Some LinkedIn “experts” hand you a template and wish you luck.
(Good luck with that, BTW.)
That’s not what I do. And the difference isn’t cosmetic. It’s the difference between a profile that fills in the blanks and a profile that actually says something.
What does a LinkedIn strategist actually do?
A template assumes every profile should follow the same shape. Drop in your title. Drop in your bullets. Pick your skills from a list. Done.
It’s tidy. It’s also why so many profiles read like the same profile wearing a different name tag.
A strategist works the other direction. You get a checklist to prep, yes. But then we talk. I ask questions. I push. Because the thing that makes your profile work isn’t a formula.
It’s the specific, particular details of your career that most people would never think to include.
You can’t fill those into a blank field. Nobody can. You have to be asked the right question first.
A LinkedIn profile template can’t ask you questions
That’s the whole problem, honestly.
A template can’t tell that the line you almost deleted is the most interesting thing on the page. It can’t notice the gap between what you actually did and what you think is worth mentioning. It can’t push back when you quietly downplay yourself.
It also can’t follow up. When you say “I led a team,” a template just records it. A good question asks: led them through what? From what to what? And suddenly the bullet that meant nothing means everything.
(And you will downplay your accomplishments. Pretty much everyone does.)
You are too close to your own story to see it clearly. That’s not a flaw. It’s proximity. The stuff that feels obvious or irrelevant to you is usually the exact stuff a stranger needs to see to get why you’re worth their time.
The client who almost left her patents off
One of my clients holds patents.
She hadn’t mentioned them. Didn’t think they were relevant to where she was headed.
And TBH, she was kind of right. The patents were for watercraft, and watercraft wasn’t her current industry.
But that’s not really what patents do on a profile.
They showed she can do hard things. Unexpected things. Interesting things. They showed she spots a problem and builds the solution. Which matters no matter what industry she walks into next.
Which makes those patents incredibly relevant.
I knew to ask because I’ve done this long enough to know what people leave on the table. A template wouldn’t have asked. A template doesn’t know patents exist.
What are you leaving off your LinkedIn profile?
Undoubtedly more than you realize, but at least three things.
The speaking gig you don’t think counts. The paper nobody reads anymore but that represents real expertise. The project that wasn’t your main job but showed exactly who you are.
(It’s never only three. Three is just where it starts.)
The difference between a profile that works and one that doesn’t usually isn’t dramatic. It’s those three things you assumed didn’t belong. Sitting in a drawer instead of on the page.
If you want to start digging them out yourself, the free Profile Cheat Sheets walk you through which sections to build and what belongs in each one.
If you want the full methodology — the same framework I use in private sessions, with prompts built to surface exactly the stuff you’re sitting on — that’s Optimize ($397). Self-paced. No template in sight.
And if you’d rather have someone in it with you, book a Curiosity Call and we’ll figure out if it’s a fit.
Because the best material on your profile is almost always the stuff you’ve decided doesn’t matter.
And I’m not going to let you leave it there.