196 | The LinkedIn Strategy Busy Founders Actually Have Time For | Leadership, Delegation & Systems with AI Frameworks

What if the referrals, clients, and opportunities you're chasing don't require more LinkedIn content but better conversations?

Let's be honest.

Most founders treat LinkedIn like another task on an already overflowing to-do list.

Post something. Check notifications. Accept a few connection requests. Move on.

But according to relationship marketing expert Janice Porter, that's exactly why so many founders are missing out on the biggest opportunities hiding inside their existing network.

In Part 2 of this conversation, Janice gets tactical. She breaks down how busy founders can use LinkedIn strategically, how to nurture relationships without spending hours online, and why a simple message to the right person can outperform another week of content creation.

If you've ever said, "I don't have time for LinkedIn," this episode is for you.

Connect with Janice Porter and book a LinkedIn Profile Audit.

If you're wondering whether your LinkedIn profile is helping or hurting your visibility, Janice offers a complimentary 20–30 minute audit and conversation to help founders identify opportunities for improvement.

Key Takeaways

• LinkedIn is a relationship platform disguised as a social platform.
• Visibility matters more than perfection.
• Consistent engagement beats endless content creation.
• Referral networks need nurturing.
• AI works best when it amplifies your voice not replaces it.
• The relationships you've already built may be your most valuable growth asset.

Connect with Janice Porter

• Website: janiceporter.com
• LinkedIn: Janice Porter
• Podcast: Relationships Rule 

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• 195 | Why 68% of Clients Leave (It Has Nothing to Do with Your Service) | Leadership, Delegation & Systems with AI Frameworks

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Transcript

She’s That Founder
196 | The LinkedIn Strategy Busy Founders Actually Have Time For

Dawn Andrews: In our last episode, Janice Porter broke down why sixty-eight percent of your clients leave, not because of the work that you did, but because they don't feel cared for.

And today, she is giving us the system to fix that, so we're talking LinkedIn strategy, AI, and the one thing overworked founders need to hear about showing up online without losing their minds.

So let's get after it. Welcome back to She That Founder.

I'm Dawn Andrews. And if you haven't listened to part one with today's guest, pause, go back and start there. I never wanna send you away from the conversation that you're already in, but I think that you will really appreciate going back to hear where Janice Porter is coming from because this conversation builds, and you're gonna want the full picture.

And for those of you who are back, welcome.

Janice, welcome back. Let's get into it.

Janice Porter: Thanks so much. Appreciate it, Dawn. Love talking about this.

Dawn Andrews: I really, I feel very lucky to have your time, so thank you.

Janice Porter: Oh, my pleasure.

Dawn Andrews: So let's start part two with the objection that I know most people listening probably had during part one, and I think it sounds like this 'cause this is what I'm saying to myself.

Like, this all sounds great, but I don't have time for LinkedIn. I don't have time to dive deep into people's personal profiles.

So will you make the case? Why does LinkedIn matter for a founder who already has a business, already has clients, already has referrals coming in, and why should she care about LinkedIn?

Janice Porter: Yeah, it's a great question. And I think, I would start answering that by saying, something you and I talked about at the very beginning last time, which is, Why do I need to be on LinkedIn, first of all? And if you're in business, LinkedIn is the only business platform out there, really.

The rest are not considered business platforms. And, secondly- Are your clients there? Are your referral partners there? Are your strategic collaborators there? If there's people there that can support and enhance your business, then you need to be there. So the very first thing though is how do I look when I'm there?

Because first impressions are gone in a nanosecond today, and so you need to have a good first impression. I call this above the fold where that's an old newspaper term for you young people. I've actually, also now called it above the scroll because- Uh-huh ... it's the first thing that you see when you come to someone's profile.

You see their banner or their picture, you see their headshot, and if they've got a banner, and then you see their headline, and then you start to see their About section. This is all first impression stuff. Whether your LinkedIn profile is good, great, or terrible, it shows up when someone Googles you. So you may as well have a good one.

Dawn Andrews: Put some energy into it.

Janice Porter: Yeah. Right. Okay. So, and when I say it shows up, usually a LinkedIn profile shows up in the top three results because Google indexes LinkedIn quite high. So that's why. So you wanna make sure that if you're going to do it, put some effort into doing it properly.

But what does that mean? It doesn't mean it's your resume. It doesn't mean I've got 13 letters after my name. It means here's what I do, who I do it for, and how I can help them. Mm-hmm. So it's drawing in your audience or audiences that you want to attract, okay? Mm-hmm. And then you also mentioned, "I'm busy. I've got lots of referrals coming in." Yeah. Well, referrals are wonderful until they're not, okay?

Businesses cycle, clients leave, industries shift. LinkedIn isn't about chasing new business every day. It's about staying visible and warm with the people who already know you. So when you get a referral, do you have a system for nurturing those referral givers?

Oh, for sure. Those referral partners? Yeah. You know, like a lot of people don't. I mean, actually... It's funny, I felt badly that I thought this, but I was working with a really good client. We finished working together and I encouraged her to come to my sort of group community thing. She wasn't doing it.

She's too busy. Too busy. And then somebody else that I worked with was looking for somebody that did what this person did. And I thought, "Hmm, maybe I should connect them. They'd be a really good fit, and it would be a good customer client for this new person." And I put them together.

Long story short, she did end up working with her. I heard nothing. I heard nothing. Pete, nothing. Crickets. I wasn't doing it- In the wrong spirit. But I did feel badly that she didn't say anything. She didn't say thank you. She didn't send even a text message or anything. Or

Dawn Andrews: just an acknowledgement that the relationship that you cared for that you connected her with and handed off to her, that she also acknowledged the care with which it was handed.

Janice Porter: Yeah. Yeah. Nothing. Yeah. Crickets. So it hurts people that are people-people if you don't. But it's the right thing to do to acknowledge- Yeah, the people who are bringing you business. Now, the other thing around that is If you stay top of mind over a period of time with people that you have been, say a year, and people that you have been connected to over the years or you've done business with in the past or whatever, then you're top of mind with them, then a referral could come two years later.

But they thought of you because you're visible on LinkedIn, you're commenting on their posts, or you're sending them a card once in a while, whatever it is, you're staying top of mind. That's why it matters. All of these things matter because in my view, it's about relationships. It's not about just relying on other people and not doing anything in return.

Dawn Andrews: You're so spot on 'cause I was thinking-- So LinkedIn didn't exist when I started my business. I've had my consulting company for twenty-four years now and just had its birthday. It's twenty-four years old. 

Janice Porter: It did? Wait. Yes. Wait, it did. Wait.

Dawn Andrews: It did.

Janice Porter: What year was that?

Dawn Andrews: Twenty two thousand and two.

Janice Porter: Oh yeah, the year before. No, two thousand and two.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

Janice Porter: Congratulations.

Dawn Andrews: Thank you. And I think about that if I was just starting something today, LinkedIn is one hundred percent where I would go because the reason my business has been around as long as it has is because of those relationships built in the early days and staying visible.

And there's still more that I would like to do on LinkedIn, especially after talking to you. I mean, my business has continued to survive, thrive in waves, and then survive through very difficult times because of all of those relationships built over the years.

And now I think for business owners, the opportunity to make and build and nurture those is so much more, it's easier now if you take the time to build your skills on LinkedIn because mine was like sending literal letters to people- Mm-hmm ... or making sure... I mean, I used to joke around that I would go to the opening of an envelope, like every networking opportunity-

that was out there I would show up for because that was the only way to reach some of the people that were the right people for me.

Janice Porter: Yeah. True. It's much easier nowadays. And I mean, I've been actually not long, not far behind you because I started working on my own around two thousand Three, 2004, and I didn't know what I was doing for the longest time. 

Turns out that when I started doing LinkedIn training, which wasn't then, it wasn't right away, I found out in about 2011 that I'd been a LinkedIn member since 2004. But I never did anything with it because I didn't know what it was. So I'm one of the oldest members there, but, I had no idea.

And the power of it is just beyond as far as I'm concerned. Now, I think that you said something about if they only had a little time in their week to-

Dawn Andrews: Yeah. So let's say look, I'm being fully selfish. I am calling myself right now as being fully selfish. Let's say that I have twenty to thirty minutes a week.

And I want to do more. You know what? Let's be clear because I'm learning as we're having this conversation. I would like to spend more time, spend that thirty minutes strengthening my relationships on LinkedIn.

Dawn Andrews: What do I do with that time?

Janice Porter: It's priorities. So when you say you only have twenty to thirty minutes a week, do you think you could find that time like three mornings a week or one afternoon and two mornings? Or are you sitting at an appointment where you could be sitting on your phone doing something? Because you can find the time if you see it as a priority.

Dawn Andrews: I think this is great for our listeners because I would say that could I find it? Of course, you can always find time for things that matter. If where I've been, though is let me click around, let me like- Yeah ... connect, connect, connect, make note. You know, I haven't crossed the bridge yet.

Janice Porter: Yes, I hear you. So-

Dawn Andrews: Yeah. So

Janice Porter: we have

Dawn Andrews: to make it work. And if I'm starting with twenty or thirty minutes, think of it like a new workout routine, right? I need to develop a new process for myself- Okay ... and learn to trust myself that, okay, I can do this.

Yeah. I can get it down, and then I can repeat it a couple times a week. Exactly. Like, so how would I begin?

Janice Porter: So one of the things that I do with my clients, and this is usually the last thing that we do, is we create some kind of a calendar or a weekly and daily tasks kinds of things.

All of them, pick three to start with, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. And again, depending on what your goal is, right? Because one of the things I would say is skip scrolling. Don't be scrolling the news feed. However, if one of the strategies that you need to use is to be more visible in certain people's world, so you pick those people that are your connections are prolific content writers, and you have those people's names written down so you know who they are.

We put them in a specific saved search, so that instead of going through your whole news feed or instead of clicking each of their profiles every day and going to their news feed and whatever, you can bring this custom newsfeed up with no ads in between and just scroll those and comment on the people that you know you want to see.

Love that. That's one thing. The other thing is that, because nowadays, and I'm not a big algorithm person, but the algorithm has made a big shift this past January twenty twenty-six. And rather than being paranoid about having to post every day on LinkedIn, what's more important is that you're commenting thoughtfully and effectively on other people's posts more often.

Now, there's other little things around, doing that before you actually put your post up and after you put your post up, all that. But just focusing on the basics, you could, also have that list. So if it's only twenty to thirty minutes a week, I think that's really a good strategy to have.

Dawn Andrews: Like that's where you can have that energy.

Janice Porter: Yeah. And then, the other one though is choosing either five past connections... They're existing connections that you haven't talked to for a while, and you can do five a week or three a week, however you wanna do it, and send a message out and just see what happens.

See who responds and who doesn't. One thing I like to say is, " Hey, Dawn, it's been a minute. I see that you've moved to a new location. I'd love to catch up. There's probably lots that I don't know about what's going on in your world these days. Are you open for a catch-up call?"

That's it, right? And then whoever bites, you start getting conversations with people. Now, you're gonna push back or somebody in your audience is gonna push back and say, "I don't have time for any more conversations." The thing is, if you wait till all the referrals dry up or business starts to slow down, starting to market is too late already.

Yeah. So if we do this a little bit on a daily basis or three times a week, or as I said, in the nooks and crannies. I don't watch TV doing nothing because I love to watch shows on TV at night, but I have to be doing something else at the same time.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

Janice Porter: In the winter it's knitting, and in the, in summer it's usually scrolling or answering stuff on LinkedIn just to fill in those keep me awake

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

And I mean, this is the watering the plants, you know? Yes.

Janice Porter: Yes.

Dawn Andrews: You don't have to spend all day sitting in front of your plant and checking the soil all the time, but you do have to drive by and put a little bit of water in there once a week.

Janice Porter: Yeah. And I think though, that you need to be visible, and to be visible, it means being active in one way or another, right?

Yeah. In those instances. And as I said, most people are doing the content thing. Maybe the other thing is you don't know who to reach out to. So maybe the one thing that you do is what I described in part one, where you go to your network, you go to the catch up, and you look there, and who that you are connected to is having a birthday or has moved or whatever, and use those as your three to five because As your starting

Dawn Andrews: point.

Janice Porter: Yeah. There's never a shortage of people to reach out to. It's the

Dawn Andrews: grit.

Janice Porter: And you'll find that the more active you are, the more People will reach out to you as well. The right people, not the wrong people.

Dawn Andrews: So Tell me your answer.

Janice Porter: Okay.

Dawn Andrews: If you have thirty minutes to create more content or thirty minutes- Yeah

to connect.

Janice Porter: Yeah.

Dawn Andrews: It sounds like you're saying connect is the way to go. So if I want my time that's more fun

Janice Porter: for me. That's more fun for me.

Dawn Andrews: Yes.

Janice Porter: Either that connecting is new or it's going through that- It's

Dawn Andrews: going back, yeah, to past people.

Janice Porter: Yeah. Yeah. '

Dawn Andrews: Cause I'm just thinking, if I'm trying to come up with my thirty minutes free time each week-

Janice Porter: Yeah.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah ... maybe I look at shifting some of the time spent in all of this content generation-

Janice Porter: Yeah. Yeah ...

Dawn Andrews: and put it back into engagement instead of-

Janice Porter: Exactly ...

Dawn Andrews: more, more posts, more posts, more posts.

Janice Porter: Exactly. Exactly. And one other thing I did mention it as well earlier, we breezed over it. Something that will draw attention, and it might be faster for some if...

I know some people do this a lot. Instead of typing a message, voice the message.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

Janice Porter: And by the way, you can't voice it on your desktop. It has to be done through your phone. Okay. But it shows up everywhere. But that's easy to do.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

Janice Porter: Or video, if you like video, because both of those things stand out from the normal list of messages in your LinkedIn messaging.

So you're curious to see who sent that, or you see their picture, and you go to it right away. It's just the little things that can make it easier.

Dawn Andrews: It's so helpful. So, let's talk a little bit about your system. So you've got follow-up, appreciation, celebration, and I wanna make that really concrete for people that are listening because sometimes systems sound really great in theory, and then nobody really does them.

So like on a regular Tuesday morning for somebody running a million dollar bus-business, what would that system look like, and how long would it take, do you think?

Janice Porter: Well, now I have to say this because I know that the person running the million-dollar business is saying that they're not gonna do it, they're gonna have someone else do it.

Dawn Andrews: Possibly.

Janice Porter: And I'm just gonna caution them not to. Because more and more, I'm seeing LinkedIn's policy is that nobody goes into your personal profile except you.

Mm-hmm. Now, there are people who do it for businesses, doing it for people. I'm not gonna lie. I heard a story earlier. He shut down very quickly. Mm. And has thirty-five thousand connections on LinkedIn. Thirty-five thousand connections, and he got shut down. And I was talking to him about it a year he was shut down.

Dawn Andrews: Wow.

Janice Porter: And he said, "I think I was hacked." I said, "Did you ever have anybody go into your profile?" He said, "Well, just once." You never know. You just never know. That person, I say in the nooks and crannies, if there's a few people you're trying to meet or you want to be seen by, just one of those strategies where you're commenting on and just focus on those.

Not just because those customers who are following that person-

Dawn Andrews: Are

Janice Porter: already following them ... right, can't afford them, but maybe they can afford you. So they're the people commenting on their comments or you look to connect with them, and when you go to connect with them, you say, " I see, you're a follower of so and so. I love that person's work," blah, blah, blah. That connection.

Dawn Andrews: Good.

Janice Porter: Yeah. That's your starting point.

Dawn Andrews: I'm curious, I had a question. So here's your guy that had thirty-five thousand connections and got locked out and had to recover his account, and I think he told me it took him almost like twelve months to be able to- Yeah

get back into it.

Janice Porter: Yeah.

Dawn Andrews: So that's terrifying, especially if, the marketing cost of your business is those thirty-five thousand people.

Janice Porter: Yeah.

Dawn Andrews: What advice do you have for people in trying to get people out of LinkedIn into their own environment so that They're using Link Community, but they're also not reliant on it in the event that something changes, something goes away- Right

you know, et cetera.

Janice Porter: Yeah, exactly. Well, always when I meet someone, I'm off LinkedIn to a Zoom call. Get their address so I can send them a card, get their email address, which we would do [00:16:00] when we're booking an appointment with them. And also everyone downloads your LinkedIn connections and your data and connections. Download them.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah. Yeah.

Janice Porter: Yeah.

Dawn Andrews: Let's talk about AI. Okay. So weird not to talk about it.

Janice Porter: Yes.

Dawn Andrews: And you know that I'm very AI heavy for founders. That's where I spend my time, is helping founders use that. So what do you find is working on LinkedIn related to AI and what isn't working?

Janice Porter: Well, I think it's kind of funny when something becomes like a new good thing, they overdo it, right? Okay. So sometimes it's working, and it's working if Well, how I'll just speak from my own experience in that respect, because it helps me, generate an idea that I can't quite formulate sometimes that I want to write about, and then it made me write a comment on somebody's post.

But again, whatever I do, I try to make it sound like me. And so there's two pieces there. One you would know better than me that I'm just learning with my new association with Claude, is that the more AI knows who I am, the better it can speak in my voice.

Dawn Andrews: For sure.

Janice Porter: So that's the key, because some people don't go to that depth or they don't know how to go to the depth.

Same as with their LinkedIn profile. They think they put up a decent one and it's terrible, but they don't know any different. So I say get some help in both of those instances where, you know that you feel comfortable with the response that it gave you, you massaged it, it now sounds like you and you sound intelligent enough to add to the conversation.

You never just say, "Great post. Congratulations," or "Like," and nothing. You have to be in part of the conversation to be seen, right? And to add to it.

Dawn Andrews: What's not working?

Janice Porter: Too many people are putting posts up that are just screaming AI. Like, just the formatting of them, the short sentences that never, I hate to say it 'cause I was the person who used dashes all the time, now I can't use them.

Oh, yeah, the death of the en dash. But the em dashes. Yeah.

Dawn Andrews: The death

Janice Porter: of the em dash. And just not making things sound like their own. That's the thing. There is, trying to think how else I've learned it, how else I've used it..

Dawn Andrews: Where has it saved you time and been a value add as opposed to something that has diminished your credibility?

And it sounds like, being able to formulate those ideas for things that you're writing is one way that it saved you time. Is there anywhere else more specifically?

Janice Porter: Yeah, I'll tell you where it helps me, because I don't consider myself a writer anyway, and I don't consider myself a storyteller in the best sense. Some people can tell stories way better than others, and I don't remember the details enough anymore, I think. But when I tell my story to AI, whatever the story is, it helps me bring it back in a more systematic way, I guess. And then I can fill in the details better.

I find that helps me. And when I do my newsletters more than anything else, I think it helps me there too. But with LinkedIn, because I'm all about relationships, I don't have to be in a hurry really. I don't know. I'll tell you what I did before.

Just thinking about this now. I've never tried to do this with AI, but before AI was around, I had two or three email, or LinkedIn messaging scripts that I used on a regular basis that were brilliant, actually. They worked really well, and I'll share one with you now because I think I mentioned one already.

But if I connect with somebody that I don't even know, but somehow they showed up in, in my world, and I thought they really looked interesting. The first message I send is the connection request, and I don't say much in there, but, um, I hope that there's something... Even sometimes now, I don't even send an added note anymore because most people are on the free platform, and I am, because there's enough people to talk to, but I can't send too many-

Dawn Andrews: Special message.

Janice Porter: So once they've connected with me, then I immediately send the first message, and the first message or the thank you message is, "Thanks for accepting my connection request. I really appreciate it. And, I'd like to..." What do I say? Something about, I'm curious, is there something that's not on your LinkedIn profile that you'd like to share?

And then I tell them my little story and which is that I was on Wheel of Fortune many years ago. Love it. And yeah. And so then there's a few other little comments in there, and then I said, "Love to hear it." And then those that write me back, they've already like-

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

Janice Porter: They don't even care that they don't know me.

They say, "Oh my God, that's so fun. Tell me about this," or "Well, I did this," and then that becomes the first little bit of the conversation. And then I can say, "You know, I'd love to make this a little more real. Would you be open to a Zoom call?" And it's got nothing to do with business yet, right?

Dawn Andrews: I love

Janice Porter: it.

Yeah. Yeah. So those... What were you talking about? Oh yeah, that was before AI. Yeah. So, you can have AI help you, but if it comes from the heart and it's real and you're curious about people, that will help.

Dawn Andrews: So we got time for one more question. Okay. What is one specific action that a founder could do this week?

Not someday. Like, they put down their ear- like pull out their earbuds and can go right to their computer or pop open LinkedIn on their phone. What is one thing that they could do this week that would make a measurable difference in how her relationships are translating into actual business?

What's the one thing that she could do on LinkedIn if she does nothing else?

Janice Porter: I think it would be the outreach to five people that they know but they haven't talked to for a long time. I think before they do anything, want to choose their five people, though, they need to look at their profile and see if they are active on LinkedIn, because you don't wanna waste it on someone who isn't active.

How do you know if someone's active? You look at their profile, and you go down beyond the work experience. You go down to where it says, activity. Duh. Okay. It says activity. And it says posts, comments, videos, images, whatever.

So posts are up there first. Not everybody posts. So you can look, when did they last post? You last posted on my thing four hours ago, and then two days ago, and then, three days ago. So I know you're active, okay? If I don't see any activity that way, I might go to comments, and I see that you commented on somebody else's post.

But if I see no activity in the last ninety days or I see three months, eight months, well, they're not gonna be seeing what I send them. Yeah. So make it people who are active on LinkedIn and just reach out and say, you know, "Hey, it's been a while. What's going on in your world?" Right? "Love to catch up. Do you have time for a catch-up call next week?"

Whatever. Because you don't know what can happen. You just don't know. And so to me, that's a

Dawn Andrews: It's a very simple action- Mm-hmm ... that can have long-term payback, like- And

Janice Porter: if you don't wanna talk to people, then do the, do the comments.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah.

Janice Porter: Comment on, right? Do that.

Dawn Andrews: You're having a rough day. Yeah. Just comment.

Janice Porter: Yeah. Yeah. You never know.

Dawn Andrews: So helpful, Janice. Like, I'm all fired up to get on my LinkedIn profile now, so thank you for that. You're

Janice Porter: very welcome.

Dawn Andrews: Where can people find you and learn more about your services and about how to really get the most out of LinkedIn?

Janice Porter: So the best place to go is my website, janiceporter.com, and there is a page on there for my LinkedIn services.

But what I love to do with people is I offer a 20 to 30-minute call. I can do a quick audit on their LinkedIn, and then we can see how I may be able to support them or not. Or they may be interested in looking at the card system for staying connected with people, and that's the other thing that, that [00:23:00] I certainly can share, and that's on my website as well.

And, LinkedIn, of course. They could go to LinkedIn, find me there. I'm easy to find. It's just Janice Porter. And tell me they heard me on your,

Dawn Andrews: She's That Founder ...

Janice Porter: there you go, on your podcast, She's That Founder, and let's have a conversation.

Dawn Andrews: I love it. All right. Janice Porter, everybody.

Go find her at janiceporter.com. Listen to Relationships Rule.

Janice Porter: Oh, yeah. That's the other thing. Yeah.

Dawn Andrews: Yeah. Podcast. I love it, and links to everything are in the show notes.

Here's what I'm hoping that you walk away with from this conversation, 'cause I mean, thank you so much for your time, Janice. I've gotten so much out of this.

I really got a new attitude towards LinkedIn. So the business that you want is already inside the relationships that you have, and most founders are just one system away from activating that relationship, and Janice just gave us all kinds of pieces of that system. So go use it. Don't wait.

I'm Dawn Andrews. This is She's That Founder, the podcast for founders who are done being the bottleneck in their own business. And if this episode helped you, share it with another founder who needs to hear it, or share it with your business friends who are on LinkedIn and need to be able to get more out of their time there.

And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss an episode. I will see you next time.