I help time-starved lawyers + law firms build & strategically position what makes them unique into their online presence to connect with qualified clients and high-quality referral networks consistently. 

Are you ready to leverage LinkedIn for business growth? 
As a trained lawyer, I'll help you with industry-specific business development strategies. 
Short on time? I can even handle it all for you.        

𝙎𝙀𝙍𝙑𝙄𝘾𝙀𝙎 
I offer custom online business development plans and strategies for lawyers, law firms, & business owners...

🟥   LINKEDIN CONTENT MARKETING (DONE FOR YOU)
▹ custom plans to create your online presence
▹ manage your online activity 
▹ engagement to build authority + develop quality client relationships consistently.

🟥   LINKEDIN CONSULTING (DONE WITH YOU)
Audit discovery & strategy sessions to help create content that resonates with your clients to build solid connections. 

🟥   LINKEDIN WORKSHOPS 
Presentations & workshops for law firms, law schools, conferences, law firm retreats, bar associations, & meetings.  
Topics include:
▹ LinkedIn Leveraged Lawyers
▹ Yawnworthy to Trustworthy Branding for Lawyers
▹ Promote & Protect: Social Media Policy 
▹ Content Making & Marketing

🟥   LEARN (ON YOUR OWN)
Private/firm-wide training or coaching on how to establish, build or elevate your online presence & best practices, (or conveniently via my Linked-In Leveraged Lawyers™ course.)         

𝙒𝙃𝙔 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙆 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝙈𝙀
By combining a decade of business law + a decade of online business development, I offer a unique perspective on how to efficiently position you & your firm to connect, engage and build trust with your ideal client. I also understand the unique challenges, communication styles and regulatory requirements related to a lawyer's online activity.

❝ HessConnect understands online media for the legal industry! Law firms resist change in the technological arena. Viveca’s creative, nuanced know-how along with her legal background is critical for business growth. ~ Heidi Weaver, Esq. 

❝ With a wealth of marketing knowledge, Viveca sincerely cares about everyone who works with her. The value Viveca places on building relationships reflects the high quality of her work, making her a person you want on your team. ~ Evan Dwin, Esq. 

🟥   𝙇𝙀𝙏'𝙎 𝙏𝘼𝙇𝙆
619.962.5504 / viveca@hessconnect.com / connect on LinkedIn 
Explore Call ➤ https://calendly.com/hessconnect/15min-1


_____


I do not signify any affiliation with or endorsement by LinkedIn®️ Corporation or its affiliates.

Viveca Hess, J.D.

Former lawyer leveraging LinkedIn™ for lawyers to gain quality referral relations and connect with qualified clients efficiently ~ (when I’m not ocean swimming).

Friday confession:
I miss my daughter.

She’s off at college, out there living her best life… while I’m at home doing very normal, very sane things like:

• pausing mid-sentence because I 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 I heard her laugh in the hallway
• scrolling through old photos like I’m an unpaid archivist for The Museum of Our Family
• buying her favorite snacks “just in case she stops by” (she lives 300 miles away, but sure, Viveca)
  
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.
And yes. Absolutely.

But can we also acknowledge it makes the brain grow…slightly unhinged? (Just me?!)
Because the missing is weirdly specific.

I don’t just miss “my daughter.”
I miss:

• the random drive-by commentary from the other room (“That’s a choice.”)
• the kitchen pop-ins that start with “I’m starving” and end with me losing half my lunch
• the way she can roast me with one sentence and somehow still be adorable doing it
• the noise. The mess. The 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.
  
Now the house is calmer. Peaceful. Mature.
And honestly…suspicious.

Like…why is it so quiet? Who approved this? Where’s the background sass?

Here’s the part no one tells you:
Missing your kid isn’t only sad.

It’s also kind of hilarious - because you start realizing how much of the joy was in the tiny, ordinary stuff you didn’t think you’d miss.

So yes - my heart is fonder.
But my fridge is also fuller (for no reason).
And my phone storage is at 2% because apparently I’ve decided to become the CEO of “Rewatching My Own Parenting Highlights.”

Your turn:
👉 What’s one oddly specific thing you miss when someone you love isn’t around?

And, happy Friday! 🤩

Thursday night. Good food. Loud restaurant. One friend I hadn’t seen in over a year.
 
You know the kind of dinner where the first 10 minutes are catch-up logistics…
And then suddenly the real question lands.
 
“So,” she said, leaning in,  “what are you actually focused on now, in 2026?”
 
Not 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮.  Not 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳.  Not the tidy version.
 
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙣𝙚.
 
I laughed, because yes, like most humans with a calendar and a pulse, I’ve done a little navel-gazing lately. Looking back. Looking ahead. Trying to name the thing beneath the thing.
 
And here’s what surprised me:
 
The answer wasn’t LinkedIn.
 
LinkedIn is the channel. The vehicle. 🚗 The microphone. 🎤
 
What I actually do is quieter - and bigger.
 
I help people make sense of their story. 
➛ Your unique message. 
➛ Your positioning. 
➛ Your authority.
 
The 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 version finally matching the 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 version everyone already trusts, refers, and wants in the room.
 
My sweet spot?  Digging into what sets you apart when you’ve been too close to see it.
 
The career twists. The lived experience. The judgment calls you’ve made a hundred times that others still struggle with. The thing you assume is “obvious” because it’s 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴.
 
I’ve spent a decade building tools, asking better questions, and having thousands of conversations to surface that.  Then position it - clearly, honestly, and without the cringe.
 
So I told her, simply:
 
“I discover, resurface, and position who you are, what you do, and why you do it.”
 
Because when people have choices - and they always do - they choose professionals they trust and connect with. And, I hope, make them laugh (or at least smile) - another content pillar of mine! 
 
And here’s the part I didn’t expect to say out loud, but felt true as soon as I did:
 
This year, I want more real life. 
More rooms. 
More stages, of any size. 
More conversations that don’t start with a profile view.
 
Still strategy. Still clarity. Still visibility.
 
Just with more eye contact.
 
If you know of places, teams, events, or conversations where this kind of work belongs 
- in person - I’d genuinely love to hear about them. 
 
And I’m curious for you, too:
 
When someone asks what you 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 do…𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙤𝙗 𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚?

The Legal Profession’s Top Ghostwriter | 25M + views on LinkedIn | Creative Director at CONTENDER | Co-Founder of UNrationed | Author of In the Creative Arena

If you're an attorney, the people you want to talk to—potential clients, referral sources, and talent—are all on this platform. 

And while your traditional marketing channels are intensely competitive, the feeds of the people you want to reach on LinkedIn are ripe for the picking. 

We're still early in the content creation game on this platform, which has more than a billion users worldwide and ~200 million in the United States. 

Very few attorneys or law firms have even made an effort to stand out.

CONTENDER helps attorneys produce LinkedIn content that resonates with the people you want to reach, so they can Know, Like, and Trust you.


ARE YOU READY TO...

- Become a trusted AUTHORITY in your market?
- Grow your audience and dramatically increase your reach on LinkedIn? 
- Build a recognized PERSONAL BRAND?

🟦 GHOSTWRITING SERVICES 
- Our done-for-you LinkedIn content produces results for growing your presence and your firm. 

🟦 LINKED LAWYER BOOTCAMP
- I’ve developed the premier training program for lawyers looking to level up on LinkedIn. 

About Me 

I’m a former lawyer and current serial entrepreneur based in a forest north of Toronto, where I live with my wife and 2 little monsters. 

I’m the author of In The Creative Arena: Why Creativity Is Key To Building Your Future.

I’m also a co-founder of: 
CONTENDER (www.contenderllc.com)
Unrationed (www.unrationed.com)

Anthony Albrecht

Jelson sent me a cold DM asking if I need a VA. 
I don’t. But yesterday, I sent him $600 anyway. 

Why'd I do that? 

I like running experiments out here. 

And the peculiar truth is, Jelson Jr. Grothe DM'd me at a time when I'm not looking for VA support...

I am, however, in the market for someone to send $600 to. 

And without knowing it, Jelson sold me. 

How? 

He’s posting consistently. 
He’s generous in how he’s showing up. 
After reading a few of his posts, I'm interested in Jelson. 

He’s got a wife, a 1-month-old daughter, and a sincere desire to put in the work to make good things happen. 

Very quickly, I was rooting for him. 
Watch this video, and I think you’ll be rooting for Jelson too. 

That’s how he became my guy. 

I've run a lot of LinkedIn experiments over the last 4 years.
This one's different.  

I seriously don’t need a full-time VA right now. I’m posting this video hoping that somebody might. 

And I’d love it if getting $600 from a total stranger for no reason was the second-best thing Jelson gets out of this.  

I'll keep you updated. ;-)

Tony Albrecht

“The Yoda of LinkedIn” for Lawyers | Helping you go from invisible to unforgettable out here.

I’ve generated > $1,000,000 in revenue from LinkedIn. But let’s rewind to October 2021…

I was walking away from the practice of law 6 months after moving to Canada. 

My buddy Joshua and I had hatched a plan for me to join his consulting company. I was going to be MMG’s first Director of Business Development. 

My job—

Sell Salesforce implementations to nonprofit organizations. 

It was Josh who said to me, You’re going to need to learn how to do LinkedIn. 

I was not excited. 

Through 12 years as a lawyer, I’d more or less ignored LinkedIn
I had roughly 368 connections here. 
And I’d met just about every one of those people out in the real world. 

But I told Josh I’d try. 

I did Justin Welsh’s Operating System course. 
I paid more attention to LinkedIn. 
In January 2022, I started posting daily. 

I got the hang of it.

More views. More followers. More conversations. 

But 1 thing I did NOT get…
More sales. 

9 months into my time with MMG, I had sold precisely 0 Salesforce implementations to nonprofit organizations. 

Zero. 

But I did sell my first LinkedIn ghostwriting contract that month. 

Josh and I had a heart to heart. He told me I might want to take a proper crack at LinkedIn ghostwriting, a thing that would have occurred to me as a way to make money a year earlier. 

He offered to be my partner or my investor. 

So that’s what we did. 

3 years later, here we are. 
CONTENDER has generated more than $1 million from this platform. 
A team that started with just me is now 9. 
A future I’m excited to pursue. 

I tell you all that to tell you this—

I’ve sucked at LinkedIn far longer than I’ve been good at it. 
If you suck at LinkedIn today, I feel you. 

Once it clicks for you, things can flip very quickly. 
And it’s worth it.

Taking lawyers from invisible to unforgettable on LinkedIn | “The Yoda of LinkedIn” for Lawyers

Over the last ~3 months, I’ve spent > $10k on 4 people I mention in this post. 

In October, I joined 60 other creative entrepreneurs at Robb Gilbear’s Do Bold Shit event in Toronto. Many in that room have become friends over the last couple of years. 

2 days after the event ended, I bought my ticket to DBS 2026. 

There’s a bit of the $10k I mentioned. 

At that event, I met Kyler Miles, who was capturing video content for Robb. He also gave an awesome talk about how to build a high-leverage YouTube channels. 

Kyler and I are working together for the next 6 months as I take a proper crack at YouTube. 

There’s another chunk. 

Also at that event, Natalie Evie shared that her company is shifting directions. She wanted to help her excellent VA Nath find her next role.  I told Natalie to put me in touch. 

Nathslei Gerona has been a full-time CONTENDER for a month. She's doing an awesome job. 

Finally, I watched Rina Rovinelli and Dan Shaikh give a talk about the power of telling your story from stages. 

5 minutes later, I walked up to Rina and said, "We need to work together.”

I signed on for speaker coaching. 10 days from now, I’m taking the stage in my first Speaker Slam competition. 

That’s the fourth piece of that > $10k I’m talking about. 

(I've also reserved a booth of 8 for the Speaker Slam event. Of the 8 people who’re coming, my wife Sawil is the only person I did not meet through LinkedIn.) 

Why am I telling you all this? 

Everything I'm talking about in this post has happened directly because of LinkedIn. 

Very few people see the value of building your Linkedin network. 

And a lot of folks who DO seem some utility view it primarily as a way to GET something (money, clients, etc) rather than an opportunity to GIVE something. 

I am a node in this network. 
So are you. 

So are Robb and Rina and Kyler and Natalie and Nath. 

The more we invest INTO our networks (with our time, our attention, our money, etc), the more we will receive. 

So yes, I’ve spent a good deal money with the people. And I’m grateful to have the margin to do it. 

But I’m not being altruistic here. 
I’m placing bets. 

I’m betting that strengthening my bonds with these other nodes in my Linky network will lead to compounding benefits for me, my business, and my family. 

You can do the same thing. 
With money, your time, and your attention. 

At the risk of engagement baiting....

You leaving a comment on this post, for instance, is you placing a bet that you're strengthening the bond between you and me just a little bit. 

Placing that bet isn’t likely to pay off for you today. 
But over time, those little bets can create a stronger bond between us. 

It’s that bond that leads to opportunities. 

I fear this post is too woo woo for some.
My hope is it helps 1 person think different about LinkyLand. 

We'll see. ;-) 


----
I got 4 of 25 spots left for my Linky Foundations workshop next Friday: 
https://lnkd.in/efZncmZe

This is a straight-up sales post. 
I'm running a 90-minute workshop on Jan 23. 

If you've been wondering: 
• How do these people come up with enough ideas to post this much? 
• I get what a DM IS. But who in god's name would I send one TO? And WHY? 
• How do I send DM's that other folks will actually respond to? 
• Why don't my posts break 2k impressions and theirs get 9 million?
• Using real words...Can anybody explain what a personal brand is? 
• Can I actually use this thing to get new clients? 
• Why does the stuff on my feed always seem to suck? 
• Photo? No photo? Selfie? 
• Is your beard real, Tony? 

I'm going to answer all of these questions and more during my LinkedIn Foundations workshop. 

My goal for this workshop is that you're going to get more insight into how to navigate and leverage this platform in these 90 minutes than throughout the rest of your career combined. 

Or at least I'll take a crack at it. 

The peculiar truth is that we're all ON LinkedIn because we felt like we NEEDED to create profiles for our jobs.

But we all learned LinkedIn the wrong way. 

This platform is not the place to: 
• look for jobs
• stash your digital resume, and 
• share firm press releases. 

I mean, you can do all those things here. But that's just scratching the surface. 

What I discovered back in 2022 (and have spent the last 4 years studying every day) is that when you understand some basic principles about how energy and attention move out here, leveraging the platform to attract attention and create opportunities gets—I won't say easy—let's say readily doable. 

I've been playing around with the 4 foundational P's: 
• presenting (how you show up) 
• positioning (where you sit in the network vis a vis everybody else—this matters a ton)
• posting (you know this one), and 
• participating (DM's, comments, and so on). 

I've generated more than $1M in revenue directly from LinkedIn. 
I've worked with a bunch of the best-known lawyers on this platform.
I've studied this game from dozens of vantage points while amassing 70M + views. 
I've helped generate referrals, hires, clients, speaking opportunities, and an invite to the Bachelorette. 

And yet, I've spent 3x as long ignoring this platform during my career as an attorney as I have leveraging it as....whatever it is I am now. ;-) 

I'm designing this workshop with entrepreneurial lawyers in mind, but the ground we'll cover will apply across a lot of different industries. 

It's at noon EST on Friday, Jan 23rd. 

You can register here: 
https://lnkd.in/efZncmZe

Cost is $167. If you're strapped for cash due to circumstance or geography but really want to be in this zoom room, DM me. I'll bet we can work it out. 

7 of the 25 spots are already locked down. 

Let me know if you've got questions, and thanks for reading this far. 

You got any burning questions about LinkyLand?

Why'd I sign up for an inspirational speaking competition? 

I feel like the "right" answer is—
To inspire people with my story. 

Is my story all that inspiring though? 

I don't know. I think of my story largely as the story of a guy who:
• was very lucky in life
• almost screwed it all up with booze and
• managed to avoid catastrophe by learning to get out of his own way.  

If there's something inspiring in my story, it's the idea that change is possible. 

A guy could wake up in a Guamanian jail cell 3 months into his career as a lawyer...
way down a hole toward moral bankruptcy and self-destruction...
And turn it around. 

But I didn't apply to be on the Speaker Slam stage tomorrow might because I think anybody needs my story. 

I applied because getting on stage freaks me out. 
And I needed a new creative challenge that feels like an edge. 

I've spent 6 weeks preparing a 5-minute speech with the help of Daniel Burns. 

Yesterday Sawil Ghorany and my kids helped me figure out what I'm going to wear. 

If you're interested in coming out or watching the livestream, ticket info is here: 
https://lnkd.in/ePFJgxBF

I feel ready. We're going to let it rip. 

Should be fun...I think.

Here are 37 guesses as to why your LinkedIn strategy isn't working. 

1. You’re too focused on vanity metrics (likes, impressions, etc).

2. You haven’t played the game long enough to get good. 

3. Your favorite thing to post on LinkedIn is how much you dislike LinkedIn.

4. You're not standing out from the other 10,000 people who say they do the same thing.

5. You’re afraid of what your boss, coworkers, former colleagues, friends, acquaintances, or total strangers might think of yours posts. 

6. You think posting is enough. 

7. Your posts read like SEO blog posts.

8. You see LinkedIn as a billboard to post ON, not a network to tap INTO.

9. You are falling into the fuzzy math trap (if I can get X followers and Y number of them buy my $38 product) I’ll make 2 gajillion dollars). 

10. You’re selling something people don’t want. 

11. You’re selling something people say they want but aren’t willing to pay for. 

12. You’re selling something people do want, but can’t afford.

13. You’re selling something people want and can afford, but they don’t see you as THE person qualified to deliver. 

14. You sell in every post. 

15. You’re aiming your offer at the wrong group of people.  

16. You’re selling something you don’t understand. 

17. You don’t know what Personal Branding means. 

17. You don’t care about the thing you’re selling. 

18. You think you’re selling a product or service when you need to be selling a solution to a problem. 

19. You think Personal Branding is stupid, fatuous, vacuous, hideous, and/or insidious. 

20. You’ve priced your thing too low. 

21. You have not learned the difference between lead gen and demand gen.

22. You don’t even know what demand generation is. (I didn't before 2023)

23. You’re playing this game as a lone wolf.

24. You don’t show the POV (point of view) from your corner of the universe. 

25. You’re selfish with your attention. 

26. You don’t comment on other people’s posts. 

27. You don’t even try to find posts interesting enough to comment on. 

28. You haven’t decided who your target audience is. 

29. You haven’t clarified your ICP (ideal client profile). 

30. Your ICP is not specific enough. 

31. Your ICP is the wrong ICP. 

32. You’re allergic to the DM’s (because of spam). 

33. You’re allergic to the DM’s because you don’t want to be spammy. 

34. You’re one of the people sending DM's that makes other people sneeze. 

35. You don’t have a strategy at all. 

36. You haven’t found product market fit—yet. 

37. You haven’t gotten into the flow out here—yet. 

But you can. 

If you:
- want to, 
- are determined enough to stick with it, & 
- get maybe just a little bit lucky.  

I can rattle off 37 Linky mistakes because I’ve made almost every one of these. 😉

We're all learning in real time. 
You can too. 

Any favorite mistakes you've made from my list? 

----
PS - 5 spots left in my LinkedIn Foundations workshop on Jan 23: 
https://lnkd.in/efZncmZe

I have a new client who posted 50 times in 2025.
With our first 3 posts over the last 2 weeks: 

• 2 have already spread farther than 31,867 views (his top post last year) and 
• 2 are among the top 3 posts re: engagements. 

My client is the same law firm owner who's been showing up out here. He hasn't changed much over the last month. 

So how can we do that? 

Why am I able to take somebody who’s been trying to make LinkedIn work and dramatically improve their performance overnight? 

You might see these stats and think I’m running a scam over here. That the reach and engagement are a product of pods (basically paid engagement) or shenanigans. 

That’s not what I’m doing. 

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what the "secret" (if there is one) might be. 

I think it boils down to 2 things. 

1. After writing thousands of posts, I understand how to shape writing to fit LinkedIn. 

This is the technical side of what we do. 
Writing hooks. 
Including details. 
Keeping posts aerodynamic. 

That’s a big part of it. 

But I think the second thing is more important. 

2. I’ve learned how to get the ‘good stuff’ from clients. 

By that, I mean I’ve learned how to mine a person’s career and life to find stories that can resonate with folks. 

This client’s best 2 posts ever have now come in the last 2 weeks. 
But the subject matter of those posts happened years ago. 

My guy just needed some help getting those stories out. 

If you want to make posts that spread out here, you don’t need to hire CONTENDER. 

You probably do need to learn these 2 skills. 

If you’ve got any questions about how to do that, feel free to drop them below, I’ll do my best to answer. 



------------
My LinkedIn Foundations Workshop happening Friday is sold out. 
The last of the 25 seats got snapped up Monday. 

I'm going to do it again on Friday, Feb 27. 
You can find the info and registration for that one here: 
https://lnkd.in/eKD9dcyn

And I'll DM an original poem of gratitude to the first 2 people to register. ;-b

Here’s 1 counter-intuitive thing that can absolutely destroy a post’s reach out here—

Posting a link with the auto-populated image. 

Marshall Friday ran into this one a couple weeks ago. He posted about how a post of his that included a link just didn’t move. 

Marshall’s conclusion in the moment was that Linky still hates links in posts. 

But no. Linky is fine with links in posts. I promise. 

What happened was when Marshall dropped the link in the draft, Linky automatically generated that visual of what the link leads to. 

That’s what killed the post. 

It makes no sense that this is true. 

But I’ve made this mistake enough times that I can confirm it’s a thing. 

How can you avoid this pitfall? 

When you drop the link in your draft, the image pops up. 
If you hover over the image, you’ll get a little X up there. 
Click that. 

The image disappears. 
You’re good to go.

I ran a new experiment out here last week. 
This was the experiment—

If I post a poll asking if folks are interested in a workshop on the basics of gaining traction on LinkedIn...

a) would anybody raise their hands? and if so
b) would any of those people be totally new on my radar? 

I only kept the poll open for 24 hours (instead of 3 or 7 days). 

37 votes. 

20 for "Yes where do I sign up?"
9 for "Maybe depends on my mood."
2 for "Naw dude, I'm good." 
And 5 for "I'm sorry but...Who are you?" 

So I had 29 folks raise their hands to say they'd like to know more. 

My next experiment is seeing how many of those folks actually register. 

At this workshop, we'll run through some LinkedIn 101 stuff about: 
• positioning
• personal brand 
• content creation and ideation 
• engagement (commenting and dm'ing). 

I’ve spent the last 3 years helping lawyers attract attention and opportunities here. 

3 of the top 10 US lawyers on LinkedIn per Favikon are on my roster. 

My goal here is that we meaningfully improve your understanding of LinkedIn and your content game in 90 minutes. 

I'm limiting us to 25 people in the zoom room on Friday, Jan 23rd at noon EST. 

If you're interested, details are here. 
https://lnkd.in/efZncmZe

Feel free to dm me with any questions about the workshop, LinkedIn more generally, the meaning of life. I've got thoughts on all of the above.

Be consistent. Be generous. Be yourself. | “The Yoda of LinkedIn” for Lawyers

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Viveca Hess, J.D.'s LinkedIn Performance

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