The library

I gave myself a rule some time ago – answer one question:

How does an invisible expert become an Undisputed Authority?

That's the painful frustration I try to solve for my clients. All my thinking and writing serves to answer that question, piece by piece.

When I stick to that question, I make good content decisions. Content that's guaranteed to be valuable to me and to my clients.

Let me show you what I mean...

A few years ago, during my dumb audience building phase, I grew a social media following from zero to 17,500 followers in 6 months.

I’d spend days working on a single Twitter thread with visuals, hoping it would go viral and build my email list.

I did the same on LinkedIn, playing the algorithm game.

Some went viral, though they didn’t lead to any meaningful business results.

The vast majority got no traction and left me devastated.

I was making posts to satisfy the algorithm, appeal to people mindlessly scrolling on their lunch break, and chase metrics I couldn't control.

If the post didn’t fly, I had absolutely nothing to show for my time. This content had zero value to clients.

The better way is to build a library

A library of content that answers questions your clients actually ask, and questions they should be asking.

Start with the one painful frustration you solve and frame it as a question. For me, it's, "How does an invisible expert become an Undisputed Authority?"

Then collect the questions that feed into that big question:

Challenges that surface frequently in engagements. The questions clients ask you directly – and the ones they should be asking but don't know to ask yet.

This becomes material you share with clients ahead of calls:

“Jo, ahead of the sales team audit, I’d love you to watch this video on reexamining job roles.”

It becomes material that delivers advice you frequently find yourself giving, saving 1:1 time for more challenging issues:

“Jo, here’s a 7-minute video breaking down the fundamentals of an effective job description for elite sales people.”

This approach delivers three guarantees:

First, it makes you better at your job. If you don’t formulate a considered opinion on the client situations you regularly encounter, you don’t own an opinion – you’re simply regurgitating best practice. The act of sitting with a problem, ruminating on it, then writing or recording your answer is how you develop defendable opinions that you own. As you build the library, you’ll have a thoughtful reply for every scenario and question you encounter.

Second, it scales your impact. Clients get more value without needing more of your time. Instead of explaining the same concept in every engagement, you send them the video. Your 1:1 time becomes reserved for the truly custom, high-value work. Over time, this means better margins or the ability to serve more clients without burning out.

Third, it becomes your marketing. The byproduct of answering client questions is content that attracts people who have those same questions. Share it on your website, on email, on social channels. Keep doing that and you'll build your brand beyond the people who already know you.

You can't guarantee the brand building happens quickly or predictably. But keep at it long enough, and you increase your surface area of luck.

Even if it doesn't, I can't think of many marketing activities that deliver more certain ROI, because this content is already valuable in your client work, regardless of whether anyone else sees it.