“This is probably one of the best handovers I’ve ever seen.”

A manager at one of my previous companies said this to me as I was preparing to leave.

Leaving a job, even when it’s something you’re looking forward to, isn’t always easy. I believe a graceful exit is an art, and it’s something we need to learn to do well when we’re wrapping up a role.

It’s in deciding when to break the news to your manager. It’s in writing the resignation letter or email and wondering whether it says enough. It’s in working through or negotiating your notice period. It’s in planning your handover, setting the meetings, and making sure nothing important gets lost along the way.

It’s never going to be easy, but tying up the loose ends and ensuring a smooth transition is well worth it. Trust me, your soon-to-be-former manager is going to notice.

I’ve done this quite a few times in my career, and it seems to get harder as I become more senior and move up the career ladder. The more senior you are, the more responsibilities you have to hand over.

So, I want to share how you can gracefully exit a company, tie up loose ends, and finish on a high note.

This Is for You If…

You’re planning to resign, or you’ve recently handed in your notice and want to make your exit as organised and graceful as possible.

It’s also for you if you’re early in your career and want to know what a good resignation and handover can look like.

And it’s for you if you’re more established in your career, with more responsibilities, relationships, and processes to transition before you leave.

If any of that sounds like you, keep reading.

But Why Should I Bother If I’m Leaving Anyway?

Because you don’t want to burn bridges when you leave a company.

The relationships you’ve built can stay with you. They can lead to future opportunities, references, collaborations, friendships, or introductions in ways you might not expect.

How you leave becomes part of how people remember working with you. Your Career GTM strategy doesn’t stop the moment you resign.

How to Make a Graceful Exit

1. Have the resignation conversation face-to-face

Do it personally. Speak to your manager in person if you can, or through a video call if you can’t. You owe it to your manager and to yourself to show up and tell them about your decision face-to-face.

I’ve always done it this way. First, I book a quick meeting with them. Then, I start the conversation by saying how grateful I am for the opportunity to work in the role and be part of the company.

I break the news by saying that I’m resigning from my position, explain my reason if I’m comfortable sharing it, and confirm my intended last day.

Whatever your reason for leaving, I think it’s better to tell your manager respectfully and personally.

If they don’t take it well… that’s another story. Lol.

2. Ensure a smooth handover

That handover landed well because I made sure everything was organised. I communicated where the team could find what they needed, and I documented all the important processes.

Here are the three things I include:

• Create a handover sheet

  • This is the central place where everything can be found: documentation, the file directory, system access information, current tasks, key contacts, and anything else the team will need.

  • Create a tab for each category so it’s easy to navigate. The sheet also helps you keep track of what you’ve covered in your handover meetings and what you might have missed.

  • For security, don’t put personal passwords in the sheet. Instead, list the system owner, the person who can grant access, or the approved place where shared credentials are stored.

• Document your tasks and processes

  • Make sure the tasks and processes you manage at work are documented from beginning to end.

  • I picked this up from one of the companies I worked for in the Philippines. We used to call them “ApocDocs,” short for Apocalypse Documents. Each document covered the full process for a task: the what, why, and when, the stakeholders involved, the documents and tools needed, and the definition of done.

• Link all your files

  • I create a tab that serves as the file directory for everything I use or have created. It explains what each file is for and where it’s located.

  • This makes everything easier to find and helps you track whether ownership has been transferred. Make sure important files are owned by a teammate, your manager, or whoever will take over your role so the team doesn’t lose access when your account is closed.

3. Set handover meetings with stakeholders

Book handover meetings with the stakeholders involved in each task or process you need to discuss.

Take them through why and how you do things. Answer their questions, and make sure they feel confident taking over the work from you.

Then, book a final handover meeting with your manager and the relevant teammates or stakeholders. Use it to go through your handover sheet, cover anything that still needs to be discussed, and answer any final questions or requests.

4. Book quick chats with your colleagues

I treat these as mini exit interviews. Whether it’s over lunch or during a quick coffee break, I find these chats useful. I get to say goodbye to people individually, and I often get to know my colleagues a little better, even if I’m leaving in a few weeks or days.

It’s also a chance to ask for feedback: What was it like to work with me? What could I improve? What am I already doing well?

Again, it’s important to me that I don’t burn bridges.

5. Provide actionable feedback during your exit interview

Some companies have a formal, structured exit interview, while others have a more casual one.

Whatever the format, this is your opportunity to provide objective, actionable feedback about the company. Be honest, but focus on feedback that could help the company improve.

I’ve been fortunate to work for companies that take feedback seriously and won’t hold it against me. If a company does hold honest, constructive feedback against you, then maybe that’s a good sign you left.

6. Say goodbye properly

On my last day, I always send a farewell email to the people I’ve worked with.

If it’s a big company, I don’t send it to everybody, only to the people I’ve worked with during my time there. I start with gratitude, mention the person or team taking over my responsibilities, and include my personal email or LinkedIn profile so people know how to stay in touch.

I also do the rounds and say goodbye to everyone personally before I leave. Once the laptop has been handed in and the ID and key fobs have been returned, it’s time for hugs, smiles, and farewells.

Sometimes, tears are a given. 🥹

The Mindset: Focus on What You Can Control

What if the conversation is awkward? What if they don’t take it well? What if I forget something in the handover?

You can’t control every reaction, and you don’t need to create a perfect exit.

You can control how prepared, respectful, organised, and helpful you are until your final day.

My way of closing a chapter and saying goodbye may feel too personal for some, but I’ve found that this approach works well for me. You don’t need to follow every single step. Take what’s appropriate for you and your situation.

The goal is to leave knowing you did your part well.

Just for You 💜

Open a blank sheet and create the first tab of your handover document.

Start with four columns: task or process, current status, document or file link, and the person taking over. Even if you haven’t resigned yet, documenting what you do will make life easier for you and your team.

If you try it, reply to this email or find me on LinkedIn and tell me how it goes.

And remember, if I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

– Andrea

GTMY • Go-To-Market Yourself • gtmyourself.substack.com

One of my biggest takeaways? New connections. Best believe I did as much networkmaxxing as I could that day.

It wasn’t even 8 am yet, but I had already exchanged hugs and pleasantries with people I know, met new connections, and struck up future collaborations with amazing humans.

I’m here to tell you that you can do this, too. Networking is a skill you can learn, practice, and master. Would you believe me if I told you my networking skills weren’t always this good? When I first moved to New Zealand, I didn’t know a single person. Building your professional network and reputation from the ground up, in a country where you know no one, forces you to get good at this.

Now I’m sharing the networking strategy and tips I’ve learned and applied over the last few years that make people say, “Wow, you’re an expert networker!”

Who This Is For

This is for you if you want to get better at networking. This is for you if you’re new to a city or country, building your network from zero. It’s for you if you’re early in your career and know that who you meet matters. And it’s for you if you’re already established, but want to walk into a room and actually make it count.

If that’s you, keep reading. 😉

Before We Begin…

Here’s the reframe you need to remember: Networking is a skill. Not a personality trait. You can definitely learn it, practice it, and master it, the same way you’d learn any other skill.

That’s the whole idea behind networkmaxxing: stop waiting for connections to happen to you, and start making them happen on purpose.

Pre-Event Networking Tips

• Create your introduction. Come prepared to introduce yourself with confidence and pride. Here are some opening line formula examples:

  • “Hi, I’m [your name], I [what you do / why you’re here].”

  • “Hi, I’m [your name], I work in [industry], here for [your reason for attending].”

  • “Hi, I’m [your name]. I’m so excited to be at [event name], is this your first time here?”

• Prepare a list of people you want to network with. Using the same principle as account-based marketing (ABM) that I talked about in a previous article, create a list of people you want to connect with at an event. How?

  • Look at the speaker line-up of the conference or event that you’re going to.

  • Look at the attendee list of the event or conference if available.

  • Look at social media and see if other people are posting about the event that you’re going to.

    • You can also do a post yourself and have a call-to-action to ask if there are fellow attendees in your network.

💡 Pro Tip: You can always connect with people online prior to the event so that you don’t walk in cold.

During the Event Networking Tips

• The early bird catches the worm. Arrive early so you have a longer time to network with people. Events like Revved, which is a business summit, get really busy fast.

• Scan the room, look for your target connections, and approach them with a smile.

• Introduce yourself and have an opening line/question. These are your Go-to Opening Questions that aren’t “So what do you do?”

  • “Is this your first time at this event?”

  • “How are you finding this event so far?”

  • “What’s been exciting you lately?”

  • “What brought you here today?”

  • You can even bring up something that’s in the event, like the food, the drinks, the speaker/s and/or the topics you are most excited about.

• Listen, and listen carefully and genuinely. Be curious about the person, gather as much information as you can about them and your conversation, and remember them. You’ll be using this information later on when you follow up.

• Make the rounds. Don’t stay longer than 10-15 minutes per conversation, especially if your goal is to spark as many connections as you can during the event.

• Exit a conversation gracefully. Don’t just abruptly leave and go to the next conversation as if nothing happened. Be kind and close the loop before you leave the discussion bubble.

  • Close the loop in the conversation by bringing it back to something that you talked about earlier, and saying “Well, it was great talking to you about [topic.”

  • Don’t forget to ask for their contact details or connect with them on LinkedIn before you leave.

  • Here are some closing line examples that you can use to exit the chat:

    • “It was very nice meeting you today. Let’s stay in touch and enjoy the rest of the event!”

    • “Great chatting with you, let’s connect on LinkedIn so we can stay in touch.”

    • “I’d love to continue this conversation some time, mind if I get your details?”

💡 Pro Tip: Ask for introductions from your existing connections at the event. This is the fastest way to meet new people.

If there are any facilitated networking opportunities like booths or activities, join them, too. This makes networking less awkward for you.

Post-event Networking Tips

1. Post about your experience and takeaways from the event and tag the people you connected with – both existing and new connections. This sparks the conversation online and keeps the relationship warm.

2. Follow up with people that you want to have a chat with. Ask them out for coffee or a virtual meet-up.

   1. Reference something specific from your conversation in the follow-up. This is where the listening/remembering from during the event pays off. It’s what makes the message feel personal instead of generic, or even AI-generated slop.

3. Add them to your network tracker. This is next level: if you use something like a personal CRM (a platform or a sheet or even a note on your phone, whatever works for you), write that connection, context, and details down right after the chat or the event, preferably as soon as possible and before you forget the details.

💡 Pro Tip: Make an introduction if you can. If you think two people you met (or a connection and an existing one) would genuinely benefit from knowing each other, connect them. It’s a fast way to become useful to your network, not just another face collecting contacts.

Other Networkmaxxing Tips

1. Go alone. Challenge yourself to meet new people.

2. If you are going with a friend, don’t stay with them for the whole time. Allow yourselves to network and meet new people. Your friend could be your “safe space” if you want to take breaks and bites in between networking, too. During Revved, this friend for me was my dear friend Cristal. We sat together at the table, but we knew that we were there to meet other people. So we joined conversations together, joined new ones separately, and somehow still find ourselves back with each other at lunch time or every 30 minutes for a status check.

3. Dress Well - Dressing in a way that makes you feel comfortable and confident sends a good impression for the people around you.

4. Smell Well - I’ve always made sure that I am clean and that I smell good. I’ve gotten so many compliments from people about my scent, and it makes a good conversation starter, too.

💡 Pro Tip: Look them in the eyes and give a firm handshake. I used to think that handshakes are for macho men only, but in my years of working in corporate environments, I learned the importance of giving a firm handshake. Trust me, people will take you seriously. Research backs this up: a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found firmer handshakes are linked to being perceived as more confident and socially skilled. Another study in the University of Illinois in 2012 found from brain-imaging that a handshake activates the brain’s reward centre and can rescue a bad first impression.

My Biggest Networking Tip

Smile. 😊 Neuroscience says that smiling signals openness and friendliness, which lowers the barrier for someone to approach or connect with you.

And, for the full networkmaxxing strategy, don’t forget to follow up and nurture your new connections.

That’s the strategy behind the hugs, the new connections, and the future collaborations I mentioned at the start – the ones that turned an early morning at Revved into a day full of being the loudest person in the room. It’s about being intentional. Try it at your next event, and tell me how it goes.

Just For You 💜

Pick one event happening in your city in the next two weeks. Look up who’s speaking or attending, and message one person before you even RSVP. Right now. Not later, now.

Tell me how it goes, reply to this email, comment on this article on Substack, or find me on LinkedIn.

And remember, if I can do it, you can do it too. ✨

– Andrea

GTMY • Go-To-Market Yourself • gtmyourself.substack.com

I reached out to Javi because I found him on LinkedIn. He’s an active figure in Auckland’s marketing scene; he’s posting content that truly resonates with a marketer like me, and he’s also an immigrant. We didn’t have any mutual friends because I literally am starting from scratch, but I took the leap and sent him a connection request and eventually set up a chat with him when I arrived.

I asked him for time, guidance, and everything I could think of. He gave it generously.

Now that could have been the whole story: One chat, a few useful answers, and both of us moving on with our lives. TBH, most networking stops there.

But where’s the value in that? I made sure this connection doesn’t fade away, so I made the effort to nurture it. More chats, more questions, more time spent listening and understanding each other.

We’ve since organised events together. We’ve even spoken on panels side by side. Javi has definitely become someone I’d call a friend, a mentor, and occasionally a big brother.

One coffee chat turned into years of a mutually beneficial relationship that keeps paying forward for both of us. That wasn’t luck. That was a networking strategy that I didn’t have a name for yet. But now I do. I call it Networkmaxxing.

So What Exactly Is Networkmaxxing?

Now you might be wondering, “Andrea.. What the heck are you talking about?” Let me explain.

The difference between networking and networkmaxxing? It’s got everything to do with what happens after the first coffee chat.

Networking is the meeting. The first touchpoint, if you may. Networkmaxxing is everything that happens after it: the follow-up, the help you give before you’re asked, the rooms you bring someone into once you’ve built enough trust to do that.

Most people are great at the first part. They show up, they’re friendly, they collect a new connection. But then they don’t make an effort after the chat ends, so the relationship fades, too.

Networkmaxxing is what happens when it doesn’t end there. It’s not a bigger network either. It’s turning a connection into a deeper, more deliberate, and intentional relationship at a time.

That’s what turned one coffee chat with Javier into years of showing up for each other. And this is just one of the solid professional relationships I’ve built over the years, also definitely no the last one.

If you’re thinking, “How can I have this kind of relationship from my networking connections?” Keep reading.

Who This Is For?

This is for you if you’re building a network from the ground up, one real relationship at a time. It’s for you if you’ve had plenty of good conversation that went nowhere after. And it’s for you if you’re already well-connected but you know your network isn’t working as hard for you as it could be.

This is for you if you want to make the most out of your network connections.

The Terms You Need To Know: Land and Expand 🤓

In B2B sales and marketing, we have a concept called Land and Expand.

When you land an account, you don’t treat a new customer as a closed deal. Landing the account is literally just the start of the whole journey. The real value comes from expanding that relationship over time: more trust, more advocacy, more reach inside their world, and more loyalty. Think of it as the process of increasing this connection’s lifetime value or LTV. Would you define it as a noun or a verb?

Most people do the opposite with their network. They land the one-on-one chat, get what they came for, and consider the relationship complete. One meeting, one favour, then it’s done.

That’s networking.

Networkmaxxing is the Expand.

Why is it worth the effort?

Mark Granovetter’s 1973 study, The Strength of Weak Ties, found that people are more likely to land jobs through casual acquaintances than close friends and family. It’s held up for nearly fifty years and drawn about 70,000 academic citations ever since.

A newer, large-scale study using years of LinkedIn’s own network data added a twist: It’s not the weakest ties that make the difference; it’s the moderately connected ones, the relationships with a handful of mutual contacts that get maintained over time.

That’s what networkmaxxing builds. Not a stranger you met once, not just in the inner circle you already have. These are the relationships that are deliberately and intentionally grown.

A landed contact gets you answers to your questions. An expanded relationship gets you referrals, introductions, opportunities you didn’t apply for, and a reputation that arrives in the room before you do. Isn’t that way better? That’s the actual compounding return on your time and effort, not the chat itself.

This is how I operate even before I put a term on it. This is one of my career GTM strategies that I’ve used over the years and that I love to share with people.

Your career needs the same intentional strategy a product launch gets. Networkmaxxing is the account-growth motion of the strategy, the process of increasing the LTV of your professional relationships, applied to your village of connections.

The ✨Networkmaxxing✨ Method

Now that we’ve defined what networkmaxxing is and how different it is from networking, I’m gonna share with you my methodology behind it. I know that this is useful for you.

1.Land

Land the first real conversation. It’s better than the go-to “pick your brain” transactional request. Be genuinely curious about the person in front of you.

I sought out Javi when I first arrived in NZ because he’d already done what I was doing. I wanted to learn from the person, not just extract from them. I wanted to know how they think, how they solve problems similar to mine. I also wanted to know what they were up to at the weekend and what’s been exciting them recently.

Genuine interest and really trying to get to know a person – and listening to them – builds up a connection faster than when you just take, take, take from them in forms of answers and energy.

2. Nurture

Follow up. Don’t chat and ghost. Your networking efforts die with silence.

A research study out of the University of Kansas backs this up: it takes roughly 90 hours together to turn a casual contact into a real friend, and over 200 hours to become close. Nurturing with intentionality is the step that puts those hours in.

Send the message after the chat. Say thanks. Share the thing that made you think of them. Send them something you thought they might be interested in.

3. Invest

This is one of the things that most people do not want to do: Help without being asked.

Social psychologists call this the norm of reciprocity: an unsolicited favour creates a felt obligation to return it, even from a near-stranger like a person you just met at a networking event or just connected with on LinkedIn. In one classic study, people who’d been handed a free drink they never asked for later agreed to a completely unrelated request almost twice as often as people who didn’t receive anything.

Before there is anything in the table for you, give something first, like an introduction, a resource, a thought that’s actually useful to them, even constructive feedback. Investing in a connection by way of helping the other person is what turns a contact into a relationship. It’s also the step that most people skip because it doesn’t feel urgent or they just can’t be bothered with it.

Wanna get ahead? Wanna have deeper and mutually beneficial professional relationships? Then don’t skip this.

4. Expand

The old adage goes, if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Advocate for them. Say their names in rooms and conversations they’re not in but need to be in. Recommend them. Bring them into the opportunity before they ask you to.

The data backs up why this matters: Referred candidates are hired roughly 30% of the time, compared to 7% for people applying through a job board. Referral hires also stay in their roles significantly longer once they’re in.

With Javi, this looked like co-organising events and sharing stages as co-speakers and co-panellists, roles neither of us handed the other out of obligation. We had both simply expanded.

Don’t forget, though, that the loop only works if it runs both ways. Relationships will always be two-way streets. If you’re only ever the one being helped, that’s not Networkmaxxing. That’s just being helped.

The relationship has to expand in both directions, or it’s favour-trading with extra steps. I don’t think that’s what you want in the long run, no?

Give It A Crack Before You Decide It’s Not Worth Doing

“What if I seem like I’m trying too hard?”

“What if following up makes me look needy?”

“What if helping them before they ask makes it seem like I want something?”

These are the limiting questions people ask that stop them from doing any of this.

That fear keeps your networking efforts stuck in the Land phase. Forever.

Why don’t you ask this question: “What’s the worst case if you follow up? If you help before you’re asked? If you say someone’s name in a room they’re not in?”

The worst case is they’re probably gonna think you’re generous. That’s it. Nobody has ever been offended by being remembered, followed up with, or put in a good word for.

The version of you that stays quiet after the first chat isn’t being professional; it’s being invisible – on purpose.

So send the follow-up. Say the name. Advocate for the person. The relationship networkmaxxing builds is worth more than the awkwardness you’re avoiding.

And you know what’s one of the best parts of just doing it? You get used to it and next thing you know, that’s the way you’ll be operating in no time.

Just For You 💜

Here’s where to start if you want to grow your network and build your community – or should I say, if you want to do networkmaxxing.

Think of one person you’ve had one good conversation with and never followed up.

Message them today. Now. No big asks or anything like that, just a genuine check-in, a thank you, or something useful you thought of because of them.

Then come back and tell me how it went. Reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn. I want to know who and how you networkmaxxed.

And remember: If I can do it, you can do it, too.

– Andrea

GTMY • Go-To-Market Yourself • gtmyourself.substack.com

So you think you have nothing to post about?

You actually do–a lot, in fact. You just don’t recognise it as content yet.

The problem was never a lack of material. It’s that a normal Tuesday, a problem you solved, or a decision you made at work doesn’t feel like “content” while you’re living it. It only feels post-worthy in hindsight, if you notice it at all. Most people don’t. They scroll past their own week and conclude they have nothing to say.

You’re not short on material. You just need a system, a process for turning it into something worth reading.

That’s what these four prompts are for.

How to use them: copy the whole block including the fill-in-the-blank lines, replace the brackets with your real details, paste into Claude or ChatGPT, or whatever it is that you’re using. Push back on the first output. Ask it to go again if it doesn’t sound like you. Keep refining until you’re happy to post it.

1. Turn Your Day Into a Post

Use this every time you think “nothing post-worthy happened this week.” Something did.

I’m not a content creator, but I want to start posting on LinkedIn for visibility. I’ll describe something from my work this week: a problem I solved, a lesson I learned, an event I went to. Turn it into a LinkedIn post with this structure: a punchy 1–2 sentence hook, short story paragraphs (1–3 lines each), a specific takeaway, and a closing question that invites comments. Keep my actual voice and details. Don’t make it sound like a generic AI post.

What happened, as messy as you want to describe it: [fill in]

My usual tone, and any phrases I actually use: [fill in]

2. The Content Pillars Brain Dump

Use this when you don’t know what to post about at all.

Help me figure out what to post about on LinkedIn. I’ll answer a few questions, and I want you to turn my answers into 4 content pillars I can rotate through, plus 3 post ideas for each pillar.

What I do for work: [fill in]

What I’m good at that people ask me about: [fill in]

What I’m currently learning or curious about: [fill in]

Who I want to be visible to: [fill in]

3. The Comment-Worthy Discussion Starter

Use this when you want engagement, not just likes.

Turn this idea or observation into a LinkedIn post designed to start a conversation in the comments, not just get likes. End with a specific, answerable question, not a generic “thoughts?”. Under 200 words, short paragraphs, no corporate jargon.

My idea or observation: [fill in]

Who I want to respond, peers, hiring managers, my industry: [fill in]

4. The Carousel Outline

Use this when you have a framework or list worth turning into slides.

Turn this into a LinkedIn carousel. Give me a slide-by-slide outline: slide 1 is the cover with a bold hook headline, the middle slides break the content into one idea per slide, and the final slide is a clear CTA. Keep text per slide minimal. This is a visual format, not an essay.

The topic or framework I want to share: [fill in]

Roughly how many slides, 8–12 is typical: [fill in]

Something I Want to Clarify

While these prompts are designed to help you come up with your posts and make the content creation process faster and more efficient, remember that not one AI tool can replace you, your creativity, your skills, and your expertise.

Learn to discern what is AI slop from what is noise from value.

Use these prompts with discernment. Edit and adjust to your satisfaction.

Ultimately, ask yourself this before you hit post: Am I proud to say that I posted this?

I love being transparent, so I’m disclosing with you that this article has been made with the assistance of AI, then edited, and posted by me. The ideas, story, and voice are mine. AI has just helped me get them onto the page faster. You’ll find these disclaimers in any of my articles that are made with AI.

Just for You 💜

To be honest, you don’t need a “better” week or an eventful week to post on LinkedIn. You’ll be surprised, and happy, to know that content and inspiration can come from the mundane.

Here’s my challenge for you today: Pick one thing that happened, even a small one, and run it through the first prompt. Right now. Not later. Now.

Then tell me how it went. Reply here or find me on LinkedIn.

And remember: If I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

— Andrea

GTMY • Go-To-Market Yourself • gtmyourself.substack.com

One of the best things that you can do for yourself in your lifetime is to pack up your stuff and move to a new place. It could be a new city or a new country altogether. In my case, I did both, and those experiences shaped the person I am today.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an astronaut, then a flight attendant, then a news reporter. To be honest with you, I really didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up; I just knew that it wasn’t in my hometown and that I was going to go places. Far, wide, and high.

And that’s what I did. Right after graduating from university, I moved from my small but mighty hometown in the mountains, Baguio City, to Metro Manila to start my big girl journey. I was excited. “Finally,” I said to myself. Now I didn’t become an astronaut, a flight attendant, or a news reporter just as I imagined I would be when I was a kid, but getting scouted and selected to join the biggest TV network in the country wasn’t that bad. This was the start of the coming-of-age chapter of my life–that I think was a TV series (and still do, btw).

Seven years and multiple career jumps later, I found myself wanting to move again. This time to a new country. I’ve now got a strong and budding career in Marketing. As far as ten-year-old me was concerned, I was living my dream life: 25 and feeling high on life, my good friends and my family are close to me, and my apartment was in one of the nicest and best cities you could live in the Philippines.

But who would’ve thought buying a pair of shoes would get me an all-expenses-paid trip to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand? And who would’ve thought that I’d get this deep, unexplainable and unavoidable feeling and need to pack up my whole life and bring it to a new country? Not me. But I did it anyway.

Last week, I sat in front of a room full of women who have done the same thing as I did. Together with three amazing women, who I’ve been building a community of expats and immigrants* with and are now my friends, we talked about what it’s like to move abroad and what it means for your career, your community, and your confidence.

* Since May of 2025, I’ve been co-building Auckland Expat Girlies, a community for expats and immigrants living in Auckland who are looking for a safe space to feel seen, understood, and belong. We organise monthly events so we can all come together, do something fun, and chat about the expat life. We built this community because we don’t want to feel lonely, and we don’t want others to feel that way, too.

Who is this for?

This is for you if you’ve been thinking about taking a big leap recently. Have you caught the bug that makes you want to move out of your city and into a new one or a new country? Maybe you’re in the midst of planning it and want more information, more confirmation that this is actually the right decision for you.

This is also for you if you’ve already taken the big leap, but feel like you’re not making the most out of it. Do you feel stuck? Do you feel like you need a nudge to help you spring forward to the momentum you want to reach?

If you’ve nodded and said yes to any of those, you’re in the right place. Keep reading.

On Career 💼

I arrived in New Zealand with a clean slate. Zero connections and no strings to pull, just a mission to find a job so I can start building my new life in this country. I entered the job market when it was tough. I heard a lot of pieces of “advice” saying that I might not get a job because no one is hiring or the job market is just shit. Imagine if I had listened to those remarks? I wouldn’t have continued with my job search even if I faced countless rejections. I wouldn’t have networked the hell out of myself to establish connections and build my professional reputation. I came to New Zealand with the idea that I am a marketer and I am the product. I created a Go-To-Market strategy for myself that involved being visible online and offline, building my network of believers, and embodying what I call the Big Leap Energy, or the mindset of taking leaps before I’m even ready.

Heck, if I listened to all those remarks, I wouldn’t have had those two job offers from founders of companies who believed in me and saw the value that I bring.

Fast forward two years, and I’m happily building my career and my life in New Zealand. I’ve been working at a tech consulting firm, immersing myself in all the challenges and opportunities I come across. I still build my network, one coffee chat and one event at a time. And I still take big leaps that land me in different opportunities.

I went to New Zealand with clear purpose and direction. I already had a budding career back in the Philippines, and I intended to keep growing it – even if I was starting from scratch at a new place. I didn’t leave home to be miserable in a new one. For me, it was go big or go home. The thing is, I never intended to go home. I always wanted to go big.

On Community 🫂

One of the biggest doubts that I had when I moved to New Zealand was finding my people. I had such a solid and profound village of friends in the Philippines. These friends are the ones who taught me what love is and what it is not. These friends believed in me before I believed in myself. What if I don’t find these kinds of people in New Zealand and I’m leaving behind the people I love?

It’s true, you’ll never replace the friends you have left behind at home. That’s a fact, and that’s okay.

Another fact is, we were never meant to be alone, and building a new life in a new country requires community. I moved to New Zealand alone, but I knew I didn’t have to be. As my friend Dani and I always say about Auckland Expat Girlies, “We’re better together.”

Find your people and build your community of people who believe in you and that you believe in, too. Everything is faster, lighter, and better when you’ve got people you can count on.

How do you find your people?

1. Immerse yourself in the culture of your new home.

You chose your new home, so now you have to learn what life is like in it. What makes it? Who made it? I was never interested in Rugby before I came to New Zealand, but I watch the games because it’s a big part of the Kiwi culture. I read up about the country, its history, and the significance of the Māori culture because this is my new home and I want to know more about it. I had to look up the slang. I adjusted my ear to the tune of the Kiwi Accent.

I learned what I could about this place that I chose to be my new home. Along the way, I met people who taught me or are trying to learn more about it, too.

2. Do the things that you love.

Life is too short to do things you don’t want to be doing. Find the things that spark joy in you and join the communities that revolve around them.

Fitness? Join pilates and yoga studios, run clubs (I joined a run club with a speed-dating event; it was fun, but I was out of breath and didn’t meet the love of my life there), attend the gym classes and talk to people.

You love food? Take your fave book with you and go cafe-hopping or find dinner clubs, join Timeleft (or any local counterpart). Arts and crafts? Join the Museum and Art Gallery events, find the closest ceramic studio to you, or join photowalks.

Talk to people and make an effort to build relationships with sparked connections.

3. Be open and stay open.

There are so many ways for you to find spaces where you can feel like you truly belong, but all of that won’t matter if you are closed off to possibilities. You’ve moved thousands of miles away from home; are you really going to build your new life in seclusion? Join communities like Auckland Expat Girlies, where you can connect with people who have a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience.

Finding your people, like finding your hobbies and interests, is a trial-and-error process. If it doesn’t feel like the right fit, take what you’ve learned and gracefully close that door. Open yourself, your mind and your heart, to possibilities and watch them all flow to you.

On Confidence ✨

I’m going to be real with you: It won’t be rainbows and butterflies all the time. It’s hard. It’s fucking hard to build a new life in a new country, as much as I loved doing it. Despite the ups and downs of this rollercoaster journey, moving to a new country is probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I do not regret it, nor do I wish I had done things differently.

People always ask me though, “How are you so confident, Andrea?” And I always answer with “because I know what I want and I’m going to get it.”

Confidence comes with clarity. Your sense of direction also comes from clarity. But how do you get clarity? I am sorry to say that there are no shortcuts to this, my friend. Getting clarity requires a lot of reflection and deep work.

Ask yourself these questions:

“What do I want to happen to my life in the next year? In the next five years? In the next ten years?

“Who is the person I am trying to become? How does that person act and think?”

“If I didn’t do this, will I think about it on my deathbed and feel regret?

Once you have a clear picture, start listing down your goals and what are the things you need to do in order to achieve them.

When you have a goal, go hard and all in. You may stumble along the way, but that’s alright. Fail fast and fail forward. Take all your learnings with you and run with it. And at the end of the day, trust that everything will be alright and everything will work out for you. Repeat until true.

This is how I got my Big Leap Energy, or the mindset of taking leaps, big or small, ready or not, and doing it anyway. Confidence, like many other things, is a muscle you can exercise and grow. Keep showing up and doing the reps.

Just For You 💜

Open your notes app right now. Write down the leap you’ve been sitting on.

Then write one sentence on what it would cost you not to take it.

That’s it. That’s the whole exercise. Keep it somewhere you’ll see it again.

If you’ve already taken your leap, big or small, I want to hear about it. Reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn and tell me what it was and what it gave you.

If you haven’t yet, tell me what’s stopping you. Right now. Not later. Now.

I’ll be reading and replying to every single one.

If I didn’t take the big leap and move from the Philippines to New Zealand, I wouldn’t be here writing this piece that you’re reading today.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes:

“It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.”

– Alfred Lord Tennyson

You love yourself, right? That’s why you are doing all of these things, right? Don’t you think you deserve to know what’s on the other side of fear and taking leaps regardless of the outcome so you don’t end up with what ifs?

And remember: If I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

— Andrea

GTMY • Go-To-Market Yourself • gtmyourself.substack.com

You know, that one corner of the house where every medal, every diploma, every award gets displayed? That’s what LinkedIn felt like to me when I first started using it. A place for achievements, and to look for jobs or get recruited for them. Beyond that, I didn’t post a single thing.

But when I moved to New Zealand without a network and a mission to get a job, I knew I needed to establish my professional reputation. And I needed to do it fast.

I created my Career Go-To-Market strategy to help me land a job in NZ within two months. The first pillar of that strategy was Visibility. How can I build my professional reputation and network fast? By being visible online and offline. LinkedIn was a big part of that.

LinkedIn had to become something else. Not a trophy case, but a channel to express myself while building professional authority.

My first hurdles: omg cringe! And what do I even post about?

But I knew I had to get past these hurdles and do it anyway, because that’s what my mission – and my career growth – required me to do. I’m here to tell you that you can get past the cringe and the cluelessness of what to post on LinkedIn. Been there, done that.

And today, we’re talking about the things that you can post about on LinkedIn, even if it feels like you don’t know when, where, what, and how to start.

Who This Is For

This is for you if you’re new to a market and know nobody’s going to vouch for you until you show up. It’s for you if you’re a few years into your career and frustrated that good work alone isn’t getting you seen. And it’s for you if you’re already accomplished and just realising nobody outside your building actually knows what you do.

This is for you if you just want to get started on posting on LinkedIn, but have no idea where to start.

If any of that sounds like you, keep reading. 👇🏼

Start With A Reframe

Most people treat their own LinkedIn the same way I used to. They wait for something huge, a promotion, an award, a big win, before they’ll post anything at all. Everything in between goes undocumented. And undocumented is just another word for invisible.

LinkedIn isn’t a trophy case. It’s a channel, yours to use to show people what you actually know and how you actually think, not just what you’ve won.

Once that clicks, you stop waiting for main character energy to strike. You start noticing that an ordinary Tuesday already has something worth saying in it.

What Can You Actually Post About

Here are some content ideas that can help you write your posts. I’ve added in a reflection prompt that you can use as a starting point as well.

1. The Personal or Career Story

You don’t have to look elsewhere for inspiration. You’ve already got the content. Pivots, lessons, the “how I actually got here” moments. This is one of the most reliably strong-performing things you can post, because people aren’t coming to LinkedIn for polish. They’re coming for someone who’s actually lived through something.

Reflect: What’s a decision you made this year you haven’t told the full story of yet?

2. The Failure, Not the Win, and What You Did About It

Posts about what went wrong tend to pull more comments than posts about what went right, because vulnerability is what makes someone stop and respond instead of scrolling past. This also works because, as humans, we all want to relate to one another.

Reflect: What’s something you got wrong recently that you’d happily tell a friend over coffee, but haven’t posted?

3. The Frameworks and Systems You Use

Teach one specific thing you actually know how to do. The exact “here’s how” someone could screenshot and use.

Reflect: What’s something people already come to you at work to explain?

4. Behind-the-Scenes

What a real project, session, or result actually looked like, process included, not just the polished outcome everyone else shows. Show people how you work. We sometimes think that our work is boring, mundane; but to seem people, it might be one of the coolest things they get to see in a day.

Reflect: What’s something you finished recently that nobody outside your team ever saw the making-of?

5. The List With a Take

The difference between a list that gets scrolled past and one that gets saved is that every item has a reason attached, a point of view you couldn’t just swap out for someone else’s. Not “5 tools I use.” “5 tools I use, and why the obvious 6th one didn’t make the cut.” This could be helpful to someone who’s facing the same challenge or issue and needs a new POV to solve it.

Reflect: What’s a “top 5” you could write where every single item earns its place?

6. Events You’ve Attended

This is my favourite. Share what you actually learned, and use the post as a way to connect, not just recap. Take a photo with the people you met there, tag them, and give them a real reason to remember you.

Reflect: What’s an event you went to recently that you haven’t posted about yet, and who’s one person there you could tag?

7. One-on-One Chats

The coffee chats, the calls, the conversations that weren’t “content” at the time. They hold more wisdom and inspiration than most people give them credit for, once you actually sit with what was said.

Reflect: What’s a takeaway from a recent conversation that’s stuck with you?

8. Something You Need Help With

You don’t need to have the answer before you post. Ask the question you’re actually stuck on. You might get the answer, or a different perspective might nudge you in the right direction.

Reflect: What’s a challenge or question you’ve been sitting on that you could just ask your network about?

Why This Is Worth It ✨

Here’s what actually happened once I started showing up:

I went from 1.3K followers to 6.6K. I landed two job offers within two months of job hunting in a new country where I knew nobody. Since then, I’ve been invited to run workshops, sit on panels, guest on podcasts, speak at events, none of which I applied for. People started mentioning me in rooms I wasn’t even in. I sometimes don’t even need to introduce myself because they already know me through LinkedIn.

None of that happened because I finally had something impressive enough to post. It happened because I kept showing up with the ordinary stuff, consistently, long enough for it to compound.

This could happen to you, too.

The Mindset to Get Past The Cringe

Let’s name the actual fear, because “cringe” is doing a lot of work as a catch-all.

It’s not really about the post. It’s the fear of being perceived as trying too hard. What if people think I’m full of myself? What if nobody reads it and it just sits there, awkward, with two likes from my mum and my old flatmate?

So, what’s the actual worst case? Two likes. That’s it. Nobody’s screenshotting it to laugh. Most people scroll past most things, including yours, including mine.

The upside, though? People who actually know what you do. Rooms you get mentioned in without being there. All from posting about things that felt too ordinary to matter.

Showing up and posting online is a muscle, not a talent. You start small. You do your reps, consistently, until it stops being a big deal and starts just being Tuesday.

Just for You 💜

Pick one from the list above. Just one. Doesn’t have to be the most impressive one, the easiest one is fine.

Then post it. Right now. Not later. Now.

Reply to this email or find me on LinkedIn and tell me how it went, I want to know. I’ll make sure to like and comment on your post, too!

And remember: if I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

— Andrea

GTMY • Go-To-Market Yourself • gtmyourself.substack.com

When I moved to New Zealand, my LinkedIn headline said: “Assistant Brand Manager at Focus Global Inc.” A job title and a company name. That’s it.

I had a good CV behind me. TV, advertising, digital marketing, brand management, real results. But when I started applying for roles from overseas, every application went straight into the rejection pile. Not because I wasn’t qualified. Because nobody knew who I was.

Here’s what actually stuck with me after that. It wasn’t really about being new to a country. Nor was it about never having had to explain myself before. I’d spent years letting the work speak for itself, promotion after promotion, without ever building a profile that reflected any of it.

So I rebuilt it like a product launch. The headline became “Marketing Pro | Storyteller | Professional Yapper.” The banner stopped being a lifestyle photo and became a visual statement, keywords, personality, and positioning, all in one glance. Two months later: two job offers, both willing to sponsor my visa.

That wasn’t luck. That was a rebuilt profile doing the work before I ever walked into a room.

This is for you if you’ve built a solid career on the strength of your work, not on talking about it, and you’re not sure how to translate any of it into visibility online. It’s for you if you know you should be more visible but have no idea where to start. And it’s for you if people with less experience than you somehow show up everywhere, while your profile still reads like it hasn’t been touched since your last promotion.

If any of that sounds like you, keep reading.

What Actually Needed Fixing

None of what I did required a designer or a personal brand consultant. It required rewriting four things with intention: the headline, the About section, the banner and Featured section, and an honest audit of the whole profile once the rest was done.

I didn’t sit down and stare at a blank text box for any of it. I used prompts, the same way I’d brief a strategist, and treated the first draft as a starting point, not the final answer.

These are those exact prompts, rebuilt so you can run them yourself.

How to use them: copy the whole block including the fill-in-the-blank lines, replace the brackets with your real details, paste into Claude or ChatGPT. Push back on the first output. Ask it to go again if it doesn’t sound like you.

1. The Headline Rewrite

For when your headline still reads like a job title, not a pitch.

You are a career positioning strategist. I’m going to give you my current LinkedIn headline, my role, and what I want to be known for. Rewrite my headline using this formula: [what you do] + [who you help or what you’re building] + [what makes you distinct]. Give me 5 options, ranging from professional to more personality-forward. Keep each under 220 characters.

My current headline: [paste it here]

My role/industry: [fill in]

What I want to be known for: [fill in]

My tone preference, 1–10, professional to casual: [fill in]

2. The About Section Rewrite

For when your About section reads like a resume, not a story.

Act as a personal branding editor. I’ll paste my current LinkedIn About section, or just some rough notes about my career. Rewrite it in first person with this structure: an opening line that isn’t my job title, 2–3 short paragraphs on why I do what I do (not just what I’ve done), my target keywords woven in naturally, and a closing line signalling what I’m currently building or open to. Paragraphs max 2–3 lines. No walls of text.

My current About section or rough notes: [paste here]

Keywords I want to be found for: [fill in]

What I’m currently open to: [fill in]

3. The Full Profile Audit

For when you want an honest read, not a compliment.

Audit my LinkedIn profile like a recruiter and a personal brand strategist combined. I’ll paste my headline, About section, and last 3 job titles.

Tell me: 1) what’s working, 2) what’s actively hurting me (generic

phrasing, missing keywords, unclear positioning), 3) a ranked list of the top 3 fixes to make this week. Be direct. Don’t just tell me it’s good.

Headline: [paste]

About section: [paste]

Last 3 roles, title plus one line each: [paste]

Target role or industry I’m positioning for: [fill in]

4. The Banner + Featured Section Brief

For when your banner is the default grey and your Featured section is empty.

I want my LinkedIn banner and Featured section to work as a visual

positioning statement, not dead space. Based on what I do, who I want to notice me, and my brand style, give me: a banner concept brief in plain language I can hand to a designer or Canva, and the 3 things I should add to my Featured section this week, with why each one matters.

What I do: [fill in]

Who I want to notice me: [fill in]

Brand colours or style, if any: [fill in]

What I already have that could go in Featured, posts, projects, certs: [fill in]

Just for You 💜

Pick one. Run it right now. Not later. Now.

Then tell me how it went. Reply here or find me on LinkedIn.

Part 2 of this series, prompts for people who want to post but don’t know what to say, is coming next.

If I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

— Andrea

GTMY • Go-To-Market Yourself • gtmyourself.substack.com

Not because I’m naturally extroverted. Not because I had contacts here. I actually didn’t know a single person in this country.

I did it because I treated my move like a product launch, and any good launch needs a market development plan before go-live.

So in the weeks before I arrived, I went on LinkedIn. I identified companies I wanted to be visible in. I found people in Auckland doing the kind of work I wanted to do. I sent connection requests. I started conversations. I asked questions.

By the time I landed at the end of April 2024, my first two weeks were already booked out. Coffee chats, networking events, group chats–you name it, it’s on my calendar. I didn’t arrive in New Zealand as a stranger. I arrived with a warm network in progress.

That wasn’t luck. That was a strategy.

And today, I want to give it to you.

This action plan is for you if you’re a fresh grad trying to break into the job market for the first time. It’s for you if you’re new to a country or an industry and you’re trying to build something from scratch. And it’s for you if you’re a senior professional who already has the credentials but wants to expand your network with intention.

If any of that sounds like you, keep reading.

The Reframe: Your Career GTM Strategy Needs an ABM Plan 🎯

In B2B marketing, we have a concept called Account-Based Marketing, or ABM.

Instead of casting a wide net and hoping the right companies find you, you flip it. You make a list of the exact companies you want to work with. You research the people inside them. You build relationships with intention, not chance.

Most job seekers do the opposite. They scroll job boards, apply to whatever’s live, and wait. That’s inbound marketing with no outbound engine and it’s slow.

Your Career GTM strategy needs an ABM plan.

It means deciding in advance: these are the companies where I want visibility. These are the people I want to know. And then moving with intention toward them before a role even opens up.

This is how you stop being reactive and start running a campaign.

💡 Pro Tip: Create a spreadsheet of your target companies. It’s easier to track it that way. And if you want to take it a step further, format your spreadsheet like your veyr CRM system.

The Action Plan: How to Do It on LinkedIn

Here’s the exact process. Five steps.

1. Build your target company list.

Write down 10 to 15 companies you’d genuinely want to work at. Not just any company, but companies where you’d be excited to show up on Monday. Companies where you already respect the brand, the product, or the people.

This is your account list.

2. Go to their company page on LinkedIn. Click “People.”

Filter by location. If you’re job searching in Auckland, filter for Auckland. If you’re targeting a move to Sydney, filter for Sydney. Filter for New York, San Francisco, London–wherever you’re headed. You want to find the humans who are actually there, in your target market.

3. Search by role keyword.

Type in the kind of people you want to connect with. If you’re a marketer, try:

• Product marketer

• Community manager

• B2B marketer

• Performance marketer

• Marketing manager

• CMO

If you’re in tech, swap in: cloud engineer, data lead, SAP consultant, platform engineer. Whatever your world looks like, put it in the search.

And yes, shoot for the stars. If the CMO shows up, send. the. request.

4. View their profile. Send the connection request.

You don’t always need a personalised note. But if you have something genuine to say, say it. Make it human. Don’t pitch yourself. Just say why you want to connect.

Then get over the cringe and the fear of rejection, and hit send.

5. When they accept, message them.

This is where most people freeze. They get the accepted request and do nothing with it.

Don’t do nothing.

Message them. Ask what you actually want to know:

• What’s the culture like at this company?

• What does a day in your role actually look like?

• I’m exploring a move into product marketing, what do you wish you’d known earlier?

• Or any specific questions you have about the role

Direct questions get direct answers. Don’t say “I’d love to pick your brain.” Just ask the question.

If the conversation warms up over a few exchanges, ask if they’d be open to a quick coffee or a 20-minute video call. Come prepared with an agenda. Come ready to give something too, an insight, a resource, a referral, a perspective. You can’t just take.

The Mindset: Get Over the Cringe and the Fear of Rejection

The biggest thing stopping people from doing this isn’t strategy. It’s the story they tell themselves before they hit send.

What if they think I’m desperate? What if they don’t accept? What if it’s weird?

I want you to answer this honestly: What is the actual worst case?

They don’t accept the request. That’s it. They move on with their day. You move on with yours. You haven’t lost anything.

Did you die???

But if they do accept?

You now have a warm connection inside a company you care about. A potential advocate. A future colleague. Someone who, when a role opens up, might think of you, because you were already in their network before the job was ever posted.

The cringe is a liar. The worst case costs you nothing. The best case changes everything.

Send the request. ✨

Just for You 💜

This week’s prompt: open LinkedIn and build your target company list right now. Not later. Now.

Write down 10 companies. Go to the first one. Find one person in the People tab who you’d genuinely love to talk to. Send the request before you close the tab.

Then come back and tell me how it went. Tell me in the comments or find and message me on LinkedIn. I want to hear all about it.

And remember, if I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

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It was raining in Auckland on Thursday night.

Windy, too. It’s the wind that decides your hair is its problem the moment you step out of the car. I parked a little further away than I should have, walked through it anyway, and arrived at the venue with my heart already full before I even opened the door.

I was there to speak at Migrants in Tech, a community built by Pauli Sosa, an Argentinian immigrant who has been nurturing a space for people like us in the Auckland tech scene for years now. I found out about this community through Javier, one of my first real friends when I arrived in New Zealand. Javier introduced me to Pauli at one of our B2B-themed nerdy breakfasts, and somewhere between the coffee and the conversation, she heard my story and invited me to share it.

I said yes before she finished the sentence.

When I walked in, a volunteer smiled and asked me to write my name tag.

And then Roxanne found me.

She’s Filipina. We’d been connected on LinkedIn for a few months but had never met in person. She came straight over, told me she’d been watching my journey online, that she’d been inspired by it, and that she couldn’t wait to hear me speak. We took photos. We hugged like we already knew each other. Because in some ways, we did.

That’s the immigrant experience. You meet someone and there’s an unspoken shorthand. You don’t have to explain the feeling of arriving somewhere new with nothing waiting for you. They already know.

Then I saw Javier. And Stuart Little. Two people I genuinely consider legends. Great marketers, great professionals, even better humans. I’ve learned so much from both of them since I arrived in this city in 2024. Seeing their faces in that room made me feel like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I spoke to 120+ people about why I came to New Zealand.

About winning an all-expenses-paid trip from Adidas just by buying a pair of shoes, and how that trip gave me an unshakable feeling that this country was home.

About choosing to leave everything behind. My family, my career, my comfort. Moving to a place where nobody was waiting for me and deciding that was okay. That it was, actually, the point.

As I was holding the mic, I could see people nodding. Smiling. Some were quietly remembering something. I could see it on their faces, that flicker of recognition when someone else’s story mirrors a feeling you’ve been carrying but haven’t been able to name yet.

It may not be the same story, but it’s the same feeling.

The ache of uprooting yourself. The strange mix of fear and freedom. The moment you realise you have to build your village from scratch because the one you had is 10,000 kilometres away.

After the presentations, the questions came.

Not polished or rehearsed. Questions from the heart. From people who are in it right now, navigating careers in a new country, trying to figure out how to be seen, how to be known, how to build something meaningful somewhere that doesn’t yet know their name.

I hope I did those questions justice. I really do.

The common thread through the whole evening, through Javier’s talk, Stuart’s talk, and mine, was visibility. That kept showing up. LinkedIn as the tool, yes. But visibility as the thing underneath it. The courage to show up. To say: I am here, I have something to offer, and I am not going to wait for someone to notice me before I start acting like I belong.

After the event, people came to find me.

They told me which part of the story stayed with them. Some loved the practical tips. Some loved the mindset. A lot of people lit up at Big Leap Energy – the idea that you take the leap before you feel ready. That the leap itself is what makes you ready.

And I kept thinking: this is it. This is exactly it.

Immigrants already have the drive, the grit, the proof in the form of their own lives that they can do hard things. They’ve already got the ambition. They’ve already done the hardest thing. They just need someone to remind them of that so they can do something about it.

That’s why I tell my story. That’s why I share the lessons, the frameworks, the unhinged hacks, all of it. Not because I have everything figured out. But because if I can do it, you can do it, too.

Thursday night reminded me of that. Loudly. 💜

I know because I lived it.

I moved to New Zealand with a solid career behind me: from TV to advertising to digital marketing to brand management. Real results, real experience. My CV was good, but the moment I started applying for jobs from abroad? Rejection pile. Every time.

Not because I wasn’t qualified.

Because nobody knew who I was. And why would any company offer visa sponsorship to someone they’d never heard of?

That’s when everything clicked for me. A CV tells people what you’ve done. LinkedIn shows them who you are. And in today’s market, one of those things gets you in the room. The other one sits in someone’s inbox, collecting dust.

I gave myself two months to land a job with visa sponsorship in a market where I knew nobody. I couldn’t afford to be invisible.

So I stopped treating my LinkedIn like a static document and started treating it like a product launch.

So What Is LinkedIn, Really?

It’s not a job board. It’s not a digital CV. It’s not corporate Facebook.

LinkedIn is your personal marketing channel. It’s where your professional reputation is built in public, compounding over time, whether you’re managing it or not.

Think about it through a marketing lens. When a company launches a product, they don’t just put it on a shelf and hope someone finds it. They build a brand, create content, get in front of the right audience, and make sure people understand what makes that product worth their attention.

Your career is the product. LinkedIn is your go-to-market channel.

Here’s the stat that puts it in perspective: LinkedIn has over 1.2 billion members worldwide. Only 3% post content regularly. That means 97% of the platform is silent. Watching, lurking, and wondering why no one is reaching out and why nothing is happening.

The bar to stand out is genuinely low. You just have to show up.

What Happened When I Started Showing Up

When I first moved here, my LinkedIn headline said: “Assistant Brand Manager at Focus Global Inc.”

A job title and a company name. A CV entry, not a positioning statement. Nobody reading that knew what I was great at, what I was building toward, or why I was worth reaching out to.

I rebuilt it. My headline became: Marketing Pro | Storyteller | Professional Yapper.

Specific, a little cheeky, with enough personality to make someone stop scrolling.

My banner stopped being an aesthetic photo and became a visual statement. Keywords, personality, positioning, all in one glance. Anyone landing on my profile knew what I was about before they read a single word.

Then I started posting. Day-in-the-life updates from networking events. Takeaways from coffee chats. Carousel on who I was and what I was looking for. And then one night, I created a Canva pitch deck for a first date. A marketer-meets-sales-guy joke that I posted on a whim.

It went viral overnight. 😱 Canva commented on it. Thousands of people reacted. Suddenly, people who had never heard of me knew exactly what kind of person I was.

Warm. Creative. Unafraid to be myself.

Within two months of moving to a new country, I had two job offers. When a friend referred me to the role at Ideqa, the first thing they did was check my LinkedIn. What they found reinforced everything.

Today, when I walk into networking events in Auckland, people come up to me and say: “I always see you on LinkedIn.” People I reach out to cold already have context on who I am. Referrals happen faster. Cold outreach becomes warm conversation.

Visibility compounds. Your profile is working for you even when you’re not in the room. ✨

The Playbook: Five Things That Actually Make a LinkedIn Profile Work 🤓

You don’t need a marketing background to do this. You don’t need to be a content creator or have a perfectly polished brand. You just need to start. Here’s where:

1. Your headline is your positioning statement. Most people write their job title. That’s the floor, not the ceiling. A strong headline tells people who you are, what you do, and what makes you worth knowing.

💡The formula: what you do + who you help or what you’re building + what makes you distinct.

Open your LinkedIn right now. Read your headline. If a stranger saw it with no other context, would they know exactly what you do and why it matters? If not, rewrite it.

2. Your banner is prime real estate. The default grey background is doing nothing for you. It’s giving nothing. Your banner is the largest visual on your profile and the first impression before anyone reads a word. Use it to reinforce your positioning. Keywords, your area of expertise, your personality. It should work in tandem with your headline so that within three seconds, someone knows who they’re looking at. Canva makes this free and straightforward. No excuses.

3. Your About section tells your story. This is where your CV ends and your brand begins. Write in first person. Lead with something compelling, not your job title. Explain not just what you’ve done, but why you do it. Write it like you’re telling a friend at a coffee chat why you care about your work. Then clean it up. That’s your draft. It doesn’t have to be long, nor does it have to contain every single detail of your work experience. It just needs to describe who you are, what you bring to the table, and what your ask is (a job, a connection, a business referral, etc..)

4. Your Featured section is your portfolio. Most people leave it empty. This is where you put proof.

• A post that performed well.

• An article you wrote.

• A project you’re proud of.

• A certification.

Anyone visiting your profile should be able to see how you think before they ever have a conversation with you. Add at least three things this week.

5. Content is what makes everything compound. A beautifully optimised profile with no content is a shop with a great window display and nothing on the shelves.

You don’t need to post every day. Two to three times a week is enough to build meaningful visibility.

What can you post about?

• Events you attended and what you took away,

• A problem you solved at work, and how you did it.

• A lesson you wish you’d known earlier.

• Your honest experience navigating something others are probably navigating too.

Your experience is your content. You’re already sitting on it, you just gotta share it.

6. Connect your tools and let them vouch for you. LinkedIn just rolled out a new feature called Connected Apps, and if you haven't heard about it yet, this is your sign to go check it out. Instead of listing "HubSpot" or "Replit" in your skills section and hoping a recruiter believes you, you can now link the actual app to your profile. The software generates a verified capability statement based on your real activity. Not a claim. A receipt. It's already live for users in ANZ, with more apps being added to the partner list soon. I wrote a full breakdown of how it works and how to set it up on LinkedIn. Read it here.

Just for You 💜

If you’re building your LinkedIn presence from scratch and don’t know where to start, start here:

What is one thing you learned this week that someone else in your field would find useful?

Post about it.

You don’t need a perfectly polished brand to begin. You just need to start. The personal brand builds from there.

Remember, if I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨Let me know if you’ve got any questions through the comments below.

Leave a comment

You can also DM me on LinkedIn! I’ll try my best to help ya.

– Andrea 💜

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Cum laude. The whole thing.

And then I went home with absolutely no idea what to do next...

If that’s where you are right now–freshly graduated, freshly arrived in a new country, freshly thrown into a job market that feels nothing like what you expected–first of all, hi. 👋🏼 Welcome! You’re in the right place. 🤗

Because nobody tells you this part: The ceremony ends, the congratulations roll in, and the LinkedIn updates go up. And then it gets really, reaaaaaally quiet. And the question starts creeping in: Okay. But what now?

My Graduation Story

Almost a decade ago, I studied a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. (Yes, it’s been almost a decade, which means no, I do not look as young as I actually am. I thank good genes.) Which sounds great until you realise what it means. I had been exposed to marketing, advertising, TV production, PR, broadcast journalism, newspaper writing, radio, and so many more fields related to it. Yes, I was able to dip my toes in different fields, but now I have no idea which one I want to dive into. I graduated with zero idea which direction I actually wanted to go. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So I did what any type-A overachiever does. I made a plan.

This was pre-ChatGPT, pre-Claude, pre-Gemini. I was navigating the working world without any of the tools available to you right now. I used every job board I could find: JobStreet (the Philippines’ version of SEEK at that time), LinkedIn, and yes, I even checked the newspapers.

My strategy was simple: apply to every job I thought was cool and that I would be good at.

A month before school ended, I had what felt like a breakthrough. ABS-CBN, one of the biggest TV networks in the Philippines, held a hiring drive on campus. I passed the first stage. Then the second. Then I was invited to their main office for the final presentation. I thought: this is it! The managers gave me good feedback. HR told me they’d definitely reach out.

Three months passed. Nothing.

I was still based in Baguio City at the time–the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Think of it like Taupo: beautiful, cool, beloved. But not where the career opportunities I hoped to get were. Auckland was Metro Manila. So every few weeks, I’d make the five-hour trip, batch my interviews by location, and show up in blazers and pencil skirts and pumps in 30-plus degree heat. I was a broke fresh grad taking public transport, elbowing through train carriages during rush hour, printing two copies of my CV just in case one got folded or stained.

One afternoon, I sat a test at a luxury marketing company*. Almost 30 of us in the room. They called five names. I was not one of them.

I cried myself to sleep that day. And by night, I found out that I was graduating cum laude. (Talk about a redemption story, am I right?)

The cycle continued after the graduation ceremony. Apply. Interview. Get rejected or ghosted. Repeat. It felt hopeless.

And then, a few days after my birthday, I got a call from ABS-CBN’s HR.

“We’ve got a role for you. Are you ready?”

I said YES, and everything changed.

* You know what’s funny, though? I got my redemption from this experience, because I actually ended up working there for four years before moving to NZ, and it was one of the best working experiences I’ve ever had.

What I Learned (And What I’d Tell You Now)

My story was a bit different from what you’re navigating now. The tools are different. The market is different. The TIME is different. But the fundamentals? They’re the same.

Here’s what I’d do differently if I were starting today.

1. Be visible before you feel ready.

LinkedIn has over 1.3 billion registered members. Only 3% of users post content more than once a week. That means 97% of the platform is silent.

The bar to stand out is genuinely low. Be part of the 3%.

Don’t just use LinkedIn as a job-searching portal. Use it as a channel to show people what you bring to the table before they even think to look for you. I used LinkedIn carousels to introduce my skills and experiences when I had no impressive job title. I created intro videos for applications. Because I knew that visibility compounds and every post is a deposit. And when I moved to New Zealand in April 2024 with no network, no job, and zero local connections, it was the same principle that got me two job offers within two months.

2. Go to the events.

I know it sounds old-school. It is not. Professional events in your target industry are the fastest way to build your network and be remembered. When I arrived in Auckland, this is exactly what I did. I showed up. Introduced myself. Told people what I was looking for and why I’d be good at it.

You don’t have to beg anyone for a job. Just turn a cold lead into a warm one.

Ask the question most people are too shy to ask: “How did you get your start? What would you do differently if you were doing it now?” People love talking about their own journeys. Be a sponge for knowledge and absorb everything. One of those conversations could be a referral. One of those events could be the room where you meet the person who changes things for you. That has happened to me. More than once.

3. Use this time intentionally.

You won’t be unemployed forever. But right now, you have something you will not have again for a very long time: unstructured hours to invest in yourself.

Volunteer if you can. Freelance. Study. Build something. Every piece of real-world experience you add to your CV right now compounds. The people who hit the ground running when they land their first role aren’t the ones who waited for the perfect offer. They’re the ones who kept moving while they waited.

The One Thing You Must Hold Onto

One of my first friends in New Zealand gave me a piece of advice that I carried through the hard days.

“It’s going to be difficult. But it’s not impossible.”

There were moments in my job search, both in the Philippines and in New Zealand, where I genuinely thought I was going to fail. That everyone had figured it out except me. The graduation ceremony ended, and people started sharing that they got their first jobs, while I had nothing to share.

That feeling is a normal part of the process. It is not a sign that you’re losing. It’s a sign that you’re in the middle of something.

Keep going. Keep a strong and steadfast mindset that everything will come at the right time.

The call will come. The offer will come.

Every rejection is a redirection.

As cliché as it sounds, you gotta hold on to radical optimism. The room will open. It did for me, and it will for you.

Before You Go ✨

Here’s what I’d ask you to do this week:

1. Post on LinkedIn once. Introduce yourself, share what you’re learning, show what you know. Join the 3%.

2. Go to one industry event this month. Introduce yourself to three people. Ask how they got started.

3. Read two job descriptions in your target role. Map your skills to the language they’re using. Update your CV to match.

4. Ask one person you admire for a 20-minute coffee chat. Not to ask for a job. To ask how they got theirs.

5. Upskill in one area. A free course, a certification, even a very long YouTube rabbit hole. Intentionality, even in small doses, compounds.

Just for You 💜

A little something extra for every edition.

If you’re in the middle of a job search right now, whether you’re a fresh grad or someone starting over in a new country, I want to hear from you. DM me on LinkedIn. Tell me where you’re at and what you’re navigating. I read every message.

And if you want the full GTMY framework for how to approach your career like a product launch–positioning, pitching, placing yourself in the market –stay tuned. It’s coming.

If I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

– Andrea 💜

GTMY – Go-To-Market Yourself Helping ambitious people build careers they’re proud of, one big leap at a time.

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You’ve sent out the applications. You’ve tailored the CV (or at least, you tried). You’ve refreshed your email more times than you’d like to admit. You’ve gone to a few events, made some small talk, collected some LinkedIn connections, and... crickets.

Or maybe you’re not job searching at all. Maybe you’re already employed, doing the work, showing up every day, and somehow still invisible. Still not being considered for the next step. Still watching people with less experience get the room while you stay put.

I know that feeling, I’ve lived it. And it’s the reason I built Go-To-Market Yourself.

Nobody taught you how to market yourself. They taught you how to work hard and hope someone notices. Spoiler: that’s not a career strategy. GTMY exists because you deserve better than that.

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My Story: A Move, A Mission, and Two Months to Make It Work

In 2023, I won an all-expenses-paid trip to New Zealand to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup. All because I filled out a form after buying shoes at an Adidas store.

On my first night in Auckland, walking around downtown in the cold winter air, I felt something I wasn’t expecting: home. Not like a tourist. Not like a visitor. Like someone who was supposed to be there. I told myself: I need to live here.

Here’s the thing. I had a really good life in the Philippines. I was 25, I had a career in brand management that was going well, I was earning well, I had my own apartment in one of the tallest buildings in my city, and my family and friends were close. What more could I ask for?

So when I got back, I cried for weeks trying to make sense of what I was feeling. Until I put on my big girl pants, called my mum, and told her what I wanted to do. She looked at me for five seconds before saying, “You’re a grown-up. You got this.”

That was all I needed. ✨

I gave myself two months.

Two months to fly to New Zealand, find a job with an employer willing to sponsor my work visa, and build a life in a brand new country where I knew almost no one.

The challenge? I didn’t have NZ working rights. I couldn’t apply through SEEK or LinkedIn like everyone else. Every time a company was interested and then found out I needed sponsorship, I got ghosted. Rejections left, right, and centre. Time was running out.

So I made a decision. I stopped treating my job search like a job search.

I started treating it like a product launch.

I am a marketer. I know how to launch things. I know how to build positioning, find the right audience, create visibility, and drive action. So I asked myself: what if I applied that exact thinking to myself?

I worked on three things:

Visibility. I built a CV that actually got noticed, warm and creative with my photo, tailored for every role I applied to. I optimised my LinkedIn profile so I could be found for the right things. I showed up at events, asked great questions, and got photographed and tagged. I made sure people could see me.

Networking. I stopped cold-applying and started building a community of believers. I had one-on-one chats with intention, always clear on why I was reaching out and what I was asking for. I nurtured those connections. I turned strangers into advocates who were out there telling people about me in rooms I wasn’t even in.

My Big Leap Energy Mindset. I kept moving before I felt ready. I volunteered. I upskilled. I shipped imperfect things and improved them. I chose courage over comfort, over and over again.

By the end of those two months? Two job offers, one I got referred to and one that I asked for directly from the CEO. Both willing to sponsor my visa.

The life I wanted became real.

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What My Life Looks Like Now

Of course, I didn’t stop there.

I’m now the leading Marketing at Ideqa, a tech consulting firm, in Auckland. I’ve been the Ambassador Lead at The Marketing Club ANZ for two years. I co-founded Auckland Expat Girlies. I mentor at TechWomen NZ. I continue to find spaces where I think growth and opportunity are. I get invited to speak on panels, appear on podcasts, and get shoulder-tapped for opportunities. My name comes up in conversations I’m not even in.

None of this happened by accident. All of it happened by design. Some might say it’s luck, but is it really luck if you worked hard for it?

People kept sliding into my DMs asking: How did you do it? And every time I answered, I thought, more people need to hear this. Not just the ones who found me, all of you.

Why You Should Be Here

I built GTMY because the strategies that changed my life aren’t complicated. They’re just not being taught.

Nobody tells you that your career is a product and you’re its marketer. Nobody hands you the “playbook” for positioning yourself in a new market, showing up with intentionality, and building the kind of visibility that brings opportunities to you instead of chasing them down.

That’s what this Substack is for.

Every two weeks, I’ll be dropping one full article focusing on career GTM tips you can actually use. Real strategies, real stories, real frameworks from someone who has lived this. Not a thought leader recycling content. A practitioner sharing what works.

Here’s what’s in store:

On this Substack, you get the full articles. The deep dives. The frameworks. The honest stories. Every two weeks, straight to your inbox. Subscribe so you never miss one.

On LinkedIn, I post regularly with shorter tips, behind-the-scenes moments, and career GTM content in the wild. Follow me there to stay updated and catch every new GTMY drop.

On LinkedIn Live, I’m launching a series where I bring in people you should be learning from. Career coaches, recruiters, hiring managers, personal brand builders, and community leaders sharing their perspectives on how to GTM yourself. I’m not just sharing what I know. I’m opening the door to the people and knowledge that can help you grow.

In person, I’ll be hosting events in the future because some conversations are better had in a room, face to face, with people who are on the same journey. When that happens, you’ll hear about it here first.

This is the beginning of GTMY. I just launched it. Today is Day 1.

If you’ve been working hard and hoping someone notices, this is for you. If you’re new somewhere and starting from zero, this is for you. If you know you’re capable of more, but you don’t have the map yet, this is for you.

Subscribe. Follow. And let’s go-to-market yourself.

If I can do it, you can do it, too. ✨

— Andrea 💜

Follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram for regular GTMY content. Subscribe to this Substack for the full articles, dropping every two weeks.

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