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Best LinkedIn Summaries for Freelance Consultants

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Doing business was really complicated back in the day, especially when it came to communicating with customers and retaining them. Today, you could send hundreds of emails with one click, but back in the day, you’d have to print hundreds of flyers and drop them individually.

You are a freelance consultant? Just check out your LinkedIn account. Have you written your LinkedIn summary in the right way?

We all know that networking is extremely important for every consultant. No matter how many years of experience you have, it is crucial to maintain and extend your networking. So, you can easily find new projects and learn interesting things from other experts.

Developing your brand on social media, particularly LinkedIn, is one of the most effective ways to expand your networking. If you already have a LinkedIn account, then congratulations! You have completed the first step, but there is still a long way to go.

In this blog, I will show you how to write a LinkedIn summary for freelance consultants, as a way to upgrade your LinkedIn. Just take some minutes to make your profile stand out among thousands of other freelance consultants!

What is a LinkedIn summary?

The LinkedIn Summary, or 'Bio/About Section’, is a brief description of up to 2,000 words that are placed before the list of current and former roles on a LinkedIn profile. The initial three lines are visible to viewers, with the remaining text requiring a click of "See More" to be accessed.

Creating an effective LinkedIn summary may be a challenge for freelance consultants, salespeople, marketers, and other professionals whose work involves networking. Instead of aiming to impress recruiters and hiring managers, your objective should be to attract potential buyers and clients. Crafting an engaging and authentic portrayal of your career is essential, as is demonstrating your proficiency in the field.

It is even more challenging to write a LinkedIn Summary for freelance consultants. Opening words can sometimes determine your success in getting new projects.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

LinkedIn should be one of the most important digital assets for freelance consultants in 2023. You should start to build your profile now to extend your networking.
Small changes in your LinkedIn summary for freelance consultants seem unnecessary. However, it can bring about significant benefits. It works as a book cover, which will somehow decide whether other potential clients will connect with you or not.
A good LinkedIn Summary should have this information: years of experience in the industry, your areas of expertise, the types of organizations you’ve collaborated with, your key skills and abilities, and what you’re best known for professionally.
You can look around and see how other freelance consultants write their LinkedIn summaries. Learn from them, but do not copy, always be yourself.

Benefits of a good LinkedIn Summary for Freelancer Consultants

Despite feeling like an extra step, writing a LinkedIn summary for freelance consultants is essential for career success. Whether you're a consultant looking for new projects or another professional hoping for a new opportunity, your summary is a valuable tool.

Keeping your profile up to date and spending time on the platform are beneficial, but the summary is key. Take the time to craft an effective summary, and you'll be glad you did.

1. Share your story in your own words

Don't let prior roles overshadow you. In the LinkedIn summary, make a personal introduction and concisely emphasize your accomplishments and expertise.

2. Your LinkedIn summary is an opportunity to show your personality

Whether you decide to be humorous or to stay professional, your summary will give recruiters, prospects, and potential clients a glimpse into who you are and whether you would be a good cultural fit.

3. Boost your visibility on LinkedIn by crafting a keyword-rich summary

Utilize your 'About section, headline, job title, and other key factors' to rank higher in search results. Incorporate relevant words like "consulting," “management,” and “analysis” for more views. Begin writing your summary now and get a step closer to increasing your visibility on the number 1 social network for your career.

How to write a good LinkedIn summary for freelance consultants?

1. Make a clear outline before writing

Before writing your About section, it's helpful to create a quick outline. As with any writing project, you should structure your thoughts and plan out the order in which you want to say them. This will ensure your message is clear and concise. You may want to consider a format similar to this:

Hook: Use the first few lines to make your readers want to learn more.
Mission: Explain why you do what you do.
Expertise/Skills: Highlight the areas where you excel.
Accomplishments: Showcase your successes.
Call to Action: Let readers know what you want them to do after they finish your summary.

If you need help getting started, be patient as I’m gonna guide you on how to work on that.

2. Make your hook unresistable

Hook readers with a strong opener. The goal of the first sentence of your LinkedIn summary is to get your audience to continue reading. That's why it's important to pique their interest early and compel them to keep reading. This tactic is called a hook. You can hook readers with your LinkedIn summary by opening a loop that can only be closed with further explanation or making a claim so outlandish that it needs further justification. Hook Example: "It took me more than X proposals demos to learn the secret about Y, but since then, something unexpected has happened.”

3. Explain the reasons behind your job

Connecting with others through stories and values is more impactful than simply describing "what" you do. It is essential to consider the "why" behind your profession and the mission that drives you in your role. This can make your LinkedIn profile more meaningful and engaging.

4. Express your industry knowledge

Highlight your background and expertise in two to three sentences. For example, if you are a freelancer consultant using LinkedIn to engage with prospective clients, mention your expertise in the industry, as well as your enthusiasm for helping people make progress Industry Expertise Example: "I have 7+ years of management consulting experience in eCommerce, technology, and other domains.”

5. Make sure to emphasize your specialties and skills

Showcase what you are good at to let employers or prospects know what you can do for them. As freelancer consultants, you should focus on the areas you specialize in, such as management consulting in the manufacturing industry or human resources advisory. In the world of consulting, it is essential to highlight your unique traits and abilities to show why you are the best fit for the job.

6. Demonstrate your expertise by furnishing data that supports your accomplishments

Instead of supplying a lengthy list of your successes include some of the key data points within the summary to make a more significant impression. Let the data speak for your achievements. Proof Example: "Over the past 5 years, I have participated in 100+ consulting projects from various industries. We helped business owners save operation costs up to 50%."

7. Invite potential applicants to join the team

This is an excellent way to showcase professional and organizational growth commitment. Mention that your team is hiring, and emphasize the benefits of working at your company – this will serve as a great recruiting tool. Let applicants know what type of work they will be doing and why they should be excited to join your team.

This is an important step if you are in the business of recruiting, as it will demonstrate your commitment to building a strong and successful team. Show that you are a team player and share the opportunities available at your organization.

8. Emphasize your professional interests.

Demonstrate your passion for aiding others and reveal your objective in doing so. This is distinct from your abilities, which involve tangible evidence. You do not need to provide facts to validate your interests; simply make it clear that you are dedicated to achieving them.

9. Invite connections to contact you!

Share your contact information and include a call to action that encourages your connections to reach out. If you're a freelance or contract worker looking for more work on LinkedIn, don't forget to list your impressive clients and finish up your summary with an invitation to connect. Make it easy for them to reach out with a simple phrase like, “Feel free to message me — I’d love to chat.”

10. Break up large blocks of text for your profile summary.

Make it easier to read by keeping text blocks to two or three sentences max. This way, your highlights won't get lost when people are scanning for context.

In general, your LinkedIn summary should include 3-5 sentences that detail your years of experience in the industry, your areas of expertise, the types of organizations you’ve collaborated with, your key skills and abilities, and what you’re best known for professionally.

Important Notes: Keep away from cheesy or cliché words such as "guru" or "master" in your LinkedIn summary. Instead, showcase your abilities by highlighting a project you completed or a specific initiative that resulted in positive business outcomes. Avoid copying and pasting information from your resume as it is redundant and does not give a good introduction to who you are. Before publishing, review your profile a few times to make sure there are no spelling or grammar errors.

LinkedIn Summary Examples for Freelancer Consultants

1. Angus McKenzie: Highlight his expertise in an impressive way

This consultant effectively demonstrates his knowledge and experience in a specific domain (Change Management and Transformation Strategy). It is a creative way to mention the nickname “Jack of All Trades” to emphasize his work through others' recognition. This is way more reliable!

LinkedIn Summary for freelance consultants example" Angus McKenzie

What I love:

Focus on what he can do and why he does that
Use others’ words to prove his expertise
Add a call-to-action with contact information

What can be improved:

Do not make too many connections with past positions. Let’s talk more about what’s in the present.
Include a more engaging hook to catch up the attention of readers.
Break the large paragraphs into smaller ones.

What you can “steal” for your LinkedIn summary: Instead of saying how good you are, just include what your managers/coworkers say about you.

2. Matt Barker: Focus on the value for readers

Matt Barker, one of the big names on LinkedIn, is excellent at copywriting strategy. And he has assisted over 200,000 people in developing their personal brands in a matter of weeks. I really like his writing style and tone of voice. It's brief, straightforward, and extremely appealing to readers. Let’s see what we can learn from the About section of this man.

LinkedIn summary for freelance consultants example: Matt Barker

What I love:

Put each sentence on a separate line and leave a space between them.
Use bullet points to deliver the ideas more clearly.
Dig into the problems of readers and suggest he can help them.
Include a call-to-action to guide what to do next.

What can be improved: The section is a little long.

What you can "steal" for your LinkedIn summary: Break down your content into small parts as much as possible so that people can consume it easily.

3. Jason Vana: Define the problem & solution for customers

Jason Vana's mission is to use his knowledge of branding to help businesses grow sustainably. In this way, your company can reach the top position in its unique domain. He is the founder of SHFT Agency, which provides many services such as brand strategy, brand design, content strategy, and LinkedIn (strategy, content, and profile audits). So, this means you can contact him to optimize your LinkedIn summary.

LinkedIn Summary for freelance consultants example: Jason Vana

What I love:

Describe the services he offers in detail.
Separate the sentences in lines so people can read them easily
Add a call-to-action with clear contact information
Impressive hook opener

What can be improved:

Include more “why” information instead of “what” information
Some data about achievements could be added.

What you can “steal” for your LinkedIn summary: Create an outline following the problem-solution structure.

4. Chase Dimond: The eCommerce Email Marketing nerd can generate money from sending emails

Chase Dimond is a great guy who is running several businesses at the same time. One of those is Structure, an email marketing agency that serves clients from various industries.

LinkedIn summary for freelance consultants example: Chase Dimond

What I love:

Focus on a niche area that he’s good at (email marketing)
Use specific data to show readers about his achievements
List his achievements with bullet points
A call-to-action is added at the end.

What can be improved:

Remove the customer list from the section.
Add a more attractive hook

What you can “steal” for your LinkedIn summary: Prepare the data carefully to prove your ability.

5. Julius Bieliauskas: Turn your LinkedIn profile into a lead gen machine with proven content creation methods

This is another LinkedIn expert that you can follow to learn everything about LinkedIn branding. Julius shares his knowledge and experience in an easy-to-understand way. So, I love to check out his posts daily and collect some useful tips to build my own profile. His profile is well-designed and well-written with an appealing summary.

LinkedIn Summary for freelance consultants example: Julius Bieliauskas

What I love:

Coherent outline with a persuasive tone of voice
Put each sentence on 1 single line so people can follow up easily
Propose the solution for the problem of readers
Include a clear call-to-action

What can be done better:

Mention personal skills and experiences
Add some impressive achievements with supported data

What you can “steal” for your LinkedIn summary: Write down your idea in a flow (goal -> problem -> solution).

Wrapping up

I’m glad that you could spend time reading this article to the end. This is the very first step to building your LinkedIn brand. If you are a freelance consultant, this activity is even more crucial. Most high-quality projects come from networking. You could supply yourself with new clients/projects all year long with a great profile on LinkedIn.

To develop your image, why not start by writing a LinkedIn summary that anyone wants to read? Drawing on LinkedIn summary examples for ideas and inspiration in this blog, I hope that you can create a personal, unique, and engaging description that will give prospects and potential employers a sense of who you truly are.

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