As an employment-oriented and business-oriented social networking service that operates through mobile apps and websites, LinkedIn boasts over 500 million members. Here, you can engage and build your professional network. You also gain access to some knowledge, opportunities, and insights that can help you become successful in your chosen industry.
Josh Fechter’s Story
After several failed startups, the majority of entrepreneurs would give up. However, those are not Josh Fechter. He has founded his first company while he was in college. It is called “The Daily Confidential,” which is an online lifestyle publication. Although the online magazine had 24,000 visitors each day, his team has no idea how to monetize, which resulted in being broke.
Fechter has stated that they had tried every affiliate program. However, they did not comprehend the product or market fit.
Unfortunately, it had happened again in his next startup, Emjoyment. It was a mobile app that had been referred to as the “Tinder for jobs.” In its first week heading marketing as a startup, Scott Chase – his mentor, founder, and CTO of Priceline – had told him that it would eventually fail.
Fast forward, four months later, it did fail. There had been no traction, and there was a limited runway. So Fechter looked for a job and had applied to many companies, including Looker and Grammarly. However, none of these offered him even the entry-level position.
With no savings and a beat up resume, Fechter had taken a low-paying job as a copywriter. He moved into his father’s little apartment, and because it had not so much space, they slept in the same room. Then, he spent the next eight months avidly reading and burning through over a hundred books.
Fechter wanted to comprehend why he kept failing in his start-ups. He then realized that he needed mentors who could practically work with him. So, eight months later, he had taken another pay cut to work part time at social media – Facebook – software startup called 22Social just to avoid the corporate world. Although the position was already filled in, he was hired because he wrote a 20-page growth proposal.
Fechter revealed that the social media is doing cutting-edge work when it comes to technology and the people there were willing to help him grow. He had to go above and beyond so he could get the job.
Fechter: You Reap What You Sow
Within a few months, 22Social became the pioneering company to live stream on Facebook. Fechter became the head of that growth.
A couple of years later, he had spearheaded the growth for GrowthX, a venture capital firm, as well as Autopilot, one of the top 10 fastest-growing SaaS companies. All this while, he had been building Badass Marketers & Founders, one of the biggest online entrepreneur companies.
Fechter said that he was surprised as most of the members are not from the U.S. They come from the Middle East and Asia, where business people are hungry to acquire knowledge about the latest growth tactics that emerge from Silicon Valley. With this, they grew swiftly. In just a year, they hit 15,000 members. After that, everything just took an unpredicted turn.
Fechter’s brother was discovered to have a degenerative spinal ailment. He had to help his family pay for his brother’s medical bills, and his salary could not help much.
Forced into a position where he had only one choice to make, Fechter left his job so that he can make more money as a businessman. He searched for some aid as he had with only a bit of idea of what to sell. He then flew to LA to speak with Brian Smith, the one who founded The Founders Organization, which is one of the most exclusive communities for people in the business.
Fechter said he needed to have a conversation with someone who had walked in his shoes. Smith told him that he had already built enough trust within his community that his members would buy from him even if he had nothing. Smith convinced him to start a company that very week.
While Fechter was on his LA trip, he also met Houston Golden, his future co-founder. Golden was the former director of growth for Hawke Media, and he wanted to start his agency. Fechter was able to launch his startup with a two-page proposal even though with a little cash but with a lot of opportunities.
The Turning Point of His Business Success
Fechter jumped on 40 calls in one week, pitching a non-existent membership service until he gathered enough feedback to create something people wanted. With over a couple of Facebook posts rising his engaged community, he had pre-sold $20,000 MRR of his membership that aids elite B2B founders with their brand.
Fechter called Smith to thank him and showed the proposal. Smith told him to double his prices, and so he did. Not one businessman flinched.
After several weeks, Fechter was able to build out the service. His believers loved the membership, and so he decided to retake Smith’s advice and started the agency side with Golden by using only one proposal. Within a couple of weeks, they landed a contract of $150,000.
Fechter said that it all happened so fast and he wanted to share it with the world. That was when he turned to LinkedIn. He began posting a couple of times per week about his learning lessons and his journey.
LinkedIn is known as a platform with a newsfeed full of recruiters, and salespeople complaints start to become a fresh voice. A young businessman imparted the deepest parts of his journey in launching a startup.
With Fechter’s story, this platform can be a powerful tool in attracting your ideal clients as you will discover significant business opportunities in it. It can build your reputation, as well as customer relationships, and can give you referrals. You can tap into the platform’s database of professionals and other people who are influential, go-to expert, and much trusted.
LinkedIn’s Impact On Your Life
In this digital age, you can stand out in your target market or niche through the use of this platform. You can also have the greatest impact and achieve some meaningful results without spending a lot of hours on this platform. You can build a referral network that works on you while you sleep.
With LinkedIn being used as a powerful tool for you to attract your ideal clients, you achieve the following to catapult your success:
- powering up your profile with accuracy and quality
- building a smarter network
- growing your visibility through worthiness or value
- having a one-on-one interaction with anyone
- joining groups and forums
- becoming a trusted thought leader
Call it the “ LinkedIn Effect, ” but these social media platforms have changed the nature of human interaction forever.
