The Skill Trap & The Power of Leverage
Why being talented is no longer enough and what to build instead
There’s something painful about watching incredibly gifted people go unnoticed. People with craft, precision, and an obsession for doing excellent work, yet somehow, they remain invisible.
I’ve sat across from designers, engineers, writers, photographers and all kinds of brillant professionals. But over time, a quiet frustration creeps in. They’re not seen. They’re not booked. They’re not scaling.
And many begin to wonder: “Am I not good enough?”
But that’s not the real problem.
In fact, what I’ve found is that most talented people are not underperforming because they lack skill. They’re underperforming because they’re stuck in the Skill Trap.
We’ve been sold a dangerous idea:
“If you’re good enough, the world will find you.”
It sounds noble, but it’s rarely true.
Skill is input. It doesn’t usually break out of it’s natural state of production, however, leverage is what turns that input into output.
If talent alone guaranteed success, most of the underpaid creatives and overlooked founders you know would be thriving, but they’re not, because in today’s world, value doesn’t always win, but visibility, systems, and trust do.
The easiest example to buttress my point here is Alex Hormozi. I’m sure you know him and he is brilliant, but so are thousands of other business operators but what made him unstoppable isn’t just what he knows, but how he’s structured that knowledge.
Positioning: His personal brand is built on clarity and value, not hype.
Platforms: He shows up across channels with surgical consistency.
Process: He repeats simple, sticky ideas that get absorbed and shared.
In short, his leverage stack is tighter than most people’s life plans.
He doesn’t just have skill. He amplified it.
You don’t rise to the level of your talent. You rise to the level of your leverage.
The Amplify Stack: 3 Parts of Real Leverage
I’ve spent the last few years building a framework for high-impact creatives and founders who want to scale without selling out. It’s called the Amplify Stack:
1. Storytelling → Visibility
If people don’t understand you, they can’t trust you, or buy from you.
The best work in the world dies in silence if it’s not positioned well and that’s what storytelling does. It takes your offer and gives it shape, clarity, and emotion.
To make it practical, Try This:
Write a one-liner that explains:
what you do,
who it’s for,
and why it matters.
Example:
“I help burned-out creatives turn one skill into a repeatable income system.”
2. Systems → Scalability
Hustle is not a business model. If everything depends on your personal effort, you’re not building scale, you’re building burnout.
Try This:
Pick one skill you’re proud of and ask:
Can I productize it?
Can I teach it?
Can I automate or delegate part of it?
Start by documenting your process. Even a messy outline is a step toward leverage.
3. Trust → Momentum
People don’t buy what you do. They buy belief and belief is built through repetition, consistency, and proof.
Try This:
Audit your last 5 posts or public touchpoints.
Do they clearly show what you know?
Do they position you as helpful and trustworthy?
Do they make someone want to return?
If not, you’re being smart in silence.
I think this won’t be complete without sharing real stories with real leverage because this isn’t just theory.
These are people I’ve worked with, the are talented, they were tired, and were ready to make a shift.
→ Emmanuel
I met Emmanuel in 2020 and he is a photographer.
He was the kind of photographer people respected but didn’t remember.
He had a great eye, a good camera, and years of experience but no real traction. It got to a point in his career that bookings were random, his prices were inconsistent and most of his time went into editing photos that only got seen once.
He told me, “I’m tired of doing all this work and having nothing to show for it at the end of the month.”
We spants 3 weeks looking at his entire workflow, value proposition and possible offers and we stripped it down to one thing: event portraits, his best and most enjoyable work.
Then we built a $1K/month offer around it, set up a smooth Airtable delivery system, and created a Notion-based client intake form to make onboarding seamless.
Now, Emmanuel spends more time connecting with clients and marketing his offer and less time behind the screen editing photos no one remembers.
He didn’t need more skill, he needed a system that amplified his best work and even though he had great skill, he lacked structnure.
Together, we:
Narrowed his offer to event portraits
Built a simple $1K/month package
Set up Airtable and Notion systems to automate delivery
Now? He spends less time editing, more time scaling.
→ Tolu
Tolu was the first brand designer who took my Impactful By Design audio course in 2023. She was brilliant. She could do everything: graphics, web, branding, writing, and even voiceovers, but she was exhausted.
She freelanced endlessly, juggled 8+ clients a month, and somehow still felt broke and underappreciated.
When we started working together, she said, “I feel like I’m spinning. I’m good at everything, but known for nothing.”
I was very particular about her pausing. Together, we spent time looking at the patterns and what stood out was her gift for clarity and minimalism, especially when she worked with wellness and lifestyle brands and that became the lane.
I helped her build a signature framework: a 5-step minimalist branding process designed specifically for wellness founders. Then we told the story around it, how this wasn’t just design, but healing through visuals and meaning.
Now, Tolu is no longer just a designer. She’s a founder, running a creative company with a waitlist and premium packages.
Her skill didn’t change but her story and system did.
If you’re feeling tired of learning, I get it.
You’ve done the webinars, the eBooks, the late-night YouTube strategy videos but nothing changed, here’s the truth you should have been told sooner:
You don’t need more knowledge, you need a system.
One that creates clarity, structure, and scale.
TLDR? Here’s a recap:
Skill is not enough.
Story creates resonance.
System creates scale.
Trust creates traction.
This isn’t just something I teach, it’s what I lived.
When I quit architecture, I had zero leverage. I knew how to design, write, create, but I was invisible in a saturated market.
Everything changed when I began doing three things:
Telling better stories
Building simple systems
Showing up consistently with clarity
That shift birthed what’s now called Amplify & Scale.
If want to go deeper, I recorded a full 13-minute breakdown of this idea in my talk:
→ Your problem is you think being talented or skilled is enough
It’s honest, practical and no fluff.
If you’ve ever wondered why things haven’t clicked, watch it.
…and if you’re ready to build leverage, start with the Amplify & Scale Framework.
It’s the exact system I used (and still use) to help high-impact individuals multiply their reach and income.
Your talent deserves traction.
Let’s build the bridge.
—
Oladimeji Ajegbile
Founder, Amplify & Scale
It's easier said than done. It's been 8 months of putting myself out there and nothing so please don't generalise this advice like it’s that simple
Thank you 🙏
I’ve seen the gaps I need to bridge.