I Waited Too Long to Take X Seriously

I waited too long to take X seriously. Not because I thought the platform was fake. Because I made a clean-sounding strategic call — and then treated it like the only call.

Roughly seven years ago I had a reflection point. Knup Solutions was deep in iGaming. I wanted to be known — a leader in the room, not a lurker on the timeline. I looked at where my ideal people already lived and decided LinkedIn was the move. Serious operators. Decision-makers. Industry conversations that felt “professional.”

That part was not wrong. My mistake was the silent second half of the decision: therefore X can wait.

The LinkedIn bet that actually worked

I did take LinkedIn seriously. Consistency. Relationships. Showing up in a niche that rewards patience. Today I am around 12,000 followers with a network that is deep, not decorative — people I actually know from sports betting, iGaming, media, and the longer Knup journey.

I wrote about the early climb when I crossed 11,000 in How to Grow Your LinkedIn Network. The number was never the point. The point was becoming findable to the right humans.

For Knup Solutions, LinkedIn matched the buyer. If you sell into regulated, B2B-flavored ecosystems, LinkedIn is often where the handshake starts. Events still matter — I have a whole playbook for turning event conversations into clients — but LinkedIn was the daily surface between rooms.

So no: I do not regret LinkedIn. I would make that bet again.

The mistake was either/or

Gary Vaynerchuk has been yelling a simple idea for years: AND. Not either/or. Do the hard thing and the other hard thing. Document and create. LinkedIn and X. Attention and relationships.

I heard it. I even agreed with it in theory. In practice I rationed my seriousness like it was a scarce resource. “I only have so many hours. LinkedIn is where my people are. X is noise / memes / not my lane.”

That story sounds adult. It is also how you quietly forfeit a decade of compound interest on a second platform.

Taking LinkedIn seriously was correct. Taking X lightly at the same time was the miss.

What “not taking X seriously” looked like

I was not absent. I was half-present — the worst mode.

• Account existed. Habit did not.
• Occasional posts. No rhythm.
• Replies when convenient. No monitoring system.
• Treating X like a billboard for links instead of a networking floor.
• Assuming “my people are on LinkedIn” meant “the only people who matter are on LinkedIn.”

Meanwhile the world kept networking in public on X — founders, operators, creators, journalists, sports business voices, AI builders, real estate conversations. Some of my people were on LinkedIn. Plenty of other people I needed later were already building graph density on X while I was optimizing one channel.

Same relationship-first instinct I preach in Why Relationship-First Businesses Beat Transactional Ones — I just applied it unevenly across platforms.

What taking X seriously looks like now

Fast-forward to 2026. Knup is the hub. Sports Mentorship, Ideal Homeschool, realtor work, Built, travel, Punk — multiple lanes that need public conversation, not only LinkedIn polish.

So I stopped treating X like optional noise:

1. I paid for the workflow. Premium+ was not about a blue check. It was X Pro, reply visibility, and treating the platform like an operating surface.
2. I built decks with jobs. Engage first, then brand lanes — the setup in My First X Pro Decks.
3. I made a public scoreboard. 500,000 verified Home Timeline impressions in 90 days for creator rewards. Morning screenshots. No hiding.
4. I am learning original posts AND replies. Engagement builds relationships. The rewards gate wants Home Timeline impressions on original work. Both matter — different jobs. Reminder: posting is not marketing, but posting is still part of the seriousness.

That is what “taking it seriously” means for me now: paid tools, daily rhythm, public accountability, and a refusal to treat X as a leftover app.

If I had started seven years ago

No regrets — that word is too heavy for a channel decision. But I will be honest about the counterfactual.

If I had run LinkedIn and X with the same intensity for seven years, I probably would not be staring at a 500k verified impressions carrot right now. The network effects, the reply history, the audience familiarity, the muscle of posting in public — that stuff compounds. Creator program eligibility would likely be a different conversation. Maybe already cleared. Maybe not even something I obsess over.

Instead I am catching up in public. That is fine. Late is still earlier than never. It just costs more sweat to rebuild what time would have given me for free.

AND is the lesson (not “abandon LinkedIn”)

Please do not read this as “LinkedIn is dead” or “everyone must live on X.” That would just be a new either/or.

The lesson is narrower:

• Pick the channel where your buyers already hang out — I still stand by LinkedIn for that era of Knup Solutions.
• Do not confuse primary with exclusive. Primary gets more hours. Exclusive gets zero hours on the second platform — and zero compounds into nothing.
• Parallel beats sequential when the cost of waiting is compound interest. Networks are not inventory you can buy later at the same price.
• AND is a calendar decision. Even a smaller X rhythm alongside a serious LinkedIn rhythm would have beaten “I’ll do X later.”

Same energy as marketing maintenance vs restarting — you do not need twelve channels. You need the ones that matter to keep breathing. See I Keep Restarting Marketing Instead of Maintaining It.

What I would tell 2019 me

Keep LinkedIn. Double down on the niche. Go to the events. Ask for referrals without being awkward.

And also: open X every day like it is part of the job. Post. Reply. Build the graph while it is still cheap. Do not wait until Premium+, decks, and creator rewards make the platform feel “serious enough.” Serious is a habit, not a subscription tier.

2019 me would have argued about time. Current me would answer: you already found time for LinkedIn. Steal one hour a week from scrolling and put it into X AND. That is how AND starts — ugly and small, not perfect and postponed.

Final thoughts

I waited too long to take X seriously. LinkedIn was the right first bet for Knup Solutions and iGaming. Roughly 12,000 followers and a deep niche prove the instinct was good. The miss was calling it either/or.

GaryV’s AND was the assignment. I am doing the makeup work now — Premium+, decks, public impressions screenshots, original posts with a point. No regrets. Just a clearer rule going forward: when a channel can compound, do not put it on the someday list because another channel is already working.