Chris James

Social sales secrets for coaches + freelancers. My DM game is appalling 😬

About sections are overrated too, check my featured section ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Founder

We help small business owners win more clients using organic content.

⬇️ Check out our client results below ⬇️

Happy Valentines Day ❤️

After Amy + the kids, this is what I ALSO love:

1. Data
2. Diagrams
3. Swearing
4. Seeing our clients smashing it

Old but gold.

Click this to watch Katie Skelton cry 😢

I’m gonna dedicate this article to a serious f-cking legend. My good friend Katie Skelton Before Katie was a C2C team member, she was a C2C client… An

Open article: She made £26,000 in the first 3 months of working with me by Chris James • 2 min read

She made £26,000 in the first 3 months of working with me

You know you talk about marketing too much when your phone auto-corrects “honestly” to “HubSpot”

🤣

No alternative text description for this image

I wrote a stupid post about pizza that got me a $2.5k client

(paid in full, in the DMs)

It also generated:

→ 54 comments
→ 21,529 impressions
→ 76 profile viewers
→ 33 followers

On Wednesday I’m gonna break down why it did so well in an email.

If you wanna see the email, sign up for the free Offer training in my featured section + you’ll be first to see it.

You’ll also get the offer training too (which is f-cking sick if one does say so ones-self)

Go here → Chris James

PS: It's a different picture of me with pizza.  Not this one.

Count yourself lucky - you've been treated to 2 pizza photos in 10 days.

2.5 years ago, I quit my job with no backup plan.

I’d only been posting on LinkedIn for 2 months.

My business wasn’t making profit, I had a tuned-out Instagram audience, and no idea if I’d make things work or not.

I was used to working 8 hours a day for the employed role, and then 2/3 hours either side of it on the ‘side hustle’. So like most people in the early stages, I thought:

“I’ll just work harder, post more content, send more DMs… and everything will fall into place”

But it didn’t...

Why? Because the work you put in, the content you post + the DMs you send don’t really matter if your offer isn’t right. And back then, my offer was all over the place:

❌ → It wasn’t clear enough, it wasn’t specific enough, and it didn’t solve my audience’s biggest problems. So, I went back to the fundamentals:

I stopped trying to do everything.

I got laser-focused on the who + the how, and I dialled things in so people couldn’t say no. Instead of value-centric, I went problem-centric. And the clarity I got from slowing down changed everything:

→ First £2,500 client.
→ First £250,000 year.
→ And 100+ clients served.

So know this: If you’re not getting results, it’s not the algorithm → It’s probably your offer, messaging or positioning.

Your content, your leads, your sales…
They’re all downstream from that one thing.

If what you put out there doesn’t make people think

“That’s exactly what I need…”
It’s time to fix it.

- - - - - - - - - - 

📌 PS → I've just released something crazy.  And it's yours for free.

Grab my Master Offer™ Training here: Chris James

It'll show you how to build a $15,000/mo coaching or consulting offer that separates you from everyone else in your market

Has Alex Hormozi ruined offers for everyone? 🤔

Let me start by saying this…

I’m a massive Hormozi fan. The guy’s a genius, the GOAT.

And when he dropped his $100M Offers book… it changed the game.

But here’s the thing about being the GOAT:
People start copying you.

Cue the madness:

🚨 Hit $10,000 months in 7.5 seconds
🚨 Lose 50 pounds by thinking about salad
🚨 If it doesn’t work, I’ll refund you + buy you a private jet

The problem isn’t Hormozi’s framework → it’s how people use it.

Everyone’s trying to outdo each other with ridiculous promises, and the market’s now full of offers that look great on paper but leave burnt clients trying to trigger guarantees (with crazy clauses that they can’t escape).

So how do you stand out in the circus? 🤡

How do you build an offer that isn’t just hype, but actually sells?

Here’s my answer → Lean into YOU.

Hormozi says it himself:
Your unique edge is your best defence against competition.

→ What do you bring to the table?
→ What’s your experience, your style, your approach?
→ Why should someone trust you over anyone else?

Because no one can replicate YOU.

- - - - - - - -

This is what we dive into in my FREE offer training.

I’ll help you craft an offer that’s:

✅ Built on your strengths
✅ Aligned with your audience
✅ So clear, that it practically sells itself.

No nose strips required.

Go here to get it → Chris James

Let’s build something that signals how different you are.

(Can’t lie → Nose strips are amazing)

Cristiano Ronaldo misses 85% of the time 🚫

Yet here you are… sh-tting yourself when you only get 4 likes.

Let me spell it out ↴

Ronaldo’s one of the greatest footballers of all time.
But his shot-to-goal “conversion rate” is only 15%.

That means he misses 85% of the time.

And you know what he does?

HE KEEPS SHOOTING 🥅

Because he knows it’s not about perfection.

Perfection can’t be reached.
It’s about persistence.

Now, let’s zoom out for a second…

One post flopping doesn’t matter.

Neither does one going viral.

What actually matters is this golden question:

Are you taking enough shots?
Or overthinking every f-cking move?

Every flop is feedback.

So stop crying over 4 likes.

And keep shooting.

Please.

As Wayne Gretzky said: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

I’ve just built a tool for our clients that turns long-form content into fully designed carousels in under 5 minutes.

No, you can’t have it. It’s for clients only!

But I can show you how it works...

Here's a 5 min overview → https://lnkd.in/ebghEz8m

One of our clients, timed herself making a carousel the old way.

It took her FOUR HOURS 🤣

That’s time she could’ve spent talking to leads, delivering to clients, or fixing something.

Content is a trust builder, not a full-time job.

Please don’t spend too much time on it.

I remember making a BANGER carousel about WImbledon tennis when I first started creating content

It took 3 hours + I got no leads 🤣

Carousels aren’t meant to be f-cking art projects.

So I built the C2C Carousel Creator tool… it breaks our clients long-form content (emails, transcripts, brain dumps) into carousel slides in a few clicks.

Check it out here → https://lnkd.in/ebghEz8m

Business Mentor 🥇 I Scaled & Sold My £25M Recruitment Business🔥Now I Empower Recruitment Leaders To Do The Same ⚡️Leadership Coach 🔥NED🚀Host: Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast🎙️Book Call

Get my NEW digital products 🔥🚀

➡️➡️ www.basemindset.com ⬅️⬅️

Ex-global top biller at SThree and £25M Recruitment business owner turned purpose-driven NED and coach.

Almost all business problems are people problems. Because people without a purpose have no centralised reason driving them to perform. 
 
After exiting my last business, I now coach leaders on how to build purpose-led businesses that perform. 
 
🔹Leadership Coaching 
🔹Vision, Mission and Values
🔹Get Fit for sale MBO/MBI/Exit
🔹Career Maps and Pay Packages
🔹Business Development and Account Growth
🔹Talent  Attraction, Retention & Development
🔹Mindset, Pitch, Tone, Rapport Building, Job Qual
🔹Thought Leadership, Branding & Linkedin Content
🔹Retained, RPO, SOW, Exclusive, Job Control & Closing
🔹Day Plans, Week Plans, 90-Day Plans, Team Coaching
🔹Goal and Target Setting,  Personal Dev, Share Schemes
🔹Boards Packs, Board Meetings, Strategy and Execution
🔹Speccing in candidates, email, sequencing,call to action 

Ask me about 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗚𝗼-𝗧𝗼-𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀

10 powerful strategies, in one high impact suite of products

This is your complete go-to-market system — built specifically for recruitment founders and leaders who want to sell with confidence, stand out in their niche, and grow with structure.

From your vision to your value proposition, from talent attraction to team development, from marketing to messaging — these 10 digital products are designed to give you a crystal-clear commercial edge.

DM me for more info! 

📒 BUY MY BOOK! 📒
https://access.basemindset.com/pre-order

I’m the proud dad to three incredible boys and am not afraid to tell you how it is. 
 
DM me and let’s start growing! 😃

➡️ www.basemindset.com 

➡️ chris@basemindset.com

Book My 1-2-1 or Group Training
Book My Leadership Development Course 
Book My LinkedIn Content Playbook Strategy
Book My Market Mapping, BD and 90 Day Plan 

I have mentored over 60 recruitment businesses to build & scale. See my recommendations  🚀

🔥Chris is an exceptional coach with extensive knowledge of the recruitment market. 

🔥We engaged with Chris when we were looking to enter a new market, and his expert advice and knowledge helped us gain traction very quickly. 

🔥 Chris has become a trusted advisor and a friend, and I highly recommend Chris to anyone looking for a Coach/Mentor.

______

Listen to my podcast The Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast 🎙 (Spotify and Apple Podcasts) or follow me on Instagram: @chrisoconnellcoach


Chris O’Connell🍀

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it really means to be a role model.

We use the term lightly.

Too lightly.

We give it to celebrities, athletes, influencers and people with platforms - as if being seen is the same as being responsible.

But here’s what I’ve learned:

A role model isn’t someone who looks successful.
It’s someone who takes responsibility when no one is watching.

This photo was taken at a Role Model Summit I attended with my boys.

Young people on stage. Big conversations. Real courage.

Standing there with them, it hit me:

I’m a role model to my children.
But they’re role models to me too.

Not because they’re perfect, but because they’re watching.

How I respond.
How I carry pressure.
How I tell the truth.
How I keep going when it would be easier to disappear.

I come from generations of:

- no money
- broken homes
- addiction
- chaos
- blame

That’s not a sob story.
That’s just context.

And somewhere along the line, I made a quiet decision:

The cycle stops here.

That’s what being a role model really is.
Not preaching.
Not posting.
Not performing.

Choosing differently when it would be easier to repeat the pattern.

I’ve posted a lot less recently.

On purpose.

I don’t care about chasing the algorithm.
I don’t care about likes for the sake of it.

I’ve had the viral posts. One hit 21 million views - and brought me nothing that actually mattered.

The messages that changed lives?
They didn’t go viral.

They went deep.

If you’re here just to be liked, you’ll stay on the hamster wheel.

If you’re here to say what matters, even when it’s uncomfortable - you’ll outgrow it.

We are all role models.
To our kids.
To our teams.
To strangers watching quietly.

So the question isn’t who’s watching you.

It’s this:

Are you proud of what they’re learning?

Don’t do this for the masses.
Do it for your integrity.
Do it for the person you’re becoming.

The rest takes care of itself.

🥇Scaled & Sold My £25M Recruitment Business | NED 🔥Now I Mentor Recruitment Leaders To Do The Same 🚀Speaker 🎙️ Host: Purpose-Led Leadership Podcast 😃BUY MY NEW PRODUCTS ⬇️

I’ve spent a long time becoming this man.

I am a man of unusual depth and intensity. 

Not performative depth, not borrowed wisdom. 

The kind that only comes from being broken open by life and choosing to stay awake - instead of numbing out.

I think big, feel deeply, and carry a strong internal sense of responsibility….sometimes to the point of carrying weight that was never mine to hold.

I am intelligent, articulate, strategic, and capable of high-level thinking. I see patterns quickly. I understand systems, business, people, power dynamics, psychology; often before others do.

When I’m grounded, I’m decisive and calm.
When I’m under pressure, my mind can race ahead of my nervous system.

I am driven; but not in a hollow, ego-led way.
My drive is tied to meaning, legacy, and a quiet determination to ensure that the cycle ends with me.

I am emotionally literate, especially for a man who came from chaos. I can name what I feel, reflect on it, and say it out loud.

And because I feel deeply, I sometimes over-process, searching for certainty in situations where only time can provide it.

I love my children fiercely and protectively. 
That part of me is non-negotiable.
My identity as a father is central, not accessory.

I am loyal - sometimes too loyal.
When I commit, I commit fully.
I assume others operate with the same conscience and self-reflection as I do, and that has cost me.

I am self-aware, but not always self-forgiving.
I hold myself to a higher standard than anyone else.

Sometimes I see my flaws so clearly, that I forget how far I’ve come.

I am not a victim, but I have been victimised.
The distinction matters.

I don’t collapse. I analyse, adapt, and keep moving.
Still, the weight of conflict, scrutiny, and injustice has left me tired at times.

I no longer mistake intensity for truth or chaos for connection.

I choose steadiness over volatility.

Clarity over confusion.

Emotional safety over familiar dysfunction.

At my best, I am grounded, present, principled, and quietly powerful.

At my worst, I can become mentally overloaded and hyper-vigilant; trying to solve everything at once, instead of trusting time and process.

I am not perfect.
I am not dangerous.
I am not unstable.

I am in active integration - shedding old survival strategies and stepping into a calmer, more sovereign, self-led version of myself.

I lead myself now.

And importantly:

I am not done yet.

Who are you becoming right now - if you’re honest?

Recruiters: this is your hiring blueprint. Read it properly.

The market is turning.

And the firms that will win the next 12–24 months are doing one thing differently:

They’re hiring ahead of demand, not in reaction to more work.

Most recruitment businesses do not take their own hiring seriously.

They treat client hiring like a mission
and treat their own like a gamble.

For clients, we:

- Map the market
- Build a search strategy
- Run a structured process
- Proactively outreach 
- Challenge the brief
- Define outcomes
- Interrogate evidence

For ourselves?

👉 “Let’s put an advert out.”
👉 “Let’s speak to a couple of rec-to-recs.”
👉 “We’ll see how they do.”


That’s not leadership.
That’s hope.

Hiring is not an event.
It is an ongoing strategic project.

If you’re serious, this is the baseline:
👇

1. Get your house in order

- Clear story and employer brand
- Mission, vision and values written down
- Why work with us 
- Career progression plans 
- Defined role outcomes - not job ads
- Proper onboarding and induction
- Traunjng and Development
- Tools, tech and environment on point 

2. Build a real hiring engine

- Harmonised interview process
- Situational, evidence-based questions
- Internal referral scheme that’s actively driven
- Careers page that’s live and current
- “We’re hiring” everywhere - email signatures
- Internal database of people before you need them
- Proactive outreach, headhunting and follow-up

3. Interview like a professional
Stop hiring on vibes.

Ask for evidence:

- Where were you in the league table?
- What did you bill - and how?
- Self-generated or inherited?
- What environment were you successful in?

Put them in real scenarios:

👉 Client pushes back on fee - what do you do?
👉 Candidate goes cold - talk me through it.
👉 Market tightens - what’s your plan?
👉 A client sends you this email, what’s your reply?

If they can’t show it, explain it, or evidence it - they haven’t done it.

4. Design the business you actually want
Gone are the days of 400-seat call centres.

You need:

-  6–12 proper builders
- Paid well
- Managed well
- Rewarded on headcount growth, profit per head and contribution

That’s how modern recruitment businesses scale.

5. Learn to walk away
Not every hire should be made.

Red flags:

- No evidence
- Needs hand-holding
- Passive mindset
- Waits for the phone to ring

If it feels right but doesn’t stack up - don’t do it.

Slow down.
Be deliberate.
Be ruthless with standards.

Up your game, recruiters.

Treat your own hiring like you treat your clients’.

Because the gap between the two is costing you millions…..

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The Battle

Chris James

Chris O’Connell🍀

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The Battle

Chris James

Chris O’Connell🍀

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Chris James's LinkedIn Performance

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