Online Business Launchpad | Start An Online Business | Online Business Growth

Have you spent years crafting your professional identity, building a solid reputation, and networking with industry peers? But when you look at your LinkedIn profile, it's a relic of the past, a dusty snapshot that fails to capture the dynamic professional you've become. 

Sound familiar? You're not alone. Many of us have neglected our LinkedIn presence, unaware of its true potential as a powerful personal branding and business growth tool. 

Joining us is Lynnaire Johnston, the founder of Link*Ability and an internationally regarded expert on leveraging LinkedIn for professional success. With a background in journalism, broadcasting, and copywriting, Lynnaire brings a unique perspective on using some not-so-well-known LinkedIn features to stand out.

We also talked about:

• How Lynnaire's journey led her to become a LinkedIn expert
• The power of LinkedIn as a publishing platform for writers and content creators
• Tips for optimizing your personal LinkedIn profile to attract potential clients and opportunities
• Strategies for creating and managing a LinkedIn company page that drives business growth
• The benefits of using LinkedIn newsletters and collaborative articles to boost visibility and authority
• Insights into LinkedIn's new features, including the revamped "Services" section and skill endorsements

Ready to unlock the full potential of LinkedIn and take your personal brand and business to new heights? Listen to this insightful episode, and learn from Lynnaire's wealth of expertise. Want to be notified when new episodes come up? Sign up here.

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Are you in a crowded niche where it feels almost impossible to stand out?  And you’re looking for ways to build your customer base?

Shaunda Necole is an influencer and online business owner who has successfully built multiple blogs, podcasts and monetisation streams around her passion for food and travel.

In just two years, she built her blog The Soul Food Pot into Google's #1 site for Southern soul food. 

Part of the secret to Shaunda’s success was niche-ing down - she took iconic African American recipes and reimagined them using modern kitchen appliances to make them faster and easier for amateur chefs.

But she did more than that … and so can you.

In this episode, Shaunda shares what she did to stand out in a super competitive niche.

We Also Talked About

• How Shaunda grew her Instagram following by engaging with and helping other influencers in support groups
• Monetizing on Instagram through brand partnerships and affiliate links
• Why you have to niche down as specifically as possible - "you have to go small to get big"
• How Pinterest operates as a visual search engine and using its keyword bubbles for content inspiration
• Creating content based on search intent - what your audience is actually looking for
• The importance of compelling visuals and text overlay on Pinterest pins
• Using tools like Tailwind to schedule and automate pinning

Want to hear more of Shaunda's journey to online business success? Listen to the full episode here! And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Have you ever felt awkward about asking clients for a testimonial?  Or reached out to a client for a review or recommendation and got back crickets?  

In this episode, Trudy Rankin shares four tips to get amazing client testimonials without having to feel embarrassed about asking.

Trudy helps busy business owners create and sell new online products and services that people want, without having to work harder or hire a big team. 

Want to hear more about getting testimonials to grow your business? Listen to the full podcast episode here.  And subscribe to be notified about upcoming episodes.

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At age 26, Andrew Guttormsen was living with his parents and took an unpaid internship to get his foot in the door at Teachable. His persistence and great ideas led to him becoming a core team member and he went on to eventually co-found Circle, a community platform now used by over 10,000 businesses.

With experience scaling two highly successful startups, Andrew shares valuable insights on implementing customer feedback as a growth strategy, why having tough conversations matters, and fostering online community engagement.

We Also Talked About:

• Bouncing back after failure on the journey to success
• Getting buy-in and implementing suggestions as a young intern
• Details of a Chief Revenue Officer's responsibilities
• How to shape the culture and interactions in an online community
• The importance of giving direct feedback to help team members grow

Want to hear more startup stories and advice? Be sure to listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast!

RESOURCES:

As an engineer, developer or other IT professional, are you sick of meetings and managers?   And you dream of starting your own business so you can escape your cubicle?

Michael Frew has a unique perspective - after 18 years working as an engineer and architect for top tech companies, he made a big shift to acquire online businesses instead of starting them. 

In this interview, he shares why IT professionals may be better suited to buy (instead of start) an online business, and takes us through his 8-step framework to find, finance and acquire successful online companies.

We also talked about:

• Why it can be hard for IT professionals to make a career change due to "golden handcuffs"
• Tips for building relationships with sellers when acquiring a business
• How to finance an online business acquisition
• Managing teams when transitioning from employee to business owner
• Key steps in the online business acquisition framework