Justin Rowe

Founder/CMO @ Impactable - B2B LinkedIn Ads Agency | Acquired in 2021 | 2x Acquisitions in 2024 | Making things up as I go

From Restaurant Hustle to LinkedIn Agency Founder → Acquired → Now Scaling the #1 LinkedIn Ads Agency

I went from serving tables to serving over 1,000 clients in 30+ countries - and building an agency that was acquired in an all-cash buyout.

Starting in the restaurant industry, I had a hunger for something more (pun intended). I turned to LinkedIn to document my journey and connect with people. That content led to job offers, investor conversations, and even a deal to co-launch a restaurant franchise.

I saw the power of LinkedIn firsthand and started helping others. That side hustle turned into Linknlearn, a global lead gen agency built entirely through Upwork and LinkedIn outreach. I became the #1 ranked LinkedIn expert on Upwork, launched a $500 website, and scaled the agency internationally.

In 2021, we were acquired. We pivoted to LinkedIn Ads, launched new tech tools, and Impactable was born.

Today, I lead Impactable — a LinkedIn-Centric B2B Marketing Agency and creators of DemandSense, our proprietary LinkedIn Ads platform. We’ve been recognized by LinkedIn, invited to speak at their Indie Agency Summit, and continue working toward deeper partnerships with their team.

💡 What I’m Focused On Now

👉 Helping B2B brands scale with LinkedIn + Google + Programmatic full-funnel campaigns
👉 Working with clients spending $5K–$200K/month in ad budget to scale high-value pipelines
👉 Building smarter offers, audiences, and funnels through our 90-Day Validation Sprints
👉 Empowering internal marketers with DemandSense: ad scheduling, audience testing, and signal tracking for LinkedIn Ads

🧰 Resources (Free & Paid)

🎯 Free Strategy Resources & Templates
→ linktr.ee/justin_rowe

🛠 LinkedIn Ads Toolset (DemandSense)
→ https://impactable.com/dgp-linkedin-ads-tools/


🎥 LinkedIn Ads + B2B Demand Gen on YouTube
→ https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCATGD6P27kWXDVuaAZeZBuQ/videos

📈 LinkedIn Ads Agency (Done-for-You)
→ https://impactable.com/

💬 Want to Collaborate?

→ Send me a DM if you want to:

Test your audience + offer fit on LinkedIn

Migrate from Google to multichannel demand gen

Build a scalable paid strategy with a trusted partner

Chief Executive Officer

Impactable is a Linkedin Ads Agency that specializes in Linkedin Marketing for B2B companies. We were acquired in 2021 by a data-heavy investor and made a strong pivot into Linkedin advertising. Impactable now manages over 150+ B2B brands with Linkedin advertising being our core focus. 

Other capabilities include website visitor identification, automated Linkedin lead generation, and a few saas tools we are working on.

I've now removed 6,100+ connections in the last 4 months and have 3,500+ more to remove (in this round). Here's why 👇 

Short version:
1. Your networks engagement with your content helps determine reach
2. Much of my network was created early on when I had a career in restaurants (FYI I used to be part owner of 4 restaurants 😜 )

3. I'm all about controlling the things I can control and not complaining about the things I can't. 

I used Sales Navigator to slice and dice my 1st connections and realized there are 7000+ connections that are likely not on LinkedIn any more, wouldn't find any value in my content, and who I should likely just disconnect with. 

LinkedIn has been great for me - it's led to:
1. Connecting with investors that led me to becoming restaurant owner
2. Starting a side-hustle that helped pay for the extra costs of our first son (named Lincoln...which he asks if it h as anything to do with LinkedIn)
3. Turning that side-hustle into an agency that was acquired
4. Continuing to power pipeline for an agency pushing toward 10M ARR

So I understand the power of LinkedIn both organically and on the paid side...and my top advice?

1. Build your network strategically - send 15 connection requests a day and be picky what requests you accept
2. Be clear about your target audience, their pain points, and produce valuable content they'd regularly save and share
3. Spend 5x more time engaging and commenting vs posting
4. Use sales navigator to see ICP profile viewers and send them connection requests
5. Turn your top organic posts into evergreen retargeting ads with thought leadership ads

That's it for today : )

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

Founder/CEO @ Impactable | B2B LinkedIn Ads Partners | Paid Ads + Demand Gen + B2B Audience Experts

Short Post - LinkedIn Ads Experiment - Manual Bidding vs Impression Bidding for Video Retargeting. 

Early into this but sharing - I recently looked through our own LinkedIn ads campaigns and thought we just were not getting the results we used to from our retargeting layer. 

Main things I look at:
1. Penetration + frequency - are we reaching the whole audience and at a frequency that will move the needle to action?

2. What assets are working/not working and do we need something fresh in rotation

3. What's our CPC/CPM and are we getting decent price for distribution here. 

I'm starting to look at CPM way more than I ever used to because the more I lean into custom lists and really believe in my targeting...the main thing I care about is just distribution at an affordable rate. 

I don't really want/need LinkedIn to try to figure out which pocket of my target list to show/not show my ads to...in fact I'd rather it turn it's brain off and deliver my ads to the target I've set. 

Manual bidding has been and I believe still today is the gold standard...the gold standard Impactable has set (we are still the largest LinkedIn ads agency with the deepest partnership with actual LinkedIn company)...but even our standards need challenged because things change. 

So I notices while we are getting an ok CPC on these ( for video that is) the CPM  looked wild...$300+ CPM for a warm audience...didn't make a ton of sense other than LinkedIn was just being too selective with my list and just showing it to the highest value (in their mind) targets vs just distributing my assets to this list. 

So I switched to bidding by impresssion and then set a lower CPM threshold.

And like magic..2x impressions, 2x clicks, half the CPM. 

So just like manual bidding on CPC...starting to walk down bid for CPM and see where this goes but it's crazy to me the difference. 

I think though for this to be something you can steal/use you have to have a healthy budget of at least $75/day because just like with manual CPC bidding you can't have a daily budget less than your bid and with CPM bidding it might not make sense to be bidding $10-$50/day in most cases because typical CPM might be $50-$150 so daily budget should match as well. 

Well, that's it for today - just sharing what we are learning and how things are shifting.

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

Shocking study - only 1 in 50 apps that were “vibe coded” by LinkedIn creators 3 months ago are still being used in any way shape or form today.

And this includes the 38,000 people that commented “vibe” to get access to said vibe coded apps. 

None of those people are actually using any of these apps.

But it felt cool in the moment yea? 

I’ve learned over the years that there is a pretty massive difference between what LinkedIn creators say they are doing… and what actual reality is.

These fantasy funnels that look amazing but have never actually been used/tested.

Ai army of 50 agents that replaced a non existing 500k team… even though the poster is a solo founder who’s never even led a team of 10 yet.

Vibe coded apps that saved the poster “hundreds of hours” when really it cost them a hundred hours to make and saved them 30 min on a task they then only used the app for 3 times….

Reality is that it’s still a brutal proving grounds in the market and these “hacks” won’t save you.

Sorry to break it to you but here is the “hack”

1. Know what makes you actually different / unique - own it 

2. Know your targeting - and map out what pockets of that you have to r biggest advantage 

3. Leverage paid search and LinkedIn as a core motion to create and capture demand - google for in market traffic and LinkedIn to qualify and convert that traffic and layer intentional account targeting and insights 

4 organic + paid is where it’s at. LinkedIn organic amplified by thought leadership paid side is soooo powerful 

Don’t sleep on the demand gen motion - it’s a powerful inbound motion 

5. Use AI to amplify and save time from your current activities before trying to do anything crazy or super new 

6. Its not your job or of any benefit to you or anyone else to go around flagging posts written by ai - I’m more worried about all the posts written by morons

Stay tuned for more hot garbage tips

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

Founder & CEO @ Impactable | B2B LinkedIn Ads Partners | Paid Ads + Demand Gen + AI + Audiences

Marketing Leaders and Founders are getting SCAMED by AI SEO tools/agencies right now - Here's my short educational PSA

1. First of all - 9 out of 10 LLM tools are just monitoring tools. Take a look as you're evaluating them.  Most will have some cool looking chart that shows how many impressions and clicks to your website you're getting from LLM. 

A. Note - your basic free Google analytics will show you this for free. (no joke, it's just there for free)

B. Almost all of these tools are just showing you the numbers...there is basically nothing there for you to actually improve the numbers...and again you can see that for free in your basic web tools you already have. 

2. 7 out of 10 AI SEO experts are posting on my feed saying that they have a list of things that seem to work but the rankings change weekly , it's not stable enough to actually predict, and the sites being pulled from is shifting dramatically from month to month. 

A. This means most seem to just have best guesses - mostly best of lists, comparisons, and publishing accross more channels like reddit, LinkedIn, website, youtube etc.  (so you know..the basics of content distribution)

B. Moving away from traditional blogs and pivoting to using articles to answer real humans questions and in a real human way vs keyword chunking for the robots...ok so big pivot here is stop writing for robots....any one who was still doing this last year was likely headed to the graveyard anyway and AI should'nt have been the catalyst for this change. 

3. Another cool shift I'm seeing is that 3 out of 5 AI SEO experts on my feed are also now just saying AEO is basically not a thing and that it's just SEO, Brand, and Distribution... really just creating more questions than answers. 

4. Traffic trade off - Another fun fact just to keep in mind. 100% of companies who had strong organic traffic and SEO now have traffic from LLMs. 

SEO traffic dropped by 40%
LLM Impressions appeared

These are not two separate things you realize right?

LLM traffic isn't exactly a net new touchpoint that didn't exist before...the same article you published a year ago lost organic impressions and gained LLM impressions - the same user is searching for the same thing and finding your content in a different way in many cases. 

That's a big distinction. 


Here's my advice

1. AEO is real but it's new and evolving and I'd be very skeptical of any tools/experts you are thinking about hiring - most don't actually have it figured out and will actually tell you that when you ask how they can prove action to result. 

2. Don't worry about LLM traffic if you don't have basic SEO foundations and content distribution in place. 

If you think you should skip SEO and go straight for LLM visibility...just no...that's not how this is going to work. 

The #1 best way to show up for LLM is still just having foundational SEO and content distribution (and content written for humans).

Marketing leaders should have HILLS THEY DIE ON. 

If you don't have strong POV's worth fighting for...you're an order taker not a marketing leader which is ok, but let's just be real. 

I know this might sound tough but as an agency owner and someone who's worked with hundreds of marketing leaders and have seen soooooooooo many marketing leaders fired....certain patterns emerge. 

1. Companies that play it safe with marketing are wildly less efficient than they could be. It's strange in marketing but being "safe" is often the most dangerous thing you could do. 

If you're a marketing leader who's faking it till you make it and your goal is to mimic what bigger players are doing..you've already lost and your org and your career will suffer. 

If you as a marketer don't like to have strong opinions or make constant strategic bets...that's fine - settle into a mid-level support role and support someone with a strong POV. 

Most ogs can't win by playing the same game massive orgs do...they have to create space and advantages where they kind find it and take some risks/bets on messaging, positioning, channels, audiences. 

Making bets and then tracking data to prove/pivot is what great marketers tend to do. 

2. Who's responsible for the results?

If you're an order taker, and can't/won't override leaderships opinion on marketing paths...then just make it very clear (and in writing preferably) that you are not responsible for marketing results..just project management. 

Problem is no org would ever accept this...the marketing leader owns results...which means if you order take and go down the wrong path..you get fired...as you should honestly.

I say this from personal experience from being fired (as an agency) dozens of times when we made the mistake of letting clients dictate strategy and then being fired for the poor result. 

As we should have been fired...clients should go to an agency either for pure execution and clear ordertaking (staff aug model) or they should come for a strong POV and guidance...and then actually take that advice or wrestle with it together so we can test/bet/learn together. 

That's how great marketing seems to get done. 

Pressure builds, leaders either shrink in the shadows or step forward with their bold bet....they take the chance to seize glory....and own the responsibility to own failure...to learn from it, and make the next move. 

The good ones fail fast and are constantly learning/growing/testing. 

And honestly...if you're in a place where you can't be bold/creative or take risks without support or feeling like you'll be fired...start looking for another role

Just another fun marketing rant from my view looking in. 

I have a ton of respect for marketing leaders on the battlefield in 2026...it can be brutal, and fun, and exhausting, and rewarding.

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

Here's how to PROVE LINKEDIN ADS ROI to Leadership
5 ways Marketing Leaders can prove LinkedIn Ads is working 👇 

First, the reason a post like this is even needed is that LinkedIn probably the hardest channel to show value to leadership and often thought of as "a hard nut to crack". 

Here's why:
1. Last click attribution will never give LinkedIn enough credit because all the demand that LinkedIn creates is often finally captured by google organic or paid search when they are ready to buy and LinkedIn won't get credit

Meaning - Someone could come in through paid search click, then see 27 ads on LinkedIn over 90 days and interact 15 times and then search for your company by name when it's time to convert...and google will take the credit. 

2. Hubspot and most CRM's are viewed by leadership as "source or truth" but are terrible attribution tools and mostly credit last touch or direct UTM paths only. 

Meaning...in the example above they originally entered your website via google UTM and then interacted natively with LInkedin ads and then came back to the website via google organic...so LinkedIn won't get credit in most org models. 

Example 2 - Say the LinkedIn ads work really really well and they convert directly..sort of. Typically they'd click on the company logo on the ad, check out your company page, then click "visit website" from there entering into your website in what looks like direct traffic (going to company page remove the Linkedin ads utm so it now just looks like direct traffic no paid ads utms)

3. LinkedIn is where you build trust and accelerate deals...not capture intent. 

This is a big distinction - It's a fundamental flaw to try to compare SEO and paid search by the same metrics right?

Google ads is transactional
SEO is long-term momentum building play

LinkedIn is more like SEO - it's not some transactional channel  capturing demand that already exists..it's the channel that helps create, accelerate, and channel demand...and that can't be tracked the same way as google. 

So how do we actually defend it instead of just rolling over and killing the channel we know is likely working. 

A. CAPI + Conversion Tracking - fight like hell for channel attribution. 
-Setup up conversions for key page views, form submissions, and call bookings. You can't rely on CRM or traditional tools to track LinkedIn ads influence

-CAPI (LinkedIn's conversion API) is a great way to funnel offline events back to LinkedIn 

B. LinkedIn native company hub - big upgrade last year from LinkedIn- you can now see the exact accounts exposed to and engaging with your ads. 

See actual accounts in your funnel, gaining influence, and penetration/heatmap of your ABM upload. 

But tell me...how do you prove LinkedIn ads ROI???

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

How to PROVE LINKEDIN ADS ROI to Leadership - Part 2.
(See yesterdays post for part 1)

Short version of yesterday's post. 

A. Last click attribution will never give LinkedIn enough credit 
B. Hubspot and most CRM's are viewed by leadership as "source or truth" but are terrible attribution tools 
C. LinkedIn is where you build trust and accelerate deals...not capture intent. It's a middle and bottom of funnel hero and signals command center

Now to the good stuff...how can you prove value of LinkedIn ads to leadership? Where to look??

1. Channel attribution - fight like HELL to get conversion tracking and CAPI (conversion API to upload offline conversions )
-Key page views - leading indicators
-Form fills on site
-Call booking (use CAPI)

Frustration of course is you won't be able to match back to the actual person...but knowing/seeing the channel influence can help

2. LinkedIn Company Hub - Props to LinkedIn for rolling out this great update in 2025 - you can now see the EXACT ACCOUNTS exposed to and engaging with your LinkedIn ads. 

Go in there and filter by uploaded list or by campaign and sort by highest impression/clicks to give leadership a heat map of the accounts LinkedIn is influencing and touching..if these look like great accounts and they are moving through stages from unaware to aware to engaged...that's a great thing to show. 

3. CRM Sync to see LinkedIn ads influence on pipeline deals - there are a few tools on the market for this. My favorite is DemandSense - basically taps into the LinkedIn API and looks up ad exposure to any deals in your pipeline so you can see (image below what that looks like). 

This is great for closed won deals and current pipeline. 

This ads a great data point for leadership to connect ad efforts to tangible deals. 

Bonus if you can then prove/show that the deals with higher Linkedin influence close faster, are better quality deals, and have bigger deal sizes/value (which tends to be the case). 

4. Self-Attribution - feels old school now but it's foundational - for every call booking/demo ASK THEM HOW THEY FOUND YOU. 

Make it a required ask and leave it open ended (not multiple choice). 

It's crazy to me how many times the CRM will say web, search, google...but prospect says it was LinkedIn. 

That's something no leader can ignore. 

5. Other metrics to track on a macro level

The above are data points but a few things tend to consistently happen when running a good LinkedIn ads program in your ecosystem and a smart marketer can track this and prove on a marketing mix level of what's improving. 

When LinkedIn ads are running correctly
A. Deal velocity tends to improve 
B. Show up rates to calls improves 
C. Close rates improve
D. Deal sizes increase 
E. Cost per qualified or quality lead/demo

What did I miss??

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

If you can't reply to all your own post comments and spend 30 min/day engaging in your home feed.....POSTING MORE WON'T DO ANYTHING. 

One thing you really don't hear enough from the LinkedIn influencers is that posting isn't actually how they get followers and engagers. 

Posting is like 20% of the equation....

So why is that what the influencers focus on the most when they talk about growing on LinkedIn...

Because it's easier to sell...you. 

Said another way....if they were honest with you...you wouldn't give them your money to "build a personal brand". 

So what's the truth?

And this is just my humble/human/flawed/100%correct/jk/ opinion

Here's the secret LinkedIn formula. 

1. 60% engagement 
2. 10% posting quality
3. 10% posting consistency
4. 10% sending targeted connection requests
5. 10% sending targeted dms

The vast majority of what actually helps you become visible, create an engaged following, and drive actual eyeballs to your posts...engaging with others like this is a networking event. 

Rules to live by
A. 90% of those who send you connection requests are trying to sell you...be selective with who you accept. 

Either build your own network (send requests) or get built into everyone else's network (accept requests)

B. Send 10-15 targeted connection requests per day to strategically build your network. 

Start with warm ICP fit profile visitors + company page followers (use Sales Nav to see this)

C. Spend 30 min a day if you can engaging in your home feed and removing anyone who's posts will never give you value (and takes away valuable time you could be spending engaging with those who might have value). 

This does a few things..leans into the human nature of quid pro quo (this for that), and it also tells the algo that those engaging with eachother might want to see the next post published so it increases the number of people your posts show up at top of feed. 

D. Send intro messages to new ICP fit connections - nothing crazy..just introduce yourself and how you could help if/when they have a need. After that just go back to adding value with posts + engagement

E. Use organic to test and then use LinkedIn thought leader ads to amplify and guarantee distribution of your best content to your best warm prospects (website visitors, company page visitors, current pipeline etc)

Just a little hot garbage tip (stole this from minecraft movie...I have a 6 year old) for Linkedin today - nothing special. 

P.S. Stop worrying about if you should even post and if anyone cares..and about all the bigger influencers on here so why bother.....truth is if you have 1k connections and they are actually targeted (you sent the invites)....90% of them have less than 500 connections and their feeds are DEAD...to them..YOU ARE THE MOST VISIBLE EXPERT

Your feed is not their feed

You're not competing against the influencers in your feed.
Your connections don't even know who they are...

IT's IN YOU HEAD. 

Create your own targeted ponds ; )

Still one of the most underrated combo's in B2B 
Google Ads + LinkedIn Retargeting = 20% lower CAC in many cases

This single fact - LinkedIn is the only native ads platform in existence that can see all your website traffic (yes even traffic from Google ads, bing, SEO, organic, paid listing sites...all of it) ...

AND THEN Layer on qualifying filters such as industry, company size, job title or seniority level and job function - distilling your traffic down to just warm ICP fit traffic which is pure gold to target with ads for next 90-days while they are in decision mode. 

And why do we think they are in decision mode?

Because if you have a solid Google ads strategy, then you are targeting high-intent and in-market traffic. 

For us, we are bidding on things like

LinkedIn ads agency
B2B LinkedIn ads management service
LinkedIn marketing experts

These searches have what I call an Intent modifier. 

Agency, service, platform, solution, vendor, provider, expert, partner....words like this tell us the person is looking for someone else to execute vs just educating themselves to execute on their own. 

This type of traffic is usually later on in the buyer journey. 

They are problem aware, solution aware, and looking to now choose the right vendor/solution and you are now in the running. 

That's why Google search traffic is so expensive...because when done right it's pure gold. 

But the harsh reality is that this traffic is not just expensive but highly competitive. The prospect is often visiting 3-4 competitor sites as well. 

Pressure for that landing page and 1st click experience is critical..it's basically you're only shot at the lead. 

But that's exactly where LinkedIn retargeting for qualified visitors changes the story. You now can continue the conversation over the next 90 days when the prospect is likely to make a decision and give them the reasons to choose you. 

Things they might not have seen in their 2 minutes on your site. 

Tell them why you're different
Tell them why they can trust you
Tell them what success with you looks like
Tell them what the experiences of others who worked with you looked like

You do this through digital nurturing with LinkedIn ads campaigns. 

And you do it on the platform that B2B buyers actually log in to be influenced on B2B buying decisions...think about it..that's why we are all here. 

We are here to see what other orgs are doing, what new strategies exist, what tools others are using, what tactics and channels and solutions are helping others win...we WANT to be influenced on things that can solve our challenges. 

That's why this combo works so well...there is really nothing like it. 

And honestly, I'm seeing this is just one piece of the puzzle. There are other multi-channel plays and combos like this that just fit so beautifully together. 

So much so you feel like you didn't even understand how marketing could work until that clicked mentally into place.

TL;DR If you run Google budgets 10-30k+/mo , LinkedIn is no longer a separate experiment. LinkedIn should be a mandatory strategic deployment to prote

Open article: Improve Google Ads ROI 2-3x With LinkedIn Account + Signal Based Retargeting by Justin Rowe • 6 min read

Improve Google Ads ROI 2-3x With LinkedIn Account + Signal Based Retargeting

What happens if you SHUT LINKEDIN ADS OFF TODAY? 
Here's exactly what would happen for most... 👇 

I know a lot of marketing leaders who end up having to defend their LinkedIn ads budget or leadership forces them to shut it down..and they don't quite know how to fight that battle. 

And I get it - LinkedIn Ads is one of the harder channels to prove ROI/Influence to leadership. 

So part of what I think is healthy to understand is what happens when you shut it off...since they don't think it's doing anything or maybe not enough...

Here's what really happens. 

• Immediate (1–2 weeks): committee reach drops. Fewer titles in target accounts see your messaging, so sales gets fewer “warm” conversations and more cold, noisy inbound.

-Small drop in conversions/demos and in quality but that won't be fully visible for weeks more.

• Delayed (4–12 weeks): Google and other high-intent channels convert less efficiently. Demo conversion rates and win rates fall as buyers lack prior exposure and trust.

Cost per conversion start to creep up on Google and ROAS starts to slip. 
You'll also notice in google analytics that your returning visitors numbers starts to drop. You're still attracting new visitors..just not getting the right ones to return as much. 

• Hidden (weeks → months): sales blames search or creative, not the missing upstream influence. Deal size, velocity and pipeline quality degrade subtly and are misattributed.

Why?

 LinkedIn is the upstream qualifier and committee builder: it turns anonymous clicks into identified, fit accounts and builds coverage across decision makers. 

So how can you position/prove this to leadership if needed?

Where to look to prove the effect (and what leadership will actually accept) These are great things to track anyways..sometimes just knowing the direction these are going on a macro level helps us know if we are headed in a good/bad direction. 

• Decision-maker reach in your TAL: % of target accounts where a decision maker was reached.
• TAL penetration: % of target accounts with 3+ impressions or engagements.
• Branded search lift: volume or share of branded queries while LinkedIn is live.
• Qualified conversations / meetings booked that map to engaged accounts.
• Pipeline created or influenced for warmed accounts.


Most of this can be found either in native LinkedIn company hub and dashboard and in a tool like DemandSense that syncs with CRM's like hubspot to show LinkedIn influence on pipeline. 

And all of this is actually only true if you are using LinkedIn retargeting frameworks properly to actually qualify and convert your Search and Website traffic to actually make it an ROI enhancer like it's supposed to be. 

Hopefully this helps someone confidently talk about the value of LinkedIn Ads.

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

Linkedin ads shut off

I could almost GUARANTEE ROI of adding LinkedIn Ads if these are true....
And I'll explain why...and exactly how I'd build it. 

Not to toot my own horn but I believe our agency (Impactable) is responsible for introducing more B2B orgs to LinkedIn ads than any other agency in the world. 

Bold claim I know but I think it's true. 

So much so that LinkedIn even noticed and...

A. We've been invited to attend and speak at multiple LinkedIn Agency Summit's in their New York Office
B. Gotten access to more than $200,000+ in LinkedIn ad credits from our partnership
C. Set to be the first LinkedIn CAPI (conversion API) certified agency in the world. 
D. Participated in LinkedIn's customer advisory board
E. On track to be the first every agency to become agency + ad tech partners of LinkedIn (via our tech arm in DemandSense which is easily the #1 LinkedIn ads optimization tool on the market)

I say all this because introducing B2B advertisers to LinkedIn is something we've gotten damn good at...and part of that is knowing who should NOT be running LinkedIn ads and who should be. 

So here's the simple list and short why

1. Strong Paid Search - 10k+/mo in paid search spend
-This is a strong indicator that you've got high-intent and in-market traffic that you could be doing more to convert

2. Strong organic and/or SEO foundation 
- another warm audience pocket and fuel for LinkedIn middle of funnel plays and intel

3. Website that actually converts some 
- signal that paid traffic won't be a complete waste of money

4. LinkedIn Company Page has 5k+ followers
-Another warm audience pocket to work with
-Signal that your audience is active and reachable on LinkedIn

5. Strong sales motion with SDR/BDR support
-These are bigger deals with longer sales cycles...many orgs find it hard to realize the ROI of LInkedIn leads that require some actual manual effort to convert and stay in front of

Those are the top 5 traits I'd look for...if you have 3+ of these...I'd pretty much guarantee you can get a positive ROI from deploying LinkedIn ads (if done right). 

And honestly...no additional spend. 

Slide 20% of your Google budget to LinkedIn and watch the following happen. 

-Google CPA improve by 15%
-Number of conversion on Google +15%
-Quality of conversion +10%
-Time to close -10%
-Show up rate of leads to demo call +20%
-Close rate of active pipeline +15%
-CAC -10%

Read the full newsletter where I also then show what the 6-month rollout looks like and give away the 20+ deck for the 6-month build...steal it, run it, thank me latter 

Honestly - if you're a marketer looking to introduce LinkedIn to your org and you want a badass launch plan that leadership will buy into...

Shoot me a DM and my team can help build it out for free and help you make the case with your actual numbers.

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

Most B2B companies should not start with LinkedIn Ads. Yes..I'm aware I run one of the largest LinkedIn Ads agencies out there but also why I'm able t

Open article: When LinkedIn Ads Is a No-Brainer (And When ROI Is Almost Guaranteed) by Justin Rowe • 7 min read

When LinkedIn Ads Is a No-Brainer (And When ROI Is Almost Guaranteed)

In B2B Marketing...Humans are still very much influencing big deals (shocker right?)

That was a big takeaway from my conversation with Gabe Larsen, CRO of Signals.

When everything starts to look the same, especially in the age of AI, buyers stop comparing features. They start asking people they trust.

Gabe shared that more and more buying decisions are happening before a demo ever takes place. 

People are leaning on their network, not review sites or feature checklists.

That’s why trust has to be built upstream.

Through real conversations, visible leadership, and showing up consistently where your buyers already spend time. 

The demo just confirms what they already believe.

#B2BMarketing #TrustBasedSelling #ThoughtLeadership #PersonalBrand #Impactable

New Marketing Leaders - Here's Exactly When and How to add LinkedIn Ads to your ecosystem - Time to get that Promotion (or maybe just not get fired)

First thing's First - Who should be running LinkedIn ads or when can you add it and it be pretty low risk/high chance of success? (because no marketing leader wants to strike out with their ideas). 

Quick “LinkedIn Ads Perfect Fit” checklist:
1+ years in market (trust + PMF more likely present)
5,000+ monthly website visitors (warm audience 🔥 )
SEO or organic driving inbound conversions (at least some consistently)
$10k+/mo in paid search or similar paid channels (in-market trafffic to work with)
5,000+ LinkedIn company page visitors (audience active and reachable on LInkedIn)
Conversions happen on the site and you have a sales team + CRM
Willing to run a 90 day test with a minimum test budget

IF some or most of these exist...LinkedIn ads is likely one of the highest impact moves you can make to see quick wins, improved funnel metrics and usually higher ROI for same spend by simply moving weaker pockets of google spend over to LinkedIn. 

In this weeks newsletter I go over the exact criteria that I call the perfect storm that make LinkedIn ads super low risk and then exactly how I'd approach introducing LinkedIn ads and the logic that helps explain it to leadership. 

Take a read and ask any questions!

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

I've noticed a very specific pattern where companies fit a certain criteria that I'm kind of calling "the perfect fit for LinkedIn ads" and when this 

Open article: A Marketing Leader's Field Guide to Launching a Profitable LinkedIn Ads Motion by Justin Rowe • 10 min read

A Marketing Leader's Field Guide to Launching a Profitable LinkedIn Ads Motion

AI ad image + copy analysis AND image variations in less than 60 seconds?????
I'm damn impressed by this. 

This is what I've just got my hands on and am testing - but this is pretty crazy. 

One of the things AI is allowing us to do is aggregate and cross-reference data better and faster and wield it like more powerful weapon than ever before. 

At Impactable we have launched and managed thousands of LinkedIn ad campaigns and that data is now being weaponized to inform on copy and design and it's absolutely going to be a secret sauce of ours and a competitive advantage. 

Our amazing team also has an AI agent that can do competitor research on LinkedIn ad campaigns by visiting their LinkedIn ad libraries and combing through all of their ads and comparing and contrasting all the variables vs benchmarks and top industry performers to spot patterns that would take the best humans weeks to do. 

This is something that got me very excited!

Shout out to some of our Impactable AI OGs - Nemanja Jovanovic Nikolay Titov Anna K. Branko Jovanovic Vladimir Ilić 

We have some big plans in 2026 to use AI responsibly but to weaponize our POV, strategies, frameworks, and aggregated campaign data to fuel better/faster insights for our clients. 

Check yourself before you wreck yourself 😉

If your positioning is off, no channel will fix it.

That was one of the strongest points from my conversation with Oleg Kovalev, CMO of Aspect Health.

Yes, channels still matter. 

But success on any platform comes down to clarity, not activity. 

Oleg is a great example of that. He was able to build meaningful momentum and grow his audience quickly by being clear on who he was speaking to and why his message mattered.

But his bigger point was this.
Channels and assets are secondary. 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴.

He’s seen more startups fail because they didn’t clearly define who they were for and why they mattered, not because they picked the wrong channel or ran out of budget.

Get the positioning wrong and no channel will save you.
Get it right and almost any channel can work.

#B2BMarketing #Positioning #StartupMarketing #LinkedInGrowth #Impactable

Some of the best B2B marketers didn’t start in marketing at all.

That was clear in my conversation with Oleg Kovalev, CMO of Aspect Health.

Oleg started his career in B2B sales, not marketing. 

Within a few years, he moved from sales rep to leading retail sales, helping grow revenue nearly fivefold. 

Eventually, sales and marketing merged into one department under his leadership.

That’s where he fell in love with marketing.

What stood out to me is how much that sales foundation shaped his perspective. 

When you’ve carried a quota, led teams, and driven revenue firsthand, marketing stops being abstract. It becomes deeply connected to outcomes.

Seventeen years later, that blended background still shows up in how he approaches his role today.

#B2BMarketing #MarketingLeadership #SalesAndMarketing #CareerJourney #Impactable

Most orgs think "they have plenty of strategy" - Spoiler alert...they don't
A comment I made to a post saying Orgs just need faster execution from agencies. 

The original post - super smart man who's built multiple businesses and makes the point that orgs are giving this feedback. 

-Agencies move to slow and just want to focus on "stratetegy"
-The orgs believe they have "plenty of strategy" and just need faster execution
-The orgs complain that agencies are taking 3 months to make beautiful strategy and playbooks before doing actual meaningful work
-The orgs say they just need faster execution..just do the work!

Now I 100% believe this is the feedback he's getting from orgs...but let me share my perspective form the agency side. 

1. When most orgs say they "just need execution" and they "have plenty of strategy"...9 times out of 10 what the reality is more like this. 

-They are desperate for leads and are seeing a decline due to lack of great positioning or PMF or clear idea of audience/offer and they need to show leadership some "results"

So the "action" they are looking for is for the agency to throw up some lead gen ads and put the coins in the ol slot machine and get the leads out so they can save their job

But I'm looking at this like...if I do that..and shovel hot garbage leads to save your job...you're still getting fired in 6 months when sales eventually uncovers the hot mess and lack of quality/intent leads your pushing their way. 

2. I'll admin most agencies arn't really that helpful on the strategic front either. They make beautiful decks to mask lack of actual creative thoughts or business accumen. 

They think if you make the reports pretty enough it will kick sand in your eyes and distract you from the truth...that's not how an agency should operate. 

3. I'll also admit that many agencies also are super slow to get their hands in and actually start the work. 

They are often more concerned with looking good and mitigating risk and stretching out the engagement that quick starts and quick action just isn't their priority (and many arn't actually built for it either)


My advice when working with an agency?

Understand who really owns strategy and what it is. 
1. Are you actually clear about how you're unique in the market?
2. Are you actually clear about who you are targeting and why and what their real pain points are and how you uniquely solve?

3. Are you clear about the size of those audiences, what warm and 1st party data exists, and how much budget is needed to accomplish your goals for that audience?
4. Are you clear about what channels to deploy that budget and how to structure it to accomplish those goals?
5. Are you clear on how we'd measure and track progress against those goals?

90% of orgs either arn't super clear on this or have assumptions that need challenged..which means you need a strategic partner...not just execution. 

But also...agencies...get your freaking lives together...giving us a bad name lol

Actual Hot Take.....99% of "Hot Takes" are just garbage click bait with no real POV or anyone who really disagrees with you. 

Take this for example...my hot take here is clearly something you agree with and not controversial at all and yet you feel like you just want to slam the like/share button and scream "this dude get's it!"

And now that I've called it out..you're not sure if you should like this post or ignore it to "put me in my place" ...which is also something that happens here on LinkedIn. 

You see, everyone wants to support you until you actually start being successful and then they think you're overrated and nothing special....

Until you cross that line where the success is undeniable and you clearly have growing support without them...then they finally join back in as it clearly benefits them to be connected to your success and their "dis" clearly isn't negativly impacting you...

That's a crazy thought...creators on here might withhold support to "punish" those they are jealous of but give that up only when they realize they don't actually hold that sort of power. 

My advice?

Content creators on here arn't your demographic...F*k them

Do you and focus on delivering value to your ICP, develop real relationships with other founders in complimentary spaces...and don't get lost in the politics of LinkedIn (or actual politics for that matter...you won't catch me speaking on politics). 

I've been on here long enough to know the game and how to win in the long run - stick with me if you want to learn : )

AI isn’t just another tool. 
It’s becoming a coworker.

That was one of the most interesting takeaways from my conversation with Gabe Larsen, CRO of Signals.

Instead of thinking about AI as something that handles one-off tasks, Gabe is focused on what he calls cloud employees. 

Autonomous, job-based AI that works across channels and owns real responsibilities.

Think less “𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵” and more “𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦.”

In the future, a SaaS company might not be 200 people.
It might be 200 people working alongside 200 cloud employees.

That shift challenges the idea that growth has to mean more headcount.

We’re moving from tool-first thinking to organization-first thinking.

The way companies scale is changing and the ones who adapt early will have an unfair advantage.

Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk
B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f
Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T


#ArtificialIntelligence #AIInBusiness #FutureOfWork #B2BSaaS #Impactable

Marketers are asked to prove impact in ways sales never are.

Sales doesn’t invent attribution.
They don’t design the system.
They don’t debate what “counts.”

The CRM already exists.
Pipeline stages are defined.
Revenue is the output.

Marketing operates very differently.

To prove impact, marketers are expected to:

Learn and master $1k/month attribution tools

Stitch together CRM, GA, and ad platform data

Create custom views and narratives leadership will accept

And somehow make it all feel objective and trustworthy

This is why attribution tools are raising hundreds of millions of dollars.
And yet… attribution is still one of the biggest problems in marketing.

Not because the data doesn’t exist.
But because the structure doesn’t.

A HubSpot report like this one is incredibly insightful - Something cool I built over the weekend looking for additional ways we can show marketing data in ways leadership will trust (and Hubspot/CRM is of course going to get accepted  more than any 3rd party tool/report). 

These reports shown break down opportunities by source (Google vs LinkedIn), then by company size and industry, tells a real story about quality, direction, and momentum.

It was really cool to see in this case that LinkedIn brought in bigger opportunities more constantly and Google search had more sporadic size over time. 

Also super interesting to see which industries seem to be showing higher levels of in-market signals (coming in via google search) vs what industries are being directly targeted on LInkedIn. 

It's possible that this could be a good signal to consider when splitting and prioritizing account lists. 

But here’s the catch:

That story only matters if the organization agrees it matters.

In most companies, marketers don’t just analyze data.
They have to create the narrative, define the rules, and convince leadership to trust it.

And if they don’t?
The marketer gets blamed.
Then replaced.
And the next marketer walks into the same environment with no trusted system to operate inside.

Same problem. New person.

This isn’t a performance issue.
It’s an org design issue.

Sales works inside a structure that already defines success.
Marketing is expected to build the structure while being judged by it.

My conviction:

Either organizations evolve to give marketing a first-class measurement system

Or agencies will increasingly be forced to fill that gap.

Not just by running campaigns, but by creating the attribution, tracking, and reporting framework the business actually operates on.

Until then, marketers will keep doing two jobs:
Driving growth.
And inventing the system that proves it.

Generic GTM is dead → Go to my featured section for actionable GTM insights and elevate your marketing game 🔥| Co-Founder of TACK | Creating the category of People-first GTM 👥| 13+ Years in B2B Marketing 📈

I help B2B companies build go-to-market strategies that prioritize real connection because relationships, not just reach, drive growth.

After 14 years in B2B marketing, I’ve led field marketing, demand gen, community, and influencer programs. I know what works, what doesn’t, and what’s changed.

Too many companies still treat buyers like leads. That’s not how modern GTM works.

I’ve helped 35+ B2B brands shift from transactional tactics to connection-driven growth, building scalable strategies, launching communities, running 30+ webinars, and rolling out on-demand models that replaced bloated in-house teams.

Today, I work directly with brands, founders, and marketers to build go-to-market engines that scale—without the spam.

What I do:
→ Build integrated campaign strategies that drive pipeline
→ Coach creators and brands on influencer marketing
→ Design community-led and field programs that actually work
→ Speak on GTM, content, and creator-led growth
→ Act as a fractional marketing leader or advisor

📚 Author of B2B Influencer Marketing: Work With Creators to Generate Authentic and Effective Marketing (Kogan Page, 2025)

👋 Let’s work together: DM me or visit https://linktr.ee/NickBMarketing

Nick Bennett

In March, I walked away from TACK.

A 7-figure business I co-founded. We crossed a million in revenue in our first 6 months together. I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

I also learned that revenue does not equal pay. Different lesson for a different post.

35+ clients. A book. A community. Two incredible years with Mark.

And honestly? I had no idea if going solo would work.

Everyone has opinions when you make a move like that. Some people thought I was crazy. Some thought I'd be back in a "real job" within 6 months. A few just asked why I'd leave something that was working.

Here's what actually happened:

I had my best year ever.

Not because I scaled. Not because I hired a team. Not because I built an agency.

Because I stayed small on purpose.

9 months in, here's what I learned:

𝟭. 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁.

The first few months were weird. No co-founder to bounce ideas off. No team Slack. Just me, my laptop, and a lot of "what the hell am I doing?"

But then clients started coming. Referrals picked up. And somewhere around month 2, I stopped holding my breath.

𝟮. 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲.

I don't want 10 employees. I don't want an office. I want to do great work with a handful of companies I actually believe in.

That's not a limitation. That's the whole point.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣&𝗟 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.

Yeah, the numbers worked. Better than I expected, honestly.

But the real win? I end my day every day at 4pm. I make it to school pickup. I watched my three daughters grow up instead of watching Slack notifications pile up.

That's the ROI nobody puts in a spreadsheet.

𝟰. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.

I spent 15+ years building a career in B2B marketing. Then I co-founded something. Then I walked away from it.

None of those chapters required anyone's approval. Neither does yours.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵?

Going solo isn't for everyone. Some months are lonely. Some weeks are slow. And there's no one else to blame when things don't work.

But for me? This was the move.

If you're sitting on the fence about betting on yourself, here's what I'd tell you:

You probably already know the answer. You're just scared to admit it.

I was too.

What's holding you back from making your move?

15+ Year B2B Marketing Leader Turned Founder | ABM, Field Marketing & Events, Influencer Marketing & More | DM Me to Learn More

When I was coming up as a marketer, I had nobody to ask.

No mentor. No network. Just Google and a lot of guessing.

I figured it out eventually. But it took way longer than it should have.

Now I get DMs every week from marketers asking for advice. And I love it. But I can't get to everyone.

So I'm trying something new.

Every week, I'll answer a few marketing questions that are submitted. 1:1. Free. No calls. No pitch. No catch.

Whether you're a first-time marketing hire trying to figure out ABM or a CMO wondering why your pipeline dried up, I'll do my best to help.

This platform gave me everything. The clients. The community. The career I have now.

Time to give some of it back.

Drop your question here → https://lnkd.in/eqPW4MD5

I'll tackle as many as I can each week.

Let's see how this goes.

80% of your event ROI happens before your flight takes off.

Most teams obsess over what happens at the event. The booth. The swag. The badge scans.

We obsess over what happens before.

The single most underestimated step? Getting the prior year's attendee list.

No list = No leverage.

That list is how we filter by ICP, pre-book meetings, and personalize every message. Without it, you're just showing up and hoping.

Here's exactly how we run it:

𝟰-𝟲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁:
Before you sponsor anything, ask for a sample of last year's attendee list. This is your filter...if the list doesn't match your ICP, don't waste the budget.

Once you have the full list, build a simple GPT to cross-reference it against your target accounts. It'll score ICP fit, flag priority titles, and surface insights in minutes. No more spreadsheet hell.

𝟮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁:
Send a gift. As a former field/event marketer, I always like going with a spa voucher with a note: "Events are exhausting. Here's something on us to enjoy after."

It's not about the gift. It's about showing you get it before you've even met.

𝟭 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁:
Follow up with specific time slots. "I'll be at [Event]. Free Tuesday 10am or Wednesday 2pm. Where works for you?"

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳:
Skip the booth. Your job is the meetings you already booked.

At a recent MarTech event, we ignored the booth entirely.

Instead:
→ Asked for a sample attendee list before sponsoring
→ Used a GPT to cross-reference against our target accounts
→ Pre-booked 13 meetings with ICP-fit prospects
→ Sent gifts the week before
→ Co-hosted a dinner with another vendor
→ Walked away with 3 new pipeline deals

Meanwhile, the booths around us were scanning badges and giving out frisbees.

Our numbers across events:
• 50-60% response rate pre-event
• Near 100% attendance to booked meetings
• 10+ meetings before we land
• 4-5 new opps added to pipeline per event

And that's before follow-up even kicks in.

The brutal truth?

Most teams treat events like lead gen. We treat them like relationship acceleration.

The ROI isn't in the booth. It's in the prep.

What's your pre-event playbook look like?

Just chatted with an Event Marketer that spent ~$300k on events & conferences in 2025. I had to ask them which one's performed best 👇

"Well, my boss would probably get mad at me for saying this, but we go by gut feeling.
If our sales reps say it went well, we kind of just trust them lol."

I've watched this play out at dozens of companies. Same story.

Team flies to a conference. Scans 200 badges. Dumps them into the CRM. Moves on. Three months later someone asks what pipeline came from that ~$300K spend.

Crickets.

Not because events don't work. Because the data never made it anywhere useful. Here's what breaks every time:

The badge scanner.

You get a name. Maybe a company. A wrong email & phone number. No context. No notes. No way to remember why they mattered.

The CRM black hole.

Leads sit in a spreadsheet for a week. Half get tagged wrong. Half don't make ever make it to the CRM.

The follow-up gap.

By the time sales reaches out, the prospect forgets who you are & they end up going with a competitor. 10 days of silence will do that.

Your event ROI problem isn't an event problem. It's an attribution problem.

Been using Popl. It changed how I think about this entirely.

Scan a badge or business card with a full name & company. Then it enriches the contact automatically. Tags the lead for attribution. Pushes to your CRM with notes.
Sends the follow-up while you're still on the floor.

Every event marketer I show Popl to says the same thing. Where has this been?

The gap was never the event. It was everything between the handshake and the CRM.

Fix that and suddenly you have ROl you can actually point to.

What's your biggest event attribution headache?

Tomorrow I turn 39.

One year from "I'm in my 40s" and I'm not ready.

Before I disappear (birthday + NFL playoffs = zero LinkedIn), 39 things I've learned:

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿:
1. Revenue ≠ pay.
2. Build your network before you need it.
3. People remember how you made them feel, not your title.
4. Titles are rented. Skills are owned.
5. Most meetings should've been emails.
6. You don't need permission to reinvent yourself.
7. Small on purpose beats big by accident.
8. LinkedIn gave me everything.
9. Betting on yourself is terrifying until it isn't.
10. The people who helped me most asked for nothing.
11. Say yes to things that scare you.
12. The loneliness of solo work is real. So is the freedom.
13. Your career is a marathon with a few sprints that matter.

𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲:
14. Your kids don't care about revenue. They care if you showed up.
15. Health is the asset nobody talks about until it's gone.
16. Sleep won. I stopped fighting it.
17. The friends who stay when things suck are the only ones that matter.
18. Time is the only thing you can't make more of.
19. Therapy isn't weakness. It's maintenance.
20. Your 20s: figure out what you don't want. 30s: build what you do.
21. Saying no is a skill.
22. Nobody thinks about you as much as you think.

𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺:
23. Coffee is non-negotiable.
24. Never trust someone who doesn't like dogs.
25. NFL playoffs AND Pats are back? Rough few years since Brady. This one hits different.
26. Marry someone who makes you laugh.
27. Best ideas come in the shower.
28. Stop comparing your chapter 3 to someone's chapter 20.
29. Your gut beats most spreadsheets.

𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗻𝘆:
30. I peaked athletically at 17.
31. Hangovers after 35 are a 2-day event.
32. Still don't understand TikTok.
33. Fantasy football causes more stress than most jobs.
34. Dad jokes are mandatory once you have kids.
35. 39 feels like 38. The math isn't mathing.
36. Youth sports cost more than my first car.
37. 9pm is basically midnight now.
38. I've accepted I'll never fold a fitted sheet correctly.
39. 40 is just a number. A terrifying one. But still just a number.

Go Pats! See you Monday.

Chaos tolerance is an underrated skill that only shows up when things break.

I hired someone once with a perfectly linear career path. Great resume. Steady climb. No gaps.

First time a campaign flopped? They froze.

Couldn't pivot. Couldn't adapt. Just stared at the data like it personally betrayed them.

Meanwhile, the person with three failed startups on their resume? They just shrugged and said "okay, what's next?"

Same problem. Completely different response.

The brutal truth?

Resumes don't tell you how someone handles chaos. They tell you how someone handles success.

And success is easy. Anyone can look good when things are working.

But when the campaign tanks. When the launch flops. When the plan falls apart at 3pm on a Friday.

That's when you find out who you actually hired.

I've stopped looking for perfect trajectories. Now I look for scar tissue.

The person who's been through it. Who's failed publicly. Who knows what it feels like to rebuild from nothing.

Because that person? They don't panic when things break.

They've already been there. They know the way out.

Your next hire's biggest red flag might be a resume with no failures on it.

What's the most underrated skill you look for when hiring?

In my last post, I said revenue doesn't equal pay.

A lot of you asked what I meant.

So here are 9 things I've learned running a solo business that nobody tells you until you're in it.

𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 ≠ 𝗽𝗮𝘆.

You can invoice $50K in a month and take home way less. Taxes. Software. Contractors. That big month shrinks fast.

The flip side? I run at insane margins now because I have almost zero overhead. No office. No employees. Barely any software.

From April to December 2025, I spent $550 total on business expenses. Five hundred and fifty dollars. I use what my clients have when working with them versus needing my own stuff. I don't even have a CRM haha. 

That changes everything.

𝟮. 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 ≠ 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻.

With Mark, we hit $100K-$150k months sometimes. Still felt stretched thin. Growth adds complexity. More clients = more deadlines, more deliverables, more stress.

Bigger isn't always better. Sometimes it's just bigger.

𝟯. 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲.

I don't have a website. Not joking. No landing page. No funnel. No email sequence.

Just this platform. Six years of showing up here. That's it. Oh, and a Linktree, I guess.

𝟰. 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿.

I've never sent a cold email. Never ran ads. Never hired a BDR.

Inbound just finds its way to me. That's not luck. That's 6 years of compounding. Showing up when nobody was watching so I don't have to chase when it matters.

𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹.

No one to riff with. No one to blame. No one to celebrate the small wins with.

I miss having a partner to bounce ideas off. Some weeks are just quiet.

𝟲. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Inbound exploded before I had systems. I was taking money and figuring it out live.

Great for speed. Terrible for sanity.

𝟳. 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 ≠ 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.

Even when things are going well, it's hard to sit still. There's always another idea. Another project. Another thing to chase.

Learning to enjoy the win is harder than getting the win.

𝟴. 𝗡𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.

People ask how's business and expect a number. But the number doesn't tell them if you're happy. If you're present for your kids. If you're burning out.

The life you build matters more than the number you hit.

𝟵. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁.

All of the above is true. And I'd still choose this every time.

I end my day at 4pm. I make school pickup earlier if needed. I work with people I actually like.

That's the ROI nobody puts in a pitch deck.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵?

Running solo isn't passive income and laptop lifestyle. It's real work with real tradeoffs.

But if you design it right, it's the best job you'll ever have.

What's the one thing about running your own thing that surprised you most?

Most pre-event playbooks assume you have an attendee list.

You don't.

Unless you're a sponsor or exhibitor, nobody's handing you a spreadsheet of who's coming. So you build it yourself.

Here's exactly how:

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 (𝟯 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁)

→ LinkedIn search "[Event name]" and filter by your ICP titles. People post "see you at [conference]!" constantly.
→ Check the speaker list and sponsor list. Those companies are definitely sending people.
→ Search the event hashtag on LinkedIn and X.
→ Look for an event Slack or community app where attendees introduce themselves.
→ Ask your sales team who they want to meet.
→ DM 5 people in your network: "Who else is going to X?"

Target 20-30 people. Not 500.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁 (𝟮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁)

$25 coffee card. That's it.

Message:
"Hey [Name], saw you're heading to [Event]. I'll be there too. Would love to buy you a coffee and hear how you're thinking about [specific challenge]. No pitch. Just a conversation."

Coffee cards, DoorDash, lunch vouchers. Small and useful wins.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 (𝟭 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁)

Short message with 2-3 specific time slots:
"Still on for [Event]? I'm free Tuesday 10am or Wednesday 2pm. Happy to meet wherever works."

No response? One more nudge 3 days before. Then stop.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 (𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳)

Skip the booth. Your job is the meetings you already booked.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 (𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿)

People who showed: Thank-you note + next step.
People who didn't: "Sorry we missed each other. Here's a coffee on me anyway."

That second group converts more than you'd think.

Total cost: ~$500
Meetings booked: 15-20
Pipeline created: More than most $50K booths.

What's your pre-event play?

Yesterday I mentioned using a GPT to cross-reference event attendee lists against target accounts.

A bunch of you DM'd asking how.

Here's the exact setup. Copy it.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆

You need two CSVs:
→ Attendee list (name, title, company minimum)
→ Target account list (company name, tier, target titles)

Clean both first. Standardize company names (Salesforce vs Salesforce.com will break matching). 10 minutes here saves hours later.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗣𝗧

Go to ChatGPT → Explore GPTs → Create.

In the instructions, paste this:

---
You are an event prospecting assistant. When I upload an attendee list and target account list:

1. Match attendees to target accounts by company name (fuzzy match for "Inc" vs "Inc.")

2. Score ICP fit (1-5):
   - Title: C-suite = 5, VP = 4, Director = 3, Manager = 2, IC = 1
   - Department: Marketing/Sales/RevOps = 5, Ops/Finance = 3, unrelated = 1
   - Account tier: Tier 1 = +1, Tier 2 = +0, Tier 3 = -1

3. Flag priority contacts (4+) with ⭐

4. Output: Name | Company | Title | ICP Score | Priority Flag

5. Summarize: Total matches, priority contacts, recommended outreach order
---

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱

Selling to engineering? Swap department relevance:
→ Engineering/Product = 5, DevOps = 4, IT = 3

Enterprise only? Add:
→ "Exclude companies under 500 employees"

The GPT is only as smart as the criteria you give it.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗶𝘁

Upload both files. Ranked list in under a minute.

Pro tip — ask follow-ups:
→ "Which Tier 1 accounts have no attendees?"
→ "Who should I prioritize if I can only meet 10 people?"

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: 𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁

4s and 5s: Gifts + personalized outreach. Book before you land.
3s: Add to nurture. Don't force it.
1s and 2s: Skip entirely.

20 minutes to set up once. 2 minutes per event after.

What's your ICP criteria? Drop it below and I'll tell you how to tweak the prompt.

Your CRM is misleading you.

Not maliciously. Just slowly. One outdated email at a time.

I've seen it happen at every company I've worked with. You build a beautiful segment. Launch a campaign. Get excited about the targeting.

Then 6 months later you realize half those contacts have changed jobs. A quarter have duplicate records. And your attribution is telling you stories that aren't true.

The worst part? You don't even know it's happening.

This is what CRM data decay actually looks like for marketing:

𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘁.
That ICP segment you built last year? It's not the same people anymore. Titles changed. Companies merged. People moved. But your CRM still thinks they're the same contacts.

𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘆.
When one person has 3 records in your CRM, which one gets credit? All of them? None of them? You're making decisions based on data that's fundamentally broken.

𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.
You think you're reaching decision makers. You're actually emailing people who left months ago. And nobody flags it because the emails don't hard bounce.

The brutal truth?

Manual cleanup projects don't fix this. They just hit pause on the problem.

You clean everything up. Feel great for a month. Then the decay starts again. Because every new tool, every enrichment source, every signal layer you add creates duplicates, conflicts, and more mess.

The answer isn't more rules. It's a different approach entirely.

You need an identity layer that sits outside your CRM. One that continuously resolves who someone actually is. Merges the duplicates. Verifies the emails. Treats your CRM as context, not the source of truth.

It's one of the reasons I've been spending time in Common Room lately. Open any contact and you see multiple CRM records rolled into one person. Verified emails. Merged identities. It changes how you think about routing, outreach, and trust.

Because if your data isn't trustworthy, everything else breaks.

Before workflows. Before AI. Before scale.

How are you handling CRM data decay on your team?

#CommonRoomPartner

Most B2B influencer programs fail because they chase attention.

What should you do instead?

Pursue trust.

At the DemandShift Summit, I’ll break down 5 Steps to Build Pipeline with B2B Influencers.

It’s the exact framework I’ve used to build programs that turn creator partnerships into actual revenue.

You don’t need more reach. You need the right people saying the right things to the right audience.

Grateful to Logan Lyles for inviting me to share this.  Hope to see you there.

To make that happen, just grab the link in the first comment down below.

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The Battle

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