6 Personal Branding Mistakes Costing You Buyers, Even With Millions of Views
A coach whose content has driven over $50 million in sales breaks down why his single biggest month for views was also his worst month for sales, and the six fixes that separate a viral account from one built to convert.
Posted
yesterday
Duration
Format
Talking Head
educational
Views
743
23 likes
57 · 43
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
Going viral and making sales are different skills, and business owners who keep chasing views instead of ideal buyers, skip defining what their brand stands for, and have no system for turning DMs into booked calls leave real money on the table no matter how big their reach gets.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
A coach, consultant, or service business owner who posts regularly but cannot trace views to booked sales calls.
Someone building a personal brand who has never written down what they stand for and what they stand against in public.
A creator who is scared that giving away real tactics for free will replace the need for anyone to hire them.
Anyone running a DM-to-sales-call funnel who wants a repeatable script instead of winging every conversation.
SKIP IF…
You already track content-to-calendar conversion by funnel stage and have more demand than you can serve.
You're looking for video editing or production craft advice. This is sales and content strategy, not a shooting or editing tutorial.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
A coach whose content has driven over $50 million in sales explains why his highest-view month was also his worst month for sales, then breaks down six mistakes keeping other creators stuck. The core idea: build a content funnel (20% bottom-of-funnel proof, 40% middle-of-funnel value for one ideal buyer, 40% top-of-funnel reach), define what you stand for and against so your brand carries weight beyond your view count, post three content types (connection, value, proof) instead of only value, and run every DM through a nine-question script that builds rapport, qualifies pain points, then books a call. Track show rate and close rate, not views, because an account can go viral and still never produce a single buyer.
Free for members
Chat with this breakdown — free.
Sign in and you get 23 free chat messages on us — ask for the hook, quote a framework, find the exact transcript moment, generate a markdown action plan. Bring your own key when you want unlimited.
States the $50M-in-sales track record, then the paradox that his single biggest month for views was also his worst month for sales, setting up the six-mistakes framing for the video.
00:51 – 09:11
02 · Mistake #1: Chasing views instead of buyers
Argues not all attention is good attention, then walks through his own February 2026 numbers (50 million views, sales velocity down 20%, 802 calls booked, show rate and close rate both down double digits) to show that virality with the wrong audience does not convert. Lays out a 20% bottom, 40% middle, 40% top-of-funnel content split built around one ideal buyer.
09:11 – 13:05
03 · Mistake #2: Your brand is bigger than your content
A personal brand is not the same thing as content performance. Defines what he stands for and against on camera (parenting, team standards, disdain for reaction-only creators), and explains how purchases (a mansion, a Lamborghini) and associations (speaking at Funnel Hacking Live alongside Russell Brunson) build or damage brand equity independent of view count.
13:05 – 15:15
04 · Mistake #3: Only posting value content
Posting only value content is not enough. Introduces three content types, connection (life-change stories that make people know you), value (free how-to that makes them like you), and proof (client results that make them trust you), illustrated by a DM from a stranger who converted off a personal grandma story, not a tactic.
15:15 – 23:08
05 · Mistake #4: Posting value the wrong way
Most value content is surface-level, AI-generated scripts with no real expertise behind them. Gives a concrete bar: could someone get a real result from this one video alone, and is it a topic the audience actually wants. The 400-piece jigsaw puzzle metaphor explains why giving away real tactics still creates buyers rather than replacing the need to hire him.
23:08 – 26:33
06 · Mistake #5: Not respecting your views
Creators disrespect their own view counts, treating a thousand views like a failure instead of a thousand individual people who chose to stop and watch. The fix: reply to every comment, engage with other creators, and treat social media as a conversation instead of a billboard.
26:33 – 28:16
07 · Mistake #6: No bridge from content to cash
Most accounts have no system turning content into revenue. Gives a nine-question DM script (rapport, then qualify, then book a call) and an Instagram profile checklist (photo, keyworded name field, I-help bio line, single application link, three pinned posts), then closes on his own sleeping-on-grandma's-couch origin story.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
A creator's single biggest month for views was also his worst month for sales, proving view count and buyer count are not the same metric.
In his worst month for sales despite 50 million views, he booked 802 sales calls with a 56% show rate and a 21% close rate, both down double digits from the month before.
Posting only to one narrow ideal customer can convert well but caps how far an account grows, because the algorithm will not push single-person content to new audiences.
An audit of the last nine pieces of content found only 1 in 9 spoke directly to the ideal customer in the first three seconds, which was the real reason the account stopped converting.
A content strategy split of 20% bottom-of-funnel proof, 40% middle-of-funnel value for one person, and 40% top-of-funnel reach content is the structure behind an account designed to monetize, not just go viral.
A personal brand is built from what you publicly stand for and stand against, not from how many views your content gets.
Buying a mansion or a Lamborghini and posting about it creates a brand association with wealth and status whether or not the purchase itself was wise.
Who you associate with in public, good or bad, becomes part of your brand whether you intend it to or not.
A single personal story post converted a prospect who had ignored a year of value content and fifteen downloaded lead magnets.
Value content only counts as real value if someone could get a drastic result from that one video alone, without ever hiring the creator.
A topic only converts when it is both genuinely useful and something the audience already wants to consume. Expertise on a topic nobody asked for gets ignored.
A client with 598 followers and 200 to 2,000 views per video out-earned a client with 500,000 followers and millions of monthly views, because the smaller account's content was built to convert.
Replying to every comment does two things: it boosts that video's engagement, and it trains people to keep commenting because they know they will get a reply.
A nine-question DM script is built to do three things in order: build rapport, qualify pain points and goals, then book a sales call.
Takeaway
Views And Buyers Are Different Games
CONTENT TO CASH
An account can rack up tens of millions of views and still convert worse than a 600-follower page, because views, brand, and a DM-to-close system are three separate things to build.
02Mistake #1: Chasing views instead of buyers
Track show rate and close rate on sales calls, not view count. Those are the numbers that tell you whether your content brought in real buyers.
Audit your last nine pieces of content and count how many call out your ideal customer in the first three seconds. Under 40% explains a non-converting account.
Split content 20% bottom-of-funnel proof, 40% middle-of-funnel value for one specific buyer, and 40% top-of-funnel reach content that still fits your niche.
03Mistake #2: Your brand is bigger than your content
Write down three things you stand for and three things you stand against. That list becomes the filter for every opinion-based post you make.
Post content that will make some people love you and others dislike you. Universal approval means you have no real position.
Big purchases and high-profile associations shape your brand's status whether or not you talk about them directly.
04Mistake #3: Only posting value content
Post three content types on a rotation: connection content that makes people know you, value content that makes them like you, and proof content that makes them trust you.
List ten specific moments your life changed. That list becomes your bank of connection content.
Post social proof directly to your main feed at least once every four posts. It gets the fewest views but signs the most clients.
05Mistake #4: Posting value the wrong way
Before publishing value content, ask whether someone could get a real result from that one video alone without ever hiring you. If not, it's surface-level filler.
Match your value content to topics your audience already cares about, not just the ones you think matter most. Expertise on an ignored topic gets no engagement.
Think of your expertise as a jigsaw puzzle. Giving away individual pieces for free builds enough trust that people pay you for the full picture.
06Mistake #5: Not respecting your views
Treat every view as one real person who chose to stop scrolling for you. A thousand views is a thousand people in a room, not a failure.
Reply to every comment on your content. It boosts that video's engagement and trains people to keep engaging with you.
Spend time engaging on other people's posts too, not just your own. Social media is a conversation, not a billboard.
07Mistake #6: No bridge from content to cash
Build a DM script that does three things in order: build rapport, qualify pain points and goals, then book a sales call.
Set up your bio with an 'I help' statement, a DM keyword, and a single link to a short application. One link, one choice, not a link tree.
Pin three posts to your profile: a client result, a deep-value post about your offer, and a personal story of how you became who you are.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Top of funnel content
Broad, highly shareable content meant to reach new people who do not know you yet. It does not target one specific buyer, its job is just to get eyes on your page.
Middle of funnel content
Narrow, specific how-to content aimed at one ideal customer. It gets fewer views than broad content but attracts people who are a real fit to buy.
Bottom of funnel content
Social proof and client results, posted directly to the main feed to drive viewers into direct messages instead of just racking up views.
Show rate
The percentage of booked sales calls where the prospect actually shows up, tracked separately from how many calls get booked in the first place.
Close rate
The percentage of sales calls that turn into a paying client, the final number in the booked-to-show-to-close chain.
ManyChat
An automated direct message tool that replies to comments or story interactions and starts a conversation with a prospect without a human typing first.
Funnel Hacking Live
An annual marketing conference run by Russell Brunson's company ClickFunnels, referenced here as an example of a high-status speaking stage.
Resources
Things they pointed at.
11:23channelRussell Brunson / Funnel Hacking Live
15:35toolClaude / ChatGPT (cited as a cautionary example of generic AI-written scripts)
26:40toolManyChat
Quotables
Lines you could clip.
07:40
“Views don't pay the bills. Ideal clients pay the bills.”
short, quotable thesis with no setup needed→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
12:46
“I didn't pay to come to a drum concert.”
punchy one-liner that lands the all-value-content complaint→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
19:06
“There's 400 pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and I'm giving you isolated pieces of that jigsaw puzzle.”
concrete metaphor that reframes giving away value as a sales tool, not a giveaway→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
27:56
“11 years ago, I was sleeping on my grandma's couch in my trailer park. If I can grow my social media to a million followers with no special talents or abilities, so can you.”
origin-story closer, proof of relatability→ TikTok hook↗ 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.
17px
metaphorstory
My social media has generated over $50 million in sales. And earlier this year, I had the biggest month for views I ever had. It was also my worst month for sales.
And that's when I realized that most business owners are building their brands completely backwards. And in 2026, where AI is flooding everyone's feeds, the ones who build it wrong this year are not going to get a second shot. These are the six mistakes I see business owners make with their content and what to do instead.
Starting with mistake number one, and I wish I knew this one sooner. Chasing views instead of buyers. Most people think that just by going viral, you're gonna solve 90 % of your business's problems, and I completely disagree with that statement.
Because you can go viral for the wrong thing, and you can go viral and bring in the wrong people. And on that same subject, there's people on the other side of the equation that think that they just wanna post value content that's directed specifically at one person. And the problem with that is, yes, although that might convert, your Instagram account is not gonna grow because your content isn't gonna be pushed to more people because you're only speaking to one person in your content contrary to popular belief not all attention is good attention an example is that i could post a video of my videographer slapping me across the face and then dumping ice on my head and sure that video would go viral but is that video going to bring me in my ideal customer likely not However, if I post a funny video about something a prospect has actually said to me on a sales call and I'm making fun of that, that's going to go viral within the sales niche because only salespeople are going to find that funny.
So now I'm posting top of funnel content that actually brings in my ideal client to my page. February 2026, my account generated 50 million views and my sales velocity actually dropped by 20%. Here's what actually happened.
I realized that there was content formats that were popping off and I realized that I was going viral and I was like, man, I want to get to 100 million views. So all I did that month is I just doubled down on the content formats that were bringing me in the most views. And yes, I was getting views.
Yes, I was getting followers, but I was also going viral in India. I was also going viral in Pakistan. I was also getting all these people into my audience.
They were like, love your content, bro. But they were never going to be able to afford any of my high ticket products or service in the first place. Here's the lesson that I learned in that experience.
Not all attention is good attention. Just because something goes viral doesn't mean I should double down and make that my content strategy. Just to give you the raw numbers of what this looked like, that month I booked 802 sales calls.
I had a 56 % show rate, which was down 10 % from the month before. So 454 of those calls actually happened and I had a 21 % close rate, which was down 14%. These are the numbers that you should be looking at if you're posting content and most business owners don't.
Is the content that I'm posting on my feed causing sales calls to land in my calendar and then sales calls to show up? and then sales calls to convert. See, most people think that if their sales calls aren't converting, that it's 100 % a sales call problem.
But the reality of the situation is that if you're posting a ton of content that's getting you views, and the wrong people are coming into your page consistently, that means the wrong people are gonna end up in your DMs, the wrong people are gonna end up booking in for sales calls, and the wrong people are gonna be made an offer.
So instead of saying to yourself, I wanna get more views, We need to start at the bottom of the funnel, aka who do we want to pay us money? We identify that ideal person.
Then we post 20 % of content at the bottom of the funnel, which is social proof designed to drive that person into the DMs. The next layer up is 40 % of the content at the middle of the funnel, which is highly targeted content for one specific person. Then the content that we post at the top of the funnel, aka the viral stuff, is viral, but it's viral that will also potentially lead to more business.
So I post funny sales. stuff. I post funny POV I had a slow month in business and I'm pretending to jump in front of traffic because yeah, that's videos funny, but it's also going to be funny for business owners.
So business owners are going to come to my page. Then they're going to see my value content. Then they're going to see my social proof.
Then they're going to land in my DMs. Now, just to be super clear, 80 to 90 % of the content that I post on my page is designed to bring in my ideal client demographic, but that does not mean that I'm asking my ideal client to work with me in every single post. It's just means that when I'm creating my content strategy, I'm keeping that person in mind and asking my the question would this piece of content give this person value so the lesson that I wish that I learned sooner is that views don't pay the bills ideal clients pay the bills so when I'm creating my content and I'm posting my social media I shouldn't be addicted to how many views each video gets or addicted to how many views I've gotten over the last 30 days instead I should be focusing on how many sales calls are actually landing in my calendar and how many sales calls are showing up and how many are converting because those are the metrics that actually matter in order to start tweaking my content and bringing in the right person I took a look at
my content and I started scrolling through and I listened for the first three seconds of the video. And I asked myself the question, how many of these videos speak directly to my ideal client avatar? And the reality of the situation is that out of nine posts, it was one, which means one out of every nine posts was speaking to my ideal client demographic.
That's why my account was not converting. So that's what I want you to do is I want you to open up your Instagram right now and scroll through the last nine pieces of content. I want you to listen to the first three seconds of the video.
Out of the last nine pieces of content, how many of those videos in the first three seconds call your ideal client specifically. If it's not at least 40%, that is why your account is not converting.
Now, knowing who you want to speak to isn't enough. Because when that person lands on your page, they need to feel something, which leads me to step number two. Your brand is bigger than your content.
Most people think that a personal brand is just the content that you post on your page. If my content is doing better and I'm getting more views, I have a strong personal brand. But again, just because your content's getting views doesn't mean you have a strong personal brand.
Because if you're getting more views, but you have the wrong association with those views, you can have a weak personal brand. An example I'll give you is, let's say you get a lot of views by going out into the street and bullying homeless people. Sure, you're going to get a lot of views, but pretty much every single person on the internet is going to hate you.
So just because you get a lot of views doesn't mean people are going to have a strong positive association with that brand. And so what we need to do is we need to define who am I and what do I actually stand for? What do I actually stand against?
So we're going to post stand for and stand against content on our page. This is going to cause people to absolutely love you. And it's also going to cause some people to dislike you because not everybody's going to align with your core values.
That is what a personal brand is. I'm very clear on who I am as a person, what I stand for, and what I stand against, and I'm willing to voice those opinions on my social media so that I can get people to rally with me and some people to rally against me. Now, my rule of thumb is very simple, okay?
I clearly define what my core values are, and I communicate those core values to my social media. And so what it means for me to be a good dad, what it means for me to be a good partner, what it means for me to be a good leader. How I actually run my team.
What are the consequences on my team if somebody steps out of line? Those are some of the pieces of content that I'll post on my page. Now, there's gonna be a lot of business owners that deeply resonate with that content.
There's gonna be a lot of parents that deeply resonate with that content. But when I post on my page that my 16 -year -old daughter goes to the gym five days a week and works on her physical and mental health because I'm a parent that leads by example and I'm a parent that showed her how to be fit through my actions, there's gonna be a lot of parents that are like, that's dope.
There's also gonna be some overweight parents that's like, that's on. healthy you shouldn't be sending your kids to the gym you know but it's like that to me is the associations that I want to have with my personal brand because that's what I stand for and so what you need to do is you need to clearly define what you stand for and what you stand against and you need to post both types of content the type of content where you're standing up for what you believe in and you're communicating the core values that you have and the type of content where you're posting stuff that you stand against and stuff that you don't resonate with.
An example of this for me is one of the things that I absolutely hate on social media is the creators that just post reaction videos. I'm sorry, I think that if your entire content strategy is reacting to somebody else's original piece of content, that you don't have an original thought in your brain. That's just a belief that I have.
Now there are some people that are gonna agree and disagree with me, and of course, the people that disagree with me are the ones that only fucking do reaction videos. That's the point, right? But I get a lot of people that rally with me when I share that opinion as well.
So I post what I stand for and I stand against on my Instagram page. That is what builds a strong association with your brand because people actually know who you are and what you believe. Now, a personal brand transcends beyond the words that you say out of your mouth.
A personal brand also relates to the associations that people have with you. An example for me is that when I moved into a 6 ,500 square foot mansion and I started posting that on my Instagram newsfeed, immediately people started associating me with wealth. And of course there were some people that associated me with a scammer and rented his mansion.
That's besides the point. When I purchased my Lamborghini, immediately now there's an association with my brand and wealth and status. And of course, there's some people that are like, oh, he rented the Lamborghini.
But that's the point. But associations aren't just two physical items that I own when you're building a brand. Associations also have to relate with specific people.
An example of this is like I went down to Funnel Hacking Live and I got the opportunity to speak for Russell Brunson. at Funnel Hacking Live. I didn't get paid for that opportunity.
In fact, I paid $50 ,000 to take a private jet over there. But the reason that I paid 50 grand and I spoke for free at Russell Brunson's Funnel Hacking Live is because I know the positive brand association that comes with that. I had some of my homies from the industry that I haven't talked to in three years.
reach out to me and they're like, dude, I saw your keynoting Funnel Hacking Live, like congratulations on all your success. And then when I'm speaking at Funnel Hacking Live, all the business owners that paid to be in the room for Funnel Hacking Live now see my face and they associate my face with Russell Brunson. Russell Brunson is one of the best internet marketers on the planet.
Then Russell Brunson says that I'm one of the best social media creators he's ever seen. All of a sudden, now my brand has a positive association. because I'm affiliated with Russell Brunson.
And so it's not just the items that you own, it's also the people that you associate with and the people that you choose not to associate with. Because as an example, let's say I have somebody in my company, and this has actually happened, by the way, somebody in my company that was working for me that pulled some shiesty shit and then people find out about this shiesty shit.
Well, if he stays in my company, that's an affiliation with my brand. Do I want that association? No, right?
So I'm very cognizant of how people perceive me and my brand online and in person. And I'm very choosy with the associations that I have. I want to associate myself with people and things and places that I believe in that are going to amplify the positive emotion associated with my brand.
Trust, authority, presence, wealth, status, power, humility, integrity, honesty. And I want to remove any associations from my brand that have a net negative effect on my brand, like talking shit about other people, causing drama, affiliating myself with people that are known shysters, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So here's a simple action step to get clarity on your brand and what you stand for and what you stand against.
Take out a pen and paper, and on one side, write stand for. On the other side, write stand against. Write down three words or beliefs or values that you have that you stand for.
Then on the other side of the paper, Write down three words or values, things that you stand against. That's going to become the north star for the type of content that you post on your page when it comes to personal opinions.
Then what I want you to do is I want you to write down three names of people that have a strong personal brand that you would like to be more like. And when you're creating content, I want you to keep these people in mind, absorb how they're creating content, analyze their message, and ask yourself how you can install more of your core beliefs in your content like they do with theirs.
message. The perfect example for me is Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary Vaynerchuk has one word associated with his brand, hope.
When you watched Gary Vaynerchuk's content, all of it is that it doesn't matter if you're 18 years old or 62 years old, it's never too late, you can do it. Like that's the core message of Gary Vee's content and he communicates that core message on a consistent and regular basis. So my question for you is what words and what values and what feelings do you want people to associate with your brand?
And this leads perfectly into number three. One of the biggest mistakes that I see people on social media make is that they only post value content. But Brian, I just want to grow my business and so I want to post value so I get more people reaching out.
Okay, that makes complete sense. But in order for somebody to purchase off you, they need to know you, they need to like you, and they need to trust you. And value only accomplishes one of those things.
That's one side of it. The other side of it is I want you to imagine that you go to a music concert and there's a guitarist, there's a vocalist, and there's a drummer, right? And you're excited to hear all three because it creates this amazing tune that you love listening to.
You go to the music concert and all you hear is the drummer.
two hours of drumming. At some point you're like, where's the guitar? Where's the vocals?
I didn't pay to come to a drum concert. That's what people think when they're watching your social media and all they hear is value content. You're just beating the same drum.
Over and over and over and over again. That's why you're getting unfollowed. That's why your content has a high skip rate.
That's why people aren't watching after the first three seconds. They watched the same video yesterday and the day before and the day before and the day before that. This is so important to understand because when you understand how to create these three different types of content, not only are you going to captivate people's attention more, but you're also going to sign more clients.
Recently, I had a DM from a potential client that messaged me right after I posted a story of how my grandma saved my life. See, in 2014, I was heavily addicted to substances and I got to a point where I was doing them for 72 hours straight, sleeping for 24 hours, and I'd wake up and I did that all again. And I did that for six months.
And I talked about my rock bottom moment where I came home after getting fired from my third nightclub bartending job, walked into my grandma's trailer. I looked at her in the eyes. I burst into tears and I collapsed on her couch.
She didn't ask me what was wrong. She just went into her room. She grabbed a Bible, she came out and cried with me while she read me the Bible.
Now I told that story on my social media and I got a DM from a complete stranger the following day and he said, yo B, I just want to let you know I've been watching your content for the last year and I wasn't really sure about you because you can seem very aggressive and direct in your message. But after hearing your testimony about how God and your grandma saved your life, I would absolutely love to work with you.
You're definitely my type of person. Now that's an example of how a video that had nothing to do with my business led to a potential client. Because yeah, this dude was following me for a year, consuming my value content, had downloaded 15 of my free lead magnets plus, but he didn't actually connect with me enough to reach out to me.
But as soon as he saw the story of how God and my grandma saved my life, he realized that I was a real person and that's actually what caused him to reach out. Now, in order for somebody to work with you, they need to know you, like you, and trust you. So we created three different content types to match that philosophy.
Connection content helps them get to know you. Value content gets people to like you because we like people that solve our problems. And proof content gets people to trust you.
trust you because when your audience members can see that there's already people that have paid you money that are getting great results they are more likely to take action because they can see that other people have already taken that action. So for connection content what I want you to do is just open up a google doc and I want you to write bullet points of some of the moments that your life drastically changed.
It could have been the moment that you graduated university, it could have been the moment that your ex broke up with you, it could have been the moment that you realized that you were going to be a single dad, it could have been a variety of different things but just write down a bullet point list of 10 10 different moments that your life had a transformation.
Those are going to be your first pieces of connection content. For value content, you're just going to open up your social media and just make sure that in the first three seconds of your video, the content that's designed to speak to your ideal client calls out the specific ideal client. And for social proof content, you want to post this on your newsfeed for one in every four posts, ideally.
And yes, you want to post it directly to your newsfeed. Most people don't do this because it gets the views. Even though social proof content will get the least amount of views on social media, it will sign you the most amount of clients.
Which leads me to number four. Posting value is extremely important to grow your business, but most people are posting value wrong, which is why their business isn't growing. And it's because you are posting surface level value.
Here's what most business owners do. They go to Claude or Chad GPT and they say, give me a content script for my avatar who's a busy mom that wants to lose 10 pounds. I want to give her a three tips to help her lose weight.
And then Claude will spit you out a script. You take that script and you're like, okay, here's three tips to help you lose 10 pounds in the next 90 days. And nobody talks about this, but let me put you on some sauce.
And you just literally read the entire script word for word. First, everyone can tell that that's called Shadja BT script. Second, there's no actual substance or subject matter expertise.
And this is why your content isn't breaking through in the algorithm. For me, when I'm creating content, I ask myself one very simple question to determine whether or not this content is valuable. If somebody watched this isolated piece of content and they took action from this one video, could they experience a drastic result in their life as a result of this content without ever hiring me?
If the answer is no, it's not value content. It's surface level bullshit. If the answer is yes, it can be value content.
Now, there's one more thing that actually matters when it comes to creating value content. Because just because you perceive something as valuable doesn't mean your audience perceives it as valuable. Let me explain.
See, I coach business owners that are trying to grow and sell on social media. Now, when it comes to business owners, there's a variety of different things they can struggle with. Content creation, lead generation, sales, operations, fulfillment, mindset.
Out of those topics, there's a certain percentage of those topics that they deeply... care about and there's certain percent of those topics that they don't give a fuck about an example most business owners don't give a fuck about mindset content they don't care about it in any way shape or form I as a business mentor know for a fact that the thing that most business owners struggle with is their mindset but when i post an in -depth mindset reel that's like a step -by -step -by -step tactical breakdown for how to dial in your mindset to be a six or seven figure business owner nobody cares it's not an in -demand topic now let me ask you a question if you were to post a piece of value that was so good somebody could get results for free without ever hiring you but they didn't care about the topic as a result they didn't engage is it valuable No, because they're not consuming it and they're not going to take action on it.
And so not only does it have to be step -by -step -by -step tactical value that's so good people get your results free without ever hiring you, it also has to be an in -demand topic that they actually care about. So what you need to do is you need to clearly define what are all of the problems that my ideal client actually has, okay?
So you can list them out. For me, it's like sales, operations, mindset, leadership, content creation, fulfillment, operations, numbers, whatever. Define all those topics.
And then go to your competitor's pages. Analyze top performing content and ask yourself which of these buckets does this piece of content fit in now that doesn't mean that you don't coach your clients on those things once they get into your ecosystem but what it means is we sell them what they want and we give them what they need on the back end for me what that looks like as I'm coaching business owners that want to grow and sell on social media I talk about creating more viral content.
I talk about how to get leads from social media. I talk about how to close deals on sales calls. I talk about specific things that can stay into the DMs to book sales calls.
I talk about how to overcome objections on sales calls. Then when they get in, I teach them why mindset's so important. I teach them how to create a vision.
I show them the back end of running their operations. We talk about how to set up their offer to make more money. So I sell them what they want on the front end.
with the value content that's step by step by step that's so good they can get results for free without ever hiring me. Once they consume this value content, they're like, damn, this guy's good. I want to work with this dude.
They come into my program. Then I give them what they need on the back end, which are all the problems that I can solve. I just don't talk about it on the front end.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Brian, if I post all this value, why would people hire me? Here's what you need to understand about creating success in whatever industry you're in.
I want you to imagine that you understand how to create success on a very deep level and that you've got all the pieces for a jigsaw puzzle that's 400 pieces. The way that I view value content is I'm going to give you. isolated pieces of this jigsaw puzzle.
So I'm gonna say, if you wanna create a viral piece of content, follow these seven steps. And I'm gonna give you that jigsaw piece puzzle, okay? And then you're gonna watch that and you're gonna be like, damn, that's good.
And you're gonna go do that. And then you're gonna get a bunch of leads and you're like, ah, I don't know what to do, right? And then there's another jigsaw piece puzzle over here that says, here's a seven step DM script in order to book sales calls.
So you do this and then you do this and you're like, oh my God, I actually booked a sales call. There's 400 pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and I'm giving you isolated pieces of that jigsaw puzzle. so that as you start taking action on these things, you start realizing, oh my gosh, like this guy actually knows his stuff, right?
So that's my value content. Then when somebody comes to my page, they've already taken action on some of my stuff and they see I post a client that's just hit $100 ,000 a month. So they're thinking to themselves, well, I already got some results from his free content and I wanna become like one of those clients.
I'm gonna shoot this dude a DM. Now all of a sudden, because they've already gotten value from my stuff, they see my client that hit 100K a month, they're gonna send me a message because they already trust me because they've already gotten results. So you've got the entire jigsaw puzzle you're giving them isolated pieces as a full thing and yeah Could they get results without ever hiring you a hundred percent?
I have some people in my Instagram audience that have messaged me being like dude I hit $50 ,000 a month and I've never hired you just from consuming your free content I love that and there's gonna be some people that do that But there's also going to be a large majority of people that come to my page get so much value and they're like, dude I need to work with this guy if it's free content is this good?
I can't imagine what his pay program is like and that is what you were shooting for which leads me into mistake number five when you're posting that valuable content, most people don't respect the views that they're getting. Here's the thing.
You spend all this time and energy creating this piece of content that you think is going to get hundreds of millions of views. You post it, a thousand views. And you think to yourself, this sucks.
This piece of content sucks. Only got a thousand views. Simple question.
When is the last time that you spoke to a room full of a thousand people? You had a thousand humans in one room where you got to deliver your message. It's very rare unless you're a public speaker that does this for a living.
Social media gives you that opportunity every single day. You're not just getting a thousand views. You're getting a thousand humans from all around the world that made the decision to stop across your video and watch your video from their phone.
I think that's what you don't understand is that each view is an individual person that made the decision to watch your video. I understand this concept on a very deep level, which is why I'm grateful for a thousand views, 10 ,000 views, 100 ,000 views, a million views, because I know that each one of those views is an individual person that chose to watch my piece of content.
This is why I post six times a day, seven days a week on social media, like an absolute psychopath, because I respect it so much, you know, and I know that this might not be the game forever. It might not always be easy to get a thousand views. And so why would I not take advantage of this opportunity while it's here?
I want to get my face in front of as many people as I possibly can on as many phones as I possibly can. And I don't care if my video gets one view, 100 ,000 views or a million views. I know that each view that I get represents an individual person and I have reverence and respect for that.
See, here's the thing. Because you disrespect your views, you treat your social media like a billboard instead of a conversation. It's called social media for a reason.
Be social. The people that are interacting with your piece of content, the people that are choosing to comment on your videos and like your videos, spend time building a community of those people. Send messages to start conversations just for the sake of building community, thanking people for engaging with your content.
When somebody comments on your photos or your videos, they take the time with their fingers and thumbs to leave a comment. Comment back to them. Show them that you genuinely care that they're in your audience.
That's going to do two things. One, it's going to boost the engagement of that video. Two, it's going to bring people back to your content to engage because they know that when they engage with your videos, they're going to get a reply from you.
So the action step here is very simple. Stop treating social media like a billboard and start treating it like social media. Not only should you engage with people that are engaging with your content, you should also go on social media to engage and show love on other people's content.
If you see a piece of content that you resonate with, instead of just scrolling past, double tap, leave a genuine comment and show people that you're there to be social. Because listen, as content creators and people that are actively trying to pursue our dreams on social media.
All of us get enough hate on social media on a consistent basis for just doing our thing. So why not be part of a solution and give positive affirmation and love to the creators that are out there doing their thing? Now, here's the thing that I wish I would have known when I started creating content 11 years ago.
Most business owners don't grow and sell on social media because they don't have a bridge from content to cash. Here's the thing. Most business owners think that as soon as they get views, the money's going to follow.
And that's just not the case. I worked with a client that joined my coaching program with 500 ,000 followers that was making $2 ,500 a month as a LA.
Wasn't making any videos. It wasn't making any money from social media. We're talking about somebody that was getting hundreds of thousands of people like his content, millions of views on social media a month and wasn't generating any revenue.
Another example is one of my clients, Aaron with 598 followers had a $15 ,200 a month. Now he's generating between 200 and 2000 views on all of his piece of content. So how can this guy with 598 followers beat out one of my clients that had 500 ,000 followers and millions of views?
There's a strong difference between an Instagram account that goes viral consistently and an Instagram account that was designed to monetize. And my entire focus on social media is creating Instagram accounts that are designed to monetize. In order to do this, we need to have three different types of content on the social media page.
Top of the funnel content for 40 % of the strategy to bring a new eyeballs to the page. This is going to be broad subjects that relate to my industry. Middle of the funnel content, which is the value content that I discussed earlier on in this video, that is so good that my clients get results free without ever hiring me.
bottom of the funnel content, which is social proof content designed to drive traffic to my DMs. Now, once somebody actually arrives in my DMs, whether they reply to a ManyChat CTA or they follow me on social media and my ManyChat starts a new conversation with them, I run them through a nine question DM script. This nine question DM script is right here.
It's designed to do three things. One, build rapport. Before I even ask them about their business, I ask them about their life.
Whereabouts in the world are you from? What's your story? What got you into this industry?
I'm just building rapport and starting a genuine conversation. Then I'm running this qualification process right here to get to know their pain points, to get to know their goals, to get to know why that's important to them. Once I have that data, then the third thing that this DM script is designed to do is to book a qualified sales call.
Tell you what, why don't we do this? Let's hop in a quick 15 to 30 minute call. We'll talk about your number one struggle, your number one goal, and I'll help you come up with a game plan.
Are you up for that? From that, I'm able to offer them a call time. Those 30 minute consultations are designed to, yes, give value, but more importantly, make an offer.
So I literally spend the entire call. asking about them, their problems, their goals, their frustrations. And then once I have all that information, I make them an offer for my coaching program.
This client over here, Aaron with 598 followers, understood this. And this client with 500 ,000 followers that I don't want to put on blast. That's the difference between these two people.
This client built an Instagram account that was designed to convert. And this client did not have an Instagram account that was designed to convert. This client went viral consistently, but those views didn't meet anything.
Because just like we talked about at the start of the video, views don't pay the bills. And so even though he was generating millions of views, doesn't mean... and it was from the right person.
Whereas this client right here, he was getting 200 to 2 ,000 views on his video, but his content was highly targeted towards that one ideal person. So 2 ,000 humans watch his video, and out of those 2 ,000 humans, he's speaking directly to his avatar. All it takes is for five of those people to be interested enough to book a sales call with him for him to make 10 to $15 ,000 a month.
And he's doing that from one video. If he posts seven videos a week, All it takes is five to 10 interested prospects per week that book a sales call to have a business that does $10 ,000 to $15 ,000 a month.
That is the difference between creators that create an Instagram account that's designed to go viral versus creators that create an Instagram account that's designed to monetize. We think about the strategy from the second we start posting content. We figure out who we're speaking to.
We design a funnel strategy that posts social proof, middle of the funnel content to warn people about value content, and the top of funnel content to bring eyeballs to the page. Once we actually get people in our DMs, we run them through this nine question DM. sequence.
Once we run the nine question DM sequence, we offer a strategy call. On the strategy call is actually where we make an offer for them to join our coaching program. If you want your Instagram profile to be set up for conversions, follow these simple steps.
First, your profile picture. Ideally, it should be a photo of you smiling because this is the first impression that people get from your page. And it's also what people are going to see when you're sending them a DM.
Next is your name field. You want to have your first and last name and keywords related to what you do. Instagram operates as a search engine.
So for me, I put social media growth and monetization expert. Next, the first line in your bio should be your I help statement. Like I help men over 30 drop 10 pounds or less in 90 days.
The next line in your bio should be a DM keyword. like DM me fatloss for info. The next sign in your bio should say apply for coaching with an arrow pointing down.
The only link that you should have in your bio should be an application and it should have these seven questions. Take up the link tree, take up the solo .to. only have a link for your application in your bio because you don't want people to click on the link and then choose nothing.
The ideal scenario is that they choose one thing and it's to apply for your coaching program. Next, the pinned post on your Instagram profile should be three specific things. One, social proof of one of your best clients.
Two, a deep value post that talks about your offer. And three, a personal story of how you became the person that you are today. You'll notice that this aligns with our strategy of posting connection, proof, and value content.
So those are the six things that I wish that I knew before I started a personal brand. And if you wanna learn more about the tactical things that you can do to scale your social media, check out this video right here.
11 years ago, I was sleeping on my grandma's couch in my trailer park. If I can grow my social media to a million followers with no special talents or abilities, so can you.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
He opens by stacking his own track record, over $50 million in sales, against a paradox: the single biggest month he ever had for views was also his worst month for sales. What follows are six numbered mistakes he says most business owners make with their content, each tied to a specific story or number from his own account.
Frameworks
Named ideas worth stealing.
03:32model
20/40/40 Funnel Content Split
20% bottom of funnel: social proof
40% middle of funnel: value for one ideal buyer
40% top of funnel: broad reach content
A content calendar built around one ideal buyer, weighted toward value and proof rather than pure reach.
Steal forauditing any creator's content calendar for a conversion gap
11:23list
Stand For / Stand Against
Three words or values you stand for
Three words or values you stand against
Three people with a strong personal brand you want to be more like
A pen-and-paper exercise to define the opinions and associations that make a personal brand memorable beyond its content performance.
Steal forany brand-positioning exercise or bio rewrite
13:41model
Connection / Value / Proof Content
Connection: life-change moments that build knowing
Value: free how-to that builds liking
Proof: client results that build trusting
Three content types mapped to know, like, and trust, the psychological sequence required before someone buys.
Steal forany content calendar that is currently 100% how-to
15:54concept
The Real-Value Test
Before publishing, ask whether someone could get a drastic result from this one video alone, without ever hiring you. If the answer is no, it is surface-level filler, not value.
Steal fora content-quality checklist before publishing
19:06concept
400-Piece Puzzle
Real expertise is treated as a 400-piece jigsaw puzzle, free content gives away individual pieces, which builds enough trust that people pay to get the whole picture assembled for them.
Steal foranswering the objection that free value content cannibalizes paid offers
24:54list
Nine-Question DM Script
Build rapport (life and story questions)
Qualify pain points and goals
Offer a 15-30 minute call
A structured DM sequence that moves a cold follower from first reply to booked sales call in three stages.
Steal forany coach or consultant's ManyChat or manual DM flow
26:54list
Instagram Profile Conversion Checklist
Smiling profile photo
Name field with first/last name plus keywords
I-help statement as first bio line
DM keyword line
Single application link, no link tree
Pinned posts: proof, value, personal story
A step-by-step profile setup designed to turn a visit into one single action, applying for coaching.
Steal forany bio-link audit
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
27:56next-video
“If you wanna learn more about the tactical things that you can do to scale your social media, check out this video right here.”
Single end-card redirect to another video on the channel. The actual monetization ask (an apply-for-coaching link) lives only in the video description, never spoken on camera.
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
Add Modern Creator as a preferred source and Google shows you more of our breakdowns in Search, Top Stories, and AI Overviews. It only changes what you see, and you can undo it in your Google settings anytime.
Add to Preferred SourcesOpens your Google source preferences with us pre-loaded. Tick the box and you're done.
A solo-founder monologue compresses eleven years and $50M in sales into seven numbered lessons, running from a Bali affirmation story to a $600,000 ad-spend audit.
A 10-minute field manual: how to find a viral Reel in your niche, strip it to its skeleton with free apps, rebuild it in your voice with ChatGPT, film it one line at a time, and cut it with CapCut and Submagic.
00:24
00:51
01:04
01:27
01:48
02:18
02:31
02:51
03:32
03:58
04:20
04:36
04:59
05:24
05:41
06:06
06:29
06:54
07:04
07:27
07:50
08:23
08:32
08:55
09:33
09:54
10:24
10:43
10:57
11:23
11:41
12:07
12:23
12:46
13:04
13:41
13:49
14:34
14:50
15:14
15:35
15:54
16:17
16:42
17:05
17:20
17:42
18:02
18:25
18:44
19:29
19:50
20:13
20:35
20:53
21:13
21:38
21:57
22:26
22:40
23:19
23:44
24:02
24:29
25:16
25:29
25:50
26:15
26:33
26:54
27:32
27:41
27:56
29:20
44:27
15:00
06:06
Video of the Day10:43
Video of the Day26:41