Forget LinkedIn – Other Ways How to Grow Your Freelance Network & Business

Bertrand Rothen has freelanced for six years. In that time, a contact that started on LinkedIn and nothing else turned into business twice, he says. His conclusion, in his talk on 14 May 2025: the feed is mostly a waste of time, and the hours are better spent on people.

What the talk covers

• Why he rates the feed low: engagement bait, copied formats and, in his words, more and more AI-generated posts. LinkedIn makes most of its money from recruiting tools for companies and ads, he says, not from tools for freelancers.
• The useful side: a directory of professionals and a place to collect recommendations.
• The risks: public details about you and your clients can be misused. After an attempt to reroute an invoice payment at a client, he stopped sharing which clients he works for and in what role.
• What to do instead, in his order of results:
  • Go to events and talk to at least five new people.
  • Join communities for real: help, ask for help, stay in touch.
  • Write your own blog or newsletter, or guest-write for someone else's. The reach is smaller but the value is higher.
  • Ask every client for recommendations, ideally three, on LinkedIn, where they are verifiable.
  • Meet two new prospects a week, by phone or over coffee, such as recruiters or people you might work in a team with.

If you stay on LinkedIn

Cut your time, ignore engagement numbers and post only what is uniquely yours. Nobody sends a big job because of a post about a hype topic, he says, but if you have built connections, you are the first one they call.

Who it's for

Freelancers who feel they invest a lot in LinkedIn and get little back.