Joe Marston 🚀

Co-Founder

Scaling e-commerce brands to 7 and 8 figures 🚀 | LU Entrepreneur of The Year Award Winner | Founder of The Leading TikTok Marketing Agency and an Award Winning Full Service Ecom Growth Agency.

3x Agency Founder.

We scale brands to 7 and 8 figures with creative, paid traffic, retention and funnel optimisation.

In 2024, having a great product is one thing…

But scaling a brand to £10M is a another.

You need a simple roadmap for profitably attracting and converting customers, at scale.

Because when you get that right…

- You stand out from competitors in the market
- You build a community around your brand
- You acquire customers at will (profitably)
- You turn customers into raving fans 

Giving you complete control over your growth.

We help our clients do exactly that with our proven system that guarantees growth.

1. Initial diagnostic to identify bottlenecks in your business
2. Developing a bespoke growth strategy for your brand
3. Creative ideation and production 
4. Unique UGC collaborations
5. Targeted advertising (Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat)
6. Email marketing 

And having generated over £100M+ in sales across 200+ brands, we’ve know the ecommerce game inside out.

🚀 Mystery Shirt In A Box grew from £5K to £2.6M in just one year with our help
🚀 The Essence Vault is hitting 7 figure months in its second year since launch
🚀 Vintage Threads tripled their revenue working with us with a 6x ROAS
🚀 AIRfreshh went from 0% to 52% of revenue from email in 2 months!
🚀 Bene Culture saw their revenue grow 6x in 6 months with our help
🚀 The Oodie generated £2M on TikTok alone in their first year
🚀 UN:IK’s first quarter of 2023 was up 88% on 2022
🚀Grew Liam and Co. 500% year on year

Don’t put up with unpredictable, unsustainable or underwhelming growth any more.

If you want to see how we could help scale your brand, send me a DM saying ‘SOAR’

If you're not ready yet, I post daily educational content to give you all the secrets.

Founder

E-commerce growth agency offering bespoke services to online businesses looking to increase their sales and scale their brand.

Some DTC brands are exiting at just 3x EBITDA. Others are hitting 12x. That’s a £90M difference on a £10M EBITDA business.

A few weeks ago, I co-hosted a private event in Dubai with Emmett Kilduff at The Fortia Group, one of the top M&A advisors in eCom.

Room full of 8-9 figure operators. 

One takeaway came up again and again:

The biggest exit premium isn’t from brand.
It’s from how early you start planning.

We broke down:
- Why DTC brands are leaving millions on the table at exit
- What actually moves your multiple (hint: it’s not your ROAS)
- The 8-part framework Fortia use to engineer $100M+ exits

It’s all in the deck. And I’m giving it away.

If you’re doing £10M+ and thinking ahead 12–36 months, this will save you millions.

Drop “EXIT” below and I’ll send it over.

Building DTC brands to 8 and 9 figures | Founder of Soar With Us & For You Advertising | Triple Whale's "Agency of The Year" Winner

We’ve stopped using ROAS and CPA as our north stars. Here’s why.

Since the Andromeda rollout, Meta’s algo is making delivery decisions before ROAS or CPA ever show up.

Which means:

→ If you’re still using CPA to spot winners, you’re already too late.
→ If you're scaling on ROAS alone, you're scaling old data.

We’ve rebuilt how we benchmark creative across every account and replaced the old north stars with these two:

1️⃣ CPMR: Cost Per 1,000 Reached Accounts

This tells us how efficiently we’re reaching net new people, not just blasting the same warm pool.

→ High CPMR = your creative looks repetitive, low-signal, or unengaging
→ Low CPMR = Meta sees your ad as scroll-stopping, high-signal, and worth delivering

We track this by:

→ The account level (trend over time)
→ Format level (UGC vs static vs story-style)
→ Persona level (motivator x demo)

2️⃣ New Visitor %

Cheap reach means nothing if it’s not fresh.

This tells us how well a creative is breaking out of its bubble and unlocking new demand.

→ High CTR but low New Visitor %? You're just retargeting your existing crowd.

→ Low CPMR + high New Visitor %? Signal to scale.

→ High CPMR + low New Visitor %? Scrap it. Meta’s not even trying with that asset.

This metric = your clearest look at creative incrementality.

We’ve now built both metrics into every client dashboard.

They're how we:
- Spot early winners
- Catch creative fatigue before performance tanks
- Scale without flying blind

Most brands won’t adapt fast enough. But Andromeda is live. And Meta’s already deprioritising ads that don’t play by the new rules.

You can build a business with anyone.
But you can only succeed for six years
and scale it to seven figures in profit
with someone you genuinely trust.

Everyone told us that being friends in business was a recipe for disaster.
Yet here we are.
Six years later.
Still good friends.
Still building.
Leading the agency game.
Multiple businesses together.
Nowhere near finished.

We’ve been friends since our early teens.
We failed twice before Soar.
We lived together for two years.
We learned each other’s strengths the hard way.

Then we moved to different cities.
And that’s where most Co-Founder friendships fade.
Not because of conflict.
Because every call becomes a work call.
And the friendship slowly disappears.

So we do the opposite.
We intentionally protect the relationship that built the business.

Olly flew out to Dubai last week.
No heavy agenda.
No rush.
Just space to reset properly.

Half work.
Half downtime.
One of the most productive weeks we’ve had all year.

We hosted a private Ecom roundtable with The Fortia Group.
Shared what we’re seeing in the market.
Answered questions.
Then kept the discussion going over dinner.

We organised a supplier for our new brand launch next year (more details on that soon).

We caught up with agency friends we’d only spoken to online.
Face-to-face made everything sharper and more actionable.

Random conversations turned into strategy.
Breaks turned into breakthroughs.
The quiet moments gave us clarity heading into 2026.

And the friendship got stronger again.
Which always makes the business stronger.

Founder lesson:
If you don’t protect the friendship,
you won’t protect the business.

Keep the relationship alive.
That’s how you survive long term.
And that’s where the real profit comes from.

Feeling overwhelmed with gratitude right now… 😄

This is our agency 2025 Black Friday social.

4 years ago this was a handful of people.

Now we have over 70 people in one room and that’s not even everyone…

So grateful for everyone who’s helped us on this journey

We audit 8-9 figure brands each week and we still see this one common mistake. 

👇THIS is the reason why your ad performance is tanking right now:

Your funnel is misaligned as you’re speaking “Product Aware” to a “Problem Aware” market.

So many brands try to scale on guesswork. They don’t know what their audience knows, so they can’t build creative that actually converts.

📉 Ads fatigue faster.
📉 CPA creeps up.
📉 New customer revenue stalls.

So we’ve built a fix: a Funnel Awareness Framework built around 5 levels of audience awareness—refined through 50+ accounts and decades of classic advertising theory.

Inside the playbook:

✅ The 5 audience awareness stages:
✅ Messaging strategies that actually match where your audience is
✅ Creative vehicles that cut through at each funnel stage
✅ Tactical breakdowns on how to rework your split to unlock scale

If you’re wondering:
- Why scale feels more expensive every month
- Why your top ads burn out in 7 days
- Why your funnel performance is stuck...

Start here.

Like this post
Comment “FUNNELS” and I’ll send over the resource.
(Make sure you’re following so I can DM you).

We’ve scaled 8 and 9-figure brands where one founder-led ad outperformed everything in the account and generated £2million in revenue.

When it’s raw, real, and structured right, founder content becomes a scaling lever, not a brand play.

But most brands get it wrong.

Either they overscript and kill authenticity… Or they throw up iPhone clips with no strategy.

So we built a framework that fixes that.

A simple cheat sheet that breaks down:

- The 9-part emotional arc behind every high-converting founder ad
- The exact storytelling structure that hooks, converts, and builds trust
- Plug-and-play hooks that stop the scroll
- Real examples from top-performing brands
- The best questions to ask to pull founder story gold

It’s punchy, practical, and built for scale.

If you're a founder (or you're running a brand where the founder *is* the story), this will help you turn your origin story into real revenue.

Like this post
Drop “founder” in the comments and I’ll send it over
(Make sure we’re connected so I can DM you).

Meta just launched the biggest creative update in years and most of you haven’t even realised.

We uploaded 20 new ads into an account. Meta grouped 15 of them as the same ad.

→ Same Entity ID
→ Same learnings
→ Zero new reach

Loukas just dropped a masterclass on how to avoid this penalty...

Here’s the biggest takeaways from the episode:

1. Meta now tracks ads using Entity ID
It doesn’t matter how many variations you upload.
If your visuals look similar (same text, same persona, same framing) Meta will group them.
That means one thing: creative similarity = performance decay.

2. Minor tweaks no longer count as iterations
Old method: change the headline, try a new voiceover, maybe shorten the clip.
New method: change the format, vehicle, and persona or don’t bother.
We now run fewer iterations per sprint, but each one is a bigger swing.

3. Visual change is the most important layer
Your first 3 seconds must be visually different.
→ A new creator in the same kitchen? Penalised.
→ Different script, same framing? Penalised.
→ Same product shot on marble with a new caption? Still penalised.

If Meta can’t visually tell the difference, it won’t give you a new Entity ID. And without that, your reach is throttled.

4. Iterate like this instead
We’ve replaced our iterative testing model with this stack:
→ Format: Static, UGC, high-prod, hybrid
→ Vehicle: Reddit native, podcast, founder VSL, testimonial
→ Persona: 40+ men, 50+ menopausal, Gen Z wellness, etc.
→ Hook angle: pain-point, fear, discovery, curiosity, etc.

Every winning message should now be run through 3 - 4 completely different vehicles, not just line edits.

5. Whitelisting becomes even more powerful
Each whitelisted ad uses a different Page = different Entity ID.
Which means Meta treats it as completely fresh.
Whitelisting now unlocks creative reach and performance diversity, not just social proof.

The takeaway? Your creative process needs to evolve.

→ More upfront persona research
→ More vehicle variety
→ Less lazy iteration
→ Higher volume of truly differentiated ads

Catch the ep here: https://lnkd.in/eZPN9sT7

some people wake up at 4am
run 30 miles
ice bath
no excuses

you see david goggins
and suddenly normal feels weak
average feels like failure

when i was younger
focus was impossible
discipline felt like a myth

I bounced between ideas
half finished everything
always distracted
always chasing the next hit of motivation

I thought success meant becoming extreme
superhuman
wired different

but the truth is quieter

you do not need perfect focus
you need daily progress
one small action
one hard choice
one uncomfortable task

not heroic
just consistent
today’s world makes it harder to stay steady
endless noise
constant comparison
highlight reels everywhere

so i stopped trying to be extraordinary overnight
and started trying to be better than yesterday

one focused hour
one hard email
one real workout
one honest decision

done daily
that stacks
that compounds
that changes everything

discipline is not a personality
it is a habit
repeated long enough
to transform into identity

clear lesson
you win by moving forward a little every day
not by trying to become goggins overnight

Last month, GMV jumped from £200 to £6,000/day in under a week.

And the biggest driver? A creative format we didn’t expect to work on TikTok at all. 

High-production, Meta-style assets.

Specifically, the founder answering FAQs direct to cam, layered with an AI voiceover. Originally built for Meta. 

We assumed it would feel too polished, too “ad-like” for TikTok.

But it’s now outperforming everything and driving 90%+ of total paid spend.

Yes, the brand’s also scaling through affiliates, which is bringing fresh eyes. But the real volume? It’s coming from these signal-rich, high-prod assets.

It’s made us rethink our assumptions around cross-platform creative.

What we thought would only work on Meta is now a top performer on TikTok.

We’re 100% testing this across more accounts.

What’s actually converting on Meta right now (Q4 trends from high-spend accounts):

If performance is flat heading into peak, it's probably not your product.

You're just not building for how Meta works today.

Here’s what’s cutting through right now:

1️⃣ Statics still scale

- Bold text, stat-led headlines and timelines are outperforming generic benefit copy.
- We’re seeing AI-style visuals + punchy copy drive scroll-stopping CPMs.
- Think: big numbers, human tone, ad that feels like a post.
- Native-feeling carousels work too, but only if you drop the polished brand voice.

2️⃣ Hooks > polish on HPs

- The best-performing hooks right now feel ripped from organic:
  "Here's what most brands get wrong..." or "Why I stopped doing X..."
- We’re leaning into founder/influencer POVs stitched into scripted flows.
- Objection-led HPs convert, especially “vs” style frameworks (us vs them, old vs new).

3️⃣ UGC is less about format, more about diversity

- The TikTok Shop-style raw look is working, but only when you mix creator POVs.
- Our top UGC ads use 4–5 creators hitting the same problem from different angles.
- Voiceless demo ads are creeping back into rotation too. Worth testing again.

In short:
→ Statics need specificity and visual edge
→ HPs win on story, not polish
→ UGC scales through multiple voices, not one creator

Can’t believe we’re sharing this for free…

This episode is INSANELY valuable.

Listen to how our MD went from employee number 1 to leading a company of 70+ in 6 years.

Shoutout to Matt Lewis 

Give it a watch on YouTube. D2C diaries

This is the difference between an £80k and £500k BFCM weekend👇
(And I’ve got the unlock most brands don’t even know exists).

Black Friday’s 4 weeks out.

Your CPA is down. AOV’s up. Ads are finally cracking.

Then Stripe delays a payout. Inventory’s tight.

And your biggest window of the year gets blocked, by cash.

We’ve seen it happen to 8-figure brands spending £250k+/month. Not because performance isn’t there. But because finance can’t move at the speed of growth.

Wayflyer gets it.

They’ve funded Wild, Cuts, True Classics, Dock & Bay, and 5,000+ others, so they never have to miss momentum.

💰 They’re giving ambitious DTC brands $25K in upfront capital for $1.8K total cost on the run up to BF/CM (that’s 1.2% per month over 6 months). No equity. No hidden fees. Just the fuel to move when it matters most.

Here’s what that unlocks:

✅ Scale your best creatives while they’re pumping
✅ Restock fast movers before they sell out
✅ Get approved in hours, Shopify, Amazon, whatever your stack

The brands that win BFCM don’t have the deepest pockets. They move fastest.

If your ads are landing, don’t let cashflow slow you down.

👉 Apply here and get $25k next week: https://lnkd.in/eJRUWJ-P

There’s a moment every founder hits where growth isn’t the problem - it’s everything underneath it.

You’ve scaled revenue. You’ve built a team. But everything else starts to crack.

That’s exactly where we were 18 months ago.

This week, we sat down with Matt Lewis, our Managing Director at Soar Group, to unpack how we rebuilt the *infrastructure* behind our agency as we scaled to 80+ people.

They talk through:

→ What changed operationally as we scaled to 80+ people
→ Over-focusing on revenue growth
→ How feedback loops were operationalised
→ The forecasting model Matt built
→ Using role-specific KPIs that ladder up to the P&L
→ Matt’s origin story as employee #1

Behind the scenes, Matt’s been one of the most important drivers of how we operate today.

If you’re building a team or running into growth pains, this one will land.

🎧 Catch the full episode here https://lnkd.in/eFkcg6b9

We 3x’d spend in 14 days, by adding one persona.

Most brands hit a wall, not because the product’s capped, but because the person they’re selling to is.

We see it every month:

– CTRs plateau
– Spend stalls
– Everyone’s panicking over hooks and formats

When the real unlock isn’t messaging. It’s who you’re talking to.

That was the case with a health brand we scaled recently.

They were stuck in a loop: iterating on the same 25–35 demo, same UGC styles, same offer.

Solid CPA, but volume was capped. Nothing new was scaling. So we stopped optimising and started diversifying.

We pulled Reddit threads, X searches, Google Trends.

One insight that stuck out: 30% of women going through menopause struggle with severe bloating and most “gut health” brands weren’t speaking to them at all.

We reframed everything around that one pain point:

– Built 3 new persona storyboards
– Validated the angle with live convo data
– Refreshed visuals + format for 45+ demos
– Decreased editing pace by 20–30%
– Layered in soft CTAs every 10s to build trust

Result? 3x spend in 14 days, with CPAs -18% vs BAU.

Meta rewards net-new impressions. That’s why “persona-first creative” is outperforming hook-first testing across most top-spending accounts.

Because every persona = a new pool of distribution, and a new window of scale.

And your best audience might not be who you built the brand for.

Want a deeper dive of this? Head to the podcast where the guys break it down further: https://lnkd.in/e8vS_2Xi

Over the last 3 years, my 2 agencies For You and Soar With Us have collectively managed £40million in ad spend and shipped over 20,000 creatives on TikTok alone.

This guide outlines our creative system that we’ve used to help 150 brands scale predictably and profitably.

We’ve laid out the exact 5-phase flywheel we use to operationalise creative for the most ambitious DTC brands:

1. Research – Trends, AI, reviews = clear direction
2. Strategy – Align creative to product economics
3. Execution – Modular assets built to scale
4. Testing – Isolate what moves the needle
5. Iteration – Build feedback loops that compound

🔄 TikTok isn’t an ad platform. It’s a creative ecosystem where content, commerce and community feed each other. And this guide will show you how.

Want the playbook?

Like this post
Comment “TIKTOK” and I’ll send it over
(Make sure you’re following so I can DM you).

We were too focused on growth, not out of stupidity but out of naivety.

This year we ran Soar With Us completely differently.

We stopped chasing volume.
We stopped hiring reactively.
We stopped pretending top-line growth meant success.

Here’s how we actually ran the business in 2025 and why it's been our most important year yet:

Forecasting became a strategic weapon.
No more gut-feel growth targets.
We built full-funnel forecasting across revenue, client mix, hiring, and profit targets, driven by a balance of commercial ambition and team capacity.
It's removed chaos and clarified decision-making across every department.

Culture got rebuilt from the inside out.
We didn't write values in a vacuum.
We ran a full-day offsite with the entire team to rewrite our mission, values, and behaviours, then operationalised them into hiring, reviews, and even client relationships.
Result? Better people, better work, better culture.

Client strategy > client volume.
We halved onboarding capacity and focused on deeper, higher-value partnerships.
That means fewer clients, more strategic impact, and significantly higher retention.
We’re finally seeing the compounding effects.

Feedback became a competitive advantage.
We built a culture of kind candour, rolled out 360 feedback across the company, and trained every manager on how to receive and close the loop on feedback.
It’s helped us level up faster than ever before.

Revenue came from within.
For too long, we were addicted to new business.
Now, 40%+ of our growth is from client expansion - cross-sells, up-sells, and moving partners through value tiers.
It’s lower friction, higher trust, and way more profitable.

Most people assume the next level of growth comes from more work, more ads, more hiring.

For us, it came from subtraction.
→ Less noise
→ Fewer distractions
→ Clearer intent

We’re ending 2025 leaner, smarter, and more strategic than ever before.
2026 is about scaling with that same clarity.

If you’re in agency leadership and you’re scaling fast, but feeling stretched thin, here’s the blueprint that helped us get here: https://lnkd.in/eFkcg6b9

We’ve scaled pet & homeware brands in markets with 100+ competitors.

Here’s what actually cuts through.
(and it’s not a better product)

→ “Us vs them” outperforms pain-led messaging
These categories don’t trigger visceral problems so instead of selling relief, we’re seeing brands scale by positioning their solution as the elevated choice.

→ Homeware scales when you stop talking about the product and start showing the life it upgrades
Think luxury, ease, or emotional enhancement of a space.
The goal is: “This makes my life feel better.”

→ Pet content is all about aspiration, not need.
The core motivator? “My pet deserves the best.”
Not health stats. Not price. Just pure emotional resonance.

→ Convenience is the untapped lever
Especially for homeware brands speaking to maternal or over-capacity personas. If it saves time, stress, or mental load, say that clearly. It works.

→ Don’t ignore the saturated market reality
There’s no shortage of pet food or homeware options.
What wins is category contrast. Your creative should say:
“We’re not like the rest and here’s why.”

If your pet or homeware brand is stuck explaining the product, zoom out.

Start showing what it means for the person using it.

Working in another niche and want a breakdown like this?

Drop me the category and I’ll tell you what’s converting right now.

Meta just made creative volume 10x harder and this (👇) is the only thing that makes it scalable.

Here’s where creative strategy is heading in 2026

1️⃣ Creative similarity penalties make AI non-negotiable
Meta now groups “similar” ads under one Entity ID.

→ Minor tweaks = same learnings
→ Visual sameness = limited reach
→ Iterations = wasted budget

Without AI, creative cost balloons trying to brute-force variation.
With AI, we’re getting 10x the output at 30–40% of the cost.

2️⃣ AI is solving the creative similarity problem
We’re seeing 70% of ad iterations get grouped under the same Entity ID. That’s a massive waste of output. Using AI helps us inject visual diversity at scale, without tripling post-prod costs.

→ Sora / VEO for visual metaphors and VO hooks
→ Nano for high-scale statics + brand visuals
→ Gemini to analyse video and guide variation strategy
→ Frame 4.0 to organise and deploy assets at scale

You wouldn’t ask an editor to shoot the ad. So why are your strategists still prompting raw?

3️⃣ Asset warehousing becomes your competitive edge
You can’t scale creative if you can’t find it.

We’re building a library of every product B-roll, VO hook, and visual format, tagged, labelled, and instantly promptable through Frame 4.0.

At the same time, we’re warehousing ad performance data, call logs, and internal learnings and feeding that into LLM workflows to automate creative direction.

The better your data layer, the smarter your AI outputs.

The takeaway:
→ Treat AI like a production department
→ Build creative systems that scale visual diversity
→ Train AI with real data
→ Give your strategists new tools, not new roles

🎙 Catch the full breakdown here: https://lnkd.in/eAwJAcMV

One of our best-performing ads came from a menopause stat we pulled off X and it unlocked over £40K in spend.

👇 This is how we got there and it’s the most overlooked step in creative strategy.

Everyone wants to jump straight into execution (more ads, new hooks, new creators), but if you skip the research phase, you’re not optimising.

Every signal you need already exists. You just have to extract it → interpret it → structure it.

We’re using a Grok + X stack to build creative angles from live audience sentiment.

In this case, the prompt surfaced a clinical study showing women going through menopause are 30% more likely to suffer from bloating.

Then it got interesting:

→ Pulled real Twitter convos around the pain point

→ Surfaced the emotional language people actually use

→ Mapped funnel stages (unaware → problem aware → solution aware)

→ Uncovered a totally untapped, high-intent angle

We built around it. New persona. New message. New positioning.

That ad crushed.

Once you understand the human drivers behind conversion (the objections, motivations, and phrases people actually use) you can build creative that just makes sense.

Want the prompt that unlocks different personas like the example in the image?

Like this post
Comment “GROK” and I’ll send it over
(make sure we're connected so I can DM you)

If you can help with hiring the BEST Creative Strategist talent please comment below.

A-players only. Must have experience with D2C.

Jack Dyer🕺

JOIN US NEXT WEDNESDAY IN CARDIFF: My team and I are running an interactive workshop!



We’ve seen time and again how
important your LinkedIn profile is.

But we’ve seen so many Leaders
with neglected LinkedIn profiles…
leave thousands ££$$ on the table.

(or more accurately, their keyboard)
So why don’t we change that?

We’ve grown unknown leaders from
total obscurity to thought leadership
on LinkedIn during 2025.

We’ve worked with 11 clients from
the USA…  to the UK…  to the UAE.

Now it’s time we showed you
how to do it FOR YOURSELF!


So we’re launching our interactive
LinkedIn Optimisation Workshop next
Wednesday at Studio Halo Cardiff!

This workshop is an investment
in the future of your business.

We’ll show you how
to get your Storytold™

5 hours that will change everything,
Discounts on remaining tickets,
Link in the comments below,
Only a few places left,
Come and join us,
In Cardiff Bay,
19th Nov,
❤️🕺

https://lnkd.in/e2eN9qn6

Stop posting in the dark. We turn your LinkedIn into a business asset, with almost ZERO effort from you. | Top 1% LinkedIn Storyteller | CEO of Storytold.

Well, that was a success!



This week, my team and I went
to The Business Show London 
and saw 25,000 businesses!

And only a few stood out to us.

We'll be promoting you next week.
Today I'm sharing the adventures 
of our newest team member... 

Jeff Von Duckington!

He's been giving out discounts like
he doesn't give a duck, and only 
a select few people were lucky
enough to meet him this week!

We met many who 
weren't duck-worthy. 

But if we gave you a duck, it means
you made a big impression on us
and we'd love to work with you!

Watch this space. Good things are coming next week.

Natasha, Gabrielle and
I will get your Storytold™
Trust me on this one.

🕺



Some fantastic people:

David Francis, Gemma Kavanagh and Richard Collins

Amie Crews and Paddy Keogh Weller

Katie Shaw and Jessica Hart

Nicola Lyle and Stella Chaplin,

Simon P. and Erina Singh Ellis,

Mike Strange and Clare Bungey

Russell Schaller and Kevin F.

And of course Katerina Christou, Jonathan Russell, Stephanie Henwood, Blair Fiander, Nicole Bachmann, Lewis Sweeting, Amy Parry, Michelle Scott, Alina Khardina

I don’t like my employees.



I love them!
Ok, sorry for the bait and switch.
But it was important for this next part:

I never thought I’d actually
achieve my lifelong dream of
running my own company.


But I have.


And even then, I never thought
I’d get myself a team (I thought I’d
run a freelance solo consultancy)


But I have.


And then, I never expected that
other people would believe in me
and my vision as much as I do.


But they do.


And now, it just feels the most
natural thing in the world to have
become friends with my team.


Because we have.


My team mean the world to me.
I’m not a father. I don’t know if I’ll
ever choose to have kids, and that’s
okay. Everyone does life differently.

But I feel like a proud father of my
team. They’re weird. They’re brilliant.
They make me smile on an hourly basis.

Oh yeah, and they’re gonna think I’m
drunk writing this because why am I
spewing such sentimental nonsense?

Because, quite frankly, it’s true.

Now I’m off to tell them I hate them and
they’re fired. It’s how I show affection.

Don’t worry, they fire me too.
It’s the culture we’ve built, and
often they threaten to overthrow me
and burn Storytold™ to the ground.

Then in the same hour, they create
something outstanding for our clients.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Come and work with us as a client!
https://lnkd.in/ea2qz8vX

Spaces are limited, because there’s
so much awesome flowing from our
team that if you joined us as well….

The universe might explode.
🕺🏻

I worry that I’m never going to be rich.



When I was a freelancer in 2019,
I designed a campaign to the Maldives…

And every day I worked on the project,
I was constantly jealous that this was
a once-in-a-lifetime, luxury holiday,
I’d never have the chance to go on.

It was for the top Citroen salespeople.
The top dealers across the UK could
win a trip to LITERAL paradise.

And I got to design all the
collateral for the whole trip:

→ The itinerary
→ The brochures
→ The web banners
→ The branded menus
→ The personalised boxes
→ The excursions and events
→ Even the damn luggage tags


And I’d never get to go.

Except…. I was dead wrong.

6 years ago I designed this.


But last month,
with my proven Storytold system...
I finally got to go to the Maldives!


This is the power of hard work,
combined with having a dream
that you keep working towards.

For 5 days, my girlfriend and I
experienced what the super-rich
experience about 6 times a year.

So keep working,
keep building something,
and know that anything can
happen if you put your mind to it.

If you’re not where you want
to be right now, I hear you.

But you can be.

If your LinkedIn is neglected
That’s the best place to start.

I grew from 740 to 46K followers
with my proven Storytold system.

And you can too.


Let’s get you to the Maldives!

Burnout isn’t sexy. 




For the last 4 weekends, I’ve been:

- attending business shows in London
- going to public speaking events
- travelling across the UK for work
- running workshops to help others

On top of that, I’ve been working
12 hour days for 5 days a week. 

Which means I haven’t had a 
day off to rest in over a month. 


And y’know what? 


I’m an idiot. 


Because if I want to perform at my best
during the week, I need some downtime!

Humans aren’t designed to run on empty.
We need days off.


So today, I’m not travelling, I’m sat at home 
with my feet up and actually letting my brain 
recover by playing a mindless PC game! 

That photo is from Cardiff on Thursday
(one of many, many, many trips recently)


I’m not getting anyone’s #storytold today! 


Have a great weekend all, and remember:
High achievers like you can only achieve
if you give yourself permission to rest.

No alternative text description for this image

We’re both good and bad:



Isn’t it interesting how ‘good’ and ‘bad’
in politics swings like a pendulum?

80 years ago, fascism was the villain.

After the war, everyone put up national
security barrier (understandable) and
communism/socialism was the enemy.

Then came the Reagan era, when
conservative values were celebrated,
and all the “hippies” were the outcasts.

Then in the 2000s, the conservative
right held the “bad guy” label, while
liberalism felt like the moral compass.

And now, thanks to Hollywood’s campaign
to obliterate and destroy anything male
in favour of the ultra powerful ‘girlboss’
that nobody, not even women, enjoy…

Now things are starting to change
again. Now it’s “go woke, go broke”.


Throughout history, the social and
political narrative always changes.

Left is good. Right is bad.
Right is good. Left is bad.
Round and round it goes.


But neither side is inherently ‘good’
or ‘bad.’ Each represents context,
culture, and perspective, and our
often strong opinions change as we
go through different stages of life.


So why the hell am I talking about this?

Because we’re at a crucial moment.


A moment to recognise that AI, and
AI content generated by people with
agendas, is pushing us further and
further into polarisation. And worse,
pushing us AWAY from each other.

What we need, now more than ever,
is real human connection. Not more AI.

Not algorithms. But real conversations
where we seek to understand the other
points of view, not argue against them.

Because the moment we open ourselves
up to why others think the way they do,
we don’t just find common ground.
We find empathy and understanding.


And the easiest way to create empath
for you and your business, is to start
getting your story told. That’s why
I named my company #Storytold.

Stories stay true to your mission
without alienating anyone. Without
flip-flopping on your core values.

They help you attract your audience,
rather than pushing them away. Stories
help you build a community of loyal fans.

Every business owner deserves to get
their story told. And for that, there’s
only one team to choose:

Tash,
Gabby,
Anneka,
+ Jack at
Storytold™

Stories connect us.

So connect with us to tell yours.
(DM me for a 3 month discount)

🕺

From invisible to influential | Top 1% LinkedIn Storyteller & Leader | CEO of Storytold. | 15+ years empowering CEOs with integrity and authentic, visual storytelling. | Architect of the Unseen

The loudest leaders are losing their voices.



Sometime in the last 20 years,
leadership became about showing off.

Every post was carefully crafted to say:

“Look how brilliant I am.”
“Look how many things I know.”
“Look how successful I’ve become.”


But thankfully, things have changed.


There’s so much ‘perfect’ AI content,
that those ‘perfect’ leaders are DONE.
We don’t believe them, and switch off.

The ones who ACTUALLY get attention
are the leaders who admit when they
falter, fail, or even duck things up.


Because it makes them HUMAN!


We pay attention to Leaders who:

→ Admit when “I made a mistake.”
→ Say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”
→ Share the lessons they’re learning,
not just the ones they’ve mastered.


Your flaws don't make you weak.

They makes you RELATABLE.


So next time you want to share
something, don’t make it perfect.

Tell us about a time you got it wrong,
and we’ll all respect you a hell of a lot
more than all those ‘look at me’ leaders.

THAT’s how you get your Storytold™ 🕺
Join us for a limited time offer:

https://lnkd.in/e633ifJr

My team make fun of me.



And honestly?

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The other day, our group chat was gold.
My phone was pinging off the hook.
“@‌jack, look at this masterpiece”

Someone had dug out an old
photo of me in front of a billboard…
and covered the whole thing in turnips.

(“turnip” being my writer’s
affectionate nickname for me.)

My reaction?

I could have got annoyed
I could have started a disciplinary
I could've said ‘that’s unprofessional'

But of COURSE I didn’t.
Instead I burst out laughing,
and my team followed my lead.

“Jack got a billboard 💀”
“That was worth 5 years of uni, NGL.”
“our job is taking the piss outta Jack.”

This kind of team culture is what most
companies try, and fail, to cultivate.
And yet for us, it comes naturally.
Because I embrace and reward it.

Because if your team can’t laugh
with you (and sometimes at you)…

then you’re probably not
building a company where
people can be themselves.

At Storytold™ we’re serious about our
work and we get seriously good results.
But we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

In fact, that’s probably the reason we do
so well. 'Cos my team can be themselves.

That’s how we stay connected.
That’s how we stay creative.
That’s how we stay human.

So yeah, my team laughs at me.
And I actively encourage it.

Because laughter = trust.
And trust = a happy team.
Happiness = better work.

And when you work with Storytold™
YOU’RE the one who benefits most.

Work with us, laugh your face
off, and get your Storytold.
DM me to get started 🕺

“I want him to do well, but not better than me.”



I overheard this in the gym the
other day (well, the locker room).

And I thought to myself…
I used to think this way.

No need to comment or tell us.
Have you ever thought this too?


This is a very limiting belief.
A mindset winners DON’T have.


For context, here’s the full story:

I was changing after going swimming.
Two other guys were in the locker room.

One guy was talking about his friend.
He got him a job at the same company,
and watched as his friend climbed the
ranks quicker than the guy talking did.

Eventually, his friend became his boss.
And he completed his story by saying:

“Like, I wanted him to be successful…
Just not more successful than me! 😂”

And I get it.
When I was young,
I thought this way too.
(to my shame, looking back)

But if someone is truly your friend,
And if you have an infinite mindset,

You don’t let your own jealousy
begrudge them their success.

You’re happy for them!
You want them to win!
You cheer them on!
You support them!

THEIR success is NOT a reflection of
your own inadequacy. But thinking that
you’re only successful if they’re not, IS.

Leaders know we can all be successful.
And: That comparison keeps you small.

The friend who did well was focused
on being the best version of himself.
By not comparing, he succeeded.

The jealous friend was constantly
comparing. And he got left behind.

Focus on your own journey.
Do the work. Make it happen.
And support others to join you.

There’s enough success for us all.

Jack 🕺

How I hit 46k followers (without using AI)



“AI really pulled through for me”

Someone said when I was freelancing.

No, really. Let me set the scene for you:

Hey Turnipheads, it’s Natasha here.
Where’s Jack? Don't worry about it.

Recently Jack and I spoke about the
hot topic of AI, live on Radio Cardiff.

We’re not against using AI as a tool.
But people become too reliant on it.
It can’t do what people really need.

For example, last year I designed
a little logo for a castle coffee shop.

Showed the guy the logo, and he said
“Nah, we used AI & it pulled through!”


Hint, it didn't.


The logo was badly drawn, low pixels,
not adaptable, no colours, not unique.
A coffee cup with a castle thrown in.

And they liked it….. For 3 days.
Then they just stopped using it.


AI didn't understand the nuances,
or their personality, or their SOUL…
so nobody connected with the logo
emotionally. They deserved BETTER.


👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

Connecting with an audience (and
growing to over 46k followers means
understanding personality and nuance.

This is something AI cannot replicate.

AI skips the ‘why’ and “gives outcome”
Worse, everyone can tell when you get
ChatGPT or Claude to write your posts.

I used to have 740 LinkedIn followers.
Now my team and I have +46,000…
Because we connect with EMOTIONS.
We tell authentic stories. AI doesn’t.

AI cannot get your story told.
No matter how fast/easy it is.


For brands that want to build trust.

For those who connect with people,

And for those who have a story to tell:

Thats where real design pulls through.

I’m Natasha, the designer at Storytold.


And our dedicated little team has helped
global CEOs grow on LinkedIn & beyond
with more genuine connections.

Let us help you get your story told:
https://lnkd.in/e2e-4UVa

🕺

AI cant design proper good like

SAVE THE DATE. 19TH NOVEMBER.



My little team and I are running an
interactive workshop…  in Cardiff!

We’ve seen time and again how
important your LinkedIn profile is.

But we’ve seen so many Leaders
leave thousands ££$$ on the table.
Or, more accurately, their keyboard.


So why don’t we change that?


We’ve grown unknown leaders from
total obscurity to thought leadership
on LinkedIn during 2025.

Now it’s time we showed you
how to do it FOR YOURSELF.

It’s taken months of planning…
But we’re finally launching our
new Interactive Workshop at
Studio Halo on 19th November!

This workshop is an investment
in the future of your business.

We’ll show you how
to get your Storytold™

5 hours that will change everything.
Link in the comments below.
Come and join us:

https://lnkd.in/eZQeDqnv

🕺

I realised most CEOs are failing at LinkedIn, and here’s why:



Last week at the 
The Business Show London
a CEO told me difficult to hear:

“Jack… I think LinkedIn just isn’t
for people like me anymore.”

He sounded almost embarrassed
to admit it, and realised he meant:

“I’m posting into the void and
it’s making me doubt myself.”


I get it.


LinkedIn makes smart leaders feel invisible.
Especially when see competitors post the
same recycled ideas, and somehow get
200 likes and three inbound leads from it.


Meanwhile, their own content, the stuff they
spent 20 hours a week sweating over, gets
70 impressions, 2 likes, and duck-all else.
No clicks on their website, no calls booked.


I’ve learned this issue hides a very real fear:
He also said: “Maybe the problem is me.”


It’s not.


The problem is that today, CEOs are
expected to run a business AND magically
become world-class Content Strategists too.


That same CEO told me: “I’ve got a writer.
I’ve got a marketing person. But none of
it is landing us any new clients.”


And ‘cos I want to help him, I told him the truth.


A copywriter can write. A marketer can post.
But neither can build influence if the strategy,
psychology, and story aren’t connecting on
an emotional level with your audience.


–  It’s not about posting more often.
–  Or designing prettier photos.
–  Or being “more creative.”


It’s about having a message that
cuts through, CONSISTENTLY, without
draining the CEO’s time or brainpower.


So we ran a Brand Discovery session.
We rebuilt his message. We stopped
guessing. We created a strategy that
matched his buyers’ behaviour.


And within 3 weeks, his posts were
doing what they were supposed to:

Getting attention. Building authority.
Starting conversations. Attracting leads.

Not because he changed.
But because his strategy did.


You don’t need to post more.
You need a team that posts SMARTER,
and turns your expertise into demand.


That same CEO who used to spend
20 hours of worry, now spends one
hour a week laughing on a call with us.

And his LinkedIn has become a real
business asset, not just a time sink.


And if you’ve been spending 20 hours
a week writing LinkedIn posts that take
all your energy and give nothing back…


Then it’s time for a change.


It’s time to make LinkedIn work for YOU,
without you doing all the work. DM me.


We’ll help you get your story told.
https://lnkd.in/ecCVYZhK

What’s most important to your business?



Most would say ‘getting new clients’.
That’s the whole point of networking.

But in many leaders, the thought of
“networking” brings us out in hives.

What if there was a way to attract
more clients, organically, without
chasing down the leads yourself?


There is.


Storytelling.


It’s like magic.


And when you combine the two,
you become simply unstoppable.

For every 10 exhibitors at
The Business Show London,
there was 1 who told their story.
THEY’re the ones who got noticed.

When you turn your LinkedIn profile
into an optimised, story-driven page,

And when you tell #authentic stories
that provide raw value to an audience

That’s when you’ve transcended just
networking, and when your business
hits a higher level of real engagement.


If your LinkedIn page could make sales
while you slept… would you invest in it?


'course you would.


I did. And I went from a nobody,
to 45,000+ followers, a team of 5,
and #CEO of a flourishing business.

And to replicate this for yourself, join
the other Storytold™ partners here ↓
https://lnkd.in/ewa_-z-Z

Happy birthday! Not to you, though:



Last week was the 100th
anniversary of visual storytelling!

On 30th October 1925,
John Baird made the first ever
image transmission on a TV.

A decade later, the BBC took it one
step further, and launched the world’s
first high-definition TV service in 1936.

And not long after, everyone enjoyed
visual storytelling all around the globe!

Visual stories literally have the power to
change the course of history. When the
public saw the Vietnam war, it ended!

Television was the most powerful
method of visual storytelling…
Until the internet came along

And now we all have a film studio
in our pockets, and can share
our stories online instantly!

You could write a post.
Or shoot a video.
Or take a selfie.

But because EVERYONE can do it,
the problem isn’t ease of access.


👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
It’s how to stand out.
☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️


How to sound real,
authentic, and moving.

In a world of abundance, content
without INtent is meaningless.

My team and I believe in authenticity.
Creating visually entertaining stories,
that show your expertise with honesty.

You want to grow your audience.
We know how to do it.
We’ll help you.

Together, after 100 years of
visual storytelling, we’ll make
the great John Baird proud.

Trust me on this one.

🕺

What's a success story?



For me, it's more about 
the impact we have on
our clients lives than
just the numbers.

Sure, we grew Justin from
5,300 followers to 10,091
in just over three months.

Sure, we made Cassandra's
Sports Tech brand basically
famous with her audience.

But the most impactful moments
are where we grow a business
and the owner's personal life...

IMPROVES DRAMATICALLY.

That's what happens when
you get your Storytold™

Trust me on this one.

"How do I stop my posts sounding like AI?"



I went to an event last night,
and someone asked me this.

The answer is surprisingly simple.

Don't ask #AI to write your post.

Or if you do, be smart and edit it with 
your own thoughts before you post it.

The greatest source of power and 
imagination on earth isn’t far away.

It’s right between your ears.

And you’re not using it.

People want to hear from YOU,
not a robot writing on your behalf.

Stop damaging your own reputation
by taking the ‘easy’ path with AI.

Trust me on this one.

#Storytold 🕺

Most CEOs get 0 leads from LinkedIn for 1 reason:



Because they’re scared to look unprofessional.

LinkedIn creates a strange pressure where
leaders feel they must always be perfect:

Perfect tone, perfect message, perfect ideas.
But really, perfection is damaging their brand.

Humans (y’know the people who buy from us)
connect with other relatable, flawed humans

Not polish, perfect, poetic, professional posts
Stop PEEING everywhere! We need REAL!!

The moment you share something real,
not rehearsed, everything changes:

→  Your authority grows.
→→  Your audience pays attention.
→→→  Your content converts into leads.

Not because you kept being perfect.
but because you start sounding like YOU.


This is exactly what we help CEOs do:
turn your voice into posts that build trust,
cut through AI noise, and bring you leads…

… without you spending hours
writing posts that go nowhere.


We’ve done it for Leaders from New York
to Dubai. Join us to turn your LinkedIn into
consistent authority and new opportunities.

Let’s get your storytold.
Trust me on this one.


P.S. Who spotted the spelling mistakes in this post? They're importnat: They prove I wrote this myself, without AI!

I gave away 3 secrets last night:



1. Know what you’re writing, and why
it matters to your audience. Content,
without intent, is meaningless.

2. Make your audience the hero.
It’s not about YOU. You’re just
the one delivering the message.

3. Format your posts nicely, in a way
that makes them attractive to read.
Nobody reads big WALLS of text.

Along with working 14 hour days and
making dozens of mistakes along the
way, that’s why Storytold™ has grown.

… From invisibility with 740 followers…
to influencing over 45,700 every day.

These “secrets” transformed my life.
They allowed me to go from employee,
to business owner with a team of five!

And I’m sharing them with you.
I don’t want anything in return.
Just use them, put in the work,
and thank me later!

This is how you get your #Storytold
(or message, and we’ll do it for you)

🕺🏻

Last week I did my first ever LinkedIn Live!  Let me know what you all think

I help B2B Coaches & Consultants get clients with Podcasts.

Description: 

Jack Dyer🕺 is the CEO of Storytold™, where he helps founders and consultants become influential online through authentic, visual storytelling, especially on LinkedIn. With 15+ years of experience in UX, branding, and narrative design, he turns a leader’s story into a commercial asset.
In this episode, we break down how consultants can use digital storytelling to attract better clients, build trust at scale, and communicate in a way that actually feels like them.

***************************************************************************

Links:

StreamYard (for guest):  https://lnkd.in/d3e233pv
YouTube (for sharing):  https://lnkd.in/dvJhggWp
Apply to be a guest: https://lnkd.in/dt6pEfjE

***************************************************************************

Jack's Bio: 

Jack Dyer is the CEO of Storytold™, a firm that helps founders and CEOs go from invisible to influential with authentic, visual storytelling. He’s a Top 1% LinkedIn storyteller with 45,000+ followers and more than 15 years of experience in UX, branding, and digital design.
His background spans award-winning websites, national digital systems, UX work across industries, and global brands like Jaguar Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz. At Storytold™, he and his team build story-driven websites and content systems that elevate a leader’s profile and grow their net worth.

***************************************************************************

Show Notes: 

Jack Dyer is a designer-turned-founder who now runs Storytold™, a consultancy focused on transforming how leaders communicate online. He helps consultants and CEOs move from being “good at what they do but invisible online” to becoming influential voices with a clear narrative and a recognisable digital presence.
His team creates UX-led websites, LinkedIn makeovers, creative concepts, video, and content that reflect a leader’s true personality, not the generic, polished persona most people default to. The goal is simple: make your digital presence a revenue-generating asset.
For consulting firm owners, Jack’s experience sits right at the intersection of story, design, and growth, a combination that can help any consultant communicate more clearly and close clients more easily.

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The Battle

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