When I started my company, Chaffee Consulting, I realized that I was selling myself at the end of the day, and I wanted to connect with small business owners. While Instagram is fun and trendy, I felt like LinkedIn™ is where there were realistically going to be more leads and opportunities. It seemed to have potential for the most growth, reach, and awareness overall.
I created a LinkedIn™ account eight or nine years ago, but I haven’t been super active on it until the past few months.
It was like the pseudo business card, “I met this person – I should connect with them.” It was like me trying to make LinkedIn™ work.
This year, LinkedIn™ was something I wanted to take seriously and put the time and effort into, and I was willing to invest in it. But having just started a business, I wasn’t in a big financial position to do that.
Somebody in my network had commented on Melanie Borden‘s post, and I started following Melanie. I liked what she was doing and had looked at some of the masterclasses and stuff she provided, and eventually, the Human to Brand Community opportunity came about!
I was excited because it fit what I could afford and leverage at the time. I thought it hit the perfect point of having that support and the guidance I was looking for at a cost point that was also very feasible.
Since joining the Human to Brand Community, I’ve completed about 90% of the course! It really helped me figure out the positioning of my business. Not just on LinkedIn™, but as a whole, because I was so new to everything just trying to alter ideas and be like, “Oh, if I need to be able to say this, then how am I actually structuring my business?” So I feel like the Human to Brand Community has almost been like a small business coach as well. I post random questions, and it’s great to get feedback, insight, and support from the community members. The Human to Brand Community members even support me on LinkedIn™ by liking, engaging, and commenting.
Before joining the community, I had around 600 connections. It was only a couple of months ago when I turned on creator mode and started to look at my followers. Most of my connections then were just connections from college and work. When meeting with Melanie and her team last month, I recall telling them, “I hit 1000 followers yesterday, and I looked at it just now and I’ve gotten 1994 new followers since literally like nine o’clock last night.”
The consistency is definitely paying off!
It’s a process, but it’s been good, thanks to the community’s guidance and support.
I think what stopped me before with LinkedIn™ was when I second-guessed myself, and I would panic and freeze, so I did nothing. My favorite part of the community is knowing that there’s a resource to go to instead of sitting there struggling. It’s like having a sounding board of people to be like, “No, just do it, or Yeah, it might feel silly, but I promise just go with it and own it!” I love having that support and extra little push. You can ask questions you can’t find clear answers to on Google and get answers quickly. All the support has helped me stop second-guessing myself and go for it.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from the community so far is to trust myself and be confident in posting. I haven’t done this for 20 years, but I still know valuable things! So, I think of ways to draw from my experiences, even though it’s not as long of a career as some people have, and to turn that into content to share.
Putting my story out and sharing that information is impactful and it’s worthwhile. I felt like that’s what I needed to do.
I am looking forward to watching the community grow, and hopefully, more people see the benefits of it. I think it’ll become a huge support network. Over time, it can evolve into people not only supporting each other on LinkedIn™ but also building a good network that can result in clients or additional opportunities.
Want to learn more about this topic? Make sure to follow Delaney Chaffee on LinkedIn™.
