Kate Beck [00:00:03]:
Welcome to the Timeless Vitality podcast where co-hosts Kate Beck and Amber Stitt explore the unique journeys, inspiring stories, and timeless wisdom of those who embody vitality and resilience.
Amber Stitt [00:00:17]:
Together, we discover what it means to thrive well beyond 100, sharing insights that empower you to live with purpose and create a lasting legacy.
Kate Beck [00:00:27]:
Let's get started with today's episode. Hello and welcome to Timeless Vitality podcast. I'm your host Kate Beck and joining me is my co-host, Amber Stitt.
Amber Stitt [00:00:38]:
Welcome.
Kate Beck [00:00:39]:
Today we have a treat for you. Lia Bliss is joining us. Lia, introduce yourself.
Lia Bliss [00:00:45]:
Hello. What do you want to know?
Kate Beck [00:00:47]:
We would love to know a little bit about you, your story, and about your business.
Lia Bliss [00:00:53]:
Well, gosh, I remember a long time ago I had someone say, "Oh, what do you do?" And it's really reframing that mindset. And I think a lot of people forget that you're not just your business, you're not just what you do for work. And so there's a lot of elements. I'm a mom, I'm a dog mom, I'm a yoga instructor. I am a powerlifter. I really love fitness and fashion. I worked for many years in the fashion industry. I grew up in a really small town, which I think surprises a lot of people.
Lia Bliss [00:01:25]:
But you can take the girl out of the rodeo, you just can't take the rodeo out of the girl. So I've traveled, I studied opera in college, so performance opera, which is not very common. I don't think people expect that, especially from someone who ended up shifting from fashion retail and merchandising into LinkedIn sales consulting. That is not a very normal transition for anybody.
Kate Beck [00:01:50]:
Tell me more a little bit about that. That is a fun and interesting story.
Lia Bliss [00:01:54]:
That story is wild. So when I was, gosh, it goes all the way back. But in 2019, I was a single mom working in retail management. I had the worst work life balance, but I also had a really terrible sense of where I was going in the world. I just kind of had that existential moment where I said, is this really going to be my whole life? Is this all I'm doing? I had a really traumatic first marriage. I ended up getting divorced when I was 20 and I'd gone through a lot of therapy, read a bunch of self-help books and I felt very empowered to take all those lessons and my experiences and share that and help other women specifically. But I just couldn't figure out how to break into business. And it felt like I was being gate kept from clients and networking and marketing.
Lia Bliss [00:02:42]:
And I didn't even know what I didn't know. So in 2019, I decided against any reasonable concept of success, that I was going to hire a business coach. I got connected with a lady who knew somebody who knew somebody and my coach ended up living in Sydney, Australia. So across the world I hired this business coach, but I didn't have any money, was barely making rent payments. So I started by crafting this email to ask literally everyone I've ever met for money, which is like humbling and embarrassing and all of those icky self-doubt emotions come up. But I sent off this email and I said, "I really want to hire this business coach. I really think this is something I can do. Can I get any support?" I had been cutting hair on the side out of my house to make extra money and one of my hairdressing clients was like, "I absolutely believe in you.
Lia Bliss [00:03:38]:
Here's all the money." Complete stranger, essentially. I've known her now for 15 years, but it was so random. But there's also that pressure to not fail because somebody believes in you. So I hired this business coach October 2019, worked with her all the way until January 2020 and she gave me the outline. She helped me work through the basics of how to do sales calls. I had no clue. And then the world caught a cold and we all went home for a really long time.
Lia Bliss [00:04:08]:
And especially working in retail, there's no work. "Go home, go home. We'll let you know." So all of a sudden I had the skills and the time to hyper focus on the business that I was trying to build. And I just thought, "Okay, it's never going to be a better time than this." So I started a YouTube channel which, please don't go look at it. It's so bad. It's so bad because I had no idea what I was doing.
Kate Beck [00:04:31]:
Now everyone's going to find out.
Amber Stitt [00:04:33]:
That's how she gets views!
Lia Bliss [00:04:35]:
By saying that? Oh my God, no.
Kate Beck [00:04:38]:
Her cheeks are already turning pink for the audio only folks.
Lia Bliss [00:04:41]:
It's embarrassingly terrible because I had no clue. But it's that shift. I believed in myself and I had the audacity, I have the audacity to just show up and do it. So I started putting out a YouTube video every single day. And I have friends that were like, "Oh, we love this. You're doing so great." And it was a lot of just time management techniques and showing up for yourself mindset.
Lia Bliss [00:05:05]:
We all needed a little bit of mindset help during lockdown. Then I got a call from my father. And my father has been a career CMO. He's worked as the head of marketing for many tech companies for my entire career. I remember even, I was 15, standing at a conference within a booth, scanning badges. That's how I grew up. And he said, "Hey," we didn't have a super close relationship at the time, but he said, "Hey, I don't know if you know, but I started this company where I do sales training on LinkedIn." I was like, "That's cool, great. I don't know anything about that."
Lia Bliss [00:05:39]:
He said, "Well, because of COVID all of these companies have sent their salespeople home and there's a lot of companies with extra budgets to do LinkedIn training." He said, "I'm so busy, I'm so overwhelmed," that he sat down to talk to his wife, my stepmom, and said, "I need somebody who understands data, who knows how to explain complex solutions, and has the same kind of game show host personality that I do. I wish I could just clone myself." And my stepmom said, "You know, you did that, right? Like, you should probably call Lia." So he called me and said, "I have no idea what this is going to be. I have no idea how much I can pay you. I have no idea how successful this is going to be. But if you've got some free time, do you want to do this?" And I took another risk, thought, what's the worst that can happen? Sure some extra cash.
Lia Bliss [00:06:26]:
The next year, I ended every single call nearly in tears. Because with that loving support, my father would drill down presentation skills. "Don't use those filler words. You need to present this better, you need to do this." And I became so just engrossed in learning the LinkedIn algorithm, understanding business acumen. I remember the first time I talked about an SKO, a sales kickoff event, or understood the context of a tech stack. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I've arrived." I get it now because I was so far apart from that, that I just didn't know.
Lia Bliss [00:07:05]:
So then we worked together for several years, ended up taking the businesses in separate directions. He runs a company called Bliss Point and I have a company called Bliss Magic. We do nearly the same thing, just in different ways. We all have a different flavor that we add and there is unlimited number of people who need support on LinkedIn. So I started my own company and then now I'm truly, and I pinch myself every day, I'm traveling, I'm getting on stage, I'm speaking to people. I'm connecting professionals, and I'm able to really turn around and reach back and say, "Hey, let me show you."
Lia Bliss [00:07:38]:
Because I know what it's like to not know. Let me help you get on LinkedIn, understand how to network, understand how to identify client relationships, understand how to sell and really leverage that social selling. And here I am. The end.
Kate Beck [00:07:52]:
My goodness, I love your story. It just...and Leah and I met at a conference, SWAY. The SWAY Collective. So immediately we sat next to each other and we were coloring on the table together, and she had one of my favorite designs, and she was taking her perspective on things. She was taking the coaster and doing a circle and doing a different piece of art than the art that was already on the table. And I loved that out-of-the-box thinking.
Kate Beck [00:08:20]:
So tell me, Lia, with all of these incredible stories, what was your biggest challenge? What was the biggest theme of challenges, or problems that you were solving in all of these that are leading to these pearls of wisdom that you're sharing?
Lia Bliss [00:08:34]:
Oh, that's a great question. I mean, the challenge that I faced was not knowing what I don't know. And I think that's a lot of times what we see in executive leadership and in sales and marketing teams when they approach LinkedIn and so kind of bringing that together, you don't know what you don't know. I've heard so many people say, "Well, LinkedIn's just Facebook for business." And I can't help but think, if you only knew the opportunities, if you only understood 3 simple behavior changes. I love the saying, "follow the money." Like, you know those old tiny espionage movies where it's like, "Oh, to find the bad guy, we've gotta follow the money trail." When you look at corporations like Instagram, Instagram makes money by selling advertising space.
Lia Bliss [00:09:18]:
And so they promote creators who keep you, the consumer, scrolling. Right? The longer you're stuck in a doom-scroll on Instagram, the more money Instagram actually makes. But on LinkedIn, they make 80% of their revenue from subscription models. I've got clients that spend over a million dollars a year for the Sales Navigator and Premium Account tools. And so you can't operate on LinkedIn the way that you would on Facebook or Instagram, because inherently the business model is different. And so just knowing how to support a corporation in their goal while also reaching your goals of better connections, better networking, more sales calls, better marketing, free marketing. I've worked with companies all the time that I'm like, "You should stop spending money on LinkedIn advertising until you've leveraged your entire company for the free advertising and employee engagement that you can get out of it."
Lia Bliss [00:10:16]:
Because I'll tell you, you get 10 times more engagement if you have the employees do all of the posting than you do when you have the corporate page do the posting.
Kate Beck [00:10:26]:
Tell me more about that. Fill us in. Give us an example.
Lia Bliss [00:10:30]:
LinkedIn Tips.
Kate Beck [00:10:30]:
Yeah, you guys said there was 3, but let's start with that one. I'm all ears.
Lia Bliss [00:10:36]:
So if you run a business page, if you're a marketing director and you're in charge of the LinkedIn corporate page, you need to understand that when you make a post to go live on LinkedIn on the corporate page, the impressions you get on that post are 2% of the followers of your company page. So if you've got a thousand followers on your company page, you're reaching, what, 20 people and then paying hundreds of dollars to boost that post. On the other hand, and I have spent the last week diving into the algorithm, LinkedIn just released a brand new update to their algorithm, which makes a huge change to our behaviors because LinkedIn is going to show you organically in your feed content that is relevant to your position. So your title, your industry, whatever industry you've indicated, and the types of posts that you regularly interact with. LinkedIn's goal is to connect business professionals and help them have business conversations. And so when you make a post go live, an individual on LinkedIn, your post goes to 10% of your followers, or connections. Already a huge increase over the number of people from a company page. But the real secret, and the only thing that I think people need to do on LinkedIn to be successful is commenting.
Lia Bliss [00:11:52]:
Because when you comment on a post, that post and your comment is shared to 30% of your network, it's way more people. And so the comments like, "Great post, thanks for sharing." Okay, cool. But you've missed a huge opportunity to leverage someone else's topic to speak directly to your audience about your thoughts and expertise on it. So when I go and work with companies, we sit down and it's like, okay, instead of sending out a single post for everyone to blast, and we've all seen that where it's like, "Hey, everybody, post this. We have an announcement," and you've got 500 people posting the exact same post on LinkedIn and it's so ineffective and relatively annoying. Instead we have them pick one person in leadership, whether it's the CEO or a sales director, and say, you're going to post this and then leverage the entire company to go and comment on that post. Because whether you're in marketing, in sales, you can say something about that announcement as it directly relates to the people you are looking to influence.
Lia Bliss [00:12:53]:
You're going to go from posts that get 200 or 300 views to 2,000 or 3,000 views pretty much overnight. And it's things like that that people like, they just don't know. How would you know that as an operator on LinkedIn? You can't, but that's where the mindset shift really comes into being like, "Well, I know I can use LinkedIn, but how?" And it's just as simple as that.
Amber Stitt [00:13:15]:
So you're talking about people buying subscriptions. And so people are there for a purpose of maybe learning, doing more, connecting. That community's paying money, 80% of them are. So that kind of gets not the riff-raff out of there, but people that are actually serious about meeting people with purpose. So if somebody like our listeners might be 40 plus, they could be reinventing themselves, or maybe doing something on the side to then transition into this next phase of life.
Lia Bliss [00:13:44]:
Yes.
Amber Stitt [00:13:45]:
Why is it important for them to be out here and engaging and commenting for their own, you know, personal self-worth?
Lia Bliss [00:13:51]:
I'll answer that question with a story. So back to my stepmom. She had gotten laid off of her job at the same time as one of her friends. They had done kind of companywide layoffs. So her and a woman that had a very similar role were both laid off. My stepmom went out and started posting and commenting on LinkedIn, showing recruiters the thoughts, the value, the insight, the expertise that she has in her field. The other woman just started blasting out resumes. My stepmom received five offers without sending a resume because it's not about highlighting your skills or expertise or even certifications.
Lia Bliss [00:14:28]:
It's about showing up every single day with consistency to give value to the very people...whether you are in a job and looking to change jobs, you're in a job and looking to change career fields, but start showing up and serving that community long before you ever ask them to do anything for you. The drops in the bucket. Think of every comment like a drop in the bucket. And then one day you're gonna have a big ask and that audience is gonna remember how much you gave to them and be more than willing to show up for you. You can leverage this as a salesperson, as well, for prospects. Show up for your prospects because the second you ask for a sales call, they're gonna feel that connection already. And so I talk about the three P's.
Lia Bliss [00:15:11]:
It's predictable, persistent, presence. And I can attribute that to my father, because that's one of his favorite things to say. But you have to be predictable. You have to be persistent, and you have to show up with presence. Reposting corporate posts every single day doesn't build a personal brand.
Amber Stitt [00:15:26]:
Yeah. And that's not what is all out there. But I think some people, they think that's all that it is. If you take this story between the two people that were laid off, there is also this thing that's probably happening to their mental health, or wellbeing, is that they're actually able to communicate to people and have some fun on this higher level. If they can't be in that conference room shaking hands and saying, "Hey, I loved what you had to say." Like, you're taking that into a virtual space and then you're having some community that way.
Kate Beck [00:15:53]:
Yes.
Amber Stitt [00:15:54]:
And we have another podcast guest that literally is having the time of her life in a whole new industry that's kind of integrated with her old one. And it was because she changed jobs, was on LinkedIn, and somebody found her and they weren't even...she didn't even have any experience in that world, but they saw her credibility. And, Kate, it sounds like this can build some trust trees if people see you being consistent in yourself. Right?
Kate Beck [00:16:18]:
Yes. We have an ongoing saying in every episode, planting seeds of peace and cultivating confidence are growing into these trees of trust, these trust trees where the branches were swaying in the wind. And we've been saying that before. I was invited to the SWAY Collective Live conference. And so we are really and truly wanting to build trust within our community. First with ourselves. I think earlier you identified something that is in our pearls of wisdom about it took someone believing in you to help you acknowledge believing in yourself. And I want to take a moment for all 3 of us right here and everyone who's listening to us, to acknowledge our achievements, the achievements that we do for others, but also those achievements that we do for ourselves and say thank you.
Lia Bliss [00:17:12]:
Yes. And I love myself and I'm proud of myself.
Kate Beck [00:17:15]:
So Lia, please tell us what makes someone, or something, timeless?
Lia Bliss [00:17:19]:
I love this. You asked this kind of as the pre-question. Because my background's in fashion, right? And so it's like Anna Wintour and Coco Chanel and all of these things, but really it comes down to this idea of continuous learning and transcending time. The things that are timeless transcend time and if we don't constantly work at increasing our skill sets and making ourselves valuable I feel like timelessness and valuable really come together in the same way. And so showing up on LinkedIn to consistently provide value, to knowing the value that you have, whether that's at home in your relationships, your relationship with yourself, your relationship with your money, to know that you have inherent value, but then also keeping that going.
Lia Bliss [00:18:04]:
Wisdom, courage, compassion, resilience. These are the types of things that you can show up with and keep you really timeless. And we can't achieve that if we don't continue learning and growing and evolving.
Kate Beck [00:18:18]:
I love it.
Amber Stitt [00:18:19]:
Well, you talk about fashion and there's certain designers that have this staple look, and you could picture Audrey Hepburn or like Marilyn Monroe. There's just different people out there for whatever it is. So when you talk about consistency on LinkedIn, like, show up with that person that you are. Like, they want to meet you and they're going to work with you because of what you're like. If you have tattoos, don't cover them up. Let people see them because they might want to...you know, that resonates. Right? So, yes, bring your brand and your personality to it and then be consistent because people will flock to you if those synergies make sense.
Amber Stitt [00:18:53]:
It's important for people to know that they can relate.
Lia Bliss [00:18:55]:
Yeah. I had someone explain it to me like this, that a magnet, a really strong magnet, also has a really strong repulsion. And so the stronger your brand, the stronger your sense of self, the stronger that you show up as the fully authentic version of you, you're going to repel people. People are going to be really turned off by you. But the people who are totally meant to be on your team, in your circle, and really rooting for you are going to show up so much stronger.
Kate Beck [00:19:22]:
I love that you brought that up, Lia, because one of the fear factors, the saltiest fear that you know, to get down to it, having to take a small bite of, nobody likes you, everybody hates you, why don't you go eat worms, right? And say, I'm taking those worms and saying, what a blessing, because I want the people on my team to love and celebrate me as I will them. And there have been people in this world that have hated or repelled for me. And at first I would be so sad, like, it would hurt my feelings. And now I'm like, "You know what? I'm going to send you a thank you card because that really clarified for me why I'm comfortable in my own skin. And why I stand right here and feel confident about these words that I am saying, or what I'm choosing not to say."
Lia Bliss [00:20:11]:
Absolutely. I love that.
Amber Stitt [00:20:12]:
Well, Kate, some of those worms might be composting at your house, too.
Kate Beck [00:20:16]:
Yeah, they're hardworking. That's true.
Amber Stitt [00:20:18]:
Yeah, they're hardworking.
Lia Bliss [00:20:18]:
We love it.
Amber Stitt [00:20:19]:
So Lia, how can people...well, they probably already know this because you might be on LinkedIn, but...so let's have people find you on LinkedIn. How can people work with you?
Lia Bliss [00:20:30]:
Ooh. There's essentially three ways that people can work with me. One, I do fantastic, engaging keynotes that are very fun and brings the life to the party. Then probably the most impactful for culture change in a company is I come in and do a two part training series where we dive deep into the interworkings of the algorithm to explain not just what you should do on LinkedIn, but why you should do it and the impact it'll have. Talk about sourcing clients and that whole "give before asking" concept. So it's a 3 hour training that we do in two separate parts. And then I do work with executives one on one. If you are really committed to this idea that you need to maybe shift your branding, elevate your thought leadership, and just show up on LinkedIn in a more intentional way, and you don't want to waste time trying to figure it out on your own, you can hire me.
Lia Bliss [00:21:21]:
We work together. There's a whole process that I go through to capture your voice and your messaging, and then we work together to create content.
Kate Beck [00:21:29]:
Thank you, Lia We're just so honored and blessed and really enjoyed having you on the show today.
Lia Bliss [00:21:34]:
Thank you very much, ladies. I mean, we're having a ton of fun and I feel like it's always the after party to these podcasts that are where people wish they could go. So it's just been absolutely a blast. Kate, I feel as though we got instantly connected on such a deep level at this event. I'm like, "Oh, these are just my besties!"
Kate Beck [00:21:54]:
Yes.
Amber Stitt [00:21:55]:
There is an underground community with the speakers, authors, podcasters. So I'm excited to have you in the club.
Lia Bliss [00:22:03]:
We're here, we're in it, we're doing it. Thank you so much for having me, ladies. This has been absolutely fabulous.
Kate Beck [00:22:07]:
Thanks for showing up. Thank you. Thank you for joining us on the Timeless Vitality podcast. We hope today's episode has inspired you to embrace the journey of thriving well beyond 100.
Amber Stitt [00:22:19]:
Remember, your story is still unfolding and every step you take adds to the timeless legacy you are creating. Until next time, stay vibrant, stay empowered, and continue living with purpose.
Kate Beck [00:22:31]:
We'll see you on the next episode!
Welcome to the Timeless Vitality podcast where co-hosts Kate Beck and Amber Stitt explore the unique journeys, inspiring stories, and timeless wisdom of those who embody vitality and resilience.
Amber Stitt [00:00:17]:
Together, we discover what it means to thrive well beyond 100, sharing insights that empower you to live with purpose and create a lasting legacy.
Kate Beck [00:00:27]:
Let's get started with today's episode. Hello and welcome to Timeless Vitality podcast. I'm your host Kate Beck and joining me is my co-host, Amber Stitt.
Amber Stitt [00:00:38]:
Welcome.
Kate Beck [00:00:39]:
Today we have a treat for you. Lia Bliss is joining us. Lia, introduce yourself.
Lia Bliss [00:00:45]:
Hello. What do you want to know?
Kate Beck [00:00:47]:
We would love to know a little bit about you, your story, and about your business.
Lia Bliss [00:00:53]:
Well, gosh, I remember a long time ago I had someone say, "Oh, what do you do?" And it's really reframing that mindset. And I think a lot of people forget that you're not just your business, you're not just what you do for work. And so there's a lot of elements. I'm a mom, I'm a dog mom, I'm a yoga instructor. I am a powerlifter. I really love fitness and fashion. I worked for many years in the fashion industry. I grew up in a really small town, which I think surprises a lot of people.
Lia Bliss [00:01:25]:
But you can take the girl out of the rodeo, you just can't take the rodeo out of the girl. So I've traveled, I studied opera in college, so performance opera, which is not very common. I don't think people expect that, especially from someone who ended up shifting from fashion retail and merchandising into LinkedIn sales consulting. That is not a very normal transition for anybody.
Kate Beck [00:01:50]:
Tell me more a little bit about that. That is a fun and interesting story.
Lia Bliss [00:01:54]:
That story is wild. So when I was, gosh, it goes all the way back. But in 2019, I was a single mom working in retail management. I had the worst work life balance, but I also had a really terrible sense of where I was going in the world. I just kind of had that existential moment where I said, is this really going to be my whole life? Is this all I'm doing? I had a really traumatic first marriage. I ended up getting divorced when I was 20 and I'd gone through a lot of therapy, read a bunch of self-help books and I felt very empowered to take all those lessons and my experiences and share that and help other women specifically. But I just couldn't figure out how to break into business. And it felt like I was being gate kept from clients and networking and marketing.
Lia Bliss [00:02:42]:
And I didn't even know what I didn't know. So in 2019, I decided against any reasonable concept of success, that I was going to hire a business coach. I got connected with a lady who knew somebody who knew somebody and my coach ended up living in Sydney, Australia. So across the world I hired this business coach, but I didn't have any money, was barely making rent payments. So I started by crafting this email to ask literally everyone I've ever met for money, which is like humbling and embarrassing and all of those icky self-doubt emotions come up. But I sent off this email and I said, "I really want to hire this business coach. I really think this is something I can do. Can I get any support?" I had been cutting hair on the side out of my house to make extra money and one of my hairdressing clients was like, "I absolutely believe in you.
Lia Bliss [00:03:38]:
Here's all the money." Complete stranger, essentially. I've known her now for 15 years, but it was so random. But there's also that pressure to not fail because somebody believes in you. So I hired this business coach October 2019, worked with her all the way until January 2020 and she gave me the outline. She helped me work through the basics of how to do sales calls. I had no clue. And then the world caught a cold and we all went home for a really long time.
Lia Bliss [00:04:08]:
And especially working in retail, there's no work. "Go home, go home. We'll let you know." So all of a sudden I had the skills and the time to hyper focus on the business that I was trying to build. And I just thought, "Okay, it's never going to be a better time than this." So I started a YouTube channel which, please don't go look at it. It's so bad. It's so bad because I had no idea what I was doing.
Kate Beck [00:04:31]:
Now everyone's going to find out.
Amber Stitt [00:04:33]:
That's how she gets views!
Lia Bliss [00:04:35]:
By saying that? Oh my God, no.
Kate Beck [00:04:38]:
Her cheeks are already turning pink for the audio only folks.
Lia Bliss [00:04:41]:
It's embarrassingly terrible because I had no clue. But it's that shift. I believed in myself and I had the audacity, I have the audacity to just show up and do it. So I started putting out a YouTube video every single day. And I have friends that were like, "Oh, we love this. You're doing so great." And it was a lot of just time management techniques and showing up for yourself mindset.
Lia Bliss [00:05:05]:
We all needed a little bit of mindset help during lockdown. Then I got a call from my father. And my father has been a career CMO. He's worked as the head of marketing for many tech companies for my entire career. I remember even, I was 15, standing at a conference within a booth, scanning badges. That's how I grew up. And he said, "Hey," we didn't have a super close relationship at the time, but he said, "Hey, I don't know if you know, but I started this company where I do sales training on LinkedIn." I was like, "That's cool, great. I don't know anything about that."
Lia Bliss [00:05:39]:
He said, "Well, because of COVID all of these companies have sent their salespeople home and there's a lot of companies with extra budgets to do LinkedIn training." He said, "I'm so busy, I'm so overwhelmed," that he sat down to talk to his wife, my stepmom, and said, "I need somebody who understands data, who knows how to explain complex solutions, and has the same kind of game show host personality that I do. I wish I could just clone myself." And my stepmom said, "You know, you did that, right? Like, you should probably call Lia." So he called me and said, "I have no idea what this is going to be. I have no idea how much I can pay you. I have no idea how successful this is going to be. But if you've got some free time, do you want to do this?" And I took another risk, thought, what's the worst that can happen? Sure some extra cash.
Lia Bliss [00:06:26]:
The next year, I ended every single call nearly in tears. Because with that loving support, my father would drill down presentation skills. "Don't use those filler words. You need to present this better, you need to do this." And I became so just engrossed in learning the LinkedIn algorithm, understanding business acumen. I remember the first time I talked about an SKO, a sales kickoff event, or understood the context of a tech stack. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I've arrived." I get it now because I was so far apart from that, that I just didn't know.
Lia Bliss [00:07:05]:
So then we worked together for several years, ended up taking the businesses in separate directions. He runs a company called Bliss Point and I have a company called Bliss Magic. We do nearly the same thing, just in different ways. We all have a different flavor that we add and there is unlimited number of people who need support on LinkedIn. So I started my own company and then now I'm truly, and I pinch myself every day, I'm traveling, I'm getting on stage, I'm speaking to people. I'm connecting professionals, and I'm able to really turn around and reach back and say, "Hey, let me show you."
Lia Bliss [00:07:38]:
Because I know what it's like to not know. Let me help you get on LinkedIn, understand how to network, understand how to identify client relationships, understand how to sell and really leverage that social selling. And here I am. The end.
Kate Beck [00:07:52]:
My goodness, I love your story. It just...and Leah and I met at a conference, SWAY. The SWAY Collective. So immediately we sat next to each other and we were coloring on the table together, and she had one of my favorite designs, and she was taking her perspective on things. She was taking the coaster and doing a circle and doing a different piece of art than the art that was already on the table. And I loved that out-of-the-box thinking.
Kate Beck [00:08:20]:
So tell me, Lia, with all of these incredible stories, what was your biggest challenge? What was the biggest theme of challenges, or problems that you were solving in all of these that are leading to these pearls of wisdom that you're sharing?
Lia Bliss [00:08:34]:
Oh, that's a great question. I mean, the challenge that I faced was not knowing what I don't know. And I think that's a lot of times what we see in executive leadership and in sales and marketing teams when they approach LinkedIn and so kind of bringing that together, you don't know what you don't know. I've heard so many people say, "Well, LinkedIn's just Facebook for business." And I can't help but think, if you only knew the opportunities, if you only understood 3 simple behavior changes. I love the saying, "follow the money." Like, you know those old tiny espionage movies where it's like, "Oh, to find the bad guy, we've gotta follow the money trail." When you look at corporations like Instagram, Instagram makes money by selling advertising space.
Lia Bliss [00:09:18]:
And so they promote creators who keep you, the consumer, scrolling. Right? The longer you're stuck in a doom-scroll on Instagram, the more money Instagram actually makes. But on LinkedIn, they make 80% of their revenue from subscription models. I've got clients that spend over a million dollars a year for the Sales Navigator and Premium Account tools. And so you can't operate on LinkedIn the way that you would on Facebook or Instagram, because inherently the business model is different. And so just knowing how to support a corporation in their goal while also reaching your goals of better connections, better networking, more sales calls, better marketing, free marketing. I've worked with companies all the time that I'm like, "You should stop spending money on LinkedIn advertising until you've leveraged your entire company for the free advertising and employee engagement that you can get out of it."
Lia Bliss [00:10:16]:
Because I'll tell you, you get 10 times more engagement if you have the employees do all of the posting than you do when you have the corporate page do the posting.
Kate Beck [00:10:26]:
Tell me more about that. Fill us in. Give us an example.
Lia Bliss [00:10:30]:
LinkedIn Tips.
Kate Beck [00:10:30]:
Yeah, you guys said there was 3, but let's start with that one. I'm all ears.
Lia Bliss [00:10:36]:
So if you run a business page, if you're a marketing director and you're in charge of the LinkedIn corporate page, you need to understand that when you make a post to go live on LinkedIn on the corporate page, the impressions you get on that post are 2% of the followers of your company page. So if you've got a thousand followers on your company page, you're reaching, what, 20 people and then paying hundreds of dollars to boost that post. On the other hand, and I have spent the last week diving into the algorithm, LinkedIn just released a brand new update to their algorithm, which makes a huge change to our behaviors because LinkedIn is going to show you organically in your feed content that is relevant to your position. So your title, your industry, whatever industry you've indicated, and the types of posts that you regularly interact with. LinkedIn's goal is to connect business professionals and help them have business conversations. And so when you make a post go live, an individual on LinkedIn, your post goes to 10% of your followers, or connections. Already a huge increase over the number of people from a company page. But the real secret, and the only thing that I think people need to do on LinkedIn to be successful is commenting.
Lia Bliss [00:11:52]:
Because when you comment on a post, that post and your comment is shared to 30% of your network, it's way more people. And so the comments like, "Great post, thanks for sharing." Okay, cool. But you've missed a huge opportunity to leverage someone else's topic to speak directly to your audience about your thoughts and expertise on it. So when I go and work with companies, we sit down and it's like, okay, instead of sending out a single post for everyone to blast, and we've all seen that where it's like, "Hey, everybody, post this. We have an announcement," and you've got 500 people posting the exact same post on LinkedIn and it's so ineffective and relatively annoying. Instead we have them pick one person in leadership, whether it's the CEO or a sales director, and say, you're going to post this and then leverage the entire company to go and comment on that post. Because whether you're in marketing, in sales, you can say something about that announcement as it directly relates to the people you are looking to influence.
Lia Bliss [00:12:53]:
You're going to go from posts that get 200 or 300 views to 2,000 or 3,000 views pretty much overnight. And it's things like that that people like, they just don't know. How would you know that as an operator on LinkedIn? You can't, but that's where the mindset shift really comes into being like, "Well, I know I can use LinkedIn, but how?" And it's just as simple as that.
Amber Stitt [00:13:15]:
So you're talking about people buying subscriptions. And so people are there for a purpose of maybe learning, doing more, connecting. That community's paying money, 80% of them are. So that kind of gets not the riff-raff out of there, but people that are actually serious about meeting people with purpose. So if somebody like our listeners might be 40 plus, they could be reinventing themselves, or maybe doing something on the side to then transition into this next phase of life.
Lia Bliss [00:13:44]:
Yes.
Amber Stitt [00:13:45]:
Why is it important for them to be out here and engaging and commenting for their own, you know, personal self-worth?
Lia Bliss [00:13:51]:
I'll answer that question with a story. So back to my stepmom. She had gotten laid off of her job at the same time as one of her friends. They had done kind of companywide layoffs. So her and a woman that had a very similar role were both laid off. My stepmom went out and started posting and commenting on LinkedIn, showing recruiters the thoughts, the value, the insight, the expertise that she has in her field. The other woman just started blasting out resumes. My stepmom received five offers without sending a resume because it's not about highlighting your skills or expertise or even certifications.
Lia Bliss [00:14:28]:
It's about showing up every single day with consistency to give value to the very people...whether you are in a job and looking to change jobs, you're in a job and looking to change career fields, but start showing up and serving that community long before you ever ask them to do anything for you. The drops in the bucket. Think of every comment like a drop in the bucket. And then one day you're gonna have a big ask and that audience is gonna remember how much you gave to them and be more than willing to show up for you. You can leverage this as a salesperson, as well, for prospects. Show up for your prospects because the second you ask for a sales call, they're gonna feel that connection already. And so I talk about the three P's.
Lia Bliss [00:15:11]:
It's predictable, persistent, presence. And I can attribute that to my father, because that's one of his favorite things to say. But you have to be predictable. You have to be persistent, and you have to show up with presence. Reposting corporate posts every single day doesn't build a personal brand.
Amber Stitt [00:15:26]:
Yeah. And that's not what is all out there. But I think some people, they think that's all that it is. If you take this story between the two people that were laid off, there is also this thing that's probably happening to their mental health, or wellbeing, is that they're actually able to communicate to people and have some fun on this higher level. If they can't be in that conference room shaking hands and saying, "Hey, I loved what you had to say." Like, you're taking that into a virtual space and then you're having some community that way.
Kate Beck [00:15:53]:
Yes.
Amber Stitt [00:15:54]:
And we have another podcast guest that literally is having the time of her life in a whole new industry that's kind of integrated with her old one. And it was because she changed jobs, was on LinkedIn, and somebody found her and they weren't even...she didn't even have any experience in that world, but they saw her credibility. And, Kate, it sounds like this can build some trust trees if people see you being consistent in yourself. Right?
Kate Beck [00:16:18]:
Yes. We have an ongoing saying in every episode, planting seeds of peace and cultivating confidence are growing into these trees of trust, these trust trees where the branches were swaying in the wind. And we've been saying that before. I was invited to the SWAY Collective Live conference. And so we are really and truly wanting to build trust within our community. First with ourselves. I think earlier you identified something that is in our pearls of wisdom about it took someone believing in you to help you acknowledge believing in yourself. And I want to take a moment for all 3 of us right here and everyone who's listening to us, to acknowledge our achievements, the achievements that we do for others, but also those achievements that we do for ourselves and say thank you.
Lia Bliss [00:17:12]:
Yes. And I love myself and I'm proud of myself.
Kate Beck [00:17:15]:
So Lia, please tell us what makes someone, or something, timeless?
Lia Bliss [00:17:19]:
I love this. You asked this kind of as the pre-question. Because my background's in fashion, right? And so it's like Anna Wintour and Coco Chanel and all of these things, but really it comes down to this idea of continuous learning and transcending time. The things that are timeless transcend time and if we don't constantly work at increasing our skill sets and making ourselves valuable I feel like timelessness and valuable really come together in the same way. And so showing up on LinkedIn to consistently provide value, to knowing the value that you have, whether that's at home in your relationships, your relationship with yourself, your relationship with your money, to know that you have inherent value, but then also keeping that going.
Lia Bliss [00:18:04]:
Wisdom, courage, compassion, resilience. These are the types of things that you can show up with and keep you really timeless. And we can't achieve that if we don't continue learning and growing and evolving.
Kate Beck [00:18:18]:
I love it.
Amber Stitt [00:18:19]:
Well, you talk about fashion and there's certain designers that have this staple look, and you could picture Audrey Hepburn or like Marilyn Monroe. There's just different people out there for whatever it is. So when you talk about consistency on LinkedIn, like, show up with that person that you are. Like, they want to meet you and they're going to work with you because of what you're like. If you have tattoos, don't cover them up. Let people see them because they might want to...you know, that resonates. Right? So, yes, bring your brand and your personality to it and then be consistent because people will flock to you if those synergies make sense.
Amber Stitt [00:18:53]:
It's important for people to know that they can relate.
Lia Bliss [00:18:55]:
Yeah. I had someone explain it to me like this, that a magnet, a really strong magnet, also has a really strong repulsion. And so the stronger your brand, the stronger your sense of self, the stronger that you show up as the fully authentic version of you, you're going to repel people. People are going to be really turned off by you. But the people who are totally meant to be on your team, in your circle, and really rooting for you are going to show up so much stronger.
Kate Beck [00:19:22]:
I love that you brought that up, Lia, because one of the fear factors, the saltiest fear that you know, to get down to it, having to take a small bite of, nobody likes you, everybody hates you, why don't you go eat worms, right? And say, I'm taking those worms and saying, what a blessing, because I want the people on my team to love and celebrate me as I will them. And there have been people in this world that have hated or repelled for me. And at first I would be so sad, like, it would hurt my feelings. And now I'm like, "You know what? I'm going to send you a thank you card because that really clarified for me why I'm comfortable in my own skin. And why I stand right here and feel confident about these words that I am saying, or what I'm choosing not to say."
Lia Bliss [00:20:11]:
Absolutely. I love that.
Amber Stitt [00:20:12]:
Well, Kate, some of those worms might be composting at your house, too.
Kate Beck [00:20:16]:
Yeah, they're hardworking. That's true.
Amber Stitt [00:20:18]:
Yeah, they're hardworking.
Lia Bliss [00:20:18]:
We love it.
Amber Stitt [00:20:19]:
So Lia, how can people...well, they probably already know this because you might be on LinkedIn, but...so let's have people find you on LinkedIn. How can people work with you?
Lia Bliss [00:20:30]:
Ooh. There's essentially three ways that people can work with me. One, I do fantastic, engaging keynotes that are very fun and brings the life to the party. Then probably the most impactful for culture change in a company is I come in and do a two part training series where we dive deep into the interworkings of the algorithm to explain not just what you should do on LinkedIn, but why you should do it and the impact it'll have. Talk about sourcing clients and that whole "give before asking" concept. So it's a 3 hour training that we do in two separate parts. And then I do work with executives one on one. If you are really committed to this idea that you need to maybe shift your branding, elevate your thought leadership, and just show up on LinkedIn in a more intentional way, and you don't want to waste time trying to figure it out on your own, you can hire me.
Lia Bliss [00:21:21]:
We work together. There's a whole process that I go through to capture your voice and your messaging, and then we work together to create content.
Kate Beck [00:21:29]:
Thank you, Lia We're just so honored and blessed and really enjoyed having you on the show today.
Lia Bliss [00:21:34]:
Thank you very much, ladies. I mean, we're having a ton of fun and I feel like it's always the after party to these podcasts that are where people wish they could go. So it's just been absolutely a blast. Kate, I feel as though we got instantly connected on such a deep level at this event. I'm like, "Oh, these are just my besties!"
Kate Beck [00:21:54]:
Yes.
Amber Stitt [00:21:55]:
There is an underground community with the speakers, authors, podcasters. So I'm excited to have you in the club.
Lia Bliss [00:22:03]:
We're here, we're in it, we're doing it. Thank you so much for having me, ladies. This has been absolutely fabulous.
Kate Beck [00:22:07]:
Thanks for showing up. Thank you. Thank you for joining us on the Timeless Vitality podcast. We hope today's episode has inspired you to embrace the journey of thriving well beyond 100.
Amber Stitt [00:22:19]:
Remember, your story is still unfolding and every step you take adds to the timeless legacy you are creating. Until next time, stay vibrant, stay empowered, and continue living with purpose.
Kate Beck [00:22:31]:
We'll see you on the next episode!
