Everybody Wants to Rule the World

A few months back, LinkedIn reached out to me about appearing in their "post that changed my life" campaign.

When you think “social media influencer,” you’re not thinking of a 51-year-old woman posting on LinkedIn, are you?

I wasn't necessarily either. And being an "influencer" was a real stretch for me - video just doesn't come naturally to me. However, the production team was beyond amazing and I couldn't be prouder of the end result.

I asked ChatGPT what the average age of an “influencer” was and it said the age range was 18-35. That’s interesting considering that more than 50% of all US spending comes from people who are 50+. So, even though those of us who are 50+ are doing the majority of the spending, we aren’t necessarily doing the influencing.

I didn’t start posting on LinkedIn until I was 46. I had 700 connections and treated LinkedIn like a placeholder or digital resume. I really didn’t think I had anything new to share.

Here’s what I’ve learned: You don’t need to be an “influencer” to be influential.

I’m not being overdramatic to say that posting here on LinkedIn has transformed the influence of my one-person business. Here’s just some of the folks I’ve talked with or visited in the past 12 months: the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, CNBC, Business Insider, MarketWatch, Kiplinger, Washington Post, AARP Headquarters, and the SHRM Executive Network Experience.

But here’s what matters more for my business: 80% of my revenue now comes from people who I’ve never met in person but have been reading my posts for months or even years.

I know why you don't want to post on LinkedIn. You don’t want to be that person posting motivational quotes over sunset photos. You don’t want to share weird selfies or tell people what you had for lunch. A lot of the content that I see feels cringe to me too.

But visibility isn’t vanity when you’re over 50. It’s survival.

I earned my undergrad degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon 30 years ago this month and honestly believed that if I worked hard and delivered results, opportunities would naturally follow.

The world doesn’t quite work that way anymore. What I've learned the hard way is that no one will know what you can do unless you tell them.

You have learned lots of new skills - this is another one that you can learn too.

We need people of all ages represented on LinkedIn. Your decades of experience deserve to be heard. And there are people who need to hear it.

So - let’s spread the word: we're not done influencing. We’re just getting started!
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I'd love to hear from you. Are you building a LinkedIn presence right now? What's been your biggest challenge with consistency?

ps: I'm filling up fast in Q2 - I do have a few open spots right now if you've been thinking about working together. Here is a link to my service offerings and here is a link to my calendar if you'd like to setup a time to talk.

Take care of yourself and have a wonderful weekend!

Colleen