No those are not typos in the title.

“Ramen and fried chicken and tea” says the sign outside a restaurant in my town.

Odd combination. Can they do two or all three well? Many struggle to perfect just one, witnessing the revolving door of eating establishments in my town. Some last, as this one has. They must be doing something right!

Other restaurants are barely open a year, only to shutter. Another family savings were blown away.

I had 2 businesses earlier in my entrepreneurial career. I started out in credit card acquiring, (signing up merchants to get better rates and the requisite customer service).

Then…

The reason I started being a LinkedIn coach and trainer, more of an evolution than a ceremonious new shingle hung, not quite both at the same time, was that the personal brand marketing I learned in credit card processing became another way to attract and add to that clientele. They were enticed by better rates and quality but I made my reputation part of my brand. And I realized I really liked helping other professionals tell how they are amazing-er but they just needed TLC and a nudge to do their better, to shine.

So another career path was born.

But, and a big but…to explain this duality on LinkedIn required an over-arching common denominator for my dual branding: my client-centricity.

I treated them as I wanted to be treated by my service providers, which honestly, was, and still is, pretty poor. Low-hanging fruit? No, not really, I had to prove my branding commitment every day. That’s not easy, especially when you have to go to bat for the client against, or I should say, alongside, the credit card processor who did not always excel. And along the way I changed processors and other ancillary services to represent until I had the best-in-class cohesive team of offerings.

Then I authored a book about LinkedIn for lawyers and other professionals, with special attention to those who have more than one concurrent business in more than one industry.

My Chapter 6 starts with (and I reinforce this theme throughout the other 43):

Beyond evangelizing on LinkedIn, another aim that I have in writing this book…is to assist:

• Those with dual designations (attorneys with a CPA, other law school-trained professionals who no longer practice the law, but work in other industries, etc.).
Other multipreneurs, like me and so many I come across, for whom life’s journey has them engaged in multiple business areas of interest, perhaps operating in more than one industry at a time.
• Those with a “side hustle,” perhaps just getting a consultancy started, or dabbling in new areas to see if there is a market and thus enough interest in paying them for the expertise being offered, along with their regular day job.
• The challenge: How do you clearly and concisely show the world WYDWYD when it’s challenging enough to express it for just one business, let alone two or more?

and I conclude the chapter with:

It may be hard to express your varied multipreneurial interests and that’s OK—in fact, it’s healthy. But you have to knit the yarns together somehow. Only you can do this well, but you may need some inspiration. Emulating the profiles of others with multiple business interests whom you think have a great profile, taking what I call “style notes,” can help you interpret their creative energy and that inspiration can be adapted to your profile to impress others: WYDWYD, with your own multipreneurship overlay, in your LinkedIn About and other sections as well. Just be yourself. As a benchmark, ask others in your entourage to review and offer edits and suggestions. Throughout, keep it aligned with your personality. Fully explain WYDWYD as many times as you have different business interests.

Combine them in a tightly wrapped package with a final WYDWYD thought, so the reader absorbs your combined point of view once more. You must be realistic: multipreneurship may be confusing to some. Make all your comments clear, in your own voice, repeated in diverse ways in different sections for best coverage of your career narrative.

Enough about me. What about you? Do you have dual roles in diverse industries? How do you forge the perception gap?

What over-arching common denominator do you use to make prospects scanning your LinkedIn profile “get” what you do, against the common misperception that you can only do one thing really well, and anything more than that dilutes your brand reputation?