5
Administrative Assistant's
UPDATE
By Leslie Hughes
When people look at your profile
they will zero in on three areas: Your
photo, your headline and your sum-
mary.
Did you know that you have up to
120 characters in the headline section
where you can highlight who you are,
and how you help your target audi-
ence?
The headline area sits directly
beneath your professional photo, and
most people simply list their current
title in this field. Instead, why not take
the opportunity to use this valuable
real estate to transform the copy from
"meh" to "yeah"!
Writing a LinkedIn header that shines online
Option #1. Write a short unique value
proposition.
Include a short bio that highlights your role, your com-
pany and whom your company helps.
Example #1: Executive Assistant at XYZ Company.
Specializing in widgets for the film industry.
Example #2: Administrative Assistant at ABC Com-
pany. Helping sales professionals generate warm leads.
Fill-in-the-blanks: __________ (your role) at ________
(your company). Helping ________ (target audience)
___________(achieve results)
Option #2: Focus on keywords.
Sometimes you wear so many hats, it's hard to narrow
down all of your awesome accomplishments into a
simple sentence. Use keywords and simple bullet points
to delineate what you do.
Example: Executive Assistant at ABC Company •
Problem Solver • Organization & Efficiency Expert •
Multi-tasker Extraordinaire.
Remember that you can always make changes to
your LinkedIn profile. The copy you have on your profile
today can be revised tomorrow (just be sure there are no
typos in the copy).
LinkedIn is the channel you're supposed to include
your accomplishments, so stand in your value and let
yourself shine online.
Leslie Hughes is a LinkedIn optimization specialist, professor of
social media, corporate trainer, principal of PUNCH!media and
author of Create. Connect. Convert. Called a "social media guru"
by CBC Radio, Leslie has been working in digital marketing since
1997. PUNCH!media's goal is to empower through education and
help executives gain confidence in their online presence.
www.punchmedia.ca
leslie@punchmedia.ca
Sign up for Leslie's newsletter at www.punchmedia.ca
Leslie Hughes
Update: VA start-up – Continued from page 4
what I have spent the remainder of my
day on."
Each of her clients is on a long-term
contract and prepays, at $50 per hour,
for a minimum of 10 hours of Had-
dad's services per month.
Clients (most are in the Toronto
area, but one is in New Jersey and
another in Colorado) can carry over
unused paid-for hours for 30 days,
but after that they will lose them. For
Haddad, the paid-up retainer system
gives her revenue "that I can count on
to pay business expenses and pay for
household expenses as well."
Though she's pleased with the
progress her business has made (she's
now earning well over her salary when
she left the corporate world), she says
"I want more people, I want to be top
of mind. I want to turn people away is
what I really want to do."
To would-be VAs, Haddad says,
"Running a business, whether it is
only you or you develop a team, takes
hard work, long hours, dedication and
investing financially and mentally into
making the business viable. Starting
a business as a way to make 'extra
money' to help your family financially
is not necessarily the mindset that will
keep you going when things get tough.
"When things get tough is when
you invest more into your business
and yourself and you push through to
make it more."
