🔴 Inside this LinkedIn creator's $30K/month playbook

Welcome to Self-Timer — our monthly series featuring a creator’s greatest hits, hardest lessons, and tactical growth strategies.

This month's guest is Brandon Smithwrick, a former content and creative marketing director recently turned full-time creator who shares practical strategies on content, growth, and monetization to help creatorpreneurs scale smarter.

In this issue:

— Natalia Pérez-González, Assistant Editor

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Brandon Smithwrick is a New York-based content creator and founder of Content to Commas, a newsletter and media company for creator-entrepreneurs building businesses around their content and ideas. He’s built an audience of 81K+ across platforms.

A former content and creative marketing director at Ralph Lauren and Squarespace, he’s leveraged LinkedIn content creation into a six-figure creator business. He has partnered with brands including Adobe, Amazon, and Hootsuite, and his newsletter grows by approximately 1,000 subscribers per month through organic content alone.

Subscribe to Brandon’s career resource newsletter, Content to Commas.
Learn more about Brandon.

The below answers have been edited for tone and clarity. Bolding and italics our own.

Brandon: I started posting on LinkedIn with one goal: to get noticed by recruiters. That was it. Over time, my content improved, my voice became clearer, and people started following along. Before I knew it, I was partnering with brands like Adobe, Notion, Amazon, and Hootsuite, speaking on panels, and going on brand trips from Canva’s conference to Cannes Lions.

It went from posting for a job to building a creator business that pays the bills every week. Now, it’s a small but tight team: Me, my wife, who manages my deals and calendar, an accountant, and a part-time video editor. Earlier this year, I also launched Content to Commas, a newsletter designed for hybrid creator-entrepreneurs like myself who want simple playbooks for content, growth, and monetization. The idea actually came from a speaking panel where I was workshopping thoughts out loud — a few months later, that concept became the business.

Brandon: Most of my ideas come straight from real conversations with creators, founders, and marketers, or from being at events around the city. If something comes up that feels useful, I’ll drop it into my Notion ideas page right away. I’ve even written things down mid-workout at the gym just so I don’t lose them.

Twice a week, I block time to review those notes and either expand them into posts or schedule them. A lot also comes from my newsletter. I’ll pull out smaller lessons and repurpose them throughout the week. Sometimes I’ll use ChatGPT to help me break it down, and I use SproutSocial to schedule everything.

I keep the process lean. I write and schedule my own posts, then share them across LinkedIn, Instagram Stories, Threads, my IG broadcast channel, and video depending on the format.

Brandon: I refused to play into the “cringe” LinkedIn was known for. At the time, the platform felt overly stiff and professional, so I leaned the other way. My profile picture was me in a beanie, and my posts came straight from the lessons I learned running social at Ralph Lauren and Squarespace. Instead of vague advice, I shared real strategies, challenged the gurus, and spoke in a way that felt approachable. 

That honesty clicked, and it’s still the backbone of my content today.

I’ve found that the less polished content often performs the best. My style is direct (write a strong hook, share the insight, and move on). That approach built trust, which is why when I do brand partnerships, it’s always with tools I’ve tested, use regularly, or genuinely believe in. The audience can tell the difference, IMO.

Brandon: This post announcing the start of my full-time creator journey pulled in around 150,000 impressions, but what stood out was the impact: I drove close to 2,000 new subscribers in a single day by leaning into a format people already recognize — the promotional announcement style you see constantly on LinkedIn. People are naturally curious (and a little nosy), so they stop scrolling when they see it.

Instead of using it for a generic update, I flipped it to highlight my own business. You don't always need to reinvent the wheel. If you can use formats people are already familiar with to frame your big announcements, you'll cut through the noise and actually get noticed.

Over the last six months, Brandon has averaged approximately $30,000 per month, with two months exceeding $40,000.

His revenue model prioritizes brand partnerships and sponsorships, which consistently generate at least $20,000 per month, supplemented by paid usage/UGC ($2,000–$5,000), affiliate marketing ($300–$800), and limited consulting work.

Brandon: Burnout. It hit me right when I was offered that large $20K deal. At the time, I was juggling a 9–5, planning my wedding, and running my business. I completely shut down and almost ghosted the brand for a month. Eventually, I had to be honest with them and admit I was burnt out. Thankfully, they appreciated the transparency, and we still moved forward, but it could’ve gone very differently.

That experience forced me to establish systems and boundaries, enabling me to manage the volume of work I take on now. It also taught me to notice the early signs of burnout, when I start slipping on small things, I know it’s time to pause, reset, or get help.

My advice to creators is simple: stop trying to do it all. You don’t have to edit every video or manage every detail yourself. Hire help where you can, and if spending money buys you peace, it’s worth it.

Brandon’s tech stack totals up to $2,455.88 per year. Here’s how he powers his business:

Newsletter and social media management:

Content creation and design:

Productivity and organization: