Today I received notice that I was accepted into the LinkedIn Influencer Program. Perhaps I was accepted because today is my birthday, but it immediately made me reflect on my relationship with LinkedIn, how LinkedIn has changed my life and the lessons learned from those experiences.

In 2003 I was an MBA graduate looking for a job at a startup and was introduced to Reid Hoffman through a mutual friend. Although LinkedIn wasn’t hiring people with my background (no startup or technology experience) I did have the opportunity to meet Reid, learn about the business and as a result became fascinated with the social media space. That chance meeting ended up being fundamental to my eventually finding a business development job at a competitor of LinkedIn called Spoke.

Lesson: Career success takes a network and you never know what meetings or weak ties will lead you to the outcome you want.

By late 2004, it became clear that Spoke did not have the leadership, product or momentum to compete with LinkedIn. In 2004, I received an InMail via LinkedIn from a recruiter looking for a young and aggressive business development executive at Plaxo, a rapidly growing social address book company. I took the interview, was very impressed with the team, company, investors and product, and ended up joining the company.

Lesson: Be willing to explore new opportunities and look for hidden benefits. Plaxo eventually sold for $180M but it was my relationship Jon Callaghan (a board member and future investor in BrightRoll) that changed my life the most.

In 2006, I decided there was a fundamental shift happening in the consumption of online video and I left Plaxo to start BrightRoll, a video advertising platform. For the first few years we recruited engineers and sales people primarily from our personal network. However, it quickly became clear that we weren’t going to scale to 100s of employees on our personal network alone. After a call from an old friend named Mike Gamson, I decided to give LinkedIn Recruiter a try. From that day on, LinkedIn has been the primary recruiting tool used by BrightRoll and was one of the best recruiting decisions we ever made.

Lesson: As an entrepreneur, capital is your most scarce asset. However, the LinkedIn Recruiter math was simple — hire one person a year and it’s a positive ROI. There is no better recruiting tool in the world.

In 2011, I decided that BrightRoll needed a VP of engineering to help us quickly scale from 15 developers to over 100 developers in order to better serve our customers and meet the rapidly evolving needs of the industry. After actively searching for six months, we still had not found the right person for the job. One day, a friend encouraged me to reach out to Chris Amen-Kroeger at Conviva, implying that he may be open to making a change. Without hesitation I sent him an InMail and we were chatting on the phone within 24 hours. A month later, Chris joined the company as VP of Engineering and we are well on the path to our 100th developer.

Lesson: Be aggressive and use InMails. Everyone reads their email (even if they tell you they don’t) and nothing is more powerful than a well timed and well written new job opportunity.

Now, as an LinkedIn Influencer I’m excited to see the ways in which LinkedIn continues to impact my life, career and company. I encourage you to share stories of how LinkedIn has changed your life in the comments below.

Photo credit: JeffreyKatra.com

Editor’s Note: This was originally posted by Tod Sacerdoti as part of the LinkedIn Influencer Program. Follow him on LinkedIn. 

I quickly went from “living the dream” to broke and living on my sister’s couch for the next year while recovering from surgery. Not only was I left with a broken body, I was broken in spirit.

As an athlete, my identity and growth came from competition. It was there, in the midst of training, struggle and victory, that I felt at home. But now things had changed, which meant I had two choices: I could adapt, or become just another person with a broken dream.

So I chose to get a new dream…

A good friend and mentor of mine, Vice President of Innovation at Deckers Stuart Jenkins, encouraged me to find my next opportunity on LinkedIn.

I’d never heard of LinkedIn before, but I quickly saw the value a platform like this could be for professionals, so I began spending countless hours every day on LinkedIn, learning how to take full advantage of every tool, and connecting with professionals all over the world.

That’s when I discovered the power of LinkedIn Groups and created the Sports Industry Network.

Within a year of creating this group, Sports Industry Network reached over 10,000 members, and has since grown to over 110,000 members. I started providing resources for sports professionals in the group, hosting live events to connect them offline, and sharing interviews of members at SportsNetworker.com.

But I didn’t stop there. My next move was to help local business owners and entrepreneurs connect, so I began creating a series of local business groups around the country and hosting live events to  help people within my LinkedIn groups build stronger relationships by connecting offline.

And that’s when it hit me – I wanted to be an entrepreneur.

I didn’t know what my business would be quite yet, or what products I would create, but I figured as long as my focus was adding value, I couldn’t go wrong. So I took my knowledge of LinkedIn and decided to begin with that.

I challenged myself to meet as many people within my LinkedIn groups as possible.  I figured the more professionals I knew, the more value I could provide others by becoming a connector and sharing how to leverage LinkedIn.

One connection led to another, until I found myself catching a last minute flight to Las Vegas to attend an event called Affiliate Summit, which Jim Kukral, my newest acquaintance at one of my LinkedIn groups, recommended I attend.

It was at that event I was introduced as the “LinkedIn King” to Joel Comm, New York Times Bestselling author and online marketing expert. And by the end of that conversation, Joel had booked me to present a brief webinar training for his audience.

Before I knew it, I once again found myself in unfamiliar territory – online workshops (or webinars).

I remember being extremely nervous during that first webinar (as I was a terrible public speaker at the time) but I reminded myself that even though I was speaking to my laptop, my message was being heard by hundreds of people.  And it was a message they needed to hear.

At the end of the webinar, I quickly checked my e-mail to see if anyone had taken me up on my offer – and what I saw, changed my life forever.

My inbox was full of purchase orders.

I had sold over $6,300 in training material, designed to help business owners improve their social profile, leverage their network, and connect with other influential people.

All I can really say is, “I was hooked.”

I was hooked on educating people and teaching them how to help increase their business by generating more leads, traffic, and sales through social media and online marketing.

Since then I’ve created a 7-figure business, wrote a couple books, published a number of best selling social media training courses to help small business owners with LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube, been featured in the top media outlets, spoken all over the world, began The School Of Greatness (one of the fastest rising podcasts), helped people take online relationships offline with OverNear and have found my way back to professional sports in 2012 when I represented the USA national team in the Olympic sport of team handball.

I know I’ve been blessed, and I had my fair share of luck (both good and bad), but I’ve never stopped hustling.

None of this could have been possible, however, without a focus on providing value to others – and leveraging LinkedIn.

I’m sure this is when you expect me to say “LinkedIn to the rescue!” Well, that’s exactly what happened, but not quite the way you might imagine.

As a young professional, I had dutifully filled out my LinkedIn profile, thinking that it would come in handy as I sought to expand my professional network. I actually had no idea that LinkedIn could be a resource for nonprofit board opportunities. So when I received an InMail from Terrie Light, the Executive Director of the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, about their search for a new Board Member, I was pleasantly surprised. Little did she know I was actually looking for her (inadvertently)! I responded to Terrie and scheduled a time to meet.

As the day of our meeting drew closer, I began to get nervous. Was I cut out to be on the Board of Directors for such an amazing nonprofit? Why would they want an architect on their board anyway? The position sounded like it required many years of experience, something I didn’t have. I started to wonder if Terrie had the right person. I looked over my LinkedIn profile again to make sure that it was clear that I am a young professional. Could it be that Terrie really found my profile interesting?

When I met with Terrie, she explained that she was looking for a younger board member with lots of energy — someone who could engage with the more experienced professionals on the board and add to their efforts. She also explained that one of their goals is to build a new building: a multi-use homeless shelter, transitional housing, clinic, and counseling center to serve their clients. An architect with my experience could help them as they issued an RFP, refined their building program, and interviewed architects. This was very exciting for me because I immediately saw it as a learning opportunity as well as something I was primed to do from past experience. I had worked for 7 years at an affordable housing architecture firm, and had also volunteered in public advocacy campaigns for similar types of projects in the past.

A few months later, after meeting with other board members and attending a board meeting, I was voted unanimously on the board: a match I could not have better engineered if I tried. As I begin my service on the board, I’m excited, honored, and grateful for my new meaningful connection.

Are you interested in joining a nonprofit board? Fill out the Volunteer Experience and Causes section of your LinkedIn profile to make it easier for nonprofits to find you. If you’re a nonprofit looking to identify potential board members, learn more about Board Member Connect.

Updating My Presence on LinkedIn

I found my last three jobs through LinkedIn, so I immediately turned to LinkedIn to update my profile. I spent time thinking about what I wanted from my next role and defined this in my Summary and Headline. I wanted my profile to stand out, be succinct, and attract exciting and forward-thinking employers. Rather than duplicate my CV, I used the Experience section to summarize my previous employers, roles, and most importantly my key achievements and impact.

Once I updated my profile, I asked for recommendations from customers, peers and managers I had worked with in the past. My aim was to gather at least three recommendations for each job and at least one from a customer. In my view, it’s the recommendations that make you stand out from the crowd. These are true testimonials from people you’ve actually worked with or provided a service for. They matter more than a CV, as they are a clear indication of your success, and that’s one of the key benefits of using LinkedIn. I was surprised at how willing people were to write recommendations – many were really happy to write a short note about their experience working with me. It’s easier if you collect these throughout your career so I try to keep mine constantly updated.

Landing My Dream Job

Shortly after updating my profile, I was contacted by Michal Tsur, Co-founder, President, and CMO of Kaltura, an open-source rich media and video platform. Michal contacted me through a personalized InMail about an opportunity to help build their UK team. Over the next 10 days, I had a series of phone interviews with various department leaders and founders of the company. My final interview was with the General Manager of the Kaltura London office, Leah Belsky, who I hit it off with immediately. Throughout the interview process, I was honest about my epilepsy and need for flexibility in my work, which the entire team at Kaltura was supportive of. Next thing I knew, I received a call saying that my application had been successful and that I had landed the job of my dreams in Account Management. Kaltura enabled me to work from home for a portion of my week, which helps me manage my local and international travel. They have provided me with the tools and support I need to grow and succeed in my career.

The benefit of using LinkedIn is that my profile has global reach and exposed me to both local and international job opportunities. This isn’t always the case. When you submit your CV to a recruiter, they look around and try to match you with local jobs. When you update LinkedIn, the whole world sees it, so your reach and exposure is much wider.

Advancing in My Career

My new role is a big promotion from my last job and is international in scope. I was recently promoted to Director of Strategic Accounts, where I oversee client relationships and projects in the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and Europe. I have the opportunity to work with a wide customer base across industries including education, media and enterprise. I love that my role is customer facing and exposes me to different sectors, cultures, languages, and regions. There’s a huge challenge in keeping a global team working together, but Kaltura’s approach to flexible working, their use of video, VOIP and live streaming, and their open attitude about supporting employee growth and development make it a world-class company to work for.

Quite simply, this new role has changed my life. My salary has increased, my career growth path is now excellent, and I’ve never been happier. Thanks to LinkedIn and Kaltura, I was able to overcome limitations to find opportunities I never would have found otherwise.

Editor’s Note: Do you have a success story to share? Leave a comment on our LinkedIn Company Page. If you need more inspiration, check out our Member Stories blog series.

Taking on the World as a Born Networker

From the moment I joined LinkedIn, I saw opportunities way beyond my job search because I’ve always appreciated and depended on networking with people. Even though the community was still young, LinkedIn enabled me to build a stronger professional network of friends and colleagues.

My strong preference for interacting with others has been nurtured because I have dyslexia. A slower reader gets answers faster simply by asking. The handicap was not so bad that it prevented me from being hired by a prestigious management consulting firm and afterwards working for two other renowned companies. It required, however, quite a bit of determination and stamina. A consultant’s need to work closely with many people and sparsely worded PowerPoint slides also played to my strengths. Yet, even today I find it amusing how my career has worked out.

Doing Business in the Middle East

What became my last job hunt ended when I was offered a position in London as Director for Nokia Networks’ consulting activities in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This literally opened up a new world to me. It was obvious that most of the growth in the telecommunications industry would be in the emerging markets. The cultures and business practices in these regions are very different from those in Europe and North America, where I had most of my work experience. I learned that to conduct business successfully, I had to invest time on the ground to understand and build relationships. So shortly after I started this job, my dear wife Ida and I packed and moved to Dubai.

LinkedIn was of great help to me when I started doing business in this new place. It helped me to identify colleagues from previous employers as well as other Scandinavians with whom it was easier to get a meeting and help with further introductions.

Starting my Own Company

I had always wanted to start my own business, but it was harder to wave goodbye to monthly paychecks and business class airline seats than I had imagined. My resolve to strike out on my own was strengthened by my conviction that most companies miss significant potential by treating business decisions and initiatives separately from leadership development. I noticed the divide between “hard” management consulting and the “soft” fields of coaching and training were seldom crossed. As an exception, I had developed and applied methods to accelerate the performance of organizations that combined these hard and soft skills. I leveraged this insight to strengthen my own organization at what is now Nokia Siemens Networks but saw much more potential.

So in 2011, I resigned when I realized that I would never forgive myself for not grasping this big opportunity. I founded Dual Impact, which is a consulting and coaching firm helping business leaders with strategic issues in which people are the critical factor. To share some of the insights that the firm is building upon, I recently published my first book Effective Business in the Gulf: Mastering Leadership Skills for Greater Success.

A challenge for me is that most companies in the region do not share much information about themselves. LinkedIn became my X-ray by showing me a good chunk of a company’s employees so I get a sense of the size of the company, what the organization looks like and what backgrounds their staff has. I would neither have been able to write the book nor help my clients with the same confidence without a better sense of which companies are the movers and shakers.

Over the past 9 years, LinkedIn has really become a trusted companion on my career adventure. Now, I start everyday with LinkedIn as it’s become a valuable part of my morning routine.

Editor’s Note: Do you have a success story to share? Leave a comment on our LinkedIn Company Page. If you need more inspiration, check out our Member Stories blog series.