Episode #38 - Brandon Blum

#15MinuteFounder

Brandon Blum is a fractional head of content who runs his own consultancy, working with a handful of retainer clients on organic content, paid creative, and podcasts.

Before that, he spent two years building his own brand with his brother, running pop-ups at Chelsea Market and learning the hard way what it takes to make a business pay.

He also hosts events across New York, including a basketball networking run that’s now expanding to Boston.

In this episode, Brandon explains how he’d make his first dollar online starting from zero, how a solo Shopify founder should build a content engine, and why a podcast belongs in the middle of the funnel, not the top.

Brandon traded a 9 to 5 for retainer clients and his own schedule. doola handles your business filings with experts, so you can spend your time on clients, content, and events instead of paperwork.

Highlights From the Chat

Q: You have a phone, the internet, and zero followers. What’s the fastest way you’d make a dollar online?

I would start a really simple Squarespace website for a service-based business. Then I’d design a couple of static ads and run them to a $1 exploratory call.

I actually thought about doing this for my own business. I have a free social strategy call, but I thought about making it a dollar, because there’s a mental piece to that. I’ve already given this guy money. I’ve never tested it, but that’s what I would do.

Q: How should a solo founder starting a Shopify brand build their content engine?

It depends on the brand and the category. But if you’re thinking about a skincare brand, social proof is really important.

Instead of starting with paid and spending a ton of money with no brand equity, because you just started, you have to start with organic content and see what people resonate with. Then take whatever performs well and put it into paid channels. You can use different hooks, cuts, whatever the case may be.

Then get UGC creators to create content you can use for ads as well. It’s a pretty standard playbook. Get as much content as possible, then figure out how to mess with it: change the hooks, change the music, change the pace, and see what your audience responds to.

The key at first is you’ve got to be patient. A lot of brands think they’re going to go viral right away because their product is so amazing.

Organic is hard. Paid is a lot simpler, because you can pay for eyeballs. But once you figure out organic, paid becomes a lot easier.

Q: Do you have to be good at content to win?

You don’t. I don’t want to make it seem like that’s the only way.

You don’t have to be good at content to be a founder. You can be good in other ways. There’s a million ways to win.

But to go from bad to good, you just have to start. You’ll find your voice along the way and get more comfortable. Whether it’s content or walking around the city with a camera, whatever you’re comfortable with, just do that. Start with that.

Q: How would you build a funnel from a podcast like the 15 Minute Founder?

First, do collaboration posts on Instagram. I find guests are more likely to accept a collaboration than to post a folder of assets on their own. Then post multiple lengths on YouTube: the full episode, chapter cuts where you chop it into maybe five sections, and 60 to 90 second social cuts.

And I think of the podcast as the middle of the funnel, not the top. Someone can come into the funnel in the middle, and the podcast is the perfect anchor to push them down.

So the links in the YouTube description should be “book a call” or “learn more.” You don’t need to push them to a newsletter or a white paper. They’re already at that point.

Q: What’s an example of top, middle, and bottom of funnel content?

You can take a podcast and make it top of funnel. With new episodes, I’ll run a small amount of money on a social cut, like a teaser. That drives the episode. It doesn’t drive a discovery call.

Think about it: people are like, “What is this podcast? Wait, they’re asking me to book a call? I don’t even know what this is.”

Middle of the funnel is the consideration part. Newsletters, podcasts, content. Someone sees your content, maybe an influencer posts it, they follow you. They’re not buying yet, but now they’re in your universe.

Bottom of the funnel is when they’re ready to buy, and that’s where the offer becomes a really big part of it.

Last week I bought my wife a one-year anniversary gift from an Instagram ad. It was like 150 bucks, a custom frame. And they said if you buy this, you get a free four by six photo. Now I get two gifts. The offer was the key there.

Ideally, you figure out where the leaks are along the funnel.

Q: How important is a personal brand right now?

I think it’s really important. People buy from people right now. There’s a lot of noise. You don’t need to be a big influencer. Just being someone who has a personal brand helps.

For me, being top of mind is the key. This year I’ve been doing a lot of events, and that’s a good way for me to stay top of mind.

I want people to say, “That guy does content.” Then I’ll get referred, or I’ll end up having the right conversations.

Q: When should a company start doing events?

Right away. You can figure out a way to make it not expensive, not stressful, and recurring.

Something on brand that’s easy for you or someone on your team to do. Even if it’s a coffee. You can honestly have four people show up, but you can make it look like a big thing.

Promote it before, talk about it after. It’s a content goldmine and a top of mind awareness goldmine.

When we were building our brand, we’d do pop-ups at Chelsea Market, and my brother never wanted to do them because it’s a lot of work. I’d say it’s not just the sales.

A designer came up and said, “I like your brand,” and we ended up working with them on a collection. We got into some stores that way. You’re increasing the surface area of success when you put yourself out there.

Q: How is AI changing content?

There are tools that can take one asset and multiply different creatives, and you’ve got to test different variations and different hooks. Ideally you never put one creative in Meta and just run it.

I use AI all the time for copy and storyboards. Even something like putting a section of this episode into Claude and asking, “What would be a good text-on-screen hook for this part?” It’s more efficient and probably better than what I would come up with, even though I like copy.

Q: What’s your number one productivity hack?

I listen to the same song on repeat. An electronic song, no lyrics, just vibey. I’ll listen to the same song for like six hours.

When I write my newsletter, that’s usually what I do. It puts me in a zone. It’s kind of weird, but you just get into a flow state.

Q: What’s your earthquake book?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I read it at a very formative time. When I was graduating college, I was pre-med and didn’t want to go to med school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.

It’s all about a shepherd’s journey across the world to find his treasure. And when he gets there, he realizes it wasn’t about the treasure. It was about the people he met along the way. I actually have a tattoo of “life is a journey” on my arm from it.

It’s not about the billion-dollar business. It’s who you become.

Q: What’s a take you believe that most people disagree with?

School doesn’t really mean anything.

For me personally, I don’t think I got a lot out of school other than habits and friendships. Everything I learned came after: living in New York, making mistakes, losing my first job because I didn’t take it seriously.

Think about a quarterback who just got drafted to the NFL. The first time he drops back, it’s insanely fast. After he does it 100 times, it starts to slow down. You just need reps.

In school, you’re looking at the playbook. You’ve got to get out there and play.

Q: Why did you step back from building your own brand?

It wasn’t an on and off switch. I think it was when I got married. I didn’t see a path to really getting it there, and I want to raise a family. Some people say you should have stuck with it another couple of years, but I couldn’t afford to do it anymore.

For two years I was barely making any money, dipping into savings. That was terrible. But I learned a lot. I probably needed that experience.

Q: If you had a billboard in New York, what would it say?

You got it.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Fastest Way to Make $1 Online From Scratch

01:41 – How to Build a Shopify Content System (0 → $10K/Month)

02:59 – YouTube vs X vs Instagram vs TikTok: Where Should You Post?

12:34 – Top vs Middle vs Bottom of Funnel Explained

15:31 – Why Personal Brand Matters for Solopreneurs

20:41 – Why Every Brand Should Host Events

25:17 – How AI Will Change Content Creation

34:43 – The Productivity Hack That Puts Him in Flow State

43:44 – What Actually Drives Entrepreneurs: Money, Power, Pleasure or Fame?

50:12 – Knowing When to Pivot in Business

58:10 – The One Message Every Founder Needs to Hear