January 17, 2024 • 48 mins
Ever felt trapped between being your true self and fitting into a professional mold? Miranda VonFricken joins us to shatter that mold, advocating for the power of personal branding that's as unique as you are. Our candid conversation with this LinkedIn luminary and entrepreneur will inspire you to infuse your career with authenticity. From managing the tightrope walk of corporate conformity to embracing your quirks, we promise you'll find actionable advice to create a brand that's both genuine and professionally savvy.
In this episode, we share our own personal branding journeys, reflecting on those moments when we've felt the pressure to suppress our individuality for the sake of a job. We discuss the delicate balance of adapting without losing the essence of who we are, and how leaning into our true selves can attract the opportunities and connections that resonate most. You'll hear real-life stories illustrating how embracing one's whole self can lead to growth and unexpected career paths—because who says you can't have blue hair and be a powerhouse in your field?
Concluding with a deep dive into LinkedIn strategy, we provide insider tips on how to leverage the platform for career advancement. Whether you're eyeing that next promotion or seeking to redefine your professional persona, this episode is packed with wisdom on fostering a personal brand that stands out and aligns with your aspirations. So plug in, as Miranda and I guide you through embracing your unique professional identity, and watch as the right doors begin to open just for you.
CONNECT WITH ME MORE AT:
http://www.stopshoulding.me
https://www.instagram.com/minessa.konecky/
🎵 Thank you to Karacter for allowing me to use Telepathy (2005) in my intro.
This is one of my favorite albums of all time.
👉 Check it out: https://karacter.bandcamp.com/album/karacter
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hey there, I'm Vanessa Konnicki, and welcome to
Stop Shitting All Over Yourself.
The podcast that empowers youto embrace your authentic self.
Every episode, I chat withextraordinary individuals who've
boldly navigated the journeythat you're embarking on, a
journey of shedding societalexpectations and scripted life
paths.
Together, we're ditching theshoulds and creating a life
(00:28):
blueprint that's genuinely ourown.
Get ready for stories thatuplift and strategies that will
pave your way to a life filledwith happiness and joy.
As always, a huge thank you fortuning in.
If you're watching on YouTube,don't forget to hit that like or
subscribe button for all theuplifting content from Manasa TV
.
Now let's dive into today'sconversation with Miranda Von
(00:49):
Frickin, linkedin expert andcoach.
Now, in addition to having themost incredible last name of all
time, miranda is the perfectperson for this podcast because,
if you've seen her, or you'veseen her LinkedIn, which the
link is in the show notes, sheis pink as fuck.
Like seriously, she is bold,she is wild, she is pink On
LinkedIn.
I know I'll pause while we allgrab at our collective pearls.
(01:12):
She does it, and she does itsuccessfully.
So she is exactly what peoplelike us need on our journey,
because one of the biggestchallenges to our growth and
authenticity is the resistancethat we're met with as we try to
buck societal norms.
People really resist that, eventhough they know that our
unique perspective is exactlywhat's needed to solve their
problems.
So the secret, then, is for usto provide companies and
(01:34):
organizations with a spoonful ofsugar to help our particular
type of medicine go down.
As Miranda shows us how sheshares her story, going from a
game changer in corporate torecognizing that for her to
really fly, she needed to stepaway, we'll learn the techniques
for getting accepted as yourauthentic self in the corporate
world and what to do if yourealize it's not for you anymore
(01:57):
.
Let's listen in If you swear.
We're very chill.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
We're all very chill here.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Hello, hello everyone , and welcome to the Stop
Shitting All Over Yourselfpodcast, where today I have
Miranda with the greatest lastname ever.
If I'm fricking with me today,I love your name and we'll talk
about that.
But Miranda helped me tocompletely revamp my LinkedIn.
I cannot tell you how much Ilove my LinkedIn now.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It's so gorgeous now, thanks to you.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh, I love it, and so I wanted to ask I might have
her on, because I want you guysto hear her genius and her
fantasticness.
But before we dive into all ofthat part, first I'd like you to
get to know her a little bit,because I've spent the last you
know six to eight monthsfollowing you, but my audience
is not.
So, miranda, tell us a littlebit about yourself.
Who are you?
What do you do?
How do you help people?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Thank you so much I'm pumped to be here.
I feel like I follow you, eventhough I'm not even in your
industry.
I just feel like your energy isjust a light in the darkness
and I'm here for it.
So, of course, thank you forbeing here and bringing me to
your audience and so grateful.
So I am a LinkedIn strategistand a personal branding
evangelist is kind of what I'vebeen terming myself these days.
(03:08):
I feel like I switch my titlewhenever the spirit moves me,
like I call myself somethingdifferent depending on the
weather.
It's hilarious, but those arethe things that I do.
Besides female empowerment,it's mostly LinkedIn.
So expressing yourself on theplatform, feeling confident in
your content, like all that goodstuff, and that's really what
(03:31):
you and I talked about when wetalked about LinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
It's true, it's true, and I'm curious, you mentioned
the personal branding and whensomebody goes to your LinkedIn
page, which is in the show notesfor you guys to check out later
, but you have a presence,Nobody is going to be like, oh,
there's Miranda.
It's like, oh, miranda, you'vegot an energy, a vibe.
I'm curious, like a personalbrand.
Actually, you have what I wouldcall a personal brand and you
(03:58):
mentioned that your personalbranding evangelist, not a
LinkedIn evangelist, which isinteresting because so many
people are all about theplatform, but you're really more
about the branding.
So can you tell me a little bitabout what?
The what's the story ofpersonal branding and why do you
care?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
so much about it.
So I kind of fell into my ownpersonal brand.
Back in the day.
I call myself a reformednon-defyver.
Often I have escaped deathrates.
I spent 15 years in humanresources and technology in the
office full of engineers and Iwas very much the outcast.
(04:31):
Like I'm pink, I'm bubblyblonde, high energy, high-viving
people spinning through thecorridor and they're very like
who is this thing?
What is she doing?
What is happening?
here and so my brand can't bebased on my energy.
So that's the difference.
I didn't through this personalbrand.
I'm just me, I just do me, andit turns out it's a personal
(04:52):
brand online.
So I just kind of leave intomore of me and what I love, what
moves me, and I think that isreally what makes me stand out.
Especially back in the day inmy industry, I was a recruiter
and I lived on LinkedIn.
It was a platform of choice forme to recruit people and I think
what I had to say, and how Ifelt about organizational
(05:15):
workforce, really drew people inand they wanted to hear more,
they wanted to see more.
So this I just turned turnedout that I had a personal brand
and I really tap into the powerof that, pour a little gasoline
on it as the years progressedand I turned into an
entrepreneur and that is reallywhat attracts people to me.
(05:35):
I don't do a lot of sales, Idon't do a lot of outreach.
I didn't reach out to you andsay, hey, can I do your LinkedIn
?
You came to me right Becauseyou have seen me through whoever
and it's just, it's an energy,it's a vibe.
Your, like, personal brandingis so important.
Whether you're an entrepreneur,employee, an executive, doesn't
matter what you're doing.
For us, having a personal brandthat aligns with who you are
(05:57):
and where you're going is just agame changer, and the platform
of choice for me is LinkedIn.
So I'm an evangelist because I'malways preaching personal brand
LinkedIn as well.
But LinkedIn it just happens tobe the platform of choice.
You can express yourself andshine the light on your awesome
on any platform.
When it comes to personal brand, it doesn't have to just be
(06:18):
LinkedIn.
It just happens to be that.
I've been on LinkedIn foreverand I hope people have straddled
on it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I love that that you step right because, like the
thing is, some people may belike, oh, I don't really want to
be on LinkedIn.
My entire audience, everyone Iknow, is in Facebook and it's
like Okay, great then you're onFacebook, but you still have to
know what your personal brand isand you know what's interesting
.
Going back to, you were talkingabout how you need a brand,
(06:43):
whether you're an entrepreneuror a business owner or a
employee or a corporation.
You know, one of the things Itrain on a lot in the research
administration conferences thatI go to is the personal branding
aspect related to being amanager and a leader.
Right, Like, what do you wantto stand for as a leader and as
a manager?
You know, because I use thisexample, like, have you ever had
(07:04):
one of those bosses that youdon't know who you're going to
get when you go into the room?
Like, are they going to be likesuper happy or are they going
to be like who are we getting?
today, but you don't know andyou're terrifying because
everyone's like and that'susually where, like, people are
like, hey, watch out for Vanessa, they're on a rampage today.
Like everybody like, lets theothers know so that they're
aware, like, that's the like youhave a brand.
(07:26):
In that case, you just don'tknow that your brand really
sucks, like, it's really bad,and then people are terrified of
you.
But, like you know I think youmentioned that you kind of fell
into it and I think I also sortof fell into mine.
It became intentional later,right, like first I was like oh
yeah, here's the thing.
But you know, to the point thatI sort of was just talking about
, is that, like, if people arenot intentional about their
(07:47):
brands, they can end up beingthat without even realizing
they're being that.
So, like, let's say, someonehasn't fallen into it and well,
they don't know they have abrand or they've fallen into one
that they're like Ah, thisisn't who I want to be.
What do you do to like, be like?
Oh, I want to change that.
Or I want to set up a brandLike, how do you start?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I often say, create your personal brand to somebody
else, that's for you, right.
Like, how uncomfortable.
And who is that?
If someone said like, like,what are the, what are people
saying about you when you're notin it?
Right, that is essentially yourbrain, your personal brain that
somebody gave you, and if youhave no control of it?
So what I like to say is it'sthe combination of what I tell
(08:28):
you I am, who I am, how I rollright, and your perception of it
, because at least yourperception is based on the
action, not just what I happento say on my page or on my
website.
It's also the actions I take,what I speak, what I do when I'm
in a room.
So it's a combination of what Isay and what they say and what
(08:48):
they perceive of me when they'rearound me.
So the way you can kind offigure out if you have one or
what it looks like is to kind ofask people.
I know that sounds reallyuncomfortable.
I was at a training on time fora group of new leaders and I
had them as an assignment, reachout to three people that they
interact with most at her job,in their office, and say can you
(09:12):
give me three words to describeme as an employee, as a boss,
as a co-worker?
One woman almost refused to doit because she was afraid they
were going to be so negativeabout her and I felt really bad
and I said wow, why do you thinkthey're going to be negative?
And she may have had a littleinsipid about it, but her
response was just I'm veryanalytical, I'm very to the
(09:35):
point, I'm not fluffy and I justthink people take me as mean
and aggressive and need a reallynervous to ask.
And so I urged her, as with thetable she was sitting with, to
ask anybody, because I said isthat how you want to be seen?
Because if she was like yep,that's how I roll, I'm
(09:55):
aggressive, like then cool, likewe did it, like let's just up
it up, you know, ante it up alittle bit and she's like no, I
don't want to see that way, likeI'm not like rainbowed uniform
but I'm also not, you know,aggressive, and she really saw
the difference.
And so she did reach out to afew people.
She didn't.
Some people got excited andreach out to a bunch.
(10:15):
She did like two or three andshe got words like professional
this is an American, of courseand then she got a word that
said driven and passionate.
Two of those words she was likeoh, I am driven and passionate.
She got the analytical becauseit's kind of an obvious, she
loves fushies, but I remembersaying her and she got very
emotional.
(10:36):
She had a tearing up a littlebit when we got the response the
second day and she was like Ilove that some people actually
see through the surface of myactions, like being demanding,
and see that I was verypassionate about my work and
driven to get results.
And you know we all high fivedher in a beautiful moment.
But it came for her to realizethat the personal brand she
(10:59):
wants it to be more than justwhat they think.
She wants to also have somegood say in her personal brand.
And so I said, right, well,what do you want to be seen, as
I said besides, so we can bemore personal.
There were some other words.
I want to be seen, as you know,of course, passionate and
driven, but also, you know,thought leader, you know people
leader, and I just want peopleto see me as someone that I go
(11:20):
to.
And I was like All right,that's great.
So this is what you starttalking about, telling people,
or acting as a.
And next thing, you know, youknow she started really the
confidence and she pulled it off, just stood up straighter, and
so the personal brand isn't justfor them, it's also for us, for
us to get in alignment with whowe want to be and to start
(11:41):
recognizing ourselves as thatperson.
And then we start acting ourway when we tell ourselves that
we're passionate and driven.
Next thing, you know we'rereally not into that, becoming
more of that.
So it was beautiful.
And she's an employee, she's amanager.
She wasn't, you know, notpretty or looking to get more
attention.
She just wanted to be seen forwho she actually was, and the
(12:03):
personal brand can have to dothat.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know, that is such a beautiful thing, like I
love what you said at the veryend.
She wanted to be seen forherself in her office, you know,
because I think that we spendso much time at work right, just
with people.
I mean nowadays we're, I mean,a lot of people are remote, but
I mean we're still engaging withpeople in the workspace and I
think for a lot of us we feellike there's a way we're
(12:29):
supposed to show up right.
So that's like and that'sactually always been one of my
biggest challenges.
You know, 15 years ago yeah, 15years ago I couldn't be this.
You know, in the workspace thatI'm in now and in fact, you
know I left and came back andnow it's fine.
But the world had to change toget there.
But I think that I always wasvery there was a price to pay
(12:53):
for the brand I chose.
So the brand I chose was youknow, there were things about me
that I'm like this is who I amand I don't want to change them.
I can, I don't want to, and oneof them is I call everybody
dude.
It doesn't matter who you are,everybody's dude, right?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And it's not a gender thing.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It's also not a, not a like if you're a doctor, I'm
going to call you dude, right?
If you're a you know CEO, goingto call you dude.
If you're an admin, and if youtell me not to, I won't.
But, like I tend to be, youknow, sort of just, generally
speaking, very casual, verychill.
Most people are fine with it,but it sends the message that
I'm unprofessional and, as aresult, many people see me as a
(13:29):
child or very child like or kidlike, and I accept that.
That's the price that I'm goingto pay for this because I want
this, I like, I like being kidlike, like yes.
So I'm curious to know have youworked with people who have
brands like that, where therethere is a price associated with
the brand that they'reselecting?
How do you typically navigatethat challenge with people?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I mean I've been behaving my own example.
I work a lot, I'm bubbly, I'malso very emotional, I've tried
meetings.
It is what it is, and so I haveoften been called
unprofessional or I need tomature a little bit more when it
comes to office politics andblah, blah, blah.
(14:13):
I'm like something, but sothere is like a quote, unquote
price to pay for being ourselves.
But let me tell you, I'mwilling to pay that price
because I want to be aroundpeople who are really like and
so can't stop beingunprofessional.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Although now they embrace me with hilarious.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
they're like oh yeah, we need some energy and some
light, and I'm like funny youcalled me and sensitive, but now
, now I bring light, I mean I'mlike oh my god dude, I totally
know what you mean.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I had people before who were like oh my god, you're
extra.
We need your energy and I'mlike I'm like, well, okay, what
was too extra 10 years ago, butnow you want my energy, told you
I was right.
So hard.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And here's the thing you said the world hasn't
changed.
And when you said that, yes,the world after the midfield.
We've got a lot of change inthe world.
But I think we also haveachieved our perception and what
we accept for ourselves.
I think that's something I hadto realize.
I was so like nervous or shyaround the suits, right Like the
(15:19):
tall guy in a very suit, andstill me out.
It wasn't intimidated mentally,but it was more.
And it wasn't until I learnedabout energy that really needed
to change how I feel aboutthings.
It was his energy coming at mewith I know more than you and I
just assumed he did.
He was taller and had a biggertitle and had a bigger paycheck
(15:40):
and had given them even for thesame fee.
I just assumed they know morethan me because of their level
in the organization, which isactually not the case, because
I'm in one office and you reallyneed all the offices you know.
So it's a little different.
My expertise had.
I had to change the fact that Iknow my expertise better than
(16:01):
you specialize in this piece ofour office.
You may be specialized inpeople, numbers and health and
profit.
Mine was just for you know, sofor me I had to remind myself of
my power individually for myown confidence within, and that
kind of helped the outcomechange.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That's such a good point, miranda, about how we
feel about ourselves.
Like I was also like when youdescribed that I'm like you know
what?
I can see that in myself, likeit wasn't like you said, like
I'm intimidated by you becauseyou're a CEO, it's.
I just feel like you obviouslyknow more than me, like
obviously right, and I think Ifelt that way about everybody,
and I think that I had and thiswas actually feedback that one
(16:45):
of my bosses, who actuallynurtured me throughout most of
my career she was amazing, Imean, still is and she often
would say that I was so shy,anxious, it's almost, I just
didn't, I had low self-esteemand it came, it was evident, you
know, and so it was almost likeI had my brand, but I lacked
the confidence to really carryit, you know, and it's possible
(17:09):
that I, and again, energy, thatenergy work.
I actually want to pause alittle bit and ask you this
question because, like most ofmost of you, a lot of people are
like, oh, business andspiritual and person and all
that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Oh London Very separate, I don't care, Exactly
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
So tell me a little bit about you had.
Did you have to blend thembefore shit started working for
you 100%?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And you know what to do, I'll even think of energy a
notch, and so I'm a strong,strong believer in my faith and
so I had to.
Actually I had to own that, andit's actually the name of the
podcast is in Boston, but like Icouldn't come up with that name
until I did the work internallyright, because I didn't know
what it was right.
(17:50):
So for me, I had to own all thepieces, right?
There's so many differentspecies about us as humans, but
and we're talking brand becausewe're talking about the global
professional space, but it'sreally just who we are, and the
brand is how we express it andhow we own it, and you know, and
what we allow other people tosay about us too.
(18:11):
So, yeah, I had to blend themall.
It took a while, of course,like I never talked about my
faith in the office, becauseit's just something we don't do.
I never like was silly and funnyand told jokes.
I decided my stay at gradetypical and did my thing.
I mean I decorated my cupicleLike I had a little beach in a
(18:31):
box and I had palm tree, Likethis bit is hilarious.
So people knew I was silly andlike lunsical sometimes and I
love fairy tales and I have likelittle fairy tricks on my
cupicle, whatever, and some StarWars movies, but it's hilarious
.
But like people kind of getbits and pieces of our
personality based on how weexpress ourselves and maybe how
(18:52):
we decorate our cupicle.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
But when I go to meetings.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I would shut all that off.
Like my cupicle was kind of mysafe space in the office because
it reflected who I am.
It's like well good, but theminute I left that cupicle I put
on this persona, this mass, asuper professional person.
Sometimes I'd wear my hair back, but they'd take me there
seriously.
I'd wear my black glassesinstead of the pink ones Because
(19:15):
I just felt like what I wastalking to executives having
pink glasses and a cupicle onand it really didn't command
respect and so I wanted theirrespect because the executives
with money they looked me onthis one to, kind of how I felt
in the face, and it wasn't untilI started to realize that I
(19:37):
have a calling and it's on myheart for a reason and I have to
follow it.
The only way I can really begood and successful at it is to
be who I'm needed, and so I gotOK with the people exiting my
world that weren't meant to bethere, so that's a little bit of
the price we pay, as we believe.
I'm cool with that now.
It wasn't cool with that.
I was kind of people thinking doyou want to make everyone happy
(19:59):
?
The minute I realized it's notmy job make everyone happy.
My job is to do what I did.
My job is to hire you.
My job is to help you shinelight on your awesome.
So I actually changed what myjob was, which helped me to
bring more of the idea into yourdepartment of business.
That's what's happening.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
You know, that's actually a really good point.
Sometimes you have to changethe job, like so the job that
you're at is not going to be theplace.
Where was that heartbreakingfor you when you realized that
when you had to leave, or was it?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
free.
You're going to laugh.
I didn't leave, they kicked meout.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
No, don't be sorry, you're the best you've ever been
.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So I wish I had the story to say because I am too.
And now people are like oh,hell, yeah, of course you're
left.
You were like peace out, suckit out.
And I was like, no, I stayedover a big little a little bit
more fraction of myself.
And then people go until theysaid we're eliminating your
position and that actually I goteliminated position eliminated
(21:02):
four times in that of threeyears.
And so I had already heard thecalling.
You know, I knew what I wasmeant to do.
I was ignoring it because I wasscared.
I was so freaking scared.
I had the salary, I had the401k, I had the benefits.
I've got a kid in college, I'vegot another little one.
We're both now Like.
I had responsibility.
(21:23):
So I needed the fee check andit wasn't until the universe
took action For me because Iwould have eventually at least
I'd like to tell myself I wouldhave eventually, but it happened
for me and I it worked for me.
So there's usually something inour life that either it's a
shitty conversation, somebodyignore us on a meeting, we don't
get the job, we don't get thepromotion.
(21:44):
Usually there's some type ofcatalyst that wakes us up.
I hope all of this and I justam really, really scared of them
.
I'm scared of them.
I'm surprised they didn't punchsomebody Like I'm not kidding.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
You're ignoring all the signs.
They're literally coming infront of you Like the sign in
front of you saying anything,and I saw them.
I don't see anything.
What are you talking about?
Excuse me, let me go aroundthat time, excuse me, I was like
dodging the signs.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
That was crazy.
Like I saw some of them, I'msure I missed a few.
When looking back, you're like,oh, that was a sign.
When we talked about energy,until I started doing energy
work and working with energyalchemists so raking healers and
intuitive coaches I didn'trealize what I wasn't realized.
You don't know what you don'tknow when you're in the
(22:27):
corporate space.
And my mom told me to get acollege education, to get a
salary job.
That was our way out of theprojects when I was little like
cool, that's what I did and Ichecked that box.
I did the salary job and I gotthe husband, two kids and the
1.5 dogs.
Like I did the things shewanted for me.
I checked all the boxes.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I checked all the boxes.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Are you happy?
I thought I was, but I knew Iwasn't Because there was this
one moment at a canary brim whenI was like, oh, I'm so sick of
this scene.
I was cooking chicken for myfamily and once it's an era I
was leading an estimate inperson with a bunch of women.
We were going around the tabletalking about our day and I said
, look at so many chickenbreasts today.
(23:09):
They were like what are youtalking about?
They were talking about growingthat bit on a chicken breast
and I'm like, did Like, I'm sofucking sick of cooking the same
chicken Like for dinner for thefamily.
It was like frow-how day and itjust kind of all flooded in.
I started crying.
It was a thing, and I felt sobad because I'm leading these
women and going through the samething they were going through,
(23:30):
but them watching me.
It was so empowering to them tosee that they're not alone.
Even the leaders have a hugelike doctors need doctors,
coaches need coaches, and so forme, I was miserable at work.
I just lost my 18-year-oldbrother at that time.
I was just in John Hogg's daywith my sister chicken, that was
(23:51):
a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Greated a keynote about this chicken.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It was hilarious, bethan, but you don't see the
signs in such a open-yourself tothem.
And so obviously like the lossof my brother, was one.
I got laid off two weeks laterat a company.
I drove to Kool-Aidak, Idropped all my side hustles just
to work on this organizationand their growth and he still
picked me out while I'm like,grieving the loss of my brother.
(24:15):
So those were some heavy, deepsigns.
We don't always get the heavydeep signs.
Sometimes it's just thispromotion of this review and so
on and so on.
There's still signs and if theystart to add up they start to
change you and it can change youfor the better.
It can lead to more change forthe worse and we kind of stay
and become a different versionof who you want to be.
(24:38):
So I know this was a tangentLike I can talk all day, but we
start.
We talked about branding andblending our life and doing the
work and personal development,connecting the feelers.
This is what made me becomemore of me and to not only see
the signs but act on them.
So I may have gotten laid off,I didn't actually with the hand
(24:58):
in my two weeks notice, I didactually have a plan to leave.
It just happened a littlesooner.
So I think emotionally itworked out in my favor Always a
gift, and I'm very lucky Because, looking back now, I can
imagine what I would be, or whoI would be internally, if I was
still an obsessed with people.
Now it doesn't mean everybody'smeant to be able to be an
(25:21):
entrepreneur.
It could just mean that you'rein the wrong office, you've got
the wrong department, you'reacting off from who you actually
are.
It's just becoming more of whoyou are, and if you're not even
sure who that is, that'sprobably the first place to
start.
I love to be practical.
So the first place to start isjust to say am I living the life
(25:42):
I'm supposed to be living in?
Am I exactly who I'm meant tobe or am I a version of it?
You can be real with yourself.
You may still lie to yourselfsometimes, but if effort is to
help with anything, people comein there, goes counselor
affiliates and get someassistance.
Have them draw it out of you.
So what I do is, for example,branding tragedy, depression.
I pull all the coolness out ofpeople and they'll like
(26:05):
integrate something up for them.
I didn't even realize how coolI was until you got this.
I'm so old.
I don't have any biases aroundyou, in yours, Just me and you.
You have your full upbringing,childhood, corporate experience,
your feeling, your boyfriendfrom third grade that keep you
on the playground Like you'vegot it all in your brain.
(26:25):
Where I don't, it's just me andyou and I'm seeing your light
and I just happen to put it onpaper and then you get to go to
the women Like you'll keep it onthe list.
It's your life.
I think creating a personalbrand, even if you're an
employee, you don't need toreally shun the light on an
outside and you'll have thatjourney.
Shining a light on who you areis probably something about the
(26:45):
mission of being a grown To bewho you are, what you are now.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I think also, like you're saying, it's what you
said about, like, even if you'renot gonna be an entrepreneur,
it's important.
You know, I think I.
I remember I started trainingon personal branding, actually
honest, a long before I Reallylike I was still learning it, as
I was still training it becauseit was such a new idea, but I
was so excited to share itbecause, like no one was talking
about this this was like my 20years ago, like you know, where
we're all starting to talk aboutit, and I was still learning it
(27:13):
.
But you mentioned during one ofour conversations that I bring
up here, is that, like yourbosses have words that they
associate with you, yourcolleagues have words they
associate with you, and so onand so forth, like when you were
asking, like what are thosethree words?
And you know, if you don't knowwhat words you want people to
associate with you, right, thenthey're just gonna pick whatever
(27:34):
words they want.
But if you don't know, if youpick the words, then you can be
like I'm going to always act inalignment with those words,
right?
So it gives you that framework.
Then you are more likely to getpromotions, you're more likely
to get noted.
People know when they can comefind you or why?
Because they know.
Actually, miranda, I'm reallycurious.
Okay, I have ADHD, so I'm likeall the fucking place.
(27:56):
But here's where I ended upright now on this one.
I want to ask you this question, right?
So you think of Mar, I feellike there.
Every single thing in thisworld is marketing.
Whether you are trying to get araise, whether you're trying to
get promoted, or you're tryingto sell someone your pencil or
your widget, like, in the endYou're marketing something to
someone.
So you have to know what you'remarketing.
(28:16):
So my question to you, I guess,would be is that when you work
so let's say, I come to you andI'm working?
Because when I came, when, whenMiranda and I work together, I
was like, really like.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I don't know what I want to do, dude, I just need to
update my LinkedIn and we justneed to make it look great.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And she's like alright, let's do this, so you
can be as vague as you want, andshe will pull it out of you.
And Now I work in corporatebecause I had a very specific
mission in mind of what I wantedto do.
So now let's say, someone comesto you and they're in, they're
in corporate and they're likelisten, I either want to raise
or I want, I want to move up inthe ladder.
(28:51):
And I've been stagnant for awhile.
Okay, what are what?
And they're, they say to you Ifeel like LinkedIn is really
powerful.
It's like this place wherepeople do all these things all
the time, but I don't.
I've never seen any value in it.
I don't know how to use it,which I think is what I said to
you myself, actually, that I waslike look, I don't know what
the hell this thing is like.
It's great, I know I'm supposedto use it.
I know supposed to do thingswith it.
(29:12):
I don't know what to post, Idon't know what to say, I don't
know what to do.
What do you like?
What would you advise someone?
I mean like, alright, let'stalk.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
What is the first thing I say are we're going to
tell your life goals, healthgoals, your career goals, your
family's goals, and they're likewhy do you care about English?
Should I ask about English?
I want you to get to talking.
You're like open aboutexpressing yourself, right?
So even if you're like, oh, Iwant to lose 20 pounds, or like
I want to get six more tech todo, this is awesome, give me it
(29:41):
all.
I believe that and we don'teven really get to the inside
yet.
So I keep you feel who you areand it's really just I, just
guys that have a coffee check, Ijust Right, like I want to hear
about you and we want to beyour job and what's your heart's
desire, and we obviously thecareer part comes because you
(30:02):
feel so comfortable justchatting and having a cool
conversation.
Next thing, you know, feelcalmer, your heart feels full
and you're like yeah, actuallyyou know I really want to get
promoted, but I don't like towork at people actually, and
it's funny like this shit thatcomes out during these calls.
It's like so the next promotionlevel be working people.
Yeah, I think that's seven ofthem I need to go over, and
(30:24):
that's the funniest shit thatcomes out of people.
But honest conversation.
I'll ask you some really cool.
So I'm trained as a life coach,so I'm really good at asking
any question.
I thought I was gonna beBarbara Walters when I was in
high school, so I could.
You know, I've come outundergraded in journalism, so
I'm really good at askingquestions and so for me, I get
(30:44):
some cool stuff out.
I highlight what I got to comeback to you and then I'll say
well, what makes you think youneed to be on LinkedIn?
But to get a promotion, youalready have your office.
Like, why do you think you needto be on LinkedIn?
And they'll say I don't know,everybody's there.
I feel like I should like FOMO.
Somebody told me I need to beon LinkedIn.
Those are the answers I usuallyget, unless it's somebody who's
(31:04):
like I'm rocking on Insta.
My audience is on LinkedIn.
All right, cool.
So, entrepreneur, you're reallygood at being there.
Why do they need to be there?
Employer Employees are usuallylike I don't know.
My employer told me to yeah,they're usually that type of
response Everybody's there,everybody's talking about it.
(31:26):
I want to report theconversation.
All right, cool, do you thinkyou needed to achieve your goals
?
And they're like well, some ofthem.
But maybe these two do have todo with my corporate experience
of, you know, getting promoted.
I want people to take me moreseriously in the office so they
see me as a leader.
Cool, how do you think LinkedIncan help?
So I just keep asking how doyou think LinkedIn will help?
And sometimes they're like Idon't even know, can you just
(31:47):
tell me?
And I'm like yes, let me justtell you.
Eventually I'll tell thembecause LinkedIn, as corporate
as it is, and we have our ownopinion of this type of platform
it can be whatever you want,and that's what I tell people.
What do you want LinkedIn to dofor you?
What are your goals?
And then I can tell you howLinkedIn can help you achieve
(32:10):
your goals.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I'm actually curious how can like?
So now, let's say I'm like hey,I don't know what it can do for
me.
What can LinkedIn do for?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
people.
So this is where it gets tricky.
I need to know what your goalsare.
I know this is how you kind of,what it can do for you, because
I can just tell you all thethings that I will in a few
seconds.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Right, and that might take too much.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Do you, could you use ?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
me as an example.
I'm going to overwhelm them.
Yes, this means an example, andmy goal would be to, let's say,
get promoted.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So in order for you to get promoted, you need your
higher office to see you as anexpert in your industry or field
, or subcontractor expert.
How are they going to do that?
How do they do that today?
How do they know your expertise?
Are you getting the reports?
Are you leading meetings?
You have a team currently, so.
I dive into what you'recurrently doing.
Where's the gap in what theythink they see and what they
(32:59):
need to see in order to promoteyou?
Then I'll ask are you thepeople who need to see you on
the job?
Sometimes it doesn't matter.
Sometimes it's like, yeah, theyare and I want to get to them.
I mean around about that.
Sometimes it's like, no,they're not, but I have
coworkers Cool, let's get yourcoworkers talking about what's
happening.
Let's get started, boys.
So how we're going to do thatis get your profile looking
(33:22):
fabulous.
It's going to say all thethings you don't actually say in
person.
You don't walk into a meetingand say, hey, I'm Miranda, I'm a
LinkedIn expert, I'm aevangelist for the brand.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
You don't start your meetings on your own, Miranda.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I'm trying to give testimonials that say X, y and Z
.
No, we don't like walkingthrough a room, we just start
shouting our phrases.
Sometimes it's actually reallyuncomfortable to brag about on
your side.
So to get promoted, people haveto see you as fabulous in a
brighter light.
You need to shine the light onyour awesome.
You don't do that in personbecause it's weird.
So LinkedIn is a fantasticplatform to shine the light on
(34:02):
who you are.
It's a resume, it's a littlebit of a social media site.
Obviously it's a little bit ofa portfolio.
It can be an art gallery if youwant it to be.
Linkedin has the ability toshowcase all of your expertise
through long form content, likearticles, through conversations
with people you can never beable to reach in the industry
(34:23):
because they're like.
We're the one country You'reputting out short form content
or videos for people to kind offeel who you are when you speak,
when you're live, when youvideo, or for you to engage in
conversation.
Who would never be ready to?
So when I start talking aboutif I'm an HR leader which I was
back in the day and I wanted tothere's an organization in
(34:44):
Manhattan who had a lot ofpeople talk about, especially
when I was in tech.
But that was the mecca and so Istarted talking to their age.
I was working on LinkedIn.
Somebody would see it and belike, holy shit, you talk to
that up so and so at thiscompany.
Oh yeah, we talk on LinkedInall the time.
Oh, you're on LinkedIn, oh mygod, I've done that.
I've so done that Triggeringright and it's just like magic
(35:04):
to me.
So LinkedIn can show you in allthese lights that you're not
able to show people while you'rein your tech like this.
Oh, everywhere I really.
I hated my side.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Great people too, by the way, I made it very colorful
, I turned it into it.
So my first boss, mark Millerhe was amazing, amazing.
He was the one who gave mysister and I a chance, got us
started in the first place.
He let us decorate our littledungeon like the way and we
turned it.
He came in one day he said, ohmy god, this looks like a
Turkish smoking den.
We had tapestries everywhereand we had lamps all over.
(35:41):
Oh my god, it was amazing, itwas fabulous.
You know you made so many goodpoints here about like.
So the other day, dude, now thatI'm going to tell you the
fruits of your labor and how itall happened, so you help me
with my LinkedIn like a whileback it was probably about six
to eight months ago and you gaveme enough to where I needed to
marinate on the information tofigure out how I was going to
(36:04):
internalize it, and then youknow what was I going to do with
it.
So it took about three or fourmonths and I was like right now
I know I'm going to use this andI've been posting clips from my
podcast and clips from mycommitment to clockout series
and whatnot, yeah, whatever, andyou think you don't know who's
seeing these things.
So now I was like shit, Ihaven't made my intro video for
(36:26):
my commitment to clockout.
So I paused on publishing someof those while I made the intro.
So it was like a week or sobefore I actually published my
next video.
Some guy at work who I adorewe're in a meeting with like all
these, all the VPs anddirectors, and he's like I saw
your video the other day and I'mlike what are you talking about
?
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I literally have no idea what you're talking about,
turns out he was on LinkedIn,saw my video, watched it.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
He said I'm waiting for you to send me the rest, I'm
waiting for you to post therest of it.
I was like, oh, people arewatching my videos.
It's got to upload this thing.
So it's like so, which I didn'tfeel super bad about not
uploading it.
But what I learned, what youjust said, is that people are,
they see you and then they bringyou up.
Bring it up in a meeting which,in like, he's the only one who
actually saw that video.
(37:08):
But if you think about theimpact that a video just had,
eight other people in thatmeeting now know that I post
videos on LinkedIn aboutcommitting the clockout and
email efficiency, which I wouldnever been able to do that on my
own.
Did you teach email efficiency?
when you trained other peopleOne of the things yeah, so I do
teach email efficiency.
(37:29):
That's commitment to clockout.
There's a whole video that I'mgoing to publish on that.
But what I actually train on ishow to adjust your day to day
activities and remove the busywork and gunk that has actually
grown over time, because manypeople are overworked but they
don't realize that a lot oftheir overwork is because of the
(37:49):
gunk that's built up over time,almost like your car with oil,
and so I help people figure outtheir email.
Most people do not know how touse their email.
Did you know that you can gettwo hours back a day by changing
how you interact with youremail?
That's how freaking amazing itis.
Sorry I got to that's mysoapbox.
I could be on that soapboxforever, but yeah, but it was
really cool.
It was very cool that LinkedInallowed for that level of.
(38:12):
I'm not actually looking forpromotion, I just really am
looking to help people.
So that was my goal was to Iwant more people to see my
content, because this is goingto help more people find joy in
their lives.
Miranda, how do I do that?
And that's that's not I want apromotion.
It's not I want a job.
That's not I want.
And you were like here.
This is how you do that.
So I feel like that's reallyfreaking cool.
(38:34):
So anyone can be like here,miranda, I don't know what I
want, but I know that I need todo something to get out of this
space.
I mean, it's almost like you'resuch a life career, business
branding, coach, like strategicdevelopment.
I'm taking all of this.
I mean, I'm not too old but I'min like I'm 43.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
So I've done about 23 in the experience in the COVID
space.
I started as a recruiter inlike an external recruiter for
an agency, became a careerdirector at a college for six
years, then became the directorof admissions at a college.
So I've got a lot of like youngpersonality examples of helping
them to connect withopportunities like how to act as
(39:16):
a movie, how to interview, solife coach, career coach master
in motivation, then became a HRleader in an extended amount.
So I have I mean, everything hasto be with people I got the
life coaches and masters on theoutside to make me better at
what I was doing inside the job.
Now, as LinkedIn specialist andthe brand of evangelist, I
(39:37):
utilize all of them.
It's like taking all of my babysuperpowers and just trying to
get all onto you in order foryou to do a little bit of it
Like I shine the light on you.
I help you figure out who youare, who you are, who you grow
up, how we're going to get thereand how to express it in a way
that's authentic.
It's not fake.
(39:58):
We don't put crazy crap onLinkedIn that says like look at
me, I'm fantastic, Like I canchange your world in my office,
Promote me.
It's nothing crazy, it's justit's being very authentic,
creating content that showcasesyour value.
And I hope you don't just doany work.
You can go get what you work,because it's a pageant.
(40:19):
So I just take all of thatstuff and I understand the
personalbranding I didn't realize.
There's two incidents in mycorporate life that made me
realize how important the brandis.
One was a cover letter thing tome and said I only know about
this.
She didn't know she was writinga cover letter to me but said I
know about this job because Ifollow Mariah Bonkbergen in your
(40:40):
company.
And I did.
It was hilarious.
Somebody would like what isMariah doing.
Why are people writing coverletters to her?
So you're welcome to come to me.
And the second one was it wasactually a whole thing to one of
my team's.
Most influential branding was Iwas in a meeting, ceo was
meeting it.
It was marketing, it wasrecruitment, it was resources
(41:02):
and I sent it to them and Ifound it.
I don't remember the name ofthe team, but they came in and
the gentleman was like oh mygosh, like talk about LinkedIn.
We're on LinkedIn.
We've got, you know, 4,000followers on the company.
People, you know everyone'slike crazy marketing, gay, gay,
gay, when the staff can doreally quiet.
And he's like so why doesMariah have like 10,000
(41:23):
followers?
What is she doing?
Speaker 1 (41:26):
that we're not, of course.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I get side-eyed because marketing guys are like
no what's the future?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Oh, so you're like lady.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Let me tell you what I'm doing.
But he was like what is shedoing?
That the marketing team isgetting more confident, she's
getting more attention than thecompany.
And he's like good for you,mariah, that's awesome, clearly
job security.
And I started laughing.
But he's like what's thedifference?
Like what are you doing thatthey're not, like it's my
personal learning versus yourcompany's learning.
People like when you ask for arestaurant review, you're not
(41:57):
just going to go to therestaurant's page and see what
they're telling you oh, mistakeis the best thing ever.
We've got the best disparity.
I stand test.
I want to hear Susie tell methe scare against the stand test
.
Like that's eight years lasttime.
So the difference was people,although we we trust brands like
I love certain brands that Iwill only go to them for certain
things, but it's probablybecause I have a good experience
(42:18):
Right.
So it was my personal brand andmy experience showcasing what
it's like to work there, howawesome it was, my cute little,
you know palm tree pictures inmy cubicle, which didn't say
much about the culture.
It was mostly about me and mypersonal experience at the
organization, but it made peoplefeel something right.
They felt they wanted to learnmore.
(42:38):
They felt that I was happythere, so it was applied to the
job.
They looked at the company.
We took them from person to theplace that was in the
organization and that'sliterally like my funniest
personal branding story Is thatlike of course it was awkward to
not own the board in the office, but it's just like it's a
professional platform so we canbe social, we can share.
(43:01):
I mean, I don't say share yourlunches, but if you tie it into
business, like I'm at a businesslunch with someone, like you
know, facebook will share, likeour recipes and stuff, but
LinkedIn, yeah, yeah, it's justas much social and fun as it is
professional and close toopportunities.
So, why not bring a booktogether, you know.
So, figure out who you are,create this personal brand.
(43:22):
Feel really authentic andcomfortable about who you are.
Start expressing it.
People will take notice.
The only thing is people, whenthey start to take notice,
they're like you said, they'rereally personal.
The price maybe they don't likeit.
They want you to kind of stopStuffings of fun.
They want to silence whatyou're doing.
I had one organization say welike what you're doing.
(43:46):
Anything you post about us ithas to be in part, and they were
like really boring.
And I was like not on my god.
I'm not putting silver and I'mnot my LinkedIn page.
It's pink and purple, yellowand happy, and I look that's not
our problem, I'm not you onyour page.
I will put those colors andI'll share it to my page, but I
(44:07):
am happy, yellow and fun, right?
Just this.
I'm not gonna change my brainon my page, so that's a thing.
So I don't think he's ourpersonal program and we can
still be an ambassador.
I actually teach organizationshow to be brand ambassadors,
right, so you can work for acompany.
Hmm, still be yourself, butexpress it in a way that's
(44:31):
authentic to you.
I don't have to say the companytells me the same.
But if you want me to put out apost about what it's like to
work here because we'rerecruiting, then I'll do them.
But it's gonna be how I feelworking, you know I'll say okay,
it's negative, I will post it.
But you know we're looking, yourteam is hiring an Accountable
person and you're in marketing.
(44:52):
Maybe you can say, though, likeoh, we're hiring, I'm so
excited, comes during our team.
Blah, blah, blah.
My favorite part of being hereis whatever you know, so you
don't have to actually Posttheir job.
You know it doesn't have to bewhat they tell right right
making your own, and that'swhere you get noticed.
So there is a way to marry whatthey want versus what we want,
(45:13):
but until they really addressthat, Right, absolutely, I've
had the same thing where youknow.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
So it was like you have to do this and for me that
is a deal breaker, right.
So, like I, and there was acertain, there was a certain
point where I realized that Imight work in research
administration.
On, the great thing aboutresearch administration Is that
you will always be employed.
There's always a job, always,and so it's it's a privilege to
be able to say, look, this isthe brand I bring in and this is
(45:42):
the brand I'm coming in with.
And I think that, like, if aplace isn't going to allow you
to be yourself, then, as someonewho spent many years masking in
an organization, I really wouldencourage you to think about
whether you want to stay in thatorganization, because you
yourself will end up beingdamaged as you have to
continuously restrict the moregregarious or exciting parts of
yourself.
So a lot of times, these kindsof conversations can be Tells
(46:06):
whether or not a place is rightfor you because, like, let's say
, you know your boss comes toyou and says, listen, we want
you as the brand callers.
But I get that you may not.
I notice that you do swear insome of your posts, like where
you're sharing us like.
If you share, like, all rightsure you know what I can
definitely do that actually hadsomebody asked me that the other
day.
They said listen, we reallywant you to work.
The swearing is just the thingI do every like and it's it is
(46:30):
what it is.
And I had someone asked me youknow, listen, we really like you
to be involved, but if you'regoing to be producing content
for us, would you mind notswearing?
And I'm like, absolutely.
I was like that's your brand,I'm creating content for your
brand.
I'm not gonna put my brandingin there, but I'm just gonna
have the blue hair.
It's still me.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
I just won't swear.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
It's okay, I'm not gonna die right.
So when I think that, like Ilove how you brought, brought
those things up, all right, aswe start to wrap up because my
god, we got so much good stufffrom you today and it's funny we
literally only asked onequestion on my list.
All the other questions we justsort of like flew into from
that first thing.
So People are gonna want towork with you, they're gonna
want to talk to you, they'regoing to want to follow you.
(47:08):
I tell my, my, my friends howto find you one thing.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Really, yeah, I mean, first and foremost, find me out
in.
And then, of course, I'm anInstagram dude and Miranda's on
her phone.
You will definitely see thesame type of content still great
colors, still awesome vibes.
You know you're gonna get thesame stuff for me on every
platform, so I'll tell you alittle bit of what I did today.
And then, of course, there'sthe Emmy to me, the end.
(47:36):
We want to have a conversation,get to know each other.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
You.
Hey there, I'm Vanessa Konnicki, and welcome to
Stop Shitting All Over Yourself.
The podcast that empowers youto embrace your authentic self.
Every episode, I chat withextraordinary individuals who've
boldly navigated the journeythat you're embarking on, a
journey of shedding societalexpectations and scripted life
paths.
Together, we're ditching theshoulds and creating a life
(00:28):
blueprint that's genuinely ourown.
Get ready for stories thatuplift and strategies that will
pave your way to a life filledwith happiness and joy.
As always, a huge thank you fortuning in.
If you're watching on YouTube,don't forget to hit that like or
subscribe button for all theuplifting content from Manasa TV
.
Now let's dive into today'sconversation with Miranda Von
(00:49):
Frickin, linkedin expert andcoach.
Now, in addition to having themost incredible last name of all
time, miranda is the perfectperson for this podcast because,
if you've seen her, or you'veseen her LinkedIn, which the
link is in the show notes, sheis pink as fuck.
Like seriously, she is bold,she is wild, she is pink On
LinkedIn.
I know I'll pause while we allgrab at our collective pearls.
(01:12):
She does it, and she does itsuccessfully.
So she is exactly what peoplelike us need on our journey,
because one of the biggestchallenges to our growth and
authenticity is the resistancethat we're met with as we try to
buck societal norms.
People really resist that, eventhough they know that our
unique perspective is exactlywhat's needed to solve their
problems.
So the secret, then, is for usto provide companies and
(01:34):
organizations with a spoonful ofsugar to help our particular
type of medicine go down.
As Miranda shows us how sheshares her story, going from a
game changer in corporate torecognizing that for her to
really fly, she needed to stepaway, we'll learn the techniques
for getting accepted as yourauthentic self in the corporate
world and what to do if yourealize it's not for you anymore
(01:57):
.
Let's listen in If you swear.
We're very chill.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
We're all very chill here.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Hello, hello everyone , and welcome to the Stop
Shitting All Over Yourselfpodcast, where today I have
Miranda with the greatest lastname ever.
If I'm fricking with me today,I love your name and we'll talk
about that.
But Miranda helped me tocompletely revamp my LinkedIn.
I cannot tell you how much Ilove my LinkedIn now.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It's so gorgeous now, thanks to you.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh, I love it, and so I wanted to ask I might have
her on, because I want you guysto hear her genius and her
fantasticness.
But before we dive into all ofthat part, first I'd like you to
get to know her a little bit,because I've spent the last you
know six to eight monthsfollowing you, but my audience
is not.
So, miranda, tell us a littlebit about yourself.
Who are you?
What do you do?
How do you help people?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Thank you so much I'm pumped to be here.
I feel like I follow you, eventhough I'm not even in your
industry.
I just feel like your energy isjust a light in the darkness
and I'm here for it.
So, of course, thank you forbeing here and bringing me to
your audience and so grateful.
So I am a LinkedIn strategistand a personal branding
evangelist is kind of what I'vebeen terming myself these days.
(03:08):
I feel like I switch my titlewhenever the spirit moves me,
like I call myself somethingdifferent depending on the
weather.
It's hilarious, but those arethe things that I do.
Besides female empowerment,it's mostly LinkedIn.
So expressing yourself on theplatform, feeling confident in
your content, like all that goodstuff, and that's really what
(03:31):
you and I talked about when wetalked about LinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
It's true, it's true, and I'm curious, you mentioned
the personal branding and whensomebody goes to your LinkedIn
page, which is in the show notesfor you guys to check out later
, but you have a presence,Nobody is going to be like, oh,
there's Miranda.
It's like, oh, miranda, you'vegot an energy, a vibe.
I'm curious, like a personalbrand.
Actually, you have what I wouldcall a personal brand and you
(03:58):
mentioned that your personalbranding evangelist, not a
LinkedIn evangelist, which isinteresting because so many
people are all about theplatform, but you're really more
about the branding.
So can you tell me a little bitabout what?
The what's the story ofpersonal branding and why do you
care?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
so much about it.
So I kind of fell into my ownpersonal brand.
Back in the day.
I call myself a reformednon-defyver.
Often I have escaped deathrates.
I spent 15 years in humanresources and technology in the
office full of engineers and Iwas very much the outcast.
(04:31):
Like I'm pink, I'm bubblyblonde, high energy, high-viving
people spinning through thecorridor and they're very like
who is this thing?
What is she doing?
What is happening?
here and so my brand can't bebased on my energy.
So that's the difference.
I didn't through this personalbrand.
I'm just me, I just do me, andit turns out it's a personal
(04:52):
brand online.
So I just kind of leave intomore of me and what I love, what
moves me, and I think that isreally what makes me stand out.
Especially back in the day inmy industry, I was a recruiter
and I lived on LinkedIn.
It was a platform of choice forme to recruit people and I think
what I had to say, and how Ifelt about organizational
(05:15):
workforce, really drew people inand they wanted to hear more,
they wanted to see more.
So this I just turned turnedout that I had a personal brand
and I really tap into the powerof that, pour a little gasoline
on it as the years progressedand I turned into an
entrepreneur and that is reallywhat attracts people to me.
(05:35):
I don't do a lot of sales, Idon't do a lot of outreach.
I didn't reach out to you andsay, hey, can I do your LinkedIn
?
You came to me right Becauseyou have seen me through whoever
and it's just, it's an energy,it's a vibe.
Your, like, personal brandingis so important.
Whether you're an entrepreneur,employee, an executive, doesn't
matter what you're doing.
For us, having a personal brandthat aligns with who you are
(05:57):
and where you're going is just agame changer, and the platform
of choice for me is LinkedIn.
So I'm an evangelist because I'malways preaching personal brand
LinkedIn as well.
But LinkedIn it just happens tobe the platform of choice.
You can express yourself andshine the light on your awesome
on any platform.
When it comes to personal brand, it doesn't have to just be
(06:18):
LinkedIn.
It just happens to be that.
I've been on LinkedIn foreverand I hope people have straddled
on it.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I love that that you step right because, like the
thing is, some people may belike, oh, I don't really want to
be on LinkedIn.
My entire audience, everyone Iknow, is in Facebook and it's
like Okay, great then you're onFacebook, but you still have to
know what your personal brand isand you know what's interesting
.
Going back to, you were talkingabout how you need a brand,
(06:43):
whether you're an entrepreneuror a business owner or a
employee or a corporation.
You know, one of the things Itrain on a lot in the research
administration conferences thatI go to is the personal branding
aspect related to being amanager and a leader.
Right, Like, what do you wantto stand for as a leader and as
a manager?
You know, because I use thisexample, like, have you ever had
(07:04):
one of those bosses that youdon't know who you're going to
get when you go into the room?
Like, are they going to be likesuper happy or are they going
to be like who are we getting?
today, but you don't know andyou're terrifying because
everyone's like and that'susually where, like, people are
like, hey, watch out for Vanessa, they're on a rampage today.
Like everybody like, lets theothers know so that they're
aware, like, that's the like youhave a brand.
(07:26):
In that case, you just don'tknow that your brand really
sucks, like, it's really bad,and then people are terrified of
you.
But, like you know I think youmentioned that you kind of fell
into it and I think I also sortof fell into mine.
It became intentional later,right, like first I was like oh
yeah, here's the thing.
But you know, to the point thatI sort of was just talking about
, is that, like, if people arenot intentional about their
(07:47):
brands, they can end up beingthat without even realizing
they're being that.
So, like, let's say, someonehasn't fallen into it and well,
they don't know they have abrand or they've fallen into one
that they're like Ah, thisisn't who I want to be.
What do you do to like, be like?
Oh, I want to change that.
Or I want to set up a brandLike, how do you start?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I often say, create your personal brand to somebody
else, that's for you, right.
Like, how uncomfortable.
And who is that?
If someone said like, like,what are the, what are people
saying about you when you're notin it?
Right, that is essentially yourbrain, your personal brain that
somebody gave you, and if youhave no control of it?
So what I like to say is it'sthe combination of what I tell
(08:28):
you I am, who I am, how I rollright, and your perception of it
, because at least yourperception is based on the
action, not just what I happento say on my page or on my
website.
It's also the actions I take,what I speak, what I do when I'm
in a room.
So it's a combination of what Isay and what they say and what
(08:48):
they perceive of me when they'rearound me.
So the way you can kind offigure out if you have one or
what it looks like is to kind ofask people.
I know that sounds reallyuncomfortable.
I was at a training on time fora group of new leaders and I
had them as an assignment, reachout to three people that they
interact with most at her job,in their office, and say can you
(09:12):
give me three words to describeme as an employee, as a boss,
as a co-worker?
One woman almost refused to doit because she was afraid they
were going to be so negativeabout her and I felt really bad
and I said wow, why do you thinkthey're going to be negative?
And she may have had a littleinsipid about it, but her
response was just I'm veryanalytical, I'm very to the
(09:35):
point, I'm not fluffy and I justthink people take me as mean
and aggressive and need a reallynervous to ask.
And so I urged her, as with thetable she was sitting with, to
ask anybody, because I said isthat how you want to be seen?
Because if she was like yep,that's how I roll, I'm
(09:55):
aggressive, like then cool, likewe did it, like let's just up
it up, you know, ante it up alittle bit and she's like no, I
don't want to see that way, likeI'm not like rainbowed uniform
but I'm also not, you know,aggressive, and she really saw
the difference.
And so she did reach out to afew people.
She didn't.
Some people got excited andreach out to a bunch.
(10:15):
She did like two or three andshe got words like professional
this is an American, of courseand then she got a word that
said driven and passionate.
Two of those words she was likeoh, I am driven and passionate.
She got the analytical becauseit's kind of an obvious, she
loves fushies, but I remembersaying her and she got very
emotional.
(10:36):
She had a tearing up a littlebit when we got the response the
second day and she was like Ilove that some people actually
see through the surface of myactions, like being demanding,
and see that I was verypassionate about my work and
driven to get results.
And you know we all high fivedher in a beautiful moment.
But it came for her to realizethat the personal brand she
(10:59):
wants it to be more than justwhat they think.
She wants to also have somegood say in her personal brand.
And so I said, right, well,what do you want to be seen, as
I said besides, so we can bemore personal.
There were some other words.
I want to be seen, as you know,of course, passionate and
driven, but also, you know,thought leader, you know people
leader, and I just want peopleto see me as someone that I go
(11:20):
to.
And I was like All right,that's great.
So this is what you starttalking about, telling people,
or acting as a.
And next thing, you know, youknow she started really the
confidence and she pulled it off, just stood up straighter, and
so the personal brand isn't justfor them, it's also for us, for
us to get in alignment with whowe want to be and to start
(11:41):
recognizing ourselves as thatperson.
And then we start acting ourway when we tell ourselves that
we're passionate and driven.
Next thing, you know we'rereally not into that, becoming
more of that.
So it was beautiful.
And she's an employee, she's amanager.
She wasn't, you know, notpretty or looking to get more
attention.
She just wanted to be seen forwho she actually was, and the
(12:03):
personal brand can have to dothat.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know, that is such a beautiful thing, like I
love what you said at the veryend.
She wanted to be seen forherself in her office, you know,
because I think that we spendso much time at work right, just
with people.
I mean nowadays we're, I mean,a lot of people are remote, but
I mean we're still engaging withpeople in the workspace and I
think for a lot of us we feellike there's a way we're
(12:29):
supposed to show up right.
So that's like and that'sactually always been one of my
biggest challenges.
You know, 15 years ago yeah, 15years ago I couldn't be this.
You know, in the workspace thatI'm in now and in fact, you
know I left and came back andnow it's fine.
But the world had to change toget there.
But I think that I always wasvery there was a price to pay
(12:53):
for the brand I chose.
So the brand I chose was youknow, there were things about me
that I'm like this is who I amand I don't want to change them.
I can, I don't want to, and oneof them is I call everybody
dude.
It doesn't matter who you are,everybody's dude, right?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And it's not a gender thing.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
It's also not a, not a like if you're a doctor, I'm
going to call you dude, right?
If you're a you know CEO, goingto call you dude.
If you're an admin, and if youtell me not to, I won't.
But, like I tend to be, youknow, sort of just, generally
speaking, very casual, verychill.
Most people are fine with it,but it sends the message that
I'm unprofessional and, as aresult, many people see me as a
(13:29):
child or very child like or kidlike, and I accept that.
That's the price that I'm goingto pay for this because I want
this, I like, I like being kidlike, like yes.
So I'm curious to know have youworked with people who have
brands like that, where therethere is a price associated with
the brand that they'reselecting?
How do you typically navigatethat challenge with people?
Speaker 2 (13:50):
I mean I've been behaving my own example.
I work a lot, I'm bubbly, I'malso very emotional, I've tried
meetings.
It is what it is, and so I haveoften been called
unprofessional or I need tomature a little bit more when it
comes to office politics andblah, blah, blah.
(14:13):
I'm like something, but sothere is like a quote, unquote
price to pay for being ourselves.
But let me tell you, I'mwilling to pay that price
because I want to be aroundpeople who are really like and
so can't stop beingunprofessional.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Although now they embrace me with hilarious.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
they're like oh yeah, we need some energy and some
light, and I'm like funny youcalled me and sensitive, but now
, now I bring light, I mean I'mlike oh my god dude, I totally
know what you mean.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I had people before who were like oh my god, you're
extra.
We need your energy and I'mlike I'm like, well, okay, what
was too extra 10 years ago, butnow you want my energy, told you
I was right.
So hard.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
And here's the thing you said the world hasn't
changed.
And when you said that, yes,the world after the midfield.
We've got a lot of change inthe world.
But I think we also haveachieved our perception and what
we accept for ourselves.
I think that's something I hadto realize.
I was so like nervous or shyaround the suits, right Like the
(15:19):
tall guy in a very suit, andstill me out.
It wasn't intimidated mentally,but it was more.
And it wasn't until I learnedabout energy that really needed
to change how I feel aboutthings.
It was his energy coming at mewith I know more than you and I
just assumed he did.
He was taller and had a biggertitle and had a bigger paycheck
(15:40):
and had given them even for thesame fee.
I just assumed they know morethan me because of their level
in the organization, which isactually not the case, because
I'm in one office and you reallyneed all the offices you know.
So it's a little different.
My expertise had.
I had to change the fact that Iknow my expertise better than
(16:01):
you specialize in this piece ofour office.
You may be specialized inpeople, numbers and health and
profit.
Mine was just for you know, sofor me I had to remind myself of
my power individually for myown confidence within, and that
kind of helped the outcomechange.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
That's such a good point, miranda, about how we
feel about ourselves.
Like I was also like when youdescribed that I'm like you know
what?
I can see that in myself, likeit wasn't like you said, like
I'm intimidated by you becauseyou're a CEO, it's.
I just feel like you obviouslyknow more than me, like
obviously right, and I think Ifelt that way about everybody,
and I think that I had and thiswas actually feedback that one
(16:45):
of my bosses, who actuallynurtured me throughout most of
my career she was amazing, Imean, still is and she often
would say that I was so shy,anxious, it's almost, I just
didn't, I had low self-esteemand it came, it was evident, you
know, and so it was almost likeI had my brand, but I lacked
the confidence to really carryit, you know, and it's possible
(17:09):
that I, and again, energy, thatenergy work.
I actually want to pause alittle bit and ask you this
question because, like most ofmost of you, a lot of people are
like, oh, business andspiritual and person and all
that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Oh London Very separate, I don't care, Exactly
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
So tell me a little bit about you had.
Did you have to blend thembefore shit started working for
you 100%?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
And you know what to do, I'll even think of energy a
notch, and so I'm a strong,strong believer in my faith and
so I had to.
Actually I had to own that, andit's actually the name of the
podcast is in Boston, but like Icouldn't come up with that name
until I did the work internallyright, because I didn't know
what it was right.
(17:50):
So for me, I had to own all thepieces, right?
There's so many differentspecies about us as humans, but
and we're talking brand becausewe're talking about the global
professional space, but it'sreally just who we are, and the
brand is how we express it andhow we own it, and you know, and
what we allow other people tosay about us too.
(18:11):
So, yeah, I had to blend themall.
It took a while, of course,like I never talked about my
faith in the office, becauseit's just something we don't do.
I never like was silly and funnyand told jokes.
I decided my stay at gradetypical and did my thing.
I mean I decorated my cupicleLike I had a little beach in a
(18:31):
box and I had palm tree, Likethis bit is hilarious.
So people knew I was silly andlike lunsical sometimes and I
love fairy tales and I have likelittle fairy tricks on my
cupicle, whatever, and some StarWars movies, but it's hilarious
.
But like people kind of getbits and pieces of our
personality based on how weexpress ourselves and maybe how
(18:52):
we decorate our cupicle.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
But when I go to meetings.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I would shut all that off.
Like my cupicle was kind of mysafe space in the office because
it reflected who I am.
It's like well good, but theminute I left that cupicle I put
on this persona, this mass, asuper professional person.
Sometimes I'd wear my hair back, but they'd take me there
seriously.
I'd wear my black glassesinstead of the pink ones Because
(19:15):
I just felt like what I wastalking to executives having
pink glasses and a cupicle onand it really didn't command
respect and so I wanted theirrespect because the executives
with money they looked me onthis one to, kind of how I felt
in the face, and it wasn't untilI started to realize that I
(19:37):
have a calling and it's on myheart for a reason and I have to
follow it.
The only way I can really begood and successful at it is to
be who I'm needed, and so I gotOK with the people exiting my
world that weren't meant to bethere, so that's a little bit of
the price we pay, as we believe.
I'm cool with that now.
It wasn't cool with that.
I was kind of people thinking doyou want to make everyone happy
(19:59):
?
The minute I realized it's notmy job make everyone happy.
My job is to do what I did.
My job is to hire you.
My job is to help you shinelight on your awesome.
So I actually changed what myjob was, which helped me to
bring more of the idea into yourdepartment of business.
That's what's happening.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
You know, that's actually a really good point.
Sometimes you have to changethe job, like so the job that
you're at is not going to be theplace.
Where was that heartbreakingfor you when you realized that
when you had to leave, or was it?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
free.
You're going to laugh.
I didn't leave, they kicked meout.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
No, don't be sorry, you're the best you've ever been
.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So I wish I had the story to say because I am too.
And now people are like oh,hell, yeah, of course you're
left.
You were like peace out, suckit out.
And I was like, no, I stayedover a big little a little bit
more fraction of myself.
And then people go until theysaid we're eliminating your
position and that actually I goteliminated position eliminated
(21:02):
four times in that of threeyears.
And so I had already heard thecalling.
You know, I knew what I wasmeant to do.
I was ignoring it because I wasscared.
I was so freaking scared.
I had the salary, I had the401k, I had the benefits.
I've got a kid in college, I'vegot another little one.
We're both now Like.
I had responsibility.
(21:23):
So I needed the fee check andit wasn't until the universe
took action For me because Iwould have eventually at least
I'd like to tell myself I wouldhave eventually, but it happened
for me and I it worked for me.
So there's usually something inour life that either it's a
shitty conversation, somebodyignore us on a meeting, we don't
get the job, we don't get thepromotion.
(21:44):
Usually there's some type ofcatalyst that wakes us up.
I hope all of this and I justam really, really scared of them
.
I'm scared of them.
I'm surprised they didn't punchsomebody Like I'm not kidding.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
You're ignoring all the signs.
They're literally coming infront of you Like the sign in
front of you saying anything,and I saw them.
I don't see anything.
What are you talking about?
Excuse me, let me go aroundthat time, excuse me, I was like
dodging the signs.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
That was crazy.
Like I saw some of them, I'msure I missed a few.
When looking back, you're like,oh, that was a sign.
When we talked about energy,until I started doing energy
work and working with energyalchemists so raking healers and
intuitive coaches I didn'trealize what I wasn't realized.
You don't know what you don'tknow when you're in the
(22:27):
corporate space.
And my mom told me to get acollege education, to get a
salary job.
That was our way out of theprojects when I was little like
cool, that's what I did and Ichecked that box.
I did the salary job and I gotthe husband, two kids and the
1.5 dogs.
Like I did the things shewanted for me.
I checked all the boxes.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
I checked all the boxes.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Are you happy?
I thought I was, but I knew Iwasn't Because there was this
one moment at a canary brim whenI was like, oh, I'm so sick of
this scene.
I was cooking chicken for myfamily and once it's an era I
was leading an estimate inperson with a bunch of women.
We were going around the tabletalking about our day and I said
, look at so many chickenbreasts today.
(23:09):
They were like what are youtalking about?
They were talking about growingthat bit on a chicken breast
and I'm like, did Like, I'm sofucking sick of cooking the same
chicken Like for dinner for thefamily.
It was like frow-how day and itjust kind of all flooded in.
I started crying.
It was a thing, and I felt sobad because I'm leading these
women and going through the samething they were going through,
(23:30):
but them watching me.
It was so empowering to them tosee that they're not alone.
Even the leaders have a hugelike doctors need doctors,
coaches need coaches, and so forme, I was miserable at work.
I just lost my 18-year-oldbrother at that time.
I was just in John Hogg's daywith my sister chicken, that was
(23:51):
a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Greated a keynote about this chicken.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It was hilarious, bethan, but you don't see the
signs in such a open-yourself tothem.
And so obviously like the lossof my brother, was one.
I got laid off two weeks laterat a company.
I drove to Kool-Aidak, Idropped all my side hustles just
to work on this organizationand their growth and he still
picked me out while I'm like,grieving the loss of my brother.
(24:15):
So those were some heavy, deepsigns.
We don't always get the heavydeep signs.
Sometimes it's just thispromotion of this review and so
on and so on.
There's still signs and if theystart to add up they start to
change you and it can change youfor the better.
It can lead to more change forthe worse and we kind of stay
and become a different versionof who you want to be.
(24:38):
So I know this was a tangentLike I can talk all day, but we
start.
We talked about branding andblending our life and doing the
work and personal development,connecting the feelers.
This is what made me becomemore of me and to not only see
the signs but act on them.
So I may have gotten laid off,I didn't actually with the hand
(24:58):
in my two weeks notice, I didactually have a plan to leave.
It just happened a littlesooner.
So I think emotionally itworked out in my favor Always a
gift, and I'm very lucky Because, looking back now, I can
imagine what I would be, or whoI would be internally, if I was
still an obsessed with people.
Now it doesn't mean everybody'smeant to be able to be an
(25:21):
entrepreneur.
It could just mean that you'rein the wrong office, you've got
the wrong department, you'reacting off from who you actually
are.
It's just becoming more of whoyou are, and if you're not even
sure who that is, that'sprobably the first place to
start.
I love to be practical.
So the first place to start isjust to say am I living the life
(25:42):
I'm supposed to be living in?
Am I exactly who I'm meant tobe or am I a version of it?
You can be real with yourself.
You may still lie to yourselfsometimes, but if effort is to
help with anything, people comein there, goes counselor
affiliates and get someassistance.
Have them draw it out of you.
So what I do is, for example,branding tragedy, depression.
I pull all the coolness out ofpeople and they'll like
(26:05):
integrate something up for them.
I didn't even realize how coolI was until you got this.
I'm so old.
I don't have any biases aroundyou, in yours, Just me and you.
You have your full upbringing,childhood, corporate experience,
your feeling, your boyfriendfrom third grade that keep you
on the playground Like you'vegot it all in your brain.
(26:25):
Where I don't, it's just me andyou and I'm seeing your light
and I just happen to put it onpaper and then you get to go to
the women Like you'll keep it onthe list.
It's your life.
I think creating a personalbrand, even if you're an
employee, you don't need toreally shun the light on an
outside and you'll have thatjourney.
Shining a light on who you areis probably something about the
(26:45):
mission of being a grown To bewho you are, what you are now.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
I think also, like you're saying, it's what you
said about, like, even if you'renot gonna be an entrepreneur,
it's important.
You know, I think I.
I remember I started trainingon personal branding, actually
honest, a long before I Reallylike I was still learning it, as
I was still training it becauseit was such a new idea, but I
was so excited to share itbecause, like no one was talking
about this this was like my 20years ago, like you know, where
we're all starting to talk aboutit, and I was still learning it
(27:13):
.
But you mentioned during one ofour conversations that I bring
up here, is that, like yourbosses have words that they
associate with you, yourcolleagues have words they
associate with you, and so onand so forth, like when you were
asking, like what are thosethree words?
And you know, if you don't knowwhat words you want people to
associate with you, right, thenthey're just gonna pick whatever
(27:34):
words they want.
But if you don't know, if youpick the words, then you can be
like I'm going to always act inalignment with those words,
right?
So it gives you that framework.
Then you are more likely to getpromotions, you're more likely
to get noted.
People know when they can comefind you or why?
Because they know.
Actually, miranda, I'm reallycurious.
Okay, I have ADHD, so I'm likeall the fucking place.
(27:56):
But here's where I ended upright now on this one.
I want to ask you this question, right?
So you think of Mar, I feellike there.
Every single thing in thisworld is marketing.
Whether you are trying to get araise, whether you're trying to
get promoted, or you're tryingto sell someone your pencil or
your widget, like, in the endYou're marketing something to
someone.
So you have to know what you'remarketing.
(28:16):
So my question to you, I guess,would be is that when you work
so let's say, I come to you andI'm working?
Because when I came, when, whenMiranda and I work together, I
was like, really like.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I don't know what I want to do, dude, I just need to
update my LinkedIn and we justneed to make it look great.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And she's like alright, let's do this, so you
can be as vague as you want, andshe will pull it out of you.
And Now I work in corporatebecause I had a very specific
mission in mind of what I wantedto do.
So now let's say, someone comesto you and they're in, they're
in corporate and they're likelisten, I either want to raise
or I want, I want to move up inthe ladder.
(28:51):
And I've been stagnant for awhile.
Okay, what are what?
And they're, they say to you Ifeel like LinkedIn is really
powerful.
It's like this place wherepeople do all these things all
the time, but I don't.
I've never seen any value in it.
I don't know how to use it,which I think is what I said to
you myself, actually, that I waslike look, I don't know what
the hell this thing is like.
It's great, I know I'm supposedto use it.
I know supposed to do thingswith it.
(29:12):
I don't know what to post, Idon't know what to say, I don't
know what to do.
What do you like?
What would you advise someone?
I mean like, alright, let'stalk.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
What is the first thing I say are we're going to
tell your life goals, healthgoals, your career goals, your
family's goals, and they're likewhy do you care about English?
Should I ask about English?
I want you to get to talking.
You're like open aboutexpressing yourself, right?
So even if you're like, oh, Iwant to lose 20 pounds, or like
I want to get six more tech todo, this is awesome, give me it
(29:41):
all.
I believe that and we don'teven really get to the inside
yet.
So I keep you feel who you areand it's really just I, just
guys that have a coffee check, Ijust Right, like I want to hear
about you and we want to beyour job and what's your heart's
desire, and we obviously thecareer part comes because you
(30:02):
feel so comfortable justchatting and having a cool
conversation.
Next thing, you know, feelcalmer, your heart feels full
and you're like yeah, actuallyyou know I really want to get
promoted, but I don't like towork at people actually, and
it's funny like this shit thatcomes out during these calls.
It's like so the next promotionlevel be working people.
Yeah, I think that's seven ofthem I need to go over, and
(30:24):
that's the funniest shit thatcomes out of people.
But honest conversation.
I'll ask you some really cool.
So I'm trained as a life coach,so I'm really good at asking
any question.
I thought I was gonna beBarbara Walters when I was in
high school, so I could.
You know, I've come outundergraded in journalism, so
I'm really good at askingquestions and so for me, I get
(30:44):
some cool stuff out.
I highlight what I got to comeback to you and then I'll say
well, what makes you think youneed to be on LinkedIn?
But to get a promotion, youalready have your office.
Like, why do you think you needto be on LinkedIn?
And they'll say I don't know,everybody's there.
I feel like I should like FOMO.
Somebody told me I need to beon LinkedIn.
Those are the answers I usuallyget, unless it's somebody who's
(31:04):
like I'm rocking on Insta.
My audience is on LinkedIn.
All right, cool.
So, entrepreneur, you're reallygood at being there.
Why do they need to be there?
Employer Employees are usuallylike I don't know.
My employer told me to yeah,they're usually that type of
response Everybody's there,everybody's talking about it.
(31:26):
I want to report theconversation.
All right, cool, do you thinkyou needed to achieve your goals
?
And they're like well, some ofthem.
But maybe these two do have todo with my corporate experience
of, you know, getting promoted.
I want people to take me moreseriously in the office so they
see me as a leader.
Cool, how do you think LinkedIncan help?
So I just keep asking how doyou think LinkedIn will help?
And sometimes they're like Idon't even know, can you just
(31:47):
tell me?
And I'm like yes, let me justtell you.
Eventually I'll tell thembecause LinkedIn, as corporate
as it is, and we have our ownopinion of this type of platform
it can be whatever you want,and that's what I tell people.
What do you want LinkedIn to dofor you?
What are your goals?
And then I can tell you howLinkedIn can help you achieve
(32:10):
your goals.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I'm actually curious how can like?
So now, let's say I'm like hey,I don't know what it can do for
me.
What can LinkedIn do for?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
people.
So this is where it gets tricky.
I need to know what your goalsare.
I know this is how you kind of,what it can do for you, because
I can just tell you all thethings that I will in a few
seconds.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Right, and that might take too much.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Do you, could you use ?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
me as an example.
I'm going to overwhelm them.
Yes, this means an example, andmy goal would be to, let's say,
get promoted.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So in order for you to get promoted, you need your
higher office to see you as anexpert in your industry or field
, or subcontractor expert.
How are they going to do that?
How do they do that today?
How do they know your expertise?
Are you getting the reports?
Are you leading meetings?
You have a team currently, so.
I dive into what you'recurrently doing.
Where's the gap in what theythink they see and what they
(32:59):
need to see in order to promoteyou?
Then I'll ask are you thepeople who need to see you on
the job?
Sometimes it doesn't matter.
Sometimes it's like, yeah, theyare and I want to get to them.
I mean around about that.
Sometimes it's like, no,they're not, but I have
coworkers Cool, let's get yourcoworkers talking about what's
happening.
Let's get started, boys.
So how we're going to do thatis get your profile looking
(33:22):
fabulous.
It's going to say all thethings you don't actually say in
person.
You don't walk into a meetingand say, hey, I'm Miranda, I'm a
LinkedIn expert, I'm aevangelist for the brand.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
You don't start your meetings on your own, Miranda.
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I'm trying to give testimonials that say X, y and Z
.
No, we don't like walkingthrough a room, we just start
shouting our phrases.
Sometimes it's actually reallyuncomfortable to brag about on
your side.
So to get promoted, people haveto see you as fabulous in a
brighter light.
You need to shine the light onyour awesome.
You don't do that in personbecause it's weird.
So LinkedIn is a fantasticplatform to shine the light on
(34:02):
who you are.
It's a resume, it's a littlebit of a social media site.
Obviously it's a little bit ofa portfolio.
It can be an art gallery if youwant it to be.
Linkedin has the ability toshowcase all of your expertise
through long form content, likearticles, through conversations
with people you can never beable to reach in the industry
(34:23):
because they're like.
We're the one country You'reputting out short form content
or videos for people to kind offeel who you are when you speak,
when you're live, when youvideo, or for you to engage in
conversation.
Who would never be ready to?
So when I start talking aboutif I'm an HR leader which I was
back in the day and I wanted tothere's an organization in
(34:44):
Manhattan who had a lot ofpeople talk about, especially
when I was in tech.
But that was the mecca and so Istarted talking to their age.
I was working on LinkedIn.
Somebody would see it and belike, holy shit, you talk to
that up so and so at thiscompany.
Oh yeah, we talk on LinkedInall the time.
Oh, you're on LinkedIn, oh mygod, I've done that.
I've so done that Triggeringright and it's just like magic
(35:04):
to me.
So LinkedIn can show you in allthese lights that you're not
able to show people while you'rein your tech like this.
Oh, everywhere I really.
I hated my side.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Great people too, by the way, I made it very colorful
, I turned it into it.
So my first boss, mark Millerhe was amazing, amazing.
He was the one who gave mysister and I a chance, got us
started in the first place.
He let us decorate our littledungeon like the way and we
turned it.
He came in one day he said, ohmy god, this looks like a
Turkish smoking den.
We had tapestries everywhereand we had lamps all over.
(35:41):
Oh my god, it was amazing, itwas fabulous.
You know you made so many goodpoints here about like.
So the other day, dude, now thatI'm going to tell you the
fruits of your labor and how itall happened, so you help me
with my LinkedIn like a whileback it was probably about six
to eight months ago and you gaveme enough to where I needed to
marinate on the information tofigure out how I was going to
(36:04):
internalize it, and then youknow what was I going to do with
it.
So it took about three or fourmonths and I was like right now
I know I'm going to use this andI've been posting clips from my
podcast and clips from mycommitment to clockout series
and whatnot, yeah, whatever, andyou think you don't know who's
seeing these things.
So now I was like shit, Ihaven't made my intro video for
(36:26):
my commitment to clockout.
So I paused on publishing someof those while I made the intro.
So it was like a week or sobefore I actually published my
next video.
Some guy at work who I adorewe're in a meeting with like all
these, all the VPs anddirectors, and he's like I saw
your video the other day and I'mlike what are you talking about
?
Speaker 2 (36:43):
I literally have no idea what you're talking about,
turns out he was on LinkedIn,saw my video, watched it.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
He said I'm waiting for you to send me the rest, I'm
waiting for you to post therest of it.
I was like, oh, people arewatching my videos.
It's got to upload this thing.
So it's like so, which I didn'tfeel super bad about not
uploading it.
But what I learned, what youjust said, is that people are,
they see you and then they bringyou up.
Bring it up in a meeting which,in like, he's the only one who
actually saw that video.
(37:08):
But if you think about theimpact that a video just had,
eight other people in thatmeeting now know that I post
videos on LinkedIn aboutcommitting the clockout and
email efficiency, which I wouldnever been able to do that on my
own.
Did you teach email efficiency?
when you trained other peopleOne of the things yeah, so I do
teach email efficiency.
(37:29):
That's commitment to clockout.
There's a whole video that I'mgoing to publish on that.
But what I actually train on ishow to adjust your day to day
activities and remove the busywork and gunk that has actually
grown over time, because manypeople are overworked but they
don't realize that a lot oftheir overwork is because of the
(37:49):
gunk that's built up over time,almost like your car with oil,
and so I help people figure outtheir email.
Most people do not know how touse their email.
Did you know that you can gettwo hours back a day by changing
how you interact with youremail?
That's how freaking amazing itis.
Sorry I got to that's mysoapbox.
I could be on that soapboxforever, but yeah, but it was
really cool.
It was very cool that LinkedInallowed for that level of.
(38:12):
I'm not actually looking forpromotion, I just really am
looking to help people.
So that was my goal was to Iwant more people to see my
content, because this is goingto help more people find joy in
their lives.
Miranda, how do I do that?
And that's that's not I want apromotion.
It's not I want a job.
That's not I want.
And you were like here.
This is how you do that.
So I feel like that's reallyfreaking cool.
(38:34):
So anyone can be like here,miranda, I don't know what I
want, but I know that I need todo something to get out of this
space.
I mean, it's almost like you'resuch a life career, business
branding, coach, like strategicdevelopment.
I'm taking all of this.
I mean, I'm not too old but I'min like I'm 43.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
So I've done about 23 in the experience in the COVID
space.
I started as a recruiter inlike an external recruiter for
an agency, became a careerdirector at a college for six
years, then became the directorof admissions at a college.
So I've got a lot of like youngpersonality examples of helping
them to connect withopportunities like how to act as
(39:16):
a movie, how to interview, solife coach, career coach master
in motivation, then became a HRleader in an extended amount.
So I have I mean, everything hasto be with people I got the
life coaches and masters on theoutside to make me better at
what I was doing inside the job.
Now, as LinkedIn specialist andthe brand of evangelist, I
(39:37):
utilize all of them.
It's like taking all of my babysuperpowers and just trying to
get all onto you in order foryou to do a little bit of it
Like I shine the light on you.
I help you figure out who youare, who you are, who you grow
up, how we're going to get thereand how to express it in a way
that's authentic.
It's not fake.
(39:58):
We don't put crazy crap onLinkedIn that says like look at
me, I'm fantastic, Like I canchange your world in my office,
Promote me.
It's nothing crazy, it's justit's being very authentic,
creating content that showcasesyour value.
And I hope you don't just doany work.
You can go get what you work,because it's a pageant.
(40:19):
So I just take all of thatstuff and I understand the
personalbranding I didn't realize.
There's two incidents in mycorporate life that made me
realize how important the brandis.
One was a cover letter thing tome and said I only know about
this.
She didn't know she was writinga cover letter to me but said I
know about this job because Ifollow Mariah Bonkbergen in your
(40:40):
company.
And I did.
It was hilarious.
Somebody would like what isMariah doing.
Why are people writing coverletters to her?
So you're welcome to come to me.
And the second one was it wasactually a whole thing to one of
my team's.
Most influential branding was Iwas in a meeting, ceo was
meeting it.
It was marketing, it wasrecruitment, it was resources
(41:02):
and I sent it to them and Ifound it.
I don't remember the name ofthe team, but they came in and
the gentleman was like oh mygosh, like talk about LinkedIn.
We're on LinkedIn.
We've got, you know, 4,000followers on the company.
People, you know everyone'slike crazy marketing, gay, gay,
gay, when the staff can doreally quiet.
And he's like so why doesMariah have like 10,000
(41:23):
followers?
What is she doing?
Speaker 1 (41:26):
that we're not, of course.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
I get side-eyed because marketing guys are like
no what's the future?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Oh, so you're like lady.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Let me tell you what I'm doing.
But he was like what is shedoing?
That the marketing team isgetting more confident, she's
getting more attention than thecompany.
And he's like good for you,mariah, that's awesome, clearly
job security.
And I started laughing.
But he's like what's thedifference?
Like what are you doing thatthey're not, like it's my
personal learning versus yourcompany's learning.
People like when you ask for arestaurant review, you're not
(41:57):
just going to go to therestaurant's page and see what
they're telling you oh, mistakeis the best thing ever.
We've got the best disparity.
I stand test.
I want to hear Susie tell methe scare against the stand test
.
Like that's eight years lasttime.
So the difference was people,although we we trust brands like
I love certain brands that Iwill only go to them for certain
things, but it's probablybecause I have a good experience
(42:18):
Right.
So it was my personal brand andmy experience showcasing what
it's like to work there, howawesome it was, my cute little,
you know palm tree pictures inmy cubicle, which didn't say
much about the culture.
It was mostly about me and mypersonal experience at the
organization, but it made peoplefeel something right.
They felt they wanted to learnmore.
(42:38):
They felt that I was happythere, so it was applied to the
job.
They looked at the company.
We took them from person to theplace that was in the
organization and that'sliterally like my funniest
personal branding story Is thatlike of course it was awkward to
not own the board in the office, but it's just like it's a
professional platform so we canbe social, we can share.
(43:01):
I mean, I don't say share yourlunches, but if you tie it into
business, like I'm at a businesslunch with someone, like you
know, facebook will share, likeour recipes and stuff, but
LinkedIn, yeah, yeah, it's justas much social and fun as it is
professional and close toopportunities.
So, why not bring a booktogether, you know.
So, figure out who you are,create this personal brand.
(43:22):
Feel really authentic andcomfortable about who you are.
Start expressing it.
People will take notice.
The only thing is people, whenthey start to take notice,
they're like you said, they'rereally personal.
The price maybe they don't likeit.
They want you to kind of stopStuffings of fun.
They want to silence whatyou're doing.
I had one organization say welike what you're doing.
(43:46):
Anything you post about us ithas to be in part, and they were
like really boring.
And I was like not on my god.
I'm not putting silver and I'mnot my LinkedIn page.
It's pink and purple, yellowand happy, and I look that's not
our problem, I'm not you onyour page.
I will put those colors andI'll share it to my page, but I
(44:07):
am happy, yellow and fun, right?
Just this.
I'm not gonna change my brainon my page, so that's a thing.
So I don't think he's ourpersonal program and we can
still be an ambassador.
I actually teach organizationshow to be brand ambassadors,
right, so you can work for acompany.
Hmm, still be yourself, butexpress it in a way that's
(44:31):
authentic to you.
I don't have to say the companytells me the same.
But if you want me to put out apost about what it's like to
work here because we'rerecruiting, then I'll do them.
But it's gonna be how I feelworking, you know I'll say okay,
it's negative, I will post it.
But you know we're looking, yourteam is hiring an Accountable
person and you're in marketing.
(44:52):
Maybe you can say, though, likeoh, we're hiring, I'm so
excited, comes during our team.
Blah, blah, blah.
My favorite part of being hereis whatever you know, so you
don't have to actually Posttheir job.
You know it doesn't have to bewhat they tell right right
making your own, and that'swhere you get noticed.
So there is a way to marry whatthey want versus what we want,
(45:13):
but until they really addressthat, Right, absolutely, I've
had the same thing where youknow.
Speaker 1 (45:21):
So it was like you have to do this and for me that
is a deal breaker, right.
So, like I, and there was acertain, there was a certain
point where I realized that Imight work in research
administration.
On, the great thing aboutresearch administration Is that
you will always be employed.
There's always a job, always,and so it's it's a privilege to
be able to say, look, this isthe brand I bring in and this is
(45:42):
the brand I'm coming in with.
And I think that, like, if aplace isn't going to allow you
to be yourself, then, as someonewho spent many years masking in
an organization, I really wouldencourage you to think about
whether you want to stay in thatorganization, because you
yourself will end up beingdamaged as you have to
continuously restrict the moregregarious or exciting parts of
yourself.
So a lot of times, these kindsof conversations can be Tells
(46:06):
whether or not a place is rightfor you because, like, let's say
, you know your boss comes toyou and says, listen, we want
you as the brand callers.
But I get that you may not.
I notice that you do swear insome of your posts, like where
you're sharing us like.
If you share, like, all rightsure you know what I can
definitely do that actually hadsomebody asked me that the other
day.
They said listen, we reallywant you to work.
The swearing is just the thingI do every like and it's it is
(46:30):
what it is.
And I had someone asked me youknow, listen, we really like you
to be involved, but if you'regoing to be producing content
for us, would you mind notswearing?
And I'm like, absolutely.
I was like that's your brand,I'm creating content for your
brand.
I'm not gonna put my brandingin there, but I'm just gonna
have the blue hair.
It's still me.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
I just won't swear.
Speaker 1 (46:47):
It's okay, I'm not gonna die right.
So when I think that, like Ilove how you brought, brought
those things up, all right, aswe start to wrap up because my
god, we got so much good stufffrom you today and it's funny we
literally only asked onequestion on my list.
All the other questions we justsort of like flew into from
that first thing.
So People are gonna want towork with you, they're gonna
want to talk to you, they'regoing to want to follow you.
(47:08):
I tell my, my, my friends howto find you one thing.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Really, yeah, I mean, first and foremost, find me out
in.
And then, of course, I'm anInstagram dude and Miranda's on
her phone.
You will definitely see thesame type of content still great
colors, still awesome vibes.
You know you're gonna get thesame stuff for me on every
platform, so I'll tell you alittle bit of what I did today.
And then, of course, there'sthe Emmy to me, the end.
(47:36):
We want to have a conversation,get to know each other.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
You.
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