Joel Williams

2026 already feels different. 

January was a sprint across tech and sales — and I’m proud to say we’re now trading globally. We finalised Canada over the weekend, which complements our US and Brazil algorithms across the Americas, nicely — a moment of real serendipity - as we head into our next growth chapter.

We’re now live in 27 markets:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, UAE, KSA, UK and the US.

I also turned 29 in January, and I’ve never felt hungrier to push myself further before my 30th birthday. As someone who has never taken the easy route, I can safely say that this year will be the biggest yet. 

This is why 700+ advertisers have already registered for Transact Media Group (TMG) Business Manager. With 45+ integrations complete, it takes just three clicks to get started for outcome based marketing or data activations. 

Our mission is clear, we believe using historic transactional data will impact your future transactions and lead to enhanced business results. 

The problems we are solving for our brand & agency partners:
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1. Improve campaign performance – Leveraging transactional data to optimise social and programmatic media campaigns.
2. Business outcome marketing – Running fixed cost-per-sale or outcome-based campaigns to acquire new or engage existing customers across display, video, connected TV, YouTube, and podcasts.
3. Measure real impact – Tracking how connected TV (CTV) marketing actually drives purchases, not just impressions.
4. Repurpose creative content – Working with content creators to turn Meta and TikTok content into high-performing programmatic ads, matched directly to transactional data sets.

I’m excited to welcome Mike and Debbie as we scale our North America go-to-market.

Huge thanks to the team - this show is only just getting started, I’m honoured to lead this business forward. 

Thank you for all your continued support.

COO @ Kurogo | We Create Thought Leaders Through Personal Branding | x2 TEDx speaker | Advisor, Investor & NED | Law Graduate | I talk about entrepreneurship, agency life and grief

Hey, I’m Lewis! 👋 I'm an operator, builder, and believer in doing work that matters.

For the last 4 years, I helped scale Kurogo, one of the leading personal branding agencies, as Chief Operating Officer, partnering with 300+ world-class founders, CEOs, C-Suite Execs and public figures to grow their influence and impact. I joined in September '21 and within 4 years, we scaled to a 7-figure business, with a global, remote team of 20+. We had clients across the UK, Europe, USA and MENA regions.

I have 5+ years' experience as a Non-Executive Director, particularly within the non-profit and social impact sector. At present, I continue to serve as:

- Vice Chair & Non-Executive Director, Child Action Northwest
- Non-Executive Director, Spring North

Currently, I’m travelling and building quietly behind the scenes - creating space to explore what’s next.

Lewis Alexander Baxter

Hiring: Content Writer (LinkedIn / X)

I'm helping an agency co-founder find a Content Writer for their personal brand.

The role: You'll be the driving force behind building a founder's presence on LinkedIn and X. Writing, strategy, and accountability, crafting content that starts conversations, opens doors, and wins business. 

The agency: They build immersive digital experiences, helping brands unlock new opportunities through spatial technology and human connection. Strategy meets innovation meets the next stage of the internet.

What you'll be doing:👇 

- Writing 3-4 LinkedIn posts per week (primary focus) - storytelling, thought leadership 
- Supporting content on X (secondary focus) 
- Developing and executing a personal brand strategy 
- Turn the founder's ideas to impactful content

So, if this is you:👇 

- Someone who gets LinkedIn (and ideally has some X experience) 
- Genuine interest in Web3, the metaverse, spatial technology, Roblox & AI
- Comfortable working 1-to-1 with founders
- A strategic thinker
- A self-starter 

Then read on...

The details:👇 

💷 £500-£600 per month (DOE) 📍 
Remote / Freelance 🗓️ 
Applications close: Monday 23rd February

Open to freelancers or anyone in a full-time/part-time role looking for a cool side project.

If this sounds like you, drop me a DM. 

(T&Cs: In your DM, please write (in a few sentences) why you're a great fit for this role. And, please share your portfolio or a few LinkedIn/X writing samples.)

♻️ Repost to share with your network or tag anyone below.

It's been a sh*t start to the year. I'll be honest.

My grandad passed away in early January.

Since then, it's been a lot. 

Navigating grief. Funeral arrangements. The endless admin that comes with loss. Work. And, moving back to London.

You play the cards you're dealt. But sometimes, the cards are hard to hold.

I've always tried to be real on here. So it felt right to talk about this too.

I've taken a step back from LinkedIn these past few weeks. I needed space and time to just be.

This post isn't necessarily a celebration of my grandad specifically (though he absolutely deserves one!)

He was an amazing human. Kind. Gentle. Witty.

He showed up for everything. Football matches. School concerts. Cross-country races. For me, and for my cousins. He was there.

But what I've been reflecting on is the role grandparents play in our lives more broadly.

And how significant the loss of one can be.

When my mum died, I was 21.

My grandparents filled the huge mum-shaped hole in my life. They stepped up when I needed it most.

You're not supposed to lose your mum that young. There's no roadmap for that. You figure it out as you go.

My grandparents became the steadiness I needed, and grandad became a parental figure. 

A role model. 

Someone I looked to for guidance when I felt a little lost. 

He didn't try to replace what was missing. He just showed up, again and again, in the ways that mattered.

Their home became "home".

Birthdays. Christmas. Special occasions. Visits back from university during the holidays. Weekend trips up from London. It was always the place I returned to.

There's something grounding about that. Knowing there's a door that's always open. A kettle that's always on. Someone who's genuinely glad to see you.

You don't realise how much you lean on that constancy until it's gone.

The role he's played in my life (especially in the last five years) is hard to overstate.

If you still have grandparents around, maybe this is your nudge to call them. Visit them. Ask them questions you haven't asked yet.

And if you've lost one recently, I see you. 

Grief is strange and non-linear, and there's no right way to move through it.

I'm slowly finding my feet again.

But here's what I keep coming back to:

The best way to honour the people who shaped us is to carry forward what they gave us.

My grandad taught me to show up. 

To be present. To support the people you love in the small, consistent ways that actually matter.

That's not something I lose when he's gone. That's something I get to keep. And pass on.

So that's what I'll try to do.

Thanks for the patience. I'm glad to be back. 🙏

Looking for a brand designer.

I'm building something in the sports marketing space.

Early stage. Still in stealth mode. But the vision is clear and the timing is right.

Here's the scope: 👇 

- Naming and visual identity
- Brand guidelines
- Pitch decks, sales materials
- A few templates for social media
- Ideas for website direction

My co-founder and I are working on our narrative, positioning and brand story right now. We need someone who'll bring this to life.

A brand system that works globally - across different sports and cultures. 

What I'm looking for:👇 

- Someone who truly gets brand strategy (not just design)
- Interest and experience within sports or media is a plus. 
- And someone comfortable working fast, collaboratively, on something (relatively) new.

This is foundational work for what comes next.

If you're a brand designer (or know one), I'd love to chat.

DM me.

♻️ Feel free to repost and share with your network. 

Or, tag anyone who may be a suitable fit!

I graduated from university and felt... hollow.

We're taught that success comes with a feeling. It doesn't always.

You can win and still feel empty.

A lot of what we learn as kids is the 'podium version' of success: gold medals, trophies, big highs.

The visible wins.

We're told that when we reach them, we'll feel complete. 

Fulfilled. Like we've made it.

But that's not necessarily how it works.

Psychologists call this the "arrival fallacy". 

The belief that reaching a milestone will create lasting happiness. But we adapt quickly. We recalibrate. And the feeling fades faster than we expect.

When graduating, this was years of work and (one too many) late nights - finally over. 

But something was missing.

My mum had supported me through school, through my teens, through the start of my law degree.

She didn't get to see me finish.

I'd hit the goal. But it meant less without her there to see it.

That's when I realised: winning alone doesn't feel like winning at all.

Success isn't only about the thing you achieve. It's about who you get to share it with.

Over the last five years, some wins have felt flatter than they should.

Anticlimactic.

Not because they weren't significant. But because someone I loved wasn't there to celebrate them.

I've learned to stay more balanced because of it.

I try not to swing too far towards the highest highs or the lowest lows. Rather, I try to stay somewhere in the middle. This helps.

But it comes with a challenge:

When you don't feel the same excitement everyone else expects you to, people will say things like: "Are you not excited?" or "You should be buzzing right now."

In truth, I/we are happy; we just have our own way of showing it. 

And, we start raising the bar.

Maybe the next thing will feel different. Maybe if you go bigger, it'll hit differently.

My brain goes: What's next? How do I get to the next thing? How do I keep moving?

It's one of the reasons I left my previous full-time job. I was grateful for the opportunity, but I was ready for my next chapter.

TLDR;

Here's what I've learned:

Success isn't solely about what you achieve. It's about defining it on your own terms.

Your version doesn't have to look like anyone else's.

--

PS. hi, I'm Lewis! 👋 I share reflections on business, life and travel. Right now, I'm on a mission to design work around life, not the other way around. I'm a fractional COO, builder and believer in doing work that actually matters.

I've lived out of a suitcase for the last 4 months.

And I loved it.

Mid-October to mid-December: 4 countries. 22 hotels, hostels, and Airbnbs.

Different city every few days. New faces. New routines (or lack of them).

It's not the first time either.

In my final year at university, I was working full-time while finishing my degree.

Most of my mates had already graduated at that point, so instead of halls or a house share, I drove between home and Durham most weeks.

Living in hotels with a small suitcase. Same routine.

Pack. Drive. Work. Study. Repeat.

I got used to it then. And I've loved it ever since.

There's something freeing about living light.

You just go. No overthinking it.

Turns out, you really don't need half the stuff you think you do...

But here's the thing:

I also love being back in London.

(I moved into my new place last week.)

Having a desk. A gym routine. My own kitchen. 

Structure.

Eating clean again. Getting my steps in daily. Gym x2 per week.

The rhythm of it all.

I don't think you have to choose between the two.

Freedom vs structure. Travel vs routine. Living light vs having a base.

Both have their place.

And honestly? 

I don't think you have to choose between the two.

The freedom to explore keeps me energised.

The routine keeps me grounded. 

This year, I'll be doing more of both. 👀

Curious, are you someone who needs routine, or do you prefer living on the move?

--

PS. hi, I'm Lewis! 👋 I share reflections on business, life and travel. Right now, I'm on a mission to design work around life, not the other way around. I'm a fractional COO, builder and believer in doing work that actually matters.

Handwritten notes hit different.

The things that slow down tend to stand out.

About a week before a YES Club dinner, Arthur sent out the invites. Each one handwritten.

Old school. Pen and paper.

It's a small thing. But it's not, really.

YES Club hosts intimate dinners and events for ambitious founders. Small rooms and meaningful conversations. 

A chance to connect, share insights, unplug and slow down.

In a world where "community" is thrown around loosely, Arthur is building something genuine. It's about bringing people together. 

You feel it in the details - the invites, curation and care.

(btw FUNC is collaborating with YES Club for tomorrow's F&B Dinner. Can't wait!)

When we eventually sat down together, it clicked. The notes weren't a gimmick. They were how Arthur does things. Thoughtful. Intentional. Very human.

You remember details like that. 

It reminded me of Paper Run.

I met Jack, the founder, a few years ago over coffee. An exceptional operator and tuned into something most brands overlook.

Paper Run helps D2C brands reach customers who don't open emails. How? Direct mail. Actual post through the letterbox, powered by AI and automation.

And it works. 

Sir Richard Harpin, founder of HomeServe, has been banging this drum for years. He built a business off the back of direct mail, and still swears by it. 

70% of consumers find direct mail more personal than online interactions. And, response rates are 40 times higher. 

As he puts it: 'in a world drowning in digital noise, paper cuts through'. 

Think about what D2C brands are up against. 

Ecommerce is noisy. Email inboxes are (very) crowded. Paid ads flying at you from every direction. 

And now, AIO (the AI equivalent of SEO) is changing how brands compete for attention online.

This is true across the business world - from SMEs to multinational corporations. 

Everyone's 'optimising' and 'automating' 

Which is exactly why the personal stuff stands out.

Handwritten notes truly stand out. They create familiarity. Trust. A sense that someone actually took the time.

And over time, that's how relationships are built with customers.

The brands and communities that win long-term? 

They'll be the ones that remember this.

--

PS. hi, I'm Lewis! 👋 I share reflections on business, life and travel. Right now, I'm on a mission to design work around life, not the other way around. I'm a fractional COO, builder and believer in doing work that actually matters.

5 awesome agency marketing jobs YOU can apply for this weekend:

--

1/ Social Lead 
The Fitting Room
Salary: £45K - £50K (DOE)
Location: Hybrid (3 days in office)

The Fitting Room is an award-winning, independent global culture and communications house. In this role, you'll lead social, content and creator strategy for an exciting QSR brand - ideating culture-first campaigns from product launches to restaurant openings, and creating standout content across Instagram and TikTok that drives real business results.

--

2/ Personal Brand Manager (All Levels) 
LeverBrands 
Salary: £25K - £42K (depending on level)
Location: Hybrid (2 days/week minimum in London Bridge Office)

Lever Brands helps entrepreneurs, CEOs, and founders build and scale their personal brands. Hiring across three levels - Junior, Mid-Level, and Senior. You'll own content strategy for high-value clients on LinkedIn, manage relationships, analyse performance, and (at senior level) lead your own pod. Perfect if you're a strong writer who can drive measurable growth in a culture-first team.

--

3/ Paid Media Manager
Alfred
Salary: £45K - £50K (DOE)
Location: London (Hybrid)

Alfred are a social-first agency, creating work rooted in culture. In this role, you'll lead multi-channel campaigns across Meta, TikTok and Google Ads. You'll own campaign strategy, manage significant client budgets, deliver measurable growth, and be the main point of contact for clients. Lead junior team members, provide strategic consultancy backed by data, and drive account growth in a culture built on collaboration and transparency.

--

4/ Project Manager
Fox Agency
Salary: £37K - £42K (DOE) 
Location: Hybrid

Fox Agency are a fast-growing B2B tech agency working with world-leading brands. You'll plan and execute key client projects from creative concepts and video production to social campaigns and events. Be the main point of contact for clients, manage resources and budgets, and implement processes to keep everything running smoothly in a high-momentum environment.

--

5/ Community Manager / VA
Self-Employed / Freelance 
Fee: £225 - £300 per month (DOE) 
Location: Remote

Part-time role (3-5 hours per week) supporting a founder in the HR and talent space. You'll handle LinkedIn community management - responding to comments, monitoring DMs, and light-touch lead generation. Perfect for someone organised and proactive who wants flexible remote work. 

(I'm hiring for this role - DM me 👋 )

--

Every week, I share fresh roles across marketing, social and comms. All posted in the last 10 days, with salary shown.

♻️ Repost to share these opportunities with your network.

Three in-person meetings in the city today.

Mostyn. Paul. And en route to meet Sartej now.

I'm very grateful for days like these.

For the conversations and for having a network of people who get it.

Friends who also happen to be experienced in business.

People I can bounce ideas off. Talk through challenges with. Get honest feedback from.

And I get to do all of this in London.

As someone from a small, rural town in Lancashire, I don't think I'll ever get over how well-connected this city is.

I can have three meetings in different parts of the city in one afternoon.

The access. The energy. The pace.

I still find it incredible.

I'm also proud to be building my own thing right now.

Full autonomy over my schedule. When I work. Where I work. How my days look.

Today, that's x3 in-person meetings and a 30 min gym session.

That's the kind of flexibility I've designed my life around.

It wasn't always like this. It took some time to build. 

And of course, there are days where I'm glued to a screen, working through problems. Days that are just a grind.

But days like today remind me not to take any of it for granted.

The network. The city. The freedom to structure my work around my life.

All of it.

5 agency & creator-led marketing opportunities YOU can apply for this weekend:👇

—

1/ Email Marketing Copywriter
act Copywriting Ltd
Salary: £34K (+ bonuses)
Location: Remote (UK only)

act Copywriting specialise in email marketing and sales page copy for B2B coaches, consultants and course creators. You’ll be writing emails people actually open and read. Funny, sharp, conversion-focused copy that makes clients money. You’ll work closely with the founder and Head of Strategy, with real responsibility early on.

—

2/ Content Lead
Compound Content Studio
Salary: $95K -$105K
Location: Full-time, remote

Compound Content Studio is a B2B SaaS content agency working with technology companies on founder-led growth. You’ll lead written content across LinkedIn and newsletters, interview founders and execs, edit ghostwritten thought leadership, coach junior writers, and own quality end-to-end.

--

3/ Senior Video Editor
Chris Donnelly Ltd
Salary: £55K (+ bonus) (OTE £71.5K - £77K)
Location: London Bridge (Hybrid)

Chris Donnelly has built four businesses before 35, scaled to eight figures, and grown 3M+ social followers. Now he's building the most practical high-performance business YouTube channel ever. You'll own the full video production system - long-form YouTube, Shorts, Instagram content, and thumbnails. Be accountable for retention, performance, and quality while building scalable workflows. 

--

4/ SEO & Content Executive
Cedarwood Digital
Salary: ~£26K
Location: Manchester (Hybrid)

Cedarwood Digital is a digital marketing and PR agency based in Manchester. You’ll write SEO-led content, support strategy, manage client communication and gradually build deeper technical SEO skills. A great role for someone early in their SEO career who enjoys writing and wants to get closer to how search and performance actually work.

--

5/ Campaign Manager
The Goat Agency
Salary: £35K
Location: London (Hybrid)

Goat is a global influencer marketing agency working with brands across multiple markets. You’ll manage campaigns end-to-end. From influencer selection and briefing through to delivery, optimisation and reporting. This role suits someone organised, calm under pressure, and comfortable coordinating across clients, creators and internal teams.

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Every week, I share cool opportunities at marketing agencies and creator-led businesses. All were posted recently. Salaries included.

♻️ Repost to share these opportunities with your network.

We talk a lot about screen time.📱 

Maybe we should talk more about presence.

I'm not anti-phone or anti-technology. 

Far from it.

Young people should be building and learning with technology from as young an age as possible. 

AI, gaming, AR, VR - these are going to be some of the most exciting jobs of the future.

But there's also a strong argument for having times of the day or week where we don't use technology.

To appreciate the little things. For in-person connections and relationships.

I was in Bali for a few weeks in December. And one thing stood out.

The locals, particularly young people, really do appreciate the little things in life.

A dad and his young son playing with a paper airplane. Just throwing it back and forth. For 15-20 minutes.

A whole family building sandcastles. For hours on end.

Two little girls colouring in at a restaurant. Drawing. Creating. Totally absorbed.

In all three example above, there wasn't a phone or table in sight. 

They were simply present.

It reminded me of my own childhood.

I didn't have an phone until I was 14/15. And I never had an iPad. 

When at restaurants or visiting relatives (when my parents were deep in conversation with whoever we were visiting), I had to keep myself company with colouring books and things that didn't involve devices.

And honestly? I think that was a gift.

It also reminded me of YES Club.

I attend one of their dinners on Thursday. 

Every dinner, you put your phone in a box. For about 3.5 hours. No scrolling or WhatsApp pings. 

And you know what? Some of the best conversations I've had recently have been in that room.

Funny how that works.

Time with technology is surprisingly freeing.

Here's what I've realised:👇 

Presence is becoming a skill. The ability to be fully where you are, without reaching for a screen, is getting rarer.

And the people who can do both? Master technology and choose presence? 

They'll stand out.

Not because they reject the digital world. But because they know when to step away from it.

When was the last time you chose presence over a screen?

--

PS. hi, I'm Lewis! 👋 I share reflections on business, life and travel. Right now, I'm on a mission to design work around life, not the other way around. I'm a fractional COO, builder and believer in doing work that actually matters.

5 awesome agency marketing jobs YOU can apply for this weekend:

--

1/ Client Services Director 
The Focus Agency Group
Salary: £55K - £60K (DOE) 
Location: Essex (3 days in office)

The Focus Agency Group is a full-service marketing agency operating across Media, Creative and Spaces. In this role, you'll lead and develop the Client Services team (Account Managers and Execs), build strong senior-level client relationships, oversee delivery of high-quality work on brief and budget, and help identify new business opportunities.

--

2/ Account Manager
noticed. 
Salary: £27K - £30K (DOE) 
Location: Wilmslow (Hybrid - 3 days/week in office)

noticed. is the UK's #1 LinkedIn agency and one of the fastest-growing marketing agencies in the North of England, partnering with organisations like the NHS and Ocean Beach. You'll manage day-to-day client relationships, coordinate campaign delivery from brief to execution, attend meetings and present work, monitor performance, and spot opportunities to grow accounts. (I’ve worked with Niall previously and can vouch for what he's building). 

--

3/ Paid Media Director 
The Social Shepherd
Salary: £51K - £60K (DOE) 
Location: London/Bath/Remote

The Social Shepherd is a fast-growth agency helping global brands, household names, and high-growth scale-ups accelerate their business growth. Recently won Best Large Social Agency in the UK. You'll oversee Paid Search and Paid Social strategy for eCommerce brands, lead full-funnel media strategies, be the core escalation point for clients, guide your team on performance insights, and lead new business pitches alongside the Head of Paid Media.

--

4/ Client & Agency Partnerships Manager
SB Media Group (Supercar Blondie) 
Salary: £45K - £55K + uncapped commission (35% OTE) 
Location: Remote (UK-based, offices in London/Manchester)

World's leading automotive entertainment media brand with 120M followers generating 1.5B views monthly. Drive revenue by managing relationships with media agencies and automotive advertisers, sell social-first branded content and sponsorships, handle briefs, develop opportunities, and help establish SB Media as a trusted premium partner. Flexible working including 4-day week options.

--

5/ Senior SEO Consultant 
SALT.agency 
Salary: From £42K 
Location: Remote/Hybrid

SALT is a marketing agency focused on delivering growth outcomes to our customers by supporting them in content, SEO, and data analytics. Clients include Amplitude, Cloudflare and GitLab. In this role, you'll lead technical and strategic SEO campaigns across SaaS, eCommerce and Travel, act as trusted advisor to clients, solve complex SEO challenges, and coach peers. 

--

Every week, I share fresh roles across marketing, social and comms. All posted in the last 10 days, with salary shown.

♻️ Repost to share these opportunities with your network.

taplio

The Battle

Joel Williams

Lewis Alexander Baxter

Followers

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Performance ScoreJoel Williams's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLewis Alexander Baxter's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Joel Williams

Lewis Alexander Baxter

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);}Joel Williams's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLewis Alexander Baxter's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJoel Williams's LinkedIn Performance