I’ve made a pretty big decision about the future of my business.

I’m gonna start making video content about social, content, creators, advertising and the like. On a brand new Instagram account.

Introducing my new project: @HowToMarketYourself

You’re gonna get daily content now, all framed around teaching you how brands, people, bands, creators, and everyone else markets themselves. Mini-case studies on social brands far and wide. Breakdowns of why specific pieces of content went viral. Lessons for you to apply to your brands and your own personal social.

You can be among the first to hit the follow button by clicking here.

The content’s on the way, along with another surprise next month.

As always, thanks for reading… err, watching?

But let’s talk about money, shall we?

How I hit a $200,000 social strategist salary, and how you can, too.

Social media professionals work so hard. We’re thinkers and doers and strategists and writers and designers and producers and organizers and admins and marketers and a million other things. And we all deserve to make a great living for these ever online jobs.

I clawed my way to a $200,000 salary as a social media strategist before I built Future Social. A lot of blood, sweat, and tweets. But coming from a family with some money trauma made it important to me to maximize my earnings, even in a field that many believe doesn’t have the funds.

I honestly believe most of how I handled my career can be replicated. It’ll take you out of your job description at times, and maybe out of your comfort zone, but, that’s every career.

I broke down the 7 things I believe most advanced my career, along with tips on how you can do it for yourself. If you’ve got any questions, you can always reply right to this email—I wanna help.

This is a long one, so let’s jump in.

A little background first + a few caveats

I started my social media career with a prettyyy rough salary.

$30,000 with no benefits in October 2011. I was a “Social Media Specialist” at a 15ish-person social agency, primarily handling community management and reporting. I actually took a paycut to start my career—I made more at my college valet job.

9 years later, I hit a $205,000 salary + stock + bonuses as a Senior Creative Strategist at Twitch. Even I was surprised—I didn’t think I could ever get to a number like that in a role that didn’t include managing a team.

I went from $30k to $85k over 5 years at one ad agency. Then I leapt from $85k to $205k in 4 years by being willing to jump companies for better opportunities. All of my comp bumps were $20k-$30k increases by taking new jobs. Notable, but gradual. My LinkedIn’s got my full career history if you’re curious.

I've also exclusively lived in Los Angeles and New York, working for companies in Los Angeles and New York. LA & NY companies have to offer more $$$ due to cost of living. Don't expect to hit these numbers in Mississippi.

It's also important to acknowledge luck. I've had good luck! Like when my 1st agency got bought by a mid-sized agency, exposing me to big name work early. I've had bad luck! Like a global pandemic starting 6 weeks after I took a big job as I entered a bad depression.

Okay, cool, those are the caveats, let's get into it.

I attached myself to company revenue.

I straight up asked my first boss how I could make more money—she always gave both great overall career + specific moment advice. Her response: if I could tie myself to company revenue, it’ll always be easier to justify paying me more. She mentioned that maybe I could work my way onto pitches for us, though that wasn’t traditionally offered to employees at my level.

So, I begged my way onto the pitch team. I asked to sit quietly in the corner & shadow her to learn. I eventually got a yes and soaked up listening to senior staff talk through pitch strategy, game theory, and how to sell our agency. Then one day, my boss was too busy to take on another pitch and told our partners “Jack’s heard me do this a thousand times, he can cover for me.”

Baby me took that opportunity incredibly seriously. I practiced constantly, mimicked my mentors, and eventually developed my own pitch style. I’d spend that year working with ad pros 20 years my senior to win millions in campaigns. Two jobs later, I landed a $17 million campaign as part of a 3-person pitch team.

During one of my annual reviews at that first job, I was specifically told not to share my 10% bump with my peers—that it was reflective of me selling work and out of the expected salary band—but my boss got the money because the math was simple. I brought in revenue!

I took the work no one wanted to do.

I had so much fun in 2015. I led social for Community (six seasons and a movie!) and Rock Band 4. Literally my favorite TV show and favorite video game. But when those wrapped, I knew I needed to work on bigger budgets to make more $$$ & advance my career, so I asked to join our Microsoft team.

We had Xbox social, but everyone wanted to work on that. But we also had Microsoft Surface, their tablet computer thingy, which… our team wasn’t jumping to work on it. So I asked to be on it. No, a tablet wasn’t gonna be as fun as gaming, but it was a big name where I could show my work + work with more senior clients. I also snagged a promotion + $10,000 raise in the process.

This is where I see many social professionals get stuck. Sure, we all wanna work in industries or subject matter we’re passionate about, many of the most popular industries are oversaturated with talent and underpaid thanks to the supply beating the demand. Best way to beat that—get excited about the puzzle of social media and applying your skillsets to whatever company or product needs it. There’s no such thing as a boring brand—just boring marketing ideas & marketers who’ve decided not to challenge themselves.

I built a personal brand.

I was at my first agency for five years when I had a panic moment—I realized I didn’t know anyone in my industry besides the people sitting next to me. I knew I’d need to expand my network if I ever wanted a new job, but I was never terribly comfortable with traditional networking—so, I turned to content.

I started tweeting my thoughts on advertising. Put together a few case studies as Twitter threads, like this one.

Then they started getting traction. This thread was picked up by BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan, Fox News, and a whole lotta other aggregators. I realized there was something there, so I started writing more, solely with the goal of connecting with other advertising folks. Then I started copy/pasting my tweets onto LinkedIn. Years later, that combined to over 150,000 followers on the two platforms!

Again, I never wanted to be a ~creator~. I just wanted jobs! And my personal brand became an incredible tool for finding bosses and clients.

• My last three jobs all started with DM conversations, including the role that moved me from LA to New York

• a Spotify product manager cold DMed me after reading my case studies, asking how we could work together. That led to me bringing several hundred grand in work to my agency.

• Jimmy Fallon’s showrunner DMed me to help recruit their next head of social… and I put my name in the hat, and interviewed with Jimmy himself.

Having the personal brand also gave me built in authority when I presented my work. My clients had often read my writing long before I ever pitched them my own ideas—I didn’t have to prove myself as part of the pitch process.

I highly encourage everyone to share their professional thoughts online. If you need a little push to get comfy on LinkedIn, I built something you might wanna look at.

I was willing to leave for new jobs.

I didn’t even consider leaving my first agency for a full 5 years. I was working with my best friends, I had some really cool clients, and I was learning every day. And honestly, I never did find the brilliance or team cohesion of that first agency (shout out Ayzenberg Group, still one of the top social agencies in my opinion).

Eventually, my priorities shifted. I decided learning new things, seniority, and $$$ was more important, so I shifted my career that direction. I went from Senior Strategist to Senior Director by jumping to a new company (a job I wasn’t at all prepared for—took me a hot second to get used to leadership positions). Then I took a few jobs for money, including one that worked me til 3 am my second week in the office. I remember calling a friend and yelling “I’d give back the $30k right now for my old job, this sucks.”

But I learned how to deliver value early in my new gigs. I’d get wins fast, and never stopped interviewing. If a new opportunity came along in a year that paid more + was closer to a dream job, why not pursue it? Even at the agencies where I only stuck around 1-2 years, I had major wins, and several even asked if I’d come back years later. And that built up seniority allowed me to be more choosy later in my career.

I became a new business guy, even when no one asked me to.

I’d worked with Yahoo for a few years already when they bought Community to develop the show’s final season. When the news hit Twitter, I frantically fired off an email to my clients, telling them I was the show’s biggest fan and I’d kill to work on it. My clients laughed—they hadn’t even heard the news yet.

I was a Social Strategist. Bringing in business was 0% my responsibility, and I arguably acted out of turn. But 3 weeks later, I pitched and won Community for my agency.

A few years later, one of my mentors at that job made me his first hire at a new agency. I was Director Of Creative Strategy with no new business responsibilities, but he knew I’d put myself out there, even if it wasn’t part of my job description.

I called up some old co-workers—was able to bring Riot Games into my agency. A few texts with a buddy landed us Warframe, a big online game. And that Spotify win I mentioned earlier? That landed here. A huge % of my work those years was on work I’d personally brought in, making me very valuable to the agency and allowing me to pick my work.

No matter your title, you can always keep your ear to the ground about new business opportunities. Be proactive and poke around—you’d be amazed where budget is hiding, and how much love you’ll get when you’re the one who finds it.

I asked for help.

When I was at a career crossroads, I DMed a woman I'd looked up to—we'd interacted on Twitter & she'd retweeted my writing in the past. I sent an earnest & honest DM, sharing that I was a little lost in my career and unsure what I should do next, wondering if she could help give me a little direction.

Her reply: "would you move to New York?" A few months later, I moved across the country to work for her.

That was in January 2020, though. 6 months later, I got the COVID lay-off after giving up my old life for that gig.

So, I asked everyone for help this time around. I tweeted that I was out of work and available to hire. Kind followers & readers retweeted that post to the tune of 283,000 impressions.

Within 20 minutes, I got a DM from the woman who’d be my next boss, asking me if I was interested in working at Twitch—the job that broke the $200,000 salary barrier for me.

If you wanna advance in your career, you’ve gotta get comfortable being vulnerable—asking what you don’t know, putting yourself out there, and staying willing to learn. Other people have accomplished what you want to accomplish—consult them!

I worked really, really hard to get great at social.

I study this space religiously. It's fun for me! I write about the industry because I love it. I sought people smarter than me. I begged for feedback on my work. I tried & failed & succeeded to become a strong social strategist. I became encyclopedic, having countless examples when superiors came to looking for brands doing great work. I experimented with my own social accounts. I helped artists and friends out for free.

I put in the reps, learned the fundamentals, then challenged all of them to decide what I personally believe in.

I promise you, you don’t know as much as you think you do. So learn more, and keep learning.

So, that’s the story!

Now I'm a full-time writer, speaker, & freelance social consultant, so my compensation structure is wayyyy different.

I can tell you there are quite a few senior social media or creative strategy jobs that'll get you $150k+, at least, after 10 years experience in the field. And remember, those interviewers don't get to ask your current salary. Don't be afraid to ask for the big number.

I share all this because far too often, social pros are told there's no money in this industry. I promise you, there's a lot of money, if that's how you want to angle your career. Everyone's got a different comfort level with different career decisions, and I certainly sacrificed things to hit my $$$ goals. Some would never work on a product they don't love, or be willing to live in a new city, or to put themselves out there publicly. That's okay!

There's also plenty I'd have done differently. Two of those jobs really destroyed my mental health in ways I probably should've been able to see before accepting the role. Job offers for less $$$ that, in retrospect, would've probably made me happier.

Hopefully this helps. If ya learned something, give the piece a share on your socials? If you have any questions, gimme a shout - happy to help. We neeeeeed to normalize talking about salaries, compensation, the pros and cons of jobs. We can all save each other so much stress and earn so much money if we just talk about this stuff.

If you wanna dip your toe into posting on LinkedIn, I’ve got a program for you.

My first $100,000 newsletter sponsor came from an organic LinkedIn post. My last 3 jobs before becoming a writer? All started in DMs. And all of that happened simply because I was willing to share my thoughts on LinkedIn.

So, I built a little tool to help you dip your toe into personal branding on LinkedIn!

Welcome to Break An Egg 🐣. For just $5/month, you’ll get:

• 30 LinkedIn prompts designed to mine your experience for content

• New ways to highlight your career milestones & accomplishments

• A community of 1000+ other BAEs who help each other!

You can sign up right here. Cheaper than a latte. I’m keeping it at this $5/month mark for anyone who signs up until Black Friday, then it’ll go up a bit (but you’ll be grandfathered into your original price). Can’t wait to help ya break some eggs!