Louis Butterfield

In 20 years, we'll look back at gender wage gaps the same way we look at smoking on airplanes now.

Fucking insane that it was ever allowed.

I grew up in a house where my mom was the breadwinner.

She was a geologist.

Made six figures.

My dad stayed home with me until I was 7.

And I never thought it was weird.

Not once.

It was just... normal.

Fast forward to today.

I'm building a business with my wife - we crossed $200K in the last 12 months - and she's one of the hardest working, most talented, most driven people I know.

Not "for a woman."

Just period.

But I keep hearing these stories.

Women afraid to take maternity leave because it might kill their career.

Women being passed over because employers see them as a "liability."

Women doing the same work for less money and being told it's just "how things are."

And every time I hear it, I feel this weird mix of sadness, anger and confusion.

Because how is this still a conversation?

Especially now.

When dual incomes aren't optional anymore.

When the cost of living has skyrocketed.

When we 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 everyone working at full capacity just to keep up.

The math doesn't even make sense.

Let alone the morality of it.

I don't have some grand solution here.

No five-step plan to fix systemic inequality.

This post isn't about that.

It's real.

And it's bullshit.

And if you're someone reading this thinking "how the fuck is this still happening?"

You're not alone.

I guess I'm just lucky I get to build something with someone who never had to justify her seat at the table.

She sat down and got to work.

The way it should be for everyone.

We launched our funnel this month
and got 94 sales with 22 posts (100% inbound)

This is with 0 sales calls.
This is only month 1.
This is my first funnel.
It's not life-changing money.

But a year ago, I literally would never have dreamed it was possible

I don't come from money.
I never had a corporate job.
I used to be a veggie farmer.
I lived in a Mongolian yurt for 2 years.
I couldn't afford rent for 2 MORE years after.
I'm just figuring it out as I go.

I just believe this place needs more creativity.

And apparently, so do many other folks.

Keep going friend.
Nobody's perfect.

And if you want to see how I'm scaling it to $300k/yr;

I'm hosting a private workshop next Tuesday

Comment "WORKSHOP" if you'd like an invite.

2 months ago, I was burnt out. Working 60+ hours/week.

Nervous about revenue despite hitting $200K.

(ps - here's the free playbook I used to go 100% inbound → https://lnkd.in/guAS3MP4)


After working with 80ish founders, I've realized something:

most people already know what they’re doing
they just don’t have a system that lets the world see it.

So they copy the “big accounts.”
They sound smart, but not seen.

but the more you chase polish, the more invisible you become.

We're messy.
We make mistakes.
We have imperfections all over the place.

And when you try to hide that?
People smell dat shizz.

And they don't trust it.

up until 2 months ago, I was working 60+ hour weeks.

Burnt out.

Nervous about next month's revenue despite hitting over $200K this year.

Always wondering if I got lucky or if I actually knew what I was doing.

(side note: I don't)

But I've made more money by being:

Weird.
Creative.
Fun.

and the proof is in the pudding mi amigo.

Last week alone:
→ 4 posts
→ 3 emails
→ 11 new clients
→ Weekend walks
→ Actual time off
→ Sauna with my wife’s Finnish grandparents (mandatory tradition)

I'm working 30-40 hours a week now.
Not 60.

You don’t need to become someone else to succeed.
You just need a system that lets people see the real you.

Because people don't buy perfection.

They buy proof that you've been where they are.
That you've failed.
That you got back up.

And that uou actually figured it out - messy bits and all.


Is your content strategy something you can do for the long run?

Will it be fun?

Will it feel good even when you're selling?

If the answer is no, you're building a prison.

If the answer is yes?
That's where the money is.
(And the fun.)
(And the freedom.)

And once you figure that out, everything shifts.

❤️

I tested something weird with 859 followers.

It generated $200K in a year.

Here's what's happening in your brain right now.

You see this post. You see my face.

Your brain scrambles to figure out: do I trust this person?

but what's SUPER interesting is...

When you see me next to someone you already know and trust, your brain makes a connection between us.

Their credibility transfers.

That's not marketing bullshit. That's neuroscience.

It's called associative memory and it's why collaborative content is the fastest way to build trust on LinkedIn.

But here's where most people get stuck.

They think:

"I only have 1,200 followers. No one big will say yes."
"I need to build my audience first, THEN collaborate."
"I have to grind for years before anyone takes me seriously."

I believed that too.

Until I had 859 followers and decided to test it anyway.

Pitched collaborations with people who had 10X, 20X, even 50X my following.

And you know what happened?

They said yes.

Not all of them. But enough.

12 months later, I had a multi six-figure business. 100% inbound. Zero paid ads.

I wasn't special. I wasn't connected. I just stopped trying to build an audience from scratch and started borrowing instead.

Many (not all) big accounts WANT to collaborate.
They're looking for fresh voices and new energy.

They just need you to pitch them the right way.

And when I teach people my exact pitch framework (one I'm walking a client through right now who just landed his first 100K-follower collab), you know what surprises them most?

How simple it is. How willing people actually are.

You don't need a fancy media kit.
You don't need to beg.

You just need to understand what they care about and show up with clarity.

That's why I'm hosting a private workshop next Tuesday.

I'm breaking down the exact system I used to build this business through strategic collaborations.

The pitch templates.
The outreach strategy.
The follow-up framework that gets responses.

Everything I've learned stealing other people's audiences instead of grinding alone.

Comment "WORKSHOP" and I'll send you the details.

This is literally how you shortcut years of posting into the void.

Let's go.

AI bros are a bunch of milk drinkers.

you know the ones...

- they post fake $1M job postings for their AI startup

- they replace hardworking folks with shitty bots

- they comment "haha totally agree—curious how you're implementing AI in the next stage of your business? 🚀"

- they genuinely think AI girlfriends are cool

- they have weird DM autoresponders so they never have to talk to another human being

(because efficiency bro)

I'm not against AI. I use it often.

I'm against the milk drinkers who use AI to put lipstick on a pig.

"Now that impressions are down, why make videos?"

You shouldn't. They suck.

jkkkkkkkkkkkk

Here's my very professional thoughts

As a founder, you need 2 things to build trust online:

1. Connection
2. Time under attention

And there are TONS of ways to do it


Ways to build connection:

- Voicenotes
- Lives
- Personal stories
- Showing what's "behind the curtain"


Ways to increase Time Under Attention:

- Emails
- Carousels
- Lives
- Workshops
- Mini-Courses


These all work.

But the easiest way to do them both at once...

(that I've seen)

Is short-form video that shows your personality.

Yes, I'm biased. And i'm willing to be proven wrong.

But 1 video can be scripted + filmed + edited
in 1hr

And that 1 hr can equal 10hrs24m of watch time

well... that's a lot of time under attention.


So are videos still worth it?

I dunno, that's up to you.

But I know it helps us get 1-10 leads per post

So if you want to learn how to make it work:

You can check it out here → https://lnkd.in/gzN8hVf2

I tested something weird for 3 weeks and it brought in 94 sales with only 14K followers.

For context, my videos used to get 10K to 100K impressions pretty regularly.

Then July hit.

Reach tanked.

(Kinda like everybody else's, amirite?)

But in the last 3 weeks I got...

→ in front of 123,950 people.
→ 1,215 new followers
→ 94 sales

With a "dead" algorithm.
So what changed?



So if you've read this far, odds are you probs want more reach.

I call this the visibility cage.

What I mean is...

6 months ago organic content could reach 2nd + 3rd degree connections no problem

but now your posts get shown to the same small group of people.

(it's kind of like the Facebook algo imo)

And when your content DOES reach a wider audience?

It either...

→ has nothing to do with your services
→ attracts a bunch of freebie seekers with "handraisers"

The only exception is if you sell LinkedIn content services... on LinkedIn.

We're not in the attention economy anymore.
We're in the energy economy.

LinkedIn's algorithm is conserving energy by keeping you in your lane.

It's serving your content to people who've already engaged with you because that's the safest bet for platform retention.

New reach is expensive (algorithmically speaking).

So unless your content breaks a very specific pattern, you're confined.

Most people think posting consistently will fix this.

It won't.

You're just yelling louder in the same room.

We need a way to reach outside our inner circles without

→ attracting freebie seekers with "handraiser" posts
→ spending hundreds of hours DMing, commenting
→ selling our left kidney for ads

..and I discovered Trust Bridging works perfectly for this.

When you create a win-win piece of content with another creator, you both get in front of a larger audience.

If you share a similar ideal client?

You're now both in front of thousands of new potential buyers.

My cofounder Jenna has less than 4K followers.
Trust Bridging still works for her.

Our client Luke landed a collab with HubSpot.

"L" is collaborating with LinkedIn at their event.

Sunny had her highest engagement on a video ever this mth.

Any account size can do this.
And once you do?

You never have to wonder how to get more reach again.

Literally.

Now most of the time when I say this, people say:

"But How do you get larger accounts to say yes?"
"Who is even the right person to ask?"
"How do you pitch without coming off needy?"

Great questions.

That's exactly what we're showing in our private workshop tomorrow.

And today's the last day to sign up.

If you want an invite, comment 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗣 below and I'll send it to you.

Because if you still want more reach, engagement, and inbound leads through content...

If you're tired of your posts flopping...

If you don't want to do "freebie seeker" posts...

And you want something fun, simple, creative, and repeatable using video...

This workshop was built for you.

see you there mon amie

Last month, our client scored a huge collab with HubSpot


Here's the skinny yo. FROM ZE TOP.

1/ He fixed his messaging.

We got him to speak directly to his ideal client.

(Tech & Life Science Companies)

now his ideal client knows it's for them

bam. simple.

---

2/ He showed his story AND built his authority at the same time

Talk about wins
Show the losses along the way

As a result, his engagement increased.

Now he shows proof without being salesy.

This is how you speak to internet strangers.

Being subtle wins.

---

3/ We gave him consistent feedback based on what worked best for him.

This helped him go from 0 to 11 high quality inbound leads/month.

This is what’s working today for founders.

Not 2023.

Boots on the ground.



Obviously Luke is a rockstar and put in the effort.

but all it takes is simple tweaks and iteration.

to get where he is.


If you want to know the full system we used to do it

I'm hosting a private workshop next Tuesday


check it out here yo:
https://lnkd.in/gJNizA54

❤️

Most B2B content just straight up sucks.

AI slop in drag as "thought leadership"
↳ Stories with the emotional tension of a parking ticket.
↳ “Hot takes” colder than last night's Chinese food

Every post sounds like someone’s being held ransom - 500 words or your family gets it.

And then you see guys like...

Ademola Adelakun, MBET
Henry Hayes
and Aidan Brannigan

...who are actually making this space fun again.

And they've got the receipts too.

→ Company pages with 1M+ followers
→ Viral videos (not once - 100's of times)
→ Campaigns for $232B+ brands

They’re the proof that B2B doesn’t have to bore people into submission.

and they're going to show what is ACTUALLY working

So if you’re done “being consistent” while dying inside every time you hit post...
 
this is for you.

no pitch. 45 mins. pure value. let's go.