Challenges of the C-Suite with Dr. Ana Melikian, Episode 8s

Hello everybody, this is CB Bowman live on Thursday and, and almost an hour earlier than my normal time. So I'll tell you a secret. The reason why is that our guest today is so popular she could barely fit us in her schedule. Can you believe that? Imagine that, CB Bowman, and she can't fit me in her schedule. I don't know what to think about that. Well, I know, get over yourself, CB. Go outside and pick up the poop from your dog and get over yourself, right? I am so excited and so delighted to introduce Anna to you. So I'll tell you another secret to today. Anna is my secret weapon. I meet with her like clockwork almost every week. And she gives me tips and advice. So she is definitely one of my advisors. Hey, I hear that we are getting a little echo. I don't know what's causing it. You'll just have to bear with us today. Anna, can you figure out what's going on?

I'm not sure, but in my side, that sounds okay. So hopefully just for you, but if meanwhile somebody on the live call, they see that, they can tell us on the comments. And that I see that we are live on— if you go to our— your LinkedIn profile, I can see you there, so things seems to be okay.

I just hit automatically adjust volume, so hopefully that'll Help. Okay, so you know, guys, I keep it real, so you get to hear all the technical problems and everything. I tell the truth, right? So please allow me to introduce Dr. Anna Malikian. She is an amazing, so polite, I don't even know how to describe her. She's the politest kick-ass woman I've ever met. That's the way to describe It may be because she's from Portugal. She just knows how to tell you behave yourself in such a sweet way. So Anna, Anna is the queen of LinkedIn. You want to know anything about social media on LinkedIn, it's Anna. Plus she knows all about the other platforms too. So, and she's got this wonderful program to talk to you about how do you develop an ecosystem for yourself? How do you develop long-term relationships that will help you build your business? But I don't want to start there. I want to start back from where she came from, her childhood, degrees, because, you know, I'm nosy. So I hope you are too. Anna, please introduce yourself and welcome.

And it's truly a pleasure to be here with you, and I always appreciate what I learned from you and your amazing community, because the topic of that, when you approach, okay, let's speak about this, is really about quality networking and long-term networking. And you, oh my gosh, you are an amazing example. example of somebody that knows how to build an amazing community, that at the end of the day, a good network is an amazing community that we surround ourselves with. So thank you for that, to be an amazing example. And like people are noticing, I have an accent, and if they are wondering where this accent comes from, I'm originally from Portugal. happy, enjoying my friends, enjoying family. But I always had the bug of traveling. As a lifelong learner, I always loved the thing about new, new places. And it took me some time to be able to gather the conditions to, to start traveling. But as soon as I got that, that was around, I was in college, I went in what is called the Erasmus program that you can do one year in another country. So I went to England to do one year of my psychology degree in England. And now, how do you say, I lived in England for several years. I worked there for a while. Then I went to Spain, did my master's, 2 master's degrees in Spain. I worked there. Then I went back to Portugal and I was traveling all over. presenting papers, academia life, presenting papers and going to conference. And one of the conference, I was here in Phoenix, Arizona, and I met the person that several, couple of years later became my husband. And that was the reason why I moved here to the United States and why Phoenix, Arizona is my home now for 18 years. So, That is my life in a nutshell.

So, but the real question is, where did you develop the art of being so polite in business, yet getting your point clearly across?

And I think part of the Portuguese culture is about being, you like, making other people feel comfortable. And we are mellow in costumes and very good hosts. in general. So I think part comes from that. If somebody arrives in your house and you have food on the table, immediately you pull a chair and to invite people to sit in. So there is something cultural there. And at the same time, as I grow up, in terms— I was the second child, so I have a brother 2 years older than myself, and nobody did me a briefing when I was born. Then Because I was a girl, and the second, I should keep quiet. So I was not quiet. I was okay, I have to express my voice. If they listen to him, why they are not listening to me? So I always have that. They try to shush me, it's not proper. So I, I went around, okay, how can I properly express my voice? And so I think I always have that proper rebel in myself that I think I leverage. I love it.

I love the term, a proper rebel. It so fits you.

Oh yes.

Okay, so now we know the secrets. You, you studied.

And, uh, and we have to— and when I believe in something, I go for it. I think my— the thing is that if, if it's something that— but if I really have my heart and mind on it, I really will fight for it.

Okay. And I have seen evidence of that.

So it's so true. Okay.

I'm starting to take notes, Anna, and especially the proper rebel. I love that. I think that's the name of a book or a podcast or something, right?

I think because I think we can express our opinions, we can fight for our opinions, but that doesn't mean that we have to be agree— aggressive, doesn't mean— because I think that only makes other people's defenses go up.

Yes.

And that's not a good route for good communication. I absolutely love a good— having a good argument with somebody else that we have different points of view. But at the end of it, all parties involved learn something new. If we are always speaking with people that we agree 100%, that is not fun for me. That's like, okay, great, but it's not fun. I like diversity.

I want to ask you a personal question, and don't take offense, but I think a lot of people listening would be interested in this. You're from a foreign country. You have a very strong accent. But it's never held you back, I think. And not that I think, I know I've heard a lot of women say, especially like on Clubhouse, well, you know, I have an accent. People don't understand. I have to think about what words I'm using and I feel embarrassed. This has never embarrassed you or held you back. How is that?

That is an interesting question. question. And, um, language were never my strong. My brother was much better learning, uh, English and learning French. That at the time was the 2 language that we learn in the school system in Portugal. And he was always, yes, really a good ear, and you will capture the accent. The— it was easier for him. And for me, even my own language, Portuguese, was I struggle with it, with dyslexic— I'm dyslexic. So the bar was low of my own expectations, but I love communicating. I love to share ideas. I love to participate in conversations. And I knew that I, I, I could do the basic things. And then when I had the opportunity to go to England as an exchange student, When I was doing my college, studying psychology in college, I, I had to fight for myself. I had to make myself understood and, uh, and was in the north of England that has a very heavy English accent, almost a Scottish type of accent. But I, I also look to people like so many immigrants, Portuguese immigrants that in the, '50s and '60s went all over the world. People without any academic, how do you say, barely had the— knew how to write. And they managed to learn another language and work in another country. So that is also something that I thought sometimes, if they managed to do it, made a living and sometimes a very successful living, I can do it. I can take this. And of course, I With the accent, and I, then I went to Spain. I managed to learn Spanish, work there also with an accent, but we can sometimes transform an obstacle in an opportunity because, yes, I have an accent. Yes, sometimes there are words the way that I pronounce that are difficult for the listener to understand. Uh, that also give me opportunities. If I see the puzzle face, I try to say in a different way. Um, if in the communication gives me also the opportunity, English is not my first language, so can you explain that in a different way for me? And that gives me opportunities to see another angle, or I find interesting that in English or in Spanish you use this word. What else that can mean? So gives me opportunity to be the curious, like anthropologist. And also makes me memorable in marketing. Since we are speaking about marketing here, I will be on the safe— I'm in a group and I speak, maybe they don't remember my name, but, oh, the one with an accent.

I love it. I love it.

I don't mind. I still, there is something in their mind, the one with that accent, then will be my work to give, put more information around it. Great. And of course there will be always people, and I can improve and I learn to improve accent modification and reduction to be able to communicate in more clear way. And I know for some people it's going to be always a barrier. And other people, they say me, I love your accent, make me want to listen with more attention and more detail.

Yes.

So like, we cannot please everybody. That is the reality. We can improve. Anybody there with an accent, we can learn to pronounce better the words. We are not going to lose our accent, but we can communicate in a more clear way. And we are always learning.

She's so cute. Um, does she get embarrassed because her mom has an accent with her friends?

No, no, we are in a— we are in Phoenix, but she's in a school that is very diverse, that we have people from— so Canadians, from French-speaking Canadians, people that Brazilian, uh, there is a couple, um, one that she speaks Portuguese, also from Brazil, um, from the Middle East. It's a very— so most of the families in the school, and we picked the school also because of that, are very, um, coming from all over. It's a melting pot, totally a melting pot, where the ongoing generations still speak different languages at home.

Mm-hmm.

So it's not strange that the parents, somebody have an accent. So sometimes she picks on me in the house, never, never in public, but she picks on me, uh, that, um, with some words, uh, but, uh, just that is not the— thank God it's not a problem for her.

And are you teaching her to speak different languages?

I'm not. She's learning, of course, Spanish in school. Now she's Mandarin Chinese in school that she choose to learn. Yep. And whatever she is, it's her choice. Portuguese, I didn't do the good work, unfortunately. She knows vocabulary, she knows songs, but she's not fluent.

Mm-hmm.

You have to accept that. No, we cannot do everything, but she's open. She spent— we spent time in Portugal there with my family there, so she has exposure. And I think if one day she decides to do it, she will have the basics to do it.

Can she understand when she's visiting in Portugal? Can she pick up some words?

Yes, absolutely. And it's incredible how people speaking about communication, speaking about crossing barriers. Uh, one of the last times, unfortunately, was 2 years ago because of the COVID situation. Last time that we were in Portugal and she stayed with my mom, that is very basic English. And I arrived there and they were communicating with each other. The basic things they managed to communicate, but they were communicating more like what you want to do, more complex things. So my daughter grabbed the iPad, go Google Translate, wrote in English, translated to Portuguese. My mom wrote in Portuguese, translated in English. They found a solution. So—

Oh my God. And how old is she?

She's now 12, turning 13.

That's just brilliant.

So she was 10 at the time.

Yeah.

Wow. And, and this shows how they say, because even so many people that, um, I, I love the organization that you create and lead, the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches, that brings together so much talent, amazing, and experiences coaches there. And that, let's put it, it's not their first rodeo. They are in, in, in the arena for a while. And that, and I work also with many baby boomer coaches and all of that. And sometimes technology, the online world, uh, is something new for them and can be a little bit overwhelming without any doubt. But I love— that is something that I love about the coaching and consulting community that we surround ourselves with. We are most— 99% of us are lifelong learners.

Yes.

So, and if we— okay, this is something that I can learn. It's enough, that shift of mindset. I can learn this. And then things start— we start to see them. How they can start to be more present on LinkedIn and having examples like you that you are so active in all social medias absolutely help. But we have to learn how to use these new technologies, these new mediums to communicate with each other, to build relationships. So they say, I still remember in the beginning of the COVID oh, you have to get Zoom. And I say, I was in Zoom since they start.

Yeah.

That we had every time that we had a Zoom meeting, we had to Paste a paragraph explaining what Zoom was. Now we can add, let's Zoom.

It became a verb.

Yes, exactly. So, uh, but it's part that we can leverage these. And even when things don't work out, even when technology leaves us down, we still, we can always, how can we transform that obstacle into a gift? that we can take the most out of it.

I love what you're saying, um, and I know I'm repeating myself, but I love the whole conversation, um, and, and it's going to lead us directly to the path of communicating such that we can grow our business, which is your specialty. And I'm hearing an echo again, so, um, I'm going to go in and change the setting, but I wanted to, wanted to talk about that. You know, a lot of us spend a lot of time on social media, right? And, um, oh gosh, let me change the setting. Bear with us. Uh, reduce remote audio file for each guest.

Mm-hmm.

This is in Delta. I'm not sure what this button is. Oh, I know, I better not press that button. Let me try this button and bring the sound down, and hopefully people will be able to still hear me.

Yes.

Um, that's still there. At any rate, um, we spend a lot of time on social media, especially as solopreneurs. We've got LinkedIn, we've got Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Clubhouse, and all the others in between and around. As business owners, the first question, Anna, is— I know you're a LinkedIn expert, but I also know that you are a techie, and, and I say that with love. Social media techie. How do we figure out as business owners which do we spend the most time? Which platform do we spend the most time in?

And how will now now doing wing wing?

Cool cool.

You change back to what it was was not no longer here anymore.

Okay. Audio.

So let's automatic.

Let's see, is that— does that help?

Now it's still making a little bit of echo.

I think it's on their side today.

So maybe we can mute. Now it's better. It's getting better. Or maybe we can mute and unmute ourselves when we are not speaking.

Okay.

So, this is one of these cases that will be— and let me just check my own settings here of the audio. So, echo cancellation, echo cancellation, automatically adjust microphone. So, this you are practicing what we're doing, adapting to the circumstances and something like that.

Now you're breaking up, Ana.

Now, 1, 2, 3.

You were breaking up when you were talking.

When I was speaking?

Yeah.

And I still listening to the echo here. So let me just do one thing. I'm going to make sure that I don't have anything else opening here.

Oh, that's a good idea.

So sometimes we can have seen the LinkedIn, but now the echo stopped. So something happened that let's, at least I think is okay now.

All right.

So, and this is the thing. Okay. We detect something. How can we correct on the go is part of the skills that we have to have as an online business. And for your question about, there is this diversity of social media that we absolutely could spend hours and hours and don't see results.

Yeah.

And I think we have to be able to hold the 2 contradictory thoughts in our mind, because for one side, there is this thing about omnipresence online. How can we be everywhere that people like are always— it's like they do in advertisements that they put the cookie, that information in our computer, that if we look for that beautiful red boots and then we are in another site, suddenly we saw that red boots.

Mm-hmm.

popping up in an image and I say, this is sort of the— they are meant for me. I remember in the beginning when I didn't understand how the technology behind work, I would say, how do they are reading my mind?

They are.

And that is the technology and all these tracking things that are there. And there is something to say about how can we be in this online world in a way that people can keep bumping into us in a good way, uh, and we keep top of mind. And at the same time, uh, we have to prioritize and we have to know strategically where we should be strong. So, and for some people is enough that element of priority, essential, Here's where I'm known. Here's where is my backyard. And I'm not going to worry about the rest. For some people, that can be enough. If they want to become known as a thought leader or launch a book, then they have to start to manage to balance the 2 elements of it, the strategy as a laser beam and the echo effect of social media.

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Uh, if for a one-person business or with a very small team to balance these 2 things without getting lost in the process, yeah, strategy. Where is your main platform? For most coaches and consultants working with B2B or high-value clients, most of the times LinkedIn is the ideal place for them. Because it's where their target market is hanging, looking for professional help. But they are still on Facebook. They are still on Instagram. They are still in places like Clubhouse, all of that. But we can't—

Anna, I want to interrupt you a second.

Yes.

So I agree with you wholeheartedly about LinkedIn, but I wonder, I'm seeing now more I think it's Instagram, uh, and a little bit of TikTok, but more Instagram, uh, where younger people are using that for business development versus LinkedIn. So, is LinkedIn locked itself into a specific age category in addition to profession?

Yeah, there, there is also, uh, obviously platforms we know that younger people, younger generations, even Facebook is for their parents.

Hmm.

So, and so Instagram and TikTok is their place to be and to express themselves. So there is a demographic element, certain, and Snapchat. There are demographics that different platforms attract more than others, and that things shift. For instance, Facebook is a great example of that. That was the young people, the college people, starts there, but now it's become for the old folks from the opinion of the young folks.

Yes.

So, but so many people in Facebook that we cannot ignore it because it's the way that they grow and explore. LinkedIn is the thing, is the professional network platform. Imagine it's the networking event 24/7 that is there, and even if we are not active on LinkedIn, or even if our people that we want to outreach and connect are not active on LinkedIn, if they have a LinkedIn profile, it's a source of information. That is amazing. So we have to learn how to be proficient on these technologies. This is the new, the new language that we have to know how. But they are like different countries with different cultures. And we, we want to know a little bit about their cultures. So even if, okay, LinkedIn is my thing, is my territory, I really speak the LinkedIn language. But when I'm in Facebook, I have to know that the culture is like going to Canada. It's a little bit different, and I have to take that in consideration. And if I go to TikTok, okay, that is different. The rules of the game is going to someplace in Asia that I have to understand a little bit about, more about their culture to be able to put my best step forward there. So, but with that in mind, so for most people, pick one that you are actively there and you want to really be noticed and be known on that and be your main place.

Is there someplace that we can go to, especially the older people, to learn the culture that exists for each Social media platform.

And that's about it. No, there is not a dictionary. I think there is a book I can try to find. There will be a book out there that speaks about this in these terms, because even the—

in—

so because even the rhythm of publication, the algorithmics, the way that things are spotlight is different from platform to platform. Just to give an example, Twitter is the more recent tweet. So, uh, that shows up at the top of the feed. So there is almost incentive of tweeting, tweeting, tweeting a lot of times per day. In LinkedIn, the, the way the algorithmic, the, the way that the system puts a spotlight, the visibility in a post doesn't— is not by quantity. Is by engagement in the first couple of hours that that is published. So, and by understanding that dynamic, you can. So just so let me couple of tips for people here. Choose one that is your main one, and you have that clear, and learn as much as you can on that one. If you want to start to have more omnipresence. Start to see the ones, the main ones, start with the main ones. But let's see if LinkedIn is your main one, but you still want to have a presence in Facebook, in Instagram, in Twitter, and even in something like Clubhouse, one of the new ones, kids on the block. Uh, because the more precious thing that you have is your time. So think about how do you want to be known out there? So if you want to be known as the thought leader or the expert subject matter expert in a certain field, okay, put that in context. What is your content that you already have produced that you can leverage? And I'm going to give a concrete example of what I'm doing at the moment. One of the places where I produce, I have lots of content, is my podcast. So the content is already there and is already produced. So what we are doing nowadays, so my platform of preference is LinkedIn, is where I'm more time live. And me engaging and replying and networking, but I have my virtual assistant go over. So she now preparing November content by going to September podcasts, the podcasts that we published in September. She goes over my content, my voice, and she picks little snippets of the 4 episodes that we publish in September. And then I go there. She has— she builds this Word document. She puts the little snippets of things that she really resonates, and she shows little quotes. Quotes and little paragraphs. I revise that and put in my— make sure that everything is correct. And then what we do is that we change the graphics from— if it's in Facebook, in my Facebook page, it will be a different graphic than it is in my LinkedIn or in Instagram. So we change a little bit the graphics. And sometimes even the tone of the— is the same content, but the angle, the tone can be a little bit different, more professional on LinkedIn, more casual on Instagram, a couple of short quotes for Twitter. So we change— is the same content, but we give it just a little different angle. Um, and, um, and then when we do the publish, because then if you want to be everywhere, you have to use scheduling software that you can program for it to send the message when it's time. We don't put the same content going on at the same day everywhere. We, we like, uh, publish, uh, for instance, in Facebook, in the next day in Instagram, in the next day in LinkedIn. And in essence, it takes to the same podcast episode, but has a little different angle and different flavor. Because if you put the same thing exactly in all of the places, then because you have people that follow you in all of the places, but it becomes white noise. I already saw that. I don't need to look again. But if you change the angle, it's more new. So we are It's the psychology of these. If you always say things, the same things, you start to ignore them that you just bring. So with the same— the point here is that it's how we repurpose the same content to be fresh and for people absorb it and really connect with it.

This is a formula that's complicated. Do you have a place where our listeners can go to, to see an example of the full podcast, how you pick up pieces and how you massage that for each social media platform?

I, we can do an interview where I share my— we can do a webinar where I can share my screen and I can show the process. I teach that to my members of my Solo Biz Academy, uh, and in my LinkedIn program, I teach a lot about how to repurpose content because it's part of what we have to be good at is leverage things because otherwise we don't have time. The day only has 24 hours. We should sleep a good portion of that 24 hours and we should enjoy a lot of the other hours that we are with our eyes open. So it's all about learning how to leverage the content that we have to take the most out of it. It's like even with networking, it's the same principle. How can we network in an authentic way that we enjoy and that produces results? And that is where the alignment of the craft and the art comes together.

And Anna, I'm going to push back. I love it. What you're talking about in terms of having a VA do this versus somebody who's just starting a business. Now, you have multiple streams of income. Yes, you can afford A VA to do this. For us, including myself, it becomes more of a challenge because you have to know the technology, you have to know how to cut and paste, you have to have systems and software that does that, you have to have somebody to teach you to do it, you have to spend the time to go through it and make the cuts and paste. So how do we get to where you are?

And I didn't start where I am now. I start by myself doing this and learning. And my VA is one person I— and sometimes I have VAs here in the United States. So everything depends on what I'm trying to achieve, or that my regular VA, I have it in the Philippines because of the difference in costs. I outsource that. Because my business was the way of making this work, uh, was outsourcing to the Philippines. So that makes it much more affordable. But I, um, there is all— I finally understood all the drama that I heard some of my clients and things saying of the, of hiring and what is that process until we find the right people and all of that. But that is maybe for another conversation.

Yes.

Topic for another conversation.

It only took me 8 years to find the right person in the Philippines, but now she's not feeling well. So now I have to start the search all over again.

And, and, but then is the thing, always, I— that is something that many of my clients are working with me. They are in a situation that finally they can look for a VA and delegate, and they ask, how do I find a good VA? And I can— it's not my area of expertise, but I can give the baseline at the base points. The job description, be clear of, because this VA is a term that is a big bag for everything. So what you are looking for, what is the specific help? But whatever person you decide and for what specific help you decide, you want as part of your agreement with that person, And I always advise to start with a specific project to test. Uh, you want everything documented. You want them to create as part of their job description. Something essential is that they create standard operation procedures step by step of what they do for your business. And you own that. That is the SOPs, the standard operation procedures. For your business. They, they can be ones documenting, putting it pretty, putting it easy to use, but that is part of what you are paying and part what you get. Because whenever, for instance, if my assistant gets the flu, I know exactly the— I have the step-by-step. If I have to put a call online in the member center, I don't need to be learning that because we have a tutorial that shows step 1, step 2, step 3, and I can go there and do it. If I love her, I— Raya, if you listen to this, you know how much I appreciate you, and I hope that you keep with me for a long, long time. But imagine that she has a new opportunity and she goes, decides to do something different. I have the materials that I need to train another person. I imagine that I'm in a position to grow the team and to bring somebody else. I have the materials to train them. And this works in practice. I used to have, speaking about LinkedIn, I start to work in the LinkedIn training 5, 6 years ago. And initially I, I build a company with 2 other colleagues that was More Clients More Fun. And we are doing training on LinkedIn. And then I decide to develop, and I was the COO. I was the operation person on the company. So I had everything systematized, everything in, uh, the COPs were really, really good. And when I decide to leave the company because I was wanting to start my own company more around the networking and the long-term networking and being that my focus and go back to the positive psychology and my positive psychology background, when I decide to do that, I felt very at peace with my decision to leave because I know that I was leaving them in a good place. And literally, I left and they decide to change the, the VA people that were helping them. And because all the SOPs were there, the standard operation procedures, In one week that the person was up and running. And that is a testament. The girl that— the VA that they picked was a very good, clever, quick person. Yes, but the materials were very well organized.

We're going to have to do a different program on developing SOPs. I love that idea.

And you can start by checklists. We— but we don't have to be reinventing the wheel all the time. Systems can liberate us because they can save us tons of time that allow us then to be more creative in other places.

Absolutely. Hey, Ana, I know that you— oh gosh, we're out of time. I wanted to talk about your new program, so quickly mention that, and then we'll do part B of this. Yeah.

And, uh, if people didn't notice yet, I love systems and I love structures that can help me to go to the next level. And what I have done is that after working with clients one-on-one, group for a long time, I really look to what we were teaching and what we are training people and apply the 80/20 rule. What is the 20% of the things that we are teaching that produce the 80% of the results for sustainable success. I'm not about— there will be other experts that are more about the latest thing and the latest data. Yes, I know, and I keep tabs on the latest thing, but my focus more is what we call the evergreen things that worked 10 years ago, that work now with the technology that we have. And we'll work 10 years from now. And this relationship building, relationship marketing, building a solid group of people that we know about that can support us. They know about what we do and we can help each other. And LinkedIn can be a great platform to grow to a new vertical, to a new segment in our target market, to build, bring more blood in that we always need. And even if we are not active on LinkedIn, I always say that having a strong LinkedIn profile is essential, because it's one of the places that people check us out.

Yes.

So I came out with what is a 5-step process to enroll high-value clients on LinkedIn. The first step is about your foundation and credibility builders to your LinkedIn profile, so the optimization of your LinkedIn profile. That is the first step that we focus on, so essential for everybody, I will argue. Then if you want to get clients, high-value clients on LinkedIn without being spammy and being the noise that is perturbing, getting in the ears of everybody there, and differentiate yourself, you have to realize that foundation credibility is essential but not enough to enroll the client. There is a gap. Between the moment that somebody is ready to buy from you. So they have to know that you exist, essential, that they have to know that you have something to offer. But for them to buy from you, you have to build trust and credibility. So you have to bridge the gap between these 2 points. And how do you bridge this gap? It's by what I call the giving activities, the nurturing. Uh, and the asking activities, the outreach activities. So, um, the marketing is a lot about the nurturing. The sales is a lot about the asking, but these 2 things have to be in balance because coaches sometimes give, give, give, give, give. Nobody wants to cross, cross that bridge. So, uh, if you ask, ask, and LinkedIn is full of examples, hello, buy from me. The, the bridge is also very tilted. You have to build a, a balanced bridge.

Mm-hmm.

And then if it's a balanced bridge, you really even shorten and strengthen the bridge. So that is where the magic can happen, and you can accelerate your results on LinkedIn or in marketing and in networking in general. And then that is step 2. What is the people that you should have in your network strategically? How do you keep in touch and strengthen those relationships without draining too much of your time? How to outreach and to ask in a way that is congruent with your values, that is in alignment, and grow your network to decision-makers and other important people, people that can open new doors. And how— and so, step 1, foundation, uh, through your LinkedIn profile. Then giving the network nurturing is step number 2. Step number 3 is about the outreach. The asking. And step number 4 is when we have— how can we create more opportunities to have sales conversations and how to make those sales conversations leading to more yeses than nos? And finally, step number 5, how to create systems to keep this energy going and flowing, bringing people to check your foundation, building trust and credibility, and ask for opportunities to have sales conversations. Even when you are booked solid, even you, because otherwise you are going to get clients. Are you going to be serving the clients? And then that project ends and, oh, where is the next client? You want to keep the pipeline full of potential clients. So, with these 5 steps for a boutique business, you totally can be booked solid with these 5 steps.

So, Anna, that was a lot for the audience to consume. And I know you have to run. So I'm going to ask if you can come back and we talk specifically about that. We can do that. The other thing is, I want to say to the audience, I took Anna's program. And I want to tell you something. It's so packed with information. I'm going to beg a favor and ask if I could take it again. Oh, you have to. Because there's just no way you can get it all. It is so rich with information. And I, as I said, I talked to Anna every week. We've known each other for a couple of years now, and my head still spins trying to keep just a little bit of her pace. So—

Thank you.

Take the program. Talk to me if you have any doubts about the program. And I will tell you, take the program, do everything you can to keep up. It's not that it's overwhelming. It's just that it's— it triggers your mind to think about things that you haven't thought about. And you go, wow. So—

It's a lot of possibilities. And I think we should do a masterclass just about that, to give the structure. For people. And then if that resonates with people, of course, I would love to have them in my program, but I'm totally game to do a masterclass on these, on the 5 steps, take people through the structure for them to have specific things that they can do immediately after that masterclass. And if they want to know more about the program, contacting you or me, we'd love— I would love to speak with people interested.

When you contact Anna, mention my name. Say, the crazy Black woman on LinkedIn Live. Just, I heard the program and I have to call you, Anna, to talk about it. And we're not supposed to do marketing on LinkedIn. So this is not marketing. This is telling you about an incredible experience I had. And I'm a marketing major. I'm like a guru when it comes to marketing. And I didn't know a quarter of the stuff she put out. I'm like, what? So that's my third secret for the day, is do you reach out to Anna or myself and, you know, take, take the master class? We'll, we'll figure out a master class and we'll put it out on LinkedIn.

Yes, and, and will be something open and something complimentary. So just for For people that want to know a little bit more on how they can leverage networking in general. How can you be more effective relationship building for your business?

Okay, let's do it. I'm game. Absolutely. And I hope all of my 11,000+ followers tune in for that. So that— and I can't wait for you to come back to Inform us and to teach us and to share your kindness. Anna, thank you so much for being with us today. Audience, I'll be back on Tuesday, so watch for me on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn. Follow Anna on LinkedIn, and you'll have a wild, interesting, laughing, fun, humble, meaningful— all those words. Ride. I'll see you next week. Have a great weekend.

Thank you.

Bye.