It Starts With You

Sometimes the best connections are the ones you never expected. This past February, my husband and I decided to move our lives and our dog, Tater Todd, to Park City, Utah for the month. As we were planning our trip, I happened to be working with a client, Jeff Lewis, who is based in Utah. When I mentioned I wanted to overcome my fear of snowboarding after a skiing ACL tear, Jeff graciously offered to give me some snowboard pointers. Sure enough, when we arrived in Park City, Jeff showed up and stepped in as my snowboard instructor! How cool is that? 

I share this personal story because it’s a great reminder that life is not always, all about work. In fact, true impact—with your clients, with your team, with your partners—so often starts with true connection. And, authentic, human-to-human connection rarely begins with work, but with all the other stuff that makes you interesting, dynamic, and unique. It starts with you. 

Over the years that I’ve owned my own business, I’ve realized I cannot cut corners on wellness because when I’m not taking time to care for myself, it shows in all areas of my life, including work. I would venture to say that you likely cannot afford this oversight either.

What does prioritizing wellness look like? For me, it has evolved in a variety of ways, including finding an office space outside of my home. I realized after five-and-a-half years of working from home that I was a healthier, happier me when I could establish a clear line between work and rest. (Shout out to office space Endeavor in downtown Greenville for making this possible for me almost three years ago!) 

Pursuing wellness also meant choosing to invest in myself by joining Dan Sullivan’s Strategic Coach program in 2018. This personal and professional development investment has transitioned into other programs and hiring a private coach. On a day-to-day basis, prioritizing wellness might be as simple as taking Tater on a mindful, 30-minute walk—no podcasts, no music, just space to clear my mind. 

As I continue learning how best to care for the whole version of myself, both professionally and personally, I want to give you permission to do the same. So much of my job as a LinkedIn and networking expert and trainer is holding space for my clients and giving them permission to be themselves—in our work together and also through their LinkedIn profiles. 

I remind my clients all of the time that LinkedIn is much more than a resume. It’s an opportunity to share a glimpse into your whole, human life. For this reason, I emphasize the narrative aspects of a LinkedIn profile and encourage clients to use the first person when crafting their profile sections. These choices help to paint a clearer picture of who you are and why you do what you do versus a bulleted list of your accomplishments. Oftentimes, people are not going to resonate first with your current role. Instead, it may be your community involvement that strikes up a conversation or the fact that you both played college sports.

So today, if you’re looking for permission to go play in that softball game, invest in learning a new skill, or take a walk around the neighborhood, this is it. Don’t forget to take care of you, whatever that looks like. At the end of the day, people want to connect with other people, not robots. It’s okay—in fact it’s imperative—to let yourself be the best version of your human self as possible; you owe it to all the people you haven’t connected with yet. 

If you’re ready to transform your LinkedIn profile into something that sounds, looks, and feels like the true you, I’d love to help. Check out the various ways I help clients here: From DIY to done-for-you, I’ve got you covered.