Latest / Founder Unfiltered - What Founders Think But Never Say / Your Founder Story Is The Best Sales Asset (You’re Just Not Telling It Yet)

Transcript

Your Founder Story Is The Best Sales Asset (You’re Just Not Telling It Yet) · Founder Unfiltered - What Founders Think But Never Say

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  Welcome to another episode of 6 Figure Secrets for Fractional
• 0:03
  Experts. My name is Bradley Jacobs, I'm
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  your host, the founder and CEO of Mylance.
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  We have some really exciting things going on at Mylance and
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  really helping you use your LinkedIn as a tool, as a content
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  engine for the sole and primary purpose of attracting customers
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  and clients on LinkedIn. So come check us out.
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  I'll leave it at that for now. Today's episode is about using
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  your founder story as the biggest asset that you are not
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  currently using. And we're going to go into why
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  it's so effective and how it works and on down the line.
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  So let's start with why it's so important.
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  And it's so important because it has never been easier to start a
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  business, to build software, to launch a new service than it is
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  today, which means new business creations and new products and
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  services are skyrocketing, especially with AI.
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  And so it begs the question, what differentiates one product
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  or service from another and how do you really stand out?
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  And the answer is trust. That's why referrals are so
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  effective because when you get sent to me from someone that you
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  know, all of a sudden that trust is transferred and you're so
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  much more likely to buy from me. And so with that many more tools
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  and products and services out there, people are going to buy
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  from the person or company that they trust.
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  And if you're just a random business out there and saying
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  like, hey, buy our product, but I've never heard of you don't
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  know, you don't have any trust build up this sale is so much
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  more difficult. So building that trust is
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  basically everything and you need to have that as a
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  differentiator. So we're going to talk about
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  using LinkedIn to build that trust.
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  And how you're going to use it is basically by showing up
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  consistently in your network and your extended network in their
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  feed, right? So they're going to start seeing
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  your content on a regular basis. And keep in mind, if you posted
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  every day, which you don't have to do, but even if you did, it's
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  not like every person that you're connected to would see it
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  every day, right? That's not how the LinkedIn
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  algorithm works. So you can post it every day and
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  maybe they'd see it like two or three times a week.
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  So you never need to feel like you're being quote, UN quote too
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  much. So know that your customer is on
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  LinkedIn. LinkedIn has like a billion
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  users and only 1% of active users are actually posting.
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  So 99% of active users on LinkedIn, which is still
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  probably like 100 million are just scrolling.
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  They're scrolling and they're reading and they're looking and
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  they're liking here and there and like that's it.
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  So you're going to use LinkedIn to publish content.
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  And then it's always, the question is, well, how do I
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  actually do this? How do I actually use LinkedIn
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  effectively? How do I not be cringy and self
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  promote Y and all this like crap that's out there.
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  And so the main way that you do it is through stories and
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  personal anecdotes. You're sharing from your own
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  personal experience, what happened, what you've learned,
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  what's mistakes you've made, what experiences you've had on
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  down the line, right wins, OK, all this stuff.
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  And you're going to build trust because you are sharing from
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  your own personal experience what's happened to you or what
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  you've been through. And so by definition, you're a
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  person, you're a person that someone is actually building a
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  relationship with, even though you're kind of building this one
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  to many relationship through content, But that's what's
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  happening. Like there's I can't tell you
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  the number of people that have jumped on a call with me for my
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  lands and told me that they've been following my journey for X
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  number of weeks, months, years, and they feel like they know me.
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  It's like, holy shit. I mean, you can't buy that level
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  of familiarity, relationship and trust.
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  You can't, right? You either get it through
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  referral or you build it over time.
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  That's it. So I've been building these
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  relationships over time and this person now trusts me.
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  And then just a quick example, could be something on the lines
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  of, hey, when I first started my Lance, I had no idea what the
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  hell I was doing with XY and Z. And I learned the skill and now
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  I use it in the following way, right?
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  Or when I was at Uber and we launched Raleigh and we had this
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  market share gain over Lyft. These are the three tactics,
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  tactics we use that were the most effective, right?
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  You're getting to know me through my stories.
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  You're getting to know that I'm a real person, that I'm
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  thoughtful, that I care. This is my vision.
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  This is my why. These are my methodologies.
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  Here's mistakes I've made, right?
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  You're just getting to know me just as if we were having a
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  conversation over coffee. So you're going to be building
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  trust through those stories, through the personal anecdotes
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  and the stories that you want to tell are the genuine ones mostly
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  about the problem that you solve.
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  So there's like a, a few different buckets you can use,
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  but the most important stories you tell are about the problems
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  you solve. So when I talk about finding
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  clients in my consulting business, finding clients for
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  Mylans using like I'm doing this right now, right?
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  I'm talking about the problem I solve that our software solves
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  on LinkedIn by telling you my own personal experiences using
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  it. I've been posting on LinkedIn
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  every day for six years. I have 24,000 some odd followers
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  or connections or whatever, and it's been built up through
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  consistency over years. So I'm telling you literally my
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  own stories of what's worked for me so that you can get to know
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  me. You can build trust and
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  familiarity with me. And then you can come check out
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  our products or our community or get some value from our
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  newsletter, whatever it is, and get you into our ecosystem and
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  eventually bring you on as a customer.
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  That's really like, I'm big, I'm not hiding here, right?
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  This is how we do it. And you can do the same thing,
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  right? That's what we hope you do.
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  So let's talk about a common pitfall because there is a lot
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  of crap on LinkedIn and we get to not contribute to that.
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  The what not to do is the common pitfall of the preachy post.
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  So notice I said personal anecdotes and stories.
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  That is not what, hey, you should go to LinkedIn and you
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  should do all these things. No, I'm telling you what I do,
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  what I have learned. I post on LinkedIn every day.
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  I add 100 new connections a week.
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  I introduce myself to those connections.
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  These are things that I do that I've learned that work for me or
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  I can share a mistake that I have made, a win that I have the
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  preachy posts of you should build a marketing analytics
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  dashboard and like, it's just boring.
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  Nobody likes being taught to. No one likes being talked at.
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  And that's what the preachy posts are like.
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  So the more vulnerability that you're willing to share, the
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  more likely you are to really connect with your audience, like
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  truly share what it's like to struggle in running your company
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  or a mistake you made and that you were really embarrassed and
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  you got, you know, whatever criticized by your boss.
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  I don't know. But the more that you're willing
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  to share, it's again, picture that that conversation over
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  coffee where the connection is built based on vulnerability,
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  which essentially creates trust and intimacy.
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  You're allowing somebody into your world.
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  There's like when you try, and we've all done this right, when
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  you try to project that perfect image, it's impossible to
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  connect with. It's not relatable, but
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  everyone's made mistakes, everyone's been rejected,
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  everyone's been told no. And those are hard things to
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  swallow. And when you're willing to share
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  vulnerably what your experience is truly like, you're building
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  connection. And that's what creates trust.
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  And going back to the first point, the entire point of this
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  is building trust with your ideal customer.
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  So they then come into your ecosystem, you can nurture them,
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  and they can buy from you. So what we're going to do here
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  is we're going to share on LinkedIn.
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  We're going to share authentically.
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  We're going to share vulnerably. And in order to do that, we have
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  to get over a few things. We have to get over some fears
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  because there's a lot of common fears that come with posting on
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  LinkedIn. It's that fear of judgement is a
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  common one that I hear. Fear that I will look bad, that
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  people will make fun of me for publishing content.
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  People won't like my content. People will think that it's
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  cringy or I'm self promoting. There's also a fear that I'm
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  contributing to the noise of LinkedIn because so many people
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  post on LinkedIn. It's like how do I stand out?
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  Which is one of my favorite ones because it's such an easy
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  answer. How do you stand out is you
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  publish your own stories because no one has your stories, only
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  you do. No one has the exact combination
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  of experiences and expertise that you have.
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  So if you stick to the eye point of view and you tell genuine,
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  authentic, real stories from your professional life, whether
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  you're AW 2 or a freelancer, fractional doesn't matter,
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  right? It's like this is the value that
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  I added. This is what I learned.
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  This is what happened. You are by definition standing
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  out. You are by definition not
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  contributing to the noise because it's real, it's
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  authentic and it's totally unique.
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  It cannot be posted by somebody else, right?
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  Unless they literally copy and paste and steal your shit.
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  So the fear of being judged, the fear of rejection, the fear of,
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  you know, like an the off comments that those are real
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  fears. Like I get it.
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  And we get to know that like that's just going to happen.
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  And one of my favorite quotes is that man in the arena quote.
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  It's like the I won't read it to you, right?
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  But the whole concept is only the people that are in the arena
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  truly get what it's like. And it's really easy to sit on
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  the sidelines and judge everybody else.
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  That's what the majority of people do.
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  They're like, ha, ha, look at you, right?
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  It's like all the fans are like watching an NFL game.
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  They're like, how could you miss that throw?
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  It's like, yeah, aren't you comfortable in the bleachers?
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  You don't have like a £300 lineman running after you.
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  And so like, yeah, you missed a throw, 'cause you're human and
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  you're imperfect. That's the same thing on
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  LinkedIn. You got these people, the 99%
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  that are sitting on the sidelines critiquing everybody
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  else. And you know what?
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  You can say like get in the arena and then let's talk
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  honestly. And also like your opinion just
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  really doesn't matter to me that much.
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  Like I always ask my customers, say if three people or five
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  people or 10 people say your content sucks, but you get 1000
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  people that love it, can you handle that?
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  Can your ego handle those 351015 whatever people that say, hey, I
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  don't like this. Hey, I don't think your
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  writing's good. Hey, I think your point of view
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  sucks. Great.
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  Yeah, thanks for your opinion. Right.
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  I, I, I would guess you can handle that.
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  And if you can't handle that, I'm going to say you probably
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  shouldn't be a business owner because the bigger you get, my
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  guess is every business owner has ambitions to grow their
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  business. The bigger you get, the more
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  people you're going to have that are kind of coming at you,
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  right? Think about Joe Rogan, one of my
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  favorite examples because he's one of the most polarizing
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  podcaster in the world. He's also the most popular,
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  which just means that like, the bigger you get.
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  Yeah, you're going to have people on both sides that love
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  you and that hate you. You think that you let that gets
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  him. He can't, right?
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  He's not perfect. I'm guessing it does to some
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  degree, but he finds a way to let it go and show up anyway and
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  know that he's adding value to the world and he's adding value
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  to millions. And for every one person that
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  hates him, there's X people that love him.
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  And he's OK with that. And that's where you, you have
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  to get to. So anyway, I'm just going to
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  recap this whole episode. We're going to make it short and
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  sweet. Is that your founder story is a
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  superpower when it's used well, when you're sharing your
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  authentic story, when you are sharing vulnerably, genuinely
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  what you've experienced in your life and showing up on LinkedIn
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  on on a consistent basis. Avoid the common pitfall of
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  preachy post share genuine stories.
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  You have no possibility of contributing to the quote UN
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  quote noise on LinkedIn because it's your genuine story.
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  And you get to just get over the fear of judgement or rejection
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  because the end of the day, you're in the arena, you're
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  doing your best and you're never going to be perfect.
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  And that's OK with that. I'm going to sign off.
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  If you got value out of this podcast, we'd love to hear from
• 12:52
  you. Shoot me a note on LinkedIn.
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  Give us a review. It really means a lot.
• 12:56
  It's obviously not free to produce this podcast, but we're
• 12:59
  just trying to add value here. And as I said, like, of course,
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  build trust just like we're recommending that you do, but
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  give us a review. Shoot me a note on LinkedIn,
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  Bradley Jacobs, mylance on LinkedIn.
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  You'll certainly find me and come check us out at mylance.co.
• 13:13
  We have a free community, tons of free resources, a great
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  newsletter that we work really hard on every week, and this
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  amazing product that really helps you know exactly what you
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  need to be saying on LinkedIn every single day so that you are
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  attracting your ideal customer in your voice.
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  And it's getting better and better and better every single
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  day with that. Have an amazing day.
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  I will talk to you guys soon.