LinkedIn: The untapped social media platform with Ruby Lee

Ruby’s Bio

Ruby Lee is a Forbes featured online business coach, full time digital nomad travelling with her young family in tow. In less than 2 years has created a multiple six-figure brand and today serves the Own Your Hustle tribe across the world to create their freedom-based businesses.

Transcript

Today’s episode has been one of my favourite episodes of the podcast to date. I know you will love this. I am chatting to Ruby Lee about two very different topics. Firstly, we chat about LinkedIn and how you can use this platform to attract more clients in your service-based business, and then we take detour and talk about spirituality and how you can use spirituality to attract success in your business.

You’re listening to the Clare Wood podcast, where we talk all things business, finance, marketing, and mindset for entrepreneurs, sharing practical tips, and actionable advice to help you take your business to the next level. Introducing your host: me! I’m Clare Wood, I’m a numbers geek, a travel lover, and a reality tv addict, and I’m here to empower you to create an extraordinary business and an amazing life, because I believe you don’t have to choose between the two. Now let’s dive right in to today’s episode.

CLARE:

I am so excited to have you here today Ruby, and there two areas I want to dive into today, the first is how service-based businesses can attract more clients and the second thing that I’m super excited to touch on is spirituality and business.

For anyone who doesn’t know you, Ruby, can you please introduce yourself to the listeners?

RUBY:

I’m so excited to be on The Clare Wood Podcast. A little bit about me. I’m an online business coach, a full time digital nomad, and I travel the world with my young family in tow. I’m someone who is super passionate about all things scaling your business so you can lead a freedom based lifestyle. Also passionate about LinkedIn and spirituality in business.

CLARE:

I love your story. What first attracted me to you was your podcast and you travelling. And I thought, it’s all well and good for her to travel like that, she doesn’t have kids. But then I saw you DO have kids and that was so inspiring for me. It started to really challenge my thoughts and limitations I had about not being able to travel anymore [because of having a family].

There is so much we could talk about, but one the big I’m hearing at the moment is the power of LinkedIn. It’s something I have really not touched on much at all. Probably because my husband runs a recruitment firm and so I have a fear around that.

Firstly, I would love to know how you got interested in LinkedIn to grow your business?

How Ruby started using LinkedIn to grow her business

RUBY:

I started using LinkedIn because I used to be a recruiter and this was my main platform. I was a qualified accountant and after my accounting career I felt such a passion to move into the people space. I love the hiring process, the training and development process, and so I switched career’s into the recruitment area, and it was there that started to really get to know LinkedIn. At the time it was just for work, and I never used it as an entrepreneur, I never thought of it as a personal branding platform, up until the time that I felt that real entrepreneurial bug start to nip away and start my side hustle. I started to go big in using LinkedIn as a platform, because I thought that Instagram and Facebook already seemed to have so many coaches. Nobody was using LinkedIn as their personal branding platform so I was a pioneer in Australia who started showing up differently and moving outside the box with content. Not just using it as text based content, but video content, where I could really share my story and go into what it meant to have a solid business, and talk about spirituality on a professional level.

CLARE:

As you mentioned you were one of the pioneers, do you still think LinkedIn is an untapped resource for small business owners, or is it a bit saturated?

How is LinkedIn an untapped resource for small business owners

RUBY:

It’s still such early days. 585 million users are on LinkedIn, so comparative to Facebook and Instagram it’s still a baby platform. And, get this, there are only 1% of content creators on LinkedIn. It’s still such a huge opportunity and stage for you to be seen and heard. The algorithm is incredibly generous, it’s like Facebook circa 2006 when all of your friends would see your post, compared to now where it is so selective on who will see your post. I know for a fact that when I put a video or photo up, people are seeing my content, I know this from the views, engagement and the DM’s I receive.

CLARE:

That sounds really interesting. Following from that, is it the right strategy for all service based businesses?

How to know if LinkedIn is the right strategy for your business

RUBY:

It can be a good strategy if you are in service based business, but it may not necessarily be your primary platform. The reason why I like LinkedIn is it’s a different tribe to what you would be building on other platforms, because it is primarily a white collar platform, and that’s why we need to start thinking of LinkedIn from that perspective. For example, if you are a photographer, think of ways to attract your LinkedIn clients, so they may want professional headshots or still a casual photoshoot but with their team, so you’d pitch your services to that. Another example, if you are someone who is selling candles, LinkedIn can be somewhere to compliment where your primary platform is, but think about solo entrepreneurs on LinkedIn who want their office to smell fabulous or maybe it’s Christmas gifts or gifts for a corporate hamper, an events giveaway etc. Think about your perspective and be intentional with your content in that way, don’t just re-purpose your content from Instagram.

CLARE:

This is really interesting. How would someone go about getting started using LinkedIn?

Getting started on LinkedIn

RUBY:

If you are brand new to LinkedIn, first start with a profile. This can be an advantage because if you have already been in a corporate space you’ve carried over a personal brand and you’ll need to change and shift that. But if you are brand new to it, it’s easy to setup the profile. Login, get your headshot up, and look at your title. Usually your title would say Head of… because that is your role in the workplace, however for small business entrepreneurs, we want to add in an ‘I help…’ statement. That is the perfect way to introduce yourself and be seen in the right way. The next thing I want you to do is setup your About Me section, it’s about your story as an entrepreneur and as a business owner and be similar to your website page. This will then turn into your very first post, which will help people understand where you are coming from, your background, why you foundered your business, as well as have your company name in your profile, how many years you’ve been in your business and people can access your website. You don’t need to put all of your jobs in there as LinkedIn my suggest, it can be just what you are doing now, plus your studies and background can help.

CLARE:

That’s really helpful. Something interesting you said was about your bio… have you seen the viral meme about what you are on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Tinder?

RUBY:

Yes! I was so tempted to do it, but I didn’t know what to put in the Tinder one, because I’ve been out for the dating scene for so long.

CLARE:

I shared one, it was very funny. I realised though, that I was doing exactly that. My LinkedIn profile is very professional, and even though I have been out of corporate for a while now, it is still very much a professional looking photo and my language is professional and corporate. Is that still the right strategy or am I missing the mark there?

RUBY:

Looking at your Instagram and even your podcast tile, if someone searched for you on LinkedIn, they would immediately go “whoa… this is a different person”, a disconnect from who you are, a bad-ass coach, podcaster, speaker etc. It’s like the classic meme you talked about. So I think you could definitely change your profile, lets start to look at the language in the profile, because for what you do, there are so many people on LinkedIn waiting for you to show up. We need to ask, are we giving our LinkedIn audience the opportunity to see who we have evolved into and who we are now? Let people join the dots and think, I loved working with Clare back in the day, I can imagine how incredible she would be to help me with my services based business now, maybe I should reach out. It’s no longer about how we should look, but reaching out to people waiting for you on that platform. I have SO many people reach out to me as a coach and they don’t have an Instagram account, they don’t have a Facebook account, and have never listened to a podcast.

CLARE:

There is a marketing 101 lesson here… For me my audience on LinkedIn is all corporate, but guess what, I’m not attracting my dream client on LinkedIn because I’m not showing up as my truest version on that platform. Anyone who is listing, there might be an ah-ha moment in that for you. If you are attracting the wrong people on LinkedIn, look at how you are showing up on LinkedIn.

RUBY:

Exactly, and most people have a past version of themselves on LinkedIn. Think about that moment you decided to leave corporate and start your brand and business, because that the version you need to put on LinkedIn. Think about people on LinkedIn, sitting at their desk with one screen open with a spreadsheet and the other with LinkedIn, and suddenly you pop up and you’re saying “Is it finally time to do what you love?” or “Are you looking for a photographer to help you shine in your personal brand?” for example. You can really put yourself into that very seat you were in, in your office, and think about stumbling upon you for the first time. You would be a breath of fresh air!

CLARE:

You’re right, I’ve had people come connect with me on other platforms and I’ve worked with them before in a corporate capacity and they are now running their own businesses.

So, we’ve started on LinkedIn, we’ve start to post and be more active, then how do we get potential clients off LinkedIn and signed up as a paying client?

How to turn potential clients into paying clients from LinkedIn

RUBY:

Here is something you need to know about LinkedIn… It is not your typical, I’m going to sell you my service or program on LinkedIn and I’ll get a bunch of DM’s and sign up on that platform. Like Instagram and Facebook, you might be getting orders that way, but LinkedIn is different. This is where being on the platform for over 10 years, and as an entrepreneur on LinkedIn for the last 4 years, has taught me… it is about branding. If you want to get on LinkedIn to convert a sale, it potentially isn’t the right platform for you, it’s a branding platform where ultimately, you’ll see opportunities come through that you never expected on other platforms.

I’ll give you an example. When I first showed up on LinkedIn, I thought I’m going to sell my program and courses to help people build their business. I thought I’ll go on LinkedIn and talk about a LinkedIn course I have – makes sense! But instead I’d got corporates and brands contacting me saying I was running courses for individuals, who I consider running a course for our corporate team, can you come to our site, we’ll fly you over, we’d set you up in a hotel and have you deliver this course at our development days etc. I would never have thought that would happen!

Another example, Forbes Magazine approached me on LinkedIn, I was showing up, doing my thing, with my personal brand and a journalist from Forbes reached out and I thought it was spam! As you know you can get PR people to pitch you to Forbes and try get in that way, so it was totally unexpected for them to reach out to me directly and organically. The journalist said, I’ve watched you on LinkedIn, and you show up unapologetically and we’d love to have you as a feature in Forbes under a LinkedIn thing we are doing, and we want to also do a podcast episode with you. This is part putting yourself out there, and part the universe responding (which we’ll get to later in the podcast) to you showing up.

They are two examples, but I could go on and on. It might not be a direct sales platform, but a way to be seen and tapped on the shoulder to accelerate your business. It will draw income into your business but from a totally different perspective.

CLARE:

We’ve spoken a lot about LinkedIn and we could talk about it all day, but I’ll pop you details into the show notes for people to follow up with you on this topic, check out your content and learn more.

The other thing, selfishly, I wanted to tap into and talk about was spirituality. This is a really interesting area. I know when I first met you, you asked me if I was into woo-woo? And I said, 7 years ago my answer would have been absolutely not, but I’m finding increasingly that I’m attracted into spirituality.

I’m an accountant by trade, and I know you are as well, and we were trained that the world is black and white, so how did you get started on this spirituality journey and what sort of things are you into?

Ruby’s spirituality journey

RUBY:

This is the thing, I don’t remember when it all began. It was so gradual, even if I go back to my childhood and the things that happen when you grow up, there was always some kind of spiritual connection for me, to the universe. I didn’t know how to articulate that and what form it would show up in. I grew up in a Christian household, and I thought this isn’t for me, I don’t think religion is the answer, and I stopped going to church and I went through a whole discovery. My families background is Thai, so there is Buddhist type feel, and so I went to Thailand and explored the culture and Buddhism, I swear it was like an Eat Pray Love journey and then I got into yoga, then meditation, then that struck a cord with me. I followed what felt good for me, rather than looking at what others were doing. One meditation I did was with a sound bowl, and that was wow, my whole vibration changed, so then I went to sound healing, and I dived into that and journaling, and it became part of my daily meditation practice, which then lead to crystals and learning about their energies, and more and more I was lead to weaving this into business. This was the scary part. I felt like business was over here, and spirituality was over there and it felt authentic for me to show up and talk about strategy and how to find your most aligned clients. I do the programs, I design the branding, I do Facebook ads, I create funnels etc but then there is so much more out there that is unexplainable. Even now on this podcast together, there is an energy. And you feel that with everyone, clients and projects included – does this feel aligned, does this feel like an amazing conversation… yes it does. And then you have others which you struggle through. So spirituality is now part of my body of work, and my messaging to the world, I have rituals before I post anything online like “this post will reach the right people and want to feature me and work with me”. That comes my way because I have instilled a belief in that.

CLARE:

Wow. I might share a bit about my journey as well. When I was not into woo-woo at all, I met my husband and I saw in his window some crystals, and I was like, what are they? And I thought this guy was crazy! Then he used to say things like this is meant to happen. Then I met a friend of his at a party and she said, are you into meditation? And my answer what hell no. But I went along to her meditation course and there were lots of crystals, and she held one over me and I felt it, I felt the power coming through me. I said to my husband what had happened and he said, yeah of course. I could see something being sprinkled over me and a healing coming through it. But it was so abstract to me this concept. I still struggle to understand it, the intellectual in me, about how it works and connects with life and business, but I’ve learnt to trust it and I’m constantly blown away by it. Like trying Reiki, I can’t believe the transformation I had from that, so I’m learning to lean in and just trust. Looking back there were so many things that happened pre-business and pre-spirituality, like once I was travelling around the world, and the job I had left and resigned from, paid me a bonus, a massive bonus and I suddenly got this money to keep travelling. It felt so organic that that would happen. Things like that always used to happen for me, but I didn’t realise I was attracting that. I’m definitely coming on the journey. For those who aren’t there yet, just try it. Some things might not be a good fit, but then other things will be incredible and you’ll be amazed by the power.

RUBY:

I love that. So two things you said, firstly was “stuff just works out for me”, that is your core fundamental belief, your inner magnet. Even your husband showing up at a certain time, it all was meant to happen, because it always works out for you. The second thing, to your point is, give it a go, all the tools that show up. You said a friend invited you to a meditation class, that just doesn’t happen, you were meant to receive that invitation.

CLARE:

I believe that things and people show up. I wonder how did my path cross with them, and they say to me that they found me and then suddenly I was everywhere. So if you are getting those messages, listen and lean into it.

I’d love for you to share how spirituality links into your business and the role it’s had in your success.

How does spirituality link into business and success

RUBY:

It’s the key role. In business it’s like an inner being that just helps you with your energy and helps you recharge in a certain, so spirituality represents my energy. So every time I feel in alignment, I show up with clarity, I deliver my training in powerful ways, and then when I’m out of alignment I feel tired and drained and I don’t want to show up for launches, clients or collaborators. The way that it works in my business is when let’s say, I’m pulling together a business strategy I will always journal first. Every morning I journal, including this morning I was calling for a great conversation on this podcast. I always think about what is coming up for today, I’m filming and creating a funnel and I was writing about how I believe what I am creating today will reach millions of people and I will do this because what I am sharing will make people have ah-ha moments… and then you just said that in the podcast earlier, about having an ah-ha moment! So I go yay, I receive that and I know my order has been put through and it’s cooking, and it’ll deliver when the time is right. Another thing I do is feel into the energy when working with my clients, if we had to talk about something that day, but it felt like they were distracted or elsewhere then we would go explore that and find out what is going on, because if I am teaching you strategy and your heads over there then your energy is out of alignment and none of what I’m saying is going to matter. It’s like an internal compass and conversation to check in and be present and intentional and reach for the tools that work best for you. I check in with my crystals a lot, and I also do a lot of visualisation, so that’s a subconscious reprogram. Because my mind is so mathematical, I need something to back my belief and so I went down that path and where I landed was backing spiritualty with a lot of neuro-science and the study of the brain, and looking through our third eye. You call in a red car, and suddenly you’ll see a heap of red cars on the road. Or you call in your most aligned client, and then you so up!

CLARE:

Incredible! I’d love to challenge the flipside of that as well. Have you ever felt like everything is in alignment? And you feel like you have your flow and then the result you are chasing doesn’t come together? Why do you think that happens and how do you keep that momentum and trust in the universe when you feel things aren’t being delivered in the way you thought they would?

RUBY:

That happens all the time. I’ve launch about 50 programs since I started my business and about 5 of them were complete flops. Horrible, what’s happened flops! But it happened in a phase when I had so much momentum, and everyone had answered my insta polls saying, yes, yes, yes I want this, and the waitlist went nuts, and it flopped. I had one person register for it and it was meant to be a group program, so I had to tell her this is now private coaching. I had such a sense of failure. She loved it though because she had private coaching. I asked why didn’t it do better and there were a lot of tears and lot of asking the universe for confirmation that is was what I was meant to be doing. I was ready to throw it all in, and then a client said she wanted to work with me privately and I took that as I’m meant to dive into private coaching and that is what happened, my one-on-one sessions took off.

There are lessons that we haven’t quite hit yet, and time is a very made up thing, the time is irrelevant, and we ask for the lesson to be learnt at the time the launch closes, but sometimes the lesson comes in 3 or 6 months. To keep momentum up, it was always just about getting back on the horse. Maybe I wasn’t meant to do it in this was or form, maybe it was the wrong vehicle, maybe it was the wrong timing, not a market point of view, but what the universe is making room for, so keeping an eye out for that.

CLARE:

To your point, the timing is so funny, I’m happily married and I have friends that are dating and asking why haven’t they proposed yet, and I’m like, it’ll happen he’s not going anywhere. Trust me, it’ll happen and you’ll be like ‘oh.. I’m engaged”. I hear it all the time with clients too, they say “as soon as I hit the number… my life will be so perfect”. When you hit that number it’ll be such a non-event and you’ll be doing other things and wanting the next number! As much as it sucks when you feel like you are doing everything right, and it doesn’t come together, you have to trust it. And sometimes the goal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s not the be all and end all, you’ll want the next thing… like the wedding and the kid one you do have the engagement ring etc.

RUBY:

So true! I was already with my partner, we had our child together, had a house, and I was like were is my ring! You described me exactly! Then when it happened it was perfect timing. It didn’t mean he didn’t love me. Same in business, if you don’t hit those targets it doesn’t mean your clients don’t love you less or you’ve become a lesser coach.

One of my core mantra’s is…. This or better. If this didn’t quite work out then there is something better coming along. Sometimes it means I’m rocking myself in the chair saying that, but at the same time it helps me snap out of it and remember this is a blip in the whole journey. It ends up being something that helps you become more strong, and more resilient. Then we move on.. Next. I’m ready.

CLARE:

I know everyone listening will be blown away. Two very different topics but both powerful conversations.

To wrap up today, what are your big dreams for your life and business?

The big dreams for Ruby’s life and business

RUBY:

I feel like this is a felling rather than exact goals, and the felling goes like this… there is so much freedom to explore the world, there is boundlessness in not having to say no because of this, this and this, it’s more I will have this, this and this. It’s like that is where it is heading and why I built this business and why I made the decisions I did, but from a goals perspective, I have them. I see myself buying 3 retreat homes in the next 5 years and hosting retreats all around the world – California, Italy and Australia/Asia. I see so much flow in terms of being on international stages and speaking and having high level badass clients I can work with one-to-one. It feels so clear.  

CLARE:

I’m sure you will archive all your dreams. A massive thank you from me and my listeners for what you have shared with us today. If anyone does want to connect with Ruby her details are in the shownotes.

Thank you so much for joining me today!

RUBY:  

Thank you Clare, I hope you and everyone listening has an amazing day!

CLARE:

Thank you so much for joining me today, if you enjoyed this episode, please make sure you subscribe to receive future episodes, and I’d be so grateful for a review on apple podcast! If you’d like a copy of the show notes or any of the links mentioned today, please jump over to clarewood.com.au/podcast and remember that Clare is spelled CLARE, have a wonderful week and look forward to chatting to you again soon!