I Finally Reached 5K Followers on LinkedIn

I am both happy and ashamed to be at 5k followers on LinkedIn.

Just in case you are unfamiliar, here is my LinkedIn account - linkedin.com/in/davidolarinoye 

If you have been reading this newsletter for a while now, you know that follower count doesn’t correlate with post performance or anything like that.

Follower count is just a testament of how good your past content has been and how many people relate (with you) and love to be associated with you.

I am happy to finally hit 5k because it shows my content is really good. I started the year 2025 with less than 2k followers.

So, I have more than doubled my follower count in less than 9 months. And this is without being verified or having a fancy position at a big company.

There is no secret I have that I have not shared on this newsletter. And as I keep learning and experimenting, I keep sharing.

But I am also ashamed…

I have not made any significant revenue directly from LinkedIn. Yes, it has helped in filling my email list, but not much further outside that.

For the longest time, I was positioning my LinkedIn account for job opportunities. I just recently switched from that. And I would be telling you how that goes in subsequent articles.

But there is something I have learned in this journey to 5k that you should know…

The Biggest Lesson on LinkedIn

This took a while to learn. But for someone like me, LinkedIn is not about reach, neither is it about conversions.

I have basically looked at it from the lens of reach and conversions only. But I have found something way more interesting in the last couple of days. And the reason is that my priority changed on LinkedIn.

Now, I’m all about generating revenue on LinkedIn. And the secret to doing that is connections.

Now, I don’t mean connections, as in, the connection requests you accepted on LinkedIn. No, that’s not what this is about.

This is about the connections you make with other humans. Being intentional with it and taking it beyond LinkedIn. That’s because it is where opportunities happen.

The pathway is this - from comments to connection requests, to DMs, to video calls, to doing business (or in-person meetup).

This takes between 30 to 90 days depending on several factors. But if your goal is to generate revenue from LinkedIn, building connections with people is the way.

It is the people who know you that do business with you (not the people you know). And on LinkedIn, it is often high-ticket when you land something. So, connect with people.

Conversions is important when running ads. But you cannot expect conversions on organic posts to be great. Reach is great, but if you have business intentions, you should prioritize connections over reach.

Meet people. Be genuinely interested in other people and what they are doing. Making great connections is where the money is at.

Share with a friend or colleague who is active on LinkedIn