Mastering the Game of LinkedIn to Build a Personal Brand + Sell More Offers with Natasha Walstra
In this episode of The Offer Mojo Show, Lori sits down with LinkedIn strategist and founder of NearPoint Strategies, Natasha Walstra, whose work centers on transforming LinkedIn from a draining chore into a powerful, relational tool for connection, visibility, and sales. Natasha shares the unexpected path that led her from cold-calling SDR to recognized thought leader — long before LinkedIn “creator culture” existed. She breaks down how personal branding, credibility building, and relationship-driven social selling turned LinkedIn into the engine that helped her scale her business to six figures in under seven months.
But what makes this conversation especially powerful is Natasha’s transparency about navigating motherhood, postpartum depression, and a suddenly dried-up pipeline — and how she used the very strategies she teaches to rebuild her confidence, re-engage her network, and sell out her offers. This episode goes far beyond “tips for LinkedIn” and instead becomes a masterclass in the mindset, relationship-building, and long-game thinking required to make LinkedIn a place where your brand, business, and humanity truly come alive.
Key Takeaways
LinkedIn works for any industry — not just B2B. Whether you’re a coach, service provider, or founder, your clients are on LinkedIn because humans use the platform, not just corporations.
Content alone will not build your business. Natasha dismantles the myth that posting great content magically leads to DMs. Relationships — not content — do the heavy lifting.
There is no shortcut to trust. LinkedIn users are in a “trust recession,” meaning cold DMs and sales-y messages repel more than ever.
Your profile is your personal landing page. If you’re not proud of your profile, you won’t post — and people won’t understand who you help or how.
Thought leadership precedes sales. When you showcase your credibility, tell stories, and share insights, you create an environment where people naturally want to work with you.
Soft selling is more effective on LinkedIn. Natasha sold out her program through PS notes and comment section mentions — without ever publishing a formal launch post.
You must combine content + conversations. Posting without DM outreach fails. DM outreach without content fails. Success comes from integrating both.
Consistency doesn’t mean being on LinkedIn all day. Even 10–15 minutes a day compounds over time and builds traction.
Most people on LinkedIn are lurkers. With 64% of users logging in weekly but never commenting, your content reaches people you don’t even realize are watching.
LinkedIn is a platform for long-term opportunities. Top-of-mind visibility leads to referrals, partnerships, and warm leads months after a post goes live.
Noteworthy Quotes
Natasha Walstra: “For me, content is a necessary evil to have conversations. I’m not relying on content to bring in all my leads.”
Lori Young: “I always say entrepreneurship and parenting are the biggest growth challenges — and you had both at the same time.”
Natasha Walstra: “I forgot what I do. I teach my clients how to do this exact thing — nurture relationships — and I wasn’t doing it for myself.”
Lori Young: “Content doesn’t magically equal clients. There is so much more that goes into it.”
Natasha Walstra: “I’m on LinkedIn to get off LinkedIn and build relationships. That’s what actually leads to real results.”
Natasha Walstra: “Most people on LinkedIn are lurkers — 600 million people log in without ever liking or commenting.”
Lori Young: “Everybody on LinkedIn is still a human being. Even professionals are consuming content that matters to them as humans.”
Guest Bio: Natasha Walstra
Natasha Walstra is the founder of NearPoint Strategies, where she helps entrepreneurs, tech founders, and sales leaders transform LinkedIn into a powerful tool for connection, community, and business growth. Through a human-first approach to personal branding, content, and relationship-driven social selling, Natasha empowers her clients to build digital credibility and generate opportunities without cold outreach or burnout.
Host Bio: Lori Young
Lori Young is a certified business coach, offer strategist, and host of The Offer Mojo Show. She helps coaches and subject matter experts craft, market, and confidently sell aligned offers that create income and impact. Lori blends intuitive strategy with grounded business frameworks to help soul-led founders bring their brilliance forward with clarity and confidence.
Summary of the Episode
The conversation with LinkedIn strategist Natasha Walstra begins with an origin story that many entrepreneurs will recognize — a journey that wasn’t linear, glamorous, or even intentional. Natasha started her career in one of the most uncomfortable roles imaginable for an introvert: cold-calling SDR, mirror on the desk, smile-dial-repeat. It was the job she took because it was the job she got. But the discomfort pushed her to look for a better way to connect, and LinkedIn became her lifeline — a place where she could warm up calls, build relationships, and communicate like a human rather than a script.
That early experiment in relationship-driven outreach planted a seed that grew through multiple roles, including a position at Forbes Books. There, she saw firsthand how thought leadership collapses without digital presence. She watched brilliant, well-established leaders pour their hearts into book launches that fizzled simply because they had no personal brand online. That experience crystallized a truth she still teaches today: visibility is not optional. If people don’t know who you are or why your voice matters, even your best work goes unseen.
But the real transformation — and the story that shaped her entire philosophy — came after becoming a new mother. Natasha opened up about her son arriving two months early, pausing her business, and slipping into postpartum depression. The combination of overwhelm, survival mode, and responsibility as the breadwinner created a perfect storm. Her pipeline dried up. Her confidence evaporated. She no longer recognized herself or her work. It took a conversation with her husband to snap her back into her power: “How did you do it last year?” he asked. And in that moment, she remembered — she built her business through relationships.
From that shift, the momentum returned. Natasha re-engaged with the people she had organically built trust with over the years. She reached out not to pitch, but to reconnect. She allowed her confidence to rebuild through conversation, not perfection. And within weeks, her energy changed — and so did her results. Soon, she was fully booked, selling out her group program six weeks before she ever posted about it directly. The only place she mentioned it was in her PS lines and comment sections — a testament to how relational LinkedIn truly is.
Throughout the episode, Natasha dismantles one of the most persistent myths in the online business world: the idea that “great content alone” will bring in leads. She makes it clear that content is simply the conversation starter. It’s the credibility builder. The trust-builder. But content alone doesn’t create clients. Content + conversations do. Even top creators with massive followings are still sending dozens of relational DMs each day. The magic isn’t in the algorithm — it’s in the follow-up.
This perspective is especially liberating for entrepreneurs who feel discouraged by the “post and pray” narrative. Natasha emphasizes that most people on LinkedIn are lurkers — 64% log in weekly but never comment. That means your content is working even when it appears quiet. It’s reaching people you don’t even realize are watching, forming a long-tail pipeline of visibility that continues working weeks after you post.
She also breaks down the difference between social selling and traditional sales. Social selling is not pitching in the DMs. It’s not sending templates. It’s not scanning LinkedIn for strangers to sell to. Social selling is an ecosystem — your profile, content, comments, DM conversations, and the real-world relationships you bring online. It’s about being a human talking to humans, honoring the pace at which trust is built.
Natasha shares that one of the biggest barriers for new LinkedIn users isn’t content — it’s their profile. When your profile doesn’t reflect who you are today, or when it still feels overly corporate, you’re less likely to post. Once her clients update their profiles to clearly communicate who they help and how, the fear drops away and posting becomes natural. From there, she recommends commenting before creating, observing what resonates, and easing into a consistent posting rhythm.
As the episode closes, Natasha makes LinkedIn feel accessible again — especially for people who are tired, overwhelmed, or unsure how to start. Even 10 to 15 minutes a day, she says, can compound into meaningful visibility. It’s not about hustling harder but about showing up with presence, purpose, and a relational mindset. When you treat the platform like a community instead of a megaphone, LinkedIn becomes not just a marketing channel — but a multiplier for aligned opportunity.
