've been as excited about a business opportunity than I am right now at my advanced age

So yeah, that's a little of.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay. Well listen now you got us really on the edge here. You're not as excited as you've ever been before. So what's this opportunity, Alan? What are you seeing that as business owners, founders, entrepreneurs, you know, the movers, the shakers, the type A personalities, sometimes we get too much into our own heads.

You're seeing something that we're probably not. So what are you seeing out there? What's going.

Alan McLaren: Well, you know, think about this for a moment. Let's just, there's some definitions out there just to make sure that we're all aligned on what what we're talking about today. So everybody has a personal brand, I think that would be fair to say, right? And it's manifested in what people think about you when they hear your name.

So, Jeffrey, what do you think about Jeffrey? He's this, and this. Hopefully that's positive. The question for you or for all your listeners is it serving?

The answer is yes, you're fulfilled, you're happy, you're making money. Your family's good, you're feeling good. Check the box and move on.

If [00:06:00] things are great, but you want more people to know about you, then that's an opportunity to think about it. Or if you need to shift your narrative some way, then that's another thing to think about. And once you read that, then it's a question of taking an intentional approach to shifting a narrative or enhancing your narrative in whatever way works for you.

I have a story that might be illustrative. Jeffrey, if this will help. I had a buddy of mine who said, you know, I'm really intrigued by what you guys do. He says, but I'm not really sure you know if I need it. I said, why don't we take 30 seconds? I'll ask you a few questions. Question one was, what do you think people think about you today?

He said, well, they think about me as a packaging guy cause he's in a packaging business. I says, is that what you wanna be known for? He said, actually, I've grown my business from 30 to a hundred million. I want to be known as a business growth person. I said, why would that be important to you?

He says, well, I won't be in this business forever.

I'm not an owner. , I want, you know, have another job in a different area. I said, who are the people that need to know that? He says, [00:07:00] well, investment bankers, CEOs, board members, et cetera, et cetera. I said, so you've now told me you need to shift your narrative in an intentional way to get people to see you as a more generic business growth person, then a packaging guy.

He goes, yeah, I said, there's the reason to think about this kind of a service. So that

Jeffrey Feldberg: Mm-hmm. 

Alan McLaren: That's really what we're talking about.

Jeffrey Feldberg: and Alan, I imagine, and you can fill in the details here, you're in this day in, day out, for many years, things are, well, we know post pandemic things are no longer the same, but on the business side of things are really no longer the same. So much has changed. And I mean, I can just share n plus one story's anecdotes of what I've heard or what I've seen or experienced or spoken to.

But why don't you fill us in for the business owners out there that are saying, Hey, you know what? We've been doing this before. We'll continue to do this. Things have been fine. Nothing really needs to change. , why is that so far off base that they should really stop, listen, [00:08:00] and do a, I'll use the overused P word, pivot from the pandemic.

I mean, like why should it be changing? For the listeners out there that are saying, don't need to do it, everything's good. Why is that not the case?

Alan McLaren: Well, if it is good, then fantastic. If, you know, if you add the word fulfilled and purpose driven, then great. But the reality is, in our world, what we learned was the business model was a little broken on the marketing side. And then, you know, it started by our folks, you know, working from home and doing all those things.

We're building a global virtual business. I haven't met 80% of my clients.

What does that tell you about opportunity? We had bad things happen to us, as many did during Covid. We came out of it and listened and say, what is the opportunity? So now I'm sitting at home and I've got clients in Dubai, in Mexico, in Sri Lanka, in Myanmar.

I'm going, how did that.

Happened because all my team is virtual. I can grow that virtually, and I never have to leave [00:09:00] my office unless I want to. So it's really about listening to the opportunities that are right in front of us because technology has pushed us there. This Zoom opportunity has been phenomenal for people and other platforms like it.

So,

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so what exactly does that mean for us? When you're talking about branding and getting the narrative and the message out there, that one word branding can mean so many things to different people. So let's frame it, and I know we're gonna do something very special on this podcast. I won't let the cat outta the bag, but part way through this podcast, we're gonna completely open things up with a different perspective.

And we'll just leave it at that for now. We'll keep the listeners in suspense, but Alan, for you, a business owner comes or a business comes to you and says, okay, Alan, please take us out there. We wanna make a change in A, B, C, and D. What does that mean exactly with your formula and.

Alan McLaren: So let me start out with the system and then it'll kind of work backwards to the why behind. So the, there's really four steps to the process. This is something you can think about on your [00:10:00] own. This doesn't have to mean you have to use a service like ours.

First one is really to understand your. Purpose your why you would want to move the needle on your thing.

So this story I shared with my friend, he had a intentional reason to move the narrative. So you have to ask yourself those questions. They're hard to do because we never think of ourselves as a brand, but we are. We absolutely are a brand, very much like our companies are our brand. The big difference between the two people don't trust brands, but they do trust.

Think about the opportunity to say, well, step one is I need to understand my expertise, my credibility, and my passions, which will help kind of inform the narrative. So that's kind of step one. In our process, we use about two hours of interviews to get that out. So if you're thinking about yourself, just kind of ask yourself some of those questions.

The second one is, what's the strategic plan that allows that story to be? What social networks do I need to do speaking gigs? Do I need a speech? Do I [00:11:00] do a TED talk? Do I need to do video? Whatever that is. What social networks do I need to be on? What partnerships do I need to build? All those happen in a strategic plan.

And the third element is the recording and development of original content. In other words, Jeffrey content, not business content. So in your world, if we were to add it to yours, is, you know, your world is about helping business owners. Kind of build their business for a really positive Exit. So your narrative would be, I wanna help them do that and give it away to the world.

And then the question always comes back. But Alan, I sell that for a living. I said, well, the clients are there gonna steal it, are not your clients anyway. So give it away to the world and it'll come back to your doorstep because CEOs don't have time to do the work. So the fourth step become. Social media execution, our team takes over LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, whatever it happens to be.

And we do that for the client. So it's an [00:12:00] outsource model. We solve problem A of time problem B of strategy and problem C of consistent execution over time. So that's the four steps to, to what we do. If I can just respond quickly to your business versus personal. The business is marketing.

If you think about it in a traditional sense, building a brand is part of marketing, right? You ever think of the voice of the leader as separate from or adjacent to the business?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay.

Alan McLaren: I'm saying is you are not parroting the business stuff. What you're doing is you're saying, and I'll give you an example.

You have an IT security business today. You have a marketing team that's gonna do all the lead gen and Google ads and SEO and all those. What if you were now the educator and you're talking to people, not about what you do, but about, here's how you would approach intrusion detection, never mentioning, and we have the best one.

Just here's how you think. So you're teaching the world as [00:13:00] I'm hoping to do today is I'm gonna give away anything that anybody would ever know, want to know about this stuff. And then you're gonna go away and say, that's gonna be helpful for me. Why? Our purpose is to inspire.

Get out there. If they need our help, we're here.

If they're not, at least they're out there sharing their story with the world.

Jeffrey Feldberg: and Alan, let's circle back to something because you passed over it. It's very subtle. For me, it's huge. It's a different mindset, and it's really a new guard that's out there. The old school way of doing things just doesn't work, and what I'm talking about here is really you're coming from an abundance mentality.

Let's share it with the world. Let's put it out there. Let's let people know what you're doing and all the information that goes behind that. And I know there's listeners that are saying, well, wait a minute, Alan, to your point earlier, yeah, sure. The people who are gonna steal it aren't gonna be my customers, but why should I be giving it away anyways?

What are you seeing, Alan, for your clients that are an open book giving that I'll call it value of really putting that out there and educating, [00:14:00] not selling. How does education turn into.

Alan McLaren: one word trust.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Love it. Trust. Talk to us about that.

Alan McLaren: So what you're doing is if, so in my case, I'll give you my example. So over the last year, I have been a client of my own business. I don't pay for it, but Right. And I do videos on leadership. I don't sell leadership services. I can't make a dime off it.

But I am known in my circles as a decent leader because of my work in Y P O and others.

So what happens is people say, I love your videos. It's really great. Well, what do they do when they're out there? All I'm saying is here's my stories that I have shared with the world. Comes back to me. I said, love what you're doing. This is fantastic. I would love to learn how to do that. In fact, that's what we do.

So what you see on my videos is what we teach people to. They connect the dots. So my leadership, apparently, I can't make money on, but it connects to the dots of how we teach people to do it. So it is about building trust and about building a [00:15:00] network. And oh by the way, two friends will tell. Two friends will tell two friends, and that's the beauty of social media.

You have an opportunity like we've never had when we were growing up. What opportunity do we have to do that? We have to go to?

To go to seminars. Now you can sit in front of your computer, record a video, and thousands of people can see it.

Never been an opportunity like that before.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so, Alan, why don't we flip this in the opposite way. So for the business owners and their businesses that are doing it, the more, I'll call it traditional way. Perhaps not leveraging social media, perhaps keeping everything close to the vest and not getting things out there. They're now competing because it is more so than ever truly a global economy, a global marketplace.

We have competitors not just in our backyard and not just in North America, and it's really everywhere. So for a business that's following your formula, that's putting that out there. in the mind of a prospective client. They're [00:16:00] looking at the, I'll call it the old school and the new school.

What's going on. Can you walk us through that decision making process and where they're turning away from and where they're turning to?

Alan McLaren: So everybody on this podcast knows they check you out before or after they talk

Where do they do that? They do that on your website, which is your first point, or they do a search of the person? Let me give you an example. We had a client we signed in Denver, Colorado. We got the best referral in.

It should have been no problem. Nobody said, pushed us over the edge. He says, I looked at your staff and saw that they had been with you for 12 years. That told me everything I need to know about you.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow.

Alan McLaren: So your marketing is more than what you're telling the world. It's the opportunity to find out what's really under the.

So if you are the voice of your or should be, or could be the voice of your business, people say, you know what? This guy looks honest, credible, he's [00:17:00] helpful. He's the kind of person I want to do business with. Oh, by the way, his business does those things,

But what happens on every website? Do they ever say, but we're really crap at this? No, everything's a beautiful story. The reality is you can cut through when you see me on video, do you like me or.

Pretty simple. What an opportunity you have now to showcase a assuming you're good at it. And if you're not, then that's a skill that we'd recommend you develop. How to story tell, how to get to a place where people will look at you and say, that's credible.

So I give you the credence on your business because you are credible. And how much of, how many of your competitors are doing this? Less than 1%. So what do you want to be in the 1% or in. The 90% or the 99%, that's the opportunity ahead of you.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Exactly, and for our listeners, let's take what Alan is sharing because Alan, truthfully, I say all these things, but you're never a prophet in your hometown, let's call it for what it is. Now, let's [00:18:00] take these skills that you've developed because as a business owner, Alan, I'm working with you. I'm building my brand.

I'm learning how to tell a narrative, how to spin a. Story that's based on truth and data and facts, but it's also exciting and paints the hope of a brighter tomorrow. I can now take those skills and put that into not only growing my business, but when the time is right for selling my business for the future buyers.

And that's why we say a Deep Wealth, Hey, we're gonna create your own blue ocean. You're not gonna be a comparable, you're gonna be in a league of your. You set the rules, you set the value, and that's really where the magic happens. And so on that side of things, Alan, for a business owner that says, okay, Alan, listen I love that you and your team will get me out there.

You know, I just show up and you guys can do the rest. But I've never been terrific. They're thinking at public speaking or on camera. In fact, it keeps me up at nights. It's a phobia of mine. What would you say to that?

Alan McLaren: Say there's two que, two [00:19:00] answers to your question. Number one is if you don't believe that, you need to get better, and learning is the number one thing that we all do as entrepreneurs, right? We've gotta learn, we've gotta grow. If you're weak in that area, then it might be helpful for you to be a little stronger.

You can never maybe be amazing at it, but you can be better at it. So it is an opportunity to learn and grow. That's number one. Number two, if you start thinking about your. if you wanna sell it one day. Isn't it easier if people know who you are than if you're some unknown quantity and they can go check you out and say, I know how this guy thinks.

I know how he or she thinks, how they act, how they comport themselves. You think Goodwill could show up underneath that saying, you know what? We made leader for three years while we're transitioning and doing whatever earnouts there. This is a guy we want to have hanging. So we're gonna pay 'em a few. So all of this can come back to some economic benefit for you.

When you realize, you know the number one thing in [00:20:00] business, what do VCs tell you? They don't invest in the business. They invest in the entrepreneur. The business is a vehicle to profit.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah.

Alan McLaren: So if you're not known, then what's the opportunity for you If you are.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Alan, as you're sharing that story, my goodness, you are having me think back many years ago. Before my e-learning company, Embanet and listeners of the Deep Wealth community, they know the whole story of the note of the seven figures, the yes to the nine figures, but before the nine figures came along, it was finding the right investment banker.

It took a year and a half. Still friends with that investment banker today. But in the beginning, Alan, to your point, I ran Embanet. It was different times back then, but I ran it. Stealth under the radar because we were creating a market disruption. We were a cockroach startup. Didn't have the capital to be out there in a splashy way, and it achieved its objective.

On the other hand though, there's always two sides to a coin. It hurt us in other ways. And truth be told, when the investment banker came on, they spent [00:21:00] inordinate. Getting to know us, and they told us afterwards, you know, Jeffrey, you seem like a great guy, and you told a wonderful story about Embanet. But before we put our reputation on the line, we really had to kick the tires, test things out, make sure that you were who you said you were because we hadn't heard of you before.

We heard rumblings about some company. You were that company. But then when you showed up in her offices one day, it was game on. Who is this company? What are they all about? And so Alan, to your point, When we get out there, when we're no longer the unknown entity and we're now known. And another rhetorical question, who would you rather do business with?

A stranger or a friend? And of course if we're honest, the answer's a friend and why? And it's that T word that you mentioned earlier. It's trust. We build trust. People get to know us. And it's interesting, Alan, and again, with what you're seeing out there on base or off base with what I'm about to say, post pandemic.

The logo of a [00:22:00] company is no longer as important as the person or the people behind the company. What would you say to that?

Alan McLaren: So I think it comes back to that T word again, right? So ask yourself this question, do you trust a brand?

What is a brand? Brand is a company and all the things, and underneath that is the

So when you see a leader out there that you can connect with directly the opportunity, and think about staff for a moment.

How proud are they if you are out there? Just sharing the values and things that you've learned over 20 or 30 years or 10 years in the business. So there's a whole part of that people get excited about. So it's another way to think about it, but you really, you have to break it.

There's nothing wrong with building trust with your business. Of course you have to have that, or no one will do business with you. You have to have a great product, you know, great pricing, great strategies, whatever they are. That's okay.

They're not gonna trust that they have to do the [00:23:00] deep dive like your investment banker said they're gonna do that anyways.

But if they have the leader who they trust, then all the information that's in that business has a more trusting quotient, if you will. That's, there's nothing that's gonna pull it away, cuz the opposite is true.

You tell a great story and then I talk to you and it's not consistent. What do they do?

Forensic audit and then you're losing your. . So it is a complete continuum of, do a great job on your business. Add this to your narrative, to your story, to make sure the story gets told in a different way. It's not just buy my things, let me help you think about how you buy this stuff. In my case, it's I want you out there on social media telling your stories to the world.

It makes me very happy when I motivate someone to do. even if they're not doing business with me because it's doing the right thing.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Allen just set expectations because there is [00:24:00] no magic bullet. Unfortunately. If there was, I know you'd be the first one out there to be helping people with that. How long does it take? So someone comes along, business comes along, you start working with them, and you're applying your system, your formula to get them out there.

What can we expect in terms of timelines for us to start seeing a difference?

Alan McLaren: So it's a difficult question to answer cuz everybody starts at a different place,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure.

Alan McLaren: right? So, you know, in my case, if I used myself as an example, I already had a decent sized network. but they weren't ready to receive my stuff. It took a while to go, what's going on here? What's the, so the reality is it can be as fast as six months.

It could take a year because your brand's been built up over how many Now, if you're 45, it's been 45 years to get to where you are.

Very few people think of their brand as intentional.

So in my world, you know, you start thinking about, I've shifted [00:25:00] my narrative a bunch of times, right? I was in the business equipment business, right?

And then I moved to IT security, and then I moved to marketing, and now I've got the subset of personal branding. In each case, I've shifted the narrative so that people look at me differently than they did. Now that's the work that people have to do to say, listen, that's what, that's how I want the investment bankers to see me.

That's how I want the VCs to see me. Again, that can be done intentionally because it's not done intentionally today.

Jeffrey Feldberg: . Love that. And let me ask you this, because for every episode we want to have, you know, at least one actionable item. So a listener finishes with the episode and they can do one thing right away. I'm a big believer before you leave wherever you are, you've learned something, take action right away.

So it's a tough question because it's like asking you to pick, Hey, if you have more than one child, who's your favorite child? I get that. If you had [00:26:00] to pick one action that someone could do based on your experience and your system and your Formula One action in the branding area, that can and will make a difference, what would that.

Alan McLaren: It's the easiest question you've ever asked me,

Jeffrey Feldberg: I love that.

Alan McLaren: you some, I'll give you some context before I answer

LinkedIn did a study and they call it the 99 and one.

90% of people on LinkedIn are voyeurs. They don't like, they don't share. They just see and view content. 9% are the ones that like and share.

And engage and say, good job so and so, and 1% of the creators.

So I would ask you to start out by being part of the 9%.

Start by getting out there and saying, when Jeffrey says something, I really like that. And comment

And or share and get the conversation going around your perspectives on other people's content.

That's the first thing, cuz it's easy to do and just set aside 10 minutes a.

Then you would move yourself to ultimately a creator place, right? [00:27:00] But that takes a little bit of guts. That first time you put a video out, you'll be scared. But if you have guidance to help you get there, that's great. But that's what I would say be part of the 9% to start.

Move from 90 to nine. That's easy. You could do it right now and do it with your friends and you'll be safe. And then you'll see it's not so.

Jeffrey Feldberg: and Alan, what's interesting about that is really it goes back to timeless princip. Go the extra mile, give more. Don't expect to receive anything, do it just because. Do the right thing. Take the time, take the effort, make a difference. Help educate, be of service. I mean, after all, that's why we're in business.

Share a very quick story to your point, and for listeners, please listen up on this. One of our clients asked us if we could help them find an Advisor in a very specific area. It's not an area that we normally deal with. So I went to my network, asked the question, and it was in an online form. I trust the people that are there and they're giving me their personal experiences, but I gotta tell you [00:28:00] one name.

And this one company kept on coming up. And again. So I went back to the client and I said, okay, here's a list of five or six people that you can choose from, and I recommend that you speak to them. All that said, start with this one company and individual first, because they were mentioned multiple times.

All roads lead back to this company and this person, and to your point, Alan, that's all about branding and being out there. Whatever this individual has done, wow. Is it paying off in spades?

Alan McLaren: A hundred percent. You know, the, I, I remember a quote and I can't remember who said it, but get out there and let stuff hit you

You can do that today.

Jeffrey Feldberg: exactly.

Alan McLaren: So that's the opportunity that's in front of us.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so for our listeners at the start of the episode, I mentioned we have a surprise for you. And actually, Alan, I gotta tell you, this is a first on the default podcast, and I loved your idea when we're planning this episode because Alan said, Hey, Jeffrey, don't take my word for it. Why don't we bring on a [00:29:00] client?

Who's gone through the system, he can speak personally to what's happened. And I said, Alan, I love that we've never done it, but let's go for it. So we have Dany on the line who's a client of Alan's, and to Dany's credit, he had a board meeting and wrapped up the board meeting and now he's calling in.

So, Dany, thanks for making. Part of your day with Deep Wealth. And so as we understand it, Dany, the quick narrative here is you had written a book, published, it went out there, but you wanted some help to brand yourself, brand the book, pay it forward, make a Difference, and you turned to Alan and team to really get that going.

So why don't you walk us through, ultimately how did that go and how did the system work?

Dany Assaf: Yeah. Well thank you Jeffrey. It's a pleasure to be here and always a pleasure to be with my friend Alan. And I can tell you, like many people, we all are driven by passions and. Are driven by the love of our community and our country and in North America. We're blessed Canada and the US are two great places that gave [00:30:00] so many of us and our families opportunities over the generations.

And my family was no exception in Canada. And I wrote a book called Say Please and Thank You and Stand Line, one Man Story of what Makes Canada special and how to keep it that way. And I think that story is the same. You know, America too, for immigrants who came from different places might happen to come from Lebanon.

And in these kinda who knows way to describe them, divide times or these uncertain times, everybody feels like, they're not sure where the future is going, where the future will be. But for all of us, I think we look a little bit to the past and see the successes of the past. There was a lot of imperfection and think maybe there's a little of a roadmap to the future there too in some of our experiences.

And I wanted to tell the story about my family that came from Lebanon and came to Canada and they were Muslim Canadians and they built the mosque in Canada. And this was in the 1930s of how the embrace of North America to [00:31:00] all. To start fresh and to make the most of their potential and to have a future that was prosperous and peaceful too.

But when you write a book the most important thing is will anybody know about it? Will anybody hear about it? A tree falls in the forest. Does anybody here? And you need friends and partners, like, and his team. To help get the word out and to tell people also who you are because the story is important, but also who is the person telling the story, and to see whether there's that, you know, that connection of real experience and authenticity that's there.

And that's what Alan and his team have provided me.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Alan, I direct this to you, so Dany shows up, Hey, I've got this. Help me get this out there and you know, truth be told, whether it's a book about family legacy and history, or a business book, a biography, autobiography, nonetheless, it's still the same challenge. So how did that look like with you and your team, Alan, on the back end to now get Dany out there, get this book out there to really make a difference and get this branded on both [00:32:00] Dany's side and the book side.

Alan McLaren: Well, the starting point was really to understand Dany, right, to understand his background you know, as a competition lawyer but his background in terms of the why he wrote the book, and so, . We spent a couple of hours with Dany initially, and as I mentioned to you earlier, you know, trust matters not only as you're building your personal brand, but it matters in life.

And we hit it off right away. We did have a really good referenceing to Dany as well, which was helpful, but we need to understand Dany, what his skills were. And we found that he was a master storyteller. He was passionate, he was consistent, he was authentic so that we could leverage his talent. As we went into our content world, because people come at this from different places in their abilities to tell stories.

Dany was a master storyteller, so our job was really to kind of say, okay, what can we do to parse this out and make it bite size content that people would be interested in so they could, I ultimately either go to his longer form videos short or short term, or to read the [00:33:00] book or buy the book. And so that was the work we did right out of the gate, and the rest of it was.

To just record Dany and content. And he's got a YouTube channel, which is all that content is there. And then to use social media and strategic advertising to get more people to see Dany's content and ultimately continue to build his brand and monitor what's happening on social and the like. So that's kind of what we did.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so I'm wondering, Dany, I'm gonna ask at the risk of an obvious question, but perhaps it's not so obvious, I'm hearing your masterful story. You are a smart guy. You're in the profession of lies. So you know, a thing or two, you could have done this on your own clearly. You could say, Hey, I know how to speak in front of people and I'm a great storyteller.

I'm just gonna go on my own. I'll figure things out and off we go. You didn't do that. So at the risk of the obvious question, why

Dany Assaf: Well, firstly, I want to thank Alan for his gracious and generous words, . that's first thing. and I think I needed maybe a little more help than he, [00:34:00] so, kind enough to point out. But it was one of these things I think we all recognize in life, which is no matter you'll always play to your strengths no matter what it is that you're doing.

And if you believe in it. And really fundamentally, my thing, like many people, again, our love of our community and always wanted to think about a hopeful path forward. Fundamentally, that's what that was all about. And getting people to help you. Do beautiful things. No one, you know, Steve Jobs couldn't put Apple out without the thousands of people.

As brilliant of an idea as it is. You need, everybody needs partners and friends and collaborators to get a project, a meaningful project done. So that is why, you know, I recognize right away that this is something, it's not my strength and I need to. People who believe in the same things, who are experts in these areas to help you.

And I was blessed to find Alan and his team, and they were able [00:35:00] to deliver and build not only the notoriety of the story, but as Alan kindly pointed out, to let people know who the storyteller is himself. And I think that is what makes the story beautiful. It's both the story and the storyteller come together to make a connection.

To something that we all can believe in or rally around.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Dany, it sounds like Alan and his team were equivalent to the intel inside, behind the scenes. They're putting things together, they're running things. It's you on the front end. What kind of reactions were you getting both from your existing network as well as the new members who were joining the community of Dany and what this message is all about and the book?

What was that like for you?

Dany Assaf: it was fascinating because, you know, at a certain point in time, I think what you're alluding to is the experience of being a spectator in your own story and watching how people react to. [00:36:00] Your story, and it was a fascinating experience of me, only filled me with more hope. So I could tell you, as it got out to more people and as it reached and touched more lives you get even richer feedback from that.

And the feedback I got just share with people is, There is this, there is still this commonality amongst us as our humanity. And we have a line in the book. I say, you know, in the 21st century, in many ways, humanity is our tribe. Yes, we are tribal as humans, but humanity is our tribe because the challenges that we face today in every way require the best of humanity to come together.

And that was fascinating because we did see people from every demographic, even people who maybe. Have a direct connection to saying, you know what, Dany, thank you for being my voice. And what's fascinating about that is, you know, like all of us, I'm still trying to recognize my own voice, let alone for many people across the spectrum of politics and races and religion, say [00:37:00] thank you for being my voice.

So it was hopeful for me that there is still this common humanity that unites us all and that we can also try to in these, what is called divided times.

Whatever that means that there's still an opportunity to find consensus because we know in any society the best things are done is when we can come to some consensus as a community to path forward.

Jeffrey Feldberg: terrific insights, and before we start wrapping things up, Dany, you know, you've been there, now you've done that. You have the benefit of experience for business owners who are sitting on the sidelines and whether it's a book, whether it's the story of a business, whether it's the launch of a new service or product, someone who's thinking, well, yeah, okay I hear you, but I'm not quite sure.

I don't know if this is something I should do, if it's worth the time, the effort, if I should make the investment. What would you say to that? Business owner?

Dany Assaf: Very simply, if you have something of value, That the market needs, it is necessary [00:38:00] for you to exercise every channel to get that message out, because why? Because you're doing it with purpose.

And if you want your purpose fulfilled, do not change yourself of every path and every means to get that purpose out there to help.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well

Dany Assaf: And that purpose can be in a product, that purpose can be in a message, and that purpose can be with a, some char charitable social cause too. But that purpose needs to be put out there.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well said Dany. That's terrific. So all the business owners out there, if you're on the sidelines, get off the sidelines. Take some action, do something you know, we're gonna have in the show notes and we'll start wrapping up here. But we'll have in the show notes how you can get in touch with Alan. It's a point and click.

It won't get any easier. But quickly, let's do this because I have the privilege and the honor to ask every guest on the Deep Wealth Podcast this one question. And Dany, you didn't know it, and Alan, perhaps you didn't know it, but you're gonna be put into the you know, the [00:39:00] hot seat. I guess it's not such a hot seat.

It's a fun question. So here's, let me set this up. Here's the story behind the story, and then here's a question for both of you. I'd like you to think of the movie back to the. In the movie, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time. So Alan and Dany, it's perhaps separate days, but each of you are looking outside your window.

And lo and behold, not only is the DeLorean car sitting there, But the door is open waiting for you to hop on in. So you hop on in and you can now go back to any point in the past. Alan, for you, maybe as a young child or a teenager, Dany, same thing. Maybe when you're younger or a teenager, young adult, what?

Whatever point in time that would be, what are you telling your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom or, Hey, do this, but don't do that. What would that sound like? So who wants to throw their hat in the ring and be the first to kick things off here? No

Dany Assaf: I'm happy to go first. No, I'm happy to go

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:40:00] Love it, Dany. Go for it.

Dany Assaf: firstly, absolutely. I want to go back to my hometown and as a kid in the 1970s playing ice hockey outside on a crystal clear freezing cold day from morning till sunset. So that's where I would be.

What I would tell myself is something I've tried to remind myself always is, A little bit of what I mentioned earlier. Always focus on playing to your strengths. Recognize what aren't your strengths, and get beautiful people. Find beauti beautiful people to help you and fundamentally pursue your purpose.

And then make sure you are always chasing the beautiful things and those beautiful things, whatever they may be. In business, in art, in, in family, in relationships. They will always serve you well and they will make you feel whole and ultimately happy.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's terrific. Dany, you love that insight and that wisdom, and you [00:41:00] know what? Such terrific advice play to your strengths. How many times do we hear, Hey, Jeffrey, you're really not so great on that. So stop what you're doing and focus on your weakness as if, I mean, come on,

Dany Assaf: Hey, I just gotta go home every day. My kids reminded me my weaknesses, so it's not like I'm unaware.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Exactly. So Alan, no, no pressure. Dany was just golden with what he said. No

Alan McLaren: do I follow that? How do I follow that? You know, I think if I it's kind of advice that I, as an older guy, I give to young young executives and I kind of did it but didn't do it as well as I could have is as you're building your business, if I were to go back. I wanna make sure that the deposits I make in my family and to be as present as I needed to be with my business.

Because although I've been very suc, you know, successful in the family side and been married 38 years and have wonderful kids, and they've grown up beyond my dreams as good human beings,

That's the stuff I see. [00:42:00] Is that it's a it's not a balanced life. It's a 90 hour a week and the families get two.

You can't repair those relationships when you're in your forties. So that would be my council and I would go back and make sure I deposit it even more because I would benefit as much as my family. So that would be my, my going back in time.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow, Alan, what? What a zinger. And Alan, I gotta share with you, I mean, we've had all kinds of thought leaders on the podcast, some of them very well known and famous, and the one key thing is they're all successful and one of the themes is, Hey Jeffrey, I would trade my success. To have a relationship with a certain family member.

Could be a brother, a sister, a father, mother, you name it. You know that I never got to do, I was stupidly too busy there saying to spend that time, make the time, not take that trip, make that call and didn't. And now those years are gone, can never be made up. So a wonderful reminder, Alan, and both of you giving us some [00:43:00] real zingers, as I like to say, not gold, but platinum.

You're spinning out there for us.

Dany Assaf: God bless.

Alan McLaren: Hey Jeffrey. Let me share one thir ten second thing that I wanted to just illustrate the other thing that's a byproduct of this exercise. Dany mentioned the word two or three times the friendship that you develop. Like I hate the word customer when I think about Dany. Cause it's not that there is an economic relationship, but there's something so much more, is that, you know, our. Passion is to see Dany succeed because he's gonna make the world better. And that's more than money than could ever buy. And because, so I just wanted to say that, that part of the passion that we have as inspiring leaders is that we develop amazing relationships and friendships with, because we get involved in the story, we're getting in the story.

And so I just wanted to let Dany know that reciprocate on that friendship side and and love to spend time with you.

Dany Assaf: And Grant in your words, their, your generosity is so apparent. Thank [00:44:00] you. Thank 

Jeffrey Feldberg: That is So So nice. And let me ask you, both of you for this, and again, we're gonna wrap this up, but I want this in the show notes. And Dany will have the link for your book out there so people can have the benefit and the privilege of reading what your family has done and the legacy that they've created.

So for both of you, Alan will start with you first. Someone wants to reach out to you, a business owner wants to reach out. Hey Alan, can you help me? Or I have some questions or, Hey, yeah, Brandis in this area. Where's the best place online, Alan, that someone can find?

Alan McLaren: So it's really simple. So it's the strata originals, so the word strata and originals altogether.com. And that's the website. You'll get us all the videos you'll see and get to understand a little bit more. And you can reach out to us then and we're happy to spend a half hour with anybody no charge to have a conversation around their world.

And it's our give. To help people get out there and to inspire them to be online, to share stories. And if business happens, that's great, but we really want 'em inspire leaders to get out there.[00:45:00]

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's terrific. And for our listeners, there you go. Take Alan up on his offer and get some insights from the brand master himself. And Daniel, what about yourself? People have some questions about, Hey, what was it like for you? Or, what's this book about? Or who knows what it is? Where can someone reach you online?

Where would be the best place?

Dany Assaf: well, they got their, I'm on Twitter at Dany Saf, which is D A N Y A S S A F, or Dany saf.com. One of those two places. And looking forward to hearing from folks anytime.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. And again, for listeners, it can't get any easier. Go to the show notes. It's a point and click. It's all in there for you to save you time. Well, gentlemen, it's official. This episode is a wrap, and as we'd like to say here at Deep Wealth, please continue to thrive and prosper while you're saying healthy and safe.

Thank you so much, both of you, for sharing your insights and your wisdom today.

Dany Assaf: Thank you, Jeffrey. Real privilege to be with you. Thank you, 

Alan McLaren: you. Thank you Dany as well, Jeffrey. 

Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a [00:46:00] game-changer for me. 

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions. 

Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity 

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Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we need to fix. 

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Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I invested paid back so much for the energy that was expended. 

Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

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Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table? 

Please visit www.deepwealth.com/success to learn more.

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