Wednesday, July 21, 2021

LinkedIn Success Strategies: Finding Clients on LinkedIn

If you’re looking to make business connections, LinkedIn is the premier social media platform to use. You’ll find recruiters using LinkedIn to find job candidates; CEOs looking for outplacement services; and other résumé writers looking for writers to build their dream subcontracting team. In the world of business relationships, you just never know who you’ll meet that will possibly send you your most lucrative client, so growing your network steadily and consistently makes good business sense.

 
However, if you think blasting LinkedIn users with connection requests is the way to go, put the brakes on your plans and rethink your strategy. 
 
Here’s some well-researched advice:
  1. Nobody likes a spammer. Logging in to your account and sending out a blast of connection requests is not a good use of your time. And if you think blasting your current connections with your latest service offering, article, or event will make you instant friends, think again. These are typical forms of spamming which will lose you connections instead of gaining them.
  1. Don’t use people just for introductions. When someone accepts your connection, get to know that person and their company before asking for introductions to others in their network. People are very protective of their networks and will pick and choose whom they allow access. If they refer you to their connection, and that introduction or meeting doesn’t go well, then THEIR reputation is at stake. Building relationships goes two ways for this exact reason.
  1. Remember the Golden Rule: Treat others as you want to be treated. Follow simple common sense: If you don’t want to be bombarded with connection requests and offers or solicitations to join teams — and you don’t know the person asking, why would you do those same things to others? Connect with others who have a common interest or whose companies complement yours. A personalized connection request makes a big difference, too.
  1. Allow time to build relationships and to build your network. Your network will NOT grow overnight, especially if you use spam tactics to connect with people. Think of networking as the “planting of seeds,” where you certainly talk about what you do and who you are — but in a natural, organic, and authentic way instead of in sales mode. Over time, your connections will remember what you do — and, if they like your style, they will readily refer people to you; but they need to know you better and that takes time. Remember that it’s about “know, like, and trust.” People want to do business with those they know, like, and trust. This can take time!
  1. Provide value to others. One way to showcase your expertise to your LinkedIn connections is to share consistently. Write articles, participate in groups, ask questions, and share about your mission and why it’s important to you. Educate your followers about what you do or the problems you can solve. Remember, jobseekers are hungry for information — feed them! Done consistently, this type of sharing will keep you in people’s minds and you just never know when they will be ready to hire you or send you a referral. 
 
Networking on LinkedIn really boils down to common sense: Act professionally so you portray your business in the best possible light and be authentic in your interactions. Your ideal clients will be drawn to you once they get to know you as a person instead of as a salesperson.

Thursday, May 13, 2021

10 Questions With Angela Jones

 

Get to know the other resume writers in our community with our “10 Questions” series!

Today’s profile is Angela Jones of Haute Resume & Career Services LLC.

Angela founded Haute Resume & Career Services in 2006 when she set out to leverage her experience and expertise as a certified professional resume writer to help executives and highly skilled professionals land the job they want and the $100K salaries they deserve.

As a former recruiter — and a frequent contributor to best-selling resume and cover letter books, including “Gallery of Best Resumes” — Angela has long been considered an expert in the resume writing industry.

Her credentials include having served as a member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC) Certification Committee, where she was tasked with judging and certifying only the most talented resume writers from all corners of the world.

Angela has further distinguished herself as one of only a handful of professional resume writers to have received the coveted TORI Award (Toast of the Resume Industry) from Career Directors International. The TORI awards are a prestigious international competition recognizing those who have demonstrated mastery within the resume writing industry.

1. Why did you decide to become a professional resume writer?
I am entrepreneurial and had always wanted to own my own business. When I was laid off, I was given an unexpected opportunity to take the leap into self-employment. I chose working for myself versus working for others as an employee.

2. How did you get into the career industry? What did you do before?
I started my career in banking, moved to office administration, returned to school, became a network administrator, an application developer, and finally a Human Resource Coordinator. My background — combined with my breadth and depth of experience in a variety of roles — has proven critical when working with jobseekers in various industries.

3. What do you typically wear when you’re working?
I’ve enjoyed a “slipper commute” for more than 15 years now.

4. What is your best habit, and what is your worst?
I am competitive and have worked hard to become one of the top resume writers in the country. On the flip side, I have been known to work through the day without breaks. I would often wake up at 3 a.m. to debug my code while working as an application developer.

5. What’s your favorite object in your office? Why?
I have two beagles who keep me company as I work.


6. What is your “go to” technique or secret when you get stuck when you’re writing a resume? How do you get unstuck?
I walk away from it and come back later. Just like debugging code … the answer will come.

7. What’s the best career advice you ever got?
Honestly…to raise my fees. Clients feel better knowing they are going to get their money’s worth and trust my expertise.

8. How do you unplug?
Prior to COVID-19, we would travel the Caribbean, Central and South America. I’m going a bit stir crazy now with the pandemic.

9. What ONE thing would you change about your business or the career industry, if you could?
I would like everyone to understand the value a great resume writer brings.

I had a client in San Francisco who had been laid off, exhausted all of his resources, was within weeks of losing his home to foreclosure, and his relationship with his wife was in jeopardy. With the help from his new resume, in two — maybe three – weeks, he’d landed a great job. Had he not sought help when he did, he would have been divorced, lost his house, and had nothing left in his bank accounts.

10. What are your favorite social media accounts to follow?

Connect with Angie on Linkedin here: 

Find her company on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ResumeExperts

Or follow her on Twitter at @ResumeExperts

Did you miss our last 10 Questions profile, featuring Georgia Adamson?

Thursday, April 29, 2021

10 Questions with Georgia Adamson

  

Get to know the other resume writers in our community with our “10 Questions” series!

Today’s profile is Georgia Adamson of A Successful Career.

Georgia has been a professional resume writer since 1993. She holds multiple professional certifications, including NCRW, MRW, ACRW, CPRW, NCOPE, CERM, and CJSS. She is a member of the National Resume Writer's Association (NRWA), Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches (PARW/CC), Career Directors International (CDI), and Career Thought Leaders (CTL).

1. Why did you decide to become a professional resume writer?
I was being asked to help people with their resumes, which I hadn’t done before. After a few of them, I decided I enjoyed creating resumes for people that made them feel more confident about themselves. Since I like to have a good idea of what I’m doing when I start on something new, I began checking into how to do this as professionally as possible.

2. How did you get into the career industry? What did you do before?
Previously I was an executive assistant in a technology company in Silicon Valley, California. I began to feel I wasn’t using all my capabilities in that role and started a business support service on the side. When we had a layoff and I lost my job, I decided to see if I could run my business full-time.

3. What do you typically wear when you’re working?
Neat but casual clothing. I work virtually and don’t see clients in person, but I feel more like working if I’m not TOO relaxed in my attire!

4. What is your best habit, and what is your worst?
I think it’s probably the fact that I’m pretty well organized and like to plan my activities, but I can still work some flexibility into the mix.

My worst? I can lose track of time when I’m talking with a client or a potential client and enjoying our conversation. That means I have to set reminders for myself to make sure I stay on target and can achieve what we need to accomplish.

5. What’s your favorite object in your office? Why?
I think it’s a little ceramic plaque that says, “Remember The Day’s Blessings. Forget The Day’s Troubles.” Either that, or it’s the one that says, “There can’t be a crisis today. My schedule is already full!”

6. What is your “go to” technique or secret when you get stuck when you’re writing a resume? How do you get unstuck?
Aside from praying for inspiration, which I often do, I’d say it’s carving out a “breathing spell” — whether it’s 5 minutes or longer (depending on my timeframe) — where I can step back from the project and focus on something entirely different for a bit. The best case is when I can let the project sit overnight and come back to it the next day. That gives my uncooperative brain a chance to refresh, recharge, and get back to work productively.

7. What’s the best career advice you ever got?
Remember that it’s not all about you. You’re not the one looking for a job. Focus on the client.

8. How do you unplug?
Spend time with my 16-year-old Tibetan spaniel. Listen to classical music. Read a good book (or re-read one of my old favorites).

9. What ONE thing would you change about your business or the career industry, if you could?
In terms of the career industry: I really like to maintain what I call “people connections” in my work, and some of the technology developments (such as ATS and video interviewing) add complications I could do without. However, as the saying goes, “It is what it is,” so I focus on becoming competent in the essential elements so I can continue to produce the best quality work for clients.

Connect with Georgia on Linkedin here: 


Did you miss our last 10 Questions profile, featuring Michelle Dumas

Friday, February 26, 2021

Why I Did a Beta Launch of “Pricing Right” — and What You Can Learn From It for Launching Your Own Course


I’ve been using the Teachable platform for my Resume Writer’s University courses for over a year now. Up until my most recent course, I’d always created the course first, and then launched it.

But one of the strategies recommended by Teachable in their trainings is to do a beta launch of a course, building the course as you go along. Because “Pricing Right” is a multiple-lesson course at a higher price point than my previous courses, I decided to use the beta launch strategy for this course.

A beta launch is often suggested for course creators to help you improve your course and get to know your customers because you’re collaborating with your audience as you’re creating it. If you are thinking about how to do your first — or next course — I wanted to share my experience. 

Here are some advantages of doing a beta launch for your course:
  • To Build Awareness: You can build awareness and buzz around your course launch by announcing the beta launch of your course. This is especially true if you offer the course at a discount to get testers for the course. I offered the “Pricing Right” course to Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter.com at a discount in exchange for their feedback and a testimonial, if they would recommend the course.
  • To Get a Competitive Edge: Getting feedback and interaction with your audience helps shape the content so that customers get more out of it. I had participants fill out a short survey after each lesson. Because I “dripped” the content (releasing new lessons each Tuesday and Friday), I was able to incorporate in suggestions from the surveys as I created the course content. This made the course even more valuable for current and future participants.
  • To Ease Launch Anxiety. Having feedback from beta testers helps you fix any issues that came up when your beta testers were going through your course. With “Pricing Right,” for example, I got feedback from a couple of participants that the information on the slides was useful, and they wanted access to the slide deck. So I went back and included that with each lesson. That made the course more valuable too. And this kind of feedback gives you more confidence in the course itself, helping you feel free to tell people more confidently what transformation it offers them. (Hearing on the survey each week the “biggest takeaway” they got from the lesson was both helpful and inspiring!)
  • To Gather Testimonials. As I mentioned before, the discount for Bronze members was in exchange for their feedback, including a testimonial, if they were comfortable offering one. Several participants offered them up quickly, allowing me to add them to the course sales page before the official course launch.

  • To Help People Who Can’t Afford It. While this was not my main objective, there were a couple of members of my audience who expressed interest in the course — and who are great brand ambassadors. The discount for Bronze members was more than 70% off the final course price, so they were able to take the course at a super-affordable price point.
  • To Get Feedback on This Course — and Future Courses. By getting feedback as I developed the course, I was able to adjust the course curriculum as the feedback came in. The feedback I got from beta testers was invaluable for the development of not just this course, but my next one! I got not only ideas for this course, but for future ones, because people were honest about what they need and want.

I’m grateful to the Bronze members who were part of the beta launch who took the surveys after each lesson. (I gave them a specific deadline for each lesson survey, and did a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card for each survey, plus a $10 Amazon gift card if they filled out all nine lesson surveys by a specific deadline. About 20% of the beta launchers met the deadline to complete all nine surveys, and I mailed out those gift cards earlier this week.)

I definitely recommend charging beta testers for access to your digital product or course. Those who don’t have any investment in the product aren’t as likely to follow through with the feedback you need. If you charge for your beta launch, you’ll bring in some income while perfecting the product, which is a win-win for the people who agree to participate in the beta launch.

I did have a couple of folks who signed up for the beta launch but then had “life happen” and they weren’t able to follow through with participating in the lessons as they were launched and providing real-time feedback. That’s okay too. They still have access to the course, even though they weren’t able to help me shape the content.

If you’re interested in “Pricing Right,” you can check it out here:

And remember, Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter.com get special pricing (and sometimes, early access!) to courses on Resume Writer’s University. Bronze members, get your special pricing here.