James Sweeney

AE @ Jargon Group 🧑‍💻 Founder of Sweeney’s Blogs 💬 Changemaker for The Youth Group 👐 Digital Storyteller 📚

Wondered what it feels like to jump out of a plane at 12,000 feet? 🪂

I’m James Sweeney, it’s lovely to meet you! 

Growing up in the Swansea valleys, I’m incredibly passionate about people - whether it’s our culture, background, passions or the ways in which we process and understand the world around us, it’s something that absolutely fascinates me 🌍

Having gone through life as somebody with a stutter, in addition to facing troubles with my physical and mental health, one of my biggest aspirations in life is to help shape a community in which I can help as many people as possible. 

I’m a very keen writer, starting my own blog page in 2018, called Sweeney’s Blogs, where I shine a spotlight on the topics that genuinely mean something to each and every one of us as people. The page has become a key part of my life, and is one of the reasons how I found out about LinkedIn too, as it goes ✍️

I run a weekly series here called Sweeney’s Song of the Week. For these posts, I shout out some incredible people, mixing in my love for music and making the world a better place at the same time. 

In October 2018, I jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet raising over £900 for The Alzheimer’s Society, which has to be one of the best (and scariest!) experiences of my life 🪂

Do you want to join me on my journey! Be sure to drop me a request and a message, I’d love a chat. 

Thanks for checking out my profile and I hope you have a cracking day 👋

Changemaker

A Sweeney in Gloucester...

Last weekend, 25 of us from the undefinable community travelled over to Gloucester for our Winter 2026 Retreat ☃️

Wonderfully organised by Cat, Jamie and Robert, this trip was focused on our shared value of Emotional Bravery. 

Here are some of my highlights from the trip ⤵️

🎧 Dan and Sanya ran us through a fab session all about music, and how it can trigger emotions that a lot of people aren't even conscious of at first. 

😊 Running the Saturday evening activity, all about the emotion of joy, with my fantastic co-host Emanuele Maccotta. 

Bringing people together and being intentional in talking about what brings us genuine happiness in life was so much fun to do - it's definitely something I'll be doing a lot more moving forward!

👐 Seeing the range of emotions covered was fascinating to me, with sessions on surprise, fear, sadness, joy, anger, love and a whole load more. 

Plus, seeing how everyone made space for one another, regardless of how they were feeling, was so wonderful to see. 

Emotional bravery, for me, is all about embracing conversations and experiences with honesty, connection and growth, even when staying guarded or perfectly polished may seem easier.

This was my ninth retreat with the Undefinables, and boy, what a journey these last three years have been. I wouldn't have it any other way 🩵

As Head of the Cleaning team too, very happy with how everyone got stuck in and helped out. Solid work team 🫡

Let's see what retreat number ten has in store, then! 

What does emotional bravery mean to you?

How's your week going so far?

I'd love to hear what you think 😁

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

PR and Comms Professional 🧑‍💻 Founder of Sweeney’s Blogs 💬 Mentor at One Million Mentors 👐 Digital Storyteller 📚

Want to know one of the most underrated parts of LinkedIn?

Connecting with and getting to know people from all over the world 🌍

I've been posting triweekly here for around seven years now, and in that time, I've had the pleasure of speaking to people from so many countries. 

Whether it's:

🇺🇸 Aidan, Carson, Manny, Sarah, and so many more from the US of A
🇩🇰 andreas and the Shield team out in Denmark
🇳🇿 Hamish, Lachie and the guys over in New Zealand

This is without even mentioning people originally from the UK who have moved overseas, like Ashley and Zack (Dubai), Joe (Thailand), Karla (Bali), and Joe (Florida). 

I could add way more names to the list, but I think you get where I'm coming from here 😂

Every person has their own stories, perspectives and cultures, and every conversation teaches you something new.

Content creation isn’t just about broadcasting your thoughts out into the world. It’s the listening, learning, and understanding experiences beyond your own that helps you become a better storyteller 🤝

One post from a small village in South Wales can reach people in Auckland, Copenhagen and even Texas.

It's crazy when you think about it 🤯

I get to be in the position where I can travel the world, and because of LinkedIn, meet up with so many fantastic people - it's such a cool thing to do. 

I am forever incredibly grateful for all the amazing people I have met and will go on to meet through this platform. 

Here's to loads more meet-ups, conversations and good times to come 😎

Who’s someone you’ve met through LinkedIn that you never would have crossed paths with otherwise?

I'd love to hear your thoughts 😊

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

What we say, and how we say it, matters more than we realise. 

Yesterday morning, Jessie Yendel appeared on Good Morning Britain to raise awareness of stammering, and to call for better support for people who stutter across the UK 🙏

If you haven't heard of Jessie before, she's a Welsh influencer who shares about her life and journey of living with a stutter online. 

After her appearance, the GMB team uploaded a video of her segment to their socials, which I've seen shared by numerous sources across socials. 

Reading some of the comments really disheartened me, and, to be honest, they were pretty frustrating to read at first.

While many people commented on how much they related to Jessie’s story, others took the opportunity to mock her stutter, question whether it was real, and dismiss her experience altogether.

As someone with a stutter, I genuinely thought it was brilliant to see Jessie go on national TV again and continue to raise awareness of the condition.

Having her speak to Ed Balls, who himself has a stutter, was a bonus 😎

Think of the difference their speaking can make to so many people who stutter, especially those who might not yet feel like they have a voice.

Let's use this as a good reminder for all of us to pause before hitting “post”, "comment," or “send”.

To think about the person on the other side of the screen 🤝

And remember that for some people, being visible, speaking up, or sharing their story already takes an enormous amount of courage.

Who's one person who's helped you find your voice in life? 

How's your week going so far?

I'd love to hear your thoughts ⤵️

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

When you wake up knowing it's Pancake Day... 🥞

Time for Sweeney’s Song of the Week 🎵 🎶 

Every week, I pick a “Song of the Week”, which I feel perfectly reflects the news and events of the last seven days.

This week’s song: You’re Gonna Miss This - Trace Adkins

What’s in this week’s Sweeney Summary?

👉 Alex announced the rebrand of his business, from Truenorth to Rumbo - it’s been fab following along with this journey for you so far, Alex, can’t wait to see what’s coming next 🕺🏼 

👉 Chi announced that she has joined beehiiv as a Global Social Lead - huge congratulations Chi, hope you’re settling in okay 💃

👉 Freddie shared that he and the team at Ingrained Digital have just signed on their first fixed HQ in London. 

This sounds like a super exciting time for you all, Freddie!! Congratulations🥳

👉 I had a lovely introductory call with Matthew this week - so good to get a chat in Matt, here’s to loads more to come 🤝 
 
👉 Jack and the Tank team helped run a session, encouraging students at Nottingham to enter into a career in PR. 

Watching how this industry is evolving and how we can help improve the entryways for future generations is such a fascinating thing to chat about to me 🙌

Comms/ PR Tip of the Week: When working with freelancers, particularly remotely, how we phrase emails (on both sides!) really matters.

It’s easy for tone to get lost — whether that’s around a brief, constructive feedback, or a quick question that’s been typed in a rush. 

Taking a moment to reread a message and think, “How else could this land?” can make a huge difference to morale and trust. Thanks a lot to James for getting me thinking about this! 

Quote of the Week: “Don’t worry about the failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t try” - Jack Canfield

How’s your week been? What’s your song of the week? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts ⤵️

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!

I help founders and marketers use video and LinkedIn to build real trust and generate real revenue.

My path here wasn’t straight. I started in the service industry, earned a marketing degree at Marist, and found a passion for video production. When COVID accelerated my journey into business marketing, I saw a clear pattern: many professionals shine in person but struggle to translate that same presence online.

That’s where I come in. I work with people who are already great face to face, helping them show up with that same confidence and clarity on LinkedIn.

The results speak for themselves:
	• 3,600% increase in reach in the first month
	• 500% more exposure after a single post
	• Five-figure opportunities directly from video content

Why it works: I bring 5+ years of business development success and 10+ years of video experience. I’ve built a tested process that combines story-driven video with smart outreach, focused on trust not gimmicks, because sales follow relationships.

I run two main programs: 

One designed for founders and business developers who want a LinkedIn presence that consistently builds trust and generates opportunities. 

The other supports marketers and their teams who need expert video content to scale brand visibility, showcase results, and equip their executives to show up with confidence.

I work with founders, marketers, and small teams who want to:
	•	Build an online presence that reflects their real reputation
	•	Grow visibility and close opportunities through content
	•	Create a long-term system that supports their network

So they can stop relying only on word of mouth and finally turn content into pipeline, partnerships, and growth.

If this sounds like what you need, let’s connect.

Michael Harrison

Loving life right now! This week God gave me 6 video sessions, 2 evenings at Servant's Heart, new signed clients, a successful night connecting with a struggling student at youth group, and time with my community group and family. AND I have huge updates on my house (sharing next month)

This week hasn't been without overwhelm, anxiety, frustration, anger, or sadness either. Somehow glad for those moments too.

Most importantly, happy birthday to Teresa Harrison! If you know any of the Harrisons, you know how special our relationships are. Special and weird 🤣

Now to finish this wild week...

Word of Mouth -​> Building Trust Online w/ Video 🤝 Marketers and Founders 🤝

The easiest way to turn people off on LinkedIn is speaking to them like a prospect, and not a referal partner.

Just go from “if you …” to “if you know someone who…”

Boom. You’re not “selling” now, you’re providing an opportunity for someone to support. 

That’s all I got this AM! Smiles from my nephews baseball game during some travels 😊

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Shot in front of a live studio audience! Stephanie Kingsbury of The Growing Stage (wow, she doesn't use LinkedIn but we still love her) killed this "So easy let's do it live" demonstration at the Morris County Chamber of Commerce this AM.

Thanks to Kevin Murphy, and all the multitude of others I could tag, but I for some reason am concerned that I'll just be "view farming".

 Okay quick edit, shoutout Laura Jennings Pitt for doing such a great job today and David M. Greenberg, CLTC for telling his the video capture was different than expected, sparking this idea! 

Anyways, today was fun and I loved showing people how simple showing up online consistently can be.

Let's go!

A few of my favorite slides from Servant's Heart Ministry's 2025 Annual Report 🔥 If you don't know what's going on over here, you're missing out!

I love capturing the trades training, non-profit construction projects, and absolutely cannot wait until the Great Falls Center (with incredible National Park waterfall views) is completed.

I'd love to give you a tour for what's going on now, and a sneak peek at what's going to happen when the building is open to the public!

Amazing job to the field, development, marketing and office teams at Servant's Heart for a huge 2025 👏 

Check out the rest of the report at 
https://lnkd.in/e9YzPitR

Want me to peel back the curtain on the hidden costs in video, and why it can be so expensive? Here's one small example: $2k of hard drives

I'm not here to validate, I'm mostly just complaining after investing a ton in some new upgrades. 

Tackling my own server system again in '26, and this time I'm building it to be a resource to everyone who interacts with my media. 

It was a lot of resources, but I will soon be rid of these SSDs and empowered with some outstanding tech. I've tried to make the leap to a NAS before but I am on a mission this time.

Can't wait to upgrade the media experience for my teammates, clients, and myself.

You can't expect to build relational equity and cash it in with 2 paragraphs. 
That's greedy.

The goal is to make people know/like/trust (circle one) you.

(pst! it's all 3)

And that means building relational equity of some sort.

I can tell so many people don't value relational equity, because they get a few pennies worth of it and try to cash it in. 

Right in front of my face. 

How disrespectful.

A terrible steward of others' time, resources, and lives.

It's feels greedy to me, but I know most people don't want to be seen that way - even if they aren't necessarily motivated by the "brotherhood of man".

Alternatively, you can take those pennies and save them. 

Or better yet, invest the relational equity by providing something above and beyond. Take what they give you, and use it for their benefit instead of your own. 

Imagine that? I'd love to hear how some have done that recently - I know a few examples, and it came back to help me anyways.

Nate connected me with a potential job a while back, I recommended Diana as a better option, and now I'm working with her new employer for video. 

Let me say, we all feel better than if I just manipulated my way into a role. That's top of mind but I'll highlight some other people throughout the day.

And people do it right halfway all the time. 

They elevate themselves by telling an amazing story of how they're growing a business or changing their client's lives, just to taint it with some cliché CTA.

I loved the story! I hate the lame pitch.

Maybe have a little patience. You probably don't identify as "cheap", so consider the equity needed to do business.

Well, if you're struggling to build relational equity online we at HCMNJ are the premier resource for blah blah blah blah blah blah

That almost really sucked, right?

Stop doing that to me 🤣 

See you soon 🤝  so grateful to be as busy and learning as much as I am in this season.

“People want to be grassroots without touching grass” 🤯
Literally why I need to fire a client this week 🤦

So many brands commenting "AI" to get their hands on fake "man on the street" interviews for their ads. People wanna be grassroots but don't wanna touch grass.  

Nothing is better than the real thing. 
Any brands looking to capture real people?

The studio just got a cinema grade gimbal and a segway. 
Perfect for sports, action, and running. Wellness brands interested in a chat?

taplio

The Battle

James Sweeney

Michael Harrison

Followers

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Performance ScoreJames Sweeney's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMichael Harrison's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

James Sweeney

Michael Harrison

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);}James Sweeney's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreMichael Harrison's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJames Sweeney's LinkedIn Performance