1041: How to Tell Compelling Stories and Build Brands with Alex Neist (CEO of Hostage Tape)

03/17/25 • 36 min

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How to Be Awesome at Your Job

Alex Neist shares principles of storytelling and branding that help Hostage Tape –and you.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) Why brands like Hostage Tape and Liquid Death resonate

2) The defining element of an inspiring story

3) The downside to making your story amazing

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1041 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT ALEX —

Alex Neist is the founder and CEO of Hostage Tape, the best-selling mouth tape. The company has helped over 200,000 customers worldwide and has strong partnerships with the UFC and The Joe Rogan Experience.

Prior to founding Hostage Tape, Alex was an Arena Football League quarterback. He later ventured into sports technology, building a seven-figure business which was eventually acquired.

• Website: HostageTape.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Tool: Dan Harmon’s Story Circle

• Brand: Liquid Death

• Website: SleepHQ.com

• Book: Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks

• Book: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

• Book: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chriss Voss and Tahl Raz

• Past episode: 311: Communication Secrets from FBI Kidnapping Negotiator Chris Vossr

• Past episode: 1029: How to Tell Stories that Inspire and Influence with Anjali Sharma

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• Earth Breeze. Get 40% off your subscription at earthbreeze.com/AWESOME

• BambooHR. See all that BambooHR can do at bamboohr.com/freedemo

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alex Neist shares principles of storytelling and branding that help Hostage Tape –and you.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) Why brands like Hostage Tape and Liquid Death resonate

2) The defining element of an inspiring story

3) The downside to making your story amazing

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1041 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT ALEX —

Prior to founding Hostage Tape, Alex was an Arena Football League quarterback. He later ventured into sports technology, building a seven-figure business which was eventually acquired.

• Website: HostageTape.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Tool: Dan Harmon’s Story Circle

• Brand: Liquid Death

• Website: SleepHQ.com

• Book: Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks

• Book: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

• Book: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chriss Voss and Tahl Raz

• Past episode: 311: Communication Secrets from FBI Kidnapping Negotiator Chris Vossr

• Past episode: 1029: How to Tell Stories that Inspire and Influence with Anjali Sharma

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• Earth Breeze. Get 40% off your subscription at earthbreeze.com/AWESOME

• BambooHR. See all that BambooHR can do at bamboohr.com/freedemo

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Previous Episode

1040: Building an Unstoppable Mindset with Alden Mills

Former Navy SEAL Alden Mills shares his battle-tested strategies for building mental toughness.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) How to push past fear

2) How to master the mindset loop

3) How to direct your emotions

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1040 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT ALDEN —

Alden Mills is on a mission to help 100 million people Be Unstoppable. He is a three-time bestselling author, the Inc. 500 CEO of Perfect Fitness, and the founder of multiple businesses. Throughout his time as a businessman founding and leading multiple companies, he has been awarded over 40 patents.

A former Navy SEAL, he is a three-time platoon commander and ranked #1 platoon commander each time. Alden teaches people, teams, and organizations to Be Unstoppable. Entrepreneur magazine recently ranked him the #1 top virtual speaker.

• Book: Unstoppable Mindset: How to Use What You Have to Get What You Want

• Website: Alden-Mills.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Book: A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World's Sacred Texts by Leo Tolstoy

• Book: Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business by John Mackey, Steve Mcintosh, and Carter Phipps

• Book: Shift: Managing Your Emotions--So They Don't Manage You by Ethan Kross

• Past episode: 957: How to Push Past Discomfort and Expand Your Comfort Zone with Dr. Marc Schoen

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• Earth Breeze. Get 40% off your subscription at earthbreeze.com/AWESOME

• BambooHR. See all that BambooHR can do at bamboohr.com/freedemo

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Next Episode

1042: Self-Improvement through Personality Change with Olga Khazan

Olga Khazan discusses the surprising findings on how personality change can be possible and beneficial.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) The problem with “authenticity”

2) The surprisingly simple secret to changing your personality

3) The simple interventions that make us less neurotic

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1042 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT OLGA —

Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic and the author, previously, of Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World. She has also written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Vox, and other publications. She is a two-time recipient of the International Reporting Project’s Journalism Fellowship and winner of the 2017 National Headliner Award for Magazine Online Writing. She lives with her husband and son in Northern Virginia.

• Book: Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change

• Substack: OlgaKhazan.substack.com

• Writer Profile: Olga Khazan, The Atlantic

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• App: TapeACall

• Website: PersonalityAssessor.com

• Term: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

• Course: 8-week MBSR courses

• Study: “Is Personality Fixed? Personality Changes as Much as ‘Variable’ Economic Factors and More Strongly Predicts Changes to Life Satisfaction” by Christopher J. Boyce, Alex M. Wood, and Nattavudh Powdthavee

• Researcher: Nathan Hudson

• Author: Jon Kabat-Zinn

• Book: How to Say Babylon: A Memoir by Safiya Sinclair