Demandii

Content Producer Manager

Content Producer 

Content Bloom

Content Marketing Specialist

Content Integrator & Editor

LinkNow Media

Senior Content Writer

The Suburban Newspaper

News Reporter

Bell Média

Radio Producer

Hi, I'm Abby, and I deliver optimized cross-functional content that not only creates an impact but aligns with your specific branding needs—No matter the industry. *Drops imaginary mic.

Abby E. S.

CJAD 800 Montreal just turned 80.
And I owe them for one of the best “terrible ideas” I ever had.
It was mid-August, and I was 19. Fresh out of Vanier College. Hadn’t even started Concordia University yet.

But I knew two things for sure:
 1. I wanted to be a journalist.
 2. And I wanted to work there.

So I walked into the old Fort Street office, straight up to reception, and said:
“Hi, I’m Abby. I want to intern here. I want to be a journalist.
 I’ll work for free. Nights, weekends. I don’t care.”

She looks at me and asks if I’m here to see the program director.
 I say, “If he’s the one who hires people… then yes.”

The audacity. I cringe and laugh about it now.

Then she points at the Boutique 1861 & La Petite Garçonne bag I’m holding.
 “What’s in there?”
“My birthday dress. I just bought it.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Today.”
She HOWLS.
 “Hold on.”

She disappears and comes back with the program director.
“This is Abby. It’s her birthday. I really like her spunk.”

He raises an eyebrow. I give him the whole pitch again:
 I’ll do anything, I’ll work for free, just give me a chance.

He hands me a form. “When can you start?”
“Tomorrow.”
That was it.

I stayed for four years. All throughout my uni degree.
And I learned more at CJAD than in my entire degree.


- Dr. Laurie Betito  took me under her wing, made me her producer, and gave me my own live segment.

 - Beryl Wajsman met me on a pundit panel and opened the door to write for The Suburban Newspaper.

- Dan Delmar trusted me to help produce Gang of Four and sit in on the panels.

- Christopher Paré  showed me the board, the secrets to booking exceptional guests, then tossed me my first on-air break when the entertainment reporter couldn’t make it during the drive home show.
 “Abby’s got it. She has a great show on CJLO 1690AM - Concordia University Radio. She can do it.”

- Richard Burnett made late-night panels fun and introduced me to Sharman Yarnell, which led to a gig at Curtains Up TV.

The list really does go on.
These awesome humans let me be weird, loud, curious, opinionated.
They encouraged me to wave my freak flag instead of shrinking to fit some bland “professional” mold.

And the irony?
Years later, I work at Demandii… and one of our core values is literally:
“Wave your freak flag.” Full circle, eh?

And if you’re reading this, here’s the part that’s really about you:
Take a hard look at your circle. 
Your vendors. Your partners. Your clients. Your teams. Colleagues. Friends.

- Are you surrounded by people who lift you up, or drag you down?

I had the privilege of starting my career in an environment that taught me I don’t have to hide, shrink, or pretend to be less than I am.
You don’t have to either.

Happy 80th, CJAD 800 Montreal.
You didn’t just shape my career, you also shaped my standards for the kind of people I work with.

So, thank you.

PS. Photo features Bugs (Richard Burnett , Dan Delmar , Paris Mansouri and me!)

Abby E. Schachter

I help busy B2B CEOs create all their snackable LinkedIn content from a 1-hour monthly interview. -> Demandii.com

Short-form content is the handshake. Long-form is the lunch date that happens later. That is, if your handshake is strong and not overtly needy and sweaty.

And I can vouch that 99% of Demandii-ers are a decent lunch date.

No alternative text description for this image

When content doesn’t convert right away, most founders think it’s failing.
But only 5% of MQLs are ready to buy now.
The other 95% just aren’t there yet. 

You might know the feeling. You hit “publish”… and all you get is crickets? 

Been there. Still there sometimes. Okay, there oftentimes, if I'm being honest. 

But guess what? Even when it feels like no one is watching, someone is always watching.

Last quarter, a lead came out of nowhere and said:
“Been loving your Demandii stuff for months. Let’s talk.”

Had they ever liked a post?
Nope.
Commented?
Also no. 
But they were watching. Silently.

So if you’re feeling invisible right now, keep going.
The lurkers lurk until the timing is right, and that can be a while...

But when they are ready, you'll be the obvious choice.

Shout out to my fellow Demandii managers in this photo, (Justin Slimm & Brian Hastie) who may or may not have been blackmailed into posing like this.

My “best” headshot got the worst results.
Last week, I tested two photos on Photofeeler – a site where strangers rate your photo on traits like likable, competent, and influential, so you can see how your image actually lands.

Photo A: softer, big smile, crinkly eyes, very approachable.
Likable: 9.3
Influential: 7.1
Comments: “Great photo!”

Photo B: bolder background, stronger posture, manager title, less smiley.
Influential: Top 10%-20%
Likable: This score dropped. Around Top 20–25%
Fewer comments, mostly: “Looks professional.”

So:
Photo A made me look nice.
Photo B made me look like a decision-maker.

We’re told people buy from those they know, like, and trust.
Somewhere along the way, many of us quietly turn that into:

“Everybody has to like me.”

But you don’t need everyone to know, like, and trust you.
You need the right buyers to recognise you as the safe, obvious choice.

If your positioning is “friendly to everyone,” your signal is fuzzy.
And a confused buyer never buys.

That’s why I’m keeping the “less popular” headshot.

It may look less approachable, but it shows up the way my ideal clients need to see me: clear, confident, and in charge.

👉 When you look at your LinkedIn profile - banner, photo, and content, tell me, are you optimising for being liked by everyone, or for being chosen by the people who actually hire you?


PS. At Demandii during onboarding with clients, we run a full LinkedIn profile audit and fix what needs fixing fast.

PPS. Let me know if you want to see the more popular photo for reference.

Telling your audience “I understand your pain” isn’t the flex you think it is.
Everyone says that.

What matters is what you show next.
Show them the bridge, but how you helped someone just like them solve that exact issue.

Show the tool. The result. The moment it clicked.

That’s where connection turns into conversion.

“I’m scared of annoying people.” "I don't want to come off salesy" "I'll earn a bad rep in my industry." This mindset used to stop me from posting on LinkedIn too.

But then I looked at the data:
– The average person spends 7 minutes a day on LinkedIn
 – My post reach is maybe 5–10% of my audience
 – If someone sees me “a lot,” it’s because they’re engaging

So when someone says, “You’re everywhere,”  WHICH I've stopped taking as a personal attack, here’s what’s actually happening:

1. They’re probably not my buyer.
2. They’re stopping to read when they see my name
3. They’ve interacted with my content, so LinkedIn shows them more
4. They want to post more themselves, but they’re not.
     Instead of owning that gap, it’s easier to label someone else as “too much.”
     Projection is a thing ...


If the people who pay me aren’t complaining, I’m not changing a thing.
Because my actual  IDEAL buyers?

-They’re watching silently.
 -They’re building trust slowly.
 -They need 7–15 touchpoints before they reach out.
- They need proof that I am consistent and know what I'm talking about.


So when that little voice starts telling me I am being too much, I pause and remind myself that I’m not being annoying.
I’m being remembered.

And if that helps one more person find my work when they’re ready, it’s worth it.

PS. Your're never annoying when you're adding value.

A client told me, “Abby, I think we’re posting too much. I’m everywhere. People are getting annoyed.”

Nope. You’re just finally visible  and that makes people (including you) uncomfortable at first.

Here’s what I told him  and what every founder needs to hear when they start shrinking the moment posting consistantly on LinkedIn starts working...

You know who doesn’t comment on LinkedIn posts?
C-suite execs with real problems.
They’re not going to publicly admit, “Yeah, our pipeline is dying.”
or “Our sales process is broken.”

They’re watching quietly. Screenshooting your post.
Slacking it to their team, saying, “Hey, check this company out.” "Look at this."

That’s the behavior that ACTUALLY matters. And here's why ...


------
Video credit goes to my amazing  Demandii video editor Tops Roque

Demandiiis hiring a Content Producer.
 Yes, it's real.
 Yes, we're a little weird.
 Yes, “wave your freak flag” is an actual company value.
 And yes, we genuinely like working here.

 But also ...
 Is the job challenging? Absolutely.
 Is it fully remote? Also yes.
 Bonus fact: I've learned more here than any MBA could’ve given me.

These are the questions that hit my inbox every time we post a role, so I figured I’d answer them upfront and save us all some typing.

I help CEOs create all their snackable LinkedIn content in 1 hr/month -> Demandii.com

We are hiring (again)!  Highlights:
-> $90,000 (CAD dollars)
-> Up to $39,000 in performance-based bonuses available!
-> 5-weeks vacation (from day 1)
-> Tons of autonomy
-> Work from Home (100% virtual)
-> Full-time (Mon-Fri)

This is great for agency AEs or B2B marketing strategy directors/leaders tired of the corporate hamster wheel. 

We are looking for people who are great at:

- Building rapport quickly and getting people to open up
- Confidently be able to run a call in a structured way
- Are comfortable sitting at the executive table
- Can coach a CEO (without being intimidated)
- Understand B2B enterprise sales cycles
- Love fast-paced environments
- Understand executive KPIs

Day-to-day responsibilities:

- You will interview (digitally) busy CEOs
- You'll manage a client book of 10-12 clients
- You'll turn that interview into snackable social media content (videos, text, images)

Your team will include two post-production people who will help with administrative tasks, graphic design, video editing, etc.

Bonus points if you have the following experience:

- worked at an agency before
- social copywriting experience
- have participated in Meme battles
- have demand gen experience with B2B
- understand the INs and OUTs of social networking & social selling
- can go head-to-head with other executives & understand C-Suite objectives
- know how to sell into complicated high-ticket B2B enterprise sales environments

If you have all the above experience, I'll (probably) hire you on the spot.

As long as you are not boring or beige. You must have some personality to fit in with our oddball culture.

Do not apply if:

- if you do not live in Canada
- if you don't love social media
- if you can't manage a calendar
- if you can't work independently
- if you don't even know the different C-Suite titles
- if you don't have any B2B marketing or sales experience
- if you are not competitive with board games (you’re out!)


If this sounds like your dream career, then here is how you apply:

1—Leave an interesting comment on this post (or DM if you are worried about your workplace finding out you are applying for this killer career opportunity).

2—Email Matthew at Matthew@demandii.com with a subject line that stands out.

3—In the email, explain why you are perfect for the job with a 60-second selfie video. The video does not need any fancy editing. If you can't make a 60-second video of yourself, you will not be right for this role.

4—In the email, include a link to your LI profile in that email.

5—Do not attach your resume. We don't read them. If you send it to us, we will ding you a point for not being able to follow instructions.

PS—Applying is a small test of your attention to detail. If you can't do this, trust me, you won't be able to do this job.

Ever notice how the best movie soundtracks don’t stand out?
They just fit. That’s how good marketing works, too... You don’t feel it.

---> Shout out to my amazing Demandii video editor Tops Roque

A lot of founder-led content looks great on the surface.
But when I look closer, it often sounds like it’s written for:
→ Industry peers
→ Our friends
→ The algorithm

Not an ideal buyer.

And I say this with total empathy, because I see the same thing in my own drafts too ...

The content that hits hardest usually starts with:
“What would someone 3 steps behind me need to hear?”

Less about "me."
More about what my ideal buyer is trying to solve.

As a former journalist, I learned this trick early on. 
Listen more + Talk less.= Earning trust faster.

It's the same with social selling.
I’ve been watching what content actually converts, and here’s what keeps showing up

The viral “vulnerable” posts? They spark conversation but rarely convert.

The structured, insight-driven ones? They’re quieter but lead to DMs, replies, and trust.

The takeaway I keep coming back to is we don’t need to bare our souls on LI.
We need to share our smarts + expertise.

It's just way more valuable to our ideal buyers.


PS. One way I help clients move past this mistake, is we structure their content to feel like a real conversation:
 → First-person voice
 → Specific insight or story
 → A clear takeaway for the reader

Because thoughtful visibility isn’t loud. It’s useful, and useful content earns trust.

A founder hired me to help with her content. She was getting crazy engagement, but no leads. When I reviewed her posts, I saw why: She was being SUPER relatable. But not valuable.

I’m not a math person. Never have been.
Still count on my fingers. No shame. Okay maybe a little… Or a lot :(

But when it comes to marketing? Math matters especially when you’re dealing with MQLs.

Comment 'Money Math' for my free course. JK. Don't do that.
You're better off setting up a call with Demandii

Something I’ve learned working with CEOs over the years is this: 
Just because your metrics look "good" doesn’t mean your strategy is working.

Here’s how you know your team might already be falling into the trap AND how to fix it fast.

“Why can’t I just copy–paste my blog as a LinkedIn post?”
Short answer: Tumblr era is dead.
Long answer: LinkedIn and your blog do completely different jobs.

Blog (longform) = deep dive, context, SEO, long attention span
LinkedIn (shortform) = hook fast, make 1 point, spark a reaction

When we paste a blog as a post, we get the worst of both (yay):
 1. Too long for LinkedIn
 2. Too skimmed for anyone to click through

Most teams treat every lead like it’s ready to buy.

It’s not.

We don’t toss out unripe leads; we sort them into the ‘not ready yet’ pile. 

Because only 5% of MQLs are ready now.

The rest? They’ll ripen later… if you know how to nurture them right.

That’s why our system pairs “Now” campaigns (to convert the 5%) with “Later” campaigns (to warm the 95%).

Now + Later = Closed Deals.

Recently, a client told me:
“Abby, I think we’re posting too much. I’m everywhere. People are probably getting annoyed.”

My response. "No. You’re just finally visible. And yeah, it feels weird at first."

But because it's a common issue that pops up anytime a founder begins their personal branding journey, I thought I'd share the insights that helped him stop obsessing over how he's being peceived online ...

First of all, the average person spends 7 minutes a day on LinkedIn.
Your post reach? Maybe 5–10% of your audience.

So if someone says, “I see you everywhere,”? 
Let’s look at what’s really happening:

1.  They’re engaging with your stuff. That’s how the algorithm works.

2. They’re probably a peer or colleague who follows you and stops scrolling when they see your name.

3. Or… they wish they were posting more, but they’re not, so they frame your consistency as “too much.” (It happens. Projection is real.)

So, if you’re getting noticed in someone’s 7-minute scroll window? 
Then I say: "Yay! People are FINALLY seeing you."

But I'm also going to tell you this: " Unless your ideal buyer is giving you this 'you're too much' feedback, then I highly recommend brushing it off."  

Because these people are not the ones paying your bills ...  Which means, their opinion of you is NONE of your business.

If you want leads, treat LinkedIn like a party, not a panel discussion
If you want people to commiserate with then, then keep doing the other thing.

Matthew Hunt

Demandii - LinkedIn Demand Generation Agency

Demandii.com helps busy CEOs create all their content for LinkedIn from a monthly 1-hr interview so they can stay top of mind with their warm networks and become micro-celebrities in their niche. 

🚀 HOW WE DO IT:

Step 1: (CaaS - Content as a service)

We meet with the busy CEOs monthly and interview them.   We ONLY need them for 1 hour. 

This interview creates 20 snackable pieces of content:  video posts, text posts, image posts, etc. 

Then, we send that content to the CEO for approval and feedback. This process takes them about 30 minutes to put any final touches on it, so the voice is on point.  

Then, we schedule and post (do all the tedious stuff CEOs should never do) to ensure they are consistent on LinkedIn. 

Step 2: (LI ads)

Should our clients want more eyeballs on their content from their ICPs, we help them sponsor it.

This helps them be SEEN and become micro-celebrities in their niches. 

Step 3: (Leads)

Should our clients want more leads, we help them create a monthly LI event (long-form content) to get more inbound leads and build demand for their products/services. 

🤝 WHOM DO WE WORK WITH:

We work with anyone who sees LinkedIn as a core channel. We work directly with the CEO or founder. 

🌐 LEARN MORE:

Demandii.com

Founder

People love having me speak at their conferences, virtual events, and on their podcasts because I have a no-bullshit approach to helping others avoid the mistakes I've made over the years. 

Here's my journey:

2000-2007: Acting on stages worldwide, I needed to make more money, so I resorted to serving tables and door-to-door merchant account sales.  

2008: My gateway drug for self-improvement was discovered after joining a spammy multi-level marketing company. Read 100 self-improvement books to get my head out of my ass. I never made a dime with MLN. 

2009: I taught myself how to run ads on Google after reading Perry Marshalls's Definitive Guide to Google Adwords. Then, I became the top salesperson at the payment company because of search ads.

2010: Launched a YouTube channel and taught people how to do Local SEO, then had dozens of small businesses asking me to help. So, I launched my first marketing agency. 

2011-2014: I quickly scaled that agency to 7-figures but barely kept any money because I didn't know what a P/L sheet was.

2014: I merged those agencies with two other local marketing agencies because I struggled to run the business and needed help. I learned from my new partners that my biggest mistake was charging too little.

2015 - 2018: Helped scale Canada's fastest SEM and SEO marketing agency, servicing dozens of Fortune 500 companies. However, my journey got cut short due to partner conflicts, which triggered the shotgun clause.  

2019: I launched a cold outbound agency where we spammed people via email and with LinkedIn bots. I didn't love outbound. 

2020-2021: I tested a new service where I helped busy CEOs create all their LinkedIn content in 1-hour. People loved it! So, I killed the outbound agency and turned it into an LI demand gen agency.

2021-Present: Founder of Demandii.com - a LI demand generation agency.

Entrepreneur, Coach, & Speaker 

Automation Wolf

We started off as a spray-and-pray outbound agency where we automated cold email and cold DMs on LinkedIn; however, after a year of this, we discovered we hated it.  So we began testing, to help busy CEOs create all their snackable content for LinkedIn.  It worked!  We love it! Our clients loved it!  So we are now Demandii.com

Powered by Search

🏦 WHAT WE DO:

We helped enterprise companies make digital marketing work through a new method we called ‘The Intent Engine™’. 

🚀 HOW WE DO IT:

Most online marketers get it all wrong.  They are trying to do SEO, PPC, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, etc.. but that is not the problem.  The era of tactics is over. 

The real problem is, none of it works unless you understand what makes your ideal customer’s tick. 

We have created a new way to to do digital marketing that allows our clients to acquire customers at a profit faster. 

When you can acquire a customer faster and better then your competitors you win.  

🤝 WHOM DO WE WORK WITH:

We serve companies who already are heavily invested in digital marketing like SEO, Local SEO, PPC Ads (AdWords, Facebook), etc , but who have never quite found that perfect agency who can make it all work for them. 

📈 WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT: 

• We are performance-based marketing agency.  So when we WIN, you WIN!

• We ONLY have veterans marketers on our team, who love where they work.  Happy team = happy clients.  So you can have peace of mind you have hired the best talent. 

• We have proven systems and processes that have drive over a billion dollars in sales for our clients, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel & only invest in proven campaigns.

• We removed all the bloat and are agile so you can get the results you want faster without any red tape. 

✅ HOW IT WORKS: 

STEP 1 - It's easy! Contact us for a quick introduction call, where we can learn more about your marketing needs. 

STEP 2 - If we are a good fit, we’ll work collaboratively with you & your team to come up with the right strategy.  

STEP 3 - We will make sure everything is set up to run a marketing campaign that will please all levels of your team from marketing managers to the C-suite.

STEP 4 - We launch a successful marketing campaign & you become another one of our amazing case studies. 

🌐GET IN TOUCH:

www.poweredbysearch.com

CMO, VP of Sales & Partner

COO & Partner

Small Business Online Coach

🏦 WHAT WE DO:
We help small business gain visibility in Google search and Google Maps, so they can show up for search queries that drive immediate sales. 

🚀 HOW WE DO IT:
Most SMBs who are struggling are doing so because they haven’t focused on getting their business in front of hungry buyers who are on the search engines like Google looking to hire a company like theirs.  

We help SMBs gain that visibility they deserve quickly and with a great review reputation, so they can scale their businesses and worry more about delivering a great product/service vs worrying about where the next sale will come from. 

🤝 WHO DO WE WORK WITH:
We work with all different types of SMBs: Lawyers, Dentists, Chiropractors, Independent E-commerce Stores, Massage Therapists, Accountants, and much more!  

📈 WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT
• We are leading experts in Local SEO, so you can rank well on Google and Google Maps.
• We are experts with Google AdWords and Facebook Ads so we can immediately drive you more leads in as little as 48 hours. 
• We have created a new way to boost your positive reviews online, so more people will choose you over your competitors. 
• We know how to set up the analytics so you know exactly what is driving your sales and phones calls. 
• We guarantee our services and have no long-term contracts. If you don’t get more leads and sales we’ll refund you your money.

✅ HOW IT WORKS:

STEP 1 - It's easy! Contact us for a quick introduction call, where we can learn more about your marketing needs. 

STEP 2 - If we are a good fit, we’ll work collaboratively with you and your team to come up with the right SEM & SEO strategies.  

STEP 3 - We will make sure everything is set up to run a measurable and successful marketing campaign.

Canada Card Processing (Lead Gen)

This was my gateway drug into marketing.

I built a website to produce leads for my straight commission sales of selling merchant services.

I bought a book called The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords.

Taught myself PPC.
Taught myself SEO.
Taught myself how to build WordPress websites.

Then I got inbound leads for credit card processing.

I got 100s of leads per month.
Then would close them over the phone.

This got me out of door-to-door selling and launched my entrepreneurial journey.

Self Employed (Wantrepreur)

various film & theatre companies

Canadian theatre artist who performed various shows across the globe such as 'The Overcoat' produced by CanStage.

Actor

Amber Restaurant 

I served tables, bartended, and worked the door at a busy high-end nightclub in Yorkville, Toronto. Basically, I served rich and famous people drinks and apps, so I could float my theatre career.

Bartender

Merchant Services Companies 

Sold merchant services door-to-door on straight commission.  I ate what I hunted.

Door to Door Salesperson

I help busy B2B CEOs create ALL their snackable LinkedIn content from a monthly 1-hr interview each month because their biggest obstacle is time.

Once a CEO gets consistent with publishing daily helpful short-form content, the bi-product is:

- Stay top-of-mind with their warm network.
- Soft touches with their team, prospects, and clients. 
- Forces them to become a more effective communicator.
- Leads to speaking and new media opportunities like being featured on Podcasts and Virtual Summits.

Any time a founder can multiply themselves without taking up all their time is a HUGE WIN!

Personal branding on LinkedIn is an evergreen and compounding strategy that ALL B2B founders need to invest in.

I have battle-tested this process with over 150 CEOs.

It works.

We have the data to prove it.

We have driven over 30 million free impressions for our clients and taught them how to build demand for their services without being slimy or salesy.

See over 100 client testimonials and case studies here: https://www.demandii.com/case-studies

You can see my whole LinkedIn GTM strategy in this 12-minute video at Demandii.com

---

If you are interested in working with me, DM me on LinkedIn 

OR 

book time with me via Demandii.com

Demandii.com helps busy CEOs create all their content for LinkedIn in 1-2 hours per month so they can stay top of mind with their warm networks and become micro-celebrities in their niche. 

🚀 HOW WE DO IT:

We start with three 1-hr workshops to better understand your business and what makes your ICP tick. It's the foundation for creating compelling content.

Then, we meet with the busy CEOs monthly and interview them on a tool like Zoom.   We ONLY need them for 1 hour. 

This interview creates 20 snackable pieces of content:  video posts, text posts, image posts, etc. 

Then, we send that content to the CEO for approval and feedback. This process takes them about 30 minutes to put any final touches on it, so the voice is on point.  

Then, we schedule and post (do all the tedious stuff CEOs should never do) to ensure they are consistent on LinkedIn. 

🤝 WHOM DO WE WORK WITH:

We work with anyone who sees LinkedIn as a core channel. We work directly with the CEO or founder. 

🌐 LEARN MORE:

Demandii.com

LinkedIn paid for my kids’ private school.
No joke.
LinkedIn — literally funds everything in my life!

I know that sounds pretentious and "bougie", but it's true.

It paid for my kids’ private school (they got the gift of dyslexia from my genes...  and the public school system was not equipped or supported to help them... thankfully, LinkedIn marketing works!).

LinkedIn will even pay for their university.

This platform takes care of my wife, my kids, and my extended family.  I even took my extended family on an all-paid-for trip this year. 

No investors.
No debt.
No grants.
No viral moment.
No “overnight success.”

Just a solid, cash-flowing business built on three things:
1) Consistent short-form content posted on LinkedIn
2) Boosting that content with LinkedIn ads.
2) Drive them to DMs, ladder to long-form content which drives -> sales! 

That’s it.

I practice what I preach, too! 
Unlike many other fake LI gurus.

That formula built my business.
And it’s now helped over 250 other B2B founders do the same.

I'm feeling super generous, so I am making my online course 100% on how to do this.  I have 93 hours of training, SOPs, and swipe files all in this course. Nothing is held back. 

LinkedIn is a goldmine for businesses that run B2B operations.

If you want access to my course, then:

1) Like this post
2) Comment: course

PS - ensure you have connected with me first.

If they can do it, and I can do it, you can too.

I had the opportunity to join Peter Lang's Orlando M&A and Exit Lab this past Friday, and truth be told, I wasn't going to attend. 

I had fears of buying another agency.

I worried it:
- F'up my current great culture
- Amplify any chaos I had in my business
- Suck me back into operations
- I would have to carry loads of debt

It'd be ONE GIANT distraction from what I'm focused on.

Well, all those limiting beliefs were burst.

After attending the lab and receiving a playbook, I feel very differently.

It was a mindset shift I had to go through, moving from operator to owner.

After talking to people like James Kwon, Tristan Pelligrino, Mark Homer, Corey Quinn 🎯, and many other very honest and open people in the room, they've changed my mind that growing through M&A's is an excellent way to:

- Bolt on talent
- Bolt on revenue
- Bolt on diversity in products
- Bolt more security and opportunities for my team

As Dan Sullivan says, it's not HOW, but WHO.

I am excited to begin this journey in 2026. 

I have been building businesses since 2007, so I am not so naive as to think this will be easy. I know it will be full of potholes, pain, and disasters... but what business isn't?!   That's part of the game. 

I am inspired to push myself beyond thinking like an operator to start thinking more like an owner. 

For those of you who have already crossed this bridge, I'd love to hear: 

- one fear you had before an acquisition
- one benefit that came from acquiring another company
- one mistake you made and how to avoid it 

Your advice is not just for me, but for the whole community of business owners who are considering growth through M&As.

We all stand on the shoulders of giants (who did it before us), and your advice in the comments below is greatly appreciated.

I say, it's irresponsible for founders and CEOs not to be building their personal brand online today.  These stats prove that.

CEOs can't ignore social media anymore

If you’re doing cold outreach on LinkedIn, but not posting content… you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

Here’s why: Every person you message is going to click your profile.

And if it looks like you haven’t posted in months?
You look like you are out of business.
Or worse — like a spammer.

So if you want your connection requests accepted (and your DMs replied to):

1) Turn your profile into a landing page. Make it painfully clear who you help and how you help. Have lots of social proof. Make an offer to get into your marketing funnel(s).

2) Post 2–3 times a week with content that is helpful and immediately useful. It builds trust before you ever message someone.  It positions you as an expert.

Remember: people judge a book by its cover. Your LinkedIn profile and your LinkedIn content are your cover.

---

PS - And don't post AI slop, unless you want to make fun of how stupid it is!

Don’t reward heroics. Reward systems.

A manager pulled off three client handoffs while covering two vacations last week. I told them the same thing I tell every ops lead:

“You did great. But you shouldn’t have to do that again.”

Heroic effort is not a sustainable business model.

Every time someone saves the day, ask: “How do we make sure this never needs saving again?”

Systems win over heroics every time.

Agree?

How can you reach customers when ninety percent of LinkedIn has turned into AI slop? 

I've helped over 250 CEOs build their brands on LinkedIn and published over 50,000 short-form posts, giving me an unfair advantage in seeing what works and what doesn't.

Here is what cuts through the AI slop:

1) Specificity
Talk about one situation, one moment, one mistake. Generic content is identical to AI content.

2) Scar tissue
If you have never bled for the lesson, do not post it. Buyers smell borrowed wisdom instantly.

3) Perspective
Do not recap consensus. Say what your market is afraid to say. The truth travels faster than templates.

4) Proof
Stories, numbers, internal tensions, tradeoffs. The stuff operators recognize immediately.

5) A point of view
Your take is the differentiator. Not your polished corporate jargon speech.

Wrap this into monthly community and events where you meet real people who are craving real human connections, and it's a recipe for growth!

I wasn’t supposed to make it.
I grew up middle-class poor.
I’ve got dyslexia.

If a teacher asked me to read cold, I’d freeze.
I had low confidence in myself as a kid. Thought I was the dumb kid in the room.
But I didn't give up. I'd study for hours. Some teachers gave pity Cs and Ds just for trying hard.

I wasn’t dumb. I just learned differently. I know that now, but back then, no clue.

In high school, I discovered acting because I auditioned for a show as a joke to my buddies.  I discovered that if I memorized the lines, I was actually pretty good at acting.  It led to 10 years of acting on stages around the world. It taught me how to communicate. How to read a room. How to perform under pressure.  But most of the time, I was broke.

Between plays, I worked every kind of blue-collar job you can imagine. And somehow, I’d always end up in management. Not because I wanted to climb. Because I would fix things (without being told).

But two things would happen at some point: every company would not fix some things that seemed obvious to me to fix, so I’d either quit or they’d fire me because I wouldn’t shut up about fixing them.

Turns out, that’s called entrepreneurship.

Later, I tried my hand at door-to-door sales, and that’s where it clicked that I could make money. I was good at selling. All those years of acting made me unafraid of rejection. If you can sell, you can have an unlimited income. It made me want more.

It led me to the internet. I taught myself how to build websites, SEO, run Google Adwords, etc.  I had 12 side hustles in the fire. I’ve got ADHD too, so focus never came easily.  

By 31, after years of talking about starting a business, I finally did it.

It took my girlfriend getting pregnant (now my wife) to force me to jump in with two feet and to focus on 1 opportunity. I’ve learned to focus now — painfully — over time, after smashing my head into walls for years. 

Since 31, I've built 5 businesses now:

The first one, I merged my agency with two bigger ones.
The second, I exited after a shotgun clause due to partner conflicts (that was fun—not!)
The third flopped completely, lost $40–50K and a year of my life, but I wanted to start something so badly to prove to myself I could build a business without my batshit crazy partners. 
The fourth evolved into the fifth — it is what I’m doing today with founder-led content at Demandii.

And this one’s working.
Finally!!!

Twenty years later, it feels like the training wheels are off.

Still making mistakes, but fewer now.
Still learning, never a dull day in building a bootstrapped business. 

If there’s one lesson I can leave you with, it’s this:

Don’t quit.

It’s not about perfection.
It’s about progression.
If you don't quit, you'll get there eventually.

You know your team's levelling up when they don't need you in the room anymore.  

There's a moment every founder hits.
You join a client call out of habit and realize… they've got it handled.

That happened this past week (for our onboarding workshops).

I hopped into a client onboarding and halfway through thought, "They don't need me anymore."

It is a double-edged sword. Not being needed is an odd feeling, but not being the smartest in the room also feels like freedom, to me. 

I've realized that my mission is to build up people's skills.

I've also accepted that, as I do, new people will need to use my business as training wheels to adopt new skills. This means I've become comfortable with bad things happening ... such as great clients leaving, etc.

It's not instant. I've spent months (even years) teaching frameworks, language, and muscle memory. But when it clicks, I get so excited for my team!

The mistake I see most new founders make is that they jump ship too soon. I used to make that mistake, too.

I would abdicate instead of learning the true art of delegation.

Delegating is empowering others by transferring responsibility with clear instructions and support while maintaining oversight, whereas abdicating is abandoning responsibility without guidance or accountability.

This means you need to coach a lot longer than you want to. It can be slog at times, but you got stress their skills in many situations. 

What have you discovered the best founders/leaders do to train up their teams?

Not a million impressions, so I must suck, right?

I don't care if you only get 10,000 impressions in a year.

What impresses me more is if you post helpful content every day.

The results will come if you put the reps in.

As they say, we overestimate what we can do in a year, but underestimate what you can do in a decade.

I told my team something most CEOs won’t say out loud. “I don’t want more clients next year. I want better ones.”

When you narrow your ICP, your cost per lead goes up. Your volume goes down.
But your retention skyrockets, simply by focusing in on who your best customers are. 

So then your margins expand.
Your team gets calmer, too. 
If the team is happier, better work gets done.
It creates a flywheel of positive energy in the right direction. 

Keeping or selling the wrong customers can lead so much drag in our businesses. 

Never be afraid to redirect your bottom 5% customers each year.
It's good for them.
It's good for you.
It's good for your team.

Everyone loves “scale.” Few understand the cost of scaling in the wrong direction. I witnessed it too many times, that I avoid it now like the black plague. 

I’d rather grow profit with fewer, better clients than chase revenue with the wrong ones.

What's been your experience?

Everyone glamorizes the early grind.
Everyone fantasizes about the exit.
But nobody talks about the middle.

The stage where you’re too big to be scrappy and too small to have real leverage.

I told my team this point blank: “This phase is where founders have heart attacks.
This is the stage that breaks people.”

Most founders don’t fail at the beginning of the start-up stage.
They fail in the messy middle.
They fail at the stay-up stage.

The only way through is replacing yourself layer by layer.
Admin.
Delivery.
Marketing.
Sales.
Leadership.

One rung per year if you’re lucky.
It takes way longer than most think.
It's painful, especially if you haven't reached 5M yet, which is required to afford senior leadership roles. 

If you don’t overcome the replacement ladder, the business will collapse beneath you.

But if you do make it, you'll reach the scale-up stage, and that's when it gets exciting again.

Founder-led content doesn't work if you don't read the signals of people engaging with it, and then connect and DM them.

I ask every one of my clients this: “Can you take a 12-month sabbatical and the business keeps growing without you?”

Every founder knows the answer before they speak it.

No.

The real job of building a business is replacing yourself.
Not doing more.
Not proving your value.
Not heroics.
Replacement.

Until you can disappear for a year and the machine runs without you, you don’t own a company.

You have a job (with help).
The company owns you.

If you want to figure out how to replace yourself, get around other founders who've done it.

This is one of the reasons I love our founder's walks in Toronto that happen every Friday.

It gets me around people who've done it before.

I get to learn from their mistakes.

I get to fast-track my results.

If you are a founder living in Toronto and would like to attend the next founder walk, DM me.

Most people don’t have a content problem.
They have a 'content networking' problem.

They think content marketing means:
“Post stuff → Get inbound leads → Profit.”

That’s NOT how LinkedIn works.
Content is a conversation starter.

If you stop at likes and views, you’re standing at the bar talking to yourself.

The game is: content → connection → conversation.

Here’s how that actually looks in practice:

1. Likes → Comment back
If someone likes your post, that’s a micro-hand raise.
Click through. See who they are.
Drop a genuine comment on their next post within 24 hours.
or reach and thank them for "liking" your post.
You’ve now gone from “stranger” to “familiar face.”

2. Comments → DM
Someone leaves a thoughtful comment?
Acknowledge it publicly, then follow up privately.

“Hey [Name], loved your take on [topic]. Curious, how are you handling that inside your company right now?”

Continue a public conversation privately to build a relationship.  Be helpful. Be normal. Ask questions. It will lead to bigger things if you play your cards right. 

3. Profile views → Connection request
Profile views are buying signals.

Send a short, human note:
“Hey [Name], I saw you checked out my profile, I appreciate it. Looks like we both work in [space]. Let’s connect so I can see your content or trade notes."

No pitch. Just context.

4. Connections → DMs
Once they accept, don’t drop a sales pitch.
Pitch slapping is weird. Please stop.
Engage with a few of their posts first.
Then start a real conversation:

“Hey [Name], been enjoying your posts. Curious, what’s working best for you on [topic] right now?”

5. DMs → Conversations → Opportunities
The goal isn’t to sell in the DMs.
It’s to earn a conversation.

Ask questions. Trade ideas. Build trust.
When it’s clear that there’s alignment, move to asking more probing questions, and when the timing is right, jump on the phone to learn more about them. 

The founders who make LinkedIn work view it as a content networking platform, not a content marketing tool.  Once you incorporate the networking aspect, it will generate JV partners, referrals, inbound leads, and free PR, among other benefits. 

If you’re only posting and waiting, you’re missing 80% of the opportunity.

The 80/10/10 Model for strategic ad spend.

Here’s how I run every LinkedIn ads program now:

80 percent: Proven winners
These are the ads with a real track record. Not one lucky week. Not one dashboard spike. I want three to four consistent cycles of performance. These get the bulk of the spend because they’ve earned it.

10 percent: Methodical tests
Think of this as your R&D lab. New hooks. New angles. A different narrative. These tests are grounded in actual buyer psychology, not random brainstorms.

10 percent: Outlandish experiments
This is where the magic hides. The rule is simple: if it makes someone on the team uncomfortable, it belongs here. Some of my cheapest leads have come from ads that looked wrong in the mockup. Funny enough, so many of my UGLY ads end up being the winners.  Most companies will not let me do them without proof b/c they still think pretty and corporate wins the day. It doesn't; it leads to boring and beige. Ignored. But, hey, it's a journey and people, and I let the data speak for itself.

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Abby E. S.

Matthew Hunt

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taplio

The Battle

Abby E. S.

Matthew Hunt

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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);}Abby E. S.'s LinkedIn Performance

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