Learning LinkedIn™ All Over Again

The Early Days: An Electronic Resume Holder

Believe it or not, I am an early adopter of LinkedIn™. 

Years ago, my manager at the time asked, “Have you heard of this thing called LinkedIn™?!” He nudged me to join, so I did. 

Until a year ago, my LinkedIn™ profile served just as an electronic resume holder. Back then, I was an Independent Consultant, and my focus at the time was marketing my services versus a product or a company. 

You would think they’re similar, but they’re not!

A Pivot to Purpose

Last year, I started actively posting on LinkedIn™ because I had a pivot in my career. I moved to Iowa, and it was always on my bucket list to start a writing company, so I started looking into how!

When I started my own writing company, it was slow at first. I was going about it the same way I did everything else. 

I didn’t realize the game had changed; even the players, everything changed. The only thing that was the same was LinkedIn™. That’s it. What I was marketing and who I was marketing to was completely different.

Discovering the Human Brand Community

There are a lot of people on LinkedIn™ who are very tight with their data, information, and secrets to their success on the platform. They don’t want to share how they’ve attained LinkedIn™ success because they’re afraid of everyone doing everything the same way.

I came across Melanie Borden’s LinkedIn™ and was drawn to her page. I loved the fact that she shared valuable knowledge! You could conceivably not pay a dime for any of the stuff she shared, and I was like, that’s cool. I learned a lot from Melanie’s profile, but then the brilliance is that you want to know more. 

Eventually, Melanie and her team created the Human to Brand Community. When Human to Brand came up, I knew this would be helpful because, at the time, I couldn’t afford 1:1 coaching, so this was my “ball-on-budget” alternative! I saw the amount of knowledge the Human to Brand Community can offer.

In most communities I’ve seen, the main person running it isn’t there. The community gets delegated to other people; there are only so many hours in the day, so I understand. But it’s really cool that Melanie is on these community calls. She makes herself available to help, and it isn’t cookie-cutter advice. There is a lot of consideration of who’s asking, what point they are in their journey, and what they know about the process. 

I also love The Borden Group Team. Everyone I talked to has been incredibly kind, and it is not always the upsell. The Community they created is the kind of environment that makes me want to contribute more to helping others.

From Electronic Resumes to Human Connections

The most important thing being in the community has taught me is bravery to be vulnerable. The community pushed me to start having conversations with people with a little more confidence, knowing that the guardrails that I had self-imposed weren’t quite as restrictive as I thought. You can approach people as a human, not as what you could do to help the other person. 

In a nutshell, being in the community has shown me that I am my own company’s best asset. When I put myself out in the world, people will want to interact with me more because it isn’t just about sales. It’s all about building meaningful relationships.

Want to learn more about this topic? Make sure to follow Nina Jagannathan on LinkedIn™.