Co-Founder & M.D @ Louder.Online

As a businessman,  entrepreneur, and author, I've spent 16 years reshaping the landscape of our industry. 

Co-founding Louder.Online 16 years ago was the beginning of a journey that has led to global recognition, transformative partnerships, and multiple successful ventures.

Some of my journey's highlights include:

→ Co-authored the book "Faster, Smarter, Louder"
→ Consulted for Fortune 100 clients including Salesforce, Intel, IBM, Coca-Cola, and Target
→ Authored over 1,000 articles for major publications like Forbes, HubSpot, and Entrepreneur
→ Recognized as a thought leader by Content Marketing Institute and Search Engine Journal
→ Delivered speeches across the US, UK, Asia, and Australia

As a serial entrepreneur, I've:

→ Co-founded Louder.Online, recognized among the top 25 Martech Companies in Asia-Pacific
→ Started multiple businesses across various industries
→ Launched an M&A education business focused on small business acquisitions
→ Developed expertise in multi-channel marketing, SEO, PPC, CRO, and content marketing

My work has garnered attention from prestigious media outlets:

→ Featured in The Huffington Post, Forbes, and the Sydney Morning Herald
→ Regular contributor to HubSpot, Entrepreneur, and Fortune
→ Guest on popular podcasts like Mixergy and Entrepreneur on Fire

My approach goes beyond traditional marketing. I create actionable, thoughtful strategies that not only deliver new customers but build lasting brand relationships. 

If you're looking to revolutionize your digital presence, explore business acquisition opportunities, or drive your brand into the future, let's connect.

Aaron Agius

I’ve watched outdated SEO strategies die in real time.

The digital graveyard is full of businesses that thought lazy, generic SEO could win.

90% of “professionals” are still playing that losing game.

Do you honestly think you’re different?

Most still build SEO on wishful thinking:
➔ Pick random keywords
➔ Stuff them into useless content
➔ Chase backlinks like desperate attention-seekers

That’s exactly how Strategy B self-destructed.

Here’s how you actually dominate SEO today, and what Strategy A did:

Content & Intent
➔ Educational content solving real market pain points
➔ Surgical alignment with sector-specific search intent

Optimization & Testing
➔ Real-time, data-driven adaptation—not set-and-forget
➔ Technical excellence: site speed, mobile-first, UX
➔ A/B testing like a sniper, not spray-and-pray

Metrics & Authority
➔ Focus on real metrics: traffic, conversions, revenue
➔ Targeted, high-authority links earned intelligently

I use nothing except what delivers measurable, aggressive results.

Strategy A didn’t just beat Strategy B—it obliterated it: 4.2x more traffic, more revenue, more engagement.

Why? It was engineered to annihilate inferiority.

Without precision, relevance, and data, you’re irrelevant.

Your competitors who do invest in these will outpace, out-earn, and erase you.

Strong CTAs help—but strong brands are better.

Make people WANT to buy from you.

Don’t force them.

If your SEO is still on autopilot, you’re not just falling behind—you’re already buried.

The fastest way to kill an agency isn’t bad SEO; it’s hiring people who ‘know SEO.’

Join the top 1% of agency leaders by facing this truth:
Your obsession with “SEO experience” is suffocating your future.

Most agencies cling to experience like a life raft.

They treat it as gospel.

A shortcut to credibility.

But experience has quietly become a straitjacket.

The harder you demand it, the more you guarantee stagnation.

Ask yourself who’s really moving your agency forward: rule-followers, or rule-breakers?

I’ve watched agencies collapse under the weight of “proven” tactics and “seasoned” hires.

Creativity didn’t die.

It was choked out by predictable resumes and recycled solutions.

SEO innovation has never come from playing by the book.

Yet agencies keep hiring carbon copies of their competitors.

That isn’t strategy—it’s delusion.

Here’s the reality:

Experience doesn’t guarantee relevance.

It creates echo chambers.

It filters out the renegades: the ones bold enough to ask, “Why are we still doing this?”

SEO today doesn’t reward mastery of 2012 tactics.

It rewards people who see new patterns and act before consensus forms.

The agencies leading this industry aren’t run by veterans clutching dusty playbooks.

They’re driven by talent with audacity, curiosity, and vision.

This isn’t an argument for ignorance.

Technical skill matters, but only as a foundation.

Without creativity layered on top, it’s useless.

Hire safe, and you’ll rank safe.

And safe is invisible.

Keep demanding “SEO experience required,” and you’ll keep getting substandard work. 

Interchangeable campaigns. Predictable outcomes. Slow decline.

If you want to win, hire people who challenge you.

Who ask better questions instead of reciting old answers.

Break your addiction to experience as a proxy for value, or accept average results.

Because the future belongs to agencies willing to reject the default.

Your move.

Why 'SEO Experience Required' Is Killing Agency Innovation

You think office perks keep talent loyal?

Try locking a strong engineer into an outdated tech stack, then watch how fast the kombucha bar stops mattering.

The modern workplace does not lose top performers because snacks are poorly picked.

It loses them because leaders micromanage tools instead of trusting professionals.

Read that again.

How most teams think retention works:
➔ Free lunches and unlimited coffee
➔ Nap pods and ping-pong tables
➔ Trendy offices with beanbags

How retention actually works:
➔ Real autonomy to choose, test, and deploy the right technology
➔ Zero tolerance for legacy systems that choke creativity
➔ Trust in the people closest to the work to define what drives results

Ask your best developer what matters more: her keyboard or the pizza in the breakroom.

If she’s any good, she’ll dismiss the perks and ask for freedom to use the right tools.

Here’s what tech stack autonomy delivers:
➔ Teams focused on outcomes, not optics
➔ Faster cycles without friction from outdated software
➔ A culture that attracts serious talent
➔ Skill growth that compounds through real problem-solving

You don’t see elite companies leading with office perks.

You see them winning because they invest in adaptable tech and let experts decide what works.

Retention is not about dopamine hits from free stuff.

It’s about respecting intelligence.

Perks often mask deeper dysfunction.

Rigid tools signal control, not stability.

Top performers want environments where they can break, rebuild, and improve their own stack.

Anything less tells them they will be more valuable somewhere else.

If perks are still your retention strategy, competitors are already recruiting your team.

Strong CTAs matter.

But strong brands matter more.

Make people want to work for you.

Don’t try to trap them.

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Why Tech Stack Freedom Matters More Than Office Perks

I stopped solely chasing Google rankings years ago and scaled my businesses to seven figures while competitors stayed stuck on the keyword hamster wheel.

Most people still treat traditional SEO like a lifeline.

That’s why growth feels slow, visibility is inconsistent, and progress looks like motion without momentum.

The playbook is outdated, even if it’s familiar.

My domination strategy:
➔ Eliminate dependency on Google
➔ Distribute hyper-targeted content across syndication, affiliates, and dark social
➔ Automate omnipresence so my audience can’t avoid the message

Too aggressive? That’s usually what unqualified marketers say before irrelevance catches up.

Week to week, I’m outpacing competitors by:
➔ Building distribution networks that bypass search entirely
➔ Partnering with affiliates who reach audiences Google never will
➔ Seeding dark social with conversion-first assets that collapse the discovery cycle

Alongside that:
➔ I run automation pipelines that deploy content before rivals even react
➔ I choose syndication channels where brand control is absolute
➔ I use precision micro-distribution that bloated SaaS tools can’t replicate

What worked?

Killing SEO dependency.

No waiting. No link begging. No algorithm worship.

I move faster and command attention while others tweak metadata.

What doesn’t work?

Playing it safe: incremental keyword gains, endless dashboard watching, and hoping rankings turn into momentum.

Anyone still glued to Search Console is ignoring how fast this market moves.

This works because control beats compliance.

I refuse to let an algorithm designed to flatten ambition dictate my growth.

I build distribution that’s automated, precise, and relentless, so omnipresence is engineered, not earned.

Comfort kills scale.

If you want real growth, stop digging through SEO fossils and start building systems that can’t be throttled.

The future belongs to those who own distribution, not those waiting to be ranked.

Most digital marketing teams celebrated today are bloated relics, propped up by outdated thinking.

Everyone wants elite performance, yet almost no one wants to accept what it actually requires.

What I see with top enterprise clients is a very different model.

It is not stacked talent or big personalities.

It is precision, alignment, and results. Nothing else.

Here is where most digital teams fail.

They worship vanity metrics.

They stay busy with meetings, reports, and headcount growth that leads to stagnation.

Their structures mirror yesterday’s failures, not tomorrow’s wins.

They talk about analytics while guessing which levers matter.

Now compare that to what actually works.

I align marketing with sales, product, and customer success so no message conflicts.

Analytics should be foundational, not decorative. Data drives every assignment.

In addition:
➔ Every hire is intentional: there are no “nice-to-have” roles
➔ Roles are built for one clear outcome, not inflated resumes
➔ If a tool or automation does not drive progress, it is not purchased

What worked for me was relentless prioritization.

Teams must be built for impact, not appearance.

Trendy tools without measurable lift are wasted spend.

What never worked was growing teams for ego.

Chasing trends.

Separating marketing from sales and product.

If a team is not aligned around one strategy, one dataset, and one goal, it will fail.

Enterprise environments remove illusions fast.

Discipline and data decide everything. Everything else is noise.

The future belongs to leaders who build marketing teams as strategic weapons, not social clubs.

If you are still running a team built for 2016, the outcome is predictable.

You either define the next decade, or you get outperformed by it.

Watching enterprise websites bleed millions is like seeing a luxury yacht sink while the crew argues over who forgot to plug a hole.

Everyone gawks at digital “giants,” yet few have the guts to fix the mistakes draining revenue.

Right now, 83% of enterprise sites sabotage themselves—ignoring SEO audits and gifting revenue to competitors.

Tomorrow, those who embrace relentless auditing and optimization dominate.

Here’s how I approach it weekly:
➔ Full audits with Screaming Frog & Sitebulb—anything less is amateur hour
➔ Fix broken links, slow pages, outdated metadata before they drain revenue
➔ Mobile optimization checks—59% of search is mobile; ignoring it is malpractice

Beyond that:
➔ Page speed benchmarking—every second costs ~7% conversions
➔ Crawl & indexation analysis with GSC & Ahrefs
➔ Site architecture reviews—duplicate content, buried conversion paths, hidden opportunities

What works? Relentless, unsentimental audits.

What doesn’t? Overpaid agencies or “set-and-forget” in-house teams.

Complacency costs millions.

Why it works for me? Every missed audit is a personal attack on profit.

Numbers dip? I hold the process accountable, not Google.

The data doesn’t lie: 1 second of delay = 7% fewer conversions.

Mobile traffic dominates—fail there, and competitors feast.

No enterprise wins by accident.

The choice is clear:
➔ Audit, optimize, cash in
➔ Or watch market share vanish

Neglect is a choice.

Optimization is a weapon.

Budget won’t save broken processes.

Face the numbers. Confront reality. Do the work.

Your revenue depends on it.

Mistakes Enterprise Websites Should Watch Out For

Your “thought leadership” content isn’t building authority, it’s training your audience to scroll past.

I’ve seen too many enterprise marketing execs cling to their blogs like security blankets, while the audience moves on.

Your blog isn’t building authority.

It’s shouting into a void while people scroll, swipe, and click past.

Long articles, keyword stuffing, “thought leadership”: they’re mostly ignored.

Drop the delusion.

How most teams think engagement works in 2026:
➔ Four blog posts a week for “consistency”
➔ Endless SEO tweaks chasing shrinking search traffic
➔ Bloated articles that vanish after publishing

How engagement actually works:
➔ Data-driven, personalized content based on real audience signals
➔ Interactive video, audio, and immersive formats that stop scrolling
➔ Strategic distribution on channels people actually use

Reality check: over 50% of marketers report declining blog traffic.

Average attention? Less than 60 seconds.

Only 26% see ROI.

Meanwhile, audience-first content drives engagement and conversions up 200%+.

Blogging is the fax machine of marketing: familiar, expensive, ignored.

Every hour spent polishing posts is an hour not building experiences that actually connect.

Stop obsessing over calendars.

Start listening to data.

Build experiences, not posts.

Blogging was a tool.

Adaptive, audience-first content is your advantage.

If your strategy still revolves around publishing more words, you’ve already chosen mediocrity, while competitors build real relationships.

Why We Tell Our Clients to STOP Creating Blog Posts

Every SEO team has a budget and an outcome.

Here’s the truth: only one of these is truly yours.

Competitors can throw money at bloated agencies.

Fill seats with ineffective generalists.

Buy overpriced tools.

Boast about “full-service.”

But they can’t build surgical efficiency.

☑ Budgets Limit
Budgets come from profit constraints, not strategy or boldness.

☑ Outcomes Build Trust
Clients trust teams that deliver traffic, rankings, and revenue—on time, every time.

☑ Outcomes Differentiate
In a world of “big spend, minimal results,” outcomes set you apart.

Why outcomes matter more than budget:
➔ Showcase expertise
➔ Prove real impact
➔ Build credibility
➔ Attract results-focused clients
➔ Create loyalty through performance
➔ Fuel word-of-mouth with execution

Here’s how I focus on outcomes:

Team & Roles
➔ Hire a single full-time SEO lead for clarity, strategy, and cross-team alignment
➔ Use freelancers with deep expertise for high-impact work
➔ Demand role clarity—everyone owns a piece of the result

Tools & Processes
➔ Exploit only tools that matter: Ahrefs Lite, SEMrush Pro, GSC
➔ Cut “nice-to-have” software and vanity spends
➔ Enable cross-functional collaboration with devs, UX, content, and analytics

Learning & Measurement
➔ Rapidly upskill your team with free resources: Google SEO Starter Guide, Moz Academy
➔ Measure every KPI ruthlessly: rankings, organic sessions, revenue per page
➔ Reject the mindset that “budget = success”—brains, discipline, and adaptability drive results

Focusing on outcomes isn’t a tactic.

It’s the bedrock of a performance culture.

Lead with outcomes.

And watch market domination follow.

Building an SEO Team Without a Big Agency Budget

Stop fantasizing that clever slogans or bloated teams will propel you forward. Study the enterprises that win, then reengineer your marketing machinery with laser focus on efficiency and strategic thermonuclear power. Or, stick to your old ways and watch those quarterly reports slide deeper into shameful territory.

There is no magic formula, no shortcut, no fairy tale “hack” to building a world-class SEO team on a budget. There is only strategy, discipline, and the will to act while your competitors waste time and money.

It’s time for some honesty. You do not need a monstrous marketing budget or the razzle-dazzle of agency smoke and mirrors to build an SEO team that cr

Open article: Building an Elite SEO Team on a Budget: The Unforgiving Truth No Agency Will Tell You by Aaron Agius • 6 min read

Building an Elite SEO Team on a Budget: The Unforgiving Truth No Agency Will Tell You

If you want an agency that shapes tomorrow, recruit like your future depends on it—because it does.

Every time you hide behind “SEO experience required,” you’re lighting the funeral pyre for your own ambition. There will be no applause at the grave.

The Ruthless Truth About Innovation, Recruitment, and Survival in Modern Digital Marketing Let’s incinerate the industry’s most sacred cow right up fr

Open article: Is Your Obsession with “SEO Experience” Suffocating Your Agency’s Future? by Aaron Agius • 8 min read

Is Your Obsession with “SEO Experience” Suffocating Your Agency’s Future?

The benchmark for success is no longer innovation. It’s about acquiring, hacking, and out-optimizing every single move your competition makes—and then automating it so aggressively that human error and hesitation are eliminated.

Let me ask a question that will probably make you squirm: Just how naked are you, competitively speaking? I’m not talking about the LinkedIn vanity me

Open article: How Reverse Engineering Competitor Strategies Fuels Industry Leadership by Aaron Agius • 7 min read

How Reverse Engineering Competitor Strategies Fuels Industry Leadership

Empower your workforce to choose, adapt, and evolve their own tools, and you’ll lock in the best talent, outpace your industry, and shatter old benchmarks for innovation and growth. Stick to the myth of perks, and you'll wake up to a talent exodus and a stalled product roadmap.

Abandon everything you know about SEO. Engineer an underground content distribution system that guarantees visibility, authority, and conversion at scale. Traditionalists will be crushed. Only the relentless—the ones who dare to discard the outdated—will dominate.

Accept the harshest reality in digital marketing: traditional SEO is finished. Yes, you read that correctly. The endless grind of optimizing keywords,

Open article: From Zero to $1M: The Ruthless Content Distribution Blueprint That Annihilates Outdated SEO by Aaron Agius • 9 min read

From Zero to $1M: The Ruthless Content Distribution Blueprint That Annihilates Outdated SEO

It’s not too late to fix this. Shred your editorial calendar and interrogate your data. Ask your customers what they want—every quarter, every campaign, every channel. If your answer is “more blog posts,” you’re asking the wrong people, or you’re lying to yourself.

If you’re in the 83% still treating audits as an afterthought, just know this—the clock is counting down on your market share, your profitability, and, possibly, your job.

If you want to shift from bleeding revenue to dominating your sector, the path is simple and merciless: Audit. Fix. Audit again. Only the relentless survive. Only the disciplined thrive.

The $100 Million Blunder Sabotaging 83% of Big Brands Let’s destroy the myth right now: Enterprise organizations are not immune to catastrophic digita

Open article: Are Critical SEO Issues Costing Enterprise Websites Millions? by Aaron Agius • 9 min read

Are Critical SEO Issues Costing Enterprise Websites Millions?

If you still believe original ideas win markets, you’ve already lost.

The real power belongs to those ruthless enough to rip apart competitor strategies, reconstruct them with brutal efficiency, and then weaponize automation to dominate at scale.

The CEOs clinging to “innovation first” are simply donating market share to the cunning operators who treat competitor intelligence as the only path to victory.

Are you building your business on naive optimism or unforgiving reality?

Who wins the future: original “innovators,” or tacticians who dissect, replicate, and automate competitors until nothing is left to steal?

You can chase the ghost of “adequate SEO,” comfort yourself with pointless dashboards, and watch your competitors suffocate you in the SERPs.

Or you can build a program so empirically sound, so viciously focused, that 4.2x isn’t your ceiling—it’s your starting point. It’s not about working harder. It’s about being too precise, too ruthless, and too relentless for anyone else to keep up.

You want proof that most so-called “SEO experts” are nothing but glorified guessers? Keep reading. If you’re clinging to tired, generic strategies, yo

Open article: Why One SEO Strategy Outperformed Another by 4.2x (And Why Most Experts Never Will) by Aaron Agius • 8 min read

Why One SEO Strategy Outperformed Another by 4.2x (And Why Most Experts Never Will)

Ranked #1 in Branding | AI Strategist for High-Stakes Communications | I Help You Attract Premium Clients, Stages & Global Media | 35M Views

Iza Montalvo is an award-winning journalist, founder, and speaker whose work has been recognized on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

She works at the intersection of media, reputation, and influence, shaping how leaders, companies, and experts are seen, trusted, and remembered.

Over the past 15+ years, Iza has helped craft public narratives and media strategy for U.S. elected officials, public figures, advised C-suite executives at Fortune 100 and 500 companies, and partnered with product and go-to-market teams to launch and scale complex technologies. 

Her specialty: translating high-stakes ideas, from AI platforms to enterprise systems into human stories people understand and believe.

Her own platform has reached more than 50 million people, building a 115k-strong audience in a single year. 

She has been featured in Times Square, recognized by Forbes as a LinkedIn expert, and ranked #1 globally for branding and positioning by Favikon.

Whether on stage, online, or on the page, Iza challenges one belief:
talent isn’t enough, visibility shapes opportunity.


IZA MONTALVO 🧲

This isn’t persuasion.
It’s how the brain works.

Most offers don’t fail because the product is weak.
They fail because the decision feels hard.

Carousel created by Tom Pestridge.

Every buying decision runs on a few shortcuts.
Ignore them and strong offers stall.

9 principles that shape buying decisions:

✅ Anchoring Bias
✅ The Framing Effect
✅ The Contrast Effect
✅ The Affordability Illusion
✅ The Power of Free
✅ The Rule of 3
✅ The Paradox of Choice
✅ The IKEA Effect
✅ The Endowment Effect

Good marketing isn’t deception.
It’s structure.

It aligns the offer with how decisions happen
so value doesn’t need explanation.

📌 Save this before you price or package anything.
♻️ Share it with someone who builds offers.

NEUROMARKETING CONCEPTS TO KNOW

I lost time trying to “figure things out myself.” Speed matters more than pride.

So in 2023, I made a rule:
If I want to learn something fast, I hire the best.

I treat this as a practical decision.

Jobs are contingent.
Markets are cyclical.
Titles are temporary.
Skills are portable.

I’ve seen people lose income, security, and status.
The ones who recovered weren’t unusually confident or optimistic.
They were competent.

They could do something useful in more than one setting.
They didn’t need ideal conditions to function.
They weren’t dependent on a single system continuing as planned.

One distinction:

You’re not paying for information.
Information is easy to access.

You’re paying to shorten the gap between not knowing and being able to act effectively.

There’s evidence behind this way of thinking.

The World Economic Forum estimates that 44% of workers’ skills will change by 2027, driven by technology and shifting business needs.

Skills that only work in one role or one environment don’t age well.
That’s why I don’t see learning skills as a gamble.
I see it as limiting downside.

When you invest in property, equities, or a role, you rely on external conditions holding.
When you invest in skills, you increase your ability to operate when they don’t.

The filter I use before investing in a skill:

Can I use this in more than one role or industry?
Does it improve how I think and decide, not just what I produce?
Would it still be useful if my current job disappeared?

If the answer is no, I skip it.
If things went wrong tomorrow, I wouldn’t be starting from zero.

I’d be starting with capabilities I can apply again.
That’s the difference.

PS: If you’ve built a skill that paid off later than expected, share it below, those examples are more useful than advice.

♻️ Repost to help spread this message

When I say it's never too late, I mean it because I've lived it.

At 40, I:

got married for the first time
had my second child
quit my corporate career in news
built my first serious business
traveled to my dream city in Europe 
bought my first investment property

At the same time, life didn't stop happening.

I lost a job. 
My husband got sick.
I spent years trying to find the right support for my child with additional needs.
I got scammed online.
I had to reinvent myself.
I found success again. 

If you're new here, I want you to know this:

You're not late.
You're not broken.
You didn't miss your one chance.

Some of us move slower because we're carrying more.
We are figuring out things as we get older and wiser. 

If you're in the middle of a reset, this isn't the end of your story.
It's the part where you realize what you're really made of.

PS: What's one thing you started later than you "should have" and still made happen?

Award-Winning Founder, Journalist & Speaker | Top 1% Creator | Former U.S. Congress Communications Director

Kindness matters more now than it used to. 
Or at least it feels that way. 

Sometimes it’s a smile, a helping hand, or a simple gesture that brightens someone’s day. 

Work has sped up, gone remote, stripped back to tasks and messages and calendars. 
A lot of the human stuff has thinned out.

There’s data behind that feeling. 
Studies on modern workplaces show declines in perceived empathy and connection as work becomes more digital. 

Gallup has found that only a small fraction of employees feel genuinely seen or cared about at work, even when performance stays high.

During remote learning, a professor logged into what he assumed was just another final Zoom class. 

Same faces. 
Same screens. 
Nothing to mark the end.

Then the cameras came on.
One at a time.
Every student holding a handwritten sign.

"Thank you".
"For caring".
"For showing up".
"For treating us like people".

He stopped talking.
Just looked at the screen for a second.

Then said is a whisper: “You’re gonna make me cry.”

Someone recorded it. 
The clip made its way around. 
People shared it, saved it, sent it to each other.

Psychology research explains why moments like this are so memorable. 

Under stress, the brain holds on to emotional experiences more than information. 
Facts blur. 
Feelings don’t.

That semester was full of isolation, deadlines, and glowing rectangles. 
And this is what stayed with people.

Not the material.
Not the grades.
Not the lectures they crammed for.

Being noticed.
This isn’t really about teaching.
It’s about leadership. 

Or maybe it’s about what leadership looks like when all the extras fall away.
If you manage people, build things, mentor someone, the impact you have usually shows up later.

In trust.
In who sticks around.
In moments you never planned for.

That’s the part people carry with them.

🎥 Video credit: Brain Nourishment, IG
♻️ If you believe in kindness, pass it on.

Perspective arbitrage is worth 30% more revenue.
Research on cultural adaptation found this pattern.

Companies that adjust products and messaging see higher revenue growth than those that don’t.

Most companies already have this advantage.
They just don’t see it.

What is perspective arbitrage?

The ability to profit from insights others can't access because you think in multiple cultural contexts.

Inside organizations, this ability is often treated as translation.

I’ve seen the cost of that mistake.

A company planned to enter a new market.
The discussion centered on translation and launch timing.
One person raised a different concern.

The product story didn’t match how customers in that market judged value.
That observation changed the launch plan.
Projected revenue increased threefold.

Nothing new was added.
The decision changed.

So why does this keep getting overlooked?

1/ It gets framed as language
“I can help translate.”
Instead of: “This won’t work the way we expect.”

2/ Differences get set aside
Teams aim for speed and miss context.

3/ Observations don’t carry forward
Adjustments get made in meetings,
then disappear once the decision is done.

When insight isn’t named, it doesn’t influence the next choice.
Seeing across cultures isn’t a soft skill.
It’s how blind spots get caught early.

Many bilingual professionals are hired for language.
The ones who advance earn trust for how they think.

Perspective arbitrage isn’t a personal advantage.
It’s how companies avoid making the wrong call.

Your cultural lens isn't just heritage.
It's a business advantage.

🔁 Share if you've used cultural insights to drive business results
➕ Follow me IZA MONTALVO 🧲 for more

Founder | Top 1% Creator | Journalist | Former U.S. Congress Communications Director | 50M Views

Intelligence opens doors. 
Adaptability keeps you moving.

Someone with less experience just got promoted 
over 5 people who'd been there longer.

Same role. 
Same manager.
Happened over 18 months.

The difference wasn't talent.
It was how they responded when things changed.

When feedback came, they didn't defend it. 

They listened. 
Took notes. 
Applied it without ego.

When a new system rolled out, they learned it first. 
While others complained, they were already fluent.

They copied what worked. 
Emails. 
Meetings. 
How to handle pushback. 

Same personality. 
Upgraded execution.

They admitted gaps early. 

"I haven't used this before. 
I'll learn it this week." 
Speed beats pretending.

They systemized mistakes. 

What went wrong. 
Why it happened. 
What changes next time. 

Fix once. 
Avoid forever.

Research shows 64% of senior leaders say: 
a growth mindset enhances productivity and performance. 
Source (TalentLMS)
and 94% of employees would stay at a company longer 
if it invested in their career development.  
Source (LinkedIn)

The pattern is clear: 
Internal promotions happen 20% faster than external hires 

PS: What's one habit you picked up from watching someone else work?
♻️ Share with your network of high-performers

Most leadership misses one simple truth:
Connection isn’t one-size-fits-all.

My 9-year old son’s teacher proves this every morning.
At the classroom door, she gives her students five ways to be greeted:

High-five
Hug
Fist bump
Smile and nod
“Good morning”

That’s it.

No pressure.
No forcing energy.
Just choice.

What matters isn’t the options themselves
it’s what they mean.

👉 You get to decide how you want to be seen today.

Some mornings kids want closeness.
Some mornings they want space.
Some mornings they just want acknowledgment without attention.

And every choice is respected.

That small moment does something powerful:
It gives students agency before the day even starts.

When people are acknowledged in ways that work for them, engagement follows.

They participate more.
They take risks.
They trust.

It made me think about leadership.

How often do we decide for people how connection should look?
How often do we mistake our preference for a universal rule?
The best leaders don’t demand sameness.

They design for difference.
Because confidence doesn’t grow from being managed.
It grows from being met where you are.

♻️ Worth sharing with someone who leads people.

Some fires don’t burn you all at once.
They warm you first 🔥 

You stand close.
You tell yourself it’s manageable.

You adjust instead of stepping back.

Until one day you realize...
you’re not tired.
You’re scorched.

I used to stay near things that were silently burning me.
I thought endurance was a virtue.
It isn’t.

There’s research that backs this up.

Studies on chronic stress show the body reacts before the mind does: 
elevated cortisol, muscle tension, sleep disruption, long before people consciously label a situation as “toxic” or unsustainable.

That’s why logic rarely gets you out first.
Your nervous system tries to.

What finally changed things wasn’t a conversation.
Or closure.
Or an apology.

Relief came the moment I stepped out of the burn radius.

That’s emotional intelligence.
Not reading the room
reading the heat in your own body.

Those Sunday night knots?
That’s not anxiety.
That’s information.

Psychologists call it somatic signaling, the body flagging prolonged threat when the mind is still negotiating.

Signs you’re standing in the fire:

🚩 You explain it more than you enjoy it
🚩 You’re depleted, not restored
🚩 You don’t recognize who you’re becoming
🚩 Every interaction feels like careful movement
🚩 You’re giving fuel, getting smoke back

Leaving doesn’t mean you failed to control it.
It means you stopped pretending you could.

Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do 
is walk away and chose yourself.

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Your biggest limit isn’t skill. 
It’s self-perception.

Before effort.
Before chances.
Before experience.

I didn’t apply for leadership roles
because I didn’t see myself there yet.

That took me longer to admit than I’d like.

You don’t try everything you can do.
You try what feels right for someone like you.

That starts early.

The jobs you apply for.
The roles you raise your hand for.
The rooms you expect to be in.

Over time, this view becomes familiar.

You learn what you’re known for.
You learn what people come to you for.
You learn what feels normal to reach for.

Then something bigger shows up.

A role with more responsibility.
A chance to lead instead of help.
An opportunity that could change things.

You pause.
You read it twice.
You tell yourself to wait.
You think you need more time.

So you stay where you are.
The work stays busy.
The results stay good.

But nothing really changes.

While that view stayed the same:

Skills stayed boxed
Growth slowed
Opportunities passed you by

Nothing broke.
Nothing failed.
That’s how limits work.

They don’t stop you.
They guide what you try.

People who move ahead see themselves doing more.

They apply sooner.
They speak up earlier.
They step into roles they grow into later.

That starts with how they see themselves.

Different view.
Different actions.
Different results.

Change how you see yourself,
and the line moves.

Little by little.
You reach higher.
You stay in the room.

You try things that once felt out of reach.
That’s how limits lift.

PS: What’s one limit you’re ready to question?
♻️ Share this with someone who needs it.

A bad boss makes weekdays hell. 
A great one gives you Sundays off. 

I’ve worked for managers who made me dread Mondays.
And managers who made me want to take on things I didn’t feel ready for.

The difference wasn’t title or tenure.

7 signs you’re working with a great manager:

They remember what you told them weeks ago.
They ask how it turned out without checking notes.

When you mess up, the first question is:
“What do you need to fix this?”

They back you in rooms you’re not in.
You hear about it later, casually, from someone else.

Bad news doesn’t trigger panic.
It starts with: “Walk me through what happened.”

They give you work that makes you pause before saying yes.
The kind that forces you to rise.

Their one-on-ones aren’t updates.
They’re honest conversations about what’s stuck and what’s next.

When they’re wrong, they say it.
Out loud in front of others.
Then they move on.

The best managers don’t just manage work.
They change what you think you can do.

If you've got one, appreciate them. 
If you don't, become one. 

PS: What’s one thing a great manager did that you still remember?
♻️ Share if you believe good leaders deserve recognition.

5 mindsets I see in every successful person 
(you’re not born with this)

95% of people want to be high performers.
Only 5% install the mindset required to sustain it.

The difference isn’t effort.
It’s how they interpret pressure, failure, and time.

I’ve had to consciously rewire these myself, especially after hitting plateaus where “working harder” stopped working.

Here are 5 mindset reframes that separate winners from everyone else:

Reframe #1: Failure
Every setback is data.
Every obstacle reveals something.

❌ "I'm afraid of making mistakes."
✅ "Mistakes show me what to fix."

Reframe #2: Discipline
Pressure isn't the enemy.
Avoidance is.

❌ "I don't feel like doing it."
✅ "I do what needs to be done."


Reframe #3: Time
You don't find time.
You protect it.

❌ "I don't have time."
✅ "I protect what matters most."


Reframe #4: Success
Success isn't motivation.
It's repetition.

❌ "I hope this works."
✅ "I make it work through action."


Reframe #5: Opportunity
Momentum beats timing.
Action beats waiting.

❌ "I'll start when it's right."
✅ "I start now."

Your mindset determines your ceiling.
Reframe how you think.
Change what you achieve.

♻️ Repost this if it helped.

>>5 MINDSET REFRAMES OF HIGH-PERFORMERS<<

The best KPI no one talks about 👇🏽
because you can’t measure it

It’s how your team feels on Monday morning.
You won’t find it in a dashboard.
It won’t show up in a report.

But you notice it straight away.
It’s there when people walk in.
In the energy they bring.

In whether ideas get shared or kept to themselves.
In how people treat each other before the meeting even starts.
That tells you more than most metrics ever will.

What tends to move that needle:

1/ Keeping people interested
Not just busy.
Not just ticking tasks.
Engaged in what they’re building.

2/ Keeping people informed
Sharing the why, not just the plan.
Letting people see the bigger picture, not just their lane.

3/ Keeping people involved
In decisions that affect their work.
In changes they’ll have to live with.
In wins they helped create.

4/ Keeping people inspired
Through trust.
Through space.
Through leadership that doesn’t rely on pressure.

You can track every number in the business
and still miss the important one.

How many people want to be here.
Look at how your team show up in the morning.
That’s the real dashboard.

I used to hide every struggle behind a smile.
Burnout? "I'm fine."
Stress? "Just busy building."
No boundaries? "I can handle it all."

That wasn't mental strength.
That was a strategy that doesn't scale.

Here's what I learned:

Mental strength isn't:

X Saying yes to everything to prove your worth
X Handling stress alone because "strong people don't need help"
X Pushing through burnout like it's a badge of honor
X Pretending you don't have limits

It's these things instead:

1/ Set boundaries and call it business strategy, not selfishness
2/ Recognize burnout as data, not failure
3/ Ask for help before you're drowning
4/ Say no to preserve your yes for what's worth your time
5/ Schedule rest like you schedule meetings
6/ Acknowledge your struggles and work through them systematically
7/ Protect your peace like you protect your profits
8/ Build support systems instead of trying to going it alone
9/ Know being human doesn't make you a weak entrepreneur
10/ Use boundaries to create space for your best work
11/ Choose authenticity over performing "having it all together"
12/ Treat your mental health like a business asset to maintain

The research backs this up: entrepreneurs who practice these behaviors report higher satisfaction and better business outcomes.
More importantly, they stay in the game longer.

Choose what serves your business and your life.
Not what looks impressive to other people.

PS: Which one of these are you practicing most right now?

P.S. I'm still working on #5. 

If this resonates, share it forward.

Old thinking built control.
New thinking builds outcomes.

Good people don’t leave bad companies.
They leave bad leaders.

Treat people like a risk and you’ll churn talent.
Treat them like an asset and they’ll grow the business.

This isn’t a culture debate.
It shows up in revenue. 

Here's what works:

→ Hire for behavior, train for skill
→ Give people freedom to get results
→ Apply the same rules to everyone

The business owners I work with get this.
They don't build places where people count down to Friday.
They build places where people want to show up.

This change is happening now.

The best leaders aren't building better companies.
They're building places where people grow.

PS: Which shift has made the biggest difference where you work?
♻️ Share this if you agree

"If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed."
William H. McRaven

If you can’t do the small things right
You’ll never do the big things right 

That’s a Navy SEAL lesson to remember. 

Admiral William McRaven said it best in a commencement speech that has been watched over 100 million times.

It comes down to one simple idea:

Make your bed.

It sounds silly.
It isn’t.

True leadership isn’t built in big moments.
It’s built in what you do every day.

When small things slip, bigger things follow.
1/ Start with one finished task
Before email.
Before meetings.
Before anyone needs you.
Do one small thing you can complete.
You start the day with a win.

2/ Use hard moments to pull people together
In SEAL training, the toughest tasks can’t be done alone.

When something breaks:
→ Don’t avoid it
→ Don’t carry it solo
→ Bring someone in and work through it

Teams don’t bond when things are easy.
They bond when things feel challenging.

3/ Notice what others skip
Details tell the truth.
What you check shows what you care about.
People trust leaders who pay attention.

4/ Say what didn’t work
In training, failure was normal.
What mattered was owning it and learning fast.
When leaders talk about mistakes, people stop hiding.
Trust goes up.

5/ Make one person feel seen
In the hardest moments, one comment kept people from quitting.
Leadership lives here.
In checking in.
In noticing effort.
In showing up when it’s uncomfortable.

The gap between good and great isn’t talent.
It’s doing the small things.
Every day.

video credit: IG

♻️ Share this with your network of high-performers

Everyone wants prompts to sound like an expert.
Real growth comes from earned credibility.

If you have real expertise, 
If you want to stand out faster online
If you want to become the obvious choice

Start building credibility in stages.

Here's how:

Over the last decade, I worked with members of Congress, executives, founders, and public figures. 

Here's what surprises people:

I didn't have a personal brand until last year.

No social media strategy.
No posting schedule.
No content calendar.

What I did have was credibility earned through years of journalism and working inside high-trust environments. 

Most of my work happened behind the scenes.
Referrals, reputation, and one room leading to the next.

Still landed contracts.
Still got the calls.
Still closed the deals.

That worked for a while.
Then the game changed. 

Research shows 82% of buyers review your profile before taking a meeting.
Someone pulls up your profile, makes a call in seconds, and moves on.

You never get the email.
You never know what you lost.

So when people say "just be visible" that's not how it works.

Being visible is one thing.
Being trusted is another.

And trust grows in stages.

→ When you're new
Share your credentials and your story.

→ When you have results
Show the proof: testimonials, case studies, wins.

→ When you're established
Let others speak for you: stakeholders, stages, published work.

Different season, different strategy.

Most seasoned professionals skip the first stage entirely.
They think the work speaks for itself.

It doesn't.

Without visibility, your expertise never reaches the people who need it most.

Do this right and there's no convincing needed.
People trust you before you ever talk.

That's it.

PS: You're not too late. You're too credible to stay quiet.

♻️ Reshare with your network

Built your credibility face-to-face.
Keeping it offline is the bottleneck.

I analyzed 50+ leaders’ online presence last year.

Not to study content.
To see where opportunity breaks.

The pattern showed up across the same roles:

📣 Investors.
📣 Executives.
📣 Founders.

People with track records.
Very little to verify in public.

That gap creates credibility leaks.
If you’re missing deals, it’s usually coming from 1 of these 4 places:

1/ Your wins are hard to find
Media features buried
Exits never named
Board seats invisible
If someone has to work to understand your background, they won’t.

2/ Your language sounds like everyone else’s
Careful phrasing
Safe opinions
Nothing that shows judgment
You don’t look wrong.
You look replaceable.

3/ Your presence doesn’t match your level
Generic posts
Helpful tips
No authority markers
You wouldn’t hire this version of yourself.

4/ Your footprint is too light to confirm influence
Search doesn’t validate you
So decisions move on without you

Here’s what that costs in practice:

❌ Investor intros that don’t progress
❌ Board seats that go to visible peers
❌ Speaking invites that never land
 
When leaders fix this, the shift is predictable.

✅ Inbound increases.
✅ Demand rises.
✅ Opportunities start finding them.

Same experience.
Clear positioning.

If you want to close the leaks:

1 / Look yourself up like capital would
First three results only
Do they show relevance?

2 / Put proof where attention goes
Headline: the win that opens doors
About section: the track record you already have
Once a month: explain one real outcome

3 / Remove corporate or technical language
Write how you speak in closed rooms
State what you believe
Let judgment show

4 / Leave authority trails
Share how you decide
Break down calls you’ve made
Show the method behind results

Staying quiet doesn’t protect your name.
It makes it easier to pass over.

PS: Where is your credibility leaking?
♻️ Share with your network of high-achievers

>>Your Perception Capital VS Your Intellectual Capital<<

The mistake doesn’t define you.
It’s what you do next.

This video shows that.
The chair breaks.
The performance continues.

There’s no pause or restart.
The movement changes.
The routine carries on.

That pattern shows up in real work.
When something goes wrong in front of people, they don’t stay on the error.
They watch what happens next.

This lines up with what Atul Gawande describes in The Checklist Manifesto after studying surgeons, pilots, and emergency teams.

Mistakes are expected.
What counts is whether the work keeps moving.

People tend to notice three things:

1/ does it stall or continue
2/ does form hold or break
3/ does ownership stay visible

That’s what shapes judgment.

When something breaks in public, decide fast:
what still works
what needs to change

Then move forward.
The error passes.
The response stays.

Everyone has a version of this moment.
VC: motivatengrwvin

♻️ Repost to help spread this message

Iza Montalvo 🧲

Ranked #1 in Branding | Award-Winning Journalist Turned Founder | Ex-US Congress Director | Atract Premium Clients, Global Media & Stages 🧲

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