How I grew from 0 to 48,000 followers on LinkedIn

The Comeback - Week 13 (16,500 Subs):

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2 years ago I was stuck behind my desk in Bristol UK trying to build a marketing agency.

No one knew who I was.

Just some guy who had quit his corporate job failed 2 companies and had big dreams.

But then one day I came across a story.

A successful entrepreneur with thousands of online followers walked into a room to pitch 10 investors for his new venture.

Before the pitch started 7 out of the 10 investors asked for a photo.

That was when it hit me.

He wasn’t pitching to investors that day.

He was pitching his fans.

Just think about how powerful that is.

His reputation arrived in the room before he did.

It was at that exact moment in February 2022 I made a promise to myself.

No matter what, I was going to build a personal brand online.

LinkedIn was my platform of choice.

I blocked out 2 hours in my calendar and committed to posting every single day, regardless of the outcome.

That year I grew my LinkedIn following to 9,000 people.

Apart from a few likes here and there I didn’t have much to show for it.

I remember telling myself and my team to be patient.

Then in 2023, all the work from the previous year started to compound.

I grew from 9,000 to over 40,000 followers on LinkedIn.

And brought in $600,000 of revenue for my marketing agency, hired incredible people all over the world and got offered to speak on stage in front of hundreds of people - all inbound.

The best part?

I know this is just the start.

Unlike outbound sales or direct response advertising, personal brands don’t get great returns on your time upfront.

Because it takes time to win people’s trust.

But once the wheels of momentum start to turn you will have thousands, if not millions of people tuning in to watch your every next step.

Which will include:

• Your dream customers

• Your dream investors

• Your dream hires

All queuing up to work with you.

And if you think you’re too late, you’re wrong.

Half the world isn’t even online yet.

And of the half the world that is, only 1% are consistently posting content.

Yes, the best time to start was 10 years ago.

But the next best time is now.

So today I’ll show you why a personal brand is the one asset that connects all the dots, how to attention FAST, and what else you can do to stand out from the sea of noise.

This, in my opinion, is the most valuable Newsletter yet.

But I’ll let you be the judge.

Today on David to Goliath:

1. Behind the Scenes

   • Subscriber Growth Update

   • Failures: Quitting on the Treadmill

   • Breakthroughs: The David to Goliath Headquarters

2. Main Topic: Why & How to Build a Personal Brand

3. Mindset: Expectations

4. Resource Rec: Building a StoryBrand

Road to 100,000: Behind the Scenes

Subscriber Growth - 16,500 Subs

I’m planning our subscriber roadmap for Q2 in the background and have some big things lined up.

16,500 in 13 weeks is decent progress but we need to take things up a level if we are to hit the 100k goal by end of year.

Expect more updates coming soon!

Failures - Quitting On The Treadmill

​​Since December, I've been embroiled in a relentless battle against the clock, striving to conquer the 5K run within 20 minutes.

These runs were my foundation to kill the victim mindset that nearly took my life, stamping it out one stride at a time.

I have come so god damn close to beating the 20-minute mark many times and the other morning, I made it my mission to conquer it.

But when the going got tough - I quit.

It was a moment of reckoning when in the sauna afterwards Dan turned to me and asked:

"Did you leave absolutely everything you had on that treadmill?"

I sat back and knew deep down I didn’t.

Absolutely disgusted with myself.

So I went to get some rest, downed a load of Red Bulls, and attempted it again later that day.

But yet again 10 minutes as I was blowing out my ass, I quit.

Totally unacceptable.

I tried another 3 times on the same night. 

Failed every single time.

It's embarrassing, honestly. 

Here I am, preaching about conquering the voice of the victim, and I can't even conquer a damn treadmill.

But I’m not giving up.

I don’t want or need any sympathy - the truth is more than enough. The numbers on that treadmill don’t lie. 

I’m sharing this because I believe in brutal accountability. In a world that’s become too soft I think more people need to face the mirror of truth and accept the responsibility lies with them.

Before I step on stage at Balkan E-commerce next Friday the 5th April to deliver my talk, I must beat that 20 minute mark.

It will give allow me to deliver that speech with another level of confidence and conviction.

Outworking my self doubt.

I’ll report back on next Tuesday's Newsletter.

Hold me to it.

Breakthroughs - The David to Goliath Headquarters

2 weeks ago I took a huge risk and rolled the dice.

Stuck in my parent's house after moving back from Austin I was getting frustrated I couldn’t control my environment. Resulting in hyper inefficiency.

I viewed multiple apartments in the centre of Manchester UK.

But everytime I got the same response.

Because I’m self-employed I’d need to pay 6 months' rent up front.

Then out of nowhere an apartment came available in the place my friend Dan used to live.

Without even viewing it I took a chance, paid 10,000 pounds and secured it.

Walking up to the building I made a prayer to God - it was out of my hands now.

I opened the door not knowing what to expect.

It was perfect.

A skyline view over the city, plenty of space, quiet so I can do focused work, and amenities just a few floors up including a sauna, steam room, gym and pool.

But the best was yet to come.

As I walked into the living area and onto the balcony there it was standing tall in the Manchester rain.

The home of my beloved boyhood team.

Manchester City FC.

The big man upstairs had answered. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Sometimes in life when you’re moving fast you just need to roll the dice.

Now it’s on me to turn what I’m calling ‘The David to Goliath Headquarters’ into the engine room to get this thing to 100,000 subscribers.

Once we’ve set up the podcast studio I’ll share more photos.

But for now, it’s time to show you how to build a personal brand.

Get ready because I’m not holding anything back.

Main Topic: Why & How to Build a Powerful Personal Brand

First, let’s strip everything in business back to its raw naked fundamentals.

What activities must you take in order to grow a successful business?

1. Make sales

2. Hire great people

3. Build a fantastic network

4. Work with coaches/consultants/mentors

5. Find Investors for your business

6. Invest in making a better product/service

Obvious, right?

But all of these things on their own take an extraordinary amount of time.

And since we only have 24 hours in a day working hard will not be enough.

We have to play smart.

We have to play with leverage.

Leverage:

What is leverage?

Achieving more output with every input of time.

For example:

Input: Person A writes LinkedIn post.

Output: 10 people read.

Input: Person B writes LinkedIn post.

Output: 400,000 people read.

Same input. Way more output.

That’s leverage.

The more leverage you have, the faster you can grow.

As Naval Ravikant states, there are 4 main types of leverage:

1- People:

Hiring others and then delegating aspects of your business so as a team you scale faster (and get back your time to focus on move the needle activities).

2- Capital:

Getting money to invest in key areas and accelerate growth.

3- Technology:

Utilising software and technology to do things 10X faster and 10X cheaper than humans otherwise could.

4- Media:

Influencing the masses with your personal brand.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.

The last and newest type of leverage (media), is the one which connects all the dots.

If you play your cards right and build a powerful personal brand:

• The best team members

• The best investors

• The best tech companies

Will all come to you.

No slimy sales tactics necessary.

And instead of running around like a headless chicken doing all of those 6 things I mentioned at the start you’ll have built one asset that takes care of everything.

But before posting content and building your personal brand, you must first know how to get attention.

If you can’t do this, you might get some traction although you will never grow big.

And I want you to win so let’s dive in.

Getting Attention:

It doesn’t matter what platform you use, the foundation of getting attention is always the same.

It’s about understanding the core underlying principles of human psychology.

From posting over 700 times on LinkedIn and getting over 10 million impressions here are the 6 most important things I’d recommend focusing on to get attention - FAST:

And no, these are not copy and paste strategies.

If you blindly follow other creators without knowing the core foundation behind the scenes your content and personal brand will come crashing down when what you copied stops working.

Instead of showing you the ‘what’ I’m showing you the ‘why’ and the ‘how’.

It’s on you to figure out the rest.

1- Authority and Social Proof

No one wants to be the guinea pig.

As humans our basic instinct, just like any other creature is to survive.

So 99% of people will choose the option which in their eyes has the least likelihood of failure.

Think about it.

When was the last time you bought a product on Amazon with a 1-star review?

Probably never - and that’s the point.

We go with what looks safe.

So how do you maximize safety with your content?

By tapping into authority sources people trust and also backing up your previous experience with social proof (numbers).

For example: Looking back through all the teams I’ve run and clients we’ve helped the total amount spent on social media advertising is $100M. This is a big number that commands authority and grabs people’s attention as they’re scrolling through the Newsfeed.

Action Item: Start brainstorming your best achievements and think of impressive numbers or trusted publications you’ve been featured in. Get creative and don’t shy away from being bold. You have to put your name on the map because no one is going to do it for you. Give people a reason to trust you.

2- Going Against the Grain

Another thing we humans love is being nosy.

Remember when your mum told you that crazy story about your neighbour?

You were hooked. Eager to find out what happened next so you could butt in with your opinion.

Yes, we all love a bit of gossip (too much if you ask me!).

So how can we best utilise people’s curiosity to get attention?

Taking a common narrative and taking an opposing view.

For example: Common advice is not to put all your eggs in one basket. In this LinkedIn post, I took the opposing angle and used a story in my life to back that viewpoint. The post did really well, getting over 700 engagements:

Action Item: Start listing out your strongest opinions. Then think what the polar opposite is. Try to find commonly used phrases people already know and make people curious as to why you believe in something different - and how it can benefit them.

Important Note: You must actually believe in the view you’re putting forward. Getting attention for the sake of it is a terrible strategy because you’ll just attract people towards a fake persona. This is a surefire to burn yourself out and become extremely unhappy.

3- Bridging The Gap:

The only constant in human evolution is change.

That’s why you’re reading this and not sitting in a cave wondering where your next meal is coming from.

We’re always looking for progress and to better ourselves.

If you can relate to your audience by painting a picture of their current situation, and then giving them a bridge to their desired situation, they will listen.

For example: I took my situation from 5 years ago when I was $50,000 in debt (current situation) and then showed where I am today - being the CEO of a 7 figure marketing agency (desired situation).

Action Item: Ask your clients about their current situation, watch back through your sales calls or think back to where you were a few years ago. What are the problems that kept you up at night? And where did you or your clients want to be? Write content using the exact language your clients use and then give people a step-step process (bridge) so they can go from that current situation to their desired one.

4- Step-Step Processes:

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

And the quickest way to show your care is by giving them back more of their most important asset: time.

If you share an easy to follow step-step process and when they implement it solves their problem, you will not only get a lot more attention, but you will also win their trust.

Meaning when they need their next problem fixed in that area, they will come to you.

For example: I spent hours and hours relentlessly testing out different sales tactics to take Ecommerce brands from not knowing who I was to becoming high paying customers. I went back through everything that actually mattered and broke it down into 9 simple steps that nearly anyone in a service-based business could understand and implement.

Action Item: Reverse engineer how you’ve solved problems for your clients or yourself from a few years back. Break down the process into extremely simple steps that even a high schooler could understand. List them out with original subtitles and start posting so people can implement to get the same result you or your clients did.

5- Sharing Personal Stories:

For over 50,000 years humans have communicated through stories.

Whether oral, written or spoken.

Safe to say: It works.

But telling good stories is rare.

The best way to stand out is to be vulnerable.

People love supporting someone on their hero journey. Yes, the wins are great, although, you’ll stand out more if you share your struggles.

Because it’s hard - and most people aren’t willing to for fear of judgement or appearing weak.

For example: I think most of you know by now I lost the woman who believed in me most and that led me down a dark path. The reason why I started David to Goliath - to document my comeback. This post was the first time I opened up and a lot of people reach out to me directly saying how much this had touched them. 

Action Item: Using the hero’s journey framework map out the key events in your life. Break down each into a separate story, specifically focusing on what struggles you had - and tell people either the moral of the story or the solution you used to break through. Remember even though it’s your story, it’s actually about them, not you.

6- Write Attention Grabbing Headlines

David Ogilvy known as the godfather of advertising once said: “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

So spending at least 50% on an attention-grabbing headline is crucial.

I have re-written the headline for old pieces of content and changing nothing else it got 10X the reach.

That’s how much difference it makes.

And most people’s headlines absolutely suck.

To write great headlines use the previous 5 points - Authority/social proof, going against the grain, bridging the gap, giving away step-step processes and sharing personal stories.

For example, here are 2 bad headlines and how I’d fix them to get attention using a mixture of the 5 techniques:

Bad Headline: “I successfully scaled a marketing agency.”

Attention Gripping Headline: “I scaled a marketing agency from $80,000 to $1.2M in less than 12 months by implementing these 7 key steps:”

Bad Headline: “Working smart is the key to success.”

Attention Gripping Headline: “Working hard is overrated. Here’s how I work 10X less but move 10X faster by implementing this 5-step daily routine (backed by Harvard):”

Action Item: Using the 5 techniques listed above spend at least 50% of your time writing attention-grabbing headlines. Start testing and see what your audience likes best. Don’t copy and paste others. Originality pays best.

Now you know how to get attention I’ll show you how to:

• Stay consistent by making the process fun

• Get quality feedback to improve faster

• Tap into other people’s media leverage

• Tailor your content to the specific platform

It’s time to take your personal brand to the next level.

Staying Consistent By Having Fun:

I’m sure you know Mr Beast by now - the world's biggest creator.

But what you might not know is the number 1 thing he credits for building his huge personal brand.

Building a friendship group with other YouTube creators.

Every day back when no one knew who he was they used to jump on calls together. Spending hours and hours brainstorming ideas, giving each other feedback and having competitions to see who could go viral the fastest.

As I’ve already mentioned personal brands are a long-term investment and you must be consistent to win people’s trust - for years, not days.

The best way to do that is by playing short-term games so you really enjoy the process, instead of seeing it as a chore.

How?

By finding other people who are on the same journey as you.

Back in 2022, I reached out to multiple creators on LinkedIn. At the time we all had about 5,000 followers.

Some dropped off but the ones who didn’t we’ve kept in close contact ever since.

• Engaging on each other's content

• Sharing the best strategies that are working right now 

• And collaborating to tap into each other's audiences

Now, we all have 50,000 followers and together millions.

Remember: Humans are tribal by nature so it’s strength in numbers.

Action Item: Reach out to at least 10 people who consistently post content on your platform of choice, ideally in a similar industry, and jump on calls with them. Keep repeating this process until you find your people and then create a small group, no more than 10 people, so you have fun and grow faster together. 

Get Quality Feedback:

“Constantly seek criticism. A well thought out critique of what you're doing is as valuable as gold.” -Elon Musk

Look, no matter how much you read you’re never going to be perfect at content day 1. Even on day 10,000.

One of the fastest ways to accelerate your learning is to leave your ego at the door and get brutally honest feedback - from the right people.

3 main ways to get feedback:

1. Your friendship group (as mentioned above)

2. Your ideal customers or current clients

3. People who have built powerful personal brands

The last one is the fastest route to success.

I have invested thousands of dollars to jump on calls with big creators who tore my content to pieces and told me in 1 hour what would have taken me years to learn.

You can either pay for what you don’t know with cash or if you’re limited on resources, your time.

Action Item: Start asking your clients and prospects for feedback on what kind of content they like and what they don’t. Search out creators who have already built powerful personal brands and pay for an hour of their time to analyze your content.

Want me to analyze and help build your personal brand strategy?

Starting this month I’ll be doing a couple of calls for those serious about building a personal brand in 2024.

Use this link to book your strategy session now.

Tapping Into Other People’s Media Leverage:

Another strategy to fast-track your growth is by collaborating with people who already have personal brands in your industry.

Let’s say you have a ton of experience and knowledge but you don’t have any eyeballs.

A great exchange of value would be appearing on a podcast that has thousands of listeners in your specific industry. 

You offer the audience great advice which increases the value for the host.

And in return, a portion of those listeners will start following you.

Just make sure you take full advantage of that attention by having a lead magnet or resource you can point the audience towards - make it simple for them.

Action Item: Shortlist 20-50 creators in your industry that have personal brands. Tell them why collaborating with you would be valuable for their audience. Make life easy for them e.g. say you’ll create a value-packed carousel for LinkedIn (like Audrey Chia did with me) - all they have to do is post it and tag you.

Tailor Your Content to the Platform’s Algorithm:

Personal branding works like an umbrella.

First, you build your name by focusing on one specific platform (ideally where your customers hang out) and then once you have momentum you can branch out.

But here’s something I wish I knew from the start.

What works on Instagram won’t work on LinkedIn. 

Every platform is different and their algorithms prefer certain topics.

LinkedIn, for example, is a platform where people are trying to find jobs and move their careers forward.

Instagram is about people celebrating their lifestyle.

Yes, you can write about what you’re having for dinner on LinkedIn but it’s not playing smart.

Before you start playing the game first you must know the rules.

Action Item: Once you’ve chosen one platform, list out key topics that always work best (e.g. LinkedIn is work culture, leadership and sales). Then think about how you can link your advice and stories to these topics and put your unique twist on it (using the 5 attention techniques listed above).

I could go on and on but honestly, if you implement everything I’ve said so far you’ll be in the top 1% of creators online.

But there is one more thing: Going in with the right expectations.

This is where 99% go wrong, burn out and end up bitterly disappointed.

Mindset - Expectations

Once I’d made that promise to build a personal brand back in 2022 I started researching 100’s of creators - across all the platforms.

I noticed a trend that was consistent every single time.

Not one of them got massive overnight and most of them stuck at it for years - then suddenly had a huge monumental breakthrough.

So understanding this I set myself an expectation:

I will post every single weekday for an entire year expecting absolutely NOTHING in return.

And when I say nothing, I mean nothing.

This was the single biggest thing that allowed me to have success the year after.

• I removed all the pressure

• Stopped constantly checking my impressions 

• And just kept relentlessly putting in the reps

If you can truly embrace this mindset I can almost guarantee (as long as you’re willing to learn and take feedback) that you will build a powerful personal brand.

Just like anything great in life, it’s well worth the wait, trust me.

You have to do all those things I mentioned at the start anyway to grow a successful business so why not just start to build the one asset that connects all the dots?

Set the expectation you’ll have to post every day without getting anything in return for 12 months, implement every strategy I outlined above and just get started.

Because as you read this right now there is someone else in your industry who is acting and in a few years you’ll see them blow up online.

If you start today that person could well be you.

The choice is yours.

Resource Rec – Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller: 

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet since we’ve already covered so much.

But essentially storytelling is a skill that can propel you to the top in record time.

Donald Miller in this book gives you a step by step process (so clearly knows what he’s doing to get attention!) to bring your stories to life using the hero’s journey.

Grab a copy, implement and start sharing your stories with the world.

You’ll be amazed who will listen and the doors that will open.

How To Build a Powerful Personal Brand - Summary:

1- Understand How Leverage Works

2- Get Attention Using These 6 Techniques:

• Social proof and authority

• Going against the grain

• Bridge gap with current/desired situation

• Share step by step processes

• Share personal stories

• Focusing 50% on headlines

3- Build a Creator Friendship Group

4- Get Brutally Honest Feedback on Your Content

5- Tap Into Other People’s Media Leverage

6- Tailor Your Content to the Platform’s Algorithm

7- Set The Expectation to Post for 12 Months With Nothing In Return

8- Bring Your Story To Life Using The StoryBrand Framework

That was a lot! Please share this with a friend if you found it valuable and let me know what you thought!

If enough people reply, I’ll do another one soon on how to turn that attention into dollars (how I generated $600k in rev last year all inbound).

Until then keep Dreaming like a Giant.

But fight and believe in your dreams like a God damn Underdog baby!

Yours truly,

-Nigel Thomas

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

#1: Want to build a powerful personal brand in 2024? Book In Your Strategy Session Here

#2: Not yet subscribed To David to Goliath? Subscribe Here so you don’t miss out!

#3: Prefer listening instead of reading? Listen to the Audio Version Here

#4: Have you seen my LinkedIn content? Everyday I post stories, frameworks and mindset tips to take you from David to Goliath