How I Used Linkedin To Radically Accelerate My Career Growth

Take my lessons and use them to transform your career.

LinkedIn is steroids for your career growth.

But only if you use it properly.

When I ask people if they use LinkedIn, the most common response is:

I only use it when I am looking for a job.

That’s the equivalent of saying:

I only exercise when I have a health issue.

Reactive use of LinkedIn is not a good idea.

You can come across as desperate if you’re DM’ing random people for jobs or constantly posting about how much you need work.

People can smell the stink.

Instead, be proactive.

Start creating daily content on LinkedIn. Tell stories. Document your learnings and failures. Be vulnerable with your lived experiences.

There is no guarantee that any of your content will resonate, but there is also no limit to how many opportunities you could get.

You could be one post away from your dream job or connecting with people you admire. I’ve had a few viral posts that led to speaking engagements and paid opportunities.

If you never put yourself out there, you will never know what you could get.

Used correctly, LinkedIn will transform your career.

Imagine all the companies and people you admire being in one place and you get the opportunity to showcase your work directly to them.

You don’t need a large follower base or fancy equipment to get started. Creating content can be as simple as words on a virtual page to videos shot on your iPhone.

Don’t ever use LinkedIn as your personal diary. No one really cares about you. Your content is not for you. They only care about what you can do for them.

Engage your audience by creating content that provides value through:

Educating
Entertaining
Informing

Plant the seed. Water with consistency. Watch your fruits grow.

Here are some of the results you might experience:

You become a magnet for opportunities.

The other day I got a random message from someone I had been following for a number of years.

They are currently the CEO of a national organization and I got asked to be on the Board of Directors.

I never applied. I never even really knew what the organization did prior to the approach. I didn’t even know she knew who I was.

I was flattered by the approach and felt a sense of pride that my content on LinkedIn was resonating with people who mattered.

That’s the power of LinkedIn. When you document your journey and tell powerful stories, people will notice.

Even if they don’t directly engage with your content with a ‘like’ or ‘comment’, random people will message me or mention they read my content when I meet them in person.

Opportunities might not come right away or even tomorrow. But if you consistently show up for months on end, I can guarantee that you will be approached with meaningful opportunities.

It’s only a matter of time and consistency.

This isn’t the only board opportunity that I’ve received:

This is another paid board position with a high level of exposure to powerful people. I was shortlisted through a LinkedIn referral and interviewed for the role.

I know a lot of people who have 10+ years more experience than me who have been actively looking for board positions for years and haven’t gotten anywhere.

LinkedIn shortcuts the time required to get meaningful opportunities.

Takeaway: When you create content on LinkedIn in your niche area, people will come to you with opportunities. Not magically, but because you’ve built a reputation and brand for yourself.

You become a thought leader or domain expert.

How do you become a thought leader?

By putting your thoughts in public.

I have been praised, criticized and even insulted when I started to post content about areas and topics that interested me.

I never claimed to be an expert on the topic, only a curious individual who could ask great questions.

Aside from being a doctor, accountant or engineer, expertise is overrated.

For most knowledge-based jobs, you can become an expert by reading the 3–4 best books on the topic, staying in touch with emerging trends and posting regular content about it on LinkedIn.

The best thing about not being an expert is that there is no pressure on me to get everything right. I have permission to ask stupid questions and learn from people smarter than me.

After a while, you’ll get approached to speak about the topic on podcasts:

Or you’ll have interesting people approach you to chat:

There will be a point when you won’t have time to be on every podcast and chat with every person who asks for your time.

You have to be more selective when more and more opportunities come your way. But creating content on LinkedIn is a great way to connect with like-minded people and organizations.

Use LinkedIn to build your expertise and find your tribe.

Takeaways: You can become an expert or thought leader by posting more content about it. Aim to inform, entertain and educate with each piece of content.

You become a better storyteller.

People connect with stories, not job titles.

You can be the CEO of that or the President of this, but if you can’t tell stories about your work and life lessons, your content won’t resonate at all.

Your stories don’t have to solely relate to your job or your career. Tell stories related to your personal life: family, struggles, and past experiences.

Don’t reveal anything too sensitive or topics you’re not comfortable with.

Here is an example of telling people about my family in Singapore:

This is a short, simple story of an important figure in my life. Almost everyone can relate to some level to the importance of love and family.

Here are the engagement stats:

16,000 + people viewed this post. When you really think about that number, that fills a soccer stadium in Melbourne. You never know who is watching and consuming your content.

Humans connect with humans.

The engagement with this post was a good test for a future Medium article related to my grandmother.

I had people comment on the post and even inbox me:

Takeaway: Tell your story. You’ve got life experiences that are unique to you. Think about any hardships, adversities or challenges you’ve overcome and how the lessons you learned can help others.

You become better at approaching people

On a recent trip to Singapore, I reached out to a bunch of people I have always admired and wanted to meet.

These weren’t exactly random DMs. We had been connected on LinkedIn before so she had an idea of who I was.

There is an art of inboxing people you don’t know.

You have to balance being concise and thorough in your messaging. Do not ever start with a vague “Hi” or “how are you going?” without any more meat to the message.

I never respond to messages like this.

I just don’t have the time to strike up a random conversation. And I’ll be questioning your intentions towards me the entire time.

And this is mainly for guys, but please don’t use LinkedIn as a dating site. It’s creepy and very annoying. If you’re looking for a hookup there are plenty of other apps out there.

Here is a breakdown of the message that I sent:

My first paragraph reflected that I’ve clearly done your research on the person and also tells a story about how their work impacted you.

You don’t need to suck up to them. Just be honest with their impact on you.

The second part of the message goes into more depth about their impact on me with very specific examples of previous interactions.

I ended this part of the message by being very specific on the time and dates of when we could potentially meet.

The person you’re trying to meet is probably super busy. Acknowledge it. And be very clear about what the purpose of the meeting is. Don’t be vague. I always like to set a rough agenda of what I want to talk about.

I ended the message with a disclaimer that there was no obligation to meet with me. This is important. You don’t want to leave the message feeling awkward if you ever met this person in real life.

Takeaway

LinkedIn is fantastic at connecting you with people. Take it a step further and use it to create meaningful interactions in real life. The connection of one person provides access to their entire network.

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