Transform your professional life by following these 6 rules.

Linkedin is the most underutilized social media platform among young creators and professionals.

99% of my friends and colleagues don’t post regular content on Linkedin, despite the enormous benefits of doing so.

But anyone sleeping on LinkedIn will wake up behind the game. Don’t be caught napping while others are killing it on this platform.

Linkedin has transformed my professional life.

By posting consistently for 2 years, I’ve been able to:

• Co-found a podcast and receive funding.

• Attract dream freelance clients.

• Receive numerous job offers.

• Get paid board and committee positions.

• Expand my network through meaningful interactions.

• Test Medium article ideas and find new ideas.

Here’s the process for changing up your Linkedin game.

Be Resilient

I cop a lot of shit because I consistently put myself out there.

Whether it is negative comments, people thinking I am a self-promoter or just disliking me, I’ve had it all.

It comes with the territory.

But their harsh judgment reflects their own insecurities. Not mine.

The biggest barrier to people posting content is the feeling they will be judged. But whether you do or don’t post, you will be judged.

If you have a social media profile, you have a brand regardless of what you do.

At some point, you’ll have to let go of caring what people think about you. Don’t take criticism from people you wouldn’t take advice from.

Overcoming this mental barrier was the first and biggest step to making money on Linkedin.

Takeaway: Get comfortable with people not liking you.

Be Genuine

Don’t smash people over the head with your personal branding.

Share your real-life experiences.

Why?

When the barrier of entry is low, the premium of authenticity is high.

Social media has allowed anyone to become a publisher. If you’ve got a pulse and an internet connection, you can start creating your own content today.

But a low barrier to entry does not always equal more competition. You can stand out from the crowd by telling your own story.

Lived experience will trump a cheesy motivational quote any day. Humans are social animals. We connect through people’s life stories, not their fancy job titles.

I’ve used Linkedin to tell my story and connection to my local community. I talked about my upbringing and struggles and how that informs the work I do today. These are real stories and experiences I’ve had.

For instance:

I wasn’t trying to sell any product or service. I didn’t even put any call to action in my posts. But I still had people reach out to me with paid opportunities. They connected with my story and wanted to work with me.

I secured my first freelance client that paid $15,000 for my services. I didn’t have to pitch or tender. They asked me to name my price and timeline. They never micromanaged me.

They had been following my work for a number of years and were looking for opportunities to work with me. Each post on Linkedin built trust with me.

You can escape the competition through authenticity.

Takeaway: Don’t self-promote, document your journey. Share your successes, achievements, learnings and failures through a story.

Be Curious

Everyone has skills.

Even better when you can combine different skills into a unique combination.

You might not be the best at each individual skill, but when you combine them together, you have low to zero competition.

Like my point above, if you’re competing on skills, change or add more skills to your stack until your only competition is the handsome person staring back at you in the mirror.

Keep redefining what you do until you are the best at it.

As the creator of the Dilbert Comic, Scott Adams famously said, “each skill you learn roughly doubles your odds of success.”

Once you’ve got a skill stack, share it.

I’ve been able to stand out from the crowd because I am one of the few people in my industry that knows how to use Linkedin effectively.

I’ve combined my management consulting skills with digital marketing, videography, podcasting and copywriting. I am not the best in any of these skills. But combined, I am in the top 1% of the world.

As a result, I’ve been approached to create my first online course for $3,000 and received close to $30,000 for my podcast. Nothing to brag home about, but nothing to sneeze at either.

Takeaway: What unique skills do you have that you can combine together? The more unique, the better. Assemble your skill stack and share it with the world.

Be Consistent

“Habits build online empires”

— (source)

Posting consistently on Linkedin increases your chances of virality.

You’re only one viral post away from securing your next high-profile client, securing a book deal or launching a business.

You can’t control what piece of content will go viral.

But you can increase the odds of going viral by creating more content.

You would rather be consistently good than occasionally great.

After a certain threshold, quantity counts for more than quality.

Each post is a vote for your personal brand. And the more votes you put in, the more likely people will resonant with what you’re putting out there.

I’ve built my reputation as a thought leader and expert in a specific niche that I am getting approached with paid board and committee opportunities.

These take up relatively little time but provide close to $200 per month or $2,400 a year in extra income. In short, I’ve been able to monetize my expertise through Linkedin.

In the future, I could potentially scale these gigs into my own consultancy or advisory agency.

Takeaway: Think about a topic you can’t shut up about. What do you naturally gravitate towards? What would friends and family say you always talk about? Start creating content and don’t stop. You’ll start to attract brands and people who want to work with you.

Be Kind

Linkedin is not a place to start fights or spread hate.

I personally stay away from overtly negative or controversial topics on LinkedIn.

The principles I use to create content on Linkedin aims to

• Solve people’s problems.

• Inspire them through a story.

• Teach them something useful.

In short, every post aims to add value. Everything else I ignore.

But how does being kind help you make money on Linkedin?

Being kind is long-term selfish.

People will bring deals and opportunities to you because they know you won’t f*ck them over. You might lose in the short term, but being kind always wins in the long term.

At SpaceX, Elon Musk has a strict no a-holes policy. And they fire people if they are.

People want to work with others who treat them well. At some point, your attitude matters more than your aptitude. Technical skills mean nothing if you make people who work with you miserable.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

Takeaway: Positivity spreads further than negativity.

Be Economical

My motto for content: create once, cut many times.

Once you’ve started to build a portfolio of work on a platform you can reuse and recycle the best hits onto other platforms.

Use existing content you might have on Instagram, Medium, Youtube or any other platform appropriate.

You might have to tweak around the edges, but you can make your content work for you.

I’ve got over 100 Medium blogs articles. I recut, reuse or rewrite to make content on other platforms.

For instance, I will:

• Take highlights of my old articles and post them as lessons on Instagram.

• Reuse my best article lines and turn them into Linkedin posts.

• Identify my best-performing articles and rewrite them slightly a year later.

One of my best performing Medium articles started off as a Linkedin post:

Takeaway: Work smart and hard. You own your content so make it work for you.

Summary:

1. Start creating content on Linkedin using the rules above.

2. Do it consistently for at least a year.

3. Watch your professional career take off.

Income breakdown:

• Freelance client: $15,000

• Online course: $3,000

• Paid board or committee positions: $2,400

• Podcast: $12,000 (profit share with cofounder)

TOTAL = $32,400

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