This week, I had the great privilege of interviewing one of my clients Kathryn Adaboyan, to talk about her journey in growing her company, GoPursue. Together we talk about how she’s gone from having the beginnings of product-market fit, to getting visible, becoming a thought leader in her space, generating a steady flow of leads (and even being invited to speak on a panel!)
Before we dive in, let me ask you: Do you remember what you used to say when someone asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Do you remember what your answer was when you were six? How about when you were 16? Was your answer the same? Did you end up following your childhood “dream” profession? If not, you are not alone! Did you know that according to a study done in Social Forbes in 2014, only 6% of adults ended up in the careers that they dreamt about as kids? How different things might have been if we had had mentorship and opportunities to work and learn about the fields we were interested in?
This is what Kathryn is passionate about: her company GoPursue helps high school students discover various careers, connect with professionals in those fields, and find learning-based work opportunities in their areas of interest.
When Kathryn first met me, she had already been part of a number of accelerator programs and she had the beginnings of product-market fit and she was eager to begin reaching out to companies and students to create these working opportunities…
WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN YOU FIRST JOINED THE 3E PROGRAM?
Well, for me personally, there's a couple of really important things that that drew me to the ad sales elevation experience. Number one. I'm not a power social media user, personally or professionally. I saw LinkedIn as just another social media platform. Just another Instagram to waste time on, that wasn't necessarily going to be directly tied to our sales pipeline. I had business mentors telling me, “Look, you got to become a thought leader. You have to establish yourself on LinkedIn as some kind of Guru in your space.” And I had a real mental blockage around that.”
Like most people Kathryn saw LinkedIn as just another social media platform: a waste of time. She had had other business mentors telling her to get on LinkedIn, but she had a real mental block around that.
This is something I see a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck with. And usually it’s because of how they’re showing up on social media. Because the truth is when you just have a standard profile and you’re just posting random content and throwing a few likes at colleagues posts, then nothing is going to happen. And then social media IS just a huge time suck. But when you know how to set your profile up the right way and how to engage with potential clients, it can become a hugely powerful business tool. And that was something that we worked on together with Kathryn, a way to reframe the way that she was thinking about that and the value of what we could potentially establish on LinkedIn amongst other things.
A lot of the work that we do starts with LinkedIn. It starts with transforming your profile to a sales page, and that means getting your messaging dialled in. That messaging then filters into your website, emails, sales calls… everywhere you’re sharing who you help and how you help them.
SO WHAT HAPPENED ONCE YOU STARTED WORKING ON YOUR LINKEDIN STRATEGY?
We started hitting LinkedIn really hard week one. So I'm updating my headline that we workshopped and I'm like adding descriptions and treating LinkedIn more like a sales page and posting more often. Fast forward two months doing that really hard work. I got invited to sit on a panel at DC Startup Week. And we talked about LinkedIn during that panel. And I'm not kidding when I tell you there were 200 people in the room. And I sat on that panel talking to them about how important LinkedIn is and how much of an effort I had made over the last few months to elevate you know, my presence there. Somebody in the audience stood up and said I just opened your LinkedIn it's looking great. That was kind of the first confidence booster in my mind. I was like, Oh, actually, this matters. It really does. And fast forward to now which is approximately six months later. I walk into networking events. Now I catch up with old friends now and family members and colleagues from past jobs and the first thing that people are saying to me now is you've you've been doing great. Your LinkedIn. I love following you because it's wonderful to see how successful you've been. It sounds like things are going awesome. And you know the first time that happened to me, I was totally shocked. The second time it happened to me. I was flattered that the eighth time it happened to me. I was like, this is why this right here is why we've been talking about how important it is because it matters to people.
IT SOUNDS LIKE LINKEDIN IS GOING WELL, HOW ARE YOU FINDING IT WITH GENERATING LEADS?
I've generated new conversations with leads that have gone cold just because they've realized our train is moving really fast in a positive direction because of all the things that we're posting online and it makes them want to get on board —-and it's because people know who you are… People know what you do... And people know the results that you've gotten. [From your LinkedIn presence.]
That is the power of LinkedIn —- not only can you connect with NEW leads, but cold leads suddenly re-emerge because of how you’re showing up online.
WHAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL TAKEAWAYS YOU HAD FROM THE 3E PROGRAM?
You know, it's hard to summarize 12 weeks of rich learning, because there's so much to say.
One example though, is the process of formulating the signature solution — the one pager signature solution that right now is currently live on our website. It has enabled us to resonate with even more buyers because we have every nuance in there and find every person. So, you know, our six people we might talk to each six might pick out a different thing that's important to them, but we resonate with all of them because they're all in our signature solution.
Creating a signature solution is one of the most powerful tools that our clients achieve great results with, time and time again, because it makes their messaging so much clearer. Their potential clients can see how they will help them in a one page document that shows the transformation path from where they are now to where they want to be —- and how they will get their. It’s a unique solution that helps differentiate them in the market and it’s so simple to share and explain. There’s no more long pitch decks and waffling, just a clear solution that their clients want. And that makes selling so much easier!
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU ARE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT WHAT YOU LEARNED IN THE ED SALES AUTOMATION EXPERIENCE?
Right off of that, you know, I'm going into ASU GSV next week, and we created a QR code that directs people to a landing page on our website where our signature solution is downloadable, where there's a video or to a deck, a one pager and things like that, so that when I meet people at the conference, I can be like, Look, let's definitely talk again. But in the meantime, here are all the things that you need to know that should resonate with you about why our product is best in the market. Or you know, whatever and so that I can't imagine I would have gotten to that place without having gone through the course.
Most people go to conferences and just hand out business cards and hope some people will remember them and reach out. It takes a lot of time and energy out of your business to attend these conferences and network, only to find your business card ended up in the trash. But once you’ve set up your messaging, your credibility, your signature solution — your lead generation system — then you can really leverage conferences and other ways of connecting with people. I love Kathryn's innovative approach here in connecting with people and standing out.
WHAT OTHER WINS HAVE YOU HAD WITH LEAD GENERATION COMING OUT OF THE 3E COHORT?
It all goes back into just systematize and automating a little bit like how we're doing our outreach and what messaging we're giving now. Lots more examples to give… One is: We got invited to a career fair last minute because we had table and one a couple of weeks ago, I handed out flyers. Somebody picked up our flyer and handed it to her colleague, who then reached out because she loves what we do. And then at that fair, met two more people who looked at our product and we were like we need this. Let's talk and so yeah, I think for the last maybe 36 hours, but we've got I've got a list in my backpack from yesterday of maybe seven more that I need to follow up with.
HOW DID YOU FIND THE GROUP EXPERIENCE? You know, running a business is really hard and it's lonely. And so being in a group of people who are going through the same thing, that you can lean on and ask questions and they can support you, and that you can support and you can give advice to… that that type of collegiality and collaborative-ness among mostly CEOs is invaluable because there's really not a lot of other places to get that on that…
WHERE CAN PEOPLE CONNECT WITH YOU? You can find me on LinkedIn here or visit the website here to learn more about Go Pursue.
As Kathryn continues with GoPursue, her journey shows us how important it is to embrace new opportunities and find mentors who can push you beyond your comfort zone. Her story reminds us that careers can change in unexpected ways. Whether you're a student exploring your interests or a business owner navigating challenges,
In Kathryn's own words, "It's about finding that connection that starts your journey to meaningful work." With GoPursue, she keeps inspiring and helping young people find their dreams.
Want help setting up your own lead generation system?
Book a FREE call with me and let’s chat through what you and your business needs to get leads and clients on repeat (without the social media time suck!)