I'm writing this from Florida.

While most of the country was buried under a deep freeze last week, we were blessed with 70-degree days and clear skies. We didn't take it for granted. Arlene and I played golf almost every day. Palm trees. Water views. Quick rounds with nobody in front of us.

And today, January 28th, is my daughter Anna's birthday. I can still picture her as a little girl running around the house. Now she's a working professional expressing her purpose through design. Time moves faster than we want it to.

Later this morning, I'm giving a 20-minute talk at Chicago Christian High School. My alma mater. The same place I coached basketball for 12 seasons. The same place where I'm now the head golf coach.

The topic? "Remember Who You Are."

I'll be telling students that they're not here to figure out what they're going to do with their lives. That's too much pressure. They're here to discover who they ARE and then find ways to express it.

Purpose isn't something you chase. It's something you express.

And the clues are already there. In what excites them. What fulfills them. What makes them feel alive. Those clues become a story. And that story, when you finally own it, becomes the engine of everything you build.

But that's not what I want to talk to you about today.

Today I want to show you what it looks like when someone actually lives this out.

On our last night in Florida, Arlene and I ate at a small, beach-adjacent restaurant called Mangos & Marley Cafe in Dunedin.

Room for maybe 20 people inside. Eight seats at the bar. The kind of place where you can tell the owners pour their hearts into every detail.

On the wall above our table hung a simple framed sign:

"Here at Mangos & Marley Cafe, the Food is Fresh, the Beer is Cold, the Smiles are Warm, the Vibe is Chill, the Fun is Had, and Everyone is like Family."

That's not marketing. That's a declaration of who they are.

We chose this place because they had gluten-free options. We stayed because we felt at home.

When I got back to the house, I looked them up. I wanted to know the story behind that energy.

What I found stopped me.

In August 2020, Nina and her husband Graham were days away from signing on a business. A dream of working together. Serving their community. Going back to their roots in hospitality. But something didn't feel right. They looked at each other, didn't have peace, and walked away.

90 days later, Nina was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.

Nine months of chemo, surgery, and radiation followed. And then? Cancer free.

Here's the part that got me: She was still going through radiation when they signed the lease at 506 Main Street. Still in treatment. Still uncertain. But they leaped anyway.

On her website, Nina wrote: "Do you pick up where you left off, not giving up on something that you know you were placed on this earth to do? Yep, that's exactly what we did."

At the bottom of their website is Ephesians 3:20: "And to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ever ask or imagine..."

That sign hanging above our table? It wasn't clever branding. It was a woman who stared down death and decided to live her purpose anyway.

Here's what I want you to see:

Nina knew her purpose. Hospitality. Serving community. Sharing her Cuban family recipes with the world.

That purpose became her story. Not a marketing story. A survival story. A story of walking away, getting the diagnosis, fighting through treatment, and leaping anyway.

And now she serves from fulfillment. Not obligation. Not hustle. The deep satisfaction of doing exactly what she was placed on this earth to do.

You can feel it when you walk in. That's not an accident.

Before Anna and Bethany flew back to their lives, we all went sailing together.

Our captain called himself Captain Clearwater. His real name is Chris.

Six months ago, Chris was an electrician. A good one. But something kept calling him.

So he took his family's boat. Got Coast Guard certified. Took the classes. Built a basic website on GoDaddy. Listed himself on TripAdvisor. Started adversting on Google.

No agency. No funnel. No marketing consultant.

Just Chris, doing what he loves, serving people with joy, and letting his work speak for itself.

Six months in? He's building a decent business. Bookings are growing. Reviews are stacking up.

Same pattern.

Chris knew his purpose. The water. Freedom. Sharing that experience with others.

That purpose became his story. Electrician who finally answered the call. Family boat turned charter business. A leap that made no sense on paper but made perfect sense in his soul.

And now he serves from fulfillment. You can feel it the moment you step on board. The man is in his element. He's not selling boat rides. He's sharing what makes him come alive.

I've been doing marketing for 30 years.

I've built campaigns. Written copy. Studied funnels. Obsessed over conversion rates.

And while this isn't a marketing newsletter, I've come to believe something that goes against almost everything I was trained to do:

Purpose. Story. Fulfillment. Service.

That's the sequence. And when you get it right, marketing takes care of itself.

Your purpose gives you clarity on who you are and what you're here to contribute.

That purpose, lived out loud, becomes your story. Not a fabricated brand narrative. A real story. One that only you can tell because only you have lived it.

When you serve from that story, you experience fulfillment. The deep satisfaction of alignment. The feeling of doing exactly what you were made to do.

And here's what I've learned: Fulfillment is contagious.

People feel it. They can't always name it. But they walk into Mangos & Marley and feel at home. They step onto Chris's boat and feel his joy. They sense something different.

That feeling? That's your marketing.

You can't fake it. You can't manufacture it. And no funnel in the world can replicate it.

I have clients right now who are getting new business simply on reputation. No ads. No aggressive outreach. No convincing.

Jim does it with his Training business. Large companies and government agencies are pursuing HIM.

Jeff does it with his marketing agency. He takes everything he loves preparing dinner experiences for family and friends and applies that pattern to serving clients who need Google campaigns.

Karen does this in her professional endeavors taking her love of travel and hospitality and investing that into a career that allows her to express that light in her.

Just consistent service from a place of alignment. And word spreading because people feel the difference when someone is doing what they were made to do.

In Issue #0064, I wrote that clarity isn't enough. What my clients actually walk away with is conviction. The willingness to act on what they know.

In Issue #0065, I wrote about the exhausting energy of convincing. Trying to prove to people that I'm worth it. I took most of that down because that energy didn't feel like me.

This week completes the picture:

Clarity tells you who you are. That's your purpose.

Conviction moves you to act on it. That's when your story begins.

Fulfillment is what you experience when you serve from that story. And fulfillment is what people feel when they experience you.

Service is how your story becomes visible.

It's not what you say about yourself. It's not the testimonials on your website. It's not the clever copy or the perfect funnel.

It's how people feel when they experience you.

That sign at Mangos & Marley? It's a cancer survivor serving from her calling. And you feel it.

Captain Clearwater? It's a man who finally answered what was calling him. And you feel it.

That feeling is the whole game.

So here's what I want you to sit with this week:

Do you know your purpose? Not your job title.

Your purpose.
The best of what you have to give to others.

Do you own your story?

Not a polished brand narrative.
Your real story.
The one that only you can tell because only you have lived it.

Are you serving from fulfillment?
Or are you grinding from obligation?

Because here's what I've learned: The people who end up working with me aren't the ones I convinced.

They're the ones who experienced something. Read something. Felt something. And said, "I want more of that."

Nina didn't market her way to a thriving restaurant. She served from her purpose, her story, her fulfillment. And people felt it.

That's the only marketing that's ever really worked for me.

Service that's so aligned with who you are, it speaks for itself.

Until next week,
-Coach Reg

P.S. It's been about two years since Brandon Boyd and I held our Strategic Story Workshop.

Purpose. Story. Fulfillment. Service.

That's the sequence. And at the center of it is your story. The narrative that connects who you are to how you serve.

Nina's story. Chris's story. Your story.

These aren't just nice narratives. They're the most powerful marketing tools you have. When you know your story and serve from it, everything changes.

I'm testing the waters: How many of you would love to more deeply connect with your audience by telling a more strategic story?

If that's you, hit reply and tell me. Just say "I'm interested" or share what's stirring. I'd love to know.

No pitch. No funnel. Just me, curious if this is something worth bringing back.

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