Driving home on Jan. 8, 2013, I found it hard to take a deep breath and I was certain that, at age 55, I would never work again in corporate America. I had just been made a casualty of the Affordable Care Act and lost my executive level marketing position in a Fortune 25 insurance company. It was literally the first time in my 30 year career that I was involuntarily unemployed.
The next morning, as I looked at the unscheduled days ahead of me, I realized that the internet had not yet been invented the last time I looked for work. Not that I was a techno-phone or unfamiliar with indeed.com, Monster, CareerBuilders and even LinkedIn, but my use of those channels was from the other side of the equation - an employer looking to hire.
After emailing my contacts and sharing my ridiculously long resume (hey! I'm worth every one of those 4 pages!), registering on all the job boards and at Ladders.com, and filling out unemployment compensation forms, I noticed my separation package included a 6 month stint at an executive career counseling group.
It sounded like Unemployment Anonymous, but I decided to go to their new client orientation the next day and see what they had to offer. At the very least, I was hoping for doughnuts and sympathy! Instead I got a canned presentation of LinkedIn (LI) and its role in job searches.
I had parked a sparse profile on LI a few years prior and hadn't looked at it since, but even I knew that deck was as stale as last week's tortilla chips! But, I was very clear that LinkedIn was now required as part of a job search.
So, I researched LinkedIn on my own for the next six weeks, soaking up everything I could on how the site worked, what profiles were the most impactful, how to use boolean indicators in google to search inside LinkedIn groups.
I took every class, read every ebook, read every article and the entire LinkedIn Help Center....and then put together my own deck and presented it to the career counseling folks. Presto! They ???? it, ???? me and I instantly become their LinkedIn trainer, for absolutely no money. Ugh. But, I embrace it and develop a business model similar to competitors that were around at the time (i.e., Be Found Jobs).
Basically, share specifically what to do, but do it so quickly and exaggerate the difficulty, that a value stacked do-it-for-you offering seems like a dream. I branch out and start presenting at church-based career events, at the state's unemployment support office, at women's business meetings. LinkedIn TuneUp was born. ????????????
I was very busy over the next few months- presenting, training, pitching, consulting and applying for full time work. But - I wasn't making a cent on my LI work. I'm also applying for positions, trying to work my contacts and grow my network. I'm getting zero response from the online applications, including LinkedIn's online process. I'm getting interviews through networking on LinkedIn, but few second interviews.
My checking account balance was declining rapidly (I was newly single at the time, supporting an underwater, 4 bedroom pool home in Tampa/St. Petersburg) and I was starting to feel the panic as I found myself eyeing my 401K three months into being unemployed.
I kicked it up a notch and joined the local Business Networking International group and started concentrating on tuning up my obviously failing business model. I developed additional training for entrepreneurs and salespeople. I expanded my presentations to include local business meet ups, I took on a few 1:1 clients, but my conversion rate on my group trainings didn't improve.
By June 2013, 6 months into being unemployed, I decided to put the house on the market and take the loss. I was thoroughly in love with a woman 450 miles away and I decided that being out from under the house would let me put my heart first. Once more into the breach!
I stopped teaching and training, sold my house day 1 to person 1 and found an entry level sales role 4 miles from my new zip code. I told myself it was just temporary and I would pick up my LinkedIn business in the new place, once I had found my way around the area...I kept my hand in it, taking on a client or two every now and then, training my organization's sales teams in using LinkedIn for social selling and lead generation, but I stopped pursuing my business.
I continued to plug away at my MBA during all this upheaval and, come Capstone time in Dec. 2014, I used my LinkedIn consulting business as my topic. I produced a lovely, A+ business plan. Soup to nuts, including financials and a full marketing plan. My MBA diploma came, and I hung it up. My business plan curled up on a flash drive and made itself comfortable for the long sleep ahead....
Time is river though, right? Suddenly, holy shitcakes, it's 2016 and I'm 58 and hating my temporary entry level job that's now three years old. EPM's nurture campaign caught me with the vision of Future Self. Getting an email from Future Susan, who was so much happier than Current Susan was more than I could resist.
I gave myself fully to the first four to six weeks, loving the support, the community and feeling like I was learning new things every day - despite my 30 years in marketing and my newly minted MBA. I began to get excited about my product again, and I came to believe in it again and in me!
More importantly, the concepts Marisa has strung together like pretty sparkling beads on a chain clearly underscored why I failed before. Rather than kicking my beautiful Capstone project awake though, I realized it will slumber forever because EPM and its concepts have drastically changed my product - not only its mission, its color palette, its language and structure - but its delivery, and even the way I develop future iterations of the product. No need for a five year plan - I'm embracing the flub, allowing the flow, iterating to awesome and truly embracing done is better than perfect.
The change was so exciting to me that I started a premature chatterbox campaign in week 4 or 5 that netted me a 1:1 client for $1,200. Exciting! I kept on with EPM and started applying my learnings to my full time gig.
My enthusiasm ramped up, the way I look at the products and the way I communicate benefits was impacted by EPM, I began to get excited about marketing. I kept up the chatterbox campaign because I had no choice! I got a promotion last month (see below) that really cramped my EPM style and I had zero time for sales pages, perfect email campaigns, reverse webinars, etc.
Then, a huge opportunity showed up in my inbox the week before last: a 1 to many training at one of the largest companies in the world, LinkedIn training their elite sales executives, on site. And, follow up coaching and pre modules and.....a pricing challenge that I met. Booked the initial gig for on site coaching for $5,000 plus expenses!
Then, just yesterday morning a former client called and asked if I would be available to train their sales force and, oh, could I redo his profile while I'm at it? Mission accomplished and it feels incredible after living with this possibility for three years and never having the road map, the secret sauce, the community push, the team accountability, everything that EPM provided.
I've made friends and will continue to engage the EPM group, asking for and offering help. I'll see you all online in December and I'll see you in February. 2017 is my year to stop working for corporate America!
P.S.
Last month, I was approached for two positions. Both were market strategy positions for almost twice my salary. I went through the interview process for both during the EPM course. My enthusiasm must have overshadowed my age because for the first time since I was laid off in 2013, I had employers fighting over me, my experience and my ideas. The result was two six figure offers in one day! Thanks, EPM!
(2017 is my year for breaking free of corporate America - determined to make Link In>Tune Up work and confident that it will! At least I don't have to worry about keeping the lights on this time around!)
Thanks!