Karen and I went to one of our favorite restaurants the other night. I asked to see the wine list and was told that the new owners “Are not serving alcohol because of their religious beliefs.”

Kind of a bummer, but I can respect their decision.

Then I noticed that another party had two bottles of wine on their table. So I asked, “Is it okay to bring in your wine?” Both the new owner and our server hemmed and hawed. Finally, I started to get annoyed and said that those folks at the other table had wine.

The old owner, who was helping with the transition, spoke up and said, “Yes, you can bring your own bottle of wine!” He was upset that two of his best long-time customers were being treated poorly.

There was a wine place right next to the restaurant, so I bought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc – Karen’s favorite. I asked the new owners if they had wine glasses or small glasses for the wine. They handed me two tall water glasses. “Um, do you have anything smaller,” I asked? “No,” was the response. Then the old owner said, “Just give them two wine glasses!” Which they eventually did.

As you can imagine, we won’t be going back; not because they don’t serve wine, because they made us feel unwelcome in their restaurant. Had the new owner come over to our table, introduced himself, explained why they weren’t serving wine, and told us his origin story, we would have been fine because we would have gotten to know him.

In most cases, it’s your origin story that sets you apart from your competitors and what begins to move you out of the commodity category. That’s why whenever I create a feature-length webinar or short webinar for a client, I spend so much time developing their origin story.

Once you’ve nailed your story, you will use it in all of your webinars, on your about us page, and in other marketing materials. So investing time to develop your core story pays off big time.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!

Dave “No Whining” Dee