The Donald Miller
Framework
StoryBrand & Clarifying Your Message
Donald Miller moved markets by understanding the specific psychology of attention and offer. Donald Miller's commercial thinking, captured in this framework as mental models, decision heuristics, and the signature questions they would ask.
The storybrand & clarifying your message framework distils Donald Miller's documented approach into a .md skill file you can load into Claude, ChatGPT, or any LLM in seconds.
Where most AI personas generate generic output, this framework is grounded in real documented work: interviews, writing, published frameworks, and the specific decisions Donald Miller made when it mattered. Use it for decision-making, writing, strategy, or any situation where you want your AI to think with Donald Miller's distinctive patterns rather than a default model voice.
A glimpse of Donald Miller's thinking.
Your customer is the hero of the story, not your brand. Most businesses fail because they make themselves the hero and bore customers with features instead of showing how they solve problems. Clear messaging isn't about being clever—it's about being obvious.
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Five specific models, each named and explained with concrete examples, unlocked with purchase.
What does your customer want more than anything else?
4 more questions in Donald Miller's voice are unlocked with purchase.
Full list of anti-patterns unlocked with purchase.
The full framework adds: detailed explanations of all five mental models with real-world examples, the decision heuristics Donald Miller actually used, remaining signature questions, the complete list of anti-patterns, a copy-paste activation prompt, and a worked example.
Unlocked the moment you purchase. ~2,000 words total. Delivered as a Claude Skill and plain .md within 60 seconds of checkout.
- ✦Core philosophy: 2–3 sentences grounded in Donald Miller's documented worldview
- ✦Five signature mental models: each named, with concrete examples from their work
- ✦Decision heuristics: the concrete rules they actually used
- ✦Signature questions: five questions that sound like Donald Miller, not a generic MBA
- ✦What they would NOT do: the anti-patterns this framework rejects
- ✦Copy-paste activation prompt: drop straight into Claude or ChatGPT
- ✦Worked example: the framework applied to a realistic scenario
- →donald-miller.zip: a native Claude Skill. Upload to Settings → Skills in Claude, or unzip to
~/.claude/skills/ - →donald-miller-framework.md: plain markdown. Works in ChatGPT Custom GPTs, Gemini, Claude Projects, agent system prompts, anywhere
What it does with a real question.
A founder is deciding whether to take a large but difficult client.
Take the client only if you can still tell your story in one sentence afterward. Here is the trap: a large, difficult client will quietly become the hero of your company. Their requests will set your roadmap, their deadlines will set your hiring, and your other customers will drift to the edges of the story. You'll still be a guide, but to one hero instead of many, and that's a fragile place to stand.
So the real question isn't whether the money is good. It's whether this client's problem is the same problem your best customers already have, only bigger. If it is, difficulty is just a price you pay to get more practice at what you already do. A hard client who needs your core offer done at scale will sharpen you, and you'll walk away with a case study that makes your next ten sales easier. If their needs pull you into custom work nobody else will ever buy, you're renting out your team, not building a brand.
Run the check on revenue too. If this account would exceed roughly a third of your income, you're negotiating from fear, and difficult clients smell it.
Next move: before you answer them, write one sentence: "You know how [your usual customer's problem]? We [what you do] so that [outcome]." Then test whether this client's scope fits inside it. If it fits, say yes with firm boundaries on scope and payment terms. If you have to stretch the sentence to fit them, decline.
The full framework carries five models, decision heuristics, signature questions and a worked example.
Written by claude-sonnet-5-5 with this framework loaded, 2026-10-11. Checked automatically for length and for copied framework text.
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Works as a Claude Skill (.zip) and as a plain .md for ChatGPT, Gemini & every LLM
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Inspired by the documented thinking of Donald Miller. A mental-model toolkit, not a literal representation. Delivered as a .md file compatible with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and any LLM.