You don't learn, then start. You start, then learn.

👋 Welcome back to Content to Commas. Where we turn content into a brand builder.

That first line is a quote that has stuck with me over these past 5 years and it's so true.

In under a year of taking content seriously, I went from about 3,000 followers to 19,000. If I were starting tomorrow, these are the 5 things I'd do first.

In April I gave you year 1 of this newsletter. This one goes back further … to the very, very beginning of Young Brandon.

📍 In this issue:

There are 2 more further down, and one of them helped get me in the door at Squarespace 😉

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Wispr Flow is the goat. It's literally how I send more emails, draft content, script my youtube videos, and write these newsletters in record time.

Wispr Flow turns your voice into clean, professional text you can send the moment you stop talking. No rough transcription you have to clean up. Actual polished text, ready for email, Slack, or any app.

Speak the way you think. Go on tangents. Change your mind mid-sentence. Flow strips the filler, fixes the grammar, and gives you text that reads like you spent five minutes writing it.

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I only started posting regularly on LinkedIn in November 2022. I told myself, for 90 days, let me just post twice a week and take this seriously.

Best decision of my life … (literally life-changing).

That first year, my content business paid me $14,576, all part-time … and I sent 0 issues of this newsletter or 100 pitches.

For the ones who know, that was the orange beanie era, and I talked about anything and everything.

"What should I post today?" That is the total wrong question. Here's the sentence I'd finish first:

When someone thinks of, I want them to think of me.

I've used that line since my college internships. When I worked in fashion, my blank was men's fashion marketing. By 2024 it was content marketing guidance.

And honestly, the idea of niching down used to annoy me. We're multifaceted people, so shouldn't our content reflect that?

I used to think so. But here's the thing … it's kinda true.

The sharper your focus in the beginning, the faster you grow.

You can branch out later.

And no, I'm not telling you to talk about one thing forever. You can change your blank every year.

November 2022 to March 2025.

That's 28 months of posting before issue one of this newsletter went out.

Then it grew to 8,000 in one year while I was, honestly, completely winging it. I probably left about 3,000 subscribers on the table because I had no system.

You might not feel ready for a newsletter. I get that. Put the signup link up anyway.

Me personally, I want to own my audience and keep everything that I make.

In college I was getting legit brand partnerships … and I wasn't charging.

Coach had a new bag coming out and I said, "cool, send me the bag, I'll take photos of it." Boom. That was it.

[ proof: Instagram circa 2017 ]

I could have been charging for all of it.

Now let me be fair. In this newsletter I've called trades like that "strategic product trades", because every logo let me say, "they believe in me, you should too."

And a sneaker brand called Greats paid me one pair for every 10 I sold.

I sold 300-something pairs. That's 30 pairs of sneakers. My house was filled with sneakers and shoe boxes … and then they gave me my first job.

But "I'll start making money once I hit 1,000 followers" is a lie. I told myself the same one, and it's a story you tell yourself so you don't have to start.

If you're doing the work, you get paid for the work.

So the knowledge stays free. And the next time somebody asks me to do the work, they get a number, never a range.

In 2025, I didn't post my Q2 wins until I saw Jayde Powell drop hers.

That one recap brought replies, new leads, and collabs I didn't expect.

Truthfully, no one, and I mean no one, is paying as much attention to your work as you are. So now it's one proof post every quarter … literally 4 posts a year.

When I was going for the job at Squarespace, they gave me an assignment.

My manager told me later … some people sent emails back. Some sent Word docs.

I was the ONLY person to send a whole PDF slide deck. Title slide, headline, agenda, even a phone mockup.

I think that PDF helped get me in the door.

You don't want to be "some people."

Each thing you present is a representation of your work standards.

I'm not saying everything needs to be perfect or buttoned up. When I was the one hiring, I just wanted to see how you invest in your work.

Landing a brand once is hard but getting invited back is what turns it from a gig into a business.

So when you get the first yes, I want you to overdeliver on the boring stuff.

Hit every deadline. Make them worry 0% about you. I promise you, that's where deal number 2 comes from.

THE START-OVER LIST

Start ugly if you have to.

See you next Saturday,

Brandon

Each week, I share content on social, branding, and growth strategies. Catch up in case you missed anything.

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