Ditch the pitch and starting building relationships with people on LinkedIn. Don’t try to sell people right away.

As a self-employed sole practitioner, I am a member of the “job seeker” club with the millions of others searching for jobs. However, I am a job seeker of resume and LinkedIn clients, rather than the full-time W-2 job, until I complete my doctoral dissertation. Then, I will seek opportunities in higher ed career services. 

Because of the “corona times” we are in, I find that many people are sending me pitches on their financial services, franchise opportunities, animated videos, social media services, transformational coaching, etc. and they don’t even know me. They could be across the country or across a few continents, and they are already pitching me in their first communique after we connect. 

PLEASE DON’T DO THAT ON LINKEDIN!

If you are desperate for work, explore LinkedIn’s Profinder to register yourself as a freelance or independent contractor. Although I am registered on it, I have never processed any client work through it, as my work comes from word of mouth referrals to fill my pipeline. 

There are groups on LinkedIn for freelancers, like The FlexJobs Group, so explore that and see if there are any opportunities for you there. 

If you really want a very comprehensive list for W-2 remote jobs, freelance links, and other resources that took many hours to put together, you could save yourself a lot of time and become a member. Make sure you save the link in the automated receipt that comes from our Salesforce immediately upon purchasing as a Bronze member (or apply as a BENG member if you are a mid to senior-level or C-Suite or a business owner). For 9-½ to 13 cents a day, you can’t beat this investment in your career, and all the time it will save, as the research has been done for you.

Write your business plan to set up your one to many.

As a solopreneur, you need some kind of platform to get your “one to many”, so read this Harvard Business Review article on The Best Business Model in the World, and perhaps you will gain some insights. Speaking of business models, don’t miss Chester & Delaware County SCORE’s upcoming October 8th workshop on Leanstack Canvas Business Plan on a Page. I’ll be there!

Make sure that you use keywords on what you do, rather than stating CEO or President of XYZ Company, in your LinkedIn headline. Think logically about what someone would type in Google to find someone like you. They would use keywords because they have never even heard of XYZ Company before. 

Since LinkedIn has recently expanded the character count to 220 characters in your headline (from 120), take advantage of using more keywords to explain what it is that you do. 

Another thing you can do in the Experience section is click on “Self-Employed” under the Employment Type drop-down rather than leave it blank. The other options, just for the record, are Full-time, Part-time, Freelance, Contract, Internship, Apprenticeship, or Seasonal.

Stay tuned for more upcoming articles if you are participating in the gig economy with a side hustle or are a small business owner or are considering it. Read this article too.

AUTHOR BIO

Lynne Williams is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Area Great Careers Group, a 501(c)3 nonprofit providing career education and networking. Lynne also writes for vista.today, montco.today, and delco.today.