In February, my client lost access to his LinkedIn account.

We had spent three months building his content and outreach systems, and things were running smooth as butter.

His profile was attracting the right clients, his posts were getting high-quality engagement, and his outreach was generating more leads than he could process.

But one morning, he sent me this:

LinkedIn restricted his account overnight.

My client couldn’t tell why. Maybe someone reported him, or maybe the algorithm thought he was using automation (even though he wasn’t). For the next two weeks, he desperately tried to get his account back.

But for LinkedIn’s support team, the case was already closed.

3 months later, his account is still down. He’s absolutely gutted because he had spent years building an asset that would work for him, and it evaporated in just a split second. Worst of all, he’s helpless to do anything about it.

Now he has a difficult choice.

Start again, or call it quits.

This opened my eyes to the uncomfortable truth.

You don’t own your social media audience

If you’re relying on a platform like LinkedIn to grow your business, you’re building on borrowed land.

Every connection, every conversation, and every piece of content you’ve ever created sits on their servers. If one day they decide you’ve crossed their imaginary line, they can pull the plug.

And poof...

You’re gone.

Luckily, my client’s business didn’t depend on LinkedIn alone, so losing his account was brutal, but not fatal.

And yet, he’s no longer able to message any of his 3,000 followers or tap into the years of trust he’s built on the platform. So we had a discussion of what he can do next.

I don’t want the same thing happen to you, Reader.

So here’s what I suggested:

Start collecting emails

That doesn’t mean you need to start writing weekly newsletters right away. You also don’t need to create a lead magnet or welcome sequence (for now).

But you need to start building your list.

When you have a list, you can reach your readers anytime, on your own terms, and without being under the thumb of a social media algorithm.

That means you’re in complete control of the growth of your business.

And that is worth every effort.

Dave

P.S.

I’m about to run a program to help founders start and scale their newsletter.

But before I do, I’m holding free 30-minute consultation calls to learn about your current challenges and find out how I might help.

If you’re a founder who wants to grow your business by building a high-quality newsletter, I’m holding one more call.

No strings attached.

Just hit reply with ‘newsletter’ and let’s have a chat.