Enthusiastically Self-Employed: LinkedIn tips, Business tips, and Marketing tips for the self-employed & small business owners
Enthusiastically Self-Employed is designed for you if you’re self-employed as a coach, consultant, speaker, author, solopreneur, or small business owner. Listen in for business, marketing, and LinkedIn tips, sprinkled in with my candid insights along the way.
Listen to Enthusiastically Self-Employed to support the love you have of your business, while also supporting your bottom line. That means growing your revenue, reducing your expenses, and optimizing your processes.
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Enthusiastically Self-Employed: LinkedIn tips, Business tips, and Marketing tips for the self-employed & small business owners
LinkedIn Profile Mini-Audit for Joni Woods
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Are you a coach or consultant looking to get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn Pie? Watch this video of my mini-audit of Joni Wood's LinkedIn profile. Joni is a coach and you can visit her LinkedIn profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joniwoods/
Tips include:
- Name Pronunciation (mobile app feature)
- Making your LinkedIn Header Image intentional -- like a billboard!
- Change your Header Image at least quarterly
- Make sure your Headline is clearly communicating who you help and what you help them with
- Focus on the first 4 lines of your ABOUT (the previewable area before "see more")
Watch this on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJHcUzvygzw
Want a LinkedIn Profile Mini-Audit? Download my 15 LinkedIn Profile Tips for Coaches and Consultants -- and look for instructions in the final email
https://www.mellermarketing.com/list
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My name is Brenda Meller. I'm a LinkedIn coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My company is Meller Marketing and I help business professionals get a bigger slice of the LinkedIn pie.
Visit mellermarketing.com
Let's connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendameller
(click MORE to invite me to connect and mention you listened to my podcast)
LinkedIn Profile Audit for Communication Coach
Speaker 1Good morning . This is Brenda Miller and I'm here today with a LinkedIn profile audit for Johnny Woods . And Johnny , how are you doing today ? I'm good , how are you ? Good , I'm doing great . Looking forward to jumping in and giving some recommendations based on your LinkedIn profile . Now , before we do so , johnny , could you take a minute and tell us a little bit about you ? What do you do and who do you help ?
Speaker 2I am a relationship and communication coach , and I say it that way because I really believe that to have healthy relationships , you need to be talking to one another and then . So what I focus first and foremost on is communication . But what that looks like isn't necessarily how you say things , but is it in tune with who you are as a person ? Is it in tune with your self-awareness and being accountable to your actions and learning to grow through communication to build better and healthier relationships ? Oh great .
Speaker 1So do you work with individuals or businesses , or who's your audience ?
Speaker 2I do both . I want to be on site in a company and work with them as they learn to kind of navigate the different pain points that teams go through , as they kind of learn to work together , and so that's I want to do that , so I can give them the skills to take those in into all their other relationships outside of work .
Speaker 1Okay , you said I want to do that . Is this something you're doing now and you're looking to get more client work , or are you looking to shift and pivot your work thing you're doing now ?
Speaker 2and you're looking to get more client work , or are you looking to shift and pivot your work ? No , I have done a company , a couple of companies , already , and I want to keep building my portfolio of people that I just love to help .
Speaker 1Wonderful , and I'm going to start sharing the screen here now so we can look at your profile together as we're having the conversation and I always like to start Johnny with . Are there any specific questions you're looking for answers on as it relates to your LinkedIn profile , or are you just open to some general feedback ?
Speaker 2I would like to be better at explaining what it is I do in less , because everyone tells me I need an elevator pitch and so I'm like I don't know how to do that with everything that I say . So if there's something in my LinkedIn that you can help me with , that would be great .
Speaker 1Okay , good , so we'll focus on how do we get that story out quickly , and there's a couple of areas of your profile you can do that . First thing , though in the prep call I kept calling you Joni and you said my name is actually pronounced Johnny , and I so appreciate you pointing that out to me . And there's actually a feature on your LinkedIn profile called name pronunciation . Have you heard of that before ? I haven't . Okay , so it's on your mobile app and I'm not sure if you have your phone in front of you . If you want to pull up your phone right now and I'm going to narrate this process because there's going to be people watching this on video as well as in the podcast that'll be published later so navigate to your profile on your phone on the LinkedIn mobile app and then , once you're there , click on the gray pencil icon that's in the white area in the top right of your profile , right below the header bar , and then , once you're inside , it says edit intro at the top . Are you there ? Yep ? Scroll down and underneath first name , last name , do you see the field that says name pronunciation , and it says add audio recording ? I do so . If I were you , I would highly recommend doing this because of the fact that it does look . You know , j-o-n-i typically spelled Joni and you're pronouncing it Johnny , so that would help your audience . And also a little pro tip on here . You get 10 seconds . It will not take you 10 seconds to say hi , this is Johnny Woods . You can say hi , this is Johnny Woods , and I help organizations with conflict management and team training , so you can get a little sound bite inside there , keeping in mind that you only get 10 seconds in total and the space is called name pronunciation , so you should start with hi , this is Johnny Woods . So we want to make sure that we cover that in there . Okay , good , all right . So a little bonus tip for you .
Speaker 1So a couple areas . If you're trying to make sure that people understand fairly quickly what you do once they land on your profile , I'm going to give you three areas to look at . The first is your header image , which is that rectangular block that sits behind your headshot photo . Someone once referred to it as the headboard on the bed and I thought it made a lot of sense because it's like right behind you over there , and this is a space that is really can be used more for marketing your business more as an intentional space . So instead of just listing the name of your business Journey Coaching what I would recommend for you is that you have some brand elements in here . Maybe there's some brand continuity between the colors and fonts and what you have on your website , or imagery or things like that .
Speaker 1But rather than having journey coaching fill the entire space , what if we were instead to have some type of a one-line description of what you do , or a rhetorical question looking to help your team with conflict management or looking to help your team improve better , like a question that's speaking directly to your target audience . Alternatively , like a brand tagline or something that's explaining to them what do you do and what are the problems that you help them solve . Thoughts on that ? That sounds great . I didn't even think about that . Sometimes it's seasons based on your business . You know , looking at offsite retreat for your leadership team , like , maybe there's different products that are relating to time of year that you could work with as well , but because it's such a visual area , I like to make sure that we're making very good use of that space in there . Ok , good , ok .
Speaker 1So next thing is your headline and the headline when you , when you mentioned the elevator pitch I like to think about the headline is very similar , in that this is your chance to introduce yourself to people , and people will see your headline , johnny , as they land on your profile , but also as you comment on posts , as you reply to other people's posts and even as you come up in search results . And LinkedIn will give us up to 220 characters for the headline field , and I'm personally I'm an opportunistic marketer , so if LinkedIn gives me a field that I can use 220 characters , I will use as close to 220 as I can . But I also think about the visibility of the headline , and the part of the headline that really follows you around is the first line . So as it starts to wrap to the second and the third line , people will read that when they get to your profile . So as it starts to wrap to the second and the third line , people will read that when they get to your profile .
Speaker 1So it's really important that our first line of our headline is compelling and it speaks to who do you help ? What do you help them with ? So when I heard you give your description earlier , I wasn't hearing you saying I help companies who are in conflict learn to communicate . I heard a little bit of the learn to communicate with each other , but I think you know some of it , honestly , is just practicing , johnny , you know getting comfortable with how do you explain yourself or listening to when you're describing to people . Sometimes they'll kind of say , oh , so you help people with . So they're kind of replaying it back in their own words and that can help to refine it a bit . Now , when I see I help companies who are in conflict , I'm thinking are you helping one company work with another company or are you helping teams who are in conflict within a company ? Clarify that , if you could for me .
Speaker 2Help teams that are working together inside of one company .
Speaker 1Okay , and is it certain types of teams ? Is it sales teams ? Is it leadership teams , is it ?
Speaker 2international . It just it really just depends on where the conflict is at . So it could be like part of the management team or it could just be a difference between a manager and , you know , one of their employees . So , okay , that is . There's not a defining one there okay .
Speaker 1so you could , you know , think about maybe just changing that instead of I help companies , um , you know , I help leaders solve team conflict issues , and then to what end ? To improve productivity and your bottom line . So think about and I don't know what the path is for you , but , um , it's not just solving the conflict , it's solving the conflict so that they can what ? And learn to communicate with each other . That's a nice thing , but , like , how does it tie back to the business , to the bottom line , to the business goals ? Okay , great
Optimizing LinkedIn About Section
Speaker 1.
Speaker 1And then one other part of this , as it relates to that elevator pitch or you're telling your story , is your about statement . And LinkedIn gives us 2,600 characters for the about statement . And I always like to say , if they give you 2,600 , like , use them . But I really want to think about what appears in that previewable area at the top of your about statement . And if you have your phone with you , johnny , can you look at your about statement on your phone and , just you know , tell me where it cuts off ? Like , what's the last word that you see on the mobile view versus on the desktop view ?
Speaker 2The mobile view . It cuts off at with a holistic approach that integrates .
Speaker 1Okay , very good . So I want you to focus on the previewable area , and about is the most important . Similar to the first line of the headline , is the most important . The previewable area in the about is the most important and it's about four lines on desktop and mobile . On mobile , it wraps quicker because it's a narrower view of it , but I really want you to focus on and this might help you too .
Speaker 1I want you to think about your about statement is not really about you . It's about you as it relates to how you can help your target audience , and you can certainly include and you start right now with I'm a multifaceted professional renowned for my experience with relationship Like . That's good , but I would think that might be like the third paragraph . The first paragraph is are you struggling with team conflict ? Is it hindering your productivity and profitability ? You know I work as a leadership coach to help teams with blah , blah blah . Contact me at email address or website to learn more . And then maybe second paragraph and I'm looking at your company name is about your company . I created journey coaching too , or I created journey coaching because you know what's the why , with how you created the business , and then our products and services include and you might even put a bulleted list one-to-one leadership coaching , team workshops , corporate retreats like list out what those products and service offerings look like . And then maybe the third paragraph is about you . I , you know I'm a multifaceted professional , renowned for my experience in relationship coaching . How does that feel to you ? That feels good , yeah , yeah , and , and , and I certainly love to use the 2,600 characters they give us .
Speaker 1But I really want to think about the human element . When people land on your profile , most people won't click on , see more and scroll down . They're just going to read the first few lines in there and right away they're trying to figure out is this person somebody that can help me with whatever it is I'm seeking ? Or if one of your posts brought you , brought them back to your profile , they're trying to figure out is this the type of person I want to connect with ? And some people visiting and viewing your profile are potential clients , you know , looking for your services , and others might be potential new connections who could be referral partners . So we really want to make sure that what we have in that about statement is clear to them and also there's some type of a call to action because if they're not yet first level connections . They're not able to see your contact information on your profile . Yeah , how does that ? How does that sound to you ?
Speaker 2sounds great .
Speaker 1It helps , definitely helps all right , good , I'm going to give you one final tip . We had taught we were focusing the profile mini audit today really on getting that sound bite for the elevator pitch . But one other thing I noticed . In your profile at the top we have your location noted as ann arbor , michigan . Now , do you , do you work with clients only in ann arbor ? Are you working throughout the United States and Canada , throughout the world ? What's your geography that you're working with ?
Speaker 2I really only considered Ann Arbor right now , but that's just because maybe I was thinking small .
Speaker 1So here's what I think about . If you go inside your top header card and you do this from your view of your profile , there's a gray pencil icon at the top . You can actually do this from your mobile app as well . If you click on that pencil icon , you can scroll down to the location and where you have typed in your zip code and then it says Ann Arbor , michigan . There'll be a dropdown right next to that and instead of Ann Arbor Michigan , I might suggest you select Metropolitan Detroit instead . That broadens the reach .
Speaker 1Now , ann Arbor actually is a pretty well-known town . Thank you , university of Michigan , for putting us on the map right . But there may be people outside of Michigan , outside of Metro Detroit , outside of the United States even , who are looking at that and saying Ann Arbor , where is that ? But Detroit's a pretty well-known city and the other thing that that happens is it broadens your radius for search results . So right now , with Ann Arbor , michigan , that's the pinpoint for the center of searches . So as people are looking for leadership coaches or corporate training or whatnot , you'll come up in searches closest to Ann Arbor . But if you put Metropolitan Detroit , you'll actually come up in more searches locally here in the area . Okay , so simple little thing to do , all right ? Any final comments or any final questions , I should say as we wrap up our conversation today .
Speaker 2No , that sounds so good , although , to be fair , I'm glad it wasn't a super mess .
Speaker 1No , yeah , not at all . I always like to look at these sessions as here's just a couple of things that you can work on . I don't want you to walk away feeling like , oh my gosh , it was terrible . You know you have a profile to get started and you know these are just some simple changes that you can do to make . One last thing I want to tell you , though company page . Do you have a company page yet for your business journey coaching .
Speaker 2I don't , I just have my company website .
Speaker 1Okay , I would highly recommend you set up a company page on LinkedIn . I'll send you a blog and I'll include it in the resources below for others who might be interested . It's free to set up a company page . You will get the opportunity to upload your logo and then , next to journey coaching , at the top , instead of this gray avatar box with the blue symbols on it , you'll actually get your logo and then , once that's linked into your experience section , it would show in the top of your profile as well as down here as well , and then it gives you another place that you can post information about your company and share information about your company Also creates some legitimacy for your business . So people look at that and they know that it's a real business . It's a real full-fledged operation .
Speaker 2Great , okay , that's perfect , all right .
Speaker 1Awesome and Johnny , for people who are interested in connecting with you , are you open to them visiting your profile and connecting and , if so , do you have any instructions for them ?
Speaker 2I'm open to it and I don't have any instructions , should I ?
Speaker 1Some people will say tell them that I heard you on Brenda's podcast , because I don't accept connections from people I don't know . And other people will say you know , read through my profile . It's really personal preference . And some of my guests will say I only connect with people I know , so you know , but I want to know .
Speaker 1I'm kind of of the abundance mentality the more people we connect with , the more people that we can help . But you know , certainly for those that are listening or watching this , if you were to personalize your invitation and mention that you heard Johnny on my show , you know could definitely help , because then she'll understand where you found her
Interview With Johnny Woods
Speaker 1. From there we go . And for those that are on the podcast , it's Johnny's address on LinkedIn is linkedincom slash in slash , johnny Woods . It's J-O-N-I-W-O-O-D-S . Johnny . Thank you so much for your time today . It I-W-O-O-D-S . Jenny . Thank you so much for your time today . It was a pleasure getting to know you and learning more about your business . Thanks , all right , looking forward to seeing your updates and thank you again for watching .
