Meet Jeremy Bryant

We were lucky to catch up with Jeremy Bryant recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeremy, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

My cousin and business partner, Andrew, and I grew up spending every holiday at our Nan and Pop’s house. We’d have big family dinners and there would always be tons of food and laughter. The kid’s table was separate from where the adults ate, so it would be Andrew and I, and our other cousins eating together. We’d always eat the meat and mashed potatoes and buns first, and most often we’d be left with boiled brussel spouts on our plates. We hated brussel sprouts. And then the same thing would happen each time – Nan would come in and tell us the same thing each time “You boys, eat your vegetables – there are starving kids in Africa”.

At the time, it didn’t make sense to us. We never understood how starving kids in other places around the world meant that we needed to eat food we didn’t like. But looking back now we get it – we were so lucky growing up. We had food and houses and toys. We also had a great family who encouraged us to always think about other people and how we could help them. So, nan reminding us that there are less fortunate people around the world may not have made sense then, but it’s definitely shaped us over the years.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Together with Andrew Hall, I run No Story Lost.

No Story Lost exists because we believe that every person has an amazing story that deserves to be captured. Customers sign up and then we interview their parents – we hear all their best stories, memories and advice. From there, our team cleans up the writing so that it flows as a beautiful story. We then design and layout a book and add their photos to it. Finally, we print and ship a coffee table book to them.

One of the things that makes No Story Lost special is that we have a ‘Happy Tears Guarantee’. We promise that customers will be so excited about their families book that they could cry happy tears. If that isn’t the case, we will work to make it right or refund their entire purchase. We’re proud that we’ve never had to use our Happy Tears Guarantee.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Surrounding yourself with amazing people – if there is one thing I’ve done right over the course of my career, it would be finding amazing people and bringing them onto the team. I beleive that the team that puts the best team on the field wins most of the time, and it’s been a real pleasure getting to connect and work with so many amazing people who have made our team better.

Be open with ideas – it seems to me like people at the start of their entrepreneurial journey feel like if they share their idea and discuss it openly someone will steal it. I think this more often than not does them a great diservice because ideas, just like people or animals need fresh air and light to flourish. The more you can talk about your idea the more people will want to help you, and the more others will provide ideas that help refine and develop your idea into the very best version it can be.

Start early! It can often be tempting when you’re early on your journey not to take the jump, or launch the product, or quit your dayjob, etc. It’s obviously much safer NOT to do something new, or take risks. But, no great new idea or product or business or charity was ever fully developed before someone had to take a risk on it. So I would suggest taking the next step to start right now – even if you don’t feel like you’re quite ready.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

My parents always encouraged me and had an unshakable belief in me. In a world that often seems to beat people up, push them down, and tell us that we’re not good enough, it felt like a real big benefit to have parents who supported my ideas and passions. My parent’s confidence in me at times seemed to fill in the gaps in my own self-confidence and gave me the security and belief in myself to continue to push and strive and grow. I’d love to mirror this for my own daughter as she grows up, but also mirror it to my co-workers and my friends. I think the world if often a tough place for entrepreneurs and people with new ideas, and I think we need more encouragers and cheerleaders!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nostorylost.com
• Instagram: @nostorylost
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoStoryLost/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-story-lost/?viewAsMember=true
• Twitter: @nostorylost