Improving the functionality of janky basement stairs

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I recently bought an old house, and I'm working on making an unfinished basement a functional workshop space. At the moment it's incredibly annoying to carry anything down there, since

1. The exterior opens in

2. There's a huge step down from it to the landing

3. The stairs end right at a half-crawlspace

4. The clearance height at ground level is a little less than 6' (and the "ceiling" is a massive structural beam)

I'm struggling to engineer a functional solution given the space limitations. Changing the door to open to the outside seems not too difficult. Otherwise - steeper stairs? Spiral/turn? Dig down a bit for extra clearance? Open to any creative ideas - the less a structural engineer is required the better (they are hard to pin down in my area).