table of funtents

1. 👋🏼 it’s me, hi

2. 📊 a whole YEAR of no BS data

3. 💩 nothing but the truth

4. 🎁 from my ops toolbox

5. 👑 misfit wisdom nuggets

👋🏼 it’s me, hi

THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME! Welcome to episode 1 of the minority misfit: the weekly no BS newsletter for minority misfits, by minority misfits.

Y’all: ty for being here, supporting my TedRants and still inviting me to parties.

As a reminder, I started building keshty in public because:

• Most of us don’t come from a long line of entrepreneurs (me included)

• I wanted to equip minority misfits with tools to scale their own impact

• HENCE, I needed to live transparently (no BS) through my own journey

After a year on LinkedIn, I’m bringing build in public in house to curate a real community of minority misfits and learn together in a more intimate setting.

📊 a whole YEAR of no BS data

Now the REAL kicker: I started posting regularly on LinkedIn exactly one year ago. What a full circle to launch this bad boy one year to the day.

The sheer beauty of this is I can show you a year’s worth of no BS data. Before we dive in, a couple notes:

• In the first 6 months: I committed to posting every weekday on LinkedIn (not including times I was OOO, because boundaries).

• After 6 months: I started experimenting with 3-4x posts a week instead to sustain consistency with a full client roster.

• PS: I don’t use AI to write my posts. Ever. I LOVE to write, so the stats you’re seeing are based on my writing (for better or for worse).

Here’s what one year of consistency on LinkedIn looks like:

1. Followers

I started posting consistently from Monday, 25 September 2023 with 2131 followers, 4% of whom had the title Founder, Co-Founder or CEO.

Screenshots taken from my LinkedIn today:

2. Engagements + impressions

As a reminder:

• Engagements: post interactions (likes, comments, shares)

• Impressions: the number of times your post was displayed on screen

💩 nothing but the truth

Unfollows:

Peeps, I’ve had hundreds of unfollows. I stopped counting at 500, and I know they’re still happening often.

ICYMI: Unfollows are GREAT. People who unfollow are unlikely to (1) buy from you or (2) build a relationship with you. Consider them a blessing.

I also constantly unfriend and unfollow people on LinkedIn to keep my feed relevant. AI post? Unfollow. Ignorance? Unfollow. Is it good for the followers numbers? No, but it’s great for the soul. 11/10 recommend.

Follows:

Worth pointing out: I gained 55% of my followers in the first 90 days.

I was posting completely original content for the first time, didn’t have any clients, had the gift of time and was trying to connect with as many new friends as possible.

As we start filling our client portfolios, time becomes our most precious commodity. My priority changed to nurturing specific relationships vs. meeting new people. IMO, this priority shift is clearly reflected in my LinkedIn stats.

Reminders:

You’ve gotta think about what you’re trying to build on LinkedIn.

For me, it was about relationships, credibility and eventually a stable client pipeline for my fractional COO business. I was only prepared to engage as long as I could do so consistently and authentically.

I’ve achieved all 3 using LinkedIn.

HOWEVER: I’ve spoken to a lot of founders set on growth - followers, impressions, engagements, sales. There’s nothing wrong with growth, except they all have a hate-hate relationship with LinkedIn, get frustrated by the algo, obsess over the numbers and try to find shortcuts wherever possible.

My best advice would be:

• Write because you love or want to get better at it

• Associate LinkedIn with an incentive you value (e.g. relationships)

• Play the long game from the start to have a better chance of staying in

And above all, yesterday was the best day to start. Today is the second best day. Just go do the damn thang (I promise no one cares as much as you).

🎁 from my ops toolbox

In our welcome survey, I asked which 3 topics are most interesting to y’all. A whopping 62% of you answered “how to run an operationally sound business.”

Say no more, #smoothoperators. Each week in addition to a key theme, I’ll share one tool helping me run a lean, cheap yet cheerful business. None of these are sponsored btw; they’re simply tools I chose after lots of researching (so you don’t have to).

First one’s easy: beehiiv, because it brought me to all of you.

In standard operator fashion, I made 37 pro / con charts between Squarespace (where I host keshty’s website), Substack and beehiiv.

After trialing each, I ultimately chose beehiiv for 3 reasons:

1. GORG analytics for this data nerd

2. Their next-level helpful support team

3. Overwhelming love for it by other minority misfits

Bonus: founders with a good sense of humour (see below)

👑 misfit wisdom nuggets

Starting next week, I’ll feature a fellow minority misfit with the question:

Why? Because I’m not the end all be all of knowledge and others have been there, done that in so many capacities beyond my own.

I’d love for you to hear and learn from each other, too.

If you’d like to be featured, email me with your answer to this question and LinkedIn profile! You may just see yourself in an upcoming issue 👀

That’s all for now, misfits! Thanks for sticking around, making it to the inaugural issue and generally being awesome.

Before you go, let me know what you thought of the first issue with the pulse check below! Good intent feedback is always welcome 🫶🏼

xo, Neds