He Built A $100K/Month Personal Brand Straight Out Of College
A 23-year-old personal brand coach and an agency founder compare notes on viral hook formats, when to start selling, and why your content needs a whole department.
Posted
1 months ago
Duration
Format
Interview
sincere
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1.1K
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57 · 43
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
A personal brand grows when you find one hook format that works and repeat it, and it pays when every video funnels broad viewers down to a specific offer they already trust.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
You've posted for a year or more, you're stuck at a few thousand views, and you want to know what actually changed for someone who broke out.
You have a following but almost no revenue from it and can't see the link between content and clients.
You're a founder who thinks an intern or a videographer posting once a day counts as a personal brand strategy.
You're early in a coaching or service business and want the honest math on outbound DMs, free work and pricing your first offer.
SKIP IF…
You want step-by-step scripting or editing tactics. This is a strategy and mindset conversation, not a tutorial.
You're looking for paid ads or e-commerce growth advice. Everything here is organic short-form.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
Growth came from one discovery: a hook format that stopped the scroll, then repeating it until it stopped working. The guest stalled for two years posting daily at about 3K views, then a hook stating his age and follower count hit 150K and became the template for everything after. The bigger lesson is structural. One video can start broad to earn reach, narrow its vocabulary toward business owners, and end on a very specific lead magnet so only qualified viewers convert. Don't sell before trust exists, treat content as a full department rather than an intern's job, build a real skill before designing an offer, and expect months of unpaid inputs before the first client lands.
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00:56Host, personal brand agency founderKeir Hübner
01:05Guest, personal brand coachJack Mason (Longevity Penguin)
Chapters
Where the time goes.
00:00 – 00:56
01 · Cold open
A montage of the episode's strongest soundbites: content as a company department, and the no-risk case for starting.
00:56 – 03:33
02 · From COVID gym videos to personal branding
The guest's path from university videography to coaching high-level entrepreneurs, and both speakers' accidental starts in lockdown fitness content.
03:33 – 07:46
03 · The hook that broke a two-year plateau
Stuck at about 3K views after posting daily for years, the guest found a hook stating his age and follower count that hit 150K, then doubled down. The host adds a 'me and bro' format that pulled 20M+ views.
07:46 – 09:36
04 · One video, the whole funnel
Start with a broad hook for reach, narrow the vocabulary toward business owners as the script goes, and end on a niche lead magnet so only qualified viewers act.
09:36 – 14:15
05 · When to start selling
Most people monetize too early. Test with story sequences, read the response, and keep building trust. A 14K-follower client did $151K in month one after seven months of pure value content.
14:15 – 17:56
06 · What clients actually want
Shifting from info sellers chasing leads to seven- and nine-figure founders chasing legacy changes the pitch. Some need brand equity first, others need the missing link between content and cash.
17:56 – 20:00
07 · Content is a department, not an intern
Founders can't outsource being on camera. A videographer making pretty lifestyle videos for a 2,000-follower account is missing strategy, not production.
20:00 – 24:48
08 · Skill first, then the offer
Design backward from your ideal day, get good at a skill people pay for, then build an offer. One-on-one coaching capped at $100K a month, so the next move is group coaching.
24:48 – 28:07
09 · Putting yourself in luck's way
Offers change many times. A viral video led to a coaching role at School of Hard Knocks; a two-videos-a-day rule led to the host's first editing clients.
28:07 – 32:22
10 · The outbound math
Ten $1,000 clients out of 8 billion people, worked backward into a daily DM quota. Hundreds of messages, free work for proof, and no ego about early pricing.
32:22 – 34:36
11 · Doubt, pressure and the no-risk frame
Six months of no clients after quitting a job, deals backing out, and the reframe that failing just returns you to where you were. Success brings its own pressure: 40 people's paychecks.
34:36 – 38:01
12 · Why keep going
People are praying for the work only you can do. Motivation shifts from money to messages from followers and, most of all, being able to send money to family without thinking twice.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
A single hook that states your age and your follower count took one account from about 3K average views to 150K on its first use.
Two years of posting every day with no growth ended the week a repeatable hook format was found, not when the content got better.
One format built around 'POV you and your bro' with a 'tag your bro' caption earned over 20 million views across repeated posts.
A video can start top of funnel for reach and end bottom of funnel for sales if the vocabulary narrows as it goes.
Save words like 'offer' and 'scaling' for the middle of a video; putting them in the hook shrinks your reach before you've earned it.
A creator with 14,000 followers did $151,000 cash collected in the first month of an offer after seven months of pure trust-building content.
Some accounts with 3 million followers make less than an account with 94,000, because top of funnel content attracts audiences that don't buy.
If selling isn't working, the problem is the offer, the content or the audience, and usually all three.
Ask every new client which video or theme made them follow you; that onboarding data tells you exactly what content to make next.
A founder posting polished lifestyle videos daily with 2,000 followers doesn't have a videographer problem, they have a strategy problem.
One-on-one coaching hit $100K a month and then capped out, because doubling it means doubling the hours.
To make $10K a month at $1,000 per client you need 10 buyers out of 8 billion people, so posting only in your native language shrinks the odds for no reason.
Work the funnel backward: videos to followers, followers to DMs, DMs to calls, calls to closes, and you know your daily message quota.
Don't charge $6,000 with no proof; a single free month that produces a huge result can be worth more than the fee ever would.
The worst case of trying entrepreneurship and failing is ending up exactly where you are now.
Takeaway
Find the hook, then earn the sale.
WHAT TO LEARN
Reach comes from repeating one proven hook format, and revenue comes from narrowing each video toward a specific buyer, building trust before asking, and doing the unpaid inputs early.
03The hook that broke a two-year plateau
Growth stalls are usually a hook problem: one format that stops the scroll, repeated with new bodies and endings, can multiply average views 50x.
04One video, the whole funnel
Build each video like a funnel, broad language up front for reach and buyer vocabulary later, ending on one specific lead magnet.
05When to start selling
Follower count is a weak proxy for income; an engaged 14K audience can out-earn millions of top of funnel followers.
Test selling early with story sequences, but if nobody bites, fix the offer, the content or the audience before pushing harder.
Ask each new client which video made them follow you and use those answers to decide what to post next.
07Content is a department, not an intern
Personal brand content needs strategy and the founder on camera; a videographer or intern posting daily can't substitute for either.
08Skill first, then the offer
Get genuinely good at a paid skill first, then design an offer around your clients' result and the life you want to live.
One-on-one work proves results fast but caps out; plan the move to group delivery before you hit the ceiling.
10The outbound math
Work your income goal backward into clients, calls, DMs and posts so the daily effort is a number, not a feeling.
Price for your proof: early free or cheap work that produces one big case study is worth more than holding out for a high fee.
11Doubt, pressure and the no-risk frame
Expect months of inputs with no money; the downside of trying is returning to where you started, so the risk is smaller than it feels.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Top of funnel content
Broad, widely relatable videos designed for maximum reach. They attract lots of viewers, most of whom are not ready or likely to buy anything.
Bottom of funnel content
Narrow videos aimed at people already close to buying, often with a direct offer or call to action. Fewer views, much higher purchase intent.
Story sequence
A planned series of Instagram Stories posted in order to warm up followers and lead them toward a sale, a call booking or a lead magnet.
Lead magnet
A free resource, like a guide or template, given in exchange for a comment, DM or email, used to start a conversation with a likely buyer.
ICP
Ideal customer profile. A specific description of the client a business is built to serve, used to shape offers, content and sales conversations.
Cash collected
Money actually received in a period, as opposed to contracted or booked revenue that will be paid later.
Outbound DMs
Direct messages sent proactively to potential clients who haven't contacted you first, the social media version of cold outreach.
Quotables
Lines you could clip.
04:58
“I'm 22 with 70,000 followers and my content looks better than 99% of creators on Instagram.”
The exact hook that broke a two-year plateau, quotable as a template→ Hook breakdown short↗ Tweet quote
07:46
“By the end, only the most qualified viewers are actually still watching.”
Compresses the whole-funnel-in-one-video idea into a line→ Carousel opener on video structure↗ Tweet quote
18:20
“You can't just have a script handed to you once a week and just talk. That's not going to build the type of personal brand that you want.”
Direct challenge to founders who outsource their face→ Founder-targeted reel↗ Tweet quote
32:22
“Worst case scenario, I try this, I fail, and then I go back to what I was doing. Best case scenario, I changed my life.”
“There are people out there that are praying for the work that only you can do.”
Emotional closer that answers the fear of looking cringe→ Caption or quote card↗ Tweet quote
The Script
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
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Today, we are here with Jack Mason, aka the Longevity Penguin. Longevity Penguin. We're going to dive deeper into running a business at a pretty young age.
23, like you said, I graduated university last year, working with high -level entrepreneurs, helping them grow their personal brand to ultimately grow their business. And I scale that to 100K a month. I wish more founders realized that.
They think, oh, I can just outsource it or hand it off to someone else. And it's like, you need to be on camera. You need to be sharing your insights.
You can't just have a script handed to you, you know, once a week and just talk. Like, that's not going to build the type of personal brand that you want. to this is just another part of the company whether you like it or not just like your sales team just like your paid marketing just like operations hr if you want to be out there on social media you need to have a full on department for it to execute on it properly talk to so many people and they tell me i want to be an entrepreneur like i want to build my own thing but they're just too scared to start the worst case scenario if you try it and if you fail you'll be right back where you are now when you think about it that way there's really no risk to get to the point where i am now it really started changing when all right guys welcome back to another video on my channel today we are here with jack mason aka the longevity penguin longevity penguin i always have trouble with that one um we're gonna dive deeper into well actually running a business at a pretty young age you're 23 years old i'm about to turn 25 years old also the importance of building a personal brand what it can bring to the table and then yeah you've grown your account pretty fast but i will leave the introduction up to you yeah thanks for thanks for having me super pumped to be here i'm glad we connected from our personal brand exactly yeah yeah so in terms of introduction
Basically, what I do is, I think, pretty similar to what you do. It's really helping entrepreneurs build their personal brands and grow in social media. So I'm 23, like you said.
I graduated university last year. Before that or during university, I was doing videography. I built up a business.
But as we were kind of talking about earlier, videography isn't really scalable long term. And, you know, it's not as high leverage as coaching consulting. So the last year, I've really been building my coaching consulting agency, working with high level entrepreneurs, helping them grow their personal brand to ultimately.
grow their business so i've been able to have some pretty good success with it and you know that's one of the reasons i'm here in dubai getting able to travel and meet my clients all over the world yeah awesome and then yeah you mentioned it a little bit you did videography in um while while you were doing universities um how did you really get into the whole like social media space and the personal branding space to start with yeah like i've been posting for a long time i started in in 2020 actually during covet because The gyms were shut down.
I was trying to stay fit and I wanted to document how I was doing that and kind of share value to other people to help them stay fit as well. And, you know, that transformed over the years from more like value content to motivational workout content than to how to make content content. And now to personal branding content the last year or so.
So it's really been a long journey. Lots of ups and downs, lots of trying to monetize the page, trying different business models, failing. until kind of finally finding that right vehicle, which I feel like I'm in now.
Yeah, awesome. It's so funny because my content was also gym content during COVID because there was nothing else to be documented pretty much for me. It's also my first ever viral video.
I think it's at 6 .4 million views. I still get some comments on it on TikTok sometimes. And it was just a generic.
me working out in a super dark gym and then with an AI voiceover text of like what life has come to during covet um yeah for me too like it grew into then really being interested in like building Brands um scaling accounts of other people rolled into the info space as a As a short form video editor, essentially. And then kind of worked my way up to becoming the head of marketing for that specific offer.
But you're getting close to 100 ,000 followers, right? And it's also growing at a pretty fast pace right now. You mentioned you were posting for like five years already at this point.
When did it really start taking off? And what were like the most important changes that you made that allowed you to grow that fast, do you think? It's funny because when I first started posting, I started blowing up.
and gained a ton of followers, like 10, 20 ,000 followers in a few months. And so I thought, wow, this is easy. You know, growing on social media, if I've already done this in such a short amount of time, you know, in a year, like I'll be at a million followers.
But it didn't work like that, especially as I've mentioned, like transitioning from, I would say more of that top of funnel motivational self -improvement to personal branding to content. It's just a little bit harder to get views and to grow the page. So for a while there, I was stuck for like a couple of years, honestly.
posting every day posting consistently not necessarily growing and it was really frustrating right like yeah i feel like everyone watching this or many people have tried to grow on social media and it just hasn't worked and so for me to get to the point where i am now it really started changing in january when i figured out what i would call like a viral hook format yeah which started working so i realized you know if i talked about my age and my following I was 22 at the time and I had like 70 ,000 followers.
I'm like, okay, maybe this will get people to stop scrolling and listen to what I have to say because I'm young, I've grown this audience already. So the hook, which blew up everything was I'm 22 with 70 ,000 followers and my content looks better than 99 % of creators on Instagram. Once I started, like the first time I ever posted that video, it did like 150K views.
My average at the time was like three, three K views. So that was really what started the growth. And I just kept doubling down and doubling down on that winning format.
And I think that's really where it all started. And then obviously you can't just repeat the same video in the same format every single time. So I had to be more creative, but it's just about finding that one hook that hits and then doubling down on it.
Yeah. And I mean, if you go to your Instagram page right now, like people can see, and I would genuinely, what you just said in the last like 30 seconds to a minute, like, I would highly recommend taking notes of this.
And if you go to your Instagram page right now, you will see that if you go back to the first time you used that hook, there's many different videos coming after that where you double down on the hook that also did perform very well. And that is pretty much the whole game of social media. It doesn't matter if you're posting three years, five years.
If you haven't gotten any great results, you just need to focus on one good hook, finding that winning format. doubling down on it and then of course with the other videos that you're posting during the week find out more formats that work and double down on those and eventually you might have four to five different formats that you can keep recycling on your page where you can change the body or change the information that you're sharing or change the the ending or the cta um it's the same for me like we were at some point getting insane results on like lifestyle videos the trends and again top of the funnel is the easiest way to get views pretty much converting it is a different story but we kind of came up almost i can say we are like the inventors of the me and bro videos um we were doing like the the the content for reuben and samuel onua and their brothers running this big e -commerce brand right icon amsterdam And they had a bunch of clips like dabbing each other up, like hugging in front of the cars, getting these cars.
And every single video where it was like POV you and your bro, and then we put the caption tag your bro, like 3 ,000 comments of people tagging their bro or shares. So that's a winning format that we doubled down on. And the first video, for example, we did 1 .4 million views.
Then we did it again. It did 4 .7 million views. Then again, 3 .7.
So with that one single format, I think we did like... 20 30 if not more millions of views on just one format of course with middle of the funnel and bottom of the funnel it's it's way way harder but on the other side of that is You don't necessarily need to go viral with that content, in my opinion, because if you have middle or bottom of the funnel content, and maybe you disagree with this, but if you attract the right people and you can sell to it, let's say you have 3 ,000 viewers of the right quality people that are watching that video.
You don't need it to go viral, but maybe your thoughts are different on this one. No, I think I agree for the most part. What I would add and what I like to think I've kind of figured out is how to have a video that does both.
That starts top of funnel and then to get the views, to get the reach, to get the engagement. But then as you're going throughout the video in terms of mainly copywriting and scripting is how I think about it, funneling down and niching down so that by the end, it's almost more of a middle of funnel. And then by the very end, the call to action, the call to action is very, very specific.
So what I've been trying to do is, especially for my videos. A few months ago, when the format was really killing it for me was start very top of funnel, very broad hook. Then as we go down, almost like funnel down like this and narrow, start using words that more high -level entrepreneurs and business owners would use, like offer, scaling, things like that.
But I would never use that in the hook or the start. And then that's a way to almost hack the system where it's not one or the other. It can be a hybrid.
And that's almost the best type of video because it gets both views. But then by the end, only the most qualified viewers are actually still watching. And then if you have the right call to action to like a free resource, to a lead magnet, like I've gotten videos with thousands and thousands of like five plus thousand comments from a top of funnel video commenting for a very niche lead magnet.
And so that's been one of the strategies that I've used that's really allowed me to scale up pretty quickly. um is is but it's difficult it's easier to think oh i'll just post this is top of funnel and this is middle of funnel because that's how everyone that's how i think people think that's what they're taught but people don't necessarily know this is a good strategy too right like really just putting in the whole funnel into one video and starting off with the top of the funnel and then all the way at the end you're left with the group of people that you most likely can sell your offer to 100 now when it comes to monetizing right like we've both have gone through this i was posting for a long time while still working for this offer in the united states before i launched anything a lot of people come on social media looking at these guys making money having a business not necessarily like flexing but they understand that people can make money with social media one of the biggest mistakes i see people make um is they come online with 1200 followers from their high school or the university and then
They optimize their bio a little bit. They maybe do some highlights or a pin post. And then three days later, they post a CTA story, Matt.
Hey, guys, I have an offer. Buy my offer. So when it comes to this, what would you say is the right timing for someone?
I don't think you can have a certain amount of followers for it. But what is the right timing for someone to actually start monetizing their personal brand? Whether that be selling an agency offer, consulting offer, or influencer, doesn't really matter.
be the right timing? I think it's an impossible question. It's different for everyone.
And the honest answer is probably just try to, and it probably won't work. And that tells you you're not ready. Exactly.
But if you actually are like, oh, let me try, you try posting some story sequences, you start having some sales conversations, and you actually find that the audience that you have is interested in what you have to offer, then that's a great sign that let's double down on the monetization aspect. But I think overall people try to monetize too early.
But I know people with a few thousand followers who make more money than me. And then guys, I was talking with this, I won't say who it was, but this guy has 3 million followers and he's making way less than what I'm at at 94. So I think followers aren't everything, but it's a good proxy to will I actually be able to monetize?
Then at the same time, there's a lot of guys who are influencers who have the following. But the buyer, there's no buyers. They've only post top of funnel content.
So they only attract top of funnel audiences. Low engaging audience. So I think it's like, okay, if you try to sell, you try to monetize and it's not working, you can either fix the offer, the content or the audience.
And probably all three at once. But like for someone like me now where I have a proven offer, it's a lot easier because I know what content works. I know how to monetize.
I know what my ideal clients. looks like i know what they want i know what content they can they interact like i asked all these questions on the onboarding as well it's like why did you follow my brand what about me what about my content was there a specific piece of video or or theme that made you want to look into working with me so i have all this data now so when you are starting out you kind of need that yeah so it's a mix of starting a little bit before you're ready But then at the same time, knowing that there's a long way to go if you've never monetized before on social media.
Yeah, I agree with this as well. And it's also about building up that trust and credibility with the content that you're making. And if all you have is three reels on your page, the amount of trust and credibility you have is probably close to zero.
Therefore, selling will be super hard. I do agree with what you say, though, is you can try. And then based on what comes out of your story sequence or the reel with the CTA.
um you can see if you are actually ready if not i would just highly recommend on for as long as possible build up that credibility and trust up until people start asking for an offer almost we had um one of this our clients in the ecom space he built his brands for seven or eight months invested seven or eight months into our service didn't sell anything was only speaking about what he does the numbers he's running with this econ brand value information education And then as soon as we rolled out the offer, we did $151 ,000 cash collected in the first month of that offer, which paid back all the months prior.
And now he's like doing two to 300K per month with an offer and it's month three or four since we launched. And he has 14 ,000 followers, you know? And then there's the guys out there that have 1 .1, 1 .2 million followers struggling to sometimes even make like 10 to 15K per month because they have no clue how the conversion mechanism works.
works behind a personal brand so i think um yeah i couldn't agree more when it comes to um you and especially working with other people right now what is like the kind of results that you're getting for other people clients that you are currently working with that's a great question so the clients that typically work it's interesting because right now i'm in the middle of switching the type of client i'm working with which is kind of a whole separate discussion that i'm trying to figure out but right now it's typically seven eight nine figure entrepreneurs yeah And they all kind of want something different.
Because when I first started out, I was working more with like info guys doing just say like 10 to 50K a month. And what they wanted was leads from social media. And so that was what we were optimizing for in terms of the content, in terms of story sequences, in terms of sales processes.
Now that I've shifted over to like, I would call more of like a higher educated ICP, it's less about building pain. You know what I mean? oh, if you don't get more leads or if you don't grow your audience, where are you going to be?
It's more about, you've already made it to a great point. Where do you want to take the business? And where can you take it with social media?
So I'm having conversations that are a lot more like, I want to leave a legacy. I was told by a nine -figure founder, I want to learn organic content because he built a nine -figure business with paid ads. He's like, I want to build a 10 -figure business.
And I know in order to build a billion -dollar company, I can't just be all on paid ads, so I need to learn organic content too. So for someone like that, it's really interesting how the desires and why they actually want to grow on social media is different.
But for each client, the strategy is completely different based on their goals. I have a client I just started working with, and he's not necessarily trying to monetize right away, kind of like you were saying, like build that brand. equity build that brand trust kind of just document what he's doing yep you know all his all his videos have hit at least 10k views his fourth video ever is at almost 150k views and you know he's i think he's almost 10 times his audience size already in like a few weeks so for him it's like that's exactly what we want to do whereas some other guys have come to me recently and they're like you know i'm already doing well 40k a month whatever but we need the monetization like i don't know how to turn content into cash i'm posting every day I'm just missing the link between clients and content.
I get this question so often as well. So for them, it's a completely different strategy. It's more about lead magnets, automations, how to actually nurture, storytell, sales process, story sequences.
So it really depends. I think the best personal brands have both, have the content, the brand, but also are able to get some sort of ROI eventually from posting the content. But I think most people are probably way too focused on the follower count.
Yeah. And impatience. Impatience, right?
They're like, oh, if I can just hit 100K followers, then I'll be rich, right? But it's like, okay, now you have the 100K. That's like step one now.
The other 50 % is completely different. And that's something I had to learn as a creator myself because I had the followers, but I was making no money. And so that's really what I'm trying to instill in my clients.
Like, hey. The followers are important. The views are important.
But there's this whole other side of things which we need to dial down. Yeah. And I don't think people realize how in -depth social media has actually become.
There's so much psychology behind it or strategies behind it. And the way you word certain things can 10x your video or make it even worse. Same with the story sequences.
And a lot of the people out there, they think, oh, let me just get an intern. that does my social media and post one time a day and yeah that's it boom i'm active a va a va for example but i wish it was like this you know like early stages social media if you were posting once a day then you would be in the top pretty pretty fast and pretty easy yeah um but now it's just it's it has to be a full department within your company doesn't matter if you're in the info space or if you just want to build a brand as a founder in general, you need to almost have sort of a department that is fully focused on personal branding and are experts working on the social media strategies that need to be implemented.
100%. And I think I wish more founders realized that. Because again, like you said, they think, oh, I can just outsource it or hand it off to someone else.
And it's like, you need to be on camera. You need to be sharing your insights. You can't just have a script handed to you.
you know, once a week and just, and just talk like that's not going to build the type of personal brand that you want to. And, you know, I guess some of my clients as well, they already have a copywriter, they have an editor, they have a videographer, they have a strategist, but I'm still part of their team because they see the value of like someone to kind of almost manage or organize all these individual departments and lead the strategy in the right direction.
But then at the same time, I get some founders saying, oh, I have a videographer. I don't need to pay for extra strategy, right? And I'm like, okay, let's take a look at your account.
The videos look great. It's lifestyle content. High quality because you have a videographer.
You're posting once a day and you have 2 ,000 followers and you're not scaling your business from it. So clearly we're missing something here. So I think that's something I wish founders understood a little bit more.
Yeah, I agree. not thinking so easy of it you know like really understanding like this is just another part of the company whether you like it or not just like your sales team just like your paid marketing just like operations hr like if you want to be out there on social media you need to have a full on department for it to execute on it properly 100 nice then maybe cool to also touch on um making money right everybody likes to make money yes um you've posted for a long time before you actually started making money for me it took me about a year and then i sort of got lucky i would say just to be honest like i got put into this twitter group chat and i became known as the short form editor and i was getting 30 per video i was like damn this is cool but it went quick so i was making like 10 12 videos per day and the automations were not there like it took me an hour to make a short form video basically so i was editing like eight to ten hours every day and then i decided hey this is not scalable you know i want to turn this into a business but i also have to do filming like what am i doing um but a lot of people
see all these guys online making money you know and they think oh out of nowhere there's this this other guy popping off in a nice car or is traveling or has a serious company or like a lot of high quality camera gear for example what would you say to these people like they they want to do something they want to make money online they are posting on social media but they're kind of lost how to find their way towards making money at the end of the day yeah that's tough i think like the way that i built my entire business and life was what do i actually want to do yeah what does my ideal day look like and then what are the what is the offer what is the business model that can allow me to live that ideal day yeah um obviously ideally you need some sort of skill set like you can't just be posting content and not have something valuable that other people are willing to pay you for so the honest answer for most people is get better at the skill yep which isn't it's not fun to hear right it's not like oh like
I want it now. Which is why I was posting for five years with nothing because I didn't have the skill yet. And then I got the skill and then my business blew up.
So I think start there. Start with getting better at your skill. Then it's like, okay, designing the offer.
Most people who are just starting out don't really know what an offer is. And the way that I think about it is how can I help my clients get the result that they want using the skill that I have in a way that allows me to... still have life design and still have the life that i want and it's about testing out those things so for instance like right now i'm just mainly offering one -on -one yeah coaching right and i scale that to 100k a month in in august and then i'm like i can't do this again because i can't double the number of clients without basically feeling like and not wanting to work so i'm like okay what's what's the pivot now it's group coaching yeah so i can have 100 people 50 people in one group and it's not 50 extra hours on my week yeah so i think for the most part when you're getting started you kind of need to do a little bit more work you need to offer more done for you one -on -one because you need those initial results to be able to then leverage that and do it for scalable you know sure yeah like i remember too when i was starting out the first videos i made were free until a guy literally told me like hey what do i owe you
I was like, what do you mean? I like making videos, you know, you don't owe me nothing. And he said, no, no, what's your price?
I was like, okay, I'm making like $10 an hour now while scheduling in appointments for the COVID vaccine and working at the airport, helping people find their luggage through the phone from home. I was like, okay, let's just triple the money. And then I was like, $30, let's do it.
And he was like, yep, no problem. He sent me the $30. He even taught me how to make a Stripe account.
at that moment so he could pay me so i was like whoa this is new that's where everything clicked for me as well but what i liked about what you say is like really doing and starting something from passion like finding out what you actually enjoy doing every single day and then turning that into an offer um for me the easiest way to turn the video editing or like what i do right now into an actual offer i don't think there's a better book than 100 million offers like if you it's literally almost a playbook of like There are certain questions in that book.
I had a notebook. I was following the whole book, writing everything out. And then at the end, you have an offer.
It's literally sitting there and you're so deep into the book that you understand everything about it. And that's where I made an actual technical offer, which also a lot of people underestimate, right? Like, what are you getting these people in terms of results?
Is there an ROI? Are you enjoying it? How are you going to deliver to it?
Are you going to use? systems, WhatsApp, Slack, email. There are so much more things going into an actual offer than just, hey, you're getting this and you're paying me this.
There's so much in between of actually getting them the results because at the end of the day, if you want to grow your business fast, and I've made some pretty fast jumps. For example, 5X my business in November 2024. And then over 2025, I doubled that again.
The more money you make, the harder it is to kind of double your money. But the only reason for it is was focusing on getting your clients the results that they want. So you can leverage that again and get more clients with the results that you have.
And I think marketing, that is the easiest way, in my opinion, to get clients as well. 100%. I think, though, at the same time, in terms of going back to offers, you're not going to get it right the first time.
No. My offer changed so many times. So don't be discouraged if you...
create an offer and then you try to sell it and no one wants to buy it. That's good data. Something isn't working.
Let's try something else. So I think that's important to note as well. And then I guess going back to talking about monetization and how I was actually able to do it.
And you said there was a little bit of luck involved for you. Same with me. I posted a video.
It happened to go viral. It had that hook structure we talked about at the beginning. And then someone from the School of Hard Knocks happened to see it.
I'm not sure if you've seen the School of Hard Knocks. Yeah, I'm familiar with them. For the audience, they basically interview millionaires and billionaires and ask them, what did you do to get rich?
And then on the back of that, they have a content coaching offer, which they actually just started when I joined the offer, which was last November. So the guy who was leading the offer... whose name was Joel Kaplan, he happened to see my video, DM me, hey, bro, heard of School of Hard Knocks?
Question mark. I was like, yeah. He's like, do you want to be a coach?
I was like, yes. At the time, I think I had one client at the time, zero or one. And so that's the pivotal moment where I joined the team.
I started working with a bunch of business owners, getting paid finally for coaching, consulting, as opposed to videography, editing. And from there, I was scaling my own business alongside the School of Hard Knocks clients I had. And I was leveraging the results I was getting for the School of Hard Knocks clients into getting more clients for my own business.
So now I've recently reached a point where I can't keep working with the School of Hard Knocks because I just don't have the time. So I think that's a good example of like, you just need to put yourself out there enough for long enough to have that opportunity that changes everything come to you. So I guess it's not really luck in a sense because it was the same for me every single day.
I was doing the inputs that were needed for the results that I wanted, right? My rule was two videos a day, no matter what, no matter how you feel, no matter if you have COVID, you're posting two videos a day. And that's also how these people who threw me in the Twitter group chat found me because they liked my editing.
And I had like, what, 2 ,000 followers on TikTok and he happened to see my TikTok video and he reached out to me. Yo, can you edit for me? Like that's the power of organic content.
Yeah, that's all you need. And that's where it all started for me to now running a business with like, man, about 40 people in my team right now that are getting paid every single month, managing all these clients, managing the team. It all started with just doing the inputs of putting yourself out there on social media, which will allow you to get opportunities like this.
And also international reach is so, so important in my opinion. Like my first language is not English. And I was, from day one posting my videos in english man people were saying stuff about me as you could probably expect but i was like why would i limit myself to 19 million people market if i can also expand my market to 8 billion people on the planet you know it's going to be easier to find clients and yeah what i always told myself as well is okay you want to make a certain amount of money what is your offer price let's say a thousand dollars you want to make 10k per month you got to sell to 10 people go online and check the percentage of what 10 people is on 8 billion people.
It's not a lot of people. You can 100 % find 10 people on the planet that are more than happy to pay you $1 ,000 per month. And there you have your 10K.
Like if you break it down in these small goals, you can even go more in depth. Okay, how many videos do I need to post to gain X amount of followers? And then I can do outreach to those followers and how much.
messages do i have to send to book x amount of calls and then you can look at how many calls do you close and then you know exactly okay i need to send this many messages to book x calls to get x clients and that's what i did i wanted to make 10k per month i was sending outbound like crazy like there was no limit at the time as well i was in bed instead of scrolling on tick tock i was pushing myself okay i'm gonna do 100 messages and i was like no i'm gonna do 200 today 200 300 yeah and then at some point you get a reply and you get a client and that's all you need because if you then get the results for that client and they're big results which if you are good at what you do you can get pretty big results leverage that and then it goes crazy yeah i think um in terms of outbound dms like that's where i got started with videography i was sending hundreds of dms a day and then one dj happened to get back to me and like i can trace from when i did my first shoot with him to all the other connections i've ever gotten
Or from that one opportunity, I got paid 50 bucks. I got a ticket on my car. So I was like actually lost $10 from the shoot.
It was the most important thing that ever happened to get to where I am now. So I think at the very start, yeah, just message more people. Don't have an ego.
Don't have pride. Call more people. Send more DMs.
And don't be greedy. Like if you are new to the market, you cannot ask $6 ,000 for your offer if you have no results, no proof whatsoever. be willing to do stuff for free you know shoot for free edit for free get results for free maybe even do a full month of service for a client you know like completely for free if the client gets insane result that single result case can make you so much money so yeah don't be greedy from the start i would say never be greedy actually but don't expect too much coming your way at the beginning like you have to do the inputs put in the work without making a single dollar like my little brother told me as well like i asked him like yo do you not want to be a an entrepreneur like you're pretty hungry and working pretty hard um both of them actually and then he said no because i saw you in your bedroom for like 10 11 12 hours a day like not sure what you were doing but i know you weren't making any money because you were still in your bedroom with with our parents house and he said yeah i don't want to go through that but if you actually want to get there you you need to be willing to go through a period
like that where you're putting in all the work nothing comes out of it you get so insecure about what it is that you're doing especially i dropped out so it's no backup plan whatsoever yeah um but just believing in if you stick through it will work out eventually yeah for sure even like like the last the past 12 months 12 months ago i was i just quit my job my videography job and like i'm like okay i'm not working anymore i'm building my own business And it wasn't working.
It took six months for it to start working. And it's like every single day, especially as it went on and on, I wasn't getting clients, I wasn't making money. Guys were maybe agreeing in principle, but then backing out, which is so frustrating at the start.
That happened so much at the beginning as well. Yeah. I was like, how much longer do I need to do this before it starts working?
And there was definitely a ton of doubt that kept creeping in. And questioning, did I make the right decision? I also had like a girlfriend at the time.
So I was like, there's more pressure to kind of provide for her as well. But I was like, dude, like. Good pressure though.
Yeah. I was like, dude, like worst case scenario, I try this, I fail. And then I go back to what I was doing.
Exactly. Best case scenario, I changed my life. And the best case scenario happened.
So I wish more people had that mindset. Yeah. Especially the guys who.
I talk to so many people and they tell me, I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to build my own thing. But they're just too scared to start.
When you have that mindset, the worst case scenario, if you try it and if you fail, you'll be right back where you are now. So when you think about it that way, there's really no risk to trying to be an entrepreneur. And it's also funny because a lot of people, they want to make money.
They want to be an entrepreneur. They want to have their business, but they don't want to do what it takes to have that. And even to this day, I am still...
making very long days um and also the responsibility i have now over a big team also comes with a lot of pressure right like there's about 35 to 40 people paying their bills because of the things that i randomly say on a day -to -day basis to get more clients and get money on to the table so the beginning phase is tough because you're not making any money but over time it's it's not gonna get sunshine and rainbows at some point, especially if you want to keep growing, which I don't even think I ever thought about not wanting to keep growing.
It's just more pressure, more things you want to fix, more responsibility. You also need to be able to enjoy those things. I enjoy the pressure up to a certain point, of course.
You want to make sure everything is under control, but you need to be able to handle a lot of pressure if you actually want to do this. I don't think enough people want to do the work want to handle the pressure and the stress but they only want the the one story we can post when we are in dubai for like five days when it looks nice but the rest of the whole month we're just inside looking at our screens and that's it so we got about five more minutes left um Yeah.
Do you have any final things or any final words you want to say to people either starting out with social media or maybe founders that are on the edge of like, oh, I just need an intern and that's it? I think that I wish more people understood, and I've said this before, is like this mindset shift of basically understanding that there are people out there that are praying for the work that only you can do.
And that one line is so motivating. and inspiring for me and should be for for anyone who's on the edge about getting started with posting it's mainly for the people who they're like oh i don't know if i want to post or not i don't want to be seen as cringe but like there there are people out there right now whose lives you will change if you just post it yeah for long enough and so like even now like when i you know there's a bunch of different things that motivate me honestly one used to be money still is but that used to be my main motivation but when i got to a goal.
I was like, this, this is kind of, I'm just, I feel the same. What motivates me more now is the messages I get every single day from people who are like, dude, you, you're inspiring me to become an entrepreneur or I quit my job because of you, because they saw me in real time, quit my job and then become successful. And then, so there's that, there's that side of things, but then probably even, even the most impactful is the people I actually know in my life and like people I care about and love.
having conversations where they're telling me like you're inspiring me to chase my dream because because of me they know it's possible now and so i think that is just when you reach that point it's just infinite motivation yeah it's like why how can you stop when you know so many people are relying on you or looking up to you yeah are are waiting for your next video that you're posting and obviously the clients that you're impacting and helping as well so I think there's so many great things about social media and entrepreneurship.
And I'm super glad that we got to sit down and kind of have this conversation. Likewise, likewise. I think I cannot agree more.
Money is the first focus ever when you start 100%. You need money, whether you like it or not. People that say you don't need money.
I disagree. You need money for food and everything. But the moment where I really started appreciating what I was doing is when I could financially support.
friends family father mom brothers or sisters whenever it was necessary without even thinking twice yeah no matter the amount they were asking for um and I think out of all the goals that I've hit 10k per month 50k per month 100k per month 150k per month the best feeling I ever had was when my brother sister father mom doesn't matter asked for money and I clicked on that send button I felt like man I'm so happy I can do this for them um and it really gives me chills every single time I can do it for them.
So, yeah, I think money is, of course, a goal at the beginning, but there are so much more nicer things that will open up for you when you start a business or build a personal brand. And I think that's a beautiful ending of this story. If you want to check it out, check the link in my bio or description.
You can find your Instagram there. Any questions, more than happy to answer them in the DMs. I think same goes for you.
100%. And thank you for your time. We'll see you in the next one.
peace guys peace out
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The title promises a $100K month straight out of college, and the cold open delivers the guest's sharpest lines before anyone sits down: founders can't hand their brand to a script once a week, and the worst case of trying is landing right where you started. The rest is two young operators trading the specific moves that got them there.
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
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A live strategy session where an Instagram growth coach rebuilds a proven ecom founder's offers, bio, content and ad plan on a whiteboard in about 44 minutes.
A whiteboard walkthrough of the 100K personal brand plan: four follower stages, three skill levels, and a nine-step red-yellow-green self-audit for educational creators.
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