Where to Start with Donald Miller
Donald Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand and Business Made Simple, and the author of several bestselling books on business communication and personal growth. He started his career as a memoirist, writing Blue Like Jazz (2003), which became a New York Times bestseller and was later adapted into a film. Miller eventually turned his storytelling expertise toward business, founding StoryBrand in 2014 to help companies clarify their messaging. His StoryBrand framework, built on the universal structure of storytelling, has been used by over a million business leaders to improve their marketing. He also hosts the Business Made Simple podcast and created an online platform offering courses on business leadership, marketing, and productivity.
Start here
Building a StoryBrand
Donald Miller · 228 pages · 2017 · Easy
Themes: storytelling, brand messaging, customer communication, business growth
A practical framework for clarifying your brand message so customers actually listen. Donald Miller draws on the universal structure of storytelling to show businesses how to position their customer as the hero and their brand as the guide. The StoryBrand framework has helped over a million business leaders simplify their messaging and connect more effectively with their audience.
Why Start Here
Miller has written several business books, but Building a StoryBrand is the one that introduced the framework he is known for. It is the foundation that his later books, including Marketing Made Simple and How to Grow Your Small Business, all build upon. Starting here gives you the core system, and everything else he has written makes more sense once you understand it.
The book solves a problem that nearly every business owner faces: how to talk about what you do in a way that makes people want to learn more. Miller’s insight is that customers do not care about your story. They care about their own story. Your job is to position your brand as the guide that helps them succeed. This reframe is simple but transformative, and the seven-part framework gives you a concrete way to apply it.
What to Expect
A focused 228 pages with a clear, practical structure. Each chapter covers one element of the StoryBrand framework, with real-world examples and exercises. Miller writes in a conversational tone that makes the material easy to absorb. You can read it in a weekend and start applying the framework to your business immediately.