Brand Voice
Bible.
The translation layer between strategy and copy. The Outsider workshop decided what ETS means. This decides how it talks.
The whole thing, in one breath
Same idea, three altitudes. Watch the jargon drop out as it gets closer to a real human.
The archetype dial
ETS has two voices that ride together. The Hero pushes; the Caregiver catches. Flip the dial — same brand, different setting per channel.
Voice attributes
Adjectives can't be enforced. Contrasts can. ETS is…
Declarative, economical. Says it once, refined. Never hype, never exclamation-stacking.
Real sport-science terms — deceleration, shin angle, force plate — always paired with a plain-language outcome. Expertise without gatekeeping.
Cares deeply, holds the line. High standards is the caring. Never coddling, never participation-trophy.
Leads with a measurable fact, then the feeling. Measured, not guessed. If we can't measure it, we don't claim it.
“Come see for yourself.” Never scarcity, urgency, or “spots running out.”
Lexicon
The words ETS owns, and the words that get a sentence sent back. The ban list is seeded straight from ETS's own strategy.
✓ Words & moves we own
- Mechanisms over adjectives. Not “data-driven” → “your kid's force-plate data, updated every six weeks.”
- Three-word constructions: Commit. Overcome. Conquer. / Evaluate. Train. Track. / Push, Support, Repeat.
- “Coach and own.” “Revenue share, not franchise fees.”
- “Your director coaches your child because they own the outcome.”
- “Measured, not guessed.” “Progress is proven, not assumed.”
- Specific numbers, always: 53 locations · 20 states · re-tested every 6 weeks · a free 40-minute evaluation.
✕ Words we ban → say instead
- “Empower” → name the specific thing that changes
- “Train like the pros” → “the person in the building”
- “Data-driven” → “force-plate data, updated every 6 weeks”
- “Character development” → “phones in the bucket, Proverbs on the wall”
- “Be your own boss” → “coach and own — every day, both”
- “Certified coaches” → “three months, not three days”
- “Elite / VIP” + fear/urgency → “every athlete, every level” / an invitation
- House rules: no AI-slop (delve, robust, leverage, foster…), no em dashes.
Before / after
The whole point, in five pairs. Left is what survives today when raw strategy hits the copy pipeline. Right is the Bible doing its job. Same meaning — different register.
The three audiences
Who needs to hear what — and which voice leads for each.
Character mechanisms, anti-exposure, the reassurance that the coach isn't leaving.
VALD data, deceleration protocols, clinical credibility. Show me the numbers.
Revenue share, the boot camp, “coach AND own,” real money. Feel seen, not sold to.
Sentence mechanics
The clarity board
Before any copy ships, it clears five seats. Three already run in the v5 build. The last two are the new “Steve Jobs” additions.
Persuasion Existing
Cialdini — does it actually move someone?
Humanity Existing
humanize-ai-text — does it sound like a person, not a bot?
Compliance Existing
No fear claims, no unsubstantiated “nation's leader.”
Simplicity — the Steve Jobs seat New
The taxi test: could you say this headline to a driver and have them get it before the next light? One idea. No jargon. If a parent who's never heard “force plate” is lost, it fails.
Voice fidelity New
Does it match this Bible? Four checks: mechanism (a number, not an adjective) · competitor (could a rival slap their logo on it?) · archetype (right Hero/Caregiver mix for the channel?) · ban (any banned words or em dashes?).
Recorded
Voice.
Same brand — but the voice is sampled from how the founder actually talks, not how a strategist described it. This is the cure for “formulaic,” taken at the source.
The voice fingerprint
Four things no strategist would ever describe — because you only catch them when you hear the person talk.
A whole earthy, Midwest-operator metaphor library, sitting in the transcript. You can't invent these. They're his.
He gives you the unit economics — “six figures in 12–18 months, unheard of in the space” — and the purpose in the same sentence. The voice refuses to choose between the P&L and the point. That duality is the brand.
Long, rolling sentences that build out loud; seeks agreement with “right?”; opens explanations with “so”; lands points with “that's where we win.”
The club-sport machine is “selling exposure.” Lifetime's culture is “fabricated.” The college weight room is “60 grand, moving state to state.” He's not careful. That's exactly what makes it sound real instead of brand-safe.
Described vs recorded — same brief, two sources
Left is the voice described from the website (Approach 01). Right is grounded in how Jed actually talks. Read them out loud — the right column has a pulse.
Why this is the 10x
The described voice is competent — and converges on generic. Any good youth-sports brand could ship the left column. The recorded voice hands you two things you literally cannot fabricate.
Money-and-mission in one breath; blunt about the enemy (“selling exposure,” “rich-kid gym”). A described voice averages this out. A recorded one keeps the edge.
honeypot · plant your flag · iron sharpens iron · the best ones get found. Real language the founder already uses — instantly recognizable to anyone who's met him.