Senior Partner Manager at Hootsuite | Enterprise Alliances with MarTech SaaS | Head of Sales & Marketing at MyRisk | Board Director | Author of "Connect & Act - Systematic Social Selling"

I spend my days working with boutique marketing agencies across Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific helping them build businesses that feel lighter, clearer and more scalable.

Agencies don’t struggle because of a lack of talent; they struggle because they’re carrying too much alone. That’s where I fit.

ActiveCampaign gives them the tooling. I help them build the engine, the rhythm and the confidence to grow.

After moving to Australia nearly a decade ago, I found myself drawn to the agency world — the conversations, the creativity, the honesty, the challenge of wearing ten hats at once.

One thread that runs through everything I do is the belief that business moves at the speed of human connection. It’s why I’ve created my #42coffees series: slowing down enough to hear people’s stories, understand their direction and find the right doors to open for them.

The same energy shows up in the in-person events I run across Asia Pacific. When people meet in real rooms, things shift: ideas get clearer, partnerships form faster and growth feels more human.

Since then I’ve supported partners at ActiveCampaign and beforehand at Hootsuite, GoTo, Noggin, KeepItSafe and across the broader MSP and MarTech landscape. The work is always a mix of:
→ partnerships (finding the right doors)
→ automation & lifecycle systems (removing friction)
→ Social Selling (building visibility without becoming someone you’re not)
→ productised services (so the business stops feeling heavy)

What I enjoy most is watching agency founders realise they don’t need to grow through burnout — they can grow through structure.

Moving to Australia was not a straight line. A layoff opened a moment of pause which became an inflection point. I studied leadership using the time to understand the emerging SaaS ecosystem. That allowed me to transfer my experience into a new market, build a partnership-focused identity from the ground up, and develop the human-connection mindset that defines how I work today.

I’m also a long-time writer with 28 books from travel guides to Social Selling and personal development. Writing helps me make sense of things and help others do the same.

Outside work, I serve as a Board Director of Sydney’s historic Castlereagh Boutique Hotel. It’s a role rooted in community, heritage and looking after something that matters — values I try to bring into my work with agencies as well.

If you’re a boutique marketing agency founder trying to shape the next stage of your business, I’d love to hear your story. Every agency journey starts differently and no one builds it alone.

Gunnar Habitz

Collaboration rarely starts with a contract but with showing up, sharing the space, and building something together, one small step at a time.

Collaborating is one of the best #habits to develop - and the core of true #partnership.

Successful collaboration rarely starts with a big announcement or a formal partnership.
Most of the meaningful collaborations in my corporate work and my writing business didn’t begin with strategy decks or contracts.

Instead they started with curiosity, generosity, and a simple willingness to build something together before knowing exactly where it would lead.

Over time, I noticed something important: People who collaborate well don’t wait for the perfect opportunity, they practice collaboration as a habit in small and repeatable ways.

Here are some of my recent examples:

1. LinkedIn Power Lab: Since I added a co-facilitator into my webinar series with Natalie Tran (she is on the photo above) it opened broader opportunities for my network.

2. Company Events: Why should I talk during the whole event when I can introduce a fireside chat with a fellow expert as in my next event with Deanna Notice in Brisbane.

3. #42coffees: My networking series is running in its third season to showcase interesting people and their passions with my network on LinkedIn nearly every Friday.

Find more stories alongside mini-insights and actions in my latest 4-2-1 Habit blog here: https://lnkd.in/gU3hxJsh

What's your secret in winning collaborators for doing something together?

Helping boutique marketing agencies scale through human connection, automation & AI-powered workflows | Agency Ecosystem Lead @ ActiveCampaign (APAC) | Ghostwriting educational email courses for authority & conversion

🇦🇺 Agency Leaders: Join us in Brisbane for our Partner Event on Tuesday 10 February.

The marketing agency landscape is evolving fast. Are you keeping pace?

From Denver to London to Brisbane: the #EvolvingAgency Series consists of collaborative workshops designed for agency leaders who want practical strategies for scaling, retaining clients, and leveraging #AI without burning out.

What you'll gain by attending:
→ Learn how to productise your services for scalable, recurring revenue
→ Discover AI workflows to implement immediately (not just as theory)
→ Explore the agency partnership opportunities with ActiveCampaign
→ Connect with peers tackling quitesimilar growth challenges you face
→ Listen to the practitioner view in my fireside chat with Deanna Notice

Honoured to run this event in the HQ of the Institute of Managers and Leaders Australia and New Zealand which was my first professional organisation in Australia to be part of (nearly 10 years!).

The Details:
📍 Level 29/10 Eagle Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
🕙 10:00am – 3:00pm incl. lunch
💰 Free (limited to 2 attendees per agency)

🚀 Secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/gBWBMqRh

See you in Brisbane ☀️

#MarketingAutomation #AIAgents #MarTech #Marketing

Can you post the same content across multiple platforms? And can you simply repurpose the same by using email marketing?

You might think the simple answer is "no". But there is a better way.

Yes, you can be active on more than one platform if you position them well.

Like Facebook and Instagram have similarities so you know what to post one the one and how to tweak on the other side.

You can also position yourself on Substack from a personal side while keeping LinkedIn your professional self as the only serious reference checkpoint.

Preparing my webinar with public speaking expert Veronica Llorca-Smith🎤 next Monday about the LinkedIn Substack flywheel, here are my tips in this 373rd episode of #socialsellingmonday.

1. Position yourself with clarity on LinkedIn and on Substack, ideally in a different while congruent way attracting different audiences.

2. Define which types of content works best on which platform, sometimes it can be a different take of the same topic.

3. Engage with your audience in direct messaging on both platforms instead of just subscribing them to the other side.

4. Learn #emailmarketing on the Substack side by building your email list - your business or corporate role will thank you.

Want to learn more? Veronica and I are running a webinar "From LinkedIn Content to Substack Flywheel".
📅 Monday, 19 January 2026
🕖 7:00 PM Sydney/Melbourne time
🕖 4:00 PM Hong Kong/Singapore time

Please register here: https://lnkd.in/g8yej9QS

See you there!

Next week I’m restarting my #42coffees ☕️ - the series that connected people.

Before I do that, I looked back at what the previous 88 conversations have actually taught me (and my network).

Here are my top 8 learnings with patterns that keep repeating, no matter the industry:

1️⃣ Relationships compound: One coffee today becomes an open door two years from now.

2️⃣ Offline–Online–Offline works: Meet once, stay in touch online, meet again with trust already built.

3️⃣ Great connectors listen first: The superpower isn’t talking, rather remembering, noticing, and connecting dots.

4️⃣ Content should sound human: AI can help, but heart and story are still the differentiator.

5️⃣ Data without intent is noise: If you don’t know why you collect it, you can’t improve anything with it.

6️⃣ Change is the real job now: Whether it’s cybersecurity, hybrid work, or growth—strategy means choices + change.

7️⃣ Clarity beats hustle: The best operators turn chaos into simple systems people can actually run.

8️⃣ Trust is the real growth engine: Partnerships, referrals, community are all about that with different words but the same truth.

I’m bringing the series back because these learnings matter more than ever in a noisy world.

If you’ve ever met someone over coffee and thought “this conversation might change something”… you know exactly what I mean.

What’s the best thing a coffee conversation has taught you?

Do you also observe that many professionals post consistently on LinkedIn, yet everything disappears in the feed within hours?

At the same time, many of them heard that Substack could be the right place to build a real audience… but they struggle to connect the two together.

Are you on both platforms as well but never connected the dots?

This is where my new webinar episode comes in - delivered together with Veronica Llorca-Smith🎤, one of my favourite authors and public speaking experts.

📅 Monday, 19 January 2026
🕖 7:00 PM Sydney/Melbourne time
🕖 4:00 PM Hong Kong/Singapore time

This is what we will cover in this episode:
1️⃣ LinkedIn: How to write content to spark curiosity
2️⃣ Substack: How to turn curiosity into a community
3️⃣ The Flywheel: How to leverage both to your advantage

Please register here to receive the Zoom link and the recording afterwards.

See you on Monday 19th!

Veronica & Gunnar

View event: From LinkedIn Content to Substack Flywheel

From LinkedIn Content to Substack Flywheel

What can #marketing agency leaders expect from our #EvolvingAgency Series event in Brisbane on 10 February?

Yesterday I announced my upcoming ActiveCampaign event calling for marketers from Byron Bay and Gold Coast up to the Sunshine Coast.

Already hosted in multiple cities on the globe, I will cover what matters to our existing and protective partners for wining clients in the age of AI such as:
- Scaling and sustaining agencies
- Productising tools & services
- AI for agencies

One of the highlights will be my fireside chat with our regional specialist Deanna Notice.

We will take our initial discussion from Sydney to the next level for 2026. Deanna works closely with clients and fellow partners to ensure everyone can make the best out of the technology we all use.

Now to forget: the best software won't help achieve anything when it is not implemented properly. She and her team optimise #marketingautomation success at every step to ensure clients improve their business.

The Details:
📍 Level 29/10 Eagle Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
🕙 10:00am – 3:00pm incl. lunch
💰 Free (limited to 2 attendees per agency)

🚀 Secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/gBWBMqRh

See you in Brisbane ☀️

Who do we want to have in our networks? Only selecting clients means missing out.

A LinkedIn guru told me last year he only connects with existing or prospective customers from his target geography - not with anyone else.

He is totally missing the mark and ignores that my network is full of his targets, just I moved down under and don't qualify for his criteria anymore.

In my view (and proven over years) it's much better to define who we attract AND also add those surrounded by that. Think about suppliers, partners, customers of our customers and fellow experts in the industry.

That mentioned guru totally overlooked that people are moving within their industry.

Here are my tips in this 372nd episode of #socialsellingmonday - the series that taught me all about consistency.

1. Rewrite your profile's About section being clear about your value for your target audience. Rewrite it based on your anchored identity, not just role or activity based.

2. Define your ICP = Ideal Customer Persona, the ideal person you serve (some also call it ICA for Avatar). Then describe who belongs to their network.

3. Build a list of important players in that market and bookmark their profiles activity by adding "/recent-activity/all" to their profile URL and saving those to your browser for easy access.

4. Engage with the content of your direct ICPs and some of their frequent networkers to enhance your visibility in the target market.

Your business will be thankful if you do that consistently for the next four weeks when business is not yet fully back to speed.

What's your tip to define the target network for outreach and engagement?

Starting the year with a bit of fun...

Most people connect AI with unlocking creativity or efficiency.

But there is more to it - at least when it comes to Active Intelligence.

What ActiveCampaign built over last year is a stunning example that AI can be a true, proactive companion - a really good mate!

I use it regularly for activities as described in the bingo card below, such as:
- setup a 5-day welcome sequence
- figure out how I can connect a certain app
- find out if my 56% open rate is actually good or not

Gone are the days where I would go to Unsplash for selecting a base image, then to ChatGPT for crafting some copy and finally to Canva for merging that together.

It's all there - within one platform.

That's why I love working with marketing agencies - doing by myself helps to understand their challenges.

How do you use #AI in #marketing?

Isagenix

Executive 

Simply Successful Pty Ltd 

I am a Director of our own company Simply Successful and have partnered with Isagenix for the last 14 years

Director

Mondo Direct Recruitment

Our business is in executive recruitment, specialising in Direct Sales, Direct Marketing, Digital marketing and the Franchise Industry. In summary we provide our clients with extraordinary talent, whilst building careers and boosting bottom lines.
In addition we provide our clients with Contractors, Professional Speakers, Trainers, Mentors and Coaches.

Simply Successful Pty Ltd

I set up my own business Simply Successful Pty Ltd to service the Direct Selling Industry and offer the following services: Consultant and Management Training, Mentoring, Business Development, Event Management and Strategic Planning.

Director - Consultant & Management Trainer

Lorraine Lea

Sales Development Manager

Dorling Kindersley

Sales Director - DK Family Learning, Dorling Kindersley Group (ANZ)

National Sales Manager - DK Family Learning

Billiecart Clothing Pty Ltd

National Sales Manager

I love helping others achieve their goals in health , fitness or life in general ! I have developed a passion for running & run 1/2 marathons & a marathon. I am passionate about living life to the fullest. 

Neal & I alined ourselves with a company that  ticks all the boxes . Excellent Plan, Product, and Processes. "The team alines with our values and they are as passionate about what they do as we are"

I believe our story is just one of the thousands of success stories shared by people who have experienced incredible results using our system. 
I set myself a massive goal of climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and needed to get fit and release some unwanted Kilo's to be sure to reach the summit!! She achieved that using  our Products and a fitness regime targeted to high altitude trekking.
Results - reached the summit of Kilimanjaro, released 13 kg and has now maintained that same weight and fitness 6 years.
"My husband and I now run a full time Direct Selling business and have a life style that makes us extremely happy. Our main goal is to help others do the same, and especially help young couples achieve happiness, though great communication, having common goals and easing their financial stress with additional income, or providing them with a full time income and more !!"

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Gunnar Habitz

Heather Rickard

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The Battle

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Heather Rickard

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Engagements

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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);}Gunnar Habitz's LinkedIn Performance

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