How To Make $25K A Month Consulting Using LinkedIn

Ali Tate Cutler has one of the wildest career arcs we’ve had on the show.She went from soccer player to plus-size model, became Victoria’s Secret’s first plus-size model, got publicly canceled, got dropped by agents and clients during COVID, pivoted into influencing, became a mom, and then built a 7-figure business from content.In this episode, we get into the exact system behind it: one offer, one platform, one funnel, and a lot less overcomplicating.Ali breaks down how she thinks about pricing, why your cheapest clients are often the hardest to serve, the biggest mistakes people make on sales calls, and why your DMs are probably more important than your lead magnet.We also get into her Instagram content system, how she uses Claude to reverse engineer which posts are driving sales, and what she would audit first if you’re posting consistently and still not getting clients.if your content is getting views but not making money, this one is for you!!!!steal Ali’s exact content strategy. i’m doing it.📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/07:42 Investing $30K when she was making about $1K/month11:39 Why getting from $0 to $10K/month is the hardest stage12:43 One offer, one platform, one funnel14:16 Why simplifying your business makes more money17:26 Pricing psychology + why low prices can hurt results20:33 Why high-ticket offers need a sales call21:41 The biggest mistakes people make in sales23:44 Ali’s Instagram content system24:42 How she reverse engineers posts that drive sales26:13 Why the money is in your DMs29:11 What to audit when your content isn’t converting33:09 What to do when you want to quit33:41 Why you shouldn’t quit your 9-5 too early35:39 Her hot take on “you are the niche”About Ali Tate CutlerAli Tate Cutler is a business mentor and creator who helps women turn content into clients and build scalable offers without relying on ads or constant launches. Before building her business, she spent more than a decade modeling, including becoming Victoria’s Secret’s first plus-size model, before pivoting into entrepreneurship. Today, she teaches offer creation, sales, messaging, and content systems designed to help businesses scale simply.Connect with Ali👍 Instagram: @ali_tate_cutler🔗 unfckwithable.co/Stay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Jenna Palek went from posting TikToks and working at TikTok… to building an audience, quitting corporate, hosting massive IRL events, and now launching a business designed to live way beyond her influencer career.in this episode, we get into how she built the personal brand in the first place, why creators eventually need something they own, and how she turned Fun on Weekdays into events, community, Bar to Brunch, and now Anyday.we also talk about the less glamorous parts of building... spending $40K–$60K on events, walking away from a $200K product idea, figuring out what your audience will pay for, and learning when to pivot instead of forcing an idea that isn’t working.if you’re building an audience right now, this is the episode on what comes NEXT.📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/02:25 The TikTok resume that changed Jenna’s career 07:14 Applying before you feel qualified 11:55 Getting over the cringe of posting 14:14 Her first paid brand deals 17:03 Going from influencer to business owner 19:03 Why creators eventually want something they own 21:43 Why she ended her podcast 25:06 Building IRL community through events 29:04 Sharing the real finances behind her events 32:39 Building Anyday 38:53 Walking away from a $200K product idea 39:26 Why some events cost $40K–$60K 43:31 How to start building your own community 46:34 Trademarks, cease & desists + protecting your brandAbout Jenna PalekJenna Palek is a creator, entrepreneur, and community builder known for Fun on Weekdays and her IRL events including Bar to Brunch. After starting her career at TikTok, she built a personal brand centered around making life more fun, creating connection, and bringing women together. She is now building Anyday, a fitness and lifestyle platform combining workouts, wellness content, and access to community experiences and events.Connect with Jenna👍 Instagram: @jennapalek🎶 TikTok: @jennapalek💼 LinkedIn: Jenna Palek 🎧 Fun On Weekdays 👍 Instagram: @funonweekdaysStay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

If quitting your 9-5 and becoming a full-time creator feels like something you need years (and a massive following) to pull off, this episode is for you.Becca Flores gave herself three months to build her corporate escape plan. She started posting consistently on LinkedIn, landed a retainer client that covered her bills, quit her job, and kept building from there.Now she has multiple income streams across freelancing, content creation, brand deals, creator support, and influencer marketing… and she’s gotten to the point where she has to turn down inbound client work.In this episode we get into the exact strategy behind it, including why one retainer can completely change the way you think about leaving corporate, how she got paid $3,000 for ONE video with under 10K followers, why B2B brand deals are wildly underrated, and how micro-creators can start making money before they have a huge audience.Becca also gives the brand-side perspective most creators never hear: what makes someone easy to hire, how to pitch without creating more work for the person reading your email, why you should be tagging brands you already use, and the tiny mistake that can cost creators thousands of dollars in opportunities.If you’ve been thinking, “i want out of corporate but idk how i’d replace my paycheck,” press play. There are way more ways to monetize the skills you already have than you probably realize.📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/03:20 The wake-up call that made Becca decide to leave corporate04:52 Giving herself 3 months to build her corporate escape plan05:43 Posting consistently on LinkedIn to create new income09:15 How LinkedIn started bringing her inbound clients10:58 Documenting the journey + publicly asking for what you want13:12 Landing her first four-figure brand deal14:33 Making $3,000 from one video with under 10K followers16:29 Why documenting your life can become your content strategy21:49 Every way Becca makes money now25:54 Why micro-creators can still land paid brand deals34:33 How brands find creators they already want to work with36:08 How to pitch a brand without making them do the work41:28 The tiny bio mistake that can cost creators thousandsAbout Becca FloresBecca Flores is a Gen Z creator-economy strategist, content creator, and founder of Florish who left corporate to build a portfolio career.After starting in journalism and social media, she moved into corporate influencer marketing, managing campaigns for major consumer brands. Today, through Florish, she helps brands run influencer campaigns and helps creators and solopreneurs land paid brand deals, build portfolio careers, and navigate life after corporate. Her clients include Teremana Tequila, Meiomi Wines, Oral-B, and Expedia, and she has built an audience of 42K+ across platforms around the creator economy and brand partnerships.Connect with Becca👍 Instagram: @thebeccaflores💼 LinkedIn: Becca Flores🎶 TikTok: @thebeccaflores📩 [email protected] connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

This week's episode is a solo Q&A and i’m answering the questions you’ve been sending me about building a personal brand, making money online, getting clients, creating content consistently, and getting out of your own way. We get into why self-sabotage is usually a safety thing (and the book i think everyone should read if they keep doing it), the systems i use to get content made, and why i think your personal brand needs to come before your 9-5 if you’re serious about building something for yourself.I also get into the stuff people usually overcomplicate: how to get your first freelance client before you technically feel “qualified,” why writer’s block is really just perfectionism, how to go to conferences without paying thousands of dollars, and why sometimes the fastest way to stop feeling cringe online is literally just… block the people making you feel cringe lol.Basically, if you’ve been waiting until you feel more ready, more confident, more legitimate, or less embarrassed before you start building your personal brand… this episode is for you.➡️ have a question you want me to answer in the next Q&A? drop it in the comments (i'll read them and pull questions from there 👀)📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/01:22 My work setup now that I’m a mom03:33 Why you keep self-sabotaging + the book I recommend06:06 The systems I use to create content consistently08:55 How to build a personal brand while working a 9-510:25 The underrated advice I’d give anyone trying to grow online12:04 Block the people making you feel cringe12:35 How to get your first freelance client before you feel ready14:26 How to go to major conferences for free19:02 My take on Shelby Sapp + high-ticket sales23:52 Does personal branding work for product-based businesses?Stay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

Angie Lee just exited Soul, the CBD gummy brand she started with her brother eight years ago. The idea for her next business hit her at 3 a.m., and now she's building WITTI, an ADHD supplement line made for women.In this episode we go over why she's betting on a product instead of an online course, and the checklist she'd run before launching anything physical (plus the kind of product she says takes millions up front).Then we get into the stuff that changes how you show up: the "dead grandma test" that tells you if a habit is really a habit, why she posts at 60% (wait until you feel 100% and you'll post twice a year), and why she thinks humor is what's missing from so much content online.And since this is a cheat codes kind of conversation, we swap our "problematic cheat codes" too, including learning cult tactics and, yes, my now-husband, the boyfriend who paid my rent for 3 months (we'd only been dating for a month when I asked)➡️ Your turn!!!! comment the name you like for her comedy course in the comments (Funny on Video? Paid to Be Funny? any other funny name???)📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/03:12 Exiting Soul, the brand she started with her brother, and the law that could block online sales 05:00 WITTI: the ADHD supplement line she's building for women, not bros 06:06 Why she's betting on a product over a course, and the $50 million question 11:03 The 3 a.m. idea she ran downstairs to tell her husband 11:47 Thinking about launching a product? The boxes it needs to check first 15:25 Googling "how do you make money off the internet," and the $60 order that started it all 22:06 Building WITTI out loud46:24 Our problematic cheat codesAbout Angie LeeAngie Lee is a podcaster, speaker, and comedian, and the co-founder and creative director of Soul, the wellness brand she built with her brother Mike. A college and corporate dropout, she started a blog in her dorm room and is now the "queen of the BabyGrandmas," a community she also calls her squirrely girlies: women "whose brain moves fast, feels deep, and refuses to play small." She hosts The Angie Lee Show, where she talks about "the realities and hilarities of entrepreneurship & womanhood," and she's now building WITTI, an ADHD supplement line made for women.Connect with Angie👍 Instagram: @angieleeshow🔗 angielee.com/Stay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

y'all! in this week's episode i'm joined by Bradley Jacobs, former Uber exec turned founder of Mylance. He scaled Uber Freight into a $1 billion business, quit with zero plan, and made up a consulting rate out of thin air. They said it was too much. he held his ground instead of caving. turned it into $25k a month !!!Now he runs Mylance, and in this one he hands over exactly how he did it: the DM strategy that landed his first client with zero case studies, the easiest pricing trick, the positioning shift that'll change how you show up on LinkedIn, and why he built his own AI tool because ChatGPT and Claude write posts that sound like garbage.Press play before you talk yourself out of charging what you're worth.📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/04:08 Building Uber Freight from scratch into a $1B business 06:32 Quitting Uber 08:19 The "ridiculous calculation" behind his first consulting fee 16:22 Why "fractional CMO" is the laziest positioning you can pick 18:06 The "ice cream store vs. gas station" analogy that changes everything 18:52 You only need 3 clients: the real LinkedIn outreach math 26:35 Why you shouldn't use ChatGPT or Claude to write your LinkedIn posts 36:25 Leaving corporate was more confronting than he expected 38:08 Building a personal board of directors to replace corporate structure 39:45 The nightly ritual he's done for years to stay on trackAbout Bradley JacobsBradley spent 4.5 years at Uber across Rides, Eats, and Freight, launching Uber Eats in Miami and Milan and helping scale Uber Freight into a $1 billion business. He left in 2018, sent 12 DMs to see if anyone would pay for his expertise, and landed his first consulting client at $25K/month working part-time. Over the next two years he built an independent consulting practice working with seed and Series A startups on marketplace launches and scaling, then turned what he learned into Mylance, the platform he founded in 2020 to help consultants and solopreneurs build predictable, sustainable businesses through LinkedIn content. Mylance has since helped 1,000+ founders and consultants grow their businesses using the same content and outreach systems Bradley built for himself.Connect with Bradley💼 LinkedIn: Bradley Jacobs🔗 mylance.comStay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

hey y'all, this episode is a little different than usual.today i'm sharing my full pregnancy and birth story: trying to conceive, the pregnancy itself, giving birth, and where i'm at now in postpartum.quick heads up before you press play: this one gets real about mental health during pregnancy, and some of it may be heavy for some listeners. please take care of yourself, and feel free to skip this one if now isn't the right time for you 🤍i was depressed for most of my pregnancy, and i also went through a mental health experience i haven't heard many people talk about openly.if you're pregnant, trying to conceive, or have been through something similar, i hope sharing this helps you feel less alone.📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/07:30 Finding out I was pregnant11:46 My theory: every pregnancy has one challenge12:39 My challenge15:14 I lost my ability to speak16:00 The hallucinations started19:57 My birth story starts here27:55 Giving birth to Santi30:38 Postpartum has been so fun and so goodStay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

you don't need a million followers to get paid by brands. you don't need an agent. you don't even need to be famous.this is your no-bs guide to your first brand deal: how i went from $5,000 my first year to $250,000-$300,000 this year, every platform and agency i use, and how my husband, with only 3,000 followers, has landed a $50,000 brand deal i've never gotten with almost a million followers. so yeah - let's get into this.grab my brand outreach templates below ⤵️ docs.google.com/document/d/11FhKsM8bTHbLvnjs-GSTdUqZ78ET-rRz/edit?rtpof=true&sd=true&tab=t.0📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/02:43 You don't need a million followers (here's what you need)03:16 Cheat code #1: brand partnership marketplaces11:58 Do this today: apply to 20 marketplaces12:26 Cheat code #2: work with an agency15:53 How to find an agency17:09 What brands really pay (and the $50K deal I've never gotten)19:14 Is affiliate marketing worth it?19:55 The LinkedIn trick brands can't ignore22:00 Why I always turn one post into a series23:36 How to cold outreach brands (without an agency)25:49 My final brand deal ruleStay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

hi friends. did i tell you how I turned $8,500 I didn't have into a program that's made me $300,000 in the last year?that's basically what this whole solo episode is: me opening up my bank account and walking you through it.I'm covering my 100 free calls strategy, the exact questions I ask people to build a real offer out of thin air, and then I rank almost every single way I've ever tried to monetize my content, close to 29 of them, from the ones that pay my rent to the ones that were honestly a waste of my time.some of these numbers are going to surprise you, some of them are small, and I'm not gatekeeping any of it.let me know in the comments if you want the actual templates I used to turn my free call transcripts into content and offers!! ⤵️📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/01:08 How I make money from my content 02:12 My 100 free calls strategy 14:29 The advice two multi-millionaires both gave me 19:03 Ranking every way I've made money 21:51 Patreon and the "1,000 true fans" math 34:07 The challenge that made me $60,000 in a week 30:05 Why I charge $1,500 an hour for pick my brain calls 37:14 The free script that fixed my worst webinar 39:36 How Maven made me half a million dollars 40:58 My six-figure book deal, and paying it back 44:17 My brand deals: $10,000 to $250,000 a year 49:43 My rule for picking affiliate partnershipsStay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

I've been wanting to bring this guest on for a while, because she's one of the main reasons I have a book at all.I'm sitting down with the incredible Thea Diklich-Newell, the editor who acquired and shaped Career Cheat Codes, to talk about how my dream happened and how it can happen for you too.a little snippet of what we got into and how it all started: a coworker of hers sent her my TikTok series one day, she saw something in it, and she emailed me asking if I'd ever thought about turning it into a book. that's it. that's the whole "how do I get discovered" story everyone assumes is more complicated than it is.so I brought her on to break down what editors are looking for when they're scrolling your content, what "authority" means to a publisher if you don't have a fancy degree behind your name, the real red flags that make her pass on a pitch, and the one boring, unsexy habit that made her whole team want to work with me before we'd even signed anything.this episode is the roadmap for anyone who has this constant thought "I should write a book about this"📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/06:36 Inside the Big Five: what an imprint is and why it matters 08:27 What "authority" means to an editor if you don't have the credentials 12:41 The free "hot tip" hiding in the back of every book you own 15:47 The one habit editors wish more authors had (it's not talent) 21:15 Why "my book is for everyone" is the fastest way to sell zero copies 28:36 Why you have to be okay hearing no 100 times before the one yes30:48 The actual cheat code for landing a book deal, and it costs nothing 34:46 Why self-publishing doesn't close the door to a book deal anymore36:47 The books Thea can't stop talking about this year 39:25 What she's telling authors to write about next, in the age of AI 42:03 Her two-question test for finding your own book ideaAbout Thea Diklich-Newell Thea Diklich-Newell is an editor at Ten Speed Press, part of the Crown Publishing Group within Penguin Random House, where she focuses on prescriptive nonfiction: self-help, career, parenting, and relationship books built on real authority and lived experience rather than just a big following. She joined Ten Speed in 2024 after editorial roles at Little, Brown and the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, where she got her start vetting manuscripts from the agent's side of the business. She's also the editor behind Career Cheat Codes.Stay connected with me📧 Contact: [email protected]👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson