Today on the show, Catalina interviews Celina Guerrero, a sales and LinkedIn coach, who shares her journey. They discuss the importance of networking, optimizing LinkedIn profiles, and creating engaging content to attract clients. Celina shares her best strategies to make connecting with people on Linkedin genuine and authentic and how to create content that converts on Linkedin. If you are on Linkedin or starting on Linkedin this year — you will take a lot away from this episode. 

Connect with Celina Guerrero on her Linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celinaguerrero1/

Join her webinar here: https://www.celinaguerrero.com/linkedinworkshop
Have a question? DM me on instagram or email me! 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/catdelcarmen
Email: catalina@catdelcarmen.com

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SUMMARY TRANSCRIPT

Welcome Celina Guerrero. Did I say that right? Thank you for being on Show Up Real podcast. I’ve only met you once and I literally, I don’t think I told you there, but I was like, I need to talk to you. You are, I met you at a We All Grow event and ever since then I’ve been following you on LinkedIn and

Yeah!

Ever since that, I’m like, I need to get her on the show to teach us how to sell and to create just business and how to use LinkedIn for business because you’re such a pro at it. So I’m so excited to talk to you. I know we were just talking about the fires and everything. Just to give the audience a little background, not to be awkward. I’m so glad you’re here. We had to reschedule our call last time because

You were like, your house was very much in the middle of the fire area. And I’m glad you didn’t lose your house just for everybody listening. But thank you for being here. I appreciate it. I could imagine this a lot going on.

I’m so happy to be here. And yes, we did get evacuated for a month. I’m about to go back to my house momentarily after we record. So that’s fun. But yeah, it’s actually really, you realize when you get evacuated, like it’s so nice to have the work, like have the grounding experience of, especially being with others and talking to others. I’m so happy to have opportunity to be here. So yeah, I’m excited.

Thank god. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m sure. Well,

thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. okay. Let’s get started. Can you there? I told you there was that we, do an intro in the beginning of the show, but maybe give us a little bit of just, what do you do? Who do you help? And can you give me a little bit about how you got into it? I would love to know a little bit about the background story.

Absolutely. So I’m Celina Guerrero. You can say Guerrero if you can. But Celina Guerrero, I’m a sales and LinkedIn coach and I help consultants and service providers generate quality leads.

on LinkedIn that really become their best clients. And when I say their best clients, I guess I say that in part because when we’re on a platform like LinkedIn, we know a lot about people and it can help us make sure we’re really spending time with and attracting and engaging with people that have the potential to really be quality clients who we can really, really help. I got into

Okay, so I had this, I don’t know how far back you want me to go. Okay, here’s the quick version.

So actually I was a music major in college. I’m from California and I moved to New York to sing, tried that for about five years, did not succeed. So ended up going on the arts management side. And when I went into arts management, I became a booking agent and that was essentially sales. So that’s how I ended up in sales specifically because I was basically booking artists, performing artists like dance companies and

a of world music at performing arts centers around the country. And I covered the Midwest, I covered the West Coast, I traveled all over the country and built relationships with senior level executives and CEOs and executive directors, right? And I really learned sales from like old school sales guys and they were guys. And I learned this, art of the cell, that sounds so cheesy, I don’t ever use that phrase actually, but you know what I mean? The idea of like, how do we have…

Hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I get it. Yeah.

one-to-one conversation specifically. So at some point, I had done that for about five years, the world was changing and digital marketing and like the whole world was changing. And I recognized that digital marketing, social media was gonna be this amazing positive influence on sales. Like I felt like if we can use.

you know, online, which we totally take for granted now, right? I mean, I’m talking like a couple of generations ago, right? But the idea is that I saw that there was this opportunity to really talk about the work that we do and build relationships online in service of improving the way we sell.

Yeah, I know.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And just to sort of accelerate that I ended up specifically because I was in the B2B, selling to executives, that’s how I ended up on LinkedIn. So really it’s social selling was really big at the time. And I mean, can go greater into detail, but that’s the story. It’s basically sales to digital marketing and that hybrid of selling in a digital space, which again, for a lot of people who’ve only lived in a web internet world is a little bit old fashioned, but that’s my story.

Yeah. Got it.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. How did you get into coaching?

okay. That’s a good question. So I think when I first went to work for myself, I thought I was gonna be an agency. So it was like helping people with digital tools. So it was.

Okay.

websites, email, social media. And I thought, you know what? I don’t want to do this. This sounds really chaotic. And hiring all these people to do the work. And then I just kind put me back in that sales role again, like a full-time sales role, and have everybody else do the work. I knew that I wanted to be closer to the client. And yeah, I don’t know. guess, you know, I think I just thought I knew what I was talking about.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Come work with me. Yeah. Just let me help you. Yeah.

And I thought I could help people, know, mean, literally, right? Like, even if you’re not, well, even if you’re not a

quote unquote coach, you’re serving people, you’re helping people who need, who need to know things that you know, right?

Yeah.

100%. 100%.

Yes. 100%. So true. You know what’s so funny is I got, so my sales experience came from the retail floor. So like I worked at Nordstrom for a really long time and they were on commission. So for me, like, I think when you get, like I have, I think the commission base helped me realize

Mm-hmm.

I think sales, anybody who’s been on commission has this, they grow this belief that like, you can make as much money as you want. Like if, if, if, you know, if you have that thought, right? and I think I inherently had it because I was like, well, this is just what people do. Like you sell more, you make more. Like that’s just how it is. And it served me now. So like, I didn’t, I didn’t have any corporate experience. Well, did I?

little bit, a little bit, because when I went into tech I had a little bit, but it’s interesting. How did you decide, and we’ll get into LinkedIn in a second, but how did you decide, are you a full-time entrepreneur? okay, how did you decide to make that leap? Because that could be scary.

Yeah.

Yes, yes, yes.

Yes, I want to answer that, I just can I just pause like pause and say one thing about the sales thing for your listeners is that I did not work for traditional corporate either. Both of us got ourselves, I mean, it was the arts and it was, like, you know, whatever five figure deals and all that. But

Yeah, anything you want, girl. Yeah.

Mmm. yeah, cause-

Yeah. Yeah.

it was still the arts and it was like dance companies and you’re on the retail for it at North Trump. And I’m just gonna say learning to sell has changed my life. I absolutely did not wanna go into sales, but I’m just saying there’s lots of ways into learning how to sell and that it can be transformative and it has a lot of ways to move you forward in whatever you wanna do. Because if you know how to build relationships and how to serve people and how to understand.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s true.

Mm-hmm.

100 %

Mm-hmm.

what their problem is, right? Somebody comes into your store and they’re like, I need something for some event and you’re listening and you can provide that. Or in my case, I don’t know if that’s what you’re doing specifically, but in my case.

Mm-hmm.

That’s exactly,

exactly what I was saying.

Yeah, right. so people get the sales

thing wrong. They think it’s all like pushy, pushy, pushy. It’s like, no, no, actually you’re actively listening, you’re problem solving. And I just want to say that skill. it’s just really, I love, it’s really fun to hear that your background too, because again, we didn’t come from like everybody thinks corporate sales, like, you know, selling SaaS or selling whatever, you know, cars or whatever. It just, it’s the essence of the skill of listening and problem solving.

And it’s like, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

100 % listening problem-solving Okay, let’s get into LinkedIn because I have a lot of questions. I am Not a LinkedIn girl, you know, what’s funny is because I was like came from sales when I was in corporate I was like on LinkedIn and I was like I was very social media and I came from tech So for me, it’s like any new social media or tech that came up in the scene. I was like we

Okay.

OK.

you gotta be an early adopter. Like this is the game. But then once I started my business, I kind of went all in on the platforms that were doing the best for me, which made sense. But I have so many clients who grow on LinkedIn and their business comes from LinkedIn. And I know that LinkedIn is incredibly powerful for businesses.

I mean, this is so much of why I wanted you on the show is like, I just don’t understand LinkedIn that well. And so I wanted to learn from you from that point of view. But also, I think a lot of people just don’t understand how it works on LinkedIn. they even I understand LinkedIn as like a networking thing, right? But I don’t understand so much of what works, what doesn’t, what are kind of norms etiquette, right?

Instagram I know, right? Podcast stuff I know, but in LinkedIn it’s like, how do we grow? So let’s start with the, maybe just start with the very, kind of not super basic. I have a question around how, I’m a person who always saw LinkedIn as like a network place. Also, that being said, personally, funny enough.

I was gonna say I suck at networking, but I also met you at an event and now you’re here and we’re… I’m not great at networking. And as confident as I can come off on Instagram and as friendly as I am, because I am friendly, I’m really not great at… I have this thing, you probably hear it from your clients all the time. I have this thing where I feel bad asking people for things, my attention.

for, I just feel like, I feel bad. Like I don’t wanna bother people, which is silly, right? I’m curious, what are your beliefs, thoughts around networking as a skill? Like is that needed to be successful on LinkedIn? And if it’s, if so, tell us and then tell us how.

Hmm.

Yeah, okay, so I think it’s kind of yes, yes and. So it is interesting. So again, I’m on Instagram, but I don’t do it well at all. Like, don’t go look at my Instagram page. don’t, like, like.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, go follow her

on LinkedIn

So in the same way, it’s kind of like this black box or black hole. So, okay, with regard to, do you have to be good at networking to be good at LinkedIn? I think yes, but I don’t like necessarily where you have to be, like this language of you have to be good. But I think generally, yeah. But this idea of networking comes to…

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s exceptions to everything.

What comes to mind when I hear the word networking is one-to-one conversations. Or let’s say you go to a conference and there’s like five people at your table and you’re all kind of chit chatting. That’s kind of for me the comments, know, somebody’s posting, coming up with an idea and then the people in the comments are kind of part of that conversation. And then I might, let’s just say you and I were in a group of five people at a conference and then I specifically.

started a little side conversation with you one-on-one to further talk about whatever that topic was. And that would be kind of like the DMs. So I don’t really see, so I think for me with regard to Instagram, that part feels very difficult to do. Like I find having a one-to-one relationship building on Instagram very difficult. Do you do that on Instagram yourself?

Okay.

Yes, but I could see how it could be difficult. I think a lot. think, I mean, also Instagram’s changing a lot, I think right now, but when I first started, was, I’m trying to think. I mean, it goes down to basic sales stuff, right? Like, do you know who you’re talking to? Right? Like, do you know their problems that well?

Yeah.

And I think when you create content that is so potent to a specific person’s problem, it’s like, and you invite them to talk to you, I think that’s where the conversation, like you have to actively be inviting people to engage and giving them opportunities to engage, if that makes sense.

I don’t think it’s any different on LinkedIn. And I understand the platform feels really different. It looks different. It feels more corporate. It feels buttoned up. A lot of people will say, it feels so, yeah, just buttoned up. I don’t feel like I can be my authentic self on there. But I think the concept is the same. So it’s like a push-pull, right? So when you said you have to be good at networking, what comes to mind for me is that networking is a one-to-one relationship building. But I think you absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

will benefit if you have those skills. But in addition, I think those marketing messaging skills, the better you are at that, the better you’re be on LinkedIn too. there’s the attract, right? The pulling in of I’m gonna post something that’s really compelling, that’s totally dialed into my ideal client. They’re gonna love it. They’re gonna wanna like it. They’re gonna wanna engage with me. And then there’s the…

Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Pull the sorry that there’s that book the out. That’s the push Sorry, and we’re gonna pull them in a little bit on a DM So I think you need both and that’s that’s my story, right? I used to be just one-on-one sort of having conversations, but then now we have I think 80 % 80 % of the decision-making buying process or hiring processes like online, right and you know, I think that

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

you’re gonna be on LinkedIn posting, right? So let me just talk about the three C’s for a second. Yeah, okay, so.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell us like how,

what do we need to consider? we want to start, let’s say my clients, have a lot of, a lot of my clients are coaches. Some are service-based businesses, photographers, lawyers. Like, where do we get started on LinkedIn to take it seriously?

Okay,

great, I love it. So the first thing is you wanna have your LinkedIn profile looking very sharp. typically, historically, when people go onto LinkedIn, they’re creating a LinkedIn profile that is about everything that they did and accomplished in their careers. And what…

you really want to do when you go onto LinkedIn as an entrepreneur is your profile is no longer about you. Your profile becomes about your ideal client. You write it for your ideal client so that when they come to your profile and they see your photo and they’re like,

Mmm.

that’s cool and oh there’s a banner and it says something about something that’s really important to me and there’s this headline that says you know what I do how I help people so the headline is that those those I it’s 220 characters right below the photo yeah so really you want to say who you help

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

how you help them and the outcomes you deliver. So for example, I help consultants and service providers, use LinkedIn, that’s the how, but the outcomes are to get more clients. And so for every listeners, if you’re listening here, is literally the…

Yeah, yeah.

best formula for a headline to use those who I help, how I help them, and the outcomes I deliver. And so when somebody goes to your profile, they’re going to see, does this resonate with me? Is this something that can help me? Am I a service provider or a consultant? Do I want to use LinkedIn? Do I want more clients? And that alignment, that attraction is really, important. And then you can go in, there’s like the featured section. Speaking of retail, featured section,

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

for everybody when you go into a profile, there’s usually these big blocks of photos or an image. And that, speaking of retail, is what I like to call the counter when you walk into a store. So let’s say you go into a little boutique and there’s going to be gold jewelry and there’s going to be some silver jewelry or whatever. And then let’s say there’s seasonality, right? So then the next time I go, it might be some cute little purses or something. that is what you

Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Mmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

want

your featured section to be and it’s calling people into your store so to speak so it could be like some kind of link to maybe you have a free guide right a free guide on how to use LinkedIn or whatever your services it could be

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, that’s the best thing. If you wrote a book, if you have highlighted like you want to your speaker and you’re looking for, you’re open to speaking opportunities. So this is like your display case, so to speak. Okay. And then from there, you’re going to have the about section and the about section is again, I can’t get into detail. It’s too much information, but generally speaking, the about is about what, how, how do I put this?

Yeah.

Got it.

Yeah, yeah.

It’s really taking that person on a journey of what challenges they have and then how you help them. So again, it’s that profile for everybody. It’s really critical. Reframe mindset shift. It’s not about you. I know that seems weird. It’s about your client. So in the about section, you can say, you know, are you struggling? you, do you feel like you’re spending all day on LinkedIn, but not getting any clients? Right? That’s kind of the hook. And then you can say, are you struggling with this? Well,

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

you know, here are some things you might’ve tried. They might not have worked, right? And like, here’s what does work and here’s how I can help you. And here’s some testimonials, et cetera, right? But it starts with them. And I’m sure, kind of like all your posts are like that. Like all your posts are really calling out something that is visceral, that is emotional, that is real, that is, right? They’re operating reality on a day-to-day basis. And if you can really transform your profile into that lens for your reader,

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That’s important. Yeah.

That is really the first step on LinkedIn.

So, so good. So, it’s so funny, because the other day I was talking to one of my clients and she wants to grow her LinkedIn and I went to your page. I was like, well, let’s see what Celina has on her page. I was like, this is the first thing I would do. And then we just started like dissecting. I was like, you see, do this. And we started doing all this stuff. But one thing we were talking both about,

Thank

and someone had asked me about was the, the kind of headline that you were just talking about. And, I found that so interesting because so many people have like a stack of their accolades, like is just like everything I’ve done in my whole entire life. And I love personally, I love that it’s like, no, no, no, no, no, that’s for like the career person. I imagine who wants to get promoted, right?

or wants a new job or whatever. But if you’re an entrepreneur who has a business that serves people, then the headline’s about them and for them, I should say. It is for them communicating exactly what you could do for them and who you are and how you could help them. That’s the platter. And I love that. It’s simple. It’s like…

Absolutely. You know, a lot of people will go into business for themselves and I see this all the time. They’ll put like CEO or founder and I’m like, that’s not helpful. And why is that not helpful? Because I don’t know what kind of CEO of what company, what type of company, you know, what does your company do? Who do you help? Do I like, for example, I could be a LinkedIn coach for career people, but I’m not right. So, and I don’t typically have, well, I don’t have any clients, never really have any clients that are product based businesses. Like beauty and wellness, like,

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you want to sell, if you want to build a business around, know, creams or anything, there are people who are far better at that. So being really specific in that calls in the right people, right?

Yeah.

So good, honestly, you know what I’m doing right now? I’m changing my life. Because the first thing that it said is founder of Cat Dilt Carmen Coaching. And then the second thing was sales and marketing coach. So I’m like, Let me, let me, yeah.

you

Yeah, all you have to do is, yeah, exactly. don’t

forget, so, okay, so this is just a couple of things. Here’s the other thing that’s important. When you go around LinkedIn, when you’re DMing, people are seeing your name in the messaging or they’re seeing you comment, they’re only seeing like 20 characters. So if you put founder or CEO of Cat Del Carmen, they’re like, I don’t know. But if you put, if all you have to is move it up to say marketing and sales.

Yeah.

Just move it. I put it to the end.

Yeah. Like now it’s at the very, end. So, so, so good.

Yeah. the other thing

is that, you don’t, you, it’s like the other thing, just quickly, and when you think of, because if we’re, if we think about ourselves as the, as the reader, right, there’s ads, there’s so much noise. There’s like things, you know, moving and spinning and everything else and being really simple in that messaging and not being cute. Like I help you transform into it, like, right. Just really, really simple language. Tell them like it is. Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, just tell them.

Yeah,

100%. So I know what one thing that I, a lot of people have a perception about on LinkedIn is that you have to be like DMing people all the time. And that’s like the only way to grow is to send like a zillion messages a day. I don’t know, I’m making this up.

Which in some ways I’m like, well yeah, you have to be interacting with people. That’s how sales are made, right? Like you have to be talking and connecting with actual humans. But I’m curious what your thoughts are on how, what’s more, actually here’s a simpler way to ask this. What is more important? They’re probably both, but like what you actually post and like the value or.

How do you, let me actually start with that question before I, before DMs. How, what is the algorithm on LinkedIn like when it comes to the posts that you make, right? Like the, the, when you post something, like what should people be thinking about when they’re marketing on LinkedIn? Cause a lot of the people I know are just repurposing and they’re taking what the copy from over here and then they’re putting it on their LinkedIn and.

That’s it. But the people that I know are getting a lot of traction from LinkedIn, this is what I’ve noticed. I notice a lot of people, LinkedIn likes a lot of photos that are not professional. Like they want real kind of this, I could be making this up, but like, this is what I notice. Like post photos that like, where you’re in community, anything that you could tag someone, like places you go.

That’s what I see a lot of traction is like celebrating people, celebrating yourself. I don’t know, something like there is a community aspect that like no, yeah, I don’t see a lot of other platforms have that I see LinkedIn loves is like when there’s, I don’t know, I don’t know, am I crazy? Like, does that make sense?

Thank you.

Yeah, okay, so let me go to app. I’m totally here the the question. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay, so once you get your profile up and running, I call them the three C’s. Okay, and one of them is I’m going to tell you what they are their content, which I will tell you I will answer your question in one second.

Tell me how to post. How do I make money with posts? That’s simpler question.

Okay, okay.

The other one is connections, right? Being first connections. And the third is conversations, which is the DMs. And I think what you were about to ask was like, do I, right, you said, oh, do I have to do like a thousand million DMs a day? Or maybe they’re just posting. And my solid answer to anyone who’s listening is you really need all three. Because what you’re doing is in relationship building is you’re posting something that’s compelling, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

No, no, sorry. First of all is you’re connecting with the right people, right? And LinkedIn has an incredible search function. Like you could find founders who live in San Bernardino, California, who, you know, have been in their business for four years, who, you know, I mean, like there’s very, very, very specific detail, which I think let’s talk about connections first. So unlike Instagram, for example, like I really don’t know anything about you. And I know it’s a little traditional to say like, where did you go to school and where did you work? But when you’re looking at

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Yeah, 100%.

someone’s profile, you’re gonna understand a lot of things about them and they’re gonna learn a lot of things about me. So for example, like in my story of like…

You I was a musician and I was I was a booking agent like I get a lot of people who used to be in the arts Right. And so they’re like they’re compelled by that So I think when you’re can so the first thing is you want to connect with the right people and what I mean by that is you’re going to probably want to connect with people that you meet Out in the world that are could be a business buddy. It could be a potential client It could be a partner. It could be somebody that you whose podcasts you want to be on and the way that you’re going to connect

is this. You’re going to go to their profile and you’re going to say connect, click connect and you’re going to say hi so and so.

And then you’re gonna say something personal. You’re not gonna send the templated version and you’re not gonna copy paste and here’s why. Because the minute that you don’t copy paste or say that have the template, you actually stand out and people like you. People are like, it’s not that hard friends. Do you know what I mean? And so you’re gonna say, hi so and so.

Like for example, I’m so excited, I was so excited to meet you at that We All Grow conference, would love to connect to LinkedIn. That’s it, okay? Or you can go to their profile and say like, I see you’ve been, you just started your new business, congratulations. Whatever that is, you’re going to look at someone’s profile and you’re gonna see them.

The problem here is that a lot of people don’t see people anymore. Like, the thing that you can give someone is their, is your time. And when you actually just take literally probably 90 seconds to look at someone’s profile, recognize something about them and say, you know what, I grew up in Denver.

Like, or, I also, I went to that school, or whatever it is. It’s not that hard. And you immediately, the chances of you being, your connection request being accepted go through the roof. Because everyone else is just blasting and being, you know, just not taking care.

sorry. Sorry, I just didn’t hear you. Sorry.

I’m

so sorry. I said when you get messages that say like, hi Catalina Del Carmen Maldonado, like, and I’m like, okay, definitely not opening that.

The bar isn’t that high, okay?

Yeah, yeah,

I could totally see that. That’s so, so are you, how do you get over like doing that with strangers? Like, what is the mindset from a mindset perspective? Like, I guess, I mean, I’m just putting myself in the position, like, okay, I’m on LinkedIn. And I might, the goal for me is like, I’m, I’m, this is a fake scenario, but I might do it later.

Well, I think that, yeah.

I want to get more. I want to go find my people, right? Like where are my people at, right? So I’m going to go look for them on the search feature. And then I’m when I find a person that seems like, my God, she’s my people. I’m going to send her a message and be like, my God, I also went to this school. You know, did you used to go to the burrito shop across the street? Like, whatever. And.

That’s how you’re going to make a connection. Am I reading that right? OK, OK.

It’s exactly right.

Look, if you’re sitting at a bar, let’s just say you’re at a bar and whatever, you’re on vacation, you’re at a hotel bar and there’s somebody sitting next to you, you’re gonna be like, oh, that beer looks really good. Is it good? It doesn’t have to be.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. It’s not, it doesn’t

have to be like awkward and like, yeah.

It’s actually, so when you think about like, would I say in front, what would I say to this person if I was face to face is also really helpful, right? And I don’t think, I think the fact is, you know, we’re in an environment where you know you’re seeing things about other people. And I think in some ways, I know it could feel like stockish, but I think the reframe there is that you’re actually paying attention to somebody.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

And I will also say you don’t want to ask for anything in the DM. You don’t want to talk about yourself really. I you can make the connection, right? hey, we’ve moved to such and such a school. But really, you don’t want to ask for anything. You really just want to think about that scenario like, that beer looks really good. Is it?

Yeah.

I haven’t ever tried orange beer. You know what mean? Just something really simple. Because what happens when you connect with somebody and you just send something that shows that you’re paying attention to them as a human being, the chances that they will accept will go up. After that, the reason that we want to become first connections with people, there’s a couple of benefits, but there’s a few really important ones. The first one is that when somebody becomes a first connection, you can message each other. You can DM each other.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay.

There are exceptions

which I won’t go into, but for the most part, I cannot send you a message and you cannot send me a message unless we’re first connection. And that’s really important because you want to build a relationship and you can’t build a relationship with someone you’ve never talked to. And so certainly being in the DMs is this type of conversation. you want to open up that possibility for you.

Yeah.

That is, you know, I had no idea that first connection was important. And I’ll just be like, no worries, I’ll follow you. And I just, for me, I’m like, whatever, who cares? But that makes so much sense. It’s like, no, no, no, no, you wanna do it properly so that you can communicate. Like, so that you can communicate. So, I mean, so simple. Yeah.

Yeah.

And the second thing just to clarify

is that you can then, you’re going to see each other’s content. We kind of take that for granted, right?

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

that’s the important part. Like, that’s the important part. So how many connections do you need to, like, I mean, I know that question’s, you know, I get that question too. So I’m like, well, there’s a lot of nuance. But how many, like, what’s a solid, good connection to grow a business? Like, in terms of numbers?

What?

Okay.

Yeah, so two things. One is when you get to 500 connections, your profile is gonna say 500 plus. And I will say that if I go to someone’s profile and they have 247, I’m not holding it against them, but I’m questioning how active they are on the platform.

For sure. I

mean, I was trying to hit 500 when I was a recruiting coordinator. So I get that. Like just base off of, yeah.

Yeah. And I don’t want to say just

go connect with 500 Be Able, but just from a perspective of like, answering the question, would say.

Yeah, like how

serious are we about growing our business about you helping me in my business? Yeah.

Yes. Yes.

And the sec, that’s just like a thing that you and, and link did. It’s like a little subconscious criteria that goes on in your head. Right. And then the second thing is that, this is, this is the honest truth. It is about how many people in your network are actually your ideal client. So think about this.

I was in music, I worked in tech, worked in locally in Pasadena, I worked with HR directors. You could actually look at all of my connections on LinkedIn and you could literally see the history of my career.

If I have 3000 connections, how many of those people are actually potential clients? It could be only 200. So my point is, it’s really about, and people use this word quality, but let’s define that a little bit. Quality means if you had 500 connections and they were all, like in my case, consultants and service providers in B2B businesses.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right? Like that’s like gold. But if only three of them are, meet that criteria, then what’s the point in posting about things that like have nothing to do with people who would be able to hire me? And I will just say, doesn’t, not everybody in your network has to be defined so clearly defined as an ideal client. There’s partners, there’s business friends and all of that. You don’t need to be so harsh about that. But that’s the honest truth. So for anyone listening, I would say try to get 500, but more importantly,

Yeah,

You don’t need to accept every connection request and you want to be intentional about the kind of network that you’re creating. Just think about this. You actually get to create a network of people that you handpick.

Yeah, that’s cool. That’s cool that you get to choose. Like you get to literally create your community, your network. Like you get to choose that. No, that’s cool because I don’t, I mean, besides Facebook, but yeah, everyone else, like you don’t get to, kind of just like, you know, like if you post something that isn’t related to your business and you get 500 followers, it’s like, well.

That’s right.

you

Let’s hope we get a couple out of there. So, so good. So are you spending, how much time should a business owner who let’s say wants to double down on LinkedIn in 2025, how much time do you think they should be spending on actively looking for people, the right people, right? like their people on LinkedIn and

Yeah.

Hmm?

connecting with them? Like, is that a big chunk of, I mean, what do you think? How much time do you think you should be spending on this?

So,

okay, I’ll tell you my answer. Everyone has a different answer. would say if you’re like, if LinkedIn is your primary platform and you’re trying to grow a business, I would say an hour a day. And I’ll tell you why.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay.

Because again, you as back to this, there’s like connections, content and conversations. And so when you think about the content piece, that means posting something. also means commenting. Commenting is very powerful because it puts you in the room with other people. So let’s say you post something and I go on and I comment on that. All of a sudden I’m being visible in front of people who are your network. And especially if we serve the people or we’re in the same kind of networks, that can be really helpful.

Mm-hmm.

in here.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And then

the third thing is the conversations, which are the DMs. And that can be, you know, DMing like questions. It can also be DMing like, you know, let’s say you have a lead magnet to get people on your email list. So like more funnel type stuff, which is really important. And what I would say is, again, I would say an hour, you know, I’m pretty, I feel like that, if you’re going to try to get clients in your business, you got to spend time marketing. I know everybody’s like, you only have to spend 15 minutes on LinkedIn. You can, that’s just not me. Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

It depends how bad you want it, right?

Yeah, yeah,

Okay, sorry. But when I think about the three C’s, you can follow for all your listeners, you can start with the three by three by three rule. Okay? And that is this. You’re going to sit down and you’re put your timer on for an hour and for 20 minutes you’re gonna, well, you can either do it by time or you can just do it by the numbers. So three connections, three comments.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

and three conversations. Now, what that means is that you’re gonna sit down, maybe you don’t even put the hour, you can do it by time. You can do 20 minutes on connections, 20 minutes on comments, 20 connections on just starting conversations in the DMs, or you can just simplify and just say three by three by three by three by three, sorry. What that means, sit down, do a tic-tac-toe. You know what tic-tac-toe, like a hash, like a hashtag?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What that is is you put there’s that means there’s nine boxes to check off So you write down? Okay, what are the three people that I can then connect with who did I meet recently? What podcast do I want to be on? Should I use can I use the search function was there someone who commented on you know cats? Posts that I really want to be in my network, right three people

Then you go to the comments and you go through your feed or you have targeted maybe clients that you’re engaging with. You go find their, like if you and I were, if you were like a potential client, I would go onto your feed and I would find something to comment on it. And all of a sudden, do you, again, you’re seeing people, you’re listening to them, you’re, learning about them. And this is, this is relationship building. This is, this is like not, this is a trust factor, which today, you know, we need like 10 hundred X, right? You’re building that, that rapport.

100%. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So you go find three comments. There’s like nothing and then where can I have where can I start three conversations? So let’s say I have a guide on DMS on LinkedIn. I might go to somebody and say hey I know we just connected by the way if you’re if you’re working on

100%.

Mm-hmm.

DMing people more, you’re curious about how to use the DMs better on LinkedIn, I have this guide, here’s a link, feel free to download it. Or hey, I just saw your comment on that thing that was really interesting,

growing your business. Yeah.

I was thinking the same thing and now we’re in a conversation, right? So it doesn’t have to be go into the DMs and like pitch somebody and like say whatever, but if you can offer something, either advice or you can offer some resource or you can offer a thought, there’s your three and you’ve checked off your tic-tac-toe and you can move on with your day because you’ve done the work of creating relationships, nurturing those relationships and bringing those into closer to a sales conversation.

Yeah

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That

is so, so good. I mean, it’s the same type of thing on any platform. for me, for my clients, I’m like, OK, if you want to increase engagement, then you need to go out there and engage, right? Like you go out there. You do the engaging first. You don’t like post something and then sit around and be like, where is the attention? Like, no. Who’s looking at your stories all the time? When’s the last time you checked out their page? Said hello, liked a photo, like.

It is!

just in you do the work, right? Like when you, the more you engage, you will get engagement, right? Like you will build a community. So that is so genius. And I think it also, a lot of people who are not on LinkedIn, they almost see it as this, and I say they, and it’s like me, me too. It’s almost like it feels very, it’s so funny I’m saying this because it’s.

hahaha

exactly what my clients say. Like it feels so like professional salesy, like very like, you know, how the white man does it. And you know what I mean? Yeah. And I think hearing it from you, it’s like, it’s, it’s literally the same thing as like any other, like sales is sales. You have to connect with people. You

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I just-

have to be open to conversations. it’s really the same thing. I think it’s just understanding the platform and what works on there. And also, I had no idea that you could just look up your ideal client like that. I’ve never even attempted that. So the fact that there’s a place to do that is kind of wild in the best way.

You could literally look, so can you look like for Latinas? Like Latina coaches?

So what I might do is I would go, so yeah, so you could find a Latina group and then you have access to all those members. So there’s that. There’s also, so let’s see, what else could you do? The other thing is, like if maybe there’s like, how do I put, see, the, wait. So if you go, okay, this is a little bit complicated.

Yeah.

got it, got it, got it, got it.

So interesting.

in

in a verbal explanation, but I will do my best. So

a verbal… Yeah. No, you’re fine.

let’s say there’s a Latina leader and she is like one of those top voices, right? She’s got like a, she’s like a influencer, right? There’s different terms around top voice, but in any case, you could go to search and you could look for first,

Okay.

connections of that person or followers, excuse me, followers of that person. Okay. Like that’s like everybody, can go on linkedin.com in the search bar, put your cursor in the search bar, hit enter. Okay. And then at the far right corner, you’re to see all filters and you’re to say LinkedIn out of these 900 million people, I want to know who

Mm-hmm.

This is good.

are my first connections who follow this person. Okay?

Wow, that’s

crazy. I don’t think people know this.

Okay,

or okay and and that’s and okay and The other reason the other benefit of being a first connection with someone is that all of a sudden we’re kind of in the same network, right? so for example, Could go to linkedin.com in the search field put my cursor in there hit enter I do that just because it’s a little tricky just put your enter go to all filters and then I’m doing this memory I could say I want to know

Yeah. Yeah.

all of the second connections, meaning let’s say you, because we’re connected, of my connection, Cat del Carmen, I wanna know who is a founder. So whoever has said I’m a founder or a CEO or an HR person or a podcast, whatever, like doesn’t matter. So I’m like, LinkedIn, out of these 900 million people, I want you to tell me who in Cat’s network is a podcast host?

Mm-hmm.

Using a keyword podcast and then it’ll bring it up. So now I’ve got let’s say there’s three people that you’re connected with Who are podcast I’m gonna be like, that I think I would be great on the podcast Let me ask Cat for an introduction. For example

Yeah.

So genius. Wow. I’m kind of stunned. That’s crazy. Okay, okay. Since time’s running out, I want to ask you a couple more things or at least one or two things. When it comes to content, right? Because that was one of the Cs that you mentioned. When it comes to content, what do you see works better? Like, what do you recommend to your clients?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I didn’t ask my question.

Yes, so what I would say, if I could just say one thing, would say telling your personal story related to your business is very powerful. So it’s kind of like first person about something that I experienced that is related to business.

Mm-hmm.

Got it. And someone else’s growth, your ideal client’s growth, I imagine.

Yes, anything like I did this thing, like I was on the call with the client the other day, or I got this referral from a client and this thing happened. And I just reminded me that I shouldn’t do this one thing because this is how it ended up, right? A lesson learned and plus everybody listen up, a photo, a selfie, get out your phone and take photos. It just works, right? From the algorithm perspective. So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you’re gonna do any post, would say a personal story, so a first person, like a story about you in your business related to, that’s helpful to your client. It’s not like something that nobody cares about, With a photo of yourself, like it’s so funny, like I have so many just random selfies of myself. If you have professional photos, that’s great too, but people think, I can’t do selfies on LinkedIn. Like no, go take a selfie in your living room.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I’m to use all my, I’m going to,

I’m literally going to go to my team and we’re like, change up everything. This is the strategy. This is so good.

But

isn’t that what you do on Instagram?

You know, I think with Instagram, changes the… I feel like it changes a little. think this is, yes, right now, I feel like personal stories, it’s like a great time. mean, personal stories are always good, right? But I think right now people are just very over like, markety content, right? Like the very structured markety content that they’re craving more realness. They’re craving…

more of like a conversation in their content, which is very much like what you’re talking about, like speaking in first person, right? And saying like, starting from my perspective, like when I did this or I remember when I whatever, I think that works well, but I think in like the last three or four years, a lot of…

content that was also working was more educational and more Mixing like you of course mixing your story storytelling is always always a good idea, but I also think that kind of having a Building a little bit more authority what for sharing your? Sharing your like this like your three C’s sharing your expertise and and all that I’m sure it’s the same like it like the same in different ways

I tell my clients, like I always tell my clients four types of content. There’s like, and you probably have something similar where one is very solutions focused, right? Like here’s just a problem that your client has. And I also tell them to use it, use their clients words, right? So like not the coachy words or not the industry words, like use the way your clients would explain it. So like solutions focus.

Leadership content, leadership content actually works really well too. And what I call leadership content, which is basically like unpopular opinions, polarizing ideas or polarizing beliefs, something that really triggers people a little bit. And it also clears out the people that are not feeling it. And then what are the other ones? possibility, which is.

Yeah.

Possibility

is like examples of what’s possible. So that could not only include stories, but also includes behind the scenes and showing kind of like the real life stuff and letting people get to know you a little bit. And then the last one is education, educational. I don’t think I said that. Yeah. Possibilities, solutions. Yeah. So mostly those, but this makes sense because what I’ve personally found through my clients that use LinkedIn is,

Yeah, when they’re speaking in first person, when they’re like, when it feels approachable, but you’re also giving them some kind of value, that makes sense. Like that makes a lot of sense.

think those four categories are perfect. Like you could do a post on LinkedIn four times a week with each of those categories. you know, when I say, like if I’m saying like to your audience, like what’s the one thing, like that is very, that mix is particularly compelling. But I will say that if you’re telling a personal story about something and you’re teaching something about that, it is still educational. So it’s kind of nice. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, 100%. Stories could

be in all of those. Yeah, for sure, for sure. And they should probably be. Like, your stories should absolutely be. So that’s so, so, so good. Wow. I feel like I got a master class on LinkedIn and my clients will too. And I’m sure there’s so much more too. You’re amazing. Thank you so much. So.

Where can people learn about, I mean, for sure on LinkedIn. Tell us where we could find you on, how do we find you properly on LinkedIn actually? Because I have this problem sometimes where I can’t find people. Where can people find you? Besides the link that I’m gonna grab from LinkedIn and put on the show notes, okay? You could also just easily do that. But where else if they’re searching for you?

would go to LinkedIn and type in my name. It’s Celina with a C. I’m sure you’ll find it in some of the show notes. Yes, but to comment on sometimes you can’t find people on LinkedIn, you know what I often I’ll do? I’ll go to Google and search their name because LinkedIn has really like strong domain strength. so like often the other reason that even if you’re not even active on LinkedIn, I’ll just throw this in as a last little.

Yeah, it’ll be front and center of this podcast.

that’s smarter.

Yeah.

that little tip. Even if you’re not on LinkedIn, getting your profile up and running can be helpful because it’s validation. And the chances that Google will find you and at least run people to your LinkedIn profile, even if you don’t even spend any time on there, is really powerful. anyway, you can find me on LinkedIn, Celina Guerrero. Honestly, if you Google me, I’m hoping I’ll show up. You can go to my website, which is Celinaguerrero.com as well. It’s pretty simple. And…

Got it

Yeah, it’s honestly pretty easy to find me and I would love if you want to learn more about LinkedIn, just send me connection request and use the formula I gave you. You can also follow me, but yeah, connect with me and say, hey, hi Celina, I just heard you on Cat’s podcast. Let’s connect.

Post and her connection.

Yes, do that.

Do that to me too, okay?

Yeah, exactly. No, no, no, no. Yeah, totally. I’m not trying to like, pick myself up. my, that’s, no, that’s even better. Listeners, go to LinkedIn, find Cat, hate Cat, and then make up something, find something you know about her and say, love your podcast. Let’s connect.

No, I’m, I’m, it’s because I have to like, for me it’s registering, right? I’m like, that’s right, me too.

That would be it.

Yeah,

I, for me, just know when you do that, it’s gonna be practice for me. So I’m gonna be like, hey, are we taking Celina’s advice?

And then all of a sudden you go into the DMs and you’re like, hey, thanks for following. Like, I’m so glad you listened to the podcast.

Yeah. Oh, I love it.

I think what you, I think so many people are going to leave this podcast and feel so much more safety to engage on LinkedIn and to just feel like, okay, like it’s like you like all the speculation and I don’t know. I’m not sure. And it’s like, Oh no, we’re all still people. Just a whole bunch of humans online.

and you basically use the same skills you have if you’re on any other platform. And it just has to be more intentional. Like I think that’s really it, right? Like you just gotta be on a little bit more intentional where I think Instagram, for example, there’s, I mean, there’s pluses and minuses to both, but I think on Instagram, you really have to show a lot. It seems, I think, we’ll see, but it seems like you have to, you have to guess a lot of.

You have to be more specific on who you’re talking to. Try to like speak to the right person because you can’t find your people for the most part that well. There’s a lot of guesstimating. You cannot filter people. cannot like there’s so much you can’t do. So you’re just trying to create content that really attracts those people, which can have a lot of nuance. So this is so, so good. Okay. And I also just Googled you with the word coach next to it, just your name and coach and

The second, I think your website was first and then the second one was LinkedIn. So you could just do that guys. Yes.

There you go. I’ve done something right. I’ve actually found findable on LinkedIn, thank God. I mean,

on Google, thank God. But yeah, no, I mean, please, connect with me. I have lots of free resources, so I’ll send them to you.

Yeah, you do.

I think my client signed up for one of them. I was like, because we were looking at your page. I’m like, you should sign up for that. I was like.

Awesome!

The

winners, I don’t know when this is gonna go live. I know this is still recording,

Probably the end of this month or early March. Not too long.

Okay, well,

I will just share with the listeners that on February 24th, 25th, 26th, I’m doing a three day free free workshop on LinkedIn and it’s covering content connections and conversations. If you are listening to this podcast after that date, I’m going to do it probably at the end of March, early April. So I’m always doing that as a really like basic LinkedIn basic, really helpful, I think workshop. So, you know, just connect.

Yeah.

Amazing!

There’s the opportunities to learn if you are interested. Anyway, Cat, this has been so fun. You’re such a great interviewer and I just love talking to you. It’s so fun.

Bye.

No,

this was so fun. I think we’ll get it out. We’ll get it out before you said the 24th Okay, yeah, we could get it. Yeah, we’ll get it. We’ll get it out before that

Yeah, February.

And

people might be listening afterwards. There’s always other things, so, but thank you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you go to her page, you’ll see it. You’ll see right where she said right where she told us to do it. The the features part, right? Features, that’s where you put your goodies.

Yes, click on that.

Yeah, that’s your display case.

You’re teaching us.

Thank you so much. You are amazing. Go follow her and we’ll see you next time guys.