Local World Inc.

Client acquisition and business development, targeting mid-market and Fortune 1000 companies across the U.S.

Facilitate recruitment efforts to meet client requirements in support of their SAP, Salesforce and ERP initiatives.

Foster deep relationships with key stakeholders by delivering critical SAP and Salesforce talent in support of digital transformation objectives.

Act as a trusted advisor by leveraging massive technology network in support of strategic initiatives for clients, consultants, partners and team members.

Partner and Channel Lead - Business Development | SAP & Salesforce Contract Recruitment

Connect to Evolve 

We are all programmed for progress – it’s in our DNA. In the SAP / ERP world, this means connecting the market’s best talent with its most innovative clients to facilitate personal and professional evolution.

Local World builds the bridge between trusted ERP / CRM resources and those clients transforming their ERP landscapes to thrive in the digital age. 

As a client, choose from our pre-qualified, national talent pool of SAP Trusted Advisors on both a temporary and permanent basis. 

As a candidate, cut through the noise and find the role that will truly transform your career. 

We’ve raised our expectations. Isn’t it time you raised yours?

Managing Partner

Strategic Account Partner

Reutax Corp.

• Reutax Corp. is the U.S. subsidiary of Reutax AG, a privately held Professional Services and Consulting firm headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany.  

• With a pool of over 100,000 candidates globally, Reutax employs over 300 internal employees in the areas of sales & recruiting, human resources, finance, IT, and marketing in 9 different countries spanned across three continents and is currently planning further European and US locations, along with developments in South America and Asia.  

• Key Account Manager - North America

• Developing and Managing Current / New Contracts for SAP Professional Services Placement

• Taking a Consultative Approach to Placing High Level IT Consultants for SAP / Oracle Configurations and Development

Key Account Manager

Interprise software solutions, Inc

•  Account Manager / Business Development

•  Assistance in many areas of business development, including sales, administration, partner management, training, etc.

•  Work directly with the Executive Management Team to seek and gain new avenues of business

•  Acted as a Liason between Executive Level Management, Clients, the Development and Sales Teams Located in Philippines.  

•  Assistance with Process Improvements, Implementations, Partner Management, and Administrative Documentation.

Business Development Manager

DATAVO Communications

•  Acted as an Account Executive bringing in new accounts in the greater Los Angeles area through cold calling, prospecting, and partnering / networking with vendors affiliated with telecommunications.  

•  Worked closely with the Managing Director to map out sales strategies increasing overall team performance.

•  Acted as team lead for new associates, training in the field, and assisting in the close for new accounts.

Account Executive

Celtic Leasing Corp.

•  Managed entire sales process from cold call to close.  Worked with C-Level Executives to provide Lease Financing for Capital Equipment ranging from Desktop Computers to Medical Equipment.

Campbell-Ewald

• Full-Time, Paid Intern

• Campbell-Ewald is a full service Advertising Agency for both the Public and Private Sectors.

• Acted as Account Coordinator.  Participated in brainstorming, routing ads for approval, communications between account management and creative departments to ensure advertisements were delivered on time and under budget.

• Print & Digital Media for National City Bank, GM, XM Radio, Trip Rewards, Navy, and AC Delco.

• Extensive exposure to the creative process from round table meetings to Ad Placements. Worked directly with the Account Management and Creative Teams to meet deadlines.

• Assisted with organizing and presenting new ad campaigns to clients for approval.

Account Coordinator - Full-Time Intern

Helping hiring managers get the best SAP & Salesforce Talent the market has to offer | Taking SAP & Salesforce Recruiting to the next level for our growing list of clients

Struggling to find qualified, platinum level consultants, project / program managers, architects, etc for your digital transformation objectives?

Looking to build a strong and stable Center of Excellence for your SAP, Salesforce or IT environment?

Feeling over leveraged by your chosen Systems Integrator?

Having trouble building high performing SAP, Salesforce or IT teams? 

Struggling with navigating your internal recruitment process to get the best talent the market has to offer? 

Planning your S/4HANA journey and need helpful insights on how to navigate getting talent onboard within your organization to make it a success?

Let's Talk!

Who am I?

Founding Partner of a fast growing SAP and Salesforce focused Recruitment and Professional Services Firm delivering the absolute best talent the market has to offer.

What do we do?

Our focused efforts and dialed-in process for delivery has helped our growing list of clients meet their project specific goals and hiring needs for Contract, Contract-to-Hire and Permanent Requirements.

How do we do it?

Our rigorous qualification process includes a 14 point qualification, extensive screening, assessment of skill set to match requirements, and completed references prior to any of our resumes hitting the desks of our clients. This process eliminates many of the hurdles that our clients face in finding the proper talent for their challenging projects. 

What brought me here?

With a background in ERP Software Solutions and a complex understanding of business processes in the Information Technology capacity there's nothing I love more than working with people. There is no greater satisfaction than finding the right person, the right project while delivering on our promise to support our clients in their digital transformation initiatives.

What is my mission?

Networking and building relationships with IT Executives and Consultants is my specialty.  I take great pride in assisting SAP, Salesforce and IT Leadership Consultants in finding work that fit their qualifications by building quality relationships with Executives and Hiring Managers, understanding their greatest challenges to hiring the right people into their team and delivering.

Why we should talk?

If you're in the planning phase or in the heat of a Digital Transformation and you're worried about having the right partnerships in place to engage just in time staffing for your critical objectives and milestones, I know that a conversation will bring value to you.

Ping me and we can setup a discovery call that will support your goals.

Matthew Frieling

Where SAP Programs Start Drifting Long Before Anyone Notices

Every troubled SAP program has a moment when things begin to drift.
It almost never starts with a major event.
It begins quietly, in places that do not get much attention.
And by the time leaders notice the symptoms, the root issues have already spread.

Picture a program where everything looks fine on paper.
Config is progressing.
Workshops are closing.
Status reports show green.
Leadership feels confident.
The SI is pushing ahead and keeping momentum.

But below the surface, small cracks begin to form.

📌 A business decision gets delayed because the right people were not involved.
📌 A design choice works for the project team but creates long term pain for operations.
📌 An integration dependency shows up, but nobody circles back to validate the impact.
📌 Data ownership between the client and the SI is blurry.
📌 Functional teams assume another group is handling a critical detail.

None of these cracks are dramatic.
They live in side conversations, task trackers, and the natural urgency to stay on schedule.

But little issues grow.

🔶 The business starts losing clarity on how future processes will actually work.
🔶 Functional leads feel pressure to accept design decisions they do not fully agree with.
🔶 Testing becomes the moment when hidden problems finally surface.
🔶 Leadership begins to feel surprised instead of informed.

By the time this drift becomes visible, it is often expensive and extremely disruptive to fix.

This is why top performing SAP programs make a key decision early.
They bring in independent experts whose only focus is protecting the client’s interests.

Strong independent SAP leaders can spot misalignment before it becomes a problem.
They slow down confusion before it speeds up risk.
They make sure decisions are made with business clarity.
They connect teams that have started to work in silos.
They keep the future state aligned to reality, not assumptions.

✨ This protects timelines.
✨ It protects quality.
✨ And it protects the client’s long term ownership of the solution.

Local World supports this approach by helping clients bring in independent SAP talent that sees issues early and keeps the program steady before drift becomes damage.

Why SI-Led Testing Misses Real Business Risk

Most SIs test to prove the system works.

But your business needs testing that proves your world works.
Here’s what usually gets missed when the SI owns testing:

➡️ Real business scenarios
They test what they built, not what you actually do.

➡️ Cross-team handoffs
SIs test by module… your users work by process.

➡️ Edge cases
Discounts, exceptions, approvals, corrections, returns… the messy stuff.

➡️ Business risk prioritization
 The SI sorts defects by “severity.”
Your world sorts them by “impact.”

This is why so many teams get to UAT and realize:
 
“Wait… we never tested how we actually run the business.”

👉 An independent testing lead fixes this by bringing your business reality into the center of the test strategy.

How Early Design Choices Turn Into Hidden Technical Debt 🚧 

One of the biggest risks in any SAP program is the quiet moment when a design decision gets made without the right voices in the room.

It might feel small at the time.
A shortcut to keep momentum.
A compromise nobody pushes back on.
A detail that gets labeled as “to be refined later.”

But these little choices can turn into long term technical debt that follows the business for years.

Imagine a team debating how a core pricing rule should work.
The SI recommends a structure that is easier for them to deliver.
The business has concerns, but they are not fully represented during the decision.
To keep the project moving, the team approves it.

Months later, during testing, the downstream impacts appear.

🔸 Sales cannot maintain pricing without IT help
🔸 Finance struggles to reconcile numbers from multiple streams
🔸 Custom workarounds get introduced to fill the gaps
🔸 Enhancements pile up before the system even goes live

What felt like a small decision becomes a long term burden.

This is where independent SAP architects and functional leaders make a huge difference.
They look beyond the build and ask how the decision will hold up after go-live.
They challenge quick answers.
They push for clarity in the process design.
They consider how the business will actually use the system every day.

Their goal is simple.
Protect the client from inheriting a solution that becomes more expensive and harder to maintain with each passing quarter.

✨ Clean design is not just good practice.
✨ It is risk prevention.
✨ It is cost prevention.
✨ And it is culture protection because nothing hurts morale like a system that fights the business instead of helping it.

Local World supports this approach by connecting clients with independent SAP talent who protect design integrity from the beginning, not after the damage is done.

The Hidden Cost of Skipping Real Change Management

One of the quietest risks in SAP programs is weak change management.
On paper, it looks like a communications plan, some training sessions, and a few newsletters.
But real change management is much deeper than that.
It decides whether the new system becomes part of the business or something the business constantly fights.

Picture a team rushing toward go-live.
The SI is focused on configuration and delivery.
Technical teams are burning through defects.
Leadership is asking for cutover plans.

Meanwhile, the business is still trying to understand what is coming.

People know their old processes, but they don’t fully understand their new ones.
They have seen demo slides, but not real end to end flows.
They have been trained on transactions, but not on how decisions will change.
They are aware of deadlines, but not entirely sure what their new responsibilities will be.

This gap creates real cost.

📌 Resistance that shows up late
📌 Defects that stem from misunderstanding, not design
📌 Workarounds that become permanent habits
📌 A system that looks ready but is not truly adopted

This is where independent change leaders make a huge impact.

They walk the halls. They listen to concerns that never make it to a status report.
They translate the new process into business reality.
They push the project to explain decisions in plain language rather than technical terms.
They build confidence rather than compliance.

Their influence is subtle, but the results show up everywhere.

⭐ Smoother business readiness
⭐ Stronger user confidence
⭐ Fewer escalations at go-live
⭐ Faster stabilization
⭐ A culture that feels prepared, not blindsided

Local World supports clients by connecting them with independent change and training leaders who protect the human side of transformation, which is often where the real success is determined.

Why SAP Programs Fail When Clients Don’t Control Their Talent Mix

There’s a pattern that shows up in SAP programs across every industry.

A company kicks off a transformation. The SI brings a polished methodology. Teams look full. Everyone feels confident.

Then something shifts.
Timelines slip.
 Scope grows quietly.
 Quality gets uneven.
 The business feels unheard.
 Leadership gets surprised instead of informed.

Most people blame complexity or change resistance... But there’s a deeper reason that rarely gets talked about.

The client never controlled the talent mix.

When the SI supplies almost everyone, the program naturally leans toward what the SI is measured on, delivery speed, scope progression and hitting milestones on paper. 

That isn’t wrong, BUT it just isn’t the same as what the client cares about.

Clients care about long-term ownership, clean data, adoption, stability, and a system that won’t collapse under real-world use.

Those priorities need their own voice in the room.
If the client doesn’t build that voice into the team design, no process in the world will fix it later.

Here’s what actually keeps SAP programs balanced:

👉 Client-side leaders with the authority to set direction
👉 Independent specialists who protect business outcomes
👉 SI teams that focus on execution instead of self-review
👉 A talent structure where no single group controls the entire narrative

When these pieces are in place, everything works differently and risks surface earlier.

Design choices get challenged before they become technical debt. Testing feels real instead of rushed.

Go-live becomes a transition, not a rescue mission.

Most importantly, leadership gets a clear view of what’s really happening.

Local World supports this approach by helping clients bring in independent SAP experts who keep the program anchored to the client’s goals. Quietly. Professionally. Without noise.

This is the start of a bigger conversation about building balanced delivery teams.

What does your SAP talent mix look like? Are you owning your digital transformation?

When One Team Controls the Whole Story  😬 

When a single delivery team controls requirements, design, testing, and sign-off, the client eventually loses visibility into what’s real and what’s assumed.

Risks get softened and with time, the scope shifts slowly. Delays get reframed as “tradeoffs.”

No one is misleading anyone. The story is simply being told from one perspective.

When there is an independent voice at the table, you get:

↳ Clearer transparency
 ↳ More grounded expectations
 ↳ Alignment based on actual progress, not optimism

It’s not about challenging the SI.

It’s about protecting clarity and your company's objectives.

👉 Local World helps organizations place independent SAP leaders who ensure transparency stays intact from kickoff to go-live.

What Happens When the SI Is the Only Voice in the Room 🗣️ 

Imagine a steering committee meeting on a large SAP program.
The SI presents updates. A lot of green. A few yellow boxes. No reds. Everything looks fine on the surface.
But once the meeting ends, the whispers start.

Testing feels rushed.
Data issues keep resurfacing.
Design choices were made without business input.
Cross functional impacts are unclear.
People sense friction, but they can’t fully explain it.

This is what happens when the SI becomes the only voice shaping the story.

It isn’t bad intent... It’s structure.

The SI reports on delivery progress. That is their job. So the narrative naturally tilts toward forward motion. Risks get softened. Problems get packaged as normal. Concerns get redirected toward future milestones.

Meanwhile, the client’s priorities fade into the background.

Without independent leaders in key spots, important areas don’t get the attention they deserve.

⭐ Business readiness
🔍 Real end to end process quality
📊 Data health across all functions
🧩 Integration behaviors that don’t show up on a slide
🧭 The long term sustainability of what is being built

These things rarely show up in an SI dashboard until they have already turned into real problems.

Here is where strong SAP programs separate themselves.

Clients build their own voice.
They bring in independent SAP experts who sit on their side of the table and speak truth early, not after the damage is done.

Then the steering committee hears what it actually needs.
Risk levels get corrected.
Quality gets seen through the business lens.
Timelines get evaluated based on readiness, not hope.
Decisions get pressure tested before they harden.

The room becomes balanced again.

⭐ Local World helps clients strengthen that internal voice by supplying independent SAP specialists who keep the program aligned to business goals and long term success.

When Testing Becomes the Moment of Truth

Every SAP program eventually reaches the point where the system must prove itself.
That moment is testing.
And it is often the first time the business sees what was actually built.

This is where misalignment finally shows its face.

A process that sounded fine in a workshop suddenly breaks when multiple functions try to run it together.
A design that looked clean on a slide fails under real data.
Two teams discover they had completely different assumptions.
A workflow that worked perfectly in a silo collapses when integrated with the next step.

You can feel the tension shift.
Leaders start asking tougher questions.
Business users get nervous.
The SI scrambles to keep the schedule intact.

Testing becomes the mirror. It shows everything.

Here is the part most leaders do not expect.
By the time problems appear in testing, the root cause usually started months earlier.
Somewhere in design.
Somewhere in ownership.
Somewhere in communication.
Somewhere in the talent mix.

Independent testing leadership changes this dynamic entirely.

A strong independent testing lead does not wait for issues to explode.
They validate process clarity during design.
They retire assumptions before they harden.
They challenge handoffs that feel incomplete.
They push for end to end visibility instead of “module by module” thinking.
They make sure data, roles, and integration are part of the conversation early.

This reduces risk long before the first test script is executed.

⭐ Better test scripts
⭐ Clearer scenarios
⭐ Cleaner handoffs
⭐ Realistic business flows
⭐ No surprises that the client cannot afford

Local World helps clients bring in independent SAP testing leaders who focus on what truly matters. Not just proving the system works in theory, but proving it works in the real world.

A Good Reputation

People come to me when they want a brand, messaging, and content marketing strategy that connects with customers and decision-makers on a deeper level. Through storytelling-led marketing principles, I help you nail your positioning, get clear and confident in your messaging, and create a compelling brand narrative that informs all of your content. 

The result is a brand that resonates, messaging that attracts inbound opportunities, and a sustainable content engine that leads to a shorter sales cycle with a warm and aligned audience.

Brand Storyteller & Content Strategist

New Narratives Club

Every year, I get a handful of intentional business owners together in person in a magical location to workshop our businesses, create meaningful connections, and build stuff worth building.

Wanna join? Next one is May 13-16 in Mexico City.

Co-Founder & Host

Ridwell

Created storytelling-led content on Ridwell’s various social media channels that doubled engagement, grew accounts by 300-1,000 new followers a month, drove signups and grew the brand’s presence across markets.

Social Media Marketing Manager

Off the Grid

Ran the marketing department of an innovative and established event startup with a storytelling-led content approach. Biggest wins included: 
 
• Growing newsletter subscriber base by 10K and open rates to 36% from 6% in under 6 months.
• Leading editorial strategy and execution for weekly B2C & B2B blogs that increased clickthrough, engagement & leads by 25% in under 6 months. 
• Growing social media following on IG, FB & TikTok by over 10K in under 6 months and average engagement by 35% year over year.
• Recruiting and managing a team of talented content creation contractors. 
• Leading influencer marketing campaigns that drew over 1M impressions. 
• Launching PR, Partnership, Advertising & Social Media campaigns that doubled company’s revenue year-over-year for community markets and drew an estimated 10,000 people the grand reopening of Off the Grid’s marquee weekly Friday night destination market at Fort Mason Center in 2022.

Head of Marketing & Editorial Content

Taavi

Founded a content startup for mothers that got acquired as the marketing arm of a tech-enabled platform connecting new mothers with community and professional support. In a nutshell:

TAAVI (Takes a Village) is a micro-community platform that connects expectant and new parents in small, intimate chat groups based on lifestyle and location. TAAVI helps families find meaningful friendships, build supportive communities, and get instant access to critical services.

Co-Founder, Head of Marketing & Content

Renee Lynn Frojo

After having a baby, I knew it was time to build my own freelance business. Here's what I did for a handful of amazing companies over the course of four years:

• Researched, wrote and edited strategic SEO-rich content for startups looking to grow brand awareness and engage with new audiences. Clients included Amy's Organic, Bi-Rite Market, Tonal, Ziraffe Store, and Kettle & Fire. 
• Managed a team of freelance and contract writers on behalf of clients. Heavily edited some pretty bad content. 
• Researched and reported stories on a variety of topics within the hospitality, retail and nonprofit industries. Stories appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Business Times, Marin Magazine, SF Weekly, Zagat and the SF Bay Guardian.
• Founded a successful a food blog—www.laurelstreetkitchen.com—and gained a 10K following on IG, which quickly became tiring and lame.

Freelance Content Strategist & Creator

Sun Basket

As a founding team member, I helped build Sunbasket’s website, brand and editorial content. Responsibilities included:

• Building and leading our editorial content strategy across channels. 
• Developing, researching and writing storytelling and  SEO-rich content. 
• Creating and maintaining company’s editorial calendar.
• Managing a team of in-house and remote writers.

Head of Content & Media Relations

San Francisco Business Times

My beats: Restaurants, retail, hospitality, philanthropy and startups. As one does in a newspaper job, I developed original story ideas, wrote breaking news and shot accompanying photographs for daily articles. 
Biggest accomplishment: I helped grow the paper's audience and credibility in the restaurant and hospitality space. I also helped them figure out the social media marketing thing.

Startup & Small Business Reporter

Freelance

I took a gap year to travel the world and did some reporting while I was at it! Published articles on travel and culture in Bay Nature Magazine, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Global Post, San Francisco Business Times and SF Bay Guardian.

Freelance Writer, Editor & Photographer

Atlantic Information Services

Reported on regulatory, business and legal issues concerning the healthcare industry. Got plenty of insight into the disfunction on Capitol Hill.

Editor

The curious content marketer who cares ✨ Partnering with purpose-led small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs to connect through storytelling and collaboration.

My ability to spot a good story is what landed me my first job in journalism. But it was my decade of profiling startups, small businesses, nonprofits and some of San Francisco’s most influential people that taught me how to tell one. 

A move into marketing and another decade dabbling in the creator economy—first with a food blog, then a motherhood magazine—taught me how to use those stories to build communities through content and collaborations.  

Now, my mission is to help purpose-driven people and brands build loyal audiences who don't just want what you offer, but love what you stand for.  

Founders and business owners come to me when they need a strategic storyteller and networked creator. 

The results?

1. A clear brand narrative.
2. A simple, sustainable plan and process for consistently sharing that narrative through content across all channels. 
3. A bank of differentiated ideas pulled from stories and experiences to use everywhere. 
4. A shorter sales cycle. 
5. A community of collaborators.
6. An overall less time-consuming (and more enjoyable) way to do content marketing. 

In short: I help you figure out what you need to say and where you need to say it to develop your brand, find a community of collaborators, and connect with the right people.

Because with so much noise and competition, we all need a reason to care—we need to feel a connection. 

If you can do that, not only will you stand out, you will find exactly where you fit in. 

Ready to get started?

Renee Lynn Frojo ✨

My seven-year-old learned two opposing views of Thanksgiving at school yesterday, and it gives me hope for the future.

Some people, she told me, view Thanksgiving as an opportunity to practice gratitude and celebrate togetherness.

Other people observe it as a day of mourning for the land that was stolen. They see it as a necessary day to protest ongoing oppression. 

I told her that when I was in second grade, I was cutting out paper turkeys on construction paper. 

Then I asked her how she sees Thanksgiving. 

“I guess both can be right,” she said. “It’s just good to understand all perspectives.”

Why can’t adults be this civilized?

They tell you to tell your story. I show you how. 🧡 Brand storytelling & content strategy for creators, founders, solos & startup teams. Ask about my Short-Form Storytelling Workshop for your community or organization.

I’m certain I’ll lose a few of you over this, but I have a confession. About once a year, around this time or in the spring, I consult my psychic. 

Her name is Robyn, and I’ve been talking to her for over a decade. 

Robyn has told me things I can’t explain. She predicted with spectacular accuracy the end of my marriage, the exact day my second child would be born, the place and time I’d buy my first house, and the personality and profession of my current partner. She even named my mom’s weird left foot issue before my mom mentioned it to me.  

And yes, these insights make me feel like I have an ounce of control over what’s coming. But that’s not why I call her.

The times I feel compelled to talk to Robyn are when I’m standing at a crossroads—some turning point in my life or career where I need to make a big decision. One where I already feel the answer in my gut and have accepted the consequences, but am afraid to make the wrong choice.

What I’m really looking for, I now realize, isn’t a prediction. 
It’s permission.

It’s confidence that the answer I want is the one I’ve already decided is best with the information I have.

The funny thing is that when Robyn affirms what I already believe, I go for it without a doubt. And when she doesn’t, I feel even more sure that my instinct is right anyway, despite what she sees in her crystal ball.

I mention this because I think we’re all just looking for permission when we seek advice from anyone. 

Whether it’s a coach, a therapist, a peer, a trusted partner, or successful people who’ve accomplished the things we’re striving for, we’re looking for the confidence to make our move. Or validation that our bet will pay off because it’s paid off for someone else. 

But the truth is that no one can predict the outcome of your choices for you. No one can give you advice that will work for you in the same way it worked for them. 

What we can do is ask questions of each other (and ourselves) that help us figure out what we really want and what consequences we're willing to put up with.

It’s why I’ve built spaces like my retreat and my storytelling community. It’s why I ask more questions than give advice in my newsletter. 

The goal is to give you room to listen to yourself. To pause and reflect. To get out of your head so you can feel confident shaping the story.

So that even if you consult a psychic—or anyone—you’re not waiting for their blessing because you’re already grounded in your own.

One idea that’s changed my life is the belief that everything that happens—including the hardships and tragedies—does not just “happen for a reason.” 

Stuff happens. Then, you can choose to give it a reason. 

You can make meaning out of the mess. You can understand how the things that happened have shaped you or your environment, for better or for worse.

Through this lens, everything that happens to you in life is either a good lesson or a good story. (And the best ones are usually both.)

While it's not always easy to make meaning when you're working your way through the mess, looking for the lesson or the story can give you:

- A greater sense of agency, 
- A deeper understanding of other people, and
- Control over the narrative the world has of you and you have of yourself.

We’ll never be able to control what happens to us, and sometimes it's just random and unfortunate. But we can always choose how the story gets told.

In case you need to hear it today: You can build a fully inbound business without relying on social media. 

I have. And it’s what saves me from feeling like I’m at the mercy of every algorithm change or posting when I’d rather be offline doing the deeper work or engaging with humans in the real world.

While it's true that showing up on social keeps you visible and helps you stay connected with your online community, I've found that investing my time in other activities pays off even more for getting better quality inbound leads. 

They include:
-Podcast appearances where I can just be myself
-Newsletters where I can speak directly to an audience that takes immediate action
-Blogs and other discovery platforms where I repurpose my work
-Guest teaching in communities that house my ideal audience
-Speaking at local live events to build authority
-In-person networking that creates immediate trust
-Referral partners who cross-promote
-Keeping up with past clients who already know, like, and trust me

Some of these bring leads in a day, while some take seasons. But all of them compound.

Social media can be a great discovery platform, but it’s just one place to tell your story. And it's not worth spending all your time here.

So if you need permission to post a couple of times per week while you focus on other high-impact marketing things, here you go. Permission granted. 

Where else can you tell your story that I missed?

My kid with a bad cold, miserable and sobbing because she can't sleep: "Can you give me anything to make it better?"

Me: "Unfortunately, there is no cure for the common cold."

Her: "So they're making robots to replace us, but they haven't invented anything that could solve my actual problems?"

Me: "Sam Altman works in mysterious ways."

Most of us don’t quit because the work is hard. We quit because the work feels empty.

When I left journalism to start my first online content business, I figured the best way to make it sustainable was to build it around something I loved.

So, I started a food blog to marry my passion for storytelling with my passion for cooking.

It took off faster than I expected. Within a few months, I built a large online following, was closing brand deals, and fielding plenty of freelance opportunities to keep me very busy. 

Not only was the work steady, but the hours were flexible and the food was great (if I do say so myself). 

On paper, it looked like every solo entrepreneur’s dream.

But before I even hit year two, I started to feel worn out.

It wasn’t that the hours were long. (The most I put in was 30 a week.) Or that I didn’t enjoy it. (I was getting paid to make food and take pretty pictures of it.)

It was that I didn’t care enough about why I was doing it or why any of it mattered to keep me motivated.

I felt like I wasn’t solving any real problems in the world or making an impact on anyone’s life. It felt kind of…empty.

By building something around my passion, instead of a deep sense of purpose, the work got harder and the hours felt longer.

Now, three years into my fourth go at building a sustainable business, I finally understand that the meaning you give your work plays an oversized role in determining its difficulty. 

And the more you care about the problem you’re solving—and believe in the impact of your solution—the more clarity, creative fuel, and resilience you have to keep going when things get hard.

It’s why a 12-hour day working toward something that deeply matters will energize you, but a 2-hour task on something that feels meaningless will drain you.

For me, that meaning is anchored in helping people connect with themselves so that their ideal audience can connect with their work.

It’s why I built  New Narratives Club as a space to step back from your daily routine, reflect on what truly matters, and get clear on the next chapter you want to write—both personally and professionally. 

(Because, as hard as we try, we can’t untangle the two.)

And speaking this stuff out loud with a group of people who get it helps you see what you’re missing. 

So if you’re feeling drained, stuck, or uninspired by your work, ask yourself: Do I actually believe in what I’m building? 

If not, the problem might not be the work. It might be the meaning you’ve attached to it. 

And my purpose is to help you find it.

Creating content for social media means experiencing every possible emotion about the same post.

Writing it: Genius.
Posting it: Meh.
5 minutes later: Why did I do this?
First comment: Oh thank god.
Analytics: What even is engagement?
24 hours later: We go again.

My 7-year-old just admitted that she doesn’t actually like Christmas very much. 

The day itself is disappointing, she said. There’s just too much buildup and pressure on one day to be special. 

But what she does love are all the rituals leading up to Christmas, like decorating the tree, hunting for the perfect gifts, wrapping presents, and counting down the days on her advent calendar. 

“That’s interesting,” I said after she made her proclamation this morning. “Where’d you hear that?”

“I didn’t hear it anywhere,” she responded. “I just feel that way.”

What she doesn’t realize is that I said those exact words last year after we all had a depressing and disenchanted Christmas Day. 

I tried to make the girls feel better by saying it’s not about Christmas, it’s about all the fun we had preparing and participating in a holiday that, for our family, is about giving and being present together.

So she heard those words, internalized my perspective, and this year made it her own—all without even realizing it.

It made me think about all the opinions, experiences, and perspectives that we all internalize throughout our lives. The stories that other people tell us that become part of our own.

We carry these stories into adulthood, where they shape our worldview and approach to relationships, work, and ourselves. 

Sometimes these stories serve us. But sometimes they don’t.

And the only way to really understand what stories you’re telling yourself that are yours (and still serve you) or someone else’s is to unpack them alongside people you trust and respect.

Examining the stories we tell ourselves from a new lens is just one of the things we do at our New Narratives Club retreats. But it might just be the most transformative. 

If you’re curious about joining the retreat and want a taste of what to expect, we’re hosting a sort of “open house” next week with past and returning attendees. It's for any entrepreneur who wants to make sure the script you're writing for the next chapter of your business is entirely your own. 

Come to listen, ask questions, and—if you’re ready to dive right in—sign up for a hot seat where you’ll have the group’s attention and brilliant minds on your most pressing question or current struggle in business. (I'll drop the signup in the comments.)

And, if you're feeling brave, share a story you've been telling yourself that you're starting to question as your own.

As for my daughter's thoughts on Christmas? Well, all I can do is teach her to keep questioning and exploring how she really feels.

Unless you’ve already cracked the code with tons of engagement and a waitlist full of dream clients, I guarantee you’re either too expert or too elite.

And until you figure out your primary archetype and make some adjustments to position yourself somewhere in the middle, no amount of storytelling will get you both the reach and resonance you might be after.

According to Rob Henderson (who first introduced me to this framework), experts are people who know things, like specialists, beat reporters, or engineers. It's anyone whose credibility comes from technical competence.

Experts tend to be detail-oriented and cautious, and focused more on what’s right than on who’s listening.

Their biggest problem is that they lack reach.

Their work is only as influential as the number of people who understand it, and they tend to talk within their field instead of to the public.

Elites, on the other hand, are people “who move things,” and their mission is to influence people to act.

These are your politicians, executives, media personalities, and influencers. They’re the big-picture thinkers and persuasive communicators who can rally people around a shared goal and tend to shape culture.

But because they depend on status and consensus without any poof to back up their ideas, their problem is that we don’t trust them to deliver.

Here’s why it matters: The people we tend to trust, follow, and hire are often performing both roles at once.

And while it’s a spectrum, most of us tend to lean toward one archetype or the other.

I work with lots of experts who are credible and experienced but virtually invisible. People respect them, but their ideal clients don’t know they exist because their reach is usually limited to other experts.

On the other end, I have plenty of peers who are elites. They're popular and get tons of engagement, but have no real influence that leads to meaningful business outcomes. Without proof that what they’re selling works, we don’t trust them enough to take action.

The bottom line is that to build a brand online (or anywhere), you need to be both right and resonant.

You need to tell stories that inspire and demonstrate your expertise.

You need to build a body of work that not only proves you know something worth hearing, but also communicates it in a way worth spreading.

When I first started building my brand online, I went all in on expertise and managed to capture the attention of peers who respected me, but weren’t buying what I was selling.

Then I swung in the opposite direction (my true nature) with big ideas that got tons of reach, but failed to show the concrete steps or tactical application to help my ideal client understand my process or see proof that it worked.

When I finally understood my primary archetype and shifted to land somewhere in the middle, both my content and my inbound took off.

That's where I am now. My content generates lots of likes and brings in plenty of business.

Where are you?

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The Battle

Matthew Frieling

Renee Lynn Frojo ✨

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taplio

The Battle

Matthew Frieling

Renee Lynn Frojo ✨

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Matthew Frieling's LinkedIn Performance

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