Laid off → $30K in 30 days — Melissa Gaglione's LinkedIn-first solo CEO playbook
Melissa Gaglione went from leading corporate sales to building her own solo business overnight after an unexpected reduction in force. Within 24 hours of losing her job, she committed to an audacious goal: making $30,000 in 30 days from her side hustle. Instead of quietly retreating, she turned her journey into a public campaign, documenting her path to revenue with radical transparency to build an engaged, invested audience. Her tactical playbook involved throwing "spaghetti at the wall" by launching eight different revenue streams, ranging from B2B employee advocacy consulting to 1:1 coaching. Knowing that larger B2B deals have longer sales cycles, she aggressively targeted high-ticket prospects on day one, reserving the end of the month to push lower-friction cohort signups to close the revenue gap. Beyond the tactics of solopreneurship and LinkedIn monetization, Melissa shared the vital importance of emotional resilience. She emphasized the need to heal from the sting of a layoff while embracing the thrill of working for oneself, proving that a strong, authentic personal brand acts as the ultimate career insurance policy.
Discussed in this episode
- How Melissa set a public goal to generate $30,000 in 30 days within 24 hours of getting laid off.
- The process of balancing a demanding side hustle with a full-time corporate role using asynchronous communication.
- Why treating your personal brand launch as a public campaign builds investment and urgency from your network.
- The strategy of pitching high-ticket, long-sales-cycle B2B deals at the start of the month to ensure they close in time.
- How navigating childhood health challenges built the extreme resilience required to dive into solopreneurship.
- The realities of event marketing and why you should always budget an extra $2,000 for unexpected emergencies.
- Why forced employee advocacy on LinkedIn damages personal brands and repels potential prospects.
- The emotional complexity of navigating the grief of a layoff while simultaneously launching a dream business.
Episode highlights
- — Intro: Laid off to 30K in 30 days
- — Transitioning from side hustle to full-time CEO
- — Waking up on Day 1 of solopreneurship
- — Building unshakeable resilience through childhood trauma
- — Navigating a disastrous content house event
- — The tactical playbook for hitting $30K
- — Balancing rapid content creation with active selling
- — Coping with the emotional toll of a RIF
- — The biggest mistake LinkedIn creators make today
- — Rapid fire questions and final networking advice
Key takeaways
- Set audacious goals publicly to turn your network into invested supporters.
- Prioritize long-sales-cycle, high-ticket items at the start of your month.
- Always budget a cash emergency fund for unexpected hurdles in event marketing.
- Stop treating your LinkedIn profile like an advertisement billboard for your employer.
- Allow yourself time to emotionally heal from a layoff while building.
Transcript
Welcome back to another episode of the Bridge the Gap. See, I messed myself up, first time ever. Bridge the Gap podcast, powered by Revenue Reimagined. Dale will never let me live that down.
So, I'm going to keep going. We have an awesome guest with us today, Melissa Gaglione, who is a sales leader turned solo CEO, teaching people how to monetize LinkedIn through brand and content. Here's what I love. She's loud, she's authentic, she's practical, and she just went full-time with her business.
Her brand is built on showing the receipts, not talking about them, and she's documenting her journey to make 30k in 30 days with transparency, humor, and urgency. Not trying to be a thought leader, just trying to eat. Just trying to put food on the table. Melissa, welcome back to the show.
Thank you. Very exciting to be back on the show, but in this context, so it's It's cool. Yeah. And and now we have to reconsider Adam's pay, considering he screwed up with the intro.
Um First time ever. So, Melissa, we appreciate you being back. You've kind of been in and out of doing your side hustle stuff, doing full-time. So, um, what finally led you to go full-time?
And then I have a really interesting follow-up question to that, but, you know, because you've been dabbling in it for a while, we've known each other for a while and like, you're like, I'm going full-time. I'm going to jump in and and build my business. Correct. And I think, I mean, you guys know that this has been the end goal.
And I have been very loud about it. I have shared that with every company that I've ever joined. But the way that I always positioned my side hustles, that this is the future. I don't know when that's going to be.
It could be in five years from now, it could be in 10 years from now, it could be in two years from now. I had no idea. But what I did know is that I was very passionate about selling and leading people, and I needed more skills. So, I wasn't ready yet.
It was still more about I want to be in corporate. I want to master what I'm mastering. I want to be in this space. It's a space that I love.
And when I'm ready, I'll go ahead and make that jump. Uh, surprisingly, like many, the jump you get forced. And I think that that was the best thing for me because I don't know if I would have done it until maybe another year, maybe two. I'm not sure when I would have actually have taken the leap of faith, but I was most certainly prepared for that moment where I got a little pushed off the cliff to to make it happen.
Adam, how hard did you have to get pushed off the cliff? Yeah, so it it's funny, like, I I was actually thinking that as you were talking, Melissa, like, I I I Dale had to literally arguably stand behind me and fucking push me. Um, I was petrified of going I I'd always thought about it, but I was always like, like I got a family to support, right? Like I I I have a kid, I have a wife who, you know, knock on wood makes good money, but at the end of the day, like I have a family to support.
And to go out on my own and not have that guaranteed paycheck every week, scared the crap out of me. Um, and if it wasn't for Dale pushing me multiple times and multiple conversations, um, I never would have done it. So, kudos to you for like knowing that this is what you were going to do and like gently teetering off the edge and then finally just saying, hey, I'm I'm I'm going to dive right in. Yes.
And I mean, there's a balance. When you are building a side hustle and when you're loud about it, there's going to be extra like of a microscope on you just to make sure that you're achieving what you're achieving in your day-to-day job. So anything that I did do, I was very cautious about when I was meeting with clients after 5:00 p.m.
Very cautious about meeting them in the mornings. Like a sync became A-sync, which is my company, because it was consistent asynchronous chats that needed to happen. It was sending documents, it was sending over learning materials, it was sending over legit workbooks that I would create on the weekends to guide people through it. So it had to be strategic, but at the same time, I was trying to grow revenue so I could do cool things like the yacht party, uh, like fun merch, the things that I could be more risky with because I had a nine-to-five that I can kind of play with my side hustle money, so I could see what it is that I really want to do and what are the things that I like, and what are the things that I will literally never put money towards ever again, and I had to learn that during that experimental time.
What what what what is something you'll never put money towards ever again? It's like, I kind of don't want to say it. Anything that doesn't uh, fuel me and my business. I'll say that.
Like, I need to focus on my business. I think there are certain things you just know, that like you're not going to make money on. Merch, you don't make money on. Like, it's not intended to be a profit.
It's intended for advertisement. And as Dale wants me to put a swag order in later today. It's it's advertisement. It's not it's not you're not going to make money on it.
You know, we I love I love me some swag, it's okay. Yeah, it is. And like, when you put swag on, especially when it's yours, it is a whole 'nother, I mean, you guys know, you guys have your shirts, like, it's a whole 'nother feeling when you're wearing your swag. Your own swag.
What when you set the 30k goal, was that to stay focused or was it to stay sane? Which one was it? Or both. What's so funny, so, a little bit of background here, is unfortunately I was part of a reduction in workforce that only impacted the, um, uh, the, uh, department, um, at my previous company.
And within 24 hours of getting that notice, I decided to commit to making 30,000 from my side hustle, which I've never Within 24 hours. So you you you get, I I'll be polite. You get rifted on Monday and by Tuesday morning you're like, I'm making 30k in 30 days. Yeah.
Yeah. I love it. Crazy, right? Yeah, a little crazy.
I really wish that it was like, okay, like let me sit down with my books and let me You would never get there, though. You would never get there. Yeah, and let me predict and like, what's a number I feel comfortable with and maybe increase it by 10%. Like, no, I was like, can I make a thousand dollars a day?
Because that would be sick. And that's way beyond what I could ever imagine doing. And that would be, I mean, that would give me some potential runway, you know, that could give me a little bit of time. That could really also prove that the business is viable.
And it's such a goal that I could never, I couldn't even imagine me hitting. But as a as a seller, sometimes you need to have those crazy goals to chase, because if you're like me, somehow it happens. Somehow you hit it. And if you don't set it and you don't put it out there and you don't say you're going to go for it, then you're never going to get it.
So, why not put it out there and see if I can hit and make a thousand dollars a day in my first month going from side hustle to CEO? I love that. I love that. So, Day one, you've decided you're going to go 30 for 30.
Reminds me of Brand 30 back in the day, I don't know if you're an Amy Born fan. Um, but 30k 30 day, like, what was day one like? So you you've worked for X company for a while, you were doing great things, you get rifted, you wake up, you know, you've set that goal. You're sitting down at your in your beautiful office, and you are now thinking what What is going through your head?
If you followed her on IG, you would have known she went to the gym, she did all the normal stuff, she normally didn't go get Melissa. That's true, I didn't skip a beat, you know? It was a Thursday morning. Woke up at my normal time, went to the gym, came back, made my breakfast, but here's the difference, is that if you look behind me in that green chair, which is my content corner in my office.
I'm I very much curated my office with a lot of intent. But that's my meditation chair as well. And when I tell you the amount and you'll see a bunch of journals right there because I journal a ridiculous amount. And the amount of nights that I have journaled where I have said one day I'm going to walk in this office and it's going to be like mine.
And I kid you not that morning, when I walked in here, like I was in tears just so and like shaking and like I was just so excited to sit down and I was like, I'm pumped. Like, I'm amped. Like, this is what I've been working towards and I couldn't tell when this time would happen, but today is the day, I mean, the greatest feeling in the world. I love that.
I I definitely my my first day solo was not that feeling. Um, by any stretch of the imagination. I I I I definitely I woke up, I did all the same thing, and then I sat down at my desk and I think I was like, okay, what the fuck am I supposed to do now? Um, where do I start?
Who who do I call? Um, and I I remember Dale telling me like, dude, just breathe, it's going to be okay. You're going to be fine. Uh, this is all good.
I I didn't have that um, perpetual optimism that I think you have. Um, in fact, being slightly vulnerable Dale will That is so Dale. That that as I said, being slightly vulnerable, um, Dale will definitely say that I am the more pessimistic, um, of the group. Um, I call it pragmatic, he calls it pessimistic, we could say it what it is.
I'm not. Um, but but one of the things that I have always admired about you, and I followed you for a long time, is this optimism, right? And I don't know if that's the um, broadcaster in you, or if that's just your your personality that you carry throughout all of your life, but I don't think I've ever seen a time where you're not like, like, shit, I'm going to crush it. Like, whether it was at Deal, whether it was at Warmly, whether it's A-sync, whether it's the Yacht, like, no matter what it is, you exude, like, I'm going to set this goal, and I'm going to do it.
How how do you do that? Because that that's hard, right? It's hard to always be on without forcing yourself to always be on. I mean, I haven't failed yet.
I love that. I love that. Shit. Like, it hasn't the world hasn't come crumbling down on me, and I've done some hard shit.
Like, I think you have to do hard things in order to and I have changed my life so many times, but you have to do hard things and very scary things so that way, even if it's sleepless nights, even if you're scared shitless, like, even if you're worried, like, when it happens, it happens. And you're like, okay, I did it. And it it fuels you for the next thing. Like, I can take on a different challenge.
I can, you know, scare myself this way. The truth is, is that I like to scare myself. I like to do hard things. I like to challenge myself.
That does come from my childhood. So, like, just like Zachary, we me and him, we both have the titanium rods in our spine. And having that whole experience of my I I'm very curious about him, which is why, um, like growing up, I was braced, I had scoliosis, so I had to wear a Boston brace for 16 hours a day. I had a radio because I I had auditory hearing issues.
So my teacher needed to speak into a microphone in order for me to hear her. And like, I just had to overcome these challenges as such a young kid that it was like, okay, well, if I fail, then I fail. Like, who cares? Like, at least I tried.
It's about the effort, it's not always about the outcome. But eventually, you start getting good at these things. You keep challenging yourself and you're not failing as much anymore. You're you keep getting up.
Like, you might get hurt a little bit, but you're trying something new, and you start to build this resilience. And so, that resilience really came from my childhood 100%. It's really scary to go into a classroom with a brace on and and a and a radio. It's also really scary to go get a life-changing surgery and try to be yourself again afterwards.
So, that resilience has really built me up to who I am today. But I enjoy scaring the shit out of me, and it's very funny because in the beginning my family was terrified. Now they're so used to it. They're like, you didn't fail.
Like, you achieve you achieve everything. I'm like, I know. And if you don't, you can pivot very quickly as well. Um, you know, it's funny I as I was watching some of the videos that you were putting together, um, the goal that you set for yourself is almost so audacious, um, because of like I, you know, as a as a broadcaster in the past and doing the work.
You're like, I made $24,000 in a year, and now I'm goal-ing myself to make $30,000 in a month, which is more than I made in an entire year broadcasting. So, I think one of the things people don't realize is you limit yourself by the thoughts that you put in your head. And this is what this is what I kind of tell Adam, like, yes, we are like, we're doing an event out in Utah, and it's like, when you do the event, like it's our very first event that we've ever put together, and it's as you're building the event, you almost have to let go of certain anxiety pieces, because you like, and you know, because you've ran an event, you don't know where that purchase ticket's coming from. You don't know who's going to end up coming.
Like, you put it out there and if you tried to push it or guide it too much, you don't actually get the result you really want, because you limit yourself to whatever you're thinking of. Events are a great learning experience because there's a lot of effort, especially up front, and anticipation, and you're trying to get people, and like, you're talking it's also a great excuse, in a way, just to talk to as many people as possible, because everyone wants to be invited somewhere. So one, it's amazing for lead generation just in general, and just to, you know, build up your network, because someone who you maybe haven't spoken to ever, you give them an event to go to, now they're like, oh, we're we're getting to know each other, we're friends. So events are fantastic.
The second piece of it is that there's always something's always going to go wrong with an event, no matter what. Adam, something will always go wrong with an event. Every single event. There's five things are probably going to go wrong at this event.
And so, every time something goes wrong, just be like, okay, that's one. Okay, that's two. Okay, that's three. Like, it's going to happen.
It's all about how you respond. I mean, a great story, as funny as this is, and I've never shared this on a podcast. If you remember my very first yacht event, I also did a B2B content house. Where nobody stayed at the house.
I had everyone staying in their own hotel rooms. I purchased hotel rooms for every single person that came in. And I had sponsors as well that, you know, sponsored the attendees. And the purpose was for us to create sponsored content for, um, you know, the brands that we worked with, but it also gave the creators an opportunity to create their own, you know, stuff with them.
And the challenge with that was the Airbnb, even though I got pre-approval that I would be having a nine-to-five work event, decided that I could not be there. And so the day before, when they saw me bring in balloons and like, kind of prepare, there's no alcohol on site, none of that. They threatened that the cops were going to come. And I that night before, instead of panicking about it, I just thought to myself, I got no sleep.
I just said, I'm going to defeat them. I am going to have this event. I have CEOs in this house. I have people that flew from California and around the world to be in this house.
I am not going to let them win. And that morning, they're texting me saying, the cops are going to come, leave the premises, all this stuff. And I'm telling everyone to the house, have a seat, do this, do that, texting back, don't you dare call the cops. Everyone come here.
I'm like, there is no alcohol here. Come here, sit down, all that stuff. I'm thinking at one point, I'm going to get taken out. Content house over.
Melissa hands out and handcuffs. Like, that's what I was expecting. Luckily. Luckily, they just needed $2,000 to not call the cops.
It was a total scam. But Why why did they want more money? I I and I don't want to sidetrack the show. Like, so we we we got to make an appearance at said content house.
Um, so I I remember it well and like, there was I and I cooked way better than you did, but we I like I've been to some Airbnb things where I'm like, yeah, I don't see how this got approved. Like, you weren't doing anything like from a layperson's point of view that would make me be like, oh, like, this is like was it literally just a play to get more money of like, oh, if you're going to do this, you have to pay more? Yeah, I was I was exactly that. However, I had budgeted an extra $2,000 for emergencies.
So, the other thing with events is shit's going to go wrong. Maybe someone's going to try to call the cops on you. I don't know. Maybe maybe you might have to pay them to to leave you alone for a little bit, but you have to be prepared for the Yeah.
Unbelievable. But I had a great event. And did you feel it when you guys were cooking? Did you feel that I was on edge during that?
No. Not in the slightest. Couldn't believe I said it. Not in the slightest.
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Let's get a little tactical. How are you actually doing this? Is this offers? Is this a super defined sales process from your days in sales?
Is this like all-in on building pipeline? Like where how are you getting to 30k? Because we all know it's not like, oh, I'm going to hit 30k in 30 days. Like, there's got to be very specific things you're doing, I'd imagine.
Yeah, first of all, it's a lot of work, for sure. Uh, not an easy number to hit. Um, although it's very fun to make money come from thin air, I must say, it's exciting. Um, however, the original strategy was that I was going to slowly phase out each one of my revenue stream, or, you know, bring out each one of my revenue streams.
So I had all intentions of August being my first month for my cohort. However, I've also been doing the other revenue streams of working with B2B companies that are typically in other regions, so I could work with them at night. I only targeted like people in Pacific time. Um, and so, really, I wish the strategy was a lot stronger, but it's first just tell everyone what you're doing.
Like, as much as you can. And there needs to be a campaign about it. Why do people care? People care because they want to see, can this girl who just was part of a rift, make $30,000 in 30 days?
Can she do it? People are hyped about it because it gives them the like, they're almost like part of this as well. So first, you got to tell everyone what you're doing and you got to get them locked in on what it is and be part of your mission. So I needed to get people to want to be a part of this.
Like, you guys, you asked me to join this podcast, right? You're part of this mission, you're invested. You want to see if I hit it. Like, Yeah.
I just need to let everyone know what I'm doing and see who's who's going to hype me up. Who's going to be part of this? Because I don't have a sales team. I don't have a bunch of SDRs.
I don't have a bunch of automation and sequencers. I don't have any of that. I just have right now my network and my platform. So, first tell everyone.
Then I went right into after telling everyone and defining all eight of my revenue streams, which right now, yeah, I'm throwing spaghetti at the wall because I need to know what's going to stick. I need to know what people are going to be interested in. Are they interested in the B2B, aka when I work with companies and I teach them employee advocacy programs? So how to get employees to post on LinkedIn?
Are they interested in more the social selling, the outbounding aspect of of being on LinkedIn? Um, do we want people to join the cohort? Are they interested in more one-to-one coaching? Like, what is it that people are going to go like gravitate towards?
And so that way I can get an understanding of where my major revenue drivers are. From there, just throwing it out there, I need to backwards track to say, all right, what's my highest ticket items? What's going to be the longest sales cycle? Let me start there, because it's going to be a lot easier for me at the end of the month to get one, two, three people to join my cohort.
It's going to take a lot longer for me to sell to an actual company that has, you know, internals that they need to talk about, that need to get meetings on the calendar, I got to pitch that. That's a longer sales cycle. So I immediately went running at those to start booking those meetings, knowing that if I just make content around the other avenues or revenue streams, that will naturally come, but at the end of the month is when I'm going to push forward with those quicker items. I love that.
the strategy. Yeah. Hey. Sometimes you just gotta get go at it.
Um, I'm always curious when I when we look at these things, how much time do you spend on content versus how much time do you spend on like doing the sales work? Oh my gosh. I mean, I Content's really important. I've gotten really fast at it because I was doing it during I've been building my brand for two years.
I haven't had time to spend hours making content every day. Like, I had to move very quickly. I've got 15 minutes, or I'm just going to randomly record throughout my day and I'm going to post that tomorrow. Like, unfortunately, in the past, I've had to be very reactive.
I couldn't be like, okay, here's my proactive content calendar. I'm going to spend the whole day recording. Um, but because I've gotten so fast at it, I can bust out content in like 20, 30 minutes. Um, and that's highly edited, at least not highly edited, but decent videos.
And then the rest, I mean, we're we have to be selling. You know, we have to be, you know, pushing people to the content. What's great is the content gets the profile visits and gets the attention, and now I'm just taking actions on the attention that the content has curated. So, we got to move quick.
You do all your own video editing, right? I do. Except for the highly, which you'll see. I've done a few of these.
Highly edited edited videos where I do like a spotlight service, but I also the course that I'm dropping in September is in high production, high editing, all that. But the day-to-day that you're seeing, that's me on Canva. And I had to learn that as a news reporter. Uh, sorry, Canva and CapCut.
Because I was a news reporter and every time I would create a story or a package, I literally would be like, okay, it's on at 4:30. If I don't finish editing this, I won. And I've never missed a deadline when I was a news reporter. But sometimes I've had to edit in 10 minutes.
Like, you just got to get it out there quick. So I'm very fast at editing. Yeah. I love that.
What what's what's surprised you the most about monetizing audience? What surprises me the most? Yeah. How cheap people are?
No, I'm just kidding. I mean, But I mean, it's Well, it's a tough time. Um, for sure. I think that and maybe this is more internal.
I always felt more comfortable going to a business and being like, hey, you make $10 million a year, give me $10,000 of that. Like, way easier because I've been asking businesses for money for years. Going to an individual after having a quick discovery call with them and being like, okay, now sign up for my coaching. I think that that's hard.
And that was kind of surprised me because I thought, oh, like someone giving me a thousand bucks, easy. But now it's it's I'm like, I'm thinking they're like telling me how much they're making. I'm like, oh my god, am I charging you too much? I'm like, jeez, like, you need like, it's it can So, I would say that's most surprising is the feelings I have, but I need to be better at knowing that I do make their lives better with this.
Yeah, value base, like once you can say once you feel really comfortable with the value you're delivering, which I think is always in the back of our heads, like, do we deliver enough value? I think people that deliver a lot of value always believe they can always deliver more value. And we struggle with it a lot as well. Not only the amount of value you deliver, but how fast you're delivering the value, because like, as you're delivering value, like it it compounds itself.
Now all of a sudden like, okay, what you did the first three weeks, what are you going to do the next It just like compounds on itself. So it becomes a little bit of a mind melt that you have to try to manage through. Yeah, and being aware of, okay, if I really want to deliver this much value, what's the balance with the amount of clients that I can take on at one time? That's the other thing.
Um, and then balancing the actual amount that you're charging as well. Because you can I need to make sure that I'm making an impact, no matter what. Um, that comes with. So, let's move into a little bit of the pressure.
So, you're publicly doing this, you're putting it out there, like, what happens if you don't hit the 30k? I mean, That's not. Good answer. Good answer.
You you know that's what she was going to say. Yeah. It's just and I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet.
We are on day, and I'm doing my I do my revenue update on Friday. 18. Day 18, and I'm at $23,000. I mean that that that trend we we all know how to trend is is above where you should be.
It is above. And I and reverse quota, I either need to sell out my cohort, or close one to two B2B brands. That's it. That's it.
That's all I got to do. I can It's the 18th. I can do that. Doesn't mean I take my foot off the gas pedal.
Can I go above 30k? No, ooh. That's exciting. Can I actually hit 40k?
Did I underestimate myself a little bit? Like I I thought you hit 30 and you take the rest of the month off. No. I'm not.
That's how Dale does it. Dale Dale's like we hit revenue, we're off for the month. We need the breeze. I'll see you in 18 days.
Oh, I got to I can't. I can't. I can't. I got to see what I got to just see what it is, you know?
I love it. I love it. So I I I I when you when you look at that, so you're you're going to hit the number. Yeah.
What's what's been the hardest part that either no one warned you about or that you just like were not prepared for? So it's interesting because I was part of a rift, it is it is there are some days where I am, you know, healing and I'm bit coping. And like that's that's a big thing to happen. It's something that I I it's really hard for me to still like comprehend, to be honest.
Cuz it's like, did I fail here? Did I not do as great as I could have? And you really have to I know that I put I know that I put my heart and soul into what I did every day. Like, I know that.
And I I see the messages that I get from my team and like, I forever love them and I miss them and there's that. And then there's the days where I'm like, oh my God, I'm doing It's me. Like, I'm making the choices. This is this is what I have dreamed of, and like, I'm doing it.
So, nobody kind of warned and maybe not many people do this what I'm doing, but it's this weird, you know, some days I'm going to be I'm going to have to spend the time to heal. And that's okay. And then other days, I get to actually be aligned with my true purpose. And that's when I feel the most, you know, happy.
So it that wasn't really, you know, I and I wasn't really expecting to have to heal, to be honest. So, let's Yeah. Good. No, good.
I I think that's something a lot of people don't realize, right? Is whether you're fired, whether you're laid off, whether you're part of a rift, like, no matter what it is, like, there's absolutely healing that comes into play. Um, and I love that you acknowledge that, because most people don't. It's like, all right, well, it it happened, move on.
Like, listen, you you have to move on, you can't sit in sorrow, like, you can't sit and weep. But like, there's absolutely healing that comes into play. I I I I try to heal every day that I work with. Yeah.
Yeah. Be careful. Someone's going to send me a message at how mean I am to Dale on the podcast. True true story.
Yeah, he like, he only brings it up once in a while to get some sympathy. He's fine. Um. Where was it?
Did they did they They sent an email that they can't believe that we are 150-something episodes in, and I'm so disparaging to Dale, and that this can't be how we really are, and they feel so bad for him and how like, we joke. Like, I I'm never nothing I ever say is meant seriously. Like, this is how we are. Yeah, Dale, do you do I I pay for Dale's therapy, damn it.
I need to heal, Melissa. I need to heal. And I Yeah. False empathy, cuz um, I don't know if you guys He has a cohort that can help.
Yeah, cohort that can help. But there's part of part of putting yourself out here is, you know, those random messages like that. Or, you know, people are like, well, kind of like take you down a little bit. Like, sometimes people don't really like seeing you succeed.
Like, they don't. A lot of people. I don't think it's some people. I think I think a lot of people I think as you go through your evolution, Melissa, and you get into like, as many people that are that are excited for you are as many people as want want to tear you down.
And I think that's the sad part is like, they'll say, oh, you're not really being real. Like, they'll probably say a lot of things. You're like, well, you know who you are. You have to be you have to be good with yourself.
Um, and I think that's that's important as you go through this. And I was watching one of your videos, I think it was the 17th day or something, but you were talking about how you can skip out at 3:00 for a little bit of work or like to make dinner or to do something and then go back to work. And I think that's where people don't realize things happen. Like, when you work for yourself, you can kind of like ebb and flow in your business.
It becomes more difficult once you get a lot of clients that are demanding with like meetings and stuff. You're like, okay, I have 85 meetings on Monday because I have like all these executive meetings, but having that ebb and flow is really important, um, as you go about this. Yeah. And and that's the hard thing is that I could, I mean, I could just go.
I really have to stop myself. Even on the week, I mean, I still bring my laptop to the pool. I really I'm trying to clock it not too much. But the other side of me is like, isn't this part of being a solopreneur is being able to you know, so I can't I can't not do that, you know?
Like, tomorrow I'm playing bingo with my grandmother, which I'm excited. I love that. Yep. Let's um I want to talk about one little thing and then we'll go into some rapid fire.
So, I'm curious, where do most LinkedIn creators screw up today? Oh, so there's two different types in my opinion. Um, there's the forced LinkedIn creator. Aka your company's forcing you to be a LinkedIn creator, so you're just spitting out advertisements.
Nothing drives me more crazy, and I think that nothing is more easily ignored, as well as damaging to your brand. Because the second a prospect looks at your profile, they go, oh God, this person is just going to spam me with advertisements and they're too salesy. Um, so there's that one. I do not teach that.
When I work with other companies, I teach their employees how to actually create a strong brand that is about them that also brings in revenue because they do share a little bit about their company. You know, like, they know Melissa because Melissa's part of A- or they know of A-sync because Melissa is part of A-sync. You know, it's it's like that. Like, real estate people.
You know about Remax, but you're not going to Remax, you're going to Amanda because you know Amanda. Um, so there's that. And then there's the ones that, which very easy to fall into, very early on. When you get started, you think you have to be this CFO.
Like, you know what I mean? Think you have to be the highest of the high. You think that you could only share or speak because you needed to accomplish 20 years in in this industry. Which to me, a lot of people care about the journey and what's going on on the on the ground.
So if you're an SDR, like, you don't need to pretend like you are the CEO. But share your own journey, your own experience, your cold calls. Um, there's an SDR over at Common Room right now who is killing it. He's 18 years old.
I love reading his posts. He's sharing his journey. It's amazing. Like, beautifully done.
Um, so I think that being authentically you, not not pretending to be someone else, but being aware of what it is that you do know, and just sharing your your journey and your learnings along the way. Adam, back to you. I I have so much to say on that one. Um, but we don't have time for me to dig deep into that.
That that'll have to be another episode. I can't never have a rapid fire because Adam could be talking about that all day long. I I I I just think a lot of people like, nothing aggravates me more than when I see someone where every post is the company's post and it's like every like, okay, go DM someone and hi Melissa, I'm Adam from Revenue Reimagined and you must struggle Like, you got to stop with that shit. And you know what happens?
What happens to those people if they ever do lose their job? Or if they do move, it's like, they lose their identity. Identity. Gone.
It is so soul-crushing. And I've seen it because they're like, I I don't work there anymore. Like, who who am I? My whole brand was that.
And it's like, well, you know, like you you can't you can't be the CEO of your company. You have to be you. 100%. All right, let's go rapid fire.
10 words or less. What's one piece of advice about LinkedIn that's just flat out wrong? Oh, we're going to we're going to stick with exactly that. Stop advertising for your company in every post.
Minimize it to 20%, please. What's the favorite DM you've ever gotten from a prospect? Ooh. Um, Blue Nile.
That was an exciting one. Um, The ring company? The jewelry company? Nice.
Yeah. I mean, great, great prospecting. Um, yeah, because I sent him over a video, um, and I was trying to break into the account, and literally he was like, this is the greatest thing. He was like, I'm not even looking, but I'm going to talk to you.
And he refused, I was an SDR at the time. He refused to work with an AE. He only wanted to work with me and was literally working the deal with me. I had to get special approval to work.
That's amazing. I love that. That's amazing. You have three days to make 5k, you have no list.
Where do you start? Linked in. Just make a post. And then follow up on the engagement and the profile views.
Like, literally, I'm going to host a webinar tomorrow or in three days from now. You know, then you start following up with that. That's the worst question ever, but okay. Um, what's the last thing you posted that totally flopped?
Ooh. That totally Honestly, I feel like my post this weekend kind of flopped, which I was a little surprised about, but I'm going to share it. Anyone familiar with the LinkedIn Lunatic Reddit? Yeah, of course, yeah.
Were you did you make an appearance on it? Well, I've been on it many times. Like, many people have been. Um, and I decided to launch some merch that is a hat that says, um, verified lunatic on it.
Yeah. I thought this was going to pop off, but, you know, maybe it was the weekend, maybe it was the graphic, it didn't pop off the way that I thought it would. But we're going to try it again this week. So, I think a launch on the weekend might have impacted me a little bit.
So, I'd say that that was a little bit of a flop. All right. What's uh what's something that you'll never ever do again for growth, even if it worked? Like, over overdo it.
I think that there's been times where I've worked, especially with like founders, and I was like, I just wanted to build up my customer, you know, base. And I'm like, yeah, we can do this. Yeah, we can do that. And whatever you do that in software sales, no, but for me, I'm like, I'll be on every call that you have.
Yes, I'll see you here. Like, you know what I mean? Like, sometimes you overdo it that the amount of money that they're paying you actually doesn't make any sense. So, We know that one.
All too well. Yeah, setting those boundaries and not having to discount yourself or add in more, cuz then you just end up not feeling it, you know? I think we I think this would be the first one we can compare back. What's your um, vacation destination that you want to travel to?
See if you Oh, I think I'm sure I said Greece last time. I still I still want to go to Greece. I still haven't been and, you know, last time we did this was a year ago. So that's Yeah.
It's funny my my daughter may be doing a um, uh, a uh, internship or like study abroad in Greece. Actually, you can go with Adam. He's going in October. He said he'll bring you.
I am. I am going in October. 18 days. Dale will not let me forget it.
That's so exciting. And if I remember, Dale, your daughter, um, I mean, crushes whatever it is that she does. I know that she was doing like the Academy for a bit. Um, she's at USF right now as an RA.
So, she's lowering up and being an RA and doing all sorts of fun stuff. But if she goes out to uh, if she goes out and studies abroad, maybe I'll go for 30 days and see if I can if I can go over Adam's 18 days. I love it. Do it.
Do it. Melissa, where can people find out more about A-sync and how could they help you get to 30 and 30? Um, please check out my LinkedIn. If you want to help me get to 30 and 30, um, little things like merch.
You can get sweatshirts, hats, things like that are easy ways. Even just liking a post or commenting or sharing it with someone. But I am also giving away $500 for anyone who intros me to their boss and their boss buys. So, you can get that money.
Very easy way for you to generate a little bit of income. Melissa, this is Go check out Adam Adam doesn't buy anything. No. I I I I'm speechless.
I I I I I I have nothing We're we're just going to wrap it there before we get before this turns in a way we don't want it to turn. Melissa, thank you so much for joining the show. Thank you.