I always know that when someone has quit their job and started their own business–typically as a consultant–because all of a sudden, they are sharing their manifesto through numerous posts on LinkedIn.
Those posts go something like this:
In my years of doing [activity], I’ve seen [type of organization] make [particular mistake] over and over again. What they should do is [recommendation], as it will [rationale]. If you are having challenges with [situation], then you need an expert who can [activity] and get you [outcome].
A few days later, they will publish a similar post, and on and on it goes.
I am not criticizing what they’re doing, which is taking a position while not so-subtly touting their experience and expertise. That activity falls within the playbook for promoting a subject matter expert.
When I’m remarking on is how they’re doing it. Basically, they’re going from zero to 60, and it’s so obvious. It can make their audiences wonder if they’re publishing these thoughts because they have to (“hey, I need customers!”) or because they actually believe in them.
Here are some better approaches:
- Drop some of those nuggets of advice before you go off on your own, as that will help reduce the perceived sales-y tone of your posts when you launch your business.
- Dial back the criticism that often serves as the premise of, or littered throughout, these manifesto posts, which then sound like rants instead of advice.
- Save your back-patting for your proposal. No one wants to hear you gloat about all your successes in your posts.