Instagram story viewer> @nonlinearhq> Posts
Nonlinear HQ(@nonlinearhq)'s profile avatar HD Profile

Nonlinear HQ

@nonlinearhq

31
followers
1
following
For ambitious operators turning unconventional paths into income
By @itshannahzhang
👇Free newsletter
POSTS STORIES REELS
I spent years learning how to grow other people’s businesses before I figured out what I could build myself. My experience in banking, tech, and marketing eventually became the foundation of a six-figure business I built alongside my 9-5. I started with a career pivot guide and $100 coaching calls. If you’re good at your job but can’t picture what someone would pay YOU for, here’s where I’d start: 1️⃣ Write down the problems you’ve solved and what people already ask you for help with. Look beyond your current job title. 2️⃣ Talk to three people dealing with one of those problems. Find out what they’ve tried and where they’re stuck. 3️⃣ Write a few posts answering their questions. Pay attention to the replies and follow-up questions. 4️⃣ Test a small paid offer: a workshop, an audit, or a project with a clear deliverable. Find out whether people will buy before spending months building it. I put the full process, worksheets, and offer examples in this week’s Nonlinear News. Comment “NEWS” to read it! Follow @itshannahzhang and @nonlinearhq if you’re an ambitious person building an unconventional career and business! 🏷️ entrepreneurship, side business, consulting, creator economy, marketing, small business by @nonlinearhq
Last week, I visited the LinkedIn office and sat down with Dana Tom to talk about using LinkedIn to build a business. I got my last job through a founder who saw my content here. Now, it’s also where I find brand sponsors and clients for advisory and speaking. So I had a lot of questions about all the ways entrepreneurs and creators should be leveraging the platform. My favorite part was hearing that the businesses Dana sees growing fastest are people building something alongside their full-time jobs. As someone who spent two years doing exactly that, I loved hearing this! We also talked about the new tools LinkedIn is introducing: 💸 Advice Sessions: Offer paid 1:1 consultations from your profile, with booking, payments and video calls built in. Available to eligible U.S. Premium Business subscribers. 📊 Creator dashboard: See your content performance and available earning opportunities in one place. Rolling out globally on mobile. 🎥 In-Stream Ads: LinkedIn is testing ad revenue sharing with select U.S. video creators. 🤝 Digital business cards and private connection notes: Keep track of people you meet and what you want to follow up on. Dana’s advice on posting was also reassuring: talk about what you actually know and care about. I’ve found that the posts that lead to people reaching out to work with me often come from something I’ve done at work or figured out while building my own business. Thank you to Dana for the conversation, and the @linkedin team for having me! by @nonlinearhq
If your experience makes sense to you but looks confusing on a resume, try looking for the job by the problem you’d solve. A few places I’d start: 1️⃣ Founder’s associate or business operations: for people who can take an unclear problem, work across teams, and get something moving. 2️⃣ A startup’s first marketing hire: for people who can talk to customers, write, and figure out how to get a product in front of the right audience. Ask about the support and budget. “Do everything” can also mean an impossible job. 3️⃣ Product operations or growth: for people who like working between customer feedback, product decisions, and the numbers. Two places to look for roles: Next Play (nextplay.so) and Ali Rohde (https://alirohdejobs.substack.com/) Comment “startup job” and i’ll dm you these links and my post on how i got a startup job! When you apply, pick a problem in the job description and show where you’ve solved something similar. Make the connection for them. 🏷️ nonlinear career, generalist, startup jobs, career pivot, product marketing, business operations, career advice by @nonlinearhq
If your resume spans multiple functions, you are built for where high-growth companies are heading in the AI era. 5 high-leverage roles to explore: 1. GTM Engineer: builds the AI and automation systems driving revenue 2. Product Marketer: connects product capabilities to market positioning 3. AI Implementation Lead: turns AI pilots into core company workflows 4. Community Lead: builds direct brand trust and organic distribution 5. Enterprise Sales: aligns complex buying teams around high-value decisions These roles reward range, rapid learning, and the ability to connect people, products, and systems. A nonlinear background becomes an unfair advantage when you explain what your diverse experiences add up to, and show how that combination solves high-value problems. The parts of your background that felt disconnected are often the exact reason you excel ! Save these ideas for your next career pivot. Follow @itshannahzhang for more ways to build an ambitious nonlinear career. 🏷️ nonlinear careers, future of work, AI jobs, product marketing, enterprise sales, community building, GTM, career pivots, generalists by @nonlinearhq
Lovable was the first tool I ever used to vibe code over a year ago. So it was a full circle moment last week when I got to interview @lovable.dev’s Head of Revenue, Lauren Rhode. As a non-technical marketer and creator entrepreneur with no engineering experience, AI software creation tools have made SO much possible for me. It started with the first personal website I built that felt like magic. Now, it’s dashboards that function as a lightweight CRM and finance tracker for my business and custom-built interactive apps and quizzes for lead gen. And it’s not just me: I’m seeing more and more solopreneurs build entire businesses the same way. How Lauren explained the evolution: we’ve moved past the “summer of vibe coding,” where people were spinning up toy apps and lightweight prototypes, and into something bigger, giving non-technical operators the ability to build load-bearing software. Real internal tools, hosted apps with auth, live databases, and workflows that actually run business operations. We talked about: How Lovable uses Lovable The #1 skill that matters in AI Why now is the best time in history to build a company My favorite easter egg was Lauren’s very cool and nonlinear career, that started with playing rugby for Team USA and product before moving into sales and leading startup GTM teams. by @nonlinearhq
pretty good considering I thought no one would turn up!!! So grateful I got to host this at @unboundevent and meet so many marketers, entrepreneurs, creatives, salespeople, with nonlinear paths!! by @nonlinearhq
The best roles for people with nonlinear careers rarely ask for one clean job title these days. They need an unusual combination of skills. If your background looks scattered, use this to package it: 1️⃣ Find the intersection. List the two to four capabilities that repeatedly show up in your work. 2️⃣ Name the business problem. “I combine growth, content, and partnerships to help early-stage companies build demand.” 3️⃣ Add proof to each capability. Use a project, metric, decision, or piece of public work that shows you can do it. 4️⃣ Publish the combination. Share analyses, case studies, experiments, and opinions that let people see how you think before they need to hire you. 5️⃣ Build relationships before the role exists. The best cross-functional jobs are often shaped around a person, not filled through hundreds of cold applications. Use this positioning template: I help [specific person or company] achieve [outcome] by combining [skill 1], [skill 2], and [skill 3]. Proof: [specific result]. A nonlinear background becomes an advantage when other people can understand what the pieces add up to. by @nonlinearhq

Download All

Save the photos and videos currently loaded on this page.

0Photos
0Videos
Ready to download 0 / 0

Keep this tab open until your download is ready.
back to up