The #1 shift happening in marketing right now

I tried strategy for months. Honesty was the thing that finally worked.

Author

Stephen Stanberry
December 8th, 2025

In partnership with

friend!

Let me tell you something I learned the hard way.

A few months after I got fired, I walked into my house and tried to pretend I was fine.
My son ran toward me.
He asked if I could by him a new truck.
I nodded and said yes.
But my chest felt tight.
My throat felt locked.
I felt like a man hiding inside his own life.

I sat on the edge of the bed that night.
My daughters were asleep.
My son was out cold.
The room was quiet.
My mind was loud.

I kept thinking about the pressure to look strong.
The pressure to act like nothing hurt.
The pressure to appear in control when everything felt shaky.

For weeks I tried to fix my life with strategy.
More content.
More ideas.
More posting.
More effort.
More noise.

Nothing changed.

Then one night I wrote a story I planned to delete.
I wrote about the second firing.
The shock.
The silence.
The fear of telling my family.
The moment I sat in the car and wondered what kind of father I was becoming.

I stared at those words for a long time.
Every part of me wanted to erase them.
But something inside whispered no.
So I hit publish.

And the world shifted.

People reached out without me asking.
They told me they felt seen.
They told me they faced the same fear.
They told me my story sounded like their life.

That night I learned the #1 shift in marketing.
The thing nobody talks about.
The thing every entrepreneur feels.
The thing most people avoid.

People do not follow perfect.
People follow honest.

This is the shift.

Not louder content.
Not better tactics.
Not more tricks.

The shift is human.
People want to feel something real.
People want to see the person behind the profile.
People want a guide who speaks from lived experience, not theory.

Your stories include:

✍🏻 Your turning points
✍🏻 Your failures
✍🏻 Your quiet victories
✍🏻 Your beliefs that shape your path
✍🏻 Your moments that changed your life

These stories make you visible.
These stories make you trusted.
These stories make people say yes.

The entrepreneurs who share these stories are:

✔ Building deeper authority
✔ Earning attention without shouting
✔ Growing without chaos
✔ Attracting clients who believe in them
✔ Creating content that stays in the mind

I call these people story rich.
Not because they talk a lot.
But because they give insight that moves others forward.

Story rich is not about content.
Story rich is about clarity.
Identity.
Presence.
Purpose.

So here is your challenge for today.

Pick the moment you keep hiding.
The moment you explain away.
The moment that shaped your path.
Write it.
Share it.
Let people see the person you have become.

This is the shift.
And the ones who embrace it will lead the next generation of brands.

Talk soon
Stephen

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