How To Set Up Your LinkedIn Profile As A Solopreneur

Even if you don’t plan on using LinkedIn to find clients or grow your business, people are probably still searching for you on that platform.

Over half a billion people are using LinkedIn to grow their network, and if you can’t be found, your clients will be heading over to your competitors.

Now, I’ve always said that you don’t need to be on all the social platforms. My advice is to pick the one or two that…

• Your ideal clients are already hanging out on
• You know how to use, and
• You enjoy using

And then just make the most of those.

However, you don’t need to be active on LinkedIn to have a really good profile.

You can take a little bit of time now to set up your profile so that when people do find you, it’s a match for your business and message.

It’s only when (and if) you want to use the platform to find more work that you need to start being active, but I want to give you 8 easy pointers for how to set up your profile to showcase you in the best light.

Here we go.

1. Profile Pic

“Put on a happy face”

It’s one of the laws of influence that explains how people do business with those they like, and a smile is the best way to show you are likeable.

Too cheesy?

Remember, this is a people business (whatever industry you’re in) and wouldn’t you feel more comfortable approaching someone who was already smiling?

You don’t need a professional headshot here – just make sure it’s a clear photo of your face, ONLY you in the photo, and a genuine smile (with crinkling eyes!). You can take a selfie if you want to!

2. Cover Photo

This is that blue box behind your profile. If you leave it the LinkedIn standard image, it gives a clear signal that you’re not serious about your profile.

This is an opportunity to showcase what you do, your personality, more about your brand, and to connect with your audience.

Choose a pic of you doing your work, speaking to an audience, happy people using your products – anything really! Just not the blue standard LinkedIn one ?

3. Your Headline

This is the sentence underneath your name, and it’s an excellent opportunity to tell people what you can help them with.

Most people put their job title or business name – but that usually doesn’t mean anything to anyone.

Your headline is what is always shown to people on LinkedIn (alongside your photo and name), every time you comment on someone else’s post, so make sure that if someone sees it, they know exactly who you are and what you can help with.

For example, “Director | Premier Accounting Solutions” doesn’t jump off the page.

But “Helping Small Business Owners Maximise Their Tax Return” is more impactful and to-the-point.

And something generic like “Life Coach | Mindset Strategist | Entrepreneur” could become “Transforming Lives For Women Over 50”

Play around with yours and make it descriptive!

4. Contact Details

This is kind of obvious, but you want people to get in touch with you right?

There’s a section dedicated to contact details, and it’s easy to fill out.

Make sure you’ve got links to your website and other social media posts (as long as they are active!) and do include your email and phone (if you want people to contact you that way).

5. About Me Section

This is the summary that goes above your experience, and even though it says “About Me” it’s actually about THEM (your potential clients).

I see too many of these written like a CV, which sounds like you’re looking for a job.

Instead of using this to tell people about your experience and great personal qualities, think of it in terms of your business.

Who can you help?

Who do you love working with?

What problem do you solve?

What are you passionate about?

Why did you go into this business?

Use this section to write a summary letting your potential clients know what you care about and why they should do business with you.

FYI – This applies to the About section on your website, facebok page, the blurb on a service site… anywhere else you see “about me”

6. Your Experience Section

Obviously you’re including all your past work history in this section, but it doesn’t ONLY have to be the relevant jobs. This isn’t a CV.

Remember, people connect with people, so include ALL of your past history, even if it’s not related to what you do now.

(As long as you’re happy that people know you did it. One of my mentors worked in an “adult” call centre during her 20s, which she happily talks about in her books, but probably doesn’t put on her LinkedIn profile)

When you include all your previous jobs (or “fun” jobs, as I call them), you never know who else did something similar, and that could be a connecting point for the two of you.

7. Experience Section: Getting That Logo!

You may have noticed that some of your jobs have the logo displayed, and some have the grey box.

The grey box makes it look like you don’t have a real business.

If you want people to take you seriously, you need to get that logo in there. So here’s what you do…

1. Create a company profile on LinkedIn. This only take a few minutes, but here is where you can upload your logo.
2. Edit your experience section again, and when asked for Company name, start typing the name of your company page. The auto suggestions will appear, so just select yours, and voila, the logo will appear for you!

Not much you can do about previous employers, if they don’t have a company profile, but at least yours is now taken care of.

Easy!

8. Recommendations

This is your social proof! You don’t need 100 of these, just a couple will do.

Recommendations work like testimonials. They let other people see you have good relationships with people, you deliver what you say you will, and helps them feel confident to work with you as well.

Here’s the quickest way to pick up a few recommendations.

1. Review the current testimonials you’ve got (Facebook, Google, over email…)
2. See if any of these people are on LinkedIn
3. Send them a “request for recommendation” through LinkedIn, with a personal message attached
4. Your message will simply thank them for their current testimonial, and ask if they would mind copy and pasting it into a LinkedIn recommendation for you (and you will, of course, have already copy and pasted it into the message for them)

Side note: You can also follow this process to duplicate your Facebook testimonials onto your Google reviews or anywhere else for that matter.

And one final action – make sure you return the favour and give recommendations back to people.

I ALWAYS look to see what recommendations people have GIVEN on LinkedIn, because that often says a lot more about that person’s character than the ones they receive.

How professional is your profile, now?

I trust these 8 tips have given you a guide as to how to maximise your profile on LinkedIn, even if you don’t plan of being active on there yet.

In the future, you can grow your business on LinkedIn by making purposeful connections, sharing valuable content, and being seen as an expert by commenting on other peoples’ articles.

But for now, just make you’re visible, and your profile is up to date, fully complete with these 8 pointers, and relevant to your current marketing message.