Women’s Independent Press

 

3 Reasons Why Most Women Entrepreneurs Fail To Attract Clients Using LinkedIn

By Kristina Jaramillo

There are over 80 million influential professionals from over 200 countries on LinkedIn that can become your woman-owned business’s potentials customers. In fact, LinkedIn’s membership is what Neilson Online is calling “The world’s largest audience of affluent, influential professionals” as you will find executives from all Fortune 500 companies there. Plus, you will find experienced professionals from large and small companies and every type of business and industry imaginable.

So, why aren’t you able to attract more clients?

You as a woman entrepreneur have courage, vision, intuition and persistence. You connect easily with others. You are passionate and enthusiastic. In fact, you cannot stop talking about what you. And, you don’t forget to emphasize the benefits of your services to your potential customers. You are a real pro at using your contacts – but you are just not connecting with anyone on LinkedIn.

Out of the 80 million professionals, there are only a few internet marketers and companies that are successfully getting more clients each and every single day from LinkedIn. Below, you will find out their secrets to attracting clients that are ready, willing and able to invest in their products or services.

 

3 Reasons Why You Are Not Attracting More Clients and Making More Money with LinkedIn

 

Reason #1 – You are waiting for prospects to come to you

Clients who are willing to pay for your products and services will not just fall into your lap.  As an entrepreneur you have to make it part of your job to go out and find them.

Think of it this way, who is the interested party in this situation: You or the person who doesn’t even know they know they need your services or products.

You have to be the one the take charge and find your prospects. Here are a few ways to easily engage with others on LinkedIn…

• Update your status message daily.
• Start a vigorous discussion in various groups that you belong to. This will enable you to prove your expertise in your given area.
• Answer questions on the Q & A Boards. This will show your experience and help you become a thought leader.

 

Reason #2 –You fail to take advantage of LinkedIn groups

LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups – where you can network, join conversations and show prospects that you have the answers to their problems. Yet, most small business owners and internet marketers do not actively seek groups that they should belong to.

If they do join groups they make these two mistakes:

• They become a member of a group – but they sit there like a lump on the log. How can you expect prospects to come to you if you do not take the time to make yourself heard?
• They join groups where there are like members. Let me put it to you this way, do you want to be a member of a group that is full of your competition or do you want to belong to a group that is full of people who could turn out to be your prospects. It sounds pretty obvious to me that you would want to be where your prospects are. But many entrepreneurs fail to think outside the box and strictly join groups based on their field of expertise.

 

Another way, to take advantage of LinkedIn groups is to create your own group. This is the absolute best way to create your own community of followers. You are the one who is in charge of the type of content that is posted. You can make sure what you have to say is heard and you have the power to control your own group.  From my experience, many group members religiously check out what is being discussed in the groups they find the most useful.  Why can’t your group be one of them?

Reason #3 – Failure to Create Content and Distribute it to the Different Groups

Eric Gruber (My Partner at GetLinkedInHelp.com and Founder of Article Marketing Experts) belongs to 50 different groups. Now, if each of the 50 groups has at least 1,000 members, then each time he submits content, he is getting his content in front of 50,000 potential clients – just with a couple clicks of the mouse.

So, you need to create content that…

• Proves your expertise
• Sparks controversy and debate
• Gets people talking
• Entices prospects to visit your blog and website
• Motivates prospects to take action (using your products or services of course)

 

If you need help creating content, check out these free article templates.

Just by avoiding these common LinkedIn mistakes, you will begin to build your list of connections and prospects. Continue the conversation – and you will turn these prospects into paying customers and clients.

Now the three mistakes I outlined in this article is part of a larger special report where I detail 14 LinkedIn mistakes and the opportunities you are missing. You can get it for free at www.GetLinkedInHelp.com.

 

About the Author:
LinkedIn Expert Kristina Jaramillo creates online marketplace opportunities for women entrepreneurs who want more website traffic, prospects and profits. Now, with her free special report, you can uncover how you can become “the trusted source for your industry on LinkedIn” and along with easy ways to gain more connections fast by avoiding the top 14 mistakes. Get this information for free at www.GetLinkedInHelp.com.

A “demonic musical mantra.” This was how a friend recently described the position of some popular music for large portions of America’s youth.

 

We were discussing women and their role in the world of music. In spite of a very real presence in music throughout history, music history books have, until very recently, ignored women composers and performers. If they haven’t been ignored, women in the world of classical music have been treated with tokenism.

 

From the Middle Ages all the way up until the late 1500s, Hildegard of Bingen and the Comtessa de Dia are the only two women whose music is known to survive. And of course, the low profile is merely reflective of women in society at large in those long-ago days. A prime reason for this is that education, and the advancement that education can provide, was not offered equally to women and men.

 

By the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries, more women’s voices are heard. The music of Maddalena Casulana, Francesca Caccini and Barbara Strozzi survives. As we move into the 18^th and 19^th century, many more women in music are known. Clara Schumann, wife of the more familiar Franz, and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, sister of the better known Felix Mendelssohn are among the most famous. These composers’ music holds its own when compared to similar works by the men of their time.

 

It is most amazing that these women were able to accomplish all they did in spite of the fact that, like most women in the western world, they had to constantly deal with difficult restrictions on their behavior and activities. Restrictions included travelling only in the company of a man, focusing most of their attention and energy on their home and family. They were to be their husband’s faithful and constant caregiver, as well as a mirror of his every opinion. Essentially, a woman’s horizons and accomplishments were limited to the home. To vary from the norm could lead to the destruction of a woman’s reputation, and sometimes her family’s reputation. Even up until the late 20^th century, women in the world of classical music still faced the stereotyping, the exclusionary practices, the sexism, not to mention the racism, that was prevalent in earlier centuries.

 

Still, regardless of their difficulties, women in the world of classical music did not fit the description of “demonic.”

 

When we turn to popular music, women have definitely had a much greater voice, but again one can’t really describe it as being demonic. From the early 20^th century on, blues greats such as Memphis Minnie, Ma Rainy, Bessie Smith and others set the stage for later performers such as Etta James, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee and too many others to mention. Talented women who were dedicated, hard-working, devoted, sometimes troubled, they still can’t really be called demonic.

 

Rock, Pop, and Indie music also have their female greats, as does Christian music. Women are well represented in Country music, as well as in Folk and its close cousin, Protest music. In most of these genres, women performers are constantly faced with the decision of whether or not to use or exploit their sexuality as a means of gaining attention. The jury is still out on whether women’s’ hyper sexualized performances speak to women’s strength, power and control or pander to the male (i.e., pornographic) gaze as filtered through the media and the music industry, as Sut Jhally’s Dreamworlds would have us understand.

 

Many issues dealing with women and popular music have been, and are still, problematic. But demonic? I couldn’t see it, except in one genre—Hip-Hop. My companion smiled at my understanding, and at my agreement. And rather than women causing this musical mantra, it is in their exploitation that the damage happens. It is in the misogynistic expressions of Hip-Hop music that the term “demonic musical mantra” begins to make sense.

 

Sadly for women, all women, misogyny is a part of mainstream American culture, whether acknowledged or not. And as we read in an article by Ayanna, Hip-Hop expresses the ideas of mainstream American culture. These ideas that have “now been internalized and embedded into the psyches of American people, especially people of color, over the past number of years” (Ayanna, 1).

 

The jury is not out on the wrongness of continually describing women or girls as ho’s, bitches and sluts, mantra like. However, there is no consensus on how to stop the misogyny. Some young friends suggested the following possibilities:

 

• “Show how sexist, misogynistic values are not correct. Every effort has to be made to teach girls, and boys, how to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong, especially as regards what they see in the media.”

 

Education is the key. Education can come from a teacher, a preacher or pastor, a relative. A good role model is useful too. Positive role models for boys and girls may be difficult to find within the world of Hip-Hop itself, as the bands with the more positive messages get less air time. Sex sells. Misogyny must too.

 

• “Boycott the music labels that sell objectionable stuff. Tell your friends. Spread the word.”

 

A boycott can be a powerful tool, but only if it is widespread. Wikipedia tells us that “most organized consumer boycotts today are focused on long-term change of buying habits,” which can only be successfully initiated and maintained through consumer commitment. Social networking sites could be a big help in spreading the news of a boycott of objectionable, exploitive music. Regardless, this will be a difficult thing to accomplish, because the outcry against misogyny is minuscule and the music industry is mighty.

 

• “Empower young women (and men). Don’t let them think that the lyrics are true or that they are the only truth. Social networking sites should promote knowing what you are dancing to. . . . getting everyone to talk about the lyrics will help young girls learn to recognize what they are hearing and what affect they have.”

 

So many girls just tune out the lyrics, ignore them, and just start dancing to the beat. The negativity expressed in the lyrics needs to be talked about so that girls can’t easily make this “disconnect” between what is being said and the sexy, seductive rhythm that accompanies it.

 

• It is critical to stop women from taking on the roles expressed in the lyrics by showing women in intellectual roles or other positions of empowerment. Show women that they can defy the stereotypes expressed in Hip-Hop music’s lyrics.

 

• Blog about women’s negative image in Rap and Hip-Hop—this will get more people involved.

 

The more people are aware of the negative effects on young girls and women caused by the exploitation of Hip-Hop music, and where the roots of that exploitation lie, the more discussion can be started in mainstream America. The sooner that happens, the sooner the exploitation of women can begin to be reduced in Hip-Hop culture.

 

After centuries of inequality, women can now pursue the same goals as men. It is ironic that though so much has changed, in Hip-Hop culture and elsewhere, that change is ignored, demeaned or undervalued. I look forward to the day when Ayanna or one of her girlfriends can write an article about the new trend of women’s empowerment in Hip-Hop culture instead of their exploitation. That will be the day when the demonic musical mantra will be laid to rest, with a new and positive mantra taking shape in the minds, hearts, and the dance music, of the youth of America.

 

Works Cited

Ayanna, “The Exploitation of Women in Hip-hop Culture.” http://www.mysistahs.org/features/hiphop.htm

 

“Hip-Hop and Misogyny Discussion.”

http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/vanessaaishacoleman/2009/6/6/Hip-Hop-and-Misogyny

 

Sut Jhally, Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex and Power in Music Video. Media Education Foundation, 2007.

 

Wikipedia, “Boycott.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott