June 21, 2025 • 13 mins
Feeling guilty about taking time off LinkedIn? LinkedIn expert Michelle J Raymond shares what really happens when you step away and why consistency doesn’t mean posting daily. A must listen for B2B marketers balancing business and burnout.
Key moments in this episode -
00:00 The guilt of going quiet on LinkedIn
03:40 Fear vs reality: Will the LinkedIn algorithm punish you?
06:15 What happened to reach and engagement after the break
08:22 LinkedIn relationships matter more than the algorithm
10:10 Advice for LinkedIn creators worried about stepping back
11:35 Reframing LinkedIn consistency: quality over quantity
13:20 Permission to pause
CONNECT WITH MICHELLE J RAYMOND
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- https://socialmediaforb2bgrowthpodcast.com/
- B2B Growth Co newsletter
Today's episode is sponsored by Metricool. Make sure to register for a FREE Metricool account today. Use Code MICHELLE30 to try any Premium Plan FREE for 30 days.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What happens if you stopposting on LinkedIn?
Does the algorithm punish you?
I needed to take a break andhere's what really happened.
(00:25):
G'Day everyone, it is Coach Michelle JRaymond, your trusted partner for building
your brand and your business on LinkedIn.
And I wanna talk about something thatoften causes people a lot of stress.
What happens if you need to take abreak and step away from LinkedIn,
and that can be for any reason.
It could be workload, it could be yougo on some leave and want to travel.
(00:47):
It could be you're just areburned out and need to step away.
There are so many different reasonsfor it, and all of them are perfectly
valid and necessary and a part of life.
And I know that for many people,they start to worry about,
will the algorithm punish me?
What will happen to my LinkedInaccount if I step away?
I know many people wonder about it andI recently needed to take a short break
(01:12):
from LinkedIn and I wanted to come backto you and let you know exactly what
happened, what I do about it, and what wasthe outcome from taking that time away.
I often think about why are people soworried about taking a break on LinkedIn,
(01:34):
and I think there's fears around becomingirrelevant, not being top of mind.
Maybe it's getting out ofthe habit, you're afraid that
you can't get back into it.
That one's totally real.
I understand that one especially.
Gurus on the platform that youhave to keep feeding the beast
and it's this never ending cycleof, there's never enough content.
(01:55):
And that can be super overwhelming fora lot of people because they're driven
to not disappoint even the algorithm.
And so they keep going and theykeep pushing themselves, and that
leads to content creator burnout,and that is very, very real.
I've been there, I've done that.
There are some days when Iwould look at my keyboard.
(02:19):
I would have 50 billion ideas andI wouldn't wanna write any of them.
I couldn't think straight.
I knew I'd pushed myself too farand I needed to take a break.
Now, in this particular case, I neededto take a break for some other reasons,
and so I took, you know, best partof a week and a half, two weeks off.
I know it's not very much in the bigscheme of things, but in my brain,
(02:41):
obviously, me being on LinkedIn andbeing a LinkedIn trainer, it is the
source of leads for my business.
So there is an element of fearthat goes through my mind of,
what if I don't keep doing this?
What if I step away?
What if, what if?
What if?
And sometimes your brain just goesinto some crazy places and you
(03:02):
think I'm gonna miss out on so much.
FOMO is very much real becausesocial media has been built on that.
Like our time on LinkedIn is nodifferent, and it was really interesting
for me to go through this and actuallyjust step away from the platform.
What actually happens when youstep away from the platform?
(03:25):
There's probably a couple of differentthings that I wanna have a look at.
The first thing is, to behonest, not a lot happens.
I don't even think anybodynoticed that I wasn't there.
Which, you know, breaks my heart alittle bit because I think, oh my God,
I spend so much time making sure I'malways there and was anybody gonna send
(03:48):
out a search party and come and find me?
Now, of course there would be some peoplein the background that would reach out
and say, Hey Michelle, where are you?
Uh, because I've built up a lot of,you know, close connections around the
world who would come and check on me.
But for the most part, Iwould say the majority of my
audience has not even noticed.
Probably still thinks that I'm activeon there because my personal brand has
(04:11):
been built so strong from consistencythat people still think that I'm around.
When you think about the amount ofcontent that I put out, we've got content
that goes out via the company page.
We've got content that goes outvia the podcast company page.
We've got Michelle J Raymond, LinkedInprofiles' got content coming out,
(04:32):
not to mention the podcast, books,YouTube, you know, I've got content that
resonates and reaches people, not juston the platform but elsewhere as well.
I've got newsletters, like you name it.
There's so much out there.
And so for me, taking that little amountof time off, people still had so much
(04:53):
content if they really wanted it, it wouldfind them or they could go and find it.
So from that perspective, I've gotthe advantage that I built up a great
portfolio that people could refer backto, and I've created a space for myself
in people's LinkedIn brain so that theyknow to look out for me and keep an
(05:14):
eye out if the algorithm serves up mycontent and I create content that people
enjoy, that they find useful and helpful.
So when they come on, LinkedIn willserve my content to them because
they know that they like it.
So in a kind of weird way,LinkedIn looks after me.
It says, you know what?
We know you're not here, but weknow your content keeps other people
coming back, so we're gonna help youwhile you're not on the platform.
(05:36):
And I kind of like that idea.
But ultimately if I'm looking atmy numbers and my notifications
and all that kind of stuff.
I've still got notifications comingthrough from content that I've created
weeks ago that people are still viewing,that they're possibly catching up.
Maybe they took a break.
Maybe LinkedIn's now serving it up tothem because they're back on the platform.
(05:58):
You know, it is perfectly human, normaland necessary for us to take a break
from the platform for time to time.
Now, from that side of things.
I didn't notice any bigshift in any of my numbers.
Besides, of course, I would expectmy reach and impressions to go
down while I haven't been on here.
(06:18):
But ultimately when I get back on, it'llbe just like when you learn to ride a
bike, you just get back on and off you go.
So I'm not worried about thatin any way, shape or form.
So consistency, creating contentbefore is helping me now.
So, you know, I've got contentthat covers me while I'm gone.
What are the advantages to taking abreak on LinkedIn and how do I think
(06:40):
that that can actually help you moreafter this quick word about our podcast
sponsors Metricool I'm gonna go into that.
(07:45):
I really think that schedulingbreaks is something that you should
factor into your LinkedIn schedule.
As somebody that has been creatingcontent on LinkedIn for around
10 years now, I am absolutelycertain that you do need breaks.
They are so important.
When you step away, and I'm talkingabout planned breaks, not when life
(08:07):
throws you curve balls, but whenyou take these planned breaks, it
gives you a moment to assess things.
Some of my best ideas and my creativityalways comes no surprise when I'm
on holidays, when I'm not likerunning around, trying to keep up
with Sydney life, trying to keep upwith client life, trying to balance
(08:27):
family and business and all theother things that life throws at you.
But when I actually slow down,all the good stuff comes.
So from that perspective, I thinkthat alone should be a reason
that people should never be scaredabout taking a break on LinkedIn.
And I think that youget a fresh perspective.
You get clarity aroundthe goals that you have.
(08:49):
You assess the things that are workingand not working, and this is only
gonna bring upside long term andallow you to keep going as a creator.
My break, is something that has allowedme to almost take a breath and go, huh?
Okay, let's assess this and see whatwe're gonna do for the second half of
(09:12):
this year, because we're one half down.
We've got one half to go.
I'm curious.
Let me know, are you doing the same thing?
Is it a time of reflection andassessment for you right now?
Like it is for me?
(09:48):
How can you step awaywithout losing momentum?
Well, that's, you know, somethingelse that's really easy to manage.
We've got scheduling toolsthat we can use, so you can
schedule posts within LinkedIn.
But another great reason thatI love Metricool is that if you
have a planned break coming up.
You can schedule your posts and planthem out into the future to cover you
(10:10):
for the whole period that you're away.
And that's exactly what Lilland I do in our business.
When we are going on our Page Advocacytours and doing the travel around
the world, she gets so much of ourcontent scheduled out in advance.
We can do the same thing for our clients.
We never have to skip abeat, which is amazing.
And something that, again, formy personal content, I'm always.
(10:32):
Saying that I'm gonna get better at it.
I haven't quite nailed that yet.
But ultimately that's one way.
So you can do it on LinkedIn or youcan do it within tools like Metricool
which is the one that I recommend.
And you can also repurpose some ofthe old content that you've got.
You don't need to create all new content.
And again, Metricool'sreally amazing for this.
(10:54):
We can take our old posts, which arestill relevant today and reshare them.
In the future because we are alwaysgetting new followers, people joining
us, not everyone sees our content, sothere's no worries at all in repurposing
your content to save you time.
Now, if you're someone that you can'tget to creating content, you haven't
(11:17):
scheduled anything, you might wannajump on and comment from time to time.
But from that perspective,I still think having a clean
break is a good thing to do.
The world doesn't end like it.
Honestly, it's LinkedIn atthe end of the day people.
We're not doing heart transplants.
It's kind of how I try andkeep it in perspective about
what we're actually doing.
(11:38):
So there are a couple of waysthat you can get around it.
You could also just let your audienceknow that you're going away and
not to expect your content, andthey might wish you all the best.
I would be surprised if it's not oneof your most highest performing posts.
Those of you who are paying forLinkedIn premium, guess what you can do?
You can go in and set an away messagein your DMs, so that if anybody
(12:02):
sends you a message into your inboxon LinkedIn, they will automatically
receive feedback to say when you're awayand when you'll be back, just like an
out of office that you would have onOutlook or any of your email services.
So that's a super cool feature forthose of you who are paying for
premium, you may as well use itif you want to take some time off.
(12:22):
And honestly, no one in your communitywill care, and it's the reality and maybe
a harsh reality but at the end of theday, people expect you to take breaks.
They want you to take breaks.
They know you'll be back,and that is totally okay.
So if you're someone that has been puttingit off that you are scared that if you
(12:45):
step away that your whole LinkedIn worldwill crumble down and everything you've
been working on will be a waste or youwon't be able to get it back, or the
algorithm will hate you, or anythingelse that your brain is telling you.
I'm here to tell you listeners.
Take the break, nothing happens.
There is nothing that you can'tjust get back on and start again.
(13:09):
But I promise you, if you take thebreak, you're gonna come back stronger
than ever with better content, moreclarity, and your community's gonna feel
that and that's gonna generate results.
So if you are someone thatneeds to take a break, enjoy.
Cheers.
What happens if you stopposting on LinkedIn?
Does the algorithm punish you?
I needed to take a break andhere's what really happened.
(00:25):
G'Day everyone, it is Coach Michelle JRaymond, your trusted partner for building
your brand and your business on LinkedIn.
And I wanna talk about something thatoften causes people a lot of stress.
What happens if you need to take abreak and step away from LinkedIn,
and that can be for any reason.
It could be workload, it could be yougo on some leave and want to travel.
(00:47):
It could be you're just areburned out and need to step away.
There are so many different reasonsfor it, and all of them are perfectly
valid and necessary and a part of life.
And I know that for many people,they start to worry about,
will the algorithm punish me?
What will happen to my LinkedInaccount if I step away?
I know many people wonder about it andI recently needed to take a short break
(01:12):
from LinkedIn and I wanted to come backto you and let you know exactly what
happened, what I do about it, and what wasthe outcome from taking that time away.
I often think about why are people soworried about taking a break on LinkedIn,
(01:34):
and I think there's fears around becomingirrelevant, not being top of mind.
Maybe it's getting out ofthe habit, you're afraid that
you can't get back into it.
That one's totally real.
I understand that one especially.
Gurus on the platform that youhave to keep feeding the beast
and it's this never ending cycleof, there's never enough content.
(01:55):
And that can be super overwhelming fora lot of people because they're driven
to not disappoint even the algorithm.
And so they keep going and theykeep pushing themselves, and that
leads to content creator burnout,and that is very, very real.
I've been there, I've done that.
There are some days when Iwould look at my keyboard.
(02:19):
I would have 50 billion ideas andI wouldn't wanna write any of them.
I couldn't think straight.
I knew I'd pushed myself too farand I needed to take a break.
Now, in this particular case, I neededto take a break for some other reasons,
and so I took, you know, best partof a week and a half, two weeks off.
I know it's not very much in the bigscheme of things, but in my brain,
(02:41):
obviously, me being on LinkedIn andbeing a LinkedIn trainer, it is the
source of leads for my business.
So there is an element of fearthat goes through my mind of,
what if I don't keep doing this?
What if I step away?
What if, what if?
What if?
And sometimes your brain just goesinto some crazy places and you
(03:02):
think I'm gonna miss out on so much.
FOMO is very much real becausesocial media has been built on that.
Like our time on LinkedIn is nodifferent, and it was really interesting
for me to go through this and actuallyjust step away from the platform.
What actually happens when youstep away from the platform?
(03:25):
There's probably a couple of differentthings that I wanna have a look at.
The first thing is, to behonest, not a lot happens.
I don't even think anybodynoticed that I wasn't there.
Which, you know, breaks my heart alittle bit because I think, oh my God,
I spend so much time making sure I'malways there and was anybody gonna send
(03:48):
out a search party and come and find me?
Now, of course there would be some peoplein the background that would reach out
and say, Hey Michelle, where are you?
Uh, because I've built up a lot of,you know, close connections around the
world who would come and check on me.
But for the most part, Iwould say the majority of my
audience has not even noticed.
Probably still thinks that I'm activeon there because my personal brand has
(04:11):
been built so strong from consistencythat people still think that I'm around.
When you think about the amount ofcontent that I put out, we've got content
that goes out via the company page.
We've got content that goes outvia the podcast company page.
We've got Michelle J Raymond, LinkedInprofiles' got content coming out,
(04:32):
not to mention the podcast, books,YouTube, you know, I've got content that
resonates and reaches people, not juston the platform but elsewhere as well.
I've got newsletters, like you name it.
There's so much out there.
And so for me, taking that little amountof time off, people still had so much
(04:53):
content if they really wanted it, it wouldfind them or they could go and find it.
So from that perspective, I've gotthe advantage that I built up a great
portfolio that people could refer backto, and I've created a space for myself
in people's LinkedIn brain so that theyknow to look out for me and keep an
(05:14):
eye out if the algorithm serves up mycontent and I create content that people
enjoy, that they find useful and helpful.
So when they come on, LinkedIn willserve my content to them because
they know that they like it.
So in a kind of weird way,LinkedIn looks after me.
It says, you know what?
We know you're not here, but weknow your content keeps other people
coming back, so we're gonna help youwhile you're not on the platform.
(05:36):
And I kind of like that idea.
But ultimately if I'm looking atmy numbers and my notifications
and all that kind of stuff.
I've still got notifications comingthrough from content that I've created
weeks ago that people are still viewing,that they're possibly catching up.
Maybe they took a break.
Maybe LinkedIn's now serving it up tothem because they're back on the platform.
(05:58):
You know, it is perfectly human, normaland necessary for us to take a break
from the platform for time to time.
Now, from that side of things.
I didn't notice any bigshift in any of my numbers.
Besides, of course, I would expectmy reach and impressions to go
down while I haven't been on here.
(06:18):
But ultimately when I get back on, it'llbe just like when you learn to ride a
bike, you just get back on and off you go.
So I'm not worried about thatin any way, shape or form.
So consistency, creating contentbefore is helping me now.
So, you know, I've got contentthat covers me while I'm gone.
What are the advantages to taking abreak on LinkedIn and how do I think
(06:40):
that that can actually help you moreafter this quick word about our podcast
sponsors Metricool I'm gonna go into that.
(07:45):
I really think that schedulingbreaks is something that you should
factor into your LinkedIn schedule.
As somebody that has been creatingcontent on LinkedIn for around
10 years now, I am absolutelycertain that you do need breaks.
They are so important.
When you step away, and I'm talkingabout planned breaks, not when life
(08:07):
throws you curve balls, but whenyou take these planned breaks, it
gives you a moment to assess things.
Some of my best ideas and my creativityalways comes no surprise when I'm
on holidays, when I'm not likerunning around, trying to keep up
with Sydney life, trying to keep upwith client life, trying to balance
(08:27):
family and business and all theother things that life throws at you.
But when I actually slow down,all the good stuff comes.
So from that perspective, I thinkthat alone should be a reason
that people should never be scaredabout taking a break on LinkedIn.
And I think that youget a fresh perspective.
You get clarity aroundthe goals that you have.
(08:49):
You assess the things that are workingand not working, and this is only
gonna bring upside long term andallow you to keep going as a creator.
My break, is something that has allowedme to almost take a breath and go, huh?
Okay, let's assess this and see whatwe're gonna do for the second half of
(09:12):
this year, because we're one half down.
We've got one half to go.
I'm curious.
Let me know, are you doing the same thing?
Is it a time of reflection andassessment for you right now?
Like it is for me?
(09:48):
How can you step awaywithout losing momentum?
Well, that's, you know, somethingelse that's really easy to manage.
We've got scheduling toolsthat we can use, so you can
schedule posts within LinkedIn.
But another great reason thatI love Metricool is that if you
have a planned break coming up.
You can schedule your posts and planthem out into the future to cover you
(10:10):
for the whole period that you're away.
And that's exactly what Lilland I do in our business.
When we are going on our Page Advocacytours and doing the travel around
the world, she gets so much of ourcontent scheduled out in advance.
We can do the same thing for our clients.
We never have to skip abeat, which is amazing.
And something that, again, formy personal content, I'm always.
(10:32):
Saying that I'm gonna get better at it.
I haven't quite nailed that yet.
But ultimately that's one way.
So you can do it on LinkedIn or youcan do it within tools like Metricool
which is the one that I recommend.
And you can also repurpose some ofthe old content that you've got.
You don't need to create all new content.
And again, Metricool'sreally amazing for this.
(10:54):
We can take our old posts, which arestill relevant today and reshare them.
In the future because we are alwaysgetting new followers, people joining
us, not everyone sees our content, sothere's no worries at all in repurposing
your content to save you time.
Now, if you're someone that you can'tget to creating content, you haven't
(11:17):
scheduled anything, you might wannajump on and comment from time to time.
But from that perspective,I still think having a clean
break is a good thing to do.
The world doesn't end like it.
Honestly, it's LinkedIn atthe end of the day people.
We're not doing heart transplants.
It's kind of how I try andkeep it in perspective about
what we're actually doing.
(11:38):
So there are a couple of waysthat you can get around it.
You could also just let your audienceknow that you're going away and
not to expect your content, andthey might wish you all the best.
I would be surprised if it's not oneof your most highest performing posts.
Those of you who are paying forLinkedIn premium, guess what you can do?
You can go in and set an away messagein your DMs, so that if anybody
(12:02):
sends you a message into your inboxon LinkedIn, they will automatically
receive feedback to say when you're awayand when you'll be back, just like an
out of office that you would have onOutlook or any of your email services.
So that's a super cool feature forthose of you who are paying for
premium, you may as well use itif you want to take some time off.
(12:22):
And honestly, no one in your communitywill care, and it's the reality and maybe
a harsh reality but at the end of theday, people expect you to take breaks.
They want you to take breaks.
They know you'll be back,and that is totally okay.
So if you're someone that has been puttingit off that you are scared that if you
(12:45):
step away that your whole LinkedIn worldwill crumble down and everything you've
been working on will be a waste or youwon't be able to get it back, or the
algorithm will hate you, or anythingelse that your brain is telling you.
I'm here to tell you listeners.
Take the break, nothing happens.
There is nothing that you can'tjust get back on and start again.
(13:09):
But I promise you, if you take thebreak, you're gonna come back stronger
than ever with better content, moreclarity, and your community's gonna feel
that and that's gonna generate results.
So if you are someone thatneeds to take a break, enjoy.
Cheers.
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