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Built in Public

Built in Public

Written by: Courtney Johnson
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Built in Public is a personal brand podcast hosted by Courtney Johnson. Each week, Courtney sits down with founders, creators, and operators to unpack how they turn expertise into authority, visibility into opportunity, and content into long-term leverage. We talk positioning, audience building, thought leadership, and what it actually takes to show up before you feel ready. If you want to build it in public, this show is for you.Courtney Johnson Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • How She Built An 8-Figure Brand With An ADHD Brain
    Oct 13 2026

    Angie Lee just exited Soul, the CBD gummy brand she started with her brother eight years ago. The idea for her next business hit her at 3 a.m., and now she's building WITTI, an ADHD supplement line made for women.
    In this episode we go over why she's betting on a product instead of an online course, and the checklist she'd run before launching anything physical (plus the kind of product she says takes millions up front).
    Then we get into the stuff that changes how you show up: the "dead grandma test" that tells you if a habit is really a habit, why she posts at 60% (wait until you feel 100% and you'll post twice a year), and why she thinks humor is what's missing from so much content online.
    And since this is a cheat codes kind of conversation, we swap our "problematic cheat codes" too, including learning cult tactics and, yes, my now-husband, the boyfriend who paid my rent for 3 months (we'd only been dating for a month when I asked)
    ➡️ Your turn!!!! comment the name you like for her comedy course in the comments (Funny on Video? Paid to Be Funny? any other funny name???)
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    03:12 Exiting Soul, the brand she started with her brother, and the law that could block online sales
    05:00 WITTI: the ADHD supplement line she's building for women, not bros
    06:06 Why she's betting on a product over a course, and the $50 million question
    11:03 The 3 a.m. idea she ran downstairs to tell her husband
    11:47 Thinking about launching a product? The boxes it needs to check first
    15:25 Googling "how do you make money off the internet," and the $60 order that started it all
    22:06 Building WITTI out loud
    46:24 Our problematic cheat codes
    About Angie Lee
    Angie Lee is a podcaster, speaker, and comedian, and the co-founder and creative director of Soul, the wellness brand she built with her brother Mike. A college and corporate dropout, she started a blog in her dorm room and is now the "queen of the BabyGrandmas," a community she also calls her squirrely girlies: women "whose brain moves fast, feels deep, and refuses to play small." She hosts The Angie Lee Show, where she talks about "the realities and hilarities of entrepreneurship & womanhood," and she's now building WITTI, an ADHD supplement line made for women.
    Connect with Angie
    👍 Instagram: @angieleeshow
    🔗 angielee.com/
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

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    48 mins
  • How To Make $25K A Month Consulting Using LinkedIn
    Oct 6 2026

    y'all! in this week's episode i'm joined by Bradley Jacobs, former Uber exec turned founder of Mylance. He scaled Uber Freight into a $1 billion business, quit with zero plan, and made up a consulting rate out of thin air. They said it was too much. he held his ground instead of caving. turned it into $25k a month !!!
    Now he runs Mylance, and in this one he hands over exactly how he did it: the DM strategy that landed his first client with zero case studies, the easiest pricing trick, the positioning shift that'll change how you show up on LinkedIn, and why he built his own AI tool because ChatGPT and Claude write posts that sound like garbage.
    Press play before you talk yourself out of charging what you're worth.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    04:08 Building Uber Freight from scratch into a $1B business
    06:32 Quitting Uber
    08:19 The "ridiculous calculation" behind his first consulting fee
    16:22 Why "fractional CMO" is the laziest positioning you can pick
    18:06 The "ice cream store vs. gas station" analogy that changes everything 18:52 You only need 3 clients: the real LinkedIn outreach math
    26:35 Why you shouldn't use ChatGPT or Claude to write your LinkedIn posts
    36:25 Leaving corporate was more confronting than he expected
    38:08 Building a personal board of directors to replace corporate structure
    39:45 The nightly ritual he's done for years to stay on track
    About Bradley Jacobs
    Bradley spent 4.5 years at Uber across Rides, Eats, and Freight, launching Uber Eats in Miami and Milan and helping scale Uber Freight into a $1 billion business. He left in 2018, sent 12 DMs to see if anyone would pay for his expertise, and landed his first consulting client at $25K/month working part-time. Over the next two years he built an independent consulting practice working with seed and Series A startups on marketplace launches and scaling, then turned what he learned into Mylance, the platform he founded in 2020 to help consultants and solopreneurs build predictable, sustainable businesses through LinkedIn content. Mylance has since helped 1,000+ founders and consultants grow their businesses using the same content and outreach systems Bradley built for himself.
    Connect with Bradley
    💼 LinkedIn: Bradley Jacobs
    🔗 mylance.com
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

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    43 mins
  • My Crazy Pregnancy and Birth Story
    Sep 29 2026

    hey y'all, this episode is a little different than usual.
    today i'm sharing my full pregnancy and birth story: trying to conceive, the pregnancy itself, giving birth, and where i'm at now in postpartum.
    quick heads up before you press play: this one gets real about mental health during pregnancy, and some of it may be heavy for some listeners. please take care of yourself, and feel free to skip this one if now isn't the right time for you 🤍
    i was depressed for most of my pregnancy, and i also went through a mental health experience i haven't heard many people talk about openly.
    if you're pregnant, trying to conceive, or have been through something similar, i hope sharing this helps you feel less alone.
    📘 Career Cheat Codes - IT’S OUT!!!
    My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available to order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
    Order yours → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
    07:30 Finding out I was pregnant
    11:46 My theory: every pregnancy has one challenge
    12:39 My challenge
    15:14 I lost my ability to speak
    16:00 The hallucinations started
    19:57 My birth story starts here
    27:55 Giving birth to Santi
    30:38 Postpartum has been so fun and so good
    Stay connected with me
    📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
    👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
    👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
    💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
    🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson

    Show More Show Less
    45 mins
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