Why everyone needs a coach
Mar 07, 2024
Find Your Superpower newsletter 049
Read time: 7 minutes
Topics covered: Coaching, bootcamp launch, thought leadership on LinkedIn
I know mid-career professionals who have never once engaged a coach before.
How do I know?
I regularly get DMs from folks undergoing a career transition, or thinking of one, and I do my best to give them ideas, although I point out that I am not professionally trained to give career advice.
I suggest that they find a good and competent career coach (sometimes also called a life coach or executive coach) to help them navigate these important changes.
And in most cases, they tell me that this is a good idea and they had never tried, or thought of, engaging a coach before.
It really pains me that so many people bounce through their career as a series of random events, out of their control, instead of getting professional help as soon as possible.
I too went through a career transition in 2018, and with the help of an awesome executive coach, I was able to make the leap into entrepreneurship after 15 years as an academic scientist and assistant professor.
Get a (good) coach.
It could represent a tipping point for your career, where you unlock outsized returns that cannot be felt today.
The ROI may make sense to you only years or decades later.
You’re welcome.
The challenge of finding a good coach
There’s a common refrain that “everyone is a coach these days”.
I see a lot of cynicism and skepticism out there.
Frankly speaking, I am right there with you.
It is true that these days, fresh grads in their early 20s are fashioning themselves as life coaches. I sometimes wonder, are they ready to coach, or would it be better to gain more maturity, life experience and industry exposure before they coach others?
But then I think again: when I was 18 years old, the idea of being 25 felt like such a big and important age. If only there was someone to show me how to be an awesome 25-year-old young adult navigating the career ladder, and fight all of that unnecessary imposter syndrome before it rears its ugly head.
So I would like to reframe this as: there is a perfect coach for everyone, and while credentials matter, it is also about finding the right fit based on experience and world view.
When you find a match, you will know.
It is what you need and what works best for you, not what others tell you is right or wrong.
It has been nearly a year of LinkedIn coaching
In the entire 2021 and 2022, I conducted ONE LinkedIn corporate training session per year. And they were for my long-time clients who asked me to give them some tips on how to use LinkedIn better.
I cobbled together some slides and taught them everything I knew. I am still slightly embarrassed when I review my training decks circa 2021 and 2022.
The funny thing is, I have three of such trainings next week. And I was invited to talk to the LinkedIn APAC sales team about LinkedIn a few weeks ago.
How things change.
Before I started coaching others on how to use LinkedIn, I used LinkedIn for all sorts of reasons: creating professional brand recognition for myself, finding clients for my agency, mentoring people who DM me (I apologize if I do not get to reply to all of you these days), hiring amazing people, networking with industry leaders, making real-life friends, and learning from the top thought leaders in the world. In fact, lots of VIPs have responded kindly to my DMs over the years. That’s the sheer power of LinkedIn in creating access that didn’t use to exist.
Along the way, I also witnessed the most egregious mistakes made on LinkedIn, and given that I was a former academic lecturer, it was very easy for me to adapt my teaching skills to apply it on LinkedIn.
How can a LinkedIn coach help you
In general, my work falls into three buckets:
1. I help hard launch complete freshies on LinkedIn
Believe it or not, it is the easiest thing to do to hard launch complete freshies on LinkedIn, many of them CEOs, founders and solopreneurs.
I have helped LinkedIn lurkers get 100-200 likes per post within a couple of posts working with me.
In some cases, from the very first post.
Why? Because they have NO bad habits. Without any bad habits, it is supremely easy for me to show them how to do proper business storytelling and install in them from the start the correct mindset when using LinkedIn (focus on business outcomes, not likes).
Yes, the likes, comments and followers serve as validation that we are moving in the right direction, but they are not the main goal in itself.
In most cases, they just need a nudge to get started, and at this point, all I need to do is to inject in them a massive dose of courage and confidence. Thank God I do really well as a hype girl and cheerleader to others.
I love working with noobs.
As a coach, they make me so proud.
2. I help rehabilitate failing LinkedIn personas and mindsets
You might think that it is easier to coach people who have an active LinkedIn account and who have been posting actively for years.
Not always true.
In most cases, I come in to salvage flatlined (or falling!) follower growth, and posts that don’t seem to connect or engage.
Posts that get zero comments.
Posts that get 10-20 likes, mostly from the same people over and over again, which means that they are stuck in an echo chamber.
In some cases, this group requires a complete head transplant because:
- They may decide to blame the algorithm for their lack of success (but if Taylor Swift were a LinkedIn coach, she would advise them: “It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me!”)
- They are often obsessed with algorithm hacking, and wonder whether to post at 8:42 am or 9:47 am (hint: algorithm hacking can’t save a failed post)
- They have taken other courses, like those from Justin Welsh (whom I greatly respect), and end up sounding like a Justin Welsh clone without a unique voice
- They have tried all kinds of advice elsewhere, so they have preconceived notions of what would work and what would not work. As a result, they resist change, despite nothing working for them so far
That said, I relish in a challenge and I am always ready to prove that anyone can be rehabilitated.
Anyone can be helped.
If they are willing to learn and try something new, I am willing to teach.
And when I show them a sustainable, 100% organic, trend-proof, fad-proof path forward that will survive any kind of algorithm change, they are immensely grateful to me.
I don’t play trends, tricks, fads, or hacks.
I play the long game.
3. I help optimize successful LinkedIn accounts to achieve peak performance
This group represents the professional athletes of the LinkedIn world.
Some of them are Top Voices themselves, and others are gunning for Top Voice badges. I am privileged to coach active Top Voices, and also folks who later became Top Voices.
This group generally does well on LinkedIn, with >100 likes per post, and they’re now aiming for the next level.
For a hole in one. For a touch down.
This group represents a completely different challenge from hard launching and rehabbing, because here I am trying to unlock peak performance.
Peak performance requires world-class commitment and dedication to excellence, in both mindset and action.
It is with this group that studying the algorithm is the most useful (not the rehab group) because here, we can convert 300 likes to 500 likes with some minor tweaks as there are network effects we can tap on.
Key point to note: algorithm hacking will NEVER save a failed post because 10 likes to 15 likes isn’t going to help very much.
It is with this group that I really focus on niching down and getting their professional brand and voice to soar clearly and consistently above the noise on LinkedIn.
It is with this group that the MIT-trained scientist in me really shines and comes out in full gear.
I get supremely “wonky” and flex all of the editorial strategy training and experience I have built up helping MNC clients over the years.
It is with this group that I use both my left brain and right brain to the full potential.
But working with this group doesn’t come without its challenges.
This group also expects me to take them to win the Olympics, and so the expectations are incredibly high.
Bring it on, I say.
Would you like me to coach you next month?
I am pleased to announce the launch of Cohort 2 of my flagship Find Your Superpower bootcamp today!
During this six-week bootcamp, which will run from April 13 to May 24, you will receive:
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Weekly on-demand video lectures
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Weekly writing prompts and writing gyms
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Live Q&A sessions with instructors
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Fireside chats with VIP guest speakers
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Access to our community circles for peer feedback and learning
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Accountability and support from peers and two LinkedIn Top Voice instructors
One-third of the spots in the bootcamp were reserved in our 72h early-bird exclusive sale. In 72 hours.
You can still receive a 10% discount on a successful registration if you sign up by 28 March, or before the bootcamp sells out.
This March registration offer ends on 11:59 PM, 28 March 2024 (GMT+8)!
***VERY LIMITED SPOTS ONLY!***
PS: I look forward to working with you in 2024.
Best wishes,
Juliana xoxo
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Thanks for reading issue 049 of my weekly Find Your Superpower newsletter.
For those of you who are new to my newsletter, Find Your Superpower is subscribed to by 34,000+ people, and discusses the following three goals: (1) Making a career transition, (2) Professional branding on LinkedIn, and (3) Reinventing ourselves for the future of work.
Here’s how we can stay in touch:
1. Listen to my new podcast episode with The Woke Salaryman duo on the pros and cons of remote work: Spotify and Youtube
2. Enjoy the last two days of my International Women's Day sale. Buy both of my masterclasses at 38% off!
3. Waitlist for Cohort 2 of my six-week LinkedIn bootcamp here. One-third of the spots in the bootcamp were reserved in our 72h early-bird exclusive sale!