March 19, 2025 • 11 mins
Why should solopreneurs use LinkedIn as their Storefront Window? Liz Steblay shares key advice. Founder and Chief Advocate of the Professional Independent Consultants of America (PICA) and the Amazon Author of "Succeeding as a Solopreneur" . https://www.sixkeys.info https://www.lizsteblay.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/independentconsulting
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
I'm Tom Riock, promoting successful business experts connecting people throughout
the world from my podcast studio in Brazil. Joining us
today from Reno, Nevada. Liz Stebley, founder and chief advocate
of the Professional Independent Consultants of America, an author of
the new book Succeeding as a Solopreneur. So, Liz, how
(00:27):
do solopreneurs? How should they use LinkedIn as their storefront window?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, Tom, I'm glad you asked me that question because
a passionate believer in the power of LinkedIn, particularly when
you're self employed. Now, if you're not on LinkedIn, you're
missing a huge opportunity for people to find you. If
you do a Google search on your own name, I
guarantee you one of the top three results will be
your LinkedIn profile.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's not the first, if not the first.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Assuming you have a LinkedIn So, but most solopreneurs are
people who specialize in knowledge expertise. Right, we're not creating
physical products or widgets. We're selling executive coaching or independent
consulting or financial planning, and so we don't have a
physical product. And so the first place somebody's going to
(01:20):
go to find out more about you even if they
do a Google search, they're going to go look at
your LinkedIn profile. So what do I mean by setting
it up as a storefront window. Well, this is a
critical piece a shift in thinking. When you're self employed.
You need to make your LinkedIn profile more about your
client than about you. Now that's counterintuitive because it's your
(01:41):
personal profile, right, But they're coming to look at your
profile to see if you're the person who can help
them with whatever their situation is, whether that's solving a
crisis or fixing a problem, or harnessing an opportunity. So
there's a way to create your LinkedIn profile to draw
people into your store. So let me rephrase and use
(02:04):
an analogy. So let's say that you were a retail
store on Fifth Avenue, New York City, and you had
two big plate glass windows. You would put your best
merchandise on those mannequins in those windows to draw people
into the store. So think of LinkedIn the same way.
When you create your summary about you, you need to
(02:25):
flip it and make it more about your client. How
do you help your client? What are the situation What
are the situations that you make a difference. How do
you what problems do you solve. Sometimes I've seen successful
solopreneurs use a lead in question like if any of
these things keep you up at night, we should at
least have a conversation, and then they list four or
five bullet points. That's how you draw people into your store.
(02:46):
Nobody's going to hire a solopreneur without first having a conversation.
So all of your marketing, your website, your LinkedIn profile
needs to draw people into a conversation to put.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You in front of the window, exactly it And which
persons do you want to be in front of your window?
That's another part I don't have LinkedIn about all the
searching mechanisms. They will take you and put you in
front of a window. If you don't have the window,
nobody comes. Nobody, they're gonna put anybody there. So it's
the search ability, it's the find ability.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, yes, you do need to be you need to
be clear on who is your ideal client. Yes, that's part.
That's part of the research that goes into launching your
solopreneur business, which is in my book right but the
subtitle to the book is six Keys to taking the Leap,
finding clients and building wealth. So it takes you from
soup to nuts, how to even step out on your own,
(03:38):
and then how to identify your ideal client, how to
pivot and make your LinkedIn profile your storefront window. Then
goes on to how to build your website, how do
you do business development, how do you expand your network,
how do you figure out your pricing? And of course
how do you pay less tax and build more wealth?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So that's global, that's global.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That is, it is a global desire to be self
employed for sure and live the career of your dreams.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
No, but to keep as much of the money and
the value from what you do to yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, pay less tax, that's my favorite hashtags seriously next
to hashtag solopreneurs success. But pay less tax is one
of my favorite hashtags.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But taking the leap always is a leap forward.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yes, it depends though how well prepared you are when
you do take the leap. What I mean by taking
the leap is cutting the cord with your full time
job and really stepping into being self employed professional. And
there are things that you can do to make that
leap more achievable and have a soft landing or hand
(04:43):
or hit the ground running to use whatever analogy you
want to use. But there's ways, and it starts with
your LinkedIn profile. Tom If you start to position yourself
as an expert and whatever it is that you're really
good at and that the market needs, you can do
that when you're still fully employed now.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
And I think that's the key. And many people learn
that too late, to start thinking about that while you're employed. Yes,
and don't waste that for you know the pink slip
that says, all you got to do something tomorrow morning
and you're done. So I think that the preparation part
of what are options? You need to think about options
(05:21):
while you are employed, or maybe leaving school, even before
you leave school, you're maybe studying to do something. What
do I want to do? And so that's that's one
of the good options today. And I think even more
and more, and you know that better than I. There
are more solos today because it's just the way of life.
Internet has brought us to being able to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Anywhere one you can't there's no such thing as lifetime
employment anymore, right, so you can be let go at
any time. Everybody knows this, they used to say. So
I'm a product of the last century, right, So I
entered the workforce and at the end of the last century.
And that was just to say, you need to update
your resume once a year because you never know what's
(06:03):
going to happen. Well, the same is true with your
LinkedIn profile. You need to look at it at least
once a year, ideally twice a year after every big
project that you finish. If you're in consulting, you need
to update it again. And now you need to pay
more attention to your personal brand and making yourself memorable, right,
because if you're not memorable, you won't pop into people's minds.
(06:24):
They won't refer you when that situation comes up, and
referrals are the lifeblood of solopreneurs.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, my suggestion to LinkedIn, I look every day and
all day and during the day, and I'm just a believer.
The more you mix the pot, the better it comes
out at the end. And that's only LinkedIn, It's many
of these sites. The more that LinkedIn sees that we're active,
that we're doing something posting or we not only updating
(06:51):
our information, but if you do something there every day,
LinkedIn knows that, yes.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It does know that even if you don't have to
post your own content every day. I mean that's a
good a good rule of thumb to gain awareness, of course,
but if you join particular groups. So this goes back
to knowing your ideal customer. And there are groups on
LinkedIn for everything.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
For everything.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So let's say you're into customer experience, your customer experience consultant.
There's you know, half dozen groups on LinkedIn that specialize
in conversations related to enhancing the customer experience. You start
commenting on other people's posts and do thoughtful things, not
just ooh interesting, but you add nuggets of wisdom. You
start to build a reputation within that pond of fish. Right,
(07:39):
And that's one other way that you can be active
on LinkedIn without creating your own original content.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, and to that sense, you can keep your resume
the same for the whole year. That's not the question.
It's not about just the resume. It's about what you
do on the platform.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yes, you have, you do need to be active. Another
little thing that a lot of people miss is there's
well they used to call it rich media, but frankly,
it's just any media. There's a way that you can
add pops of color to your LinkedIn where you could
be it could be a white paper, it could be
a link to a podcast, it could be a PowerPoint presentation.
But you can add graphics to your LinkedIn profile and
(08:16):
it works like a billboard.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
It does. I mean recently I've seen that I've experienced
that it's not allowing videos.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes, it's called featured content. And Tom, your profile has
got some really nice ones right up their top and
at putting great merchandise in your storefront window right there.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Well, I tend to think of myself as back to
your fifth Avenue in New York. What strikes me not
in New York. In many places the Christmas storefronts oh yes, right,
And you know that's a whole science of what do
you put in the storefront to get people to get
in your store? And I take that to my LinkedIn
(08:56):
and I change it, and I have to put things
that I feel irrelevant to those I'm trying to reach in. Again,
I'm trying to entice the searching mechanisms to find me
an offer that. But it has to be upfront. You
can't put the best way in the backshelf. It's got
to be out there at eye level.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Exactly, and so when I look at people's LinkedIn profiles
and they don't have them, so obviously there's a whole
chapter in the book on how to fine tune your
LinkedIn profile is your storefront window. But another another thing
that people miss out on is they don't create a
custom background that goes behind their picture. You can get
one for free on Canva put it's so easy. And
(09:37):
here people are trying to set themselves apart from the
crowd and be self employed and like, yeah, but you're
still using that default ugly background.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
It's like the store.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Back to what you said, Yes, it's like having a
naked mannequin in your window. You got to take advantage
of every single opportunity.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Very good, well it is. How can our listeners find you?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The easiest way is to go to the landing page
for the book, which is six keys dot info not
sixties keys dot com because dot com is too expensive,
so six keys dot info or the book is available
on Amazon of course, either as a book, an ebook, audiobook,
almost any form that you want. And the title of
(10:21):
the book, of course, is Succeeding as a Solopreneur. Six
Keys to Taking the Leap Winning clients and building wealth.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Very good, Well, thanks for being here and sharing my pleasure.
And again more information about Liz Steadley. It's l I
Z the last name st e B l a Y.
You find her on LinkedIn and her own site which
is Liz Stabley dot com. And again the book succeed
Succeeding as a solopreneur on Amazon. Cafe Networking is brought
(10:51):
to us by Focus Semi Market Intelligence and Agriculture market
research specialist in Brazil. More information at f O c
U s M. I do Talk to Tom, talk to
the world. Thanks for listening, till the next time here
at Cafe and Networking Podcast
I'm Tom Riock, promoting successful business experts connecting people throughout
the world from my podcast studio in Brazil. Joining us
today from Reno, Nevada. Liz Stebley, founder and chief advocate
of the Professional Independent Consultants of America, an author of
the new book Succeeding as a Solopreneur. So, Liz, how
(00:27):
do solopreneurs? How should they use LinkedIn as their storefront window?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, Tom, I'm glad you asked me that question because
a passionate believer in the power of LinkedIn, particularly when
you're self employed. Now, if you're not on LinkedIn, you're
missing a huge opportunity for people to find you. If
you do a Google search on your own name, I
guarantee you one of the top three results will be
your LinkedIn profile.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's not the first, if not the first.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Assuming you have a LinkedIn So, but most solopreneurs are
people who specialize in knowledge expertise. Right, we're not creating
physical products or widgets. We're selling executive coaching or independent
consulting or financial planning, and so we don't have a
physical product. And so the first place somebody's going to
(01:20):
go to find out more about you even if they
do a Google search, they're going to go look at
your LinkedIn profile. So what do I mean by setting
it up as a storefront window. Well, this is a
critical piece a shift in thinking. When you're self employed.
You need to make your LinkedIn profile more about your
client than about you. Now that's counterintuitive because it's your
(01:41):
personal profile, right, But they're coming to look at your
profile to see if you're the person who can help
them with whatever their situation is, whether that's solving a
crisis or fixing a problem, or harnessing an opportunity. So
there's a way to create your LinkedIn profile to draw
people into your store. So let me rephrase and use
(02:04):
an analogy. So let's say that you were a retail
store on Fifth Avenue, New York City, and you had
two big plate glass windows. You would put your best
merchandise on those mannequins in those windows to draw people
into the store. So think of LinkedIn the same way.
When you create your summary about you, you need to
(02:25):
flip it and make it more about your client. How
do you help your client? What are the situation What
are the situations that you make a difference. How do
you what problems do you solve. Sometimes I've seen successful
solopreneurs use a lead in question like if any of
these things keep you up at night, we should at
least have a conversation, and then they list four or
five bullet points. That's how you draw people into your store.
(02:46):
Nobody's going to hire a solopreneur without first having a conversation.
So all of your marketing, your website, your LinkedIn profile
needs to draw people into a conversation to put.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
You in front of the window, exactly it And which
persons do you want to be in front of your window?
That's another part I don't have LinkedIn about all the
searching mechanisms. They will take you and put you in
front of a window. If you don't have the window,
nobody comes. Nobody, they're gonna put anybody there. So it's
the search ability, it's the find ability.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, yes, you do need to be you need to
be clear on who is your ideal client. Yes, that's part.
That's part of the research that goes into launching your
solopreneur business, which is in my book right but the
subtitle to the book is six Keys to taking the Leap,
finding clients and building wealth. So it takes you from
soup to nuts, how to even step out on your own,
(03:38):
and then how to identify your ideal client, how to
pivot and make your LinkedIn profile your storefront window. Then
goes on to how to build your website, how do
you do business development, how do you expand your network,
how do you figure out your pricing? And of course
how do you pay less tax and build more wealth?
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So that's global, that's global.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That is, it is a global desire to be self
employed for sure and live the career of your dreams.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
No, but to keep as much of the money and
the value from what you do to yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, pay less tax, that's my favorite hashtags seriously next
to hashtag solopreneurs success. But pay less tax is one
of my favorite hashtags.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But taking the leap always is a leap forward.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yes, it depends though how well prepared you are when
you do take the leap. What I mean by taking
the leap is cutting the cord with your full time
job and really stepping into being self employed professional. And
there are things that you can do to make that
leap more achievable and have a soft landing or hand
(04:43):
or hit the ground running to use whatever analogy you
want to use. But there's ways, and it starts with
your LinkedIn profile. Tom If you start to position yourself
as an expert and whatever it is that you're really
good at and that the market needs, you can do
that when you're still fully employed now.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
And I think that's the key. And many people learn
that too late, to start thinking about that while you're employed. Yes,
and don't waste that for you know the pink slip
that says, all you got to do something tomorrow morning
and you're done. So I think that the preparation part
of what are options? You need to think about options
(05:21):
while you are employed, or maybe leaving school, even before
you leave school, you're maybe studying to do something. What
do I want to do? And so that's that's one
of the good options today. And I think even more
and more, and you know that better than I. There
are more solos today because it's just the way of life.
Internet has brought us to being able to do that.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Anywhere one you can't there's no such thing as lifetime
employment anymore, right, so you can be let go at
any time. Everybody knows this, they used to say. So
I'm a product of the last century, right, So I
entered the workforce and at the end of the last century.
And that was just to say, you need to update
your resume once a year because you never know what's
(06:03):
going to happen. Well, the same is true with your
LinkedIn profile. You need to look at it at least
once a year, ideally twice a year after every big
project that you finish. If you're in consulting, you need
to update it again. And now you need to pay
more attention to your personal brand and making yourself memorable, right,
because if you're not memorable, you won't pop into people's minds.
(06:24):
They won't refer you when that situation comes up, and
referrals are the lifeblood of solopreneurs.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Well, my suggestion to LinkedIn, I look every day and
all day and during the day, and I'm just a believer.
The more you mix the pot, the better it comes
out at the end. And that's only LinkedIn, It's many
of these sites. The more that LinkedIn sees that we're active,
that we're doing something posting or we not only updating
(06:51):
our information, but if you do something there every day,
LinkedIn knows that, yes.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It does know that even if you don't have to
post your own content every day. I mean that's a
good a good rule of thumb to gain awareness, of course,
but if you join particular groups. So this goes back
to knowing your ideal customer. And there are groups on
LinkedIn for everything.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
For everything.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So let's say you're into customer experience, your customer experience consultant.
There's you know, half dozen groups on LinkedIn that specialize
in conversations related to enhancing the customer experience. You start
commenting on other people's posts and do thoughtful things, not
just ooh interesting, but you add nuggets of wisdom. You
start to build a reputation within that pond of fish. Right,
(07:39):
And that's one other way that you can be active
on LinkedIn without creating your own original content.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, and to that sense, you can keep your resume
the same for the whole year. That's not the question.
It's not about just the resume. It's about what you
do on the platform.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yes, you have, you do need to be active. Another
little thing that a lot of people miss is there's
well they used to call it rich media, but frankly,
it's just any media. There's a way that you can
add pops of color to your LinkedIn where you could
be it could be a white paper, it could be
a link to a podcast, it could be a PowerPoint presentation.
But you can add graphics to your LinkedIn profile and
(08:16):
it works like a billboard.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
It does. I mean recently I've seen that I've experienced
that it's not allowing videos.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes, it's called featured content. And Tom, your profile has
got some really nice ones right up their top and
at putting great merchandise in your storefront window right there.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Well, I tend to think of myself as back to
your fifth Avenue in New York. What strikes me not
in New York. In many places the Christmas storefronts oh yes, right,
And you know that's a whole science of what do
you put in the storefront to get people to get
in your store? And I take that to my LinkedIn
(08:56):
and I change it, and I have to put things
that I feel irrelevant to those I'm trying to reach in. Again,
I'm trying to entice the searching mechanisms to find me
an offer that. But it has to be upfront. You
can't put the best way in the backshelf. It's got
to be out there at eye level.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Exactly, and so when I look at people's LinkedIn profiles
and they don't have them, so obviously there's a whole
chapter in the book on how to fine tune your
LinkedIn profile is your storefront window. But another another thing
that people miss out on is they don't create a
custom background that goes behind their picture. You can get
one for free on Canva put it's so easy. And
(09:37):
here people are trying to set themselves apart from the
crowd and be self employed and like, yeah, but you're
still using that default ugly background.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
It's like the store.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Back to what you said, Yes, it's like having a
naked mannequin in your window. You got to take advantage
of every single opportunity.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Very good, well it is. How can our listeners find you?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The easiest way is to go to the landing page
for the book, which is six keys dot info not
sixties keys dot com because dot com is too expensive,
so six keys dot info or the book is available
on Amazon of course, either as a book, an ebook, audiobook,
almost any form that you want. And the title of
(10:21):
the book, of course, is Succeeding as a Solopreneur. Six
Keys to Taking the Leap Winning clients and building wealth.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Very good, Well, thanks for being here and sharing my pleasure.
And again more information about Liz Steadley. It's l I
Z the last name st e B l a Y.
You find her on LinkedIn and her own site which
is Liz Stabley dot com. And again the book succeed
Succeeding as a solopreneur on Amazon. Cafe Networking is brought
(10:51):
to us by Focus Semi Market Intelligence and Agriculture market
research specialist in Brazil. More information at f O c
U s M. I do Talk to Tom, talk to
the world. Thanks for listening, till the next time here
at Cafe and Networking Podcast
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