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Jaimie Skultety on LinkedIn Visibility, Relationship-Based DMs, and Building Authority Online
Published 1 week, 2 days ago
Description
In this special simulcast of The Neil Haley Show and the Storehouse Media Group Podcast, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes Jaimie Skultety, founder of Upscale Your Business, for a practical conversation about LinkedIn, visibility, relationship-building, and why business owners need more than a profile and a few posts to generate real opportunities.
Jaimie’s entrepreneurial journey began after nearly 30 years in corporate work as an executive assistant. When the economy shifted in 2008 and 2009 and she lost her job, she needed to create a new path. She launched a virtual assistant business believing that putting up a website would quickly bring customers.
It did not.
That experience became the beginning of a much larger journey through entrepreneurship, coaching, marketing, and eventually helping coaches, consultants, and fractional executives build authority and visibility on LinkedIn.
One of the biggest themes of the conversation is the power of the direct message.
Neil and Jaimie agree that LinkedIn works best when people stop treating every connection like an immediate sales opportunity. Sending a pitch as soon as someone accepts a connection request can end the relationship before it begins.
Instead, Jaimie recommends becoming genuinely curious.
Look at the person’s profile. Read what they have posted. Find something worth asking about. Compliment something specific. Start a conversation that demonstrates you actually paid attention.
The objective is to build a relationship before trying to make a sale.
Jaimie says many business owners make another major mistake: trying to serve “anyone with a pulse and a credit card.”
While it may feel dangerous to narrow an audience, she believes trying to speak to everyone usually makes marketing weaker. If your ideal customer is unclear, your LinkedIn headline, About section, content, and outreach often become unclear as well.
Your profile should not simply read like a résumé.
It should immediately communicate who you help, what transformation you provide, and why the right person should continue the conversation.
Jaimie primarily works with coaches, consultants, and fractional executives who provide transformational services. She often sees profiles filled with credentials and employment history but very little language aimed directly at the potential client.
Visibility also requires action.
Simply posting content is not enough if the right people never see it. Jaimie recommends consistently growing a targeted network and then using conversations to bring relevant people back to valuable content.
Another tool she strongly recommends is the LinkedIn newsletter.
A newsletter allows professionals to develop a voice, demonstrate expertise, and position themselves as thought leaders. One advantage is that subscribers can receive notifications beyond the normal LinkedIn feed, creating another opportunity to bring people back to the content.
Jaimie also encourages repurposing newsletter material through email, using short teasers that direct readers back to LinkedIn.
But the strategy only works when the audience is right.
Thousands of connections mean little if most of those people will never need what you offer.
Jaimie has built an audience of more than 30,000 LinkedIn followers and thousands of newsletter subscribers organically. She now uses her experience to create what she calls an Authority Playbook for clients—helping them clarify positioning, profile language, content, newsletters, and strategies designed to create conversations that can eventually lead to booked calls.
The central message is simple: LinkedIn is not about collecting connections. It is about building relationships with the right people.
Create a focused profile. Know your audience. Publish useful content. Use newsletters. Reach out personally. And above all, stop treating the DM like a cold sales pitc
Jaimie’s entrepreneurial journey began after nearly 30 years in corporate work as an executive assistant. When the economy shifted in 2008 and 2009 and she lost her job, she needed to create a new path. She launched a virtual assistant business believing that putting up a website would quickly bring customers.
It did not.
That experience became the beginning of a much larger journey through entrepreneurship, coaching, marketing, and eventually helping coaches, consultants, and fractional executives build authority and visibility on LinkedIn.
One of the biggest themes of the conversation is the power of the direct message.
Neil and Jaimie agree that LinkedIn works best when people stop treating every connection like an immediate sales opportunity. Sending a pitch as soon as someone accepts a connection request can end the relationship before it begins.
Instead, Jaimie recommends becoming genuinely curious.
Look at the person’s profile. Read what they have posted. Find something worth asking about. Compliment something specific. Start a conversation that demonstrates you actually paid attention.
The objective is to build a relationship before trying to make a sale.
Jaimie says many business owners make another major mistake: trying to serve “anyone with a pulse and a credit card.”
While it may feel dangerous to narrow an audience, she believes trying to speak to everyone usually makes marketing weaker. If your ideal customer is unclear, your LinkedIn headline, About section, content, and outreach often become unclear as well.
Your profile should not simply read like a résumé.
It should immediately communicate who you help, what transformation you provide, and why the right person should continue the conversation.
Jaimie primarily works with coaches, consultants, and fractional executives who provide transformational services. She often sees profiles filled with credentials and employment history but very little language aimed directly at the potential client.
Visibility also requires action.
Simply posting content is not enough if the right people never see it. Jaimie recommends consistently growing a targeted network and then using conversations to bring relevant people back to valuable content.
Another tool she strongly recommends is the LinkedIn newsletter.
A newsletter allows professionals to develop a voice, demonstrate expertise, and position themselves as thought leaders. One advantage is that subscribers can receive notifications beyond the normal LinkedIn feed, creating another opportunity to bring people back to the content.
Jaimie also encourages repurposing newsletter material through email, using short teasers that direct readers back to LinkedIn.
But the strategy only works when the audience is right.
Thousands of connections mean little if most of those people will never need what you offer.
Jaimie has built an audience of more than 30,000 LinkedIn followers and thousands of newsletter subscribers organically. She now uses her experience to create what she calls an Authority Playbook for clients—helping them clarify positioning, profile language, content, newsletters, and strategies designed to create conversations that can eventually lead to booked calls.
The central message is simple: LinkedIn is not about collecting connections. It is about building relationships with the right people.
Create a focused profile. Know your audience. Publish useful content. Use newsletters. Reach out personally. And above all, stop treating the DM like a cold sales pitc