Build your personal brand through strong connections

In 2005, Joyce Layman was a self-described wallflower, terrified to speak in front of an audience and with no network of professional associates. Not happy with her situation, she took  the advice of Tina Fey: “Say yes and you’ll figure it out.”

Joyce said yes to a launching a new career as a speaker, trainer, author and professional connector. Now the author of two books, including Your Connecting Advantage, Joyce shared insights with members of The Freelance Exchange of Kansas City at a luncheon meeting.

“People entering the workforce today will change jobs 20 times in their careers,” Joyce said, so no matter where you are in your career journey, it’s important to build your personal brand. The best way to do this is through connecting with professionals. “Every day is a connecting opportunity, everywhere you go,” she says.

Don’t think of interacting with people you don’t know as networking, she advises, because that feels like too much pressure, like you’re deliberately trying to sell something. Instead, think of your social and business interactions as connecting with people whom you might help in their personal career journeys and who just might end up helping you.

“I believe that when you change your thoughts, you can change your life,” Joyce says. “I’ve experienced the transformation and have worked for years to help others do the same. It starts with how you think and builds on how you connect.”

Here are a a couple of assignments from Joyce, if you would like to improve your ability to connect with others:

• How’s your LinkedIn profile looking?

LinkedIn is the 12^th most searched site on the internet, Joyce says, and the ideal place to start to build your personal brand. “Think about the power of your brand,” she advises, “as 50 percent of purchasing decisions are made online before people actually call you. Build your professional persona online so people have the right perception of who you are.”

You don’t need a paid profile to succeed with LinkedIn, but you should visit the site every day and see who’s looking at your profile.

When sending an invitation to connect, use your laptop or desktop computer and not your mobile phone, so that you can send a personalized invitation. Give someone context about how you know each other or a statement on why you should connect.

Others may share your name, so be sure to grab your LinkedIn name and use the LinkedIn url on your website, your resume and on other places where you market yourself and your business.

Post content via LinkedIn Publisher if you’re a writer, in order to raise your profile in your industry.

In the Midwest, post to LinkedIn between 9 and 11 a.m. to ensure you get the most people seeing your posts. Of course, make sure every post fits your brand.

If you receive a LinkedIn invitation from someone you don’t know, reply with a question about why the person wants to connect with you. Accept only those that fit your profile and your business goals.

• Maybe you need a paid service or two to help you increase your contacts or improve your communications with your contacts? Check out MeetEdgar.com and CrystalKnows.com.

MeetEdgar.com is a social media posting site that automates your posting work. When you save an update to Edgar, tell him what social networks you want to post it on and what posting category to use. Tell Edgar what types of updates to share at which times. Edgar does the posting for you. Edgar also uses the updates saved in your library to create a queue that can be reused later when he runs out of new posts.

CrystalKnows.com gives you instant access to millions of personality profiles that you can search by name and advice on how to communicate with anyone you meet. CrystalKnows might especially help writers by creating unique personality profiles for people with an online presence, preparing you to speak or write in someone else’s natural communication style.