The person who connects with you right away then sends you a script.

Yes, that was me.

By showcasing one of the scripts here (see below!) I’m admitting that I did it. I learned what NOT to do and I’ll NEVER, EVER do it again!

I’m so sorry to all those people who got a message like this from me.

Thank you for continuing to be connected to me even though I was that person.

Here’s what I do instead: I get to know people. I teach my clients to do LinkedIn the right way.

It’s a strategy that took me from the icky, spammy, copy and past scripts to building relationships through profile, engagement and content.

I’m so happy that I know now the right things to do AND that I can help others come to the light.

Do you get messages like this? Do you send messages like this?

Don’t assume they come from real people because a lot of them comes from automated systems.

Want to know how to do things differently? Leverage Up, LLC is happy to show you the right way.

The post I used to be THAT PERSON. appeared first on Leverage Up.

My reply, “It doesn’t always have to be about business.”

I’m posting about that interaction because I’m sure others have had that thoughts as they’re posting about something that may not be work related here.

Can I level with you? We are human. We have lives outside of work.

Would I have talked about that “mom guilt” at work with colleagues? At a networking event? Perhaps.

Why should this platform be any different?

When I started posting here on LinkedIn, I didn’t post a lot of personal stuff. I’ve peeled away the onion quite a bit over the past four years.

If you’re starting out on your content journey, I always recommend leading with the professional side.

Now it’s a good mix of professional and personal.

Since I posted something that many parents can relate to, there’s a commonality – relatability is super important.

It’s like going to a networking event. Do we constantly talk about business?!

Nope, there may be traffic talk, weather talk, food talk, family talk, or anything else that can come up.

Storytelling is HUGE here. Tell the stories and relate to people.

Let’s build relationships here – with a good mix of work and personal!

Have you posted something that wasn’t work related? How was it received by people here? Will you continue the peel the layers of the onion back?

The post “But it doesn’t have anything to do with your business.” appeared first on Leverage Up.

When you post, “Look at me, check me out, I’m here!” Even if you feel that you have a “brand” and you want to make sure people know about it, that is shouting from the rooftop.

When you post in a way that opens up the conversation, tells a story, asks a question, leaving room for people to engage, that’s not shouting from the rooftop, that is creating conversation.

Incidentally I should also say when you don’t reply to your comments, you are essentially walking away from potential conversations. Reply to those of us who comment, people!

LinkedIn isn’t a business platform it is a big discussion. If you aren’t talking, you are missing out.

It shouldn’t be a task or something you “have to do”, it should be something you enjoy doing, like I do.

#linkedin#leverageup#purplesquirrelmagnet#conversations

The post Don’t shout from the top of the rooftop. appeared first on Leverage Up.

Let me start by saying with 810 million people on LinkedIn, one of the things a lot of us want is visibility, the desire to stand apart from the crowd.

I’ve posted about the scene from the movie iRobot, because it can often feel like we’re all gray robots and many of us want to be the rainbow robot among the rest.

That being said, I posted my first newsletter last week. I can NOT believe the visibility the newsletter has brought me here. Now, before I tell you the numbers, I am very well aware that I already have a large following.

I also know that one of the things LinkedIn does is send a notification to everyone in your network when you post a newsletter.

That being said, I really wish I would have listened to advice from Jeff Young a couple months ago when we chatted about newsletters. He told me about the possibilities if and when I started one. He was right.

In just 7 days since I posted my first newsletter here…
4,459 people have subscribed
Over 4,000 people have checked out my profile (in the past 90 days, as LinkedIn says), this is a boost since before posting my first newsletter.
Multiple people have sent me DMs expressing interest in working with me.
I’m visible to more people than I was pre-newsletter.

I’ve seen people expressing “Ugh” sentiments over newsletters. Subscribe to the ones that you’re interested in from the people who you appreciate. Read them and move on. They shouldn’t be a time suck.

That being said, if you are considering starting a newsletter, I highly recommend it.

Here’s hoping this post provides insight and not arguments.

The post One thing I strongly believe in is building relationships here. appeared first on Leverage Up.

Consistency and maintenance is everything.

I think I need to put it all in perspective before breaking this all down.

My husband has done a fantastic job snowblowing the driveway… until the past 5 days or so. Then we haven’t touched it.

With temperatures hovering around 5, 10, 15 degrees and a few more inches of snow, we’ve been able to “get by” without touching it.

Well now there’s a big storm forcecasted to move in on Thursday. Do you know what’s worse than ice and snow? Ice on top of ice and snow. Trust me, I know.

So I headed out to shovel…and it took me 3 hours to get the majority of our driveway cleared.

Just like shoveling away at the snow and ice that has frozen to your driveway, LinkedIn is much harder to make traction on if you aren’t maintaining it.

If you don’t regularly maintain your profile, comment on others’ posts and post consistently here, you will find yourself chipping away at the ice that has frozen over.

Moral of the story, regular maintenance makes all the difference.

If you need me, I’ll be sleeping and probably hurting for a couple days too, because I haven’t shoveled snow/ice for 3 straight hours in…years.

The post How do you connect 3 hours of shoveling snow to LinkedIn? appeared first on Leverage Up.

The goal is to get people’s attention and then keep it.

That’s one of my “go to” advice when it comes to posting content on LinkedIn. What’s worked for you?

The post Never underestimate the power of an opening sentence, lead, or hook. appeared first on Leverage Up.

It was in my head as I was sitting in the “way” back seat with my oldest daughter driving back from a road trip for her gymnastics meet with absolutely no leg room and very uncomfortable.

Life is not always ideal, make the best out of situation. By manipulating my legs and body, I still got some rest as my husband battled the very snowy roads at the wheel for multiple hours.

It was in my head as I was digging a welcome mat out of our snowblower yesterday.

I took one look at it and I could have gotten overwhelmed, disgruntled and surrendered but instead I was determined to remove it.

Mistakes happen, it’s how you react to the situation. Get upset, give up, or say “I got this. I can do this”.

Mission accomplished, I pulled the remnants of that mat out of the snowblower blades (small and big pieces with gloves of course) and my husband was able to continue clearing our driveway. I yelled out “Woo Hoo!” when I got it done.

Relate life to your LinkedIn network and you will relate with people here. Tell the stories.

Writing this while watching Daniel Roth talk about “jobs on the rise” on The Today Show.

Why am I mentioning that? I say that because no matter what you do – whether you are a vaccine specialist, the hottest job in America according to LinkedIn, or a molecular biologist, a profession that’s number 22 on LinkedIn’s list and that I got to know more of when I worked with Malay Chaklader , PhD as he was looking for his next opportunity last year, posting content here that is relatable will help people get to know you better.

Be careful of what may be under the snow and tell the stories. You just never know what relationships are going to bloom when you tell the stories and share the lessons learned.

The post “How can I bring this to LinkedIn?” appeared first on Leverage Up.

The post I don’t know what to post. appeared first on Leverage Up.

I honestly believe that two brains are better than one.

Craig Langley and I had a Zoom call a few months ago and we talked LinkedIn, because we both LOVE this platform.  

That conversation led to us chatting about different ways to post here.

Next thing you know…we are talking about teaming up to write an article on….well…the various ways to post and why each is significant in its own way!

Now it didn’t happen overnight because Craig is busy with his work and life in the UK, and I got Covid within weeks of that call and have been juggling my business and life here in the US.

Then ding ding ding!!!   

It was time!  

When you make time for what’s important, you get the work done!   

Through the brilliance of technology, we set up a Zoom where we wrote this article together and know what??!!

Shared it, tweaked it a bit and BOOM! 

 Inside of this article I gave shout outs to ~Rachel Simon, Jeff Young, and the great © Richard van der Blom. Paradigm Marketing and Design, used our podcast for this article too!

Enjoy the article and a big thank you again to Craig for teaming up with me on this one!  My first article in 18 months!!!

The post Teamwork…one word but so much meaning behind it. appeared first on Leverage Up.

That’s what happened for us on Friday. We planned to cut down our tree. We planned to go to a tree farm that had earned rave reviews.

Did we find our perfect tree? Did we find the picture perfect “Christmas card” moment? Nope, we couldn’t find our tree there.

Even though we walked up and down and looked in the freezing cold for an hour and a half.

We saw plenty of families find their tree. We told the kids, “Maybe they settled for what they could find.”

We didn’t settle. We drove away in silence. I could tell the kids were disappointed.

So we pivoted and went somewhere else where we found it. Pre-cut and know what? It all worked out.

There were still plenty of smiles today as they decorated.

All we did was pivot.

If you aren’t prepared to pivot when plans don’t work out, you just might be in for disappointment.

The post In business and life, you have to know how to pivot. appeared first on Leverage Up.