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Ten of the best writers on LinkedIn. Their real opening lines, and the response each one earned. Pick whose line you are stealing - or let the house pick for you.

One of the best business hacks is being your own biggest cheerleader.

Justin Welsh 9672 reactions · 1451 comments

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Stolen with love and full credit from Justin Welsh, Jasmin Alić, Lara Acosta, Ruben Hassid, Richard van der Blom, Amelia Sordell, Josh Braun, Adam Grant, Simon Sinek, Hala Taha.

One of the best business hacks is being your own biggest cheerleader.
Make enough money to stop thinking about money all the time.
At my old exec job, I was excellent at being available to everyone except my wife.
If you chase after money, it has a funny way of avoiding you.
If you're great at what you do, but nobody knows, that's a "you" problem.
Your job thinks you're worth more than they're paying you.
If you want to be great at something, surround yourself with the best people.
At the end of my startup career, I was making lots of money and feeling absolutely awful.
I built a business to $15M in profit by refusing to build a big business.
In my 20s and 30s, I thought hard work solved every problem.
I have 880,000+ followers on LinkedIn.
We're starting to see the decline of the typical career path. That's a good thing!
I escaped the corporate rat race on August 1st, 2019.
You don't need to be some billionaire to live a top 1% life.
In 2020, I wrote down a few rules for my business:
A salary is one of the cheaper ways to sell your skills.
The traditional linear career path and even linear business models are dying.
Back in August of 2019, I quit my executive job and started my own little one-person business.
If you want to build an incredible life, hang around incredible people.
Most entrepreneurs try to build a business first and then cram their life around it.
A business that requires you all day, every day, is my personal nightmare.
My biggest advantage in business building is that I don't care about being massive.
Become the easiest person to work with.
My life before my little one-person business:
The worst thing in the world is getting fired without a backup plan.
The most important skill heading into 2027 will be the ability to learn quickly.
When I started my one-person business back in 2019, I encountered a strange problem:
Nobody gets to approve how I spend my days.
The most successful people I know are basically C+ students.
I was a total and utter failure at everything I tried until the age of 28.
Every post on my LinkedIn feed is someone saying they were laid off.
Successful people work on things that bring them joy and keep them interested.
There are three important decisions that have an outsized impact on your life.
The most successful people I know brainwash themselves with positivity.
My career got off to a really bad start.
100% of successful business people are lucky.
A shocking number of hyper-intelligent people are wasting prime years of their lives.
My 25-year-old self would think my current lifestyle is super lame.
People waste months building things nobody wants because they get excited.
I got fired 3 times before I even turned 28 years old.
A business that owns your calendar ultimately owns you.
If you can't accept that life is unfair, you're going to struggle.
At 35, I was running sales at a healthcare startup doing more than $70M in ARR.
Your 20s are probably the worst time to optimize for comfort.
You don't need to make millions to live an awesome life.
An insanely impressive life usually starts with nailing the basics.
Nearly all of the best things in life take a lot of painful hard work.
The happiest people I know all have something a little odd in common:
I escaped the startup game with so many skills.
A lot of founders are addicted to looking important.
Underrated advice: Build a business where you work less, earn plenty, and live for right now.
When I started consulting back in 2019, I had no idea how to price my time.
I have anxiety, but I've found that working hard on a project usually solves it.
In an alternate universe, every great employee is a thriving solopreneur.
A terrible financial decision is building an expensive lifestyle supported by a job you hate.
The most dangerous opportunities are the ones that look obviously good.

My community just crossed 92 countries!
I believe in 3 things about LinkedIn:
My country gave me a diplomatic passport.
A year ago, I wrote an open letter to LinkedIn.
I woke up on a global magazine cover!
I just crossed 380,000 LinkedIn followers.
I'm lucky enough to work with Pakistanis. Also, Italians. Indians. Americans... The cool thing?
LinkedIn has its ups and downs with reach.
Most people dislike my LinkedIn playbook.
My "LinkedIn laws" I firmly believe in:
Something I believe all of us should do?
I don't have LinkedIn on my phone. And yet...
I just hosted the biggest event of my life!
I flew 7 people to Bosnia this year.
I've had the same LinkedIn habits for 5 years:
I booked a rooftop to coach people 1-1.
I just analyzed my entire LinkedIn history.
My grandma always used to tell me:
"Why post on LinkedIn" has many answers.
I wish LinkedIn gave us audio events back.
LinkedIn shared my commenting strategies with 1B users. Since then, I've coached this to 1,000s...
It's only cringe until it works!
It took me 1 month to write this post. Because I didn't know how to "capture" what happened in person...
This lady met me at Singapore airport.
Someone I met on LinkedIn visited my country, and then stayed for 3 months! Now, 200+ have done it!
Why do we try to "skip steps" on the way up?

I feel uncomfortable posting this.
My (tiny) team of 5 has built a $3.5M business with me.
To anyone worried about the LinkedIn algorithm:
I just crossed 100,000 followers on Instagram!
HUGE NEWS: I'm building the ultimate LinkedIn rankings list. Giving "small" creators the opportunity of a lifetime
Underrated life and career advice I wish I knew sooner:
I hired someone without reading their CV this year.
There's too many posts on how to get clients on LinkedIn:
If you don't have motivation, read this:
If you woke up doubting yourself, you need to hear this:
I built 3 successful businesses from scratch by 27.
I've made 10+ accounts go viral in the last 30 days.
If you're tired of getting low reach on LinkedIn...
Last week, I was very honest about LinkedIn impressions.
The secret to growth on LinkedIn (and business):
I'm so done with "top creator" ranking lists.
I used to think a 9-5 was "safe". Now all I see is layoffs.
In case you needed a reason to go all in on LinkedIn:
If you're posting on LinkedIn, you need to read this:
If you struggle with imposter syndrome, read this:
This is my 4-step AI workflow I use to engineer the marketing of $100k+ organic launches on LinkedIn.
I can't believe this happened! Wow.
I spent months scared to raise my prices.
If you're a business owner, this one is for you.
Last week, I went to the best marketing event in London.
This is not my typical announcement, but...

Give me 3 mins, and I will make you better at Claude than 90% of people.
If you are a Claude freak like me, and you don't know how people are making crazy websites in Claude. Then this post is for you:
These are the exact Claude Skills I use every day.
This AI is the "ChatGPT to find people".
You think you've mastered Claude.
I (literally) spent 1000 hours figuring out Claude the hard way. Here are the guides I wish someone had sent me earlier:
I spend (at least) $1,000 per month on AI, mostly to test new tools. And I keep coming back to the same few apps:
This Claude prompt is a $349/hr lawyer. But don't copy-paste this prompt blindly. Do this first:
You've told ChatGPT things you'd never tell Google.
BREAKING: OpenAI lost. Muse won.
You no longer need paid Notion templates to build a second brain if you use Claude (correctly). Here's my setup:
My mom asked me, "What the hell is Claude?"
You are not behind (yet).
It's crazy how my entire LinkedIn feed is about Claude, but whenever I ask someone their setup, it's outdated.
How to learn Claude SO FAST: people assume you are naturally gifted and a fast learner
Wait till the end to see if this AI can fool the human.
Stop using Claude (if you don't do this first).
The new feature of Claude Motion and Dashboards is actually pretty good. Here's how to try it yourself:
Do what Claude is doing, not what influencers do.
Only 2 months left until 2027. Don't be the one who has 100+ saved guides but knows nothing when it comes to actually using it.
Coding in 2017:
Stop copy-pasting between Claude and Google Docs. Claude now works inside Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Here's how to set it up:
Claude Opus 5.5 is a fantastic model. I've never experienced anything like that.
I thought Claude would fail (miserably), with AI slop & hallucination. But I can't believe the result.
Instead of watching 2 hours of Netflix tonight, get official certification (without lifting a finger).
Lawyers started using Claude way before you.
You will NOT make it to the end of this post.
Before you spend 3 hours getting "Claude certified," read this (it took me 17 mins but without clicking any buttons myself):
You're looking at Claude in 2023.

Parents, I need your advice. For years I had a steady routine. Built entirely around how I perform best. Now it's gone, all of it.
I spent years polishing my expert posts. The data now says LinkedIn would rather see my selfie.
Last Thursday in Valencia, I started going through the data of +800,000 posts for our November report. 10 algorithm rules have flipped.
I have studied the LinkedIn algorithm for the last 7 years and I have never seen this much confusion at once.
For years - like many of you out there - I treated commenting as the thing I did after the "real" work.
The most copied growth tactic on LinkedIn crashed to 45% below average. It took a single week.
If I see one more "I'm thrilled to announce" Celebration Post that has nothing to celebrate I swear....
Almost every week someone asks me the same question: "Richard, should I get verified, buy Premium or chase a Top Voice badge to get my reach back?"
LinkedIn's own team just explained the algorithm. So I put their answers next to my data. 7 claims. 7 reality checks.
You sent 50 connection requests. 31 accepted. You pitched every single one. Two replied, both with "no thanks".
I've watched LinkedIn reach go up and down for +20 years. This year is different. The typical creator lost +15% of their reach in six months.
Every week someone tells me: "I'm posting content, yet my calendar stays empty." Been there, done that, but not anymore...
LinkedIn brought back pinned comments this week. Four years after switching them off. I tested it straight away.
800 CMOs. 26 meetings. 4 new clients in 90 days.
Most people pick a LinkedIn format the way they pick a football club. They stay loyal for years, even when the team keeps losing.
Me: I need to do more video on LinkedIn.
Some of my posts reached millions. Others didn't reach 0.1% of my followers.
Every "I made 7 figures in 30 days on LinkedIn" post you've seen is fiction. And I'm so done with it.
Reach is not a vanity metric. Yes, I'd rather have 1,000 ICPs see my content than 100,000 random strangers.
Every year, in update sessions with my corporate marketing clients, I hear the same 5 LinkedIn habits defended.
My posts are being used to spam you. And someone is selling it as a growth strategy.
Most LinkedIn posts inside companies don't die while someone is writing them.
Asking for a friend: what would you pick?
Last month I counted 23 recorded client calls on my laptop. All full of post ideas I never wrote.
I've trained +200 B2B sales teams on social selling for 15 years.
I've told thousands of people the money is in the follow-up.
Two weeks ago I almost gave up on one of my own posts.
88 hours. That is the minimum you spend on LinkedIn each year before you post anything.

In my opinion. Agree?
In February 2023, a friend and I booked a train ticket to Paris just to have lunch.
Early career advice - get really good at sales.
I met a founder 2 weeks ago who's cost of not building their personal brand was $500,000 per year. That's insane.
In 2023, we spent 12 months building a product to scale my business. A little over a year after launch, we shut it down.
This is Randy and Tim.
About 4 years ago this guy laid off half his team, cried about it - then took a selfie and posted it on LinkedIn looking for sympathy.
HubSpot just laid off around 660 people.
This photo was taken the day I decided to quit my job and start my business in July 2020.
There are two types of people who will engage with your content:
Imagine having 100,000 potential customers before you've even launched your business.
How I find the time to create & post content...while being a founder and a mother of 2...
My girlfriend called me yesterday, really upset.
I heard Nir Eyal talk a few months back - impressive guy.
I've just started looking at wedding venues.
In January this year, Emmie and I collaborated on a 30 day Personal Branding Challenge together, having never actually met in real life.
I really believe how a person - or a brand - handles a difficult moment says more about who they are than the moment itself.
My sales team spoke to a guy last week who wanted "to spend only 1 hour" of his time building his founder-brand strategy.
Respectfully, if you're running a business f*ck humility. Especially if you're a woman.
This is the storytelling framework behind every single viral post I've ever posted
The best personal brands aren't about you - they're about how you make the people you are trying to attract feel. Agree?
Being embarrassing is the price you pay to prove to the world you care more about your own goals than how you look.
You can't expect to attract the best people, pay them a fraction of what they could earn elsewhere, and then act surprised.
You can beat 99% of people by:
I'm in Austin this week. Between the 3am jet lag and being 6 hours behind the UK, my working day is done by 10am.

I don't understand why people pay for vibe coding tools.
Halloween at Chris Voss's house.
I'm not a fan of this cold call opener:
I still catch myself talking too much, wanting the sale, and getting frustrated when things don't go my way.
Tiny phrases that lower resistance before a question even lands.
Saw a post from a guy who was so angry about AI-generated comments on LinkedIn that he started blocking anyone who used them.
A sales job opens.
I saw a hip-opening gadget for $70.
Heaven forbid you write a cold email longer than four sentences.
At an SKO I insulted Jourdan Hathaway in front of her team.
Sales can be a great job.
I used to feel pretty good about booking a meeting 30 seconds into a cold call.
What do you do when you're the dumbest person in the room?
Last night at 11:41pm, someone DM'd me.
I'm at Pura Vida, having an argument with people who have no idea we're in an argument.
Most interview follow-ups sound like this:
Someone sent me a cold email referencing a post I'd written about detaching from outcomes.
Are you overcomplicating the cold call?
How to sell without pitching.
Treat this phrase like a porcupine, don't touch it:
A lot of cold emails I get feel like two completely unrelated conversations stitched together.
You can now get photos of your speaking career before you have one.
Someone books a workshop and I feel great.
Got a cold email from someone who thought I owned a jiu-jitsu gym.
At a silent meditation retreat, I spent five hours a day noticing my thoughts without doing something about them.
When I sold into HR, my win rate was 78%.

The reports about the events at Cornell - and the lack of accountability - are sickening. So is the victim blaming.
This teacher is encouraging parents to communicate "handle with care" when their kids could use extra support and understanding.
Note to self - and anyone else who needs a reminder:
Happy Mother's Day to all celebrating!
It's time to stop caring about "executive presence" - and start focusing on whether their presence elevates those around them.
It's better to attribute success to grit than natural talent.
If you wouldn't say it to their face, don't type it under their post.
A core responsibility of leadership is to care about people regardless of whether you like them.
When people struggle under pressure, it doesn't mean they lack resilience. It often means they lack practice.
I've finally taken my own advice and started rethinking some of my ideas.
I can't stop thinking about this life lesson from Jim Collins
"No offense, but" is a terrible way to start a sentence.
Too many people feel pressure to downplay their pain to doctors.
Recording an Ask Me Anything tomorrow! What questions do you have?

It is better to have a great team than a team of greats.
Pure pragmatism can't imagine a bold future. Pure idealism can't get anything done. It's when the two cooperate that magic happens.
Arrogance is thinking something is perfect after the first draft. Humility is knowing there is always room for improvement.
Good leaders are curious to hear ideas from others when solving a problem. Bad leaders care more that others hear their ideas.
Leadership is not about being in charge.
Visuals - while important - aren't actually what make or break your presentation.
True leadership is more than something we do at work. It's the daily choice to take responsibility for the people in our care.
I didn't expect a manufacturing company to change my life.
Here's the thing: the skills that got you promoted aren't always the same ones that help you thrive as you climb the career ladder.
Are you an internal or external processor?
You can have smart, talented, ambitious people and still not have a strong team.
Say "cheese" and you get a smile. Say "prune" and you get cheekbones.
Storytelling is a daily practice that shapes how others see and remember you.
Getting promoted is exciting. Then comes the tiny detail of...actually leading people.
Looking for practical ways to put your purpose into action?
Somewhere along the way, we turned longevity into a competition: who can look the youngest, live the longest, biohack the best. But to what end?

My social media agency manages some of the biggest personal brands on LinkedIn.
I'M HIRING!
Years ago, I stopped using personal credit cards.
Nobody cares how much you LOVE your product.
Having MORE money won't necessarily make you a better entrepreneur.
You can have 20,000 followers online and STILL not have a single FRIEND in reality.
I've stopped being so scared of failure.
Running a 50-person global company but losing the battle against my notifications daily.
The scariest place to be is the EXACT same place you are today a year from now.
I created an avatar of myself with AI.

Life is too short to drive behind a moped car.
Hashty: hasty and rash in a single word.
Tell your cat I said pspsps.
I am a crab. My life has gone sideways.
Gathered together in one haystack.
Hither and gewhither!
Bigger muscles in the back.
Died out a bit in the sand.
Drew the long lot.
Out on thin water.
Better with two birds on the roof.
To die oneself to death.
It snapped like a house of cards.
The top of the cream.
The cream of the ring cake.
The drop has been reached.
Not the sharpest drawer.
Gold on tooth.
The cup has been reached.
Smokes like a sponge.
Which does not cost the white in your shirt.
I do not know where to put my finger on her.
The light does not quite reach the top floor.
Totally repellent.
Rising to the bottom.
Sighed relieved out.
Action-limbed.
Poor conditions for the money.
Wringing himself in the hair.
Sitting on the laurel berries.
Bitten on the bed.
Laying out a thread.
That is not the peg on the door.
It took mittens and years.
Went high on the mat.
To use the apostles of the displays.
You do not have mental problems. It is all in your head.
Summa summarum, it is hard to turn everyone into salmon.
Empty barrels rattle the loudest.
Prices are shooting in the ceiling.
Rocks in the bill.
Even if it is not unintentional.
We have to land a few pucks.
He does not talk much, but when he talks, he talks.
Important not to sit in gold weight.
Two heads in the ideas at once.
It made the cup float.
There you are the nail on the head!
Berry good.
To pull everyone over one comb.
The sum of all summarum.
A crisis forecast over long years.
To sweep something over the carpet.
Took the scruff off it.
Getting the wheels to meet.
We will take the party back to new heights.
To bow in the hat.
They had to use tear gas to calm down the scenes.
Inside these sunder-destroyed cities.
He probably did not have sore flour in the bag.
Placed in the same hat.
To weigh on a golden chair.
To groom everyone under the same comb.
To take everyone under the same comb.
To drag everyone in under the same comb.
To be dragged over with the same comb.
To beat everyone under the same comb.
To take everyone under each and every comb.
To place everyone together under one comb.
To stroke over with the same comb.
To judge everyone under with the same comb.
To cut everyone over with the same drawer.
To shoot someone under the same comb.
I see a journey. Or a packed lunch. The cards are tired today.
Someone with a vowel in their name is thinking about you. Possibly a bus driver.
Your aura is beige. That is not criticism. It is mostly not criticism.
The spirits say yes. They said yes to the last four as well, so take it for what it is.
Avoid Tuesdays. All of them. The fee covers one weekday.
A tall stranger is entering your life. Or a short one. Height is hard to read from here.
I sense great change. And great sameness. Both are coming, in some order.
In your last life you ran a filing room. I am sorry. Somebody has to.
Money is on its way. Not to you in particular. But it is moving, and that is something.
The cards show a door. It is shut. I have no information about the handle.
You will meet someone who understands you. Keep the receipt.
Mercury is in retrograde. It usually is. That is how the diary stays full.
I see water. It could be the ocean, it could be a leak. Look under the sink first.
Your lucky number is somewhere between four and a hundred and twelve.
Let me be clear: we are looking into it, and we will go on looking into it.
That is a very good question, and I am going to answer a different one.
We have set ourselves an ambitious target, and we will set ourselves another next year.
I will not speculate, and I will now do so at length.
We take this seriously. We have taken it seriously since the day it became public.
The report is on my desk. The desk is large.
Mistakes were made, by the process.
We are not cutting anything. We are reducing the growth in the increase.
I have full confidence in the person I am about to stop talking about.
This is exactly what we said we would look at, and now we have looked at it.
We must not draw conclusions before we have drawn the ones we want.
Our door is always open. The building closes at four.
I thank the opposition for raising a point we have no plan for.
We are investing in the future. The present will have to manage.
If they score here, it changes the scoreline completely.
He is giving a hundred and ten percent, which is ten percent more than he has.
The second half starts the way the first half ended, only later.
They have to score, and preferably more often than the other lot.
That is the difference at this level: the difference.
He has had a quiet game, apart from the two goals.
It is a game of two halves, and we are in one of them.
The crowd are on their feet, and that is because they are standing.
You win nothing without points, and points come from winning.
That was almost in, and almost is a very big word in this sport.
If he does not shoot, he cannot score. Unless somebody else shoots.
They are down, but they are not out. They are mostly down, though.
It is not over until it is over, and even then we will talk about it.
He has run eleven kilometres today, and not one of them towards the ball.
The last slice, and nobody wants to be the one who takes it.
He waved back at somebody standing behind him.
The cake wished a happy birthday to a name nobody corrected.
Two chairs at the table, and one of them is for the bag.
The plant was a gift, it is still alive, and that is the whole story.
Nobody uses the good plates, and the good plates know.
He kept the receipt for a jumper he was never going to return.
The group chat went quiet in a way that was probably not about him.
She laid the table for four out of habit.
A man clapping alone is technically still applause.
The dog watched the door for a while and then lay down again.
He laughed a beat after everybody else, to be safe.
The office cake was for a leaving do, and the cake was very good.
He practised the anecdote in the car and nobody asked.
I am not saying it was aliens. I am saying nobody has ruled it out properly.
My therapist says I am doing great, but she says that to everybody, I have checked.
We do not argue. We have loud agreements.
I have started running. Mostly to the car, but it counts.
He is not lost. He is between directions.
I bought a bread machine in 2019 and I think about it every day.
Boil anything long enough and it becomes soup.
I do not trust a man who orders a small coffee.
She has a cabin, but it is more of a shed with opinions.
My father built that fence in one weekend, and we have discussed it ever since.
I have been to Sweden. I did not care for the width of it.
Technically the cat lives here. Legally I am not sure.
You learn a lot about a person from how they load a dishwasher, and I have said enough.
We are not lost. We are taking the long way to a place we have not chosen.