Good Fit Careers

I help people achieve their career goals, navigate complex hiring processes, and make the most of their career transitions. In short, I help people tell their stories then find and land jobs that are a good fit for them.

With the skills and experiences I gained as a headhunter and executive recruiter hiring for companies large and small, I have an informed perspective on what goes into an effective resume, interview, and job search strategy.

I made my first hires as the founder of a college startup. Several years later I ventured into the world of recruiting so I could learn how to hire more effectively. For nearly a decade, companies hired me to hire well on their behalf or to help them build systems and processes to hire more effectively as an enterprise.

With Korn Ferry (NYSE: KFY), as a member of the Global Technology Officer's practice, I hired C-Level Executives for some of the most prominent companies in the world in a retained exclusive executive search format. 

With Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX), I had the opportunity to design a comprehensive hiring process, configure and implement the enterprise applicant tracking system (ATS), and hire the global Chief Technology Officer. After helping to prepare the enterprise to hire at scale, the company executed a successful IPO.

After Cardlytics, I served as General Manager of the Austin division of a headhunting firm where I trained, developed, and provided leadership to a team of 18 technical recruiters who hired for companies like Bloomberg, HBO, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Hulu, and ByteDance.

Executive Transition Consultant | Executive Career Coaching | Career Coaching | Career Coach | Resume Writing | LinkedIn Profile Optimization | Interview Coaching | Mock Interviewing | Job Search Strategies | Job Search Coaching | Offer Negotiation | Executive Recruiting | Technical Recruiting | C-Level Recruiting | Recruitment Process Improvement | Cover Letter | Resume Refresh | LinkedIn Refresh | Executive Search

Executive Career Coach

Andiamo Partners

Reporting to the CEO, provided leadership to the 18 members of Andiamo's Austin Division. 
Responsible for leading teams focused on Executive Recruiting, RPO Services, Diversity and Inclusion Recruiting Services, and Hiring Events Recruitment. 

Hired, on-boarded, trained, and developed both experienced and inexperienced recruiters, sourcers, technical recruiters, and executive recruiters. 

Andiamo maintains the status of tier-one vendor for firms such as Goldman Sachs, Amazon.com, Bloomberg, HBO, TwoSigma and Citadel; as well as other major financial services firms, elite hedge funds, Google-backed tech start-ups & major software firms.

Executive Transition Consultant | Executive Career Coaching | Career Coaching | Career Consulting | Resume Writing | LinkedIn Profile Optimization | Profile Writing | Career Branding | Interview Coaching | Mock Interviewing | Job Search Strategies Consulting | Job Search Coaching | Offer Negotiation | Cover Letter Writing | Executive Recruiting | Technical Recruiting | Hiring Process Consulting | C-Level Recruiting | Recruiter Training | Recruitment Process Improvement | Cover Letter | Resume Refresh | LinkedIn Refresh | Executive Search | Technical Recruiter | Personal Branding Strategy | Leadership Development | Executive Presence Coaching | Talent Acquisition Strategy

Executive Recruiting Manager

Cardlytics, Inc.

Reporting to the Senior Director of People Operations, responsible for hiring across the engineering side of the business. Hired the Chief Technology Officer, the Head of Product, Vice Presidents, Senior Directors, and Directors of Engineering, Principal and Senior Engineers, as well as Data Scientists and Analysts across the Engineering, Technology Services, R&D, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Analytics teams.

Contributed to the preparations for Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX) to go public by rebuilding the Cardlytics engineering hiring process, independently implementing Greenhouse as the new Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and training the enterprise on how to use the new ATS and hiring process.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Cardlytics has offices in London, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Cardlytics was one of the fastest growing U.S. companies ranked #88 on the 2015 Inc. 5000 and #25 on the Deloitte 2015 Technology Fast 500™.

Executive Transition Consultant | Executive Career Coaching | Career Coaching | Career Consulting | Resume Writing | LinkedIn Profile Optimization | Profile Writing | Career Branding | Interview Coaching | Mock Interviewing | Job Search Strategies Consulting | Job Search Coaching | Offer Negotiation | Cover Letter Writing | Executive Recruiting | Technical Recruiting | Hiring Process Consulting | C-Level Recruiting | Recruiter Training | Recruitment Process Improvement | Cover Letter | Resume Refresh | LinkedIn Refresh | Executive Search | Technical Recruiter | Personal Branding Strategy | Leadership Development | Executive Presence Coaching | Talent Acquisition Strategy

Talent Partner - Technology Recruiter & Executive Headhunter

Korn Ferry

Specializing in CTO and CIO Retained Executive Search as well as Leadership Assessment Consulting for large public, privately held, and private equity backed organizations. 

In addition to CTO and CIO search and assessment work, executed a range of CMO | CPO | EVP | SVP | CVP and VP level searches for technical positions as well as general management roles ranging from PE-backed organizations through large and small, publicly traded, and privately held companies. 

Executive Search Client base centered on Augmented Reality Devices, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Wearables, Mobility, Robotics, Software, Hardware, Mobile Devices, Retail, Professional Services, Hospitality and Biotechnology.

Korn Ferry International (NYSE: KFY) is a global provider of talent management solutions, generating $1.03B in revenues in 2014 with 3800 employees. Korn/Ferry provides retained executive search services focused on board level, chief executive and other senior executive positions for clients in the consumer, financial services, industrial, life sciences, automotive, manufacturing, aerospace, defense and advanced technology industries. Korn/Ferry also provides a broad range of leadership and talent consulting services, including executive assessment, leadership coaching, CEO and senior executive succession planning.

Executive Transition Consultant | Executive Career Coaching | Career Coaching | Career Consulting | Resume Writing | LinkedIn Profile Optimization | Profile Writing | Career Branding | Interview Coaching | Mock Interviewing | Job Search Strategies Consulting | Job Search Coaching | Offer Negotiation | Cover Letter Writing | Executive Recruiting | Technical Recruiting | Hiring Process Consulting | C-Level Recruiting | Recruiter Training | Recruitment Process Improvement | Cover Letter | Resume Refresh | LinkedIn Refresh | Executive Search | Personal Branding Strategy | Leadership Development | Executive Presence Coaching | Talent Acquisition Strategy

Senior Associate - Executive Recruiter

As a member of the Global Technology Officer's Practice reporting to a Managing Director, responsible for supporting three Senior Client Partners in Korn Ferry's Atlanta office.

• Responsible for leading search strategy through execution and delivery of retained executive searches for companies ranging from the Fortune 50 through pre revenue private equity backed ventures.
• Successfully placed 11 senior executives within the first 12 months at Korn/Ferry with an average time to identify the placement of 47 days, contributing to $2.21m in revenues with 6 different Senior Client Partners. 
• Client base centers on Augmented Reality Devices, Wearables, Mobility, Robotics, Software, Hardware, Mobile Devices, Retail, Professional Services, Hospitality and Biotechnology.
• Specialized in leading, managing and executing an efficient and effective executive search, evaluation and hiring process from pitching Korn/Ferry’s services through executive evaluation and placement selection.
• Responsible for leading and managing teams of researchers, associates and project coordinators tailored to the needs of each individual project.
• Selected to train, coach and develop new Associate and Senior Associate hires based on a proven track record of excellence in process, execution, evaluation, and completion of challenging executive searches.

Executive Transition Consultant | Executive Career Coaching | Career Coaching | Career Consulting | Resume Writing | LinkedIn Profile Optimization | Profile Writing | Career Branding | Interview Coaching | Mock Interviewing | Job Search Strategies Consulting | Job Search Coaching | Offer Negotiation | Cover Letter Writing | Executive Recruiting | Technical Recruiting | Hiring Process Consulting | C-Level Recruiting | Recruiter Training | Recruitment Process Improvement | Cover Letter | Resume Refresh | LinkedIn Refresh | Executive Search | Personal Branding Strategy | Leadership Development | Talent Acquisition Strategy

Associate - Executive Recruiter

BIAS Corporation

Reporting to the Director of Talent Acquisition, responsible for identifying, evaluating, and hiring full time and contract employees for direct placement, contingent recruiting, and Federal consulting projects. 

• Responsible for managing the full lifecycle hiring process for project teams and internal full-time hires. 
• Achieved a 92% offer acceptance ratio, contributed to $285,110 in profit margin from contractors and successfully hired 11 full time hires ranging from practice leaders to senior executives and sales leaders.
• Led the design, rationalization and implementation of the BIAS Corporation hiring process for both internal and external placements. 

Executive Transition Consultant | Executive Career Coaching | Career Coaching | Career Consulting | Resume Writing | LinkedIn Profile Optimization | Profile Writing | Career Branding | Interview Coaching | Mock Interviewing | Job Search Strategies Consulting | Job Search Coaching | Offer Negotiation | Cover Letter Writing | Executive Recruiting | Technical Recruiting | Hiring Process Consulting | C-Level Recruiting | Recruiter Training | Recruitment Process Improvement | Cover Letter | Resume Refresh | LinkedIn Refresh | Executive Search | Technical Recruiter | Personal Branding Strategy | Leadership Development | Executive Presence Coaching | Talent Acquisition Strategy

Technical Recruiter

Helping Executives Land Opportunities That Fit | Executive Career Coaching | Interview Coach | Former Executive Recruiter

Changing jobs after several years with the same company can be confusing, frustrating, and painful. 

Good Fit Careers guides you through the hiring process to help you find and land a job that you love.

Hi, I’m Ryan 👋

After 8 years in Retained Executive Search, in-house Talent Acquisition, and Contingent Recruiting General Management, I started coaching. 

This recruiting experience helped me understand how to build an effective resume, search for a job efficiently, deliver outstanding interviews, and negotiate reasonable compensation packages.

With Korn Ferry (NYSE: KFY), I hired C-level executives for some of the world's most prominent companies. 

With Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX), I had the opportunity to design a comprehensive hiring process, configure and implement the enterprise applicant tracking system (ATS), and hire the global Chief Technology Officer. After helping to prepare the enterprise to hire at scale, the company executed a successful IPO.

After Cardlytics, I served as General Manager of the Austin division of a headhunting firm where I trained, developed, and provided leadership to a team of 18 technical recruiters who hired for companies like Bloomberg, HBO, Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Hulu, and ByteDance.

While working in each of those roles, I saw executives struggling to transition out of companies for which they were no longer a good fit. 

I saw the frustration, confusion, and uncertainty they faced – even when they were exceptionally qualified and highly experienced.

So, I decided that I would try to help. 

In 2019, I switched sides and started my executive coaching practice. The Good Fit Formula is a blueprint for professionals ready to make a change in their professional lives.

Ryan Dickerson

THREE MILLS BAKERY

Founder

A. BAKER

Co-Founder

Two Before Ten Coffee Roasters

Founder / Director

I’ve built multiple businesses over the last 20 years, and the biggest lessons didn't come from scaling. They came from repairing.

Three Mills grew fast. Too fast. 0-140 people in the first 5 years.

We hit walls financially, operationally and culturally.

We were innovating at warp speed. Everything we implemented was soon outdated. It was chaos.

Instead of continuing to the point of failure, I started the hard work of fixing. 

Our crew fixed our margins, cleaned the legacy debt, reengineered products, rebuilt the team, redefined the story — and found clarity in the chaos.

Now, alongside leading Three Mills, I have a passion for helping other founders do the same.

What I talk about:
– Finding clarity when your story’s gone stale
– Maintaining company culture under pressure
– Fixing bloated businesses and broken margins
– Leading like a founder when everything feels heavy

What I (sometimes) offer:
– 1:1 advisory for brand-led businesses in the messy middle
– Practical systems for fixing without burning out
– Strategic intensives (in-person or virtual)

Where to read more:
Every Sunday, I drop one email about fixing businesses and the founder mindset. 
100% practical. No spam. And no, I'll never sell your details... Ever.

You might like reading it here - www.jarroddeaton.com.au

Otherwise, drop me a DM. 

I'd love to hear your story.

Jarrod Deaton

Last year, we took a bit of a risk and opened a new bakery outlet inside a Harris Farm supermarket

It's a bit of a new concept for us to be in this environment.

A full-scale artisan bakery inside the shop serving coffee, pie and pastries outside too was a stretch of the imagination.

We normally like stand-alone bakery stores tucked away in parts of the city where our wonderful clients are.

This one felt like a risk tbh.

It felt like we didn't have control over the customer experience or the types of people who interacted with our brand.

That can be problematic when there are competing values or customer perceptions don't align.

Thankfully only good things have happened since we open at Harris Farm in Majura Park.

It’s a great store.

The people are wonderful.

And our team is ripper.

Hope to see you out there.

three-mills-bakery

JSESSIONID

li_at

linkedin.com/in/jarroddeaton/

Talks about #brand, #business, #personalgrowth, #entrepreneurship, and #customerexperience

Founder & CEO, Three Mills Bakery | Building the next generation of food brands through craft, tech & culture | Writer of Fix Before You Scale

I baked these in my home oven on the weekend. 

They're a new version of our bake-at-home croissants.

Stored frozen. 

Ready to bake in one hour instead of doing them overnight.

You just gently egg-wash the top. 

And bake for 15 minutes. 

Pretty spectacular results in the home oven.

My house smelled so damn good.

I deleted the words "𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆" from my business a few years ago... Here's why it was the best thing we did. 
 
It’s an endearing phrase that sums up the idea of a lovely, supportive company culture. 
 
It's so common in food businesses and I lived by it for over a decade. 
 
But families are built on acceptance, emotion and enduring relationships. 
 
In a business, things can often go badly. And your 'family' duty is to accept it and push on. 
 
I used to say things like " That's just Jackson, he's like that sometimes. All good..." and start repairing the damage. 
 
When I zoomed out, I was always accepting: 
 
- Average results 
- Mediocre behaviour 
- Sub-standard culture 
 
Then I started reading about high-performance teams. 
 
This idea appealed to me so much more. 
 
They're united by a common purpose or goal which helps to foster a sense of collective responsibility, accountability, and alignment. 
 
All the things I wanted inside my business. 
 
So I jumped in... 
 
We're years down the path now and the results have been incredible for us. 
 
We've been able to build a wonderful team who are still close, but who have a sense of shared accountability to build something great together. 

It's one of those subtle language shifts that help everyone to see themselves and the work they do, differently.

What about your crew - Are you a family or team?

No alternative text description for this image

Most people only focus on the wins. 
 
But in 2016 I lost everything. 
 
Financially wiped out when I walked away from a business partnership. 
 
But I wasn't done with business. 
 
Even though I interviewed at a few other places to work, each time it didn't feel right. 
 
It wasn't ego this time. 
 
Something in my bones told me to give business another go. 
 
With the support of my family, I accepted the terms to buy the used bakery equipment from my business partners and start again. 
 
I only had 2 weeks to pull it off if it was going to work... 
 
That's: 
 
- start a company 
- find bakery space 
- fit it out and open a cafe 
- handle legal, finance, banking, branding 
- move all the bakery equipment across town 
- and maintain the dozen or so wholesale clients we'd built up during that time. 
 
Crazy when I think about it today... 
 
I've always admired people who have started with nothing and built a life for themselves and here I was doing the same thing. 
 
It's incredible what you can do when your back is against the wall. 
 
But in saying that, none of it was a solo effort. 
 
Along the way, I've had incredible support from friends and family. 
 
Not to mention the wonderful team who've contributed to building each part of the vision. 
 
I rarely step back and admire it but I'm proud when I do. 
 
- 140 employees 
- Loads of wonderful clients 
- And some of the best sourdough and pastries around 
 
It's been a wild ride! 
 
Hugely grateful for every bit of it. 
 
My mates who lifted all the bakery equipment out of the basement and drove it across town. 
 
Those first few clients who walked in the door on day one. And every single one since. 
 
Our amazing team and all our families who back us. 
 
And a long list of wonderful suppliers, advisors and partners. 
 
Thank you all!

I've had a few epic fails in business. 
 
In the moment, it felt like I could never recover. 
 
But the reality? 
 
Each one has been a stepping stone to success. 
 
Even though I felt like I was doomed. 
 
A failure forever. 
 
I found a massive lesson inside it that helped catapult my progress afterwards. 
 
I am where I am today because of them. 
 
People try to tell you that in the moment and you feel like kicking them in the shin... 
 
If you're in a funk or stuck in a failing business, spend some time alone taking 100% of the responsibility for it. 
 
Find what YOU could have done differently. 
 
Even if others were partly responsible, exclude them from the blame and own all of it yourself for a moment. 
 
When I did this it helped me rewind to all the bad decisions I made. 
 
Things like: 
 
- Not getting good advice 
- Picking business partners with different values 
- Letting my ego pull me into a deal I couldn't afford. 
 
When you take responsibility and reflect on failures, that's when they unlock your success. 
 
Not limit it.

Our warehouse used to be a roller derby rink. 

We moved some pallet racking to make space for a new (secret) project and found these massive decals. 

Super cool to see natural light flooding in too. 

Going to be an awesome space!

The world didn't need another bread book.

So we wrote one that uses leftover bread!

You know all those bits you have left in the freezer or the tips of your artisan loaf that are too small to do anything with?

That's what we decided to focus on when we wrote ours.

We set out to make stale bread sexy.

So we got a bunch of talented chefs together who've worked the fine-dining scene all over the world and created dozens of recipes that you can recreate at home.

Whether you like cooking or not, we leaned into bespoke ceramics and incredible photography, and then really dialed up the quality of the printing. 

It's such a nice object to have on the coffee table.

We still have a few left from this batch if you're looking for Christmas presents!

I never had an office at the start. 
 
I spent two decades hot-desking and working from cafe tables. 
 
But a couple of years ago I set one up above the bakery.
 
The result? 
 
My work output exponentially increased. 
 
Having a private space to focus on deep work for 3-4 hours daily has changed the game for me as an entrepreneur. 

- No distractions
- No juggling/multitasking
- No temptation to jump in and help.
 
I can only imagine the waste this must have created in huge corporate workplaces when the world switched to open-plan offices and hot-desking. 

For me, locking myself away for blocks of time has massively boosted my productivity. 

I highly recommend it.

Some people dream of quitting their day job to start a cafe...

No support network.
No hospitality experience. 
No understanding of the reality.

Just a burning desire to change career and start something they're passionate about. 

I really admire their spark.

But if you want my honest opinion? 

𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁.

Don't start a cafe. 
or a restaurant
or buy a bar

It's too hard and too risky these days.

Even though I'll be first in line to want to help you if you do, I'd never encourage it at the start.

It's one of the toughest industries to succeed in. 

Long hours, tight margins and high cost of entry.

But if you're one of the crazy ones who fell into this incredible industry, or if you're not turned off by what I just said, welcome, foodies are my people. 

We would want to be anywhere else.

Recruiting got tougher last year so we had to up our game. Here's the one thing we did to attract talent:

We shot a video about living in Canberra and working at Three Mills. 

Most people in Canberra never see it because it's for attracting people from interstate and overseas. 

So far, it's probably one of the best things we've ever spent money on in the recruitment space. 

It not only attracted people who never would have joined, but it also started discussions with superstars in the industry who didn't join us, but who all of a sudden had a new appreciation for our business. 

Some of them even travelled to Canberra to meet us and build a relationship. 

It's hard to put a value on that. 

My point isn't that you should shoot your own video; it's that you have to do something that the rest of the industry isn't doing in order to get attention. 

This works for:

- cx
- sales
- products
- marketing
- Recruiting

Anyway, have a watch and let me know what you think of it.

If your company falls over when one person’s on holiday, you don’t have a team. You’ve built a shrine.


Too many businesses are built around a hero.


The rainmaker.

The genius founder.

The “only one who really knows how it all works.”


Looks impressive from the outside.

Feels powerful on the inside.


But it’s also weak, fragile, and one crisis away from breaking.


As entrepreneurs, you want to push through that phase as quickly as possible, making yourself redundant at every stage as you hand things over.


The ones that don't, say things like: I wish the team would “take ownership” or “demonstrate autonomy”...


Meanwhile they design systems where:


Decisions bottleneck through one inbox.

Information lives in one person’s head.

Clients only trust one name.


I don't claim to have the solution here in this Linkedin post, but I do know exactly what I'm trying to build.


And it isn't a shrine.


We need more antifragile businesses.

Bread with No Added Nasties...

That's the game we're playing. 

And in this game, our villain is fluffy white supermarket bread. 

You know the super white, super soft, super flavourless bread that has an unusually long shelf life because of additives?

Yep, that's the stuff we're up against. 

Don't get me wrong, I ate that stuff most of my childhood. 

But back then I didn't have a choice. I was a kid in a country household who didn't know any better. 

But after I started to learn about the wonderful world of sourdough, everything changed. 

I started thinking about how much the world screwed up with bread making.

And in the tiniest way, we're going to do our bit to correct course by making things like this:

Our Quinoa and Walnut Sourdough. 

It pairs perfectly with cheese and wine. 

And it makes the most incredible base for a Chicken Sando. 

Bring on the good bread revolution!

--- 

Love to know what your favourite sourdough is. Drop me a comment.

I caught people stealing from my business years ago. Here's an unconventional way I handled it. 
 
I noticed some of the team were giving away excessive amounts of free products to their mates. 
 
I get it, I've done similar things before. 
 
In hospitality, there seems to be this unspoken rule that if you look after people when they come to the place you work, you can cash in on it when you go to theirs. 
 
Except... it's just plain theft. 
 
When I looked a little closer, others were giving free products away to regular customers or discounting to make up for an average experience, it was a mess. 
 
My goal was to create excellent customer experiences. 
 
But I also didn't want to be looking over everyone's shoulder each day to make sure they were doing the right thing. 
 
We had to change the culture. 
 
So we gave every frontline employee $20 worth of product to give away each week. 
 
In fact, we made it a requirement of the job. 
 
They had to do it. 
 
And they also had to communicate between themselves to make sure they weren't looking after the same person twice. 
 
It completely flipped the culture. 
 
It made us think strategically about being generous and rewarding customers at the right moment. 
 
Not to make up for mistakes. 
 
Not to look after mates to cash in on selfish rewards. 
 
It was about creating joy by adding a small surprise to an order or upgrading something or handing someone a free coffee when you can see they need it. 
 
I can't say if it's eliminated theft completely. 
 
But I can say it transformed our business in that moment. 
 
Sometimes it's not about getting angry and firing people, it's about reshaping behaviours towards a positive outcome.

What are your thoughts on this type of thing?

I'm an entrepreneur. It means I get distracted by lots of shiny things. But this helps me stay focused on the right things:

Some days I catch myself getting distracted by shiny new products, platforms, or ideas pulling me away from what's already working.

I have to keep remembering that it's not only about innovation and pioneering new frontiers with less competition. 

The best companies optimise relentlessly.

They follow the real 70/20/10 rule:

70% of effort into what’s already working. Your proven products, best customers, top-performing channels.

20% into adjacent plays. The small twists, repackaging, bundling, new segments.

10% into testing bold new things, The long shots, market-changing bets.

But what do most teams do (including me, at times)??

We try it backwards.

70% on distractions and shiny objects,

20% trying to fix what’s broken,

10% (if that) doubling down on the things that are already working.

Then we wonder why it feels like pushing a square boulder up a giant hill.

If your business feels stuck, it’s probably not your product. Or a lack of effort. It’s how you’re allocating your focus.

You rarely need more ideas.

You need more discipline around the ideas that already work, and you need to do some much more volume of them.

It’s not sexy.
It’s not exciting.
But if you do it, your business will grow and eventually, you can stay do whatever you want with your time while it runs.

Before we could use the 70/20/10 lens, we needed to identify a few things:

- What were the handful of processes that gave outsized results.
- What were the handful of profitable products we sold over and over.
- Who were a small group of like-minded clients who bought way more than others.

Knowing these helped us double down on what works. Then everything got easier.

I won’t lie: doubling down on the "boring" things isn’t always fun.

But having a business that finally works? 

That’s very fun.

---

You can read other articles like this on my website - I've been uploading 3 years worth of newsletter content there recently.

Our Beef and Pepperberry Pie baking in a home oven. 

Not only is it freaken delicious, it picked up a Gold Medal at last year's Sydney Royal Fine Foods Show!

And even though we're not that into entering awards, we're super proud of it.

Especially because it's built for baking at home. 

- Buttery short crust pastry base
- Flakey puff pastry top
- And filled with chunks of local Claystone beef

Keep it in the freezer and bake it from frozen when you want a simple dinner. 

Ready in 40 mins.

Most businesses don’t get taken out by competition, they get taken out by denial. 

I learned that the hard way. 

From the outside we looked like we were winning... but the numbers told another story. 

Growth doesn’t fix broken foundations. 

It just makes the cracks louder.

If you’ve been avoiding a number, a conversation, or a cultural problem hoping it fixes itself, it won’t. 

The fire costs 10x more next year.

Swipe through the carousel to see the lessons I wish someone told me before I paid for them the expensive way.

The warning signs I ignored for too long

Building this tiny habit has transformed my business: 
 
Every business has a daily rhythm. 
 
The things you do on autopilot. 
 
But most of the time they're designed to sustain what is there and not improve things. 
 
That was exactly what was happening with my business... 
 
We'd come in each day and do the: 
 
Same actions 
Same processes 
Same conversations 
 
Over and over. 
 
It's hard to see new things when you get in that habit. 
 
So you need to make a conscious effort to reprogram your daily rhythm. 
 
For example: 
 
Instead of walking straight in the door, pause for a moment and see the place like a customer would. 
 
Look around like they would. 
 
Stand where they would stand. 
 
Sit where they would sit. 
 
It's powerful stuff when you do things like this daily. 
 
You start to see improvements everywhere that make your business better instead of just walking in on autopilot. 
 
The key is to program the right things into your daily rhythm that sustain what's there as well as growing it.

I've put in almost two years of posting content online daily. Here's the problem with it: 
 
Posting isn't the issue. 
 
Most people don't start because they think they don't have enough to say. 
 
That's actually the easy bit. 
 
With all of your lived experiences, current challenges and recent wins, there's bucketloads of content. 
 
Combine that with your client and employee wins and you've got an endless supply of juicy content. 
 
The next bit is the posting itself. 
 
But still, with platforms like Taplio and Hypefury, scheduling posts is pretty damn easy. 
 
So what's the hard bit? 
 
It's commenting. 
 
Engaging with others. 
 
Building and contributing to your network. 
 
Showing up for the people who support you. 
 
That's the bit you can't automate or outsource. 
 
It means you've got to spend at least an hour on the platform each day to comment and engage on your posts and the posts of the people who support you. 
 
And most people in business don't really have the time for that. 
 
No one really told me this when I started. 
 
And in the beginning, I just brute-forced it into my life to build momentum. 
 
Sure, I gained traction (mostly on X). 
 
But this year my workload increased exponentially which means less time for engaging. 
 
I watched my metrics plummet. 
 
And I can see myself slowly losing touch with people I built connections with online. 
 
It's a freaken hard balance. 
 
Full credit to people who have made it work and slotted it into their week. 
 
I'm still active on here. 
 
But not like I was over the last 18 months because my business needs more of my attention right now. 
 
But building online is a long game for me. 
 
Sometimes you're ahead and other times you're behind - The key is to keep playing (thanks Simon Sinek) 
 
And I think that's the real key to it all.

There's real power in saying 'I don't know'. 
 
But it seems scary to say in business. 

My experience with admitting it has always led to better outcomes. 

It shows:
 
1. Honesty - It's the foundation of trust and credibility. 
 
2. Curiosity - Admitting that you don't know something ignites curiosity, a driving force for innovation and problem-solving. 
 
3. Collaboration - Sharing your knowledge gap invites others to contribute and allows teams to work together towards common goals. 

I'm not saying you should 'know your sh*t' as a professional... 

But there's lots of places where simply saying '𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩' unlocks better outcomes. 
 
Leaders should embrace the power of it more.
 
It will open doors you never even knew existed.

Business isn't cut-throat. It's just that some people playing the game think there's not enough to go around...

Which can send them a little mad trying to keep everything to themselves.
 
Here's what happens when you stop competing and start collaborating: 
 
Seeing everyone as your competitor is one of those old-school things you hear and then adopt without question. 
 
It makes sense but it's also incredibly limiting in business. 
 
It makes you think that there's not enough to go around. 
 
That you can't share ideas, resources or even your kindness with others on the journey.
 
I mean, why help another business get ahead of you right? 
 
It's a bullsh*t mindset. 
 
And I think realising that takes a whole lot of time/experience. and a few nudges to snap out of the negative mindset.
 
For me, I started shifting my perspective the more I learned about positioning and understanding that execution is everything. 
 
For example - You can give people all the opportunities, ideas and knowledge, but they rarely act on it. 

At least not with any urgency. 
 
It was the starting point for having the confidence to stop holding on and start living a more open life in business. 
 
Sharing information, spreading creativity and helping others get ahead. 
 
Some of the most successful and accomplished entrepreneurs are the ones who believe in collaboration over competition. 
 
They surround themselves with supportive, like-minded individuals who challenge them, inspire them and help them achieve their most ambitious goals. 
 
Sometimes these can be competing businesses! 
 
So ditch that 'lone wolf' mentality and start looking for shared wins. 
 
When you help others level up, you all level up together.

taplio

The Battle

Ryan Dickerson

Jarrod Deaton

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taplio

The Battle

Ryan Dickerson

Jarrod Deaton

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);}Jarrod Deaton's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJarrod Deaton's LinkedIn Performance