Ep. 128/ How to Grow Your LinkedIn with Strategist Rachel B. Lee
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Learn essential LinkedIn strategies with Rachel B. Lee, a renowned LinkedIn Top Voice and the co-owner of Standout Authority. She shares her top tips to grow your presence on LinkedIn, describes how to craft a great profile, how to build your network authentically, tools to use and the truth about video on LinkedIn.
Rachel's journey starts in corporate roles at Microsoft and Gartner. Rachel achieved over a billion impressions in 2017 as the social lead for Microsoft Inspire and won the speaker excellence award in 2018 for her session on modern selling and LinkedIn. We discuss the pressures of being in a large organization while feeling the need to express your true, unfiltered voice. Rachel's insights on leveraging corporate roles to build a personal brand really hit home for me. She shared her experiences hosting a podcast at Microsoft and connecting with high-level execs, showing how you can advance both your and your company's missions. It's all about finding that sweet spot where your personal and professional lives can align and thrive together.
My personal wheelhouse is our conversation on video and LinkedIn. Rachel highlighted the surge of video content on the platform and its importance in building a dynamic presence. We chatted about her top advice for enhancing LinkedIn visibility: attracting with a standout profile, engaging with value-driven content, and converting through active networking. I also loved her emphasis on storytelling that blends personal and professional elements—it's something we're both passionate about. If you're looking to make meaningful connections and elevate your personal brand while contributing to your company's success, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
In this episode you will learn:
Rachel’s top tips to be better at LinkedIn - 2:23
When to accept connections or reject them - 10:00
What tools to use for lead generation - 11:20
How to build your personal brand if you are at a company - 14:25
Why Linkedin video gets 1.4x impressions and engagements than other platforms - 24:38
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In this episode you will learn:
Rachel’s top tips to be better at LinkedIn - 2:23
When to accept connections or reject them - 10:00
What tools to use for lead generation - 11:20
How to build your personal brand if you are at a company - 14:25
Why Linkedin video gets 1.4x impressions and engagements than other platforms - 24:38
Quotes from our guest:
“It's important to leverage your corporate role to build a personal brand while advancing the company's mission." - 23:33
"Video content has made a significant comeback on LinkedIn, showing approximately 1.4 times more impressions and engagement compared to other content formats." - 24:38
"The entrepreneurial bug and spirit has been in me forever. Forever, Forever." - 29:37
"I’ve always believed in the power of leveraging corporate roles to build a personal brand. When I hosted a podcast at Microsoft, it opened doors to connect with VPs and partners, and that’s an incredible platform to advance both the company’s mission and my personal journey." - 42:10
Rachel’s Bio:
Rachel B. Lee is a Branding Ladyboss and LinkedIn Top Voice. She received a BBA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and MBA from the University of Texas, Austin, McCombs School of Business. She began her marketing career at the agency Walton Isaacson and in 2016 entered the technology industry at Microsoft.
Rachel achieved over a billion impressions in 2017 as the social lead for Microsoft Inspire and won the speaker excellence award in 2018 for her session on modern selling and LinkedIn. Her multimillion dollar brand strategy for the Microsoft Partner Network still reaches millions.
Previously she was a Gartner Senior Brand Manager leading the brand and marketing strategy for Software Advice, an 8 figure business supporting small businesses with software solutions.
She’s now Co-Owner and CMO of Standout Authority, on a mission to humanize online marketing through thought leadership strategy and implementation. She’s also a University of Texas at Austin Marketing and Industry Consultant and Guest Lecturer, mom to Ava, stepmom to Jayden and Skylar, and golden doodle mamma to Frankie B. Lee.
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RACHEL’S LINKS:
Kim (00:01):
If you're looking to grow your visibility and actually get clients from LinkedIn, Rachel B. Lee of standout authority joins us. She has advice on how to make your profile better, how to actually leverage video on LinkedIn. That's a new big thing, what tools you should be using and what you should and shouldn't do. Plus, if you work at a corporation, she also has advice on how to build your personal brand If you are at a company, welcome to the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Do you work for yourself and want to supercharge your business while still having fun? Well, this is your go-to podcast part MBA Part Cheer Squad. Every week I'll be joined by top business owners who share the secrets to their success. After I found myself working during childbirth true story, I quit my executive media job to bet on myself fighting the fear and imposter syndrome to eventually earn six awards, an in-demand speaking career and features in Fast Company and Business Insider. Now I'm here to celebrate all you rock stars betting on yourself, and I want to help you win. Tune in every Wednesday to hear from remarkable founders and don't miss our Solo Friday episodes, a treasure trove of video and podcasting mini masterclasses with me. Exit the Grind, enter success on your own terms. Don't forget to subscribe today and grab my free video tips at my website, kimrittberg.com.
(01:25):
We are joined by Rachel B. Lee. She's a branding Lady Boss and LinkedIn Top Voice. She received A BBA from the University of Wisconsin Madison, an MBA from the University of Texas, Austin McComb School of Business. She began her marketing career at the agency Walton Isaacson and in 2016 entered the technology industry at Microsoft. Rachel achieved over a billion impressions in 2017 as the social lead for Microsoft Inspire and won the Speaker Excellence Award in 2018 for her session on modern selling in LinkedIn. Her multimillion dollar brand strategy for the Microsoft Partner Network still reaches millions. Previously, she was a Gartner senior brand manager leading the brand and marketing strategy for software advice in eight figure business supporting small businesses with software solutions. She's now co-owner and CMO of standout authority on a mission to humanize online marketing through thought leadership strategy and implementation. She's also a UT at Austin Marketing and industry consultant and guest lecturer, mom to Ava, stepmom to Jaden and Skyler and Golden Doodle mama to Frankie be. Lee, thank you so much for joining us.
Rachel (02:21):
Thanks so much for having me. Good to be here.
Kim (02:23):
I have to say I love your bio. Sometimes I have people say their bio and then I'm like, wait, didn't you win all these crazy awards? Make sure I read those. So I love your bio and I know that you are an expert on branding and specifically on LinkedIn. I want to start with just LinkedIn in general. What are your top tips to really, really win on LinkedIn?
Rachel (02:43):
Oh boy. We're just going right into the meat of it,
Kim (02:45):
Right into it. I'm just going to be like, that's it, Rachel, we're starting there and then we'll dig in.
Rachel (02:49):
We got your cup of coffee here.
Kim (02:53):
Yeah, exactly. I just got my cup of coffee. I just didn't even give Rachel a cup of coffee. We're jumping right in,
Rachel (02:57):
Girl. I mean I was up early today. Okay, Ava was up at like five and not going back to sleep. So anyways, so LinkedIn top tips. So we have a process at standout authority that we use with our clients and we use with those that we train. And when we're going into organizations or we do our own training authority builders anyways, we go through three steps. One, how do you attract your audience? Go from completely unknown to scene, how do you engage your followers? So actually create those meaningful relationships and then how do you convert? So how do we convert our audience not just into clients but into advocates without spamming or selling? And so that process that you go through is how you can succeed on LinkedIn. So if we kind of break that down, the first part is attract. And really what this is about, Kim, is about your brand.
(03:53):
Who are you? And when I say who are you, I mean what is it that you do? Who do you serve? Why are you here? Whether you're your own business owner or you work for somebody else, why do you care about what you're doing? So you need to understand who your audience is. You need to understand what your skills and superpowers are. You need to understand what your differentiation is and what is that offer that you have. So a lot of clarity in all those pieces. I always say people will come to us for LinkedIn and then we end up having a full on brand and marketing conversation because LinkedIn is really just one place
Kim (04:30):
Channel. It's really just a channel. It's not right. All the other pieces have to be there first,
Rachel (04:35):
Right? And actually your LinkedIn profile is a key piece of that attract stage. So top tip is have a rockstar LinkedIn profile. You have to have all the components of what makes a great profile from the images. The headline is so important. Those 200 characters, your about section, your experience, your skills, every piece of that needs to be filled out. You need to be getting recommendations. All those things are absolutely essential and you getting noticed. Fun fact. Do you know that LinkedIn is a hundred percent optimized for SEO? So what that means is, is that when we do a great job with our profile, it's going to be the top thing that shows up on Google search And with AI that's really extra interesting, right? Because now what we're seeing on the Google serp AI generated responses, what is going to fuel those responses? Whose profiles, what websites, what pages?
(05:29):
Same thing with Microsoft owning LinkedIn, which basically owns OpenAI. So if you think about chat GPT, what is fueling? What is the data fueling the output? We certainly believe here at Standout that our brands, our information is helping fuel those results and I want to make sure that it is. I want to make sure that that starts with your LinkedIn profile. The second piece, although it just hit you with a bunch of great and important tips on that engaged part is posting content. Now, posting content can mean a lot of things and Kim, I won't go, you'll tell me how deep we want to go into a content conversation. The best advice I could give is at least get out there posting a piece of content that shares your knowledge, gives practical advice, it feels not promotional and is really industry value-driven information. Try to post if you can once a week and very importantly like and comment and be active.
(06:32):
That is as important as just post a comment on LinkedIn for your success. The last piece for success on LinkedIn, on that conversion, converting our audience, creating opportunities, developing those relationships that lead to opportunities is that you are reaching out to people. After all, LinkedIn is a networking platform. It's really a networking platform. It's become more of a creator platform. It's become more of this social media thing, but it wasn't made for that. It was made for job seekers to connect with recruiters. And so when you have that mentality, think about it as how every day can I go and send a personalized invite to one new person I'm interested in knowing even better, could you do 20, 25 a week even more than that? Could you do 400 a month? The maximum allowable? Building those connections and creating conversations in the messaging is absolutely pivotal to showing up on LinkedIn in terms of the algorithm, it will drive profile visibility, it will drive you strong results in your search appearances and ultimately will help with the content engagement as well, which many people talk to us about.
Kim (07:48):
I'd love to dive in. So the piece about inviting new connections in your mind, I get this a lot from clients and people ask me, there's no difference between building new connections, getting new followers, have at the invites for people who could either be clients or referrers or network builders. So just be very open with the connection pieces and accept connections to people who might be in your sphere, might be in your orbit.
Rachel (08:14):
Yeah, I mean a couple things on that, right? So one, the difference between connections and followers. So a couple, two, three years ago, there was no followers. That wasn't a feature on LinkedIn and so connections, you only get 30,000 maximum allowable connections. Those are the people. You're at an event, you're shaking hands, you're giving a hug, you're having a glass of wine or getting a cup of coffee with, and those are the people that are now in my inner sphere. Those are the people I want for sure to be seeing my content and they're sort of in my Rolodex. I know I say that to the kids, they're like, what the heck is a Rolodex? But
Kim (08:47):
You're like, it's a really cool expensive pair of sneakers.
Rachel (08:51):
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so those connections are different than your followers. So followers are people truly that have said they're in the feed, they're in the newsfeed, they see great content, they see that plus button, they see the follow and they want to follow you. They aren't necessarily connecting with you seeing growth in followers when you're putting out content. When I see that my following is growing really strongly, then I know I'm producing really great content. So just a distinction there, because once I hit 30,000, I'm not going to connections, but I can have unlimited followers. So LinkedIn is not Instagram, this is not TikTok, this is not people having millions and millions of followers. That's not what this platform is. This is about highly connected, profitable relationships. Okay, so with that in mind, no, I don't accept every connection request. We use LinkedIn sales navigator for our clients and in our training so that we are supporting people and actually finding that really bullseye person, super niche.
(10:00):
Those are the people that I want to talk to and make those connections with. If I get connection requests, but I don't see many mutual connections and I don't get a personalized invite, I'm most likely not going to connect with you. And that's okay though because they adjusted this feature as well that even if I say Nope, you will become a follower of mine. That actually wasn't the case about a year ago, Kim. So LinkedIn has made a lot and continues to make a lot of adjustments to better support creators and to be like other social media platforms. So that would be my all up advice. There is, and this goes back to what's your goal? What's your goal, what are you trying to use the platform for? Who do you want to connect with and to be really mindful about that.
Kim (10:46):
No, I love you bringing the point back. I think that it's for everyone, for every marketing channel. Obviously I work with people for video on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, but it's really, you need to understand who are you trying to reach because if you're like, I'm trying to reach everyone, well that's too big reaching. Everyone is reaching no one. So I think you're right. You have to know your audience, you have to know your offering, so that helps you be more targeted. Talking about connecting with people, what are some tools you recommend to use that? You were saying you use Sales Navigator. If you could let us know some tools that you use for clients and for yourself to grow on LinkedIn.
Rachel (11:20):
Yeah, this is a tricky question, Kim, because LinkedIn is quite specific around not using a ton of outside tooling when it comes to messaging and outreach. If people say that they're approved by LinkedIn and there's all sorts of ones, xto, XTO is a partner that we will refer out that does help with automation, with messaging, has some great AI capabilities. You have to be really careful with these kind of things because LinkedIn doesn't want you to be spamming people. One of the problems with LinkedIn, first thing I hear is, God, I'm so tired of being spammed, right? So tired of getting the, Hey Rachel, B, do you need help with your LinkedIn profile? And you're like, dude, clearly I'm a top voice and I have a lot of, you didn't pay any attention to me. So I'm just part of this whole lead gen process.
(12:14):
I think we have to be really careful when it comes to lead gen prospecting, which is why we like using LinkedIn Sales Navigator since that is a LinkedIn owned tool, fricking amazing. The data and connections and information you can get by paying a hundred dollars a month is crazy in comparison to let's say using Instagram or Facebook and any meta platform where they've really become quite limited in the demographic and psychographic information. Again, this is not paid advertising from that side. That would be the one platform that I do recommend. We know those guys, but overall we really would prefer you to drive human to human connections, use LinkedIn Sales Navigator and really think about who do you want to connect with and what do you want to say. Then of course from a content perspective, and I know you're talking about this too with ai, I mean there's creating content period. There's all different tools that we can use from Opus in the video capability to chat GPT, which we definitely use. We have a partnership with copy and content ai, that's our Authority builders.ai program, and so we have really ass specific LinkedIn AI tools. They're never been done in the industry to help you write your about section, write your personal brand statement, write content, write articles. So those are some of the tools and resources that we use.
Kim (13:40):
It's interesting what you were saying about not using outside tools. I think that it's the same with AI is like because manually connecting and manually doing everything, it's just too time consuming for busy business owners, corporate people, everyone. It's just too much manual work. It's too time consuming. So people look to the other apps and then we're all on the receiving end of what happens then how many spam emails do we get on LinkedIn? And it makes you kind of sour on the relationship building that really is there for that. So I think that's a really good point though about I think that we're seeing this for AI and just apps in general is on the better end, it's great, it's efficient, it costs on your time. On the danger end is it turning everybody into Spambot, so you have to find the happy medium on that.
(14:25):
So I appreciate the tip about Sales Navigator being that it's in the LinkedIn family, so that's something that is a better tool to lean on, which is great. I would love your take. I know you've had such an amazing background and experience. I'd love to talk about company brand versus personal brand and in terms of when someone is working at a company, they're trying to build their own personal brand, but they work for a company. What's your best advice on that? Of course, that's very different than a person who's on their own and they have no, I don't want to say Fetters, but they have no guardrails from their company and they can post as they want. So for people who are working at a company but trying to build their personal brand, what do you advise?
Rachel (15:04):
Yeah, so much you say about this topic. I mean first of all, we're always building our personal brand. That's my belief. A personal brand is two sides of the same coin, and when you think about a personal brand, what comes to your head first?
Kim (15:18):
How people think of you like outside your walls basically a
Rachel (15:22):
Hundred percent. That's exactly Craig, ding, ding, ding, good job, Kim. It's how others see you, right? And that's so often the answer, it's my reputation, it's what people think about me. It's the Jeff Bezos saying, it's what people say about you when you're not in the room, and that is true. That is absolutely true. We have to be very aware of how we're coming off to the world and ensure that it is aligned with what we want the message to be, which goes to the second half of the story. Our personal brand is also how we see ourselves and the challenging part, and I could say this because I was in corporate, I was an employee professional for well over a decade. How we see ourselves is many a times how the company sees us. It's how we think we should be. Well, we should be a director or this, I should should I got my B, BA, I got my MBA, I worked at the top company in the entire world.
(16:31):
Microsoft worked at Gartner. I mean these are multi-billion huge organizations. So the shoulds is like, I should be Rachel, you should be so happy, you should be so grateful. You should share to the world how much you love this company and everything that you're doing. And I did, but it still didn't feel enough because there was a knowing inside me that there was something more that sharing my voice without boundaries, without restrictions and enabling other people to do that felt so much stronger than being inside the walls of an organization where I have to always represent that brand. That's just the reality. So I don't think that, hey, some people will say just do whatever you want and then go get fired or whatever the case is, and I say, well, wait a minute, let's be honest with each other. When I'm working for somebody else and they're paying my bills and they're paying my health insurance, first of all, go check their social media guidelines and better.
(17:38):
Nobody never looks at that, right? Understand what you are allowed to say, what you're not allowed to say you should have on your profiles. These are the thoughts of my own, not that of my companies. If you're asked to speak somewhere, you should also say, these are the thoughts on my own, not my companies, unless you are blatantly representing that company. There are some major guardrails that I learned that were absolutely pivotal to my success, but also to understanding that working for somebody else was not going to be the path for me. That's not everybody. I think that if you work inside of a company and you're feeling, gosh, it's so often what I hear, well, I have to be my professional self. I can't bring this side of me where I love to dance or I love to cook, or gosh, I have all these kids or I'm pregnant and I don't want to say anything or I'm going through IVF or you know what?
(18:26):
I'm really depressed and I'm on medication and I'm not feeling so good these past couple months and I'm too scared to say something about that. Right? All of that is very real. That's very real, and every single person has their own unique experience and you get to decide. Only you can decide what feels the most authentic version of yourself at the time given the circumstances that you're in, right? Many of us are not in a privileged position to say, well, I could just go quit my job or get fired, right? Because I wanted to talk about my political views, which right now you can't talk about political views. If you work for somebody else, good luck. And then if you're a business owner, when I do, I'm ready and I'm okay. I get to choose who I work with. I get to choose who my people are.
(19:18):
I am okay with that, but I'm the one making the money. So I think this is ultimately a very personal decision on what feels the best for you. If you are wanting and able to share your message inside of a company, the best place to start is to really advocate for the company, bring your own story into the mission and vision of the company. And I did that so beautifully at Microsoft and Gartner. When I was at Gartner, I was supporting software advice, which is all about supporting small businesses with software solutions, getting real advice from real people, and man, that really latched onto what I'm about, real people, real advice, real relationships. And so I took advantage of the people around me and I said, Hey, I'm going to do LinkedIn lives and I'm going to interview other small business owners and some of our customers.
(20:14):
And so that was building my personal brand, but also helping build the brand itself. When I was at Microsoft, I did the same thing. We had a podcast, Microsoft Partner Network podcast. It was sort of put on my plate. They were like, we don't know what to do with this. And I said, well, how do you feel about me being the host? Sure, that sounds great. What right did I have to be a host? Never hosted anything. Okay, Kim, I was out of my MBA, I was in my late twenties, but I just said, I'm going to go for it. And you know what? I know that this is going to be supportive for my brand. Why now I'm going to be to reach out at Microsoft to all the VPs and all the big partners that companies say, I have this podcast that I'm running Microsoft. Everybody wants to be on that and be a part of it. And so I'm now helping our message get out there, but I'm also building my personal brand. So the best thing that you can do when you work for somebody else is to really use that company as much as they use you. This is a relationship. You get to do that, figure it out for yourself, control your narrative, control your destiny. That's the best thing that you can do.
Kim (21:20):
It's interesting. I think one of the things I really loved from what you had just said is remembering that I think a lot of us, and I came from corporate and I basically never posted on social because I worked in news and basically the risk versus the reward at that time was totally lopsided. It was like risk is that I get fired immediately. The reward is, it was pretty far from where we are now. I think I was in news until 2013 and then I was at US Weekly and Netflix through 2018. Basically, I could post some stuff about where I was timed with what I was working on, but not really enough consistently to build any sort of following. It was not on my radar to even do that. But I think what I really love about what you're saying is we forget that it is in our company's interest for us to be advocates for the company.
(22:13):
For example, I'm taking your Microsoft and Gartner example. I think for people when they're at companies, they're like, I don't know what to post. We all have friends who are in positions and they are posting on LinkedIn, and most of what they post people support, they like, they comment, they heart, they're not like, Ugh, why is that guy posting that? Why is she posting that? You are supporting the company, they're supporting you, you're giving them visibility, they're giving you visibility. So I think a lot of times we worry so much about the negative side of it, but actually if you really went to the communications part, you're like, I'd like to help support your outreach. I'd like to help you get more eyes if you're in sales, if you're in marketing, if you're a C-suite, even if you're a mid-level or executive and maybe you're starting to do panels or conferences.
(22:53):
So I think that we often forget, why would my company want me to do this? Well, why not? They're trying to get the word out every person, every potential client, every potential user maybe for press, whatever. So I think there's that piece of that that I loved. And I also love think about it too, now that I work for myself, I think of all these companies like Netflix and People Magazine and s Weekly and Inside Edition and Fox. It's like there are bullets on my resume, and when I was there, I was a bullet on their resume. I was just a person helping them do what they need to do, and now they're a person helping me do what I need to do. It's just a trade, it's just an exchange. So in a nice way, we're all kind of using each other and that's okay.
(23:33):
That's the capitalism. That's how it is. So take advantage of it. Take advantage of those opportunities. Don't be shy about it. Don't feel like you could have said, I love hearing you say that. You could have been like, no, it shouldn't be me. I've never done this before. Instead, why not me? Instead of saying, why me? Why not me? And so I love how you spun that because I think those are really good lessons for people on how they can step forward, what you can and can't talk about. One of my clients now is a lawyer and lawyers always feel like, oh, well, what can I say? I'm like, what can I say? What can I say? I say, you're the lawyer. You know what you can and can't say within that. There's a lot to play. I'm never going to tell you to post about something that's going to look bad for you. We're going to come down bad for your license, but within the area that you can talk about, there's so much interesting content. So again, I loved all those things. I wanted to ask you about LinkedIn video. Talk to me about LinkedIn video. What are you seeing in terms of that? I feel like there's a lot of talk about it and we're all seeing more video on it, but what do you see about LinkedIn video right now?
Rachel (24:38):
Yeah, I mean it's made a comeback, which is great. Definitely we have this conversation a year and a half, two years ago, we'd be like, no need to do video. It's pretty much dead gets the least amount of impressions. It's not what's popping. Certainly this year we've seen video make a huge comeback. We're seeing, I think it's about 1.4 x impressions and engagement compared to other kind of content formats. And there's definitely a big push from the LinkedIn team to get LinkedIn top voices to be sharing. And even if you follow the LinkedIn creator newsletter and those pages and some of the creators themselves from the LinkedIn team, you'll see that they're talking a lot about video. In the other piece, I would just say on your mobile device, you could see it. There's the video tab now. And so that was released for in the beta test phase, at least at the beginning of this year.
(25:31):
And now it's pretty much rolled out to most people. If you don't have it, it could be certain countries don't have it, certainly in the us and so that was another big indicator that video is a big push when the product itself is evolving to have an entire tab for it. So I would just say yes, if you can get, we recommend three posts a week. That's what we do is three posts a week, which is so great because on other platforms it feels like Instagram, I just can't, I don't have the energy or the time to, I have to hire somebody to help me produce, for instance, a reel a day or even two reels a day to start seeing uptick, and that's not the case on LinkedIn. You could do one post a week, one video a week and see huge success. The biggest success that you're going to see is really using a diverse array of content formats in my opinion. And consistency, consistency, consistency in the videos. I mean, you know how to make great videos, but nice hook in the beginning, round 60 seconds to maybe 1.2 a minute and 20 or something like that and educate. I think this is the difference between another platform is around educating people and really getting one tip, one thought across that is going to resonate with your audience.
Kim (26:49):
And you recommend three posts a week, meaning a variety, you said a diverse one's a slideshow, one's a text with a photo, and one's a video for LinkedIn. It doesn't have to be all video, but try to intersperse some video in that.
Rachel (27:00):
Yeah, I certainly been trying to get a video out a week. I do one newsletter a month, Josh does two. I try to do a weekly video now this year that has been a mission of mine. And then yeah, static graphic, a poll, a carousel kind of idea, things like that.
Kim (27:22):
What are your thoughts on, I'm seeing and I see for my clients as well, more of that. I think people get in their heads a little bit when they hear education. It should be like three ways to this or one tip to this, but actually what we're seeing really is more a storytelling education, but then I'm also seeing a lot more, the post that I see really do well is kind of that merge of professional and personal storytelling where people are really digging in to their personal lives. That's what I see as a professional. That's what I see for my clients. Talk to me a little bit about that personal and professional storytelling, which I agree with you a hundred percent education, but talk to me about that personal and professional storytelling, how it's intertwined on LinkedIn. What do you see for the key to making that kind of content work?
Rachel (28:05):
One, storytelling is difficult for most people, so let's just say that, right? So I think that this is very much magic, and that's why you need people like him or experts to help because most people are not storytellers at all. And so when we're trying to have a professional conversation, but storytelling, it's like, sure, you could say video is hot right now. Here's the number one thing that you should do when you create a video on LinkedIn. You should have a really strong hook at the beginning. So let's say that's the idea of the video. Well, so that's the idea of here's a professional, I'm doing LinkedIn, I'm a content creator, so it's in line with my content themes, all that goodness. But then I could say, this year I became a LinkedIn Top Voice and I'm so proud to be a top voice, why I was working with my clients and they hate being on video.
(28:57):
I don't have the same emotion right now. I've started to talk a little bit about who I am. I've added credibility by saying I'm a top voice. I have clients, other kind of keywords that hint at the professional side of what I do instead of just saying, Hey, here to make great video, have a great hook. So I think that's what I would think about as how do we take what we're doing, it's aligned to our brand, it's aligned to our content themes, it's absolutely something we should be talking about. And then bring a little bit of that personal touch to it.
Kim (29:28):
And I'd love to know you working for yourself now. Talk to me. This is called the exit interview. So talk to me about your exit from corporate. What made you leave?
Rachel (29:36):
Oh man. The entrepreneurial bug and spirit has been in me forever, forever, forever. And so when I was at Microsoft and Gartner, I just was feeling like there was just a little thing in my tummy and I was feeling just down. It wasn't because I wasn't doing great work or I didn't have a good team. It just was like something felt misaligned. And when everything, I was like, well, you have a good job and you have good this, and it still isn't feeling right, then something in this is not working. And I worked with a life design coach, Julie ler, who's still a dear friend for several months, and we said, it'll take two. This was in 2020. It was also Covid times. Everybody's really thinking about, what do I want for my life? And we said, two, three years I'll leave. And then what happened was Kim, and mind you, Josh is my husband, he's a veteran entrepreneur.
(30:37):
He's been always very supportive and just like, I don't want you to be miserable. Just leave. We'll figure it out. So always I had that supportive ear behind me and the clubhouse came out and it was like instantly I could share my voice and say things, and people really responded to that. And being in rooms with top experts, leading people on that same stage, being asked opinions, and I was sharing my voice and I was like, oh shit. This feels right. This feels like the right path. And so the universe gives to you what we can't do for ourselves sometimes. Within five months, that plan of two, three years became five months. I was doing stuff with standout and talking to Josh and we figured out a plan and I just decided to take the leap. I think that there's, for those that might be thinking about it, definitely don't quit your job. I basically was having a test market for several months. I was testing out what we could do together. I was doing both things when saying no was just, it wasn't a yes or no anymore. It was like, yes, and it needs to happen. If I fall on my face, I'll fall on my face, but I'm going to make it work. And that's what happened.
Kim (31:54):
I love that. And then what was the hardest part? What was the hardest part of your entrepreneurial journey?
Rachel (31:59):
You make it seem like it's in the past.
Kim (32:02):
That's
Rachel (32:02):
Valid. There is no past tense to being an entrepreneur. Right? In my opinion, and it's funny when we're recording this, it's entrepreneurship month. I have a newsletter out today all about entrepreneurship of the grit and glam, sort of what this is. I think for me, I'm a stepmother, I'm a wife. I have my baby Ava at this time. She's now 13 months. When I left Gartner, I was also, Josh and I were thinking about starting IVF. That journey was quite longer than I expected, so I was going through IVF while birthing a new career, then a mom and stepmom, and that's never going to change though, Kim. That's why I say the hardest part. I think as a working mother and being an entrepreneur and being a business owner and all the things that we are, there's no such thing as balance. It's really about trade-offs.
(32:57):
It's about learning that my self-care, there's never enough of it that I could give myself never. And I continue to learn the hard way because when you have a family and you want to make something out of yourself and you believe in what you're doing, you kind of forget sometimes as an entrepreneur that, wait a minute, I need to fill the cup or else it burns out. And so burnout is definitely a difficult thing for me, always has been. And with all that, I wouldn't trade it because you either bill for this or you're not. There's a reason why most people don't ever leave their jobs. There is a reason why most people are not entrepreneurs because it is difficult. It will always be difficult. We're always going to be wanting something more, going after something, more money coming in, money not coming in, people happy, people, sad. You know what I mean? It's just what it is.
Kim (33:52):
And where can people connect with you?
Rachel (33:54):
I mean LinkedIn obviously with a personalized invite. Say you heard me and Kim here today, I am also at the Rachel B. Lee on LinkedIn and then on Instagram, those are probably two most active and then standout authority.com. If you're interested in contacting us, learning a little bit more about our training or done-for-you services or anything like that, please go to standout authority.com.
Kim (34:18):
Awesome. Thank you so much. This is so awesome.
Rachel (34:21):
Thanks, Kim. Thanks so much for having me.
Kim (34:27):
Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to exit the grind and enter success on your own terms. This is the exit interview with Kim Rittberg. Don't forget to grab my free download, how to Grow Your Business with Amazing video at kimrittberg.com and linked out in the show notes. I love to hear your feedback. Make sure to submit to me what you learn from the show and how your crushing it on your own terms. Connect with me on Instagram or LinkedIn at Kim Rittberg, R-I-T-T-B-E-R-G. And this show is edited by Jillian Grover and produced by Henry Street Media. I'm your host and executive producer Kim Rittberg.