y'all! in this week's episode i'm joined by Bradley Jacobs, former Uber exec turned founder of Mylance. He scaled Uber Freight into a $1 billion business, quit with zero plan, and made up a consulting rate out of thin air. They said it was too much. he held his ground instead of caving. turned it into $25k a month !!!
Now he runs Mylance, and in this one he hands over exactly how he did it: the DM strategy that landed his first client with zero case studies, the easiest pricing trick, the positioning shift that'll change how you show up on LinkedIn, and why he built his own AI tool because ChatGPT and Claude write posts that sound like garbage.
Press play before you talk yourself out of charging what you're worth.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
04:08 Building Uber Freight from scratch into a $1B business
06:32 Quitting Uber
08:19 The "ridiculous calculation" behind his first consulting fee
16:22 Why "fractional CMO" is the laziest positioning you can pick
18:06 The "ice cream store vs. gas station" analogy that changes everything 18:52 You only need 3 clients: the real LinkedIn outreach math
26:35 Why you shouldn't use ChatGPT or Claude to write your LinkedIn posts
36:25 Leaving corporate was more confronting than he expected
38:08 Building a personal board of directors to replace corporate structure
39:45 The nightly ritual he's done for years to stay on track
About Bradley Jacobs
Bradley spent 4.5 years at Uber across Rides, Eats, and Freight, launching Uber Eats in Miami and Milan and helping scale Uber Freight into a $1 billion business. He left in 2018, sent 12 DMs to see if anyone would pay for his expertise, and landed his first consulting client at $25K/month working part-time. Over the next two years he built an independent consulting practice working with seed and Series A startups on marketplace launches and scaling, then turned what he learned into Mylance, the platform he founded in 2020 to help consultants and solopreneurs build predictable, sustainable businesses through LinkedIn content. Mylance has since helped 1,000+ founders and consultants grow their businesses using the same content and outreach systems Bradley built for himself.
Connect with Bradley
💼 LinkedIn: Bradley Jacobs
🔗 mylance.com
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

hey y'all, this episode is a little different than usual.
today i'm sharing my full pregnancy and birth story: trying to conceive, the pregnancy itself, giving birth, and where i'm at now in postpartum.
quick heads up before you press play: this one gets real about mental health during pregnancy, and some of it may be heavy for some listeners. please take care of yourself, and feel free to skip this one if now isn't the right time for you 🤍
i was depressed for most of my pregnancy, and i also went through a mental health experience i haven't heard many people talk about openly.
if you're pregnant, trying to conceive, or have been through something similar, i hope sharing this helps you feel less alone.
📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
07:30 Finding out I was pregnant
11:46 My theory: every pregnancy has one challenge
12:39 My challenge
15:14 I lost my ability to speak
16:00 The hallucinations started
19:57 My birth story starts here
27:55 Giving birth to Santi
30:38 Postpartum has been so fun and so good
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

you don't need a million followers to get paid by brands. you don't need an agent. you don't even need to be famous.
this is your no-bs guide to your first brand deal: how i went from $5,000 my first year to $250,000-$300,000 this year, every platform and agency i use, and how my husband, with only 3,000 followers, has landed a $50,000 brand deal i've never gotten with almost a million followers.
so yeah - let's get into this.
grab my brand outreach templates below ⤵️
docs.google.com/document/d/11FhKsM8bTHbLvnjs-GSTdUqZ78ET-rRz/edit?rtpof=true&sd=true&tab=t.0

📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
02:43 You don't need a million followers (here's what you need)
03:16 Cheat code #1: brand partnership marketplaces
11:58 Do this today: apply to 20 marketplaces
12:26 Cheat code #2: work with an agency
15:53 How to find an agency
17:09 What brands really pay (and the $50K deal I've never gotten)
19:14 Is affiliate marketing worth it?
19:55 The LinkedIn trick brands can't ignore
22:00 Why I always turn one post into a series
23:36 How to cold outreach brands (without an agency)
25:49 My final brand deal rule
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson