The Exact LinkedIn Strategy That Grew 50K Followers in 12 Months, with Mischa Collins

Most people treat LinkedIn like a job board. Mischa Collins treats it like the most powerful business development tool on the planet, and she has the receipts to prove it. After being laid off in 2024, Mischa didn't scramble for her next role. She built in public (literally). Within 12 months, she grew her LinkedIn audience to over 50,000 followers, signed clients through inbound DMs alone, and turned a platform most people sleep on into a fully functioning business, one that's now taken her from the UK all the way to LA.
In this episode, we get into the strategy behind that growth. Mischa breaks down why posting without a mission is just noise, how to build authority on LinkedIn even when self-promotion makes you want to crawl out of your skin, and why the content you think is repetitive is actually the content that makes you unforgettable.
If you've been meaning to get serious about LinkedIn, this is the episode that's going to make you open the app before it's even done playing.
Mentioned in this episode:
📘 Career Cheat Codes (Pre-Order)

My new book Career Cheat Codes is now available for pre-order. It’s a practical guide to building career leverage, growing your visibility, and turning your expertise into real opportunities.
Pre-order → penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807588/career-cheat-codes-by-courtney-johnson/
👩‍💻 Holly Maglin — Early Career Recruiting Strategy
If you're a founder or startup team hiring Gen Z talent, check out Holly Madeline. She helps companies modernize how they recruit early-career candidates.
Connect on LinkedIn → Holly Maglin
03:28 Getting laid off and deciding to build instead of job hunt
08:18 The moment she went all in
12:11 The scheduling trick that kills the fear of posting
15:21 Why LinkedIn is genuinely having its moment in 2026
23:44 Profile optimization and why your network is already full of opportunity
27:42 Every opportunity Mischa has landed through inbound LinkedIn DMs
35:00 Engagement strategy: why commenting might matter more than posting
41:00 How to use AI without sounding like AI
51:00 The MAP framework: Mission, Authority, Pillars
54:00 Mischa's next chapter: expanding beyond LinkedIn
About Mischa
Mischa Collins is a LinkedIn branding expert who helps entrepreneurs, coaches, and professionals establish authority, grow their audience, and monetize their expertise. With a proven track record of transforming LinkedIn profiles into powerful business assets, she shares actionable strategies to build influence and attract high-value opportunities.
Connect with Mischa
💼 LinkedIn: Mischa Collins
Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson