Ep 200: From Corporate Layoff To Inbound Consulting Through LinkedIn | Nicole Ramirez [Solo Consultant Summit Series]

Meet Nikki And The Big Shift

Sara 0:00

Welcome to the Solo Consultant Summit series, where we spotlight the experts I'm your host, Sarah Noel Block, and today I'm joined by Nikki Ramirez. Nikki is a personal brand strategist and LinkedIn content creator who helps corporate women build their presence and make the leap to entrepreneurship. In this conversation, we dig into what it really takes to show up authentically online and build a personal brand that opens doors.

Nicole Ramirez 0:28

Yeah. Hi, I am Nikki Ramirez. I own NR Digital Consulting. I am a personal brand strategist and LinkedIn content creator. Yes, that is a thing. And I help other people show up on LinkedIn and build their personal brands, and it doesn't mean that everyone has to be a creator, it just means that everyone should be sharing their voice, and that can be for anything from growing your career to being able to leave and be a creator or start your own business like I did.

Sarah Noel Block 0:57

Yeah. So how did you get started?

Layoff To 50K Followers

Nicole Ramirez 1:01

By force. So I, um, I was laid off from my position, uh, two years ago. I was a... So I-- backing up a little bit, I was a journalist turned marketer for 15 years, and then I built up my career to, um, where my final corporate stage of evolution was, uh, director of marketing at Forbes. And in 2024, I was unexpectedly let go from that position, and I very quickly realized that, um, I didn't have a network that was big enough that wasn't tied to, you know, having a job title and my name. And so I wanted to build something that would b- be less tied to having a title and a company, um, that I was under, and something that represented me and that my name was attached to. So I started building my presence on LinkedIn, and within six months I went from 2,000 to 10,000 followers, and now we are approaching this week, actually probably today, 50,000 followers.

Sarah Noel Block 2:03

Damn, girl.

Nicole Ramirez 2:04

very excited. It's a big day. And so, um, I'm really, really pumped, uh, that like everything has come to fruition. But I now have turned that into being able to help other people do it because I saw the opportunities that came with building your personal brand, and that was things like, you know, podcast interviews and media and, uh, job opportunities and consulting. And then I was able to leave and build my own business that is completely inbound from LinkedIn

Sarah Noel Block 2:33

Yeah, that's incredibly impressive that you're still able to keep it completely inbound with how, like, uh, let's say tumultuous

Consistency And Real Community Building

Sarah Noel Block 2:45

the algorithm can be. Like sometimes everybody sees your post and sometimes it's like, "Okay, did you show it to anybody but me?"

Nicole Ramirez 2:53

Oh, yeah. The algorithm is a, um, I call it a very needy and testy god. Uh, it wants your time and attention, and it'll just do whatever it wants anyways. So anyone pretending to know what the algorithm is up to is lying to you 'cause they have no idea. Um, yep, and so it's... Um, but you know, there are things that like because I'm on there every day and I have multiple clients that I track all their analytics and help them grow, I have ideas of what the algorithm is doing, and so I kinda try to navigate that. But for the most part, it's, it's gonna sound cliche, but consistency compounds. I know that that sounds just so like, okay, what does that mean? And it's just about telling your story 100 different times, 100 different ways, and just making sure that you're there and showing up. And then the most important thing is connecting and engaging and building a community there. And truly it is a networking e- like opport... And so that is a, it's not just posting into oblivion and just hoping here someone sees. It's making that effort to make sure people see it

Sarah Noel Block 3:58

Yeah. So first thing I wanna point out is that every former journalist that I know is an amazing storyteller and kills it in that arena, like content marketing type arena. So your career progression makes complete sense to me that you would end up as the marketing

Corporate Women Becoming Founders

Sarah Noel Block 4:20

director at Forbes, which is journalism and storytelling based and then you end up doing this where you're building stories for... Is it founders that you're working with primarily?

Nicole Ramirez 4:31

Yeah. So, uh, I, I said I wasn't going to niche and then my niche found me, and that happens so

Sarah Noel Block 4:37

Yeah, that happens.

Nicole Ramirez 4:38

whenever-- And, uh, it tends to be, um, corporate women who are looking to leave corporate and start their own thing. So what... Pre-founders. So they are about to be founders. Um, and so really high achieving corporate women. Now, I also help those same types of people that have already left corporate and are starting their thing, um, or have been in it for a bit and they just don't have inbounds and a presence and things like that. So I help a lot of people, um, from founders, professionals, executives, um, but that seems to be where a lot of my concentration is, which is, um, actually why I'm starting a community with my co-founder Aparna called The Audacity Society. And it's about women who have the audacity to build something of their own. So we are gonna

Sarah Noel Block 5:27

I know her.

Nicole Ramirez 5:28

brand. I love Aparna. And so Aparna is helping me, um, you know, on the setting up business side. She's AI and implementation processes, uh, consultant, and so I help build up the personal brand and she helps actually set up the businesses for these women

Sarah Noel Block 5:43

That's awesome. Okay, so let's go in the way back machine for a minute because what you do for people who wanna leave corporate, I'm assuming that you did the same thing for yourself to build this inbound machine that you have going. So how did you start doing that and find the story angles that would make sense for you? Because I think a lot of people who listen to this is g- they're going to interpret my story completely different depending on who it is

Building A Brand While Employed

Nicole Ramirez 6:17

Yeah. Yeah, and so, um, you know what? Not only do I help people do this, I did it myself. So after I was laid off in that, um, from my position at Forbes, I, you know, dabbled back into corporate because I was like, "I'm not sure," and I didn't have the presence that I do now. So I actually went onto the agency side as a marketing consultant at a healthcare marketing agency. Um, but when I came on, I said, "Hey, I'm building this personal brand of mine. I'm building my presence on LinkedIn. If you guys aren't okay with that, like I can't take this job." And they were like, "Yeah, that's fine." Uh, but you're still navigating a lot of corporate red tape, what you're allowed to say, what you're not. Like I couldn't let people know that I was like taking on, you know, c- personal branding clients and things like that, um, while I was still working a full-time job. And so I was doing that and building my personal brand, and then it gave me the, the ability to exit. Um, I went on maternity leave and did not come back. So

Sarah Noel Block 7:11

You're like, "Bye."

Nicole Ramirez 7:12

yeah. So, um, I have the first hand experience of multiple things, of being laid off and realizing that I didn't have a presence, of being at a full time job and having to navigate like, okay, I can't just be like, "Hey guys, I'm taking clients." I have to do this in a very like quiet way and build my personal brand while also supporting this company that I'm at. And then I do it now as a founder who has to get clients completely from talking online. And so I've been at every stage that I help clients at. Like I'm like I meet people where they are. So if they're a professional that's looking to job seek and get back into corporate, if they are, you know, looking to be like, "Hey, I can't let my corporate job know that I'm trying to leave," like I navigate all this. Or if they're like, "Hey, I've been running this business for about a year now and like all I do is outbound and like it's getting exhausting, like help." Um, and so I help at that point too. Um, so I've been at every stage that I help people at

Sarah Noel Block 8:11

Yeah, our backgrounds kind of align in that way in that like way, way back I was laid off in 2008. That's how way back And I kept taking on like corporate roles and moving up in marketing, but I also was taking clients too, 'cause you know, once you get laid off you're never like, "I'm going to have one stream of income again."

Nicole Ramirez 8:35

shatters your whole

Sarah Noel Block 8:37

Yeah. You're

Nicole Ramirez 8:38

stability. You're like, "Nope, I'm not doing that again."

Sarah Noel Block 8:42

Yeah. I... Yes. Ever since then I have always had multiple streams of income. And but I did have one role where the CEO is a little weird about how I presented myself publicly. Um, so I know exactly what you're talking about on all of

Nicole Ramirez 9:03

as like, I had a very supportive boss at the agency who was very, like, gung ho of, uh, of my personal brand, and then I had people there that didn't like it. Old school, like, "What is she doing? What is she doing all day? I see her stuff all the time. Is she just living on LinkedIn?" And that's people not understanding that the algorithm is just serving you things. Like, I'm not just living there all day. Um, but it's, it's just the, the nature of corporate and business that it's like, "Okay, well, we, we want you to be here fully for the company. We're paying you. You can't be building your own thing. How dare you?" And, and then you have people that are gonna go, "No, actually this benefits the company in so many ways." I was getting invited to speaking gigs representing that agency and things like that. Um, and people were actually coming to me and going, "Hey, I actually need healthcare marketing, um, you know, agency work. Would you recommend your company? Um, because I follow you and I trust you." My boss recognized how important that was as an employee.

Sarah Noel Block 10:02

is a huge benefit that people, like short-sighted people are not going to see is like, yeah, you're giving, you're getting a lot more visibility for your company when you have a personal brand

Nicole Ramirez 10:16

And that's like the whole premise of, um... I had co-founded a company with Yvonne Kinzer called Brand Me, and the whole premise is really, uh, talking to executives and companies as a whole to be like, "Lean into your employees," employee generated content and then like lean into your executives. Um, but where my business started going, where I was try-- Like helping all these women kind of escape corporate, um, it just came to a head where I realized like, I can't do both. I can't help a company lean into their employees as well as sort of help Yep. And

Sarah Noel Block 10:47

like one leg on both sides.

Nicole Ramirez 10:49

I just created... Yep. I'm like, yeah. And I was like, and while I believe in both, I believe that companies should be leaning into their employees, I need to concentrate on one. And so Yvonne has now taken Brand Me in that direction, um, and I have decided to go lean into The Audacity Society. So very amicable, um, break of where we needed to go, just two different paths that I believe in both, truly.

Sarah Noel Block 11:11

Yeah. Yeah. Actually, last year I was doing a ton of work in that, in building personal brands for employees, and the company was hiring me to do it. So

Nicole Ramirez 11:22

there's absolutely a path for

Sarah Noel Block 11:24

really value it.

Nicole Ramirez 11:26

And when you can find those companies that really lean in and we did quite a few times at Brand Me, um, it's amazing to see what the... It clicks for them and they go, "Oh my gosh," like, uh, this actually benefits everyone. And so I truly believe and will be absolutely supporting what she's doing in taking Brand Me to the next level there. But I realized that just from my experience of what I had done and how I've been helping so many people that I really needed to lean into really helping these women leave and build their own things and learn all the mistakes that we make as solopreneurs of, you know, oh my God, how do I do my taxes? How do I do this?

Sarah Noel Block 12:03

Oh my God, the list goes

Nicole Ramirez 12:05

the list goes on. And so it's like per- building your personal brand and getting attention is just the first part. It's like what happens when you do get that attention which is where Aparna came in and was like, "Uh, tell me you're not running your business off of Post-It notes." And I was like, "I am." And she was like, "Let's fix that." And so she now has come on with me to do the same for others. Like okay, now you have the attention, what do we do with

The Authentic Story Framework

Nicole Ramirez 12:28

it?

Sarah Noel Block 12:28

Yeah, that makes complete sense. I wanna go back to the personal story part that we were talking about for a second. So when you say, you know, telling your own story, what would that fall into? Like, we have our origin story, we have our villain story

Nicole Ramirez 12:51

I love your own

Sarah Noel Block 12:51

what kind of stories are we telling where it's not... We probably don't want to just be like all about us. So how do you position it

Nicole Ramirez 13:01

Yeah, so that's a lot of what I work, um, on within the first like week that I work with people. Like that is-- Like immediately we dive into what are your goals? What are we really trying to say? And what is this persona that we're building? Because I, I call my framework the authentic story framework, and a lot of people get confused that where they think that you... In order to be an authentic person online, you have to be your whole self, and that's just not the case. It's who you o- want to show up on, on-online, as long as that is authentic. Don't be like this fake persona of you. But like we're taking pieces of yourself that you're like, "This is who I want to present myself as," and we're leaving the other pieces that don't make sense for your goals and what's going on. Because as humans, we are built up of so many different things. Like we have hobbies and we have things we care about. Um, I am obsessed with bad reality TV show. I don't need to talk about it all day like it doesn't... But I could if I wanted to, if that was how I

Sarah Noel Block 13:54

but you can talk about it a little.

Nicole Ramirez 13:56

talk about it all day. Um, and so it's choosing those things where I say, okay, I wanna take the fact that I really believe in personal branding and all this stuff. That's a part of who I want. I wanna take a little bit of the fact that I'm a mom and I'm, I'm-- I've left corporate career. I wanna take a little bit of my villain origin story and how I will shit on corporate a lot. And so I take a little bit of that, and that is the persona that I've built, and I help other people do it, and I truly believe in having a strategy behind your personal brand and content, and that's the marketer in me. So you got the journalist tell the story, and the marketer goes, "What's the point of the story?" Mm-hmm. So let's tell it like that. And so it's building this like trust and goals and everything, so it's choosing those stories. I love a good origin story, but like all of us have multiple origin stories. It's like, okay, was it the layoff in 2008 or was it later when it, this happened and you had this going on? What is this thing that really you wanna lean into? For me, it was my layoff. Uh, that was the point where I wanted to start. Um, but I could start anywhere where it's like my transition from journalism to marketing could have been my origin story of like, this is how I became a strategic storyteller. I could lean into that, but instead I decided to say, hey, you know, I really want to show people that like, yeah, if you would've told me at the time of my layoff it was gonna be the best thing to happen to you, I would've told you to screw off. I woulda been like, okay, don't ever....

Sarah Noel Block 15:17

feel like it in the moment when you're in it

Nicole Ramirez 15:20

Yep, and now I look back and I'm like, yes, it was the moment that was like changed everything for me. So it's about choosing those things, and I do those in different strategic ways, building your content pillars, building your i-au- ideal audience persona instead of an ICP, and doing your tone of voice and how we're gonna show up, and then I teach you how to actually write that and redo your profile and do all that stuff. And personal branding is the journey. LinkedIn is just the vehicle I personally use and help people use to get there, but you can do it in so many other ways

Sarah Noel Block 15:50

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, LinkedIn is my favorite too, my favorite

Nicole Ramirez 15:55

Again, my little bias that I think LinkedIn is the best. Yes, of course I do. But I, there's so many ways, like people have Substacks and people have Instagrams, and I, I kind of help them say, "Hey, this is your overall strategy. Take it to other platforms as well." Um, but I just, I have a big heart for LinkedIn

Sarah Noel Block 16:12

Yeah, it really does feel like a curated networking party where like in the comments you're having like the people that you wanna hang out with are in there and you're

Nicole Ramirez 16:23

Yeah. I mean, and that's what I tell people to curate their feeds and they're like, "What does that mean?" I'm like, "This is like, th- there's a reason that people are like, 'Oh, I opened LinkedIn and it's so cringe and it's so performative.'" I'm like, "You haven't curated your feed. You're on a different kind of LinkedIn than I am on."

Sarah Noel Block 16:37

Right? Whenever I hear that, I'm like, "You should probably unfollow some

Nicole Ramirez 16:41

Yeah, like you gotta start leaning into good people. Yep

Sarah Noel Block 16:45

Like on TikTok where they say, "I built my FYP brick by

Nicole Ramirez 16:49

Brick by brick. Yeah. I'm

Sarah Noel Block 16:50

too.

Nicole Ramirez 16:51

I'm like, that's why it's so addicting to be on those things like TikTok, 'cause it's really personalized to you. So if you're only logging into LinkedIn

Profiles That Convert Lurkers

Nicole Ramirez 16:57

every time you need a job, a promotion, or you're just like at a conference, of course it's gonna be just an absolute chaos mess of nothing that pertains to you. Yeah.

Sarah Noel Block 17:07

Yeah. So you mentioned that all of your work comes inbound. Is there anything within the structure of your posts or your profile that you think really get people to take action instead of just, you know, passively wa- watching you?

Nicole Ramirez 17:24

Yeah. And I think, you know, the-- we've got the LinkedIn lurkers. They're gonna be there for a while just watching everything you're doing, but that's why I think your profile is your landing page. It can work as a website. You don't even need a website when you first go out if you've got a good LinkedIn page where when people see your posts and they go vi-visit, they need to know within the first few seconds who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and how they can do it with you. That's it. And so it's, you know, journalists top of t- like, uh, you know, top of the fold, everything about me.

Sarah Noel Block 17:53

before you open the newspaper completely

Nicole Ramirez 17:56

Yep. And so doing all that and making your profile a conversion magnet. Then, um, the other thing is, like, everything I do in my content, I call it the Trojan horse of content. So even when it looks like a fun story, uh, something funny about my toddler, I'm slipping in these little things where I'm like, "Ugh, motherhood is just marketing," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, it's not lying,

Sarah Noel Block 18:17

Connecting the dots.

Nicole Ramirez 18:19

And so you connect these dots where people go, "Oh." Or if I tell a story and I'm like, "Yeah, I was talking to a client yesterday and blah, blah, blah, blah," and it might be a really entertaining story or an inspirational story, um, or an education. That's my three modes: educate, entertain, or inspire. But it's got these little things that nod back into, oh, she was talking to a client. She does client work. What does she do? Um, these slight nods of Trojan horse that make people go visit your profile, and then they lurk for a while, and then finally they're like, "Okay." And then you've got your top-- like, as a marketer, top of funnel, middle of funnel, bottom of funnel content. If you're constantly at the top of funnel just entertaining people and inspiring, but you're not actually converting them, yeah, you're gonna be maybe well known on the app and not have inbound. If you're always doing bottom of funnel, just like, "Hey guys, this is what I sell. This is what I do", no one's really gonna pay that much attention to you and you're not gonna be able to sell to a bigger room. You need reach. So it's about doing a mix of this

Sarah Noel Block 19:12

Yeah. So let's talk about that one second before we wrap up. What kind of content would fall into top, middle,

Funnel Content And How To Work Together

Sarah Noel Block 19:22

and bottom on LinkedIn specifically?

Nicole Ramirez 19:25

Yeah. So I always talk about the fact that you can have one idea be three different things, and that's the beauty of content. Um, and so you can have... um, my layoff for example could be top-of-funnel where I can say something that broadly reaches a lot of people in the entertain educator inspire. So I can say something inspirational like, "I thought my layoff was gonna be the worst thing to ever happen to me and it was the best and here's my story," and blah blah blah. That's top-of-funnel. A lot of people are gonna be like, "Oh my God yeah." And then you're gonna have the people being like, "I'm going through it. Like don't talk to me right now." Like and so you gotta know that. So lots of reach. Um, middle-of-funnel is gonna be kind of your education and showing your credibility like, "Hey I got laid off and didn't have a personal brand to back me up. Here's five things I wish I would have been building while I was still at Forbes." Here's the thing. That educates them. That's something they can save all this stuff. Bottom-of-funnel is hey here is why I wish I woulda had a personal brand at LinkedIn and you can too join my cohort

Sarah Noel Block 20:23

Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. That is easy to follow. So if someone listening to this today, because I know that I have corporate people who listen to this, like corporate marketers specifically, and I have like founders, consultants that listen to this, how can they work with you?

Nicole Ramirez 20:43

Yeah, so you can find me on LinkedIn, uh, Nicole Ramirez, and, uh, you can find me at NR Digital Consulting. And then my services are one-on-one coaching, and I also have my group cohort, which, uh, my next one is September 14th. We have some, uh, seats left in that, so reach out. You can send me a DM or visit nrdigitalconsulting.com, and you can see my services there. And I'm always open for conversation. I love to talk to people, so come chat with me

Sara 21:10

That's a wrap on this episode of the Solo Consultant Summit series. If you loved this conversation with Nikki Ramirez, you can connect with her on LinkedIn at Nicole Ramirez and learn more about her services at nrdigitalconsulting.com. See you at the summit!