Hey buddy,
Most founders know they should be posting on LinkedIn.
Almost none of them do.
They're busy, they hate writing, and they're scared of sounding like everyone else. So the profile sits there with a post from 2023.
That's the gap. A good ghostwriter takes a 30-minute conversation and turns it into a month of posts that sound like the founder. The founder pays a monthly retainer for it.
It's an old service. What's new is that AI makes the drafting faster. It doesn't make the hard part easier. Here's the honest version.
LinkedIn Ghostwriting for Executives
Example: A widely shared LinkedIn post by Nicolas Cole (a well-known ghostwriting and writing-business figure) claims you need "3 clients paying $2,800/month" to clear $100,000 a year as a LinkedIn ghostwriter
Published agency prices: Windmill Growth lists $3,999/month for its content package, Stop The Scroll starts at $3,000/month for individuals, BAMF lists $4,000/month - Solo freelancers are typically $200-2,000/month.
I have personally made SIX FIGURES doing this myself on Twitter
The Idea: Write LinkedIn posts for founders and executives. Charge a monthly retainer. Do it with a short interview, a style guide, and AI-assisted drafts you edit.
Why it works:
The buyers have money and no time. Executives and founders already pay consultants $150-300 an hour (per one rates guide, so treat it as a rough number)
Thought leadership works for sales. 72% of B2B decision-makers say they trust professionals with an active thought-leadership presence more than company marketing (Sprout Social, 2025)
Personal profiles outperform company pages, with reported engagement around 8x (a secondary-source stat from Digital Applied)
Hardly anyone posts. LinkedIn data from 2019, quoted by Kinsta, put weekly posters at about 1% of monthly active users. It's old, so treat it as directional
It's a retainer. One client at $2,500/month is $30,000 a year
There's no inventory, no software to build and almost no startup cost
AI makes drafting faster, so one person can handle more clients than before
Time investment: About 3-5 hours a week per client at the start (my estimate), less once you have their voice down
Potential income: $1,000-8,000/month. Three clients at $2,500 is $7,500/month. One at $1,000 is a start
Difficulty: Intermediate. The writing is the easy part. Winning trust and keeping clients is the work
Startup cost: $0-100/month, mostly an AI tool and a scheduling tool
Where I found it: I have myself done this on Twitter in 2022-23. Made well over six figures before quitting. I had burned out due to handling too many clients myself. Had no team, no systems, no AI to help me. But the people who built agencies alongside me have made well over millions till now.
Tools you'd need:
An AI writing tool (Claude or ChatGPT) for first drafts and voice analysis
A recording and transcription tool for client interviews (Otter, Fathom or Zoom's built-in)
Google Docs for drafts and approvals
A post scheduler the client or you can use legitimately (see the catch below)
A simple CRM or spreadsheet for leads, content calendars and invoices
Stripe or PayPal for monthly billing
Total startup: $0-100/month
The catch:
The rates you read online are weak. The best-known rate card I found has no data behind it and sells its own rate guide. Published agency prices are real but come from agencies, which sell to funded companies, not solo beginners
Beginners earn much less. The same guide lists entry-level work at $50-150 per post and starter packages at $750-1,200 for 4 posts. Expect that range until you have results
Voice is hard. If the posts don't sound like the client, they'll stop approving them. Most churn starts there
Results are slow. LinkedIn growth takes months. A client who expects 100 leads in 30 days will leave
Account rules. LinkedIn's User Agreement says not to share or transfer your account, and it bans bots and unauthorized automation. One vendor (MagicPost) argues ghostwriting itself isn't mentioned, but sharing a login or using unapproved automation can risk the client's account. I couldn't open LinkedIn's own help page, so read the current User Agreement before you promise anything
Reach changes. The algorithm shifts. Don't promise specific numbers of views
Client concentration. If one of three clients leaves, a third of your income goes
Not hands-off. AI drafts still need editing, fact-checking and a human voice
My take:
This is a real service business with real demand. It isn't passive and it isn't instant.
The trap is believing the headline numbers. "$10K/month" posts mostly come from people selling courses or tools. What actually happens is: you land a $1,000 client, do good work, get a testimonial, raise your price, and land a $2,500 client.
If you can write clearly and listen well, it's one of the cleaner ways to start a service business with almost no cost.
The math (illustrative, not data):
1 client at $1,000/month = $1,000/month
3 clients at $1,500/month = $4,500/month
3 clients at $2,500/month = $7,500/month
5 clients at $2,500/month = $12,500/month (hard to do alone with quality)
Time check: if each client takes 4 hours a week, 3 clients is 12 hours a week, or about 50 hours a month. At $4,500, that's about $90/hour. At $1,000 for one client, it's more like $60/hour once you factor in sales time.
Costs are small: $20-100/month in tools.
Compare with the viral claim of 3 clients at $2,800/month ($8,400/month). It's possible, but you'd need pricing power, usually after results and referrals, not on day one.
The $0 → First Retainer Client Playbook
Step 1: Pick one type of executive (this week)
Choose a narrow group: B2B SaaS founders, fractional CFOs, agency owners, recruiters, consultants, coaches.
A niche lets you reuse your hooks, examples and vocabulary. The Windmill page's own tip on pricing is that anything above roughly $400 per post needs a strategy or distribution reason, and a niche is how you justify more.
Step 2: Write 5 sample posts for people you admire
Pick five real executives in your niche. Read their old posts. Write one sample post in each person's voice. Don't publish them.
You'll use them to learn, and to show your thinking.
Step 3: Fix your own LinkedIn profile first
Clear headline: who you help and what you do. Featured section: your best 3 samples. Post twice a week for a month.
Prospects will check your profile before they reply.
Step 4: Warm up the prospect before you pitch
One guide's advice that matches common sense: comment thoughtfully on a prospect's posts for 2-3 weeks before you message them.
When you do message, lead with an observation, not a rate card.
Example:
"Hey [Name], I liked your post on [topic]. I noticed you post about once a month. I help [type of founder] turn a 30-minute call into a month of posts. Want me to draft two based on your last podcast, free? No obligation."
Step 5: Offer a paid pilot
Free samples are good, but a paid pilot is better. Offer 4 posts for $500-1,000 over two weeks.
Pilots lower the risk for the client and prove your process to you.
Step 6: Run a voice interview
Interview the client for 30-45 minutes. Ask for stories, opinions they hold that others don't, mistakes they made, and customer conversations.
Record it with permission and transcribe it. This is your raw material, and it's what makes posts sound like them.
Step 7: Draft with AI, edit as a human
Feed the transcript and 10 of their best older posts to your AI tool. Ask for 8 drafts in their voice.
Then rewrite. Cut generic phrases. Add real details only the client can supply. Check every claim and number with them.
Never publish unverified facts about the client's company.
Step 8: Set a clean approval process
Send drafts in a shared Google Doc. Give the client 24-48 hours to approve or comment. No reply means no post.
For publishing, don't ask for their password. LinkedIn's rules say not to share an account, and the client stays responsible for what happens on it. Have the client post themselves, or use a scheduling method that's allowed by LinkedIn. Read their current rules and ask the tool you choose how it connects.
Step 9: Report in plain language
Send a short monthly note: posts published, top post, comments, profile views, any inbound messages. Give one insight and one thing to try next month.
Don't promise leads. Show activity and signals.
Step 10: Raise prices and ask for referrals
After 60-90 days, ask for a testimonial and a referral to one peer. Raise your rate on new clients first.
One rates guide suggests presenting your highest package first so the middle option looks reasonable. Rough tiers it lists: Starter 4 posts at $750-1,200, Growth 8 posts at $2,000-3,500, Executive 12-16 posts at $4,500-6,000+. These are unverified, so test your own.
Common mistakes:
Charging per post forever. Move to monthly packages as soon as you can
Asking for the client's password. Don't. It risks their account and your reputation
Making posts sound like a template. If five clients' posts look alike, you're not doing the job
Skipping the interview. No voice, no value
Promising results. Promise a process and a posting schedule
Writing without checking facts. A wrong claim about the client's company is your fault
Starting with five clients. Quality drops fast
Working without a contract. Include scope, price, notice period, who owns the content and what happens if they stop paying
Pro tips:
Use their own stories. Generic advice is what everyone else posts
Pull posts from podcasts, sales calls and Slack threads they already have
Keep a "swipe file" per client of what worked
Sell the outcome you can actually deliver: consistency and credibility, not guaranteed leads
Add comment-engagement help as a paid upgrade
Ask every client for a 5-minute voice note each week. It beats a monthly call
Write down your process so you can hand it to a junior writer later
Reality check:
These are illustrative scenarios, not forecasts.
Month 1-2: Profile, samples, outreach, maybe one pilot. Revenue: $0-1,000.
Month 3-4: 1-2 retainer clients at $750-1,500. Revenue: $750-2,500/month.
Month 5-8: 2-3 clients, first testimonials, higher prices for new ones. Revenue: $2,000-5,000/month.
Month 9-12: 3-4 clients if you keep quality high. Revenue: $4,000-8,000/month.
The other outcome: You send 100 messages, get 3 replies and no clients. That happens when the niche is vague or the proof is thin. Fix the niche and samples before you scale outreach.
Talk soon, Kris
P.S. - The thing worth remembering about ghostwriting.
You're not selling posts. You're selling the client's time back and their reputation forward.
AI can write a decent first draft in seconds. That's why drafts are no longer worth much. What's worth paying for is the person who gets the stories out of the founder, keeps the voice right, checks the facts, and shows up every week.
Start this week. Pick one type of executive. Write one sample post in a real person's voice. Comment on five of their posts. Then send one message offering to draft two posts for them.
Worst case: you get better at writing in other people's voices, which is useful anywhere.
Best case: one founder says yes, and you have your first retainer.
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