Building a personal platform isn’t just about posting online, it’s about creating a space where your voice stands out and attracts the right audience. In this episode of the plugin.fm podcast, Erica Schneider, founder of Cut the Fluff, shares how she built a thriving presence on X and LinkedIn with over 50,000 followers. She breaks down the difference between a personal brand and a personal platform, the key to becoming magnetic online, and why authenticity is more than just a buzzword.
Erica reveals her best strategies for defining content pillars, engaging with your audience, and balancing self-expression with strategic growth. Whether you're a solopreneur, founder, or just starting out, this episode will help you craft a platform that truly resonates.
plugin.fm is brought to you by Freemius, your all-in-one e-commerce partner for selling software, plugins, themes, and SaaS. If you enjoyed this episode, head to plugin.fm to check out previous episodes.
Erica: There were all these writing bros. Their tips for writing well were going to the gym, walking 10,000 steps a day—I'm serious—taking a cold plunge, waking up at 5:00 a.m., having three espressos. So I'm like reading this stuff, and I'm like, what the actual—? So I started making fun of not these specific people but, like, the idea of it, because if you attack specific people, people are going to think you're an asshole, and you're being an asshole. But if you attack ideas, then you can build kind of like this momentum, and people want to join this revolution or whatever. Half the things that people comment on my stuff are like, "Oh, someone finally said it, right?" So I became kind of that person. I was like, "Oh."
Patrick: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of plugin.fm, where we extract key lessons from top entrepreneurs to inspire your business growth. My name is Patrick Rollins—I'm an e-commerce expert and educator—and I'm here with my co-host, Goran Mirkovic, a content marketing specialist and the CMO at Freemius.
Today, we're going to be chatting with Erica Schneider about increasing your visibility and personal brand in your niche. Erica is a former head of content who now runs her own business, Cut the Fluff, that helps solopreneurs and founders feel more confident in their writing.
We're going to be getting into personal branding, building a following, and all that in today's episode. Let's go ahead and get into the episode. Erica, welcome to the show!
Erica: Hey, thanks for having me.
Patrick: Awesome. So I really want to talk about— I have a few thousand followers on social media, but I really want to talk about how you can amass tens of thousands of followers. But I think I'd like to, before we get into the specifics, ask: how did you start your journey? How did you decide that you wanted to build a following and build a personal brand?
Erica: Yeah, so I didn't want to at all. I actually hate social media. Okay, so I had stopped posting on my personal socials, like Facebook and Instagram, in 2020. It all just got too much.
Then, in 2021, when I was the head of content at a content marketing agency called Grizzle, the founder and CEO came to our tiny team—there were like three or four of us at the time—and he was like, "Hey, have you guys ever heard of this phrase, personal brand?"
And I was like, "No, what's that?"
And he was like, "Well, it's a way that people can, you know, build up their online followings, and it could be really good for the business, for the agency. You know, maybe if you build up your personal following, more people will know about us and whatever. Like, this is a thing a lot of companies and employees are doing. So I challenge you all to begin posting if you feel comfortable. No pressure."
And I love a challenge. So I was like, "Hell yeah, I'm in. I'll do it."
I went on Twitter, created a handle, he retweeted me, and then I immediately realized I hated my handle, so I changed it. And so all the people he had retweeted, saying "Go follow this person," couldn't follow me anymore because I changed it.
So that was my first thing where I was like, "What the hell am I doing?"
Then I tried posting a few times, and I hated it, so I stopped for an entire year. I was like, "I hate Twitter. I hate social media." I already knew that, but I really hated it now, so I was gone.
For whatever reason, I kept logging in and following along with what people were doing. And I decided to try again because, like I said, I love a challenge. I don't like giving up. And it worked this time—less so on Twitter.
I did Twitter and LinkedIn again. So it was like January '22 when I started, and my first post on LinkedIn that I actually tried at went viral. And it was the only time since then—because I've got almost 40,000 followers on LinkedIn now—that I've gotten more than a thousand likes on a post. And it was my first official, like, post-post, which was crazy.
And every post from there just kind of went well. So LinkedIn was like—boom—off to the races, which is unusual. And I can talk a little bit about why I think it went well.
Twitter took a lot longer. Twitter took like six months to get traction, and then—off to the races there. So, I could go on, but that's why I started.
Goran: I think you said something really interesting that will resonate with our audience. So most of the people who follow the show are, you know, software makers and more on the techie side. And it's very common that people really hate social media in a sense of getting out of your way to kind of talk about yourself.
So I think it would be very helpful if you could share how you reprogrammed your brain. How do you get over that, like—I'll potentially say even cringe factor—to, you know, kind of just go out there and present and try to have a regular cadence of updating on social.
Erica: Yeah, so it was—it was something that happened over time. It wasn't like I logged on, and I was like, "Hey, this is me. I know exactly who I am. I'm super authentic. I'm telling stories, and everything's resonating." Like, no.
I started with a lot of teachable content. So, like, "Here's how to do this," or "I've done this for the past however many years, and here are the mistakes I find," and whatever. So, that was a lot of my 2022.
As I got comfortable posting and sharing tips about writing and editing, I was paying attention to what a lot of people were doing on social. And especially on Twitter, there were all these writing bros that were just, like—I swear—like, their tips for writing well were: going to the gym, walking 10,000 steps a day—I'm serious—taking a cold plunge, having three espressos, waking up at 5:00 a.m., having three espressos, four hours of deep work, and you're good.
So I'm, like, reading this stuff, and I'm like, "What the actual—?"
So that's when I started to be a bit sarcastic, which is how I got more comfortable being myself, because I'm pretty sarcastic and jokey anyway. So I started making fun of—not these specific people, but, like, the idea of it.
Which is—if we're doing tips, I will say: "Hot tip—don't attack specific people, but do attack ideas." Okay? Because if you attack specific people, people are going to think you're an asshole, and you're being an asshole. But if you attack ideas, then you can build kind of, like, this momentum, and people want to join this revolution or whatever.
Half the things that people comment on my stuff are like, "Oh, someone finally said it, right?"
So I became kind of that person. I was like, "Oh, I'm not afraid to say things out loud. I don't mind confrontation," whatever.
So I was saying things out loud. I was joking. I was being sarcastic.
September '23, I had a super viral post on Twitter that was just very jokey and sarcastic as well. So it took me, like, a couple of years to get to that point of, like, super sarcasm, I'm comfortable.
And actually, in '24, I kind of pulled back a bit. Like, I had kids at the end of '22, I got tired. I was like, I can't be this person all the time. And I kind of, like, passed the baton over.
But—but that's how I—to answer your question—that's how I got comfortable.
I saw all this weird stuff happening online, and I was like, I'm just going to make fun of this.
And it allowed me to draw my people, quote-unquote, to me, who I then felt more comfortable with.
Okay, I'm speaking to you people now. Like, you're my people. I'm going to tell you more stories. I'll tell you more about my life. Like, I'm not as scared as I was.
Goran: So do you think that, like, you know, observing and, like, finding out, like, what other people were actually publishing actually helped you define your voice?
Erica: So much so—yeah, so much so that it's actually a module in one of my courses. The first course I ever wrote was about hooks, and the reason why I made this course was because I saw these same writing bros selling hook templates.
And I looked at all the templates, and they were all referencing each other. So this person was like, "Oh, I learned from that person," and then that person’s like, "Oh, I learned from these two people," and it was just like this massive circle jerk of people and examples. And I was like, "What the hell?"
So I created the anti-that. I was like, "If you want to write hooks that sound nothing like that, buy my course." And in my course, I walk you through the story of, like, how I got to this point.
And I just paid attention—I say "pay attention with intention" because that kind of sticks in your mind. And yes, you should pay attention. And it's just like in life—you want to find your people. Like, you're not going to vibe with everyone at the party, right? You gotta find the people that you kind of vibe with.
And also, another hot tip—stop trying to make everyone like you. It's impossible. You don’t want that. You cannot make everyone like you, and that's a good thing. Because if everyone likes you, then you're not interesting, right?
You have to be, like, really magnetic to certain people, and you have to kind of, like, repel others. And that's a good thing.
Goran: Yeah, I usually vibe with the people in the kitchen where there's, like, beer and food. So gotta find the equivalent of that online.
Patrick: I was just gonna say—you did—I think, first of all, you spoke the internet's native language, which is sarcasm. So that's probably helped a little bit in going viral and stuff like that, yes.
So I want to talk about something that you've said in some of your content. You've talked about the term personal platform instead of the term personal brand. Can you explain that to our listeners?
Erica: Yeah, so around a couple years in as well, I started to get really sick of the term personal brand because I don’t consider myself, as a solopreneur or a one-person business, as a brand.
Because when you are marketing yourself, there is this element of—you kind of have to be yourself and draw people to you. And I'm not sure the word brand fits with that.
It makes sense if you're a business and you are building a personal brand as the founder of that business. Or if you're, like, super bought into the business—you know, what's the word—evangelist! There you go. If you're a massive evangelist, fine, build a personal brand around that brand.
But when you're building a personal brand around yourself, it just felt inauthentic. It felt weird. It felt market-y. And yes, I am marketing myself so that, hopefully, you buy my products and services—but I'm also just being me.
And I didn't—I couldn't find the connection between the word brand and the word me.
So for a while there, I refused to call it brand. I called it personal platform. I founded a business called Power Your Platform, which I no longer am part of, but it just made sense to me. People really liked it. People vibed.
However, after about a year of trying to do that, I realized every time I said personal platform, people were like, "What's that?" And I had to be like, "Oh, it’s your personal brand without the word brand."
And people warned me that that would happen, and I thought I'd give it a try anyway—who cares?
But it happened. It just—people—it didn’t stick. And that's fine. So I pivoted back. Now I say personal brand again because everyone understands it. But I still think, like, it's really weird to brand yourself. So I don’t really think of it that way.
Patrick: In today's day and age, people crave authenticity. So, all social media is a marketing channel. There's a case to be made to share some of the not-great things going on in your life. Listen in to understand that nuance.
Goran: We talked about building a personal brand—I mean, personal platform—and, you know, how that matches with authenticity. But sometimes, obviously, like, depending on what type of a person you are, you have to kind of balance these things out.
So, since you obviously have a goal on social media—not just to hang out, but to actually sell, you know, your services, your skills, and your products—how would you cater to kind of balancing, you know, catering to your audience versus, you know, maintaining your authenticity?
Erica: Yeah, so everyone has a different version of what authenticity means because it's—it's such a buzzword now, too. And it's like, "what the hell?"
For me, I think of authenticity as just whatever you naturally feel most comfortable doing in the world. So, I've said this many times before, but I'll say it again.
It's like when you walk into a party and you are meeting people for the first time, and you are obviously not going to share everything about yourself in that first conversation.
I guess unless you would—then that's you, and you'll just do that right away.
I personally wouldn't. I'm gonna get to know you a bit, maybe I'll crack a joke here or there. But you're not going to know immediately that I had a really hard day yesterday, and my kids didn’t sleep through the night, and I'm struggling to grow my business.
Like, all that stuff—you're not going to know that right away.
And so, if you're just starting to build online, I would say just approach it the same way. Like, that's what I did.
So, you start with whatever makes you feel comfortable. Then you get to know people. Then you open up a bit more. And however much you would naturally open up in the world is how much I think you should open up online.
I don’t think that anyone should ever feel pressured to share traumas publicly just for attention, which is interesting because it's actually trending towards that a little bit.
So, I'm not sure how familiar you are with personal brands online, but in my world anyway, in my echo chamber, a lot of people are saying how-to content is going out, how-I content is coming in.
And a lot of people are preaching: Make sure that you don’t just share your wins—share your failures, share your hard times.
I agree with that.
Some people take that to an absolute extreme level, right?
So, they'll talk about their divorces, you know, miscarriages, right? Like, all of the times they've gotten fired—and exactly, like, they'll share screenshots, like, all the things, right?
People are sharing—I've seen some intense things on my timeline recently.
I don’t personally feel comfortable getting that detailed about my life, so I don’t share that.
My version of authenticity is: Damn, like, I didn’t sleep that well last night. I've got bills to pay. Like, haha, joke, you know, like, give me money.
Like, I don’t know, like, that’s my way of doing it.
Whatever you feel comfortable with is what I advocate to do.
I don’t think that there’s one way to be authentic, and I just really hate when people try to pressure others into oversharing if they don’t feel comfortable.
Goran: Yeah, to me, like, one of the biggest put-offs when I kind of consume content is when I read, like, the word expert next to someone.
Because, like, in my world, being an expert means that you literally know everything about a specific topic.
And I prefer, for instance, the word practitioner, which kind of falls nicely into what you are saying—the how I did something or how I failed at something, which is probably more relatable than just kind of sharing, like, you know, top-level this is the best thing you can do.
Because nobody really knows.
Patrick: Goran, are you casting shade on my introduction where I call myself an expert? Is that what's happening here?
Goran: This—this is getting a little spicy.
Patrick: Yeah, go ahead and answer Goran's question if you wanted to, Erica. I just had to interrupt.
Erica: No, that's fine. I completely agree with you. I think that practitioner is better, but I also think for anyone—again, I'm not sure who the listener is, but I'm speaking to people who are thinking about building a personal brand, I suppose, or you've tried it and you don’t really love it—like, you're going to see a lot of quote-unquote experts online.
A lot of them. They are everywhere. And they do it because of the bold confidencethat I am the best, 99% of people suck at this, and I am the 1% who does not—like, that goes viral online.
And so people copy these templates.
Again, the templates that all the Bros told you to copy—like, they're still out there, and people copy them.
And everybody thinks if I just claim to know everything in the world, people will love me, follow me, worship me, and give me money, right?
So there are a lot of those people online.
You and I sound more like the people who are like, "We're not experts, we just try to know a lot, and here’s what we’re learning along the way."
So I have more of a build-in-public always type of attitude, you know?
Patrick: Sometimes I think it makes sense to just try a bunch of different content and see what works. Is that, you know—let me try sharing my—here’s the food I’m eating, you know, whatever types of social media content people consume.
But, you know, do you just try a bunch of stuff and see what works?
Or do you intentionally, like, pick one or two topics and then just—just keep hitting those until you find the working formula?
Erica: I definitely think you need a strategy, and you should not just post randomly about nothing.
So when you are online and you're trying to build an audience, the first thing that you should think about is: Who am I trying to serve, and what can I best help them with? Right?
So when I first started—I've pivoted a bunch of times—I still had a full-time job when I started, so I didn’t really know what I was doing.
But I always have kept my Top Line pillar as writing and editing, and I consider the two kinds of one and the same.
So I’m always talking about writing and editing, and then I've got little sub-pillars underneath that that I’ve developed over time.
So, I would pick the one big thing that you feel most comfortable speaking about, or that you want to be known for, that you think you can help people with—and then develop your sub-pillars underneath that.
So underneath writing and editing, I've also got, you know, anti-hustle culture, parenting, whatever—all the other things I talk about.
And that goes underneath it.
But the thing that I talk about the most is writing and editing—although that's actually shifting a bit now to writing, editing, and content that then helps you as a solopreneur/entrepreneur grow your business.
So I would say that's kind of competing for the Top Line pillar at the moment.
If I had to give a percentage to it, I would say—especially when you're starting—80% in your Top Line pillar and whatever falls underneath that, and 20% to just whatever else—random stuff that you want to talk about.
What you did on Sunday? Fine.
As people get to know you more, you have a bit more flexibility in that percentage. So people know me now pretty well. They understand that I'm a writer and editor, so if I want to spend a week talking about whatever else, that’s not going to hurt me. But it might hurt you if you're just starting—people are going to be confused, and they're not going to know what they should know you for.
Patrick: I think that makes a lot of sense
Goran: So my question is, since most of the people listening to this are either solopreneurs or like at small companies, does this differ from building a—let's say—a personality and a brand for a solopreneur or like a company? Do companies still have the same options to actually build authenticity in a way as you would as a solopreneur?
Erica: Yeah, totally. I think that it can be similar, but as someone who's working in-house at a company, I think you have a lot more freedom actually to play around in the top-of-funnel awareness entertainment area. Whereas people who are entrepreneurs or solopreneurs—yes, top-of-funnel and entertainment and awareness is huge for getting people into your world, but you better have like a really strong mix of MOFU and BOFU content as well to get people onto your newsletter or to get them to click and book a call or whatever.
I didn't even think once about selling anything or trying to bring people anywhere for a whole year when I first started because I had the luxury of having a job, so it didn't matter. So I did a lot of top-of-funnel—I'm going for awareness, I'm going for virality, I'm joking, I'm playing around—like, it didn't matter.
Once I left my job, it became a whole other thing—like, if I'm not telling people how they can, like, hire me or buy my products, or if I'm not funneling them to my newsletter, what am I even doing? Like, what's the point of having a big audience if you're not using it to make money?
So I do actually—I think it's easier, and I might be biased because this is how I started—but I really think it's easier to start if you're still employed. If anyone listening is, as long as your employer isn't horrible about it, have some fun. Like, that's when you can really get comfortable experimenting, because it doesn’t really matter, you know?
And also, just—I will say for the people who are in-house, I was doing a lot of awareness stuff, but it did get people to know about my agency, and the agency did get a few clients because of it. So even if I wasn’t trying, that was still useful.
Patrick: So here's my assumption—I think a lot of software developers don't think about marketing and maybe don't listen to this podcast, or don’t listen to an episode like "Building a Brand" until they need to.
And then I think you're tempted to build a brand on the exact service that you just created—you just wrote a little piece of software to, you know, schedule calendar events, and then you're like, "Do I have to be a calendar scheduling expert on social media?"
Like, how do you—because I think there’s a natural temptation. I think there’s a natural temptation to try to build a brand around whatever you just built—whatever your piece of software just built.
How would you advise that person on building a brand and whether they should be really specific for the piece of software they just made?
Erica: Yeah, I love that question.
So no, I would say do not only focus on the thing that you've built, because it might not work. You might sell it—like, you could have an exit, right? And even if it does do well, then you're only known as this thing. and that completely is against the—like, so many people do exactly what you just said.
They start a personal brand around, I've just built this thing, come get it.
Maybe it works for a little bit, but eventually—and I've seen this play out a bunch—you're going to get so bored of talking about that thing.
That’s all you ever do, is go on and you're like, I have to sell this thing. It becomes another marketing checkbox or business checkbox.
And if you actually want to embrace the full power of this thing called personal brand, you are going to build an audience around you, and then secondarily, whatever the thing is that you are attached to.
But if you build it around you first—as the person, as the software developer, as the engineer, whatever—and then you pivot, so you have this thing, and then you have that thing, and then you have this thing—it doesn’t matter.
People aren’t going to be confused, because you're not just going to be known as the product person, you're going to be known as you, and they'll follow you wherever you go.
I've pivoted like 10 times now. I was in-house, then I went side hustle, then I had these products. Now I have four products, I'm about to launch a fifth product, I have like three services, I have a newsletter, and nobody is confused about who I am, because I am me and they’re excited to follow along my journey.
So I would say—but also, like, to go back to the fun thing, because I’m fun, and I choose to have fun, and I don’t allow it to be something that I have to check a box to.
I want to show up—like, I do it for me, and then ideally people buy my things.
If you do it for the business, I promise you, you will burn out and get so bored, and you will quit.
And if you want to succeed, it’s all about consistency.
Goran: Yeah, I love that. But let's say we come to a situation where you have succeeded in building a brand, and so you are known as this—let’s say—engineer, but you still have products that you are developing. So is there a way for you to kind of transfer some of that authority to your brands or your products without making it lame or forced or stuff like that?
Erica: Totally, yeah! That’s what the Launch Content Playbook is about—this course that I just launched. Like I just said, I launch a new product once every few months. I’m a builder, I can’t help it. I’m not an engineer—I’m just an idea person, and then I write things. And then my friend Rob is an AI engineer, and he builds things, and it’s really cool.
So what I do is I have a content mix. I have my entertainment content—people know who I am, I teach you how to write and edit—but then a couple of times a week, I’m like, "Oh, by the way, I’m building this cool new thing, hop on the waitlist for it if you’re interested." And I talk about that.
The thing that’s the most important part, though, is that I don’t just do this on social—I say, "Get on my newsletter!" Right? Because that’s where the real conversions happen for things like this. So I have awareness around me, I talk a little bit on social about what I’m doing, but then you get on my newsletter. And from there, I can segment you out.
I have little things at the bottom of each email that say, "Hey, if you don’t want to receive launch content for this product or this type of thing, opt out of that, but stay on the newsletter." And that way, I can talk to all different people without pissing them off or confusing them.
So yeah, I think it’s really important to have places to send people outside of social.
Goran: Yeah, especially if you have products that basically match your values that you talk about or kind of optimize problems that you are constantly talking about.
Patrick: I think one of the concerns people have about sending too many emails—this is just something I was talking about with someone a couple days ago—is that they always, always worry about sending too many emails.
And I think it’s totally underrated to have a please exclude me from this one specific product option. Like, I want to hear all of your content except for this. And then when you do a launch where you talk about it non-stop for two weeks or whatever, people aren’t really upset with you.
That just seems right, like—that’s a real-life thing of like, Patrick, stop talking to me about your obsession with Star Wars! All right, got it—that’s not the topic for you, we’ll talk about something else instead. It just seems totally underrated.
Erica: Yeah, I think people think, Oh god, I can only talk about one thing, and I can only be niched in this one area. And it’s like—no.
I mean, as long as you have your big pillar—like, people join my newsletter for writing and editing stuff, but I also am going to launch products, and I’m going to talk about entrepreneurship or whatever.
And writing and editing is always part of it. But yes, segment people out. Talk about all the things you want to talk about.
You don’t have to niche yourself so small that you only talk about this one thing because—god forbid—a couple people don’t want to hear about it. I think that’s silly.
Patrick: Erica says you can’t post and ghost—you have to be involved in your social media channels. Listen in and learn from Erica why human psychology requires you to actually participate in the conversation—that’s coming up.
So we’re getting near the end here, and I just want to give people guideposts.
Like, what are the things that you would tell someone to look for to know that they’re on the right path? That they’ve chosen the right niche, that their message is resonating—stuff like that.
How do you know you’re on the right path?
Erica: For me, it’s the kind of comments that I get that guide me.
So first of all, in case you aren’t aware—if you want to build a personal brand on LinkedIn or X, you have to be involved in the conversation.
It is not a post-and-ghost situation. So you have to comment on other people’s posts, and then they’ll be more likely to comment on yours. And then you start posting, right? And every single time that someone comments on your post, you must reply. You have to be a human. You have to show them that you care. People only care about you if they feel like you care about them. That is human psychology 101. So engage, and then pay attention to what people are saying.
Anytime that someone tells me, Oh, I never thought about it like this, I’m like—cool. I need to dig deeper into that topic. I need to write about this again. I need to think about it deeper. I need to think about all the ways I can repurpose that. Anytime someone—if I just get a bunch of Oh, good post—like, that’s cool, but boring, generic comments. I’m like, Okay, this didn’t really make anyone think too hard, so I’m not going to talk about that again.
So honestly—it’s what I said at the beginning. It’s paying attention with intention. It’s following the signal and doubling down on that. If you’re getting no comments on anything that you ever write, then people don’t care—and you should probably pivot.
Patrick: I like your pay attention with intention. To me, it’s just—it's to be a scientist with your content, right? It’s—this worked, this didn’t. This particular aspect of this worked. Is it the topic? Is it the format?
But I guess let me ask it this way: Pay attention with intention—you need to think deeply about your content. And it needs to be—I don’t want to say a job, that’s not the right word—but you need to spend your mental labor on it.
How many hours a day? Like, is there just a ballpark of how long? And maybe not just the time spent on social media platforms, but the time you're thinking about your content?
Erica: All the time. And everybody that does this as much as me also thinks about it all the time. That is the one downside of doing this work. If you absolutely hate the idea of content and don’t want to think about it ever, then maybe you should not do this work.
It’s extremely valuable but also extremely draining—even if you outsource it. Because even if you have a ghostwriter, you’re still going to have to think about content, and they’re still going to ask you a bunch of questions. So, it is mentally draining work.
However, if you want to make money from your business, it’s worthwhile work. So, it’s a trade-off—like anything in life.
It’s not easy. There’s no hack.
You’re not just going to wake up, have a great idea that you never thought about, post it, not engage with anyone, and get money for your business.
You have to put effort into it—just like anything else you do.
So, to get specific—I think about content all the time.
I don’t have any fancy system. I write ideas down in Apple Notes on my computer and my phone, and they sync together.
I think of content while doing everything—in the shower, walking my dog, picking up my kids.
If I have an idea, I write it down.
I usually write a hook down in Apple Notes, and I have years and years of hooks saved.
If I’m stuck and can’t think of something in the moment, I just scroll through and go, What did I write down yesterday?—and then I riff off of that.
At this point, it probably takes me 30 minutes max to write a post because I’ve got it really dialed in.
And then I engage with people—probably for one to two hours a day.
So, it’s probably like a two-hour-a-day minimum on these platforms for me.
Goran: So, I just wanted to say—it’s actual work. The quick hack bros are not going to like this episode.
Erica: Good.
Patrick: It is. I definitely remember listening to some people working on their Instagram accounts, and I think for them, it was a morning—like four hours, right? That’s half their day.
Now, they are incredibly viral. They have hundreds of thousands of followers.
But—it is a significant amount of work. And it just pays off over the long term.
So, I guess—last question here.
Are there any courses or tools that you’d recommend people try if they’re starting out?
Erica: Yeah, I mean—obviously, all of mine are great. My website is in final review—I’m finally getting a website after all this time!
It took me years to decide to pay someone to do it.
But, out of the four courses that I have, I would say Hooked on Writing Hooks (hooksonwritinghooks.com) is the best one.
Because if you want anyone to see your content, your first line on social matters like crazy.
It’s like your thumbnail on YouTube or your subject line in an email.
No one’s going to actually press read more unless that first line hooks them in.
So, the whole course is an anti-template way of writing these hooks that actually capture attention.
That’s where I would start—hooksonwritinghooks.com.
And if you want more free advice from me, you can join my newsletter.
But yeah—just go to my LinkedIn for now. It’s the best way to find all my stuff.
And then, I’ll have a website—eventually.
Patrick: Love it. And kind of incredible—you don’t have a website yet. That’s pretty fantastic.
Erica: Yeah, well—that’s the power of social, right?
Patrick: That’s the power of social! Love it.
Patrick: Thank you so much, Erica, for joining us and for sharing your thoughts.
Erica: Thanks for having me!
Patrick: And thanks to our listeners for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and tell your friends so we can keep enticing awesome guests to join us and share their remarkable journeys.
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My name is Patrick Rauland, and thanks for listening to plugin.fm!