8 ways to build authority on LinkedIn with your story (with practice exercises)

Lessons I learned from building a five-figure one-person business through honesty, not hype

When I began writing publicly, I did not have a funnel, a content calendar, or a lead magnet.

I had a problem I could no longer outsource to anyone else because my daughter had just been diagnosed with global developmental delay, and therapy was costing more than some people’s rent.

I had already been laid off three times in my career, and I knew the corporate system would never bend enough to let me be present as a queer and gender-fluid parent raising a neurodiverse child.

So I did the only thing left: start telling the truth online.

I did not position myself as an expert or posture; instead, I just wrote what I was living through in real time.

For example, this was invoices clearing late, the cost of four therapy sessions a week, being stared at in public toilets in Singapore, and pretending I was fine while quietly rebuilding from zero.

That honesty became the seed of my authority on LinkedIn, and before the revenue, retainer clients, and speaking invites, it was this: here is what I have lived, here is what I have learned, and here is what I can help you with.

Authority is “I have walked through this and I can guide you through it”, not about knowing everything.

Below are the eight structures I use to build that kind of authority, with my own story as the example and a practice exercise you can apply to your own story immediately.

The expertise origin story

My version: I used to believe the answer was to work more hours, take more calls, and stay available to everyone, because that’s what “being responsible” looked like in every job I ever held. Then my daughter started therapy four times a week, and I realised I couldn’t trade presence for salary anymore. So I built a four-hour workday, structured my energy instead of my calendar, and turned my writing into a product that could earn while I was offline with her. That was when I stopped seeing storytelling as content and started seeing it as infrastructure.

Your practice: Write your own expertise origin story in exactly 50 words. “I used to struggle with [problem] until I discovered [insight] through [specific experience].”