With the recent algo changes I'm seeing a lot of new followers, so let me reintroduce myself... Hey, I'm Rob. For the last few years I've worked with over 150 agency owners and freelancers, helping them get more leads and land bigger sales. With over $4m in direct results (just the ones that people officially post up). So, I have a good idea of what is working for leads and sales right now, and what isn't. And here is the number one challenge I see for any talented agency or freelancer: Clients don't buy skills anymore. There are a million people who can do what you do. Cheaper ones, faster ones, AI ones. What clients buy now is expertise. - They need to see that you know how to help them - They need to be confident that you can deliver - They need to trust you'll get them the results that they want And you need to do ALL of this before they ever even talk to you. Hoping that clients just book a call is over. The marketplace is too noisy and clients can no longer trust what people say - only what they can show to be true. This means that to scale your agency you need to sell differently. Basically - you need a funnel. A way to connect with the right clients through content -> show them you can solve their bigger problems -> and move them forward step by step till they are on a call and pretty much ready to buy. The big problem (and also opportunity) is that very few people see this and they just keep doubling down on their skills again and again. You are very likely already good enough at what you do. Which means more skill isn't what gets you to the next level. What's missing is the system around it: getting it in front of the right people and selling it in the right way. Which is what I help people with, and it is what I post about here. So, follow along for my best advice on how to do this. And shoot me a DM with "leads" if you want the details on how I work with people. Either way, good to have you here. - Rob Recent win for @socoloffalex 🫡

Talked to a designer with 2,500 followers on X who's been charging around $20k per project. He's getting referrals and word of mouth leads. But here's the problem he described: "There's no real lead flow. There's no funnel or anything like that. It's kind of random." This is the gap most people don't see until they need it. Having followers doesn't automatically create sales. You can have thousands of people watching your content and still have zero predictable pipeline. Because followers alone aren't a sales system. They're just attention. To convert attention into deals, you need: - Content that positions you as the obvious choice for expensive problems - A way to capture people who aren't ready to buy yet - A sales process that moves people from cold to close Most people think "build an audience" is the strategy. It's not. The audience is just the raw material. The strategy is what you do with that attention once you have it. That's what separates people randomly hoping for leads from people with a pipeline they can predict and control. If you're interested in working together, DM me the word "LEADS"

I've written thousands of posts for my own business and helped 200+ designers and agency owners with theirs. The biggest thing that improves a hook is getting way more specific. Nobody stops for "recently I helped a business grow." They have no idea who you're talking about, and they aint going to waste time figuring it out. But people do stop for "recently I worked with a gym clothing brand doing $250k a month whose homepage was killing their conversions." (Actual student example I was helping with) -> It calls out a group of people: gym clothing brands -> It calls out a level: doing $250k a month -> It calls out a pain point: homepage conversion issues -> And it positions you as the expert they came to for help This helps your ideal clients find you and see your value. And it helps the algo understand who to show your content to in the first place. You likely dont need better work to get way more leads. You need better content around the work you're already doing.

After setting up sales systems for dozens of agencies, here's what has to come first: Make your offer as sellable as possible before you build any funnels. People want to jump straight to content and lead generation. But if what you're selling isn't clear and compelling, those systems won't work. I talked to someone who said his positioning felt "cluttered." He's offering marketing services but wasn't sure it was positioned right. Here's what I told him: if something's confusing, people won't buy. The best sales funnel in the world can't fix an unclear offer. The best content system can't overcome confusing positioning. You need to answer three questions before anything else works: - Who specifically are you helping? - What expensive problem do they have? - What result do they get when they work with you? If you can't answer those clearly, prospects definitely can't. And confused prospects don't buy. Good positioning + good systems = exponential growth. Unclear positioning + good systems = wasted sales effort. Don't build systems around an offer nobody understands. Fix the clarity first, then scale what works.

I helped a designer close a $25K project. Here's the situation: the client was comparing his price to their in-house developer who costs $8K/month. "Why would I pay you $25K when my developer costs less per month?" Here's how we reframed it: "You're paying that developer $96K per year. For the next 12 months, they'll be building based on the design strategy and plan we create in the next 60 days. If that foundation is strong, you get maximum value from that $96K in development costs. If it's weak, you waste months of developer time rebuilding things that should've been right from the start. The $25K you invest now protects the $100K you're spending after." Now it's not a comparison anymore. It's about protecting a much larger investment. The developer executes for 12 months. The design plan they're following also runs for 12 months. But if the plan is bad, all that execution is wasted. When you're selling strategy or foundation work, don't compete on monthly rates. Frame it as the thing that multiplies the value of everything that comes after. A bad plan executed perfectly is still a bad plan. A great plan protects every dollar spent downstream. That's why strategic work is worth more upfront.

Had a call with a designer who's charging $18K per project on the side but got laid off from his agency job. After working with that agency for a few years, he's back to square one trying to rebuild his own agency so it can be his full-time thing. Here's what he said that stuck with me: "It's exhausting having to think about getting all that stuff going all over again." But you're not actually starting from zero. You have the skills. You have past results. You know how to charge good money. You just don't have the systems yet to make full-time work predictable. The work isn't starting over. The work is building the sales infrastructure you should have built the first time. Once you have systems that generate leads and close deals consistently, you never feel like you're rebuilding. You just turn the systems back on. If you did good work at an agency, going solo isn't about proving your skills. Those are already proven. It's about building the sales system that makes it sustainable. If you're interested in working together, DM me the word "LEADS"

Here's an inside secret from working with agencies doing $50K-$200K/month who rely heavily on social outreach... Mutual connections. When someone reaches out cold and you have no friends in common, there's a HUGE question mark. Are they just working through random lists? Are they a scam? No mutual connections = very little trust. But when you see 3-5 names you recognize, trust goes up immediately. You're no longer a nobody... you know so-and-so, and that makes you seem real and believable. Here's how to use this: STOP chasing 1,000 more followers. START getting more strategic connections. Identify 5-10 TOP people in your niche who are: - Well-connected (others recognize their name) - Accessible (not mega-influencers you'll never reach) - Respected in your space Now get them to follow you: - Follow them - Engage genuinely on their posts for 2-3 weeks - When you see something worth commenting on, add real value. Not "great post" - actual insight Then after a few weeks, send a personal DM about something specific you connected with. Not a pitch. Just a real conversation. Done right, top people will start to follow you. Now when you reach out to others in your niche, you have those proven names in common. Trust builds 10x faster. I call this the "waterfall" effect. Connecting with someone high up in your niche creates a cascading effect through their network. Their audience sees they follow you and assumes you're legit. You just borrowed their credibility. This is why outreach to completely cold prospects rarely works. No trust signals, no mutual connections, no social proof. Stop optimizing for follower count. Start optimizing for strategic connections with names people actually recognize.

The fastest way to position yourself as premium without a huge audience... Clearly signaling what level you operate at. "I just had a call with a client" tells people nothing. "I just reviewed a website for a startup doing 20,000 daily visitors" tells everyone you work with serious businesses. Your content should make it obvious within 10 seconds what tier of client you work with. This isn't about pointless status games - buyers NEED to know if you're the right fit for their level. Nail this and your content will get you a lot more leads.

I was helping a designer who was struggling to explain their value. The problem: they kept talking about what they do instead of what clients get. "I tell them I work 15 hours per week on designs. Monthly retainer. Two-week turnaround. But they don't seem to get why it's worth the price." Because you're selling hours and process. Not results. Nobody wakes up wanting to buy 15 hours of design work. They wake up with a business problem that's costing them money or deals. Your website is losing sales to competitors. Your brand looks cheap so enterprise clients don't take you seriously. Your demo booking rate is trash. That's what they care about fixing. Not how many hours you'll spend or what your process looks like. Here's where your process matters: at the end of a sales call. After they already want to work with you. Then you explain pricing. Deliverables. Timeline. How you actually work together. But everything before that - your content, your website, your positioning, the sales conversation - should be about the expensive problem you solve. Stop leading with "here's what I do." Lead with "here's what expensive problem this fixes."

Most service providers rely on referrals and platforms because they think building authority takes years. But authority isn't about audience size. September was my best month this year at $160k+ in new deals, with no viral content. Here's what actually builds authority fast: content that shows you understand expensive business problems better than your prospects do. While everyone else posts generic tips and tutorials, focus on insights that only come from real client work. The market doesn't need another "how to" post. It needs proof that you can solve problems worth paying well for. One post showing deep problem awareness is worth more than 50 posts of surface-level advice. If you're interested in working together, DM me the word "LEADS"

Had a call with a solid agency looking to go from $10k to $20k a month. Most agency sites read like this: "We design brands, websites, and SaaS projects to look sharp and convert better." The problem is it's too vague. No one buys "looking sharp." What works is tying design directly to urgent business problems: - Faster demo booking - Higher trust in fundraising rounds - Better conversions from paid traffic That's how you get paid the most for the skills you already have. You need a clear outcome worth paying well for.

You don't have to wait until you finish a project to post about it. Here are 9 hooks you can use to show results as you work: 1 - "Recently someone reached out to me..." (talk about incoming inquiries and what they're struggling with) 2 - "Recently I started working with..." (talk about kicking off new projects and the goals) 3 - "Recently we kicked off..." (talk about the early strategy or discovery process) 4 - "For the last few weeks I've been helping..." (talk about what you're building and why) 5 - "About a month ago I started..." (talk about progress and early wins) 6 - "It's been two months since I started working with..." (talk about momentum and what's changed) 7 - "We're about to launch..." (talk about the final push and what's coming) 8 - "We just launched..." (talk about the release and initial response) 9 - "It's been a month since we launched..." (talk about early results and feedback) One project... nine different ways to leverage your work.

Once you have a base of $20k-$30k sales each month... you need to start looking into one (or a few) solid lead magnets. Back in my last business, I was doing $500k a year and 95% of new leads came from a lead magnet. Here's how to make your first one... - Before you make it, test if anyone actually wants it. Your lead magnet needs to sell in 1-2 sentences at the bottom of a post. If you can't make it sound valuable in two sentences, the full version won't save you. - Build a v1.0 in a day. Use a Google doc or a Loom video. Keep it rough. The goal is testing the idea, not perfect production. - Promote that simple version for 2-4 weeks. See if people actually click. Track which posts drive sign-ups. Pay attention to the language people use when they ask about it. - If it gets traction, improve it to v2.0. If it doesn't, you just saved yourself weeks building something nobody wanted. Most people spend weeks on the lead magnet itself and 10 minutes on the offer. Do the opposite. Spend your time making the idea clear and the hook compelling. Until someone clicks, they have no idea what's inside anyway.

A year ago I helped an app developer bump his retainer from $1.5k a month -> $6k a month... after just one call. We focused on pricing based on value instead of his work services (which for him are really good). Work services are only how well you do it. Important, but it doesn't justify a bigger price on its own. So we looked at pricing on value... how much his work actually helps on the client's business side. One example: his apps have been RUNNING a $23m a year construction business. His value is insane. The very next call he could focus the conversation there - selling bigger, with way more client confidence. Now he's doing $165k a month. You need to sell what your work does, then back it up with how well you do it. Value (problems solved, results delivered) is your pricing foundation. If you're interested in working together, DM me the word "LEADS"

"Freelancer" is starting to feel like a dirty word. To clients, it often means: - cheap - replaceable - takes orders, doesn't lead You're mentally grouped with every $20/hr profile on Fiverr or Upwork. Instead, position yourself as: - the face of a professional business - someone with systems (and maybe a team) behind the scenes - a leader who drives the entire project to results Sell like a studio. Deliver like a specialist.

X Profile advice: Clients need to see you're good at getting results within the first 30 seconds -> results in your bio -> strong pinned post -> 1/4 of your posts showing client wins A lot of people on here are showing the work, but very little actual client outcomes

Every day is legs day in Denmark 🇩🇰

I worked with an India-based design agency doing $20-50K/month. Strong portfolio. Top rated on Fiverr and Upwork. I asked them: what pain do you actually solve for clients? They listed reliability, fast turnaround, experienced designers, structured process. All good things, but here's the problem - none of that is why someone hires you in the first place. All of that matters only AFTER they hire you. It doesn't create demand. And it won't create any new buyers. Your reliability and portfolio - that's how you close someone once they're already looking. But if you lead with that in your content, you're only reaching the 5% who already know they need help. The other 95% aren't thinking about designers yet. They're thinking about business problems. Your job is to connect their pain to your solution before they ever start comparing options. This is how you build your own steady flow of inbound clients from social media.

After working with agencies across dozens of countries, here's why word-of-mouth businesses eventually plateau: You can't control the timing. When your best client finishes their project, you're back to zero pipeline. No predictable way to replace that revenue. Even with a great reputation, you need prospects in the pipeline before you need them. Which means having lead gen and sales systems that work away in the background while you're busy delivering for current clients. Referrals are great bonus revenue. But they're terrible as your only revenue source. If you're interested in working together, DM me the word "LEADS"

I had a 220k account on IG. I have just over 10k on here. Here sells way better. Forget the algo games - you don't need to go viral. What matters is that the right people see your work - and trust you're the one who can help. One solid post beats 100 engagement bait tweets.

Under $10k a month is the death zone for freelancers and agencies. You need to get above this ASAP. - No margins for reinvesting in skills and the business - Very tricky to hire full time talent - One bad month or season from crashing out Sell and promote 2-3 hrs a day until you pass this number.