Why I make fun of myself on LinkedIn

I used to try really hard to be “professional” on LinkedIn.

I thought I had to impress people with fancy words and complicated ideas, because that’s how you’re supposed to act “at work,” right??

(and LinkedIn is “work,” I guess?)

But then I realized a few things that changed my mind about all that:

1. Like attracts like

To put it simply, the energy you put out into the world is the energy you’ll get back from the world.

If you’re an uptight, grouchy a-hole then guess what? You’ll find yourself surrounded with more grouchy, uptight a-holes 😇

And IDK about you, but I’m not a big fan of a-holes.

I like working with people who are smart, good at what they do, but also low-ego.

Not just because it’s more fun, but also because I can’t be successful working with people who let their giant ego get in the way of changing their approach to content.

So I made the conscious decision to add more humor to my posts, in particular to make fun of myself.

(I’m an easy target)

The strategy is simple:

I want to attract other people who can laugh at themselves, because those are also the people who are most coachable (which in turn means I can do my best work and deliver better results for them).

And also because I can’t stand people who won’t listen when you’re trying to help them 😅

2. People are smart

I’ll be blunt: people can tell in about 3 seconds whether you know your shit or not.

You can use all the big words you want, but if you don’t know what you’re talking about it will be immediately obvious.

And if you DO know it, that will still come through loud & clear even if you make jokes and write in a conversational tone.

My point is that you don’t need to use boring, stiff language to come across as “professional.”

If you know your shit, that will come through loud and clear.

The takeaway: Posting on LinkedIn like a normal human is a good idea 😊

It’s a lot more fun than writing like you’re writing a college application essay, and it’s also better for your growth.

So my advice is, loosen up.

Be yourself, have a little fun, and I’m 99.999% sure that you’ll get more out of LinkedIn!

PS - Here’s the part where I try to sell you something… if you want to work with me to grow on YouTube or LinkedIn, just reply to this email or set up a call here