“Be a gateway” is Dan Blank's term to refer to engaging your audience. Any creative life can be reduced to a single directive (which has two parts): hone your craft and engage your audience. Being a gateway refers to the second part, engaging your audience.

According to Blank, treating your work and yourself as a gateway means ensuring that your work truly connects with others in the most meaningful way possible.

To do this, you need to:

• See how your story relates with what you are crafting (story).
• Understand the connection between what you create, why you create it, and how it will engage others (creator).
• Build a path to your gateway that signals that it is worth continuing down because it leads to what they are looking for (topics).

Being a gateway means being a role model for the identity that your audience wants for themselves and providing a narrative. This happens easier than mastering your craft per se.

It also involves shaping the world for others and inspiring them through the stories and experiences you share and the topics you talk about (see also work with the garage door up).

As you can hone your craft you can also hone your gateway.

References

Blank, D. (2017). Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience. WeGrowMedia.