Why LinkedIn is Crucial for Entrepreneurs

How many of you have mixed feelings about social media, especially professionally?

So many people are apprehensive about virtually connecting with others, and that is definitely valid. So many platforms are beneficial for visibility but are not always the best way to grow as an entrepreneur on a deeper level.

There is a way though to be professional while social networking to boost your entrepreneurial game: Linkedin!

As an entrepreneur and an AMSE premium member, I have made so many great connections through this community. After attending group sessions, guest speaker events, panels, conferences, or one of the other amazing networking opportunities provided - Linkedin is where it’s at!

Why Linkedin as an Entrepreneur?

Virtual Resume - LinkedIn is literally a virtual resume with your account acting as your professional profile. There are so many ways to do this! 

• Introducing yourself in the Intro 

• Standing out from the crowd with a strong About section

• Did you want to showcase an article you wrote or a compelling post you shared? Add it under Featured

• Add your Background just like you would in a typed out formal resume 

• Show off by adding specific skills that make you stand out in the Skills section

• Let people know about your achievements by sharing in the Accomplishments

• Additional Information includes topics for contacting and requests for recommendations 

Courses if you Go Premium - As entrepreneurs, it is so important to not only keep up relevant certifications but also make it evident that you are a lifelong learner.

This shows interested partners and investors that you care about your professional growth along with your business or organization. Courses range from resume building to How to lead your team, and so much more! 

• Some of my favorites:

  1. Giving Your Elevator Pitch

  2. Entrepreneurship Foundations

  3. Managing Your Small Business 

Highlight Your Professional and Volunteer Experiences - Does this sound familiar to you? Yes! Also, very similar to an everyday resume.

One of my favorite parts of this section is how you can add these experiences and also link them to the actual business or organization. This helps direct viewers and potential networkers directly to your professional portfolio.

Connect Easily and Professionally - Did you attend an AMSE workspace event and want to network with one of the members you connected with over Remo? Fear not, find them on LinkedIn.

It’s so simple to continue the networking process after an event because LinkedIn allows you to easily connect with those people and learn more about them and ways you can work together. An entrepreneur's dream! 

A Social Networking Opportunity - As mentioned above, networking is so accessible on LinkedIn.

AMSE gives us all the tools to start, maintain, and grow our business. This community also gives us the opportunities to connect. All you have to do now, after an AMSE event or a great conversation with a member on Slack, is connect on LinkedIn. Make sure your profile is up to date, just like a resume, in addition to treating it like a professional social media account. This allows people to connect with you professionally while getting a feel for what and who the brand is all about.

With AMSE and Linkedin in your toolkit as an entrepreneur, the journey will be an incredibly rewarding one!

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Premium Membership is where it’s at!

✨ Group Coaching every month, with the opportunity to be an AMSE Group Coach yourself!

✨ Discount in the AMSE Shop!

✨ A FREE 20-second snippet on our official podcast, Owning Up, to promote your business!

Learn more about Premium membership and sign up here!

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My name is Christina – Army wife, boy mom x 2, former full-time educator turned homeschooling teacher, lifestyle blogger, and military spouse entrepreneur. It’s a Military Life is a lifestyle blog for everyday military life – sharing lifestyle content, personal stories, collaboration opportunities, and military child resources. We are a supportive milso and vet networking community! My passion is writing about and for the military community, and it is such an amazing opportunity and a great honor to be an AMSE writer! Find me on Facebook (@itsamilitarylife & @christinaetchberger), Instagram (@itsamilitarylife, @itsamilitarychildlife & @christina_etchberger), and Twitter(@itsamil_life).

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How to Use Clubhouse to Expand Your Network

Are you on Clubhouse yet?

It is an audio-only platform established in 2020 that makes it relatively easy for you to showcase your expertise, become known in your field, and expand your network of peers and dream clients. With only 10 million members, compared with 689 million on TikTok, 740 million on LinkedIn, 1 billion on Instagram, and 2.85 billion on Facebook, and rooms divided by topics, it’s easier to get people to recognize your name. This is your opportunity to be real, authentic, and in the moment, without the pressure of video.

Whether you have yet to join, or you’re already in but not yet maximizing the platform, these three tips offered by resident AMSE Clubhouse expert Amie Glazier will help you get on your way to becoming a superuser. Be sure to check out the replay of her masterclass “The Ins & Outs of Clubhouse” to learn more about these tips and deep dive into more Clubhouse features and practices.

CHOOSE A DISTINCTIVE PROFILE PHOTO

When Amie introduces herself, she gives her name and references the blue and white polkadot dress she’s wearing. This helps people navigate the room and encourages them to click through to her bio to learn more about her. Make sure you choose a photo you like because it’s better not to change it once people start to recognize it.

CAREFULLY CRAFT YOUR BIO

Your Clubhouse bio is key to finding people that care about the same things you do, helping them find you, and then letting them know how to connect with you more. Self-promotion is discouraged when speaking in a Clubhouse room, but other people in the room are likely to tap on your image to see your bio when you’re speaking. Your bio is a blank slate where you can promote away, letting people know about your brand, what you’re offering, and where they can find you.

Keywords listed in your bio help you show up in a search. For example, if you’re interested in connecting with other military spouses, putting “military spouse” in your bio is important to help searchers find you. And, that’s how you can find your people. You can also ping people to join a room by using keywords. That can help you invite people to your rooms, and if you include the words in your bio, you’ll get a notice when people are discussing topics of interest to you.

Amie’s bio (@amieglazier) is a great example to follow if you’re looking for inspiration. She prominently places important keywords and uses friendly formatting with plenty of emojis.

Elements she includes are:

●      Overarching titles of what she does professionally

●      Military Spouse Entrepreneur (keywords!)

●      Statement of credibility helping people trust what she has to say

●      Where and when people can find rooms she hosts on Clubhouse

●      An ask to connect on a project she’s working on

●      A promo for her business along with the social handle and website

●      A promo for the AMSE chapter she leads along with the email address and website

●      How to connect with her including her email address and where to find her on LinkedIn and Instagram

●      How to engage with her on Clubhouse including rooms to ping her about and topics she’s happy to co-moderate

●      A short bio about her

Your bio will definitely look different depending on your needs, priorities, and affiliations, but Amie’s well-rounded example can offer you ideas of what’s possible.

SPEAK UP

Clubhouse is designed for you to join a room as you’re going about life so it’s easy to be a passive participant. However, if you want to expand your network by building your personal and business brand, raise your hand to be invited on stage. This is a huge difference between Clubhouse and a podcast. You get to participate in the conversation and moderators are usually pretty methodical about letting those up on stage know when it’s their turn to speak. You’ll have the opportunity to ask a question or share a tip.

If you speak regularly on a topic, moderators and participants will start to remember you. If people like what you say, they’ll follow you and check out your bio. Moderators may even ping you into a room when they have a question about your area of expertise. Amie says, “Speak up in every single room you’re in when you have something relevant to say. You have a voice. You have valuable gems to add to a room.”

These are some ways to use Clubhouse to expand your network for your personal and professional brands.

Tune into the masterclass to learn even more about how to get set up on Clubhouse and little nuances you may not know about yet.  If you’re not a member of Clubhouse yet, ask in our AMSE Slack for an invite!

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Premium Membership is where it’s at!

✨ Group Coaching every month, with the opportunity to be an AMSE Group Coach yourself!

✨ Discount in the AMSE Shop!

✨ A FREE 20-second snippet on our official podcast, Owning Up, to promote your business!

Learn more about Premium membership and sign up here!

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For over 20 years, Kimberly Bacso has driven organizational success by leading educational and wellness initiatives. Highly skilled in creating digital content strategies, she’s grown communities with word-of-mouth, grassroots approach. She is a proud U.S. military spouse who has founded thriving brands, transformed struggling outreach efforts, and catalyzed a group of 150+ writers from the ground up within the health and wellness space. She is the managing editor of Legacy Magazine and an experienced registered yoga teacher. When she’s not working, you can find her trying new plant-based recipes or traveling off the beaten path with her husband and teenage daughter. 

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Support For Entrepreneurs - an Interview with Elizabeth Gore From Hello Alice

One important way to grow as a military spouse entrepreneur is to learn from other successful entrepreneurs. We’re especially lucky to hear from Elizabeth Gore, the Co-Founder and President of Hello Alice because she is in the business of supporting entrepreneurs. 

Hello Alice helps business owners launch and grow. They are a free resource that connects entrepreneurs to capital, resources, and networks. Their goal is to ensure all entrepreneurs, especially those in the military-connected community, have an opportunity to meet their visions.

Elizabeth worked with the United Nations for a decade before jumping into tech. She saw that when individuals had the ability to start their own businesses, no matter how small, they were able to change their lives and impact their communities. That observation inspired her to help as many people, especially women, start their own businesses through Hello Alice. 

Looking back at when she first started as an entrepreneur, Elizabeth wishes that she would have trusted herself to make decisions faster. From a technical standpoint, she wishes that she would have understood more about finance and accounting. 

Many entrepreneurs reach a point when it’s difficult to keep going due to burnout or setbacks. We have to find the one thing that keeps us going. For Elizabeth, that spark comes from Hello Alice’s community of business owners. Those entrepreneurs work hard in their companies, and their work inspires Elizabeth to work even harder. She shares, “My long-term career goal is to ensure my family is financially sound while making an impact. The two stinkers that are my kids motivate me to push forward.” 

The Hello Alice team and community believe that communication is more critical than ever in a virtual world. To foster connection, Elizabeth encourages a mashup of older practices and new technology. She says, “I push our team to go old school and pick up the phone more. We are big fans of Slack instead of email.”

Hello Alice partners with AMSE because Elizabeth is the proud daughter of a U.S. Air Force veteran turned entrepreneur.

“Military families are near and dear to my heart,” she states. Hello Alice has a special interest in supporting military-connected entrepreneurs, so partnering with AMSE was a natural fit. She further explains, “Developing a partnership with AMSE seemed like a great opportunity to broaden our reach with the military spouse community and provide the tools and resources for these founders to succeed.” Hello Alice values this partnership because AMSE “provides valuable insight on the needs of veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs.”

Elizabeth’s advice for military spouse entrepreneurs is, “Go for it! No matter where you are in the world because we live in a digitally connected time, launch and grow your business!” She also encourages entrepreneurs struggling during COVID-19 to find support at www.covid19businesscenter.com. 

If you’re looking to cut down on the noise so you can focus on what’s important to your business, be sure to set up your free account with Hello Alice. You’ll answer a few questions about yourself and your business to set up a personalized experience. Then you can plug into informative guides, location-based ecosystems, or supportive communities where you can find your people. You’ll even have opportunities to apply for grants. 

What do you wish you would have known when you started your business? What inspires you to keep going?

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As an AMSE member, you receive support not only from Moni and Flossie - there is an entire community of milspouse entrepreneurs here to cheer you on, offer advice, and collaborate with you to build your business. To learn more about membership and how to get started, please follow this link!

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For over 20 years, Kimberly Bacso has driven organizational success by leading educational and wellness initiatives. Highly skilled in creating digital content strategies, she’s grown communities with word-of-mouth, grassroots approach. She is a proud U.S. military spouse who has founded thriving brands, transformed struggling outreach efforts, and catalyzed a group of 150+ writers from the ground up within the health and wellness space. She is the managing editor of Legacy Magazine and an experienced registered yoga teacher. When she’s not working, you can find her trying new plant-based recipes or traveling off the beaten path with her husband and teenage daughter. 

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