Get Out of Teaching Podcast Season 4, Episode 10, Karen Tisdell (LinkedIn Profile Writer)

 An early adopter of LinkedIn, Karen Tisdell recognised the platform’s potential when working as a recruiter. Foreseeing the importance of how we are each perceived online, Karen began her LinkedIn profile writing business in 2009, while dabbling in career coaching. She has long abandoned the career coaching and is now ranked as one of the top 8 independent LinkedIn trainers across Asia Pacific, with her true love being writing LinkedIn profiles for career changers, job seekers, solopreneurs and start-ups.


Website: www.karentisdell.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karentisdell/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KarenTisdellLinkedIn 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/karen_tisdell

 ——

For show-notes and other resources, visit https://www.larksong.com.au/podcast

 For all podcast episodes, visit https://getoutofteaching.buzzsprout.com/

 Get Out of Teaching website (Larksong): https://www.larksong.com.au

 Join the ‘Get Out of Teaching!’ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/getoutofteaching

 Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-out-of-teaching/id1498676505

 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-diacos-career-transition-coach-for-education-leaders-get-out-of-teaching/

 Connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.diacos

 This podcast is a member of the Experts on Air podcast network https://expertsonair.fm/

Transcript

Elizabeth Diacos  0:00  
Welcome to Season 4 of the Get Out of Teaching Podcast presented by Larksong Enterprises. This podcast is for teachers who are considering leaving Education, but feel like they have no options. I'm your host, Elizabeth Diacos. I'm a career transition coach who guides overwhelm teachers through a five step process, out of Education and into a life they love. I'd like to see a world where the work of teachers is valued and respected, and that teachers have a career pathway that enables them to continue to offer value to society, beyond their work in the classroom. So in this season, we'll be speaking to other experts, who help people to change careers, as well as a few ex-teachers who forged a pathway into something new. So come along for the ride as we get out of teaching. 

Episode 10. Hi, everyone, and welcome to the show. On today's show. I'm very pleased to be interviewing Karen Tisdell, who is a LinkedIn Profile Writer. And Karen actually helps people grow their businesses, and transition careers through their personal LinkedIn profiles. So this is perfect for someone who's wanting to get out of teaching and into a life they love. You've got to get your LinkedIn profile right. So thanks for coming on the show, Karen.

Karen Tisdell  1:17  
I'm thrilled to be here. I really am. So you know, teachers are really close to my heart, especially, you know, in everything we've been through in the last couple of years, you know, I really, yeah, such a such a big job. And I think transitioning out of teaching and thinking about what my next career is, and having those first steps is so important. Now, tell me, Elizabeth, sorry, I know you're interviewing me. But why do you think LinkedIn is so important for people who are transitioning?

Elizabeth Diacos  1:50  
Our look, you know, if you'd have asked me this two years ago, or three years ago, I would have said, "Oh, I don't really think it's going to be very helpful at all." But I'm a bit, I know, sorry." 

Karen Tisdell  2:00  
Oh, you didn't know me then. So, uhm... 

Elizabeth Diacos  2:01  
Yeah, that's true. That's true. So I think what I've noticed over time is that, where it used to be very much a place where you sort of parked yourself, if you were looking for something else, and maybe weren't very active, I feel like there's a lot more activity on there now, where people are posting personal achievements, I actually saw a post the other day, from my local high school's principal about just something they've been doing at the school. And I'm like, "Ivan, you've never popped up for me before. Are you, is this new? like have you just started to have a presence on LinkedIn?" And I think we're starting to use it in a way where we're celebrating successes, we're talking about our personal philosophies, we're talking about the way it's a lot of teachers are on the now talking about achievements in the classroom, or innovation in the classroom, or particularly around mental health at the moment with the pandemic. 

And I just think this bus is, you know, going getting faster and faster. And we need to jump on before, you know, we kind of gets out of control, and we don't ever a place on it, I think there's an opportunity now to create a presence and to create some content for whoever's out there who might be interested in what you have to say, and start to position yourself in a way that you're an authority in your space, wherever that is. So that's my answer. I don't know if that's the right answer.

Karen Tisdell  3:28  
So for you, it feels like it's less dry than it used to be. And I think that's where it might have been quite intimidating for teachers, you know, we were not seeing a lot of teachers. And we weren't seeing a lot of nurses and healthcare professionals on LinkedIn years ago. And they were they were really missing. And now we're seeing a lot more teachers on LinkedIn. And we're seeing a greater variety of different posts and more people showing up authentically. Now. I like what you said there about showcasing your expertise. And I think what we're here to talk about LinkedIn profiles today, because that's, that's my area of expertise. 

I think it's really important that people think, don't think that they have to be a finished work before they're creating content. I think it's really important to create a great profile. But know that done is better than perfect. You know, it is better to have something that it it is an iteration. We're all as humans, we're all works in progress, right, Elizabeth, you know, like, you're not born like just, you know, knowing all this stuff. You're sort of you grow, you change you, what's the word, you pivot, you know, so I would urge people to sort of think about sharing content where they're talking about their transition and you're transitioning in front of people. 

There's a wonderful book on this which is such a fun weird book by Austin Kleon. Have you read it? It's k l e o n. Austin Kleon. And it's called, Show Your Work. And he's an artist, and he talks about this idea of just creating your art in public. When you create it in public, you, you will get feedback from people. And that will change your art and your art will change the person. And I think that it's a really great metaphor for teachers who are transitioning away from teaching, because they think, "oh, but teaching is sort of this this specific world," maybe I'm moving into the corporate sector, maybe I'm moving into something else. LinkedIn is not as dry as it used to be. 

And I can transition, I can show my transformation, as I'm doing it, as I'm learning things, I can share what I'm doing, you know, take people on that journey, and you will build support as people go, "Oh, my gosh, that's fantastic." I'm thinking about doing that. So you can really choose your cheerleaders in terms of pulling attention to you from people who potentially could become clients, sponsors, employers, you know, you're gaining a support network here on platform.

Elizabeth Diacos  6:19  
It's interesting that you mentioned that teachers and nurses are becoming more active. Because I, one of the collaborations I've had is with a financial advisor who works with teachers and nurses. And I see so many, Chris Carlin, just big shout out to Chris, from Master Your Money Now, while we're here, because he's he's a real advocate for helping people to create, you know, shore up their financial future. But he works specifically with those two groups. And I see the similarities, they're both dealing with highs, the stakes are high, you know, you're either in a traumatic situation, if you're a nurse, you're dealing with trauma, or, you know, emergency medical thing. 

And if you're a teacher, you're dealing with someone's children, and that it's like, so important to them. And so that both of both of those industries, I think and they're also the caring industries, and they're both professionals, there's so many similarities. So tell me, Karen, why are these two industries starting to show up? What's happening there with with uhm? Why are they showing up on LinkedIn, all of a sudden?

Karen Tisdell  7:26  
I think it's for a number of reasons. One, people are moving away from Facebook with all of the security breaches. And also as people are moving away from Facebook. And as more people are yearning for connection, given everything we went through 2020-2021, you know, all of the, shall we say the C word, all of the CO, I like yearning for connection, and they're needing those touch points. So they're reaching out to people on whatever platform they're using, or hearing about, and the feeling like LinkedIn that become much more secure. And also on LinkedIn, you can create a side hustle. So because it is a business platform, not a platform where you go to keep in touch with friends, and you go to be entertained or inspired. 

People are thinking, "Well, you know, whatever stream they're in, they're thinking, I need to develop a side hustle. So on my LinkedIn profile, I can scroll down to my experience section. I don't even have to have a company logo, I can just type the word self employed, where the employer section is, I can pick a logo. And I can say that I'm now becoming a cabinet maker or I'm becoming a massage therapist, or I can talk to what it is I want to do when I'm transitioning to, as a side hustle. And I can start to attract clients by sharing work, sharing posts that benefits them." So I think I think a lot of the barriers are coming down for a range of different reasons. 

And I think it's really interesting what you said there, that they're both the caring professions. I reckon that is such a nugget of gold. Because I think that teachers and nurses, it's both about it's the whole life is about other people, it's not about them. And so on LinkedIn, it needs to, people think it needs to be about them. And that's where people get stuck in creating their own profile. They're thinking, "Oh, my gosh, I've got to write about myself. I've got to create content that's promotional." And I think the trick to great content and especially the trick to a great profile, is you don't need to focus on you. And this may seem so counterintuitive, but it's actually when we think about how we connect with people, human to human. 

Is the people you connect with the most at a party and not the people who are "mee mee mee mee mee mee mee mee mee mee mee mee mee now, Elizabeth, what do you think about me?" Those are not the people we enjoy speaking to. We enjoy speaking with people who really answer our questions and really listen. And so I think that teachers and nurses are the next wave who are going to nail it on LinkedIn. And so are the IT people actually a lot of your software developers and stuff, the introverts, or the people who are other people focused. Because they're writing their LinkedIn profile thinking, "Okay, I want to be, you know, a cabinet maker or," you know, whatever, you know, whatever their side hustle is. 

You know, and massage therapists, or I really want to go in do marketing, or I want to do this, you know, think about, think about what what is the pain that that role is serving? There's always a pain in every job. in every profession. If there's no pain, then there's no job. So it might feel like a joy to you. You might think I really want to be selling beanies, didn't you have a guest who created beanies, is that right? I love that.

Elizabeth Diacos  10:58  
Ally Forbes. She's a little amazing, so passionate about beanies. 

Karen Tisdell  11:04  
Such a great episode, we should go back and look at it. Now you might be creating beanies, for instance, you know, when you talk about - What's the problem beanies are solving? They're solving people who are having bad hair days. 

Elizabeth Diacos  11:17  
That's what I was gonna say. True.

Karen Tisdell  11:18  
When you know, bad hair days, people who want to keep the heads warm, you know? So what are the problems that the beanies are solving? And talk to that problem through your profile? You know. So, you know what...

Elizabeth Diacos  11:32  
When I get off this call, I am so gonna message her and say, write something about bad hair days. That's awesome. I love it.

Karen Tisdell  11:39  
Absolutely! Got a bad hair day? Or, "Are you stuck in lockdown, and you haven't been able to get into a hairdresser? Buy one of my fashionable beanies!" you know, so it doesn't have to be promotional per se, it has to be solving a problem. And your LinkedIn profile needs to really talk to that pain and talk to that problem. So it's not about you, it's actually thinking about the problems you solve, and how you solve them. And if you can share in your profile a little bit, especially if you don't have experience, you know, if you really want to do, see, and you're currently doing a so you currently a teacher, but you want to be, you know, a knitter doing beanies, you know. 

If you don't have experience doing that, and you haven't sold lots of beanies, or whatever, you know, you think, talk about why do you like that, why are you passionate about that? Because people connect with a why, you know, I use my tax accountant because he's deeply passionate about tax. I'm very much not. You know?

Elizabeth Diacos  12:41  
Mind. Weird, huh? 

Karen Tisdell  12:44  
Aren't we strangers? 

Elizabeth Diacos  12:46  
Can I ask you a question though, if someone's transitioning, so particularly, we're teaching their their boss could see their posts on LinkedIn. They're, I've gotten, I've been asked to delete comments that I've made where I've tagged someone in a post and they're going "Don't tag me in a post, my, my principal might see this post, and I don't even want them to know that I'm talking to someone who helps teachers get out of teaching." So there's a big sort of fearfulness and around the confidentiality of creating content that might be seen as "I'm not happy with my job." And that must apply not just to teachers, but to anyone transitioning out of a career. How do you get around that issue?

Karen Tisdell  13:32  
Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, when you were first saying that, I was like, "Oh, my gosh, that's insane." But that's because the way I talk about it, it's different. So I don't talk about transitioning away from, I talk about growing a side hustle, you know, so with my clients, I'm saying, "You know, you want to just get a hold of the clients, you know, there's times of the day when you are not teaching, you're probably doing tons of marketing and classroom prep and stuff like that. But in the time that you do have, develop your expertise, develop your LinkedIn profile, create content, and don't talk about it as "I'm transitioning away from teaching." Talk about it as "this is my hobby."

Because nowadays, you know, we're now I mean, I think you and I probably around the same age, I think. So for me, this is my third financial crisis, not on we're like so lucky here in Australia, aren't we, we were recording today, many of your listeners may be in other countries. But for us, this is our third, in our lifetime. If you, you know, I started in the workforce in 1990s. And we were in a recession then. We then went through a recession with the GFC 2008-2009. So this is the third recession, if you can call it that, because we're very lucky here in this country. But this is my third recession in my lifetime and so now now it is normal to have a side hustle. 

It is normal to have a second job, or something that you're making income from. That is the norm. So I would just, I would not be worried about creating content and not be worried about your principal saying it. And just talking about it as if it's a high, side hustles. This is my side hustle, this is my side hustle. And people like people who are interesting, but make it you know, the first thing you talk about. So talk all in your LinkedIn profile about what your side hustle is. 

Elizabeth Diacos  15:34  
Yeah. 

Karen Tisdell  15:34  
And then just put a little bit you know, and when I'm not doing this, I'm teaching children during the day, if you want to, you know, talk about what it is you want to attract, which is what you're transitioning to, and build it, build it, build it to the point where you're going, "Oh, my gosh, if I do the math, with my tax accountant, if I do the math, I can actually make more money if I get out of teaching and do this full time. So you want to grow it to that point as opposed to burn the boats. 

Elizabeth Diacos  16:04  
Yeah. 

Karen Tisdell  16:04  
You know what I mean? That's how I would tackle it.

Elizabeth Diacos  16:06  
One of the members of the Get Out of Teaching Facebook group, Michelle Wasserman, she actually has done that. So she was an art teacher like I was, she did some copywriting training. So she can write copy for actually did, she did the copy on my website, or most of it, I did a little bit of it, but she did most of it. And, and she's exact, done exactly what you said she started out doing it. So we had a meeting once, which would have been her Saturday night, my early Sunday morning. Because that was when she was working out on the weekends, after school, in the early mornings, like whenever she could fit it in around her teaching job. 

And she got to that tipping point where she could actually transition across into what she created for herself and leave the teaching job behind. And she she only just did it just now in this in this. So it says their summer holidays, they're in the US now. And she she posted I'm having one day off for the summer. And then I'm starting my new job, which is you know, my own business. So that was really exciting to see her, you know, gradually grow that to the point where she could, she could move across. And I mean, I don't know how much money that was for her to have to make. But it would have been significant if she could replace her teaching income.

Karen Tisdell  17:17  
Absolutely. And it's very, it's very achievable. You know, people think, "Oh, that's a dream. You know, I had the dream that I could do graphic design. And that could be my full time job. And I could get out of teaching." And they may have some angst around "Oh, but you know, if I, who am I without my teaching?" but we are all iterations we are all works in progress. You know, my great aunt in Edinburgh was a huge influence on me. You know, I used to go to Scotland every few years growing up. And you know, and she was amazing. And she died at 96. And at 94, I remember crossing the road with her. And she said to me, she was a bit saucy. She said to me, she said, "You know, I cross the road sometimes." 

She said, "and handsome young men helped me cross the road." She said and I think for a minute, "Oh, he saw, right?" And then I remember I'm 94. I was so so shocked. Um, and it occurred to me, you know, in my conversations with my amazing, great aunt, that you are always learning, you don't, you know, you don't feel the age you are inside. You know he knows that we are always constantly changing. And you know at 94 she was as curious as and she was said she was still learning. So we are still learning. We're still changing. Don't think that you need to be "Oh I need to be a graphic designer and not this anymore." It's a it's a transition.

Elizabeth Diacos  18:51  
Okay, so let's get down to brass tacks. I've got I've got a I'm a let's talk, Donna. I'm using Donna, this mythical Donna who's my sort of client avatar, I suppose, who's a she's in her early 50s. She's been teaching for a couple of decades. She wakes up one morning, she says "I just can't do this anymore. I have to change what I'm doing. I don't even have, I'm Donna, I don't even have a LinkedIn profile at all. Like literally none." So what what's the first place? Where do you start? 

Karen Tisdell  19:23  
So easy. Just go. Just put into Google - LinkedIn, into Google. And then literally start filling out the blanks. So start filling it out. It will prompt you. It used to be really hard. IT used to go. I don't know what year you joined LinkedIn? When, what year did you join? 

Elizabeth Diacos  19:42  
Probably about three years ago. So..

Karen Tisdell  19:43  
Oh, okay, that's pretty new. So I joined in 2005. 

Elizabeth Diacos  19:47  
Oh, wow.

Karen Tisdell  19:48  
Yeah. I once ran a training session. So I was like, "Oh my god, it was born in 2017. Like, oh, 2007 sorry, she said I was (inaudible)

Elizabeth Diacos  19:59  
... even born.

Karen Tisdell  20:00  
I got socks older than you, seriously. In 2005, it was so hard to set up a LinkedIn profile. And you were like, how do I navigate this thing? Now it really is a color by numbers, you just fill in the blanks and look for the little pencils. So when I say the little pencils all over LinkedIn, there are little pencils. So when you're looking at your profile, so just fill it out. And it'll ask you to fill out bits and pieces and bits and pieces. And look for the little pencils. Every time there's a little pencil, you see one, that's where you can edit things or upload stuff. Don't make the mistake of thinking that this is your resume. It feels like a resume. It feels like you're uploading, "Oh, I worked from this date to this date. And it's asking me what my responsibilities are? Oh, I know. I'll talk about all the teaching stuff I did." 

Think about what it is you're moving towards? What it is you want to do? And what are the parts of your role that involve that? You know, so for you, you were an art teacher, Elizabeth, and one of the many things you do is you create your work at events, sometimes doing beautiful storyboard pictures, don't you?

Elizabeth Diacos  21:13  
Yes, yeah, I have done a few of those. Yeah, yeah. 

Karen Tisdell  21:15  
Yeah, and they're lovely. So you know, I saw that and thought, hmm, when I next have an event? Notice. So, um, you know, so...

Elizabeth Diacos  21:23  
I'd fly out to Sydney. 

Karen Tisdell  21:25  
indeed, when we let you in? So thinking about how can you use what you've done to talk to what it is you want to do? You know, so don't have to hold this as a resume. Think about making sure that you're keeping, you know, I said, it's not about you, it's about your audience. You know, what are your audience, audience being clients, you know, what are your potential clients or potential employer? What are they looking for? And how do you start putting that all through your profile? Really, important part of your LinkedIn profile that is sorely under looked that most people don't think to change is a part called the headline, professional headline. 

Now your professional headline is the bit that sits underneath your name. So they should look up you shouldn't they should look up Elizabeth. How do I say your name again?

Elizabeth Diacos  22:16  
Oh, Diacos.

Karen Tisdell  22:18  
Diacos. I love the way you say that. Diacos. So you know, it's a look up your profile, and you see that headline sitting underneath your name. That's where you can talk about your side hustle, you can talk about what you're transitioning to. So the person you mentioned was it Michelle? You know, she can talk about copywriting. She could have copywriter, website wording, and you know, she a blog writer, she could list the sort of copywriting that she does.

Elizabeth Diacos  22:48  
Yeah.

Karen Tisdell  22:49  
And then at the very end of that, if she wants to, she could write teacher, if she feels like, "I don't really, I'm not ready to burn the boats. I don't want to be this. And I don't want to freak out my principal." You know, you can talk to both, but put what it is you most want?

Elizabeth Diacos  23:05  
Yeah. And thinking about how people, all the people I've been working with, I need to send them all an email and go right, go back into LinkedIn, fix this. And they've just allowed you to customize. So in that little bit, where it asks you, are you, how do you want to be identified as she or her or he or him? You can customize that as well now, so you can put LinkedIn Expert or something like that instead, if you want to, you can change it.

Karen Tisdell  23:36  
I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. Because it's had a huge backslash back and back back. So what do you call it a backlash from any LGBTQIA+ community? Saying that it, some people have said that they feel quite affronted with that. So I know you can do that, though. 

Elizabeth Diacos  23:56  
Sorry, just explain. Are you saying that you should or shouldn't put, she/he. whatever?

Karen Tisdell  24:01  
No, you can put that. But don't don't customize that to be another area where you can promote your (inaudible).

Elizabeth Diacos  24:06  
Oh I see, I see. Okay.

Karen Tisdell  24:08  
Yeah. So I know that I know that some people have said "Oh, and you can customize this and you can customize that." But but that is meant to be a pronoun section. And we we, she, her. And in some members of some communities have been quite vocal on LinkedIn saying, "This is where you put your pronouns."

Elizabeth Diacos  24:29  
Right. I see. Yep. Yep, that makes sense.

Karen Tisdell  24:31  
Do you know what I mean? But I mean, that's a very personal decision. If people want to promote themselves in that in that space, they can but it's personally for me. I, I would not I would leave that for your pronoun section, I would put in your headline section a bit under your name. That's where it talks about what it is you do, and make sure that you've got an About section, a summary section that talks to the problems you solve And why you do it? You know why?

Elizabeth Diacos  25:02  
I was gonna say what if you don't know yet, like what if you you know you want to get out, but you're not really sure where you're going to go next, or what you're going to transition into?

Karen Tisdell  25:12  
You need to have an idea first of what it is you're interested in. Frankly, that's where I'd say they should reach out to you for some coaching. And I'm seriously not saying that as a plug, like I mean hand on heart. If you, if I wanted to get if I wanted to go to your house for dinner, Elizabeth, if I did, I can't just jump in my car and say, "Take me to Elizabeth house." I need to have your address in order for my GPS to get me to your house. If you're going to have a LinkedIn profile, that's going to attract clients, that's going to attract business, that's going to attract potential employers, and supporters, people who will help you to achieve your professional goals, you need to have a bit of an idea on what those professional goals are. 

Now, they don't have to be exact, you know, I'm sure that Michelle, well I'm guessing Michelle didn't know exactly what sort of copy she was going to write. She might have thought, "You know what, I'm going to be a copywriter, and I'm going to go store the books," and then she's gonna "God, I hate cokes, doing books, I'd like to do websites, I don't like doing blogs, I like," you know, there's lots of different types of writing. So it might take you a while to find your feet. But you need to, you need to pick a path, you need to, you need to pick a pond if you like. And a pond is always my metaphor for niche, you know, and because when people say "Find a niche." 

I'm like, "Oh God, what's the niche?" It's so hard, right? There's so so what pick a pond. So find out a pond, think about a pond with lots of fishnet. Do you mind me running with this metaphor? Just about to go to my podcast, and then think about another pond try, which has got maybe different types of fish in it. And maybe there's a stream connecting the two of them. And maybe there's a few different ponds, you know what I mean? You're in Melbourne. So it's a bit, it's quite a few ponds.

Elizabeth Diacos  26:39  
It's a lot of water around at the moment, definitely.

Karen Tisdell  27:08  
Oh, there's a lot of water in Melbourne, to say, and not so much in Sydney. And so, kidding. And so think about finding your pond, that you go, you know, "I'm not exactly too sure what I want to do. But I know, I know, it's not going to be accounting, I know it's not going to be tax, I know it's probably going to be like this and that." So work with Elizabeth, work with a coach to sort of find what it is you want to do, and what your strengths and skills are, you know look at where your energy is coming from. Find that, pick that pond, and then build your profile talking about what your interests are. And then start reaching out to people who play in that pond, the fish, the frogs, you know, stuff like that. 

And the reason why it's important to start looking at other people who are in that is for a number of reasons. So you might choose to find you might find somebody who's doing what you think you want to do. And so you don't have to reach out, connect to them straightaway, just click on the Follow button. And if you can't see it, click on the More button, there's a more button on everybody's profiles, click on that. And then click on follow. And just look at their posts. You don't have to like and comment straight away, just start reading their posts, and then start liking their posts. And then start commenting on that post. One of the biggest things you can do is start commenting on people's posts, when they're doing work that resonates with you.

Elizabeth Diacos  28:47  
Then they if you've got your, you know, your profile and all that up to date, they can actually see who you are, when you comment, so they can see, you know, I'm a cabinet maker or whatever. And they'll go "Oh, that's interesting. Why is this cabinet maker interested in me?" You know, and so, and I know I'd do that if someone who's outside of the usual people who comment on my posts, if they even like my posts, and I am paying attention, which I usually try to do, I will message them and say, "Hey, thanks for you comment on my post." And that can often be a really lovely connection. So it's definitely worthwhile because you just don't know who's out there and you don't know who's paying attention to what you're saying. Even if it's just a few, you know, a few words. 

I go to LinkedIn, someone posted this this she's a, she's in the EU in the UK. She's a, she helps people get their hair sell on contract in order. Right very, very small pond. And she had this I can't even remember what the context of it was. It was, there was some joke that she was having with this conversation back and forth on LinkedIn about having Jaffa cakes as a prize for a contest. And we don't really get Jaffa cakes here in Australia. So I said, "Wow, I would accept that prize as you know if you were going to send me some Jaffa cakes because we don't really have them here." And I'm friends with her now. And we're going to, she's promised me Jaffa cakes. 

I don't know if they're ever going to get here, if they do, her name's Becky Wynn so if they get here and there's another one Denise Ferguson and they like their partners in crime, I think or they do stuff together. Anyway, I'm waiting for my Jaffa cakes. They haven't arrived yet, but I've, they have my address, so there's no excuse. They should be in the mail. And they'll probably be stale by the time they arrive. But still, you know, I just love that we had this nice little back and forth.

Karen Tisdell  30:50  
Maybe, maybe they're vacuum sealed. Yeah, I was listening to the podcast the other day. And it's one of the most highly ranked podcasts on on, on LinkedIn and on Spotify. And I listened to an author speak about a book he wrote, I reached out and I found him on LinkedIn. I found his last few posts, just scroll down to his activity. So look at the person scroll down to their activity, then click on their activity. 

Elizabeth Diacos  31:20  
Right. 

Karen Tisdell  31:21  
And I found his post I liked and commented on his last few posts and I sent him a note saying I just heard you on Douglas Burdett's Marketing Book Podcast. Amazing. I'm ordering your book right now. Really fantastic. I loved it. Hope we can connect here and put my name. 

Elizabeth Diacos  31:42  
Yeah. 

Karen Tisdell  31:42  
He's messaged me back this morning, saying, "You must be ordering my old book because I've just got a new one that I've just released, what's your address, I will send it to you."

Elizabeth Diacos  31:57  
Oh.

Karen Tisdell  31:57  
Oh my Gosh! I've got myself a free book and a connection with a really famous author, I can't believe he messaged me back and offered me a free book.

Elizabeth Diacos  32:02  
That's fantastic. 

Karen Tisdell  32:07  
Yeah. But that all starts from you know, you don't have to reach out and connect, it's great if you can, but if everybody could just get in a habit of scrolling through their newsfeed. And if people are going what you're talking about newsfeed, setting up profiles. When you look at LinkedIn, I have to, fill out some of the basics on your profile, click on the button that says home, it's got a little house on it. And you'll see a whole load of what are called posts in there. So those are pieces of content. And if everybody could have a habit every single day, I do advocate for this Monday to Friday, take the weekends off, Monday to Friday every morning, while the kettles boiling for me, it's, it's a Friday every morning too. 

So I'm standing in the kitchen for a few minutes, I'm going in (inaudible), don't do it on desktop, don't sit down and start scrolling through your newsfeed or you will lose hours of your lifetime. And you'll feel like you've done work but you actually haven't. So do it on your mobile, scroll. That was it. That was a laughter of recognition, right? You've done that. We've all done that, like, "Oh my gosh, waited three hours ago." (inaudible) Scroll through your newsfeed and like and comment on the posts in your newsfeed that resonate with you. And that's a really great way of doing a number of things. As you said, it pulls attention to you. It's a gift to people, because people love attention, like "oh my gosh, thank you, you commented on my post, thank you," it's a real gift to the other person. 

But also it gets you comfortable with being in the public eye. And so moving from teaching where it's all about, you're standing in front of the classroom and giving to others it's giving, giving, giving, it feels quite, I imagine it would feel quite difficult to then send invitations to connect and create posts where you think, "oh, gosh, you know, do I really want to be in this sort of corporate time kind of world?" it just commenting enables you to dip your toe in. And if you can't think of anything to say other than "great post," a quick hack? I'm not sure I've ever spoken about this before, actually. But a quick hack is to quote somebody words back at them. 

Elizabeth Diacos  34:19  
Yeah. 

Karen Tisdell  34:19  
So look at their post and say look at what Elizabeth's written and I think I might have done this to you the other day. Look at what somebody has written. And take a line or a sentence out of what they've said, paste it and comment and just say, you know, "yes, I really agree because of x y Zed." 

Elizabeth Diacos  34:40  
Yeah, that's one. Yeah.

Karen Tisdell  34:42  
Yeah, I think I did that when you were talking about our teachers on the front line. And I'm like "Oh teachers on the front line."

Elizabeth Diacos  34:49  
I shared a post, yeah, yeah. Actually, another thing I do is if someone's got a video, and if you know sometimes they're like eight minutes long and I'm like, okay, I it's the vortex sorta I can't get sucked in. But if I go to like, seven and a half minutes in, I'll probably get the main point, or the summary that I can comment on that. Shh. Don't tell anyone. All right. 

Karen Tisdell  35:13  
You mean you haven't watched my seven minute posts, you scroll towards the end and just call it the summary bit and then just put the comment at the end.

Elizabeth Diacos  35:20  
Yeah, that's exactly what I do.

Yeah. So important.

But yeah.

Karen Tisdell  35:24  
Then it's a gift of attention. And people love that.

Elizabeth Diacos  35:27  
Yeah. I mean, it depends what it is, if it's something that I'm really interested in, obviously, I'm going to watch the whole thing. Or actually, what I do now is go out walking with my headphones on and listen to stuff while I'm out. So I don't have to sit because that's, that's something I really noticing is that because, you know, like you said, "Don't sit at your desktop and do it." You're absolutely right, you can sit in front of the computer for the whole day, and feel like you haven't achieved anything with your life. Or at least if I'm out walking, I'm like, I don't mind watching someone's video or listening to it while I'm walking so long as you don't trip over. But it makes it a bit more kind of, I think you've got to make your life work for you. You know.

Karen Tisdell  36:04  
Absolutely.

Elizabeth Diacos  36:04  
Whatever that looks like. 

Karen Tisdell  36:06  
For me that's always hanging up watching. So when I see a six minute video, I'm thinking, "Okay, I've got six minutes to pack the dishwasher. I've got six minutes to go and hang up swashing," you know. So...

Elizabeth Diacos  36:15  
So you can listen to the video at the same time. Nice one. 

Karen Tisdell  36:17  
Absolutely. Things like that.

Elizabeth Diacos  36:19  
(inaudible) are talking hand and you don't actually need to look at the content. So okay, so as a summary, then, if we've got Donna, she's setting up her LinkedIn profile. She's creating, you know, a sort of a social presence on LinkedIn. What else should you be thinking about in that space?

Karen Tisdell  36:38  
Great. So she should be thinking about, so her headline, a background banner. So background banner is when you look at your profile, you will see behind your photo, a great big blank space. And it's like a pale blue grey color? 

Elizabeth Diacos  36:58  
You want to just, with this is going to be on YouTube as well. Do you want to just screen share? Are you okay with doing that? I think you should have permission. 

Karen Tisdell  37:05  
What have I got open at the moment? Let me just see. So...

Elizabeth Diacos  37:09  
So you just screen share your LinkedIn profile if you want. 

Karen Tisdell  37:12  
Yeah, absolutely I can do that. 

Elizabeth Diacos  37:14  
I know this was not on our agenda for today. But why not?

Karen Tisdell  37:17  
No, that's a fantastic idea. And so you can just get we look at creating something for your background banner. Now teachers are often "Oh, I should have done this with yours. Anyway, I've done it online."

Elizabeth Diacos  37:29  
That's alright. Show us and then you can you can walk us through.

Karen Tisdell  37:33  
Absolutely. Okay, so I will screen share. So I'm using mine. Now I sometimes see people so this is your background banner here. 

Elizabeth Diacos  37:43  
Right? 

Karen Tisdell  37:43  
So see this blue pencil. So that's what I was talking about with the blue pencils, wherever you see blue pencils, you've got really, you've got an ability to edit something.

Elizabeth Diacos  37:54  
Okay. 

Karen Tisdell  37:54  
So this...

Elizabeth Diacos  37:56  
Do you want to just enlarge that a little bit more? Because if someone's watching this on the phone, that's a really tiny?

Karen Tisdell  38:02  
Yes, sorry, there you go. So this is the background banner here. And you can create something like this on Canva. It's really important to have in here an image of what it is you're moving to. So what is it you want to do? 

Elizabeth Diacos  38:20  
Yeah. 

Karen Tisdell  38:21  
And make sure that you've got a visual image of that. You can get free images that are you know, copyright free, you know, you're allowed to use them on upsplash? upslash?

Elizabeth Diacos  38:34  
Unsplash. Yeah, is great for images. Yeah.

Karen Tisdell  38:37  
Yeah, and there's also a whole lot of this on (inaudible). There's Pixabay. All sorts of different things. So even Pinterest actually are often typically royalty free. So have an image in here that really talks to what it is you do. Now we spoke earlier about the headline, that's this section here. Start with the... 

Elizabeth Diacos  38:59  
For the listeners that's under the the name of the person, like you name, your profile name. So it's got current install, and then LinkedIn profile writer, and then underneath that just got a whole heap of other stuff.

Karen Tisdell  39:12  
Absolutely. And you want to make sure that the first few words of that first sort of four to five words, really capture what it is you do. So that's why I said, if you don't want to burn the bridge, and you still want to do teaching, have that at the end. You know, don't lead with that bit. Now another really important part that I wanted to speak about. I'm going to scroll all the way to the bottom of my profile here. And that's your skill section. So make sure that you do fill out your skill section, and that you've got all of those details there on what your skills are because LinkedIn does care about keyword capture. So think what is it I want to be known for and make sure that you've got all of the right keywords in that section.

Elizabeth Diacos  40:01  
Yeah, it keeps sending me notifications about jobs I'd be qualified for. So clearly it's looking at things like that. Otherwise, it wouldn't know that that was a skill or something it could in, that I, I've obviously been endorsed for those things, otherwise, I wouldn't be sending that to me. 

Karen Tisdell  40:17  
Absolutely. So make sure that you've filled out that area. Now another thing that I wanted to talk about is the featured section. So for those who are on YouTube, you can see here we've got the featured section. If you can't see the featured section, because you know, you're only just setting up your LinkedIn profile, click Add a new profile section. So you will see add profile section or add section it says, so add section for those who are listening. And then go to your featured section. And this is where you can have as I've got, you can have a website. Or you could think about having an image of what it is you do, you know, so so your beanie maker that lovely lady, was it Sally? Who did your...

Elizabeth Diacos  41:05  
Ally.

Karen Tisdell  41:06  
Yeah, I love that, you know about she could have a picture there, of her beanies. 

Elizabeth Diacos  41:12  
Yeah, I know. 

Karen Tisdell  41:13  
And then in the experience section, again, you can add in their media. Images of what it is you do. So if you can have images of what it is you do, then you're really creating something that is not just a flat depiction of you, but it's really showcasing who you are.

Elizabeth Diacos  41:34  
Nice, I love it. That's great. That's such good advice, because I think this is a whole new world for people to navigate. And if they're coming out of a profession, that is really, Education is quite unsure, and you don't tend to look at what's happening in the world, outside in the in the, you know, other other sectors until you're ready to move. And then it's just overwhelming and scary. And, and you feel there's a lot of I talked to a lot of teachers who they're quite fearful at becoming a novice again. And because, you know, they've been an expert in their field for 20 or 30 years. And now suddenly, they're contemplating going back to being a beginner. And that's really challenging. 

And there's fear around that. And there's disappointment and there's grief and being annoyed at yourself for being so stupid as to get yourself in this position in the first place. And how do I know all that because that's exactly how I felt. So I think one of the things if you've got to, you know, someone who can help you and guide you through that. So just the insights that you've given us today, Karen, are amazingly helpful in that regard. So thank you so much.

Karen Tisdell  42:47  
I hope that people will sort of see themselves as an, as always been incomplete works of art, you know, just going back to my my aunt Isabella, in Edinburgh, you know, 94 and she said, she was still learning, you know, we are all we are all still novices. And if you can just spend time on LinkedIn in the newsfeed, you will see people authentically showing up saying, you know, I'm still struggling with this, I'm still learning this, you know. So you know, people are having those dialogues, we can shape what we are moving towards talking about it as a side hustle, so it doesn't freak out. Yeah, you know?

Elizabeth Diacos  43:35  
Boss.

Karen Tisdell  43:35  
It doesn't freak out your boss, you know, and you can grow that hot side hustle to a point where it can become your full time salary.

Elizabeth Diacos  43:43  
Yeah, nice. All right. Now before we wrap this up, Karen, I've got one final question for you. What's your favorite song?

Karen Tisdell  43:52  
What's the song that I have going around in my head so much recently is Eye of a Tiger. Do you know bom bom bom bom bom. Yeah, you with me? Oh that's fancy.

Elizabeth Diacos  44:05  
Nice one. And what is it about that that is makes it so memorable for you? 

Karen Tisdell  44:10  
Well I, I've started doing LinkedIn live with somebody who does some things kind of similar to what I do on LinkedIn. So she's all for company pages, and she helps businesses grow big on LinkedIn. She and I disagree on almost everything. And so so we, without ever having spoken to each other started sort of teasing each other on each other's posts, like "Oh, I respectfully disagree on that," you know? 

Elizabeth Diacos  44:45  
Right. 

Karen Tisdell  44:46  
We just kind of kinda hassling each other to be honest. Because everything she stands for is everything I don't and everything I stand for, is everything she does. So she's go for like big brands. logos everywhere. I'm like, logos yuck. We connect with people on a human to human level. It's about personal branding. It's about people. It's about human connection. She's like, no. And so we collaborate on my LinkedIn Live every Friday 1PM, Australian Eastern Standard Time. And we do a LinkedIn live show where people ask us questions, and she and I argue about the answers.

Elizabeth Diacos  45:25  
Oh, this one's like (inaudible)

Karen Tisdell  45:28  
We're like, we're all like anti echo chambers. So because you know, sometimes social media can become a bit of an echo chamber where everybody's going, you know? "Yes, I agree with you. Yes, I agree with you." So she and I, we openly argue, but we have the same core values around giving value and to our audience. And she starts most of the LinkedIn lives with Eye of the tiger and it stays in my head for a whole week, you know, and nothing gets me fired up more than that sort of, because it's a whole week. And a start a good bout a good. And I love it, because I think there's always space there for people who have different opinions and different views and different experiences, because that's what grows. That's right.

Elizabeth Diacos  46:09  
Yeah. 

Karen Tisdell  46:10  
That's my favorite song. 

Elizabeth Diacos  46:12  
Nice. I love it. Karen Tisdell, thank you so much for coming on the Get Out of Teaching podcast today. It's been a pleasure chatting with you. And I think you've given us some great insights and great value today. Thank you.

Karen Tisdell  46:24  
Thank you so much. Hugely appreciate it. Thank you, and thanks for your listeners. Thank you all the best.

Elizabeth Diacos  46:32  
You've been listening to the get out of teaching podcast presented by Larksong Enterprises with your host Elizabeth Diacos. Do you know someone else who could benefit from hearing more stories of hope and transition from teachers all around the world? Please take a moment to share this and other episodes via your podcast app. Each share helps me reach listeners just like you who can benefit from this content. The Get Out of Teaching Podcast is proud to be part of the Experts On Air Podcast Network. For show notes and other resources, please visit larksong.com.au/podcast

Transcribed by https://otter.ai