Stephanie Novak

Content Manager at FounderBrands. Your personal brand's secret weapon. Bet on yourself. I run on Dunkin.

[Stephanie Novak @ContentBySteph]

I've worked with over 30 personal brands.

Professional athletes, business owners, c-suite execs.

Buckle up and bookmark this - I'm sharing everything I've learned (including proven methods to gain followers)....

[Stephanie Novak @ContentBySteph]

@natecurtiss_yt @benfitterman is the guy

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

Not everything can be solved by AI. Sorry AI gurus.

Sometimes, you just have to do the work you don't want to do.

Even when it drives you crazy. For me, that's recruiting.

It's time-consuming and draining.

Could I hire someone to recruit for me? Absolutely.

But they don't have my standards.

So even though I hate it, I do it anyway because I know how important it is to have A-players.

Ask me how I know.

[SportsCenter @SportsCenter]

The Block. The comeback. The promise fulfilled.

@imanshumpert on LeBron's legendary 2016 Finals run 🏆 #NBAFinals

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

Interesting trend I'm seeing with B2B founders in the $500K to $2M range.

And it's the kiss of death for your personal brand.

"I'm hiring an assistant to run my content."

When you're running a successful business, it's easy to hire away your problems.

Problem: I don't have time to make my own content
Solution: Hire in-house to take it over

But it's never that easy, is it?

Break down the math on that for a second.

A decent assistant runs you $40K to $50K a year in salary. Add payroll taxes, benefits, and onboarding time and you're closer to $55K to $60K annually.

Even if you hire offshore (which I NEVER recommend for personal content creation), you're still all-in for ~$30K-$40K.

They don't know your voice. They don't understand your industry. They've never built a personal brand from scratch or turned content into pipeline.

So the first 60 to 90 days are spent training them and putting out way below-average content.

You're now 4 months in. You've spent $15K. And your content sounds like AI slop.

The founders who actually generate pipeline from their personal brand are using a full content system that runs for them behind the scenes.

They didn't build it themselves or waste money trying to figure it out. They leveraged the knowledge of a content agency with a full team of experts to build their personal brand.

That's money well spent.

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

Three sales calls booked for a client from X last week.

Lmk if you want your calendar to look like this.

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

In 5 years, there will only be two types of founders:

1) The ones who built a personal brand: inbound leads, premium pricing, and a network that keeps compounding.

2) The ones who didn't: cold outreach, racing to the bottom on price, and watching less talented people become more successful because they're more visible.

Anything less than 100% effort into your personal brand is a death sentence for your business.

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

One of the first clients we ever signed and is still with us today.

In the agency world, churn is inevitable.

But when you provide results and a positive ROI, clients stay happy.

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

Big fan of offshore hiring.

I was able to scale @Greenbox_storag with talent from the Philippines, Pakistan, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, etc.

But I'd never hire offshore for FounderBrands.

When content is the product you're selling, having the right cultural context is non-negotiable.

If you're hiring an offshore content agency, good luck.

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

The best time to start your personal brand was 3 years ago.

The second best time is when you finish reading this.

It's time to make the switch from "consumer" to "creator."

[Stephanie Novak @ContentBySteph]

@Drutta So do I sell, refinance, or hold?? lol

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

We closed our first 6 sales calls.

At the time, I thought we were just that good... looking back, we were just that cheap.

A 100% close rate is not the flex you think it is.

If every single person you pitch says yes, you're not charging enough.

The right price point should make 70% of the people walk away.

If you're just starting a business, you have no track record or proof that you can deliver.

So how do you charge more when you haven't earned the credibility yet?

I'll give you 3 ways:

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

How to book 15 sales call from X or LinkedIn in 60 days:

1. Pick one platform. Master it before you touch the other one.

2. Rewrite your profile around credibility and relatability. People respond to authority.

3. Write down the 3 biggest problems your best clients had before they found you. That's your content for the next month.

4. Post once per day, no skips. Share opinions, stories, and lessons from your experience.

5. Find 20 accounts your ideal client follows and reads. Show up in those comment sections every single day.

6. Leave comments that actually say something. We all know by now what AI comments look like. Be different.

7. When someone engages with your content, look at their profile. If they're a fit, follow them and start engaging with their posts.

8. DM the people who engage with your posts more than once with a genuine observation about something they posted.

9. When the conversation is warm, offer something specific and useful. Something that proves what you know.

10. Ask for the call. Don't give the same old "let's hop on a discovery call sometime." Give a specific day and time and a specific reason for the call.

By the way, none of this requires a big following. You just have to put in the work.

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

One of our clients is closing in on $50 million in real estate financing because of a connection he made on X.

That's what I call 'luck surface area.'

The post we wrote for him wasn't intended to raise capital.

But the connection found him because he was visible. He posted consistently and made content that people actually wanted to read.

You can't predict which post leads to a conversation or which comment turns into a client.

But you can increase your 'luck surface area' so luck strikes more often.

[J. Shoff • Business Accountant @JonathanShoff]

My firm has corrected two returns for two different people this year in which AI made huge mistakes on preparing their returns.

Luckily neither of these folks went as far as to e-file their incorrect returns, they came to us wanting a second opinion. I'm glad they did!

One of those situations would have had the taxpayer owing nearly six figures more than they were legally obligated to pay.

If your return has complexity, hire a tax professional to take care of it, the tax pro's fee is well worth it.

Need help navigating business taxes? That's our specialty! Reach out and let's get you on track for optimal tax management.

[Collin Rutherford @collin_ruth89]

There was a week where my company was 1 client away from going out of business.

I remember sitting there thinking I might have to shut it down.

The company was barely breaking even and we had no pipeline.

At the time, we were a team of 2 people.

And the reality of being an early stage agency was hitting us.

We were the sales team, content team, client success team, and outbound team all rolled into 2 human beings.

It wasn't sustainable.

We lost 3 clients within a month.

That feeling is something I don't talk about enough. Because from the outside, people see where FounderBrands is today.

7 full time employees. World-class content and service. And results we're genuinely proud of.

They don't see that week back in February 2025.

The week where two people were holding something together that felt like it was about to fall apart completely.

I'm glad I didn't give up on it. Within a few months we had a dramatic turnaround.

By June of 2025 we had to put people on a waiting list. Now we're closing in on a $1m / year business (at 1.5 years old).

If you're an owner, you're going to have a week like that eventually.

Don't let it be your last one.

[Stephanie Novak @ContentBySteph]

@TheMortgageGay Growth

[Stephanie Novak @ContentBySteph]

@loebsleads They had zero clock manipulation. Do the math. If they had 13 possessions and used 20 of the 24 second shot clock each time, they bleed the clock 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Leaving NY with 3 minutes to make up the 20 points. But they did weird iso and barely used any time.

[Stephanie Novak @ContentBySteph]

@SpinDavies @OHWildBill It's literally math. Even if the Cavs only had 10 possessions those last 7 minutes. If they used 20 of the 24 second shot clock, they bleed at least 3 minutes and 20 seconds off the clock. That leaves NY with under 4 minutes to make up the 22 points. Increasing your odds.

[Stephanie Novak @ContentBySteph]

@SpinDavies @OHWildBill Remember all those Finals runs with LeBron? You don't remember they would give him the ball because he knew exactly how much time needed to go down? That's why he's the highest IQ player in the game. You have to manipulate the clock.