Y’all, we’ve MADE IT. The last email in the Reasons to Believe series is here!!

Before getting into a bit of context around the template, a quick reflection on what it’s been like to write this series:

1. I really enjoyed getting to break down one of my favorite things I do at work step-by-step!​
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   Creating RTB libraries is something that comes “naturally” to me; writing a whole series on it meant slowing waaaaay down and asking myself, “Why DO I do it that way? Is that the right way, or would there be a better way?”​
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2. I’m realizing for the umpteenth time how much my professional interests have drifted from (only) writing.​
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   I love words and always will, but what I super duper enjoy getting paid to do has a lot more with creating structures that set people up for success. This is giving Strange Birds a lot to chew on in Q4, stay tuned for some MVP fun.
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3. It’s been a total honor getting to 1:1 (ok, 1:many but when I’m writing this I’m thinking exclusively of you Reader) with the Tuesday crew for a month and a half.​
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   Most of y’all joined us back when Strange Birds was only Anna; with this series I no longer feel like a guest speaker.
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4. Series are fun!​
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   Feels like making one extra-cool Thing rather than lots of pretty-cool Things. Gotta think what to do with it (and the How We Unclucked Our Messaging series) now that we’ve wrapped it.

I’m going to ask again at the end of this email, but in case you’re inspired now: What would you like to see from us next?
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A few ideas rattling around our heads:

• Another series! On literally anything!
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• A glimpse into the Strange Birds library: our favorite music, books, and resources
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• Going back to the regular one-off Tuesday emails
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• or, tell us you’ve been hankering for something completely different. We are ALL EARS.

(do birds have ears? I had to look this up. The answer is yes, but they’re covered by protective, feather-like structures called auriculars. Which is also the word for “headphones” in Catalan. Now you know.)

OKAY. Thanks for coming with me on this journey! Without further hemming/hawing, here’s the final installment of the Reasons to Believe series.

We’ve done a LOT of work over six weeks to get here, Reader:

1. In vol. 1, we set the stage: positioning gives you clarity, but outcomes are what make it land.
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2. In vol. 2, we mapped your stakeholders and asked the key Q: what do they need to believe to take action?
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3. In vol. 3, we sourced proof straight from your own work (yes, even if you thought you “didn’t have numbers”).
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4. In vol. 4, we went digging outside your own biz for credible stats that reinforce your story.
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5. And in vol. 5, we learned how to frame each data point so they could be digested and retained by the people you need to reach the most.

Time to give all this good work a permanent home!

Bringing it all together in one neat-n-tidy place serves several functions:

• It makes it far more likely that you’ll remember to use it at every opportunity (Google Sheets are instant dust magnets, I swear)
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• It’s much simpler to keep adding to it in the long run as you gather more proof points, keeping it alive and relevant
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• It’s easy to share with teams who can copy-paste your hard work into their decks / emails / etc

That client of ours we’ve been mentioning throughout this series uses theirs to inform their one-pagers, write briefs for contractors, as jumping-off points for presentations – all kinds of stuff.

We made an all-in-one guide to exactly what we do, populated it with the same content within this series, and made it available for anyone to use.

​Get yer Reasons to Believe Guide here!​

Feel free to share this with anyone you think might like it.

Here’s what it looks like inside:

If you’ve made it this far without doing any of the homework along the way (I see you, you’re one of my kind) – no problemo. All the steps are there in short form, with links out to the full emails in case you miss my gif game.

One piece of advice: start small.

Generating The RTB Library of Alexandria doesn’t happen overnight.

The place people generally get tripped up is generating a heaping mashed potato mountain of raw data, then feeling like they have to put every single piece through the meaning machine for every single stakeholder.

Take a deep breath and take a step back:

• Who are your most important stakeholders?
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• What do they most need to believe to get them where you want them to go?
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• What proof is most likely to help them bridge that gap?

Start there.

Here’s that link one more time:

​Reasons to Believe Guide​

Grab it! It’s free, it’s nifty, it’s useful, and it’s extremely cool if you’re a data/systems nerd (or are lucky enough to work with one).

handy links to all the emails in this series

1. ​Sell the WHY: Outcomes are the proof that makes your positioning land​
2. ​Stakeholder mapping: Who needs to believe what, and how to talk to them​
3. ​Your own proof: How to show outcomes for your biz (even if you “don’t have numbers”)​
4. ​External proof: How to dig up credible stats/research outside of your own desk​
5. ​Make numbers make sense: How to translate raw data into human-friendly proof​
6. ✨Free resource drop✨ (today): Put it all together and grab the Reasons to Believe guide

Here’s the end of the email, which means it’s time to ask again:

What would you love to see next from us?

More hefty how-to series like this one?

Back to storytelling + biz metaphors for a while?

Photos of us dancing to the Scissor Sisters? They exist.

Hit reply and let us know.

Petons!

Janel

🏳️‍⚧️✊🏳️‍🌈✊🇵🇸

Flying the Coop We did a whole episode with co-op lawyer Jacqueline Radebaugh specifically because she does law very, very differently. She helps businesses write down structures that actually hold the people within them, that acknowledge the messiness of being human, and still keep things moving forward. “The cooperative model is healing the way we interact and relate to each other… and it allows us to practice law in a healing way.”​ ​ Listen to the episode

What I'm reading

​The Lies of Locke Lemora - Scott Lynch​

The internet suggests I will like this one, although my friend Nora said it's kind of generic band o' tricksters, but make it Italian. I mean I live for bruschetta so that could be fun, ask me next week!