Welcome To Retained Search

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Retained Search, the podcast, where we lift the lid on what it's really like to work retained, discuss the stories we've gathered along the way, and give you all a peek behind the scenes of our amazing community and how they're getting ahead. Welcome everybody, welcome uh to the Retained Search Show. I'm so happy today to have you sound like you might be a fellow northerner as well. Where are you from, Sam? I'm actually a southerner.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Oh, from you originally. Yeah, from Ken originally, but I've lived in five different countries, so my accent could be a bit deceptive.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Yes, I couldn't place it at all. Uh you've lived in five different countries.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Yeah, I have. We've been around a bit. I moved actually how I ended up in recruitment, so we'll get onto that. But yeah, I ended up in recruitment because I moved to a country where I couldn't speak English, and one of the only jobs I could do was recruitment, so I fell into the industry.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Wow, interesting. Yeah, I would like to get into that. Sam, um, it's so nice to have you on the podcast. I've heard so much about you. Only last week I was on a call with one of our members in the Mastery group, and he said, I listened to that session um that Sam did on LinkedIn. I did what she told me to do, and I had three leads into my inbox the following week. And I was like, Oh my god, we have to get Sam on the podcast. So you have been working with our communities for a little while now. I know you know Sarah well, and you've done uh lots of work with our members and they love you. And we're also doing an event together in Manchester on Friday, which I'm really excited, but we've never spoken. So I'm really excited to get to know you today. Um, you're you've been described to me as a LinkedIn queen, which I like. I like that a lot. Um I want to open by asking you, you were one of the

How Sam Found LinkedIn Early

SPEAKER_01 2:00

very earliest adopters of LinkedIn and users on LinkedIn. What did firstly, what did you see in LinkedIn back then that other people didn't? Why? Why did you adopt it so early?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Why? So I actually found LinkedIn when I was in Amsterdam. So the first country I lived in was Holland, moved to Holland in 2001, um, couldn't speak a word of Dutch, had been in sales and marketing, and someone found my CV on Monster of all sites back then. That's how long ago it was. And I had a food and drink background, so there was an agency that was specialized in food and drink and fmcg recruitment. So they wanted my industry expertise, and they said, Don't worry, we'll train you up on recruitment. You've got a sales background, you understand FMCG. So I started working for them. And part of my role was networking and business development, as you do when you're in recruitment. And I ended up going to a networking event, and someone told me about this new platform called LinkedIn. And a few months later, I ended up moving to Ireland. Um, my partner at the time got a job over there. So I again moved country and didn't know anyone. And I thought, oh, I wonder. I'd started using LinkedIn for candidates and starting to find people that I could place into roles. And when I moved to Ireland, I thought, I wonder if I can use those same skills to actually get clients. So after having worked for a few agencies in Holland, I decided to set up my own agency in 2005 with my dad, and I started applying business development in LinkedIn really early on, like way before anyone else was doing that. So I saw in LinkedIn obviously it was very much a platform for recruitment and job searching back then when I joined, but I did very early on see that it was possible to actually use it for business development and lead generation.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Wow. And I I understand that there are things that you still see today uh in the platform that

Why Inbound Alone Fails

SPEAKER_01 4:00

other people miss. What are those?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Well, there's so many. I think people at the moment, I think, see it as a place where you can post content and then they just hope that I'm gonna post some content and hopefully someone will see it and message me. So there's a there's still a very there's a tendency to go towards the easy route. So that would be the inbound strategy where you show up, you build your personal brand, you post a bit of content, and you magically get leads in your inbox. Now that can happen. We know it's happened for some of your members, which of course is a good thing to that that's happened, but you can't reliably predict how many inbound inquiries you're gonna get in a year or in the next 12 months, because none of us can. We don't know how many people are gonna see our content and message us. So inbound for me is very unreliable, reactive, and is not a sustainable way to grow and build a pipeline. So the bit that people miss is the importance of the outbound strategy, which is where you are handpicking who you're adding into your network consistently every week, so that the people you are adding into your network are exactly your ideal customer or ideal client. And therefore, when you do post content, it's much more likely to be seen by the exact right audience. So I think the outbound strategy is the harder bit that people either don't do because they feel like they haven't got the time, or they don't do it because they're worried about coming across as salesy, particularly in recruitment, um, or that they're just getting no response. So what's the point? Because in particular recruitment, um, it's harder to get those responses back from potential prospects. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah, it's interesting because I obviously I'm we're experiencing this first hand with you right now because Jordan is working uh with you, and we are seeing overnight a difference in the engagement that we're getting as a result of that changing our uh our inbound LinkedIn strategy to an outbound

The End To End LinkedIn System

SPEAKER_01 6:10

one. Um you talk about this as a system rather than disconnected activities, and Jordan's talked about that too. You know, most of the recruiters that I work with and have worked with do a little bit of it, and they, you know, they'll they'll have a campaign on reaching out to the you know, a specific type of person, and then that'll kind of fall by the wayside, and then they'll do a bit of um organic content. What how does this differ then for you? What's this difference between that kind of typical activity that you see and this kind of system that you talk about?

SPEAKER_00 6:48

I think it's about um the system for me is about having an end-to-end lead generation pipeline building creation, right? So, first of all, it starts with your profile. So if your profile is not set up to convert people into your ecosystem, you're missing a trick. So your profile can get you found with keywords, your profile can feed your email list, your profile can build a newsletter, your profile can book calls, your profile could convert in many different ways. It's like a mini web page. So most people's profiles are not set up to convert people into their world, and they're not set up, they look they end up looking like everybody else. So, in terms of and in fact, with recruitment, they tend to be a repellent rather than a uh than something that's gonna actually help you get clients. And that's nothing against recruiters, it's just if you go in looking like a recruiter and you're trying to pitch a company or trying to connect with somebody, if you look just like every other recruiter, they're not gonna even accept your invitation to connect, let alone want to do business with you. So there's some foundational things that have to be right before the system starts to work. So profile is a huge part of the process, especially now with the LinkedIn algorithm changing and it looking now at the full context and the full 360 of exactly who you are as a professional. It's looking for the right keywords to be on your profile so that when you do post content, it's got a reference point and says, yeah, that person should be talking about these two or three core topics because that's is what they are talking about in their profile. So the foundation has to be there. The system side of things is about making sure that first off, you've got consistent activities happening. So there's some daily, weekly, and monthly habits that once they're in place and applied with consistency over about 90 days, everything starts to shift. So posting content obviously is part of the system. But engagement and commenting and actually being really intentional with your how active you are on the news feed plays a huge role in your visibility and your credibility. So most people skip that bit or they just do it randomly. They maybe like and comment on a few of their mates' posts or people that they know in a network or in a community, for example, but they don't intentionally hand pick people that they could be liking, commenting, engaging with. So that's a huge part of the system people missed. Obviously, content is important, but the type of content and the way that you show up and how you demonstrate your authority and your credibility and your expertise in your space needs to elevate you above everybody else because otherwise you end up just looking like every other recruiter. So if you're all you're doing is posting the most recent job that you're working on, or you're posting, you know, boring stuff that looks like everybody else. If you become the most helpful, valuable expert in your field, imagine your client was doing it without you. What would they need to know? Provide that information, become the person that is the most valuable asset, even if they weren't paying you, because information is everywhere. So I always say to people, show up and give more than anybody else. Most people go to LinkedIn to get. I'm gonna go there to get new candidates, I'm gonna go there to get new clients. So they go in with a getting mindset, but if you shift it and go in with a giving mindset, you're gonna have a very different outcome. So, how can I add value? How can I create relationships? How can I be the best of the best in terms of you know providing the information that my clients and candidates need from me? So the personal brand of each recruiter in your team needs to be out there as almost like a brand ambassador and not as a typical recruiter. So that's one part of the system as well. And obviously, we've talked about outbound, but you can invite up to 200 people a week on LinkedIn to connect with you. And you should get around a 50% acceptance, right? Maybe 40 to 50 with recruitment, but let's say 40%. So for every hundred, every 200 connections that you invite in a week, that's 80 new prospects in your world who now are seeing your content, or you can start a DM conversation with. And a lot of people will do the connections, but they won't go to the lengths of sending a direct message to that person. And when they do, typically the DM is terrible and is not designed to get a response. So that is the big unlock for most people with the system is having a DM that actually makes somebody want to reply and makes somebody want to have a conversation with you. And that's the bit where most people go wrong. So it's this daily, weekly, monthly activities. Obviously, sales navigator helps. I know obviously a lot of your listeners will be on recruiter and not able to have sales navigator, but it kind of works the same way in terms of being able to search. So the system is very much about doing all the right things to get you the result, but they don't all work individually. As in, if you're just doing one bit or two bits of that, you have to be doing all those things in order for each of those things to come together and turn it into inbound

Headlines And DMs That Lose Deals

SPEAKER_00 11:50

and outbound leads.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

I've got two questions, and you don't have to answer either of them if you don't want to, uh, of course. But from that, then firstly, what's the most common profile mistake that you see? You know, you said that sometimes that it's just not written to convert customers um into uh uh prospects into customers, and what what's this DM that is more likely to get you uh, you know, what what what what mistakes do we make at that stage?

SPEAKER_00 12:24

So profile answer is typically the professional headline, if it's got the word recruitment or if it's got something in it that's just really obviously like I'm here to pitch you, basically getting a job out of you. If that is the first thing that someone sees on the profile, you can forget it. They're not going to accept you and they're definitely not gonna start a conversation with you. So professional headline, which is the bit underneath your name, that follows you around everywhere. So I talk to I talk to salespeople a lot, and they always have business development, account management, like they have these words on their professional headline that just screams, I'm trying to sell you something. So that is definitely a big no-no. Um, of course, you have a job title, right? You have, if you are a recruiter, be proud of the fact you're a recruiter, but it doesn't need to be the first thing that somebody you're trying to get to connect with your LinkedIn reads. Think about outcomes, think about how you help your clients. Um, and it can obviously be in your work experience, in your about section, but that first you've got a two, three-second opportunity with the headshot, the header image, and the headline to make somebody decide whether or not they want to add you. So that would be probably one of the most common mistakes. Um, and there's some features that most people have that they don't even realize are available to them, like a featured section. So on the profile, you have something called a featured section, and that is where you can have book or call with you, where you can have really amazing articles and newsletters, you can have YouTube videos, you can have all sorts of media in there that would are designed to convert people into your ecosystem. If you use a scorecard or use anything at all, like a lead magnet, there are ways to drive people into your ecosystem and have lots of call to action in your profile, but people don't see it as a landing page or a web page, they just see it as, oh, it's just my CV. So they don't know that a lot of these features exist. In terms of what to say in DMs, I mean that is obviously the secret source. So I'm not gonna, you know, just share that. But but in terms of what mistakes people make, of course. I mean, obviously, Jordan has the secret source now, so that's good. Um, but in terms of like what mistakes people make, they make the DM all about them and not about the customer. They usually send something really long that is not gonna grab the attention. And quite typically they will, yeah, the the outreach is usually just not designed to drive a response. That's hi, I'm so and so, and I do this. So I saw that you've got this fake, you know, they're they're immediately trying to go in for the sale when it's not how you would network with someone. So it at the end of the day, LinkedIn is a professional networking platform. If you and I had met at a conference and we were over coffee or we were at the water cooler or something, you you wouldn't start pitching that person your business from from the minute you stood in front of them. You maybe some people would, but I wouldn't. Maybe some people would. Obviously, that's people that network badly, but you know, in order to start a proper conversation, you're not going to start talking all about yourself and telling that person all the reasons why they should do business with you. You're probably going to have a normal human conversation, and that's where people go wrong in the DMs. They don't try to build a relationship. So I talk about turning strangers into friends. So if you just go at it with, I just need to turn this person who doesn't know me from Adam into someone that is no longer a stranger, find common connection points. You know, there are many different ways to find connection points. And of course, with the rise of AI and automation, a lot of DMs are very clearly written not by a human, or they're automated even worse. So try to have some kind of personalization in there that really demonstrates you've done a bit of homework, you are not um a bot, and it can't possibly have been something you're copying and pasting to every single person. So I might go onto your profile and go look at what posts you've done recently. I might mention the event you've got coming up and ask you how I might be able to help you promote that. I might mention and reference something you've said on your profile. Um, but I would I might even use AI to go and do a bit of deep research on you before I send the DM so that when I approach you, you're you're you're gonna go, oh, this person's done a bit of homework on me to find out a bit more about me. So therefore, it's gonna stand out in all the other DMs that you're getting because I've put the effort in. The other thing that's really amazing is video and voice. So I don't know if you remember the last time you got a video message from someone on LinkedIn, but I guarantee you probably haven't had very many of them. So cut through the noise, do things differently, send a 30-second video to introduce yourself to someone. Again, no selling, but imagine you did that. You'll get a 30-40% response rate from a video message than you will from just the other 50 written DMs that that person's had that day, especially if they're in HR, especially if they're a senior leader. They're being pitched all the time. So stand out from the crowd. My favorite Walt Disney quote is observe the masses and do the opposite. So think about how you might do that in the DMs. Voice notes, another one fantastic way to prospect. Videos even better, but just think about for on the receiving end, if you've got a video message from someone that wasn't like a loom or something where it's tracked, just a nice in-the-camera role video, you'd probably be curious and you'd probably click on it, and you'd probably remember it because no one else does it. So I think it's just about how can we use some of these tools available to us to personalize, to stand out, and to be different.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Nice. No wonder everyone loves you.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

I've just been doing it a long time, that's all. I've been I've been on the platform 21 years, so you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah, I can tell. You can immediately tell someone that knows their stuff, like inside out, upside down, and works with it all day, every day. And uh it's a joy. And I I trust you completely. Well, I know what you do works, so uh it's

AI Done Right Without Risk

SPEAKER_01 18:35

great. You you talked there about um a topic I wanted to ask you about, and that's AI, and it is dreadful, you know, the the the volume of outreach that I'm sure we're all getting. Mine is ridiculous the amount of approaches that I get on LinkedIn that have clearly been written by AI and are doing all those things that you just said. It's impersonal, it's obviously copy-paste, and it is selling at me from the minute that it lands in my inbox. I must get 50 a day. Like I it's ridiculous. We have to have somebody manage it because I've um you know have quite a lot of connections. Um two. Is it helpful AI in your world? And if so, how?

SPEAKER_00 19:21

So it is helpful in certain aspects and it is not helpful in others. So, first off, LinkedIn is doing a huge amount to to minimize the you know the AI stuff. Um, they are banning founders and they are literally removing company pages and founders completely from the platform that are creating tools that break their terms of service. So anything that scrapes or anything that is a Chrome extension or a third-party extension um is they're very, very likely to be removed or very likely to be detected. Um, so people are losing their LinkedIn accounts for using automation. So, first thing to say is do not be tempted to shortcut things by using any form of automation when it comes to connection requests, when it comes to anything like that. There are some AI tools that sit outside of LinkedIn that are fully compliant that do involve some kind of human intervention. And there are some great tools out there. Um, but if you're tempted to use any kind of AI automation to do the heavy lifting on the administration side of things, like forget it. You'll I I talked to a client the other day, he's lost his account. Four, you know, wasn't a client of mine until he'd lost it. 14,000 connections gone. He's back down to six. He's had to wait six months to get his account back. You know, if any one of your listeners lost access to LinkedIn, like you know, it's not worth the risk. So be aware of LinkedIn's terms of service, be aware of the do's and don'ts, make sure that you're not breaking the rules because if you are, um, you do risk losing access to your account, even if you're a paying client of LinkedIn. And I know recruiters pay a lot for LinkedIn. So I do find AI helpful for a number of things. So the first thing is uh deep research on prospects. So if you are targeting certain key accounts or it's targeting certain individuals, obviously it's great to get that research. So you can personalize an approach, so you can you know increase the chance that someone's going to accept you. So that's one way it would be helpful. The second thing with regards to content is not necessarily for writing the content, but actually coming up with the ideas. So I have 22 content frameworks that I uh can apply to LinkedIn. But if I know somebody's ideal client, if I know their entire uh, you know, who they're targeting, that can be applied and those can be created, and there can be great ideas generated, especially if you have some really strong copywriting frameworks and things like that. So it's helpful from that perspective, but I would never get AI to write, completely write your content. LinkedIn does not like AI generated content. It doesn't like AI generated images. So again, the more human intervention there is in that, the better. But it is great for coming up with ideas. If you're really stuck with, oh, I don't know what to post about, I don't know what to write about, it can be really good for the idea generation. But I would never go, oh, here's a post written by Claude or here's a post written by whatever, whatever your platform of choice is, and then just copy-paste it straight in. It just looks like everybody else's. The language is the same as everybody else's. No one's going to pay attention to it. So I all I mean, you can tell as well who is using it. So I use a tool called Favicon, which is essentially a platform that allows you to see all the creators and all the influencers. And they have this new thing with an authenticity score. So you can tell a lot of the big creators who are using AI and who are not. You can, you know, mine's my score is I think 98 out of 100 in authenticity because I really focus on creating content that I've written rather than letting an AI tool generate that content. So for me, it's very useful in lots of ways. I think it's really useful for being more efficient and the systems around everything I'm doing. But in terms of the core activities on LinkedIn, I would avoid AI a lot of the time because, again, you want to stand out from everybody else and do the opposite of everybody else. So yeah, that's my thoughts

Subscribe And Share Break

SPEAKER_00 23:25

on it. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Are you enjoying this so far? Don't miss a single episode. Hit the subscribe button right now so you can be part of the conversation that's shaping the future of recruitment. So we dive really deep into the strategies, the stories, and the truth about retained search. So if you want to hear more about it, or you know someone else that needs to hear this, then share it with them. Right, let's get back to the good stuff. Um, you give a lot away for free. You mentioned

Giving Away Value Without Fear

SPEAKER_01 24:00

uh that that plays a part in the way that you advise your clients to show up as well. Um it goes against uh a lot of sales theory, giving stuff away, really, because that we're supposed to sell it, right? Um I guess I we we have a similar theory. We give we give a lot away for free. And I remember going to uh my mentor at the time and saying, is that is there too is there such a thing as too much? Is there such a thing as giving too much away? What's your take on that, Sam, and your experience?

SPEAKER_00 24:46

My take on it, especially with AI these days, is that information is everywhere, right? So somebody could go and get the answer to any question about anything that you do, anything that I do, anything about any aspect of social selling LinkedIn, the information's out there, right? So I think if the information is out there, then what why is there a problem with me sharing it? Because I want the right information to be out there. So there's a lot of information out there about how to do LinkedIn, but from some people that just aren't credible and don't actually put the right stuff out there. So my view on it is that um my view on it is that sorry, my um someone called, but you'll have to edit that bit out. Um my view on it is that if I am the most helpful, the most valuable expert out there that provides more value than anybody else, a few things are gonna happen. Number one, people will think, wow, if I'm getting this much from this person and I'm not paying her a penny, I wonder what would happen if I actually invested in working with her. So that's the first thing that happens. Second thing that happens is it creates raving fans. So I have thousands and thousands of raving fans, as you've already heard. We haven't even met before, and you've already heard great things. So your reputation reputation precedes you. And a raving fan might not be able to afford you, but a raving fan will tell 10, 20, 30 other people about you, many of whom can afford you. So my best corporate clients, and I've done some amazing corporate contracts. I've worked with Brother, MasterCard, FedEx, I've worked with huge companies, Activision Blizzard, they've generally all come from a recommendation from someone that didn't pay me any money. So for me, my best clients come from the network of my raving fans, whether they're paying or not paying. So the goodwill that comes with being out there creating tons of free content, having the most available for free for most people, for me, that the impact of that from a relationship standpoint and from a referral standpoint is huge. So I have a free community like you guys do. Um, it's nearly a thousand members right now, but 50% of that grew through referral. It wasn't me doing the heavy lifting on or paying for ads or spending money to get those people into my ecosystem. They're coming because other people are telling people about my work. Um, it's why I wrote my books. It's all credibility building. So the information's out there. So why shouldn't I be the person that is giving that information? And then that elevates my brand above everybody else. So when I first started out doing LinkedIn, and it was 2010, I transitioned from LinkedIn, sorry, sorry, from recruitment to being a LinkedIn expert. And there was a crossover period of a couple of years where I was still running my recruitment agency and doing LinkedIn on the side. And I remember, you know, at the time looking at it, going, wow, there's only five people in the world, or five people in the UK certainly, that were talking about LinkedIn. So I looked to who it was, and they were, I was the only girl. So they were male, pale, and stale. And I was the only girl. I was like, right, I need to be like the number one expert in Europe, and I'm gonna do it in X number of years. So I set my goal as to being able to do that. But I looked to what they were providing, I looked to what other people were providing. I wrote my book and suddenly there were lots of new LinkedIn experts on the scene because they just took what I'd written in my book and decided they were going to be a LinkedIn coach. So I'm always looking to elevate myself above everybody else. So for me, being the person that's the most helpful and gives away the most for free elevates me above everybody else. And I get people coming to me saying, wow, I spent 3,000 pounds with this person, I've learned more an hour with you for free than I did paying someone else 3,000 pounds. So, and of course it converts. Ultimately, free people turn into paid clients. Otherwise, I wouldn't do it. Like it would be crazy to just give away everything for free and never make any money. So that's where the system comes in, right? I can give information away for free, but if they want to know the exact DM that's gonna book them five to 10 meetings in a week, they need to pay me for that. If they want to know the exact system that gets them clients in 90 days or less, they need to pay me for that. But of course, I can give away lots of information, but it's not actually going to solve the ultimate problem for them, which is that they need to know exactly what needle, what, what's going to move the needle the fastest. They could probably figure it out in maybe 12 months if they just consumed all my free stuff. But why not get the unlock and do it in 90 days by paying me to do that and get the actual system?

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah, it's we we work a very, as you know, we work very, very in a very, very similar way. Yeah, we do run the same system. And we give a huge amount away and it works beautifully. And I'm always trying to encourage recruiters to do the same, but they don't want often reluctant to you know teach a client how to competency-based assess interview or how to run a process end-to-end, because well they wouldn't need me if they knew how to do that. It's like they don't want to do that, they really don't want to do it.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

They've got no time, they've got no inclination whatsoever, you know. So they'll be like, oh wow, this is great, and then they go to do it, and then they quite they quite quickly realize, oh wow, like this is a lot of work and takes a lot of expertise, and I don't have that time. So yeah, I think um I think it's a great, it's a great model, and I'm a firm believer, and I've always done it for I've done it for years, and it there's always gonna be people that need the help and they need primarily accountability and support to do it. So whether you're doing it with them or doing it for them, I feel like they still there's still people out there that are time poor and really have no inclination to learn. Like even if you gave them all the information, they still wouldn't take the time to learn it, they're just not gonna do it. Exactly.

Manchester Event And Outbound Focus

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Um, talking of helping people, uh, we're both taken to the stage on Friday of this week, which I'm really excited about in Manchester. Um, what are you gonna be helping people with on Friday?

SPEAKER_00 30:56

So I think based on our conversations, and obviously I've already done some work in the community as well. Um, for me, it's gonna be very much about helping people understand the how to get more visible, how to get more credible, how to build their authority in their space and elevate themselves above everybody else. Um, we'll be doing a little bit of work on profiles. I might be doing a profile roast, you know, might pick someone out of the audience to do a profile profile. Profile roast. Yes, one of the profile roast. Oh maybe see if someone in the audience wants to volunteer themselves and me live roast them on stage and you'll be able to do that. Um when I do that, everybody learns, right? So yeah, I'm thinking about doing a pro, but it does tend to go down quite well. Profile roast.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Yeah, we'd love that. Please do that.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

Yeah, and we'll be looking at, I think the the the unlock is the the outbound side of things. So most people know they need to post content, most people don't need to show up and they need to engage. But I think the big thing that will move the needle for most of the people in the room is actually how do I have an outbound strategy that is non-salesy, that sets me apart from everyone else in the industry and is actually going to get me responses. So we'll be diving a little bit into the outbound side of things.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

Amazing. Oh my god. And if you haven't already got your tickets, the tickets have almost sold out. I think we've got 20-something tickets left. So you'll have to be quick if you're listening to this. And I think Kirsty's going to send this out in the next day or so. Um, then uh use the link in the comments to get your place. Um, if not, and this time has passed and you're listening to this after the event, then please reach out to Sam. I'm sure that she'll be happy to help you in any way that she can. Um, tell me a little bit about you as well. You're a mum. Uh,

Parenting Neurodivergent Teen Entrepreneurs

SPEAKER_01 32:50

we're both mums of teenagers. Your teenagers aren't your average teenagers, though, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Yeah, I mean, they are all new, we're all neurodivergent in some ways. So I have uh I have ADHD. My youngest is autistic with ADHD. Uh, my eldest is high-functioning autistic with asperges and ADHD. My middle child is ADHD and dyslexic.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

So we have a whole bunch of stuff going on in our world, uh, which brings its own uniqueness and challenges, but never a dull moment in my house, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Oh my goodness, me, I bet.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Yeah. So, yeah, but they're all amazing, they're all very entrepreneurial. Um, Oscar's 19 now, he is um already an entrepreneur and was an entrepreneur from age 10. So we're all very what does he do? What's his um business? So he's actually uh in a he's doing a lot of work in AI and he's also making sales as well, so he's combining those two together. He's also an artist, so he's doing music too. Uh, my youngest, sorry, my youngest is an is massively into art and photography, um, and she wants to be a wildlife photographer and then sell her painting. And my middle uh Maya is doing her GCSEs right now, and she is uh she's at college doing painting and decorating. Oh, she wants to be a female decorator. So yeah, she wants to renovate properties and be out there doing it for the girls

Breast Cancer Survival And Awareness

SPEAKER_00 34:15

and the trades. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

So yeah, as well as all of this, you're a breast cancer survivor.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

I am, yes. So October 23. Thanks. Yeah, that's been a journey. Uh yeah, uh my mum got breast cancer when she was 43, so I've always checked myself and always done self-examinations, and I found my own lump uh in October 23. I just was doing a standard monthly check. So for anyone listening, if you find anything unusual where you're not checking yourself, please do. Um, early detection for me was the thing that saved me. If I had not found that lump, uh I wasn't due a mammogram until I was in my like 50s, um, and I'm not even 50 yet. So I found my own lump. I had a lumpectomy, which means they took the tumour out with surgery. Um, it got sent away to America to be tested. Um, and the tumor came back that it it I would benefit from chemotherapy. So I went into six months of chemo and then 15 rounds of radiotherapy. So yeah, that was a lot as a single mom with three teenagers uh and family all abroad. So I still I know it was a lot. Um I had just won the one of the biggest contracts of my life. So I just won MasterCard the week before. I'd just been in to do my first session with them. And a week after I started training with MasterCard, I found out that I had breast cancer. So I did work, I didn't work a lot, I worked maybe 25% capacity. I had all my contracts to deliver still. Um, and yeah, and then came out the other side of all of that, rang the bell, and that's when most people think that you're kind of back to normal. And that's really when the journey started for me, I think, because I think whilst you're going through treatment, you're kind of in the system and you're just going from appointment to appointment and just trying to survive, and then you come out the other side of it and they kick you out, and then it's like, oh I've had cancer, and you just go into this emotional trauma and PTSD and all this kind of stuff that hits you. Um, and what I hadn't realized is that they were throwing me into medical menopause. Um, so I then ended up with a car crash into medical menopause, which I have not realized was going to happen because no one told me. So I ended up with all the symptoms of that after having gone through all the chemo as well. So yeah, it was not fun at all. But I'm still here and I'm alive and I'm back doing what I love, but it has been a journey. Um, I did talk about my journey on social, so I I documented on TikTok um everything good, bad, and ugly. I did talk about it on LinkedIn because I have 38,000 followers, and I felt like it was important to talk about it from an awareness perspective because I don't think there are enough people out there talking about it from the perspective of a business owner and a single mom. So I couldn't find anybody really to relate to that was juggling a business, juggling being a mom of teens. I just thought there's no one out there really talking about it from this perspective. So I didn't want to become like the cancer girl on LinkedIn. So I'd maybe did one post every four to six weeks, but the amount of people that have messaged me saying, you know, they're going through it in silence and not talking about it, or they're supporting a best friend or a parent or a uh somebody in their life is being affected by it. And they've, you know, they've all said how useful and helpful my posts have been to understand it from the perspective of the patient. Um, so I'm glad that I have talked about it. It was a bit of a risk to the business to to discuss it because obviously you don't know how that's going to come across. But I'm glad that I did. And if you've got a platform and you have a you have a following, I think you have a responsibility, in my opinion, to share to help others. And you know, if it meant that one more person went for their smear test, or one more person checked themselves, or one more person went for their PSA test because of me, then I've done my job. And I know I've helped people to make that decision. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

That's wonderful, Sam. What an incredible woman you are.

SPEAKER_00 38:29

Thanks.

Redefining Success After Cancer

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Well done. What what's all that done for you in terms of has it changed what you know you want from your life and your business and what success means for you now?

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Oh, yeah, 100%. I think when you go through anything life-changing like that, or any health-related thing where you literally are facing your own mortality, like you really do make decisions about how you live your life. And you know, I now know that I want to live in Portugal. I'd always had the dream of doing it, but it's really forced my hand in terms of I have a date, I have a plan to get there. My parents lived there and it's my second home. And like, why am I waiting? Like, I just need to put the things in place to make that happen. Obviously, my older kids need to be a bit older before I can go, but I have a date now and I'm I have a full plan to make that happen. Um, because I don't want to live in the UK anymore, and I want to live somewhere where I can be by the ocean every day and feel the warmth of the sun every day. So that's one thing. Um, secondly, the way that I deliver my business and you know, finding the school platform was a big thing for me. So now the fact that I can deliver my business and run my business online from anywhere. Um and you know, as much as I've done a lot of corporate work over the years, I still do that stuff, but I really love helping small business owners and to be able to do that and be able to deliver it in a format that is fun. Um, I think a lot of people are not having fun in their business, and I think fun is really important, and wanting to get up every day and do your work. So for me, I did make some decisions. I was with another business partner, which or a couple of business partners, I split from them as a result of my cancer journey. I just decided I don't want to just to be me. I'm responsible, I'm in control, and I yeah, I just want to live my life and live for every moment, really, because we never know when we're not gonna be here.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

So that's a nice, nice message, very

Key Takeaways And Where To Find Sam

SPEAKER_01 40:30

nice. Um what would you most like the listeners from today to walk away with?

SPEAKER_00 40:42

I think I'd like them to walk away with the realization that actually LinkedIn can be a really good source of leads for them and if they do it the right way, then they can elevate themselves above everybody else and they can set themselves apart. Um so I think I'd like them to walk away feeling a bit more knowledgeable about what the platform can do and feeling inspired, hopefully, that they yeah, that maybe they are not using the platform in the best way possible, and that there is another way to do it, and there is a way to help them stand out from everybody else and do it the right way without feeling salesy and without feeling you know icky about it, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

Love that, I love it. Um, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us, Sam. I know how busy you are, and I cannot wait to see you on Friday and hang out. It's gonna be so much fun. Um, and I'll be taking notes during your session, I'm sure. So thank you very much, and thank you to those listening. Um, if you want to connect with Sam, you'll find her very easily on LinkedIn, Sam Ratling.

Community Programs And Closing

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Stop Well, that's another episode of Retrain Search, the podcast in the bag. Thanks for listening to our wild tales, LinkedIn controversies, and our top tips on how to sell and deliver retained search. Get involved in our next episode. Send in your questions and share your experiences with us by emailing podcast at retrainedsearch.com. And don't be shy, connect with us on LinkedIn and come and say hi. We don't bite, unless you're a Shrek firm, that is. We want to say a special thank you to our retrained members for sharing what's working for them right now and innovating new ways to grow and evolve. It's an incredible community. If you're wondering what exactly we mean when we mention our communities, well, we have two separate programs. Our Search Foundation's program is for recruiters who want to learn how to sell and deliver retained search solutions consistently. And we have our Search Mastery program. That's for business leaders or owners already at 50% retained or more, and looking to scale and grow and structure their search firm. We cap memberships to these programs to protect the integrity of the community. If you want access, just talk to us. Okay, thanks for listening. We'll be back very soon with another episode of Retrain Search, the podcast.