(No, it’s not one of those dream life posts)

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0/ The primary goal was not to have a massive following to no end. I wanted to build a distribution for myself. Access to the right people – people who would help DD progress. Vanity metrics (followers, impressions, engagement) are merely a proxy for distribution. What really matters is how many people write in to me, who want to collab with DD, and how many of our cold DM-s get replies!

For me, it translated to access  – to people, projects and opportunities. Read on!

1/ Muskaan Lalchandani.

It was our daily content hoopla that brought Muskaan to us. She found our content, thought we were interesting, and reached out to work with us. M is now the Creative Generalist at DD. She does everything that needs doing!

We might decide to shut shop at DD, but I’d find a partner in M for whatever I do next. She’s not just another “hire” at DD. She might not be the “founder” of DD, but she’s truly at the heart of everything we do.

2/ Access to 100s of women-leaders.

With my tiny 1k following and a concept note about our projects, I’ve sent out 1000s of cold DMs. To women leaders who I admire, people I want to collaborate with, people I want to learn from. And more often than not, I’ve gotten a reply.

I met them for coffee-chats. Recorded podcasts. Made friends with. Been in rooms I never imagined. Dared to take long shots.

Point is: My content has been proof of sincerity. Which has probably convinced the world to take a shot with me. Now my only job is to take these opportunities and deliver the best!

3/ Clear thinking.

Paras Chopra tweeted: To write is to think. When you lose the knack for writing, you lose the knack for thinking. 

I read this and decided to write obsessively. Or as often as I could. Today, it is a problem solving tool for me. I sit down with a recurring thought that’s clouding my mind and I realize that the problem is solvable. The solution might not come directly. But simply putting it in words makes me see the gaps in my thinking, triggers, separate facts from feeling, et al.

4/ Authority.

I am not a thought leader. I do not claim to be. I am a 21yo girl building a business, challenging her presumptions and learning on the job. My LinkedIn posts only document this journey.

But because of a year of writing in public, when I share my experiences on startups, content, the women’s niche – I am heard. There is sense, proof of work and hard-work to show for it. 

A year ago, I was a kid tinkering on the Internet. Today, I am a young woman building a business. 

All thanks to writing in public. Would 10/10 suggest every woman to do this. Should I hold a workshop on this? (Drop a “Yes!” in the comments if you’d want one!)

5/ First hand content experience

Now, I am a content and marketing girly. A whole year of writing for the Internet and continuous iteration for better numbers has been one big live-project in content marketing. 

I know what works, what doesn’t. Balancing hooks vs sincerity. Different approaches to the same thing. My niche. My Internet personality. Where AI should help and where I must steer clear of it. 

That’s all!

Go write your first LinkedIn post now? I’ll be watching you 👀