Avi Gandhi has 15 years in the creator economy. He's repped creators at William Morris since the Vine days. Built production companies. Led partnerships at Patreon. Now he writes about the creator economy on LinkedIn and consults with creator economy companies.

But when we jumped on a call at VidCon, he hit me with something I hear all the time: "I don't know how to price myself on LinkedIn."

Here's what's wild about this—Avi knows this stuff. He's literally advised other creators on these exact strategies. But when it came to his own business? Completely stuck.

You know what I told him?

"They don't give a crap about you and they don't care at all how many followers you have."

Let me explain.

The Problem With How Most Creators Think About LinkedIn Sponsorships

Avi had secured one solid partnership with TubeBuddy—mid four figures monthly for LinkedIn posts plus light consulting. Great deal. He wanted more like it.

But he kept running into the same mental block: "I only have 20,000 followers on LinkedIn. That's nothing compared to YouTube or TikTok."

Here's the thing though—LinkedIn distribution isn't about raw follower counts. It's about who those followers are. Avi's audience? Founders. Executives. People who control budgets. Decision makers in the creator economy.

That's objectively more valuable than 100K followers who are just scrolling for entertainment.

But Avi was still pricing himself using old creator economy math—one to three cents per follower. By that metric, he'd be charging $100-300 for a post. And as he put it: "I'm an executive. I don't want $100."

The entire framework was wrong from the start.

What Brands Actually Care About (Hint: It's Not Your Follower Count)

When TubeBuddy's former CMO reached out to Avi, it wasn't because of his follower count. It was because Avi was already creating content that solved a problem TubeBuddy had.

"Nobody really talks about you all in the industry community," Avi told them. "I can spark some of these conversations, tell your story probably better than you can."

Notice what happened there? Avi didn't lead with his stats. He led with their pain point and positioned himself as the solution.

But here's where it gets interesting—and this is where most creators fumble.

Avi was treating each platform as a separate opportunity. Newsletter sponsorships here. LinkedIn posts there. Some consulting over here. All siloed.

The real opportunity? Cross-selling across all your assets.

Think about it. You've got a newsletter. You've got LinkedIn. Maybe a podcast. These aren't separate products—they're a distribution network that brands can plug into at multiple touchpoints.

The ROPE Method for LinkedIn Pitches

I walked Avi through my pitching framework. It's called ROPE, and it works especially well for platforms like LinkedIn where conversion metrics are harder to track.

R = Relevant to a campaign they're either running now or have run in the past. This is the most critical piece. You need to do your homework and figure out what they're actually allocating resources toward.

Example: After sitting in on a YouTube panel at VidCon, I noticed they were pushing hard on creator education—dispelling myths about the algorithm, explaining what actually matters for growth. That became the pitch angle.

"It seems like a big goal of YouTube this year is ensuring creators have the right information about what they should be focusing on. That really resonates with me because I talk a lot on LinkedIn about behind-the-scenes strategies that creators can employ to grow their businesses..."

See how that works? Start with their initiative, then connect it to what you already do.

O = Organic work that proves your audience already cares about their product or service. Send them links to posts you've already made that got strong engagement around topics adjacent to their brand. This shows market validation without them spending a dollar.

P = Proof from past partnerships. Avi had the TubeBuddy case study locked and loaded. "Happy to share some results of a recent partnership with TubeBuddy. Are you free on Thursday at 10 a.m. to talk?"

E = Easy to execute. Propose specific deliverables. Five LinkedIn posts. Newsletter insertions. A podcast interview with their head of product. Whatever it is, make it concrete so they can picture exactly what they're buying.

The Money Move Avi Was Leaving On The Table

About halfway through our conversation, Avi mentioned he'd made around $30K just referring people to enterprise analytics tools. Pure affiliate commissions. No base fee.

I stopped him right there.

"Why is that not your main strategy?"

Silence.

"I don't know, Justin. I haven't..."

Here's what I told him to do immediately: Go back to those companies and negotiate hybrid deals. Base fee plus reduced commission.

"Hey, I've loved sending folks your way. I want to be louder about your services. How about we do $5K/month plus 10-15% commission instead of the 20-25% I'm getting now?"

Win-win. They get consistent promotion from a trusted voice in their target market. He gets predictable recurring revenue plus performance upside.

These are all tactics Avi literally teaches other creators. But when it came to his own business? "Like these are all tactics that I know and have used for other creators and then I look at my own business and I'm like, what do I do?"

The Repurposing Angle Nobody Thinks About

Here's another revenue stream Avi was completely overlooking: content repurposing rights.

Brands, especially startups that have raised Series A or beyond, care deeply about their owned content strategy. They need blog posts. They need newsletter content. They need material they can use in paid advertising.

What if instead of just doing a sponsored LinkedIn post, you also offered:

• Optimized versions of that content for their company blog (targeting specific long-tail keywords)

• Rights to repurpose clips for paid ads

• Newsletter insertions across both your newsletter and theirs

Suddenly you're not just selling a single post. You're solving multiple problems across their content and distribution strategy.

And here's the kicker—you can charge significantly more because you're providing compounding value that extends way beyond the initial post.

The Case Study Post That Practically Writes Itself

Near the end of our call, I gave Avi homework that I'm betting will shake loose at least three quality leads:

Create a detailed TubeBuddy case study post on LinkedIn.

Tell the story. How the CMO reached out. What the partnership looked like. The results (without revealing proprietary numbers if needed). Then close with: "I'm looking to do more partnerships like this. If you're trying to reach creator economy decision-makers and educate them on [specific thing], shoot me a DM."

This works because:

1. It shows proof of concept

2. It pre-qualifies prospects (they self-select by reaching out)

3. It positions you as someone who delivers results, not just someone asking for money

It's the difference between "Will you sponsor me?" and "Here's what I delivered for another brand. Want similar results?"

The LinkedIn Poll Strategy You Should Steal

Here's a tactical move I shared with Avi that he'd never considered: using LinkedIn polls for lead generation.

I did this at the Craft and Commerce conference. Created a poll in their popup community asking people what percentage of their revenue came from sponsorships. Got about 50 responses.

After the conference, I individually DM'd every single person based on how they voted. If they said "0-25%," I sent them my free masterclass. If they were at 50%+ and wanted to scale, I offered info on Wizard's Guild.

The response? "Dang, thank you."

People were appreciative. It didn't feel salesy because I was giving them relevant next steps based on where they actually were.

Now imagine doing that on LinkedIn where all the sponsored content buyers already hang out. Poll your audience about their biggest challenges. Then systematically reach out with solutions—whether that's your content, your consulting, or a partnership pitch.

What This Really Comes Down To

Look, Avi's not alone in this. I see it constantly. Creators who are objectively killers in their field but get in their own way when it comes to monetizing their platforms.

The formula isn't complicated:

1. Figure out what brands are actually trying to accomplish

2. Position yourself as the solution to that specific problem

3. Give them multiple ways to work with you

4. Make it absurdly easy for them to say yes

Your follower count? Your engagement rate? Those are secondary. What matters is whether you can move the needle on something they're already committed to solving.

Avi's got 20,000 highly qualified followers, deep industry expertise, consulting chops, and multiple distribution channels. That's a million-dollar creator business if he just stops underpricing himself and starts pitching from a position of "here's how I'll help you win."

The money's there. You just have to position yourself to earn it.

Want to learn more strategies like this? Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, or join us inside Wizard's Guild where we work through exactly these types of challenges on our bi-weekly coaching calls.