Transcript

#484: It’s Time to ELEVATE Your LinkedIn with Melanie Borden, Founder & CEO at The Borden Group

From Heather Monahan · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 53 min · 10,719 words · 61 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "#484: It’s Time to ELEVATE Your LinkedIn with Melanie Borden, Founder & CEO at The Borden Group", an episode of Heather Monahan published December 13, 2024 (53 min, about 10,719 words). It mentions 13 people, works and ideas, including Creating Confidence, The Boarding Group, Melanie Bordon, TED Talk, Michelle Bufano.

What this episode is about

In this session, Melanie Borden, Founder & CEO of The Borden Group, discusses the importance of elevating personal branding on LinkedIn to establish oneself as a thought leader in 2024. Borden and co-host Heather Manan share insights on building strong personal brands, attracting opportunities, and the strategies they used to create successful careers, emphasizing the collective growth of individual employees alongside corporate leadership.

Key takeaways

  • LinkedIn profile photo: Update or forever be a stranger in your own narrative.
  • Consistency across platforms is key; mismatch your photos, not your messages.
  • Profile haters? Listen only to those wrestling in the dirt of progress with you.
  • Selfies can beat professional shots; authenticity trumps a hefty invoice every time.
  • Catfishing for business: still a thing. Be real, even if it means changing your headshot annually.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Creating Confidence, Elevate, Melanie Bordon, TED Talk
  2. – 15:00: Netsuite
  3. – 20:00: Netsuite
  4. – 30:00: Shopify, Michelle Bufano
  5. – 35:00: Shopify, Stacy K
  6. – 45:00: Otter AI
  7. – 52:40: Elevate, Eastern Time, Elevate Your Influence Bootcamp

Notable quotes from "#484: It’s Time to ELEVATE Your LinkedIn with Melanie Borden, Founder & CEO at The Borden Group"

  • Are back with us today okay literally I woman on the show more than anybody else in the history of creating confidence with Heather Manan she's my wingman we do so much…
    about Creating Confidence · at
  • Me but along the way what we've learned is how to really hold a pen when telling the story of your life how to elevate yourself how to be seen as a thought leader how to…
    about Elevate · at
  • Come to you because of a specific need maybe they're looking to get a board seat maybe they're looking to land a TED talk or perhaps they're just looking to find a way to…
    about TED Talk · at
  • 25 1 37,000 that's the number of businesses which have upgraded to netsuite by Oracle net Suite is the number one Cloud Financial system streamlining accounting financial management inventory HR and more All For You 25 net Suite turns 25.
    about Netsuite · at
  • Woman that's in our boot camp as well who I worked before with previously her name is Michelle bufano and she did the boot camp and said I found this to be such a useful…
    about Michelle Bufano · at
  • There is two magic people who have done it before and that's us that's the sound of another sale on Shopify and the moment another business dream becomes a reality your reality…
    about Shopify · at
  • And guys this is so this is you know I just spit truth so this is truth her name's Stacy I'm gonna say Stacy K but she's from the media business she left the media business…
    about Stacy K · at
  • Recording my calls with some sort of an AI technology and I use a company called Otter AI zero affiliation although if otter wants to sponsor both of us we are open to that…
    about Otter AI · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Melanie Bordon — Person · 1 mention · first at
    You waited till 2025 we're not going to wait any longer it's a CEO of the boarding group we've got Melanie bordon back today Melanie thanks for being back with me thanks for…
  • Michelle Bufano — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Stacy K — Person · 1 mention · first at

Companies & orgs

  • Creating Confidence — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • The Boarding Group — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Needed to be in 2024 but for some reason you waited till 2025 we're not going to wait any longer it's a CEO of the boarding group we've got Melanie bordon back today Melanie…
  • Otter AI — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • PKR — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

  • Elevate Your Influence Bootcamp — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Check it out when I think we're doing it on Tuesdays we give us a little bit more detail on that yeah sure so elevate your influence bootcamp.com that is the website where you…

Concepts & topics

  • TED Talk — Concept · 1 mention · first at
  • Eastern Time — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Using the code Elevate and then next week on Tuesday afternoon 5:00 P PM eastern time we're also going to be hosting an audio event a Q&A where anyone can ask us anything so…

Sponsors

Full transcript with timestamps

hey we're back and I'm so excited you are back with us today okay literally I woman on the show more than anybody else in the history of creating confidence with Heather Manan she's my wingman we do so much together and we're actually here today we're g to talk a little bit about our January February 8we boot camp we we are literally goingon to make you the thought leader that you knew you needed to be in 2024 but for some reason you waited till 2025 we're not going to wait any longer it's a CEO of the boarding group we've got Melanie bordon back today Melanie thanks for being back with me thanks for having me again I'm so excited to be here with you all right so Melanie as we talk all the time and we were talking offline guys first of all the key thing for us is we always want to add value to right so we want to teach you how to do the things that we've learned how to do because both Melanie and I have built very strong uh

big personal Brands specifically on LinkedIn and those brands have allowed us and afforded us so so much opportunity opportunity to work for ourselves which is amazing which we never had there was no big strategy behind this by the way when it all started out when I got fired right I kind of stumbled into it Melanie did it out of need um not that dissimilar for me but along the way what we've learned is how to really hold a pen when telling the story of your life how to elevate yourself how to be seen as a thought leader how to attract opportunities to you how to attract employees to you how to attract clients to you how to build a business H and and for all of you that actually are out there in Corporate America one of the things that we've done and had a lot of fun doing is we've advised companies on not only how to elevate the CEO and the senior executive team but bring all of the employees

along with it we're going to get into a little bit about that the importance again really at the root is about that personal brand Melanie where should we start how can we add value to everybody listening today I think we should start about going to market for something very specific a lot of times I know this happens to you too where someone will come to you because of a specific need maybe they're looking to get a board seat maybe they're looking to land a TED talk or perhaps they're just looking to find a way to express themselves to create thought leadership on LinkedIn and they just don't know where to start so what if we talk about optimizing your profile for success to align with your goals let's let's get after it where do you think people should start well one of the things that I always tell people is the first thing that someone sees when they come onto your profile is your profile photo so making sure that you

have a relatively recent within the last six months head shot or photo of yourself is so important because we don't want to be showing up to a meeting or a potential opportunity with an image that looks like us from 15 or 20 years ago or and we had this Melanie and I run a boot camp right now actually we had this last week where we have this really d Dynamic woman but when we were looking at her profile her photo was not representative of who she is and guys here's the thing for everyone listening people do business with people they know like and Trust so when they go to your page and they see kind of an AI image or a static image or like some stale image from a few years ago they're not going to be drawn to you the way they could if you could be thoughtful about and again doesn't mean it needs to cost a million dollars it does not I've seen plenty of people have selfie pictures of themselves up on their LinkedIn profile

that look a heck of a lot better than ones that have been done professionally so don't get caught up in the idea it's very expensive to do let's just be thoughtful about it and show your personality and who you are and to Melanie's point be like within the year at least because to often I'm with you I'll see someone's image I'm like oh that okay now I know who I'm looking for and then in real life when you meet them you're like oh this cannot be good and I'm hoping this person is not running that same game on a dating profile even bigger problems I was just thinking about that catfishing for business and that's really what it is it really is and I know that you know this but I do want to touch on this recently I changed my uh profile picture on Instagram Facebook and on LinkedIn I try to keep them consistent right um across all platforms just because I want people to be able to find me easily now I

create different content by the way on different platforms however I keep the image the same so that people can find me now what I want to add to this is and and I'm saying this because I know somebody's thinking it the minute I did it I got so much hate right so anyone listening right now that's like I want to Heather I want to change my profile picture I agree with you but I just don't want to get the negative Kickback well listen here's the thing number one I I was having a conversation with some of the our group coaching clients yesterday they were all upset about you know people attacking them here's the thing there's this great Theodore Rosevelt quote that's all about I'm only going to listen to feedback from someone who's in the arena if you want to get in the fight if you want to be in the dirt like Melanie and I are we're changing our profile pictures we're creating new content we're taking risks go ahead you

can give me some feedback Melanie but you're never going to give me negative feedback might be constructive but you're never going to attack me for something because you're in that arena with me you're taking the shots from other people don't listen to these people that are shooting shots from behind a computer who are faceless who are go those people are not our peers right they are not winning for a reason if you're willing to put yourself out there and you're willing to expand and grow beyond your family and your inner circle you're going to get some negative feedback start seeing that as a celebration that oh my gosh I broke through I'm reaching more people than just my closest friends than just my teammates around me I'm so excited and and the other thing that I'll say is this my first book I have a chapter about haters I couldn't remember what I wrote about in there I had to go pick up

my book and read it to help these people on my coaching team here's what I want you to know you will forget about these haters faster than they would ever forget about you I wrote about it in a book I couldn't even remember what it was I was so upset about so the point is these people who are throwing stones at you taking pot shots at you they're Irrelevant in your life we don't even know who they are they're ghosts on a computer don't let them take up any of the space in your mind right now because I promise you a year two years five years seven years from now they are going to be even more relevant then than than they were back then what do you think about haters and how do you deal with it because I know you do too yeah I mean I look at now is being a great sign because when someone is hating on you that means that you're doing something that is making someone feel a certain way that has absolutely nothing to do

with you and everything to do with that person I mean completely one of the number one kpis that I tell my clients that they should expect if we're managing a brand for them which is you know I.E their LinkedIn profile one of the first kpis that they're going to have is people in their industry are going to start talking they're going to start saying well what are you doing why are you doing this then you're going to have other people that are going to say I celebrate you this is amazing I love this for you and then you're going to have other people that just going to watch and be inspired and might not say anything but those people who are negative they're just not able to do it themselves and a lot of times I just look at that as a celebration I've had a ton of droll experience and it's one of those things where if you have any sort of success no matter what you do whether you're posting on LinkedIn or whether

it's for your business or you're in a marathon whatever the case is you are always going to have someone in life who is going to not be happy for you and isn't going to give you flowers and there's going to be other people who will and I just always tell people focus on the positives and your overarching goal which is where you're going and if your photos trigger that from someone you just have to feel bad for them that they're getting that upset about a profile photo I mean it's crazy to think about but they need to find something else they need a hobby they need to probably focus on investing in their brand and join our boot camp yeah the thing people usually get most upset about is something that's lacking within themselves right like myself included I'll get frustrated when I see someone like it's like they they wrote their third book and I'm like I've been thinking about doing my third book for

so long like you that's what you when you squeeze someone what comes out is like what's really inside of you you're like oh I wanted to do that or whatever so so I do understand I try to empathize it but to your point of like people are going to be talking I I don't remember who this quote is from but I remember when I was starting out which for me was seven years ago so I I try to be fair with everybody I started out on LinkedIn seven years ago is when I got fired so people think like oh you have hundreds of thousands of followers and this and that it didn't happen overnight guys like this has been a seveny year Journey for me so don't get too caught up and like oh you're here and I'm not because everyone Melanie grew a lot faster than I did in a shorter period of time everyone's different everyone can grow it at different times and for different reasons but I want you to know this when

I first started out to Melanie's Point people were immediately asking me why are you doing this picture that was seven years ago guys not everybody was as there's no more business cards anymore there's a personal brand online right like there's your LinkedIn profile that's what you send people you don't send them a business card anymore and if you are please stop and go ahead and get a QR code of your LinkedIn profile and start using that so so that's how people Market themselves well back then seven years ago not everyone was leaning in the way that they are now so when people would ask I would feel a little embarrassed well then I learned this saying or some quote that said something like this people are going to keep asking you why you're doing it until the day that comes that they asked you how you did it and I specifically and just think about that they're going to ask you why you did it until that day they

finally come to you and ask you how you did it I've lived that transformation firsthand and I just want for everyone listening who hasn't gone through this yet trust me because seven years ago I didn't know that was real I want you to know I've lived it I walked it Melanie I know you have too and and now we build businesses teaching people how to do the things that we did do that don't forget seven years ago they were asking me why I was doing it so it's a great thing to be different it's a great thing to be unique it's a great thing to fly your freak flag because the more you do that the more you separate yourself from the general public and general population out there where too many people are trying to swim under the radar they're gonna miss the opportunity they're goingon to miss the business they're going to miss their calling and purpose in life and and those aren't our people don't come in our boot camp if that's

you if you want to fly under the radar because we are going to push you into who you are driven and meant to be what did I miss Melanie and that's also one of the parts of the process and that's part of how some people grow quickly and others don't I just did a post yesterday about storytelling because there's so many people who are afraid to share their story because they think it's unprofessional or they're afraid of the visibility they're afraid what's going to happen but why don't you be excited about the possibilities of what could happen who might see the post who could Poss POS reach out who you might be in front of at the right place at the right time and that's why when you have an updated profile and it reflects who you are and where you're going it just creates this other level for you that just didn't exist and for the people who have seen it and are trying to achieve it but they don't know how that's why

when they do come to us it works so well and there is a perfect harmony because of the fact that they see that we're able to help them with it okay so for everyone listen you know I love a good challenge so Melanie and I are challenging you number one if you haven't updated your profile picture on LinkedIn in the last year this is your call to action you have two weeks to get a picture up and loaded a new picture we are challenging You Second Challenge I'd like to initiate and I'd like you to walk us through how you do it first and then I'm going to walk everybody through how I did it recently Melanie will you take everyone through how to write the about section and how they can update it and enhance it today to help bring themselves more business and more credibility yeah absolutely the about section is this unbelievable opportunity that a lot of people have written like a traditional CV and I would love to

unwind this idea of your LinkedIn profile as a resume because it's really so much more than a resume like you said it's the 2025 business card but it's also a way to differentiate yourself in a very crowded Market nine times out of 10 when I look at LinkedIn profiles they are missing who they work with what they do the results they get and how to contact them and they also don't tell a story and so I look at your profile specifically your about section as a place for you to differentiate yourself and to have this story about where you were where you are where you're going what you do who you work with the results you get and how to make it easy for someone to contact you you want it to be easy for someone to send you an email or easy to send you a DM or easy to book an appointment with you and you want to have that information even in your about section not talking in the third person about yourself talk in the

first person share a little bit about your story talk in a way where people understand who you are as if they're speaking to you so they have that connection and they feel like they already know you and you could do that in your about section your profile and that's a really big it's a big miss that I see where you know the type where it's you know been in this industry for x amount of years has knowledge of X Y and Z experience and Proficiency in you know ABC and d and that's just what we see all the time and it's a place for you to really differentiate yourself you can add humor to it you can add really anything I love looking at people's profiles who have it all who have a great landing page if you will and if you start looking at your profile as a landing page as your own personal website versus just this online CV it's living it's breathing it's constantly changing as you evolve your page is

going to change too and you can do all of that in the about section your business gets to a certain size and the cracks start to emerge things you used to do in a day are taking a week you have too many manual processes you don't have one source of truth if this is you you should know these three numbers 37,000 20 25 1 37,000 that's the number of businesses which have upgraded to netsuite by Oracle net Suite is the number one Cloud Financial system streamlining accounting financial management inventory HR and more All For You 25 net Suite turns 25 this year that's 25 years of helping businesses do more with less close their books in days not weeks and drive down costs 25 years one because your business is one of a kind so you get a customized solution for all of your kpis key performance indicators in one efficient system with one source of Truth manage risk get reliable forecasts and improve

your margins there is so much power in having all the information that you need in one place imagine how much more efficient you can be how much faster you can move and to do it was so much confidence it's unprecedented and the unprecedented offer that neted is providing you today is going to make this possible right now download Net's popular kpi checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at nets.com Monahan that's nets.com Monahan to get your kpi checklist now netsuite.com Monahan okay so for anyone that's listening right now that's like okay Melanie got it but like obviously I'm beyond that I'm already really successful ju ironically I kind of thought the same thing for myself I'm like yeah I haven't updated my about section in years and I don't need to I am so well established I am seen as a thought leader I've got it going on please don't think I'm obnoxious but I

really thought that right so here's what's interesting and like again I want to challenge everybody a day we can always get better I don't care if you're the president of United States you can get you can Market yourself better right like there's always a way that we can improve especially with technology out there so I want to share this one of my partners came to me this was not Melanie this is a partner on my speaking side of my business came to me and said you are not marketing yourself in your bio they weren't talking specifically about linkon but like when I'm speaking at events and stuff they said your bio is not strong enough and representative of how big you are and how successful you are and I was like I disagree I I didn't see it that way anyone else with me that like you don't have the rose colored glasses on yourself when you look in the mirror you only do that when you look at

everybody else right like so to me I'm like I just looks fine like what's the problem this is I'm challenging everyone right now I'm gonna run you through some questions that they sent me that they made me fill out and then I'm going to talk about how we turn this into my new about section on LinkedIn you can go see it in real time okay these were the questions they had me fill out and I want everybody listening to fill these out in your own time as well what is your current role and title pretty simple what is your experience and so my business that we're talking about is speaking but for you this could be an account as an accountant as a business owner whatever what is your experience as a fill-in theblank please include notable companies clients or organizations you've worked with that's really important what topics or themes do you specialize in as a speaker for me but so for you know fill in the blank

for you what type of audience do you typically speak to or serve and what value do they gain from your presentations or your pitch how would you describe your speaking style high energy interactive motivational but again back to your business how does that apply to you how do you ensure your presentations are engaging interactive for audiences activi storytelling Hands-On experiences like giving a little bit more color here in regards to what it is and how you do it what are your most significant achievements in your career personal life include books written notable medium mentions large speaking gigs Awards charity work anything write these things down what Transformations or outcomes have you helped your clients in my case audiences achieve what hobbies interests are unique experiences make you stand out as a unique individual in person what makes you a perfect fit for events in today's

business landscape or what makes you a perfect fit for fill in the blank what feedback have you received from past clients or audience about your impactor style okay everyone listening to this so I filled out these answers I sent them into my partner's team and they reworked a bio before I got it back from them I took my answers and you know I did this I went to chat GPT I used the Hat um technique that we we're going to share with everybody in a moment um around chat gbt and I uploaded and chat GPT wrote my new about section which I will tell you guys it is so much better now than it was last week and I was I was sleeping on something my partner Melanie is constantly telling people not to sleep on because I thought like it was big enough it was good enough going through this exercise I just think too often we water down our own success we water down our own accolades not intentionally because

we're thinking like oh it's just good enough no it's not good enough so for everyone listening right now it's not the world needs you to shine bright the world needs you to shine your light so that others can fall in your footsteps so that others can be inspired by the actions and achievements that you have but you've got to start putting that out there um Melanie do you agree or disagree I so agree I heard this quote the other day I might have seen it Instagram and it said something like if you're not intentional the default is to waste your time and so to me I want to be as intentional as I possibly can and if I'm investing this time Equity into LinkedIn into myself into growing my business and building my future I want to make I want to make sure that everything is being incredibly intentional and thoughtful in any way I can and if that means I have to go back to reimagine or make changes to

something that I thought was good enough then I'm G to do it and it it definitely always makes sense just with anything in life to get a different perspective or to understand how someone else is thinking because if you can do that then you can also make those changes for yourself but I so agree and we only have a very short period of time we have what 8 seconds to capture someone's attention something like that there was a stat that showed online you have a total of eight seconds an 8-second window of opportunity and that's why those short form videos work so well because when they're super short you got someone's attention well you have the short attention of someone who comes to LinkedIn and it's a different mindset it's very different in my opinion than Instagram or Tik Tok or Twitter you have people who are even though it is technically a business platform we have a lot fun on it so it doesn't always

feel like business for us but the people who we're speaking to they're either looking to hire someone they're looking to grow they want to be educated so you have a very specific mindset too so if I'm not finding what I need I'm moving on to the next thing when you were just talking it reminded me of something else that you teach a lot and obviously you've been teaching in our boot camp is that back Banner on LinkedIn it being part of the funnel can you talk through a little bit about you're so good at this and it also made me think again I go back to my own profile I'm like I can be better will you talk through a little bit about some of the things you see there and how you help people improve it yeah absolutely when someone comes onto your profile yes they see your your profile photo which everybody who's listening is gonna be committed to making a change their profile photo but the second thing they

see is your banner what does your banner say so what I tell clients is what do you want as your number one goal or what is your objective of using LinkedIn are you looking to grow thought leadership are you looking to get speaking engagements are you looking to drive Revenue do you have a an event coming up what is your number one goal is it driving Revenue what is it do you want appointments because LinkedIn has this option for us of branding ourselves and it's this real estate that people aren't necessarily using and I love calling it a funnel your profile because essentially you can direct the person who comes onto your profile to what you want them to do next so if you you want them to book an appointment with you ask for the meeting if you're looking to sell tickets for your event make sure you have the information that's relevant about your event on your banner if you're looking to bring in new clients

have social proof from another client who can speak to your experiences with them and then all of a sudden people have a different perspective because you're showing them what other people like them have said about you and so your banner if you're selling it you know you're launching a book make sure that you have your product there or maybe you're going to Market you work for a tech company and you're launching a version 3.0 of a certain product have that on the banner and have't synchronized across everyone in your company so there's all these micro moments of conversion on your profile and it really starts with your banner with you telling them what to do or asking a question to really speak to the person who you're talking to ultimately in your content who you want to work with so one of the things that you brought up um gives me a a reason to give everyone another challenge because

I love giving people challenges and it's end of year it's such a perfect time to do these things guys so Melanie mentioned social proof okay which is testimonials in many case studies testimonials the easiest thing and this is my challenge for you right now um is to go out and get some testimonials let me just tell you I don't just tell you to go do the things I walk the walk so it's so funny I was just on a group coaching meeting and I've been saying everyone guys I need testimonials from you before the end of the year and someone's like can I do it the first week of January I'm like yeah of course you can but the point is ask people for what you want you know you can negotiate on the on the timeline on getting it back but building an arsenal of testimonials is just further credibility for your business and further storytelling on what the outcomes are that you provide so not only am I

challenging everyone right now I want you to get at least five testimonials in your business how do you do that the next time someone comes to you that says hey great job on blah blah blah oh my gosh Jim would you mind shooting that to me in an email that I could use as a testimon online or you send them the link to request a test a testimonial from LinkedIn I don't love that approach as much but you know it can work for some people you're close to but really just asking people hey I'm wrapping up the year I'm reflecting on a relationship your business means the world to me I'd love to help other businesses like yours do you know any other businesses that I could add value to and or would you be willing to share feedback on working with me so that I could use that to help attract new clients into my business who wouldn't say no who you know who who would who would say no to that everyone is going

to say yes so Melanie let's walk them through a couple of the different testimonials that we've built as we've been working together yes I love that idea so since you and I have worked together Heather one of the most recent testimonials that we've received together was from the CEO and founder of a recruiting company her name is Kelly Robinson and she mentions in her testimony this is my second time working with Heather the first time we met I had just started my recruiting business PKR and she gave me a goal that seem wild but with her help and guidance I crushed it I am back now with Heather and Melanie learning how to best build my brand on LinkedIn the live workbook they offer is super helpful and continuously evolving we have a messenger to support and guide each other between our Monday coaching sessions they're the women that are in our group are go-getters and looking to take their brands to the next

level they are smart and inspiring and we all learn from each other Heather and Melanie have offered so much valuable information encourage us to continuously work on our goals love them both and love the group of baddest women I have met I mean that's amazing that she feels that way after just I mean we're almost through the boot camp but we're a little bit more than halfway through um but it's definitely something that you don't know until you actually put yourself in the position of okay I'm going to challenge myself I'm going to do something that might NE not necessarily be something I would do on my own but I know that these women have done it before there's also another woman that's in our in our boot camp as well um who I worked before with previously her name is Michelle bufano and she did the boot camp and said I found this to be such a useful amazing experience like I said before I thought

I was proficient in using LinkedIn but I was so wrong this has made me realize how much more I can utilize it I absolutely love the experience and I highly recommend the course so it's something that I definitely think no matter who they are and what they do I mean you're talking about Michelle's in the legal industry and you have Kelly who's in the recruiting space it doesn't matter the industry and this comes up a lot because I have had conversations with people and they say well you work with personal Brands and marketing or I'm sure you've he have heard oh well you're a speaker so it's different so it's very different you do coaching so it's easier for you no no no no it's you have to put the work in but it's every industry it doesn't matter the industry you could be selling robots or you could be selling hard Ware it doesn't matter what it is you can create a presence and you can monetize your business but it

requires work there's no magic pill but there is two magic people who have done it before and that's us that's the sound of another sale on Shopify and the moment another business dream becomes a reality your reality Shopify is a Commerce platform revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide including mine whether you're selling your Mastermind your courses whether you're selling your books Shopify simplify selling online and in person so you can focus on successfully growing your business and doing what you're great at creating whether it's fashion Home and Garden heal Beauty Shopify covers it all Shopify covers every sales channel from an in-person POS system to an all-in-one e-commerce platform it even lets you sell across social media marketplaces like Tik Tok Facebook and Instagram packed with industry leading tools ready to ignite your growth Shopify gives you complete control over

your business and your brand without having to learn any new skills in design or code and let me tell you I have no idea about design or code so thank you Shopify for making it so easy and thanks to 247 help and an extensive Business course Library Shopify is there to support your success every step of the way what's incredible to me about Shopify is how no matter how big you want to grow no matter how big you currently are or how small you are Shopify is there to empower you with the confidence and control to revolutionize your business take your business to that next level constantly adding on new products services and ideas now it's your turn to get serious about selling and try Shopify now this is possibility powered by Shopify sign up for a $1 per month trial at shopify.com Monahan all lower case m o n a h an all lowercase sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com manahan all lowercase go to shopify.com

Monahan to take your business to the next level today join me shopify.com manahan you can thank me later all when you take direction from people who have done the things you want to do you move at lightning speeds and Leap Frog over everybody else all right I want to read a testimonial that just came in for me yesterday I love it's actually from my Elite Mastermind but guys just so you understand my Elite Mastermind only opens up once a year it's an annual commitment it's huge money right so I'm not sharing that with you enticing anyone to join because you can't join however you can join our eight-week January and February boot camp so let me just giving you the feedback from this woman Stacy that just sent this into me because I did ask a bunch of my clients hey I want before end of year send me a testimonial Heather Monahan's Mastermind has been an absolute game changer for me both personally and professionally this

is what happens you guys when you invest in yourself I swear Life Changes Heather's contagious confidence and ability reframe fear as a green light have fundamentally shifted my mindset empowering me to take bold strategic action in starting and growing my business her coaching isn't about motivation it's packed with pra practical actionable how-tos invaluable connections to the right people accelerating my growth beyond what I thought possible and faster than I ever could have imagined thanks Heather and our incredible peer group while I'm in business for myself I never feel by myself having invested in countless programs over the last 15 years I can confidently say that Heather's program is the most valuable and beneficial investment I've ever made in myself the confidence Clarity connections and support I've gained through her coaching have allowed me to dream bigger execute smarter and move faster if you are ready

for more and are seeking Clarity on your goals and practical Direction how to get there from someone who has been there Heather Monahan is a coach you've been searching for okay so not only do you get heather Monahan in our eight coaching program you also get her partner Melanie Bor which I have to tell you guys Melanie is my Yin for my yang like everything I'm not great at I'm not great at organization I'm not great at Google Docs I'm not great at turning things into PDFs and email formats and ebooks this woman is brilliant and so we work incredibly well together you get two totally different coaches that are very very much aligned not only as business partners but as friends as people and in believing in people and wanting to do good in the world for sure that's by the way that's an amazing testimonial that you got that was incredible oh my gosh well can I just say I'm so proud I'm so proud of her but

I'm also proud of me because this woman and guys this is so this is you know I just spit truth so this is truth her name's Stacy I'm gonna say Stacy K but she's from the media business she left the media business since we've been working together she was unhappy in her business I had to talk to her for an hour to talk her into making the leap again it's a big Financial commitment my annual program for an hour I talked her about I'm like you're short changing yourself you got to believe in yourself take the leap as soon as she did everything started changing for her within three months she started saying to me I think I need to quit this business I'm not happy I'm like I know you're not happy I I see it like since the day I met you you gotta quit let's give you a deadline we gave her a deadline guys she left that company in Industry six months before her deadline that she had I just want you to know I

just jumped off of our group coaching meeting this week and her new client that she's working for a very small percentage of a week just like as a like I think it's like 15 hours a week she's making more money than her whole old full-time job paid her right so I want you to understand you might not know exactly where it is you want to go maybe you just want to get promoted maybe you want a board seat maybe you want to speak up for yourself at work maybe you just want to be seen as a thought leader maybe you want to get paid more in 2025 and you just want an increase maybe you want to change job you want to start your own company I don't know what it is I just know this it's possible and that Melanie and I can teach you how to how to do it because we've both been there I made it to the SE Suite in Corporate America that was not by chance that was strategic Melanie started her own company Melanie has started marketing

for some of the biggest freaking companies out there in the world and has succeeded at it there's a reason we know what we're doing and we can teach you how to do it just like we're teaching these people that we're working with let's talk to them a little bit Melanie about not only how we've done it for personal Brands but how you and I together um did it for a tech company yeah that was a lot of fun by the way so January 2024 when we started that I know I can't believe that was almost a year ago time flies and you're having fun we have had a lot of fun though and I think that's really important too that people need to know is that when we work together we have a lot of fun and the people that we're working with are having fun too because they're experiencing the fun that we're having too and that's a big bring everybody along for the ride always no one for sure so we started working for this tech

company um advising them and working with them on their executive team and the companies overall go to market strategy with their personal Brands aligned with the whole company's holistic marketing strategy it was an unbelievable undertaking and one of the things that we saw and that we see all the time is that many times there are so many companies and this is one of your lines Heather so many companies are in the work that they don't have time to work on themselves and on the company where they don't necessarily know how to go to market as a unit for their company if they have a revenue goal or maybe let's say for example they have a new product launch or maybe they're looking for Thought leadership and they haven't been able to figure it out so when this tech company contacted us they wanted us to work on a couple different things they wanted one of their goals was thought leadership another one of their

goals was they had some new products that were rolling out they had Partnerships in their industry they also wanted all of their Executives to be posting and all of their Executives wanted to be posting they just didn't know how to start and so we work together with their team we also were on all of their um their weekly meetings as a company where they would get together and we would train their whole company and there was what like 150 people in the company that we were training on how to use LinkedIn and how to go to market and really teaching them week by week different golden nuggets essentially if you take this conversation that we're having about all these little pieces that someone can use we were teaching them how to do this over a period of time and so when we did this there were some really stunning results that we ended up seeing um one of the the results so their CEO was not

active at all on LinkedIn and when he was active he wasn't seeing the results that he wanted and he really wanted that thought leadership he really he had and this is something so common that we see all the time where you have these influencers not influencers that you see on Instagram or on social media but you have these industry influencers that have spent so much of their career building up their brand in their industry but they haven't transferred it and haven't whether it's they haven't had the team to put together to help them or they just haven't been able to transfer what their success was offline online and that's really where we came in to help them and we saw saw just some of the numbers that I have offand from when we were working together so just in a few months we saw for their CEO an increase of 108% 108% just in Impressions initially just from the start from when we started

working together which might not necessarily seem like a lot but when you're talking about someone who has a relatively sizable Network and who hasn't had as much engagement this is this is pretty gamechanging because all of a sudden people in your industry and this is one of the other tricks too when you go to market with multiple people who are on a team together in the same company in the same industry they have both connected and similar networks so all of a sudden it feels like every single person on LinkedIn is talking about this company so if you have a revenue goal to hit or if you have a product launched this is organic strategy that is one of the most effective and also cost effective strategies for someone if they're looking to achieve something by going to Market this way and it was it was the results were stunning and what they were able to achieve with just creating the visibility and awareness and getting all

of these micro we'll call them influencers within their company people who were never active on LinkedIn all of a sudden were grabbing the microphone and having conversations and talking and it's great for also for their customer teams too it's great for customer attention it's great for customer acquisition which were a couple of the goals also that they had one thing I want to add to that is um you know there's such value in bringing outside eyes and perspective into your organization couple key things not only to teach the things that Melanie explained we executed on that they had very you know clear deliverables that were as Melanie said stunning in the results but above beyond that it was our ability to say wow there's a lack of clarity in communication and here's where we're seeing the breakdown here's where the bottlenecks are occurring that they did not realize they didn't understand why things were taking longer

because when you're working in the business you can't work on the business you can't see the forest through the trees it was very easy for us to come in as Outsiders and say oh it's very clear here's what's broken here's where it's broken here's why it's broken down here's a lack of of clarity oh and they're saying oh that didn't bring true and travel down to everyone no it hasn't yet so here's another way that we're seeing other companies other Industries do it successfully Let's test and try and see which one the right you know feels right for you so there's a lot of value and again whether it's working with mlion or other Consultants to bring people into a different organization and lend that value and insight very quickly you can fix some problems that maybe people are just learning to live with or work around okay so enough about that tech company we need to move on right now I want to share with everybody

because I think they're going to get a lot of value Melanie you're incredible at this you've completely so many people talk about using AI to save time save money grow Revenue whatever and I just I'm not buying it I've worked side by side with you and I you've completely restructured your company all around AI can you talk a little bit about some of the things that you've been teaching to our boot campers in the Q4 boot camp and that you'll be teaching in the q1 boot camp as well yeah absolutely AI has totally completely restructured my business and prior and I don't know if it was a Fear Factor probably I think a lot of times when I talk to people it's fear lack of knowledge and it's very similar when someone's going to Market on social media too it's the same kind of thing fear lack of knowledge not understanding it but once I fully immerse myself in it what I realize is that once you figure it out you can

scale everything that you're doing from a Content perspective and also in in inner workings of a company you can also create systems and processes that you may have had in place but that not necessarily have come to fruition so one of the things that I talk to everyone about is recording your calls okay one of the things that I cannot live without um I'm probably too dependent on it but that's why I have a notebook is recording my calls with some sort of an AI technology and I use a company called Otter AI zero affiliation although if otter wants to sponsor both of us we are open to that because we love your platform so we use use otter for every single call so I record every single client call we're recording all of our boot camp calls so it gives you almost a safety net if you forget something that you need to ask um let's say for example you talked about something very specific that you might have missed taking a note

on I like otter and any sort of AI platform as a Cy I also like it to use for Content creation so when earlier this year I had lost a copy writer who was on my team and we had a few deadlines a few days after she left and I'm a writer but I didn't think that I was going to be able to spin up all the deliverables and I thought everything was going to be late so what I realized is that I had all of these recordings that I had already been doing because I had been using otter for years I've been using it for several years but it was more just for cyi versus content and so what I was able to do was really um take that record ings and take take those recordings and turn those into content turn it into posts turn it into blogs turn it into newsletters turn it into ebooks and so what that taught me in a very short period of time when I really needed it because I didn't think I was going to be able to hire a copywriter in

a couple days and be able to teach them everything and I knew it just wasn't reasonable I was able to produce all of this content where now I realize I don't necessarily only need copywriters because you do need copywriters however I also realized that I needed project managers who could use and write and train AI on client voices with the recordings that we already have so one of the things that we're talking to the people in the boot camp about is how do you create content how do you create your tone of voice how do you make it sound like you one of the ways that you can make it sound like you is when you're recording yourself as an example our podcast today someone's recording us they can take this transcription they can upload it into chat GPT and they can say Heather Monahan is an award-winning speaker author podcaster Etc giving it the information about you Heather can you please tell me what her tone of voes

and it will give a tone of voice guide and then you have a channel that you can write in so for someone who is looking to scale their content and says I don't have the time to do this I need an admin or someone else but I don't necessarily have a budget to bring an agency in so how am I going to create content you can create content at scale with something you're already doing which is recording your meetings recording your podcasts recording your conversations doing a voice recording while you're talking on the phone which by the way there's a new feature where you can record your conversations on Apple so there's all different ways that you can find content and what you're already doing and then you could find posts that are really amazing that go viral that are relatable and say this is a viral post by this person I don't want to copy and plagiarize them but I love the format of this post I want to be able to create

multiple posts like this but use this recording of me talking about XY and z and so creating content at scale is something that is not easy to do but it's something that anyone can do when they know how the basics work and that's something that everyone is really excited about in the boot camp Oh my gosh it's and here's the thing though and guys you know this we get information from everywhere anything that we're teaching you can go online Google and find for yourself the problem is this and there's millions of books and TED talks and it's all out there right the problem is this we get over inundated with information we're like locked in like that's what I want that's what I want I love that too then life hits we get back in the business back in the day-to-day back in being a mom back in cooking cleaning the house and next thing you know a month pass two months pass and we haven't implemented AI in

our life and we're like shoot I didn't even get the freaking otter subscription here's what's different information is Omni presentence everywhere application is what's missing right so we've got the information now we need the application and what happens when you're part of our eight-week boot camp January and February you are going to have us ingraving you here's the how-to someone get stuck somewhere we're like here's the get the workaround here's how you get through that break through that we're going to hold your accountable next week I need you to come back and I need you to deliver on this and we and melie you know we do this this is like this is where I I come in heavy it's like you've got to commit to me that next week you're coming back with it it's okay to come back next week and say Heather I tried I did get jammed up here what do I do now right like that's okay we'll help you get through those and

then our group chat helps people get through it as well because we're there to support in real time during the week you be like no don't give up on that you gotta keep moving you got to do this that or the other thing so we really are there not only to give you information but to walk you through how to implement it and then apply it to actually your business your industry and then hold you accountable to deliver on it and I think that application and the accountability is where most people are missing wouldn't you agree yeah absolutely it's it's definitely something where we all are so busy I mean and we're all so distracted and we're over inundated with all the things you know house and family and work and this and that and social life and all the things and how do you find time and how do you make time and there are ways that you don't have to start from the beginning learn from other people who have already done it I

call it trial and Terror don't go through that you don't need to you can learn I mean and that's why this workbook is so great and we're updating it in real time based on what everyone in the boot camp needs and that was one of your suggestions Heather because when we were building it out we started going through all of it and you're like let's just wait until we hear what everyone in the boot camp is experiencing and it was the best idea because now it's relevant it's up to date and it's based on what their actual needs and their hurts are that they're having so we can help give them the best information possible that they need yeah I'm super proud of what we've built our um team is incredible and now we are bringing the new team in and I hope it's you and and we are going to give you reasons to join because we are big fans of incentives we are big fans of ending a year strong and I just

real quick want to share this with you guys I don't know if you both melan and I have letters on LinkedIn if you guys aren't subscribed please subscribe to them they're so freaking good and we also put our offers out there and incentives in there so you can get those in real time but I was reflecting as this year is ending every year I write down what I've achieved in a year what I struggled with what my concerns were what my goals aspirations were and then I do that you know consecutively every year like at the end of December beginning of January my you know my big goals and plan as well as my one word that I'm CH you know chasing down this year was faith I haven't come up with my new one yet for um 2025 I'm sure it's going to be amazing but you know I'm I really am big into tracking and writing things down for reflection because I forget how far I've come you forget how far you've come like we all do right so

I went through the exercise yesterday I pulled all the papers out of this bin and I sat down and went through and it was so cute 2018 I got fired at the end Q4 2017 I was reading the 2018 it said wow 2017 was a tough year right so it's funny now because it's so long ago but um I was remembering how I felt and then I said this year I want to write a book I hadn't written a book yet so I'm like watching Through The Eyes of Heather right after she got fired and she's saying like I want to write a book I don't know how but I want to I want to become a best-selling author I want to um live a life of purpose and passion I want to heal my back and run again PS I just went for a run today like you don't know what the future has to hold so it's so important that we cast out these big Visions in these windows like right now today but not only just stop there like some of the key things I did after I

wrote that I hired an editor I hired a PT person to help me work on my back I hired someone to rehab my running like I invested in myself to so that I could leog everybody else and work with someone who written 19 books because I had written zero at the time now I've written two right so it's like in order to get to the places you need to go or you want to go invest in yourself and you can move so much faster and without the pain points that other people are going to be confronted with stuff with and not able to move Beyond so that's why I love our 8we boot camp if you have big goals and dreams for 2025 if you haven't been living up to your potential within you this is the game changer we are going to show you how to do it we're going to help you apply it to your life and your business and then we're going to hold you accountable to ensure you have deliverables at the end of this eight week Melanie where do people go to

check it out when I think we're doing it on Tuesdays we give us a little bit more detail on that yeah sure so elevate your influence bootcamp.com that is the website where you can go you can learn more information about what we're doing what all the details are everything that's involved the link to get started we also have a code until the 13th which is next week until Friday the 13th a very spooky day so until then 50% off using the code Elevate and then next week on um Tuesday afternoon 5:00 P PM eastern time we're also going to be hosting an audio event a Q&A where anyone can ask us anything so we're going to be promoting that as well so come to our audio event ask us anything and if you've thought about working with either of us over the course of time since you've seen us on LinkedIn you and I Heather it's similar to when you're working on a team right you and I have similar and connected networks so some

of the people who are in your network are also in mine and vice versa and so if someone is hearing what we're saying and it's resonating with you there's a reason that you're seeing this there's a reason that you're hearing this so this is the time to make those decisions and it's the perfect time of year to do it too use the code Elevate get 50% off make the investment in you you will not regret it we have worked with countless people over the last couple years together through our programs and the Transformations have been nothing short of amazing we will be here to help you apply it to you help take you to the next level and make you the thought leader that you should have been seen as in 2024 giddy up let's do it for 2025 don't sleep on this Melanie thank you so much for being here and of course I will see you in our boot camp this week see you then

Questions about this episode

What is "#484: It’s Time to ELEVATE Your LinkedIn with Melanie Borden, Founder & CEO at The Borden Group" about?

In this session, Melanie Borden, Founder & CEO of The Borden Group, discusses the importance of elevating personal branding on LinkedIn to establish oneself as a thought leader in 2024. Borden and co-host Heather Manan share insights on building strong personal brands, attracting opportunities, and the strategies they used to create successful careers, emphasizing the collective growth of…

What is mentioned in this Heather Monahan episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Creating Confidence, The Boarding Group, Melanie Bordon, TED Talk, Michelle Bufano, Stacy K. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "#484: It’s Time to ELEVATE Your LinkedIn with Melanie Borden, Founder & CEO at The Borden Group"?

The episode runs 53 min; the transcript is about 10,719 words in 61 timestamped sections.

More from Heather Monahan

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated December 19, 2025.