What if one tiny brain chemistry hack could triple your engagement overnight?
The morning sun barely peeked through the blinds as I sat at my desk, fresh coffee ready to tear up my adrenals, per usual.
3 months into publishing my newsletter, I should’ve felt proud. 5 days a week, no exceptions – I’d stuck to my commitment.
But instead… I felt stuck.
The subscriber count wasn’t growing as quickly as I’d hoped. My content wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t producing the results I’d imagined. Worse, I didn’t even know where to go next.
My head was a jumble of ideas:
Should I create a course? Maybe coaching? But what if no one buys?
Each idea raised more questions, and each question left me more overwhelmed than the last.
It wasn’t just doubt.
It was paralysis through analysis.
Then, as I scrolled through social media, I came across a challenge. The promise? Build a business that generates $1000 in revenue in three weeks.
My first reaction? Skepticism.
I’ve tried these challenges before. They’ve never worked. But something about this one caught my attention, so I decided to give it a shot.
Day one’s task seemed almost too simple: “Do one thing.”
I wanted to laugh. Do one thing? That’s it?
I’m glad this ish is free!
But indecision had worn me out. So, I went ahead, followed the instructions… not expecting much.
Day one: I wrote an offer.
Day two: I priced it.
Day three: I built a sales page.
By the end of the week, something unexpected happened. The tasks I had been avoiding for months? Done!
It wasn’t about the tasks themselves - it was how I felt after each step.
With the completion of each daily task. dopamine flooded in, making me look forward to the next step.
The tension I felt from my doubts compared to the challenge’s promise fueled my focus, the cortisol keeping me moving through the steps, even though I didn’t know exactly what the end result would look like.
And when I shared the progress with my friends and family that had been hearing me bitch and moan for the last few months about how stuck I felt, the oxytocin that flowed through me from their reactions reasserted my feeling that I was finally on the right track.
It wasn’t magic… it was science.
The setup of the challenge created a chemical cocktail inside my brain that turned paralyzing doubt into direct action.
Did you know that stories triggering dopamine, cortisol, and oxytocin increase engagement by 68%?
Great stories don’t just capture attention - they create an emotional experience.
Think about your favorite tv shows - the ones you couldn’t pull yourself away from.
They pull you in with curiosity, keep you engaged with the tension created by the character’s decisions, then leave you feeling something that lingers long after with the resolution.
That’s not accidental. It’s your brain chemistry at work.
Dopamine sparks curiosity, anticipation, and excitement, keeping the audience hooked.
Cortisol heightens focus by introducing stakes and challenges that maintain attention.
Oxytocin fosters emotional connection, making people feel connected to the character’s lives.
Each of these chemicals plays a role in how we engage, relate, and most importantly… buy.
By structuring your stories to mirror these natural responses, you create a customer journey that ends in the customer making an actual decision, not just walking away with information.
Here’s how to use my D.C.O. Blueprint to trigger dopamine, cortisol, and oxytocin to design brand stories that sell:
Start with a Spark (Dopamine)
Open with an unexpected detail, question, or moment of curiosity.
Show small, tangible wins that build momentum throughout the story.
Example: “For three months, I stayed up late every night, squeezing in time to work on my digital product after the kids were asleep. The progress was slow but steady, and I was hopeful. I’d set a launch date, hit my milestones, and finally felt ready to share it with the world. But when launch day came… silence. Not one sale.”
Raise the Stakes/Tension (Cortisol)
Introduce a challenge or tension that mirrors your audience’s struggles.
Use vivid sensory details to make the stakes feel real and urgent.
Example: “I was crushed. Did I just waste months of my life on something no one wanted? I started questioning everything - Was my idea bad? Did I not market it enough? Every social media post felt like I was shouting into the void. The more I tried to fix it, the more overwhelming it felt. I wasn’t just stuck; I was sinking.”
End with Connection (Oxytocin)
Show how the resolution aligns with your audience’s goals.
Highlight the transformation - not just the solution but how it made you feel.
Example: “I stopped overthinking and focused on one simple thing: improving my messaging. I rewrote a few key emails and clarified the problem my product solved. A week later, someone replied to my email, excited to learn more. Two weeks after that, I made my first sale. That moment gave me the confidence to keep going. But what really changed? I wasn’t just selling - I was connecting with people who truly valued what I had to offer.”
Why This Works
Humans are wired to connect through stories because they simulate our real-life experiences, triggering the same emotions… as if we were living it ourselves.
By aligning your stories with these natural emotional responses, you’re not just capturing attention - you’re embedding yourself into your audiences decision-making processes.
This isn’t about manipulation… it’s about tapping into the way humans naturally process the world.
Stories structured this way guide your audience through a journey that feels intuitive, ensuring your message stays with them… long after the story ends.
Here’s What You’ll Get Out of It
Action-Driven Stories That Close Gaps: Stories designed to bridge the psychological gap between curiosity and action by aligning your audience’s internal motivations with your external call-to-action.
Resonance Through Relatability: Learn to uncover and embed the subtle emotional triggers that mirror your audience’s hidden fears and desires, ensuring they feel compelled to act.
Neural Hooks for Lasting Recall: Build stories that strategically tap into the brain’s memory pathways - leveraging peaks of dopamine, tension-building cortisol, and trust-inducing oxytocin to make your message unforgettable.
Effective stories don’t simply convey information - they create a journey that links the storyteller to the listener.
Your Turn
Let’s design your next brand story following the D.C.O. Blueprint:
Step 1: Start with Curiosity
Think about a moment that would immediately grab your audience’s attention.
This could be a question, a surprising fact, or a detail that raises more questions than it answers.
Where does the story begin? How can you spark intrigue right from the start?
Step 2: Introduce the Struggle
Now, introduce a challenge or obstacle that feels deeply relatable.
What tension or conflict is at the heart of the story? This could be a personal setback, a business hurdle, or a universal struggle your audience faces.
The goal here is to make your audience think, “I’ve been there too.”
Step 3: Resolve with Transformation
Finally, wrap up your story by showing the transformation.
How did the struggle lead to a breakthrough or meaningful change? The key here is to connect the struggle to a positive outcome - whether that’s hope, clarity, or a new possibility.
Let your audience see how they, too, can overcome their own challenges.
—
After you’ve written the story… read it out loud, and see if it pulls you in.
If it does, it’ll pull your audience in too.
PS:
Feeling Stuck?
Your brand stories connect emotionally… but aren’t driving sales. Let’s fix that.
In just 30 minutes, I’ll help you turn one piece of content - an email, landing page, or social media post - into a revenue-generating asset.
You’ll walk away with:
A high-converting story optimized to drive sales now.
A repeatable process to create revenue-driven content.
Clear, actionable insights tailored to your business.
Stop wasting time on trial and error. Start seeing results immediately.
💡 Ready to transform your storytelling?
Book Your 30-Minute Coaching Call Today
Prefer listening to reading sometimes? Want an extra layer?
Press play for the ‘Narrated Insights’:
Today’s Mega-Prompt: "Align Your Stories with the Sales Funnel Using the 'Funnel Alignment Prompt'"
Paid members get to use today’s mega-prompt to: design three tailored brand stories for the sales funnel that build awareness, trust, and conversions by tapping into the psychology of how audiences think and feel.
Here’s a sneak peek:
"Create stories for each funnel stage using principles of psychology: spark curiosity at the top, build trust in the middle, and drive urgency at the bottom."
As a Paid 8am in Atlanta Member, you will also unlock exclusive tools designed to turn storytelling into a revenue-driving machine:
Prompt Archive: Gain access to an extensive archive of prompts, each designed to help you create stories that connect emotionally and convert effectively. The archive offers actionable techniques to create targeted brand narratives for top, middle, and bottom funnel stages, ensuring you always have proven strategies at your fingertips.
Daily Mega-Prompts (M-F): A fresh, actionable mega-prompt every weekday - backed by advanced strategies like behavioral triggers, neuroscience, and sales funnel alignment - to help you create stories that engage, convert, and grow your brand.
Scalable Storytelling Power: With systems and frameworks designed for efficiency, you’ll create stories that connect emotionally and convert predictably.
💡 Your stories are the key to more leads, higher conversions, and increased revenue. Upgrade now with just a few clicks 👇🏾