In this heart-first solo episode, Jeff Ross—your caffeinated kangaroo from Tasmania—dives deep into the first pillar of his signature VOICE Framework: Values. If you’ve been spinning your wheels online, wondering why your content isn’t landing, this episode unpacks why clarity of values is the foundation of trust, connection, and influence. Jeff doesn’t just teach it—he lives it, and now he’s here to help you do the same.
1️⃣ Values Are Your Brand Compass
Your content, your offers, and your message must be rooted in your values to cut through the noise and build trust.
2️⃣ Define Before You Design
Before you build your brand, get clear on what you stand for—and what you stand against.
3️⃣ Live It Before You Lead It
Don’t just post about authenticity. Lead with it. Your audience doesn’t want perfection—they want congruence.
4️⃣ Action Over Aesthetics
True alignment shows in the hard decisions. What partnerships have you walked away from because they didn’t match your values?
5️⃣ Create, Don’t Chase
When your content reflects your values, you’ll attract aligned people instead of chasing empty engagement.
💡 “Your values should feel like home, not hype.” – Jeff Ross
💡 “AI plus heart is your superpower.” – Jeff Ross
💡 “Don’t just craft a personal brand—become a personal standard.” – Jeff Ross
🔥 Grab your journal. Reflect on your core values. Then go post ONE content piece that reflects them.
🔥 Want to unpack your VOICE™ Framework deeper? DM Jeff the word VOICE on Facebook or email him at jeff@lld.email.
🔥 Subscribe and follow the show on your favorite platform—and share this episode with someone who needs help finding their voice.
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🦘 Stay caffeinated. Stay legendary.
And remember: You don’t have to shout louder—you just need to stand stronger in who you are.
—Jeff Ross, The Laptop Lifestyle Dad Show
Jeff Ross (00:00) G'day legends, Geoff Rossi, proud dad of three amazing boys, your caffeinated kangaroo tuning in from Tasmania, Australia, and welcome to another episode of the Laptop Lifestyle Dad Show. Hey, this show is all about helping purpose-driven parents turn your story into your brand, your voice into your income, and your values into your legacy. Last week, we introduced the voice framework. This is going to become my signature model to help you to master your message.
and build a business that feels like you. Today we kick off with a deep dive and starting with V for values because everything, your leadership, your content, your confidence begins here. As Jim Rowan said, don't strive to be a person of success, strive to be a person of value. So let's dive in, shall we? Why your values matter.
Well, I've read all the books, I've listened to all the greats and three of the people that come to mind here are Donald Miller, Brendan Bichard and Darren Hardy. Your audience doesn't need a guide who is clear about who they are and what they stand for. Sorry, your audience does need a guide on who they are and what they stand for. Without this level of clarity, your values, your message just becomes noise. See values clarify the role you play
in their story. That's what Donna Miller says in his book, Story Matters. Brendan Bichard, you know, listened to some of his coaching and he says in this space, high performers lead with intention and values create emotional commitment to your mission. Without them, you're just reacting. And Darren Hardy loves to mention that, you know, conviction is magnetic. You know, leaders who live with their values boldly
are ones who influence movements, not just moments. So if your content isn't rooted in values, it's just more noise. That's probably why you're getting crickets and getting ghosted, right? Cause you're just adding to the noise. This is what this whole voice framework is about. It's about helping you to elevate you, to bring you to the real world and help you to find your voice. See, why does this really matter?
Well, values guide your content. If you value freedom, your content will reflect systems, structure, and simplicity. If you value impact, your content will challenge, inspire, and shift your perspective. If your content becomes consistent, and that consistency will build your brand identity over time. See, values filter your audience.
You don't want just followers. You want aligned people. You win values are visible. You repel the wrong crowd and you magnetize your tribe. If you're a family first values business, you're not going to vibe with hustle at all costs, bro marketing. See, this is a filter, right? It becomes your true North star. It becomes your compass. See values also build long-term trust.
When you live out your values in public, when your content, your decisions and your presence align with your values, you will build credibility over time. This is how you go from liked to trusted. See values don't just belong on your about page. They should show up daily in your stories, in your captions, in your call to actions, in your interactions, if the way you show up. You don't have to shout louder.
You just need to stand stronger in who you are. See my top three core values in everything I do and you'll see this repeated out through repetition in the way I show up and how I show up. See my top value is core ultimate ownership. It's living life above the line. It's integrity. It's accountability. It's responsibility. It's ownership. Have you got your awe or are you below the line? you got your bit? You're in your bed. You have blame, excuse and denial, right?
So ultimate ownership is the deep seated root and everything I do. The second core value for me is transparency. Now, you know, transparency, yes, like transparent with those who need to be transparent with strong boundaries, soft heart. But what I mean by transparency is it's so you see through me to get where you need to be, you know, to the glory of all God really, end of the day.
You know, I become see-through, I become small and the mission becomes big. I'm a bridge, not a block to where you need to be. That is what I mean by transparency. And the third value for me is love. Do everything with love, do everything with passion. And then that brings in fun, joy and everything else around that. Right? So, you know, if you're not having fun, you just, you're, you're wasting your time. I truly believe you don't have to shout louder.
You just need to stand stronger and who you are. So let's break this down. Let's help you to define your values. Let's get into a bit of a mini workshop here on this podcast episode today. I want you to break it into micro teaching. I want you to break it right down. I want you to look inward before you look outward. I want you to ask yourself these questions and I want you to sit with these and meditate on these and journal on these.
Cause this will help you to define your core values. The first question I want you to sit back here and ask yourself is what makes you passionate, angry, fired up? What are the things that drive you? What are the things that help you to stand for what you stand against? What values were you taught versus what you own? I want you to unpack that. What values were you taught versus what you have owned?
And where do you draw the line? You know, where is that, that, that thing that starts to become an injustice for you? You know, it's just wrong. And you start to get a little bit righteous about it. Where do you draw the line? Sit into that, like lean into that, look inward before you look outward. And then step two, focus on these pivotal moments that helped you to align with your values. Question you can ask yourself is when did I fool Philly?
Sorry, when did I feel fully aligned? When did I feel like I was operating out of my heart space, out of that mojo space, and you felt fully aligned? What did that look like? What did that taste like? What did that feel like? And another question you could ask yourself in this space is, when did I make a hard call that reflected what mattered most? When did you make a hard call?
that basically got you to stand up for what you stand for. And it really mattered to you. Like it was deep, deep rooted. So your values lie in this conversation. I had to get out of my own way. I had to figure out these things that I stand for and stand against in this very noisy world, especially with AI. I just reckon AI is a great tool.
but it's AI plus our heart equals our superpower. See, this is the something I stand for. I'm very passionate about, I'm very vocal about it. And then when you start to cross the line for me is when you start using AI plus automation to get into that relationship building game, to get into the sales game. See, when you start using comment bots in AI automation, what you're actually saying to me is I'm not worth your time.
You're just after the engagement. You're just after boosting the algorithm. You're just after all the numbers. You don't value enough to get into that conversation with me to build a relationship with me. See, these are things I'm very passionate about. And I've experimented with it. I have been challenged with it. And I've had to come deep inward to figure out, no, this thing is just making more noise. And so it stands against. So what do I stand for? I stand for helping you to have heart to heart.
connection. I stand for helping you to build relationships. I stand for helping you to find your voice so you can be celebrated and you could become a hero maker, not just the hero. What are these things that you're passionate about? When did you have to make a hard call that reflected to you what mattered most? I was challenged the other day by a CEO of another company.
And, you know, basically she didn't like the way that I interacted with my audience and thought it was poor timing. And in hindsight, maybe it was, but it was also ideal timing for what I stand for. See, I'm a big believer in multiple streams of income. I'm a big believer that we can lead with the personal brand and have multiple products on our shelf. You know, if you don't have the brand, if you don't have the vision, if you don't have the mission, then yes.
You are just part of the noise and you're just an opportunity hopper. See, when you become the central focus that people connect with, then when you're strategic about it, putting the right product in front of the right people at the right time is the way you go. So I made a hard call. I stood for what I stood for. And that post became one of my most viral posts ever because it connected with my tribe. So you, when you find your vibe, you find your tribe, right?
And your values are the thing that help you to discern when is it the time to make a stand and when is it not. Another great way to help you to discern your values is, is go into your anchors. For example, right? So my anchors here are freedom, integrity, legacy, presence, creativity, right? So what are your anchors?
Figure out those characteristics, those attributes that are just near naturally. You might be suppressing him, you might be hiding him because you're afraid of the rejection. See, we all go seeking praise, but we expect rejection. How about we seek praise that we expect, we expect praise. We seek praise that we expect praise. How about we get into that space? When you're clear on what you stand for and your values, you will.
And your subconscious won't have to be the puppet master of your life. You can take the bull by the horns and you can start pulling on the strings of your puppet and you could be the puppet master instead. When you're clear with your values, your values bring you to life. Your values should feel like home, not like hype. I want to make that very clear. These aren't just a tactic and a strategy. They are you expressing your true self.
So here's a little format, little prompt, sorry, that you can use and help you to discern what your core values are. If you've been using chat, GBT and AI, here's a little prompt for you. I value XYZ deeply, which means I behave XYZ way. See, these will help you to really lean in. See, ultimate ownership helps me to behave a certain way. It helps me to show up a certain
It's a mantra, live life above the line. See, it becomes a deep seated value in everything I do, right? And then when you get clear on your core values, what happens when you start leaning into your purpose and your vision and your mission, and you know what you stand for, you start to become a person of value. You start to create content where you're leading with value. So let's go deeper into this.
This is not just a reflection. You need to put this into action. See knowledge on ice is not going to serve you. It's better to, you know, fail forward fast because there's never actually failures. Just feedback to help you to come back into your true self, into your values. So after you've sat down and you've spent some time and you've journaled on it, you've reflected on it, you've gone through these questions. Now let's look at ways to put it into action.
Cause this isn't just about journaling quiet with the music on. This is about how you show up every day moving forward from today. This is about creating leadership level of clarity. So how do you do that? Well, first off, you really need to know what you stand for. You really need to know why this matters and you need to go and action it and embody it daily. See a leader doesn't just know their values. They live them out publicly.
And values become your filter, they become your tone and they become your brand energy. See, they become the basis of everything you're doing. See what you do and how you do it doesn't really change. The impact, the purpose and the why does. I had a really good conversation with one of my students just around this today. He's got his content going really, really well. It's great content, but it's missing that oomph. It's missing that
X facet, it's missing that values piece, because he's not clear on his own values. So we did some work on this to help him to discern that. you watch him play now over the next three, six, eight weeks, 10 weeks. I guarantee you that there's going to be a level of depthness to this and he'll start to get more traction. See, when you get clear on this, you can start to apply this in the real world. See, when we get clear on our values, we get to live them.
before we lead them. I want you to hear that. Live it before you lead it. You got to do the inner work. Don't just post about authenticity and then fake it online. Like let's be congruent with our actions. What you see behind closed doors and how you show yourself on public needs to be aligned. Let's congruence lead your lives through your values. And you need to call out your value in your content. It needs to become part of the DNA.
In a world of shortcuts, I choose integrity. I choose to be a person of influence that builds through consistency. See, these aren't easy things to amass. It's really hard to build trust and really easy to lose it. So live your values out, show up daily living them out and leave the standards, not just slogans. See a brand that's rooted in real values creates raving fans.
not just followers. See, this is all about leading into that influence piece. Influence is trust. Trust is relationship. Trust is connection. So you could put up all the content in the world and get no traction because you haven't got trust. You really haven't got influence. So let's come back into the inner journey and build our values clearly and our mission and our vision very clearly. Don't just craft a personal brand.
become a personal standard. Yeah. In this next piece, I want to help you to really lean in and help you to celebrate you. I want you to plant your flag in value and I want you to let people feel it. So let's unpack this. Let's work out how you can integrate your values into your content and weave it in through everything you do.
Let's unpack how your values actually show up in your content, not just on your about page or in your mission statement, but in your every post. A post where your values was tested. I want you to really focus on that. So go create a content piece right now at the back of this episode and go post a piece of content where your values were tested. Think about a time where your integrity, your honesty, your alignment.
with your family came into conflict with the opportunity, money and popularity, whatever that is, you fill in the blanks. For example, right? I turned down a partnership that would have paid very, very well, but it didn't align with my family first values. That post not only got connection, it inspired others to rethink what alignment means. So you could use circumstances and stories and case studies to help you to highlight your values.
to get other people to rethink things. See, don't just post quotes about authenticity and tell stories where you chose to, you're better off telling stories where you chose to overcome it. Where you chose authenticity over convenience. See, stories matter, right? Use the hero's journey model to show the struggle, the choice and the reward. I want you to break that down. The struggle.
the choice and the reward. The before, the transition and the after. For example here, I once lost a client because I called out misalignment in their marketing, but I'd rather lose money than lose my integrity. See there straight away, I can create a post around that that is values driven, that's value centered. Here's another strategy. Use a filter to use for your partnerships. Tell your audience,
Here's how I choose to work with you. This is how you choose to work with me. This sets brand boundaries and builds trust. So let's lead out the front with this awareness piece and create contents. Here's an example for you. I only work with brands that support flexible family life because I'm not building a business to sacrifice my role as a dad. Straight away, right? It builds a boundaries in that space and your contents is your character in public.
So when your values lead, trust follows. So let's start creating more content that is value-based driven, that starts to bring you out of the noise and helps you to lift you up. My challenge for you is just go and create one piece of content off the back of this podcast this week, where it could be a real story, a live, a post, and one that reflects one of your values, one of your core values. Talk about ultimate ownership, talk about love.
Talk about integrity, talk about trust, talk about freedom. What are the things that really matter to you? And let people feel what you stand for. Don't just teach it, live it out loud. Show up. That's how you create trust. That's how you create influence. So at the back of this episode, I want you to go journal the four steps, the things that you stand for, the things you stand against. I want you to choose your top three core values.
I want you to define this in action, go write your manifesto off the back of this. AI is a really great tool to help you with that and post one value based piece of content straight away. In our next episode, we're going to unpack O for Origin in this voice framework. This is where you'll take your values, your mission, your vision, and you'll start to bring in your backstory, your origin story, the mess, the moment, the mission.
You'll learn how to tell it with heart and you'll get to be able to use it through positioning your brand and attract your aligned people with you. People don't just follow perfection. They follow transformation. So be sure to subscribe to this episode to make sure you don't miss out and out to our show. So you don't miss out on these upcoming episodes. We're going to over the next few weeks, we're going to unpack and do a deep dive into this voice framework. Today was all about V for values.
Next episode is going to be O for Origin, then we'll go into I for Influence, C for Clarity and E for Expression. And we're going to build on this to be able to help you to bring this together, to help you to find your voice. If this episode has helped you to see your values more clearly, imagine what happens when we start to layer it with Influence, Clarity and Expression. Hey, if you want to go deeper with this, if you really want to master this,
then you need to come join us at the LaptopLives.Dads Academy. This is a community for purpose-driven parents building personal brands that create freedom, impact and legacy. Hey, just reach out to me on Facebook or you can go to LaptopLives.Dads.com or you can go to my email, which is jeff at LLD.email and just DM me the word voice to get started. We'll get to connect. We'll see if it's a good fit for you. And then I'll give you the way forward to move forward into that invitation.
The world doesn't need more content. It's a very noisy place out there already. What it needs is for you to get aligned, for you to get clear and for you to get confident. All right. Now wouldn't be a laptop last on dad show episode if we didn't wrap it up with a dad joke. So why don't marketers trust stairs? Because they're always up to something until next time. Own your values, live them out loudly and let's the world here.
your voice. All right guys, see you in the next episode. Stay caffeinated, stay legendary, and bye for now.