A sudden layoff can shatter your plans—or sharpen them. When LinkedIn branding and sales coach Melissa Gaglione decided to aim for $30K in 30 days, she didn’t hide behind a polished funnel. She built in public, shared every step, and turned documentation into momentum. We dig into how she paired relatable, human content with tight, personalized video outreach to create trust at scale and conversions that cold calls rarely deliver.
We unpack the two-year foundation that made the leap possible: an hour-a-day side hustle, steady posting that felt like a person not a pitch, and early experiments with courses, events, and brand partnerships. Melissa explains why she launched eight offers at once to test both company and individual demand, and how the data—and her energy—pulled her toward a flagship cohort model focused on personal branding and social selling for B2B creators, founders, and sellers.
If you’re curious about where AI truly fits, Melissa shares the practical side: using tools like Claude and ChatGPT to accelerate research, drafts, CRM notes, and content ops, while outsourcing editing and admin to stay focused on relationships. We also get candid about the mindset work after a layoff—using a public goal to rebuild self-trust, choosing challenges you can sustain, and resisting the highlight-reel trap by showing the path, not just the prizes.
Ready to design your own leap? Listen, take notes, and then tell us the 30-day goal you’d commit to publicly. If this conversation helped, follow, share with a friend who needs a push, and leave a quick review so more builders can find the show.