Hi BOLDies

What a time to be alive! We had our event last week in Soho, where we brought amazing women entrepreneurs (& allies) together to talk about showing up online as our full authentic selves. There was so much magic in the room, and the feedback from the attendees is probably something I’ll never quite be able to process fully. It’s definitely not easy to run these (and I really need some sponsors now), but I’m quite literally living the dream I have spent my entire life trying to create.

If you’re nosey like me and want to see the photos they’re here.

It was my first time delivering a keynote at my own event, and the thing that stood out the most, was what I saw in the eyes of many women in my audience at this one moment. I got a little choked up when I spoke about quitting my last corporate job (no, not when Elon Musk fired me at Twitter, it was a different company working for a different horrible man). I told them about how for the first time in my 36 years on this earth, I stood up to a man in a position of power. I didn’t just stand up to him, I absolutely *steamrolled* him. I told him he was awful to work with, and I’m stressed off my tits everyday because of the way he speaks to me. The moment that I did this, everything changed for me. The universe said ‘she’s ready’ and my life changed forever. I was terrified beyond words, but I listened to some wild tribal Irish music beforehand and ‘tapped into the ancestors’ (does anyone else do this?). I was led by something greater than me in that moment, and I now do into this every time I public speak, or take on something outrageous (which I often do).

Since that moment, my path unfolded and the most incredible people and opportunities have come my way. There’s something magical in finally saying no to something that doesn’t serve us, and choosing ourselves.

Here’s our meme of the week (which acts as reminder that some of us neuro-spicy folks really do take things literally)..

It’s the blue strap that just sends me..

Updates from the BOLD oven:

My latest Becoming BOLD podcast with the amazing Amy Kiernan is out here. We talk all things identity shift when you change careers, moving back to Ireland having been part of the Twitter Canada launch team and spending her whole adult life there, notions/famine trauma, her early-life crush on Gerry Ryan and mine on James Bond Jr.

In other news.. I turned myself into a meme for my Monday morning LinkedIn post, mostly to try something new with my content in a world of chaos, and also in the interest of educating people on those awful ‘LinkedIn Gurus’ out there scamming people with all these bloody templates. Read it here…

In other news that might be helpful for you being BOLD this week with your content, I’ve decided to share my anatomy of a BOLD LinkedIn post - which I’ll also take you through on my FREE power-hour this Thursday (virtual).

The most important think you do before you click ‘post’ is to ask yourself:

• What is the key message here?

• Where is the value?

• Am I using too much industry-specific jargon?

• Is this actually 2-3 posts in squeezing into 1? What can I remove?

My 10 Rules for a BOLD LinkedIn post:

1. Hook in with a strong opinion: The first sentence should stop the scroll. It should be BOLD and thought-provoking to get the reader leaning in. In a world of ‘couldn’t agree more’ and beige AI content, bring your strong, human feels.

2. Cut to the chase: Tell your readers quickly what the post is about, so the reader can self-select in or out. There’s nothing more annoying than being tricked into reading something that has zero relevance to you.

3. Keep it simple: Use short sentences and line breaks for easy reading. We are all completely overwhelmed (and overstimulated) by content - especially on LinkedIn. Simple language wins every time.

4. Tell stories: As often as you can, tell stories in your content. Bring in characters, set the scene, use descriptive language and words that are unique to you. It’s worth gold if you actually take time to learn how to tell stories.

5. Provide free value: Share insights, personal stories, or hard-hitting data. Be a vessel and gather all the interesting updated from your industry - serve it up to people in your own unique style. Don’t why away from tagging brands or people you admire - everyone LOVES an ego boost.

6. End with one CTA (call to action): Don’t ask much of people, but when you wrap up your post - don’t lose out on the opportunity to ask the reader to take action. For example, ‘click 🔔 on the top right of my page if you like my content’ or ‘tag someone who might need this today’ or ‘subscribe to my newsletter’, ‘Slide into my DMs’ or ‘drop a 🖤 below if you agree’.

7. Consistency matters (but don’t compromise): Decide on a realistic cadence and go with that to begin with. Aim for 1-2x per week if possible. This trains the algorithm to see you as someone who engages. The more you post, the greater the success, BUT quality (non-ChatGPT) over quantity.

8. Authentic, real & relatable wins: Defining your voice & values as a person, is a great way to figure out how you want to come across in your content. Do not use ChatGPT to write content, the algorithm can tell now if you do this - it’s a complete waste of time and only devalues your brand. Draw from your own real life experiences and not ideas from another person’s post that day (totally dilutes the message). Real talk over corporate speak or jargon.

9. Personal yes - private no: People want to know you personally, and that means things you care about outside of your day job. It’s ok to ‘light touch’ share a difficulty or struggle, but if you go down this road - ask yourself what the motive is. We don’t need anymore trauma dumping on LinkedIn.

10. Keep LinkedIn’s content pillars in mind: LinkedIn wants you to create interesting discussions on the platform, and the pillars they recommend are: Business | Personal | Weighing in, so keep content somewhat rooted in these.

If you found that useful, you can grab my BOLD Content Template, or you might like to pre-order my ‘Becoming BOLD LinkedIn Creator Course’ (comes out end of July).

Finally and THE MOST important thing to share, my current musical hyper-focuses are Cleo Sol & Naomi Sharon, I’m clearly in my powerful woman’s heavy bass and smooth vibes era.

Sending you big BOLD vibes for the week ahead ⚡️ 

Amy xox