4x founder | 9 years Fortune 200 leader | Writing about leadership and personal growth

I’m the founder of Ghost Nomad, a custom vehicle studio focused on thoughtful builds, fabrication, and engineering-driven design.

I work hands-on, designing, building, testing, and refining vehicles with an emphasis on how they drive, how they feel, and how they hold up in real-world use. The work blends mechanical problem-solving, fabrication, and aesthetics, with a preference for doing things deliberately rather than quickly.

Before Ghost Nomad, I spent nearly a decade in leadership roles at a Fortune 200 company, building and operating complex digital systems and teams. That experience shapes how I work today through strategic thinking, strong systems, and disciplined execution applied to physical products.

Ghost Nomad is where engineering, design, and long-term use come together.

Jonathan Butterworth

Dan Martell

From jail cell to scaling multiple 8-figure businesses - my journey wasn't supposed to work out this way.

At 17, I found myself in adult jail facing serious charges. Most people's stories like mine don't end well. But that rock bottom became my foundation.

I taught myself to code, built and sold 3 tech companies, and invested in over 60 startups including Intercom, Udemy, and Unbounce. Yet my biggest success wasn't financial - it was discovering that the right guidance at the right time changes everything.

That's why I created Martell Media.

I've watched too many brilliant founders struggle with the same challenges:
• Working 80+ hours while growth flatlines
• Building a business that owns them instead of serves them
• Sacrificing health and relationships for a dream that keeps moving further away

Sound familiar?

Since 2016, I've dedicated my life to helping founders scale their companies while buying back their time. My coaching has helped clients grow from 7 to 8 figures, implement systems that let them work 20+ fewer hours weekly, and build businesses that serve their lives - not consume them.

My book "Buy Back Your Time" became a Wall Street Journal bestseller and #1 business book on Amazon because it addresses the fundamental challenge all entrepreneurs face: how to create freedom through your business, not despite it.

If you're ready to scale your company while reclaiming your life, let's connect. The entrepreneurial journey is challenging enough - you don't have to figure it out alone.

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Founder & CEO

We Help Ambitious B2B SaaS Founders Achieve their Perfect Exit™

I used to think the best employees were the ones who never pushed back.

The ones who said yes to everything. Showed up early. Stayed late. Never questioned anything.

I was wrong.

Because those employees don't scale. They follow orders, but they don't solve problems.

The employees who actually move companies forward are completely different.

They're the ones who think differently. Who operate with agency. Who don't need to be managed because they manage themselves.

Most companies overlook these people. They don't fit the corporate mold. They question too much. They challenge systems. They're "difficult."

But those are exactly the people you want. Because everyone else is replaceable.

If you're a founder: Find these people. Pay them well. Give them equity.

If you're an employee: Be this person. You'll never struggle to find work again.

-DM

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📘 Bestselling Author (Buy Back Your Time) 🚀 Building AI startups @Martell Ventures ⚙️ 3x Software Exits • $100M+ HoldCo 💬 DM "COACH" if you're looking to scale

If you're still using the same tools from last year, you're already behind.

Here are the 7 tools I switched to:

1. Claude.ai - Better reasoning, better writing, doesn't sound like AI.

2. Grok.com - Better than Google. Real-time answers from X.

3. Wispr.ai - I talk, it types. Went from 80 WPM to 200+. Best productivity upgrade I've made.

4. Gemini.google.com - Best image generation model period.

5. Manus.im - Automation without the Zapier complexity. Just works.

6. Notebooklm.google.com - Upload your docs, ask anything. Like having a research assistant who read everything.

7. Granola.ai - Meeting notes that make sense without joining your calls.

2025 tools kept you busy. 2026 tools make you productive.

Save this. Pick one tool. Try it this week.

-DM

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People don't leave companies. They leave bad leaders. And most leaders have no idea they're the problem.

They were great at their job, so you promoted them.

Now they're mediocre at leading and your best people are quietly updating their resumes.

Here's what separates leaders worth following from those driving people out the door:

1. Vision - They create a future people want to help build
2. Integrity - They do what they say, especially when it's hard
3. Action - They set the standard and stand on it.
4. Empathy - They see team members as humans, not just resources
5. Communication - They listen twice as much as they speak
6. Accountability - They take blame publicly and give credit privately

Your title might get people to show up.
But these traits get them to show up with their best work.

Most leadership problems aren't about competence. They're about character.

Which of these traits made the biggest difference when you experienced it from a leader?

Let me know below!

-DM

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The leadership industry has it backwards.

They're teaching you to be louder, more commanding...

But the loudest people in the room can rarely lead anyone.

Real leadership is staying late to help someone debug a problem.
It's telling your CEO "no" when they overwork your team.
It's promoting your best person even though it hurts you.

None of that looks like leadership on LinkedIn.

But all of it feels like leadership when you're on the receiving end.

Stop trying to look like a leader.

Start acting like one.

-DM

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You're more than a job title.

I've reset my own career multiple times. Each restart taught me that the path is rarely straight.

What matters isn't how quickly you find your way.
What matters is that you keep going until you do.

-DM

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If you've ever thought "I could do that if only I had a team".. 
You now have a team.

And it doesn't require payroll, management or meetings.

The excuse of "I don't have the resources" has evaporated.

You have access to tools that give you capabilities that used to require hiring 10 people.

The gap between idea and execution has never been smaller.

Build.

-DM

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Anyone can spin up a SaaS product now. Anyone can build an app. Anyone can launch a service.

The bottleneck isn't "can we build it?" It's "can we get people to care?"

10 years ago, the hardest part was building the product. Engineers were worth their weight in gold because technical talent was scarce.

Today? AI writes code. No-code tools exist for everything. The barrier to building is collapsing fast.

But distribution? That's still hard. 
Getting attention? Still hard. 
Making people care? Still hard.

The companies that win won't be the ones with the best product. They'll be the ones that know how to sell it.

Engineers build features. Marketers build demand. And in a world where everyone can build, demand is the only moat.

-DM

I don't hire for experience.
I don't hire for past titles.
I don't hire for résumés.

My ability to recruit A+ talent has never been based on credentials.

I hire the ability to solve problems.
The capacity to learn quickly.
The mindset to push through challenges.

These can't be faked on paper.
They can only be demonstrated in action.

That's what I look for.
That's what I hire for.
That's what builds exceptional teams.

-DM

30 brutal truths everyone should know in their 20s:

↓ ↓ ↓

1. Don't become good at something you hate. Get great at what you love, then pay others to do what you don't.

2. You don’t need more time, you just need a deadline.

3. Stay close to people who want more FOR you, not FROM you.

4. Normalize leaving people in whatever reality they've chosen. Don't waste energy arguing.

5. Being humble isn't thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.

6. You get tested the most when it's time to level up. Don’t break.

7. Improving yourself daily is the only addiction you need. Get hooked on being 1% better daily.

8. You teach people how to treat you. Set the standards and stand on them.

9. It's more painful to stay down. Get back up.

10. You waiting for a sign IS a sign.

11. Everything wants you when you want nothing. True power comes from not needing anything.

12. Be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time. Big visions aren't understood by everyone.

13. When things get easy, go hard. don’t lose the hunger that got you started.

14. Only ask advice from people who've been where you want to go.

15. You can be a good person with a kind heart and still say “No”.

16. If you’re too much, Let them find less.

17. You become rich in your mind long before you become rich in your bank account.

18. Put your own mask on first before helping others. You can't pour from an empty cup.

19. never shy away from a (good) problem. The quality of your life = the size of problems you solve.

20. Confidence in public comes from keeping commitments you make to yourself in private.

21. Greatness takes time. Dedicate a decade, not just a day.

22. The smaller you make your cicle, the bigger your life gets.

23. Be nice. Tell people about them. Your acknowledgment could save someone's life.

24. If you keep running into bad people, you may be the problem.

25. Avoid drama and gossip at all costs. High-level people are allergic to it.

26. Fear gives bad advice. In dark moments, seek outside perspective.

27. If you're addicted to your phone, your life isn't interesting enough.

28. Take on as much responsibility as you can. Always say YES. Figure it out later.

29. Be blissfully dissatisfied. Be grateful for now, but know you're meant for more.

30. You think too much because you do too little.

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The Battle

Jonathan Butterworth

Dan Martell

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Dan Martell

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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);}Dan Martell's LinkedIn Performance

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