Build a Brand People Actually Want to Follow
Five honest lessons from a content creator who turned consistency into trust and burnout into clarity.
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Keti Zasheva’s been one of my favourite people to follow on LinkedIn for a while now. There’s something about her writing, a mix of personality, insigh, and realness, that always cuts through. Her posts don’t try too hard. They just land. Whether she’s reflecting on burnout, dropping a meme that feels a little too accurate or sharing a lesson from building her agency, it always feels like her. Her brand doesn’t feel like strategy. It feels like someone showing up with something to say. That’s exactly why I wanted her on the podcast. Not to break down a framework. But to unpack how she built trust, momentum and a business by being herself.
From Marcus Aurelius to Memes: Branding Without the Cringe | #113: Keti Zasheva
Keti Zasheva is a LinkedIn branding strategist, co-founder of We Craft You Grow, and founder of K.D'Studio. She has helped over 100 founders and CEOs grow their visibility on LinkedIn without cold messages, burnout, or cringe tactics. With a background in design and a life shaped between Australia and Macedonia, Keti brings a blend of creativity, clarity, and strategy to every brand she supports.
In this episode, she shares how she grew her own profile to over 20,000 followers in less than a year. You will hear what it really takes to run a done-for-you LinkedIn agency, how to stand out without selling out, and a few unexpected stories along the way. From philosophy-fuelled books to Assassin’s Creed and her love of cats, this one is as inspiring as it is refreshingly real.
Lessons:
Post Like a Person Not a Pitch Deck
Clarity Builds Brands Faster Than Niches
Trust Is the Strategy That Converts
Your Voice Is the Brand People Remember
Burnout Means It’s Time to Rethink the Strategy
Lesson 1: Post Like a Person, Not a Pitch Deck
Keti’s content started working the moment she stopped writing to impress. In the early days, her posts were neat, polished, and forgettable. She thought sounding professional would attract clients. It didn’t. The turning point? A meme. No CTA, no strategy, just something honest. And it landed. People didn’t just engage. They connected. It marked the moment she went from performing to actually being heard.
She said it herself: “I realised I was trying to sound like LinkedIn expected me to.” That shift, from scripted to real, is what brought in leads, opportunities, and a sense of momentum. If your content feels stuck, maybe it’s not your topic. Maybe it’s your tone. Voice is the real LinkedIn content strategy. Rhythm, honesty, and a point of view will take you further than another five-point tip list ever will.
Keti didn’t grow by posting like a marketer. She grew by sounding like herself. If you’re building a personal brand that people want to follow, drop the pitch voice. Post like a person.
Lesson 2: You Don’t Need a Niche to Grow, You Need Clarity
It’s easy to get stuck trying to define a niche before posting anything. But Keti didn’t grow her personal brand by narrowing down to one tiny slice of the market. She grew by showing up with clarity, clarity in her voice, her message, and the kind of energy she wanted to attract. There was no perfect ICP. There was just honesty, and the willingness to figure things out publicly.
Her audience didn’t connect because she had the most defined offer. They connected because they understood what she cared about. She told stories that showed her values. She shared reflections that built trust. And slowly, clarity turned into consistency. That consistency became recognisable. And recognisability is what led to real growth.
If you’re delaying content because you haven’t “figured it all out,” consider this: clarity often comes through showing up, not before it. Keti didn’t wait for the perfect positioning. She built it in motion.
Lesson 3: Followers Come From Attention, Clients Come From Trust
Not every viral post brings leads. Keti learned that fast. Her growth didn’t come from chasing numbers. It came from creating trust. The posts that led to DMs were not always the ones that got the most likes, they were the ones that spoke to something specific and real. “People messaged me after the posts that felt like I wrote them for one person,” she said.
That’s the difference between attention and trust. Attention gets you visibility. Trust gets you clients. And trust comes from repetition, tone, and relevance. Not from going viral once, but from showing up like someone who understands their people. That was the foundation of Keti’s agency and her own brand.
If you want your LinkedIn content to convert, stop optimising for reach. Start posting with trust in mind. People might follow you for the energy but they’ll work with you because you sound like someone who gets it.
Lesson 4: Your Brand Starts With the Way You Speak
Keti’s brand wasn’t built in Canva. It was built in sentences. What made her content stand out wasn’t the design or the strategy, it was the voice. The tone she used. The rhythm of her posts. The way she phrased things. It was real. And it was consistent. “I just said things the way I’d say them in person,” she told me. And that’s what people remembered.
Most creators over-focus on their positioning and forget their personality. But branding on LinkedIn is more about how you speak than what you say. That’s where the connection lives. Keti didn’t try to sound clever. She just tried to sound clear. And in doing that, she created content that people wanted to read, and remember.
If your brand feels flat, look at your language. Do your posts sound like you? Or like someone trying to sound professional? Your voice is the brand. The sooner you own it, the faster your content will land.
Lesson 5: Burnout Happens When You Force What’s Not Working
Keti didn’t burn out from working too much. She burned out from forcing the wrong kind of work. She was posting daily, trying to grow the agency, handling clients, and pushing herself past her own limits. The content still looked good on the outside but she felt disconnected. “I was showing up like a ghost,” she said. That’s when she paused and reset.
She didn’t quit. She slowed down. Stepped back. Let herself write from a place of energy, not pressure. And when she returned, her content actually performed better. Because she wasn’t forcing anything. She was saying what she meant, not just what she thought she was supposed to say. That made a difference people could feel.
If you’re feeling drained, it’s not always a signal to stop. Sometimes it’s a sign that what you’re doing isn’t aligned. Don’t let the pressure to be consistent override your ability to be clear. The most sustainable content comes from the place where energy meets honesty. That’s where Keti found her voice again.
This episode is for anyone building something online, whether that’s a personal brand, a service business or just a body of work that’s meant to last. We talked about what actually leads to clients (spoiler: not going viral), how she went from 9–5 to running a full agency, what she learned through burnout and why writing in your real voice still matters more than ever. It was honest, fun and full of small moments that’ll probably stick with you. It definitely made me want to slow down, get clearer and rethink the pressure we put on “consistency.” If you’re building something that’s meant to be sustainable, this one’s worth your time.
Keep producing,
Tommen
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