As a small business owner or entrepreneur, highlighting the right skills on LinkedIn is invaluable for getting discovered by potential partners, investors and clients. With over 530 million members using LinkedIn to connect professionally, optimizing your profile is essential to showcasing your expertise.
First, you need to find the Skills section in your profile to start adding and organizing skills that highlight your entrepreneurial strengths.
Here is exactly how to navigate there:
- Click on your profile picture in the top right corner of your screen
- Select "View Profile" from the dropdown menu
- Scroll down and find the gray "Add profile section" button
- Click on the button and select "Skills" from the dropdown list
- This opens your Skills & Endorsements section to start editing
Follow these exact steps on both desktop and LinkedIn‘s mobile app to access your Skills section.
Click-by-Click: Adding New Skills
Once you‘ve opened your Skills section, follow these precise steps to add each new skill:
- Click the blue "+ Add a new skill" button
- Type the name of your skill into the text field (e.g. Budget Management)
- Select the correct matching skill from the dropdown list
- Repeat steps 1-3 to keep adding more skills, up to 50
Be extremely selective about what skills you add based on the kinds of opportunities you want to attract as an entrepreneur or small business owner.
Here are 5 must-have skill types to include:
- Leadership & Strategy: Inspiring others, vision casting
- Financial Analysis & Management: Budgeting, modeling, accounting
- Operations & Optimization: Systemizing, project management
- Business Development: Partnerships, pitching, networking
- Marketing: Content creation, branding, customer insights
Using relevant keywords that clients or investors would search for also helps your profile appear in results. For example, "budget management" rather than just "management."
Optimizing your Skills section is necessary to get discovered among over 590 million LinkedIn members.
Drag, Drop & Organize
To make your skills stand out, LinkedIn allows you to reorder them based on relevance or importance to your personal brand as an entrepreneur.
Simply drag and drop each skill into your desired order after adding them. Make sure your 3-5 most showcase-worthy skills appear at the top.
For example, as a small business consultant and coach, I elevate my signature strengths like Strategic Planning and Leading Startups to the top of my Skills list.
Keeping this section fresh by adding new skills is equally crucial for maintaining an edge as an entrepreneur. As you complete a successful new venture or program, come back to add your recently gained skills and expertise.
Boost Credibility: Getting Endorsements
Now that you have optimized your Skills list for an entrepreneurial personal brand, validating them with endorsements adds further credibility.
Here‘s how to request endorsements:
- Click into each skill individually
- Select “Ask for an endorsement”
- Checkmark connections to endorse your skill
- Send out requests in a personalized message
According to LinkedIn, members with at least 5 endorsements on a skill are 27% more likely to get inquiries from recruiters.
As an entrepreneur and consultant myself, endorsements have amplified engagement on my profile from potential high-value clients and partners finding me through relevant skills.
Showcasing niche, distinctive skills as a small business owner on LinkedIn paired with endorsements from your community can unlock new opportunities and earning potential through partnerships and clients.
Optimizing this often overlooked section of your LinkedIn profile is essential for standing out as an entrepreneur and attracting your ideal next big venture. Follow the step-by-step instructions above to refresh your Skills section starting today.
