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Your content should be your hardest-working sales rep in your business. Always on. Always qualifying. Always closing.
👋 Welcome back to Content to Commas, your weekly playbook for creators, founders, and marketers who want to monetize, build authority, and grow with content.
Last week on a panel I said I do not rely on outreach. I prefer inbound.
Some heard it as judgment or shaming cold calling. It wasn’t. It was a push to take control.
In any negotiation, who has the upper hand? The person knocking or the one answering?
Inbound gives you that leverage because people already understand your value before they ever get on a call. Outreach can fill gaps, but it is still a guess.
I want you to challenge the traditional playbook and choose control and the upper hand.
Here is the inbound system I use, step by step that compounds month over month and the sooner you start … the better.
📍 In this issue:
The Inbound System (3 steps to $20–50K/mo)
3-Post Weekly Planner you can steal
Sponsor: Hubspot — How AI Can Power Your Income
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Brandon Smithwrick 🧠
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⚡ Build A Content Engine Today
Over the last few years I watched Meta, Google, and X (Twitter) lay off tens of thousands.
My own 9–5 was never at a Google-level, but it taught me a simple truth.
A job is not the security people think it is. A brand you publish into is.
When you create consistently, you are making deposits into an asset that keeps paying you back.
That asset compounds … it also shifts the power dynamic.
So I want you to see content less as an ‘influencer thing’ and more as job security, career flexibility, and a built-in go-to-market strategy for whatever you do.
It starts with your own content engine, and the engine has three parts:
Treat your personal brand like compounding equity.
Publish simple, specific content that earns the buy.
Move people to an owned list, ask what they want, pre-sell it, then build.
1) Your brand as an appreciating asset
Jobs end. Algorithms change.
A brand you publish into keeps compounding if you show up. Every post, newsletter, and live session is a deposit.
The S&P 500 grows by 10% a year. My personal brand grows by 10% each month. It TRIPLED this year alone.
Yet, people happily invest thousands into stocks, but can't commit to 30 minutes a day on LinkedIn.
Let me guess… if you're like most entrepreneurs, you get tripped up by 2 big myths:
Myth #1: "I need to be an expert before I put myself out there."
Expertise comes from taking action, not waiting for perfection. Start now, learn as you go.
Myth #2: "I don't have time for content creation."
You don't have time NOT to create content. It's the best investment you'll ever make.
For the first time in history, ANYONE can reach 100,000+ people for $0.
And we're still early to this opportunity. But the later you start, the harder it gets.
2) Simple niche content is better
Now let’s talk about buying behavior.
People only do not purchase for only two reasons.
They either do not want what your sell (wrong audience or wrong timing)
They do not trust you (…yet.)
This is actually an easy fix because you know what to focus on.
Your content should aim to remove both frictions.
Simple does not mean generic or boring.
It means you take something that feels hard and present a clear and easy to understand way (think middle school word choice).
Use this 3×3 Content Grid to stay out of noise:
Signals for positioning. Teach your rules and beliefs so the right people self-select.
Proof for trust. Show receipts with short case studies, numbers, screenshots, process in public, and student wins.
Bridges for conversion. Give one clear next step that moves people to your list or offer. One link. One path.
When someone engages, treat it like a warm doorway.
Thank them, ask the single result they want in the next 30 days, and point to the fastest path.
Don’t try and sell them every interaction (I hate that personally).
3) Build a home.
Lastly, the goal is to give people a reliable home where they know you will show up.
That home can be a monthly event, a podcast, or a newsletter. The format matters less than the home.
What this looks like in real life: creators host series like For The First by Colin Rocker, Creator Economy NYC by Brett Dashevsky, and CreatorTeaTalk with Jayde Powell.
Others anchor to newsletters and pods that hit the inbox on a schedule. You are reading mine right now. I also study and enjoy Future Social and ICYMI because they build trust through a steady cadence and a clear point of view.
Pick your home and make it predictable:
Choose the format you can stick with. Monthly live series, weekly newsletter, or a tight podcast that drops the same day every week.
Name it, set the time, and publish the promise so people know when to show up and what they get.
Guiding people from social to your home is simple.
Your Signal and Proof posts should point to a single link.
Explain why joining this week matters. When someone engages, invite them inside.
You are building a room you control, not chasing a feed you do not.
Outbound can work. It is the slow path when your content is not pulling.
Every week you should have a content that build trust, reaches the masses, introduces you to a wider potential customers, and positions yourself in front of future clients.
This is a formula that removes outbound from the equation.
🎗 ICYMI…
Every week I share a quick practical plays on brand marketers, monetization tips for creators, and growth strategies. Plus tools I actually use that you might’ve missed.
Catch up in minutes:
🦉 I sat down with Hootsuite to share smarter workflows for managing social in less time — Read the post
🧠 Notion is my home base for planning, tracking, and organizing everything. Try their Plus Plan with Notion AI free for 30 days — Join the Notionverse
🎨 Build emails, edit photos, and code full websites with Canva AI — Learn more
🤝 Ready to land your first brand deal? This guide walks you through pitching, pricing, and getting paid — Download it here
✍️ Need LinkedIn hooks that actually stop the scroll? I broke down the formats behind my top-performing posts — Steal them here
🎤 TED Next is coming up (Nov 9–11, Atlanta). I’ll be speaking alongside top creators on what’s next in business — Grab your ticket
💪 Want to stay consistent with content? My Content Fitness Plan will help you build creative endurance and post with purpose — Read it here
⚡ Stanley is like having a LinkedIn intern, it helps you write smarter posts and sends weekly insights on what’s working. Check it out
💸 Turn your content into income streams. My Monetization 101 Playbook breaks down how to earn while you create. Read it here
📰 Thinking about starting a newsletter? I use Beehiiv — get a 30-day free trial + 20% off your first 3 months — Start here
🏦 Manage your business finances stress-free with Mercury, a sleek online banking built for creators and startups. Deposit $10K in 90 days and get $250 cash.
🎬 OpusClip turns long videos into scroll-ready shorts and publishes them across platforms in one click. Try OpusClip here
Brandon Smithwrick
Thanks for reading!
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