Cracking the LinkedIn Algorithm: Alicia Teltz on Building a Six-Figure Funnel in Public

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Title: Cracking the LinkedIn Algorithm: Alicia Teltz on Building a Six-Figure Funnel in Public

Orlando Wood (00:06)
I’m so excited and glad you agreed to do this. I’ve been, I’ve been
following what you’ve been doing, ⁓ for quite some time, but thank you
for coming on the podcast.
Alicia Teltz (00:15)
I’m very excited to be here. Thank you for having me.
Orlando Wood (00:17)
Good,
great. It’s been, it’s an absolute pleasure to give a little context.
You are the founder of a company called the Hype Department that you
are, you know, you were previously at LinkedIn and now you are on the
beginnings of this journey and you’re getting a lot of traction being
a sort of LinkedIn consultant slash influencer. If I’m allowed to use
that term. Great. Yeah. And I’m just,
Alicia Teltz (00:39)
creator, however you’d like to call it.
Orlando Wood (00:43)
I’m fascinated by the point you’re at at your journey because your
trajectory has been phenomenal. And so I’m fascinated to kind of
discover, you know, how you’re making that transition. Your experience
obviously at LinkedIn is something you’re drawing on a lot, but
you’ve, you know, the last kind of six months, you’ve just left
LinkedIn and now you’re striking out on your own. How’s it been? How’s
it going? Can you tell us about your journey?
Alicia Teltz (01:08)
I’m so happy currently. Honestly, someone actually said to me, like,
look, it’s a honeymoon phase. Like, it will be over. Enjoy it while it
lasts. But it’s just like, I’m currently in this, like, this bubble. I
really enjoy just not having a team meeting to go to, not a manager to
report to. Like, I keep checking my phone and thinking like, I need to
check, like, my team’s messages to make sure that my manager doesn’t
think I’m just, off work. Because I’ve been working in corporate for,
15 years and now going basically from, like, working for massive
organizations to nothing.
working for myself. But I absolutely love it because I…
Orlando Wood (01:36)
Right. Still randomly
moving your mouse even though you don’t need to just to.
Alicia Teltz (01:40)
I know. I think

it just takes like a long time to break that habit. But I just love
making my own decisions. The other day I went to the gym at 10 a.m.
and I was like, who else is at the gym at like 10 a.m.? Like I can
make those decisions and I just absolutely love it. Like structuring
the day how it feels good for you is just perfect.
Orlando Wood (01:55)
Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, I mean, what’s been so compelling to watch
you, you know, is, you know, I became aware of you, you know, probably
about three, four months ago, you, I sort of watched you transition,
and you’ve been very good about articulating your goals. And I watched
you transition from, had set a goal while you were at LinkedIn of
going from 2,000 followers to 10,000 And then fairly immediately, you
set a new goal, and you’ve been achieving those goals in public.
And that goal was, I’m earning approximately 250,000 euros at
LinkedIn. I want to completely replace that salary by becoming a
LinkedIn consultant and ⁓ an influencer. And you’ve been working to
that goal out loud as well, and publicly. And you just left LinkedIn,
what, three weeks ago? I mean, so you are right at the beginning.
Okay, right. I’m sure it feels like longer.
Alicia Teltz (02:44)
A week and a half ago, a week and a half ago.
It does. So yeah, and also I love that you said that you followed me
for like a few months now, which is so funny because I actually only
started showing up on LinkedIn in February, which is like five months
ago. It’s not that long ago. And I started basically from zero, more
or less. I had like a few followers, like I had around 2000 followers,
but they were all like accumulated from like a long period of time,
very random ones, like ex colleagues, ex clients from other companies
I worked for.
Orlando Wood (02:50)
Alright.
Right? Yeah. Right.
Alicia Teltz (03:14)
and never really posted on LinkedIn prior to that. But I knew that I
always wanted to work for myself. I had no idea what I wanted to do,
but I knew it would be so much easier that whatever I’m going to
launch is when I’m having an audience. So this is where I thought,
okay, it’s my birthday at the end of April, and I’m giving myself the
gift of freedom, which is basically like fitting and handing in my
notice. And this is why I set that goal, that I want to grow the
following. And what I was thinking is,
When I was working at LinkedIn, I was always telling my clients how
important it is to show up on LinkedIn and show who you are and the
work that you’re doing. Because if you’re not talking about it, who
else is going to see it? And then I thought, okay, I need to put into
practice what I’m preaching. So this is why I made that goal public.
And I had no idea whether that goal would actually like work. If it’s
hard, if it’s easy, I had literally no idea and I had no idea what I
need to do. But I thought if you bring people on that journey that
gets people invested.

When I was working at LinkedIn, I was always telling my clients how
important it is to show up on LinkedIn and show who you are and the
work that you’re doing. Because if you’re not talking about it, who
else is going to see it? And then I thought, okay, I need to put into
practice what I’m preaching. So this is why I made that goal public.
And I had no idea whether that goal would actually like work. If it’s
hard, if it’s easy, I had literally no idea and I had no idea what I
need to do. But I thought if you bring people on that journey that
gets people invested.
Orlando Wood (03:48)
Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (04:06)
I was just thinking about myself, like that content that I enjoy
watching, consuming the most is that content that I can resonate with,
that I can see like, someone is actually like doing it like in real
time. It’s not like they’re saying, look at me, I’m amazing and I’ve
achieved all of this. It’s actually showing like raw, like
authentically, like how you get there, the learnings, the short
points, the wins. And this is how you really get people like excited,
like in terms of like the storytelling and everything. So when I said
that first goal.
Orlando Wood (04:13)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (04:34)
And then I achieved it. was like, okay, I really would like to have
another goal. Like I love this building in public. So then the next
goal was actually just saying like my countdown to freedom, which is
just like counting down the days until I’m leaving LinkedIn. And then
once that happened, the new goal was now a monetary one to replace my
salary. And I’m still on it, but I keep everyone in the loop. let’s
see.
Orlando Wood (04:38)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, well, I think that, you know, what I find so great about that is
that I struggle with it all the time is is the authenticity of showing
up on these social media platforms. I sort of think of all of my most
cynical friends reading my posts and going, God, Orlando really thinks
he’s someone now, you know, or it’s a really cringy place to be. And
I, you know, what I appreciate about you is that

Yeah, well, I think that, you know, what I find so great about that is
that I struggle with it all the time is is the authenticity of showing
up on these social media platforms. I sort of think of all of my most
cynical friends reading my posts and going, God, Orlando really thinks
he’s someone now, you know, or it’s a really cringy place to be. And
I, you know, what I appreciate about you is that
Alicia Teltz (05:12)
Yeah.
Orlando Wood (05:18)
when you state that goal in public, anything you’re then doing to
achieve that goal is fundamentally authentic. And I think that that’s
what’s been so nice about watching you do it is, you know, seeing that
goal at the end of the rainbow, I think makes a viewer go, I see why
she did that. okay, cool. And that may not have been the natural way
she would wanna speak about this subject necessarily, but she is
trying to achieve a goal, and so that’s authentic to that goal.
Alicia Teltz (05:45)
Yeah, and I’m being humble.
I’m not, and I think why people sometimes feel like it’s cringe
posting on LinkedIn. It’s like, because they’re pretending to be
someone they not necessarily are, or they are not really necessarily
are like used to articulating. So if you’re just thinking about
posting on LinkedIn as if you’re talking to a friend, it becomes much
less cringy. It feels much more like, hey, I’m just sharing something
with a group of friends. And this is what I was doing by being
transparent about everything. I’m saying like, look, I’m just figuring
this out. I have no idea what I’m actually doing, but I’m stumbling my
way through it. And I’m also like, when I
Orlando Wood (05:47)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (06:16)
on that journey, I was also talking about that I actually still feel
cringe talking about it. Now I don’t feel cringe anymore because the
more you do it, the less cringe it feels. They always call it a cringe
mountain. You have to climb the cringe mountain and whoever is on that
mountain with you, they will cheer you on. It’s only those people on
base camp that will talk about you, but they are way too fearful to
ever climb the cringe mountain themselves. And once they’re actually
on the cringe mountain, then it’s the land of desire, but you have to
get there.
Orlando Wood (06:29)
I like that.
Yeah.

Well, that’s very funny. It’s true because I think that like the
people who are at base camp, as you say, they’re the people who sort
of know you personally, probably, or have worked with you or whatever
else. And then you’re trying to sort of show up and demonstrate value
to others and try to be a bit of a, you know, again, I cringe at the
term thought leader or whatever those things are. But you’re trying to
deliver value and
Alicia Teltz (07:03)
Mm-hmm.
Orlando Wood (07:07)
the people that then come, you reach this critical mass where more
people are there that don’t physically know you and haven’t spoken to
you in private and haven’t been at your house at two in the morning,
drunk or whatever those things are. And then you reach this critical
mass where more people are there who actually appreciate how you’re
showing up. And then you feel quite emboldened by that change in the
group of people who are listening.
Alicia Teltz (07:20)
Yeah.
I remember the first time someone commented on my post that I didn’t
know and I was like, my God, like I made it. Like it’s so cool.
Suddenly having someone that you don’t know commenting and like, my
God, I’m a celebrity. But it’s exactly what you said. Like we are
always overthinking, like what the people that we know might think
about us. And we just call onto their own insecurities. They secretly
probably thinking, I would like to do what they’re doing, but I’m not
like bold enough.
Orlando Wood (07:37)
Mm-hmm.
Right? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (07:57)
to actually do it. So it’s easier for them to just talk a little bit
negatively, but you just have to blend that out and just do your own
thing and it will just get easier and easier as you go along. You just
have to do it.
Orlando Wood (08:06)
Yeah,
well that’s fascinating. mean, how do you coach people into that? I
mean, I would imagine that the biggest blocker is the personal one,
the battle they’re fighting inside about the whole thing. How do you
navigate that?

well that’s fascinating. mean, how do you coach people into that? I
mean, I would imagine that the biggest blocker is the personal one,
the battle they’re fighting inside about the whole thing. How do you
navigate that?
Alicia Teltz (08:19)
Yeah.
To be fair, the first hurdle is getting people to understand the
importance of personal branding. It’s actually getting their head to
wrap around, especially in the world of AI and everything. You need to
show your value. You need to show who you are, what you do, what you
can bring to the world, et cetera. And a lot of people need to
understand this first, the importance of showing up. And when they
actually do that, understand that. Then it’s like, okay, what steps
can we put into place to make you feel comfortable showing up? And you
don’t need to go from zero to 100. This is also what I did.
Orlando Wood (08:44)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (08:48)
on LinkedIn, like I didn’t just like suddenly like bam, here I am and
like all the great visuals and this and that and like I took it in
stages. Like in the beginning, you can just like comment on other
people’s posts. You can reshare a post. You can put a post together
that is about a book that you’re reading. Like you can be very safe in
the beginning that doesn’t feel cringy at all. That’s not talking
about you and being a thought leader. But like, for example, if you
are a lawyer, you can just talk about like a…
Orlando Wood (08:56)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Alicia Teltz (09:12)
book about law, I have no idea about law. But like something that is
like related to your industry, you can start talking about this and
then slowly but surely you can put the spotlight more and more onto
you, onto your storytelling, how you work with clients, et cetera. But
you don’t need to go from zero to 100 side away. And this is like how
you slowly ease your way into it.
Orlando Wood (09:14)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Is the strategy fundamentally different going from 2000 to 10,000
versus 10,000 and beyond

Alicia Teltz (09:36)
Yes and no.
So in theory, yes, because LinkedIn is a platform where you have
things in your own hands. It’s in your control. The more time and
effort you put in, the more you get out because you can comment on
other people’s posts. You can send connection requests. You can be
active in your DMs and you can post. Whereas on like TikTok or
Instagram, et cetera, it’s just all about content and then hoping that
people like jump onto the content. But on LinkedIn, you can do a lot
behind the scenes. And this is why it’s important. If someone is like
at a smaller number of people,
you
need to do a lot of work behind the scenes first. You need to mobilize
your audience. You also see a lot of big creators. They have like
100,000 followers, but when they do post, they get maybe like 50
likes. And that is just purely because the audience is quite dormant,
they are sleeping. Like you need to be really active on the platform
in the background to get that engagement. And then when you have good
engagement and you do post, the algorithm likes it because a lot of
people are commenting, et cetera, and then it spreads it out to more
people. So then you grow your audience. So in the beginning, when you
have a small audience, the algorithm
Orlando Wood (10:16)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (10:35)
is not pushing your content as much. So you need to do a lot behind
the scenes to get people onto your profile first, grow your network,
and then later on. And for me, tip-off point was around 5,000, 6,000
followers. That’s kind of where, whenever I posted just content…
it had enough of an effect for me to gain new followers. Whereas in
the beginning, I had to do a lot of work behind the scenes. So now as
I’m at like a bigger following, I don’t send as many connection
requests anymore. I don’t send as many comments anymore. If I were to
do that, I know I would right now also grow faster, but I know I can
scale back there a little bit, focus on other things. But for anyone
who is still at like the smaller number of followers,
Orlando Wood (10:54)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Right.

Alicia Teltz (11:14)
do the work behind the scenes. There’s like, I like to call it like
the 20, 20, 20 method. I should like trademark it. Maybe that should
be like my thing. But I always say like.
Orlando Wood (11:21)
Yes, I’ve heard
you talk about this. Yeah, yeah, dig in, dig into it. This’ll be,
this’ll be your, you know, I hope we can be your, your official launch
platform for this. And you know, we’ll, yeah. ⁓
Alicia Teltz (11:30)
Let’s hope so. Let’s hope so. But I try to make it like really
like actionable and easy for people. And so I’m thinking like take one
hour a day. If you’re serious about growing on LinkedIn, take one hour
a day to focus on LinkedIn. And then 20 minutes of that hour is 20
comments. So you comment on 20 other people’s posts. Then you send 20
connection requests to other people and 20 minutes in your DMs. That’s
kind of like.
your housekeeping per day on LinkedIn to enable you that growth and
then post at least three times a week. But if you just consistently do
that.
day after day, give it a month. And I already promised you, within a
month, you would have had so much movement that you see like this is
working and then you want to keep going. But all I tell people, just
give it a month, follow it, and you will see the results. Because
LinkedIn is such a beautiful platform. Sadly, I’m not working for
LinkedIn anymore and I’m not getting paid for saying this, but it is a
brilliant platform to do business. And it’s sourced in like only 1%.
Orlando Wood (12:11)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Right, yeah.
Alicia Teltz (12:29)
of all users, like it’s a billion users, only 1 % are actually posting
on LinkedIn. So that means if you are showing up consistently, you’re
so quickly in the top 1%.
Orlando Wood (12:29)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (12:39)

Alicia Teltz (12:39)
Like no other social media platform you can stand out that easily. And
that’s not just like for the white color workers, the ones that are
just like laptop based. If you’re a hairdresser, like there are no
other hairdressers on LinkedIn. If you show up talking about your
hairdresser business, you instantly stand out. You will do so well.
But it’s like, it’s the challenge to actually like get people to
understand this.
Orlando Wood (12:39)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think across a lot of platforms, consistency really is key.
And I think especially on LinkedIn, it’s key because you’re looking
for somebody who’s professional. You’re looking for somebody who, when
they set their mind to a task, they’re going to achieve it. And so
they might be a good person to hire to achieve tasks. That consistency
is incredibly valuable. think especially on LinkedIn, on other
platforms, it’s about getting the attention of the algorithm. I think
on LinkedIn, it’s more about proving to
the people who might hire you, people who might wanna collaborate with
you and those sorts of things, that you’re somebody who shows up and
does the task in front of them. And I think that that’s a secondary
benefit that’s much more human.
Alicia Teltz (13:38)
Absolutely people is like think of LinkedIn like your 24-7 networking
event online networking event There are so many people out there and
you never know who you stumble across who could be a business partner
an investor your future like employer
Orlando Wood (13:43)
Yeah.
Mm. Mm. ⁓
Alicia Teltz (13:52)
And oftentimes it’s the people that are lurking in the background that
see your content that will then slip into your DMs. Like when I
launched my first service, the people that bought it, I’ve never heard
of them before. They never commented, they never liked my stuff, they
never DMed me, but they saw my content. And you just never know and
you’re a little bit like insecure. You think like, I only get like 10
likes, but actually if those 10 likes result in one like call, that
might already be success.
Orlando Wood (13:56)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got two clients in the last two months. So a client a month who got
LinkedIn reached out to me on LinkedIn said, it looks like you’re
doing so well there. You guys are doing so much. So it was clear that
they had been seeing things for the last six months. mean, things that
they were referencing that I was talking about back in January, they
were referencing never liked anything, never.
you know, never messaged me, never liked anything, never commented,
never anything. And you realize that the impressions you’re getting is
a much deeper on it happening on a much deeper level. And, and, you
know, I think that, you know, certainly for the first few months, we
weren’t getting anything, but now we’ve really started to see it
become a significant, upper pipeline, you know, sales tool for us. ⁓
Alicia Teltz (15:01)
Nice! I really like that. How often
do you post on LinkedIn?
Orlando Wood (15:05)
I post three times a week, which I know you say is the minimum, but
yes, I’m still doing the minimum. But our company posts, we post for
the company four times a week and each of our staff post multiple
times. And then we’ll repost each other’s and things like that.
there’s definitely activity going on and between staff members, blog
posts and things that we update on the website, white papers we do.
Alicia Teltz (15:06)
Good? ⁓
Orlando Wood (15:31)
And then as well, you know, business announcements. What is
interesting, one of the things that we found is, unfortunately, I find
that some of the more personal human things are getting higher
impressions. And I do worry that the black arts of it all, obviously
LinkedIn is about, is a place where
business realities and strategies and, and, know, and as well
wrestling with the human parts of yourself that you have to wrestle
with when you’re starting a business, as, you know, just, you know, in
the last week and a half, you know, there’s an existential crisis
that’s always happening when you’re starting a business and trying to
get it to a place. And you have a, as Elon Musk said, a distillation
of all of the worst problems in your business. And especially when
starting your

business realities and strategies and, and, know, and as well
wrestling with the human parts of yourself that you have to wrestle
with when you’re starting a business, as, you know, just, you know, in
the last week and a half, you know, there’s an existential crisis
that’s always happening when you’re starting a business and trying to
get it to a place. And you have a, as Elon Musk said, a distillation
of all of the worst problems in your business. And especially when
starting your
constantly wrestling with the nightmare of will this become something
that can support me or not? But yes, do find that, so yes, there’s
always a human element to that, but I do find that posting things that
are not businessy get a lot more impressions and then that trickles
through to your next posts. And I do find that a bit semi disingenuous
on the platform. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.
Maybe your advice. Yeah. Great. Oh, good.
Alicia Teltz (16:42)
I’m very happy to dive into that, very happy. I also be very
passionate about this. ⁓
Yeah, so a lot of people say like that LinkedIn is becoming like kind
of the new Instagram. Like it’s just becoming more like the social
media platform where you post like the selfies et cetera. So I always
think of it like my content and I’m just saying my content, like
basically anyone’s content. Think about it as like a marketing funnel
and
Very basic like marketing one-on-one, but we have the top of the
funnel that is more like the broader kind of like content that is
appealing to the broader masses which is like about leadership about
like Various more like fluffy topics and this is also more like the
personal stuff that you talk about however talking about your personal
stuff can be very helpful because again what we said earlier like
LinkedIn is a platform about people and People only in sales make
business with people they like human to human
So they need to get to understand you, who you are. If you’re only
showing up on the platform and you only share an infographic or just
insights after insights after insights and nobody knows who you
actually are as a person, they will most likely not buy from you. Or
they are more hesitant or they’re not buying as quickly. You want to
show who you are as a person so you can already attract the type of
people that would naturally want to work with you and you can already
repel those people that wouldn’t want to buy from you anyways. And
also, so often I see this with people
They show up on LinkedIn in one way or another because they’re using
AI and it’s just like the same tone of voice. And then they show up
with one tone of voice in their posts. And then the next time when
they’re actually on the call with that person, they’re like, who are
you? Like, you sound so different to like how you show up on LinkedIn.
So it is important to show yourself from an algorithm perspective. And
pictures that are bright, colorful, where you can see people’s eyes,
where someone is smiling, where you transmit some sort of energy. They
just lock you in.

Orlando Wood (18:08)
and
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (18:30)
We want to be entertained and LinkedIn in the end is a social media
platform. Whilst it has the work angle to it, people, and this is just
human behavior, when you scroll on a platform, you want to be some
sort of entertained. You want to still get your bit of like dopamine
hit. And therefore when you scroll through your feed and you see a
nice picture, and I’m not just saying of a pretty woman, a pretty man,
just like a nice pleasant picture that is just driving your attention,
you naturally stay on it a little bit longer.
Orlando Wood (18:30)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (18:58)
And then also when you stay on it longer, the algorithm thinks, it
must be worthwhile. Also it like triggers our emotions. If it’s a
heartfelt post, if you talk about your wedding, for example, that is
just something that’s just like, that is really nice and I’m really
happy for you. So I give you a like. absolutely post that post, talk
about yourself, but make sure that it’s not just all about your
personal stuff, but you need to put some personality into your posts.
And I just want to get back to like this marketing funnel.
Orlando Wood (19:05)
You
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (19:23)
Because then we also would love to have like some posts that are more
about like, how are you actually working with clients? What exactly is
it that you do? How are you solving your clients’ pain points, et
cetera? Or like a call to action where you actually say like, look,
I’m running this webinar, sign up. The golden nugget, kind of like the
middle that would be perfect is if you can weave in a personal story
with your expertise. So I’m absolutely saying you can post about your
wedding and you can also just post about insights, but you can also…
We’ve both in don’t make it as like blend and saying like, this is
what getting married taught me about B2B sales. That is like, that is
terrible. But just like in general, you can talk about like an
experience. But yeah, this is kind of what I would say. Just like have
a mix in your content, use different like media as well. Like you want
to use images because you can just like, get.

We’ve both in don’t make it as like blend and saying like, this is
what getting married taught me about B2B sales. That is like, that is
terrible. But just like in general, you can talk about like an
experience. But yeah, this is kind of what I would say. Just like have
a mix in your content, use different like media as well. Like you want
to use images because you can just like, get.
Orlando Wood (19:52)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. I skated very close to that subject matter this week. I really
got close.
Alicia Teltz (20:18)
to know the person more. see also videos are great. You see how people
talk. You just relate to them so much more. You get to know them so
much better, but don’t overdo it.
Orlando Wood (20:26)
Right. Well, that brings up an interesting point about, obviously, you
know, your background is at LinkedIn. What is it that you know from
being within that environment, being so close to the platform? What is
it? You know, what insight does that give you into the platform and
sort of what what are the kind of
Yeah, what are the insights that you have from being there and
understanding the ethos of the place and how does that bleed into the
platform?
Alicia Teltz (20:51)
Yeah, in, would say two ways. First of all, for full transparency,
nobody knows the algorithm. If someone knows or claims to know the
algorithm, they’re probably trying to sell you something. So I think
not even LinkedIn knows how the algorithm works. It is just like, it’s
a big mystery and whatever works today might not work tomorrow.
Employees don’t know how the algorithm works. So that’s not something
that we would know. However.
What I really understand, and this is to be fair, this is public
information, but it is just something that’s really close to me
because I did work at LinkedIn is, on the one hand is how does
LinkedIn actually make money? Like what is actually their focus?
Because a lot of people use LinkedIn as like kind of like this, some
sort of social media platform or they use it extensively for like
finding a new job or like hiring people. But actually the way how
LinkedIn makes money is it’s a B2B software. Like LinkedIn is owned by
Microsoft. The number one revenue stream for LinkedIn
is our hiring tool. it’s like a completely separate software that
companies, let’s just take Coca-Cola as an example. They would spend
money with LinkedIn, millions, on having access to this recruitment
platform. They pay millions to post jobs on LinkedIn. So this is like
a huge revenue stream, but then also Coca-Cola would do marketing on
LinkedIn, like sponsored ads. So that is another huge revenue stream
for LinkedIn. And there’s a third revenue stream, is called LinkedIn
Sales, which is like sales navigator licensees.

is our hiring tool. it’s like a completely separate software that
companies, let’s just take Coca-Cola as an example. They would spend
money with LinkedIn, millions, on having access to this recruitment
platform. They pay millions to post jobs on LinkedIn. So this is like
a huge revenue stream, but then also Coca-Cola would do marketing on
LinkedIn, like sponsored ads. So that is another huge revenue stream
for LinkedIn. And there’s a third revenue stream, is called LinkedIn
Sales, which is like sales navigator licensees.
Orlando Wood (22:04)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (22:09)
And this is not just like us normal people upgrading our profile with
a sales navigator license. This is literally like LinkedIn providing
hundreds, if not thousands of licenses to Coca-Cola for a sales
navigator. So it’s like big B2B like corporate packages. And this is
how LinkedIn makes money. So this whole like creator economy, let’s
say on LinkedIn, where people think like, oh, you’re now like a
LinkedIn influencer and like you are a thought leader on LinkedIn.
This is actually just like, this is.
Orlando Wood (22:09)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (22:34)
Tiny like the people showing up on LinkedIn and posting on LinkedIn.
is just like more or less for your own benefit to find clients to
build your network. But it’s not that this is a revenue stream for
LinkedIn, which also then means like LinkedIn’s key focus is not on
helping you as a LinkedIn creator to like have like the best tools and
the best ways, et cetera. So LinkedIn’s focus is on like B2B and then
that gets also into the next part. And this is not officially
confirmed.
Orlando Wood (22:41)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (23:00)
but we can see this behind the scenes. LinkedIn has a big focus on
news. If you think about it, LinkedIn is the only social media
platform where you have to show up with your own real name. You have
to verify yourself. You have to verify that it is who you are, either
through your employer or through your passport. So that means you
can’t hide behind AI. It can’t be a double profile. It can’t be a
nickname. You are a real person. So that means the distribution of
news of today’s events can be distributed through a platform like
LinkedIn.
Orlando Wood (23:22)
Right? Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (23:29)
Because if you think about X or like any other platforms, like you
can’t really trust the information that is being spread. However, on
LinkedIn, it is all a little bit more real because it’s real people
and people know it is a real person saying X, Z. So they’re focusing a
little bit more on like that news distribution. And then also thinking
about it in terms of the algorithm. If you post about recent events,
the algorithm, if you post something that says like today, recent,
yesterday.

Because if you think about X or like any other platforms, like you
can’t really trust the information that is being spread. However, on
LinkedIn, it is all a little bit more real because it’s real people
and people know it is a real person saying X, Z. So they’re focusing a
little bit more on like that news distribution. And then also thinking
about it in terms of the algorithm. If you post about recent events,
the algorithm, if you post something that says like today, recent,
yesterday.
Orlando Wood (23:38)
Mm-hmm.
Interesting
Alicia Teltz (23:53)
If you reference external sources, there’s like this myth around like
if you put an external link into your post, it will not perform well.
That’s rubbish. ⁓
Orlando Wood (23:59)
Yes, I’ve
absolutely heard that and I’ve been staying away from it and like I’ve
been taking screenshots and putting it in rather than an external
link. That’s fascinating. So that’s not true.
Alicia Teltz (24:09)
I’m
busting this myth. I thought so previously as well, but it has now
been confirmed by internal LinkedIn sources. Initially, we all thought
LinkedIn doesn’t want you to go off the platform. So this is why we
all said like, don’t put in like external links. But actually, they
really want you to reference reputable external sources. I am not
sure, and I don’t think anyone else really knows.
whether they know and prioritize in the algorithm if you use like the
World Economic Forum, for example, or like Forbes, or like, you know,
like a more like reputable source.
Orlando Wood (24:39)
Right, so maybe your personal blog
might be a little bit downgraded, but if you’re linking to the New
York Times or, know, so, right. Right, okay, okay. No, okay.
Alicia Teltz (24:46)
That’s what I’m saying, but also I have no proof. Like I just want to
say I have no proof. This is just my logical thinking.
But in general, what we can see in terms of like, there are some like
algorithm reports out there. Nobody knows the algorithm, but it’s just
like people analyzing lots of different posts. They are saying,
actually, if you put in external links, it does not devalue it. And as
I said, like LinkedIn internally also said, you can absolutely put in
external links. So what they really want is like, they want recent
takes on events that are happening. So if you can…

But in general, what we can see in terms of like, there are some like
algorithm reports out there. Nobody knows the algorithm, but it’s just
like people analyzing lots of different posts. They are saying,
actually, if you put in external links, it does not devalue it. And as
I said, like LinkedIn internally also said, you can absolutely put in
external links. So what they really want is like, they want recent
takes on events that are happening. So if you can…
Orlando Wood (24:57)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.
Okay.
Wow.
Alicia Teltz (25:14)
If you want to position yourself as a thought leader, so think about
how can you craft your posts about recent events with your own views
on it, with your own take, with your own lens, with your own
expertise. That’s perfect. And this is also, you know, you have this
like top voice badge, the blue badge that a lot of people are really
chasing and would love to have. They’re being handed out by the
LinkedIn news team, like the LinkedIn editorial team. And this is
exactly the type of criteria they’re looking for in content in order
to handle those batches.
Orlando Wood (25:22)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (25:40)
like reviewing recent events, put your own lens to it, your own
expertise. You are very much showcasing that you are an expert in XYZ
field and you consistently apply those rules.
Orlando Wood (25:44)
Mm-hmm.
Wow, that’s fascinating. So you heard it here first. do, we no longer
have to put links in the comments. Is that what you’re saying?
Fabulous. That’s great news. That’s a real scoop. We don’t get a lot
of scoops on this podcast, but I feel like that’s a big one. Um, I
mean, speaking of that though, like, you know, I, I, I don’t want to
put you on the spot, but I, but I would love to at the same time. What
are the three, um,
Alicia Teltz (25:57)
That’s what I’m saying. That is good news, isn’t it? I know.
Here we go. ⁓
Let’s see what happens.

Orlando Wood (26:20)
What are the three things that, what are the three tricks? If there’s
a sort of dark arts of tricks or principles, what are the three tricks
that people can kind of use when they post to give themselves the best
opportunity for success?
Alicia Teltz (26:34)
All right, question of course is like, what does success mean? But
let’s just assume success means like a lot of engagement and a lot of
like clients booking in with them. Let’s just take this as like
success. Number one, engagement in the background. What we said
earlier, you need to do the background work. There’s something like we
call it like warming up your feed which is basically just before you
post, like maybe half an hour or an hour before, do like your 20, 20,
20 method, like.
Orlando Wood (26:38)
Mm-hmm, sure.
Alicia Teltz (26:59)
Send those connection requests, be active in your DMs because when
you’re just spoken to John in your DMs, your post that you are then
posting will be shown to John. So you know, when you’re on TikTok or
like on Instagram and you go onto like the real section, it is all
just like suggested content to you, like random content. Whereas on
LinkedIn, actually on the home feed, most of your content is from your
network and not just like a random person. So LinkedIn will prioritize
those people that you’ve recently engaged with.
Orlando Wood (27:21)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (27:26)
who they’re displaying your content to. So it’s like warming up your
feed. as I said, tip number one is behind the scenes, all those
activities, ideally before you post. That really helps with the
engagement on the post and the more engagement you have on the post,
the more the algorithm will distribute it. That’s tip number one. Tip
number two is authenticity. It’s being like yourself, but also when
you’re yourself, try to think about, and I said earlier, like,
Orlando Wood (27:42)
Great. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (27:52)
How would you speak to a friend? Like, how would you just describe
something to a friend? If you use emojis on WhatsApp, use emojis on
LinkedIn. If you like to speak with like an exclamation mark, put
exclamation marks into your post. On LinkedIn, everything currently is
so same-sy, same-sy, same-sy that if you are a little bit bold and a
little bit like have your own style and you’re a little bit different
and a little bit quirky, you instantly stand out. And that is like
your superpower.

How would you speak to a friend? Like, how would you just describe
something to a friend? If you use emojis on WhatsApp, use emojis on
LinkedIn. If you like to speak with like an exclamation mark, put
exclamation marks into your post. On LinkedIn, everything currently is
so same-sy, same-sy, same-sy that if you are a little bit bold and a
little bit like have your own style and you’re a little bit different
and a little bit quirky, you instantly stand out. And that is like
your superpower.
Orlando Wood (28:08)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Right.
Alicia Teltz (28:19)
And this is what people
Orlando Wood (28:19)
Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (28:19)
find refreshing. And this is what people make them follow you because
you are just, yeah, something for sore eyes. And the third one is just
consistency. It’s so boring. I’m sorry. This is like, sorry. last one
is like the most boring one, but it is just, you just have to stick
with it. It’s a slow and steady race, but it’s worthwhile.
Orlando Wood (28:25)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. I know that’s okay.
Yeah.
Okay, so to put you on the spot again, what are the three things you
see people doing, you know, doing incorrectly or three mistakes that
you think will most negatively impact people when they’re showing up
on LinkedIn?
Alicia Teltz (28:51)
using AI and that is yes, not showing up would be the first one. But
yeah, the first one would be using AI for commenting, for DM outreach
and for your content. It’s an absolute no-go. It kills your, it kills
everything. It kills your business. kills, yeah, just don’t use AI.
You can use AI to brainstorm. I do it. I love to talk to my chat, GPT
and I say like, Hey, I’m thinking of posting about XYZ like.
Orlando Wood (28:51)
And let’s presume they’re showing up, I suppose. Because I’m sure
number one would be not showing up. Yeah, exactly.
Mm-hmm.

Alicia Teltz (29:18)
Can you give me some ideas? But I write my posts myself. So using AI,
absolutely no, no, no, no. And then the second is chasing like those
likes and chasing like the virality of a post and getting like really
bucked down if your post doesn’t perform as well. I have posts where I
spend like hours on it, like refining it, crafting it, like really
thinking about it. And it flops and I’m just like, and I’m about to
throw the towel where I just think like.
Orlando Wood (29:24)
Right.
Right.
Alicia Teltz (29:45)
doesn’t work. Just don’t let
Orlando Wood (29:46)
Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (29:47)
it define your happiness. It’s the algorithm. Sometimes it’s weird. We
don’t know what it does sometimes. Don’t overthink it. Just like,
don’t let like the engagement like get carried away. And then that’s
also the third one in terms of like chasing virality, like just
crafting posts in the hope of them going viral. Because in essence
also having a poster goes viral does not necessarily mean
Orlando Wood (29:49)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (30:09)
that you will have good business. Yes, it looks good and yes, you will
get lots of new followers. However, most likely a post that goes viral
is very like this top funnel post that is very appealing to the
masses. That means you suddenly gain like lots of followers that might
not necessarily be interested in what you have to sell. So you then
have a very like broad audience. What you really like to have on
LinkedIn is like rather a smaller community with like your ideal
customer base than a broad audience that is really like.
Orlando Wood (30:18)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Alicia Teltz (30:37)

scattered and all over the place. Because again, if you’re posting
that next time on LinkedIn, LinkedIn doesn’t necessarily know that
what side shall I send this to AI expert, I send this to law firm,
shall I send this to like HR leaders, because you have such a spread
and fluffy connection like network on LinkedIn, the algorithm is very
confused. So yes, it looks nice. You have 10,000 likes, but actually
it just messes up everything. So don’t chase that variety. Niche down.
Orlando Wood (30:46)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Right. So niche down.
Alicia Teltz (31:04)
Don’t niche down too much. I know it’s always that question, like, how
niche is too niche? But try to niche down. That is the best.
Orlando Wood (31:06)
Yeah, yeah.
Right,
okay. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. I put you on the spot and
you really rose to the challenge. So thank you for that. don’t usually
do that, there’s, mean, also I don’t usually take this many notes
during these, but I feel like I’m sort of getting so many free,
wonderful nuggets that I’m gonna be able, yes, I am learning.
Absolutely.
Alicia Teltz (31:16)
Thank you, I hope I was. ⁓
you learning? That’s good. I like that. That makes me very happy. I’m
very proud of you. And I will keep an eye
on your content as well to see like, you actually implementing what
I’m telling you? ⁓
Orlando Wood (31:35)
Yes, exactly. And I’ll get a tisk, tisk if
I keep trying to sort of talk about B2B sales in my personal post
about losing weight. Yeah, thanks. So, okay, so I’d really like to
talk about your journey just out of…
Alicia Teltz (31:47)
I will give you a slap in the hand.
Orlando Wood (31:54)
deep interest in these goals that you’re setting and your journey on
it. You’ve been very, you’ve been really terrific about staying very
human with it all. And like I said, that authenticity really shines
through. But I think that what’s very interesting is watching how
you’re rolling that out. And you’re really very actively right now
moving from general.

deep interest in these goals that you’re setting and your journey on
it. You’ve been very, you’ve been really terrific about staying very
human with it all. And like I said, that authenticity really shines
through. But I think that what’s very interesting is watching how
you’re rolling that out. And you’re really very actively right now
moving from general.
influencer improvement going from 2,000 followers to 10,000 followers.
I think you’re up to, you’re a significant milestone recently. What’s
your follower count now?
Alicia Teltz (32:23)
I hit 20,000
two days ago.
Orlando Wood (32:26)
Congratulations. Yeah, I mean, it’s very impressive and it’s happened
quite fast, very seemingly organically. But then as well, I’ve
followed along and joined all of your successive things that you’ve
built. mean, you’ve got a WhatsApp group that’s now quite a few
thousand people strong. You’ve got your community, you’ve got a paid
community.
watching you kind of roll out these things that are commercial, again,
when we were talking earlier about the cringiness of doing the
posting, another blocker a lot of people have is the cringiness of,
God, moving people down the funnel and actually going to the point
where you say, this is the moment where I’d like you to pay for what
I’m doing if you’re seeing value here.
I have a lot of questions. The first, I think is how do you strategize
what tech and what strategies you’re going to use to be your tools for
moving people down the funnel to actually becoming paying the first
time they pay, which is, you know, the, for maybe your groups or
subscriptions, but then as well moving to proper paid
client relationships, how do you strategize for that? And then how do
you do, how are you doing it? That might be too big a question. I’m
sorry. Okay. Yeah. But.
Alicia Teltz (33:49)
Yeah, that is absolutely fine. And just a massive disclaimer, I’m not
an expert. I’m on this journey.
we will see what’s going to happen. So for
anyone who is listening, like this is my chaotic way of doing things.
Maybe it works out. We shall see. It might not. We also shall see. But
I am always very intentional and very strategic about what I’m doing.
Whilst I have ADHD and I’m very impulsive, in terms of business, I
think things through very, very much. And I try to be like clever in
my approach. So the first time actually, I have a book club.

anyone who is listening, like this is my chaotic way of doing things.
Maybe it works out. We shall see. It might not. We also shall see. But
I am always very intentional and very strategic about what I’m doing.
Whilst I have ADHD and I’m very impulsive, in terms of business, I
think things through very, very much. And I try to be like clever in
my approach. So the first time actually, I have a book club.
Orlando Wood (34:06)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Alicia Teltz (34:24)
and I’m not monetizing it, but the strategy is the same. What I did in
March, I posted and I said, like, would anybody be interested in
joining a book club with me? Like, would that be helpful? I’m testing
the market. I literally put out a post. If nobody would have signed
up, fair enough. But actually this was like then the jumping board of
like now in the book club, we are over 600 women on it. I need to
figure out a way how to monetize it. But currently I actually enjoy
having it as kind of like my charity project.
Orlando Wood (34:46)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Right?
Alicia Teltz (34:52)
So then I was thinking about kind of like the same thing with the
WhatsApp group. So now that I’ve left LinkedIn, I do need to make
money. And I’m actually saying this out loud. And this is why I’m
bringing people onto that journey. Because when you bring people onto
the journey, you can talk about these things. And I think the more
open and humble and transparent you are about it, people want to vouch
for you and people understand your reasoning behind why you’re doing
certain things. It doesn’t feel like you’re ripping them off and
suddenly, she’s suddenly charging. Like I always like to be
transparent. I always like to explain.
Orlando Wood (35:10)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (35:19)
What’s the reasoning behind I’m doing something and what’s my
thinking? So with the WhatsApp group, it’s basically kind of like my
email newsletter. I was thinking, LinkedIn, the algorithm, is always
in the way between me and my audience because I cannot control the
algorithm. I cannot control who is actually seeing my content. And
therefore, a lot of people always say, like, subscribe to my
newsletter, et cetera. I hate newsletters. I hate receiving
newsletters and I hate writing newsletters. So that is just a no for
me. I know it would make sense business-wise.
but I always want to keep that like personal angle to it. Therefore I
thought if I set up a WhatsApp group, I can use this as kind of like
my marketing channel. basically said, guys, opening up a WhatsApp
group, let’s see if you want to join, I’m sharing that LinkedIn tips
and tricks. Now huge community, I’ve set it up in the one way system
where only I can talk. And this is kind of my marketing channel. This
is kind of my email newsletter. I’m providing value. I’m sharing daily
LinkedIn tips and tricks. I’m including my audience.

but I always want to keep that like personal angle to it. Therefore I
thought if I set up a WhatsApp group, I can use this as kind of like
my marketing channel. basically said, guys, opening up a WhatsApp
group, let’s see if you want to join, I’m sharing that LinkedIn tips
and tricks. Now huge community, I’ve set it up in the one way system
where only I can talk. And this is kind of my marketing channel. This
is kind of my email newsletter. I’m providing value. I’m sharing daily
LinkedIn tips and tricks. I’m including my audience.
by allowing them to fill in a Google form with that question. So I’m
working with them. That’s what I always say, like build a community
where you can learn from them what it actually is that they need help
with. In that form, I’m asking them as well, like submit your
question. But also the second question is if I were to provide
services in the future, what would you sign up to? So I instantly,
like I had hundreds of people filling in the Google form, but
instantly I also knew X amount of people want to have a webinar, X
amount of people want me to go swipe for them, X amount of people want
one-on-one services.
Orlando Wood (36:22)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (36:40)
I haven’t even launched
Orlando Wood (36:41)
Yep.
Alicia Teltz (36:41)
that yet, but I already know what the demand is. I’m just like testing
the market. And then also with the WhatsApp channel is I drop a video
here and there. Like I send a voice message. I stay very personal. It
is much harder to ignore me. First of all, on WhatsApp rather than on
email. Like I can’t land in someone’s spam folder. Yes, I might skip
through the message, but it’s much easier to just like listen to like
a quick snippet or like a message rather than a long email. So this is
like kind of my channel. And then also I’m building in public.
Orlando Wood (36:56)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (37:09)
So again, I will say to my audience, actually, I’m thinking about
launching a webinar about this. Would you join that? Would you not?
What would you want to have covered? So I’m building with them and
then by the time it launches, I can say like, hey, actually I’ve now
figured it out. I’m going this, this and this. If you want to join,
here’s the link. So it feels all just way more organically. And this
is also how I then set up the paid for WhatsApp group because then I
wanted to build like an anticipation of like, ⁓ she actually is very
knowledgeable.

So again, I will say to my audience, actually, I’m thinking about
launching a webinar about this. Would you join that? Would you not?
What would you want to have covered? So I’m building with them and
then by the time it launches, I can say like, hey, actually I’ve now
figured it out. I’m going this, this and this. If you want to join,
here’s the link. So it feels all just way more organically. And this
is also how I then set up the paid for WhatsApp group because then I
wanted to build like an anticipation of like, ⁓ she actually is very
knowledgeable.
Orlando Wood (37:15)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (37:36)
She can share a lot of LinkedIn tips and tricks, but I want to ask
more questions. And my questions, I only drip feed them one question a
day, and I have hundreds of questions. So if you want your question
answered quicker.
Orlando Wood (37:40)
Mm-hmm.
I find that very helpful.
Yeah, I find that very helpful because also you post the question
you’re about to answer in the voice note. And so what I find very
useful about that is I know whether this question is gonna be relevant
to me or not. And so some days I listen to your voice note, some days
I don’t, but I have that there. I can read, can peruse, can go, ⁓
today’s not for me. And then as well, the voice note isn’t a bunch of
text that…
constantly scrolling through, trying to assess whether this is gonna
be relevant for me or not. I’ve got the question. I then got a voice
note I can either dip into or not. I find that really, really useful
and I haven’t seen anybody else do it that way. I’m really just from a
respect of my time ⁓ as a listener, I find that really useful.
Alicia Teltz (38:30)
Thanks.
Yeah, I love that you say that because that is exactly what I had in
mind. When I do videos, and I only do videos every now and then
because one, I don’t want people to have a lot of storage taken away
with my videos, but also when I post videos, I put captions in it
already. I’m not just recording on WhatsApp. I’m actually recording on
CapCut and I take the effort to put in captions so that it’s easy for
people to watch the video. I do the voice messages because people can
listen on it on double speed. I’m thinking so much about this because
I…
Orlando Wood (38:34)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (39:01)
Just try to think, how does the end user want to consume that content?
And I want to make it as perfect for them as possible. And I love that
you recognize this. Thank you.
Orlando Wood (39:08)
Yeah. Well,
it’s easy to, mean, it’s a real feature for me.
What other tools are you scoping out or looking at as potential things
that you might bring into your ecosystem to grow from where you’re at?
Alicia Teltz (39:24)
Very good question, because I also don’t have the answer yet. But I’m
currently reading a book which is brilliant. It’s called 10x is easier
than 2x, which is all about how can you scale.
Orlando Wood (39:27)
Okay
Alicia Teltz (39:35)
Because that’s the thing, a lot of people that have like their like
small business or like their coach Karen, you know, they’re just like
this small like kind of solopreneur. ⁓ How can you actually do it all
and scale it? Because you only have 24 hours in a day. And this is
what I started with the most. So how can I like exponentially grow? So
I’m thinking about like, how can I scale? How can I move away from
more of like the one-on-one client stuff that is currently easy for me
to bring in and to convert and it’s quick money to scaling it and have
a bit more passivity.
Orlando Wood (39:35)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (40:04)
income. So I’m thinking of maybe setting up like an online workshop
that is recorded where I just like…
Orlando Wood (40:05)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (40:10)

Alicia Teltz (40:10)
Do the work once and then people can do it at their own time. I might
do like a weekly Q and a or something. Maybe I go onto another social
media platform. For example, if I were to go onto TikTok talking about
how great LinkedIn is, I could use TikTok as kind of like my audience
that I would then bring to LinkedIn to then convert into paying
customers on LinkedIn. So I would not sell them on TikTok. Hey, join
my webinar. I would tell on TikTok, you need to go onto LinkedIn. They
will follow me. And then, so those are kind of like the ways where I’m
thinking of
Orlando Wood (40:32)
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (40:40)
I might need to go on to other platforms. I would love to do a podcast
by the way, you’re inspiring me. So maybe doing a podcast in the
future or writing a book.
Orlando Wood (40:42)
Mm-mm.
I think
it’s a great idea. think you’d be very good at it.
Yeah, so I mean, what does it take? What is the biggest challenge
moving people down that funnel? You know, going from maybe a small
subscriber to a larger, client, let’s say a sort of a more
considerable monthly recurring revenue client. Are you also doing the
the reach out and sales portion of it, or are you really using this
strategy to gather people from a marketing perspective and then
targeting them with sales further down the funnel, or are you also
reaching out in terms of sales for the consulting business?
Alicia Teltz (41:24)
question. I worked in B2B sales for 15 years in my corporate career so
I always done outreach kind of like cold calling but I always actually
used LinkedIn to like drop into like people’s DMs and selling that way
so I know how to do it and in certain circumstances with certain
clients I work with that’s the strategy they need to pursue.
Orlando Wood (41:32)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (41:44)
Also, if you are having a smaller audience, that might be the way you
need to do it. However, also this will be a whole separate podcast
episode on how to do it and mistakes to avoid. For me personally, I
don’t do proactive outreach. I am more than happy to do it and I will
go down that line if I need to. But right now…

Also, if you are having a smaller audience, that might be the way you
need to do it. However, also this will be a whole separate podcast
episode on how to do it and mistakes to avoid. For me personally, I
don’t do proactive outreach. I am more than happy to do it and I will
go down that line if I need to. But right now…
Orlando Wood (41:52)
Right. Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (42:03)
because I already have a very strong brand, I have enough business
coming to me. And this is what I want to encourage everyone to get to.
I want everyone’s personal profile to be this well-oiled machine, that
you just need to put out content, that you don’t need to send a
connection request anymore, that you don’t need to do the connections,
the commenting, and that you don’t need to reach out to people in DMs.
You want business coming to you. And luckily, currently I have the
momentum that this is happening. And I mean, obviously I’m being
strategic about it with the WhatsApp group, et cetera. I’m still
having to sell. It’s not that everyone knocks on my door and says,
here’s a grant.
please take it but I don’t need to do this one-on-one approach and say
like hey please subscribe to my whatsapp channel so luckily I don’t
need to do that right now and I want to get everyone to get to that
stage but there are also good ways to do it
Orlando Wood (42:33)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Right, and so right now, if somebody reaches out and says, I’m looking
for a consultant and whatever else, are you doing anything to
transition them into that buying place or are you just fielding
requests and saying, these are my rates and things like that? Or do
you have any technological mechanisms or personal mechanisms for
actively moving people or is it all just kind of passive reach outs at
the moment?
Alicia Teltz (43:07)
So I have a Stan store. It’s like a new software. It’s like a new kid
around the block. So I was just like checking it out. Stan store.
Yeah. It’s actually brilliant. It is brilliant. So it’s literally
like, it’s literally like.
Orlando Wood (43:14)
A Stan store? ⁓ Okay. ⁓ what is it? Tell me. Again, I’m gonna start
taking notes.
Alicia Teltz (43:23)
Shopify like kind of like your marketplace but for digital products,
so it’s like perfectly set up for creators So you can upload digital
products So what I have uploaded is like a link to my free WhatsApp
group a link to my paid WhatsApp group a link to book in a one-on-one
call with me that will be paid for like straight away and I have a
link to like my looms so those are like kind of like the services I
currently offer so when someone steps into my DMs, I most of the time
just direct them to my stan store and

Shopify like kind of like your marketplace but for digital products,
so it’s like perfectly set up for creators So you can upload digital
products So what I have uploaded is like a link to my free WhatsApp
group a link to my paid WhatsApp group a link to book in a one-on-one
call with me that will be paid for like straight away and I have a
link to like my looms so those are like kind of like the services I
currently offer so when someone steps into my DMs, I most of the time
just direct them to my stan store and
Orlando Wood (43:27)
Right.
Alicia Teltz (43:49)
show them like these are my services and then they just book whatever
it is suitable for them. Yeah that’s currently how I do it. Luckily
like yeah the bigger clients I’ve just recently signed up a
professional basketball player which is really cool.
like really fancy stuff and they have already introduced me to someone
else. So it’s just like this word of mouth that just like, in this
case, I say actually like, let your work speak for itself. Normally I
say like, don’t ever say this because we want you to post on LinkedIn,
but it’s just really nice, do really good work and word of mouth will
just happen.
Orlando Wood (44:14)
Mm-hmm.
Wow, that’s amazing. Well, thanks. That’s an incredible background
into how that works. And I’m so thrilled for you that that’s all
working really well. your journey’s been incredibly impressive. Are
there any other things that you want to kind of let people know who
are coming to you, sort of how important
I mean, obviously there are so many other platforms. think you made a
⁓ very strong case for LinkedIn. also recognize that LinkedIn is also
one of the places you’re not likely to see a lot of negativity. And I
think that one of the reasons that I really appreciate LinkedIn as a
platform to communicate on is because people are, as you say, verified
and associated with their company and their professional relationship
to their careers. You don’t see a lot of heavily politicized views. It
seems to be a sort of
Alicia Teltz (44:51)
Yeah.
Orlando Wood (45:09)
bit of a respite for things like that. are you, in terms of other
platforms and how you engage, you mentioned TikTok, what’s the most
sensible way that people can improve their businesses outside of
LinkedIn? And are there other platforms that they’re using for that
effect?

bit of a respite for things like that. are you, in terms of other
platforms and how you engage, you mentioned TikTok, what’s the most
sensible way that people can improve their businesses outside of
LinkedIn? And are there other platforms that they’re using for that
effect?
Alicia Teltz (45:27)
They always say like LinkedIn is the salad in their social media diet,
which I think is so true, isn’t it? Like LinkedIn is a nice place. I
did post my first video on TikTok and I only got two comments and both
comments were negative. They were not like negative, but they were
just like so stupid. We’re just all like, what am I even doing on this
platform? But honestly, think LinkedIn and I’m obviously, I am so
biased because I used to work for LinkedIn and I currently am a
creator on LinkedIn and it works really well for me. So I…
Orlando Wood (45:30)
Yeah.
Right?
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (45:55)
still wholeheartedly think that for any sort of business you are in,
honestly, no matter what business, and I hate when people have their
victim mindset saying like, that wouldn’t work for me. LinkedIn is in
my eyes the best place because people are already scrolling on
LinkedIn with that buyer mindset. They already are like on LinkedIn,
kind of like ready to be educated, ready to like up level themselves
and not just like, I just like doom scroll. So they are already in the
right mindset for someone to sell their businesses.
I don’t know about any other platforms. I’m not an expert. So I’m just
stumbling my way through there. But I think it’s just like in general,
what I would love for people to take away if anyone is listening to
this and they hear this story and they hear me talking about like, now
I have all the sales coming to me and I have 20,000 followers. I don’t
want anyone to think like, that’s just because she worked at LinkedIn
or like, that’s just because she’s a pretty like blonde girl because
that’s just like that.
Orlando Wood (46:38)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (46:47)
typical like victim mindset and I hear this so often.
Yes, I might have had it like a tiny bit easier working for LinkedIn,
but only because when you send connection requests, maybe my
connection requests were accepted with a little higher rate than for
other people because people thought I worked for LinkedIn. But other
than this, I worked at LinkedIn for two years before I even posted and
nobody followed me. So that is just like, that is not the excuse. And
there are also so many people out there on LinkedIn that perform
incredibly well that are not female and they don’t have blonde hair.
They are not like pretty in like the eye of the beholder or like the
beauty standards. So.

Yes, I might have had it like a tiny bit easier working for LinkedIn,
but only because when you send connection requests, maybe my
connection requests were accepted with a little higher rate than for
other people because people thought I worked for LinkedIn. But other
than this, I worked at LinkedIn for two years before I even posted and
nobody followed me. So that is just like, that is not the excuse. And
there are also so many people out there on LinkedIn that perform
incredibly well that are not female and they don’t have blonde hair.
They are not like pretty in like the eye of the beholder or like the
beauty standards. So.
Orlando Wood (47:01)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Alicia Teltz (47:21)
I just want people to think like it is possible for anyone to set
themselves up on LinkedIn if they follow just like the right strategy
and stay consistent with it. It’s possible for anyone. They just need
to know how to show up authentically, bring people on a journey, be
humble, know how to sell and it will work for them. Sorry, that was
just like really important for me.
Orlando Wood (47:39)
That was fantastic.
Okay, so I have one question that I ask everybody and it’s, I had a
boss named Dan Wieden who is a legend in the advertising world. And he
had this quote where he said,
you’re useless to me until you’ve failed big at least twice. And I
just always thought it was a very comforting thing as a young person
coming into an industry, you’re like, okay, my first two failures are
gonna be written off. And I think that you know it as well. He always
implied that they should be big failures. And I think that that’s
really great. And so I wonder, can you remember and would you be
willing to admit a time where you failed
you know, ⁓ as big as you can remember and what you learned from it.
Alicia Teltz (48:19)
⁓
I need to think about this, but I actually, whilst I’m thinking about
this, I just recently posted about this as well, because you learn
from your failures so much more than from your successes. So actually
you want to fail as quickly as you can and as much as you can, because
then you will succeed more and more and more. And I’m always someone,
like whenever there is a failure, and look, we are all humans,
whenever there is a failure, you are gutted. You are reflecting on
yourself. You think like, what have I done wrong?

I need to think about this, but I actually, whilst I’m thinking about
this, I just recently posted about this as well, because you learn
from your failures so much more than from your successes. So actually
you want to fail as quickly as you can and as much as you can, because
then you will succeed more and more and more. And I’m always someone,
like whenever there is a failure, and look, we are all humans,
whenever there is a failure, you are gutted. You are reflecting on
yourself. You think like, what have I done wrong?
Orlando Wood (48:22)
Sure.
Yeah.
really?
Mm-hmm.
Alicia Teltz (48:47)
you always think like well I’m a failure etc but like the more
failures you happen and the more you realize actually you’re still
alive you can still turn things around these are the lessons etc the
more and more you fail in the future the more you’re like actually I’m
quite glad this happened because now we can shift gears and now we
know what we need to change so the more you can fail the better and I
think in terms of like my biggest failures I can’t think of one on the
spot but I know
especially in my corporate career, like in terms of like sales and
like how I approach that I was always someone who was very very like
challenging the status quo and I think I have challenged maybe the
status quo a little bit too much or maybe they were just not happy to
hear it from someone just saying actually I disagree and therefore I
am free now and I can make my own decisions I’m very happy about that.
Orlando Wood (49:20)
Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, well sales is such a volume game, isn’t it? mean, sales presumes
such a heavy amount of failure, you know, that you realize, yeah,
failure and rejection are just the biggest part of sales. And the
people who are most successful at it are the people who can just take
the most of it. It’s that old Rocky quote, know, winning isn’t about
how hard you can hit, it’s about how much you can get hit and keep
moving forward. ⁓
Alicia Teltz (49:41)
rejection.
I love that!
I haven’t watched Rocky. Actually, maybe I’ll do it tonight. I heard
it’s a great film.
Orlando Wood (50:01)
Yeah. Well, I mean,

Yeah. Well, I mean,
first of all, you absolutely should watch it because it’s fantastic,
but that’s one of those speeches you can just pull up on YouTube and
it is, it’s from, I think the movie Rocky Balboa, I think the fifth
one in the franchise or sixth one. And ⁓ it’s just a great speech.
Just watching Sylvester Stallone do it is worth it.
Alicia Teltz (50:18)
haha
I love that but also as I just said like Yes, allow yourself to be
bucked down but not for too long You have to get up again honor your
feelings honor to be said for a while but not too long and then just
fucking get going. Sorry for swearing
Orlando Wood (50:37)
No, you can swear all you want on this podcast. Okay, good. Again,
I’ll write that down. We’re allowed to do that? I didn’t know we were
allowed to do that.
Alicia Teltz (50:40)
I’m quite scared that I might get blocked at some point.
You have to like, you have to like put like. No, I’m not encouraging
anyone to like, don’t blame me when you’re being respected. But it’s
all about authenticity. So show up as your true self. So if you’re
swearing in private life, swear on LinkedIn, but be careful.
Orlando Wood (50:51)
Okay. Okay.
Yeah, okay.
Okay. That’s maybe the best advice of this whole episode. Alicia,
thank you so, so much for, know, it’s been great to meet you and to
kind of chat with you online. It’s great. This is the first time we’re
meeting, but I’ve really been fascinated by your journey. I’m excited
to keep watching it from here and just thank you for doing this. It’s
so very kind of you. And I’ve learned
Alicia Teltz (51:06)
But don’t blame me.
Orlando Wood (51:29)
plenty.
Alicia Teltz (51:30)
Thank you. I mean, it’s always lovely to talk about yourself. So thank
you for having me, for allowing me to talk about myself. No, but I’m
really passionate about this also. Thank you for giving me that
platform.

Thank you. I mean, it’s always lovely to talk about yourself. So thank
you for having me, for allowing me to talk about myself. No, but I’m
really passionate about this also. Thank you for giving me that
platform.
Orlando Wood (51:39)
it’s an absolute pleasure. I mean, honestly, the amount of things
we’re going to pull out here and post on socials, it’s a real lesson.
You must do a podcast. mean, otherwise, we’ll be putting out all your
wonderful ideas for free. And ⁓ you should be the one doing that, at
very least. I think it’s a great idea. ⁓
Alicia Teltz (51:53)
Hahaha!
I want to call it LinkedIn idiots. I would love that. Yeah.
Well, watch this space.
Orlando Wood (52:04)
Absolutely. Well, I’m avidly watching for sure. But thank you so much
for spending the time with us and for all of your insights. And as
well, thank you for, you know, part of your community. I really enjoy
being a part of it. I really appreciate the way you’re showing up.
It’s very inspiring to me. You know, I’m certainly not doing it as
effectively as you, but I’m definitely trying. I really appreciate
you.
being a fantastic role model in that.
Alicia Teltz (52:29)
was so nice what you just said. Thank you. That makes me really happy.
Orlando Wood (52:32)
⁓ wonderful well thank you so much and ⁓ you know i can’t ⁓ can’t wait
to see what you do next
Alicia Teltz (52:38)
Thank you, Orlando.