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Abstract

t and create a personal brand. The word “brand” was the problem. It translated to me acting like I thought the world wanted me to be rather than being myself.</p><p id="7cc2">Personal branding is supposed to create this illusion that you are a certain way and you’re the high and mighty expert we’ve all been looking for to bless our careers. But we’re not commercial entities. We’re human beings searching for fulfillment and meaning in our lives.</p><p id="a3fb">Personal branding is a lie. It robs from those who are poor in attention and gives to those who are desperate for attention and will do anything for it.</p><p id="9c63">You don’t need a brand. Be yourself instead.</p><h1 id="1f31">Bad Mistake 4 — Arguing With Trolls</h1><p id="a212">I used to peruse the shopping aisles of the comments section, on the hunt for a bad egg who was knocking me.</p><p id="824d">I’d reply to their comment from a pedestal with an ego the size of Madonna. It got me nowhere. My friend Oleg Vishnepolsky changed my mind. He recommended to ‘like’ the comments from trolls and angry people and leave them a kind comment.</p><p id="2f76">It turns out that people appreciate humility and can make up their own minds about a comment without you having to plead your case or explain why you’re right.</p><p id="505d">None of us are right. There are no absolutes. Quality is subjective. Every argument has two sides. Freedom of speech is still free.</p><p id="4fe2">Instead of arguing with trolls, show them love. Give them a digital hug and move on.</p><h1 id="fa06">Bad Mistake 5 — Ignoring Direct Messages</h1><p id="9db8">In the early days, I ignored all direct messages. I justified this decision with the false belief that I was too busy and important to give a stranger the time of day. Responding to direct messages in the last eighteen months has changed all of that.</p><p id="2cd4">Some of the best stories I have shared and written about have come from direct messages. Some of my closest friends and even customers have come from direct messages. None of us are too busy to engage with a message or two or show a stranger some love.</p><p id="b56f">Give a tiny bit of yourself through direct messages. Become an indirect mentor through direct messages, and share a strategy or two that has helped you.</p><p id="606a">You owe it to the world to be kind to strangers on LinkedIn.</p><h1 id="03a5">Bad Mistake 6 — Taking Selfies</h1><p id="f50f">The least performing posts without fail have been selfies, followed by useless posts announcing that I’m at an event.</p><p id="837b">I thought people cared if I was a VIP or guest speaker at an event. It turns out they couldn’t care less. But sharing about being nervous to speak on stage, or meeting a mentor that taught me a golden les

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son of business, was a viewpoint they were happy to hear about.</p><p id="9144">The biggest epic fail was when I shared a selfie of me taking over <a href="undefined">Gary Vaynerchuk</a>’s Instagram story. Nobody cared. Looking back, it was a pointless bragging moment and a plea for attention. We’re all human, though, right?</p><p id="412b">Sharing selfies of your face on LinkedIn doesn’t work. LinkedIn is not about you and your ego; it’s about human connection through experience and storytelling.</p><h1 id="0b56">Bad Mistake 7 — Not Crediting the Original Creator</h1><p id="7941">In the first two years of LinkedIn, I shared a few pieces of content that other people had created. I didn’t credit them and pretended it was my content.</p><p id="a34c">This is wrong. Borrow ideas or share ideas, but make sure you give credit where credit is due. There is only so long you can show up every day pretending to steal someone else’s posts as your own before getting found out. LinkedIn has a search button, so you can’t hide.</p><p id="be43">Instead, show up as yourself and share your perspectives. Those posts will go much further and create unbreakable business relationships.</p><h1 id="68dc">One Thing I Did Right</h1><p id="10f4">I accidentally used vulnerability by sharing the following:</p><ul><li>Losing my job</li><li>Getting rejected in the hiring process</li><li>Going through two bad breakups</li><li>Leaving a startup behind that I loved</li><li>Having a near-miss with cancer</li><li>Working for an evil boss and betraying my values</li></ul><p id="0d8f">These tiny snippets into my career brought the LinkedIn audience closer. Being honest and sharing what was really going on without any fake filter helped me speak in a different way. It helped other people see themselves in my experiences because the tiny details that could have made me look stupid were left in.</p><p id="3c41">No matter what, be yourself, despite the perceived downside.</p><h1 id="7a14">Final Thought</h1><p id="7805">LinkedIn is an awesome platform when you learn from your mistakes and see it for what it is. No one’s perfect and you will make some of the same mistakes as me or perhaps your own ones.</p><p id="c94a">The key to remember is LinkedIn is not about you and your ego. Whether you get banned like I did or start by sharing success porn, what counts is that you start somewhere. The best LinkedIn strategy is one you create yourself by making your own bad mistakes.</p><p id="c45b">After six years on LinkedIn, I don’t regret a moment. The growth both personally and professionally has been transformational.</p><p id="a1f0">Get on and have a go for yourself. Focus on what you have to share with the business world and wrap your posts in vulnerability.</p></article></body>

7 Bad Mistakes I Made on LinkedIn in My 6 Years on the Platform

These are the harsh lessons LinkedIn taught me

My journey on LinkedIn hasn’t all been roses, standing ovations, and high-fives. There were lots of terrible moments, like when I got banned or when trolls got together and attacked me. Hard.

What you do on social media is your responsibility. You will make bad mistakes, and it’s those lessons you will learn the most from. My knowledge of LinkedIn would be nothing without these bad mistakes.

Bad Mistake 1 — Writing Success Porn

In the early days of LinkedIn, I wrote success porn. What is success porn? It’s telling people how to live their lives and assuming you know it all.

The headlines of your content contain the word success. The focus of what you’re saying is centered around success. Success is supposed to be the holy grail; until you realize that success is different for everybody. Nobody has the right to tell you how to live your life.

Tell us how you live your life not how we must live ours.

Bad Mistake 2 — Getting Banned From LinkedIn

It’s time for me to be really honest: I got banned from LinkedIn. Like I said at the start, responsibility is key. So even though there were outside factors, I’m still the one to blame. I got too cocky. My ego got a fraction too big.

Getting banned was an excellent lesson. It forced me to be humble to the LinkedIn gods and admit my sh*t did stink.

It was a heartbreaking mistake that nearly cost me my career and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Getting banned taught me the following:

Users can report your account and cause you issues
You don’t own your social media profile
You’re always violating someone’s rule
Attaching your self-worth to your LinkedIn network is dangerous

Bad Mistake 3 — Falling for the Personal Branding Myth

What got me to join LinkedIn in 2014 was the personal branding myth.

My workplace ran a training session that told us we needed to build a personal brand. I fell for the lie. I tried to be someone I wasn’t and create a personal brand. The word “brand” was the problem. It translated to me acting like I thought the world wanted me to be rather than being myself.

Personal branding is supposed to create this illusion that you are a certain way and you’re the high and mighty expert we’ve all been looking for to bless our careers. But we’re not commercial entities. We’re human beings searching for fulfillment and meaning in our lives.

Personal branding is a lie. It robs from those who are poor in attention and gives to those who are desperate for attention and will do anything for it.

You don’t need a brand. Be yourself instead.

Bad Mistake 4 — Arguing With Trolls

I used to peruse the shopping aisles of the comments section, on the hunt for a bad egg who was knocking me.

I’d reply to their comment from a pedestal with an ego the size of Madonna. It got me nowhere. My friend Oleg Vishnepolsky changed my mind. He recommended to ‘like’ the comments from trolls and angry people and leave them a kind comment.

It turns out that people appreciate humility and can make up their own minds about a comment without you having to plead your case or explain why you’re right.

None of us are right. There are no absolutes. Quality is subjective. Every argument has two sides. Freedom of speech is still free.

Instead of arguing with trolls, show them love. Give them a digital hug and move on.

Bad Mistake 5 — Ignoring Direct Messages

In the early days, I ignored all direct messages. I justified this decision with the false belief that I was too busy and important to give a stranger the time of day. Responding to direct messages in the last eighteen months has changed all of that.

Some of the best stories I have shared and written about have come from direct messages. Some of my closest friends and even customers have come from direct messages. None of us are too busy to engage with a message or two or show a stranger some love.

Give a tiny bit of yourself through direct messages. Become an indirect mentor through direct messages, and share a strategy or two that has helped you.

You owe it to the world to be kind to strangers on LinkedIn.

Bad Mistake 6 — Taking Selfies

The least performing posts without fail have been selfies, followed by useless posts announcing that I’m at an event.

I thought people cared if I was a VIP or guest speaker at an event. It turns out they couldn’t care less. But sharing about being nervous to speak on stage, or meeting a mentor that taught me a golden lesson of business, was a viewpoint they were happy to hear about.

The biggest epic fail was when I shared a selfie of me taking over Gary Vaynerchuk’s Instagram story. Nobody cared. Looking back, it was a pointless bragging moment and a plea for attention. We’re all human, though, right?

Sharing selfies of your face on LinkedIn doesn’t work. LinkedIn is not about you and your ego; it’s about human connection through experience and storytelling.

Bad Mistake 7 — Not Crediting the Original Creator

In the first two years of LinkedIn, I shared a few pieces of content that other people had created. I didn’t credit them and pretended it was my content.

This is wrong. Borrow ideas or share ideas, but make sure you give credit where credit is due. There is only so long you can show up every day pretending to steal someone else’s posts as your own before getting found out. LinkedIn has a search button, so you can’t hide.

Instead, show up as yourself and share your perspectives. Those posts will go much further and create unbreakable business relationships.

One Thing I Did Right

I accidentally used vulnerability by sharing the following:

Losing my job
Getting rejected in the hiring process
Going through two bad breakups
Leaving a startup behind that I loved
Having a near-miss with cancer
Working for an evil boss and betraying my values

These tiny snippets into my career brought the LinkedIn audience closer. Being honest and sharing what was really going on without any fake filter helped me speak in a different way. It helped other people see themselves in my experiences because the tiny details that could have made me look stupid were left in.

No matter what, be yourself, despite the perceived downside.

Final Thought

LinkedIn is an awesome platform when you learn from your mistakes and see it for what it is. No one’s perfect and you will make some of the same mistakes as me or perhaps your own ones.

The key to remember is LinkedIn is not about you and your ego. Whether you get banned like I did or start by sharing success porn, what counts is that you start somewhere. The best LinkedIn strategy is one you create yourself by making your own bad mistakes.

After six years on LinkedIn, I don’t regret a moment. The growth both personally and professionally has been transformational.

Get on and have a go for yourself. Focus on what you have to share with the business world and wrap your posts in vulnerability.