The cold email strategy that gets you hired
+ other career tips from @shwinnabegobrand
When I met Ashwinn Krishnaswamy in early 2022, his career was — in his words — “doing fine.” His branding and design agency, Forge, had some notable clients but often struggled to secure work. The brand he’d co-founded, Oklahoma Smokes, showed promise and moderate success, but certainly was not on its way to an IPO.
A few months later, Ashwinn posted his first video on TikTok. “To say content creation was a huge accelerator for my career — actually it almost understates it,” he told me last month.
Now better known as @shwinnabegobrand on TikTok and Instagram, Ashwinn is a leading voice in consumer marketing and branding. While developing his nearly 300K following, he’s reshaped his agency’s trajectory and grown two businesses. In many ways, Ashwinn’s career embodies the kind that most people my age aspire to: it’s multi-faceted, dynamic, and built on his own terms.
Amidst rapid technological and economic shifts, the traditional methods of starting and building a career are becoming obsolete. That’s why I think we have a lot to learn from Ashwinn and how he’s used the tools at his disposal — like TikTok — to accelerate his trajectory. But before my Gen Z readers get carried away by the idea of going viral: Ashwinn’s success is not an algorithm-assisted stroke of luck. It’s the result of a lot of determination, creativity, and “mornings” that begin at an hour I firmly believe to be the middle of the night.
Ahead of his Canva Create panel this week alongside
, Ashwinn stopped by the career accelerator I co-founded for Gen Zers in Los Angeles. He offered our participants a lot of valuable advice that I think everyone can benefit from. So here are the highlights, followed by steps you can take today (really — why wait?) to translate his advice into action.A brief note before we continue: you’re receiving this on a Tuesday because going forward, Business Casual will (sometimes) be published twice a week and behind a paywall. Paying subscribers can access exclusive content like:
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Ashwinn Krishnaswamy cracked his career code. Here’s how you can too.
On building a multi-faceted career:
I heard an interesting saying from a med school student recently. They have this line in med school which is “learn one, do one, teach one” — you learn something in the classroom, you do something in practice, and then you teach it to solidify your understanding.
I think of the three facets of my work — my content, my agency, and my brands — as kind of a similar thing. From the agency side, we work with businesses and I learn and observe so many things about their inner workings. Then, I’m actually doing and implementing a lot of what I learn from them into my own businesses. And I like to think of content as a way to reflect on what I’m learning or doing or thinking, as a way to solidify my understanding. So there’s this nice flywheel between the three of them.
On solving his “distribution problem” and accelerating his professional trajectory:
For years, Ashwinn suffered from a “distribution” problem — like companies that struggle to acquire customers, he had skills and knowledge, but couldn’t reach clients. It was a frustrating and discouraging experience.
Ashwinn cracked his distribution challenge through creating content.
As a business, no matter how good your product is, if you don’t have distribution, it’s going to be a tough road. It’s the same for you as an individual. If people don’t know how good you are, or they don’t trust you, it’s going to be difficult.
Prior to creating content, I’d receive a lukewarm intro to someone, they’d send me an RFP, my agency would submit a proposal then have to compete with 15 other agencies to get the work. But for the last two years since I started creating content, all of the work we receive at the agency is inbound — there’s no longer this pitch or big proposal process.
For me, creating content was my distribution vehicle. I was able to sell knowledge and people started to trust me. It was no longer an uphill battle to be seen or get clients.
On finding a niche as a content creator:
I frame my content as “coffee at scale” — what would it be like to get coffee with me to talk about these topics? I naturally find myself gravitating towards these topics — building brands, consumer products — and if you naturally have an interest in something, you will automatically attract people to whatever it is you’re talking about.
On creating content that resonates with audiences:
The more personality and perspective you can provide, the better.
I also find that if you have a skill — like writing or designing — if you can walk someone through the journey and process of writing, creating, or designing something, there’s a high likelihood that content will perform well. People like to see the behind-the-scenes.
On starting your career strategically:
If I was beginning my career now, I’d find a place or a person that I really respect or admire and go work with them and get as close to them as possible — because the second that person can vouch for your capabilities and skills, you tap into their entire network.
On writing a successful cold pitch:
Ashwinn’s last two hires didn’t just send him their resumes and ask for work; rather, they sent thoughtful emails immediately offering him value.
In the case of Ashwinn’s first hire, the story went like this:
Email #1: Sent Ashwinn a cold email with three video ideas
Email #2: Followed up two weeks later with notes on how to solve a marketing challenge Ashwinn had shared in a video
Interview: Came to their coffee chat with a spreadsheet analyzing Ashwinn’s last 45 videos and identifying key patterns
I didn’t need that analysis done, but because of the initiative he took to showcase how he thinks, he was an immediate hire.
The next person Ashwinn hired did a similar thing:
He sent me a Google Doc with ideas for ten business units he’d launch off the back of my content. Immediately I was like, “Yeah, come work with me.”
So what’s the lesson here? I think it’s very easy to apply to a job, write the cover letter and resume, and get discouraged if you’re not seeing results. But if you’re willing to take an additional step, find the person in charge, and send a thoughtful, intentionally-crafted email immediately offering value — not saying anything about yourself, your credibility, or background — just immediately offering value, you will be surprised at how high your hit rate might be.
Steps You Can Take Today
Ashwinn’s advice is only as valuable as what you make out of it. Here are some ways you can apply his tips today. If you follow any of the suggestions, let me know how it goes by replying to this email or DMing me through Substack.
Make one piece of content — a TikTok, Substack letter or note, or LinkedIn post — about a topic you’re interested in and related to your desired field. Share it publicly and tag the company it’s about.
Some ideas: Analyze the strengths/weaknesses of your favorite brand, hypothetically rebrand a business that’s struggling, design a smart ad for a new product, explain an influencer you’d partner with and why.
Identify three founders you’d like to work for and send them each an email immediately offering value.
Early stage founders are often more receptive to cold pitches, and there’s a whole list of them here. If you can’t find their emails, usually they’re just name@company.com. Send a thoughtful, well-crafted email that immediately offers them value. And if you don’t receive a reply, don’t be discouraged — follow up in two weeks with another valuable idea.
To get you started: Draft five social posts for their company, share a new feature you think their product could benefit from and design a mockup in Figma, identify a new market for their business and develop a market entry strategy.
Thanks for reading! If you found this post helpful, leave a like and a comment about which piece of advice resonated with you most.
Fantastic tips! Thanks for sharing.