Produced By - Turning LinkedIn Into a Client Engine: Beyond Likes and Visibility | 138: Anjeanette Carter

Starting point is 00:00:00 So I like to approach LinkedIn with a three-prong approach. So first is the content. So this is the ghost writing or your writing, the content. You got to put out quality content. So your content has to have hooks, teach a lesson, be valuable. I was like to say your free stuff has to be as valuable as your paid stuff. You know, because your free stuff, that's how people are judging. How they're judging if they're going to work with you, if they're actually going to pay you money.

Starting point is 00:00:23 So you want your free stuff to be top, top tier. So that's one piece of the puzzle is the content and the consistency. posting content. Then the second part is connections. You need to be daily adding connections to your LinkedIn account. I don't like to add more than 20 to 25 connection requests per day because I don't want myself or any of my clients landing in LinkedIn jail. Anyone listening, do not send more than 25 connection requests a day. Even if you hear someone else say otherwise, I'm warning you. Just stay conservative, be conservative. And then the third part of the strategy is the commenting. What's so interesting is when

Starting point is 00:00:59 Before we dive into today's episode, please hit that subscribe button. Your support helps us grow and inspire more people on their journeys. Thank you. Hello, I'm Janet. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me. It's my pleasure.

Starting point is 00:01:20 And I'm Janet. For those who don't know you, can you please introduce yourself? Yes, I'm Anjanet Carter. I'm in Los Angeles, California. And I am the founder of Stratus Media, where I help founders and CEOs grow their LinkedIn accounts to grow their business. And I also coach freelancers and solopreneurs to make more money and monetize their LinkedIn's. I was, I'm Janet as you are recording at the start of the year. I was actually about to ask you if for the new year or 2006, have you got any new year resolutions?

Starting point is 00:01:57 Are you this type of person or you don't really believe in this? Well, I am very much a goal-oriented person. So I do this all year long. So the new year, just another month for me. But no, I do. And you know what? One of my big things that I want to focus on in 2026 is I want to, I want to, well, my always underlining goal is always work less, earn more, right?

Starting point is 00:02:25 That is where I'm always trying to head to a variety of different ways. So with that in mind, my 2026 goal is to subtract what is not working and double down on what is working. So I want to, instead of saying, oh, I want to add this, add this, add this, add this. I want to subtract things and compound what is working with the one caveat that one thing I am looking to add for 2026 is I would like to add public speaking to my flight wheel. Something that many people are uncomfortable with. So what is it like for you? I enjoy, you know, I enjoy, I mean, my background in my teenage years was like,

Starting point is 00:03:09 was as an actor. So I've always been comfortable on stage. So, you know, I know a lot of people, their biggest fear is public speaking. My fears are like everything else in the world. I don't mind the speaking parts. It's everything else. The horrors of the world is what gets me. We all wish that we were like you because I think it's very relatable fear of public speaking.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Well, yes. And then you mentioned acting when I did a bit more research about yourself. I actually read a bit about it. But can you please elaborate on that because you are from L.A., so I guess acting. I don't know if it comes naturally, but it's very exciting and interesting. Right. Well, it's interesting. Because I'm from L.A., it was very easy to fall into.

Starting point is 00:03:53 So in my teenage years, in my early 20s, I did a lot of commercials and, you know, some acting. You know, I like to say in business in general, you know, I have a lot of failures behind me. You know, I think a lot of people come on, you know, social media or podcasts, whatever. And they talk about like, oh, I did blank, blank, blank. And if I wanted to, I could totally lead with all my successes. but in reality, the failure list is so much longer. The failure list is like this, the success list is like this. But the key is you only need a little success to kind of make up for everything else.

Starting point is 00:04:32 That's actually something that stands out to me because you open, for example, LinkedIn, and you can see people boasting about, I don't know, the clients, the money that they made, followers, et cetera. But not that many people actually share the real side of things, such as Facebook. how many times it hasn't worked out. And then when there is someone new on LinkedIn, it's kind of easy to compare yourself to others, but you don't really see the whole picture.

Starting point is 00:04:59 Oh, yeah. I mean, what's that saying? Comparison is the thief of joy. Oh, yes, yes. And we all fall victim to it. And LinkedIn, in a way, can almost make you feel worse because LinkedIn is all about, you know, money and business. You know, it's less about like, oh, a relationship or a cool house.

Starting point is 00:05:18 you know, it's about business. And so if you're like, well, I didn't do, my business didn't do a hundred million last year, you know, am I a failure? You know, it's really easy to compare yourself. So something I have to constantly remind my own self is just, you know, focus on your own lane, your own race. Me too. And I think I'm sure that you can see too that many people talk about authenticity.

Starting point is 00:05:42 But then on one side, it's authenticity. But on the other side, you know, like things kind of like this over-polished. platform where everyone tries to showcase just the positive and best side of yourself. So then I feel like it's quite hard to, I don't know, discern what's the truth and beyond the platform? We've seen this. Well, I think yes. And I think on LinkedIn, like I kind of see both sides. So yes, like you said, there's people where everything is perfectly polished and like, oh, my business is, you know, so amazing. I'm amazing. Here's how I'm winning all the time, blah, blah, blah. And then there's a side. Because people.

Starting point is 00:06:18 People know, people know, oh, I need to sound authentic. I need to be authentic for people to connect to me, which is true. But then sometimes people just trauma dump on you. And they, you know, sometimes you'll see a lot of posts that I think are kind of inappropriate on LinkedIn. Like, there's a balance. There's a balance between I'm, you know, winning all the time and I almost committed suicide last fall. You didn't know me? I've tried to know on this.

Starting point is 00:06:47 I just voted. I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just using that as an example. And I feel like sometimes people lean so much into the bad stuff, hoping, you know, to relate authentically. But, you know, it is a professional platform at the end of the day. And I absolutely think there's room to be truthful, painful, show, you know, truthful through the pain. But there's a delicate way to do it that still maintains your professionalism without treating it as like a diary entry. That is true. As you said sometimes, it's like either.

Starting point is 00:07:17 one extreme or the other extreme. Like, for example, sometimes, I don't know, I'm not saying that it's wrong, but sometimes you see even like photos of someone's breakfast or stuff like that. And then it feels like, oh, this is not Instagram. You know, sometimes you're getting maybe a bit too far. For sure, for sure. So then speaking about this, and actually the question,

Starting point is 00:07:39 we discussed your New Year resolution, or it's not New Year resolution, but something that you work towards regularly, although it's not that long into the new year, but how is it going so far? Oh, my. Okay. Well, for me, so I'm also a parent. I'm a mom. So for me, the new year starts with like a little whimper of like, oh, kids are still home.

Starting point is 00:08:02 And then like that first Monday is like, boom, off to the races. I saw someone post like, it's the Mondays Monday to ever Monday. That, you know, when we all start that new year, that first Monday of the new year. So my kids are back to school. I am getting back finally into the swing of things from the winter break. And, you know, I'm hitting the ground running. But I will say it's always always a little tougher to kind of get back into that swing. But I always like to say, you know, that saying, follow your plan and not your mood.

Starting point is 00:08:34 You know, even if I go, oh, I really wish I was doing nothing. You know, so just every day I got to make sure I, you know, get my to do list done. stay on top of things because in business and in life, I feel consistency is the thread line, the through line, and is exactly what is the difference between success and true failure is consistency. So I try to stay consistent. That is a great point. And it actually reminds me because when I was looking at your online presence and your platforms, I was about to ask you when you actually started on LinkedIn.

Starting point is 00:09:11 But firstly, I know that you are on other platforms too. And when I was looking at your Twitter account or X, it actually shows when you joined. And I was really surprised because it shows... Long time ago. Oh, my God. I think people wouldn't even believe what year it shows. Do you remember when was it? I know, no, yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:31 I joined Twitter. So, you know, I've had a really interesting relationship with social media. And I found in general, you know, I started on Twitter a long time ago. And I actually, at the time, you know, my background is in writing. And so, you know, I was a copywriter. I still am a copywriter in many respects. And so I started actually on Twitter as a comedy writer. And I was actually named one of the top LinkedIn feeds by Time Magazine at one point, which is crazy.

Starting point is 00:10:00 And then I started, you know, having babies as I stepped away a little. And what I discovered on X and Twitter at the time is, you know, again, I posted every single day, consistency, consistency. When I walked away from that, I had a YouTube channel that I had grown to 250,000 subscribers. And that is something shaking your head, you haven't heard of it because it had nothing to do with me. You know, I wasn't on the channel, but it was a channel I had. And again, I went months and months and months without making a dollar until I became like one of the top 500 channels in the world. And then, you know, when that went, away, you know, I basically, when I get on a platform, I study the platform, I learn how to

Starting point is 00:10:45 attack it, and then I go. And so when it comes to LinkedIn, this is actually one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't start my LinkedIn taking my LinkedIn seriously for years. So I really started on LinkedIn in like 2023. I started posting a little bit, but I still, you know, I was so busy. My writing agency was so busy. I just, you know, I just kind of treated it as an afterthought. And then 2024 started posting a little again, but inconsistently, just kind of whenever I felt like it grew a little bit, but, you know, nothing. But then exactly a year ago in January of 2025, I started was like, you know what, I really saw the potential.

Starting point is 00:11:27 And I said, you know what? This is the year. I'm going to go hard on LinkedIn. And I have around like 22,000 followers now. So I feel like the social media game is not hard to play. it's annoying to play and that's why people don't do it it's not hard

Starting point is 00:11:43 it's really not hard to like post something especially with AI as a tool now like it's not hard it's the consistency that trips everybody up I feel like I can be saying that all the time as well that you need to kind of play the long game

Starting point is 00:11:58 and keep showing up but still people want quick results you can say as many times as you want you need to keep showing up but still there is someone And in your DMs or asking for any, I don't know, growth advice, but again, proof that takes time. Absolutely. Immediate gratification is a drug.

Starting point is 00:12:19 And everybody wants immediate gratification. No, especially in today's attention economy, nobody wants to play the long game. But like everything, it's one of those things, slow and steady wins the race. You know, sure, anyone can go viral. anyone can like have that viral moment and just start and just out of nowhere, you know, get a ton of attention. Great. But, you know, for most people, that's not the way it happens. Most people that you see online that are successful have been building and building for years and years and years. It's rarely an overnight success. And then even for those who do kind of have that overnight success or quick success right out the gate, they too have to continue to be consistent in order to maintain. that kind of momentum. So no matter which side of the coin you're on, the underlying thing is you've got to show up every single day. I can only agree. And what you said is true. And when you then joined LinkedIn or started taking it more seriously, did you feel like that you had like some kind of advantage considering your experience with Rydin and other social media channels?

Starting point is 00:13:30 Well, yes. I mean, the good news is, you know, as a seven-figure copywriter, I, you know, know how to right, you know, get my way around a social media post. So I already had an, I had an advantage of knowing how to create really strong hooks. So that was kind of my superpower. You know, that's what I did on Twitter, on YouTube and LinkedIn. And I knew if I can grab attention, I know how to grab attention. So I knew if I can do that, I could hook them, then I'd be able to, you know, the rest would work itself out. So yes, I would say I do, I did have an advantage. with my just expertise and copywriting, really. And then when I married that with AI, it's like, I'm unstoppable.

Starting point is 00:14:13 Powerful dual. And when kind of AI emerged, or when you started taking it more serious, or maybe when AI started, how did you see it? Did you see it as you were scared of your work, or did you see it as advantage or kind of mixed feelings? Tom, I was terrified. terrified. I was like, this is the worst thing to happen to my business, to humanity. So this is, this is just another nail in my coffin. That was, that was the immediate response. Publicly,

Starting point is 00:14:51 I was saying, oh, this is so great. Isn't this amazing? Oh, yeah, look how fast. It's my inside. I was like shaking in my boots. Like, oh, my God. No, no. And so yeah, I had to really adapt everything. I had to adapt my agency. I had to adapt everything. And so initially, I started as, oh, this is a human content space only. You want human content. You come to me. Then I realized I'm being, you know, with AI, like with anything in business, you know, adapt or die. And I realized, hey, maybe this AI thing isn't so bad. You know, what is it going to be for humanity? What kind of jobs are my children going to have? I don't know. I've got time to we've got time to figure that out. But for right here, right now, AI has ended up becoming.

Starting point is 00:15:35 a massive, massive advantage to me. And it is basically, like I said before, it's when I marry my own expertise with AI, it's just like I'm like superhuman. You know, I'm like an army of copywriters. I'm like an army of an agency. And it really amplifies, to use an AI word, amplifies my strengths and has allowed me to kind of 10x my output. And I can imagine that I'm not sure if it's the same further, but for many people, it might be hard to kind of find a balance between not overusing AI because, of course, it's tempting to use it. But I feel like, I mean, it's okay to use it. I use it on LinkedIn as well. But sometimes you see it on LinkedIn as well when it looks like literally copy and paste. So how do you approach it or what's your advice to find kind of balance

Starting point is 00:16:24 so that you use it for advantage, but it's not literary copy and paste from chat GPT? Right. Okay. Well, number one, I would say hire a ghostwriter like myself. You know, hire someone that actually manages LinkedIn and can help you grow your profile and give you content that does not sound like AI slop. That's number one. Number two, here's the thing with AI. People, especially since my backgrounds in copywriting, people said to me when AI came out and the reason I was so scarce, people said, oh, we don't need copywriters anymore. You know, or people will say, would come to me and say, hey, um, So I have my new website. I just put it in chat GPT. But I feel like it's not good. Can you just go over it? And I look and it was garbage. The problem is it's like garbage in, garbage out.

Starting point is 00:17:12 If you don't know anything, if you're, let's say you own a business, you know, you need a website for that business. If websites aren't your business, then, you know, you're not going to just go code a website by your site. You know, why? Why would you do that? You know, and a lot of people think, oh, chat, GPT, just write the content. yeah, it will. And it'll give you the absolute bare bones basic AI slop. That's what it pumps out. You need to know how to communicate with AI with a level of expertise. So for myself as a copywriter, I'm able to pair my expertise with AI and spar with it, so to speak, and get that result. That end result that's beautiful. And like chef's kiss, that's honestly better than I would even put out on my own if I spent two hours thinking about it. But you need that. expertise first to be able to pump it out. Otherwise, everyone's going, write a LinkedIn post for me. I want it to be about this go. And then they see it. They go, oh, perfect. And then they post it and it's

Starting point is 00:18:09 garbage. You know, it's a tool. It's not a replacement. You know, and everyone reviews it as a replacement. And in some aspects, sure, it will replace jobs. Like, I'm not saying it won't. But it's not a replacement for expertise. It's a tool to be paired with expertise. And that's where most people, especially when it comes to writing and content get it wrong. I like it and I completely agree. It's like if you want to sound like everyone else, use it, make it right for you. But you can see it on LinkedIn as well when whether it's so apparent. It's so, so, so obvious.

Starting point is 00:18:47 Whether it's posts or comments, you know, it's like one person same as the other one. And it's kind of sad that it's actually losing any personality and it feels like talking to robots. in your comments of the post? Absolutely. No, I agree. Absolutely. What do you think then it's going to be like in the future, for example, with LinkedIn? Do you think it's going to lean more towards AI or away from it or something different? Well, I think it just is going to depend on if and how the platform can determine what is AI and what is not.

Starting point is 00:19:23 For example, I know YouTube has started to now kind of put a stop to certain AI content, lot of, you know, they're not allowing AI content in certain contexts. So, you know, is that going to become a thing? Can they tell? I don't know. You know, I don't know where it's going to go. In general, generally speaking, when it comes to content, yes, it is going to be more saturated out there because people can just, people have the capability to their output has just been, you know, a thousand X. It doesn't mean it's good content, but there's just going to be more out there to sift through. But I don't think that's problematic if you're putting out quality because I do feel in a lot of ways, you know, the cream rises to the top. So I think that while

Starting point is 00:20:07 there's more saturation, there's almost more room than ever to have. I think quality will be appreciated more than ever because it won't be as as common as it was. There's a good point that actually helps to stand out those personalized voices, the quality one that would actually work in through it. So one out of many helps to stand out. So that's a great point. Yes. And I also think I mean, this is kind of an offshoot, but I think that also something in this AI world when it comes to like outreach and speaking to clients or getting business, you know, through your LinkedIn, I think this is also why voice notes is a really great hack and something that really separates you from the pack, so to speak. So I think that voice notes is something that people

Starting point is 00:20:55 can use right now if they want to differentiate themselves from like the AI nis or the bombardment of messages. Yeah, that is true. Before the voice notes get too advanced that you won't be to recognize either. It's coming for everything. But you know, right, right? One step at a time, right? We got to deal with what we can deal with right now. Yes, very good point. There's a lot I don't share on the podcast, the messy bits, the real life behind the mic. That's what the vlog is for. It's called Behind the Produce Buy and it lives on the same YouTube channel as this podcast. If you like seeing how creators usually build things, you might enjoy it. And I'm Janet just so that we don't spend the whole episode discussing AI.

Starting point is 00:21:40 Of course we could, but to actually discuss your expertise as well, maybe to start with, that is something that I'm sure that many people struggle with, whether on LinkedIn or other platforms, is actually how to find clients. And you, with your experience, maybe what does it like for you at start, like finding the first clients? And then any advice for people how to find clients with copyrighting, ghostwriting, LinkedIn? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. If you are listening and you have a service-based business, I can absolutely help you find and land clients on LinkedIn. This is what I do. So for a little background, you know, when I started offering my services,

Starting point is 00:22:20 copywriting, ghostwriting, all that stuff. You know, I started a while ago on marketplaces. Well, first I said, you know, I started all over the place. I had a bunch of writing jobs, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But fast forward to when I was really making, started making money, I was on marketplaces. I actually made over a million dollars on Fiverr as a top seller in three years. And I also, you know, I've made close to 200 grand on Upwork. You know, again, I'm really good at finding platforms, getting in there, sing with the

Starting point is 00:22:50 deal is and conquering them. However, you know, there comes a time where, you know, platforms, you know, you don't want to be dependent on them, right? So when I decided, when I pivoted my agency more to LinkedIn, ghostwriting and profile management and growing people's LinkedIn accounts, I was like, okay, where am I going to get these clients? I had a few fall into my lap just via copywriting since I was a known copywriter. Some people were like, can you help me with my LinkedIn? I was like, sure. So that's kind of how I fell into it. And when I saw the potential that, oh, I can help people with writing, but I can also help grow their accounts, not just writing. I was like, this is also a good AI hedge for myself. And so I was like, okay, I want to grow this side of my business. I had like one or two clients, you know, very, you know, very little on this side. So I was like, if I want to specifically grow the LinkedIn ghostwriting side of my business, I need to get aggressive. Like I need to figure it out. So, LinkedIn was a perfect place to market my services. One, because they were about LinkedIn, but two, you know, if you have a service-based business,

Starting point is 00:23:56 LinkedIn is where it's at. Those are where your ideal clients are. So I was able to perfect like an outreach method and inbound and outbound that I was able to scale just the ghostwriting side of my business to multiple six figures a year. And I actually, if you want to do that, anyone listening, I actually, I actually, have a workshop that I teach that I'm sure Tom will put the link in where I'll show you exactly in one hour how to land clients on LinkedIn. I hate when people have like, here's a course, follow this program, join my boot camp. It's like, it's not that. It's not rocket science. Okay. Give me one hour. And I will show you exactly how I grew my business on LinkedIn as a nobody,

Starting point is 00:24:44 because I started this when I had like less than 5,000 followers. Like I was a nobody. and exactly how I defined my personal brand, grew my business. And again, it was not just through posting content. I do inbound, which is posting content and having people come to you, that's great. But when you need to make money right now and you need to start getting clients right now, you don't have time to wait to grow your brand for people to come to you. So you need a solid outreach strategy. And so I created one that requires very little work, you know, very little effort.

Starting point is 00:25:15 but it's something that, as always, requires consistency. But I've put together a full-proof way to accomplish this with my workshop, how to land clients on LinkedIn. Is it specific for any demographic or audience, or it can be literally anyone who wants to lend clients on LinkedIn? It's for anyone who is in a service-based business where their ideal client is on LinkedIn. So whether you're a freelancer, a consultant,

Starting point is 00:25:42 anyone in the B2B sector where your ideal, client is on LinkedIn, I can help you land clients there. And I'm sure Tom will have the link somewhere, up, down somewhere. It'll be there for you to check out. And the show notes, yes. Show notes. There we go. And I'm glad actually did you mention that it's a mix of inbound and outbound because, of course,

Starting point is 00:26:05 ideal world scenario when your content helps to attract the clients. But in reality, not everyone is so fortunate to write such a content so that they lend the So I'm glad that it's focused on both because sometimes you see, I feel like not to offend anyone, but sometimes I feel like you see people kind of flexing on LinkedIn that they get clients just, you know, I posted this post and it helped me to get. Right. And it's true. Like now that I have like close to 22,000 followers, yeah, people find me on LinkedIn and people come to me.

Starting point is 00:26:40 But that's not how it works day one. You know, when I started on LinkedIn, it was like, oh, I. wrote a few good posts and people come to me every so many of these like linkedin gurus preach here's how you write content this is how you get your inbound pipeline blah blah blah and it's true it is correct but that's going to take you like six months you know to make work and that's fine and and i like to teach yes do that do that while you are building your outbound pipeline because again it's just not a realistic strategy for people who know, oh, no, I need to bring in money like this month. You know, I need to get a client.

Starting point is 00:27:16 I can't wait six months to get my first client from like randomly posting. Like, I need to get a client now. And that's what my workshop primarily caters to. Yeah. That's great stuff. And, Janet, I don't want to, I don't really like to ask this question, but I'm sure that once in a while you get like this DM, you know, maybe Anjanet, how to grow on LinkedIn, how to go viral and this and that.

Starting point is 00:27:41 So maybe not viral. I don't really like that question. But if you get this question, like how to grow, what is it that you usually answer? Like what kind of advice, tips or, let's say, tricks or something? Yes, yes. So I like to approach LinkedIn with a three-pronged approach. So first is the content, right?

Starting point is 00:28:00 So this is the ghost writing or you're writing, you know, the content. You know, you've got to put out quality content. So your content asks have hooks. It has to teach a lesson. You know, it has to be valuable. I was like to say your free stuff has to be, you know, as valuable as your paid stuff, you know, because your free stuff is, you know, that's how people are judging you. That's how they're judging if they're going to work with you, if they're actually going to pay you money.

Starting point is 00:28:24 Right. So you want your free stuff to be top, top tier. So that's one piece of the puzzle is the content and the consistency in posting content. Then the second part is connections. You need to be daily adding connections to your language. LinkedIn account. I don't like to add more than 20 to 25 connection requests per day because I don't want myself or any of my clients landing in LinkedIn jail. So I would say anyone listening. Yeah, anyone listening, do not send more than 25 connection requests a day. Even if you hear

Starting point is 00:28:56 someone else say otherwise, I'm warning you. Hey, to stay conservative, be conservative. And then the third part of the strategy is the commenting. What's so interesting is when on other platforms, like Instagram, other platforms view giving as in posting content because, hey, you're giving that platform content. But LinkedIn is one of the few platforms where it's the opposite, whereas they assume you're going to post contents, even though only 1% of users do. And they view posting content, not as giving to the platform. They view that as like taking from the platform. So in order to be considered a good citizen of LinkedIn, you must be commenting, you must be engaging. That's what really helps to juice the algorithm so that you really need to be commenting

Starting point is 00:29:44 every day. Leave 50 comments a day in your niche, on larger accounts and in your niche. And when you have these three things working together, the quality content, the connections, and the engagement strategy, that's what really snowballs your growth. So was that a good answer? Oh my, it was awesome. I really like it. And I can only confirm I agree. Just one little addition to the commenting one. Don't sacrifice quality over quantity because we don't want to see great post comments, insightful comments and valuable perspective comments. Yes. Yeah, that is actually a really solid point. When you are commenting, if you're just right, great posts, love it, congrats. No eyeballs are going to go on your account. The whole point of

Starting point is 00:30:37 Commenting is also get eyeballs on your own account. So you always want to be posting comments that add value to the post, not just, hey, great job. It honestly sometimes makes me wonder or surprise that there are still people who do it because I just don't know what this is. It's hard to think of comments. I mean, honestly, it really is. And so that's why, you know, when the fountain, the people, you know, if you don't have, if you know if you're listening and you're like, I know I don't have time to do this,

Starting point is 00:31:05 this is not where my time should be spent as a founder, you know, C-suite executive, then that's why you hire someone like me and my agency where I handle all of that for you. You know, I do your posts. I handle the connections. I handle the engagement strategy. All of that, you know, can be outsourced. And frankly, for most people, it should be outsourced because, you know, most people, they didn't get into business to be posting, you know, great job on LinkedIn.

Starting point is 00:31:33 Yeah, that is true. And it's, you know, work with someone because, of course, people have other businesses and work. And there's nothing wrong with that to work with the profession because it helps you, makes it faster, easier. And so after all, you don't have to go through those challenging hard beginnings. For example, when we started on the platform and didn't really know how to do it, and it took, I don't know, years to discover your strategy, how to do everything. And it's much easier to work with someone who's got to figure it out. Yes. I always say in life, you know, if you're offered a shortcut, take the shortcut.

Starting point is 00:32:10 Life's hard enough, right? If I, you know, a lot of people are like, no, no, I want to do it myself. I want to, you know, do that. Take the shortcut. Life is tough enough. I'm sure anyone listening, you have challenges in your life. We all do. When you get an opportunity to take a shortcut, take the shortcut.

Starting point is 00:32:27 Yeah, yeah. I like it. Life is hard enough. I mean, I don't like it, but I like how I said. And I'm Janet. Are you then someone who, because considering your experience and how long you've been working in copyrighting,

Starting point is 00:32:41 ghostwriting, and experience with social media, are you someone who's got kind of figured out already, a lot of knowledge, experience and everything, or are you still learning, discovering new things, improving? What is it like for you? I mean, I'm always learning.

Starting point is 00:32:55 I always have my ear to the ground. You know, personally, even though I coach people also and I help, you know, people, I'm always in some kind of like mastermind or coaching program myself because I really believe, you know, again, I want to take the shortcuts in life. I don't want to, you know, spend all this time figuring it out. I've done that in my business. And in the parts that I do that, that's where I help people. It's where I can help people and say, hey, I did X, Y, Z.

Starting point is 00:33:22 It took too long. It was hard. Here's what I found. I can share that. But there's, I mean, believe me, I, you know, there's so many places I want to go. where I don't know the path and I want to, you know, hire someone that can help me get there faster with and, you know, hopefully avoid mistakes. So yes, always, always learning, always, always trying to level up, right? That's the right mindset. And are there than maybe any people,

Starting point is 00:33:49 whether it will be like a creators on LinkedIn, other platforms or even outside that you follow a letter from maybe find them just as inspiration? Are you asking me like who I like to follow. Well, I can tell you this much. So about six months ago, I started, I finally started my own substack. And I do nothing about substack. So this is what I like to preach. When it comes to platforms in general, start with one platform, master it. You know, like for example, I put in 2025, I put the majority of my emphasis on LinkedIn. I did not move from LinkedIn until I felt I really, really enmasted it. I had basically my system on autopilot. So I, you know, it was ingrained in me. It was, you know, I knew I could, I wouldn't give it up, so to speak. I knew I

Starting point is 00:34:37 wouldn't like, drop one ball to pick up another. Once I did that, I was like, I really want it, because I already had a newsletter, but I was like, I really want to join substack. So I joined substack, but I didn't know anything about substack, like zero zilch. I just had read a few substacks. But other than that, I knew nothing about it. And I found a wonderful creator on there named And Anna Callan, I believe is how you pronounce her name, Anna Callan. She has a substack, how we grow. And it really helped get, you know, again, it gave me those shortcuts. I became a paid member of her substack. I bought one of her workshops and courses. And, you know, I did them. And it just really helped me, you know, accelerate my growth on that platform as well. And now I have around

Starting point is 00:35:19 3,000 subscribers to my substack, which isn't like an incredible amount. You know, but it's still, you know, it's more than I had before, right? And so I'm learning and growing. And again, part of my 2026 goals is, you know, to continue growing that. And now that I've got substack kind of figured out, I'm still working on it, but I've kind of have that wheel in motion. I have the LinkedIn wheel in motion. I think, Tom, I think I'm going to go back. Which is coming. I think I'm going to go back to X to Twitter this year. I think I'm going to start to try to leverage that again and build that up. But again, I'm not going to add that until I feel I can maintain and keep everything else. So I really believe master one platform first before you move on.

Starting point is 00:36:05 That's a great approach. But I had to ask you because, of course, as I said before, you've been for a while on X. You've got such a high following there. How? I don't want to ask I used to have like triple the amount of following. But through the years, you know, through attrition, You know, I mean, and this is a problem. And honestly, this is a regret of mine. It is a big regret. I ignored my following for years when I switched from like comedy writing to more like having my own business and stuff. I just kind of ignored it. I didn't see the potential. I was like, oh, well, why would I go on there? Blah, blah, blah. And then I got busy and life and blah, blah, blah. We all have the excuses, right? So I may have followers on there, but I need, I could have, you know,

Starting point is 00:36:49 over 100,000 followers, 200,000 followers, a million followers now if I had just stayed the course, but again, or at least just kept it active while I, you know, worked on whatever was next for me. Or if I was humble enough to admit, I don't know what's next at that juncture in my life, you know, but I just, I just dropped it like a hot rock. So now I got a, you know, I'm not starting from scratch clearly, but, you know, in a lot of ways I am. So that's something I want to pick back up. So there's a lesson out there. If you're on a social media and you're doing well, don't leave it.

Starting point is 00:37:25 Even if you think your professions are going to change, is going to change. Don't leave it. No, but then at least the start when you come again, you are equipped with all the information, all the knowledge of a strong start. I'm hoping that's the case. And can you say or can you see the difference? I don't want to ask like any controversial to change its ownership of Twitter, but like the difference before and now, like in your experience, if the platform and how

Starting point is 00:37:53 it changed like from Twitter times to X times now, because for example, I do not really have much experience with the platform, so I don't really know about considering your experience. Can you say? Well, what's interesting is I honestly can't answer that question too thoughtfully because I'm just now dipping my toe back in. Sure, I would be on it for like news and like just like personal stuff. But in terms of business, I think it's an excellent place. I think the big shift, but this has been for many years in the making, this isn't just like, you know, very recently. It's for many years in the making, you know, it's shifted from being like a news platform, a social platform to, you know,

Starting point is 00:38:30 really a great platform for founders and business owners, which is also, you know, what is now kind of pulling me back in before was just like entertainment based, I feel. Entertainment based, news based. Now I feel over the last few years, it's definitely become a great business hub. And that's what's calling me back. Yeah, well, of course, we'll be excited to see how you come back and grow. But before, you also mentioned that you used to be on YouTube. So is it like also one of the platforms that you might explore in the future? Okay, so I kind of have a love-hate relationship with YouTube.

Starting point is 00:39:05 So the reason that I am no longer on YouTube is because I was making like half a million dollars a year just off YouTube content. And my channel got demonetized. Oh my God. Why? What happened? You know, it happened. It was not just me.

Starting point is 00:39:25 There was a period several years ago where the YouTube, you know, I had a channel in the children's space and YouTube demonetized 40,000 children's channels overnight. Because there were just some bad actors in the space. I was not one of them. But they just kind of took a category. swept it and just got rid of a ton and it was terrible and it was I learned a huge huge huge lesson in that and that suddenly had to start over so I've I've been gun shy to join YouTube since that because my ad sense was demonetized my channel was a monta. It was terrible,

Starting point is 00:40:00 terrible experience but I think I'm many years removed from it now and I think I do think that might be possibly the next platform that I try after. X, but I'm not going there yet. I'm not going back to Google just yet. But yeah, you know, and that's also why now I'm so, I mean, again, my channel had nothing to do with me. So it wasn't my personal brand, but something that I do regret at the time that I preach now heavily is your personal brand is your business insurance. Even though the YouTube channel had nothing to do with me, if I had been posting on other platforms at the time, hey, I own a YouTube channel and I make this much money and here's what I do, blah, blah, blah.

Starting point is 00:40:43 I would have, when my channel got to monetize, I still would have had a way to monetize an audience. I still would have had a way to move forward. But I was starting from scratch after that. So it was hell. It was really, really a dark time and like hell for me. And so now what I say to everybody and myself included is build your personal brand yesterday. Your personal brand is your business insurance.

Starting point is 00:41:08 because the only thing that I know for sure is going to change are my offers, my business, you know, my business will continue to evolve, especially with AI. You know, I'm sure what you're doing today, it's only, you know, 10 years from now, you're going to be doing something different. You know, it's like it's not like we used to all stay in jobs for like 40 years. You know, it's a different landscape now. So, but what's not going to change over the next 20 years is who you are, you know. You know, and so people can follow your journey through whatever you do if you are building,

Starting point is 00:41:38 an authentic personal brand. So that's something I really wish I had done sooner. I agree. And I cannot imagine what it's like when you wake up the next day until you realize that your channel wasn't demonetized, especially if you are earning so much. So sorry to hear that. Not good.

Starting point is 00:41:53 It's not good. I'll tell you that much. And I'm Janet. Just to be aware of time and switch to kind of more positive topic, I like to ask kind of lighter questions. What are some of your hobbies or what is it that you enjoy? how you do in your free time? Well, I, something that I feel like is important as a human, of course, but also especially as an entrepreneur, is exercise. You know, I feel like you just need a physical

Starting point is 00:42:22 release, you know, because there's so much, you know, as an entrepreneur, your brain is always going. There's no off-switch. There's no clocking in or out. You know, I always say, I don't work a whole ton. Like, I don't work like 40 hours a week. But the brain works like a million hours a week. I'm always thinking about business, even if I'm not actually working. So for me, I like to decompress. I do like a hot yoga sculpt five times a week. So I like to do that. In fact, when we're done recording this, I'm going to be off to a hot yoga sculpt class right after. I like to bake it into the middle of my day. So I work a little in the morning. Then I go have a nice workout session and then I work a little in the afternoon.

Starting point is 00:43:04 And so that's kind of how I like to balance my day. So that is definitely one of my big things that I like to commit to. I actually really like it, not that I would do yoga, but I also like to kind of work, nothing against the yoga, but to work in the morning, they'll have some kind of exercise and continue working afterwards because I feel like it's a great switch or great break between and it helps to come back. Right. It's so hard.

Starting point is 00:43:30 Who just wants to work throughout the day? You know, it's tough. You know, I know everyone preaches and like every guru will be like, work out first thing in the morning, then you're done. It's like, but I know, that's like my, that's like my break is working out. Like, it may be hard, but it's still like my mental and like physical. It's my break. So I love, I love working out around like 11 or 12, you know, in the morning or early afternoon. That's my favorite.

Starting point is 00:43:55 Same. And do you and Janet read any books or maybe you've got any like, impactful or recommendation that you read before, can you share some of your favorite ones? So what's really interesting is, you know, I used to read business books all of the time. And what I found over the last couple years, again, with that business brain always working, you know, I found that reading business books, great thing. I would never say don't do it. But for me personally, in order to like shut off the monkey mind and the noise is at night, I now all. only read fiction books.

Starting point is 00:44:34 So I like to read every night. I crawl in a bed and I read anything but business. So, well, I don't have any like amazing business book recommendations for you that are current. I do, you know, I love to just read fiction every night. I find it's a really good way to also get the concentration outside of myself and my life and my business and just into doing something pleasurable before going to bed. I think it's totally understandable.

Starting point is 00:45:01 And what are then some of your favorite? fiction once. Okay. Well, I just read a book that I guess came out a few years ago called The Last Mrs. Parrish. You know, it's like a very girly, like, con woman cut a box. I know, I really, I loved it. That was a great one. And it's a series, so I read that.

Starting point is 00:45:19 I read the Housemade series. I really like. You know, I kind of, you know, when I was kind of like trending in fiction, I try to pick up. And most of the times, I enjoy it. Okay. Yeah, yeah. And then, I'm Janet. Can you summarize where people can find you, follow you, and promote once again any of your services and upwind workshop? Absolutely. Well, the easiest way to find me is on LinkedIn. My DMs are always open. You know, if you need help with your LinkedIn profile, I do offer a free 10 minute profile fix that you can instantly download. That's on my, on my LinkedIn that you can find. But if you're watching this and you really are like, I need to learn how to land clients on LinkedIn. I need clients now, not, oh, post and get clients six months from now. You know, absolutely check out my how to land clients on LinkedIn. in workshop. It's one hour.

Starting point is 00:46:13 It's only $97. You know, I wanted to be accessible to everyone and it will absolutely change your client acquisition strategy. So check that out for sure. I would assume that by now people have signed up already or I hope they did. I will say. I hope so. I get my DMs. My email is always open for anyone that has any questions about it or anything. I'm always here to help. As always, I will add any links to the Don't. And Janet, something I would like to ask is, what is your favorite pizza? Ooh, my favorite pizza. That's a great question. Okay. So let's see, can I, can I give,

Starting point is 00:46:55 can I give, can I give two favorite pizzas? Okay. So I think like my old school favorite is like pepperoni, all black olives and mushroom. That's like, like, that's like a really solid go to. And then If I'm feeling like a certain type of way, like a little spicy, I like a jalapeno and pineapple pizza, which I know pineapple is a very triggering topic. Very triggering. I think I would hope it's really suffer with two. All right. So those are my two favorite pizza. But interesting picks for sure.

Starting point is 00:47:31 What's yours? I said that because I really struggle with spicy and I really like pizza. But if it's spicy, I feel like that it kind of. hurts the experience because I just cannot handle spicy. But that's actually a good question. I'm not that picky as long as it's not spicy, I would say. Oh, okay. Got it.

Starting point is 00:47:53 I love it. I'm probably quite easy personally when it comes to pizza. But I love pizza. I don't get me wrong. I love pizza too. And one more question, something that I would regret not asking you, because you've got, of course, interesting bio on your LinkedIn And something that stood out to me, and I wanted to ask you, is that one of the clients that you worked with, if I'm not mistaken, is Liver King.

Starting point is 00:48:19 Is it Cora? Oh, yes, yes. Yes. Yes, I worked. Yeah, I worked with the ancestral supplements line. I was not hired by Liver King himself. I don't know him. You know, we've never met, but one of his agency he works with contracted with me. So, yes, I wrote landing pages for ancestral supplements. Yes, that's one of my. one of my friends. It just stood out to me because I somehow follow like a fitness and this.

Starting point is 00:48:46 Of course I came across him interesting persons. I was like Oh, did you should work with a liver king or is a different company? No, no, no. It's the same liver king. I can't say I've ever had the pleasure of meeting him or being in his orbit.

Starting point is 00:49:03 Just I only worked as a contractor to write it. So then and Janet, very last question. Is there anything I should have asked you and did not, or any final message or anything that you would like to live with the audience? Yes. Here we go. Let's think. For anyone listening, and I need to hear this myself, you know, I find if there's anything that I can contribute on a wider scale, it would be to normalize failure.

Starting point is 00:49:34 You know, again, social media and so many things. things were so poised to be like posting our wins or racking up wins. And yes, we want to do that. But just, I think it's so important to remember that failure is part of the process. And it's so hard and it's so annoying. And it's so like not a place anyone wants to be in. But sadly, you know, failure is part of the equation. If you're a freelancer, service provider, business, you know, entrepreneur, you know, you can't do any of these things without failing. So, you know, I don't want to say embrace your failures because they suck. You know,

Starting point is 00:50:06 and wants to embrace a failure. But just accept failure as inevitable. And use it as a data point and just keep moving on because failure is going to happen, but you're not going to win if you don't fail. I would say if you're not getting rejected, you're not putting yourself out there enough. So make sure, you know, to just accept failure as part of the game, normalize it, and you'll feel the sting less and get to the wins faster. I agree and I think it's a great point because don't forget that even the most successful ones or the people that are way ahead of you, everyone experienced that it's natural. It's normal. It sucks, but it's part of the process.

Starting point is 00:50:49 Part of the process. Absolutely. Then I'm Janet. I think we can finish it. I want to say a huge thank you. It was actually first recording of this year. So I think it's a great start. I really enjoyed it. I love the positive vibes and just your mood and atmosphere. It was very enjoyable for me. I'll keep following and supporting. We're excited both for your start on X and on YouTube in the future. So thank you for time and keep doing the great work. So thank you very much.

Starting point is 00:51:22 Thank you so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you again. Thanks for listening to Produce by with Tomlin. Check the show notes for all the links. And don't forget to subscribe, like. and share your feedback. Speak soon.

Produced By - Turning LinkedIn Into a Client Engine: Beyond Likes and Visibility | 138: Anjeanette Carter

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