They rejected me

They rejected me. 

In one of my interviews during the pandemic, I was rejected by a company simply because I didn’t have a LinkedIn profile.

I was shocked.

But more than that I was ready to take up the challenge of personal branding. 

In my gut, I knew there was a bigger picture. 

Fast forward to 2 years later, I am on the other side of the table hiring people for my company. 

In the last 24 months, I have built an audience of 70000 people who read what I have to share. 

This wasn't easy. This wasn’t impossible either. 

Now when I look at it…it is pure analysis and implementation. 

The art of audience building is the biggest leverage of this century. 

I have broken this entire timeline for you in easy and digestible insights.

This will give you a 30,000-foot view of how you can ace personal branding without being overwhelmed by tons of posts on your feed regularly. 

I have broken down the journey in terms of vanity but by no means do I think or feel that vanity is equal to impact.

Smaller brands can have stronger voices too.

I am simply sharing a part of my experience. 

I have dissected the journey of content in four major timelines and how each one has to evolve to grow in an impactful direction. 

Stage 1 : 0 - 10,000 (The Diligent Decoder) 

• Focus on maintaining consistency. 

• Study other creators like anything at this stage, find patterns and model what aligns with you.

• Each post at this stage should be made to test an idea and to capture relevant outcomes. Once you receive recurring success, you have engineered your victory. 

• Engage more to expose your content to larger audiences. Do directional engagement in the field you want to grow in. 

• Don’t join pods or engagement groups to get success at this stage. Genuine engagement can be recreated with mastery, false engagement is futile. 

• Most creators quit before hitting their first 10,000 followers. Focus on setting up a process that saves you from frequent burnout. And remember “if you are tired of starting over, stop giving up.”

• By the end you have a list of the top creators in your niche & 40 profiles you can engage and grow with. 

Stage 2: 10,000 - 25000 (The Smart Analyst)

• After you have hit your first 10,000 followers and you know the game, it is time to maximize your ROI. 

• Analyze all the content that works well for you and design a brand document. 

• This should contain Goals (Monetary or other)  + brand positioning and target audience-related information like pain points etc. 

• This will make you walk in the right direction. 

• Improve the content and presentation at this level, and create what sets you apart. 

• Instil your personality in the content. 

• Engage with your audience here. 

• Brush up your research skills here and have an idea of where you are going.

Stage 3: 25,000 - 50,000 (The Expert Strategist)