This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, Karen Yankovich discusses the strategies you need to adopt to gain industry recognition.

#GoodGirlsGetRich

We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.

About the Episode:

Hello, lovely listeners! I’m thrilled to share some valuable insights with you today.

Our topic? Well, it’s something that resonates deeply with me – the strategies you need to adopt to gain recognition in your industry. As each year passes and we embrace our roles as thought leaders, the importance of being noticed becomes increasingly evident.

I’ve always emphasized the power of LinkedIn on this show, and today, we’re delving into how it plays a pivotal role in creating a magnetic thought leader brand. It’s not just about pitching; it’s about positioning yourself as a force to be reckoned with, ensuring opportunities come knocking at your door.

Industry recognition is a game-changer, especially for women in business. It’s a key element in elevating your career and business while manifesting influence, impact, and income – the trifecta we often discuss.

We’ll explore the significance of awards, publications, speaking engagements, and networking in cultivating the industry recognition you deserve. Of course, I won’t shy away from acknowledging the challenges – the notorious imposter syndrome and dealing with criticism. But fear not, because I’m also here to provide actionable steps to kickstart your journey as a recognized industry expert.

So, grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let’s embark on this exciting journey together!

Magical Quotes from the Episode:

  • “Creating thought-leader brand and doing outreach from that position of power is where this process becomes magnetic.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “Big missions take big money, and industry recognition is a crucial puzzle piece for elevating your career and business.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “It’s not what you know, it’s who knows you. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “As your visibility increases, criticism will increase. It’s essential to navigate negative feedback and stay focused on your mission.” – Karen Yankovich
  • “Get clear on your unique value proposition. Identify what sets you apart from others in your industry and build your visibility plan accordingly.” – Karen Yankovich

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

Help Us Spread the Word!

It would be awesome if you shared the Good Girls Get Rich Podcast with your fellow entrepreneurs on twitter. Click here to tweet some love!

If this episode has taught you just one thing, I would love if you could head on over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! And if you’re moved to, kindly leave us a rating and review. Maybe you’ll get a shout out on the show!

Ways to Subscribe to Good Girls Get Rich:

Read the Transcript

Karen Yankovich 0:10
Hello there, and welcome to the good girls get rich Podcast. I’m Karen Yankovich, the host of this show, and today’s topic is one that is near and dear to my heart. And, you know, I think that this has become the things we’re gonna talk about today are becoming more and more important as we, every year that we get older, and every year that we’re stepping into more of a role of a thought leader. And as we are custom crafting control of our destiny, you know, we have to think about the kinds of things we’re gonna be talking about today, and we’re talking about today are strategies to getting for getting recognition in your in your industry, right. So you know, we talked a lot about LinkedIn on the show, and I, this is a big part of it, right? Because when we, if you’ve listened to the show, before, you know that I’m not just looking for you to use LinkedIn, directly for leads, right, not like pitch, pitch, pitch, pitch pitch, I did the last thing I want you to do. In fact, it’s, you know, I don’t think there’s ever a need for cold outreach on LinkedIn, you know, creating that thought leader brand, and doing outreach from that position of power is where this process becomes magnetic. And that’s what I want for you, I want your brand to be magnetic. So that opportunities are finding you, okay, we’re not just sitting on the beach, like meditating and waiting for them to drop in our laps, you know, there’s things to do to do that. And we’re talking about some of those strategies today. And having that industry recognition really does help with that. Right. Like, we’ve had a couple of awards for this show. And, you know, top something, some podcasts on LinkedIn, right in the world, right? Those give us industry recognition, right, it gives me industry recognition. And that’s what I want for you. And it’s crucial, especially for women in business, to elevate your career, to elevate your business to elevate yourself as a thought leader and creating that, you know, we talk a lot around here a lot around here about creating influence, impact and income, you know, the women that I serve, very often have a big mission. And big missions take big money, right? Like if you want to be able to serve the what you want to be able to serve, we need to be doing this from high vibe place. And this, one of the puzzle pieces for this is the industry recognition that you have, right? I mean, let’s just talk about this for a second. I, you know, if I have never met you before, you never heard of me and I run into you, Macy’s as we’re, you know, I don’t know, trying on dresses for a wedding or something. And we’re chatting in the dressing room, and I tell you what I do I have absolutely no credibility there. Right? Like you don’t know who I am, you’re not going to be whipping out your credit card right there on the dressing room and saying, I got this, I want to hire you, right? I mean, that’s not how it happens. We need to be creating visibility and recognition. So that the, as we as as people do find us, we have that credibility, and it becomes a simpler path to that investment in you than that cold connection. If that makes sense. Right. Now, listen, I mean, at some point, if you’re getting industry recognition on a big level, maybe they aren’t gonna recognize your order and Macy’s, right. But truthfully, what we’re really looking for is are the right people to recognize your genius at the right time. We don’t need everybody and we don’t need it to be all the time, we need the right people at the right time. Does that make sense? Can you can you relate to that? You know, I mean, I’m sure that there’s been times in your career, that you have seen other people get industry recognition that you feel like you maybe deserved? Alright, I can tell you, it’s happened to me multiple times. Right? So let’s dive in a little bit to what this looks like. So you know, industry recognition is kind of a broad term, right? It’s kind of a broad term. It’s it is, you know, it’s becoming a known name, right. But becoming a known name gives you access to more opportunities, right? It gives you increased credibility gives you more influence, right? There was a Harvard business review a couple of months ago, so mid to late 2023. Actually, I’m going to look at it right here. Hang on one second, I

created an article that you can I’ll link to in the show notes how to become more visible at work. And it was such a great article, because it talked a little bit about, you know, we when we first entered the workforce, people talk we had to work twice as hard as everyone else. Right. But what people don’t tell you always is, it’s more than work, right? It’s about building credibility. Right? The impact of your hard work also needs to be visible to other people. You know, I’ve you’ve heard me probably say a lot, you know, it’s not like building the who you know, in your business, right? It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, but maybe even more importantly, it’s who knows you right? So this visibility, this workplace visibility, this industry visibility, this industry credibility is so important to getting your names mentioned in the rows where the decisions are made, right? And being included in the kinds of projects that shape your business in your career forever. Maybe landing a huge client or a huge promotion, right? If people don’t know what you’ve accomplished you, you can’t achieve your full potential for advancement. And this article that from Harvard Business Review talks a lot about this. And, you know, there’s, there’s strategies to do this. Right? You can, you can, you know, we’re gonna talk about this on the show. Okay, we’re going to talk about more about this as we, as we move on. Right. So let’s talk a little bit about the foundation of recognition. Right. So what are some types of recognition? Well, maybe there’s awards, do you apply for awards in your industry award, say that other people have given you, you know, have evaluated what you’ve done, and feel that you are worthy of this award. Now, there are some awards that you literally can buy at doesn’t necessarily make that a bad thing, okay? Because people do that a lot. That’s a big part of what marketing is. So when I say you can buy an award, right, it’s not. I mean, you could buy the cover of a magazine, things like that, right? But everybody can’t do that. Right? Everybody can’t do that. So if you are being asked to apply for an award, even if you have to pay 500 bucks to get it, they’re not doing that for everybody. So even though you know, there’s, there’s, there’s a little maybe it maybe it feels a little icky, or when you know, when you are, you know, when you see people number one, whatever in their industry, you know, sometimes you’ll know maybe, you know, did they pay to get that recognition, but you wouldn’t be offered that opportunity if you weren’t worthy of it, right? Publications. That’s why we incorporate PR into all the work we do in our she’s linked up world, you know, we’ve actually incorporated more done for you assets, because the women we work with are smart, successful, busy women, and they’re like, can you just do this for me, Karen, so, so now we’re doing a lot of that, because I want you to get those PR opportunities, I want you to land them not just know what they are, and just be ready for them. I want you to land them. Are you? Do you have a microphone in front of you? Right? You have like I have a, you know, fancy little microphone here. Right? Do you have a microphone? Are you on stage? Are you doing speaking events, like it’s not all of these things are not for everybody. But you know, a lot of people, myself included, didn’t really get back in the swing of things with their speaking careers on the other side of the pandemic. And PS if you’ve got a conference or anything that you’re putting together or that you know, of, and you think I would be a great speaker for I’d love that introduction. Because you know that those speaking engagements give you credibility. And I can tell you that from from personal experience, you know, when you’re at the conference, and you’re the speaker at the conference, you immediately have that recognition, right? You immediately have that, that industry recognition and industry credibility, because you had the microphone, that the founders of the conference, thought that you were worthy of bringing your message to the whole room, right. Of course, to get those kinds of opportunities, the awards, the publications that press the speaking engagements, you do have to take control of your personal brand, right? Personal Branding is so important when it comes to establishing that credibility and visibility. You know, I tell my, my, the people that I work with in my shoes linked up programs all the time. Yes, you can do outreach from email, yes, you can do outreach, you know, text, or what, however you want to do outreach. But when you do outreach from your LinkedIn profile, you’re bringing the power of that profile with you, right, you have that recognition. So as you’re creating this thought leader brand, and you’re creating that personal brand, and you’re putting this up all up on a LinkedIn profile that positions you as if you’re peers, with the most influential people in the industry, and you’re doing outreach from that place, it immediately elevates your personal brand, right? And, you know, as Jeff Bezos says Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Right? So. So it starts with you, though, are you creating that personal brand, so that people so you’re giving people something and making it easy for them to get to know what it is you do, right? It’s also really important that you’re consistent. You need consistency in your messaging, you need consistency in your presence, you need engagement across your platforms to build that recognizable brand. I would rather you do less platforms and do a better job with the individual ones you do than just throwing your crap out everywhere. You know, I actually have somebody that just joined our program recently, and she said, Do I need a website? I’m like, honestly, eventually, yeah, you’re gonna want a website. But we’re gonna get your clients just by using LinkedIn right now. Because because we’re going to establish her as a thought leader, right? We’re going to help her build in that consistency. So she’ll have that personal brand. We’re bringing years of expertise to this, right. She’s not a newbie. She’s new at what she’s doing now, but she’s not a newbie. So we’re going to whip that into, you know, like, Matt, you know, put our magic wand, hit our hitter with our magic wand and, and have her really showing up. So she looks worthy of people’s time and worthy of people’s money, and then showing up consistently on people’s timelines and in social media, right or on LinkedIn, or that one or two platforms that they’re doing. So that they are, you know, they’re building that foundation of recognition. Okay, so how, how else do you do this? Right? So how do we now now that we’ve got that foundation built? How do we how do we build some momentum there, right. So obviously, the first thing I’m talking about is LinkedIn, you absolutely want to use LinkedIn to enhance your visibility to enhance your authority, you want to have an optimized profile, you want to and go to LinkedIn profile training.com, if you need an optimized profile,

you want to publish some, some thought leadership articles, right? Engaging with your industry leaders tagging with some industry leaders, right. And you want to step into that place and start to build it, build relationships with these people build out your network, you want to leverage the power of PR, you want to talk about, you know, press releases, media appearances, guest blogging, guest interviews on people’s podcasts, all of these elevate your profile, right, all of these elevate your profile and help you to be seen as an industry authority. Speaking engagements and networking, right, I can do it. Maybe it’s time to do another show on this. But I can do an entire show on how to leverage your speaking engagements. Because you know, so many people I remember specifically, there’s one woman that I am friends with. And we’ve spent a lot of time together working on her strategies. And she was like one of those people that loved networking, and God bless her. She loves networking. But she was always at networking meetings. And then when I’d say okay, now I want you to follow up and do this, this and this from that networking mean, she’s like, I don’t have time. I’m too busy. I don’t have time for that. So it’s like, go to less networking meetings, right, cordless networking meetings and dive deeper into the ones you are going to connect with all the people that are there, look to get on the phone, like if you know, obviously in a targeted way, who were the people you met at that meeting that you want to follow up with? Follow up with them on LinkedIn, remember you kind of with the the the the authority of your profile showing up as that authority, when they asked you to introduce yourself at these networking events? are you introducing yourself as, hey, I’m the host of the good girls get rich podcast. Now. I’m Karen, animal LinkedIn consultant, right, you got to introduce yourself with that authority, so that you’re starting to build that industry recognition. Right? At those speaking engagements, you’re connecting with the people in the room, or you’re connecting with the other speakers, or you’re connecting with the organizers so that they know how to find you the next time, or you you know, maybe writing recommendations for the organizers about how amazing it was in your mind that maybe they’ll invite you back next year, right. And it doesn’t have to be in person networking or speaking engagements, you can do this with virtual networking. And virtual speaking, same thing, right webinars, podcasts, share your expertise and expand your networks. This is how you start to gain that industry recognition. Do you have any published work? Right? And I’m like, I have a little bit like, as I say, this is like pot calling the kettle black here. But you know, do you have books, ebooks industry reports, what is this? What is What are you doing to establish authority, and that is allowing you to share your unique insights. We have one student that we’re working with her she’s linked up accelerator program right now. And she crafted this solely to get leads, okay? I mean her because we were like how do we get warm? Because you know, I say no cold leads, right? Her ideal clients are corporate. And we were trying to see how does she build a network for these people? So what we decided to do, she decided to do was published a white paper and do outreach to did outreach, I think maybe 50 people, that person, frankly, are her ideal clients, but her outreach to them was, hey, I’m doing this white paper. I’m looking for authorities on a, you know, XYZ to interview as sources for this white paper. Are you interested? Right, so she actually like talk about like, doubling up her efforts, right, she created this white paper. So that positioned her immediately as an industry authority. By the way, like six months or a year ago, she was she a paycheck job, right? So this is brand new. This role she’s in right now was brand new. PS, this is what Barbara Cochran did, right. She created the Cochran report, right? She had one client, but she created a report around it immediately positioned her it’s an industry like giving her industry recognition, right. So my client did this, she created a white paper published it, right. All of these people who are our ideal clients are now featured in it. And now her follow up to them is hey, let’s talk about how we can further How can we get this are our collaborative work in front of more hands and PS, I can help you with this stuff if you want, right? So so many things that helped her establish authority and help her share her unique insights into the work that she does and allows her to let these people know that she even has these unique insights. Right? And they are now seeing her as an industry authority where six months ago they didn’t know she existed. So, and again, we talked a little bit About awards and recognitions, find and apply for industry awards, right find and apply for things that give you recognition to build your credibility. Okay. And you know, this isn’t all sunshine and roses. You know, there are some challenges to this. I know because we have such a strong mindset component in the work we do in our she’s linked up program. Because so many women come to us with these beautiful big dreams. Like I said, they’re mission driven women, right? So they’ve got these beautiful big dreams, but their energies here, they’re there, their vibe is not aligned with their, with their big missions, right. So and that is imposter syndrome, right? They just don’t know if we’ve done entire shows on this. Right? But they just don’t know they don’t you know, they You can’t let this get in your way. Because if you like imagine if, if Oprah had impostor syndrome, who gives a flying F what people think about you if you’re accomplishing your mission, right? So, and often when I talk to people about overcoming impostor syndrome, and they’re worried about what people say about them, and just can they really say these things about themselves? And can they really show up as this industry recognized industry expert? It’s not the people they don’t know that they’re worried about it’s the people they do know, right? It’s their friends, their family, their co workers out there, they’re worried about what they’re going to think about what they say, right? So just to I know, it’s easy for me to say this, but just let it go. And take that next step with courage with brave and hopefully with a beautiful community of strong people around you to carry you over that line, right. But you can’t if you let impostor syndrome, get in your way, you are never ever going to accomplish your big mission. And then, you know, criticism. You know, somebody said to me one time and it was so impactful to me, if you have a podcast, and we’re specifically talking about podcasts, you can take the same statement and move it across other things. If you have a podcast and all you have are five star reviews, I don’t believe them. Right? I feel like you just call all your friends and family to do it. Like not everybody’s going to, to align with your message, you’ve got to learn how to navigate that criticism as you’re creating this thought leader brand. Because that veers with that visibility comes haters, right. So what So what you’re gonna let that get you down, right, people that are not worthy of your time, you can let that get in the way of your big dreams if your big missions. So you leave you, you want to really be creating strategies for dealing with the criticism, dealing with the negative feedback, because as your visibility increases, that is going to increase, it just happens. Right? Now listen, I can tell you that there are times that I just let it go. Because sometimes it’s just like, crazy. But if I hear the same thing a few times in a row, you know, maybe I’ll pay attention to it and say maybe it’s something I need to work out, right. Like, for example. Many people, including people that I are in my program, sometimes say, can you really talk fast, I know that I am working on it, it’s probably not going to change. But I’m trying I pay attention to it where I can write is a criticism, I guess it is right. But it is also a part of who I am. And and if it’s if it’s so bad, that you can’t deal with it, then we’re not a good fit. But if you’re listening to this show, and you’re resonating with my message, and you can follow along, when people say to me, they listened to me on double speed on like, really? I can’t even imagine that, right.

But, you know, you want to pay attention to these things, right? So because I hear that more than once I pay attention to it. I’m still looking if anybody has a suggestion for me what I would in my dream world, and maybe I need to invent it. I want a metronome, you know, those metronomes like the music metronomes that go back and forth. I want to put one on my desk, like right here while I’m recording the show, so that it paces me, but it can’t click metronomes click right. So it has to be silent. So anyway, you know that if you have a suggestion for me send it my way. But you see what I’m saying? Like sometimes there’s something you want to pay attention to. Other times, it’s just like, let it go. Right? But again, it’s it’s when you’re surrounded by a community of people that are lifting you up, and they are cheering you on for your big vision. And they are there for you as you’re stepping into this influencer role as you’re stepping into this role as a recognized industry expert. You know, that’s where you, you understand that it’s not personal, right? They help you understand that it’s not personal. So a couple of things you can do today to get started to be seen as a recognized industry expert. First, you have to really get clear on what your unique value proposition is what makes you different than everyone else, right? Identify what sets you apart from others in your industry and, and you know, it can be little right it can be something simple. But if there’s, you know, I can tell you like when I first started my business, this version of my business maybe 1015 years ago, I had a social media agency. It’s interesting that works coming back around to doing more done for you work because I kind of was pretty committed to not doing that again, but We’re doing more done free work around LinkedIn. So definitely reach out to me if you want to know what that looks like having us do a lot of this work for you. But 1015 years ago, I had a social media agency. And those of you that are running social media for people or I have friends, and we’ve interviewed people, we interviewed Bridget Brady a couple of weeks ago for up on the social media agency, having to stay on top of what’s happening on all the platforms. I don’t know how anybody does it, it was exhausting. It was exhausting. So I started to I was talking a lot more about your personal brand, I was starting all my people with LinkedIn. So I started to narrow my business in on LinkedIn. And now that sort of that started to be where my unique value proposition started to come into view, right? We have since then, and corporated PR strategies into our unique value proposition. I really believe that as you’re creating this thought leader brand and using tools like LinkedIn, to help you do that, we also want to have a pure component to that strategy. And you know, I’ve niched even further to mostly supporting women and not because I don’t want to help men, I’m happy to help you. I don’t really care what your body parts are, or how you identify, but I want women to feel more included in this. I’m not really trying to exclude anyone, right. So do you see how I’ve kind of over the years, I’ve identified my unique value proposition? I frankly, don’t know anybody else that serves that exact market. And then from there, you want to have a visibility plan, right? What is your plan? I have this here. I’m always looking for a better way to do this stuff. You guys. I bought this book this year, too. And this, there’s nothing in this planner, but marketing. What is my mark? What am I doing each day? What is my visibility plan? Because listen, I’ve got my calendar. I’ve got we use Asana. So I’ve got tasks in Asana, I got 50 billion emails in my email list. And they’re, you know, I can’t stay on top of it. I can’t. So this book right here, more visibility is so important for me that I needed to pull it out of all of that and make it separate. So I have a visibility plan. It’s a step by step plan that increases my visibility, we’re doing more real slightly, maybe you’ve seen them on Instagram or some other platforms, right. But you know, make a plan and work that plan and make it simple, make it something that you can do. Do you have a community, right? Maybe you have a Facebook group or LinkedIn group, where you’ve just got a community of people that you’ve been working with, building and engaging with the community, I think is so important, especially for women who are looking to have bigger, bigger dreams, in their careers in their businesses. You know, there’s another article that came out, I think, just today, actually, it was in the Wall Street Journal. And it was literally called the price women pay for networking with high status people. And it basically talks about the fact that networking is so important, right, and those tactics work really well for men. But for women, the stereotypes get in the way. So we’ll link to that in the show notes also. So basically, what it says is where women can do this is when they when they’re showing up for their community, oh, by the way, I fully recognize this sucks, right? I fully recognize that we should be able to network the same way men do without the stigma of she’s to this or she’s to that, right. But if we want to have success, we want to learn from things like these that these studies show us. And one of the things that showed us is when a woman is networking on that high level, right being seen as a recognized expert, when you’re doing it with the with the goal of elevating a community or elevating a group, it’s received better. It’s just came out today, right? I hate it. But it’s stuff, you know, we have to be we have to know this stuff. So that we can have success doesn’t mean you don’t want to do this stuff. By the way, I don’t really care what people think about me. But at the end of the day, what I do want is success, I want to help more women, I want there to be more wealthy women in the world. And if I’m going to have the industry recognition to do that, and the credibility, I’ve got to understand how I can best show up. Right now we do have a Facebook group, if you’re not a part of it, go to LinkedIn for women community.com. And join us there. And we spend a lot of time in that community helping women that are, you know, I feel like the minute you start listening to this show, you’re a part of our community, you listen to the show, maybe then you join our Facebook group, you’re all these are all my gifts to you. Because again, I want them to be more wealthy women in the world, right? So I have all these things we do to help you do that. At some point, if you resonate with my messaging, I’d love to chat with you. Because the next step in all of this then would be book a call, right Karen yankovich.com/call, get you to our calendar, and you’ll speak to me or one of somebody on my team about what your big mission in the world is. And if we think there’s a fit to support you with that, if there is we’ll tell you what that looks like. But either way, we have no end of ideas to help you achieve because more importantly, I’m you know, more importantly than us actually getting to work together directly is I want more women to have more money, women with more money can make better choices can make more choices gives us more choices, right? So it starts with my communities. It starts with this show, which starts with my free Facebook community. And then from there, right to Karen yankovich.com/call, if you want to know what it looks like to be a part of the deeper community to get some support with this, because I think you know, the more support you have the faster results, the faster, you will get these results. And we have no end of testimonials about that no end of testimonials about the beautiful things that happen to the women in our program when they join and really step into their thought leader roles in the next chapter of their lives and their business. So I hope that this resonated with you, you know, again, you know, I want you to have some success, we work too hard in this country, here in the US, and I’m sure in other countries as well. But we work too hard to not be recognized for the work that we do. And it’s time that we take control of that. And we start to create a plan to for industry recognition, for our personal brands for the work we’re doing and for the mission we have for the world. So if you loved what you heard today, you know, I love for you to share this episode, share it on social media, make sure that you tag me so I see it. We’re all about you know, raising women up help me help you by sharing this episode, I’ll share it with my audience, so that I can help you and get your name in front of my audience. Right. So this is how we support each other. You know, and in our she’s linked up family of programs, we create wealthy women of influence. If you want to hang out with some of these incredible, incredible women that I get to hang out with, just again, book a call on the calendar, there’s no obligation, these are very, you know, they’re not sales calls, there truly isn’t a fit to talk about what it looks like to work together. That’s really it. You know, I’d love for you to go into the show notes here at Karen yankovich.com/ 272. And there’s a link there for SpeakPipe. I’m always looking for ways for this to be more talking with you instead of at you if you leave a message on SpeakPipe I will reply personally and we get to have a little bit of a conversation which is fun. Maybe you’ve got a guest you think I should interview or a topic you’d like me to talk about. Love your reviews on Apple podcasts or wherever you’re listening to this show. And know that you know we’re here for you. I’m here for you. Whether it’s another episode of this show next week, you know, active engagement with you in our free Facebook group or seeing your name on our calendar so that we can talk about what it looks like moving forward. I am here for you. Okay, let’s lift each other up. And I will see you back here again next week with another episode.