Your Story Isn’t Stuck. The Door Is. | Issue #006 The Missing Story
Last updated on
You probably see there’s a new header up there. ↑
This is the same newsletter. It’s just a small change — not a full redo, just a new door. Why? I realized I was making you work too hard.
That’s what we’re uncovering today.
Issue #006 . 🔎
I was sitting on my back porch the other day. It’s the place where I can’t seem to dodge what’s true. So I sat there with coffee in hand, Wyatt guarding from his perch, and thought about the low-grade tension I’d been ignoring.
You know the one. The small internal flinch when something persists like a sliver in your finger.
My back porch – say hi, Wyatt – on his favorite perch
I’m a big believer in tracing that gut-tightening feeling back to the root. So I did.
A few weeks ago, I’d told someone on a coaching call, “When you throw all of the work, all of the detail, all of the steps at someone, you’re forcing them to wade through to determine the value for themselves, instead of showing them value they can feel immediately.”
Then I looked at my own newsletter.
Huh.
And I thought, okay, teaching moment (for me). I am apparently the poster-child example of this exact trap we all get into.
Did someone forward this? Not subscribed yet? Get upcoming issues of the Making of a Storyteller Brand every Thursday. Subscribe here.
🔎 Under the Magnifying Glass
If you’re an expert in what you do, this is our trap.
Founder, creator, writer, it doesn’t matter. We see all the layers. We see nuance. We see tension and counterpoints and exceptions and footnotes and 10-point font slides.
So we lead with complexity.
It’s not a flaw, it’s expertise. Because to us, it’s not complex. It feels like the truest form of what we know.
And here’s the but you knew was coming:
Expertise builds houses. It doesn’t open doors.
I launched this business last summer, and even with 25+ years in marketing behind me, I ran straight into this.
When you start something new, your expertise can become the obstacle.
I call it the Expert Trap. We all fall in it.
(And yes, I’m seeing Scooby and the Gang chasing the villain. Ruh-roh, ‘Raggy.)
But here’s what the villain actually looks like:
It’s not lack of knowledge. It’s leading with all of it at once.
There are layers to building a visible brand story.
The foundation matters. The structure matters. The details matter.
But the door? That’s where people start.
When that door is really heavy, people hesitate. It would be like putting a stone castle door on a single-family home. Thick. Reinforced. Iron-branded.
Sounds exhausting doesn’t it? (Okay, maybe a little cool…for the first 3 or so times you have to open it.)
Now imagine you’re inviting someone over. The door might weigh 500 pounds, but you just tell them to “push harder.”
That’s often what we do with the messaging we put out there. We build something fortified, and expect people to muscle their way through to get to us.
🏛️ The “Rule” This World Runs On
Don’t make them work to get inside.
When you list everything you do, show all 28 steps, or lead with the full deep dive your brain geeks out on (hi 👋🏻 me), you’re not showing value. You’re handing someone a set of blueprints and asking them to imagine the house.
That’s not a door. That’s homework.
And here’s what actually happens at the door:
People don’t evaluate complexity. They feel it.
They don’t think “this is too much information.” They think “something about this feels like effort” and they move on before they even know why. That’s why the door matters. That’s why the weight matters. That’s why what you lead with matters.
Novelists know this. The first page isn’t the whole story, it’s the door. It only has one job: make them need to know what’s inside.
The door is one thing: what changes when they walk in. Everything else is what makes it worth staying.
🧠 Why Your Brain Calls This Magic
Your brain definitely doesn’t want homework, unless you signed up for it. (And even then…)
When we’re asked to evaluate too many variables at once, we hesitate. That’s called Cognitive Load: the amount of mental effort required to understand something.
The more effort it takes to figure out what you do, why it matters, or how you could help them, the more likely someone is to pause instead of walk in.
When they pause, they leave.
When cognitive ratchets up, decision speed drops down.
A heavier door increases friction. A lighter door makes entry easier.
🕳️ Watch Out for The Trap Door
I know what you’re thinking:
“The details are my value. If I simplify this, I’ll sound like everyone else.”
That’s the trap door.
Every layer you add to the door feels like strength. But every layer adds weight.
The details become your value, once someone is inside. At the door, that just feels like effort.
You don’t invite someone over and hand them a 25-question quiz before they step in.
When someone has to work to understand you, they hesitate. And hesitation is when people leave.
It’s not because your work isn’t strong. It’s that your door felt like too much work.
That was my trap door. So I changed the door.
Here’s something you don’t see:
There’s an entire structure beneath this door. I’ve built it over the last six months. (More on that later.)
I’m not leading with it.
Because this issue is about the door.
🧡 One Thing To Do Differently
Go read the first sentence someone sees about you or your work. Does it feel like an invitation or a set of instructions?
Lead with what changes.
That’s the door.
📌 Put This on the Post-It
The Expert Trap: Forcing people to calculate your value instead of feeling it.
Until next time,
I’m not sure who had a better time in the Outer Banks last week: me or the dogs. They LOVED their beach time. And for me, this is the place I come to reset and recharge.
