In this lively chat with Luke Buesnel, the mastermind behind Story League, we dive into his colourful career that’s had him strutting his stuff as an actor, digging deep as a journalist, and navigating the world of politics. Luke’s passion for storytelling kicked off in journalism, where he saw firsthand the magic a good story can work.
Mixing in his political insights and his stint in acting and radio, he’s built Story League into a powerhouse of video, podcasts, and writing.
Fueled by a love for creative freedom and with a supportive crew behind him, Luke’s journey shows how a blend of diverse experiences can spark a truly awesome business.
Can you tell us about the journey with starting Story League and the inspiration behind it?
I used to be a journalist, that’s where I learnt how to tell a good quality story and, most importantly, the power and impact that a story has on an audience. I loved it, but journalism jobs are fleeting…it’s just the nature of the industry, steady work disappears quickly.
So, I went and used the other half of my degree, which was in politics, and worked for ministers and politicians. I noticed how politicians would break down data, but wouldn’t connect it to a story, so it’s very analytical. It’s academically proven that people remember stories combined with data up to 70%, but data without a story is only 10%. So I connected the dots there.
Around seven years ago, after being made redundant from corporate (which I hated anyway), I started as a freelancer, creating content, and I’ve been able to build it from there. Initially, it was a lot of analysing storytelling and seeing how journalism principles can be modernised for a new digital audience. I wanted to do it because I liked it and it was fun, but now…it’s serious business!
You’ve had such a diverse and interesting career pathway, you were also an actor! From acting to journalism to founding Story League, how have these experiences influenced your career?
Well, I always wanted to be an actor back in the day. I was on a couple of TV shows and from there I went and did commercial radio, but this got to a point when I thought, ‘I don’t want to be the next Kyle Sandilands, this isn’t for me’. So I studied journalism from then on and that’s when things started ticking along. I got opportunities to work with the ABC and The Age, as well as a couple of stints working overseas.
I never saw myself as a business owner, but I have always been someone who didn’t like being told what to do. Luckily, I have a supportive wife and, after being made redundant, I just wanted to do my own thing. It’s come full circle because we now offer videos (which is sort of the acting part), podcasts (basically the new form of radio) and writing, which I used to write feature stories for The Age. It’s everything I learned back then, but combined and applied to what we do now, in a commercial business sense.
I did a documentary recently about a suburb of Melbourne called Sunshine. It’s an Anthony Bourdain-inspired documentary, where I hit the road and interviewed local business owners, community members and local celebrities in Sunshine to tell a quality story. The traditional media will tell you it’s a $#!% hole with the usual seediness and crime, but it’s actually a genuinely decent place with great food and good people.
So we put that all together in a 15-minute documentary and truly, it has exploded online. I had a documentary filmmaker from New York see it and connect with me. They wanted to talk business, meanwhile, they’ve had their docos featured on Netflix before, which was insane. I also had someone from Los Angeles, who happened to be in Southeast Asia at the time, see it. They then flew into Melbourne, contacted me and said, “Can you show me sunshine?” Overall, it’s a fantastic quality story, that had the power to connect a massive audience.
It’s the craft of being able to identify a quality story and the power and impact it has on people in turn. I didn’t realise the impact that my documentary about Sunshine would have on certain people who actually live there. I got emails and even video calls from people who were crying to me, saying: “Thank you, you’ve humanised me…we are educated, we are good, decent people”, and that’s the power of storytelling. You see in traditional media that quite often it’s all negative, but a great, quality story builds your audience and influence. And when you do it right and for the right reasons, it really can be a beautiful thing.
As I said, I had to move closer to home. My wife actually showed me CoWork Me, so I took a tour. It’s a decent space and well priced and close to home. And personally? That’ll do me. It took me a little bit to meet people that I could really start talking to, but now that it’s happened there are some pretty strong connections. There are a lot of us who socialise outside of work with each other, it’s a great place. CoWork Me is the clear standout of the co-working options that are around this area.
Connections have been made and business referrals have been a result of that. It’s building upon your community, really. You form friendships, people know what you do, and then all of a sudden people call me before and say: “Oh, you work with such-and-such in the co-working space”. That person has heard about me or known about me from CoWork Me and referred me on. That’s kind of the sort of thing that happens here. It’s definitely a great channel in order to help build your referral networks.
It’s actually a really great community. I was working in another co-working space before here, but I wanted to be closer to home. I don’t know why I didn’t do it years earlier, because I can either walk or catch the train to work now, I don’t have to fight the traffic.
Beyond that, it’s got to be the people I’ve met. Everywhere you turn, there are good people to chat to here, I couldn’t say that about the previous co-working space I was at. I don’t know everybody, but everyone’s just doing their thing and whatever else, without the drama or the showboating, you just really don’t get a sense of that at CoWork Me.
To learn more about Luke and his work, click the link below >