{ "license": "CC BY 4.0", "attribution": "Tom Sharman, https://tomsharman.com", "generated": "2026-10-25", "lessons": [ { "title": "A brand that compounds has a mission and an enemy", "question": "What is the difference between a personal brand that compounds and one that just gets views?", "answer": "Views without a mission are noise. The shortcut to a mission is an enemy, backed by formats that repeat.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/a-brand-that-compounds-has-a-mission-and-an-enemy/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/a-brand-that-compounds-has-a-mission-and-an-enemy/index.md" }, { "title": "Agencies over-index on the founder's journey", "question": "What do most agencies get wrong about founder content?", "answer": "Too much journey and current business. Not enough mission, enemy, and what the audience actually gets.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/agencies-over-index-on-the-founders-journey/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/agencies-over-index-on-the-founders-journey/index.md" }, { "title": "Assumptions made too fast, and risk avoided", "question": "What is the most common mistake you have made building someone else's brand?", "answer": "Data plus gut, and back yourself. A bad video with no views harms nothing unless it damages the brand.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/assumptions-made-too-fast-and-risk-avoided/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/assumptions-made-too-fast-and-risk-avoided/index.md" }, { "title": "Content is how a company wins talent", "question": "Why should a company make content to hire people?", "answer": "Top talent already knows the company exists. Content does the persuading.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/content-is-how-a-company-wins-talent/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/content-is-how-a-company-wins-talent/index.md" }, { "title": "Find the voice in what already worked for them", "question": "How do you find someone's voice when they do not know what it is yet?", "answer": "The voice is a reframe of what already works. Look at what made them successful, then point it at the audience.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/find-the-voice-in-what-already-worked-for-them/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/find-the-voice-in-what-already-worked-for-them/index.md" }, { "title": "It is about their business, told as what the audience learns", "question": "How much of a founder's brand should be about their business, and how much about them?", "answer": "The founder's experience is the selling point. Talk about yourself without framing the lesson and you end up in view jail.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/it-is-about-their-business-told-as-what-the-audience-learns/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/it-is-about-their-business-told-as-what-the-audience-learns/index.md" }, { "title": "Macro and micro at the same time", "question": "How does Tom run a team he is leading?", "answer": "Understand every part of the business, and work closely with the one person who owns an issue. Then step back.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/macro-and-micro-at-the-same-time/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/macro-and-micro-at-the-same-time/index.md" }, { "title": "Month one challenges assumptions", "question": "What does month one, month three and month twelve look like for a founder starting from zero?", "answer": "Month one is the audit, the budgets, the hires and the tools, then test shoots. By month three it is execution.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/month-one-challenges-assumptions/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/month-one-challenges-assumptions/index.md" }, { "title": "Move the people you have before you hire", "question": "How should a new Head of Content handle the team they inherit?", "answer": "The skill someone already has is worth more than the job title they arrived with. Move people before you hire.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/move-the-people-you-have-before-you-hire/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/move-the-people-you-have-before-you-hire/index.md" }, { "title": "People online are selfish, so lead with what they get", "question": "When you take on a founder with no audience, what do you tell them they are wrong about first?", "answer": "Founders assume people care about their story. Find the moat, the unrepeatable thing in their history, and lead with what the audience gains.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/people-online-are-selfish-so-lead-with-what-they-get/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/people-online-are-selfish-so-lead-with-what-they-get/index.md" }, { "title": "Sam Stoffel: rebuild the team, then find the formats", "question": "What was the strategy with Sam Stoffel, and what did it produce?", "answer": "Rehire the whole team, find three formats, build a system that ships three a day. The formats outlived Tom leaving.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/sam-stoffel-rebuild-the-team-then-find-the-formats/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/sam-stoffel-rebuild-the-team-then-find-the-formats/index.md" }, { "title": "Short form first, LinkedIn on winners, YouTube last", "question": "Which platform should a founder own first, and which should they ignore?", "answer": "Instagram and TikTok are the test bed. LinkedIn only gets proven winners. YouTube is the slowest place to learn.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/short-form-first-linkedin-on-winners-youtube-last/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/short-form-first-linkedin-on-winners-youtube-last/index.md" }, { "title": "Signals show before numbers, and numbers come at month four", "question": "Three months in, what tells you it is working before the numbers move?", "answer": "Average views rising, outliers, DMs and named viewers. The numbers come in months four to six.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/signals-show-before-numbers-and-numbers-come-at-month-four/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/signals-show-before-numbers-and-numbers-come-at-month-four/index.md" }, { "title": "The brand is the argument", "question": "Why does the design of a brand matter?", "answer": "Design is proof. If a brand looks like everything it claims to be different from, the claim does all the work.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/the-brand-is-the-argument/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/the-brand-is-the-argument/index.md" }, { "title": "The intake question is why, and what it is costing them", "question": "What does the intake or discovery session look like, and what does Tom ask?", "answer": "Why are you investing, what does success look like, what is the budget and runway, and who are you outside the business.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/the-intake-question-is-why-and-what-it-is-costing-them/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/the-intake-question-is-why-and-what-it-is-costing-them/index.md" }, { "title": "They quit when there is an easier route to the same revenue", "question": "How do you tell a founder who will stick with it from one who will quit at month four?", "answer": "The founder with no cheaper path to their goal stays. The one who finds an easier route takes it. Ask before you start.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/they-quit-when-there-is-an-easier-route-to-the-same-revenue/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/they-quit-when-there-is-an-easier-route-to-the-same-revenue/index.md" }, { "title": "Turn down anyone unclear about their commitment", "question": "What makes Tom turn down a founder who wants to hire him?", "answer": "Founders do not need to be full time. They need to accept that this is work with a purpose, and it needs their time and patience.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/turn-down-anyone-unclear-about-their-commitment/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/turn-down-anyone-unclear-about-their-commitment/index.md" }, { "title": "Two to three a day, LinkedIn five times a weekday", "question": "What is a realistic posting cadence for a founder?", "answer": "Short form two to three times a day, LinkedIn every weekday, YouTube tested every one or two weeks.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/two-to-three-a-day-linkedin-five-times-a-weekday/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/two-to-three-a-day-linkedin-five-times-a-weekday/index.md" }, { "title": "Week one is an audit, and two formats are never up for testing", "question": "What happens in the first thirty days with a new founder client?", "answer": "Immerse, audit the team and the costs, then sit with the founder on why. A daily podcast clip and a daily selfie video run from the start.", "updated": "2026-10-25", "url": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/week-one-is-an-audit-and-two-formats-are-never-up-for-testing/", "md": "https://tomsharman.com/lessons/week-one-is-an-audit-and-two-formats-are-never-up-for-testing/index.md" } ] }