Does your Linkedin profile need to be perfect before launching?

Does your LinkedIn profile need to be perfect before you start engaging?

Take it from someone who has changed her Linkedin profile 289780 times.

NO.

My last tagline was “Change the world, one story at a time”.

I loved it.

After all, it’s authentic and reflects what I want to do.

𝖠̲𝗇̲𝖽̲ ̲𝗍̲𝗁̲𝖺̲𝗍̲ ̲𝗐̲𝖺̲𝗌̲ ̲𝗍̲𝗁̲𝖾̲ ̲𝗍̲𝗋̲𝗈̲𝗎̲𝖻̲𝗅̲𝖾̲ ̲𝗐̲𝗂̲𝗍̲𝗁̲ ̲𝗆̲𝗒̲ ̲𝗍̲𝖺̲𝗀̲𝗅̲𝗂̲𝗇̲𝖾̲

It was what *I* wanted.

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥.

Still, I was very attached to it and refused to change it.

Until Linette Heng triggered me.

On one of her trips to Penang, we were hanging out for ice-cream when I finally plucked up the courage to ask her.

“𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀? 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿?”

She was kind, but she didn’t mince her words.

It took only 5 minutes for me to get the message. (She’s just that sharp as a people reader. Hire her as a life coach, folks. Although I can only afford home-cooked meals for now).

In a nutshell, she told me to see how other Linkedinfluencers did it.

My ego took a bit of a knock.

After all, I’m supposed to be a writer.

But I really wanted to improve, so I swallowed my pride and spent the evening stalking other Linkedinfluencers.

It was eye-opening.

The answer came to me in the shower.

“𝗥𝗮𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜.”

Did it work?

Well, in the last one month, I’ve gained more connections than the last two years combined.

And even received some direct compliments about my new tagline.

Oh and one other tip from Linette?

Change my photo.

I did, from one with eyes looking down, to one where I smile directly into the camera.

So that I look less fierce and more approachable lah.

So, back to my question: should you show up on Linkedin when your profile isn’t perfect?

Absolutely.

Go ahead and “beautify” your Linkedin profile a little if it’s too raw.

But don’t take too long and overthink.

Because perfectionism doesn’t deliver results. Progress does.