LinkedIn Sales Expert - Richard More

SPEAKER_02 0:05

This is the Beyond the Story podcast. A show that goes way beyond the story. Richard Moore's in the house. What's up, dude?

SPEAKER_04 0:26

Hello, mate. Good to speak to you. And uh nice to finally do this face-to-face. Uh, we've been we've been in touch for a little while, haven't we?

SPEAKER_02 0:32

We certainly have, man. The power of LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

Absolutely. It's uh amazing for connections with people all over the world, just like they're around the corner.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

100%. And I when I started to to Gary V is my is my mentor over the past, I met him about, I don't know, 10 or 11 years ago, way back in the Crush It days. And I've really followed his blueprint ever since then. And now I see him at events when I'm emceeing it's just bananas, how it all fell together. But um to to to to continue to follow his advice as far as what is next and his consistent conversation of LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, which it has been for like two years now. And then I said, okay, fine, I'm finally gonna get over get over to LinkedIn, even though I've had an account since 2004, but I haven't done anything with it. So I'm gonna get over there and see what's happening, you know. And I discovered individuals like yourself, Shea Robottom, Sally Illingworth, Judy Fox, and I thought, wait a second. I've I learned one thing early on uh when I started my brand a decade ago, and that was get around the people that you can learn from that you want to build relationships with. And the way that you're gonna be able to do that is you're gonna start a podcast and you're gonna interview those people. So that's that allowed me to forge relationships and be able to get my foot in the door when I wouldn't ordinarily be able to do so, because it's not a matter of me trying to sell you something, it's a matter of me trying to sell you or sell my, you know, sell what you do to my audience, which who doesn't want to do that, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:00

So uh I think what's really nice about the approach is that you end up validating the connection because a lot of people connect it, but it doesn't actually mean anything. You really validate it by having this because then we allow we're able to actually you know properly bond as two people.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Correct, correct. I love technology, it's it's making life a little crazier and a little easier uh at the same time. When I say crazy, you know, hashtag coronavirus. So um so let's help our listeners better understand. Let's back up a little bit. And I really want to better understand how your story really came to fruition, how you got your start, and then how how it brought you to present day and what you're currently focused uh with regarding working with brands and corporations and improving their overall sales process and at the same time being a LinkedIn expert rock star. So uh if we can back up, I'll I'll give you uh give you the stage for a second here to to help our listeners better understand.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

Cheers, I I will deliberately omit a lot because it's a lot of years. Uh the very short potted version is um uh I'm not meant to be here at all. Um when I was uh at university, uh the plan was to do my PhD, stay in academia, be a lecturer, write books, stuff like that. And um, I didn't get funding, so I had to get a job. And the the first interview I found was the one I took, which was selling online marketing back in 2002, 2003, so very early on.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Right. And banners and whatnot.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

Say again, sorry?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Banners and whatnot.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Yeah, it was all banners, it was all uh profiles and storefronts and and search engine optimization, things like that, which at the time for many was like witchcraft. People were like, How do you even do this? Whereas now it's just like any 15-year-old could do it, you know. But so it's very it was very interesting back then because it was a world where people would spend a fortune on a print ad, but would never spend any money online, so you had to really kind of sell them the internet, which is still being done today, in fact. So it was fun to do that, and I learned my craft, and I learned at the sharp end from the trenches how to sell to decision makers. It was cold calling on the phone, 90s style, just you know, CEOs of businesses and selling them as thing, and um learning that art, which really is, uh led me to manage teams, move around just selling different things in the city. Uh, and then uh then about 2011 or 12, I um pivoted out to run my own thing, and um uh I had already been dabbling a bit with offline consulting, um, and then I decided to leverage a bit more online consulting as well. So that was going very well. And um basically since then what I've been doing is helping I was helping startups because that's fun. So helping people who are like in the you know 250,000 two million pounds space, because that they're full of ambition and helping them move from talent and ideas to commercialization, because the thing I do really well is help people get those first sales. Um that naturally, as you can appreciate, if you know how to sell and you understand dynamics with people, then you tend to be alright at getting your head around the marketing play, and um that naturally has led me more into um uh a kind of the marketing world online, and uh whilst I was by 2015 I was doing a lot of corporate training, so going to businesses is what is my bread and butter at the moment, is visiting a uh a business in London and and showing them the way in terms of sales effectively, so you're not being irritating, basically. And uh but from 2015 I was like, come on, I must get over do more online consulting. Um so I was armed with a Facebook profile, a PayPal link, and a Zoom link, and that was it, and I just got cracking. And um and I kind of you know, in order to be any any good, you have to have a presence, and that's really where I cut my teeth. So then it soon became Instagram, and in 2017 I called it, I was like, something's going on on LinkedIn, I could feel it, and so early 2018, two years ago, uh, which was only six months after they flipped the on-switch on video, so like no one's been doing this a long time. Um uh I was like, I'm in, let's start. So it was it was like content mostly every day, then video started coming, and then I managed to get live last year and so on and all that, and um and now I have a team of people who are amazing who uh do the content um uh so that I can be consistent and as a result more opportunities every day. Uh LinkedIn's been a wonderful place, but I feel like everything, just kind of drawing it together, everything has kind of fed into this moment. So the the the the talks I I get asked kindly to do, but the also the training and the marketing uh is all very there's this thread that runs all the way through the whole career, and it's really nice that that's been um that's kind of uh um come to this nice point at this moment.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Now, as far as LinkedIn is concerned, so you you just decide you saw the opportunity in 2017 pre-video for LinkedIn, and then you hopped on the platform right around the same time, I think 2008, March of 2018 seems to be like the common, like I joined LinkedIn type of date for a majority of individuals.

SPEAKER_04 7:03

Basically, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

You know, and uh so first of all, how how does one uh get access to do live video on LinkedIn?

SPEAKER_04 7:12

Is that just like a random, like uh it was uh they selected some people for the beta test group, uh, and you have to apply if you want it. Um, and so uh I applied and was rejected, and I was applied and rejected three times, I think it was, and I constantly kept um you know pushing back and um contesting it. I mean, Seb, I was getting I was getting messages like, here's some suggestions, perhaps try posting some content or try posting videos. I was like, Are you serious?

SPEAKER_02 7:42

I've been doing it feels like a robotic it feels like a robotic.

SPEAKER_04 7:45

I mean, it's but it was stressful because it was like of all the people, this is like got me really triggered. I was like, there's all these people who were getting live on a business platform, and I've been running at the point at that time I've been it was like I've been doing three years of live weekly business QA shows right every week on Facebook. I'm like, are you kidding me? Right, so I was getting really triggered. So in the end, I I was I went to San Francisco in June last year and I sat down at the HQ and had lunch with the team. I was like, so it's happening, right? And I'm like, dude, okay, then they're like give them access and get them the fuck out of here, yeah. Yeah, but it's like the guy looks like a psycho. So basically, if you want something done, go visit the headquarters and bully them. That's weird.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Wow. Well, no, I've I've tried, I've actually I've applied twice in every single time.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

So I must say there's a number of other people who uh are very close to the relevant people who I was like, look, put in a word. So I was trying, they were they were getting Richard Moore from all angles. I think at one point we started a social media campaign. There was some kind of hashtag along the lines of how absurd it was that of all people, the guy who does live business QA's doesn't have live stream. So they soon relented and like it's way easy to give him live.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Wow, that that's fantastic. So I went to San Francisco and I sat down with them and I looked them in the eye and I said make the call, make it now.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

I'm not leaving, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

We're gonna need security. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

It was like that one.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

So speaking of these these weekly live Q ⁇ A's that you do, how did you start doing that? And let's let walk me through one of those and what type of things I mean it's a it's a variety of of content, I'm sure, that takes place. But give me some great examples of why, like the meat and potatoes and why number one, why you continue to do them because uh obviously we continue to do shit that gets us excited and produces results, which are also called leads. So walk me walk me through that real quick.

SPEAKER_04 9:46

It's it's my baby. I it's one of my favorite moments of the week, and that's why I have it front and centre on a Monday, 1 p.m. UK time, is like I get to do this thing. I do it every week because people show up every week for it, and which is a which is amazing. But um, there's a number of really important things that reasons behind it. I get to stream in that one hour in a very efficient way. So that stream is simultaneously LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, and then the team we take it down, it becomes the podcast, it becomes um uh uh it goes onto the YouTube channel to host on my website, and then my team scrubs through it and finds micro content, so mini videos, anything you see on LinkedIn, like a video, that's come from the live stream.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

So you're not shooting separately.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

No, of course not. I don't have time for it. So it all comes from the live stream. All the video you'll see later today is uh repurposed from Monday's live stream.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

And is that is that are you creating those videos with subtitle?

SPEAKER_04 10:46

Subtitle, uh, I'm partnering with them. So some of the videos I do, usually the one one-to-one kind of uh chat videos like a hangout, they're the ones I use subtitle, but um the team led by my man Dan Norton, he works for Disney, so presumably Adobe Premier or whatever he uses for that. Yeah, so so I have that partnership as a separate thing. Um, but yeah, that that meant that means that I can get on with this. There's this crazy thing, right? Uh called doing your job. Uh so I focus on that.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Imagine that, huh?

SPEAKER_04 11:15

I know, it's right, like my people think that my job is making content and being on social media. That's like this 1% thin veneer sitting on top of it, and um uh I would not be where I am without that team. That really makes a difference. But but to be more direct on your your question, um, what the way I way I do it is on a Saturday in the entrepreneur business group on Facebook. So that's my group I've had also since 2015, like four and a half thousand people on it. I do a poll. What do you want Monday's topic to be on? So I always let the people decide. I can go, uh, I don't know, I can probably guess, but if I let them decide they vote, I do a vote on Instagram as well. The winning topic on the Sunday, I say, Well, here's what you chose. Tag, tag, tag, tag, tag. Well done, you win. Um, what's the questions then? So the people decide the topic, the people then submit their questions, and on Monday, it's not just like here's stuff I think I know, it's you ask the questions, and I I'm like, here are all of the answers. And you know, we average eight uh questions per week. So it's it's like north of 1,500 questions so far. One day I will pay someone to like do something with all of that content because it's all saved, of course. So uh uh it's been it's been a wonderful ride, and we're only like three months off episode 200.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

How long is each episode?

SPEAKER_04 12:40

About an hour, 45 minutes to an hour.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

You have 15 you have 1,500 of them?

SPEAKER_04 12:46

Like 1500 questions across them all in the world. So the total number we did episode 189 this week.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

That's still plenty to write like three books.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

It's mad, yeah, it's an insane amount of content. And the nice thing about it is is I I originally started it, it was it was back in like 2016 or 15 or whatever, but whenever it well, it would have been 2016 probably. But when I started it, I was like, right, there's live now on Facebook. I have to forget fear, it will help the business, so do it. Right. And I remember thinking this is a really good idea because I know the answers to these questions, but the more I answer these questions, the more I hone my philosophy, the more I hear myself saying the answers, the better I get to answering them. So when someone's asking me a question, it's like, wow, what good answers! Like, yeah, I've had it like 37 times. So it's a really good way of kind of practicing uh your niche. So I don't step too far outside the areas uh I know, and you know, uh, and as a result, I get good at answering my thing. It seems to go down really well, so I long may it continue.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

That's a brilliant strategy. You're spending one hour a week to go live and then delegating that one hour piece of content to be broken up into micro content for Instagram, for LinkedIn, for your weekly content. It goes on YouTube, it can be turned into a blog post. I mean, there's a plethora of things.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

Plus, it's the perfect platform to say, by the way, shout out to Entrepreneur Business Live Miami, tickets are live this week, or there's this new initiative, or hit me up if you want to do this, or I mention a course, or whatever. So there's always sales as a result, but most people are like are like soy alive, awesome, and they get into orbit around the other content as well. So it's uh it's a really wonderful thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Jack Nicholson's a fan of the show. I told him he needs to join LinkedIn. You know what he said to me?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4,000 Cubans who were trained to kill me. So don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

All right, Jack. Settle down, buddy.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

He's just sitting next to you, isn't he?

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Yeah, he's in the studio. He gets he makes it to Miami every in between Laker games. In between Laker games. So what should every uh what what should every uh business owner, CEO, entrepreneur, someone who's who's who's who's not contributing to their brand, but maybe should be, what, what should people be doing in 2020 on LinkedIn to win?

SPEAKER_04 15:11

At the very least, you should be starting the process of creating meaningful connections with people. And I I'm starting there uh because I had a meeting yesterday about this with a company, and we're like, let's be under no illusion that 95% of the people in business or wherever they're not gonna start posting content. Because they're shy or they're fearful or they don't they're worried about it, stuff. There's no there's it sounds weird and bad or defeated Stephen, but there's no point of saying everyone should be making content because the truth is they're not going to. If you dare to, and I dare you to do it, if people dare to make content, the upside is outrageous. And this time will never come again. This is like YouTube eight years ago, or even more, like ten years ago, where it's like, go try making a YouTube right channel right now, it's not so easy. It we're in a similar place with TikTok, where every five minutes there's someone saying, Wow, I posted a video and I got 700,000 views. Like that's a very strong moment for for that that platform. But LinkedIn is this sleeping giant, I've been calling it, because like you said at the top of this, everyone joined it like a over a decade ago. Everyone you're ever gonna do business with is already on it. And the key part is they're all listening to very few people making noise. So it's uh if you look at the difference, I know that notwithstanding the fact that TikTok is fun and social and and LinkedIn is is classically uh got the context of business. The truth is that you have an audience of people who are watching and making no noise. All the other platforms, the thing you do is you make content. Like you post a picture, you post a video, whatever. Whereas here on LinkedIn, the thing you don't do is make content. So if you're part of the three million or so actually bother, you're getting the slice of the what is it, like 10 billion impressions per week pie. So it's it's the thing to remember about the content is that you don't have to go crazy on making videos every day. You could just write a thought. And I was I was coaching at a university last week um up in Nottingham, and I said, if you have an interview, they're gonna ask you your opinions on things, right? If you want to get hired, they're gonna ask you if you're going to be um an analyst working at a financial uh house, then you need to have an opinion on what's going on in the economy. So when you read the Financial Times, write your comment, like your commentary on it, and what do you think? Do that three times a week. Then what happens is you start becoming this kind of host of conversations and and a reason why people want to get into orbit around you. So the content plays huge, but it does start with uh uh building meaningful connections with the right kind of people because that's your distribution and ultimately that's that bit matters the most.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

So my engagement sucks. Um it's not bad, but it's not amazing. Now, when Shay comments on a post, then you know she breaks the fucking internet. But other than that, like there's there's there's I I I get like maybe between 100 and 300 views per post. How can one individual and I know that's something that that's way better than being on LinkedIn for a long time and there being not a lot of that, but most posts I would say get around a hundred views.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

So is that a video or a different type of content?

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Video and uh I'll post videos or I'll post like a quote, like a like a picture, an image, something like that. Um I I've tried to really after after I've tried tried to really hone my my digital my direct response copywriting. I've tried to really write with a hook and write with meaningful that's gonna keep people going. And in addition to to watching the video, they're gonna read what's there. I got that tip from from Judy, Judy Fox. And um, but I'm I'm still still struggling to see the engagement increase. And I'm sure that I'm definitely not alone. Most people have worse engagement than I do. So what what's one to do to rectify the situation?

SPEAKER_04 19:08

And uh one side thing I'd throw in before I fully answer your question is uh make sure there's also a call to action at the bottom of every piece of content. The call to action isn't necessarily go to my website for more information, it's what do you think? What's your opinion? Cop content below, you know, comment comment below. People need to be signposted, otherwise they don't think to do it. And and it's essential to tell people to write a comment. And uh, if you split test it by doing posts where you don't do that, people it's stunning how people don't bother to write something, but you get your like and they wander off and don't bother looking. But to answer directly, there's the what I call the three C's of LinkedIn. So it starts with content, more importantly, is the connection building. You're connected to Shay, therefore, you get the Shay effect when she writes a comment, you get a little bit of love. Um I'm connected with Bridget Hyacinth, who has like over two million followers uh on Facebook. Uh, when she I'm connected to her there. So when when when she writes a comment on one of my posts on uh on LinkedIn, it's the same thing. You get you get like 200,000 views, is absurd. But the key part, the third C is community. So you don't just connect with people who are relevant or that you could sell to, but you also connect up. So you could connect, you should connect up to people who are like 10,000, 20,000 plus followers who have an active network. They aren't necessarily gonna buy your service, but like Shay, they will advocate for you, they will vouch for you, and and by validating the tag with them. So when you write a when you put a tag into your post, you will get a lot more uh from them uh in terms of distribution if they jump in. But the community part is the game, most of your time should be spent on community, which is whilst the kettle is boiling for your coffee to be made, what you do is you whip out the phone and you DM three people who are at that kind of level to say how's it going? That's all, just to stay tight, like you would with your friendship group offline. It's the same. If I want you to help me move house, let's pretend I live in Miami. So if I if I want you to help me move house, it only happens if we're good mates. Otherwise, you're like, no, I don't want to help you. So you don't you only do it because I invest in you, and that's the key part. But the other secret source is understanding, and this is as far as we need to worry really about the algorithm, understanding that unless you get some engagement in the first half an hour, you might as well kind of not bother. So even if Shay shows up after if she shows up after like six hours and I've had no engagement, that post's dead. It's not doing anything. So the first half an hour I need to focus on babysitting the content and distributing it. So job one, the moment it posts. So the moment the post goes live, there's a comment meaningfully tagging perhaps four or five people or uh you know that are in your group who know you, who you know who would bother to actually want to write something, who are relevant to that post, and you give them a reason to do it. So you ask them a question. Importantly as well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

I've seen you do that before.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Yeah. You can do it before as well. Yeah, so so you've built that good connection with them. But the crucial part as well is when you're when you're writing that comment, check and see if they're online. There's no point doing it with someone who's tucked up in bed. Right. You want people who are online right now, so then they're like, ah, there's a new notification, post is new, they jump in and that creates some momentum. Otherwise, don't bother. Post and run is failure. There's no point. You you've got it, that's just how it works for the time being. You have to do that first half hour. That's good. Then you can that that's that's the biggest hack in terms of distribution, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

Well, and then so obviously using any type of third-party schedulers and things of that nature are not gonna do you any justice with that.

SPEAKER_04 23:00

No, no, I don't do it. There's no point because it's it's this is one of the most important things about social right now is you need to choose usually, are you gonna be efficient or are you gonna be effective? And I choose being effective rather than hey, look at me, I don't get I don't have to worry about my post because they're doing it all for me. Aren't I so automated? Yeah, but the truth is that's not gonna get me any attention if I'm not bothering to pay show up for the post. So it's better to post natively and sit there with it and just give up a bit of time. Because what do you actually want? You want people to start conversations around it and then you to be the hub where people have these, you know, you're seen as the go-to person for that thing, not just contributing to content and not getting anything beyond that. So so it it's it's it's also full of restrictions if you use something like buffer or hootsuite. Even a simple one is um if I want to post an image on LinkedIn natively, it looks really good. If I use Hoot Suite, it gives these stupid grey bars down the side, and I can't post more than uh uh I think there's only I can only do a maximum of like four images, and I can't upload documents and all of these restrictions, just do it natively. Um, if you want great results, you've got to put out a bit, just like with you, your with your podcast.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Sure. Okay, so consistency and you know making sure that you know engagement's a huge part of this process too, right? Engaging with other people's content, commenting, liking, sharing, tagging other people that are interested in what stuff you're consuming. Is that another way to be able to, I don't want to say hack the algorithm, but get involved with it.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Well, yeah, you know, the truth is behind all of this content and comments, there are people. And and again, take cues from the offline world. If I want people to show up for me, I need to show up for them. So, like, you've got to come down for your throat from your throne and go and get your audience. And like Judy Fox is right when she says that um who you've had on your show already, when she says comments are content as well. So if you're showing up on other people's content and writing something meaningful and tagging and writing a question, say, hey guys, come and check out this as well. You get seen as an authority, and it's like if you want to be a social hub in your social group offline, you're the person who brings everyone together, you're the person who is there for each other, and it's literally the same here. And there's people gotta watch out because there are plenty of automated tools that help you look like you're in in place, but ultimately, how does your bank account look? And if it's not mapping to engagement, results, and conversion, you're just not putting the right kind of effort in, in my opinion. And I think showing up for others is a really good way to make them feel what's known as a value debt, where they're like, wow, this person's doing so much for me, I probably should check out their posts from time to time as well. So you get out what you put in, you know.

SPEAKER_02 25:57

What about uh LinkedIn pods?

SPEAKER_04 26:00

So contentious topic, and I'm pleased you brought it out because that will probably be covered in in Miami as well. Um there's a spectrum from there's actually a group that I'm in of like six of us, and we're friends and really like each other's content. So like Q and Mark Meet you know, and when we when we share, uh when we do a post, it's like, hey everyone, I just did my post. It's not to get engagement as such, it's to share it because we actually care about each other's stuff through to classic engagement pods where it's a thousand people and you pay money and you have to show up for their posts, and it's easy to see them because within an hour they have 610-25 reactions, they have 300 comments, and they have an insane amount of views. And you have to choose the thing you're after. Are you are you are you interested in getting lots and lots of visibility and likes a potential conversion from people who are showing some kind of actual interest? Or do you want to look like you're really popular but have a feed of, you know, what was that, a thread of like 300 comments that say, nice post, Richard, excellent post, Richard. It's all bot-related stuff. So you need to choose. Uh I'm not gonna say if they're good or bad, because some people genuinely make money by saying, Look how great my posts are, they get lots of engagement. But whether or not that's a little uh a little bit outside of the lines of truth in terms of earned engagement is another question.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Yeah, there's some people that are I mean, like the amount of views they get on their content, and um their content's terrible. So I'm I'm baffled. I don't get it.

SPEAKER_04 27:45

Well when when someone gains 10, 15,000 um followers a week, it's like you're just gaming it, and good for you. If you feel better, good. But they're the same people that probably jump the moment their phone gives them a notification and they're constantly seeking dopamine, and it's like, you know, if it works for you, then fine. But ultimately, if you're not getting a strong conversion, is this really worth it? And um, you know, each to their own. They're not illegal, so if you want to do it, then fine. But what I'm I'm really proud, like last week I ticked over 20,000 followers, it's taking me two years, so I've never gone super viral. The closest I've come to getting but going viral is someone who has a lot of followers has written a comment, so it's given it a nice fat boost. But other than that, the the content is growing nice and organic, but I I'm good at converting and uh from from those uh interested people, and uh that served me really well. So you just gotta choose your route, you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

You gotta be human, I think, is what I'm picking up from this.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

Uh without question. That's my link. You know, I I'm it's difficult because there's a lot of interesting uh routes to this. Um I'm 40 this year, and I've been around the block a bit in business, and I have a sense that I will be around for a long time if I take uh the route I take, and there are quick wins. You know, it's like it's like people who are trying to make their fortune via Bitcoin. Good for you. Lots of people become millionaires, but it's not sustainable. Right. And that's a fact. And so you need to choose something that's a sustainable route. And I'm fine with people leaping ahead because ultimately you can't beat the consistency. Again, perfect example is you podcast 10 years. You can't mess with that.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

Right, right, right, right, right, right. Uh so you know again, it's gonna take as long as it's gonna take to figure out and on however it is, especially. I mean, it just blows my mind. Podcasting, very comparable to LinkedIn, a technology well over 15 years old, well over a decade and a half old, just now becoming relevant. Like what? Yeah, like 15 years old, and it's replaced in radio. Like, I it's it's it's mind mind-boggling to me. Well, this is all great information, and if you're listening to better understand what you should be doing on LinkedIn, you I hope you're taking notes. And if not, just go back and replay this episode all over again. Make sure that you're connected with Richard on LinkedIn. His content is absolute fire. I don't blow smoke up anybody's skirt. It's good stuff. He's gonna be here in Miami next month for uh his event, EBL Live, right? EBL Live, EBL Miami.

SPEAKER_04 30:20

Entrepreneur Business Live Miami, yes. EBL Miami.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Uh Entrepreneur Business Live.

SPEAKER_04 30:24

It'd be nice to be back again. Last time we hear was uh September. I remember that. Very hot.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

It should be a slightly cooler. Um it depends. It was it was it was 90 yesterday, it was 70 the day before that. So we never really what's going on. So I made friends with my friends over at Poddex. Pod Decks have created a really cool solution. In fact, I got to hang out with Travis this past weekend in Orlando. Homeboy was handing cards out all over the place, laying them all over the place. What they are here is it's a deck of cards, the interview deck that contains 50 unique conversation starting questions to help you take your podcast interviews to the next level and keep your audience entertained. So if you're listening to this and you don't know what to talk about on your podcast, grab yourself a stack of uh pod decks. You've got episode decks, so I don't know what kind of episode I want, and then I've got an interview deck with questions. So let's wrap things up here with uh with pulling something out of the deck. What do you think, Richard?

SPEAKER_04 31:12

I love the idea. It sounds good. As long as you don't make me wear a skirt for you to blow up the skirt up.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

It's not that kind of party. However, you're on your way, you are on your way to South Beach in a couple weeks here. All right, let's see. Let's see what we got here. Uh-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Oh, this is a good one. Pretty simple, too. What's your favorite gadget?

SPEAKER_04 31:37

Oh, it's this. It's my um Samsung watch.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Samsung?

SPEAKER_04 31:42

Way more than my mobile watch. Yeah, I'm Samsung for life. So, um, which was fun when I was in San Francisco last year. They're like, what? Where's your iMac, man? So, but yeah, I uh it's uh it's an S3, and uh one of the reasons why it's great as a family man is that if you have a mobile phone, which is going off all day long, um this is just like this is the TLDR of what's going on in your world. So you can just go, yep, yep, got it, okay. I see what's happening, and phone says in the back, I can pay, like it's like contactless, I can pay for my watch, and just do everything from it. And like it's my favourite gadget because I can stay in touch without having my phone in front of my face all the time and and be much more present. I really, really appreciate it. It's made a big difference.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

I never thought of it.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

You're asking a massive gadget man about this, so my whole house is smart housed. Right. Uh lit right now.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Where are you based out of? In London?

SPEAKER_04 32:33

No, we're just east of London, north of a place called Colchester, about 45 minutes from the city.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

I gotta introduce you to my I have one friend in uh, I probably have more than than one friend in London, but the one that really sticks out that I remember is my buddy Jeremy Waite. Okay. Jeremy works with sustainable brands over at IBM. He's a speaker, author, he's got a podcast called Ten Words and uh super cool guy. I don't know where exactly I think he's actually in London. I don't know, I don't know, but I'm gonna make a connect offline. Um I automatically associate him with uh with the UK. We met like we met like seven years ago at a gig in New York City. It was one of those we got done, we went and ran wild in New York City and was like, wow, that was crazy. Yeah, one of those deals.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

It's like three in the morning, you're having tequila, you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

He's married with twins now, so um uh those days may have halted slightly.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

Yes, I I have two girls. It's uh it's not quite the same as it used to be.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

It's a whole it's a whole different ballgame once you hang those cleats up, I tell you. Yeah, when you sell the the trophies in the garage sale and hang the cleats up, it's a whole different ballgame. I'm I'm the complete opposite. I just turned 41 two weeks ago and my daughter is a freshman in college. So yeah, yeah, yeah. So I I um I'm in a very unique space of uh very open for whatever is next.

SPEAKER_04 33:46

Uh yeah, that must be good fun. Uh uh, yeah, I'll have to hit you up for tips as they get older then.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Yeah, oh 100%. Yeah. A shotgun is usually you know top of my list.

SPEAKER_04 33:56

Well, I had two sisters, either side of eight, in the age of me. I was the middle. So I know what it's like having like two sisters who are teenagers, and it's like, will you guys just leave them alone? Like, and so I I don't know, I'm like having an a B with them.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Uh it's a it's a whole different lens as a father, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

No one's good enough.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

My yeah, my my never, ever, ever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your immediate response is fuck that guy. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Get out of my house.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

You and I have both been teenage boys. We know what it's like. And you know what your agenda is, let's say.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Uh, well, you're gonna have to come back again to the show. We'll I'm sure we'll we'll do something while you're here in Miami. I look forward to getting involved with uh with the whole panel down there and uh rock it rocking the mic for as long as uh Dr. Dork will let me uh make it happen. But I it's just really cool to see how this community is coming together. I appreciate you making the trip uh across the pond over here. It's gonna be a good time and uh great. It's gonna just, I'm excited to see what is gonna come out of this group. It's not like, okay, we did a couple of events, like LinkedIn Local's happening now. We've done this whole like what really cool stuff is gonna go. Remember all of this began because of EBL? Remember like LinkedIn Local, like figured it all out, came together. My goodness, it had that not ever. That that's what I'm really excited about to find out, you know, to go beyond the story, pun intended.

SPEAKER_04 35:23

I'm genuinely optimistic that the inverted commas community of people with some sense of influence will do good. Right. I think there will be a lot of good that comes from it. And and I'd like to hope EBL contributes. Last year, $5,000 went to charities. Excellent. So like like doing this kind of thing, and people who are doing great should and can stop for a little bit of time to give something back because it helps other people who need to come up the ladder as well.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

So uh it makes you feel good.

SPEAKER_04 35:57

It does really, really, really awesome, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Hey Richard, thanks so much for your time. Come back to the show, will you?

SPEAKER_04 36:03

I absolutely will.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you're so inclined, please leave us a review. Be sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. I'll talk to you next time.