2020 was going to be the year.

I switched jobs and moved to a huge global advertising firm. I even got a pay raise!

Then COVID struck, heavy lockdowns around the world were happening and remote work arrived to stay.

4 months into my new role, our bosses called a "town hall meeting" to tell us the Spanish regional offices are closing.

Forever.

I had two options: go back and try to get another corporate job or build something on my own, something that I had been postponing for 2 years.

I went for the later.

I had 2 months before the firing got effective, so I needed to get in motion. And fast.

This are the key moments that brought me from 0 to a personal brand by the end of this crazy year.

May

I started tweeting with only 10 followers.

And it was BAD.

Look at those icons.

But I kept going. Every like and comment received was the fuel that kept me tweeting.

June

Started experimenting with branded graphics, which later evolved into the "signature posts" from my account.

I found out that I was having a lot of fun doing these, and that it was a great way of communication and doing something a bit different on Twitter.

July

Early on, I used to do transparency reports that would reflect on how the past month went.

The June transparency time report was liked and commented by @jackbutcher, which got me +100 followers in 1 day.

It also allowed to make some early valuable connections too.

Ah, and it was the month that the firing got effective. As per the 31st of July, I had no job.

August

I went on holiday for the first half of the month. Took some time off to mentally recharge.

Decided to go "all in" on Twitter for the second half.

4 days later, a viral thread gets me from 300 to 850 followers with almost 300k impressions.

September

September was the month that everything started getting into place.

"I might be on to something" thoughts pop in my head.

October

Thanks to some Twitter connections and referrals I got my first freelance gig.  

The Twitter Thief launch does great for my standards.

And I went "Viral" again on Twitter with a thread about Steve Jobs.

November

An @AlexAndBooks_ recommendation gets me over 2k followers

I found my groove on Twitter. I tweet less but the quality is higher.

December

A thread about how The Twitter Thief came together gets me a last spike of followers.

Going back through my old tweets made me realize how much I've improved and how much has happened in this crazy year.

I suggest you do the same! It's a great exercise. I'm sure you accomplished more than you think.

Original idea stolen from @jakobgreenfeld and this tweet

Learn more

If you found this article interesting, you could check me out on Twitter. I try to post valuable stuff all the time.

If you want to learn more, you could take a look at this other articles about Twitter and marketing.

And, if you feel like checking out The Twitter Thief, you can do it here. Guaranteed you will get some value out of it!