Sourcebooks

Toxic Grit - How to have it all and (actually) love what you have 
COMING OCTOBER 21, 2025!

Author

Be Clear Communications

We help progressive organizations and their leaders build robust digital presences that reflect their values, elevate their message, and reach the audiences who matter most.

Advisor

Anonymous

Chief Marketing Officer

🧩 Life’s a Game, HLG Projects

Marketing Consultant, Brand Builder, Creator and Author of Life's A Game: An anti-hustle newsletter about building a life on your terms. Personal and professional growth tips and frameworks delivered every Thursday at 8am.

Founder

The Post

Brought on by board as Fractional CMO to grow and scale The Post: the leading community for Leaders: Built By Sport.

Shaklee Corporation

Consulting with the global leader in health & wellness supplements working on innovation & partnerships and go to market positioning of new products.

VP of Marketing - Consultant

House of Wise

Empowering women to take control of their SLEEP, SEX, STRESS and STRENGTH with trusted CBD products.

Founder, CEO

Nue Life Health

4 month contract as fractional CMO to help with brand and marketing strategy.

Teal

6 month contract to help with positioning, team building and go to market strategy.

The Knot Worldwide

Following the December 2018 merger of XO Group Inc. and WeddingWire: We are The Knot Worldwide. With the mission of helping all couples around the world plan every aspect of their unique weddings, The Knot Worldwide is positioned to innovate and accelerate growth in the global wedding industry through The Knot, WeddingWire, bodas.net, and its family of leading wedding and lifestyle brands across the globe. The Knot Worldwide will deliver leading wedding marketplaces, wedding websites, planning tools, registry services and more to over 20 million unique visitors each month internationally through our brands. We're excited for all that is ahead for our brands, our couples, and our partners.

VP of Marketing

Amanda Goetz is a 2x founder, 3x CMO, brand builder and content creator on personal and professional growth and brand building, inspiring over 150,000 people every week through her social insights and weekly newsletter, 🧩 Life's A Game.

Amanda Goetz, was the founder and visionary behind House of Wise, a wellness company focused on creating space for more sleep, hotter sex and less stress. She started House of Wise during the pandemic in her garage, raised two rounds of venture capital and sold it in 2022 all while homeschooling three young children as a single mom.  

Born and raised in a single traffic light Midwest farm town, Amanda is a first generation college grad. Her dad is the town plumber & electrician. A self proclaimed over-achiever, Amanda worked three jobs in college while maintaining a 3.9 GPA and graduating early. 

Fast forward to 2017. Amanda found herself in NYC with 3 children under the age of 5 and navigating a divorce at the height of her career. Living life by a societally-approved checklist of success left her nearly broken. She spent the next 6 years unlearning hustle culture and learning a new way to approach her ambitious life. 

Amanda was the former head of brand for The Knot - the global leader in weddings. Previously, Goetz served as a startup founder building availability software for the wedding industry after spending years analyzing companies for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year program. She also worked for celebrity wedding planner David Tutera as Head of Marketing developing the go-to market strategy for his brands, licensing deals and client partners.

She has built an audience of over 150,000 in the startup and business community learning to live a life of ambition and success without subscribing to today’s hustle culture. She launched a newsletter called 🧩 Life’s a Game with Amanda Goetz to help high performers learn actionable tips for living a life of intention.        

Amanda’s been featured on Access Hollywood, The Skinny Confidential, Forbes, Business Insider and more.

Amanda Goetz

I stopped bringing my whole self to work. 
And I stopped bringing my work self to home. Let me explain…..

The work version of me is assertive, cares about deadlines, financial security and being at the top. 

The home version of me is silly, soft and cares about being the best mom and caregiver possible. 

Those two versions of me don’t often see eye to eye and yet we are constantly being told to find “alignment”. 

My book is about how alignment isn’t always possible. 

It’s about:
- awareness of the character that’s leading
- prioritization 
- focus on their character’s goals 
- timeline for how long you wjlm focus 
- transition sequences to the next character 

Check out my latest op ed for The Wall Street Journal in the link below. 

And if you struggle to make space for all the diverse versions of yourself - grab a copy of Toxic Grit now!

USA TODAY Bestselling Author of Toxic Grit | 2x Founder (acquired) 5x CMO | Mom x3 | Keynote Speaker | Subscribe ➡️ 🧩 Life’s a Game Newsletter

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Popping on to say this: for every day I spend offline during this post book tour spin cycle….

the more ideas start flowing. 
the less anxiety I feel about the algorithm. 
the more clarity I have about 2026. 

If you never stop to pause and look up, you might miss the beauty of the changing landscapes on the climb.

I'm creatively tapped after my book tour so I'm running a spin cycle. 
If you are feeling the same.....steal this below 👇

Story time....I've spent the two years: 
- writing a best selling book 
- publishing a weekly newsletter for almost 80k people
- conducting interviews for the Girlboss podcast - Ambition 2.0

In Toxic Grit, I talk about “spin cycles” as intentional seasons where you wring out the heaviness that’s built up....... the pressure, the stimulation, the expectations, the constant output.

It's not quitting.
It's not laziness.

It is maintenance.

A spin cycle is a defined period of time where you reduce your RPM so you can keep going without burning out.

Here’s what my current spin cycle looks like:

1. Lower the creative bar
No “big” new projects. I’m focused on maintenance mode only: my FT CMO role and my weekly newsletter. Everything else is being held until next year. 

2. Shift from output to intake
I’m reading more, listening to conversations, and paying attention to what’s landing with people instead of trying to force new ideas. 

3. Tighten my containers
Shorter work blocks, hard stops in the evenings, more white space on the calendar. The constraint is what gives my brain room to reset. 

(and resisting the urge to use that white space for scrolling)

4. Name what can wait
I have a literal list called “Not right now” for every fun, shiny idea that pops into my head. It goes there, not on my actual plate.

5. Redefine “progress”
During a spin cycle, progress is: rested brain, clear thoughts, regulated nervous system. 

Save this for the next time you feel tapped out and ask yourself:
What would a 2–4 week spin cycle look like for me?

What can I pause, simplify, or say no to so I can actually keep going?

This is the path to sustainable ambition.

The number one complaint from employees I talk to? Lack of context + micromanaging. 

I've been silently working in a full time CMO position since July and I can't wait to share more about it soon. 

But I wanted to share the operating rhythm that I have used for 10+ years to increase context and agency across the functions of marketing. 

EVERY WEEK: 

Monday: Async priorities 

I send out an async email called "managing up monday"
This email does 2 things: 
- everyone replies with their 2 main areas of focus for the week so we know where everyone's brains are at
- allows everyone to update the dashboard with previous week's metrics

Tuesdays: 1:1s and team chat 

All of our weekly meetings happen on the same day to get aligned for the week. Since we already know what people are focused on we can use this time to either remove roadblocks or brainstorm ideas. 

Wednesdays: Hallway chat

Now that we are moving and groovin' for the week we use 1 hour on Wednesday for a "sync'd Slack hour". This mimics the hallway chat where you casually ask for the updates and things you need from someone. 

By doing this in Slack at the same time you ensure everyone gets a prompt answer AND everyone gets line of sight into other things moving forward. 

Thursdays & Fridays are open for deep work and closing out the week. 

Thoughts?! 
What do you find that works for your team?

So excited for this event!! If you are in NYC - please come by for this powerhouse event with Girlboss and Her Workplace 

See you December 15th!

✨ NYC, we’re ending 2025 with a moment. ✨

​Join Her Workplace and Girlboss on December 15th for an intimate fireside chat with Amanda Goetz—2x founder, 4x CMO, and author of Toxic Grit—as we explore how to balance drive with joy, ambition with alignment, and growth with grace.

🎤 Redefine ambition without the burnout
📚 First guests receive a signed copy of Toxic Grit
🤝 Connect with women rewriting the rules of success
🍷 Sip Juliet Wine & enjoy an evening powered by Blu Dot

Close the year in a room that fills your cup and your ambition. 💛

Register here—https://lnkd.in/eYU9Xs6V

Toxic Grit isn’t a success just because I worked hard. (I mean, I did work hard but that wouldn't have gotten it to best seller status alone....)

It’s a success because people showed up for me.

Friends who posted the book without me asking.
Podcast hosts who invited me on before they read a single word.
Former coworkers who introduced me to the right editors or hosted events at their companies.
And yes....I had to actually put myself out there and ask for help.


Me asking for help on LinkedIn.
But here's the thing...

Most of the help didn't come from cold networking connections.

These were people I've kept in touch with for years.

People who I have checked in with when I didn’t need anything. I sent voice memos when I saw they were going through something. I celebrated their wins like they were mine.

So when it was finally my turn to ask?

The trust was already there.

A lot of people get networking wrong.

Even the word itself feels transactional. “Be in my network” is just code for: “I’ll contact you when I need something.”

But community?
That’s different.

Community is built when you show up before it’s convenient. It's when you give without tracking what you’re getting back. It's when we remember that humans aren’t LinkedIn headshots...…they’re living, breathing, emotional beings (likely going through their own shit).

I believe it’s more important than ever to have a community of people supporting you through the ups and downs and life yet it’s harder than ever in this current social media landscape.

And to all of those who have been that to me along the way....as I found myself a single mom of 3 kids under the age of 4....as I found myself moving to a new city with no friends or family....or as I shifted careers....

....I'm so thankful for you.

Today's newsletter goes into how I think about networking and doing it differently. 

Read it here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ebw89dUw

graphical user interface, text, application, email

Being a CMO of a new brand launching in Q1 while planning a wedding on a book tour. 

AMA. 

🫣

I took a week off from posting after the first leg of my book tour wrapped and I have to be honest.....I am creatively zapped. 

Every time I go to post something, my brain just......fizzles. 

Is anyone else feeling this way?

My portfolio career Black Friday wish list.....

1. Wish = Less time on social media 
Must have ➡️ Taplio 
30% off today!! 

I barely log into LinkedIn these days because I schedule all my content on 
Taplio. Use code BF30 at checkout! 

2. Wish = Less time in email & scheduling 
Must have ➡️ An EA 

I use Athena EA for my services. Get $2000 off your EA using my link below. 

3. Wish = More time back for other parts of your life 
Must have = USA Today Bestseller ➡️ Toxic Grit: How to have it all and (actually) love what you have

I wrote this book to share all the systems I use to juggle work, life and everything in between. On sale today!!

This week on Ambition 2.0: we sit down with Erika Ayers Badan, former CEO of Barstool Sports, current CEO of Food52, bestselling author of Nobody Cares About Your Career, and all-around master of building a career entirely on her own terms. 

Erika shares candid stories from her time leading one of the most controversial (and successful) media companies in the world, what she’s learned about managing men and underdogs, how to stay emotionally regulated at work, and why she advocates for not bringing your whole self to work (compartmentalization can actually enhance your authenticity). 

🎙️ Listen to Ambition 2.0 here: https://lnkd.in/gsrfr7cC 
💻 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gGTD-pT4 

Don't forget to like, subscribe, and let us know your biggest takeaway (there's lots!) ✍️🙂‍↕️ 

Amanda Goetz

TCP Software

Showing enterprise and mid-market professionals why time tracking and scheduling software is an investment that pays them back 5-fold with time savings, risk mitigation, and error elimination.

Content Marketing Manager

Compound Content Studio

As a content editor, I helped B2B SaaS founders and executives improve their presence through LinkedIn and newsletter channels. Managing up to 11 clients at once, our work resulted in millions of weekly impressions, alongside building social as a full-funnel lead generation opportunity. 

My clientele included founders and professionals in:

• Engineering
• Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics
• VC and Investment
• Loyalty and Rewards Management
• B2B Customer Support (Chat, Phone Systems, AI)
• AI-driven customer insights
• Agentic AI
• Post-click marketing
• E-commerce growth agencies
• Buyer relationship management

Responsibilities include: editing written content from internal teams and freelancers, establishing/following editorial guidelines both internally and from clients, converting raw client intakes into a fully polished deliverable, coaching writers and freelancers as creators, adapting and improving content strategy, conducting client interviews, and sustaining client communications.

Content Editor

SafeBase

For SafeBase, I was tasked with building a ground-up SEO content marketing strategy to improve and generate content, which resulted in:

- 16 articles and case studies, plus hundreds of optimizations
- Landing 10/16 articles in Top 3 search for designated keywords in < 3 months

I also collaborated with product marketing, demand generation, and sales teams to implement and improve GTM communication.

Other content responsibilities included:

- Creating + managing content for brand social accounts, plus executive leadership
- Working with customers and partners on co-marketing content

In my time at Compound, more responsibilities included:

- Creating ghostwritten LinkedIn and X content for 10 clients
- Developing and execute a unique client style and tone of voice 
- Leveraging interviews, transcripts, and existing content to scale creation    
- Communicating with clients for material, feedback, strategy

Which resulted in:

- Generating 50+ pieces of short and long form content weekly
- Accumulating 1,200+ pieces of content, 2M+ impressions, 0% client churn

Copywriter

Quantive

Content marketer at Quantive (formerly Gtmhub), a global software and services company helping organizations achieve their best possible results through greater strategic agility. 

In my time at Quantive, authored and edited a library of resources with full funnel content on OKRs, goal setting, strategy execution, thought leadership:

- 77 articles and blogs
- 9 e-books and whitepapers
- 2 email and downloadable courses
 
I also implemented tone, style, and voice for various team collateral.

This content increased average keyword rank following our rebrand by 35 positions in 4 months:

- Doubled organic search impressions in 3 months following company rebrand
- Enhanced share of voice to #1 in the OKR software niche

Finally, I built the copy for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Search ad sets, which:

- Generated hundreds of MQLs with lead capture landing pages + content
- Refined product marketing copy for concise, converting website language

Further the Gtmhub (now Quantive) mission of helping organizations achieve their best possible alignment through OKRs and strategy execution, managing social presence across all platforms:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube

Social Media Manager

Served as Gtmhub (now Quantive) lead copywriter, providing digital marketing and advertising assets:

- Articles
- Blogs
- Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Ads
- Industry-specific whitepapers
- Thought leadership content

Tanner Media

Director of Creative Content for Tanner Media for the brand and its clients:
- Graphic design
- Copywriting
- Media management
- Content creation
- Presentation and communication design

Specialize in the restaurant and sports media industries.
Clients: Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Newk's, Mike Tannenbaum (ESPN)

Creative Director

Creator of content for the Tanner Consulting, LLC brand
- Graphic design for the brand and its clients
- Copy creation for the brand and its clients

Creative Lead

Capstone Agency

Senior Art Director, head of creative for LessThanUThink.
- Senior creative/oversight for all creative undertakings
- Graphic designer for the LTUT brand
- Presenter and representative for the LTUT team at the University of Georgia's AOD Summit

Senior Art Director

- Served as team lead for CreateAthon 24-hour pro bono marketing marathon
- Coordinated the marketing strategy for the client team Camp Fire AL
- Strategy, media, creative, client communications lead
- Created brochures, flyers, social media content calendars, and a new website for the client

Team Lead

Art Director for LessThanUThink, an anti-binge drinking campaign targeting college students, using humor and relatable examples to better appeal to the demographic instead of traditional methods.

Art Director

Creative Intern

Graphic Designer

pureLYFT

- Promotional on-campus marketing
- Interpersonal advertising and communications
- Personal social media advertising

Brand Ambassador and Creative Associate

- Designed infographics related to the pureLYFT product and general fitness/dieting tips
- Created Snapchat filters for a back-to-school marketing implementation
- Wrote blog posts related to fitness and dieting, with an emphasis on the pureLYFT product

Odyssey.

- Develop self-help fitness, workout, and dieting blogs.
- Accumulated over 750,000 organic page views during my tenure
- Designated as a "Top 100 Content Creator" for Odyssey

Writer

- Head of Odyssey team and all communications with creators and Odyssey HQ.
- Liaisoned between creators and managing editors/content strategists, recruiting new creators
- Manage community Instagram page, growing followers by 20% in less than a year

President

- Editor of Chief of content for the Tuscaloosa area Odyssey writers.
- Manage team of around 30 writers
- Emphasize content strategy, packaging, and sharing.

Editor In Chief

- Editor of content for the Tuscaloosa area Odyssey writers.
- Manage team of 30+ writers
- Provide Content Strategy

Community Editor

Beat Auburn Beat Hunger

Manage graphic designers to create content for the Beat Auburn Beat Hunger Campaign
Communicate with other campaign directors to schedule content creation

Director Of Graphic Design

- Create designs for percentage nights, fundraisers, awareness events, and social media for the BABH campaign

Content Marketing Manager | Helping B2B Marketers & Aspiring Writers Create Better Content

Has a nasty German Suplex and Top-Rope Moonsault. Will make your writing sing and sell.

Howdy, I'm Austin, a creator with 8 years of experience in:

> Content marketing
> Copywriting
> SEO
> Graphic design
> Ghostwriting (for B2B and DTC professionals)
> Media production
> Social media management

Aside from neat lists, I'm passionate about fitness, lifting, health, goal and habit accomplishment, and helping others become better writers.

MOST OF ALL... I help folks like you do more with your content.

My dad used to say: Have a little bit of everything in the kitchen... but know your strengths. That's why I decided to become a barista and bartender. My work is coffee and cocktails.

Coffee is dependable. It's what you need.
Cocktails are full of flair. It's what's wanted.

Coffee: "Mmm this is consistent. It's good."
Cocktails: "Oh WOW, now this is different. This kicks."

This is my beacon as a creator, whether I'm doing sales writing for paid ads, ghostwriting for B2B executives, knee-deep in a 2,000-word article, or drafting a post here on LinkedIn.

If someone wants a coffee, give 'em a coffee. But if they want a bourbon, well, you better have a barista and a bartender on your team.

Check out my profile to see the work I've accomplished and the content I publish. 

I've been a content marketer, building and editing resource libraries of B2B content, authoring over 100 articles, e-books, executive-buyer-focused whitepapers, case studies, and more. I've ghostwritten over 2,000 pieces of content and consumed enough caffeine to fuel a rocketship in the process. 

I know what it takes to write copy that converts, flipping the switch from brand to product to sales writing, building a rich SEO foundation, and uppercutting the cliches of the B2B world.

I've stepped into the minds of founders, CEOs, COOs, CMOs, CTOs, CISOs, and every other exec you can think of, applying their insights through the lens of social.

Some of these professionals were espresso enthusiasts.
Some wanted the spiciest bloody mary, spilling over with olives and bacon. 
I've learned what it takes to write for my crowd and love them for it.

I love Oxford commas. I hate corporate speak. I believe B2B deserves better writing.

To quote Red from The Shawshank Redemption, "if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further." Send me a message if you're curious about working together.

Now, is it coffee or cocktail time where you're at?

Austin Goodwin

During my 8th grade year, a family took us in when we were homeless. For 3 months I slept in a gaming chair. But in that time, the woman who took us in (Wanda) taught me something about work I never forgot.

She took care of her bedridden husband, James, with help from her lifelong friend Ms. Sue.

They liked me because I was an early riser and made coffee for them when I was getting ready for school.

So we’d sit and chat every morning. 

She’d light up her cigarette, her and Ms. Sue would fight over who got the creamer first, and they’d ask me about what’s coming ahead at school that day.

One day, I asked her what happened to James.

“Well, you don’t need all the details. But James was a hard worker. He was the first one in and last one out.”

(She took a long pause and dragged on her cigarette)

“But he was an asshole. Bonafide asshole, don’t tell ya momma I said that around you. Cussing and ranting all the damn time. He’d even cussed at me til I busted him in his mouth one Christmas.

James didn’t have no heart. He saw everyone as something to be used.”

(I nodded along as I heard him toss in the hospital bed in the living room)

“Not saying he deserved it and God knows I hate seeing him this way. But the way you treat people comes back to you.”

And that stuck with me.

What had a lifetime of work gotten him when he was a jerk to everyone? A lonely hospital bed in his living room.

Nobody cares about your mountain.

I had a dream about Wanda and Ms. Sue. Sue is gone now, and I don’t know if Wanda is alive still. But she’d want me to tell this story regardless.

It’s a reminder today to be nice, even when you disagree with someone. Even when they don’t deserve it. Better yet, go out of your way to understand them. 

Help someone you don’t know.

Buy a stranger coffee.

God knows we need more kindness.

Have a great weekend LinkedIn fam.

De-cringing and un-clichéing B2B content | Content Marketing Manager

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The Battle

Amanda Goetz

Austin Goodwin

Followers

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Performance ScoreAmanda Goetz's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAustin Goodwin's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Amanda Goetz

Austin Goodwin

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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);}Amanda Goetz's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAustin Goodwin's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAmanda Goetz's LinkedIn Performance