Josh Steimle - Mastering LinkedIn to Become More Influential

Josh Steimle is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of MWI, a global digital marketing agency, and creator of The 7 Systems of Influence, a framework used by entrepreneurs and other business leaders to connect deeply with their ideal audiences.
https://www.joshsteimle.com/

Josh Steimle is the creator of The 7 Systems of Influence, a framework used by leaders to attract attention, earn respect, and build relationships of trust.

In 2016, Josh published Chief Marketing Officers at Work, which includes interviews with 29 CMOs from companies like Spotify, Target, PayPal, GE, and The Home Depot. It was recognized as one of the 5 Best Business Books of 2016 in Success Magazine and named one of 11 Marketing Books Every CMO Should Read by Forbes.

His second book, 60 Days to LinkedIn Mastery, is due out Nov, 2020.

THE 7 SYSTEMS OF INFLUENCE
Knowledge is not power.

You may know everything, but without influence, you can’t do anything.

If knowledge were enough then watching a video on parenting would produce perfect children, attending a job training summit would guarantee you employment, and reading a business book would be all you need to run a successful business.

What’s missing?

Influence.

Influence is how great leaders:

Attract top talent to build world-class teams
Motivate their teams to dream big and execute
Build powerful brands
Generate new revenue
Create sustainable growth
In 1999, I started a marketing agency called MWI.

For seven years, I rode a rollercoaster of profit and loss until I was buried under a mountain of debt. In addition, I hadn’t paid myself a dime in four years.

My wife and I lived in a studio apartment above a garage and shared a small car with no air conditioning.

I worked 100 hour weeks, often slept on the office floor, missed family events, and ignored important relationships.

My health also suffered. I also weighed 239 lbs, about 70 lbs more than I should, and couldn’t walk up a single flight of stairs without wheezing for five minutes afterward.

I was unhealthy, poor, and miserable.

I also had no idea what to do.

I couldn’t afford to quit, but I also couldn’t afford to keep living like this.

A TURNING POINT
Before I could influence anyone else, I recognized I had to fix myself. There was one thing I knew I could do–I could go to the gym.

Before 2007, I had never run over a mile in my life, but by 2008 I was training for my first half-Ironman. I lost 60 lbs, ran a marathon, then ran another. I got into trail running and ultra-marathons. My longest run to date was a 14-hour, 70K (43.5 miles) over three mountain peaks.

Something interesting happened along the way as I learned when you achieve excellence in one area of your life, it pulls up other areas of your life. Almost like magic, as I got fit I saw my relationships improve and I also made better business decisions.

By 2012, my life had improved dramatically, both personally and professionally. However, I wasn’t satisfied.

My agency was doing well, but it was still a small, local business, rather than the international agency I dreamed of when I started it.

I began to look for a partner, someone to share my vision of what my business could become and who would work with me to make it reality.

After a year of searching, I found the partner I was looking for, and some