Produced By - The AI Growth Engine: Scale Your Brand, Content and Authority at Speed | #MILESTONE: Charlie Hills

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Charlie Hills is a leading expert in AI-powered content creation, helping professionals turn LinkedIn into a platform that delivers real results. In less than a year, he grew his audience to over 50000 by using AI tools to streamline content, increase engagement, and drive conversions. Through his company Cognified, Charlie now supports others in building strong personal brands with consistent strategies and compelling content.This is a milestone episode, the very first sequel on the podcast, featuring Charlie's return. Tune in to hear what has changed since our last conversation, how he’s scaled his impact, and what ambitious projects lie ahead. If you want to understand how AI and content can work together for growth, this episode is a must.Connect with Charlie:https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-hills/https://charliehills.substack.com/https://cognified.io/Timestamps:00:00 – Authentic content on LinkedIn01:14 – Meet Charlie02:44 – Growing from 12k to 90k followers03:19 – Aiming for 150k07:42 – Content creation workflow09:44 – Carousels vs video10:26 – Thoughts on LinkedIn video updates11:48 – Posting for AI news14:11 – Avoiding misinformation17:22 – Becoming a trusted AI source20:49 – First public speaking gig24:21 – Expanding into more talks28:24 – Focus on content agency30:30 – Community launch plans32:49 – Building a SaaS product36:15 – Managing pressure & burnout39:14 – Hobbies & book recs42:08 – Favourite AI tools43:55 – Using Perplexity for research47:37 – Substack vs Beehiiv50:34 – Podcast & content preferences53:38 – Final thoughts on authenticity Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Obviously, I do invest quite a lot of time and energy into creating high quality content. I think that's the most important aspect of LinkedIn, because you could grow and do very well without doing all the tedious engagement work just through good content, like authentic, unique content. So I think that's the most important thing. But then also it's building relationships with people in the DMs and the comments because I think a secret that I follow is I replied to every single one of my DMs. matter who you are and what you say. Even some people just say, hey, how are you doing? I'm like,

I'm good, man. How are you? I know other creators would ignore that because it's not like a lead and it treats it very much as like a business platform, which it is LinkedIn, but it's also a social media platform. I think it's very important to be social and just to build relationships with people, no matter who they are, to be honest. So that's probably one of the biggest hats. Yeah, I like it and I agree. And as you mentioned, that sometimes people just take you, how are you? It's a nice message. Before we dive into today's episode, please hit that subscribe button. Your support helps us grow and inspire more people on their journeys. Thank you.

Hello, Charlie. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Hi, Thomas. Yeah, thanks so much for having me for the second time. It feels, yeah, surreal to be the first creator to be invited on this podcast twice. So thank you so much for having me. The pleasure is mine. It's the very first sequel episode when I do the episode with the creator for the second time. And as we just discussed, we've grown a lot since we spoke last time.

But in case there is still someone who doesn't know who Charlie is, can you please introduce yourself? Yeah, I'm Charlie Hills. I'm an AI content marketer. And yeah, I very much focus on creating authentic AI content. in my background's digital marketing and I just fell in love with AI thanks to my university dissertation. I wrote about the impact of AI on customer loyalty in the retail industry and then chat GPT came out

and I was like, okay, let's go. It's a new era and since the launch, I've been using it every single day. So that's me in a nutshell. I would say that we could discover your journey. How did you discover AI or? your dissertation, but I would tell people to listen to the previous episode because we discussed it quite a lot over there and it's packed with all the background and the startup that you did

and everything around it. But since then, tell us what has happened since we spoke the last time. It's been a while. You've grown a lot, as I mentioned before, so there must be so much exciting stuff to discuss. Yeah, I can't remember how many followers I was on when I originally appeared on the podcast. I think it was like 12,000 or something. Now it's like near enough 90K. We can say that when we release this episode,

because we record a bit in it back. I'm certain I would maybe even better that there will be 100K, which is amazing milestone. I think so too. Yeah, I'm aiming before May. So yeah, fingers crossed, but no pressure. It doesn't matter if I don't hit it. But 100% man, yeah.

I mean, remind me, Charlie, what was your goal by the end of last year? I remember you had a goal. What was it? It was 50,000. And I did that. Oh my God. Yeah.

I managed to reach 55K in one year, which is like a similar growth trajectory to the likes of Lara. So onwards and upwards, to be honest. I don't know where I'll be at the end of this year. I'm thinking maybe 150K. That was my question, actually. If you've got like an idea by the end of the year, would it be done? Yeah, 150.

How much did you say? 150. Yeah, that's the target. Because if I hit 100 by May, then I have more than six months. to, so it might be more than 150K to be honest, but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself because I think 100K enough to be honest. I might just have a break and not pose for some time after that.

Yeah, it's crazy. Do you, like, can you actually imagine what it looks like such a high number of people? Because, for example, today I saw the post what it looks like when you're in the room with the audience of, I think, 500 people. And it was like a lot, if you imagine 500. And if it's even 100K, it's crazy.

Yeah. Oh my God, I'd be absolutely crapping myself if I was in a room with 100K people, Jesus. But yeah, on LinkedIn, I guess it's a different story. I mean, these people just must like what I'm doing. And honestly, I amaze myself every time that I just keep growing, keep growing. Even a friend of mine said, you know, you're going to blow up exponentially on LinkedIn. I was like, really? Me?

Why? Like, I don't get it. And suddenly overnight, it seems to, have happened just through consistency and good content. Yes, I'm pretty sure that there are people who asked you and are probably even wondering now as we are speaking, you know, that come on message, what is your secret or what is your advice? Which I would say that there is not really advice or secret.

It's like about showing up and delivering quality content, but what would be your answer to this question? Yeah, it's a good question. Obviously, I do invest quite a lot of time and energy into creating. high quality content. I think that's the most important aspect of LinkedIn, because you could grow and do very well without doing all the tedious engagement work just through good content, like authentic, unique content. So I think that's the most important thing. But then also, it's building relationships with people in the DMs and the comments because I think a secret

that I follow is I replied to every single one of my DMs, no matter who you are and what you say. even some people just say, hey, how are you doing? I'm like, I'm good, man. How are you? I know other creatives would ignore that because it's not like a lead, and they treat it very much as like a business platform, which it is, LinkedIn. But it's also a social media platform. So I think it's very important to be social and just to build relationships with people,

no matter who they are, to be honest. So that's probably one of the biggest hat. I like it and I agree. And as you mentioned, that sometimes people just take to how are you? It's a nice message. But I feel like that sometimes because people text you like this and often it's for the sake of trying to pitch you something later

so when someone generally asks you, how are you? I'm actually happy about it because I'm like, okay, what do you want? What do you need from me? And he's like, nothing. I just wanted to say like, how is it going and build a relationship. And it actually makes me really happy

that some people won't actually build a genuine relationship. So I'm glad that you pointed it out. Yeah, of course. I mean, like sometimes I'm so busy. I'm just like, oh, for God's sake, like, I've got to reply, but I know it's important for that community building aspect. And like you say, yeah, to that person, that might mean a lot because they are just generally curious and I want to check in with you.

And imagine if it's a smaller creator and he or she gets a reply from like someone almost with one decade like you, it might be a great inspiration. Yeah, no, yeah, people are so, so thankful because I know how much it means for them. I mean, we were all in their position one day. So I truly remember how that felt when I was just a smaller career and trying to figure everything out. So, yeah, I know it means the world to people. Yeah, I agree.

And of course, the big part of the growth is the quality content. And if I'm not mistaken, a post every day, which not going so it's quite dumb consuming. And especially if it's a quality content. So how do you manage to create it so regularly, stay consistent and keep the quality up? Yeah, good question. So, I mean, I was designing all my own content up until like August of last year.

I spending my weekends, creating content because I was working full time. So it was a challenge to stay consistent and still post every single day. And the biggest and best thing that I did for myself and my business was to outsource to graphic designers. I feel like I've got the best team of creatives now, just finding them through LinkedIn, you know, just seeing their content and wanting to work. together. And that, you know, finding the right people in combination with these AI processes that I'm using, such as I have a Carousel GPT, infographic GPT, stuff that distills long form content or research and makes it into bite-sized LinkedIn posts. That just expedites the process. I can literally, you know, I don't have to spend too much time on the design side of things and I can focus on the more

important aspects which are like the content strategy and the ideation of the content ideas. And have you got like a set structure? For example, Monday I post this type of content, Tuesday, this type of content or it doesn't matter? It doesn't matter too much to be honest. And the only thing that I kind of stick to a set structure is on Sundays, I'll post a video post and or a lead magnet. I'm not sure why because it's a bit arbitrary, why I'm doing that. But besides that, I like to post different media types every single day. So Carousel, infographic video, Carousel, like and rotate between them. I never like to post an infographic two, three days in a row because I find that you can

experience audience fatigue potentially, unless you are like the infographic guy, then do that. But like a harista. Yeah, of course, but he still love the Carousel too. And yeah, I found that in October. but my performance or my content was kind of like declining. And I think it's because I just went overkill on the infographics, because I thought carousels were dead. But in actuality, I'm seeing some of the highest levels of reach with carousel content now.

So I think I was just a bit. Even higher than with video? Yeah, I mean, obviously the videos seem to generate a high amount of impressions. But the follower growth really comes from those high converting carousels. because I think people spend more time on there and it also see more value in the carousels versus a video, you have to actually

be invested to sit down and want to watch that for like two minutes basically, I think. And how do you think it changed with the recent update of the videos? Like, for example, one thing when it comes to the app and the button and the second

with the preview of the text, because now you can see obviously only the first few lines or the first line. yeah, I'm not a big fan of that update. The vertical video, like, it's got like curved corners, hasn't it? And they've recently removed the video feed. I mean, I tend to post more horizontal style videos rather than talking heads. I find talking heads really struggle to do well, whereas if I record like an AI workflow or breaking AI news, it tends to do quite well because it's, it's very current and people are interested in it rather than me talking about like personal

development or something else, which I think is harder to garner that attention. So I'm not a big fan of the update. I think it can cut off and cropped on the vertical video. But, hey, LinkedIn reported recently that it was working very well and everything's going to bring. I didn't know. But I'm not convinced. I was a bit disappointed with the preview of the video because I like to play or write

the text and now I'm pretty sure that people just scroll and it depends only on the hook and there's one or first two lines. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'd rather click see more at the top and then actually read the caption as well alongside the video. So yeah, I'm no, thumbs down from me. I agree. And do you also sometimes post more than once per day? Sometimes, sometimes.

Yeah, I know. Yeah, it really depends. Like if they're a very current AI update such as like chat chpity clod or perplexity and it's literally just broke. It's usually around the chat chbtee content to be honest because I want to be the first to break that news. And even if it's outside my posting time, which typically can mean lower reach and engagement, I know that this is so breaking that I want to be one of the first to get out there.

So only in those cases, I'm not quite at the position when I can do more than one post per day. regularly, but yeah. And just speaking of this, is that something that you would plan for the future to regularly more frequently per day? It's quite a hard question. I don't think so, because I don't want to sacrifice quality, to be honest, because I think that seven days a week is more than enough. If anything, I might go the opposite direction and maybe do less post a week and just focus on the top highest quality content out there. Because it's not a fun feeling just to fill the calendar rather than that actually post something you really care about. The reason, one of the reasons why I asked before is that I also noticed that sometimes you posted breaking news.

And also I spoke with someone in previous episodes. And she mentioned that, oh, Charlie, sometimes posted in the crazy times. And that's when there's like a breaking news and you post it, which was kind of sometimes unexpected. But then you see that it's breaking news. So it makes sense. Yeah, I'm just, I love AI that much. I'm just literally as soon as I see the news and it's typically from LinkedIn, someone else might post about it.

But to actually do like a recorded video of it to actually show your first-hand experience of using the new update, that takes a little bit more effort. So I'm like, okay, let's go. So need to do the whole setup quickly recording and put it on there. Yeah, I mean, without the camera, usually. Oh, yeah. Yeah, just like, because I'm using Screen Studio. Everyone always asked me which app I use to record those videos,

and it's super cool. It zooms in and gives a really good demonstration of the new feature or update. Has it happened to you that you posted, whether it's breaking news or something in your post, and then it noticed or found out that it was wrong or it wasn't true? Yeah, I mean, not the topic, but sometimes the information in the posts, like especially if I haven't researched it thoroughly. I think once I posted about Claude's new 3.7 sonnet update and I said that it was 200 tokens,

but then someone commented and said it was 128 tokens. I was like, oh God, like I had to like edit the caption. And I guess that's to my own detriment for not like just looking at the shiny object and being like, I'm going to post about it. And then using AI to research it. And then yeah, yeah, yeah. To thoroughly read the article. I guess it would be worse if it was like in a design,

which if I'm not mistaken, you cannot edit the post and for example change the carousel for the previous phone. No way. Yeah, of course. I'd be like very saddening. I'd have to delete the post and edit the design that we post. Yeah. So yeah.

And talking about the latest news in AI, what are your sources, such as whom do you follow or if any websites or any other sources? Yeah. So, I mean, it's typically all just linked in. to be honest, sometimes, yeah, like, I need to get better at that. Like, I want to set up an automation with chat, GPT, scheduled tasks to tell me AI news every day, because sometimes there's really cool stuff, and then it'll come out, and it's too late.

I'm like, damn, I've missed a breaking opportunity here. But besides, I petition posted earlier than did me, like someone else on LinkedIn. Yeah, then I'd be, you know, crack at dawn recording videos about it. But yeah, it's all from LinkedIn, too. It's like sometimes in the evening I'll be scrolling through the platform. And someone who's not even like a big creator might just post about like the new chat GPT update. And that's how I'm alerted.

Like I remember I was once at the restaurant or bar and I saw the new 03 mini update. I literally like ran home. I'm recording a video on this like, bye everyone. But the people who I follow for it, there's this guy called Tim Kakir. I'm not sure how to pronounce. I'm really bad with pronouncing names, so sorry Tim, if you're listening, but he's really good with new AI updates. Also, Paul Kuvert, he always comes up with really smart workflows with AI updates.

And then obviously the EasyGen team, Axel and Ruben, they're usually pretty on top of it. They're like a machine over there. So I need to Google the first one, not Google, not Google. Check them out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but yeah, he's doing some cool stuff with it, with AI and he doesn't really get tons of engagement, but I think he deserves it.

Behind the scenes information that when I speak with some people on the podcast and often ask them when it comes to AI, understandably they also say that they get AI information from LinkedIn, which I'm not surprised I do as well. But as I texted you, Charlie, a few times, you are actually one of the creators that is cited as a source for AI news. So was this your goal or would you before like expect or plan to become this type of person like go to person for AI news? I guess, yeah, when I first started out on LinkedIn, that was literally my main topic that I was posting about was the latest AI news. I remember I used to check the product hunt daily to see if there's any new AI tools out there and I just post about them instantly. So yeah, maybe when I started, not to this level of follow.

but for sure, I think that's always been a key content pillar of mine. It's only in the past six to eight months. I've really started to talk about LinkedIn-specific content, which does very well because it's LinkedIn-specific, and I feel like I know enough about it now. But to answer, I guess maybe, but not have people here on your podcast and say, yeah, Charlie's the guy for AI news. But I promise that, I mean, I ask the question because I'm generally curious

and AI is a big topic. So I want to know from other creators, such as what they use, where they get their information from, or whom they follow. But they really say like, Charlie is the guy. I'm like,

yeah, it makes sense. It's like my source as well. So I guess it's nice to hear, but at the same time puts a bit of pressure on you because then you need to deliver the quality that people expect. Yeah. No, 100%.

I mean, I went through a stage of posting tons of LinkedIn stuff. And I was like, hang on a minute. I need to go back to the AI stuff here now. because this is why people follow me, to be honest. And besides that, I mean, perplexity is quite good for AI news. Sometimes I just log into perplexity and they have like a news tab at the bottom.

And I'm like, oh, that's cool. Oh, yeah. And the other point was that I think I live in like this bubble of AI. And I forget that some people don't actually like live and breathe it as much as myself or others potentially do. I just assume that everybody knows about the new chat chbtbt update. But then when I post about it, everyone's like, oh, yeah, awesome. Thanks for sharing with us. So I think, yeah, I just need to get out of my own head sometimes.

And remember that people really value AI content. Even I posted about custom GPTs yesterday. It's doing very well. Everyone's like, whoa, major resource. But like, GPTs have been out for like a year and a half. So I thought everyone knows how to use them. But actually, it's still like 1% of users. That is true.

And I remember I did episode with Hank, Larker a few months ago, and he mentioned that they do like courses for some companies, and that they were teaching people how to use CHETGPT, and there were quite a lot of people who's never used it. I would expect, or I don't know, maybe not expect, but I would assume that many or the majority of people try it or know it or explore it. You never know. There are still people who have no idea or just haven't tried it.

Yeah. No, no, I think there's a large portion of people, I guess obviously being in like, I'm the oldest gency out there. So being like a digital native, it just comes a lot easier to us, I guess, typing into the computer. But obviously I assume like the older you become, the harder it is to learn new skills. And prompt engineering is a totally different ballgame. You know, it doesn't come with a manual or a simple guide to how to do it.

So it's still all quite complex. I'm speaking at this event next month. And I'm questioning myself, I'm like, wait, is this content value? but are people going to be like, oh yeah, I know that already. Or are they going to be like amazed and be like, whoa, Charlie, you just flip the script for us and showed us how to use AI. Is it the one in Athens? Yes, yeah, it's in Cyprus and then Athens.

It's two events. So it's my first public speaking gigs. I'm excited, but also a little bit nervous. Do you want to or can you tell us more like behind the scenes information such as how did you get there? what is it going to be about? Maybe why Charlie? Yeah. So, I mean, it was all through LinkedIn, to be honest.

Like the events manager reached out to me and said, hey, you know, I love your content. Even though, too fair, she said she didn't read it specifically, and she didn't really understand it, which I guess, you know, goes to my point that people are still only scratching the service with it. But someone recommended me to her and she reached out to me and said, hey, you know, we'll fly you out. We'll get you speaking at the event. and I'm doing about how I'll create AI content that converts, that's authentic, because authenticity

is the big piece here, which I'm really focusing on for the talk. And I'm being joined by Jeremy Gandolin, so I'm quite excited to have a friend out there. It's not just going to be me speaking. So, yeah, it was just for LinkedIn. It's to start from next month, April, at the time of recording it. So I probably would have done it by the time this episode goes out. But yeah, it's quite exciting. And what's the event about? Or what? What type of occasion is it? Yeah, so it's AI in marketing. Obviously, I'm a marketer by trade, so it's right up my street, to be honest.

It should be a good one. I've attended tons of events myself, so I just need to get up on the stage now and do it. Yeah, are you the type of person who prepares in advance or do you kind of restile? What's your approach? Yeah, I'm learning. I'm getting coaching exercises from Pasquale. I don't know if you know her on LinkedIn, but I signed up to that in, January because I anticipated that I would start doing public speaking as part of just building a

personal brand. And lo and behold, someone reached out to me a week later and was like, we want you to speak. So it was good timing. Perfect timing. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. And it's kind of like a weird psychology with public speaking is that I'm very used to sharing AI workflows and recording my screen saying this, how to do it in real time. But with public speaking, you're less relying on your screen and more just talking to the audience. So I started preparing with like a big script of being like, I'm going to say this, this, this and this. And then when I actually practiced it, I was like, oh, God, that isn't how you do it. So I've just got like rough ideas of what I'm going to say. And then it's going to have to be like a freestyle on the day while sticking

to the kind of the loose structure that I've got in mind. Yeah. I hope there will be a recording or maybe like I know. I need to be cool to add to my LinkedIn. Yeah, definitely, man. And you recently also did Stanthel with the chairman in Paris, right? So, yeah, he spoke at a clay event in Paris, and I just went along and watched him because he invited me out. We're a good friend. So I went to Lemless HQ and, yeah, saw him and the team talk about Clay and how to use it.

So it was very enriching for me as an inbound content guy to learn about your outbound data enrichment. So, yeah, eye-opening experience. I just made a trip out of it. And I recorded some content with Jeremy, which hopefully everyone will be seeing or have seen soon. Yeah, nice. And then as you are speaking about this, does that mean that you are open to more speaking opportunities like this in the future? Yeah, 100%. I'm talking with someone else about doing one in London, because obviously it can be a good part of your personal brand.

It can also be a good revenue stream for my business. but I honestly just want to do it for myself is because I grew up with a stutter I'm quite an introverted shy person so I really want to just get out to my comfort zone and to keep pushing myself because, and I just know it's a very, very important part of building a personal brand to actually like go out there

show yourself and just do it man so yeah the first one's going to be a bit sticky but once I get some reps in then I'll be strong I'm sure on that front no I can imagine to be honest I felt not similar because I don't want to compare it, but when I did my first LinkedIn live, it felt strange as well.

Because although I record the podcast regularly, and it's something that you do on regular basis, then still LinkedIn live or the life recording is different because you're on the opposite side. It's life. It's not edited. So I felt a bit nervous and step out of conferences as well, but in the end it was really fun and I enjoyed it.

100%. Yeah. Yeah. I know that feeling. I've done many LinkedIn lives and podcasts, and the first few were bloody nerve wracking. And then the recent ones I've been doing like, they've just been going super well and just super natural. But the good thing about those is that you can... Another one.

Yeah, exactly. Like, it's like the muscle memory. But the good things about those is that you can conceal, like, sweat. Whereas I like sweat so much. So I've been having, like, you know, anxious thoughts about getting up on the stage and I was just like dripping with sweat. Oh, yeah. And there's no hiding there. Like, I can get.

like a napkin to wipe it off. And the worst thing about it is that once you start sweating, then it just keeps coming because then you're self-conscious about it. Yeah, yeah. And when it comes to public speaking, do you have like any, let's say, inspiration? Because, for example, people watch TED Talks or this type of videos when it comes to public speaking.

Do you have any people that, you know, you look up to or are inspiration or someone that you like the way that they present themselves? Yeah, so, I mean, they're not going to be your typical, like, TEDx speakers. I mean, I guess Nushin would be a good one. I'm always watching her videos on LinkedIn. She's, like, super giving with her public speaking guidance. But besides that, I'd honestly say Ruben, I really enjoy the way that he speaks. I know he was coached by Nishin.

And, yeah, he's really engaging as well as Asman Alec. I think he's super composed. And, yeah, I love the way he speaks on stage. And as well, Lara, I'd say. I really admire the fact that she gets up on stage. I think she's younger than me. And she just does it. Like she's speaking all over the globe at the minute.

So, you know, kudos to her. I read recently that she went, I don't know if it was L.A. or somewhere. And a few other places before, which is pretty cool. Who knows? Maybe, or probably in a few months or years, Charlie will be the same. Yeah, no, 100%. I mean, I think that's one of the perks of public speaking. you get to visit all these cool places.

I've never been to Piperus before and go next month. So it's just nice to leave the UK every so often. I agree. And we'll be definitely, or I'm pretty sure, beautiful weather, or at least nicer than in the UK. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's part of my chair. I'm sweating.

I'm just like, is it going to be too hot for me? But yes, it'll be good. Hopefully I can see some sites and it's not too work heavy. Are you struggling to stay consistent on LinkedIn? Fanpost helps you create high quality posts in minutes so you can write faster, show up more and stress way less. Built by creators for creators. It's the easiest way to grow your presents without burning out.

Try it free at fanpost.com. And besides this, besides like public speaking, have you got any other goals or areas that you want to work on, focus on for the future? Yeah, good question. I mean, there's many moving parts in a minute. I'm very focused on my content agency, working with my clients and posting content to my own LinkedIn. But I'm working on building a community, which is still kind of a work in progress. I'm thinking either that or an accelerator, because again, it just opens up another stream of revenue for my business. But besides that, I've really thought about a SaaS product. I've really wanted to get into the SaaS game. I think it'd be really cool. Like, I wanted to make an infographic generator tool. I just know the market's moving so fast, and it's like now or never if I really want to launch it. But the good thing is that my personal brand and the following isn't going away. So I think that gives me the perfect platform to consider launching a SaaS product.

Because the more followers you have, the easier it becomes to sell your fast. And speaking of starting with your community, like what platform or where would you want to host it, such as, I don't know, Patreon or something else, or I don't know what does it out there. Yeah, I didn't think about Patreon. I started off thinking about heartbeat. It seems to have a nice feel to it. But then someone reached out to me and said, like, why don't you do it on school instead? Because school is the communities of communities.

You can join many. Is the one that Hormoz he bought, right? Yeah, exactly. He's invested in it. And it seems, I don't really enjoy the U.S. and the UI of school. It's not that great. But it's smart because then you can kind of cross-collaborate in communities and, like, share each other's members. And most people already signed up to school.

So it just means, like, one less platform to have to sign up to if I launched on Patreon or heartbeat, for example. But yeah, I just really want to nail it because the amount of people who have warned me about launching a community being like, Charlie's going to be very time-consuming. Don't do it. It's like, it takes a lot of people. So I totally hear them. I'm just kind of taking my time with that and making sure I really nail. And do you have like a rough date when you would launch it? Yeah, it could be as soon as like end of April, May potentially.

I mean, I just, yeah, I need to talk with a few more people and really get like a feeling for what's required. Like whether I need to record modules before or like, for example, I'm looking like Lara literally Academy and seeing what she's doing over there because it's, yeah, it's quite smart. The way she's approached it. So I'm thinking maybe like there's a course to start with and then there's like a retainer of a subscription course to keep people on board to have that community aspect and talk with me weekly and speak over like async messaging. So yeah, it's honestly May would be a good time to estimate,

but it could be later than that. I'm not in a massive rush with it. Yeah. And with the accelerator, I guess that would be something related to AI. wouldn't be like some kind of course or what would it be? Yeah, it'd be linked in AI, to be honest. I think that's obviously my two kind of areas of expertise.

So leveraging AI for LinkedIn and content specific. So yeah, I'm just putting, because I've recorded a course before, but the trouble with AI content is that it gets out of date quite fast. So that was six months. Yeah. So it needs to be updated very frequently. Yeah, 100%. I think I need to re-rerereferent.

I think I need to re-record it because a lot has changed since October of last year. But yeah, I just need to get the good setup, which I think I have now. Like, if you have a nice mic here. Yeah, just need to get the fireplace in the background. Then you are ready. Yeah, of course. That's trademark Charlie. I think I must now because you're like the fifth, sixth, seventh person who told me like,

where's the fireplace? So bring it back. For the people who are only listening, you need to watch the video as well. Because since I noticed, you cannot unnotice once you notice. With the fireplace. Yeah.

Really mad. Then the last one, as you mentioned, the SaaS product or Caruso creators, not like that. Are you actually someone who knows how to code, or would you do it with AI, or how would you do?

product like that. It's not easy, is it? No, no, of course, of course not. That's probably why I've put it off for so long, but I don't know how to code. No, like I know how to interpret some HTML code, but that's not very useful for building a SaaS products, really. With tools like Claude and Replit, it's so easy now to build a SaaS in 2025. I think I'd need to partner with someone who's technical to do it because I'm the marketer here. I'm on the face. I'm the lead driver, let's say. So, yeah, I'm not sure how to code, but with AI and some smart brains,

I'm sure we can make it happen. I think the great inspiration with this is Unita, who doesn't code or maybe some basics, but doesn't really know how to code, but he built two monsters. Who? Which is Unita. Jonathan Cohen. Yeah, yeah, of course. His little monsters, yeah, they're super impressive.

He appeared on the podcast, didn't he, not so long ago. And I think he said he doesn't know how to code or maybe just some basics, but it seems like that two monsters are really great too. Wow, I mean, that's super impressive because I know AI can get you like 80% of the way there with most things, but with code. Like if there's like nitty details you have to amend in the code, I don't know how he's going around that. that's, I mean, kudos to him.

I have no idea either, but it seems like he nailed it. And it's only growing, so I'm happy for him that it's going to. I still need to try hooky. It's been on my to do list forever to try hooky. I hear good things about him. And as we spoke Charlie about your soon two-hit milestone, what's going to be our celebration once it happens? Yeah, so I mean, I literally celebrated like every 1,000 milestone along the way.

Oh my God, but it must be like every day. It's not fun anymore, is it? Yeah, honestly, I remember I celebrated 60K and a few people like, yeah, Charlie just wait to 100K because it's going to happen soon. And then I was like, okay, fine, I'm going to stop doing those like 60K friends, thank you posts after 60. And just wait to 100. So I'm actually not sure. I think it would be nice to launch the community. on a 100k, it would be a nice milestone,

but no pressure on my side if I don't. Besides that, just doing something super fun. Like, I like to go to like a nice restaurant and just celebrate myself when I reach those milestones. I guess you deserve it, yeah. And I think when it comes to growth like this, obviously everyone wants to grow. It's great if you get the numbers.

But I'm pretty sure that there is like a pressure with, you know, so many people following you, I don't know, getting so many DMs and everything. So what's your take like on this side of things? Do you experience it as well or did you learn how to deal with it? Because I feel like when I was getting a bit more of traction, I remember I spoke about it with Luis in the episode that we did some time ago, that suddenly people start reaching out, you start getting more engagement. So I feel like that transition was, it was nice, but at the same time,

unusual and harder to deal with. So have you got like any advice or how did you approach this if you still experience it? Yeah, 100%. I feel the pressure more than ever to make sure that I'm talking about the right things and not just blindly have to ensure that I'm a thought leader on the topics that I speak about. So yeah, definitely. I feel the pressure even in regards to how I interact with people on the platform, you know, people are watching me.

People, you know, they look up to me. And yeah, it's growing day by day, which I don't know, it's hard. I don't like to think about it too much. But to manage it, I'm not actually sure how I'm managing. I guess I'm just taking it as it comes, to be honest. But yeah, it's definitely a challenge when building in public and growing a personal brand, you're very vulnerable. But, yeah, I think that's important.

And I am quite a vulnerable open person. And what about when it comes to burnout? It's obviously a big topic as well, especially to try to stay consistent with the quality and everything. Yeah, I don't know if you saw my post about my duolingo streak ending, but I had like a... Of course I did. I was sad that it, you know, because I used duolingo as well. And I can imagine I would be very disappointed if I lost my strength. Yeah, honestly, it was like three years basically in the making.

But it just got too much. that bloody owl just on my phone not notify me like, hey, you need to practice. And I'm just like, F this man, because I wasn't really learning French at the rate that I wanted to. And with so much going on at the moment, with like my LinkedIn DMs,

just content, client work, everything. I had to cut something. And Jolingo, sadly, was the one that got cut. And yeah, it's difficult because like sometimes writing client work, I don't feel the same enthusiasm that I have for my own content. And that feels like a bit draining.

But I know it's important to work hard now. So when I'm old and gray, I can just kick up my feet and be on an island somewhere. Relax. So it's hard, but I mean, I'm quite militant with my hours. You know, some people might think that I work crazy long hours, but I don't. I work like nine to five. Literally, when five of God comes around, that computer goes down. Obviously, I still spend some time in the evenings, like scrolling through LinkedIn.

checking notifications, commenting on people's posts. But I'm super, super hard with that because I remember there was a period when in October, November, like the revenue was down and it was scary times, to be honest. I wasn't going to the gym, my step count was so down. So now I really prioritise logging off at 5pm, going to the gym, and ensuring that I have a very structured approach to my daily work.

It doesn't make sense. And outside of gym, what are some other areas that help you to switch off, recharge, or that you just enjoy doing? Yeah. Oh, God, it's a hard one. I mean, I like to run as well. And I try to read as much as I can besides LinkedIn posts. I try to read other things. But yeah, besides that, I actually don't do too much to be honest. I'm a bit of a sad. I was sort of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is my life. LinkedIn is life, yeah. Definitely that. So when it comes to reading,

I got some recommendations. I don't know if you actually discussed it in the previous episode. Yeah, I did, and I answered it very poorly, I remember. Can you remind I forgot

what were you recommend? I think the power of now is probably the book that's had the most impact on my life by Eckhart Tolle because I struggle with intrusive thoughts and just staying mindful and in the present moment is so, so powerful. I still struggle with it today,

but it really changed my mindset and perception. But besides that, I'm reading, I actually can't remember the name of the book, but I love self-help books. I don't read too many business books because, you know, I went to university for a reason. And I find that, you know,

just learning on the job and through experience is probably the most practical and enriching way to learn. I mean, that's how I've learned so much by AI is just by posting about it. learning as a when rather than reading like a big old book about AI. Usually retain written stuff unless you actually like put it into practice or write it down and

memorize it. I can't remember the book I'm reading at the minute but I'm yeah, I flipped between like self-help and some some business books here and there. So the lean startup is another one that I like. Oh yes. Oh and I remember the one I said it was about the guy that he was like a CIA guy. It was about negotiation. Oh yes. Yes. Split the difference. A bit different. Thank you. Chris was, I think.

Yeah, that is one of my favorite books. I really, really enjoyed reading that one. And I always like to improve my soft skills as much as possible. And then what about when it comes to movies? What are our favorite films? You don't watch film? I'm actually not that great with like TVs. Like, even I've been watching White Lotus with my partner recently.

And I haven't really been engaged. but then suddenly by like episode four I was like oh this is interesting now and I started to become engaged by it so yeah I'm always just like I think I'd suffer from like attention I'm diagnosed but I really struggled to maintain attention so I can't actually think of any good movies I've watched recently I mean I watched the electric city recently on Netflix

I don't know but I thought that was cute it was about like robots and how they're like sentient beings and how us but we know that you are biased to the words a robot. So that one doesn't come. Yeah. I am an AI after all. One question that I would probably regret not asking now, and I'm pretty sure

audience would want to know, is tell us about the tools that you actually use, like what AI tools are in your workflow. Yeah, yeah, good one. So I think the obviously Canva is number one, if you can consider that AI, it's got features.

But besides that, the main core ones, I'd say, are definitely notion for content management, even I don't use the AI suite in there because it's just not that good. And I'm a chat GPT boy through and through. You know, people like to talk about Gemini, people like to talk about Claude. I use them sometimes, but chat chit is just my bay, to be honest. Like, I use GPTs for almost everything. I've built like six now. And that's not even looking at the ones that I have like in draft that I use for my client work. Like I've, I, I, at least you build a custom GPT for each client and it will write posts and for them in their

style and it works very well. It's just leveraging the past copyrighted framework that I made available on GPT. So it's got good feedback. People really enjoy using it. Besides that, perplexity is actually a main one that I absolutely love so much since they got the deep research model. It's great for, you know, retrieving real-time information before. But now with deep research, it follows like a sequential deep chain of thought process. And it's an absolute game changer. And then, of course, easy gen as well. I think it's a great tool for writing LinkedIn posts. And I typically combine that with my custom GBT outputs and just to merge the two and see what I can come up with. I mean, that makes sense because I'm also a chat GPT person.

I often read that, I don't know, Gemini is better for this, Claude for that and that. I don't know if I'm boring, but I like to stick with JetGPT because it does everything. I like it. And I feel like, you know, if you know how to prompt or if you prompt correctly,

it gives you what you need. Yeah, people talk about it, and it sounds like a robot and Claude's better for copywriting. But I think it's all down to the prompts, like you're saying, if you're half decent prompt engineering, then it's like, and especially with four,

I actually find it so quirky and we're past those days of Dell fascinating and those like clunky chat we'd be used to see all the time. It's still fun that you can still see it in the comments on LinkedIn or somewhere. I don't know what those guys are doing but yeah, it's pretty trash. But I was a bit disappointed that you haven't mentioned fan post. well I mean I mean like I checked it out

and it looks like an awesome tool like the the fact that you ask any questions before writing the post and yeah no it was just we are still working on it with Yonaut

but anyone they want to try you know feel free to explore and share any feedback definitely with us yeah yeah I mean kudos to you

and is it wait how does it name was I've been calling him Johnny because he's got like in his name bracket Johnny. Yeah, that is true. But I actually ask him as well and the right pronunciation is your nut. You know, yonut. Yonuts. You know, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, correct. Yeah. Yeah, definitely, guys. And would you be, because I know that when we discussed before building your SaaS tool, I would imagine that maybe you would try to build something similar because it combines AI as as well as LinkedIn. Wasn't something similar on your mind as well? Yeah, I think that the written side of the LinkedIn AI space, it's obviously becoming more saturated. We have many players like EasyGen, magic posts. Obviously, you're a new entrant into the market. So I don't really want to compete

on that front. I think I'm known for my infographics and it just makes sense to, because there isn't a tool out there that can do that. I tried with I ideogram. Oh yeah, that's another AI tool. I'd love to add to the stack. I think ideogramma's top tier. I love it. And yeah, it doesn't do it very well. So it's if napkins are pretty good napkin AI for that, but there isn't one tool that does it for LinkedIn specifically. So if I could be one of the first to bring that to market, then that'd be an absolute game changer. But I think someone like Nick Brokema is working on that already. So it'll probably be too late by the time I get to it. And now when you send idea out to people, who knows how many people will be working on that.

Yeah. For sure. I mean, I think the SaaS space is very hard to break into and to maintain, like with the development cost, with the affiliates, with the marketing cost. Sounds like a lot of work.

So for now, I don't think I'll be entering it this half of the year, but, you know, let's see what the end of 2025 brings us. And one thing that I actually wanted to ask you as well is about the newsletter. Because I remember we spoke before.

I was also trying to decide. what platform to use. And I went for Beehive, then I switched to Substack, and I remember you mentioned that you were thinking about switching to Beehive, if I'm not mistaken.

But you stuck with a Substack, so are you staying there or what are our plans? God, I'm literally second-guessing myself every day with the newsletter because Beehive allows you to add sequences and nurture people, whereas, like, Subsdac,

you only get one welcome email to free and paid subscribers. So, I don't know, it's quite hard. I'd love to switch over to Kit or Beehive, but I recently fell in love with Substack as I've started to diversify and publish content across different platforms.

I'm on threads. I'm on Instagram. I'm on Substack too. And hopefully soon to be YouTube. And it's a really cool platform for posting my LinkedIn content there because then people subscribe to my page and ultimately join my newsletter. So I was like, wow, this is quite an effective way to get more email subscribers, which, you know, email addresses are more important than followers, as that is your owned audience.

So, you know, if my LinkedIn profile was to go down one day, then I would have my substack and the followers over there. So that's, I think I'm going to stay too, honest, Thomas. Like, I mean, why did you switch to substack? Well, it's also good question. I feel like I was in the same situation as you were. I was like, which one should I use? This one or this. I was using Beehive, but I liked in a substack that it's kind of more than just emails.

That's like the kind of the platform as well because you've got a feat. You can read people's notes. And I like just that you kind of create your profile and have more than just emails if it makes sense. I think you are actually one of the inspirations for me as well that I like the way. way that you built your email there and then I like how you keep posting notes which kind of inspired me to start posting notes as well because for me it's also that I have just so much time so that I've been sending an email each week but I started posting also notes because I feel like that's how you can build like a relationship with the audience share more information

and I like how other people do it so for me I personally like substakes so for now I'll probably stay and I like the way you do it there to be thank you yeah I think it's kind of like an underrated social media platform substacks so it's definitely one to invest in because I'm sure it's going to grow overtime yeah but as you said I was also confused with kit that I know that it's a big player as well and us oh substack beehive kit which one there are many more

but I guess just try and see which one you like and which one works yeah it seems to be good for the landing page whereas substack, you're kind of limited in that regard. So they've all got trade-offs, I guess. And also there's two people. Like, that is true. Yeah. So sub-sac's free.

So pay. And Charlie, you've been to quite a few podcasts, as well as this one for the second time. So is there like a question that you wish any of the hosts asked you, but did not? Oh, that's quite a hard question. Maybe that question. No, joking.

Yeah, I guess it's, no, I mean, I really enjoy podcasts because they're like just a very informal way of, you know, speaking with someone. It's not like, I mean, they really vary like podcast to podcast. Sometimes people want me to like do AI workflows and show them exactly what I do and how I do it. Whereas like your podcast, it's just chatting. And I really enjoy that. It doesn't feel like too much pressure. to have to present in a certain way. What are then some podcasts that you listen to if you listen to?

Yeah, I'm not actually that big on the podcast. Like, again, it's the attention span from the side of things. Like, I enjoy the shorts, like the stuff that you repurpose onto LinkedIn, because that's just way more bite-sized and manageable. But I listen to this one quite frequently called the Digital Marketing Podcast. It's set up by these people in the UK in Jersey. and I find that just really helpful for consolidating marketing knowledge because it's been like four years since I left university.

So it's always nice to brush up on that SEO. And they talk about GEO, you know, generative engine optimization. And yeah, just to make sure I'm learning the marketing best practices. But obviously, you know, there's like AI report, there's Audrey's podcast, it's your podcast. There's, you know, people that I appreciate, but I usually consume the content on the LinkedIn. Yeah.

And it's obviously hard to catch up with everything. Yeah, like I can see by myself as well. Yeah, of course. I think if I was like commuting to work and I needed something to like, you know, fill that space and, you know, just listen to then I definitely would. But because I work from home, I'm like, get out of bed, brush my teeth. I'm like, let's go. I'm on the laptop instantly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then Charlie, it's going to be very obvious that people should follow your own LinkedIn. but what other platforms you want people to follow you, what other services you want to promote and any other stuff to tell people to have a look at? Sure, yeah. I mean, as I mentioned, I've diversified over to Instagram,

substack, threads. You can catch me over there. I believe I have the handle Charlie Hills on all of them. So I should be easy enough to find. But besides that, yeah, watch out for my community launch. It's going to be all about AI LinkedIn. Yeah, I've got some warm interest already.

So yeah, I think that's probably the next big move from me. And I'm sure people find a ton of value because it'd be great to connect with people on a deeper level rather than just through LinkedIn posts. I agree. And then Charlie, before we finish any final piece of wisdom, final message or something to share? Yeah. I mean, so I just think that people should be as for LinkedIn specifically, just like as weird as you possibly can be while staying authentic. if you are because people like, I think people like my content because it's

authentic and I'm not just like boring. Like B2B could be very boring and just by being a little bit quirky, embracing your weirdness. I think that really helps to stand out on the feed because for example, people love my pin

comments because they're just so weird. I think it's perfect that. I think that will really help stand out because LinkedIn's more and more crowded. So be yourself and be weird as far. Yeah, it's a great message.

I'm just about to say that with pinned comments, it's always Charlie versus Noam with the best pinned comments. Yeah, no, no, I mean, he put me onto them, but yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. It's the battle of the pinned comment. Check out pincommon, D.PT, if you need some help with that, too. Yeah, it's a smart idea, yeah. Well, Charlie, I think then we can finish it. I really enjoyed. It was a pleasure to celebrate my milestone of episodes and also kind of in

advance, but when we released to celebrate your milestone of the followers. Yes. Thank you so much because it was a really amazing conversation. And I'm one of those people I keep following, always enjoy your content and your inspiration for me. So thank you so much and keep smashing it as always. Oh, thank you, mate. Yeah, you too. Honestly, it's been a real pleasure to be invited back and just to chat with you. It's great to catch up. Yeah, thank you for having me. Thanks for listening to Produce Bye with Tomlin.

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