Now that many popular growth hackers and digital marketers have claimed 2017 as the year of Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn, the ridiculous amount of redundant “How to Win on LinkedIn” articles are filling up my Flipboard pages faster than I can read clickbait headlines.
As a former boutique marketing agency owner billing close to a million a year and now a seasoned, independent growth strategist consulting well-known and emerging health and wellness brands, I have spent most of my career cold calling and canvasing new business prospects.
For much of my career, about half of my time was focused on business development and filling project pipelines. With an expensive office on Fifth Avenue, securing enough work to make payroll and staying on top of the agency’s overhead was one of my biggest daily concerns and simply accepted as the price of doing business. Hustling hard is how I found our clients.
In the most recent year and a half, some of the most helpful new tools I have found for finding new professional partners are platforms for pairing talent with businesses. Platforms like UpWork, Thumbtack, Freelancer, Clarity and Contently have taken the guess work out of where my next project and/or retained client is coming from. Yes, they all work a bit differently, most have you working for five star reviews and competing against non-native English speakers willing to work for extremely low wages and some attract a more reliable and respectable level of professionalism than others.
We all know that LinkedIn has become synonymous with business. That’s quite obvious. However, LinkedIn has now become my best kept secret for finding new projects and interesting work assignments. When I heard that LinkedIn was launching Profinder in beta, I was one of the first to apply. I was already a premium member, requesting reviews, building my network, making recommendations, joining groups and posting valuable content daily, so I knew that LinkedIn would offer a stellar option to finding new businesses to pitch my talent and skills. LinkedIn has also done a great job of building trust into their brand by staying true to their mission of networking professionals and so far my experience on LinkedIn Profinder has not disappointed.
Because of its enormous amount of user data, LinkedIn is able to quickly connect freelancers like myself with strong leads based on their keyword searches and companies followed. Client requests come in and an email alerts me immediately. Profinder is a great option for expert professionals like myself in countless fields.
So far I have connected and began working with and on . .
an industry-recognized thought leader in digital strategy and former Chief Digital Officer of Omnicom’s Healthcare Consultancy Group, a $100 million agency group serving pharma, medical device, and healthcare clients. I am helping him write articles on the risks, threats and the future of online privacy and cybersecurity.
the premiere launch of the NYC office for a social video tech firm in sports & entertainment.
finance and investment writing assignments for a private wealth management firm based in Montclair, New Jersey.
Much much more than a social site, LinkedIn is a community of professionals – in a business mindset. In my humble opinion, LinkedIn should have launched Profinder years ago.
Their Profinder https://www.linkedin.com/profinder talent exchange seamlessly connects you to those who are looking for what you have to offer– leaving you more time to focus on the work you’ve already secured.
On boarding is a breeze and sharing your skills as simple as connecting your LinkedIn profile, which you probably already have as you use LinkedIn to highlight your professional career.
You can create key messages and choose the types of projects you want to work on by using key words. I specialize in marketing strategy, plans, social media marketing, user experience, video editing and copywriting.
Client requests and open projects that best match your profile and preferences are sent directly to you via email.
Right now Profinder is free to use. The only concern I do have is when and how much of the freelance action LinkedIn will decide to scoop up. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that their online workplace remains a benefit to joining LinkedIn’s premium subscription.
By the way, if we haven’t met already, let’s connect on LinkedIn. You can find me here.
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