A New Era, Old Tricks - wanna stick around for the next chapter?

Hi friends,

I’m back – did you miss my EOW updates in your inbox? 😇

Well, here we go. I’ve decided to take everything I learned from my 100-day sprint and apply it to amplify my current work (this renaming it to The Rainmaker Report).

Speaking is still happening – it’s fun, energizing, and continues to open cool doors. But let’s be honest: it’s not (yet?) big enough to be my one and only. If you joined this list just for speaking updates, I get it if you want to bow out here. No hard feelings.

I got all of my work organically & informally through my existing network and there has not been much method to that madness :). So I decided to take my independent consulting work up a notch and turn it into a revenue agency. 

What’s a revenue agency?

Glad you asked. In my own words:

I help businesses generate, capture, and optimize revenue – across the full sales and marketing funnel.
Not just advising. Doing. Rolling up sleeves. Delivering outcomes. Leads, pipeline, closed revenue - I am experimenting to nail down my niche.

Why not just get a full-time job again?

Great question. Three reasons:

1. Better for my clients. I work across companies and industries, which lets me cross-pollinate ideas and accelerate learnings.

2. Better for their budgets. Many of my clients can’t (or shouldn’t) hire full-time. But a smart slice of senior capacity? Game-changing.

3. Better for me. I’m building something of my own. And as I keep reminding myself:
   “You can have anything you want if you help enough people get what they want.”

What do I help with? B2B growth. Simple as that.

What to expect in your inbox?

Each week I’ll send you:

• 1 lesson I learned (or re-learned) from client work or running my own business

• 1 challenge to help you take smart, slightly bolder action – because bold and strategic is how growth actually happens

What problem are we solving (quotes): 

“I don’t have much time left to prove that opening this market makes sense, I need to demonstrate some traction.”  

“I need to grow my network and online/ LInkedin is the best and fastest way to do it.” 

“We need to generate pipeline as we are not on track to make our Q2 numbers.” 

What didn’t work - if it doesn’t work, don’t automate it yet.

Use a tool like phantombuster and send out 10 LI connections a day for 10 days straight, either without the note or with a generic or a clearly AI-personalized message.

This IS a legit strategy and some people have great success with it.

But if the connection accept rate is <5%, we need to go one step back.

What we did instead

Why are people accepting connection requests?

Because they think they can gain some value out of doing so. —> What makes people think so?

If they think you are at least 2/3 hip

• Helpful

• Important

• Pleasant

P being the easiest to demonstrate, and I being the strongest on its own.

1. —> LI profile customized to look attractive to the type of people you want to connect with

• clearly spelled out value proposition - what can you help with

• using industry lingo (yes in this case, jargon can actually be a good thing, signaling you are insider)

• past relevant customer references

• some personal element, making you sound like a person who is pleasant & fun to connect with

• and yes, clear, well-lit, smiling headshot (AI headshots can help too)

Now we can start sending out a few new connections a day and see if the profile speaks for itself.

Additionally to it, we want to cut through the noise by

2. —> Establishing familiarity before the connection.

Initially selecting 10 ideal people he’d like to get in touch with and following them to comment on any of their updates. 

If you are using LSN this can be done at-scale with 100s of potential clients there by creating a lead lists and reviewing the curated timeline there. 

Extra bonus points for being the first to comment on such a profile.

This week’s challenge – pick ONE:

✨ Option 1: Refresh your LinkedIn profile
Remember when I first added “Speaker” to my headline? I was trembling. Thought the whole internet would laugh. (They didn’t.)
Now it’s your turn. Add one tiny update. Mention a side project. Tweak your headline.
And if you want help with your “About” section? Speak – not type – into ChatGPT like it’s your coach.

But do something small asap. 

It will break the inertia. And from a small update you can start to iterate up to something greater.

✨ Option 2: Reach out to someone aspirational
Pick one person you admire.
Now: how are you going to get in front of them?
(Not with a cringe DM, please.)
Maybe you comment on their posts for a week. Maybe you respond to their newsletter. But pick a path. And take the first step.

**

If this email inspired you to take an action, I want to know.

Drop me a line so that I know this late-night scribbling helped someone <3.

That’s it for this week. Onwards from here!

Katka