Thijs Kraan

Value Positioner

We turn your work and expertise into founder-led content that attracts a steady flow of high-value projects from the right clients. A partnership for design agencies that want growth without the heavy lifting.

Send me a message if you want to learn more.

Founder

Hatch Conference

Growth Partner

Soldep

Designed websites, brands, content strategies, and funnels for SMBs to turn more visitors into customers.

Designer

UMC Utrecht

UMC Utrecht is an academic hospital. Designed a mobile app for nurses to streamline internal communication, documentation, and automation, so they had more time to take care of patients. Estimated workload decrease of 2 to 10%.

Product Designer

Essense

My graduation internship at Essense focused on understanding service design, customer experience, journey mapping, and customer research. I worked on a project (which I acquired myself) for UMC Utrecht.

Ahold Delhaize

Worked for Albert Heijn, the largest Dutch supermarket chain. Designed 2 products, including all marketing materials that led to a launch with 35k+ users in one week. Both MVPs were scaled into the larger product eco-system and now saves around 4.5M kilograms in annual food waste

I help designers sell their expertise through writing content.

Before 2023, 100% of my design clients came from referrals.

→ I had zero control over when my next project arrived

Today, 88% of my clients come through LinkedIn – inbound.

Learning “how” took me 1065+ days of sharing expertise:

- Positioning & articulating the value of my expertise
- Experimenting with writing high-performing hooks
- Converting attention into inbound business leads
- Talking to 1000s of designers and design leaders
- Finetuning my profile for the highest conversion

I was a poor design student, so I self-studied:

- I consumed 1000s of posts & 100s of videos
- I read 100s of books & 100s of articles
- I wrote more than 1200+ posts

Obsessed with mastering the nitty-gritty of content.

And that meant making countless mistakes:

- I tried appealing to everyone, so I never got to stand out
- I wasted 100s of hours on meaningless content iteration
- I pivoted direction 50+ times so nothing compounded
- I got 3M+ impressions without winning a single client
- I ignored 1000s of hand-raisers right in front of me

To this day, I still learn new things every day.

Even after investing 3 years in learning:

€10k+ on courses/coaches
1000+ hours on reading
2500+ hours on writing

But now, I've turned everything into one framework to:

- Share your unique expertise more effectively
- Become the go-to expert for your audience
- Start getting inbound leads (on auto-pilot)

My LinkedIn Growth Framework. 

After 10+ iterations, I'm confident it works:

- A design founder added €100k+ in revenue (in 6 months)
- A design leader landed a new €150k+ job (in 3 weeks)
- And many designers won new 5-figure project deals

All from sharing their unique expertise (on LinkedIn)

So, if you want to learn from my biggest mistakes.

Take my free 5-day LinkedIn Growth Strategy:

growexpertise.com/linkedin-growth-strategy
(or click my LinkedIn profile buttons above)

PS. For 1:1 help, DM me or visit valuepositioner.com

Design Content Consultant

I help design leaders, founders, and freelancers do 4 things:

1. Understand & position your unique value
2. Create your design content strategy
3. Systematize content creation
4. Start creating habitually

By:

1. Analyzing your existing customers, content & data
2. Strategizing toward your ideal future positioning
3. Producing content for authority, talent & leads
4. Upgrading your content, profiles & funnels

Together, this will help you:

- Get inbound leads
- Attract new talent
- Build authority

Want to learn how? 

Send me a message.

Nick Pattison ships brands for startups like a machine: 
 
- Built his own “brand sprint” model
- Crystal clear positioning and offer
- Ships top-notch work in 2 weeks
- Works with the hottest startups
 
It’s how you bring focus and leverage to a small studio.
 
We need more designers building studios like this. 
 
Fix the scope, ship great work, and share more.

LinkedIn isn't complicated. 

When you're just starting, don't: 

- Waste time on pretty visuals
- Post more than once a day
- Try to "hack the algorithm”
- Ignore your commenters
- Cold-pitch strangers

Instead:

- Share your work or text-only posts
- Focus on writing better (and faster)
- Keep your writing simple and concise
- Share the results of yourself or clients
- Study top-performers in your industry
- Show (parts of) the work you currently do
- Write POVs on problems you get paid to solve

When you do this consistently, you'll win.

Only a matter of time and repetition.

Quality requires quantity.

Today, I published on LinkedIn for 1323 days in a row. 

My writing journey started as a design student:

- No network in the design industry
- No experience in sharing ideas
- No track record as a designer

Just a willingness to become a better writer. 

Now, after writing here for almost 4 years:

- I went from 0 to 40.5k followers
- I went from 0 to 20M+ views
- I went from 0 to 22 clients

Steal my learnings from ~2000 hours of practice:

- LinkedIn isn't dead. Competition simply increased. Standing out requires being different, useful, and authentic with proof.
- Start conversations with potential clients. Ask why they followed, connected, or commented and double down on what they point out. Shorten your feedback loops and ask questions to find problems you can (get paid to) solve.
- LinkedIn is best for awareness and visibility. Maximize your reach with the right audience and share how you actually work. Take note of potential clients showing interest and reach out or pitch in private.
- Personal profiles beat business profiles. Building brands around your founders, executives, and experts is 5 to 10x more effective. Share the stories from your teams and give them the support to showcase work.
- Prioritize cases, stories, and insights. Content from your lived experiences performs way better. Write from an "I” or “We” perspective, like I did this hard thing, I found this cool insight, we launched this product, or we won funding.
- Consistency matters because posts have a 3 to 30-day shelf life. When you publish more, you learn more, get shown more, and are more likely to be remembered. Mere exposure drives more referrals and leads.
- Don't try to be clever, just be clear. Use simple language, make clear for whom you do what, and keep your content related to it. Be specific and relevant to the audience you're trying to serve.
- Engagement metrics misinform you. Focus on the quality of people engaging, following or connecting, and reaching out. If they're not the people you're trying to attract, change your approach.
- Bill Gates posts perform better because of trust, not his content quality. LinkedIn rewards status. Don’t compare your day 1 to someone else’s day 10,000.
- Hooks are by far the highest leverage part of your post. Make sure you're spending more effort perfecting that first line and build your hook writing muscles. Draft 5+ alternatives and pick the best.

I've had way more learnings, but these are most important.

They're simple, but not easy to execute well consistently

So, if you want to get started with LinkedIn in 2026:

- Start with only one founder or executive profile
- Don't overthink, share what you're working on
- Build a simple content and outreach system
- Aim for one or ideally 3+ posts every week
- Prioritize your cases → stories → insights

Build the habit now and let it compound. 

Don't wait another year.

Repurpose your top LinkedIn posts from 2025:

90% of your followers didn't see your post
The 10% who did likely forgot about them
And others could likely use a reminder

Honestly, I even forgot the posts I read yesterday.

Go to LinkedIn analytics for your past 365 days.

Pick your best-performing posts and upgrade:

- Be more specific, concise, or different
- Change the headline or call-to-action
- Turn the post into a video or carousel
- Take one sub-idea and go deeper
- Add new ideas, stories, or visuals

Different messages resonate with different people. 

Don't try to reinvent the wheel in every single post.

The best ideas don't expire after they're posted.

My first 30 LinkedIn posts got 120 likes

→ My 30-day challenge was done

An average of 4 likes per post.

But on post 31 → 212 likes
And post 36 → 297 likes
Post 177 → 2.146 likes
Post 388 → €5.994
A referral → €12k
One DM → €28k

Now, ~88% of my clients come from LinkedIn.

Most quit before results start compounding.

Skill, taste, and trust compound invisibly.  

Consistent iteration with patience wins.

Designers often forget:

1. Portfolios won’t make you a recognized expert
2. Design tools won't make you a good designer
3. Business books won't make you a millionaire
4. Ted talks won't make you a thought leader
5. Awards won't make you a trusted advisor
6. UI kits won't make you a product thinker 
7. Logos won't make you a strong brand

We often get lost searching for shortcuts.

And forget about what truly matters:

- Deliberate practice → one skill for 30+ days
- Consistent action → 30+ minutes per day
- More iterations → Go for 10 instead of 1

Nothing beats doing the work consistently. 

Action → Reflect → Learn → Iterate

Repeated over and over again.

Create more, consume less.

Don't wait for perfection.

Take the last 6 days of 2025 to reset.

Reflect on the year behind you.
Reset your counters to zero.
Plan for the year ahead.

If you had your worst year, start fresh and go all-in.

If you had your best year, keep riding the wave.

My 2025 was right in the middle: “just okay.”

Let's make 2026 our best one yet. 

Merry Christmas everyone.

Aneta Kmiecik

Sr. UX Designer | Helping designers link UX projects with UX portfolio stories

I help designers create careers they love & earn more.

After 14 years in the creative field, including 7 years in UX and a background in architecture, I’ve coached over 1,000 designers on how to stand out, get hired, and grow with purpose. So far, 500 designers built portfolio with my course.

Most designers don’t struggle with design itself, they struggle with direction, communication, and positioning. That’s where I focus.

Through my UX Portfolio Course and content, I teach practical ways to:
• Build a portfolio that tells a clear story
• Navigate job searches with strategy, not luck
• Grow a career that feels aligned, not overwhelming

If you’re ready to take your design career from “uncertain” to “intentional,” let’s connect.


💌 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀:
• Instagram: instagram.com/ux.aneta
• Newsletter: beyourowndesignteam.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Community: be-your-own-design-team.circle.so/c/be-your-own-design-team/

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Thijs Kraan

Aneta Kmiecik

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The Battle

Thijs Kraan

Aneta Kmiecik

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);}Thijs Kraan's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreThijs Kraan's LinkedIn Performance