How Ben Watkins Turned Storytelling Into His Greatest Business Advantage (And How You Can Too)

What separates entrepreneurs who struggle to sell from those who inspire investors, customers, and entire industries? According to Hollywood showrunner Ben Watkins, it's not a better product. It's a better story.

Most founders spend years perfecting what they're building.

Very few spend the same amount of time learning how to tell the story behind it.

That, Ben Watkins argues, is one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make.

During a recent interview, the creator and showrunner behind Amazon Prime's Cross shared the storytelling framework that transformed his own life—from a struggling actor juggling a nine-to-five job to one of Hollywood's most respected television creators. But beneath the entertainment industry success lies a lesson every entrepreneur needs to hear: people don't buy products first. They buy emotion, meaning, and belief.

If you can master storytelling, you dramatically increase your odds of selling anything—from a startup vision to an investment opportunity.

The Biggest Marketing Mistake Founders Make

Watkins believes many entrepreneurs try to outsource storytelling too early.

They hire marketing agencies, PR firms, or social media teams hoping someone else can communicate their vision.

But if the founder doesn't understand the story themselves, nobody else can tell it effectively.

As Watkins explains, storytelling isn't reserved for filmmakers or novelists. It's the foundation of every successful pitch, every memorable brand, and every movement that captures people's attention.

He points to leaders like Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, and Taylor Swift. Different industries. Different audiences.

One common skill.

They all understood how to make people feel something.

That's because, as Watkins notes, human beings don't make decisions based primarily on logic. They make them emotionally—and justify those decisions with logic afterward.

For entrepreneurs, that's a game-changing realization.

Story Is What Gives Products Value

Imagine two people selling the exact same product.

One lists features, specifications, and pricing.

The other tells the story of why it exists, whose life it changes, and why it matters.

Which one feels more valuable?

The answer isn't theoretical.

Watkins references a famous experiment where ordinary thrift-store objects were sold online after professional writers created fictional backstories for each item. The stories dramatically increased the perceived value of otherwise insignificant products.

Nothing about the products changed.

Only the story did.

Founders often believe better features win customers.

In reality, meaning creates value long before specifications do.

The Four Pillars of Powerful Storytelling

Watkins breaks great storytelling into four simple—but incredibly powerful—principles.

1. Capture Attention Immediately

People are overwhelmed with information.

Your first job isn't convincing someone.

It's getting them to stop scrolling.

Watkins believes attention comes from three primary triggers:

• Surprise — Break expectations.
• Emotion — Make people feel something immediately.
• Recognition — Speak so directly to someone's experience they feel like you're talking specifically to them.

Great brands don't speak to everyone.

They speak to one person so clearly that thousands recognize themselves in the message.

Apple's famous "Think Different" campaign didn't sell computers.

It spoke directly to creators, rebels, and innovators who wanted to believe they belonged somewhere.

The best entrepreneurs do exactly the same thing.

2. Make People Feel Something

Facts inform.

Stories transform.

Watkins explains that emotional storytelling comes from combining three elements:

• Character
• Circumstance
• Content

Consider Titanic.

The romance matters because of the characters.

The sinking ship raises the stakes.

Together, they create emotion.

Entrepreneurs often focus exclusively on the product.

Customers care far more about the transformation the product creates.

Don't simply explain what your business does.

Show what life looks like after someone uses it.

3. Teach Something Valuable

Great stories leave people smarter than they were before.

Even ancient storytelling around campfires wasn't simply entertainment—it was education disguised as narrative.

The same principle applies today.

Every piece of content should answer a question, solve a problem, or reveal an insight.

The entrepreneurs who consistently build trust aren't always the loudest.

They're the ones who leave audiences thinking:

"I learned something today."

Education compounds credibility.

4. Leave Them Wanting More

Many founders confuse storytelling with giving every possible detail.

Watkins recommends the opposite.

Answer enough questions to create confidence.

Leave enough unanswered that curiosity naturally pulls people forward.

Instead of overwhelming prospects with information, create momentum.

Curiosity is one of storytelling's most powerful sales tools.

When Betting on Yourself Goes Terribly Wrong

Perhaps the most remarkable part of Watkins' story isn't his success.

It's the failure that nearly ended everything.

After gaining momentum as an actor—including a role on The Young and the Restless—Watkins was simultaneously negotiating a multimillion-dollar branded entertainment deal built around one of his creative projects.

The opportunity looked life-changing.

Confident the campaign would close, Watkins declined the security of renewing his soap opera contract despite warnings from his agent, the producers, and even his wife.

Then everything collapsed.

The campaign fell apart.

The television job disappeared.

His family's home eventually went into foreclosure.

Months stretched into years without meaningful work.

Looking back, Watkins describes it as one of the darkest periods of his life.

He became convinced only one massive breakthrough could save his family.

Instead of taking incremental action, he waited for the miracle.

Nothing happened.

Everything changed when his wife delivered a sentence he says he'll never forget:

"You give up, I give up."

That moment forced him to act.

He accepted temporary work.

He kept writing.

He rebuilt one step at a time.

The lesson is one every entrepreneur eventually learns:

Momentum is almost always created through small actions—not dramatic breakthroughs.

Excellence Is Often Invisible

When Watkins eventually landed a staff writing position on Burn Notice, it wasn't permanent.

He had only a short contract.

Instead of doing only what was required, he volunteered for everything.

Writing documents.

Drafting emails.

Helping wherever there was a gap.

His goal wasn't simply to perform his assigned job.

It was to become indispensable.

That mindset eventually carried him from staff writer to executive producer.

Many founders ask how they can stand out.

Watkins' answer is refreshingly simple:

Solve problems before someone asks you to.

The people who consistently create extraordinary careers usually aren't waiting for permission.

Storytelling Is Really About Understanding People

One of Watkins' most insightful observations has little to do with writing.

He argues that becoming a great storyteller is really about becoming a student of human behavior.

Who are you speaking to?

What do they fear?

What do they hope for?

What problem are they desperately trying to solve?

Before writing a single script—or building a single business—Watkins starts there.

Founders should too.

The better you understand your audience, the less your marketing feels like persuasion.

Instead, it feels like recognition.

People believe you understand them.

And that's where trust begins.

Your Story Is Your Competitive Advantage

Technology changes.

Markets shift.

Products become commodities.

But stories endure.

Ben Watkins' career wasn't built simply because he became an exceptional television writer.

It was built because he learned to move people emotionally, whether inside a writers' room, a Hollywood pitch meeting, or a conversation with an audience.

That's a skill every entrepreneur can develop.

Because in business, the best product doesn't always win.

The clearest story often does.