Ilise and Jakes’ Excellent Adventure: In Linked-In Country

When I review where we’ve been, I can’t help but think how far we’ve come just taking those “Baby Steps.”?I am reminded of the ways we can travel in real life.?We can zip around from place to place on airplanes OR we can take a leisurely walk through the many interesting places to encounter. We can pause and have conversations.

From orientation Wednesday to the first Live Session I was jumping all over Linked -In.?Looking for prospects.?Editing my headline.?Looking for a better picture. Rewriting a profile summary.?I was overwhelmed. “OMG I paid to feel like THIS!?!”

The first Live Session was a huge relief in that it was counterintuitive.?Ilese said “Slow Down and take baby steps.” In fact, resist the urge to move ahead quickly.?Take that compulsive overachiever under your wing and give it permission to take it easy. ?

If it’s Day One, do Day One’s Task.?Stay on Day One instead of worrying about how you are going to do Day 14.?Sleep on things.?Let them percolate and “Slow down to Succeed.” ?

The next week we identified goals, looked over our profile and other profiles, we identified and searched areas of interest.?Friday we were treated to a LIVE session with Ilese, Jake?and Terri Trespico.?Terri is a consummate Brand Advisor and gave us a wealth of information.?Key takeaways from this for me were: 1)Your business is a lab, it is about you and for you and 2) If you take care of your business it will take care of you.?I also learned that “What do you charge?” does not have to elicit panic and stammering.?Just say “Let me think about what we’ve talked over and I’ll get back to you.”?GENIUS!?

Also, always go for it – listen to the market and take advantage of opportunities that come your way.?How does Terri afford her apartment??She takes care of business and doesn’t do anything simply to get the fee. Lesson Banked!

The next week we leisurely looked around Linked-In by location, studied some websites and looked at 3 prospects.?I learned that it is not a disaster if you get prospects that will never work out for you.?You simply adjust your search until you have some good fits. Yes, I think I was starting to?“Get it!”

Our next Live Session we heard from Barbara Haviland who is a scientist and writes on everything from Biotech to Investor Relations.?My big takeaways were 1) Giving people space after your elevator speech – time to imagine what you do and how you might fit. 2) Generosity in marketing.?It seems that Curiosity – Generosity – Gratitude are the ingredients necessary to get that “tingle” of ideas.?We also heard that frustrations are part of life and can be DELICIOUS! The idea of having fun prospecting and trolling around Linked – In is appealing.?We also got practical advice on how to approach a prospect, identify how you can relieve some of those pain points and the time between reaching out and reaching back.?Most important message for me was not to take any kind of rejection or ignoring personally – “just keep living” as Matthew McConaughey would say.

Now we’ve written summaries in three formats and are getting ready for next week’s big steps and Friday’s champagne.?The end of Ilise and Jake’s Excellent Adventure has us ready to Face Linked-In.