Name Dropping "The Classy Way"

Our client Rob was a leader - the president - of a famous company you see almost daily as you attend to the business of your life.?He brought insane levels of revenue growth to this famous company.

Now, he’s out on his own as a business strategist, his own company.?

But he’s a classy guy, not one to rest on his past laurels. You had to go ALL the way to the bottom of his old LinkedIn profile to find out about his legitimately mind blowing accomplishments.

Our client Ryan was a leader - the worldwide director of finance - for a famous company whose famous product many of you clutch as you’re falling asleep.?Some of you look at this product BEFORE you go to the bathroom in the morning.

Now he’s out on his own, coaching high performers on optimizing their “inner technology.” But he’s a classy guy, so his old LinkedIn profile made no mention of this prior accomplishment until you get to his “Experience” section.??

Our client Mitchell was a leader - the first ever VP of marketing of a world famous consulting company.?He essentially created a position worth millions to the company, that hundreds of execs have fought to win in his wake.

He’s a classy guy, now leading his own content marketing company.?But he’s got that background in marketing, so his former position is prominently featured in his LinkedIn profile’s headline/title (whatever you like to call the words directly under your name).

Our founder, a real mouthy blonde lady, was a leader who once created a company that did consulting for the Oprah Winfrey Book Club.

Her classiness is in some ways debatable, but it's?fair to say she feels dumb as crap pretty much each and every time she references the Oprah gig, which was years ago.?

But she knows how brand, reputation, and personal brand work.?

She knows that she can share all kinds of details about her work - past and present - but that the Oprah detail is one that will take her higher up the reputation-food-chain more quickly than almost anything else.

Thus it’s very useful for first impressions.

Here’s what I know about you if you bothered to read this newsletter, especially this far down the page:

?There’s something you’ve done, or something you used to do, that’s just cool, and impressive, and most of all, concrete. It’s a very specific detail that’s super helpful for new people to get an immediate impression or idea of you.

Your past accomplishments may or may not be with someone or something famous.?But there is always a specific, concrete detail that is interesting to new people and thus worthy of featuring prominently in your LinkedIn profile - perhaps in the “headline,” perhaps in your “About” section or “Featured” section.?

Someone who reads this newsletter was once the first person ever to create an online dating event in California.? I just found out about that.

Someone else who subscribes to this newsletter took the stage - often - with Tony Robbins, and she’s a competitive rival to one of the world’s more famous digital experts.?

Someone else reading this produced an NBC-affiliate program for a major organization.?

Someone else is a dog aficionado who was the first to get a certain kind of dog approved by the American Kennel Club.?

Someone else was one of the first batch of Certified Professionals created by Microsoft as well as a Certified Partner with Microsoft and was a trader on the NASDAQ.??

Another reader used to drink at his bar with famous blues guitarist Buddy Guy.

Someone else was a longtime executive for Coca Cola and lives on a famous island.

I don’t know about you, but MY reluctance to share this stuff comes from a deeply ingrained upbringing that one, it’s gross to brag about stuff, especially from long ago, and two) that isn’t what’s most important about me, especially now.

However - I do care about making things easier for other people.?If there is something I can share about my life that is shorthand for, “I have demonstrated actual success and/or have done some neat or interesting things,” I’m going to try to put that out there, even if I do feel stupid and weird.

So my question to you is this:

Think of your LinkedIn Profile - or any other piece of your digital footprint.?How easy are you making it for new people to get or remember something about who you are?

It’s the precision of the details that matter -?famous or not. it’s a specific story, a mini story, that makes it easier to share about who.

The truth is, it’s a tough, increasingly competitive entrepreneurial world out there.?

Back before the ‘Rona, some experts said that as many as 100,000 coaches, consultants, and service providers were entering the English speaking marketplace per WEEK.?

I bet those numbers have increased.

So it’s okay to name/place/concrete-detail drop.?

Just be classy with that sh*t.

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Need some help mastering LinkedIn, the most confusing, boring, and weirdly hard-to-use of ALL social media platforms? If you are the founder/leader of a mission-minded company making $250K or more, feel free to ping me to schedule a LinkedIn Profile Audit & Update. 30 minutes on Zoom, complimentary, and I'll show you some things you can do immediately - and easily - to make a difference to your results on LinkedIn.