From Ali Abdaal’s team to Bryan Johnson’s editor (3 outreach shifts from Jana)
Dec 22, 2025 6:17 pm
Hey there,
Recently sat down with Jana Skulova – she started in the creator economy with Ali Abdaal and now runs a successful video editing agency working with clients like Bryan Johnson. If you work with creators, coaches, or B2B founders, this episode is a masterclass.youtube
Here are 3 non-generic outreach + sales lessons you can steal.
1. Turn “style” into a sales system
Most editors/agencies ask, “Whose style do you like?” and stop there.
Jana treats style discovery as a consultative sales process:
- Uses a detailed form so clients go beyond “I like Ali Abdaal”
- Asks what exactly they like: pacing, colours, B‑roll, animations, scripting
- Makes them mix elements from 4–5 references into a unique “asset pack” for that client
Result: you look like a partner, not a commodity; fewer revisions, higher LTV.
2. Infiltrate the right ecosystem first
Instead of blasting cold emails, Jana optimized for access, not a “perfect offer”:youtube
- Applied for an internship with Ali’s team even though she felt “too old” for ityoutube
- Overdelivered on everything (first in, last out, doing unsexy tasks on set)youtube
- Identified what could be done remotely so she stayed valuable long term
- Her first long‑form clients came as referrals from that ecosystem
Foot‑in‑door → overdeliver → become indispensable → spin out your own client base.
3. Lead with tangible value in outreach
Personalization isn’t “Hi {first_name}, big fan.”
Jana’s high‑signal outreach play:
- Find the channel they actually check (YouTube, IG, LinkedIn, or a team member)youtube
- Spend 5–10 minutes finding their real name and context
- Lead with value: trial edit, PDF moodboard, or concrete tailored suggestions for their channel
- Follow up 1–2 times max, then move on; also post spec edits publicly and let the right people raise their hands
This is the kind of outreach that stands out in a sea of AI‑generated noise.
If you want help turning these ideas into a full system for your business, that’s exactly what we’ll do inside the 3‑month Cold Outreach Mastery mentorship.
For 90 days starting 1st January 2026, we’ll work on:
- Offer creation & positioning – so your service is a painkiller, not a “nice to have”
- Cold email + LinkedIn outreach – lists, messaging, and multi‑channel follow‑ups
- Personal branding – using content to warm leads before you ever reach out
- Sales & closing – from reply → booked call → client
Format:
- Weekly workshop (1x/week) with me + guests
- Weekly live Q&A (1x/week) to debug your offers, scripts, and campaigns
- Private Slack where you can drop questions and get feedback any time
We’ve got 6 slots left, including 1 scholarship.
Click here to see if the cohort is a fit and grab one of the last 4 spots
Stay healthy, stay safe.
Best,
Divij V Sharma