Peaceful Profits Review: Transform Your Business with Powerful Storytelling Strategies

The Peaceful Profits Podcast with Chanelle Neilson and Kris Jones

Chanelle: [00:00:00] Hello, peaceful profits nation Chanel here with an exciting client spotlight episode for you today. So today we're talking to our client, Kris Jones, Kris, welcome to the podcast. 

Kris: Thank you for having me. 

Chanelle: I'm looking forward to this conversation. So let me introduce you all to Kris and let me introduce Kris to our audience.

So, uh, most business owners miss out on sales because their website copy isn't working. Kris's signature story selling system helps them replace all their marketing with a single story. So they can attract more clients. Amplify revenue and enjoy more time freedom. Kris founded Red Door Stories in 2003 and was mentored by Donald Miller, author of building a story brand.

She's worked with high profile companies, including Nike and Adidas, but her favorite clients are self employed service providers because they struggle the most with copywriting and can experience the greatest benefits once they get their story, right? So Kris, to start off, I would love to [00:01:00] hear some of just your favorite client wins.

That you've had. 

Kris: Wow. Um, I've worked with all kinds of entrepreneurs, mostly service providers. There was one in particular, my client, Mike, he was on the verge of, I mean, he was burned out legit. And he, um, He was charging. He wasn't charging enough. And so we, we boosted him up and we got his copy dialed in and his visuals dialed in and he was able to charge six times more for the exact same service.

So that was a huge, huge win. 

Chanelle: Yes. Wow. That is huge. And I imagine just what a difference that would make in his business. 

Kris: Huge, huge. I mean, he is really thriving. Yeah. Yeah. He, he really began to move through the world with a lot more [00:02:00] confidence. 

Chanelle: That's awesome. Let's hear another one. I'd love to hear another client win because that was so good.

Kris: So I have a lot of clients who spend a lot of time on sales calls and they dread it. They take a long time. They don't like the feeling of selling. And so what shifted the most for my clients is they really get on these calls and they don't feel like they have to sell anymore because they really understand the value that they're bringing to the table.

So they just get on the call, they talk about the work that they do, they connect authentically, and the byproduct of that is just they get more clients. So there's a client that I have who, she was closing about 25 percent of her calls, which is actually Not bad at all. Right? And by the time we wrapped up working together, she was [00:03:00] closing 95 percent of those calls.

So she knew that essentially any call that was booked with her would essentially turn into a new client. 

Chanelle: Okay. I love that one. That is amazing. All right. I'm so glad you shared those because I'm sure listeners are very intrigued hearing those, those two client experiences, because those are things we all want in our business and really looking forward now to hearing more and, and learning more about how you do it.

So one last thing y'all should know about Kris. Kris believes that writing copy for your own business doesn't have to feel like torture. In fact, once you know how to tell a compelling signature story, it can actually be fast, easy, and fun. And I love that. So I love this idea about story to start off with.

I mean, this is so great that you help your clients replace their marketing with a single story. So let's start with your story. What got you into this business? [00:04:00] 

Kris: This, the work that I, that I do is truly my calling. I, you know, I found it early in my career, so I was in my early twenties when I, I got into marketing.

I started. As a brand designer, so I worked with a lot of really well known companies, Nike being one I've had Jeff Bezos as a client and worked with some really big corporations and learned a ton like I look back on that time and I'm so grateful for it. And it was really in that era, it was, you know, design was, um, it still is design is so incredibly important and that's where I really got experienced with visual storytelling.

And that's really, that was like my first language in many ways. And I loved graphic design. I loved logo design. I loved website [00:05:00] design. And that was really. My area of expertise and what happened eventually is that I went out on my own. I started my own business. I was really passionate about helping people that were similar to me, meaning solopreneurs, small business owners, entrepreneurial in spirit, and At that point in time, like all anybody needed to thrive as a business is just to even have a website.

Like if you had a website, you are a legitimate business. This is early on in like 2000, maybe five ish. Um, and then as time went on, the landscape online changed. And what I found is that The words on the website became much, much more important, but I, I really, that really wasn't my area of focus. So what I would do is [00:06:00] a client would come to me and hire me to design a website.

And I would say, okay, your website copy is due on, let's just say April 1st. And, um, I'll never forget this one client named Elise. She was, she had been in the publishing industry. She was very comfortable writing, great with words, and she wanted me to do her website. So I said, okay, your copy is due on April 1st and then I'll get going on the design and we'll be off and running.

So April 1st came, I got a call from her and she was like, I don't know what is going on. I am completely stuck. Like the more I try and write this copy, the harder it is, the I'm not making any progress. It's actually getting worse. And she's like, I don't have anything to give you. This has been such a nightmare.

Can you help me? And so we brainstorm a [00:07:00] few ideas. Um, I gave her the names of a couple of copywriters. Um, I, I, you know, gave her some templates. I recommended she talked to some clients that she had worked with. Um, but ultimately none of those ended up working because, you know, she couldn't outsource her own voice.

So the copy that other people were writing just didn't feel like her. And when you're the face of your own business, it's, it's really hard to outsource your own copy. Like, I don't know anyone who can really nail that. And so thanks to Elise. I just made it my mission to never let this happen again. She was not my first client who was struggling with this.

Um, and it manifested in, in many ways, like Elise was full on just stuck and paralyzed and frustrated. I had other clients that [00:08:00] would just write and write pages and pages and pages of website copy, which is also not effective in helping you get new clients. And so at that point, I just made it my mission.

I am not going to let this happen again. I traveled across the country. I went to workshops. I read books. I, I even became one of the very first story brand guides before the book building a story brand even came out. And so like after immersing myself for quite a long period of time, I, I just came out the other side.

I never treated it a project. Excuse me. I never treated a project the same way again. I never worked on a project where I didn't infuse storytelling principles into the project. Whether it was design or writing, like it always, it began to elevate everything that I worked on. [00:09:00] And not only that, like my business at that time, I was really relying on referrals to keep my business going, which.

Referrals are great, but they're very unpredictable and it's really a hard and stressful way to run a business. So I, of course, applied everything that I had learned to my own website and my own marketing. And the same thing started happening for me too. Like I was getting booked out with, with lead calls.

I had clients. Traveling in, I live in Portland. So I had clients like taking the train here and road tripping here to meet me in person because they wanted to work with me and it was really fun and exciting. And I couldn't even believe like the power of story. And, and I will tell you like many years into doing this work, it's still is.

You know, it's not a surprise to me [00:10:00] because I understand why it works and the power of it, and I've watched it time and time again with my clients, but I'm always delighted by the results that it actually delivers. 

Chanelle: You know, one thing that is coming up for me that I would love for you to just take a step back and almost define story, because I think that, I think there almost can come a panic for people when they hear that like, story, that sounds good, and then this moment of like, oh, wait, what is my story?

I don't know what my story is. So, or what a story even is, right? So when we're talking about story, what, what do you mean exactly? 

Kris: It's such a good question because everybody thinks they know what a story is. We've all grown up getting stories read to us as children. But the type of story that I'm talking about, and even every movie you watch, every book you've ever read, it always begins with a hero that has a [00:11:00] problem they don't know how to solve.

That hero about a third of the way into the story meets a guide who has a plan, a plan of how that hero can solve that problem. And when the hero follows that plan, they ultimately end up experiencing success and avoiding failure. That is the formula. It will ruin every movie for you moving forward. But that's the formula.

And so when I talk about story for my clients, number one, I like, like to let my clients off the hook because your story isn't really about you. It's about your hero. And your clients are the hero. You are the guide in the story. So for, for most of my clients, they're relieved that like, Oh, I'm not like, I'm not, I don't want to be the hero of my own story.

I don't want this to be about me. Yes, you are. In the story, this is like really a way of inviting [00:12:00] your potential clients into a narrative with you. A narrative where they play the role as the hero and you play the role as the guide. So you're actually the strongest character in the story as the guide.

The hero is the weakest character in the story. And that's why we never want to be the hero of our own. story. There's only room for one hero. And when you're the hero of your own story, you literally kick your potential clients out of a narrative with you instead of inviting them into that narrative with you.

Chanelle: So interesting. Okay. Thank you for that. I think that will help with context as we talk. And just wanting to point out here, when I asked for your story in your business, If you guys weren't listening, if you guys didn't hear it, that is exactly what Kris did, right? This story was not about, it was about your clients.

You were the guide in that story. Here's how I helped this person. Here's what was happening. Here's how these people were coming and having this adventure. And so I [00:13:00] think that's really, um, powerful to see in action of how that works. So, I love that your business, you know, started off with marketing, then really honed in on stories.

How has it evolved and changed to now? Like what are you doing differently now in your business then as you've incorporated story? 

Kris: Yeah, I think that the thing that I've been working toward for many years is simplifying my business. Really the question I asked myself a few years ago was like, what's the biggest problem that I can solve in the shortest amount of time?

And I, every client that I talk to is frustrated and fed up trying to write their own copy. It's so hard to do. And it, and if you're a good writer, it's even harder because your standards are higher and you feel like, Oh, I should be able to do, [00:14:00] to do this. But there's two things going on. One of them is the curse of knowledge, which just means you've been in your industry long enough.

You're pretty much an expert and you've forgotten what it's like to not know what you know. And so this often like. shows up as a website using terminology and lingo that like the new person coming to your website can't quite get. And so they feel stupid, which we would never want our potential clients to feel that way.

Um, and then the other piece is what I call the bottle effect, which is really essentially it affects everybody. It just means that You're inside of the bottle. Like when you're trying to write for your own business, you don't have the perspective that you need. You're inside the bottle, trying to read the label that can only be read from outside.

And [00:15:00] so I like to think of myself as like the person that they can come and look at your bottle and read the label for you and help you really identify the story because your story is truly inside of you, it's inside of each and every one of us, and it's up to me to pull that and like, For lack of a better word, extract it from you.

Or I like to call it mining for gold. The gold is in there. I just have to go in and identify it. And as entrepreneurs, we have so much happening in our brains at any given time, ideas and client work and things we want to do and vacations we want to take. Like it's just, it can feel very overwhelming to try and identify what is the treasure of my story versus what is like the clutter and the noise.

And so a big part of my work with my clients is really clearing out the clutter and really identifying that gold. 

Chanelle: I like that. And I like both of those [00:16:00] analogies, the idea of mining for gold and then the bottle effect. I think that's really, it's real. It makes it very clear to me because. And we beat ourselves up like, I'm, I'm in this bottle.

I should be able to see it. But obviously when you're saying that, well, of course you can't see it from that angle. And so it's very helpful to have someone who can see a lot more clearly than you. So I love the work that you do. You came to Peaceful Profits, um, a while back. Tell me what brought you here and what was going on in your business that led you to working with Peaceful Profits.

Kris: Well, I am a big fan of Mike Shreve. I love his down to earth, simple way of being. I love the way he communicates. I felt immediately like I could trust him. And, you know, I feel like Donald Miller is also a person, you know, of note that shows up in that way too. [00:17:00] And both those two people, I just want to be around people like that and digest that their content.

And for me, I think it became once I got really clear on my core offer and my main like high ticket offer, I, I realized that it was important to reach more people. And make a bigger impact and the way that Peaceful Prophets approaches funnels and book funnels and writing a book, um, as an expert, it just really aligned with like what I was wanting and also my very much like less is more, keep it simple approach.

That's like my, my mantra. So it, it just, it felt really aligned and really natural to. Partner with peaceful profits. 

Chanelle: And so talk to us a little bit about what you've done here within peaceful profit 

Kris: Yes. [00:18:00] So I've written a book, number one, um, using the guidance that I have found within Peaceful Prophets.

I have been working with Peaceful Prophets now for about a year, um, to put together and build a funnel for me. And so again, just expanding my impact, getting to reach more people. We haven't, we haven't gone live with the funnel yet. But like, it's. Still in the building phases of things, but the coaching that I've received, um, the coaching that I've received has been so good, like no one's immune from the bottle effect, right?

So even, even though this is the work I do, like it's so helpful for me to be able to work with your experts and have fresh eyes on my business and I feel like. You know, I've always been quite goal oriented and I have a lot of drive, but my coach at peaceful profits, Margie, [00:19:00] the way I look at it is she has.

Seeing a bigger dream and a bigger vision for me and my business than I could have really imagined for myself. So since working with peaceful profits, I've expanded my signature offer. So it delivers a lot more than it originally delivered. And because of that. The, the investment for that work has gone up, which has made it a lot easier for me to reach my financial goals to really move the needle for my clients.

Um, that's just, I mean, there's, there's many intangibles, but that's like a really like a tangible. result. And so my numbers from last year versus this year are, have greatly improved. Like, yeah, if I quit working this year in September, I'd still be making way more than I made [00:20:00] last year. 

Chanelle: Congratulations on that.

And it's so good to hear too, especially when Your book isn't out yet. Your funnel isn't done yet. I mean, your book is done, but you're not running it as a book funnel, right? Right. Right. So that's so amazing because even while that's still in process, you've still increased the bottom line in your business.

And so that's very powerful. 

Kris: Isn't it? Like we haven't even yet like gotten live with, with the funnel, but it's completely changed. My business. And yeah, it's, it's been incredibly profound and I'm so delighted. Yeah. 

Chanelle: Yeah. Congratulations on that. That's a big deal. Thank you. Recently, uh, a little bit ago you did a Workshop within peaceful profits.

And I have heard from my clients just so much about what a difference that made in their business and you [00:21:00] help them with their story. And so I'd like to, to learn a little bit more from you and for listeners. With this idea of story and crafting their story, can you talk to us about some of the principles that go in it?

Some, some tangible things that they can start to do to really find that gold and to figure out what they need to be talking about. 

Kris: Definitely. I actually have a freebie that anybody can download and it's a five minute video and it will walk you through getting started with this. Once you watch the video and fill out the worksheet, like you can refer to that anytime you're ever writing for your business.

And so the idea is just to get the gold out of your head and onto paper so you can kind of clear the clutter. And part of that freebie was incorporated into the workshop that we did. So they're, they're very much related. [00:22:00] Um, the, the main thing to identify is really what are the. What are the problems that your clients are struggling with?

Like when you get on the phone with them in their words, what are they complaining about to you? And just brain dump three to five things that they're truly struggling with. And when we do this, this is like the most important work we can do. Because when we begin our communications in this way, really, we're showing that we care about them more than we care about ourselves.

We really understand their struggle. And so they feel seen, they feel heard, they feel understood. And what's really cool when we do this well is that they automatically think if we understand their problems so well that we're the best ones to solve it. Um, even if we're not, they think that, like, it's just a really incredibly, incredibly powerful kind of psychology tool.[00:23:00] 

Um, so we want to take the time to really articulate their problems. And then we want to brain dump, like, how do we solve this problem for our client? And we want to keep this real simple, like five to eight words. How do we, how do we solve this problem? Like, do we, um, Put together a financial plan for them.

Do we help them change their relationship with time? Do we restore their eyelids or whatever? Like it could be anything. How do you solve this problem? And in the story, you always want to position your service as the solution to those problems that you just brain dumped. And so that's you. This is like what I'm talking about is like the shortest story you'll ever write.

It's like two sentences long, but it's a full and complete story because it begins with a hero that has a problem about halfway through a guide enters in with a solution. [00:24:00] And then you want You want to also, this is in the worksheet. Um, you want to brain dump, what, what's the success? Like what's the happy end result that they're going to experience after they've solved this problem.

And this is not like features of the work that you do. This is like, what's their life like after they've worked with you. And so by really getting clear on those three things, and this is, like I said, it's part of the work that we did in the workshop, but. It's truly the foundation of really Shifting the way that you talk about your business to make it much more about the hero and much less about you.

Chanelle: Do people ever, I imagine that a shorter story is harder than a long story. Is, do you hear that a lot? 

Kris: Uh, yes. I mean, I don't hear that a lot, but I know that to be true. And it is absolutely [00:25:00] true. There's a, there was a president. I believe, I can't remember which one who said this quote, which was, I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn't have time.

And so that's what happens. We kind of brain dump and lots of stuff comes out. And really the key is because people don't really read what websites anymore. The key is to really trim, trim, trim, and just like. Storytelling can be a great filtration device. You filter out all the noise and you keep only the essentials.

And it is, it's very hard to write a very clear and concise story. 

Chanelle: Yeah, I can see that because you have to have this level of clarity that with just like, you know, the president that said that you, you, there's so much more thought that goes into something brief, where if you just spill it all out there, you don't have to have quite as [00:26:00] much clarity.

You don't have to have quite as much thought behind it. And so there's a real power that comes from getting to that level of clarity so that you can keep it that brief. 

Kris: Completely. And not only that, when some, but when you do the heavy lifting of like doing that work. ahead of time for your clients, they come to your website and they trust you because you're not wasting their time with like a bunch of copy and they're not having to figure things out themselves.

It's just being spoon fed to them. So it's like another layer of trust. And all of that kind of happens subconsciously, but it's like, Oh, they're clear on what they do. They're showing me how I'm going to benefit from it. They understand the nuances of, of my struggle. I therefore can really trust this person's clear.

They're a guide that I want to work with versus the [00:27:00] opposite where you kind of end up leaking trust and waffling because you're overloading people with information. You haven't taken the time to be clear who wants to hire a guide who hasn't taken time to be clear about who they are and what they do.

Right. 

Chanelle: Yeah. We are looking for that very strong, very powerful guide. That's going to just get us to where we want to be and not take any detours, not get lost along the way. Right. So I love this. I think this is so needed. And it's so powerful. The things that you've shared. Now, one of the things that you said in your own business, in your own story, you used to play small, and now you're not playing small anymore.

I'd love to hear what that, what that means to you, what that looks like. 

Kris: Yeah, I think I really had a lot of fear around visibility. And I, and I still, I wouldn't say I have a lot of fear around it, but I, I think I'm [00:28:00] naturally drawn toward working one on one with clients and really having this intimate, dig deep, profound, transformate, transformative experience.

So like I've stayed true to that piece of myself. I think a lot of people will tell you if you want to scale your business, you have to do group work and you have to, um, like. Work with larger groups of people. And I have just fundamentally intentionally not gone down that path. Cause I don't feel like I can deliver what I deliver in a group.

Um, so on one hand, I've really kept things intimate there. On the other hand, I've become much more visible in. My outrage and how I reach people. And so the workshop that I did in partnership with peaceful profits was such a good example [00:29:00] of that. I. I can't even a year ago, couldn't have even imagined doing a workshop, a three hour workshop for over a hundred people like that was so incredible and such a thrill and it's taken time for me to get to that point.

So I started, you know, in different communities doing workshops and maybe helping five or 10 or 15 people and like got comfortable with that, but I will tell you my first workshop. That I did was for two people, two people showed up. I was so nervous. My armpits were sweating. Like it was, it was a real, it was a real hurdle, like in a real stretch for me.

But I was, I was called to do it. And, um, I'm so like. Happy and thrilled that I can show up now and have [00:30:00] the, like, have the ability to essentially reach more people and help more people and teach. I think like fundamentally, like the teaching part for me is so fulfilling and I want to be able to help people.

Even if, you know, they aren't able to work with me one on one, and that feels good. Yes. 

Chanelle: I love that. And I think that that's really cool how you have been able to straddle that line between, you know, you're still giving that one on one attention where it's needed, but that added visibility just allows more people to.

Make progress in their own business to craft their own story and then to move on and work with you If that is their next step and I love that you're answering the call, right? You feel called to do it. And so you're stepping into that space. So that's good so Uh as we as we close up here I would love to hear advice that you would give to others who are [00:31:00] really In this space where they feel like their story's not quite there yet, they, they aren't, they're stuck in the bottle.

They're not quite sure what, what to do, how to figure this out. What would you say to them? 

Kris: That it's, it doesn't have to be as hard as you think it is. Just truly like I created that freebie to get people unstuck. For no cost and to help you really in five minutes, understand the fundamentals of story and how to apply it in your own business.

And even if you just did that, it would change the way you talk about your business and the work that you do forever. And the other thing I would say is that. I believe every business owner needs just one page on the web that sells for them. And when you take the time to just. Like [00:32:00] reduce the overwhelm.

You just need one page for me. It's my homepage, my homepage, it's a heavy lifting homepage. It tells my whole story. It engages my clients. It clearly communicates the offer, um, that I have and allows them to book a call with me or purchase it right there. And like, I have just. Put everything into this one page and that's all I need.

And so no matter what I'm doing, where I'm talking, who I'm communicating with, I just know I send people to that page and I know that page is doing the heavy lifting of selling for me. And that way I can get on my sales calls and they're already cued up and excited about. about working together and I don't feel like I have to sell.

It's like, it's such a time saver and it can also be such a relief to like, have boundaries, like to talk [00:33:00] about your pricing. If things are uncomfortable for you in person, let your homepage Or that one page online, do that work for you until you can get more comfortable doing it yourself. 

Chanelle: I love that you're practicing what you preach.

You have truly simplified your business, right? To this very, here's what it is. And that it's doing that heavy lifting for you, because that makes such a big difference in, in the way we feel about our business and in the profitability of our business in all those things. But it makes your business a joy to run at the same time because you're not getting on these soul sucking sales calls.

It's calls with people who come ready to go because they have read what you've so carefully crafted on that. 

Kris: Yes. And you know, we are wearing so many hats running your own business, like so many hats. So How can we reduce overwhelm with all those [00:34:00] hats? Like a website in general can be a very overwhelming, daunting.

Usually there's a lot of like emotion around it. Like either you're ashamed of it or you're overwhelmed by it. You don't know where to begin. It, you don't, it's rare that I meet someone who's proud of their website. And that, that feels like it's a true reflection of who they are and doing the work for them.

And, and so anything you can do to just simplify, and I think websites can be such a tangible way to simplify, simplify life and simplify your business. Like they really. It should, it should really be working for you in that way. Yeah. 

Chanelle: Okay. I know that listeners are excited to go and learn more about you.

You've talked about this amazing freebie that you have. We'd love to hear more about that. So where can people get more? [00:35:00] 

Kris: Everything about me, you can find at my website, red door designs. com. R E D D O O R D E S I G N S. com at that website, you can download my freebie and watch that it's called five minutes to compelling copy, and you can download that, watch the five minute video and.

At no cost, like really get the ball rolling with your own story. You can also book a money making messaging call with me. That's also free. And that's a 40 minute call with me. And together we'll look at your website and really identify like, where are the holes in your boat? Like, as far as storytelling goes, where do you need to boost your story up and what's working, what's not.

Um, and then you can also find out also. At my website, how to work with me one on one. 

Chanelle: Okay. Perfect. Red door designs. [00:36:00] com. I think that is amazing. We will go and check it out. Kris, thank you for being here and for all the things that you've taught us today. 

Kris: Thank you for having me. It was so much fun.

Chanel. 

Chanelle: Yeah, this was great. I've learned a lot. Everyone go and check out her website. And if you are interested in working with us here at peaceful profits, peaceful profits. com forward slash call, we are always happy to, to meet our listeners and thank you. We'll see you next time. Bye.

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