The humble Allen wrench.

If you’ve ever bought flat-pack furniture, you have roughly 743 of these floating around in your junk drawer(s).

Or maybe it’s just me. Help?! 🛟

As a new-ish homeowner, I have a love-hate relationship with the Allen wrench.

• The love: I have furniture! An Allen wrench does get the job done.
  
• The hate: Ugh, it is a stupid and painful tool to use. The key itself has to be wedged into the hexagonal hole just so, and any errant twist will send the whole apparatus clattering to the floor.
  

The blisters on my index fingers from the turn, turn, turn of a thousand screws are just healing from one floor-to-ceiling bookcase I put together last week for my office remodel.

And as I was dreading putting the second one together, I had a thought:
💡 I can’t get around using an Allen wrench, but maybe there’s a way to do this smarter. 

So I went to the hardware store and found a ratchet I could fit with a 4mm hex bit.

Same basic tool — but with a mechanism that does it with about a quarter of the effort.
(Bonus: It makes a satisfying clicking noise when it really starts working!)

The first bookcase took me about 2 hours and a litany of swears to assemble. The second took 45 minutes at most, and I all but whistled while I worked.

Side by side, the completed bookcases look identical. But my blistered fingers and I can both tell the difference.

SO AGAIN YOU ASK: What in the Swedish meatballs does this have to do with me, Paige?

Here’s what it has to do with you: There’s a hard way to do things, and there’s a simpler, smarter way.

In early 2019, I was using the out-of-the-box Allen wrench to assemble my clients’ copywriting work, making assumptions about their narrative based on a hunch or lil’ brief they’d sent me.

All parties were satisfied when the project was done, but I was starting from scratch. every. time. (Be real: Is this ringing a bell for you?)

Then I found my simpler, smarter.

When I became a StoryBrand Certified Guide, I finally adopted a framework to shape my clients’ marketing message and get strategic before writing a single word of website or email copy.

A clear message makes writing easier, faster, and more effective once it’s out in the world.

You could say it’s really ratcheted up my ability to deliver good copy. 😜

And that’s why I just renewed my certification for a fourth year. 

So: Is wheel reinvention your thing when it comes to marketing? Or have you found an easier way?

Can I help you find an easier way? I offer hourly consulting. Just sayin’. (I could also help you put a bookcase together. I have a ratchet.)

Let me know what’s got your fingers feeling cramped and blistery.

I will now retire this metaphor forever,
Paige

P.S. I totally get the satisfaction of a DIY job well done, but sometimes time is money. Even for furniture-assembly warriors.

I paid a stranger to come to my home and put a mid-century modern (ish) sideboard from Amazon together while I did client work. Best $375 I’ve ever spent.

Maybe you’ll feel the same about a $375 hour of consulting. Don’t know till you try…