Laura Krauss on LinkedIn: Lots of people DM me about my LI headline where it says “Lover of God… | 67 comments (2024)

❤️Choose who your life happens with wisely.❤️June 4th, 2005: Wedding Day!June 4th, 2006: Life happens.June 4th, 2007: Life happens.June 4th, 2008: Life happens.June 4th, 2009: Life happens.June 4th, 2010: Life happens.June 4th, 2011: Life happens.June 4th, 2012: Life happens.June 4th, 2013: Life happens.June 4th, 2014: Life happens.June 4th, 2015: Life happens.June 4th, 2016: Life happens.June 4th, 2017: Life happens.June 4th, 2018: Life happens.June 4th, 2019: Life happens.June 4th, 2020: Life happens.June 4th, 2021: Life happens.June 4th, 2022: Life happens.June 4th, 2023: Life happens.June 4th, 2024: Happy 19th anniversary!This went way too fast Erik Krauss, CPA 🥹——Hi! I’m Laura. I’m fulfilling two passions in 2024:👩🏻💼I coach sales reps and first line sales leaders with EASE: Everything is Attitude, Skill, & Effort. I love mentoring sales professionals. Let’s chat!📖 I’m writing a book called “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.” It’s part of my healing process after an unexpected layoff last year. Publishing in Fall 2024!

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I love a good data dump.I spent the first half of my 25 year sales career in sales operations roles where I worked daily with thousands of lines of data.Cleaning data.Sorting data.Analyzing data.Throwing the data in a pivot table 100 different ways to try and tell a story.Some data was used for commission calculating.Some data was used for account planning.Some data was used for sales reporting.It didn’t matter; I loved making sense of it all and sharing my findings with reps, sales leaders, or executive management.I hit my annual quota in less than 9 months time at three different SaaS sales orgs because I used data to my advantage.I knew the accounts to target and built comprehensive plans using data to execute.My territory plan was a working document that I revisited over and over again. When I moved into sales leadership, I’d use sales data to help my reps analyze their business too. I had skin in the game. Trust was born because I showed them how to do it for themselves.I also had their respect because I’d done their job before. I wasn’t asking them to do anything I didn’t do myself.I don’t have a sales team or my own sales territory at a major SaaS company anymore.Instead, I’ll share THREE analyses I do with my LI data to build better relationships and understand my posting metrics beyond the performance metrics LI provides. 1️⃣ Every month I download my LI connections. I review who has recently connected in the last month and target 30-50 people I want to have 1-1 convos with to send intro DMs.✅ I remove connections too. Sorry Merrill Lynch financial advisors (there are so many of you out there)!🙌🏻 I’m averaging 633 connections per month since I started posting daily six months ago.2️⃣ Every week I update a google sheet where I track the day/date of my post, the hook, # of impressions and # of engagements.✅ It lets me know which posts resonate with my scaling follower-ship. 🙌🏻 FYI…my vulnerable layoff posts are hot hot hot right now. Wonder why? 🧐3️⃣ Every day I update a google sheet where I track the DMs I receive. It can be related to a specific post or just a regular outreach over time. ✅ Many followers don’t publicly give a thumbs up or comment. They prefer more private 1-1 communications. This is where the MAGIC happens and relationships are built. 🙌🏻 In the last 6 months, 348 people have shared their personal layoff stories with me, via DM or 1-1 call.Once a data geek, always a data geek. How do you use your analytical skills every day?

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Be strong and courageous. He will never leave you.~ Deut. 31:6That’s it. That’s the post.Happy Sunday, friends 💯🙌🏻❤️

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1️⃣ If you had to downsize your life, where’s the first place you’d start?2️⃣ Which historical person would you like as a mentor?3️⃣ Do you live in an urban, suburban, or rural area?4️⃣ Are you right handed or left handed?5️⃣ What is the most unusual food you have ever eaten?Welcome to #FridayFunFacts 🤓When I led my sales teams, one of the tools I used to get to know one another better over time was Friday Fun Facts.✅ Create a GoogleSheet with each person’s name along the top columns. This will be where they enter their answers each week.✅ On Mondays, craft up 5 questions for them to answer. The first column will be a rolling list of 5 questions you add to the GoogleSheet each week. ✅ Attach the GoogleSheet link in a calendar invite for 12 noon on Fridays so it’s an occurring meeting on their calendar. Most will complete well before Friday.✅ Enjoy learning more about your team each and every week as they complete the questions. Best part…seeing your team connect on things they probably never would have known about one another. ——My answers:1️⃣ Material items inside my home. I started minimizing during the pandemic and haven’t stopped downsizing and getting rid of things since then. It’s very freeing! 🏠2️⃣ George Washington. I read a book once on his leadership principles and really enjoyed it. 📖3️⃣ Rural. We live on just under three acres in Rocky Ridge, MD. Beautiful views of the Catoctin mountains and lots of cows as neighbors. 🐮4️⃣ Right handed, but left footed. I played soccer starting at age 4 all the way through college. I had a dominant left foot and played left midfield. All other sports are right side dominated. ⚽️5️⃣ Insects. I tried many on my trip to Oaxaca, Mexico in March. Pics below of a few types. 🦗Play along and answer this week…don’t just scroll by…c’mon, you know you want to 😉Happy Friday, everyone 🙌🏻💯❤️——Hi! I’m Laura. I’m fulfilling two passions in 2024:👩🏻💼I coach sales reps and first line sales leaders with EASE: Everything is Attitude, Skill, & Effort. I love mentoring sales professionals. Let’s chat!📖 I’m writing a book called “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.” It’s part of my healing process after an unexpected layoff last year. Publishing in Fall 2024!

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I believe my greatest strength is authentically connecting with others through my vulnerability.As a twenty five year sales veteran, I led my sales teams with trust and empathy, creating a psychologically safe environment in which to work. Much in the same way, my goal is to provide the same safe haven for my readers to journey through my layoff experience via my book “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.”There is power in sharing our stories.Most people focus on the financial aspects of losing a job as being the worst part of a layoff.The loss of income from my six figure W-2 was certainly an adjustment as the higher breadwinner in our family. The more devastating blow, however, was the emotional and relational part of realizing the people I worked with and thought were my true friends really had no room for me anymore in their lives. It’s the loss of friendships and connection that I miss the most. I think it is a topic no one talks about nearly enough with a layoff and it is one of the reasons why I wanted to write this book. My goals for writing this book are threefold: 1️⃣ I want to share my personal experience as a top performing software sales leader who was completely blindsided by what I believe was a targeted and politically motivated layoff.2️⃣ I want others to know the raw, visceral feelings of loss from a job they loved and the people they worked with are normal and to recognize there is no defined timeline for grieving; and3️⃣ I want people to learn rejection from a layoff is simply redirection to their next big thing in life. They can and will work again!The first two chapters introduce you to my world in Corporate America, specifically software sales. It’s where I spent the last nearly ten years of my sales career enjoying much success within the tech industry.Chapters three through nine highlight the seven stages of grief as it relates to healing from my traumatic layoff experience.The final chapter is a motivational and inspiring read about how to take rejection from a layoff and redirect it to your next big thing. You don’t need to have all the answers to start over again. Everything is Attitude, Skill, and Effort (EASE). Turn your adversity into your superpower and live a life with EASE.Throughout my book, I hope my vulnerable story will validate the human emotions one journeys through after a layoff. ——Hi! I’m Laura. I’m fulfilling two passions in 2024:👩🏻💼I coach sales reps and first line sales leaders with EASE: Everything is Attitude, Skill, & Effort. I love mentoring sales professionals. Let’s chat!📖 I’m writing a book called “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.” It’s part of my healing process after an unexpected layoff last year. Publishing in Fall 2024!

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They say “a picture is worth a thousand words.”I snapped this pic six months ago on 11/29/23 at 10:46 am EST after logging onto a Zoom meeting.I had already received a 9:15 am email earlier that morning saying “your role is impacted.”I knew what was coming. I didn’t record the call like some other viral posts you may have seen, but I can tell you my Zoom meeting lasted only 4 minutes. One minute per year of service.That must be the formula companies use to show their gratitude and appreciation for your contributions.This picture has haunted me for the last six months.Visceral feelings of…Anger.Disappointment.Embarrassment.Sadness.Shame.Five words out of a thousand focusing on the gut wrenching feelings of that moment in time. Each feeling necessary to be felt on the path toward healing. No HR representative was on the call. Just my executive sales “leader” and I use that term loosely.I don’t believe he was leading anything that day except for a 4 minute session on what NOT to do.The disrespect he showed by not turning on his camera to look me in the eye and read my last rites didn’t stop me from asking him to please turn it on.He chuckled and said his camera wasn’t working. How convenient for him.(The camera worked just fine 15 minutes later when he advised my team I was no longer at the company).This is not someone who was unknown to me. We celebrated together in Hawaii and Cancun on President Club trips. I lined his pockets with commissions from my millions of dollars of software sales. And he couldn’t look me in the eye to say “THANK YOU”. Not even for 4minutes.This picture no longer haunts me. Six months later, I am choosing five different words to describe this picture.Character.Courage.Strength.Transparency.Truth.I am choosing to focus on MY respectable character, not HIS disappointing one.I am choosing to focus on MY unflappable courage, not HIS lack of it.I am choosing to focus on MY enduring strength, not HIS embarrassing weakness.I am choosing to focus on MY unwavering transparency, not HIS unwillingness to answer my questions.I am choosing to focus on MY reliable truth, not HIS scripted corporate narrative.Character, courage, strength, transparency, and truth describe how I showed up that day. It took me the last few months to reframe my focus.They say “a picture is worth a thousand words.”Choose your words wisely, friends. 💯🙌🏻❤️——Hi! I’m Laura. I’m fulfilling two passions in 2024:👩🏻💼I coach sales reps and first line sales leaders with EASE: Everything is Attitude, Skill, & Effort. I love mentoring sales professionals. Let’s chat!📖 I’m writing a book called “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.” It’s part of my healing process after an unexpected layoff last year. Publishing in Fall 2024!

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$378 per month vs. $2688 per month.This is the out of pocket cost for the exact same health insurance plan for my family of four. Medical, dental, and vision.The only difference is whether or not I was still employed.Monthly COBRA prices are ridiculous.Legit more than the cost of most people’s monthly mortgage.I never worried about the cost of health insurance during my 25 years in corporate America. I always had great benefits.I paid $100 out of pocket when my son was born in 2006.And $100 when he had ACL surgery 16 years later. For those of you who need alternate health care options due to a layoff or your partner’s company’s plans are not cost effective…I have vetted multiple health insurance options over the last few months.Everything from Medi-Share to Obamacare and everything in between.I highly recommend both David Magee and Nathan Baughman.Both manage their own agencies and were a pleasure to work with as they educated me on the best plan for my family.I met with Dave first and the more he learned about my medical history (or lack thereof) he recommended Nathan to help me get a more cost effective monthly plan. As a sales professional myself for 25 years, I valued how Dave:1️⃣ Listened to what I needed.2️⃣ Educated me where necessary.3️⃣ Had my interests at heart to provide the best solution, even though it meant referring me to Nathan.Here’s what I appreciated from Nathan:1️⃣ Listened to Dave’s notes on my situation so he knew what questions to ask without my having to repeat everything all over again. 2️⃣ Educated me where necessary.3️⃣ Had my interests at heart to provide the best solution. New AFFORDABLE insurance begins 6/1 🙌🏻He also asked for a review and referral opportunities after working together. Clearly he is not afraid to ask because he knows he provided a great experience and value. It’s health insurance…not exciting stuff (no offense)…but both David and Nathan were trusted advisors. Oh, and how did we get introduced?Dave sent me a DM just looking to connect. No pitch necessary.Please contact Dave and/or Nathan and tell them your friend Laura from LI said hello 👋🏻 Contact info for both is in the comments!——Hi! I’m Laura. I’m fulfilling two passions in 2024:👩🏻💼I coach sales reps and first line sales leaders with EASE: Everything is Attitude, Skill, & Effort. I love mentoring sales professionals. Let’s chat!📖 I’m writing a book called “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.” It’s part of my healing process after an unexpected layoff last year. Publishing in Fall 2024!

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A letter to my dad on Memorial Day…Dear Dad,You served in the Army long before you met Mom and had us five kids.This picture is the only one I have of you from that time in your life.I love it. You are the one sitting down on the left hand side of the picture.Perhaps you were calculating the fallout from atomic bombs as that was your duty.I’d like to think you were teaching those around you what you knew or had learned. You always were the best teacher. You went on to get your education paid for by the GI bill and believed it was your patriotic and civic duty to give back. You dedicated over five decades of your leadership to public education, writing grants and balancing budgets to improve school districts all across Long Island.You upheld the ideals of what every patriot should strive to be. As a little girl I would walk alongside you in Memorial Day parades where we would hand out American flags and pens. You’d always make sure the kids got them before any adults. As we remember today the many who lost their lives serving this country, I can’t help but remember how you served this country and lived your life.You were one of the most patriotic people I knew showing it in ways of everyday living in America during your 83 years before Alzheimer’s eventually had its way.When you died there was a flag folding ceremony at your funeral that I was not expecting. As I watched the honor guard ceremoniously fold the American flag and give it to Mom, I was reminded again of your service. Thank you. Miss you every day…Love,Laura——Hi! I’m Laura. I’m fulfilling two passions in 2024:👩🏻💼I coach sales reps and first line sales leaders with EASE: Everything is Attitude, Skill, & Effort. I love mentoring sales professionals. Let’s chat!📖 I’m writing a book called “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.” It’s part of my healing process after an unexpected layoff last year. Publishing in Fall 2024!

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Today’s post is inspired by one of the funniest people in sales (and in general) Tom Boston He launched the #onetakechallenge a few days ago:- Grab a mobile phone and record a video for LinkedIn- No edits, no do-overs. Just one take.- Forget perfection, just do you.A question I've been getting: "What should the video be about?!"Anything you like! Speak from the heart. 🫶Don't worry about likes. Just create.When you post your challenge video, nominate THREE people to do the same. 👊I’m not going to nominate anyone. I just thought it was a fun challenge. Oh, and it’s amazing what a little gardening can do to beautify your home…and your mind!Happy Sunday, friends. 💯🙌🏻❤️

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