🟡 Digital Marketing, Done Better! Smart50 List 2023 🚀 Father 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Skater 🛹 CEO || Knows Nothing About Football ⚽️ 🏉 || Knows how to accelerate your sales.

For over three decades, I've helped visionary businesses harness emerging technologies to create extraordinary growth. 

From the dawn of mobile phones to today's AI revolution, I've consistently turned technological disruption into competitive advantage for my clients.

My journey began in 1987 with the first wave of mobile technology. 

The Car Phone.

Since then, I've successfully navigated every major digital transformation - from the internet's emergence in 1996 (launching the World's first coin operated Internet Kiosk) to digital marketing's evolution in 2010, & now the AI revolution. 

Each wave has deepened my expertise in spotting opportunities others miss.

Today, I lead Sydney Digital Marketing Agency, established in 2014 and recognized among Australia's smartest businesses on the 2023 Smart50 list. 

We partner with medium & enterprise businesses to reduce their cost of customer acquisition and transform their marketing results through data-driven strategies that consistently deliver measurable ROI.

What sets me apart isn't just the depth of my experience - it's my ability to see around corners and guide businesses toward future opportunities while delivering results today.

📍 Partner Benefits:

→ Strategic Innovation: You gain access to cutting-edge marketing strategies tested across diverse industries. Our early adoption of AI & automation tools means you're always ahead of competitors.

→ Proven ROI Framework: Our proprietary approach combines data analytics with creative strategy, consistently delivering 3-5x return on marketing investment for our clients.

→ Risk Reduction: Leverage our 35+ years of experience navigating digital transformations. We've already learned the costly lessons so you don't have to.

→ Holistic Growth Focus: Unlike agencies that chase trending tactics, we build comprehensive strategies that align with your business goals, market position, & growth targets.

→ Future-Proofed Solutions: In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, we ensure your marketing infrastructure is built to adapt and scale, protecting your investment long-term.

The 3 things to know about me - outside of my professional bio 👇

1️⃣ I’ve been digital since dial up - 1996 ☎️

2️⃣ My son+daughter were born 18 yrs apart 🥰

3️⃣ At least once a year I take a 4 day silent retreat to disconnect from the crazy. 📵 🤐

Simon Gould ✪ CEO ✪ Sydney Digital Marketing Agency ✪

I've left.

It's been weeks now... and I'm never going back.

Ever.

If you're still using ChatGPT as your go-to AI... you are missing out.

To most of the general public, ChatGPT IS AI...but I simply do not trust Sam Altman and his motives.

 But that's for another post.

I've been using Claude since it launched around the same time as ChatGPT in late 2022.

I always felt it was the better "writer"  more nuanced, more considered, less like talking to a confident robot.

But then like most of us, I drank the OpenAI Kool-Aid for a few years. 

Then it was Perplexity.  Simply for its flexibility in choosing models, and it's still a great tool for research and search. Their Comet browser has actually been my default for about 5 months now.

But in the last 6 weeks, the leap in intelligence from Claude has simply blown my mind 🤯

Here's why you should seriously consider making the switch:

It thinks before it answers. Claude reasons through problems rather than just pattern-matching to the most likely response. When I'm working through strategy, positioning, or complex client problems -  that difference is enormous.

It writes like a human being. Not corporate-speak. Not a bulleted list of buzzwords dressed up as insight. Claude understands context, tone, and nuance in a way that still surprises me. For anyone in marketing or communications,  this alone is the game changer.

It pushes back. I actually want my AI to tell me when I'm wrong, or when my thinking has a gap. Claude does this. Respectfully. Intelligently. It makes the work better.

It's honest about what it doesn't know. No hallucinated statistics delivered with misplaced confidence. 
Claude is far more likely to say "I'm not certain" than to fabricate an answer that sounds plausible. In a business context, that matters enormously.

The agentic capabilities are trily next level. With Claude Code and its ability to reason across complex, multi-step tasks.
I'm now building automation frameworks for my agency that would have taken a developer weeks to spec out, let alone build. 

This is where I believe the real productivity revolution is happening right now.
I'm not saying ChatGPT doesn't have its place. 

But if you're a founder, a marketer, or anyone who uses AI to do serious work  I'd encourage you to spend a week with Claude and see what you've been missing.

The gap has widened. Significantly.

And I'm not going back.

Simon Gould ✪ Founder ✪ Chief Thinker ✪ Sydney Digital Marketing Agency

🏆Smart50 Lister. Founder. Father. Creator. Knows nothing about football ⚽️ 🏉 But knows your business is paying too much to acquire new clients. We fix that. So you can grow revenue, faster. ♻️ (B2B & B2C experts)

Sales teams don’t stall because people forget how to sell.

They stall because confidence drops, sales capabilities haven’t evolved and the market moves on.

That’s where I come in, as it's never been easier to get left behind as we now enter 2026.

I work with B2B founders, recruitment and sales leaders whose BD function has lost momentum, their pipeline feels inconsistent, BD tactics and strategies are outdated, and leadership has drifted too far from the frontline.

I help them reignite sales by:

Rebuilding confidence and standards

Modernising how BD is done (no scripts, no gimmicks)

Clarifying USP and ICP so teams stop competing on price

Turning leadership visibility into a real pipeline with opportunities

Getting sales teams proactive again, not reactive!

I’m hands-on and lead from the front.

I don’t babysit teams; I help accelerate them.

At the core of my work are two things: mindset and mastery.

Sales is a contact sport. Belief, energy, and visibility matter just as much as skill.

I’m also the host of Change the Game, where I bring together sales leaders, founders, and high performers to discuss what actually drives growth, not just theory.

If your sales team feels flat, invisible, or stuck in their old habits, let’s catch up for a thirty-minute no-obligation discussion 

👉 DM me “ACCELERATE” to start a conversation.

Steve Tolen

What a week, thanks for the support, it’s been epic 🙏

When you hit it hard with a positive mindset, it’s amazing how opportunities suddenly appear 

Great response to the Change the Game group calls kicking off next week, and I’ll announce who’s made the cut on Wednesday 😬

Podcast is doing well, check the inspiring episode from 3 x Matilda’s coach Tom Sermanni for a 30 mins leadership masterclass 🙌

Awsome to see Shelley Lilleyman kicking ass, well done boss, very inspiring 💪 

I look forward to joining Trunnis Goggins early tmw for a chat on his podcast ahead of his trip to Australia next month 🇦🇺

Next week, look forward to supporting Marco Romeo in his Australian title fight in Sydney, and also proud to be supporting 🥊 Lee Gormley  next month in his fight in Belfast.  

Have a great weekend 

Keep smiling 😀💥🔥

High-Performance Growth Partner for Recruitment Leaders | Social Selling Strategies | Sales Coaching and Advisory Services | Change the Game Podcast Host

There’s a quiet tension I see a lot.

“Am I building my personal brand... or the company’s?”

People don’t want to look salesy. Don’t want internal judgement. Don’t want to look like they’re trying too hard.

So they stay quiet.

Then wonder why competitors are more visible and getting inbound leads. 

Personal brand isn’t ego. It’s trust. It’s clarity. It’s being known for something specific.

It’s something we'll work through during Change the Game Fridays', what you stand for, what you leave out, and who you’re genuinely trying to attract.

If you’re not known for something, you’ll be chosen on price, think about it.

That’s just how markets work.

Comment “Change the Game” below and I'll DM you with the details.

A lot of people are avoiding the phone.

They won’t say it. But it’s happening.

Email feels safer. LinkedIn feels more gaurded and controlled. Conversations feel harder.

Rapport isn’t automatic anymore. Attention spans are shorter. Trust takes more work, times have changed. 

No one trains modern communication properly. They teach scripts.

During Change the Game Friday's we'll focus on your tone, your presence, the structure behind the conversation. Not scripts. Not rehearsed lines.

Because in 2026, people buy from connections, confidence and clarity. 

Not templates.

A few people have asked me what actually happens during my Change the Game Friday calls.

Good question! 

Well first up, it’s not another webinar. Light on slides and there’s no big salesy presentation. It’s an intimate group, live, every Friday.

You bring what’s doing your head in, a deal that’s drifting, a positioning challenge, an outreach approach that isn’t landing and we work through it properly. 

I’ll ask questions, sometimes challenging ones, because usually the issue isn’t the tactic, it’s the thinking behind it.

You’ll walk away with one tangible fix you can implement immediately.

If you’re expecting theory, that’s not me . If you’re expecting honesty, it is. That’s the point.

We kick off tomorrow and next week’s session is now open.

Comment “Change the Game below or DM me, and I'll message you with the details for next week.

And in answer to the question above if it’s me that’s doing your head in….there is no solution :)❤️

Good morning! 

Announcing the winners for this weeks Change the Game Friday call. And what better way to do this than spinning the wheel of fortune, no favouritism here 🙌🔥💥

Thanks to everyone who commented or sent me a DM, and this week I will be  joined by….George Richards, Aaron Wild, Stephen Reddy, Eamon Murray (MRCSA) and Umesh Chauhan. 💥

Looking forward to delving into the current challenges we are seeing in the recruitment landscape and and coming away with some practical solutions.

Thanks all, keen to understand more about how you can join the next one, or an understanding of what you need to be actioning right now, to be successful with BD, drop me a DM.

“We already know this.”

That sentence can kill more growth than lack of skill (mastery) ever will.

Experience is 100% useful. But relevance matters more in this rapidly evolving market. 

If recruitment leaders aren’t role-modelling BD, the team won’t either. 

Culture isn’t what’s written on a wall. It’s behaviour that gets copied.

Personally, I’m interested in being in rooms where standards go up, and you raise the bar. 

Change the Game Friday's aren’t about validation. They’re for people open to being challenged, especially by themselves.

Because If nothing changes with you at the leadership level, nothing changes with your team.

Keep smiling and send me a DM if you’re keen to join :)

We’ve just finished the first Change the Game Friday call and as you can hear, I’ve almost lost my voice 😬

Strong room. Honest conversation. Exactly what it needed to be, great interaction. 

Not because it was a “launch”. Because these conversations need to happen, and those who think ahead and outside the box, will be successful 

There are a lot of capable recruiters and leaders right now who can sense something’s shifted.

Pipeline a bit inconsistent, energy slightly flatter than it used to be & the market harder to read than it was a few years ago.

It’s because the environment has changed, and you need to adapt. 

Change the Game Fridays are where that conversation continues, small room, real issues on the table.

Each session is built around one outcome:

You leave with a tangible, actionable fix to your pipeline, positioning or outreach that you can implement immediately.

If you’d like to join next week’s session and go into the weekly 9am draw for a free 1:1 private coaching session.

Comment “Change the Game” below and I’ll DM you the details.

We’ve had a few days for the dust to settle after the first Change the Game Friday call.

We brought together a strong room of experienced operators and received honest feedback.

Exactly what it needed to be.

When you get 5 seasoned recruitment leaders on a call and they’re all circling similar themes, you pay attention.

Pipeline inconsistent.
Personal brand not converting.
BD activity high, results mixed.


Why? Because the market has shifted.

After reflecting on it, one thing became clear…

There was too much to cover in an hour. 

Too many threads. Too much depth. Not enough structure.

If the goal is real execution, not just insight, it needs to be tighter.

So we’re adjusting it.

From here, each Change the Game Friday will focus on one theme and one outcome.

Join us next Friday as we unpack Building & Monetising Your Personal Brand.

Well go deep on one lever and you leave with something tangible you can implement immediately.

The objective hasn’t changed.

Real issues. Practical adjustments.

If you’d like to join next week’s session, DM or comment “Change the Game” below and I’ll add your name to the draw.

BOOM 💥

Proud to be supporting you 🥊 Lee Gormley 

Stolen+Co

Excited to team up with Steve Tolen and Stolen+Co for a great new sponsorship ahead of my next fight on March 20th in Belfast 🤝🏻

Myself and Steve, Founder and CEO of Stolen & Co, have been in contact for some time now, through online connections and our shared work and passions within professional boxing.

Steve is best known for transforming BD capability within the recruitment industry, but his work extends far beyond that, having led multiple international expansions through building sales teams, entering new markets, and scaling commercial operations globally.

Today, he works with a select number of start-ups and scale-ups outside the recruitment sector, helping founders with market strategies and developing sales systems that supports sustainable growth.

Also, Steve hosts the Stolen & Co. high-performance YouTube channel, which focuses on mindset, mastery, leadership, and what it really takes to win. This features real conversations with a range of guests across boxing, sport, sales, and leadership, giving an honest insights into discipline, sacrifice, resilience, and personal growth.

Change The Game with Stolen & Co. Thanks for the sponsorship support for my professional boxing career 📈

Website 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eHs8-fGt
YouTube Channel 🎥 https://lnkd.in/eaCR4m-2

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