How to Make Your Linkedin Brand Personal - Teacher: Liam Darmody

Hi, useful content creators. Believe it or not, this is the third time I'm recording this because the other two times the same problem happened. What is the problem? Do you ask? It's that I recorded the entire podcast that you're going to listen to with the wrong microphone.

Audio does not sound very good. In fact, it sounds kind of bad. I tried to enhance it. I tried to improve it using the scripts, uh, studio sound tool, and that made it sound a little bit better, but overall it's not up to the make useful content quality.

So I just wanted to warn you ahead of time. The good news is, is that it's only my mic, my guest mic. Liam was perfect. His audio sounds great. And so when he speaks, you'll be able to get clear audio and get good value out of what he is saying. I just wanted to warn you ahead of time, because I know there will be questions about why does this sound like this?

It doesn't usually sound like this. So enjoy the episode. Uh, besides that, and next time I'll be sure to check the mic before I record. We all make mistakes, 

Hello and welcome to Useful Content. And today we have a brand new teacher in our Useful Content classroom, Liam Darmody. Hi, Liam.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Thank you for having me here. I appreciate it. It's great to see you Juma.

Yeah, um, yeah, it's great to see you. And, um, especially in the context of Liam's brand start and the new things that you've been doing. I know we know each other from way back in the days on LinkedIn and particularly Clubhouse. So it's really great to have you on. I don't know why it took so long to get you here.

Um, so you could, you could share with the people what you do and how you help your clients make useful content.

Yeah, absolutely. So, um, my, uh, company Liam's brand stand, I started it in August, 2023. And, um, really it it's a consultancy that helps coaches, founders, and executives build personal brands that attract clients. Talent and opportunity. Um, and I started this because for the last four years, I've been posting very intentionally on LinkedIn, uh, just about things that I was passionate about and, um, so many fantastic opportunities fell in my lap.

Seemingly. Just from the activity that I had on the platform and the relationships that I built there. And so, um, you know, I just decided I wanted to try and teach other people how to leverage the platform the way that I have been able to leverage it for, you know, personal and professional benefit. Um, and it's been great so far.

I'm really having a lot of fun.

Yeah, I can see that you're having a lot of fun. I think I know you. So much more from your content that actually from us having personal conversations, because you tend to, to share a good bit, you know, and that's part of your philosophy, you know, that's part of your philosophy of building a personal brand.

So could you, for the people, cause we're going to talk about personal branding and we're going to talk about social selling, but just to start off, could you describe your personal brand for the people?

Yeah. I mean, I think for, from my perspective, my personal brand is somebody who is innovative. Uh, I've spent 20 years in, in technology startups and, um, I've always been in operational roles. So I know how to get things done. I know how to think strategically about business and going to market. Um, but I also am very passionate about.

The actual process of creating content and relate relating to other human beings. Um, and so I have this unique blend of operational and creative that when combined into one works out really well and helps me build a business and help other people build businesses that are relatable and, um, to sort of get over their imposter syndrome or their fear of letting their voice be heard.

Uh, I think a lot of people kind of. Overestimate, uh, the importance of professional brands, right? It's like, you know, people relate to people, they don't relate to brands as much, and so the more people can share their voice and give people a window into their world, the more likely people are going to want to walk in and have a conversation and conversation is where opportunity lives, right?

And so if you can have conversation with lots of different people on a regular basis. find opportunity and manifest serendipity that didn't exist otherwise. And, uh, so that's, that's basically in a nutshell, kind of what I do. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm a hot sauce fanatic. Um, as you can sort of see in my background here, I've got like 65 hot sauces in homemade racks that I made with my, my neighbor, who's a woodworker.

Um, And all of these things are just part of who I am as a person. And I've chosen to share those, uh, things with people broadly across the world on LinkedIn. And, you know, a lot of fantastic things have happened because of that. So I'm trying to help other people do the same.

Yeah. That hot sauce thing was something that stood out to me in the very beginning, Where I'm from hot sauce or as we call it pepper, you know, it's a thing and I know you've tasted some trini pepper already

Yeah.

Maybe one of these good days we can link up on that as well

I tried the one that you sent me was birdies. Right. And I, I, I found out it from Amazon. It was delicious.

yeah, yeah and they have they have like like six different varieties now I have like two different kinds in the fridge right now So it's all good. But but from all accounts you Believe that a personal brand should actually be personal. Yes You

Absolutely.

Yeah. And, and you, you share a lot of you, so like I know that your, uh, son got a, a credit card and, uh, you know, you're building that credit early.

I know what your laundry looks like, you know? Uh, and so I have to ask the question, where is the line between personal and and private,

That's a great question. And it's something that I think will differ from person to person. But the thing that I typically say to people is if you think about personal brands, almost like a journal that you would be comfortable sharing with family, friends, and colleagues. You're probably in a good space.

Um, and the reason for that is because you don't necessarily want to go too, too deep into the personal, like pouring out your heart and, you know, going down, you know, rabbit holes and skeletons and closets and things like that. Um, but, but you want people to feel like they know you and, and that they understand who you are and how you communicate and how you think, and ultimately.

The goal of a personal brand is to attract an audience that you want to attract, and to some extent detract people that you don't want to attract. And so you want to be focused on putting yourself out there in a way that is relatable and, um, Attracts the folks that, you know, you think will your personal.

Brand and personality will resonate with. And from there, a lot of fantastic conversation happens and that's where opportunity lives.

right? So I know I've kind of thought up this, this ma matrix of. Uh, content that you put out there. So, uh, cause I was looking at what you do and how you put your content out there. And obviously you lean heavily into, uh, what you like and all those different things. So of course there is the promotional part of what you do.

You could promote stuff, which I know you have, you have thoughts on that. And then there is the personal part, like, you know, your life, your values, what you believe in, all the things you like. But then there's something that is like the helpful part of what you do, like using your expertise to actually help people.

So in a general sense, how do you feel that balance should go? Should things be mostly helpful and then personal or mostly personal and then helpful? Or what does it mix like when you, when it comes to building out a personal brand in general?

Great question. So I typically tell folks that if you're just starting on this journey of building a personal brand, it's helpful to sort of think about it in three buckets. And the content that you put into those three buckets. Basically your foundation for creating content. Um, you know, I create content on a daily basis, but it wasn't always that way.

And the beginning of my journey on LinkedIn, I was probably posting, you know, three or four times a week. Now I'm posting every day. Um, it's second nature to me at this point, but in the beginning, it can be intimidating, right? There's a lot of people who think about the idea of like. Posting something on LinkedIn twice a week is really overwhelming.

So I say, take three buckets. The first bucket is, is sort of your skills and that is what do you do for a living? Who do you help? How do you help those people really conveying the value that you bring in a professional environment or. If you're in business development and you have a service based business, like what's the problem you solve and why should people pay attention to how you do it?

Then the second bucket is fascination. Fascination is such a fantastic thing because tapping into your passion. And if you share things that you're passionate about, it resonates with people. They can sense it. They can feel the passion coming out of you. Right? So for me, You know, I'm fascinated by things like artificial intelligence, uh, cryptocurrency blockchains, um, you know, web three startups, uh, uh, technology gadgets, all that kind of stuff is, is something that I could spend my time doing all day long without even blinking, right?

Time just goes by like that. And so that's the second bucket and the third bucket, and there's overlap between them, but, but they're distinct enough that you can kind of draw from each. And the third bucket is. What I call a window into your world. And that's where the personal really comes into play.

That is where you're giving people a glimpse into what it's like to have you around and, and the stories they might hear from you. If they got to know you really well, you're just giving that to them before they know you really well, so that you can attract them and start building a relationship with those folks.

And so these are things like my hot sauce passion. Uh, these are like my parenting journey, right? Being a working parent. Uh, being a solopreneur and a founder now, um, you know, the challenges that are associated with that, right? Like if you share those inner most things with people, they start to really feel like you trust them and you're letting them get to know you for who you are and, and that builds fascination.

People want to get to know people better. And so if you are up front with that. Then it makes it easier. So they don't have to feel like they have to break the ice.

Right. I like the, that fascination point is interesting. That's the first time I've heard somebody describe a component of a personal brand as fascination. And let me just get it straight. You're saying that if somebody wants to build their personal brand, part of how they do it or part of one component of it could be that they talk about things that they desire to get into or that fascinates them.

But not necessarily things that they are already into and doing, but it's something that they're learning, or maybe it's something that they're discovering and things of that nature.

Absolutely. Yeah. Because that is in and of itself, the most pure form of who we are is what are the things that light us up? What are the things that make us. Um, happy. And when you share things about what makes you happy, then you're spreading happiness and you're putting it out there in the world for other people to engage with, uh, and it's interesting because I think a lot of this is.

We're in a very unique moment in time. Right? Like you and I met and we were talking on clubhouse and the, you know, the pandemic hit and everybody was working from home and like this, it was just a crazy moment and prior to the pandemic, I think. In a professional setting, which I consider LinkedIn, you know, to be right, like you would not really put yourself out there and share your fascination or share your passions or share your personal stuff because you sort of kept it at a, at a distance.

And in order for your colleagues or people that you work with to get to know those things about you, you had to work with them first and they had to get to know you over time. But, but now that we all work remotely, there's almost this like desire to share who we are more broadly and more openly and have an openness to connecting with new people that you don't necessarily work with.

Right? Like just the fact that you and I are having this conversation is a testament to the fact that we are comfortable making new friends across the globe, right? You're in Trinidad. I'm in Raleigh, North Carolina. We would never cross paths if it wasn't for the internet, for LinkedIn, for clubhouse. And I think that is the future, right?

The future is people being themselves online. And finding people across the globe who are intrigued by that and want to build relationships with other people who share the same interests. I very much believe that's, that's the future of connection.

you say that, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that a couple of things, right? Uh, I don't know if you have always been someone who was comfortable sharing online and sharing yourself because there is a component to which that that doesn't come naturally for some people. Uh, uh, and that's not even the, I'm not even talking about no, whether you get into what you're doing in your free time or your hobbies or your family or any of those things.

Let's put that in a different category for now. Let's just talk about the thing you actually do for work. Let's talk about the thing that will make you money. People that have even problems sharing about those type of things. And I know you work with several clients and I'm sure you've encountered a scenario where somebody wants to share but also does not want to share.

How do you frame personal branding or how do you encourage someone or, or show them the value, not necessarily force or convince them, but show them the value of sharing their personal brand. Yeah.

my, my personal branding journey. Uh, the, the most common things I hear from people are, Nope. I don't really know what to say. That's one. Two, you know, what gives me the right to, to comment about these things?

Like I'm not an expert. Um, and my counter to that is, well, you don't have to be an expert, right? You can have an opinion about something or a perspective on an approach to something. So if you're, you know, whatever your business might be, you have an opinion about. How to run that business or how to perform that function or an experience that you have with a client or, or at work.

And like, those are things that are just part of your journey. And so I think people, they get too hung up on people will judge me. People will think critically about what I'm saying. People will. Think less of me because I put myself out there when in reality, I have found the opposite to be true. When I started posting on LinkedIn, I got flooded with messages from people that were like, Oh, that post resonated with me so much.

I love that so much. I wish I could do that. And I'm like, well, why can't you? Like, well, I don't, I'm not an expert. I don't, you know, I don't, I'm worried about what people will think if I post. And it's, it's almost unique to LinkedIn, right? People on other social channels, you're on Instagram, you feel comfortable because you're in a closed environment where your network is already vetted.

But on LinkedIn, it's like, okay, I'm out in the open for everybody to see. And I think our natural tendency as humans. Is to think what, what's the good that's going to come from that? Or what's the bad that's going to come from that. And we tend to think, well, if I put myself out there, people will criticize me.

But it's not true. People, people typically want to engage with people who are themselves and put it out there. And so I have a set, a series of experiences myself that I relate to clients. And I say like, look, this is what happened to me when I started doing this. And that's, you know, I'm not. A exceptional human.

I'm, I'm a, I'm a suburban dad. I'm, I'm, I'm a husband. I, I have, I'm a very normal person. Everybody's got a story and everybody's got a personality and everybody's got their own passions. And if you put that out there, people will find it and great things happen. And I think if people just look at things from a glass half full.

Versus the glass half empty, or don't let that imposter inside of them. Like that imposter syndrome take over, uh, and, and give it a shot. You'll see that really good things happen.

And I think on LinkedIn in particular, people tend to be better behaved.

Yeah. I like to say there's a self policing mechanism at play on LinkedIn. Um, because most people don't want their boss or their future employer or their colleagues or their, you know, peers to see them being. Negative or critical or, uh, rude to people. And I think that that is something that is unique about LinkedIn is there's a very positive energy on that platform.

People like to support each other. People naturally gravitate to. The idea that this is a place where if you're struggling with something, you can go and you can, you can find support from perfect strangers, right? Like people, people will see, you know, I, I think one of the most interesting things about LinkedIn and perhaps a silver lining of, The times that we've been in over the last five years, people never used to post about being laid off.

Being laid off was this, this, Oh, I can't admit, I can't admit that I was laid off. That's, that's terrible. That's career suicide. And all of a sudden people started saying, no, forget that. Like, it's not my fault. I got laid off. Like this is, this is happening to me and I'm going to go to this network full of opportunity and I'm going to share that and people are going to support me.

They're going to try and help me. And you see all these posts all the time now of people that got let go. And they're talking about what they do and the value that they add. And hundreds of people are commenting and sharing and reposting because they want to help each other out. I think that's magic, honestly.

And, uh, so, so that's just one of the other things that I think really unique about it is that the people go out of their way to do that. Be nice and supportive of one another. Even if they don't know you very well, they just want to help. And that's great.

So I've had someone in recent time tell me that, um, that LinkedIn is cringe. Now, there's been an article

Yeah.

talking about LinkedIn being cringe, right? And, um, and I, and one of the things that they cited, now this is a friend of mine that he, and he was. is a digital marketer and he's been doing stuff online for a number of years, quite experienced.

And when I came across the LinkedIn, he was like, you know, I've tried LinkedIn, but it's so cringe. People are so like fluffy and it's always, you know, and there's two levels there. There's one level of the people who We try to be influencers or try to be thought leaders, but then they have these stories that are unbelievable on.

And then there's another part of it where the other people who are hearing those things are coming in and into the comments and praising the story that sounds unbelievable. So he was kind of saying, well, I don't want to be a part of that. I don't really want to be a part of that at all. So have, is there any way that we can avoid that type of personal branding?

Yeah. I mean, I, I think a lot of look where LinkedIn is in a, in a unique spot because. There's still a pretty good opportunity to develop organic reach there. And a lot of other social platforms don't really provide that necessarily. And so where there's organic reach, there will always be growth hackers who are trying to game the system and take advantage of that organic reach.

If that means creating a story that is farfetched because they know it's going to get reactions from people, then, then that's what people will do. Uh, if it means getting more business, they're going to try and do that. Um, LinkedIn provides. There's an X in your feed on every post and you can X out of a post and you can say, I don't want to see this in my feet anymore.

And you can just get that out of your feed. Um, and that is really the fastest solve for it. I think as a way to avoid making that mistake, always think about the content that you put out there through the lens of. Is this something I genuinely believe? Is this authentic? Is this an accurate representation of myself or the story that I'm telling or whatever, and try not to get sucked into the idea that you're creating content with the, uh, with the goal of getting engagement and, and, and getting your vanity metrics to increase, just focus on being yourself.

That's why I use the journal analogy. Right? Because when you're writing in a journal, there's no audience. You're just sharing your thoughts and your opinions and your feelings. And that's the most authentic form of self expression. And if you open that up and put that out on a public platform, people will pay attention to it.

It's when you start to try and focus on I didn't get enough likes. I didn't get enough engagement. I didn't get enough impressions. That's when you start potentially trying to game the system. And that's when the cringe factor comes in. And so the motivations are there. So I always encourage people, you know, fine tune your feet, right?

Follow people that really interest you peak your interest. Um, and, and if there's stuff that's in your feed that you don't like. X out of it. You know, if there are, there are plenty of people on this platform that I used to follow and used to think were a big deal. And then I realized that they were really just kind of engaged in all sorts of different shenanigans that, uh, to me misrepresented authenticity.

And so I said, well, I don't want to be a part of that. So they're no longer in my feet. 

shenanigans is a mild way to put it. I saw, I saw, I saw a meme recently that said if you let somebody shenan once, they're gonna shenan again.

that's great. I'm going to have to use that one.

Uh, yes. Um, so yeah, I, I can relate to that in the sense that the, you need to, I call it curating your feed, um, that you keep the people who are valuable and you, you know, let the people who are not so valuable, they have another audience that they might want to serve. You let them go serve that audience.

And, uh, but, but for you, you want to be to the people. Uh, when you're building a personal brand, very, very specific. And so part of it is something that no one can replicate, which is just you. And then of course, along with that comes your, your expertise, and of course, uniquely your, I call it expertise, stories, values, you know, your particular values, your particular, um, story and all those things that goes along with it.

I, I know you believe, Is that it's imperative for everyone to build a personal brand, right? Some people might disagree. Some people might say, I don't want to build a personal brand, but you kind of are, why do you believe that as the case that everyone should build a personal brand?

Because you don't know what opportunity lies out there. If you're not showing up with your eyes open and your voice projecting. Right. And so I think I didn't say that very well, but, but, but, you know, I, I tell people your resume is what you've done, where you've done it and when it's very short, it's succinct, it's bullets, it's, you know, metrics, it's, you know, You're, you know, people question if you should have a page longer than a resume, one page or two pages.

Um, and there's a format that's expected of you when you write a resume. When you, but on LinkedIn, it's more about who you are, how you do what you do, why you do what you do. So LinkedIn is more like a context mechanism, a platform for you to provide context to support all those bullets on your resume.

And if you think about it, when you work with somebody, yes, the things that they've achieved and accomplished in their career are important. And yes, their skills are important. Uh, but their personality and the way that you relate to them and how you get along with them and the value that you get from the conversations that you have with those people, those are really kind of the ultimate drivers to successful collaboration and successful working relationships.

So up until people started building personal brands, the only way that somebody would get to know me. Is through a three hour, four hour long interview process where I might talk to six different people and they get 30 minutes each and in that 30 minutes, they're supposed to be able to say, yeah, that person will fit in here.

That person will be a good part of our culture. That's not enough time. And if you give people more content and more opportunity to get to know you better before they walk through that door, then you're just. Increasing the likelihood that opportunity will find you. Um, I'll, I'll, I'll use an anecdote.

I'll use a story, right? So, um, I spent the first 18 years of my career, primarily working on operations. I've always been very marketing minded, but operations was just where I landed and how I spent my career. I got a phone call from a company asking if I wanted to be, uh, considered for a revenue operations role interviewed for the job, the chief marketing officer said, you know, I think, I think you could probably do this, um, but I have a different job that I haven't really fully crystallized yet, but I, I kind of think you might be the perfect fit for it.

So let me, let me tell you about it. And I'm like, all right. He said, we're trying to stand up this recruitment marketing engine. And I think that with your experience in go to market operations and branding, you could be the perfect fit for this role. And I was like, well, I'm flattered. That's really nice to hear, but what branding?

I don't have branding experience anywhere. And he said, yes, you do. You do branding every day on LinkedIn. And he goes, all I want you to do is take the same approach that you have there and channel it for our company. And I was like, that's when the light bulb went off. That's when I was like, Whoa, because if I had applied for that position, if there was a job description, which there wasn't at the time, which was fine with me, um, but if there was a job description for that role and I applied to it, the recruiter would have put my resume directly in the trash because I had no brand marketing experience on my resume.

The, the marketing officer was convinced that I could do it because of what I put out on LinkedIn. And that was really eyeopening for me. And so I took the job. We worked really hard at it for two years. We got acquired. Um, and that's when I sort of said like, this is this platform and building a personal brand on this platform has changed the trajectory of my career and my life in ways that I never would have imagined possible.

I, I was at the point where I was like, man, I wish at college I had taken marketing so that I could be in marketing. I want to be in marketing. And I just said, thought it was a foregone conclusion at that point. I was like, well, that chip is sale. I'll never get to that point. And here I am doing it day to day as an entrepreneur.

It's, uh, I'd never, It's crazy.

Yeah, that's an amazing story. I've heard you talk about that before. The thing that stands out to me when you tell that story is the fact that someone else was observing you and discover that.

Yes. And that's a massive thing on LinkedIn, right? Not, not everybody, only 5 percent of LinkedIn members create content consistently. Uh, only 25 percent of their billion user base shows up on a monthly basis. So it's still very early in terms of content. Right. Um, but there's a lot of people that just digest and lurk.

Uh, a lot of my clients are people that I've never even seen before. Like they just reach out to me and say, Hey, I'm, I'm happy to see you doing this. Now I've been following you for two years and I'd love to learn how to do what you do. I'm like, you've never commented on my stuff before. You've never reacted because they are struggling with that.

What you said, right? They're struggling with the idea of building a personal brand. And they think they're worried about appearing cringe and they're worried about what other people will think. And so they've been sitting back from afar being like, well, I, I would love to do that, but I, I can't do that.

And now I can help them do that. So it's been great.

right. Yeah, it is, it is, it is a thing that people have scruples about, and they can't seem to bring themselves to make that decision, but for the people who do it, like, for example, you did it, then there's great value, unseen value, just like the serendipity manifestation you're talking about, like, You find something valuable that you were not exactly looking for.

And, um, and so, and so that, that for me is a big deal. All right. So let's, let's help the people directly with some advice from Liam now.

sure.

I am a business owner. I'm running a business. I'm now getting onto LinkedIn. I want to start building my personal brand. Where do I start?

So first thing is you want to have your business, your, your profile page in order, um, and what I mean by that is you want to have a, a banner that looks professional, um, conveys the value that you deliver to people, um, has some personal touch, right? So, you know, like. Make sure that your profile picture is professional looking and inviting.

I see a lot of people that take pictures of themselves from, you know, that were clearly a selfie in the back of an Uber or something. And it's like, what are you doing? Like, just, you know, have your friend take a picture of you standing somewhere that isn't, you know, a selfie. Um, it's your first impression.

First impressions matter. Um, make sure that you have a headline that is very effective at conveying the value that you deliver to people. Uh, you have 220 characters through which to do that. The first 45 to 50 characters are the most important because those are the ones that follow you around the platform.

So every comment that you leave, 50 characters of your headline will be surfacing in that comment. So you want to make sure that that is really sharp. Um, and then your about section should convey the value that you deliver. You know, the, the solutions that you offer, the services you provide, the product you sell at a high level, why it's valuable, who it's directed towards.

You want to basically speak to the target audience within the first couple paragraphs of that about section, but then also. Go beyond that and tell your story. How did you end up as a business owner? What's your journey to get there? Right. You've been in business for 10 years. You know, why did you start the business?

You know, what, what, what, what was it that inspired you? Um, give people a reason to want to connect with you and learn more about who you are and how you can help them. Um, so, you know, on my about section, you know, I talk about what I did, what I do now, the value that I deliver. And then I talk about where I'm from and I talk about, uh, you know, my hobbies and my passion.

I talk about, um, I list all of my personality profile results on my, on my about section. And just yesterday, somebody reached out to me and said, I'm also an ENFP. Right. My Myers Briggs results. And it's like, anything that you can put on there that makes it easier for somebody to start a conversation with you is worth putting on there.

Um, I put my favorite quotes on there so that they can get a sense for how I approach things. Right. One of my favorite quotes is there are no strangers here. Only friends you haven't yet met, which I think, you know, is my approach to LinkedIn and life in general. Um, and you know, that just gives people a sense for how I think and who I am.

And, and that's ultimately what you want to do. Then you want to say, okay, I've got my profile in check. I'm in a good spot. Let me find my eyes, my ideal customer profile, right? What, what is my ideal client look like, or my ideal customer look like? And then I want to start finding those people. So I'm going to look for those folks using LinkedIn search and search for people who have posted on LinkedIn that.

Uh, have that title or work in that industry. Um, and I want to follow those people. I want to comment on their content when they, um, I want to, uh, connect with those people, build relationships. Typically I will encourage people to follow somebody for a while, engage with some of their content for a little bit, and then reach out to connect.

Because. Then you're familiar. It's like a warm introduction a little bit. They're like, Oh yeah, I recognize Juma. He's commented on my stuff a few times. Like, let's see if there's more conversation to be had here. Um, and then you connect to people from there. You go into your DMS, you have conversations and it doesn't have to be an immediate pitch or anything.

In fact, it shouldn't be, it should just be, Hey, you know, really looking forward to getting to know you and having your content in my feet a little bit more. If they are definitely a lead or a prospect for you, um, set up a bookmark list of all of those profiles of those people that you want to start commenting and sort of nurturing and networking with.

Um, and then just start building relationships. And, uh, that's, that's at a high level, kind of how you do it. And then spend a lot of time on the platform, commenting on the content of your core profile. So, you know, ultimately a personal brand is about. Getting on the radar of people that you want to pay attention to you.

And if you can effectively do that, then it makes it a lot easier to connect with those people and build relationships. So I'd encourage people to spend 30 minutes a day, at least just commenting on content from people that. They want to get on the radar of and see what happens.

Yeah, I think that, let me go back to the beginning of kind of at the start of what you, what you said and say that, um, Like these days, when people attempt to connect with me, I just look to see there's a thing that says following you since.

Yep.

um, I look to see how much, because, okay, let's just say they haven't commented on any of my content, right?

Let's just say that's the case. I could, I could see, okay, I could understand that. But how long have you actually been engaging with the content? Because you could be a lurker, you could be like, and like, if they send me a connection request in March, following since March, and it's like, you just started, you followed me today, you know, and probably, and here's the funny thing, the funny thing is that when you send a connection request, it automatically, you automatically follow, is that, is that true?

Yep. That's right.

Yeah, so sometimes the connection request is the follow, in which case it's like, I'm not sure, you know, how much you mean this, you

Yeah. Yeah. And those are the little things that's interesting. Like LinkedIn is so full of little signals that you can use to determine. Someone is genuine or not, right? Like if somebody says, I've been following you for a long time and they just started following you a week ago. I mean, maybe that's their definition of a long time, but it's not mine.

Um, and so I will probably think. Less of that person's sort of authenticity and ingenuity, right? Like that's, that's not really the right way to do it. Um, you have to put in the time and put in the work and, uh, really be determined and focused on having conversation and building connection. I mean, LinkedIn is literally just an online.

Version of a networking event, but it's global and it's 24, 7, 3 65. If you want it to be, um, you know, you don't have any geographic limitations. You're just thinking about it as shaking somebody's hand. I'm Juma. I'm Liam. Nice to meet you. Tell me about yourself. Tell me about what you like to do. Yada, yada, yada, getting to know people.

And then. Seeing if there's mutual, you know, benefit to, to being in a relationship with somebody and, and, and see what happens. And it's just like networking and you wouldn't go to somebody at a networking event and immediately start pitching them. And you wouldn't go to somebody, a networking event and extend, have them extend their hand to you.

And then you just kind of stand there awkwardly and don't respond. Right? Like, so if you sort of try to connect that parallel. A lot of interesting opportunity exists.

Yeah, that's excellent. That's a good way. And that's a good way to end off our conversation here. I wish we could talk for longer, but I know both of us We have things to do, uh, outside of this conversation. So could you please share with the people where they can find you online? Because I'm sure they want to learn more about Liam's brand stand after hearing what you've spoken about.

Yeah. Uh, so the best place to find me is on LinkedIn. Um, and there's only three Liam Darmody's in the world. One is in North America. One is in London. Uh, he and I have actually met in Australia. He's from Sydney. Uh, and he and I had beers and kangaroo pizza in Sydney 10 years

What?

Uh, yeah. Uh, and, uh, like I'm telling you, man, like that, this, this whole trend of like online, just being a great place to discover new relationships.

Um, and then the other ones in Ireland and he's not active at all. So you'll see me when you see me, you can also go to my website, which is liamsbrandstand. com. Um, and, uh, yeah, drop me a line. Tell me that you saw me on Juma's show. And, uh, you know, a friend of Juma's is a friend of mine. So, uh, I look forward to chatting with anybody that's interested in talking.

I hold that title with great honor. Thank you so much. Um, it's been so good talking with you, Liam. And students, thank you so much for joining us in the Useful Content Classroom. Useful Content Classroom. Dismissed.

was great.

And we're and we're clear

Awesome. That was great. Thanks Juma.

You're most you're most welcome, man. You're most welcome, man I wish we had more time to dive deep and do the backstroke and all those different things in

Uh, we can we can always do it again sometime that that that works. Um, but yeah, this is this is really great. I really appreciate you having me on anything I can do to help you man.

Uh, i'm not on the top of my head, but i'll sure think of something

All right. Sounds good. Well, when you do the offer stands,

Okay, great great. Oh, yeah, we'll talk about social selling next time maybe we can expand

uh, yeah, no worries. All good.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Take care and i'll see you on the platform. Liam. Thanks again.

Take care boss. Bye.