I'm getting better at storytelling...or at least I think so.

After getting home from the airport on Sunday morning, my teenagers conveniently 'forgot' how to make their own breakfast. I needed to prepare for my week so, naturally, I gave in. We hopped in the car and pulled up to our closest Dunkin' Donuts ft. Baskin Robbins mashup store. We ordered the usual -- 3 hot turkey sausage, egg and cheese croissant masterpieces & for the lady, a mint chocolate milkshake; we drove around to the window. Instead of doing what I usually do [head down, scrolling], I put my phone down and actually looked up.

I turned to the woman at the window and asked, "Ma'am, how is your day going so far?"

What started as a 'fast food attitude' then softened into something else. The corners of her lips curved into a smile. "My day is going really good!" She disappeared into the back a few, then came back to the window and added, "...Thank you for asking. I can't remember the last time someone stopped to ask."

I returned a smile and said, "With all this technology, I think we forget to just stop and talk to each other sometimes." I asked her name and it turns out, she has the same name as my mom. That little tidbit of information from this stranger transformed into a brief lesson on our family tree with my daughters as we drove away. By asking one question, I connected with more than just one person that day.

I continued to think about this.

When did we stop getting curious about people? When did asking questions or simply interacting start feeling like an inconvenience instead of the way to connection?

As business owners, we feel this especially. Sometimes, we're so focused on closing or crossing the next thing off our list, that we forget to just... ask. And the irony is, the more you ask, the easier everything gets. You understand what someone actually needs. You understand what they value. You understand whether you're even the right fit for each other. This ideology reaches beyond business and is even adaptable to everyday life.

Asking questions is just another form of data collection. And data makes decisions easier.

When I first started freelancing 10 years ago, I didn't ask many questions. I was so hungry...a starving artist, if you will. Someone would call me for a flyer, a brochure, a motion graphic and I'd say 'yes' before my brain even registered what they actually needed. That got me into endless revisions, miscommunications, and a most unfavorable thing...resentment. Toward my clients. Toward the work. I almost quit because it was easier than facing the truth.

It wasn't them. It wasn't the work. It was me. I didn't have a process. I didn't have a system.

So over the years, I built one. And it changed everything about how I take on clients.

For a long time, this has remained an internal process of mine, but in my quest to uplift and educate others, I packaged that process into a resource. This Discovery Call questionnaire and script are tools that I've used and refined over years of client work. This toolkit has expedited my client process and opened doors for me to work with some of the most amazing people [and companies] on the planet. I've learned so much about other people and their passions through this framework so, I want to share it with you.

If you're a service provider of any kind, it's yours.

Same time next week?

TaRon 'Ronnie' Joyner
Founder, 1991 Design