Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

September Pop Culture Round Up

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With less than 40 days to the election, I don’t know about you but I can’t focus on much besides reality TV and a few podcasts. I did manage to read a book this month, and found some time to decompress with some beautiful people behaving badly…Oh and saw Green Day with my husband on a school night!

Reading

I don’t have a ton of extra time right now, and I can’t focus on much these days but I did find a bit of time over Labor Day to enjoy some time in the backyard reading a book. Very Bad Company was a perfect end of summer read if you like bad people behaving badly. A corporate retreat in Miami leaves one of the executive team members of a tech startup found dead. Each chapter is from a different employee’s point of view which is a story writing style that I often find I enjoy. It was clever, fun, and a great weekend distraction.

Listening

Leah Sottile, my favorite journalist, has a new podcast out called Hush produced by OPB. It’s about a man in Salem, Oregon who was wrongfully sentenced for a murder in the 90’s and then magically had his sentence over turned and he was released a couple of years ago. It has some great twists and turns so far!

At the end of September Think Out Loud did a series on Hanford. You may remember I read The Cassandra this summer which takes place during the height of the Manhattan Project at Hanford, and with my husband’s family from the area I am always fascinating by this. Each interview is about something different, from the past to the present and the future of the region. Speaking of, my incredible grandfather (in-law, but he was absolutely the best grandpa I ever had!) passed away earlier this month at 100 years old. He worked at Hanford until he retired and then he lead tours of the B Reactor for years. I am sad I never got to take a tour with him.

I’m still loving The Wirecutter Show, and the new host of What A Day, although they’re futzing with the format and I hope the settle on it soon. Also, if you liked the Scamanda podcast I recommended a year or two ago, I didn’t realize it was becoming a show on ABC/Hulu until I saw the trailer on You Tube the other day!

Watching

What’s better than the return of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City? A lot of things, but it’s making me happy to have these good time girls back on my TV. I binged right through The Perfect Couple on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and loved all the twists and turns, it was exactly the kind of weekend “beautiful people behaving bad” story I needed.

Multiple people recommended Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter and holy cow it did NOT disappoint. I don’t always love true crime, but this one goes in so many twists and turns you couldn’t have expected. It’s only 2 episodes (about 90 min each) – it was perfect for a plane ride distraction over the weekend.

I finally started Only Murders in the Building and the abundance of riches in the guest stars is ridiculous, and exactly why this show is so fun. I also started English Teacher and I did not expect it to be as hilarious and raunchy as it is – highly recommend (if that’s your thing.)

What pop culture is keeping you going this month? Anything coming up soon that you’re excited for? I’m hoping to watch Nobody Wants This and Will & Harper in the next couple of weeks, and I’m excited to read the new Rumaan Alam and Lianne Moriarty after November 5th, oh and the 50th season of SNL!

Back to Business on LinkedIn!

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Today’s guest post is from my friend and favorite LinkedIn Expert – Karen Rosenzweig of One Smart Cookie Marketing. Karen is THE PERSON for all your LinkedIn and social media questions. You may still be wearing yoga pants to the home office, but it’s time to spruce up your LinkedIn profile this fall my friends…

back to business on linkedinSeptember has arrived, which means back to school time – and back to business time! The summer is behind us and it’s time to set some solid business intentions to earn you more visibility and more money.

A great place to start is reviewing your presence on LinkedIn, the world’s largest business social network with 675 million members. This is a place to be found, look good, and get business done, so here are my top tips to do just that.

Be Found

Before any of the magic can happen, you need to be “found” on LinkedIn. This happens via introductions from your connections, LinkedIn searches, and clicks from the news feed. To be sure you maximize your visibility here, it’s time to freshen up your LinkedIn profile.

  • Revisit your “headline” which may just be your job title now – but consider boosting its effectiveness by creating a keyword-laden headline (search friendly) or a benefit statement headline (what people experience when they work with you). Here’s an easy article to get you started with that.
  • Be sure you have “keywords” throughout your profile for the areas you want to be found for – realtor, Portland, first-time home buyers, small business owners, etc. Be sure those words are in your headline, about section, job experiences, and recommendations to give you maximum “findability”.

Look Good

If you’re lucky enough that someone finds your profile, make sure you look like the amazing business professional you are! Your profile needs to be current, interesting, compelling, and demonstrate how you can help your target audience.

  • Your “about” section is similar to a cover letter that accompanies your resume. More than 50% of people on LinkedIn don’t have an About section now and that’s simply crazy! You don’t want to be judged solely on the jobs you list in your profile (right?) so here’s where you craft a compelling and valuable narrative. Tell your story and earn their business! Check out this article with an easy-to-follow structure for your About section.
  • If you searched for someone on LinkedIn and found two good candidates – one with 14 recommendations and one with 0 recommendations, which would you click on first? It’s time to get that social proof on your profile, so invite your 1st degree connections to write you a recommendation – and perhaps start the party off by writing them one first.

Get Business

Do you sometimes feel like you are the best kept secret in your industry? You can change that dynamic in a hurry by creating a strategic plan to share your great content and engage with others so you show up on their profiles. You must do something to stay top of mind with your connections and establish yourself as the trusted resource in your field.

  • Posting regular “status updates” (original or shared) on LinkedIn allows you to demonstrate your expertise and add value to other businesses. Taking it a notch up by writing LinkedIn Articles – which are essentially longer form blog posts – that allow you to show your knowledge, provide insights, and establish yourself as a go-to person in your field.
  • “Liking” other people’s posts is a fine strategy but a much better one is to actually comment on their posts. When you comment, you leave your name, photo, and headline on that post, allowing others to notice you and perhaps click over to your profile (especially if you have a snappy headline!) It’s like dropping little business cards all over LinkedIn, but not in a cheesy way – because you are adding smart, insightful comments, not trying to sell anyone.

There you have it, an easy game plan for the fall (I can’t wait for football!) to boost your visibility and credibility on the world’s largest business social platform. It’s a strategy that has worked for thousands of business professionals so give it a shot and let me know what magic happens!

For those that need a little boost to get started, I invite you to check out my LinkedIn Reality Check service ($97) – a full written evaluation of your LinkedIn profile along with a 30-minute Zoom call with me to review the feedback and get your questions answered.  I look forward to working with you soon!

About Karen

Karen Rosenzweig is a marketing consultant, social media coach and trainer, author, and owner of One Smart Cookie Marketing. She has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owners increase their customer base and gain visibility through Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging and other social media tools.
Her coaching program allows her to act as “training wheels” for a business, teaching them how to authentically and successfully manage their own social media.

She is a fun and dynamic speaker and presents engaging workshops to audiences eager to learn how to leverage social media tools to make more money in their business.

March Pop Culture Round Up

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March 2020 Pop Culture Round UpWell if you didn’t think you needed a dose of pop culture distraction before…

I hope you are doing well, staying safe and washing your hands CONSTANTLY. I am so grateful for the distractions of pop culture right now. From reading outside while the dogs run around to insane Netflix docuseries and podcasts on my dog walks, we will get through this social distancing with great pop culture. Instead of 3 more reasons to do some marketing tasks during COVID-19 in my March newsletter I gave a Top 10 list of my favorite pop culture distractions. If you missed it, check out my list here. (Also you should subscribe to my newsletter if you don’t already!) If you already blew through my first set of recommendations, here’s a few more to get you started on another month of stay home stay safe.

Reading

I am finally making strides with The Starless Sea and will finish it before I’m out of quarantine! I tend to read outside when the weather is nice and since the sun returns soon, I am hopeful I’ll finish this book!

I was chatting with a friend last week and she mentioned we should start a pandemic book club. Since we were messaging through Instagram we decided to make it an Instagram book club. I had a stack of books to read so sent her my stack and she picked one that sounded interesting to her and so now about 10 of my friends from all walks of life are going to read Inheritance by Dani Shapiro for a book club. If you’re on Instagram message me (@ejcase) to join the club!

I am of course reading a lot of news every day as well, and trying to focus on the news specifically in Oregon and Hillsboro/Washington County. And by the evening I try to unplug from social media so I can sleep at night.

Listening

God Bless Podcasts. And the new Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga songs!

When I mentioned Inheritance was my pandemic book club pick, a friend messaged and asked if I listen to her podcast – Family Secrets. I do now! Holy crap it’s great! I’ve only listened to two episodes but it’s crazy and exactly the kind of thing I love.

I had mentioned sports podcasts in my newsletter and I finally listened to an episode of Hall of Shame. It’s fun – two friends talking about some crazy sports story from history. I recommend it if you like sports or really ridiculous stories.

Watching

In response to my March newsletter a friend responded and asked if I have watched McMillion$ on HBO yet. I saw it when it first came out and thought it might be better binged. I was right – this show is crazy. It’s all about how the McDonald’s monopoly games were rigged! It’s was GREAT!

The other day an ad came across my Twitter feed for Tiger King on Netflix. It checks all my favorite boxes – docuseries, cults, polygamy. It is AMAZING. I am so sad it’s only 7 episodes. Just when you think it’s unbelievable they cut to the local tv news clip confirming it. If you haven’t watched it yet, jump on it so you know what the rest of us are talking about.

This weekend I vegged out and finally watched Booksmart on Hulu. It’s about 2 “booksmart” girls on their last night of high school who finally go to a party and do all the wild things they never did in high school. I had tears rolling down my eyes I was laughing so hard. Olivia Wilde directed it and there’s a variety of SNL and other fun adults in the movie.

I am so thankful for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist – it’s the exact kind of light hearted show we need right now. I find at this time that watching really deep and heavy TV is hard. I’m glad we finished The Outsider and The Morning Show when we did. They’re too heavy for quarantine (for me anyway).

My friend suggested Self Made on Netflix which will be up shortly in our queue. And I may finally finish Locke & Key. A friend also mentioned that they finally got Hulu and finished Veronica Mars. If you never watched this series, this would be a GREAT time to watch a young snarky Kristin Bell as amateur PI show. I promise.

What pandemic pop culture is helping to get you through everything going on right now?