Neal O'Grady 🍉’s Post

7 years ago, I started my 4th business We raised $450k in a crowdfunding campaign for our first client. Within 2 years, we worked with Microsoft, Segment, Envoy, Perfect Keto, and dozens of other clients. We wrote for Techcrunch. We gave talks at YC and Google. We even got accepted into YC in 2019. In a few years, we had created two 7-figure brands, Bell Curve and Demand Curve. But nobody knew who I was. I hid behind the brands—and let my cofounder, Julian, be the face. He leveraged his writing to reach millions of people while working together. The result? - My network was small - I was never asked to be an advisor - I was never asked to speak on podcasts - I only got DMs from recruiters and SDRs - I relied on Julian to meet other cool founders 2 years ago, Julian moved on to start an investment fund. I decided to stop hiding behind the brand. I started posting on LinkedIn multiple times per week. I didn’t expect to: 1. Hit 50k followers in the first year. 2. Be asked to be an advisor frequently. 3. Get invited to speak at conferences. 4. Get DM'd by some of my startup heroes. Nor did I expect to create UNIGNORABLE, which earned $500k+ in its first few months—part-time. I just hoped it would help grow our newsletter, attract more agency clients, and reduce my reliance on Julian to make connections. (Which it has.) My follower count is great for my ego. But what I care about are the knock-on effects. I know, I know. These transformation stories on LinkedIn are cringe and contrived. But I swear this is the truth. Every week, I reflect on how different my life looks today. A lot of the people I interact with daily are a direct result of writing. And how my entire business was bootstrapped off my cofounder's personal audience. If you’re an entrepreneur ready to stop hiding behind your brand, enrollment is open for the Apr 22nd cohort of the UNIGNORABLE Challenge. In 5-weeks, you’ll learn how to build an audience of future buyers. To become the go-to expert in your space. To become UNIGNORABLE. 252 people have already enrolled. And this is the last cohort for ~6 months. Learn more and enroll here: https://lnkd.in/gYcVDnDB (This photo was taken in Australia a few months into running an agency—before various stages of burnout 😂 )

My student, Eric Partaker hit: ↳ 100k followers after 6 months ↳ 548k after 15 months (today) Last month, he got:  – 80,000+ new followers – 15,000 new newsletter subscribers His average post gets over 3,000 likes. It's honestly insane. Yet, his first 30 posts all had <100 likes. I remember celebrating with him when his 35th post skyrocketed to 2,500 likes. He used the same 11-step framework we give all our students in @beunignorable Eric just did it at a really high level (and has a ton of experience and credibility to back it all up). Here’s a breakdown so you can build an unignorable personal brand too. At a high level, the steps are: 1. Get f*ckin' going 2. Discover “Your Oneness” 3. Know your buyer 4. Pick a topic/channel 5. Get inspired 6. Build your network 7. Revamp your profile 8. Master psychology 9. Build intention 10. Systematize 11. Audit + double down Dive into the carousel for a breakdown of each step in the process. ——— If you want to become unignorable, enrollment is open for UNIGNORABLE's 4th and best cohort. We've trained 1000+ students, like Eric, to build their personal audience to help grow their business. Check the link on my profile to enroll. Or DM me!

A LinkedIn hack not often talked about that's saved my neck a few times. There have been SO many times where: – It's impossible to contact support – I get terrible responses from support – They respond slowly when it's urgent The hack? Send a connection request + message to their Head of Support, a founder, a senior support rep, or anyone in a support role. ➡️ Here are the steps: 1. Search the term "head of support" 2. Filter by People 3. Change "Current Company" to the one you're having trouble with 4. Ctrl/cmd+F and type "support" since LinkedIn will pull up random people. 5. Open up the profile of a few possible folks (assuming it's a big company) 6. Check the Activity section, have they posted or commented recently? That means they check LinkedIn more often. 7. Hit the "Connect" and then "Add a note" and flag that you're having a bad support experience and need their help 8. Perhaps repeat it for a few people if it is urgent and if people don't seem active. ⚠️ One thing to note: I hate to say it, but the more followers you have, the better here. They don't want to ignore an upset customer with a big following. But this can work at any level since you're getting in front of someone senior who's job is to ensure the support team is doing a good job, Not a low-level rep watching Love Is Blind while doing templated responses. Try it out. It's saved my neck a few times.

At 18: • No real friends • ~300 pounds • Socially anxious • Addicted to video games • Thought I'd be poor forever • Doing a degree I hated At 33: • Friends around the world • 180 pounds • Rarely get nervous • Addicted to rock climbing • 2x founder • Happiest I’ve ever been When I was 13, my dad passed away suddenly because of poor life choices. He left behind tens of thousands of dollars of debts my mom didn't know about. He also had changed his life insurance policy to void unless he was 65 or older. At the time, my mom made $27,000 per year. She was forced to file for bankruptcy. We only made it because my dad's former employer gave us money to help us get by. I retreated inwards. I went from being the kid who would not shut up in class to sitting quietly in the corner. I played video games like World of Warcraft, racking up 200 days of time played in just two years. I rarely exercised, and I ate a lot of junk. These 24 rules changed my life. Maybe they can help you too. And now that I'm a stepdad to two young boys, I hope to be a much better role model for them. ––– Did this resonate? I'm Neal O'Grady 🍉. I mostly write about how to become unignorable.

Eric Partaker gets 3,000+ likes per post. He has 528,816 followers. But this was his first post to go big 👇 He posted it just 14 months ago. Some crazy stats: 1️⃣ His first 20 posts averaged 15-20 likes. 2️⃣ His ~30th post cracked 100 likes. 3️⃣ His 35th post (this one) got 2,551 likes. Just one month into posting daily. And it was during his final week of our first UNIGNORABLE cohort. It's been insane to watch him grow so fast. Props to him, this is how he grew: 1. He's very knowledgeable and credible in his field. Ranked CEO of the Year and has coached 100+ CEOs like Ali Abdaal. 2. He put in the work. He worked late nights several days a week to reverse engineer amazing content. 3. He networks better than anyone I know. He befriended almost all the top creators. 4. He invested in top-tier design when everything else was thrown together. 5. He obsessed for hours over tiny details in his posts. 6. He knew exactly who he was writing for, what their problems were, and what he could help them with. ––– Eric's a beast. If you're interested in joining the next cohort of UNIGNORABLE, Eric will be doing a Q&A session with us. The cohort starts April 22nd. Enrollment starts next week. People on the waitlist get early access and the best deals. Join 3,166 waitlisters here: https://lnkd.in/gYcVDnDB (Seriously, waitlisters will get it for upwards of $400 less)

I'll teach you more in 9 slides than a $69,000,000 MBA from Harvard Just kidding. The non-troll version of this hook is obviously not possible. It's clickbait. And sadly, it often "works" because it hacks our psychology: it promises a ton of value in a short amount of time. We all WANT it to be true because putting in the work sucks. As a result, there's a common pattern with consistent content creators: 1. They start with nuanced opinions 2. They notice other creators post broad "edutainment" with mildly cringe hooks 3. They do one 4. It crushes 5. They do it more often 6. Eventually, it's all they post. They grow fast as more and more new people get pulled into the clickbait. 7. People who catch onto this mock them behind their backs. They lose trust with the most savvy and tuned-in people. 8. They launch a product, and no one buys it because memes and AI tool lists don't build trust or cement you as an expert. 9. They sell packs of comments/likes/reposts at $10-50 each. Hacking the system is more appealing to people than putting in the work. ––– I actively fight myself from getting addicted to this dopamine cycle because all my favorite creators do. They play a longer-term game. They focus on creating high-quality, nuanced content they're proud of. Yes, it's hard to do, but it's how you build trust over time. And trust is the ultimate currency. –– This is the ethos we've used to create our audience-building course @beunignorable. We've trained 1764 entrepreneurs to build unignorable personal brands. The next cohort starts on April 22nd. We sold out 50 seats in our pre-sale in less than 10 minutes. The price starts at $600 and increases by $50 for every 25 spots sold until we hit the regular price of $1k. Priority waitlisters get to enroll a day before everyone else. Join 3,232 on the waitlist: https://lnkd.in/gYcVDnDB

Aug 1st: 1,000 followers Aug 17th: 22,000 followers Today: 64,000 followers This post put Alex on the map. It's funny, I remember celebrating with him on a call as he cracked 100 likes on a post. Now, I can't seem to go on social without seeing him appearing on podcasts or partnering with brands like Pip Decks. The LinkedIn algorithm is funny. It boosts your next few posts after you've had one really pop off. This post caused Alex to build momentum and consistently get 100s to 1000s of engagements on his posts for weeks. ––– Alex is one of the 1,764 ambitious entrepreneurs we've trained since 2021 on how to build an audience. Including Eric Partaker, Zain Kahn, Nathan Baugh, Dave Kline, Amanda Natividad, Blake Burge, Aadit Sheth, and more. Alex went for our VIP tier. Katelyn and I worked directly with him to help him narrow in on his own strategy. Apparently, it helped. He went from < 1,000 followers to 22,000 just a few months after consistent effort. The next (and best) cohort starts Apr 22nd. Enrollment opens next week. Our 50-seat pre-sale sold out in 10 minutes. Join the waitlist for priority enrollment (a day early). The earlier you enroll, the better the deal. Join the waitlist: https://lnkd.in/gYcVDnDB

52% of the Fortune 500 companies in 2000 went out of business by 2020. The world's largest companies with the biggest budgets. And most died in just two decades. Companies have two options to stay or become relevant: 1️⃣ Sustaining Innovation. Making iteratively better products allows you to charge more money from your current customers/market. 2️⃣ Disruptive Innovation. Making products cheaper and more accessible for people outside your current market. Or changing the technology or form factor to drastically improve the product. This typically undercuts your current products. ––– Examples of this playing out: 🏎 While all the gas car companies were fighting over marginal cost, fuel consumption, size, and "sexiness," Tesla built electric, futuristic cars and became worth more than all gas car companies. 🔎 Google focused on making more money from Search. Despite having the most data to train AI, OpenAI creates ChatGPT and replaces many Google searches. 🚀 Lockheed Martin & Boeing made insanely expensive rockets. SpaceX emerged and made them way cheaper and reusable. It has already launched more satellites than all other companies combined (while also disrupting Internet Service Providers with Starlinq). If a company doesn't do #2, someone else will and kill them over time. ––– Most companies focus on #1 for a simple reason: 👉 They’re made up of individuals trying to accumulate short-term evidence of achievement: more money, promotions, and awards. And avoid evidence of incompetency: demotions, firings, or failure. Employees and executives are often compensated with annual bonuses. Companies don't retroactively take back the money if the company fails 10 years later. To maximize bonuses, they focus on improving current products for current customers and charging more money. An example of this is the iPhone: The iPhone 4 cost $199 to $299. The iPhone 15 costs $899 to $1599. We're happy paying that because the iPhone 15 is so much better. However, many companies neglect to invest in long-term, risky bets that could make their products cheaper and more accessible, or completely different. ––– Startups are different. Hungry, young founders are often driven by longer-term big payouts rather than short-term marginal gains. Startups also typically can’t compete with incumbents on the best. But they can compete on different. Startups are run by ambitious founders. Massive corporations are run by committees. It’s unlikely Apple will choose to disrupt the iPhone. iPhone sales are 52% of Apple’s revenue. Disruption will kill the $199B/yr cash cow. A startup will unless Apple maintains a culture of disruptive innovation, even if it hurts in the short term. But that's unlikely now that a committee runs Apple. ––– You need both: Sustaining Innovation to sustain or increase profit and keep customers happy. Disruptive Innovation to stay or get ahead, and wow new or existing customers. Another reason why I ❤️ startups

Writing is f'ing hard. Writing persuasively is even harder. These copywriting frameworks help a ton: 1. PAS(P) 2. The 4 P's 3. AIDA 4. BAB 5. PRUNE 6. PASTOR They simplify the process of tapping into the psychological principles of persuasion. They can also be applied in all formats (email, posts, videos), & copy lengths. For example: The first 3 lines of this post are a mini PAS: 1️⃣ Problem: "Writing is f'ing hard." 2️⃣ Agitation: "Writing persuasively is even harder." 3️⃣ Solution: "These copywriting frameworks help a ton." I didn't intend to use it. But after years of copywriting, I instinctively used it. Save this cheat sheet to reference the next time you're writing. And eventually, you won't need to. ——— And if you like cheatsheets like this: Follow me Neal O'Grady 🍉 I dive into how to build an un-ignorable startup and personal brand.