Rain Bennett
- Feb 15, 2023
- 4 min read

Ep. 126: Your Story is Your Unfair Advantage with Patrice Poltzer

Patrice Poltzer is a Gracie-award-winning journalist and former TODAY Show producer who parlayed her media and storytelling expertise into forming Patrice Poltzer Creative in 2016, a New-York based video storytelling agency.

In this episode of The Storytelling Lab, Patrice shows how big brands try to emulate small businesses and why small businesses should realize that and focus on the long game instead of viral hits.

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Patrice called herself a "professional late bloomer."

I resonated with that video immediately.

I would say that I felt slightly attacked by the designation (that I also identified as and have struggled with), but she made me feel so okay with it.

That's because, as she says, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE LONG GAME.

Your journey is not about chasing one home run.

It's about being consistent hits over time that add up to a catalog.

I'm mixing up my metaphors but you get what I'm saying.

The problem is, if you're like me, you still struggle with all the things that small business owners do: mainly having to do ALL the jobs with virtually no resources.

And a lot of that is because you and I try to emulate what the big brands do.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot we can learn from the big brands about how to be successful in our business journeys.

But, there's a secret I learned that you might be overlooking.

Patrice told me.

Patrice Poltzer is an award-winning journalist that spent years cultivating her storytelling skills at the popular TODAY Show on NBC.

During her time there, she learned how to be hyper-focused on her audience.

As she told me, the TODAY Show fans are "maniacal."

And she also learned how to tell within five seconds if a story would work well or not.

However, that didn't stop her from following her heart and pitching a show idea that got shut down SEVERAL times, only to finally find the right angle and then make history.

Patrice pitched a story about the Syrian refugee crisis that won a Gracie Award and received an Emmy Award nomination—taking her career to a new level.

But even after that huge hit, things changed.

Things changed many times throughout Patrice's career and each time she got knocked down, she bounced back and found herself back on her feet, on a new journey.

Because she understood she was creating a catalog.

The long game.

And to play the long game, you must be flexible and resilient.

Inevitably, all the ups and downs of her journey and the lessons along the way led her to create a video storytelling agency, Patrice Poltzer Creative.

"I was really bad at first. And then after about three, four months I got into a groove. I found my voice. I found what people were responding to. I took energy and momentum from the DMs I was getting, even if I had 10 views. If one person said, 'Oh my god, this was so useful.' I just took that as a sign to keep on going. And that's like anything you do in life if you want to be good at it. You have to be willing to be really bad at it at first." - Patrice Poltzer

Now she gets to take all the tips, techniques, and tricks used by the big brands and help small brands and entrepreneurs even the playing field with video storytelling and branding.

Oh and that little secret that big brands don't want you to know about....?

They want what YOU have.

Authenticity. Relatability. The closeness to your community.

The big brands are trying to appear smaller so STOP trying to appear bigger and be your authentic self!

THAT is your unfair advantage.

If you want to learn the key secrets from big brands so you can apply them to your small brand, this is the episode for you!

Some of the highlights of our conversation:

why being a late bloomer is fine and it's never too late to reinvent yourself
watching her friends get great jobs, get married, having kids, etc., and thinking life was passing her by
how difficulties in childhood can prepare you for resistance in adulthood
her responsibilities as a producer at The Today Show
how selling books door to door eventually led to becoming a producer at The Today Show
why life, personally and professionally, is about the long game
how to know within 5 seconds if a story is right for your audience
how she sold the biggest story of her career to execs at the Today Show
how to tell a tough story like the Syrian refugee crisis to a Today Show audience
her unexpected transition from the Today Show to video production for brands and what made it work
how the once separated worlds of commercials/ads and editorial storytelling have now morphed together and why that's good (or bad!)
the famous dollar shave club ad that changed the game
how to make video an unfair advantage for small business owners
the big brands want to seem small, so stop trying to act like them!
Her challenge with transitioning to being on camera herself