"It's a foreign language to me"

I meet a lot of clients of varying levels of “texpertise” (no, I didn’t make that word up!).

Some I have to teach to copy and paste to get going. Some are waaaaay ahead of me, and everything, and I mean everything, in between.

For the newbies who sit down to their first LinkedIn profile, screens, I liken this to learning a new language.

Or like when you first sat down to Word, Excel, Powerpoint.

Yikes! Where to start? How to launch ahead? Why won’t it do what I want? And that tearful moment, “What the $%#@&^ happened to that {document, spreadsheet, deck, profile section} that just disappeared?”

I’ve done it myself. We all have to start somewhere. And hacks are not helping you learn how to make {it} work for you.

And if you need help, how do even ask for it when you don’t know the name of the components of that program or platform? OIr how to contact them?

A client recently called to get guidance on how to resurrect his LinkedIn profile he somehow deleted. It can be done.

That’s why the LinkedIn gods created the Help function. And if that fails, you can ask really detailed question to them @LinkedInHelp on Twitter (I know–yes, on Twitter–can you believe it?)

No, there is no phone bank of LinkedIn gremlins taking your questions by phone.

Being befuddled is not bemusing. I am currently three 45-minute lessons into American Sign Language and It’s simultaneously fun and frustrating. When the teacher starts spelling words with her hands I just meltdown. I want to learn it. More like I want to awaken tomorrow fully fluent.

But that will not happen. I have to study, err, relearn, and practice. All the way to the Carnegie Hall of ASL.

It’s up to you to project a masterful LinkedIn persona, especially since all recognized business pros are expected to have a cogent, well executed, and updated LinkedIn personal profile, and company Page. And it’s really smart to keep up with its constancy of changes, new elements, changing best practices, new tips, and most of all, keep commenting to the LinkedIn world that you have thought leadership to share.

Even if you are portraying elementary ways, you will arise to become a master of the art, any language, program or platform.

Give it time. Open your mind. Be active and visible., Be relevant and always be amazing-er.