I remember it like it was yesterday.

May 25th, 2021. Two days after my 37th birthday. (Sidebar: I always seem to have big breakthroughs on my birthday.)

At the time, I was less than two months into "building a personal brand." (I put that in quotes because that’s not how I thought about it.)

I had moved out of the San Francisco ecosystem, back to my hometown of St. Louis and wanted to stay connected. 

I also had just launched my new thing: Gateway X. Lots of friends and mentors suggested I start tweeting and engaging, so I did.

I had this idea for a thread rip through my mind. I wrote it in 20 minutes, ran it by Adriane, posted it and went out for a date night dinner with my wife.

As we left dinner, I got a call from Adriane. It was 9 PM, which was abnormal. 

”Umm, Jesse,” she said. “Have you seen our leads dashboard? We have gotten 150 leads in the last three hours!!!"

I was shocked.

When all was said and done, that one post had delivered 4M+ impressions and over 400 leads. My followers went from 8K to 16K overnight. I was blown away.

We repost that same thread every three months or so and "lifetime-to-date," it has generated four THOUSAND leads. Even more important, the post showed us a new channel we'd never considered.

The channel has gone on to generate tens of thousands of organic leads and is still GrowthAssistant’s top channel four years in.

Over time, I grew my following to 100K+ and, every week, a different founder friend would get in touch and say, "I've noticed this. Should I do it?"

Here is my response:

First, let's start with the benefits. 

1) Helping others

I get 5+ messages a day saying, "Thanks for writing this. It really unblocked me!" That started almost immediately. I think my “why” is to help others learn and grow to be the best versions of themselves, and noticed immediately that content was a scalable way to do that.

2) Learning

I myself get to learn from content. Whether it’s writing my thoughts out or hearing what others have to say, it tends to expand my own mind and spirit in interesting ways.

3) Meeting others

I've made some good friends. Alex Lieberman comes to mind when I think of people I met through social media. These people are more than "connections" — they’re smart folks in my corner who I can learn from.

1) Commercial leads

See above story. When we launched Kahani, we immediately got a waitlist of 100+ people. This let us move incredibly fast to test product-market fit and iterate the product. (And, ultimately, we shut down the biz quickly, too.) To this day, it still leads to tons of leads across the businesses.

2) Talent

I wasn't sure if social media would work for recruiting, but when I wrote this post, I received 200+ qualified resumes for Aux! Not only that, but once someone is in our funnel, any candidates who Google me will see my content, see what I stand for, how I think and have much higher interest in joining us. That helps a ton in recruiting.

3) Deals and meetings

It’s much easier for me to get a meeting with anyone I want. I get asked to invest in companies or be a part of unique deals. All of it comes from social.

So, should you do it?

Maybe. It's the definition of an asymmetric payoff. Very little downside and tons of upside. But I've been in this game a while now, and have seen more people fail than succeed at it.

The commercial benefits are real, but I think anyone who is ONLY doing it for that reason won't succeed. Because… it’s a grind. 

And it’s sort of a raw creative work.  Right now, it’s 6:12 AM as I write this email on Wednesday, July 2nd. I do this every week. No team — just me, you and my need to write something.

There are other reasons too: social is constantly changing. Audiences are evolving. What works one time won't work again. 

It's also a very "hits-driven” business that's tough on people. For every viral thread, 15 will get crickets, so it can feel discouraging.

• Allocate ~10 hours of your own time — no agency or employee to start.

• Pick one platform to start (I'd suggest LinkedIn at the moment, but that may change).

• Make a solid profile/account page that represents you and is your personal landing page. I.e., when someone clicks it, it should answer the question, "Why should I follow this person?"

• Be real and authentic. Anything you write should inform, entertain and teach. Provide value.

• Follow people relevant to you or your business.

• Start commenting thoughtfully (get into the conversation).

• Do this a BUNCH — all day, every day. This alone will get you lots of the spiritual benefits.

• On LinkedIn, it’s usually one big post a day. Have a picture or a "cheat sheet" with some valuable information.

• Before you post, ask yourself, "Why would someone reading this copy the link and share it with their team or friends?"

• Be consistent, personal, authentic — it’s a shots-on-goals game.

• Learn how to storytell. Have a compelling hook (this grabs attention), then maintain curiosity and deliver benefits. In each arc, leave a small cliffhanger.

• Go find 5-10 folks with similar sized accounts and create an "engagement" pod, where you agree to share and comment on each other’s posts. This goes a long way.

• Regularly review what's working and what isn't. At least monthly, look at the best posts and the worst. See which ones created a stir.

So there you have it! I'm not selling a course (yet) on this (although, I probably should) but that's the answer I give to founder friends who call me!

Have a great week.

jesse

PS - If you’re on Linkedin or X, send me the links and I’ll follow you.