Hi Reader,

Most of y’all know me as the LinkedIn lady.

So it might be strange to hear that I don't typically convert clients on LinkedIn.

(Although, that should track, since my whole thing has always been that I'm on LinkedIn to get off LinkedIn (as are my cohort members, check this out!))

The platform starts the relationship. Something else closes it.

I want to talk about that something else, because there's a version of it I think a lot of you are avoiding.

Last week I taught an in person workshop to the Dames community Charleston Chapter, and I already closed a high ticket client from it.

And back in June? I’d had a quiet stretch on the calendar with no new workshops to give, so I sent an email to y’all saying come hang out with me for an hour, and I opened a Zoom room with no agenda at all.

People showed up and asked me things. I answered them for an hour. We said goodbye.

And I forgot to pitch. Never mentioned the cohort, never mentioned 1:1, never made an offer of any kind.

Yet, $16,500 came out of that hour.

Why’d that happen? It was an opportunity to actually get to know the REAL me.

And look, posts do great work. They keep you top of mind, they show people what you're up to and what you know, and the social proof. You get some dialogue back in the comments, which is more than most channels give you.

But you've gotta admit, there's a lot of noise out there. Your post is one of a hundred someone thumbs past on their way to something else. They’re distracted and busy.

A lead magnet is one-directional and perfectly curated. You wrote it, you edited it 15 times, you picked every word and cut the parts you weren't sure about.

And my newsletter? Still the single most valuable thing I've built for my business. That June room was filled by one email to a list that's smaller than most people would guess, and it converts way above what its size suggests. But even that has a ceiling. Some people need one more thing before they're ready, like actually meeting you.

When you’re live, someone asks you a question you didn't prepare for and they watch you answer it in real time. They see how you think, not only what you've already concluded. They see what you do when you don't know something, whether you bluff or say "good question, let me think about that for a second."

They stop evaluating your content and start evaluating you.

That’s more important right now than it used to be.

We're in a trust recession. Every feed looks the same, half of it is AI, and just about everyone reading has been burned at least once by someone who looked great online. Your audience is skeptical by default and quite frankly, they should be.

You can't resolve that with a PDF, because a PDF is more polished content and polished content is exactly what they've stopped believing.

But an hour where they can ask you anything and watch you answer? That does it. Their hesitation comes out instead of dying in their head, and you get to respond to it right there while they're still listening.

Which is why I never needed to pitch. The hour handled it. (Although, lesson learned, people did want to hear what I had to offer so will make sure there’s space for that next time!)

To be clear, we need to post and I love lead magnets. I've got the Profile Glow Up and the Signal Map and they earn their keep. They're the first invitation and you need one to bring them onto your newsletter.

The second invitation is where people get to be in a room with you, and that's the one many of us skip.

The skipping usually gets labeled as ”logistics:” I don't have a topic. I don't have a deck. What if nobody shows up, or what if only three people do?

Underneath that is something simpler. Live means being seen without an edit filter.

Which can feel scary. Heck, I still get nervous. Last week I gave what I can only describe as a sweaty, speedy presentation, I said so out loud in the room, and everyone laughed and it was completely fine.

But, take June as your bar. It can be something as simple as a Zoom link, and an hour of answering whatever people bring you.

If you're waiting until you've built something impressive enough to invite people to, you'll be waiting a long time. Meanwhile the people who follow you and read your stuff and secretly want to work with you have no way to actually meet you.

They're interested. They just don't have a door.

Give them one this month.

Toodles,
Natasha

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P.S. This is one of the topics we cover in the REALationship Growth Method - it’s all part of the relationship-driven business development flywheel we’re building. Doors for my next cohort close next Friday and I’ve got 3 spots left - ready to get the help you need building yours out? DM me “LFG” for deets.

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New here? Hi - I'm Natasha! I go on lots of LinkedIn tangents (and a few motherhood/entrepreneurial ones, too). My goal is to help make your experience on LinkedIn empowering AND profitable. Seriously. It's totally possible. Subscribe below! See you in your inbox! Subscribe! ​