Nikolett Jaksa

I thought nothing could top last month's conference in Zagreb.

Then I went to Sarajevo last week.

70 creators from 22 nationalities and 19 countries, all gathering in Bosnia because Jasmin said "trust me, this will be worth it."

And it was.

But the real value wasn't in the panel talks.

It was in those dinner conversations when everyone's guard is down and the real stories come out.

I met the people whose content shaped my thinking. People I'd been following for years.

And you know what struck me most?

They're all figuring it out as they go. Just like me.

The diversity was insane. 22 nationalities meant 22 different perspectives on what "good content" looks like.

– What works in Germany flops in Singapore.
– What's professional in Bosnia is cold in Italy.

Let that sink in.

We're all playing the same game with completely different rules.

What united us?

– The hunger to create something meaningful.
– To turn our expertise into impact.
– To build businesses that matter.

Sarajevo didn't just broaden my thinking, it shattered my assumptions about what's possible when creators actually connect.

Not through DMs or comments.

But face to face, story to story, human to human.

PS. What conference or event completely changed your perspective on your work?

Being a solopreneur is lonely AF.

(And nobody talks about it enough)

This month, I closed my biggest deal ever.

My celebration?

Me. My laptop. And a cup of coffee.

– No team to high-five.
– No colleague to share the moment.
– No office champagne pop or team dinner.
– Just me, my LinkedIn DMs and Google Meet.

That's the reality nobody posts about.

→ You make all the decisions (alone)
→ You solve all the problems (alone)
→ You celebrate the wins (alone)
→ You face the losses (alone)

A client recently messaged me: "I miss having someone to bounce ideas off who actually gets it."

I felt that in my bones.

What they don't tell you about solopreneurship:

The loneliness hits different when you:

– Debug at 11 PM with no one to ask
– Haven’t spoken to anyone in 3 days
– Make big decisions with only ChatGPT to ask
– Want to vent but your partner’s over “work talk”

But here's what I've learned:

The loneliness isn't a bug. It's a feature.

It forces you to:

✓ Share your real journey (publicly)
✓ Build a community (not just a network)
✓ Reach out first (nobody's checking on the CEO)
✓ Create boundaries (or work becomes your only friend)

My solution? I turned LinkedIn into my virtual office.

→ My comments section = water cooler chats
→ My connections = colleagues who get it
→ My DMs = coffee meetings
→ My posts = team updates

Is it the same as having a real team? No.

But it's real connection. Real support. Real community.

And sometimes, that's enough to make the lonely days worth it.

PS. Fellow solopreneurs - how do you deal with the lonely days? Drop your survival tactics below 👇🏻

The finance guy writing about his divorce gets 10x the likes of his market analysis.

(Welcome to the trap called "audience capture")

I watched it happen to a brilliant CFO last month.

– His technical posts? 50 likes.
– His "vulnerability" post about burnout? 2,000 likes.

Guess what he posts about now?

Here's the ugly truth about LinkedIn's engagement game:

→ Your expertise gets crickets
→ Your confessions get shared
→ Your knowledge gets scrolled past
→ Your struggles get standing ovations

And before you know it, you're not a marketing strategist anymore.

You're a feelings influencer.

I see it everywhere:

– The finance pro now posts daily affirmations
– The tourism expert shares relationship advice
– The tech founder became a life coach overnight
– The consultant writes poetry about self-discovery

They didn't plan this pivot. The algorithm trained them.

– Post about work → 30 likes
– Post about crying in your car → 300 likes

Your brain does the math.

But here's what happens next:

✓ Your ideal clients get confused
✓ Your expertise gets diluted
✓ Your brand becomes... nothing
✓ Your DMs fill with "you're so brave" instead of business

Look, vulnerability has its place. I share my messy truths too.

But there's a difference between being human and becoming a professional oversharer.

The antidote? Know your "hell yeah" and stick to it.

→ Share struggles that relate to your work
→ Tell stories that showcase your expertise
→ Be vulnerable about your PROFESSIONAL journey
→ Let your personality enhance your authority, not replace it

Because when the likes dry up (and they will), you'll need more than sympathy.

You'll need expertise that actually pays the bills.

PS. Have you noticed yourself drifting toward "audience capture"? What pulled you back?

I had to keep my mouth shut... until now!

I just became a Founding Partner at Stanley (Your Content Coach)!

(And yes, I've been secretly using it for months)

While everyone's complaining about their LinkedIn reach being down, mine's been going UP.

The numbers:

→ Profile views: increased by 40%
→ Content creation time: cut by 60%
→ Average post engagement: up 2.3x
→ DMs from ideal clients: 5-7 per week
→ Impressions increased by 96.9%!!!!!!!

I started testing quietly a few months ago.

And the results showed up immediately.

It wasn't about "AI writing posts" (we're past that).

It was about having a tool that actually gets:

– My voice (not generic LinkedIn-speak)
– My audience (founders who want results)
– My patterns (what works vs. what flops)

What makes Stanley (Your Content Coach) stand out?

→ Stanley doesn't write FOR you.
→ It amplifies what's already YOU.

While others pump out raw ChatGPT content that sounds like everyone else, I'm creating posts that sound like ME – just faster.

That's why I said "hell yeah" to becoming a founding partner :)

This is what smart creators will use to dominate LinkedIn.

The secret's out! 🩷

PS. Want to grow your impressions by 96.9% too? Drop a "STANLEY" below and I'll send you priority (limited) access 👇🏻

Half the "thought leaders" here sound the same.

(You could swap their names and no one would notice.)

These same founders have BRILLIANT ideas in real life.

→ I've heard them in discovery calls.
→ In strategy sessions.
→ In DMs at 11 PM.

But the moment they hit "post", they transform into LinkedIn robots.

→ Same hooks & stories
→ Same "vulnerability"
→ Same ChatGPT polish

Here's what happened when founders stopped trying to "write well" and started sounding like themselves:

Client 1 (B2B founder):

– 10-15 qualified leads/mo
– Closed $50K in new business
– Went from 200 → 3,500 average views

Client 2 (Marketing consultant):

– Rate increase: $1.5K → $5K
– Profile views jumped 3x in 30 days
– Speaking requests: 0 → 2 per month

Client 3 (SaaS CEO):

– Demo requests up 47%
– 1500+ new followers in the first 2 months
– Featured in a newsletter reaching 50K+ founders

Okay, but what changed?

We stopped writing what LinkedIn "experts" say works.
Started writing what only THEY could write.

→ Their unpopular opinions.
→ Their decision-making frameworks.
→ Their failed experiments and what they learned.

Look, if your posts could be anyone's posts, they're no one's posts.

Your voice isn't just how you write.
It's your competitive edge.

Own it or lose to those who do.

PS. What's one thing you want to say on LinkedIn but haven't? Drop it below. I dare you 👀

Ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon?

It's when you learn something new and suddenly see it everywhere.

– Buy a red car? Every car on the road is red.
– Learn a new word? It's in every article.
– Notice a trend? Everyone's talking about it.

It's not that these things suddenly appeared.
Your brain just started paying attention.

This is what happens when I help my clients find how to show up as themselves on LinkedIn.

Before we work together:

→ They blend in with everyone else
→ They feel like their ideas aren’t original
→ They think there’s nothing new left to say

After we nail their positioning:

→ They start seeing content ideas everywhere
→ Their ideal clients suddenly show up in their DMs
→ They realize they’ve been sitting on insights no one else has

I watched this happen during a strategy session with a client last week.

The shift was instant. Suddenly every story, every client win, and every failure became content worth sharing.

When you know exactly:

– What makes you different
– Who you're speaking to
– What only YOU can say

Your brain becomes a magnet for the right opportunities.

Here's how I create this shift with my clients:

✓ We dig deep to find their unique angle (not what they think they should say)
✓ We turn their experience into a clear point of view
✓ We make them the obvious choice, not just another option

Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

And neither can your ideal clients. 🩷

PS. What's something you learned recently that you now see everywhere?

My "Hell yeah" filter applies to content creation too.

(If you’re not using one, you’re wasting energy)

Just like I filter clients, I filter content trends.

Every week there's a new "must-do" format:

→ "You HAVE to do carousels!"
→ "Post 3x daily or you're invisible!"
→ "Short-form video is non-negotiable!"
→ "Hook templates are the secret to virality!"

Look, not every shiny new strategy is a "hell yeah" for your personal brand.

Last month, a (now client) founder DM'd me in panic mode.

She was trying to:

– Post daily (exhausting)
– Create weekly videos (not her strength)
– Use AI for everything (sounded like a robot)
– Jump on every trending topic (zero relevance)

She was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

We scrapped it all and built a "Hell yeah" content filter:

The 3 questions that changed everything:

1) Does this format let me shine?

→ Written posts? Hell yeah.
→ Dancing reels? Hell no.

2) Will my ideal clients actually care?

→ Industry insights? Hell yeah.
→ Random motivational quotes? Hell no.

3) Can I sustain this for 6 months?

→ 3 posts/week? Hell yeah.
→ Daily videos? Hell no.

She cut her content time by 70% and 3x'd her engagement.

What nobody tells you:

– Your audience doesn't need you everywhere.
– They need you to show up where you belong.

Before you chase that next content trend, ask yourself:
→ Is this a "hell yeah" for my brand?

If not, you already know the answer.

PS. What content format did you say "hell no" to?
(I'll share mine in the comments 👇🏻)

Why your "thought leadership" isn't landing

(and what to do instead)

The term gets thrown around like confetti at a wedding.

But most of what I see is just recycled LinkedIn advice wearing a fancy suit.

Yesterday, a founder sent me their "thought leadership" posts for feedback.

→ "5 ways to boost productivity"
→ "Why communication matters in teams"
→ "The importance of work-life balance"

I could find 1,000 identical posts in 10 seconds.

That's not thought leadership. That's thought followership.

Here's why it's not landing:

❌ You're sharing what everyone already knows
(We get it. Communication is important. Next.)

❌ You're scared to have an actual opinion
(Playing it safe = playing invisible)

❌ You're regurgitating instead of reflecting
(Google can do that better than you)

A client came to me frustrated:
→ "I post valuable content daily but crickets."

We looked at her posts.

All safe. All surface. All forgettable :)

So we changed the approach:

❌ Out went "5 tips for better meetings"
→ In came "Why I banned meetings on Mondays (and 3x'd productivity)"

❌ Out went generic industry stats
→ In came her controversial take on why her industry is broken

❌ Out went motivational quotes
→ In came real stories of her biggest failures and what they taught her

True thought leadership means:

✓ Being willing to be wrong (publicly)
✓ Teaching from scars, not textbooks
✓ Sharing perspectives only YOU can share
✓ Challenging what everyone accepts as truth

Within 30 days, her engagement exploded.

Not because she became smarter.
Because she became BRAVER.

The formula is simple:

Experience + reflection + courage = Real thought leadership

– Stop trying to be the smartest person in the room.
– Start being the most honest one.

Your audience doesn't need another "5 tips" post.
They need YOUR truth.

PS. What industry "best practice" do you completely disagree with? (That's your next post)

Every personal story I share has a business lesson baked in.

(And that's not an accident)

When I shared about being lonely AF as a solopreneur, it wasn't just venting.

It was about turning LinkedIn into your virtual office.

The impostor syndrome at 35K followers? That was about scaling with authenticity.

The "hell yeah" filter story? Client selection strategy in disguise.

Here's what most founders get wrong:

They think personal = irrelevant to work.

So they either:

→ Share work stuff that's dry as toast
→ Share personal stuff with zero business value
→ Wonder why they're not converting followers to clients

But your personal stories ARE your expertise in action.

Think about it:

– Your morning routine?
That's your productivity framework.

– Your client horror stories?
That's boundary-setting mastery.

– Your content creation process?
That's strategic thinking live.

– Your networking struggles?
That's relationship-building systems.

Everything connects back to what you sell.

The magic formula I use:

1) Start with the human story (hook them)
2) Extract the pattern or principle (teach them)
3) Connect it to their business challenge (convert them)

Example from a client:

– Before: "I love hiking on weekends."
– After: "Hiking taught me why most strategies fail - you can't sprint up a mountain."

Same story. Different frame. 10x the business impact.

Your life IS your case study.

Every experience is potential content that showcases your expertise.

Stop separating "personal" from "professional."
Start showing how your personal makes you better at your professional.

Because people don't buy from robots sharing frameworks.

They buy from humans who've figured things out. 🩷

PS. What personal story could you reframe to showcase your expertise? Drop it below and I'll help you connect it to your work 👇🏻