Reader,

I took my son to another business mixer today.

No nudist community this time. 😂

Just a regular room full of people there to connect.

And if you have ever walked into one of those rooms not quite sure where to stand, who to talk to, or how to start, you know the feeling.

He walked in a little easier this time.

He talked to several people, one of them an electrician who had just started his own business, after quitting a job that had turned toxic.

He has an 18-year-old son and tells him the same thing I tell mine.
​Get out of your comfort zone.

I did not say I told you so. Or maybe I did. 😉

My son smiled because he has heard those words from me enough times that they are starting to sound less like his mom being annoying and more like something that might actually be true.

And this time, instead of collecting cards he would probably never look at again, he connected with several people on LinkedIn right there in the room.

That is the part of networking I think matters most.

You meet someone. You hear their story. You find a reason to stay connected.

It only happened because he walked into a room he did not really want to walk into, comfort zone and elevator speech included.

Most of us have our own version of that room, where we walk in, introduce ourselves to strangers, and put ourselves out there when staying home would be much easier.

My son joined LinkedIn in high school and now has more than 700 connections. I helped him optimize his profile in college so people can quickly see who he is and what he does.

If your profile isn't doing that for you yet, tomorrow I'll share what I'd change.

Alpana | Brand Strategist and Photographer

P.S. Here's Rowan's LinkedIn profile if you want to see it in action.

His About section used to read like this, from when we worked on it together a couple years back. I noticed today that he updated it and it is pretty cool :-)

This is my son's LinkedIn banner with an AI image that ties his name into the work he does.

It is never too early or too late to update your profile. I had my son set up his in high school, ahead of most of his peers. If you have a teen, you can do the same for them.
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​And if it's your own profile that's overdue, that counts too. It shows up when someone Googles your name, before they ever decide to hire you, buy from you, or book you.