How She Built a $10K/Month Brand From a Layoff on LinkedIn
The Rise of a LinkedIn Influencer 🚀
While creators fight for eyeballs on TikTok and Instagram, 25-year-old Valerie Chapman stumbled onto something better: LinkedIn. After losing her corporate job in October 2023, she flipped this career setback into a sweet opportunity that pulls in about $10,000 every month.
With just 16,000 followers—tiny compared to what you’d need elsewhere—Chapman showed that LinkedIn offers real money-making chances for anyone smart enough to see beyond its “job board” reputation.
What She Does: Building Powerful Personal Brands 💼
Chapman’s LinkedIn tagline gets right to the point: “I help women leverage AI to build powerful personal brands.” This focus lets her:
- Craft stuff specifically for professionals wanting to boost their online presence
- Stand out as an expert where AI meets personal branding
- Connect with big shots across industries who value her special know-how
She shares thought leadership pieces, tips on using tech for personal branding, and her hit “Gen Z Woman in Business” series that clicks with younger professionals figuring out corporate life.
How She Monetizes Without Native Platform Payments 💰
Unlike TikTok with its Creator Fund, LinkedIn doesn’t pay influencers directly for engagement. So Chapman built other money streams:
Brand Partnerships
Most of Chapman’s cash comes from tech companies wanting access to her professional audience. She hunts these opportunities down by cold-calling potential clients and pitching team-ups tailored to her followers.
What makes these deals extra valuable? The quality of who’s watching. As Chapman puts it: “You can actually charge more in brand partnerships on LinkedIn than other platforms, because your audience is a bunch of professionals—oftentimes CEOs and founders.”
Digital Products in Development
Beyond partnerships, Chapman’s branching out into digital products like:
- Business workshops
- E-books on personal branding
- AI-related courses that match her content focus
Once created, these products could bring in hands-off income—giving her even more ways to make money.
Why LinkedIn Works: The Strategic Advantage ✨
Chapman’s success isn’t luck but comes from LinkedIn’s unique spot in the creator world. She points to four big advantages:
- Premium Audience Access: Direct line to decision-makers, CEOs, and founders
- Higher Partnership Rates: Ability to charge top dollar thanks to who’s in her audience
- Algorithm Preferences: Content rules that favor thoughtful, helpful posts instead of clickbait
- Less Competition: Way fewer content creators fighting for attention compared to other platforms
Building Momentum: The Timeline to Success ⏱️
Chapman’s story shows that making money on LinkedIn takes some patience. She admits, “It took about three or four months to really build an infrastructure where the deals were coming in. It wasn’t like, ‘You got money right away.'”
Her big break? When LinkedIn itself noticed her growing influence and invited her to their NYC office—a nod that validated her approach and fired up her commitment to the platform.
Growth Opportunities for the Future 🌱
While Chapman’s killing it already, she could explore a few more areas to push her LinkedIn presence further:
- Teaming up with other LinkedIn influencers to reach more people
- Creating industry-specific content packages for different professional groups
- Playing with LinkedIn’s newer video features, which she sees as untapped potential
- Building community projects that turn passive followers into active participants
The Takeaway: LinkedIn’s Untapped Potential 💡
Chapman’s experience reveals something powerful for content creators: sometimes the best opportunities hide in overlooked places. While everyone chases followers on mainstream social sites, LinkedIn offers something better—access to professionals who can actually make decisions and spend money.
For folks wondering where to focus their content efforts, Chapman’s advice couldn’t be clearer: “If you’re looking to build and monetize an audience, LinkedIn might be the best place to do it.”
Her story shows that even a modest LinkedIn following can generate serious cash—if you deliver stuff that professionals value and position yourself smartly in the creator economy.
Think about what’s possible when you look beyond obvious platforms and focus on building influence where the decision-makers already hang out. As Chapman proves, sometimes the most profitable path is the road less traveled.