Oliver Meakings

Senja.io

Co-founder of Senja.io. Collect more, better video testimonials, manage them, and share them everywhere. My boostrapped indie SaaS with over 15,000 users.

Cofounder

Roast My Landing Page

What have you missed on your landing page? Let me show you: https://www.roastmylandingpage.com

Founder

Olly Meakings Marketing

Currently and recently working with London-based bootstrapped and seed-funded startups Corona Test Centre, SeatPlan, NailBuff, Clayton, Ferly, Noodle, Mindful Team, Lifetise, User Replay, The SaaaSy Co, Canopius and CharlieHR.

Freelance Marketing Consultancy

Lifetise

* Ongoing early-stage startup consultancy
* Advising on product and marketing strategy

Freelance: Senior Marketing & Product Consultant

Mindful Team

CharlieHR

* Content strategy and distribution
* Building an audience for The Workplace: https://blog.charliehr.com

Freelance: Content at Charlie HR

Canopius Group

Freelance: Senior Marketing Consultant

Rank

* Oversaw brand refinement for Bonkers Bingo
* Creation of strategy and wireframes for microsite build
* Creation of content strategy proposal

Freelance: Senior Product & Marketing Strategy Consultant [via BIGGER.]

Adventure Film Festival

* Communications and Marketing Director
* Planned and delivered complete marketing and digital strategy
* Partner engagement: Google, Meridian Line, Outside TV, Zeal Optics, Black Diamond
* Managed distributed team of 4: Designer, Videographer, Web Dev and Content Executive
* Introduced Early Bird messaging, selling $1000s of extra tickets

Freelance: Marketing Director

Maximum Pop!

* Managed distributed team of 12: content development, design and sales
* Delivered market-leading digital Gen Z product
* Created, delivered and measured product and marketing strategy
* Grew monthly unique visitors from 200,000 to 1,000,000
* Added 500,000 Facebook likes in 6 months
* Delivered 125,000 quiz plays each month
* Product managed the launch of a suite of products:
- 3 new web builds
- 4 Messenger Bot builds
- 2 new social profiles
* Clients included: Capital FM, Keds, HarperCollins, Egmont, Simon & Schuster, Nickelodeon, River Island

Founder &  Publisher

I'm the cofounder of Senja.io

Senja  helps founders, freelancers, creators and sales people collect and share video testimonials.

🔥 I've roasted over 900 landing pages: https://www.roastmylandingpage.com
Yep, the original and the best landing page roasting service. Nobody does it better.

Co-Founder

Co-founder of Senja.io. Collect, manage and share your testimonials.

Olly Meakings

✨ It's official ✨

Senja just hit $1,000,000 ARR

3 years 9 months
3,000 paying customers
100% bootstrapped and #buildinpublic
2-person team

Building a bootstrapped SaaS in public, without the BS

I don't think I'm going to hire an engineer

I think I am going to hire 2

The advice I've received is that 2 good engineers working together is better than one 'superstar'

More output, more accountability, review each other's code, no SPOF

What do you think?

Revenue Rulebreaker

Covering online revenue streams especially subscriptions, memberships, sponsorships and digital products. Become a Legend to access everything I'm doing and be part of our creative network.

Publisher and Writer

The Legends Network

The Legends are a loose network of creative entrepreneurs worldwide. They come together to collaborate, support and amplify each other's work and they are financial backers of my work too. Learn more at https://www.revenuerulebreaker.com/why-become-a-legend/

Creator and Community Convener

Project C

Project C is a coalition for creator journalism. I lead live sessions in the community and write for the Project C newsletter.

Advisor and Community Facilitator

Lex Roman Inc

If you're reading this, I've already moved on.
NOTABLE PROJECTS: Growthtrackers, Low Energy Leads, Revenue Rulebreaker, Journalists Pay Themselves, Growth Designers
NOTABLE CLIENTS: Gusto, Avo, Amplitude, The Justice Collaborative, Winning by Design, and Compiler/Caltrans

Self Employed

Gusto

Led a growth project around activating new customers for Gusto (Contract)

Lead Growth Designer, Onboarding and Activation (Contract)

The Black Tux

Led two major growth projects: 1) Overhauled the checkout experience resulting in a 20%+ increase to purchase conversion and 2) Increase sign up throughout from marketing activities to account creations

Lead Product Designer and Product Manager, Growth

Burner (Ad Hoc Labs)

Led various growth projects to expand subscription offers, increase subscription uptake and reduce churn, and get more subscriptions directly from App Store downloads. Led product marketing initiatives for new releases on both mobile apps and web.

Lead Product and Growth Designer

GrowthDesigners.co

I started Growth Designers in 2016 after a couple years of not being able to find many designers in the growth space. It grew into a community of over 2000 designers practicing business-oriented design. Growth Designers continues but I stepped down from leadership in 2021.

Founder of Growth Designers

Carbon Five

Design Lead for various startup, growth and innovation projects. Notable clients include: Nissan, Prosper, Joyable (acquired) and Guardant Health.

Lead Product Designer, Innovation and Growth Projects

Neo Innovation, Inc.

Design Lead for innovation projects, teaching lean startup and growth methods to enterprise companies. Notable clients include: Toyota and Macys.com.

I write about how people make money online. 

It started with a podcast called Low Energy Leads, about how to find clients. That turned into Revenue Rulebreaker, where I cover subscriptions, memberships, digital products, sponsorships and more.

I have 13+ years of experience in growth and marketing for tech companies, small businesses, nonprofits and media ventures. I love digging into what makes a revenue stream hard to pull off, experimenting with it myself and explaining it’s pitfalls and opportunities so you can use your time and money more wisely.

Visit lexroman.com for more on my background and what I'm up to.
Check out my blog at revenuerulebreaker.com

Lex Roman

A lot of writers try the audience-funded model and it doesn't work for them. Why is that? Does their audience not want to fund them? Nah, I think it's something else.

Substack and Patreon and other creator tools have sold a lie that you can become an audience-backed creator overnight.

That's ONLY TRUE IF your audience is massive already.

For most of us, we build audience + revenue at the same time.

And that's a journey. It takes time to get right—like any other business model you could choose. What's harder about the audience model compared to the client model or advertising model is that it's smaller dollars that come in and that can feel like a slog.

5 tips if you want to be audience-backed:

✏️ Find founding and annual members first: These people "invest" because they already trust you and will give you $100-1000 to be an early adopter of your work.

✏️ Encourage and incentivize annual subscriptions: Even beyond your initial subscribers, your annual subs will provide the most stability. Prompt people to switch and incentivize them with bonuses or discounts.

✏️ Consider pro tiers or organizational levels: Especially if your audience is B2B or prosumer. You can add a perk or two that makes your subscription worthwhile for a professional audience or you can sell discount packages of seats.

✏️ Diversify your revenue. Just because you're audience funded doesn't mean you can't take a sponsor, a larger dollar grant or other income to fund your venture, especially in the first year or two.

✏️ Learn how the model works: Substack and Patreon lied to you. You need to learn how to price, package, market, retain, win back and most importantly communicate with your subscribers yourself. No tech company will do that for you.

Audience-funding your work is both way more possible than people believe AND it takes a lot of effort to make it fly. Moving to a small dollar audience model has been one of the best things I've ever done. It can be incredibly rewarding if you take ownership of making it a success.

Build your internet business with me at revenuerulebreaker.com

I launched a campaign yesterday to raise funds for Revenue Rulebreaker. Thanks to you—it's almost already at $1000 raised.

I'm raising the funds just to cover expenses (excluding my salary) for three months because I'm short on my paid subscriber goal for the year but I still want to invest in growing this project. I have never had startup capital and it's hard to grow something from scratch but I think this project to surface and service creative business owners doing business their way is important and I want to keep going. 

I plan to do subscriber drives and fundraisers like this a few times a year because I am choosing to be small dollar audience-backed. This is what's required to keep a media venture that charges $9/month going. 

I know this is unusual to see from people you think are secretly consultants, but I'm not. There's $0 in consulting revenue coming into this business! We are running on subscriptions, contributions and sponsorships alone!

This campaign covers:
- Ghost hosting fees for both sites (Rulebreaker and Paid Newsletter Playbook)
- Ghost development to improve both sites/keep them functioning through Ghost changes
- Guest contributors who bring us perspectives we can't get elsewhere
- Ads to grow this audience

BIG SHOUT OUTS to everyone who has contributed
Tina Bar-On
Maigen Thomas
Elizabeth Howell
Kari Ginsburg, CCMP, PCC
Pame Barba, MSc, ACC
Jennifer O'Sullivan
Maliha M
Kate Dole ✨🌳
And my mom and dad 💓 

Every single person who has contributed is ALREADY a paid subscriber. It's a small crew who believes in me but I build every day for them. And I do my best to give back to them everything they are giving to me. That's why my paid subscription doubles as a creative network.

You can be a part of it too.

Become a paid subscriber: https://lnkd.in/eA32gxps

Contribute to this campaign: https://lnkd.in/e8w4373T

My fundraiser page screenshot showing how much raised and my explainer

Yesterday, I went to a mixer for "The Locals." It was extraordinary. I think you should be part of this too and I'm gonna tell you why.

The Locals is a group of insiders for Kat Vellos's work on friendship, belonging and building community.

Kat has been sharing her work with us for free for years. Writing us about how to find connection in a lonely world. Telling us how to avoid small talk. Drawing us pictures that capture how we're feeling. Sending photo essays about how our city landscapes impact our health and happiness. Recording reflective episodes of a private podcast that feels like it's 1 on 1. Bringing us together at events to connect and reflect.

It's a really special community that Kat has convened. She wanted to invite us along for her new chapter so she launched The Locals.

The Locals is a patron community of people who resonate with Kat's work, put it into practice and want to meet other thoughtful community builders. It's people who invite their neighbors to coffee on their stoop. It's people who start artmaking clubs. It's people who just want to make more friends. 

It's people who just want a front row seat to whatever Kat Vellos is exploring and developing.

If you care about friendship, your neighbors or your community, you need to be part of this. Join us here: https://lnkd.in/e3dRPdd2

Kat's doing a subscriber drive and we're aiming for 100 Locals!

[Photo from a meet the author event we did with Kat for Atlanta Solopreneurs Club in 2023]

I just finished the $10k Brand Deal Challenge with Justin Moore. This challenge taught me why I've booked most of the partnerships I go after. I want to share what's worked for me this year to cross $20k in partnership revenue.

First: Justin's challenge was incredible like everything he does. If you're not following Creator Wizard and Justin Moore, you should be. He generously overdelivers every time. His book is a must read for anyone chasing sponsorships: https://lnkd.in/ewpGSKtY

🎬 Results over placements
A lot of creators are focused on placements. Number of posts. Number of videos. Those things are HOW you deliver but not WHAT you are delivering. It doesn't matter if you made 10 great YouTube videos if no one clicks your partner's link.

🎬 Testing and vetting partners with my audience
Most of my partnership pitch ideas come from my audience. I listen for tools they are buzzing about and I survey them to surface problems. My partnership with Outpost came out of recommending them to every Ghost publisher and getting good feedback on the rec. My partnership with Sunsama came out of an audience survey where "managing projects" was the top pain point. If I'm not sure, I'll run test ads, using affiliate links or even just an organic recommendation to see the response. I then use this data in the pitch.

🎬 Pitching partners I know I can deliver for (and making sure I deliver)
I only pitch partners I believe my audience will appreciate and I work hard to make sure my partner is seen and considered. If we don't see good performance, I always offer to extend the campaign and make it right. 

🎬 Paying attention to what my partners need and ask for
I love Justin's guidance on treating yourself more like a consultant and service provider than a content machine. I ask partners about priorities and listen for content-related or event-related gaps that I can solve. I lost a bunch of my ad inventory this year when I merged one of my newsletters. Thinking like a service provider again helped me see a new way to partner that went goes just my channels.

🎬 Telling the success story
One of my sponsors told me I'm the only creator who sends them report backs. I book ads with creators too and similarly, I almost never know when the ad went out and how it did. If you rely on your partner to track this, they will be missing data. They won't have any of your audience feedback. And they might not even look into it. Tell the success story you see and you'll help them see it's worth continuing to work together.

I'm not the sponsorship expert. Justin is. But I have learned a ton expanding my partnerships this year. If you'd like to partner with me next year, reach out here: https://lnkd.in/eM6VTUSa

Need a business reset? I'm hosting Jessica Lackey to discuss her new book "Leaving the Casino." Close out your year with a fresh foundation! 

This book is perfect for you if you're:
- Rethinking your business model
- Feeling like your business isn't sustainable
- Worried about what 2026 holds for you
- Just getting started in business
- Coming back to your business after time off

Get your copy of "Leaving the Casino" and join us Friday, December 12 to talk about how to apply it in your business.

In this book, Jessica steers us away from the entrepreneurial casino of quick fixes and funnels and invites us into a world where we can build something that's truly our own. If you've ever bought a course or a program thinking it would change your life, you're gonna love her thoughtful approach.

Come hang with us on Friday, December 12 at 9am Pacific/12pm Eastern 📗

The event is FREE but I highly recommend buying the book (discount code when you register!) https://luma.com/ntdwehsq

We don’t know what’s happening with healthcare subsidies in the US, but "work harder and pay more" seems like a terrible plan. So, we looked into your options.

Rey Katz and I wrote today's story, pulling together a range of options from individual underwriting of private healthcare to Association Health Plans to crowdfunded healthcare and medical tourism. I was surprised at how much we found and it's not GREAT but it's also...not nothing.

Read it now on Revenue Rulebreaker and share it with your self-employed friends
https://lnkd.in/g_tgUMwd

what are US-based entrepreneurs doing for healthcare in 2026

I spotted Amanda Laird's launch recap on Threads and immediately wanted to know more. She sold her new group program with a 38 email campaign. What worked?!

Lucky for us, Amanda is super open. So I asked her to do a guest post for us. It's coming Sunday 🍿 

Amanda spills:
- What kinds of subject lines and messages worked
- How she segmented her list to target the message better
- What the biggest hesitations were from potential buyers
- How this launch compared to others she's done
- Final sales numbers and what's next

Heads up this post is ONLY for paid subscribers, but when you join the FREE NEWSLETTER you:

👀Get longer previews that aren’t available on the website 
🕶️Receive first access to events
🤩Help fund more stories like this 

Join here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eXNtMUSt

Want to know how this launch REALLY went?

In case you missed it: journalism isn’t just for news. Entrepreneurs are embracing journalistic practices to build media brands and authority in their industry.

Alexa Phillips wrote about where this idea comes from, why you should pay attention and how you can get into it for Revenue Rulebreaker

https://lnkd.in/ey4ShNzn

Why entrepreneurial journalism is the next era of content creation

taplio

The Battle

Olly Meakings

Lex Roman

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreOlly Meakings's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLex Roman's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Olly Meakings

Lex Roman

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Olly Meakings's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreLex Roman's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreOlly Meakings's LinkedIn Performance