In this episode, Tim Seymour is joined by Ashley Leeds — The 15-Minute Guy — to explore how just 15 minutes a day on LinkedIn can transform the way you network, build trust and grow your business.

Ashley shares practical, no-nonsense strategies to help accountants, bookkeepers and coaches stand out and connect authentically. From profile pictures to headlines, he explains how to optimise your profile to attract the right audience — and how to use your time wisely to create meaningful engagement without the overwhelm.

If LinkedIn feels like a time-suck or a mystery, this episode will show you how to make it a powerful, manageable tool for building your brand and your business.

Key Takeaways:

• How to treat LinkedIn like a virtual networking event — in just 15 minutes a day
• The must-haves for a standout profile: photo, banner, headline
• Why consistency and authenticity matter more than perfection
• Tips for sharing content that builds trust and authority

Foreign.

Welcome to Profit first beyond the Book, a podcast that takes you beyond the book with Profit first, brought to you by Tim Duncan and the rest of the Profit First Professionals UK and Ireland.

Hello.

Hello, hello.

Hello.

Well, here we are, a man who needs no introduction, I'm sure.

I have with me the wonderful Ashley Lee.

Thank you for joining me, Ashley.

Oh, no, thank you very much indeed.

But for those people that don't need me, we do need an introduction, surely.

I was coming to that bit.

I was coming to that bit.

So, for someone who Perhaps isn't on LinkedIn very actively, and perhaps they should be, you may not have come across Ashley.

So, Ashley, would you like to tell everyone who you are and what it is you do for people?

Yeah, sure.

My name is Ashley leeds.

I'm the 15 minute guy and I give people a voice on LinkedIn.

So I teach people how to do LinkedIn in just 15 minutes a day.

It's that simple.

And, and Ashley, you've.

You've been a great partner to us at Profit First Professionals.

You know, you've.

You've joined us on our dash stand in the past, last year, you've joined us at our ProfitCon events and you spoke at our keynote speaker at our event last year, weren't you?

So we've got a good relationship already and you've even come onto our community calls with our members and given them some fantastic advice.

So, so.

But for people who haven't had that luxury of seeing you live and haven't been able to come to our events or, or, you know, within our membership, they're missing out on these things.

What, what does LinkedIn do for accountants, bookkeepers and coaches in particular?

Oh, what a great question.

I was at a networking event the.

Other day, right, A networking event.

So it was in a cafe, it was in a local town, and it was one of those networking events where we've all got to stand up and do a pitch.

So you're sat there and you're like, oh, I don't know what I'm going to say.

So I'm not listening to anybody else in the room.

And then someone else comes about, it's their turn and they just, oh, yeah, I do this and I do that.

But we're all at this networking event.

This is 20 people in the room, it's my turn, I jump up and I say exactly what I've just said.

Then, okay, literally 10 seconds, okay, I've got my T shirt on.

On the back, it says the 15 minute guy.

Everybody knows who I am.

I'm bright yellow and, and I just said my piece and I was short, sharp, and everyone else is thinking, oh, why, why do I have to take too long?

Why did that bloke take two minutes to tell us that he does dog food?

So it's a networking event and everybody at that networking event now knows who I am.

They know I'm the 15 minute guy, they know what I do.

Several of them came over and had a chat afterwards.

I had a chat with a few people beforehand.

Okay, but that's a networking event, all right?

If you use LinkedIn like that, networking event, all right, then you're.

That.

That's the best way to use LinkedIn, okay?

At a networking event, I will make contact with people I might find somebody that might want to work with in the future.

I might find somebody that has dog food that I might want for my dog.

I'm building connections.

I'm getting to know people, I'm getting to like them, and then all of that after that, I get to trust them, but I'm not going to trust them at that one networking event.

So when I go to the next one, and I think it's two weeks time on a Friday and we're having lunch somewhere, so I'm looking forward to that one.

So I'll be going back there again and a few people will come over and say, oh, I saw you, I've been watching you on LinkedIn tin now and stuff like that.

And I'll be going, oh, how's the dog food?

We'll be catching up with people there, all right, but we physically got to physically get there.

We've got to physically jump in the car, we've got to physically drive 20 minutes to get there.

Got to physically sit in a sweaty cafe.

God, it was so hot and there was no air for two hours.

So three hours of my life was taken up with that networking event where I got to potentially meet 20 people.

I didn't talk to all of them.

If you spend, all right, just 15 minutes a day on LinkedIn, you can do all of that without all the hassle that you have to go through.

And you can do it still in your pajamas, you don't have to get a yellow T shirt out and find somewhere to park.

So if you use LinkedIn like a networking event and use it predominantly to let people know who you are so they can know you, like you and trust you, that's how we build relationships in business.

Because we're not going to buy accounting services from an accountant.

We don't trust or we don't know.

And using LinkedIn is a shortcut to making that connection and building up that trust.

A long answer, but I hope that answered your question.

That answers it wonderfully.

And it leads me in to ask you an obvious question that probably anybody listening would be thinking to themselves, so, what can you do in 15 minutes?

What.

What is it you need to do?

And I know that might change on a daily basis, but just a brief thing on what people can do in 15 minutes a day.

All right, can I turn that around to you and ask you what you would have done at that cafe?

All right, so you and I went to the cafe.

I didn't know you, you didn't know me.

What would you have done in that cafe for the two hours that the networking event was on?

I would have probably tried to mingle and talk to as many people as possible.

How easy is that to do conversations, ask questions about what people are doing, who they are, what's their business.

And I would probably work out in my mind whether someone is a potential fit for me for, for, for my particular, you know, niche, which is accountants, bookkeepers, and coaches.

It doesn't mean I would, I would stop talking to them as soon as they, as soon as I find out they're not, by the way, because I'd still be interested in talking to them and find that about the business.

But.

And this, and this.

And this is the thing.

This is the thing.

Right, okay, so if you went there, there was two accountants there.

One was a tax expert, one was, one was the business development manager of the same practice.

Okay?

But the other people in the room I want are not your direct market.

Yes, absolutely.

No way, Jose.

All right?

However, however, the dog food guy has an accountant.

The dog food guy has accountants as customers, okay?

The Reiki healer, she looks after a couple of accountants.

She's also got an accountant.

So then you start thinking, actually, everybody in the room must know at least one accountant.

All right?

And that's the magic of networking, and that's what we do with LinkedIn.

So back to you.

You, you know, you, you, you've got, you know what you would do at a networking meeting, all right?

And we've all got the same sort of things.

We would do that sort of thing.

We've got a little routine, we've got a little strategy, we've got a little framework.

Yeah, that's exactly what you do with LinkedIn.

So in 15 minutes a day, you go in and you, you, you, you start doing what you've Just illustrated.

So you go on and you comment on a couple of people's posts, you go and reach out and connect with a couple of people and you do all these different things.

In my course, I teach you all of this and I give you a tracker to track it all and it all builds up into a great daily habit.

And it's all of that sort of stuff that once you get into the habit of doing it.

So the very first networking meeting you.

Went to, if it was anything like me, you would have just sat by the coffee machine drinking coffee and eating biscuits and, and oh my goodness, there's someone here.

I know I'm going to go and talk to them.

All right?

And, and, and after about half an hour of just chilling chicken, the kicking the tires with, with Richard, then someone who knows Richard comes over, oh, hi.

And they're really interesting.

They're doing this and they're like, oh, I can chat to them now.

And then I'm chatting to them and then someone who knows them comes over and goes, oh, they're really interested.

And then before you know it, I know three or four people in the room, not just Richard.

And it's exactly how it works with LinkedIn.

But if you don't go in every day, all right, you're not going to get that thing.

And if you don't, you know, if you go to one networking meeting, all right, and I turn around and say, how was your networking meeting?

Well, all I did was drink coffee, eat biscuits and talk to Richard.

It was a waste of time.

You're never going to go to another networking meeting, right?

It's exactly the same with LinkedIn.

Yeah, I love that.

And, and so, so spending 50 minutes a day to, to build up the.

No, like, trust situation, to get to know people.

What.

So obviously, you know, we're profit first.

We're profit first professionals and we like to talk to our members about the fact that profit first specials are different to normal accountants, bookkeepers and coaches.

You know, one of the things that differentiates us is because we always look to the future.

We're not looking, we're not being reactive, we're being proactive.

We're always looking forward.

Well, how does it help from a LinkedIn perspective for our members that are profit first professionals, how can they use that to their advantage?

Also, the big thing I talk about on, you know, being on LinkedIn is to be a little bit, bit different.

Now try this at home, kids.

All right, Definitely try this at home.

Put into Google accountants or put into Google.

We're not like other accountants.

All right?

I've seen that on a lot of websites for accountants.

And what it will do, it will bring up all these websites where all these accountants think they're not like other accountants, which now, because everyone else is doing it, they are like all the other accountants.

All right?

So give that a whirl.

It's hilarious.

But, but the thing is, right, how many profit first professional accountants are there in the UK?

There's about 35 of us altogether.

Right?

How many accountants are there in the UK?

There's about 4,140 2,000.

Right, you're the, you're the accountant in the room.

What's the percentage?

I can't even.

It's 0.07.

It's not a lot.

It's not a lot.

So immediately, immediately you're standing out.

But here's the problem, Tim, here's the problem.

I don't know what a profit first accountant is.

I see the word accountant, so I just bundle you in the same bucket as all the other accountants.

And so what we've got to do is educate.

We've got to educate, and that's what we do on LinkedIn, all right?

If you go and have a look at what I'm writing on LinkedIn on a regular basis, okay, you will see that I'm educating.

I'm giving stuff away.

Every single Monday, I do a little video, which is five ideas for content, okay?

I can't say the word five without putting my hand up, because I start every single video like this.

Here's five ideas for content, all right?

This week, if you, if you've been and had a look at it, I'm.

On my paddleboard doing content, all right?

But it's five ideas, all right?

Five ideas for content.

Every single Monday, you know exactly what you're getting at, all right?

Now, some people turn around and go, you're giving too much away.

People aren't going to buy from you.

That's absolutely fine, because some people aren't ever going to buy, all right?

But what I'm doing is educating people.

So if I tell people how to do exactly what I teach, they don't need to employ me.

Those people that want a hand, they're going to see me as the expert and, and they're going to want to come and work with me, all right?

I've got a YouTube channel with over 500 videos on it.

I've got a book, all right?

I Write content on LinkedIn all the time.

But the thing is, I don't Know if you've heard, heard of it.

There is a, there is a website called Google and you just write into it any question you want and it answers it for you and comes up with loads of suggestions.

So if you put in there, what's the best way to be profitable in my small business, there'll be loads of things you might find somewhere.

Profit first is in there, depending on how it, you know, how you specify the question, but someone else there is already giving that information away.

So why don't you do it?

So if you're a profit first professional accountant, start sharing some of the amazing stuff that you know and then you'll soon differentiate yourself from those other 21,000 accountants.

Yeah, amazing advice.

Thanks, Ashley.

And yeah, it's, it's really important.

I like to think I'm active on LinkedIn, but I would say there's still more I could do and trying to encourage our members to be more active.

But also, do you know what, even if you're not a member, I've learned so much just from watching your posts, you know, and just from, you know, as a guest on your podcast, you know, here's a great example.

So I was a guest on your podcast a couple of times and I'm using the same software that you were using.

I've managed to set the studio up so that our brand colors are shown here.

It says profit first.

There you go.

I'm here.

I've got the badge, I've got the normal color branded shirt I wear.

It doesn't stand out like yellow.

We can talk about that in a second.

But it's really important to find that brand and to be consistent with that brand, isn't it?

So that people recognize you.

I'd like, I'd like to be able to go to an event and people recognize me because they've seen the podcast, because they've seen us.

And I want our members to do the same.

I know for a fact that happens to you constantly.

And you shared with me before we went live about you went to a network event or a chamber of commerce meeting, you didn't have your yellow shirt on just then.

Tell me a bit more about that.

Well, so, so look, first of all, hold your cup up.

You're drinking coffee.

This was in honor of you today.

Okay.

Isn't that funny?

Isn't that funny?

I don't know.

I don't know whether it was subliminal or whether you thought, right, I'm definitely going to have a yellow cup.

But, but straight away, you think of me you think of yellow.

Okay.

That's when branding is working.

I'll tell you when else branding is working is when you go to a. I, I'm on the executive committee of the Chamber of Commerce in Sidmouth, and I just finished work and went down there and.

And some of them, where's your yellow shirt?

And we had this big discussion about yellow shirts, but it wasn't a public facing event.

It was just, you know, the, the exec committee.

And none of them are on LinkedIn.

You know, they're not.

You know, there's this, there's some people there that, that aren't on LinkedIn.

And so I didn't, I didn't put my yellow T shirt on.

But the next morning we had a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

It was a breakfast, so it was for all the members every.

Be there.

Yes, I had yellow on.

Yeah.

I've had people, I've had people message.

Me, Tim, I just embarrassed myself.

I've been to a networking event and I thought you were there.

And I went up and it was someone else wearing a yellow T shirt.

So people, people just associate yellow T shirts with me.

It's, it's, it's incredible.

And it doesn't take long.

It really doesn't take long.

But it's the consistency, Tim.

It's the consistency.

There's a feature within Streamyard that you can put us side by side, but then you don't get any of this banner around us, and therefore it's just two people talking.

All right.

Because you've got this.

Every time I watch a Profit first professional podcast, I know who it is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Even if you get a guest presenter, in interviewing a guest, we still know that it's yours.

It's all about the brand.

Okay.

And, you know, the more we see it, the more we recognize it.

And, and I, I would be so bold as to say, change the color of your T shirt to that green, because that's sticking out like a sore thumb as well.

Yeah, yeah.

It would stand out more, wouldn't it?

Absolute blinking lutely.

Yeah.

But I know, I know what accountants are like.

We don't want to stand out a little bit too much, do we?

But it jolly well works.

It jolly well, Johnny.

Well, Profit first professionals are slightly different.

We're a slightly different breed, I would say.

Absolutely.

And I would happily wear an aluminous green top.

It would not phase me at all.

And I would get a baseball cap to match.

Wouldn't worry me.

So, yeah, perhaps we can sort that out in time for Our.

For our event later in September.

So you touched on a, on a keyword, Ashley, and I've heard you say this word numerous times and the word was consistency.

Now you would talk about.

So LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn.

But also you, you run a podcast and you have run that podcast for a long time.

Same time, same day, every week, three.

And a half years.

Yeah.

That's madness, isn't it?

That is.

That is absolutely.

And you achieve some fantastic results from running that podcast.

Would you want to share some of that?

The, the.

It all started.

It all started when LinkedIn turned around and said, we're doing lives, okay?

And I was employed at the time and when I was employed, both myself and my Boss applied to LinkedIn and you had to send them in blood and you know, a written, a written confirmation that who you are from, from, you know, from the local police constabulary and, and all loads of different things.

You had all these hoops to jump through and it was a lengthy process.

And so we both applied and the whole idea was, whoever gets it first, then we can start doing live shows for our business.

Anyway, I left, okay?

And I set up on my own and I'm busy trying to start a new business.

We all know how much fun that is.

And then I get an email through from LinkedIn.

Congratulations, you can now do a live show.

And rules, regulations, terms, conditions, and the Mission Impossible movie comes to mind because this, this message was self destruct in 30 seconds.

Yeah, or 10 seconds.

I don't know how long it is.

Anyway, basically, if you don't run alive in the next 30 days, you will.

This license is revoked.

Oh, oh.

And I definitely wanted to start doing lives before my ex boss.

All right?

There was a reason why they were my ex boss.

And so I thought, right, what am I gonna do?

I know I'll have somebody on and I'll chat with them for 15 minutes and I'll start the show off by playing my guitar.

So I did is I just got a mate in.

I said, look, we'll just have a chat.

We'll do it for 15 minutes, I'll.

Ask you a few questions, choose a song, and I'll play a song live.

And I did that for, for, for, oh, a good 18 months, I think.

I then turned around to an accountant and said, you'd be brilliant guest on my, on my show.

Pick a song.

Don't do songs.

What?

Yeah, don't, don't, don't do music.

Are you serious?

Who doesn't have music in their life?

And this person Was sort of like, no, I'm not going to be on your show and having you sing to me, that's not going to happen.

And I'm like, but, but, but that's the whole essence of the show.

That's why I do the show.

And well, that's it.

Take it or leave it.

And I, ah, how do I get this person on the show?

And I went, oh, I know, why don't I do 15 minutes for accountants and bookkeepers?

So I did that.

I said, right, I'm going to do this brand new show.

You could be my first guest.

Gonna start next Wednesday.

Oh, yeah, that's not, that's not, not soon enough that I'm busy.

Right, okay, tell me when you can do.

All right, this.

Right, okay.

So if you're going to start a show for bookkeepers and accountants, all right, on LinkedIn Live, who are you going to have as your first ever guest or guests?

Zoe and Joe from the Six Figure Bookkeeper were my first ever guests on that show.

And, and so then I ended up doing.

So I did a Tuesday show where it was all about business and then a Wednesday show, it's all about accountants and bookkeepers.

And so I did that for ages.

And then, and then I thought, this is, this.

It's an awful lot of work doing a live show, doing a podcast and all of that.

Then I started putting it out as a podcast as well.

So download the file and drop it.

And I thought, and then someone turned around to me, said, right, when can you come and do some training?

Well, okay.

And because I live in, in Devon.

Right.

Right at the bottom of the West Country, I've got the M5 and the A303.

Great.

In the winter, rubbish.

In the summer, terrible.

Impossible on a Monday.

On a Friday.

Yeah.

So I can only travel to do training.

All right.

On a Thursday.

Because Mondays I won't travel, Fridays I won't travel.

The traffic is just crazy.

Tuesdays I've got this show.

Wednesdays I've got that show.

This is ridiculous.

I'm gonna not be able to do any business.

So I changed the show.

I, I've amalgamated it.

And so, so, so that's what I do.

And I've had all kinds of amazing guests, including Neil Malarkey, who runs the world's longest.

It's in the Guinness Book of Records, World's longest standup show.

He's been running it for 40 years.

He does it improv Richard McCann is, is an incredible guy.

Mike Mallowich.

Yeah, I've had all the stars on my show and it's been brilliant and great fun as well.

And because I'm curious, I just ask loads of questions and we have a laugh.

And I have, I also have people on that have never done a podcast before, and we go in the green room before we start and they are.

Bricking it, like, and we're live.

Oh, I don't know.

You know, you sort of, like, you.

Can see the fear in their face when we finished and we turn it all off and we come in and have a little chat after.

Oh, my God, that was brilliant.

Oh, what great fun.

Can we do it again?

You know, and it's, it's just, it's just brilliant.

And you know, I've done, I spoke to this week, right, I had a lady called G came in and did the show and she's been chatting about it on LinkedIn for a week or two before because she's so excited.

She's in Texas.

She had to join my show at.

20 past 6 in the morning and like, oh, my God, it's such an honor to be on your show.

And all her friends in America were also getting up early to come in and comment on the show.

So it was just great fun.

So, yeah, I love it, Absolutely love it.

So, yeah, and yeah, it's great, great when I get friends on the show as well, like you and Duncan and what have you.

So, yeah, great fun.

I've enjoyed being on the show.

It's great.

It's great fun.

And yeah, it can be a bit daunting if you know it's live, but I think once you've done it, once you just, you're over it, it's just something you're doing.

And, and at the end of the day, you're just talking for 30 minutes about what you do.

So, absolutely.

I turn around to people, I say, look, I'm not going to trip you up.

I'm going to ask you questions that you know the answer to.

I love it.

But, but I love the fact, I mean, three and a half years, consistency, putting it out there every week, and, and it does breed success and it has attracted a lot of attention for you.

And, and, you know, off the back of that, I know there's been lots of successes for you.

So let's, let's go Back to, to LinkedIn.

For anyone who's listening, can you give us four things that they could do right now to improve their LinkedIn profile.

I love.

I love how you say four things, not five.

That is because I can do 20, mate.

I could do 20, but.

But I came in and did a presentation to your group, and I call it the four mistakes that we all make on LinkedIn.

Okay?

And.

And there's loads of mistakes I'm doing.

And this is.

This is really cool.

Have you heard of Small Business Britain?

Yes, yes.

Okay.

I'm doing a webinar for them.

My own.

How cool is that?

Yes, right?

And we're calling it the Three Mistakes.

So the three mistakes on that is not.

Not engaging poor profile and not creating content.

All right?

But the four things that I talk about is all about your profile.

And the thing is, we can fix them so easily, Tim.

We can fix them so easily.

The very first one is the photo that I. I saw a photo the other day, right?

I want you to imagine this picture, okay?

You know mash.

Can you remember mash?

The helicopters in mash.

Vietnam movies, Those, those helicopters, all right, You've got the door open and you've got the soldier sat on the side of the.

Of the helicopter with a whacking great big gun with the belt on it.

Yeah, that, that's, that's, that's the picture now, right?

And it could be an army guy, it could be a terrorist, whatever.

That's the picture that you've got in your head now.

This guy sat on this helicopter, all right?

This guy has got that.

Him.

Him at one of those guns.

And that's his profile picture on LinkedIn.

Tell me, what kind of message is that putting out?

Why would you do that?

Yeah, why would you do that?

It's unbelievable.

So, so.

And the other thing is, right, we.

We sort of, like, we don't want.

To admit that we're getting a little bit old and that we've got a few more smile lines around our eyes and, and the beard is no longer black.

I look at photographs of myself just, just five years ago, and I've got.

You know, it's a black beard.

And now, now it's, it's.

I can't even call it salt and pepper.

It's just pepper.

No, salt is salt, isn't it?

I'm joining an established club, actually.

I know, I know, I know.

And the thing is, right, it's not.

Like I'll leave that photo up because I look a little bit younger in it, but you've got to put today's photo up.

Yeah, all right?

And, you know, so.

So if you've got a beard, make sure that you're showing that beard because, you know, you've got a clean shaven look and then I see a beard and.

And it's worse with the guys.

But.

But you've got all of that going on.

Ladies, I'm not picking on you, but I do know that you change your hairstyle quite often.

So one minute it's blonde and that next minute it's blue or whatever.

So.

So whatever hair color you are got today, that should be your photo.

Okay, guys, I am going to pick on you because I know how useless you are because you think that you have to have a photo of you in a suit on LinkedIn, all right?

And the last time you had a photo of you in a suit was at Marjorie's wedding.

And the only photo of you looking good in that photo on camera was the one with your wife.

So her hair's just that.

All right?

I see an awful lot of those photos.

We don't need a suit on LinkedIn unless you wear a suit for your job.

And not many people do today.

Not many people do today.

What you also need to be doing is looking at that camera, all right?

And smiling with your eyes and your teeth, all right?

Because what happens is the brain cannot differentiate between a real person and a photo.

So if I see a photo of someone smiling, looking directly at the camera.

Then I'm gonna.

You're smiling already, Tim, all right?

It releases oxytocin in the person's face when they're looking at that photo, all right?

Get your camera, hold it up in front of you, all right?

Get someone else to take the photo so that you've got the big camera and you're looking at it and really that close.

And so if you're listening on the podcast, that is, I don't know, 8 inches.

What's that in?

What's in decimal?

But yeah, not far away from the camera so that I can blow it up.

And what I want in that.

In that circle on LinkedIn is pretty much your face.

So the top of your hair is touching the top of that circle and the top of your top.

So you know your top of your T shirt is touching the bottom of that circle.

So you're filling up that circle.

Because 70%.

Yes, write this down.

70% of people using LinkedIn are.

Are going to it on their mobile phone.

And when they see you commenting on their post, your circle, your photo is between 4 and 6 millimeters big.

That's tiny.

And if you're sat with a great big gun on a helicopter, I Ain't going to make you out.

But if you've got your big face and you've got a color behind you, like this beautiful green, all right?

If you've got that color behind you, then you're reinforcing your branding and you stick out like a sore thumb.

Yeah.

So that's the first thing that you could do right now.

And some people have already got a nice photo, but they're a little far bit back.

Just go in and hit the zoom button and make sure you're filling up that circle.

So that's number one.

Number one.

Number two is the banner.

All right, if you're listening, just.

Just hold up your finger and you can do it as well, Tim, if you look, lift up your finger like this, this part of your finger.

Okay.

So I'm just stroking my pointy finger.

That is the same size as your banner on my mobile phone.

And we've already established that 70% of people are looking at the mobile phone.

So you can put it down now.

But 70% of people are looking at your profile, your banner on their mobile phone.

That's one and a half by six and a half centimeters big.

I ain't going to be able to read it if you've got lots and lots of text on it.

All right?

I turn around and I see some banners, and it's a picture that they took when they were, I don't know, in a mountain range.

All right?

So I turn around to them.

I said, hey, you're a mountaineer.

Are you?

And they're like.

Because I'm making assumptions.

All right?

I come onto your profile.

I want to know what you do.

If I don't know what you do, why am I gonna stay?

Yeah, the, the, the, the.

The tradespeople that get the most business are the trades people that have what they do on the side of their van.

You know, Bob Smith, plumbers.

We'll fix any leak and unblock your drains fast.

Call us for a bathroom quote today.

Yeah.

Meanwhile, you've got the other van guy.

He just turns up in a white van because he doesn't want people to know what he does, you know, so.

So tell me what you do in your banner.

Write some words down, make it big, and help me to understand how you can help me or help people that I know.

All right?

Don't have profit first professional accountant, because that means nothing.

All right?

Have up there.

I help business owners grow because I help them with their profit first.

I don't even know where that came from.

That's.

That's usable, isn't it?

That's really good.

One of our members needs to take that one off.

They all do.

But, but the thing, the thing is, right, what I say to people, and it's brilliant when I've got a whole room full of people because I do public speaking and yes, I'm as mad as this on a stage, I.

A room full of 100 people, right?

And I turn around, say, anyone here got a 10 year old kid?

And a few hands will go up.

So when I pick on that person that looks the smiliest and I go, sir, could your 10 year old kid tell me what daddy does?

And they look at me and then giggle because they know jolly well that their kid hasn't a clue that by looking at that banner, oh yeah, Daddy climbs mountains.

Yeah.

So if your 10 year old kid can do it.

All right?

And then what I say is, I turn around and I say, like, what's your name?

And he'll turn around and go, oh, it's Tim Seymour, right?

Anyone here send your banner to Tim.

And he'll get his kid to look at it and his kid can tell you what you do.

You've got a good banner, all right?

So think about the 10 year old test, all right?

And that's not my malt whiskey, right?

So that's two things.

Photography, banner, right?

The next thing is your headline, all right?

I would hazard a guess, Tim, that.

Most accountants on LinkedIn have as their headline because it's defaults to the job title accountant at XYZ Accountants.

Partner at XYZ Accountants.

Director at XYZ Accountants.

Okay?

We've already got a preconceived idea of what an accountant does and what they are and how we think about them, okay?

I'm lucky.

I know.

I know so many cool accountants.

When someone says to me, accountant, I've got this totally different outlook to what other people say when you say, what if I mentioned the word accountant, what would you think?

Okay, I'm not even going to go there today, but we know what people think of accountants.

And so if you've got the word accountant straight away, you're on hiding to nothing, okay?

What you want to be putting in there is something a little bit magical, all right?

Like the scooter riding accountant or the number cruncher for ninjas or, or something a little bit different.

And if you're, if you're doing LinkedIn training in just 15 minutes a day, call yourself the 15 Minute Guy because then people remember you, all right?

And if people remember you, that's when the business comes, because it's not, oh, I need an accountant or I'm doing this or I'm doing that.

I, oh, my goodness.

You need to speak to the number cruncher for ninjas.

She's amazing.

Yeah.

I was chatting to someone the other day and she's a big Star wars fan, so she's now known as the Yoda on your shoulder.

How cool is that?

All right, what does she do?

You don't know.

So you're going to click on her profile and when you get to her profile, you're going to find out.

Yeah, that's the thing.

All right.

I was on a train once, right?

Traveling up to.

It might have been your event, but traveling up to London for an event and I jump on the train and I'm chat, and this lady gets on at, I can't remember where it was now, but she jumps on, I'm having a chat and she's going up to London to catalog vintage clothes from Elton John because she's doing a charity auction, really cool job.

And she turned around, said, I got the job from being on LinkedIn.

So we started talking about LinkedIn, we started talking about marketing, we started talking about my yellow t shirts, my 15 minute guy, all that sort of lucky, really good conversation.

Anyway, I'm coming back home, checking my LinkedIn like you do, and I got a message from somebody.

I'm a serial eavesdropper.

I couldn't help but hear the conversation that you had this morning about LinkedIn and marketing.

Absolutely brilliant.

And I'd love to have a chat with you if you don't think it's a little bit creepy.

And I went, no, no, no, that's absolutely great.

Booked a call, jumped on the zoom.

How on earth did you find me?

And he turned around to me, said, I just googled the 15 minute guy.

There you go.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

And, and it says it all.

And do you know what?

That, that actually says a lot, doesn't it?

About having a brand and people being able to find you see anyone who wants to.

If you're on LinkedIn and if you're not on LinkedIn, you should be full stop.

Especially not on LinkedIn.

Not on LinkedIn.

They must be on LinkedIn, really.

If you're not, set yourself up.

First person to connect with is Ashley Lee's 15 Minute Guy.

Connect with Ashley, learn from Ashley and you'll be able to get yourself up and running in no time.

Ashley, you, you also mentioned just, just coming to a close now, but you also mentioned about Richard McCann being on your.

On your podcast, which is really interesting because.

Such a nice guy.

Yeah.

Such an amazing story.

And what.

Why do we need to know about this?

So you need to know about this because he is actually speaking at Profitcon UK25 on 22nd September.

So Richard McCann is one of our keynote speakers.

So we're very excited about that.

An amazing story to tell and also some fantastic value and some transformations through storytelling he's going to share with us as well.

We've also got Ron Baker, who is the man when it comes to the subscription business model, which actually fits perfectly for Profit first professionals who have niched and then move into a subscription model.

So that's going to be really exciting.

We've got Carl Reader come in, who helps you be the best you can be, no matter what.

So no matter where you start from, he encouraged you to be the best you can be.

And of course, the main man, Mike Michalovich, who you've also had on this podcast with us.

Mike's going to be there, of course.

He's Mr. Profit First.

He's the creator and author of Profit First.

So we can't wait for the event to come along.

I'm hoping that you can join us, actually.

I know you've got to slide out some travel.

I'm gonna do everything I can to be there because I need.

I need Ron Baker and Carl Reader on my show now.

Don't I do to fix that Holy Trinity.

Sure we can, we can help with that.

So anyone who hasn't booked their events, it's 22nd September, it's Chartered Accountants One London.

Pop onto our website profit first uk.co.uk and hit the profitcon uk25 tab and you'll be able to find out more information.

Fantastic video of Duncan talking about the event and then you can look at all the re.

The.

The.

The keynote speakers.

Most importantly, grab your seats because they're selling and they're selling and we want everybody to get the opportunity to be there.

So thank you for that.

And the last thing before we go.

You'll love this one, Ashley.

So you were you'd come on to my Crosses and Coffee community previously.

I've rebranded it.

Oh, well done.

What's in there?

Donuts and coffee.

There's no more crossets and coffee now.

It's the Profit first pathway and it's unapologetically a pre membership group for accountants and bookkeepers interested in becoming a Profit first professional in the future.

The color Branding is exactly the same except the green is higher profile than the blue, so I'll just switch that around.

And any accounts and bookkeepers.

This is a free community to join.

If you're interested in Profit first and want to find out more and you want to actually be in our world, jump on sessions with myself, Jason, who's a Profit first guide, Deb Halliday, who's a very successful Profit first professional.

So we've got the ex accountant, the bookkeeper and the coach, basically covering all three bases.

Come and join the Profit first pathway and find out more about Profit First.

We'd love to have you in there.

So just pop on Facebook, hit the Profit first pathway, answer three very simple questions.

You know, are you an accountant, bookkeeper or coach?

Is not very difficult and we'll allow you access and then you can join us since we create our online session, so just want to finish there.

Ashley, thank you so much for joining me today.

It's a pleasure partnering up with you with lots of things that we do on our events etc, but also just being in your company, I could continue talking with you all day, but I know we don't have time for that, so thank you very much for joining me.

Ashley, is there anything, last words you want to add?

Yeah, just.

Just get out there.

All right.

What's the best that can happen?

Fantastic.

You heard it from the man himself.

Thank you, Ashley, thanks.

Thank you for joining us on our podcast today.

Profit first beyond the Book was brought to you by the Profit First Professionals UK and Ireland team.

If you'd like to find out more about Profit first or becoming a Profit first professional, head to our website, profitfirstuk.co uk.