My 6 Year Anniversary with LinkedIn

I receive such lovely LinkedIn emails from people asking for my advice and help regarding LinkedIn. Sometimes, if the LinkedIn question has broad appeal, I’ll post it here for everyone to share in the information I provide. Most of the time, I simply reply privately.

Today, a nice fellow from Greece emailed me to ask my advice about marketing his business on LinkedIn. In the email, he also asked how long I have been a LinkedIn member. Not sure, I logged in to LinkedIn to find out.

How to Determine Your LinkedIn Start Date

Not many people know this but your LinkedIn start date is easy to find. All you need to do is click on your name in the upper right hand corner and then click on Settings. At the very top of the LinkedIn Settings screen is your LinkedIn start date.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that TODAY is my 6 year LinkedIn anniversary! I have been a LinkedIn member since November 28, 2005.

I want you to know that I was not always a LinkedIn super user. When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing. My very first day as a LinkedIn member, I remember copying and pasting my resume into my profile. I actually thought I had done a fine job. Silly me!

It took months of ignoring it and then months of muddling through it to finally start to understand its value. In the first chapter of my book, LinkedIn Makeover: Professional Secrets to a POWERFUL LinkedIn Profile, I wrote about my moment of realization when I finally understood how I could leverage LinkedIn to grow my business.

Here’s an excerpt:
[quote]I was working as an Account Executive for a software company. My days were spent filling my sales funnel through cold calling and trying to close business. My view of LinkedIn changed one late afternoon when I connected with a prospect after making my umpteenth phone call of the day. We had a great conversation and I was able to schedule a meeting. I remember excitedly hanging up the phone and immediately opening up Google to perform a search on my new prospect’s name. I wanted to learn as much about this person as possible!

As soon as I hit the Search button, a feeling of dread came over me. Somehow, I just knew that at this exact moment, my prospect was searching my name on Google, too!

What in the world would he find?

I immediately charted a new course of action and googled MY name. My LinkedIn profile was the only pertinent result in the small handful of sites that Google returned. I opened my LinkedIn profile and looked at it through the eyes of my potential client.

How would he react to it? My profile was half-filled out. Is my prospect thinking I do not finish things that I start? My profile was clearly plagiarized from my resume. Is he thinking I lack creativity and energy? I never bothered getting a single recommendation from a client. Is he thinking I do not have any satisfied customers? I did not join any Groups or list any Associations. Is he thinking I am merely a novice and not an expert in my field?

A sinking feeling came over me and I realized that my LinkedIn profile did not portray me as a top notch professional. My LinkedIn profile did not sell my skills or show any differentiation between me and the millions of other LinkedIn users out there. My profile basically said, “This lady doesn’t have anything that sets her apart from the crowd.”

At that moment I realized this issue needed to be rectified. My LinkedIn profile had to stand out from the crowd and sell me as a dynamic sales professional who naturally attracts clients and opportunities.[/quote]

If you would like to read more, you can purchase LinkedIn Makeover: Professional Secrets to a POWERFUL LinkedIn Profile in whatever way is easiest for you! As a paperback, it’s available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can also download it to your Kindle or Nook or you can even download it as a pdf and read it on your computer!

LinkedIn has been an amazing tool for me over the last 6 years. This company, that I don’t even work for, has helped me go off on my own and earn a decent living helping people. Thank you LinkedIn for 6 GREAT years! I hope to continue to advocate for your amazing service and I proudly wear the crown (even if it is self-anointed) of LinkedIn evangelist! 🙂