400k followers in 12 months

How my student Eric Partaker became Un-ignorable.

Eight months ago, Eric Partaker had never posted on LinkedIn before.

His first 20 posts averaged 15-20 likes. For example:

Around his 30th post, he finally hit the 100-like mark.

His 35th post, one month in, got 2,551 likes.

Sure, it happened fast, but it’s not like he was immediately hitting it out of the park.

What now?

A year in, a “bad” post for Eric is below 1,000.

He’s been ranked #2 globally on LinkedIn for Management & Leadership and 7th in the UK overall.

Ali Abdaal (YouTuber with 4.5M subscribers) even made a video about what it was like to work with Eric.

How Eric blew up

In January 2023, Eric was one of the first students of our cohort course, Un-ignorable.

He used the same 11-step framework we give all our students.

Here’s a breakdown so you can build an un-ignorable personal brand

At a high level, the steps are:

1. Get f*ckin' going

2. Discover “Your Oneness”

3. Know your buyer

4. Pick a topic/channel

5. Get inspired

6. Build your network

7. Revamp your profile

8. Master psychology

9. Build intention

10. Systematize

11. Audit + double down

Let’s dive into each and how Eric applied it.

#1. Get f*ckin’ going

Most people fail because they never get started. Forever kickin’ the can down the road until it’s a “better time.”

There’s always an excuse.

Just start posting SOMETHING consistently. Yes, it will suck at first.

It’s truly the hardest part.

Eric got started as soon as he bought our course. And hasn’t stopped posting since.

Here are a couple of resources on how to get started:

How to fight your way to 1,000 followers

Ali Abdaal's 3 Stages of Growth

#2. Your Oneness

Thanks to AI, there's never been more content created each day. You must find what makes you unique to cut through all the noise and stand out.

To do that, you need to find your Unfair Advantage. Something unique about you, your history, or your environment that gives you a unique advantage over others.

For Eric:

• He was named CEO of the Year and has coached 100+ CEOs. So he’s highly credible to talk about leadership.

• He has a high-value service (coaching) to trade with influencers for their engagement and advice.

• He’s exceptionally good at networking and building a solid network for himself.

• He worked two days weekly and could devote the rest to audience building.

For Ali Abdaal:

• He was in Cambridge Medical School (a very prestigious university) when he started a YouTube channel on getting accepted into medical school—something very few people could discuss.

#3. Know your Buyer

To write compelling content that causes them to take action and become customers, you need to deeply understand your customers' motivations, goals, and fears.

Then, speak directly to them.

Eric was a CEO for over a decade and has coached over 100 of them. He knows the mind of a CEO inside and out.

#4. Topic + Channel

Many people fail because they burn themselves out trying to do “everything, everywhere, all at once.” LinkedIn carousels, TikTok videos, Twitter threads, a newsletter, and a podcast.

And post about whatever interests them that day.

Narrow into a specific topic on a specific channel for a specific buyer.

• Master that channel.

• Master that topic.

• Master (the psychology of) that buyer.

Knowing what you write about and who for makes creating content easier. And easier for people to figure out who you are and what you do. And easier for them to tell others who you are and what you do.

Only then can you move on and expand. And it’ll be easier to do so.

For example, Justin Welsh blitzscaled on Twitter after four years of exclusively posting text posts on LinkedIn.

Just like Eric narrowed in on leadership for CEOs on LinkedIn before doing anything else.

#5. Get inspired

Find your Attention Masters:

People who write content that inspires you, whether they’re in your niche or not.

Go through all of their content. Turn on notifications for their posts.

• What does well?

• What's said in the comments?

• What do you agree or disagree with?

• What are they doing that you aren’t doing?

Use it to inspire your content.

Lovingly re-purpose, don’t just copy.

#6. Build your network

It's called SOCIAL media for a reason.

You can't succeed without a strong focus on networking. At least 50% of the effort needs to be networking.

Find people actively posting in your niche at a similar audience stage (Justin Welsh is unlikely to start engaging with you if you have 500 followers, but someone with 1,000 followers might). Start actively engaging on their content. Eventually, reach out via DM and get to know them personally.

Eric is the master of this—and that is how we met and became friends. He reached out after I said I was traveling to Portugal and gave me tips. He didn’t launch into a sales pitch or ask for anything.

The more people you have rooting for you, the better your content will do and the more motivated you'll be.

Build your tribe that supports your work.

#7. Revamp your profile