Blog for Finmo: I wish I’d known I could be myself on LinkedIn

Just before Christmas, I was delighted to be commissioned to write a guest post for the lovely people at Finmo. They help freelancers (like me) who don’t like numbers (err, also me) feel more confident about completing their tax return.

Even more thrillingly, this was my first ever job off the back of Sian Meades-Williams' weekly Freelance Writing Jobs newsletter. The clue’s in the name: loads of writing jobs, delivered straight to your inbox every week. What’s not to like? If you’re a writer of any description, get signed up sharpish.

They were looking for articles on things you wish you’d known before you went freelance and it was too good an opportunity not to bang my ‘be yourself on LinkedIn!’ drum. So that’s what I wrote about: how you don’t need to talk about ‘crushing it’ or bang on about your Mrs Thatcher-style sleep patterns in order to do well on LinkedIn – quite the opposite, in fact. How potential connections and clients seem to value authenticity over all that braggy talk of five-figure monthly profit figures.

I also roped in relentlessly helpful and self-confessed LinkedIn nerd John Espirian and sweary copywriter extraordinaire Rowan Martin for their thoughts, and they provided some really good ones – thanks, guys.

Want to read more? The article is here – and if it strikes a chord, come on over to my LinkedIn and say hello.