Shoaib Ahmed

Yello Hippo

We've helped 40+ founders, creators and C-suite executives build authority on LinkedIn through industry-leading personal brand management. Our clients span a range of sectors including Coaching, Creator, eCommerce, Finance, HR, Marketing, Media, Supply Chain, Talent Management and Tech.

Founder & Director

Kurogo

I build, craft and manage personal brands for CEOs/Founders (eCommerce, marketing, consultancy, gaming, life coaching, social media, tech, web development, startups). 

🚀 Inspired steroid-level engagement 
🚀 Built and scaled valuable networks
🚀 Generated high-quality inbound leads

My role involves brand strategy, content creation, scheduling and reporting and account management.

Personal Brand Manager

RMP Enterprise

[See below] + managing delivery of social influencer campaigns and affiliate partnerships.

Campaigns Executive

Running and scaling social media brands, coordinating email newsletter comms, delivering workshops and guest lectures, managing logistics and event delivery, and creating high-quality blog content

📈 359% increase in Instagram reach via an innovative new social strategy. 
📈 30,000+ additional website visitors (via blog-writing with SEO).
📈 7% CTO rates increase for B2C newsletters (database of over 100,000)

Awarded Employee of the Month, Employee of the Quarter (Innovate) and Best Newcomer.

Marketing Assistant

Looking to level up your personal brand?

We help founders, creators and C-Suite executives build authority on LinkedIn and smash their personal and business objectives. Using our expert insights and data, we help our clients to...

🚀 Attract and convert high-quality leads
🎙️ Generate PR opportunities and invites
👥 Build and scale their online following
🙌🏽 Establish themselves as industry-leaders
🤝 Attract world-class talent into their teams
🎯 Position themselves as credible experts

Like what you see?

We offer full personal brand management packages (monthly retainers) and one-off personal branding workshops. So whether you want our full services, or our skills and expertise, we can help!

Visit our website to find out more.

Or drop me a DM 📥

We've helped 25+ founders, creators and C-suite executives build authority on LinkedIn through industry-leading personal brand management. Our clients span a range of sectors including Coaching, Creator, eCommerce, Finance, HR, Marketing, Media, Supply Chain, Talent Management and Tech.

I got to do the best thing ever today.

Promote Charlotte Moon 🎉💰

Charlotte joined us 3 MONTHS ago as Yello Hippo's Marketing Executive. She's now our new Brand & Marketing MANAGER.

She is just incredible.

Here are 5 reasons why I promoted her so fast.

1. She went beyond expectations without being told to. 
2. She is willing to pivot strategy at the drop of a hat.
3. She challenges my views/approach without hesitation.
4. She manages a lot of different responsibilities with ease.
5. She's a perfect ambassador for the Yello Hippo brand.

I don't believe you should 'wait your turn' for promotion.

I think you should earn it 🚀

Charlotte did that and then some.

Show her some love below! 💛

My '30 before 30' bucket list had one big goal on it.

To be a 'Manager' and have a £50K salary.

Then I found LinkedIn. I found lots of inspiring stories. I found a whole heap of opportunities I was never exposed to before.

And I said 'f*ck it.'

I'm going to fast-track my growth.

So I did.

This is how it's gone so far.

12 months ago: quit my job 
11 months ago: launched my website & ebook 
10 months ago: had 10+ clients of my own 
9 months ago: hit a 5-figure revenue month 
8 months ago: hired two virtual assistants 
7 months ago: had 15+ clients of my own 
6 months ago: hired my first employee 
5 months ago: launched my agency Yello Hippo 
4 months ago: hired my second employee 
3 months ago: hit 6-figures in revenue 
2 months ago: became a Virgin Startup Mentor 
1 month ago: had our biggest revenue month 
This month: hit 100M client content views 

I surpassed that 30 before 30 goal at 23 years old.

Reminder: don't wait on others to make sh*t happen for you.

Take the baton and run with it.

I'm so excited to say that we hit 100 MILLION views!

I'm buzzing right now 🔥🥳

In total, the LinkedIn content that Yello Hippo produced for our clients in 2022 generated over 100 million organic views.

I'm 100% going to shout about this 📢

Here's why! 

👏🏽 We have a small team of 3.
👏🏽 We have a small client base.
👏🏽 We started from 0 in January.

Our success is down to our client relationships. 

AND the data we've collected from 3K+ LinkedIn posts that we've written, analysed with a fine tooth comb and learned from 📈🔎

It proves that size doesn't matter.

How do I know? 💥

Because we've outperformed agencies with 5x the number of employees, 10x the number of clients and 3+ years experience.

We ARE the definition of small but mighty.

What a way to kick off 2023 🥂

P.S. I searched the whole of Northampton for an M-shaped balloon and had 0 luck. So my hand-painted canvas M will have to do.

We failed to hit our targets SO BADLY 😲

In Sept, I hired Charlotte Moon to blow up the Yello Hippo socials.

We set a target (by Dec 2022) of:

📈 5000 followers on LinkedIn
📈 2500 followers on Instagram

We currently have:

📉 693 followers on LinkedIn
📉 159 followers on Instagram

It's my fault.

I cut social media from our 'to-do list' ❌

Building our social media presence was initially a lead-generation activity. But now I don't want to take on a load of new clients.

Intentional growth > rapid scaling is our motto! 🙌🏽

So now, Charlotte's extra 16 hours a week have gone to client delivery, business development and telling us sh*t jokes.

Reminder for everyone 👇🏽

You can't and shouldn't do everything at once. Focus on what actually moves the needle in your biz. Not what *looks* good.

On socials we look a bit sh*t.
In reality business is booming.

Post inspired by a marketing agency that reached out and said if we don't improve our socials, the business will essentially fall apart.

Lol - don't be so dramatic hun x

Founder: Yello Hippo 🎙️ | Helping Founders, Creators and C-Suite Executives Build Authority on LinkedIn

No alternative text description for this image

£3000 going straight to charity ✅

PURPOSE > PROFIT 

I'm so proud that as a team of 3 in our first year of business, Yello Hippo has been able to donate 100% of proceeds from our December personal branding workshops to meaningful causes 💛
 
In 2023 we hope to double that! 

The money is going to Mermaids this time around 🌈
 
Any suggestions for charities we should support next? 

Another f*cking HUGE announcement 🥳🎉

Congratulations to Gabriël!!!

Yello Hippo's newly promoted Personal Brand Manager.

Gabriël joined me when I was struggling to juggle 20+ clients and had no free time. I probably wasn't the best boss because of it.

At the time we didn't even have a business name 😮

But he stuck with the chaos.

✅ He was patient. 
✅ He was dedicated. 
✅ He was loyal.

But more importantly, he was willing to learn, deliver some amazing work and go above and beyond for clients. 

He backed my vision without hesitation.

To have an employee like that in your first 6 months of business as a founder is invaluable. I can't stress enough gratitude 🙏🏽

It was about time I recognised his hard work.

Send your congrats below!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

ChatGPT is all the hype right now.

But just how good is it? 🧐

I'm the founder of Yello Hippo, a LinkedIn personal branding agency in which copywriting takes up 75-85% of our time. 

I see ChatGPT helping in many ways:

✅ Generating diverse content ideas
✅ Generating compelling hook ideas
✅ Generating repurposable content

But here are 5 things it CAN'T do:

❌ Extract and tell raw, personal stories
❌ Share unique and original opinions
❌ Express human emotion accurately
❌ Convey an individual's tone of voice
❌ Build a strong and active community 

Time's up for contractors/agencies who have relied solely on repurposing content from the web to service their clients ⌛

But those doing meaningful work by...

Building brands through a deep understanding of clients, strategic audience targeting, tone of voice, visual assets, personal storytelling,  video content and community growth...

Well, they won't be worried 🤷🏾‍♂️

They will see ChatGPT as an asset. Not a threat.

It's an exciting time I think.

Your thoughts? 👇🏽

a picture of a person posing for the camera

I think I'm a decent boss.

- I give my team full flexibility. 
- I include them in every decision.
- I am transparent about finances.
- I pay them above industry rates.
- I promote performance > time

But I could be better. A lot better.

Here are 3 things I'll be focusing on:

1️⃣ Giving my team more responsibility.

I'm a perfectionist at heart and need to let go of the fear of what might go wrong if I hand over more control to others. 

2️⃣ Giving my team more creative freedom.

I have set ways of doing things that I need to let go of. I'm a stickler for routine and need to be open to more experimentation.

3️⃣ Giving my team more diverse tasks.

I like structure. But sometimes that results in repetitive tasks which can feel tedious or less exciting. I need to keep things fresh.

I'm sharing this to hold myself accountable.

No hiding from the facts.

PS. Repping the EA Accountancy hoodie (thanks Ellis).

If you ever read one of my posts.

Please make it this one.

The last year has been amazing. I graduated, launched my own business and moved to a new city with my best mate.

But here's a snapshot of life before:

- 8 years of overt racism in football clubs I played in.
- Being excluded for being 'too ethnic' in white spaces.
- Being excluded for being 'too white' in ethnic spaces.
- Asking where the fuck am I supposed to exist then?
- Trying to jump between two cultures that don't align.
- Avoiding counselling to avoid a problem until it blew up.
- Severe anxiety to the point of having to take spare shirts to school and get changed in the toilets because I'd sweat so badly.
- Nearly dropping out of university on multiple occasions.
- Trying to 'fit in' but standing out like a sore thumb.
- Constantly worrying that I'd never have any friends.

Sorry if that sounds f*cking depressing.

The truth is that we all go through sh*t. Some people just don't share that with you. Others make an active effort to hide it.

I personally want to be more open about it.

You're not alone 🖤

Even if social media makes you think you are.

My 11 ultimate icks [LinkedIn Edition]

🤢 People who *only* comment when they disagree
🤢 Stock image banner photos / no profile pics
🤢 'Can I interest you in...' first-time DM'ers
🤢 Ca. Car. Caro. Carou... (I daren't haha)
🤢 Founders that inflate their success
🤢 Exaggerated stories/experiences
🤢 Painfully generic statements
🤢 'I'm back on LinkedIn guys' 
🤢 Spamming @'s in posts
🤢 Fake LinkedIn feuds
🤢 'Beautiful 🌹' 

Just one more for good measure.

The anti 'personal branders'. Those who claim to hate personal branding but manage to make it their entire personality.

Silly buggers.

Feel free to add any I missed.

Social media isn't toxic.

It's how you CHOOSE to use it that can be 💁🏽‍♂️

I personally love it for 3 reasons.

1. I see MYSELF represented.

I can find people who look like me, with a similar background, doing the things I aspire to - and doing it successfully!

2. I have ACCESS to opportunities.

I've been able to fast-track my career, build a professional network and promote myself again and again within 12 months.

3. I can LEARN new skills fast.

I follow high-quality content creators who've broken down topics into actionable and educational videos I can learn from.

If you're not finding value...

You're either:

a) Using it without real purpose
B) Looking in the wrong places

Reflect 👉🏽 Re-organise 👉🏽 Re-strategise

Never before has there been such a leveller for access & opportunity.

Don't let it go to waste ✌🏽

I built a multi-6-figure business in 12 months.

Here are 5 things that helped me do it:

A few helpful tips for a Tuesday

Intense vs intentional 🧐

What category do you fit in? 
 
Intense:

= Putting in the reps 7 days/week
= Sacrificing social commitments
= Having multiple projects on the go
= Juggling 10 different biz roles
= Hopping between to-do lists 

Intentional:

= Focus on quality execution
= Optimising through data
= Eliminating inefficiencies
= Installing robust systems
= Finessing client delivery 

I spent the first 6 months of my biz working intensely.
I spent the last 6 working intentionally.

If you're an early-stage founder, figure out how you can get to that intentional stage of working as fast as possible. 

That's when you really go from 1-100 🚀

What drives a person to leave a hate comment?

I've narrowed it down to 10 things.

1. Envy of those grabbing life by the balls.
2. Feeling threatened by others' success.
3. Self-loathing and insecurities.
4. Boredom in their own daily lives.
5. Inability to get noticed otherwise.
6. Attention-seeking personalities.
7. Exaggerated sense of self-importance.
8. Excessive need for admiration.
9. Severe lack of human empathy. 
10. Failure to reach their own goals.

Can we all agree to take one minute out of our Saturday to send them a prayer for good health and happiness?

Poor sods.

"If you don't reply to your comments, you don't care."
"There is no excuse for not replying."
"It's selfish and rude not to reply."

*sighs*

I can only speak from personal experience.

I try to reply to as many comments as possible. I dedicate time slots every day in my calendar to nip onto LinkedIn and engage.

But it doesn't always happen.

Not because I don't care. Because I do.

But I also work across 15 clients, I write/edit 30+ LI posts every day, I check in with my team as much as possible, I speak to at least 3-5 clients and respond to 25+ emails / 10+ DMs daily.

- This week I onboarded 3 new clients.
- Yesterday I had 6 hrs of Zoom calls.
- I've been working 7am-6pm days.

3 months ago I would've THEN spent an extra 30-60 mins every evening engaging on LinkedIn until I felt physically exhausted.

I don't do that anymore.

Because I appreciate my time off. I need it.

We all do.

Forgive people who don't tick every box of what they *should* be doing to grow their LinkedIn brand. 

I know LinkedIn 'best practise.' It's kinda my job.

But I also try to have a real life outside of it.

And there's nowt wrong with that.

ps. hope everyone is having a lovely week 💛


Bloody chuffed to be a part of this 📚

I'm a contributor to Marketers for Moldova, a collaborative effort of 30+ experienced marketers covering a wide range of marketing matters including YouTube, influencer, digital ads, copywriting, etc.

Get all this knowledge for just £20.

100% of proceeds go to Hope4; a charity working in Moldova, supporting victims of poverty, human trafficking, and war.

Contributors include:

Amy Elliott, Sophie Miller, Fiona Bradley, Joe Glover, Lewis Kemp, Mike Winnet, Michelle J Raymond, Mike Walters, Richard van der Blom, Silvia Coletto 📣📈, Tasleem Ahmad Fateh 👽 and more!

Thanks to Lea 🌈 Turner for pulling this together.

The digital book is available for purchase at https://lnkd.in/eYC-W94w

Or you can donate directly to Hope4 on www.hope4.org 

Open article: Marketers for Moldova - Fundraising for Hope4 by leaturner.co.uk

Marketers for Moldova - Fundraising for Hope4

Taplio

Shoaib Ahmed's Linkedin Analytics

Shoaib Ahmed

What is Shoaib talking about?

Shoaib Ahmed's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Shoaib Ahmed's Linkedin Analytics

Shoaib Ahmed

What is Shoaib talking about?

Shoaib Ahmed's Best Posts .css-qqfgvy{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);}(last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Shoaib Ahmed's Linkedin Analytics

Shoaib Ahmed's Best Posts (last 30 days)