1% Better · S4E4 · Released
Romilda Pierce1% better.
She Lost Her Call-Center Job Weeks Before Christmas. Now She Owns Her Own Agency | Romilda Pierce
You sat down with one of your very first proteges, the woman you pushed out of the nest, and let her tell the room what it cost her, and it's clear in her answers how much she trusts you. At a few key moments, when Romilda got close to the feeling, the mentor in you turned it into a lesson for other agents, and the viewer could lose her for a moment.
The one thing
When Romilda hands you a feeling, ask for the scene before you give the lesson. You already know how. You said it yourself at the end, that the best thing you did for her was tell her the truth and then get out of her way. Do the same from the host's chair, one honest question and then quiet, and the agent watching gets to see in her what you saw the day you met her.
Section 2 of 4 · Keep doing this
What you did great
Start here. These are the moments that worked, and why, so you can do them on purpose again.
You told the hardest part of her story in your own voice and owned that you were the one who took the salary away. It's the line the episode is named after, and it works because it's honest.
“So I pushed you out of the nest.”
When you asked for a moment instead of an opinion, she gave you the best story in the episode, the husband who promised his wife a cruise if she'd go with the PPO plan, and the cruise they now take every year.
“Was there a moment or a call or an appointment where you're like, got it?”
Your close names your own part in her story, then hands the episode to someone who's still waiting to jump. Coming from you, about her, it's the most moving line in the episode.
“tell her the truth and then get out of her way”
Section 3 of 4 · The 1%
1% better next time
Small moves, not a makeover. Each one shows the moment, what the person watching missed, and a line you can use on the next recording.
- 1
Ask for the scene before the lesson
The moment. You set her up well by remembering the terror in her eyes, and she gave you no nest egg and a grandson to help with. Then, while you were making a point about agents who get scared, she said this line, and you agreed and kept going with the point. It's a true point, just one beat early.
“Same feeling. I was shaking in my boots.”
What the viewer missed. The viewer was just getting inside her fear, the kind a lot of new agents watching will know, and the general point could pull them out before they see themselves in her.
Ask, "Take me to the first morning with no paycheck. Where were you sitting, and who did you tell?" and then wait, because a new agent may need to see her scared before they'll believe they can get through it too.
- 2
Let her biggest line land
The moment. Your warmth opens the episode well, and a minute in she gave you a sentence that could carry the whole show. You said "Wow," then moved quickly into a kind joke about marking your calendar.
“It's the day I changed my life.”
What the viewer missed. A pause from you would have told the viewer this line mattered, and it's the kind of line that belongs in a cold open.
Give it two seconds of quiet, then ask, "Say more about that. What changed that day?" because her answer could be what keeps a stranger watching for the next half hour.
- 3
Follow the thread she hands you
The moment. You invited her to tell you why she thought you were wrong about starting her agency too soon. She softened it, mentioned the husband who had the business sense, and the next question moved on to lessons learned.
“My husband now had the business sense”
What the viewer missed. Her reasons for going early, and the partner who helped her make it work, deserved one more question, because that's the part a would-be agency owner watching needs most.
Stay on it with "You said your husband had the business sense. What did he see that I didn't?" because a guest often gets more honest when the host lets her disagree with him.
- 4
Hand the airtime back
The moment. She brought up older agents who struggle to go electronic. You knew that pain firsthand, so you took it from there, from COVID to your own evenings scrubbing and faxing apps.
“I would come home with three, four, five apps”
What the viewer missed. It's a good story, but that stretch gives the viewer more of your experience when one more question could have given them more of hers.
Hand it back in one line, "How do you get one of your older agents over that hump?" so the lesson comes from her, the person the viewer is there to learn from.
Section 4 of 4 · Bring it to the next one
The one thing
If you remember one note from this episode, make it this one.
When Romilda hands you a feeling, ask for the scene before you give the lesson. You already know how. You said it yourself at the end, that the best thing you did for her was tell her the truth and then get out of her way. Do the same from the host's chair, one honest question and then quiet, and the agent watching gets to see in her what you saw the day you met her.
- For the edit. If the episode is ever cut down, the e-app stretch (30:03 to 31:14) is the first trim, because it's a long stretch where the viewer hears your story instead of hers.
- For prep. On the builder sheet, write one "take me there" question under each big beat (the day the salary stopped, the too-soon talk) so it's in front of you when the moment comes, and add the guest-to-guest question, since this episode ends without one.