What if the reason your marketing isn’t working has nothing to do with your tactics and everything to do with how you’re positioning yourself?

In this Season One finale of The Story I’m Telling Myself, host Rita is joined by Brad Luttrell, founder of Prologue Stories LLC, for a powerful live conversation on marketing, storytelling, personal branding, and relationship-driven growth.

At the center of this episode is a game-changing idea:
👉 Are you positioning what you do as a painkiller, or just a vitamin?

Most businesses, entrepreneurs, job seekers, and personal brands unknowingly market themselves as “nice-to-have” solutions. Brad breaks down why this approach fails, how to identify the real pain your audience is trying to solve, and why people are willing to pay a premium for immediate relief, not long-term promises.

• The painkiller vs. vitamin framework and how it applies to marketing, sales, and personal branding

• Why feature-based messaging doesn’t convert—and what to say instead

• How internal teams lose context and assume their message is clear when it isn’t

• Why you can’t rush trust or assume relationship buy-in

• How to build a warm network so you never have to rely on cold starts

• Why content marketing is a long game (and why “instant results” are a myth)

• The 80/20 content rule that builds emotional connection without selling

• How consistency compounds into momentum over time

Brad also shares his entrepreneurial journey, from founding and scaling GoWild, navigating rapid growth, fundraising, and market collapse, to ultimately shutting it down and discovering his true strength as a storyteller. That realization led to the creation of Prologue Stories, where he now helps companies clarify their messaging, reposition their brands, and launch podcasts that actually resonate.

• An entrepreneur, founder, or business owner

• A marketer, consultant, or creative

• A career changer or personal brand builder

• Someone struggling to explain what they do in a way that clicks

• Tired of chasing tactics and ready to build trust, clarity, and demand

The episode closes with a powerful reminder:
👉 Don’t assume your audience knows you.
👉 Don’t lead with vitamins.
👉 Build the relationship and offer the painkiller when it matters.

Because you never know who’s paying attention.

🎧 Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Audible.