It’s 2024 and everybody’s getting the short end of the stick. Around 130, 482 people have been laid off in just tech so far this year, and these are just the reported numbers.

Plenty more are coming.

I take no pleasure in saying this. But this is the reality. The whole tech industry is going through a seismic shift and no one knows what’s in store.

But it’s not just limited to people with jobs — startup founders, business operators, and just about anybody in ‘tech’ is exposed.

In today’s issue:

• What you can do today to make yourself layoff-proof

• Why you haven’t started yet

• Why nobody around you is doing it either

• 🚨 MOST IMPORTANT: How we are going to help you do this

Let’s dive in.

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You are your own product

You’re not thinking of yourself this way but that doesn’t change the reality.

For your next employer, customer or investor, you are one of the many. In most cases, you’re a nobody.

The key is to realize that in a free market, your skills, labor, personality, opinions etc., everything is a product. Either you cash it out directly or you build a brand around it which helps you cash out in various ways.

In good times, prepare for the bad

A lot of my friends were laid off this year, and they consulted me about how they can crack the next interview. It makes sense to ask that question because they’ve never been on the other side of the table.

I have been, and I can tell you that 90% of the decision is made before you even get to the interview.

Same is the case with customers. 90% of the sale is made before you even book a meeting.

What’s the secret?

Your brand.

Everybody — employer, customer, investor — will check out your social media presence. Will google your name and see what comes up. And if that preliminary search doesn’t speak for you, you’re fighting an uphill battle … with a lot of competition.

So if you haven’t been laid off or gone bankrupt yet, why aren’t you building your personal brand?

Too little, too late

Most people start working on their brand once shit has already hit the fan.

They frantically attempt to get some kind of quick results but this doesn’t work out for various reasons:

1. You are desperate. When you’re desperate, the quality of your thinking drops considerably. You put an “Open to work” badge on Linkedin and start begging for a job. This drives people away.

2. You do not have the luxury to wait. Naturally, building a brand takes time but you have bills to pay. So you look for quick ways to do it which only hurts your brand.

On the contrary, if you start while you still have control, you will naturally come across as more confident and trustworthy.

Consistency is key

You’ve probably tried doing this before but failed to keep up because it seems like extra work.

And why do you need more work on top of what you already have which is making you money?

This is the classic ‘job mentality’: putting all eggs in one basket and not differentiating between assets and liabilities.

A job is a liability

Or it could be an asset. But if you treat it as an excuse to not invest in your own personal brand, then it’s a liability.

Why? Because it’s a debt that you’re accruing which you’ll have to repay the moment you are laid off. All the time you spent procrastinating on your personal brand was ‘money lost’.

But there is a way

We shared our entire content creation system a few weeks back. A lot of people benefitted from it.

What we realized from the feedback is that coming up with ideas is just half the battle. The other half is accountability.

It’s very hard to stay accountable if you’re on this journey on your own.

We will onboard 10 people from our subscribers list, invite them to our server, and share all our systems + resources + consultation to make sure that they succeed. For free.

This cohort will run for 3 months. In these 3 months, we’ll keep you accountable on posting at least thrice a week. If you fail, you will be removed from the program and somebody else will be let in.

No hard feelings. Just tough love.

If you want to be a part of this, reply to this newsletter with “I’m in”, and describe what you do and what you want to achieve with your personal brand — be it getting a higher paying job, or getting more freelance gigs, or more customers for your product. Whatever it is, let us know.

The program will begin from 1st September. So reserve your spot now.

See ya on the brighter side.

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