Is LinkedIn Making You Sick?

I hear it daily, well almost daily.

The complaints.

Complaints about how LinkedIn changed their algorithm and news feed posts and articles are not getting seen.

And the one's that are, those folks are "gaming" the system.

I'm guilty. I complained.

In fact, I held a pity party...for about 30 minutes.

Ok, more like 30 days.

And it was making me sick. Maybe you are getting sick too!

Sick of the constant changes, the favoritism, trying to keep up with "The Jones's."

And, this got me thinking. Why does everyone want to jump onto the latest strategy, me included, then complain that it doesn't work?

These new strategies are not about relationships, it's about vanity. And, vanity doesn't build true relationships, the building blocks of business development.

What we need to do is get back to the basics. They have been here all along, but when the new "shiny object" comes along we seem to ditch them.

What Are The Basics?

The basics are the foundation and a repeatable system or framework to build your business, generate new relationships and foster existing one's.

The basic system is this:

1. Research and identify your ideal prospect. Define their demographics and psychographics.
2. Create a client-centric profile rich with keywords, features, benefits, outcomes, and what separates you from your competition.
3. Once connected create a custom messaging campaign and track results.
4. Ask for the meeting
5. Stay front of mind with prospects who are not ready to buy, both off and on LinkedIn. Send them valuable content (non spammy) based on your prospect profile in step 1, and engage with their posts and content.

The constant changes that are making you and me sick, are the additional strategies you should implement, but only as a supplement to your framework.

This would include:

• Publishing monthly or weekly
• Getting active in the news feed 2-3 days per week using native video, value added posts, and following up with those that engage with your posts and content.

How the Foundation Saved My Business

Business was doing well until the Spring of 2015.

It started out on Good Friday. I, yes me, did something very stupid. I was cleaning out my garden and I have a loose rock in my planter. I was wearing flip flops and stepped off using the loose rock. What resulted was a four-stage ankle sprain, no good. That following Sunday, Easter Sunday, my boxer dog all a sudden couldn't walk. He's was 70 lbs. He hurt a disc in his back playing in the backyard. I didn't know how I was to pick him up and no one was home. It took an act of adrenaline and his willpower to get back into the house. The next day he was prescribed prednisone and stayed on it until his passing.

The following June, my uncle passed away. I would travel to Kansas City as a child from California every summer to visit him. What great memories I have and the funeral was beautiful.

Days later my computer got hacked. I fell for a phone scam. You know the one, "It's Microsoft calling and I understand you're having a problem with your computer." I fell for it. Hook. Line. Sinker. I was actually looking for help online because I was having a problem with my computer. They knew. That error cost me hours reinstalling my operating system and recreating coaching materials.

Moral: Microsoft doesn't call you!

The Traumatic Event

Then on July 7th, 5:30 in the morning, I suffered from the most horrific accident.

I was making a pot of brown rice pasta for the week. The noodles were done, the colander in the sink, resting on top of some dishes. The pot was overfilled, I was barefoot, and I didn’t want to spill the hot water on my feet. So, instead I moved out of the way because it was spilling. While I making sure not to burn my feet, the pot was already in motion. Forward motion and I didn't want to dump everything on the floor. I tried to pour it into the colander, the colander tipped and it all came back on me. Pasta and hot boiling water. I started to scream bloody murder, my boyfriend runs down stairs, picks me up and throws me in an ice-cold shower. Clothes and all!

About 20 minutes later, I got dressed in dry clothes and headed to the emergency room. They did what they could to cut away the dead skin, wrapped me up and sent me home. A few days later I was referred to the burn unit.

My appointment was on Tuesday morning. My left arm had 3rd degree burns from my armpit to my elbow and my right arm and hand were 2nd degree burns. My son Asher, now 17 (he was 15 at the time), came with me. He was crying because of how much pain I was in as they were cleaning up the dead skin on my arm.

What developed after that appointment was six days in the burn unit. I was only supposed to spend three but the damage was worse than they initially thought.

My second day in the burn unit, they convinced me to try hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Anybody know what a hyperbaric oxygen therapy is? It is a well-established treatment for decompression sickness, a hazard of scuba diving. Currently it's a popular treatment for burn victims. It enhances the body's natural healing process by inhalation of 100% oxygen in a total body chamber, where atmospheric pressure is increased and controlled.

I have never been able to scuba dive. I cannot equalize my ears past 13 feet. I have no problem flying, however.

So I’m scared to death to get in this hyperbaric chamber. I get swimmers ear easily and hearing is the one sense that I treasure most.

Finally convinced, I get in the hyperbaric chamber and it dives down to 23 feet and takes 45 minutes. I got to watch some TV, drink some of my water. I was pretty doped up on morphine, so I was kind of happy. I survived treatment, everything’s fine. Or, so I thought.

I wake up the following morning at 2 AM and I can’t hear. I flipped a lid. I went ballistic. My heart rate went to 112 beats per minute. My resting heart rate is in the 60's.

Now, there’s only six beds in this burn unit, everybody’s asleep and there’s one nurse on the floor. She is doing everything that she can to get me to calm down, but my blood pressure keeps going up.

She gets an emergency room doctor to come in and shoot me up with a bunch more drugs and Lorazepam. An anti-anxiety drug. I have never experienced this type of anxiety before. I was scared.

It was pretty traumatic what I went through. I ended up having five surgeries in nine months. I wore a compression sleeve for a year. I also contracted MRSA while I was in the hospital. I ended up with depression, anxiety, and gained over 50 pounds, I hibernated. I sat behind my computer all day. I made any excuse not to engage with my kids or clients outside of my home.

For the sake of this story not getting any longer than it is, I will tell you this. Had I not created a foundation and a system in LinkedIn, my business would not have survived. I would have gotten evicted and my car repossessed. Homeless.

Had it not been for LinkedIn, I would have not generated any new business while recuperating. While in the hospital I generated over $3,000 in new coaching business. And, in the following 60 days, generated another $6,000 in coaching fees, and $3,000 in done-for-you services. In addition, my October 2015 article was featured in LinkedIn Pulse and went viral.

LinkedIn saved my life and my career!

Conclusion

A couple days ago I was tagged in a post along with some other LinkedIn Experts. It was a complaint about the news feed algorithm and "banging your head against a wall using LinkedIn."

Here was my reply: "Thanks for the shout out John! Looks like I am in great company. Hence the reason I share you shouldn't put all your marketing eggs in the LinkedIn news feed basket. This is one strategy of many, however my favorite is still the personal touch. Connect, message, offer value, build a relationship, get the meeting. Get them off LinkedIn and into your own sales pipeline. Build a well rounded front of mind strategy on and off LinkedIn."

Today I still use this system or framework. It's basic, it's repeatable, and supplement with articles and news feed posts, but don't rely on them solely to support my business.

What would it mean for your business if you had a simple system that generates high dollar leads and media attention?

There is a LOT of money in publishing. Good content has the power to completely transform a business. If a business is just starting out, it can put that business on the map.

If a business is slowly dying on the vine, good content can turn that business around.

Are competitors giving you problems? Well, you know the answer – you are just one article away from leaving your competitors in your dust.

Order Your Book TODAY! OR send me an inbox message or comment here if you would like a complimentary copy.

Tracy Enos is Kansas City's top LinkedIn Expert Advisor, Score.org volunteer and mentor, and single Mom of 4. She has consulted 1000's of business owners, SaaS companies, consultants, authors', service professionals, sales teams and entrepreneurs how to use LinkedIn to generate leads, become the authority in their industry and stay front of mind with their clients. She is known globally for her LinkedIn knowledge and training with clients in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Israel, and the U.K. Need a speaker or want to learn how to generate consistent leads with LinkedIn? Call Tracy at (816) 607-1570 or email tracy@tracyenos.com