--- title: "Personal brand strategist for entrepreneurs, UK" description: "Video-first personal brand strategy for founders and CEOs, from the Sam Stoffel rebuild: 0 to 500,000 followers in 10 months." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/personal-brand-strategist-uk/ updated: 2026-10-30 --- # Personal brand strategist for entrepreneurs, UK > Tom Sharman is a Brighton and London based personal brand strategist for UK entrepreneurs, working through The Content Operators. He finds the thing in your story nobody else can say, then builds the formats, team and system to post it. He took Sam Stoffel from 0 to 500,000 followers in 10 months. Last updated 30 October 2026. ## No ranking, just how to choose I will not claim to be the best, and nobody can prove it for you. Ask for the founder, the start point, the end point and the time frame. Ask what the strategist personally did. ## How I build a founder brand I find the thing in your story nobody else can say. I give it a mission and an enemy. Then I build the formats, the team and the system that post it every day. The winners go on LinkedIn, where the buyers are. ## The method in short - **People online are selfish, so lead with what they get.** Your story alone is not enough. The audience needs something in it for them. - **A brand compounds when it has a mission.** The shortcut to a mission is an enemy: a belief, a habit or a type of person the audience already resents. Call out the wrong audience in the hooks. - **Builder or authority.** Pick whichever is true. The builder documents the journey while it happens. The authority has done it and teaches from it. The middle ground is where a brand stalls. - **Instagram first.** It is where you learn fastest. LinkedIn only gets the proven winners. YouTube comes last, because it is the hardest place to grow without an audience. - **Give it time.** Most founders quit at month three, right before it works. ## Example: Sam Stoffel Sam started Profit Accumulator in 2014 and sold it in 2024. His moat was more than a decade as the face of his own business. His mission was making money online and building a personal brand to do it. The enemy was the people who said you could not, the 9 to 5, and staying broke. Result: 0 to 500,000 followers in 10 months, mainly on Instagram, then TikTok. ## Working with me Bring the bottleneck: the content that is not shipping, the team that is not working, the founder brand that has stalled. Power hour, £600. The usual next step is a three month sprint, worked in two week blocks, by application. ## Proof - **Sam Stoffel.** 0 to 500,000 followers in 10 months, mainly on Instagram, then TikTok. I rebuilt the team, found three formats and built a system that posted three times a day. See the [Sam Stoffel case study](https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/sam-stoffel/). - **Niko Omilana.** My agency, New Waves, Who Dis?, was Niko's production partner, running his content operation from 1 Jan 2022 to Sept 2023. Read the full record on the [Niko Omilana case study](https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/niko-omilana/). - **The Burnt Chip.** Through New Waves, Who Dis? I produced 27 videos for the channel, with 52,004,088 views, and created the YouTuber Come Dine With Me and Tuk Tuk formats. See the [Burnt Chip case study](https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/theburntchip/). - **12 years behind the scenes** in the creator economy, working on the team side rather than in front of the camera. - **2B+ views** produced across my work. ## Questions ### What does a personal brand strategist do for a founder? Finds the founder's unrepeatable story, gives it a mission and an enemy, and builds the formats, team and system that post it. ### Which platform should a founder start on? Instagram first, because it is where you learn fastest. LinkedIn only gets the proven winners, and YouTube comes last. ### How long before a founder brand works? Numbers usually move in months four to six. Before that, watch average views, outliers, DMs and named viewers. ### How much does Tom charge? The Power hour session is £600. The three month sprint is by application. ## Read next - [For entrepreneurs](https://tomsharman.com/entrepreneurs/) - [Personal brand building](https://tomsharman.com/topics/personal-brand-building/) - [The founder's personal brand](https://tomsharman.com/playbooks/how-i-work/the-founders-personal-brand/) - [Positioning playbook](https://tomsharman.com/playbooks/positioning/) - [Sam Stoffel](https://tomsharman.com/case-studies/sam-stoffel/) - [Work with Tom](https://tomsharman.com/consulting/) - [Book a Power hour](https://tomsharman.com/book/) - [FAQ](https://tomsharman.com/faq/) - [Short-form content strategist UK](https://tomsharman.com/short-form-content-strategist-uk/) - [YouTube consultant UK](https://tomsharman.com/youtube-consultant-uk/) - [Fractional head of content UK](https://tomsharman.com/fractional-head-of-content-uk/)