​I remember last Tuesday my wife asked if I'd be open to cooking us dinner on Thursday night.

I said, "Sure, sounds good!"

Can you guess what happened?

Well, Thursday came around, and I got really busy. She asked if I'd still be able to cook dinner, and I thought about how huge the task would be with the limited time I had.

​I asked if we could order takeout instead.

Yes I felt guilty.

But I also hate how much work cooking is - you have to get all the ingredients together, you have to cut things, mix things, get your hands messy, wait for everything to cook, and then you eat and all that hard work is gone in just a few minutes!

And then on top of that you have to clean all the dishes, and get ready start all over again for next time.

Now this might sound a bit weird, talking about cooking dinner in a post for LinkedIn, but I think it's relevant because having an updated LinkedIn profile is pretty similar to cooking a great dinner:

They're both very important, they usually take longer than you think, and they're something we often say we'll do and then just push off when the times actually comes around to get it done.

Well, with LinkedIn, the great thing is that unlike dinner, you're not going to eat all your hard work and your LinkedIn profile will stay online for a long time, for plenty of people to see.

So let's get started!

Here are the top 5 most important things to do with your LinkedIn profile (that will take less than an hour) so you create the right first impression with anyone who happens to stumble across your profile:

In general, with anything in life, the more focused you are, the more likely you are to get what you want.

So before diving into updating your LinkedIn Profile, spend about 5 minutes thinking. Don't do any writing yet, just think about why you're updating your profile. What is your target industry, and who do you want looking at your profile?

Write down any ideas that come to mind, and try to narrow your focus down to one key target - either a group of people or a specific industry.

Once you figure that out, it will be way easier to ensure your LinkedIn profile is attractive to the right people.

Depending on your industry, there are certain backdrops or general looks for photos that work better. Based on what you came up with in Step 1, ask yourself if your current photo is creating the best possible impression for the people you're trying to connect with.

If it's not, see if you have any photos on your computer you can use instead of your current one. It should just take 5-10 minutes to find a shot that's better than what's currently on your profile!

Once you've updated your photo, consider that image to be a temporary shot and make plans to swap it in the next few weeks with a professional headshot (the sooner the better).

A professional headshot is going to help your profile really stand out because it shows you take your career seriously, you're established, and you go above and beyond others to you present yourself well. Learn why a professional headshot is so important to how you're perceived.

It's easy to take your own headshot against a wall and save a little bit of money, but lighting, expression, body position, and many other subtle factors go into a headshot that looks high-end, and employers can tell when you just shot the picture yourself.

Who do you think they'll assume is going to take their job more seriously - someone who takes their own photo or crops themselves out of a group photo - or someone who invests in a proper headshot to ensure they are creating the right first impression?

In case you think headshots are out of your budget, we offer a $150 Headshot Special that is affordable and will provide you with a strong, professional image.

​Here's a great video that shows you exactly what goes into getting a strong LinkedIn headshot:

When I'm hiring someone for my company, there are few things I care about more than personality and how willing the candidate is to help my company succeed.

If you're looking for a job or other opportunity using your LinkedIn profile, you'll want to ensure that whoever sees your profile instantly understands your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and how it benefits them.

USP is a marketing term that basically means your differentiation factor. What is it that makes you different and/or better than the next person?

Think about what you focused on in Step 1. What specifically are employers or people in your target industry looking for? Or if you run a freelance business, what are your target clients looking for?

Think about what experience you have or positions you've held that will most cater to their needs, and try to add in a bit of personality.

For instance, you might have worked as a marketing executive in a financial firm, but if you're looking to transition into the photography industry because it's a passion of yours, you'll want your headline to appeal to photographers. Don't say "Marketing Executive for JP Morgan" because photographers won't connect with that. Instead, you might want to say, "Creative Marketing Director Who Loves Working With Photographers."

Examples:

1. Product manager & creative marketing director for IT firms (and exceptional nerd)
2. Strategic planning executive well versed in cost analysis and project management
3. I help small business owners use digital ads to reach their clients easily, affordably and effectively.

As you can see, you can use humor or you can keep it simple. My favorites are Numbers 1 and 3 because they create more of an emotional connection than Number 2, but technically all three are fine headlines.

Avoid making your LinkedIn headline feel too corporate and stiff. Hiring managers are people too and if you can get them to smile when they read your headline, you'll have created a good first impression!

Your LinkedIn summary is essentially your bio. Write it in first person and make it emotional and engaging! Keep it short - no more than four main paragraphs, with each paragraph being just 2-3 sentences. Longer than that and it won't be read.

​Here's my formula to write a great LinkedIn summary:

• Paragraph 1: Write a brief hook or a short story to draw the reader in and make them want to read more.
• Paragraph 2: Explain who you are and why you love what you do.
• Paragraph 3: What are the 2-3 most noteworthy professional accomplishments you’ve achieved?
• Paragraph 4: Mention any special skills and quirks you have, and then include your long-term goal.

Here's an example of a LinkedIn summary. Feel free to use it as inspiration!


The shutter clicked.

​As I lowered my camera and looked down at the photo I'd just taken, I finally knew for sure. The blurred out backdrop, the genuine smile, the great lighting... it was all clear to me now that the career path I'd chosen was the right one.

My name is Martin Bentsen and I absolutely love shooting headshots and helping my clients reach their goals. Working with people who don't like being on-camera and showing them how to feel comfortable and gain a new appreciation for their appearance is the definition of fun for me!

Since 2009, I've shot over 16,000 people and have been fortunate to have had my work featured in numerous publications including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. I've run educational seminars on branding and marketing at New York University and according to Yelp, my company City Headshots is ranked the #1 Portrait Studio in New York. 

Beyond shooting headshots, I also work as a life and career coach to help my clients reach higher goals. My long term aim is to help as many people as possible gain more confidence in not just their appearance, but in their skills, abilities, and true potential.

​I hope to work with you next!

If you already have an up to date resume, this step should be pretty quick, but if not it might take you a bit longer.

Here you'll simply take what's written on your resume (including your past jobs, experience, training, special skills, and education) and list it all out on your LinkedIn page. It's basically like an online-version of your resume.

This step shouldn't be too difficult and won't take much thought, but is absolutely necessary because employers and recruiters are always looking to see what kind of experience you have.

If you've taken action on each of the steps outlined in this article, you should be well on your way to having a LinkedIn profile that creates a fantastic first impression for everyone who happens to stumble across it.

To finish up, I've included a bonus quote from a really great LinkedIn expert/strategist named Donna. I hope you enjoy what she has to say!

I asked Donna about the most important things to focus on if you're short on time and need to quickly update your LinkedIn profile. Here's what she had to say:

When updating your profile, concentrate on the fields that feed your listing within LinkedIn's search results page. Your search result listing is what attracts and compels a person to click to learn more about you. Make it shine by using a professional profile picture. Make sure the image is centered and your face fills the frame. No elbows!

Ditch the default headline (your title and current company) and replace it with an optimized headline that is full of keywords and tells the world who you are and what you do in 120 characters. My LinkedIn Headline Generator online app is an easy way to update your headline quickly.

Make sure your current job title is optimized and acts as a headline because it too shows up on your search result listing.  

The last thing to optimize is your background photo. If your background photo is an image of a blue-green constellation, it means you never uploaded a background photo. Find an image that illustrates your brand and helps your reader understand who you are and what you do.  

Check Donna out at www.LinkedIn-Makeover.com​.

If you enjoyed this article, I recommend checking out any of the following three:

• What is an Employer Really Looking For?
• How to Be Yourself Without Seeming Unprofessional
• How to Easily Use LinkedIn to Create New Opportunities for Yourself

Do you know your best side? And do you know how light can work to flatter your face?

A lot of photographers find it challenging to figure out the best sides and angles for their clients, which is one of the reasons headshot photography is so challenging.

If you knew your best side and could explain to your photographer right off the bat which angles you like the best and where the light should be positioned to look more flattering for you, you’d save time and start getting great shots right away!

Too many people waste the first hour of their shoot with inexperienced photographers by trying to figure out what angles and expressions look best, and by the time they start capturing their best stuff, the shoot is over.

90% of people look better on one side than the other. Why? Because our faces are not perfectly even. If we were to take a photo of someone and cut it in half and flip it over so both sides match perfectly, the photo would look really weird.

Take a look at the two photos below:

Technical jargon can be confusing, so I put together this short post to explain the difference between Low and High-Resolution images.

First, take a look at the following images. Click each to see it in full size.

​​When we shoot, we always send you the High-Resolution versions of your shots so that you can use them wherever you need. They are very big - good enough for printing and use in any normal media.

But in order to make our website load faster, we only display Low-Res photos on it.

If we used high-res photos, the file sizes would be so large that you'd have to wait 5-10 seconds for each picture to load - and on a page with 20 images, that could take a while!

Hopefully this clears things up, but if you have further questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I'll respond within a few hours.

After reading this article, you'll not only know where to find legitimate commercial auditions, but also what to do to book significantly more of them.

I've also included some bonus tips from experts in the industry (casting directors, agents, and even some actors who've booked national commercials). You can see their advice towards the bottom of the article.​

​​"There's no other job where you’re asked to prepare so much - working unpaid - to go in for something that will most likely result in nothing."

"I shouldn't be going out tonight because I could be using that money for my acting career."

Have you ever felt like that?

By the end of this article, you'll have a clear understanding of why branding is so important for actors, plus a solution to find your own brand and use it to get a LOT more work.


How Finding a Clear Brand Helped an Actor Get on Broadway

Tyrone L. Robinson was working as a professional actor for over fifteen years. He had a long list of credits but felt stuck because he was always being offered the same, 1-2 line roles in film, TV, and theater.

At the time however, he believed he had a clear grasp on his brand because he was being called in for police officer and detective roles frequently. He told me an acting coach said his brand was: strong, burly detective.

I took him through a series of very specific questions, and after about thirty minutes we came up with this:

African American strength, compassion, and pride.

And that's when everything changed.