Produced By - Two Brands. One Creator: What Happens When You Grow in Public Twice |136: Danielle Mimoni

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Danielle is a LinkedIn strategist who built a fully booked freelance business without pitching, cold outreach or chasing trends. She helps founders and freelancers attract clients through content that connects and brands that feel real. She’s also built a wellness-focused brand on Instagram, showing how to grow across platforms without burning out. Her approach is rooted in clarity, consistency, and sharing what actually works, not just what looks good online.In this episode, she shares what it actually takes to grow on LinkedIn and beyond. We talk about content strategy, building a brand that feels like you, and showing up even when you don’t feel like it. You’ll learn how to attract clients without selling, post without overthinking, and create content that helps people, and works for you. This one’s for anyone trying to grow online without losing their voice in the process.Connect with Danielle:https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-mimoni-social-media-marketing/https://www.instagram.com/daniellemimoni/Timestamps:00:00 – How Danielle gets clients without pitching01:10 – Intro and welcome01:22 – Danielle on building two personal brands02:16 – Why growing on multiple platforms matters03:12 – Where she started and what changed04:13 – Taking content seriously for the first time05:25 – LinkedIn vs Instagram: what she prefers07:22 – Which platform is harder to grow on08:42 – Content strategy across both platforms10:46 – Does she see herself as an influencer?13:42 – Why full-time influencing isn’t the goal14:33 – Starting on LinkedIn from scratch17:46 – How redundancy led to freelancing18:43 – Tips for early LinkedIn growth21:05 – Should you post selfies on LinkedIn?24:48 – Building a brand with visuals and consistency26:07 – Getting all clients inbound through content27:50 – Giving away knowledge to build trust29:02 – Why people really hire you30:43 – Attracting brands and partnerships35:50 – Showing up when it’s hard39:06 – How she preps content in advance41:10 – Her view on imposter syndrome41:34 – Wellness, hobbies, and lifestyle habits43:38 – Books that shaped her mindset46:17 – Where to follow and connect with Danielle47:06 – Final thoughts on personal branding 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.

The general way to get clients through your content is speaking directly to their pain point. So it's a case of writing down what are the top 10 things that people come to me for. Like what are their top 10 problems? What are the things that keep them up at night that make them stressed all the time? And then writing content around that. So using the hook as like the literal pain point, the biggest problems they're having. So maybe that's for me, for example, I can never find clients, right? That could be your hook because it then gets people thinking, oh, I feel the exact same way.

she's now going to teach me in this post how to solve that problem. So I think that's the first thing speaking to pain points. And then the second thing is something that people are quite afraid to do. And that's give away all of your knowledge for free. Like tell people exactly how they can solve their problem on their own because chances are the majority of the people that you actually want to work with and that are willing to pay you won't do it themselves, but they want to see that you know how to do it.

So share all of your knowledge. I literally tell people exactly how to build a personal brand on LinkedIn. You don't need to work with me. I tell you how to do it for free. 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, Danielle. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me.

So Daniel, for those who don't know you, can you please introduce yourself? Of course. I'm Danielle and I am a social media specialist slash strategist slash whatever else you want to call me. I never really know what to call myself, but essentially most people probably know me from LinkedIn, where I basically just share the realities of being a freelancer and growing on LinkedIn and how exactly I've done it. And then I also have an Instagram in the health and wellness space, which is very random, but two completely different personal brands, but they are still my personal brand. So that's kind of me. And although I focus or we focus primarily on LinkedIn,

it's worth mentioning that you've got quite impressive following on Instagram. Yeah, yeah. No, I love my Instagram. It's quite funny because quite often people follow me on LinkedIn and also will follow me on Instagram, but they have no idea that I'm the same person. So after a few weeks, they're like, oh my God, I've just realized that to you as well. I'm like, yeah, because I'm very different people.

But I think it's actually smart or really good strategy because although I hope it doesn't happen, but you never know in case you may lose account on one platform and then you know you've got a huge following for example on LinkedIn then you lose it and you are nowhere but if I kind of building both you never know no 100% I agree I think so many people have books themselves into LinkedIn and have just not I think people are starting to realize they need to kind of expand their I guess network onto other platforms I think it's starting to happen more but a lot of people like you say they have like 200,000 followers on LinkedIn but if LinkedIn shut down tomorrow they have nothing

So, yeah, 100%. I always say to people, you definitely should start on one platform and master that platform, but as soon as possible, start expanding that. Whether that's onto another social media platform or, like, another marketing channel, email marketing, for example. Yeah, I agree. And then which one did you actually start the first out of these two? So I started my LinkedIn first when I was in my previous job role.

And then I basically was a social media manager at this company. and I essentially decided I have no knowledge in social media. Like I've got here because I've kind of just figured it out and ended up in this role. I don't really feel like I know much, which is a really weird position to be in. Like I just definitely didn't feel like an exa whatsoever. So I decided the best way to kind of combat that issue and get over that kind of feeling was to start my own social media channels. So I'd been posting on LinkedIn for probably about a year, but very inconsistently. and then started my Instagram probably two years ago now.

But no, LinkedIn definitely came first. But it's always been, both Instagram and LinkedIn for me, have always been very sporadic and not particularly consistent up until this year. Okay. What page you then to take it more seriously? Is it like you saw the potential or you got some kind of strategy or why was that? Kind of because I think with LinkedIn, I continue doing it because two reasons. Number one, I went freelance.

So I essentially was like, if I want to make this freelance thing work, I need to be posting on LinkedIn because that is how I'm getting my clients. So that was truthfully probably the main reason. I'd love to say it's because I love LinkedIn. I love posting everything day, but that's definitely not reality. So yeah, probably that was like the number one. And then I think for Instagram, fairly similar, I think I started making like a bit of money at it.

Truthfully for Instagram for me, that was more of like a. passion project. I didn't do that because of the money, although like now it's great. It does bring me some money, which is fabulous. But I did it because LinkedIn was my job. Talking about social media was my job. I wanted something else that I could talk about that I was genuinely passionate about. And I think I just decided to take both of them seriously because like I said, I went freelance. I was self-employed and I was like, I need to make this work or I have to go back to a nine to five. And posting your social job was the way I was going to make that work. Yeah, and can you say which one you enjoy more out of these two?

Don't ask me that. I think I might know the answer. Yeah, you don't ask us. No, I think it would have to be Instagram because I'm so passionate about what I talk about there, which is health and wellness. And I think they're very different platforms in the sense of Instagram takes a lot more time and effort for me

to create content. Like I'm creating video content. It takes me a day to film a video. It's a lot of work and energy, but I like the outcome that I get with Instagram, whereas the thing I love about LinkedIn is that I can just talk, I can just say whatever I'm thinking. So I love LinkedIn for that reason, but overall, it's got to be my Instagram. I shouldn't say that because people know me as like a LinkedIn strategist, and I'm like, I like Instagram. No, but I understand because, for example, on Instagram, you know, you can post stories,

like multiple stories per day, whatever is on your mind, and it's not that. like serious on LinkedIn, although of course LinkedIn is changing from what it was before, but I still feel like it's kind of more polished, not like Instagram. No, 100% I agree. And then you have TikTok, which is even less polished and you can just post whatever you want. But LinkedIn, I think, is a lot more strategic sometimes. And like you really have to think, okay, my goals for LinkedIn right now, X, Y and Z, this is my audience, this is therefore what I need to post.

And whilst I can just post whatever I want and I like sharing my feelings, it all comes back to social media, right? Like it still comes back to that one niche. Whereas with Instagram, I can post a picture of my cat or my... I can post anything like that because people are kind of there with my life, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And because I've had Instagram for some time too, but, you know, just kind of for fun and haven't taken it to yours. And definitely far from your numbers or anything.

But then from your experience, can you say which one is maybe harder to grow? because you've got impressive numbers on both. So which one would you say that it's maybe harder from your experience? It's a really good question. And actually surprisingly, not want to get asked that much. I think they're very different platforms. I think Instagram is probably harder to grow because of the effort it requires. I think with LinkedIn, because there's like in comparison to the amount of people that are on LinkedIn versus the amount of people posting content, it's relatively easy to get noticed on LinkedIn.

if you're posting good content, obviously. But I think Instagram requires so much input that I would probably say Instagram. But I think Instagram is becoming easier to grow as a small creator because they are encouraging small creators to post through things like trial reels. I don't know if you know what they are. But essentially it's a trial reel, so you create a reel. And it only gets pushed out to people who don't already follow you. I didn't know that, honestly.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I feel like not that many people know about it. It's a relatively new feature, but it does mean that you can go viral on posts that aren't even on your account and you can post multiple of these a day and they can be five second videos. So it's definitely becoming easier. But overall, I would say Instagram is considerably harder. And how does then your content strategy differ on these two platforms? We kind of discussed that it's different type of content. But for example, the frequency or how much time do you spend creating content on each platform?

I think I've got into a really good rhythm with LinkedIn and I can generally spend half a day writing a full week of posts at the most. It doesn't take me particularly long just because I know my exact tone of voice. I know exactly how I write. I know what I write about. I know what performs well. Like I've done it for long enough that it doesn't take me that long. I post seven days a week on Instagram and seven days week on LinkedIn as well. Recently it's been five days a week just because life's got busy and it's December.

and I've given up on seven days a week. The majority of this year, I posted seven days a week across both platforms. I don't think you need to post that often, but I think the more you post, the more likely you are to get seen, and therefore the more likely you are to grow your following. So ultimately, like the kind of strategy with how often you post comes down to how much can you post. And if that is five days a week, seven days a week, fabulous.

And if it's not, then it's not. But yeah, that's kind of, I guess, how I do it. But I also think it's really important to remember. Like I think so often people say you need to be posting this many days a week in order to grow this many followers or whatever it is. But I think it's so easy for me to say that when this is the majority of my job. Like my job is posting content and being a creator on these platforms. So I have to dedicate time each week.

Otherwise, I don't get paid, right? Like I don't find freelance clients, paid from brands and whatever it is. So it's so easy for me to say that. But if you want to grow and you have a full-time job and you have a family and you have friends and priorities and everything else going on in your life, it's really difficult to do that, you know. Yeah, I only agree. And as you say, people sometimes say that you need to post every day. But don't forget that consistency, yes, it's seven days per week, but at the same time, consistency is also three days per week. So it depends for every person.

And what's the most important is what is sustainable for you and what works for it. So you don't need to listen to other. Yeah, 100%. I completely agree with you. Consistency is just being consistent every single week. That doesn't need to be every day. Yeah, yeah. And I was actually about to ask you, because when you're introducing yourself before,

if you would say or consider yourself even to be as influencer. Great. For me, you know, it's such a word that, I don't know, I don't really like it. But at some point, if you've got to follow in your creative content, I guess you can consider yourself to be. well. I mean, I don't at all. I think partially because I just hate the word. So I would never do it. But I mean, no, no, I definitely wouldn't. But then I think that certain things happen, especially over the last six months as my accounts have grown quite considerably. And certain things have

happened. I'm like, this is crazy. Because if I saw this happening to any of my friends, I would be like, they're an influencer. But I just could never say it about myself. I tend to say I'm like more of a content creator, right? Because I create content. So that's kind of how I say it. But I think especially because my job is not, I create content in order to get freelance clients a lot of the time or to get brand bills on Instagram, for example.

But my job isn't to be a full-time influencer. So the answer is absolutely not. No, I get it. That I've got the same. How's why you can ask you such a question? I'm sorry. I'm just curious. I like the question.

I think it's a good question. makes me reflect and have to think about it myself. Because I think I cannot call myself like that because I don't have such numbers like you know, but I wanted to know what is opinion or how do you see that? Yeah. I mean, other people sometimes call me

it and I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm just a random girl who posts who post some silly little posts like, what are you talking? Wow. What do you count? So funny. But I'm sure that for some people, that might be actually their dream to become an influencer, so

you never know. No, 100% of course. And like, don't get me wrong. I think it would be fabulous to wake up and film a random video and then that's it for my day. You know what I mean? And get paid a lot of money by doing that. I think it would be fabulous. But I also think I would personally get quite bored if that was my whole kind of life and job.

And like no hate to anyone who does it because, like, fabulous. It would be great to travel the world and get paid to do it, you know? But I think I think the reason I've kind of kept on. doing freelance and kept on doing multiple other things is because I would just get too bored just creating content all day every day. And I think it's really hard. And one of the reasons I'd never want to be, I guess, like a full-time influencer is because it's really hard to then enjoy your life. Like everything becomes content. And I find that with myself now, everything I do, I'm like, okay, this could be content. Okay, I need to put makeup on because I need to take a photo or like,

I need to film this, even though it's just a nice moment with my friends. Like, it's really hard to not see your life in that way and I don't want to ever be in a position where I have to be filming everything. I understand and I think, of course, I haven't expressed it and I probably hope that I do not. But imagine if you are someone famous or well known and you just go out for a walk or shopping, there are people looking at you or taking a picture of yourself. If you are influenced or something like that, it would be crazy that you don't have any peace or calm moments or lifting like that. A hundred percent, a hundred percent, I agree.

that's definitely a lot more of a case with celebrities over influencers, but yeah, no, it's, it must be so strange. Yeah, yeah. And then, Daniel, if we come back to when you started on LinkedIn, because you said you've been there for pretty much a year or that's when you started growing or taking it more seriously, since you've grown a lot. So when you started, did you have actually some kind of strategy or did you improve along the way or what was it like for you? Yeah, I mean, when I, so I probably started about four years ago on LinkedIn. But like I said, very inconsistently, I definitely had absolutely no strategy whatsoever. I posted because my previous boss, so the company I was at before I went freelance, basically told me I had to. We were a personal branding agency and she was like,

you need to build your personal brand as well. I was, I'm very introverted and I don't really like putting myself out there. So for me, it was like my biggest nightmare. I really didn't want to do it. And she, I mean, I'm so happy she did this now. But she was just so encouraging. It was like, you need to do it. This is what you should post about. She would sit down with these strategy sessions with me. I didn't really know what a strategy was at the time.

She was so much ahead of all of us because now it's trending. It's getting trendy. You can see people joining more and more. And if there was anyone who was pushing this years ago, it was, you know, really well done back then. Yeah, no, I know. I mean, there was like a few people who had started doing it in the space. and most of them now have like 200,000 followers saw thing because they started so early.

So yeah, I think I started about four years ago and absolutely no strategy, literally just posted when I had a thought that might be good. Most of the time I'd write a post, get too scared, not post it. I probably posted for the first two years, on average, once a month. Like, I literally did.

I'm not even sure if I can count that as posting. That was my version of consistency back then. And do you remember what you were posting about back then? So at the time, when I started posting, I had just graduated from university and I basically was posting about being somebody new in the marketing world and the social media world and stepping into the world of work, I guess. So it was essentially just, I didn't share any tips or knowledge or anything like that because truthfully, I didn't have any. I didn't know anything about the marketing industry. So I just kind of shared my views and opinions on things and how I was finding work and how I found being a graduate and university life and like all of that sort of stuff. But that was kind of how I started.

Then what was like the moment that it clicked for you that now you're going to focus on it more? Was there like a specific moment or is it a gradual process? It was definitely a gradual process. Like I said, I went from posting once a monthish to probably posting once a week over the next year. just gradually started increasing more and then pretty much a year ago to like turn it from now. I got made redundant and basically at that time I was already considering leaving my job to go freelance but I didn't have any freelance clients. I wasn't sure if I could make it work and I think being made redundant just kind of made me be like well what is either I go into a job or I figure out

if I can make this work and if it doesn't work in the first week once great I go back to a nine to five like that is kind of the worst thing that happens and I was very fortunate that I, you know, I still had like a home to live in and all of that sort of stuff so I could afford to do that but I guess being made redundant was probably the thing that forced me to be consistent because I had no other choice.

It was that or I go into another job and I didn't really want to do that. Yeah, no, but it's interesting that in such, you know, unfortunate moments like when you are redundant at work it actually pushes you and forces you for some studies because otherwise maybe you, you wouldn't even try, maybe it will take much longer. No, 100%.

I really don't think, if I hadn't been made redundant, I don't think I would have ever tried to do this on my own and gone freelance. I think I would have stayed in a job that I felt fairly stagnant in, that I was bored in. I probably would have stayed there for a long time, worked my way up, and then... Climb the corporate leather. Yeah, so I'm so glad that it was like the best thing that could have ever happened to me, to be honest. Yeah, no, and I like the mindset.

And then because that's what many people ask about the growth on LinkedIn. So did you like come up with the strategy again, started just posting to see what works, what doesn't, or what were the steps, you know, to start taking it more seriously and to build something from almost nothing or not much before? Yeah. So I think that's kind of a few main steps to this. And I think it's growth on, this goes for any social media platform is relatively easy when you follow these steps and you literally do this over and over again. For me, what I have found

works and what I've found from my clients works and any time I've taught other people to do this, essentially you want to post as much as possible when you start. Like post every type of format of content, post different content pillars, post about different slightly different niches, post everything you can. Try selfies, tries carousels, try video, try everything. And then do that for about a month. And then at the end of the month, look back on your content, see what performance. well both in terms of if certain formats performed well. So maybe that was pictures, maybe that was video. Like if any of those stand out and then look at the topics and see if any specific topics stand out in terms of doing well. And I don't necessarily think doing well means reach. I think a lot of

the time it's okay, how many comments did this get? How many follows did this get? Did this get people in my DMs? It's like stuff like that. That is a bit more meaningful engagements. And then essentially look at everything that has performed well and just keep on recreating it over and over and over again. Because people will start to get to know you for that topic and you know that if people have engaged with it in the past and they're consistently engaging with it, they like that sort of content, so they want to see more of it. So they're more likely to follow you. So for me, I think it's really simple, try everything, see what works, do more of it. All I can say is that I agree because it often feels like that people are chasing every trend or

every hike. But ultimately, what's going to work is you need to test it and see what works for you. Because if it works for one person, it doesn't mean that it's going to work for you. And at the same time, I think what is really important is that you need to enjoy it. Because if you want to be consistent, again, not necessarily every day, but play the long game, you have to enjoy it. And if it's something that you don't like creating or you just don't like doing, it's hard to be sustained. A hundred percent. I completely agree with you. I think there is no way I would have posted five to seven days a week every single day this year if I didn't genuinely enjoy what I was writing about and sharing my knowledge and talking to my community like there is no way that I would

have I would have been consistent yeah I agree when I started creating I had multiple tabs open no system and zero clue what I was doing so I made a page that fixes that templates kids tools cariosals, reels, the actual stuff that I use, not fluff. It's at Stenstor slash Tomen, that's T-O-M-M-E-N, or in the show notes. Take what helps, ignore what doesn't. Back to the episode. And something I notice across your content is that often you share like photos of yourself or behind the scenes and content like that,

and actually received recently question if it's appropriate or if it's going to perform well, or maybe not appropriate, it's probably not the right word, but there is like still this thinking that LinkedIn is that corporate platform, which I think has evolved. But since you are posting this type of content, is it like part of your strategy, something that you enjoy, something that performed for yourself, and that's why you do it, or what's your take on this type of question or this type of content? Yeah. I mean, I think ultimately it comes down to, so the reason I post it is because, yes, it performs well. People have got to know my content and got to know my face. And when they see my face, they know, oh, I like her post. I'm going to read her posts. So it's become

like synonymous with me, right? That's why I do it. It performs well. That's why most people in this kind of space do it. I always say this to people. Go on LinkedIn and scroll down the feed and A, see if you even see any text only posts. And B, if you do see them, are they getting lost in the feed? And the chances are yes, it's really hard to actually see text-only post. And when you add an image or you add a video or you add a carousel or whatever, it's a lot harder to kind of get lost. So that's kind of why I do it and that's why I started doing it. And I think more and more people are catching on that. It does well for that reason. But I also think it does well because your personal brand is personal, right? Like the way you look, the way you speak, all of those things are part of your

personal brand. And if you want people to kind of recognize you, text. only is really hard to kind of build that relationship with people, whereas if they're seeing your face consistently in their feeds every single day, they start to feel like they know you more. And it's a lot more personal because they're seeing a face with the text. And it kind of, I think it just helps to build that personal brand. So it's not necessarily that you should be posting selfies of yourself. You definitely don't need to do that. It's not right for everyone. But A, if you can, chances are it's going to perform well. And every single time I say this to kind of potential clients or I have one-to-one sessions with people.

I say, just try it and see what happens. And they do it on their first post and they're like, yeah, my engagement was 10 times, any of my previous post. Without fail. I was expecting that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every single time it happens. So it doesn't have to be images, but they do work.

Having said that, I think everyone is different. And I think certain people with certain audiences shouldn't necessarily post photos. Like if your ideal customer, for example, is super corporate. CEO or something of a big company. Yeah, exactly. Super corporate and would probably look at your selfie and be like, I'm never going to work with him because why is he posting a random selfie?

Then obviously you don't need to be posting selfies, right? But maybe that's the case of you figure out what works for you. And that might be text-only posts. I'm definitely not saying they do not work because they do work if they are written in the right way. But an image or something is always going to help because it, like I said, it's less difficult to make it get lost in the feed. No, I completely agree. I can see it myself that when I scroll,

especially now you are, it's oversaturated with the content. There is so much everywhere. So it needs to be something that makes you actually stop scrolling and makes you actually pay attention to the content. And often you see even when it's text only, that's like a long paragraph or something very hard to read. So unless it's someone who actually plays with that

somehow well structured, smart and everything. It's hard to catch attention. So I agree with you. And same as before. find what works for you and if it aligns with your brand it's just part of your branding so why not take advantage of it 100% and i think exactly like you said it genuinely is just the case of what works for you like it's all well and good me saying 100% post selfies it will get you 100,000 but it's just not the reality because everyone is different every audience is different so you need

to figure out what works with you and that comes from testing lots of different things yeah that is true. And Daniel, what about when it comes to attracting clients? Because as I read in your About section on LinkedIn, that it's, thanks your content, which is probably the best way that you manage to attract clients without, you know, chinseng and sales pitching and everything. So what is it maybe that works for you or what would you advise to people? Because that's one of the biggest struggles of people on LinkedIn. Yeah, I mean, for me, I've been really lucky that all of my freelance clients have come inbound through the back of my content. And I think I'm in a very fortunate that I am selling LinkedIn services to people on LinkedIn.

So it's considerably easier to kind of make that connection, right? But I think the general kind of way to get clients through your content is speaking directly to their pain points. So it's a case of writing down what are the top 10 things that people come to me for. Like what are their top 10 problems? What are the things that keep them up at night that make them stressed all the time? And then writing content around that. So using the hook as like the literal pain point, the biggest problem.

they're having. So maybe that's, for me, for example, I can never find clients, right? That could be your hook. Because it then gets people thinking, oh, I feel the exact same way. She's now going to teach me in this post how to kind of solve that problem. So I think that's the first thing, speaking directly to pain points. And then I think the second thing is something that people are quite afraid to do. And that's give away all of your knowledge for free. Like tell people exactly how they can solve their problem on their own, because chances are the majority of the people that you actually want to work with and that are willing to pay you, won't do it themselves, but they want to see that you know how to do it. So share all of your knowledge. I literally tell people exactly how to build

a personal brand on LinkedIn. You don't need to work with me. I tell you how to do it for free in my newsletter, in podcasts, in all of my content. But most of the clients that I want to work with and who can afford to work with me would never do it themselves because they don't have the time. Like I'm looking for the founders, the CEOs. They don't have the time to sit on LinkedIn and write content, right? So I think it's just proving to them, I know exactly how to do this. It's actually great advice because I think that people often feel like, or I guess I felt like that before as well, that you've got the knowledge, but you don't want to maybe give it away because it was hard to acquire it and that it feels like you're giving it to someone for free,

but I agree with you and I like actually what you said. Yeah, no, 100%. I think it's such a common thing. People always say to me, like, but then why are they going to pay me? because they can do it by themselves. I've taken so long learning this knowledge and now I'm just going to give it to them in two seconds instead of them having to pay me for it.

But it is a case old. The people who aren't going to pay you and are going to do it themselves aren't going to work with you anyway. So you're just helping out the people who would never work with you and you're just encouraging the people who would work with you to work with you more

if that makes any sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think don't forget that it also helps you to establish yourself as expert in the field and help with the expertise for authority because I think especially now you can say what's your opinion but I flag that the brand in the market on LinkedIn that's getting kind of saturated you see personal branding expert all the time the nuance and nuance so I think you need to be actually the one who somehow stands out from the girl no 100% I agree 100% and I think

posting on LinkedIn really allows your personality to show and I think quite often a lot of people do exactly what I do, right? I'm not going to sit here and say I'm the best strategist in the world because it's just not the truth. I'm good at what I do and I have learned what I've done and I've, I've learned all of this knowledge and I think I'm great at what I do. It doesn't mean I'm the best at what I do, but people work with me because they see my personality through my content. They like my writing style and they like who I am through my content and that's why they choose to work with me over somebody else. And so I think that's like so important. I think it all comes back to you need to write like yourself and you need to write how you genuinely speak because people will want to work with you

because of your personality. I agree and I like it because people also often, I don't know, look for all kinds of shortcuts or how to stand out, but they often forget, I know it may sound like a cliche, but ultimately be ourselves and, you know, embrace something that is unique about yourself, something that makes you stand out because that's the best thing. There are no secrets. People look for secrets, but you need to find some kind of USB that you come to people's mind. So

that will be my advice. No, 100%. I think people overthink the whole, like, USP thing. And yes, it's so important. If you can stand out through your product or your service, fabulous. That is the best thing you can possibly do. But we are in a world now where like

everybody is doing the same thing and everybody is selling the same things. And the way you start out is by, is you. Like you yourself is the way you're going to stand out. And building a personal brand is the easiest way to make that scene by people. Yeah, I agree. And Daniel, you also worked with some big brands, some amazing brands. So maybe have you got some advice or what was experience like for you to attract

these type of partnerships, how to look for collaborations? And tell us just your experience. For LinkedIn or for Instagram? You can say both. I was about to ask you about LinkedIn, but I'm also fan of Jim Shark, and I know that you work with Jim Shark as well, so you can tell us both, actually. Okay, cool. I'll start with LinkedIn then. So, yeah, I work with some great brands. I think LinkedIn is definitely, I think you can see how much LinkedIn as a platform is growing by the fact that there are brand partnerships popping up. Like, that just was not happening five years ago. Nobody worked with brands on LinkedIn. And even now, I speak to

talent managers about Instagram and I'll sometimes occasionally mention my LinkedIn. Like it would just come up in conversation when they're asking about my job. And they're like, what? People do brand partnerships and they did. And they just have absolutely no idea, even though they're in that space. And I just think it's so interesting, like how much it's popping up for. But anyway, I guess the way I get partnerships truthfully has been just people seeing my content who are like the influencer managers at these companies and then reaching out to me.

It's been like relatively no. It's only really started happening this year. I think my kind of biggest piece of advice for if you want to allow partnerships, and this is on any platform, is start promoting these brands for free. I do this all the time. On my Instagram, I post the gym clothes that I'm wearing. I'll post the skincare I'm using the makeup. I'll post the clothes, everything.

I will tag the brand because most brands, don't ask me what the platform's called, but most brands have a platform that essentially, checks every single time somebody tags them in content. So if you then come up in the top 10% of the people that are tagging them on Instagram, you are more likely to then get picked when they do decide it is time for a collaboration with influencers, right? Content creators, sorry. Oh, my favorite word. So that's kind of my number one tip. And the same goes on LinkedIn. Like my dream partnership would probably be with Canva on LinkedIn. I love Canva. I use it every single day.

I use it for my Instagram content as well and I tag Canva in my Instagram all the time like so often, probably at least once a day and people comment saying like how did you edit this and I tag Canva every single time like without fail because hopefully they will eventually

start seeing me popping up and at some point they'll think okay we want to do some brand partnerships let's work with her So if someone from Canva is watching this podcast episode you know what to do I promise like I'm everybody asking about your own

everybody asking that whole end at my face no honestly but I just love Canva so much so like it would just be a fabulous partnership because I use it literally every single day I couldn't do my job about them in case they're watching but yeah so I think that's the first thing

just like tag them talk about them I do it in my own post if I am using a certain I don't know a certain website I will tag that website every single time I post about them because why not? It's free marketing for them. They will love it. They will like you because you're free marketing. And I think the other thing is just truthfully being consistent within your niche.

Like I post about social media every single day. I post about personal branding every single day without fail. So it kind of those partnerships make sense, right? I think people overthink the partnership thing. But like if you make sense to the brand and your values are aligned and what you talk about are aligned, they will probably want to work with you if they are seeing you consistently and people are talking about you. So sadly, all of this comes back to you just need to be consistent. So those are definitely kind of the top two things.

There's definitely like a lot more. But I found majority in and I've spoken to other creators on LinkedIn about the brand partnerships thing. And they say the same. Like majority of the time it's through inbound and they'll just reach out to you. Yeah. Honestly, I haven't been doing that this much like tag in the brands. I do it occasionally and of course I take only the brands that I genuinely use but I haven't been doing as much because maybe sometimes I felt a bit like I don't know it sounds it's at a good point

there's like a free marketing and if it aligns it makes complete sense but sometimes I felt maybe a bit like that I don't want to spend them but now I see that it's not a good way of thinking I like what you said so I will start doing that more I feel like no truly it works and I know it works on Instagram with loads of different brands like the majority of the big fitness clothing brands reach out to people because they have tagged them so consistently. So, no, I spam Canva, like, no other. I am probably their most likely. Like, they're probably never going to work with me because I spam them.

But I cannot blame you, canvice am maiden. I use it all the time as well, and I heard so many PIFA stuff. Yeah. That's a good one. And I hope it works out one day. We'll remember this conversation of that. Fingers crossed. No, honestly, if it does work out, I'm going to screen record this exact chat and be like,

guys, it happened. So this will get it. And Daniel, we've now been discussing kind of the positive stuff and all the good things. But if you are honest, it's not always that positive to show up. And I'm sure that sometimes you don't feel like it either. So what is it maybe that helps you to keep showing up? Or even if you have any experience, like, you know, for example, with burnout or imposter syndrome, how do you manage to prevent it or deal with it?

Because I think that these are the topics that happen to everyone. are not as much discussed. So if you can share our experience. Yeah, of course. I mean, I think I am like brutally honest on my LinkedIn about the negative side of all of this. Like, I said this at the beginning. I don't, do I post on LinkedIn every day because I genuinely love posting on LinkedIn every day? Absolutely not. I do it because it's my job. And I think the reason I have been consistent over the last year is because it's that or I don't make money. Like, that's kind of it. If I want income, I need to be posting consistently. So for me, that is the reason I have been consistent, right?

I think it's really easy to kind of go through like ebbs and flows with content. And I have definitely done that. I think, like I said earlier as well, I think it's really easy for me to be consistent because it's my job. If I'm not doing this, then I'm not really doing much with my day, right? So I need to do things. But yeah, no, I would love to sit here and give advice on kind of how to be consistent and like get over that. kind of, I don't know, like lack of consistency, I guess. But there's not really a straight answer to it other than you have to find a, you have to find your why with posting. For me, it's job,

or for me it's money, I guess. And then you essentially just have to force yourself to do it. But it's hard. It is really hard. And I definitely go through times where I just do not want to post. But for me, I guess what I do in those situations is I always have a bank of content in my notes app on my phone. And I have two folders and I have one folder that is not complete LinkedIn ideas. So it's basically just any time I have an idea, maybe I've seen an Instagram post that inspired me. I'll put the link in. Maybe it's a hook that I really liked. Maybe it's a conversation with a friend, whatever, like absolutely anything. Half of it doesn't make, does it make sense? I'll just chuck in that folder, like anything. And then I have another folder, which is complete content

ideas and I literally just have a bunch of content that has already completely freshens so all I have to do is copy and paste it into LinkedIn and I only use that specific folder when I genuinely have like zero creativity no idea what to post about but I think it's really important to have a backup plan with it because otherwise you probably won't post if you miss a week chances are you're going to make a month right so for me that's what I do and I think having just constant I never start from zero I never just sit down and go okay here are my seven post for the week and then just start writing but my brain doesn't work like that. I don't think many people

brains work like that, but I do have that folder that basically, I can just pull ideas from every single time I need to write a piece of content. And for me, also, I know a lot of people say you shouldn't schedule on LinkedIn. I literally schedule all of my content and I've never had an issue. Me too. Honestly, I don't know. I have like literally everything scheduled.

Then I just reschedule, but it makes it just easier and faster. Yeah. No, there's like there's no way. I don't always have time at 9 a.m. on the dot to sit there and hit points. Like, I just don't have the time. So, yeah, I think scheduling your post is also really important. And in terms of the imposter syndrome thing, because I know you mentioned that a second ago, and I think it's a really interesting topic to talk about, because I get a lot of DMs from people around the same kind of thing. And I always say to people, like, realistically, the majority of people posting on

LinkedIn are not experts. Like, I call myself a LinkedIn expert because I feel like I know a lot about LinkedIn. But there are also times where my post won't do that well. And I'm like, am I a fraud? Like, do I just not know anything? Because it's just the reality. Like, you can be an expert in something and still not know everything, right? And when I started posting, I was not an expert. I knew nothing about marketing. But I posted anyway. And I think taking people along on that journey is what makes you a good creator. And you're allowed to admit you don't know everything. And you're allowed to post content, even if you're not an expert in that space, because you're allowed in a and you're allowed to share your thoughts. And yes, you will feel like you have imposter

syndrome. And when I went freelance, I have like never felt imposter syndrome like it. Like, I had no idea what I was doing. I was literally winging it every single day. But I've kind of, I like to think I've made it work. It's been a year now to let's do. But I guess the truth is that you'll never get over kind of that feeling of imposter syndrome. And I speak to founders all the time. Obviously, part of my job, I speak to the founders. And even they feel it. Like these people who run multi-million pound companies and look incredibly successful, you tell them to post on LinkedIn about what they know and they are petrified. They're like, what if people don't like it? If I say something wrong, and I'm like, can you not talk about this stuff all day every day in your job?

Yeah. It's the same thing, but they're like petrified to do it. So I think it's just you will feel like that no matter what, just don't let it stop you essentially. I like it. I like what you said. then it's always good to hear this type of things from someone who's way ahead of you or with a big following like you. So I'm glad that you shared it. And I agree some great points. And just to be aware of time, Danielle, and to jump on a kind of more positive note is what is it? I actually probably kind of know, but what is it that you interview in your free time and what are some of your hobbies? Oh, I like that.

Such a nice question. Health and fitness and wellness and anything related to that, I feel like I'm a relatively boring person in the sense of like I love being boring I really do love it but like my life is food fitness and content like that is pretty much my life and like yes I go out and do things but I'm very introverted I love my own time and I love being by myself and I love being indoors so it is definitely just like moving my body I think it's one of the most important things you can do for yourself I actually find it very relatable. I like these sticks as well.

For me, it sounds perfect. Yeah. I like genuinely think movie, I would say this over. If your choices are go to the gym or start content creation, go to the gym. It is the best thing you can do for yourself, and I genuinely think it has, like, changed my life more than anything. So definitely that. And except gym, have you even got favorite sport,

or is it a healthy lifestyle in general? I would say in general. I mean, I do strength training, the majority of the time. I also run, but fairly inconsistently when it gets cold outside. I'm not that's cold. I cannot blame you. Yeah, no, I think, to be honest, I think the majority of things. Like, I'm very much a person who likes most type of movement.

I've not really ever been a sports person, although I danced my entire life pretty much up until I went to university. I did like shows. I did all my grades. I did everything. So I was always a dancer growing up. So I think that's just help with movement. But I'm nothing specific. I do absolutely everything.

but the majority of the time is probably strength training and a lot of walking. I do a lot of walking because that's one I most create. There's me too actually during the exercise or cycling or something like that. Oh, I wish I would get into cycling. I do it because I find it more efficient. Okay, fine. Faster, more efficient, but with the weather, it's same as with walking,

so I'm not going to pretend that it's always fun. Yeah, nice. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. I do like riding a bike, but I just never do it. I do it. We used to go to to Centipox and I'm going. I used to do it then and that was by it. Yeah. And Daniel, then what are some of your favorite books or some books that were impactful on you and tool to recommend?

Good question. I mean, truthfully, I feel like everybody thinks I would be a self-development book sort of person, but I'm not really. I'm very much a fantasy leaving the world sort of person. But one book, actually two books I would recommend. one of them is atomic habits. If you want to ultimately, like our lifestyle comes down to our habits and the things we do every single day, those small habit.

And if you know you have bad habit, this is a really good book to figure out what they are and figure out how to break them. So I love that book. One of the things that I'm trying to work on at the moment is aimless scrolling. And it's really hard when you work in the social media world because I spend so much time scrolling on my phone and I hate it so much. So I need to reread that book and figure out how to break that habit. But so that's definitely one of them.

And then another one is a bit of a woo-woo book, but it's actually not, but it sounds it. But it's a book called Manifest, which is by Roxyna Fusi. And it's just a really great book if you want to figure out, I guess, what you want in your life and how you can get there, essentially. And it is the whole thing of manifesting, but it's not manifesting in a think about it, it's going to happen. It's manifesting in a think about it, figure out what you need to do, do it. it will happen. And then it's about believing that you can kind of achieve anything in life. And I think, I mean, I love the idea of that. And I think it's really become apparent to me, especially over the last year of like how much your life can actually change if you just allow it to. So yeah, probably

is too. I honestly don't know the manifest one, so I will check it out. But I think atomic habits, it should be compulsor for everyone. It's just amazing. Yeah. There's also a book called, I think it's behind me actually. I can't remember what it's called. But it's another one about how. So I can't remember what it's called. But there's type in a habit book and it will come up. I need to check one. Do you remember the author? No, it's called The Power of Habit.

That's what it is. Very similar book. Charles Duhigg or not? Yes, yes. Yeah, I remember. Okay, wow. Yeah, that one. It's a very similar book.

The principles are the same. But I think it depends what, I guess, how you like reading. Atomic Habits is a lot more practical, I think. And then the power of habit is a lot more science-backed. So, depending on what you were, both fantastic books. And then Danielle is probably obvious by now, but can you please summarize where people can find you, follow you, and promote any of your services?

Oh, of course I can. So all of my social medias are just my full name, which is Danielle Maimoni. And my Instagram is Daniel My Money all in one, and then my LinkedIn is just Daniel My Money. I also have YouTube and TikTok, but I'm very inconsistent. for my plan, one of my goals for the new year is to post on TikTok once a week. So I'm holding myself accountable by telling you this now.

It's public. Everything else. Yeah, everything else is pretty much on my LinkedIn. I released a personal branding slash LinkedIn playbook a couple of months ago. So if you want to learn how to build a personal brand, I have that on my LinkedIn and you can go see it there. And yeah, that's everything. I will as always add everything to the show notes. Then the very last question, Daniel, is there a very last question, Daniel, is there

anything I should have asked you and did not or any final piece of advice or anything you would like to share before we finish? Build your personal brand. You have one anyway and if you are not actively building it, it's going to be built for you so you might as well shape how that looks. I think so many people are scared to build a personal brand, but you've got to start posting on social media. It will literally change your life because it changed mine. I agree. And don't forget that it's never late to start. So just start. Just start. you are listening to this. Couldn't agree more. So Daniel, I think we can finish then. I want to say a big thank you because I've been following both on LinkedIn and Instagram, great content, and thank you

so much for your time. I really enjoyed it. I really like the wipe and the atmosphere, so it was a great chat. I will keep following and supporting and I wish you all the best, so thank you again. Thank you so much for having me on. I had such a nice time. It was such an easy chat. I love it. I love these sort of podcasts. Thanks for listening to Prejudice by with to mine. Check the show notes for all the links. And don't forget to subscribe, like and share your feedback. Speak soon.