The JEE Student Who Cracked LinkedIn's Real Algorithm

Episode Highlights

Watch the Full Video Here

▶ 00:49 Who is Pratyaksha Singh? Her Journey into Personal Branding

▶ 04:17 Deleting Her First Account & Starting Again

▶ 08:08 TEDx Writing vs LinkedIn Writing – What’s Different?

▶ 22:12 From “Creator” to “Mentor” – Staying Grounded & Humble

THE INTERVIEW

Welcome to the 5th episode of Creator IRL.

She was studying for JEE. Stumbled onto LinkedIn. Now gets job offers from the US.

Pratyaksha Singh posts twice a week. She’s in her final year of engineering, yet she’s getting plenty of leads, writing content for founders and TEDx shows, and landing three job offers in a single month, while many “consistent” creators with 30K followers are still begging for clients.

What's she doing that you're not?

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The Brutal Truth Nobody Will Tell You

You're scrolling LinkedIn right now thinking you're being productive. You're not. You're procrastinating with extra steps.

You posted today because "consistency." But your post was garbage and you know it. Two hours of your life. Zero business results. ChatGPT did the heavy lifting and everyone can tell.

Here's what happened to Pratyaksha when she tried that: She posted a cringe two-liner motivational quote just to show up. Felt embarrassed for days. Then made one decision that changed everything.

She stopped faking it.

The Poetry That Started It All

Pratyaksha didn't start with "5 LinkedIn tips" or "How I scaled to 10K." She wrote poetry. About life. Healing. Anxiety. Real stuff she was going through.

Zero strategy. Zero "personal branding." Just raw honesty.

The audience responded. Hard.

That's when she realized: people don't follow content. They follow humans.

But here's where it gets interesting.

Why Your "Consistency" Is Actually Killing You

Everyone told her to post daily. So she tried. Her content quality tanked. Her creativity died. Her audience could smell the desperation.

Then she tested something radical: What if she posted less but made it actually matter?

One focused hour on LinkedIn. 1-2 posts per week. But each one crafted like she's explaining it to her best friend over chai.

Result? Hundreds of leads, TEDx content writer, three job offers. One from the US. Two from India. All remote. All in one month.

Meanwhile, creators posting 7x per week are wondering why their 500 likes aren't converting to a single client.

Want to Know the Difference?

The Best Friend Test (Steal This)

Pratyaksha has a rule: If you can't explain it to your bestie, you can't post it.

When she needed to explain lead nurturing, she said: "You don't propose on the first coffee. You build trust, share stories, show up consistently, and only then ask the big question."

Her friend got it instantly. So did LinkedIn.

Try explaining your last post to your friend. If you cringe, your audience already did.

But the real game-changer isn't in the posts. It's in what 99% of creators completely ignore.

The DM Strategy That Gets You Lead

Here's why you're not getting leads: You're performing for an audience when you should be having conversations.

• Pratyaksha's actual strategy: 5-10 meaningful DMs per day. That's it. Not 50. Not spamming everyone. Five real conversations with the right people.

• Those leads and job offers? Didn't come from her viral posts. Came from relationships built in DMs.

• You're optimizing for likes. She's optimizing for conversations. See the gap?

But there's one mistake even smart creators make that destroys everything.

The Niche Trap That's Bleeding Your Authenticity

Everyone screams "pick a niche." So you Google "trending LinkedIn niches" and force yourself to write about AI or productivity or whatever's hot.

Six months later you hate your account.

Pratyaksha's take: Write about what you've actually lived through. If you're just starting and know nothing, write your learning journey. There's an audience for real stories. Always.

The creators who burn out? They picked a niche for money, not passion. They posted rigorously for a month, then vanished.

Still with me? Because this next part separates the mentors from the noise.

The Real Algorithm

LinkedIn doesn't reward the loudest voice. It rewards the most valuable one.

You think it's about hooks and carousels and posting at 9:47 AM. Pratyaksha knows it's about one thing: Does your content make someone's life genuinely better?

If not, you're just adding to the noise.

And noise doesn't get job offers. Noise doesn't build businesses. Noise just makes noise.

So what do you do?

Your Next 7 Moves (If You're Serious)

✅ Post 1-2 times per week with intention, not 7 times with noise

✅ Write like you're talking to your best friend

✅ Share what you've actually experienced, not what you think sounds impressive

✅ Spend time in DMs building real relationships

✅ Upskill yourself more than you scroll

✅ Walk away from opportunities that don't respect your worth

✅ You need conversations that convert, not posts that go viral

Do this and you'll create more value in 7 days than most people do in 7 months.

Pratyaksha isn't more talented than you. She isn't luckier. She just decided to be real, post consistently (not daily—consistently), and value herself enough to say no when things didn't align.

If a 21-year-old engineering student can get US job offers while preparing for final exams, what's stopping you from trying for the next two weeks?

But here's the part that will stick with you.

Unfinished Yet Unstoppable

At the end of our conversation, I asked Pratyaksha: If someone wrote a book about your journey, what would you call it?

She said: "Unfinished Yet Unstoppable."

Because her LinkedIn looks perfect but her life behind the scenes? Messy. Full of mistakes.

Days when nothing worked.

The difference between her and the people who quit?

She kept moving.

You don't need it all figured out. You don't need to be an expert. You don't need to post daily or have 50K followers or know every trend.

You just need to keep moving. And be real while doing it.

That's the actual algorithm. So here's your choice Keep posting 7x per week, burning out, wondering why your engagement doesn't convert. Or try being honest for 7 days and see what happens.

The second one is scarier. It's also the only one that works.

Your next post determines which path you're on.

If you take nothing else from this newsletter, remember this: Your thoughts can be lies. That voice telling you you're not good enough, not trying hard enough, not worthy enough? It might just be wrong.

And sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is say "I'm not okay right now" and mean it-without immediately following it up with how you're going to fix it, handle it, or push through it.

Want to hear the full conversation?

Listen to the Behind the Scenes podcast on Spotify or YouTube, where Pratyaksha and I dive deep into the LinkedIn strategy.

If you also have an awesome journey and wants to share with the world

Connect with me on LinkedIn 

And if you know a LinkedIn creator who needs to hear Pratyaskha 's story, forward this to them. Sometimes all we need is proof that it's possible.

Until next time,

Sapna

P.S. If this newsletter resonated with you, forward it to someone who needs to hear that.

What's Next for Creator IRL

This is just the beginning. Creator IRL exists to celebrate the builders, the problem-solvers, the dedicated creators who are shaping our world one person at a time.

We're not interested in the highlight reels. We want the real stories. The messy beginnings. The moment of doubt. The simple message that changed everything.

If you know someone building something meaningful, not for the followers or the algorithm, but because it matters-we want to hear from them.

Help us keep sharing real stories