how i grew a 400k community and built a $500k business in < 2 years

Here’s everything I wish I knew 3 years ago when I started with zero.

Oh, how far I’ve come and get to pay it forward to all of you.

Let’s dive in.

First, you need to refine your craft aka get good at writing!

LinkedIn is a text-based platform (originally). It’s not like Instagram or TikTok where video or aesthetics are king which means you need to learn to write clearly, concisely, and impact-fully.

When you’re just starting out, here’s what I’d do.

1. Just write (literally)

Get in the habit of writing consistently (long posts, short posts, thoughtful posts, opinion-based posts, anything!)

The moment I committed to LinkedIn, I wrote every single day while juggling a full-time job.

I told myself: “Let’s write 1 post every morning before work”. The best part: say your goal is posting 3x a week, you now have +4 new posts backlogged for rainy days.

I’ve been 90% consistent with this 2 years later and now have 30-50 net-new posts 😂 (I love it).

2. Study from the greats

I bookmarked 10-20 creators and review their posts daily:

• What did they talk about?

• How did it perform?

• Why does this resonate with me / or not?

• How can I spinoff this idea and make it my own?

Here are a few creators I admired and learned from:

• Justin Welsh - the OG of LinkedIn known for opinionated, punchy and storytelling posts

• Lorraine Lee - love the way she shares actionable tips while blending her softness (total likeable badass!)

• Tobi Oluwole - 7-fig business founder, mentor, and now friend who has his own style of speaking his truth and commanding the room

• Lara Acosta - total boss in the way she has built a strong female identity while mastering content + brand building + entrepreneurship

• Adam Broda - I 100% look up to him for really good, quality career advice / tips and appreciate how he’s sharing more of his personal journey

2/ Study the algorithm like a scientist

Let’s not forget that every platform has its own set of rules, and it’s your job to learn them, leverage them, and iterate with them.

Remember, LinkedIn is a career platform for professionals.

Naturally, people are ambitious and growth-oriented.

Many are job seekers looking for ways to level up at work, build meaningful connections, and learn new things.

Which is why these are some of my top posts:

I don’t believe in dream jobs.

Leaving isn’t the same as quitting.

How to find a career you genuinely love.

My best career advice: Learn, Earn or Leave ✌🏼

Stop asking, “What’s the company culture like?” in interviews.

Write with that in mind.

✅ Try this:

• Block off 15 minutes daily to see what posts are showing up on your feed

• Save posts that resonate with you

• Bookmark that page

• Review at the end of the week and do this excercise:

  • Why did this do well?

  • What’s the topic / theme?

  • What’s the hook?

  • What’s the structure + format?

  • What’s the image

  • Do I want to re-create something like this? Y/N (if yes, add it to your content system)

This exercise will get you 10x faster to mastering content on LinkedIn.

3/ Create a content system

I actually geek out on systems and tools. I’m extremely proud of the system I built and refine over the past 2 years in Notion.

Plus there are so many templates you can choose from here (yes, it’s free).

4/ Don’t be afraid to charge + pitch

This is probably the biggest learning.

Fun fact: I started monetizing the moment I decided to commit to LinkedIn (my first post).

Here’s my plan that I stuck to 80%:

1. Commit to posting 3-5x / week for 1 year

2. Launch a coaching business to help project & program managers land fulfilling roles

3. Set a goal to hit my first 10k followers

4. Pitched for my first brand deal when I had 7k followers (and it worked!)

This is actually pivotal because it was the moment I realized rates aren’t tied to follower count (this is a myth).

Most people say you should charge 1% of your following. Say you have 100k followers that’s basically $1k and it’s not a rule I recommend at all.

Have any guesses on how much I charge brands? Let me know and I’m open to sharing it, my method, and bundled offers in the spirit of knowledge = a gift.

Have any questions? Just hit “reply” (I read every email).

If you want to join me as I build in public, follow along here.

And you can read all the previous newsletters here 🎉 

Jean