Building My Own Distribution System Changed My Life

Eighteen months ago, most of my “growth planning” happened late at night, doom-scrolling through other founders’ wins and feeling behind on everything: leads, inbound, cash flow. I thought the problem was my offer, my tech stack, or maybe my branding. In reality, the biggest unlock was much less glamorous: putting my company’s work in front of the right people—over and over—until staying invisible was no longer an option.

What I’ve Actually Learned from Building Distribution

Outbound and Content: Not Either/Or, But Both—Consistently

When I first set out to build distribution, I saw it as a one-off “campaign.” The reality? It’s a muscle—the consistency mattered more than anything else.

Month 1–3: “Systems Beat Hustle”

At the start, I tested every growth hack under the sun, but the real difference came when I built two daily habits:

• Every weekday, I sent 20 targeted outbound messages on LinkedIn and email. The copy wasn’t formulaic; it was me, talking like a human, naming one pain point and offering a quick value exchange.

• Each week, I posted short insights on LinkedIn—half-baked lessons, stories from calls, or answers to common objections I faced on sales calls. Sometimes these only got a handful of likes, but over time, engagement grew.

Tools matter, but in the first three months, my “stack” was embarrassingly simple: a Google Sheet tracker, basic LinkedIn search, and my inbox. There was no Apollo, no sequencing platform, just discipline.

Lesson: It’s impossible to “nail the channel” until you do enough reps to see real patterns. I wasted a lot of time over-engineering my stack instead of just messaging and posting.

Finding My Best Channels (and Why Testing Beats Guessing)

About four months in, things clicked: responses weren’t coming from the channel I’d expected. Everyone told me cold email was “dead.” For my ICP—owners and operators spending too much on manual B2B processes—it outperformed LinkedIn 3-to-1. But the only reason I learned this was tight tracking, not guesswork.

I ran small A/B tests: one week I focused on LinkedIn, the next on email, then tried DMs. Same core message, new platform each time. The engagement data told me where to double-down—no need to follow social media dogma.

Cash Flow, Retention, and Referrals: The Long (but Compound) Game

Here’s the honest truth: distribution felt slow before it sped up. My “pipeline” was a mess, cash flow wobbly. Only after 8–10 weeks of steady outbound and recurring content did I notice:

• Cash flow stabilized: Conversations led to quicker closes. No more waiting 45+ days between “promising calls.”

• Repeat business up: Past clients came back after seeing consistent content—some said, “Saw your post and realized it’s time to re-engage.”

• Referrals surged: Outbound wasn’t just new prospects—half my sequences went to old clients and partners, sparking new introductions.

Content That Resonates (and Why Objections Are Your Best Friend)

The magical thing about mixing outbound with content: your prospects tell you exactly what to publish—every objection, every “not now,” every half-interested reply is a goldmine. I built a running list: “Objections Heard This Week.” Every Friday, I’d pick one and spin it into a LinkedIn post, newsletter segment, or a deep-dive blog.

• Posts that performed best had specifics (“3 reasons owners don’t follow up on past deals—plus a template.”)

• My open rates doubled when I referenced an objection in the subject line: “Still think cold outreach feels spammy? Here’s my before/after.”

• Some posts flopped, but each mistake taught me more about what prospects actually care about.

Lesson: Real-world feedback is way more useful than brainstorming content ideas in a vacuum.

Pricing, Confidence, and Learning from Live Reactions

Before outbound, pricing always felt like a shot in the dark. Now, after dozens of direct conversations per week, I see real-time reactions. When a sequence went too heavy on “ROI” talk, I’d get ghosted. When I led with a single honest pain point, conversion went up—even at higher price points.

I A/B tested offers via outbound: “this month’s package” vs. “annual discount” vs. “old pricing ending soon.” Seeing live reply rates helped me calibrate, way faster than waiting on inbound leads or playing with my pricing page endlessly.

The Feedback Loop: Where Outbound and Content Make Each Other Better

Distribution isn’t just a lead machine, it’s a real-time R&D lab. Every reply makes my next message, post, or offer stronger.

• Outbound tells me instantly what resonates. The hits? I scale into content. The misses? I tune out.

• Content builds credibility with the exact audience in my outbound pipeline. Sometimes prospects reply after months saying “Been following your posts—ready to talk.”

How I Systematized (So I Didn’t Burn Out)

Month by month, I added structure:

• Daily: 20 outbound messages (split between new and old contacts).

• Weekly: 2 LinkedIn posts (Tuesday/Saturday) and a newsletter/email (Friday).

• Monthly: Review what’s working—channels, scripts, objections collected, content ideas banked.

I finally upgraded tools (Clay for research; Lemlist for sequencing) only after my basic system worked. Hubspot became my CRM for tracking deals and content ideas.

Lesson: Build the workflow first, then add tech to scale. It’s a productivity (and sanity) saver.

Authority and Trust: Why Showing Up Beats Shouting Louder

Eighteen months ago, I was a stranger in most inboxes. Now, a good quarter of my pipeline self-books after seeing my name a few times on their feed. “I’ve been reading your stuff”—those words started replacing cold intros.

The longer I stuck with this—posting, sequencing, responding—the easier everything became:

• Less price resistance.

• More warm intros.

• Shorter sales cycles.

Honest Outcomes (and Where I’m Still Learning)

• My top five clients in the last year came from connections who’d never replied to my first three messages, but started conversations months later thanks to content.

• I no longer worry about “lead droughts”—distribution has made my results more repeatable, and less stressful.

• Not everything works—some sequences flop; some posts see silence. That’s normal.

• Most importantly, I spend less time worrying about the source of my next lead, and more time focused on client results and improving the process.

Closing Thoughts

If you’ve felt paralyzed by the size of your growth goals, narrow the focus: build one small system for outbound, one small system for content, and run the loop until it hurts less. Distribution isn’t magic, but compounding results sure feel that way after 18 months. Want the frameworks I use today? Just reply—I’m always down to trade notes, or help you shortcut the rookie mistakes.
-Grady

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