Find your next local business story with these seven questions

In this article

1. 1. What recent business moment is worth telling people about?
2. 2. What business challenge did you face, and what did you try?
3. 3. Who helped your business overcome the challenge?
4. 4. How did the local community support your business?
5. 5. What can you show us to bring your business story to life?
6. 6. What changed in your business, and how can we verify it?
7. 7. What should your business story’s audience do next?
8. Turn business-owner interviews into a local business story brief
9. Check whether your local business story is ready for production

To find a local business story, ask about a specific moment, challenge, decision, person, and result. Then check what you heard and connect it to something your audience wants to understand. The seven questions below help EDO teams move from a broad business description to a story they can produce.

You can use them in a short introductory call, during a business visit, or as preparation for a production day. You do not need to get through every question. Follow the answer that gives you something concrete.

The printable story worksheet includes space for notes, factual checks, and the next step.

1. What recent business moment is worth telling people about?

This is an invitation to recall a moment. It might be a first export order, a difficult installation, a returning employee, or a customer using the product in an unexpected way.

If the answer is “we've been growing,” ask for an example: “What happened that made the growth feel real?”

Listen for a scene you could describe or show. A good opening often begins at a particular place and time.

2. What business challenge did you face, and what did you try?

A challenge gives the story movement. The response shows how the business works.

Ask what changed between the first attempt and the next one. An owner may remember a revised process, a useful introduction, or the person who spotted the problem.

Let them define what they are comfortable discussing publicly. You need an honest explanation; confidential customer details and commercially sensitive numbers can stay out of it.

3. Who helped your business overcome the challenge?

“Our team is great” is a starting answer. Find out what someone did.

Was there a trainer who changed the onboarding process? A supplier who found a workable substitute? A colleague who suggested a better way to organize the shift?

Ask whether that person would be willing to contribute. A story can become much more specific when someone explains their own part in it.

4. How did the local community support your business?

This connects the business experience to the EDO's purpose.

Keep the question open. The answer might involve a local customer, training partner, supplier, available building, or relationship. It might also reveal a barrier that remains unresolved.

Do not hand the interviewee the praise you hope to receive. A modest, specific answer is more useful than a sweeping endorsement prompted by the question.

5. What can you show us to bring your business story to life?

Ask for an object, process, place, or demonstration that makes the story understandable.

For a manufacturer, it could be a finished part and the tool used to inspect it. For a restaurant, it could be the preparation behind a signature dish. For a service business, it could be a process explained using a nonconfidential example.

Before filming, confirm what can appear, who agrees to participate, and any access or safety requirements. Plan the visual around something real rather than asking people to reenact an event as though it were happening now.

6. What changed in your business, and how can we verify it?

This is where you find out whether the ending is supported.

If the owner says training is faster, ask what was measured and over what period. If the claim concerns expansion, ask which announcement or record confirms the details. If it is a personal observation, identify it as that person's experience.

Write down the source while you are talking. “Confirm later” becomes difficult when nobody remembers who supplied the number.

7. What should your business story’s audience do next?

Name the reader before choosing the next step.

A prospective employee might need an accurate careers page. Another business owner might need a program contact. A prospective investor may want current information about the local industry and workforce.

The story's next step should fit the audience and the evidence. It can be as simple as visiting a business or asking a useful question.

Turn business-owner interviews into a local business story brief

Imagine a manufacturing supervisor turning a training challenge into a story brief.

You now have enough direction to plan a conversation and a few useful visuals. The evidence field also tells you what remains unfinished.

Check whether your local business story is ready for production

Before you put a story into production, check that it has a clear audience, an available participant, a concrete detail, and facts someone can verify. Confirm the relevant permissions and the destination of the next-step link.

If one piece is missing, record what you need and who can help. Some ideas need another call; others belong in the story bank until there is something more to show.

Give the participant a factual review of names, quotations, numbers, and sensitive details. Keep responsibility for the article's structure and clarity with the person writing it.

Then adapt the finished story for your publishing calendar. The social-media strategy for a team of one shows how one source story can support a manageable week.

If your team can identify good stories but struggles to get them filmed, written, and published, talk with Hallpass about production support.