Header Logo
How Can I Help You?
My Story Schedule A Coaching Call The Story Spark Testimonials Join Spark It! Media Contact Login

Every excuse I ever made

Sep 01, 2026
Connect

Here's the list. Every excuse I made for two years while I stopped and started my way through LinkedIn.

"I don't have time." "I'm not a content person." "I don't want to be cringe." "I don't know what to say." "I don't want to sound like everyone else." "My work speaks for itself." "I don't want clients from LinkedIn." "I'll do it when things calm down." "I need to get my brand right first." "I'm not trying to be an influencer."

Read that list slowly. You've probably said three of them this month.

And here's the thing I want to be really honest about: every single one of those was valid. I'm not going to stand here and tell you your reasons are dumb. They weren't. Mine weren't. Time is genuinely scarce. Cringe is genuinely real. "My work speaks for itself" is a genuinely lovely idea.

They were valid. They were also keeping me exactly where I was.

A valid excuse and a useful one are different things. Valid means the reason is true. Useful means it moves you forward. Almost none of these did.

Everything changed for me in January 2023. Not because the excuses stopped being true, I still didn't have time, I was still busy, things still hadn't "calmed down." They never do.

What changed is that I started treating LinkedIn like a job-critical daily task. Non-negotiable. Same as answering a client. Same as showing up to a meeting. Not "when I feel inspired." Not "when things settle." Daily. On the calendar.

The excuse didn't disappear. I just stopped letting it vote.

Remove the excuse, realize the potential. That's the whole turn.

"I don't want to be another newsletter in your inbox. I want to be an actionletter. In every edition, I'll include a 'Go-and-Do' [below] to help you take an action step TODAY that improves your LinkedIn™ performance, your business, or even your life."

Go and Do:

Find your excuse in that list, the one that's yours. Write it down.

Then write the smallest possible action that ignores it for one day. Not a 90-day plan. One post. One comment list. One thing, today, while the excuse is still technically true.

 

One More Thing - The LinkedIn™ Spark Community

If today's edition resonated, you'd love the room I built for people who want to take this seriously.

The LinkedIn™ Spark Community is for people who want three things most LinkedIn advice doesn't deliver together: education, accountability, and real networking.

Inside, we focus on:

· LinkedIn strategy that actually moves the needle

· How to become a sharper writer (because writing is the work)

· Content systems, not content luck

· Guest speakers, "hot seat" sessions, and presentations from members themselves

You also get one 1:1 call with me per quarter. This is not a group where you post once and disappear. It's a community where people show up, sharpen each other, and build the kind of presence that compounds.

Get more details here.

You don't have to start at the beginning
Here's a permission slip most people never get on LinkedIn: You don't have to tell a chronological story. You don't have to start at the start. You don't have to give the setup, the background, the "so a little context first." You can drop your reader straight into the moment that matters and trust them to keep up. Because honestly? The announcements, the introductions, the team-offsite hype, w...
Do you know your brand relatives?
Do you know your brand relatives? Not your competitors. Your relatives. This might be the single most underrated concept in personal branding, and once you see it, you can't unsee it. Here's the family tree. Brand Fraternal Twins Same industry. Same audience. Different delivery. Think Brené Brown and Simon Sinek. Both talk about leadership and human behavior. But Brené leads with vulnerability ...
LinkedIn is a long game. The algorithm isn't.
LinkedIn is a long game. But the algorithm isn't. And confusing those two things will quietly wreck your momentum. Here's the mechanic almost nobody talks about. LinkedIn's feed system actively retrieves content from roughly the past 30 days. That's the window it's working with when it decides what to surface and to whom. Which means: If you disappear for a month, you're not "slowing down." You...
Footer Logo
© 2026 Holly Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
GDPR Terms Privacy Policy Brand by Soul Sparked
Powered by Kajabi

Get Notified When Enrollment is Open for my Next Masterclass Cohort!

Enrollment is first come, first served, however by letting me know that you're interested, I will be sure to email you before announcing on LinkedIn.