I help salespeople become sales leaders w/ the Salesblazer Method™️ | Executive Sales Leader

Over the last decade, I helped build multiple multi-million dollar medical device territories by developing new markets and strategic sales teams. I also helped customer-partners build their personal brands and land consulting contracts, which led to developing new products/techniques and enhanced patient outcomes.

Then, in 2023, I hit a fork in the road. Do I continue building someone else's company at the expense of my convictions, or do I risk my comfortable life to gain personal agency, take complete ownership over my future, and craft something worth telling a story about?

Building something on my terms and diversifying my income would be the best pathway towards control over my calendar, autonomy over the work I get to do, and the direct impact I can have.

While this pathway has not been easy, the results have been remarkable.

Since leaving a sales executive role with a great brand, I have been able to replace my income by working for myself with less effort (working smart).

I have launched Sparkbound, a medical sales & marketing organization that goes beyond the transaction and seeks to enrich the lives of others.

Sparkbound not only helps our people build influential careers, increase our partners' influence, or improve our practitioners' patient outcomes, but we also want to help aspiring difference makers become the change they wish they could make... and then help them make positive change happen.

My mission is to help you see that you're not stuck. You don't have to labor and live as others expect you to. My mission is to help you challenge the status quo, lead by design, and choose the impact you wish to have.

I love writing about leadership, specifically leadership without titles, about how high-impact professionals can earn personal agency, purposeful productivity (doing more good, better), and meaningful work.

Francisco Martinez

Find a leader to work for. Not a job to do. 

The wrong manager can hold your career back for years. 

The right managers see your potential, help you unlock your potential, and champion your promotion. 

The best leaders are agnostic to the logo they represent. 
They are believers in the people they are responsible for. 

The best managers prioritize people first, then profit. 

I've worked for great leaders. 

- They believed I had potential.
- They asked about my wife & children. 
- They invested in me even when I deserved to be fired. 
- They designed comp plans around revenue goals, not quota.
- They created roles to solve problems that fit my passion and strengths. 
- They listened - and did not turn on me - when I considered outside offers.

I once struggled because I wasn't sure I wanted to be in this industry. 
My leaders noticed my decreasing excitement, put their arms around me, and said, "Where do you want to be? We'll help you get there." 

They are why I stayed, even though I was offered better pay elsewhere. 
They are the reason I haven't quit the medical device industry.

Ultimately, their leadership has led to several promotions, bigger paychecks, and once-in-a-lifetime career opportunities. 

Choose leaders who want to see you grow today. 

Agree? Let me know your thoughts👇

If you want to look like a leader, get your MBA. 

If you want to be a leader, start leading.

Leadership is simple. 

Leadership is not: 

- Executive titles
- Being a high performer
- Corner office with a view
- Managing a 10K person org

Leadership is:

- Stepping up to care for those around you.
- Getting results while raising up others.
- Creating opportunities to serve. 
- Leading yourself. 

Titles, certifications, degrees, and education amplify your leadership. 

But they don't make you a leader. 

How can someone start leading today?

After 14 years in medical sales (18 total in sales), I've had to reinvent my career several times. 

I have been demoted, stuck, and promoted. 

I have represented large brands and startups. 

Every time, it has come down to these basic but powerful habits. 

Here are the 17 powerful habits of high-impact salespeople:

1. Focus on what you can control: your attitude & actions
2. Learn to say, "I don't know, but let me find out." 
3" Give, don't take. Give away your time, expertise, & self. 
4. The day starts the night before. Wake up to execute. 
5. Practice patience, not passivity. Growth takes time. 
6. Like Navy Seals, train with a pod of peers. 
7. Sundays are for strategy. Plan an ideal week.
8. Get aligned every quarter with your values and mission
9. Always be checking in on your character. 
10. Do what you say you will do, even if it costs you. 
11. First impressions are for impact, not to impress. 
12. Time block high-revenue activities. Ruthlessly stick to it
13. Send a weekly highlight report to your boss. 
14. Send a weekly lessons learned report to your team. 
15. End each day with a self-assessment review of yourself.
16. Solve big problems instead of reacting to fire drills. 
17. Go beyond the transaction and seek to enrich lives. 

Medical sales, and all sales, are more than hitting quota. 

It's about becoming the person you would rave about doing business with. 

What did I miss? 

--
♻️ Repost to help your network become a high-impact salesperson
➕ Follow for more tips on how to grow your sales career

You don't need permission to lead.
You don't need to work 60-hour weeks.
You don't need approval to implement AI.

Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. 

The biggest lies we tell ourselves:

"I need to wait until the culture improves."
"I need to be promoted before I can lead."
"I need to stay in my lane.

Here's the truth:

You have everything you need to make change happen in your company.
The work isn't waiting for permission.
The work is taking responsibility.

How many people do you know who spent years taking orders instead of taking initiative?

The most successful people didn't wait to lead and do great work.

They had a vision.
They took small bets.
They chose to lead and make a change.

Stop waiting to get picked.

Pick yourself and make positive change happen. 

♻️ Repost to help your tribe be the change they wish they had
➕ Follow for more insights on getting unstuck and doing things better.

It's not your fault that you aren't getting promoted.

Companies love to promote the wrong people: 

People with seniority, big numbers, and loud mouths. 

But don't let that stop you from getting promoted the right way.

Promoting the right way is simple.
It's not about being extraordinary. 
Nor is it about being high performing. 

It's about being a high-impact person. 

High-impact people don't chase what others chase:

🏷 Executive titles
🏢 The corner office
👏 Praise and recognition
🎓 Fancy MBA degrees

High-impact people are simply leaders without titles. 

Lead where you are. 

No hierarchy.
No entitlement.
No permission needed.

✅ Seek impact, not impressions.
✅ Take initiative when others are complacent.
✅ Pursue excellence when no one's watching.
✅ Lift morale when others stick to themselves.

The gap between insignificance and influence shouldn't be authority.

It's the choice to become the leader you wish you had.

What do you think?

The best leaders aren't the smartest in the room. 

More Knowledge won't get you promoted. Try this instead:

Acquire wisdom. 

Here's why:

🧠 Knowledge is about knowing more. 
🦉 Wisdom is about knowing you don't know enough. 

🧠 Knowledge says, "I know the answer." 
🦉 Wisdom asks, "What's the right question?"

🧠 Knowledge recites best practices. 
🦉 Wisdom knows when to break them.

🧠 Knowledge speaks first in meetings. 
🦉 Wisdom listens, then synthesizes what others missed.

🧠 Knowledge focuses on being right. 
🦉 Wisdom focuses on being useful.

🧠 Knowledge collects information. 
🦉 Wisdom connects the dots others can't see.

The leaders who get promoted aren't the ones with the most certifications or the largest vocabulary.

They're the ones who can navigate complexity, read between the lines, and make decisions when the data is incomplete.

They turn information into insight. Problems into opportunities. Chaos into clarity.

Stop collecting Knowledge. Start cultivating wisdom.

Your career will thank you.

What's one moment when wisdom mattered more than Knowledge in your career? Share below 👇

-- 
♻️ Repost to help your tribe be wiser
➕ Like and follow Francisco Martinez for more insights

Making Leaders Remarkable | Follow for systems & strategies for effortless leadership & remarkable work | Founder & Principal building an 8-figure sales agency from scratch

Avoid being the 99% who wait to get promoted.

Trust me when I say:

- mastering influence
- excelling in your role
- crafting solutions as a niche
- teaching others to create success

And above all, being worthy of remark...

Will make it 100x easier to get promoted.

Waiting for an opportunity isn’t reliable. Go create a demand for your skills.

99% of people miss a promotion because they try to do "more". 

Future leaders focus on who they are becoming.

❌ Stop asking, "What must I do to get promoted?"
✅ Start asking, "Am I becoming someone worth following?"

❌Stop asking, "How many more years do I need to wait for that next promotion?"
✅ Start asking, "Where can I initiate, and whom can I begin serving today?"

❌Stop asking, "How can I get noticed by leadership?"
✅ Start asking, "How can I shine a spotlight on others?"

❌Stop asking, "What skills do I need on my resume?"
✅ Start asking, "What real, soft skills can I develop?"

❌Stop asking, "Who can help advance my career?"
✅ Start asking, "Whose career can I help advance today?"

❌Stop asking, "What tasks can I take off my boss's plate?"
✅ Start asking, "What common problem can I bring solutions for?"

If you are frustrated that nothing is changing, stop asking the same questions everybody else asks.

Ask better questions.
You'll get different, better results.

"Quality questions create a quality life." - Tony Robbins.

What questions have you asked yourself to become the leader you wish you had?

You can't just "wing it" in leadership. 

If you want to succeed as a leader, start asking two questions:

"Who will I serve today?"
"Who will I surprise this week?" 

Leadership is simple. 
Leadership is servant leadership. 
Servant leadership is not waiting around hoping to be asked for help. 
Servant leadership is initiating and planning acts of service. 

You will either lead well or not. There's no in betweena. 

You can fail to plan your leadership, but you will plan to fail as a leader. 

How do you plan to lead well this week?

Don't just pray for a great culture.

Be the answer to your prayer.

It's easy to hope for a healthy workplace—one where you feel safe, valued, and seen.

But culture isn't something you stumble upon.

It's something you help create.

Culture is not:

- Pizza, ping pong, or even pickleball
- Unlimited PTO or remote work
- A profitable business unit
- A mission statement
- HR department
- Core values
- The CEO

The success or attitude of individual contributors is not the measure of culture. 
But it is measured by:

- Low burnout
- Employee referrals
- High retention rates
- People celebrate each other
- Alignment of all people and parts
- The way employees feel on Sunday night

Yet, no culture is perfect. Even great workplaces will disappoint at times.
And that's okay.

That's why what matters is how you carry yourself and champion the culture you wish you had.

You bring attitude, habits, and values everywhere you go.

The best cultures aren't found. Courageous people cultivate them.

So yes, pray for a great team, a mission you can stand behind, and a culture that breathes life.

But don't stop there.
Be the person who:

- Gives credit
- Has a bias for action
- Chooses to lead without a title.
- Praises the efforts and success of others.
- Isn't waiting to be asked to serve but creates opportunities to serve.

You're not just a recipient of great culture.
You're crafting it... every single day.

What are the best ways a leader without a title can impact their culture?

The best medical sales reps don't sell. They serve.

After 14 years in medical sales, I've watched too many reps crash and burn trying to be the smartest person in the room.

Here's what actually works:

Stop trying to impress doctors.
Start trying to improve patient outcomes.

This mindset changes everything.

Here are the non-negotiables for high-performing medical sales reps: 

✅ Lead with patient impact, not product features
✅ Create opportunities to serve your customers. 
✅ Play the long game and build trust as you build your pipeline.
✅ Educate, educate, educate. 
✅ Don't knock the competition. 

Here's the interesting truth:

When you stop selling and start serving, your numbers go up.

In medical sales, we don't just move products.
We're integral to someone's healing.

Act like it.

What's the most important lesson you've learned about putting people before profit?

♻️ Repost if this resonates
➕ Follow for more on character-driven sales leadership

The #1 credential for leadership is character. 

Without high integrity, you can't influence people effectively. 

Character is more important than your certifications.
Character is more important than your degrees. 
Character is more important than your experience.
Character is more important than your success. 
Character is more important than your content.
Character is more important than your mission.

Character is the most foundational aspect of leadership, as everything flows from it. 

Your hard work. Your motivation. Your goals for your people. Your servant leadership. Your trustworthiness.

All of it flows from the person you are when nobody is watching.

Before you ask what you should do to be a leader, ask, "Who am I becoming?"

Character is a slow brew. It is shaped and developed through testing over time. 

So be patient. 
Know who you want to become.
Be that person. 
When you fail, own up to it. 

That's what the people around you need most. 

Then watch yourself naturally work on being and having all those other things essential for success with people. 

Do you agree or disagree? Comment and let me know.
♻️ Repost and like if you agree

P C.

Don't quit. Don't give up. Turn that frustration around. 

Because success is not a corner office, a title, or a bigger role. 

Thinking in terms of vanity metrics almost destroyed my career. 

Thinking I could impact lives if I had that bigger role hindered my effort. 

I realized that it wasn't my managers keeping me from bigger and better things. 
It was me. 

Once I chose to be a salesblazer, making positive change happen right where I was and leading without a title, my career blossomed. 

Here's the mindset that finds success with or without titles:

- You make change happen for the sake of others. 
- You initiate solving common problems your way. 
- You think beyond your role. Create a rising tide. 
- You are willing to ask for help from your tribe.
- You are faithful with what you've been given.
- You detach from outcomes. Create systems. 
- You know what makes you unique. 
- You don't hate small beginnings.
- You adopt the 12-week year. 
- You aim to work hard. 
- You excel. 

The result? 

You build an impactful and successful career.

The brutal truth about starting your own business: it doesn't give you the freedom, security, and everything you dreamt about when first starting.

Well... at least not at first.

Ben Horowitz said it best:

"As a startup CEO, I slept like a baby. I woke up every two hours and cried."

While my trust in the Lord keeps me sound asleep at night, that doesn't mean I don't wrestle with stress and anxiety over the business and the people that have come along for the ride. 

Building a medical sales agency from scratch has taught me:

- Relationships are priceless, and integrity - even when it costs you - is the glue that keeps them together.

- While you have a sense of ownership over your calendar, you're owned by the customer and your people. 

- When your people don't show up, you have to... even if it's on the weekend. 

- No such thing as a cushy savings account because cash goes quick when you're scaling fast. 

- More time with your family? No such thing. 

Everybody dreams about starting a business.

But nobody wants to sacrifice and prepare for the cost of actually building a business from scratch. 

Starting a business isn't about freedom.

It's about trading one set of problems for another — except now they're all yours.

And there's no one to blame if things don't get done except yourself 😂 

Is it worth it? 

100%. 

What matters most is to count the cost before you leap. 

Because the business builders who survive aren't the ones with the best ideas.

They're the ones who knew what they were signing up for — and chose it anyway.

What's the hardest part of starting a business nobody warned you about?

The biggest mistake I made in building an influential sales career:

Not being generous.

Not monetarily, that's easy.

But sacrificial with everything else.

Now I give away my:

- Expertise to customers with zero strings attached
- Strengths & skills to develop others
- Time in the trenches with our reps
- Ideas to improve our organization

Giving binds people into a community.

Salesblazers are better together.

Take your work seriously, but not yourself seriously.

One of the greatest mindsets for doing great work without running over people:

- Think of yourself less (& others more)
- You’re not that important
- Commit unwaveringly to your mission
- Leave a mark on those you serve
- Decide to involve the skills and talents of your team
- Have fun

Nobody likes to work with arrogant jerks. 

The humble way, while more challenging, brings everybody together to accomplish your important work.

Caring isn't a strategy you implement. 

It is a lifestyle you embody daily.

So stop acting like you care. Start actually caring. 

❌ Don't perform empathy for your team 
✅ Genuinely invest in their growth

❌ Don't fake interest in customers
 ✅ Detach from profit and connect as humans

❌ Don't care for the applause 
✅ Care because it's a person you can impact

If you feel you are acting, tell yourself to care genuinely.

Do the work to make an impact, not just to impress.

What's one way to embody authentic care?

♻️ Repost to inspire leaders to care
➕ Follow and like for more unconventional musings

The system for promoting salespeople is broken.

And it's costing companies their best leaders.

5 metrics nobody is using to discover true leaders:

Old metrics:

- Seniority
- Expertise
- Big personality
- Quota achievement
- Number of direct reports

Better metrics:

- Flexes between extrovert and introverted personalities
- Develops and creates more leaders (not just followers)
- People passionately following their mission and vision
- Obsesses over people first over quota
- Initiates acts of service

The common denominator? 

Not quota achievement or high-performing. 
But pouring into people because that's the right thing to do. 

Traditional credentials make a manager. 
People make the leader.

What's one trait youve seen in a great leader that never shows up on a performance review?

The system for promoting salespeople is broken

No matter how experienced you are, selling can be daunting.

Here's how to stay calm (without hacks):

Overthinking ➡️ Write out strategy 
Uninspired ➡️ Read customer stories
Scared of rejection ➡️ Practice your pitch
Stuck in a rut ➡️ Call a mentor
Tired of cold-calling ➡️ Rehearse your why
Confused ➡️ Leverage AI
Frustrated by mgmt ➡️ Go lead
Burned out ➡️ Create a system
Impatient ➡️ Impatient
Unmotivated ➡️ Read a book

What would you add?

Find a leader to work for. Not a job to do. 

The wrong manager can burn you out and hold back your life. 

The right managers know your emotional and physical capacity and help you maximize it, not exhaust it. 

The best leaders are agnostic to "hustle culture."  
They not only push their people to greatness but also protect them from burnout. 

The best managers prioritize people first, then profit. 

Choose leaders who want to see you succeed without crashing. 

Agree? Let me know your thoughts👇

Chris Cicconi

Paying it Forward 👉 One Day at a Time

Salesperson 💸 --> Coach ✍️ --> Leader 🙋‍♂️
Sometimes a content creator 🎥 - always a goofball 【ツ】

I love building things, but not physical things.

I have a passion for building teams, networks, processes, procedures and revenue but most importantly people. 

This had led me to helping founders pivot from founder led sales to a sustainable and scalable sales engine.

Hit me up if you want to talk sales, fractional leadership, 👟or ☕️.
--------------------
I was once given an opportunity that has allowed me to build my wonderful career.
I want to make sure others have the same chance.
#payitforward

Content Creator

Host of "The War Room: The Kards Pre-Game Show" by 983 Media (a game by 1939 games)
Host for all Kards Official eSports events, including the World Championship Series
Host of "The Frontline" The Official Kards Podcast by 983 Media
Gwent Qualifier Caster and Gwent Partner (a game by CD Projekt RED)

Chris 🦄 Cicconi

Want to know my morning routine?

5:30 - Alarm goes off. Immediately Snooze. Regret.
5:40 - Struggle to get out of bed and find my pants.
6:00 - Gym, because I signed up for races this year and don't want to embarrass myself
7:30 - Get home, my daughter decides she MUST wear her unicorn pants that are 2 sizes to small for her today
7:35 - Too under caffeinated to deal with it, I let her do it, judge me all you want daycare educators
7:45 - Make coffee (ARC Roasters of course)
7:58 - Take 2 sips of it and out the door
8:00 - Drop daughter off at daycare. 
8:15 - Get home and open laptop
8:16 - Cats harass me for breakfast, rolling around on my keyboard making it impossible to work
8:20 - Forget that I haven't had breakfast yet and make oats, because microwave and water is all I can handle
8:31 - Ask myself why the first 3 hours of my day feel like a full 24.

No ice baths, no fancy Himalayan sea salt drinks or smoothies, no rubbing banana peels on my face. Survival. 

Oh and all those people with "perfect morning routines" are either full of 💩 or don't have kids.

Building Sales @ KnowledgeNow | Still Fixing GTM. Still Roasting Bad Takes.

If you can't afford to pay people, don't hire them.

"Commission only" isn't the draw you think it is.

It's not that I don't believe in my sales skills.

It's that I don't believe in your offering, at least not nearly as strongly as you do.

And when you don't have customers, money, or product-market fit?

I'm not putting my living on the line for your dream.

I've lost 40 lbs eating ice cream 5 days a week.

A sub 250 calorie pint of ice cream (and 20+ grams of protein)

Because the Ninja Creami is funking magic.

(No, not sponsored, but not opposed to it SharkNinja 👀)

This is my go to recipe for a macro friendly Oreo McFlurry rip off. 
Shout to FitnessProductFinder on Instagram for the base recipe. 

400ml of 0% Fairlife Milk (or any other ultra filtered high protein milk)
45g of Monkfruit sweetner
15g of Vanilla Extract
1g of salt
1g of xantham gum 

3 Oreo Thins - these are your mix ins, save them for later 
(some people scrape the cream out to save like 8 calories or something but that's way too much work)

Freeze it for 18-24 hours.  

When you're ready to eat it, leave it on the counter for 30 minutes. Then run the sides and bottom under hot water for 30 seconds. 

This makes it softer, more like a Blizzard or McFlurry, if you like something harder, don't leave it out that long.

Spin it on light ice cream. Scrape down the sides with a knife when it's done, throw your 3 Oreo thins in and run it on the mix in setting and you're golden.

242 calories. 22g of protein. 5g of fat. 30g of carbs.

If you dig this and want my Rocky Road or Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream recipe drop a comment for which one you want to see next!

Fiverr Pro isn’t cheap, but it’s expensive to get it wrong.

When we launched ARC Roasters, we were running on a non-existent budget.

So we tried saving money on branding and web.

What did we actually buy with the nickels and dimes we found in our couch cushions? 
Revisions.
Broken builds.
Lost momentum.

When your company’s brand is on the line, mistakes don’t just cost money.

They cost credibility.

And for a small business, credibility is your strongest currency. 

Here’s what I’ve learned:
The most expensive hire isn’t the expensive one.
It’s the wrong one.
That’s why Fiverr Pro makes sense for high-stakes business projects.

Vetted professionals.
Proven expertise.
Even managed support when the project demands it.

If the outcome matters, hire like it does.

Brand partnership • Building Sales @ KnowledgeNow | Still Fixing GTM. Still Roasting Bad Takes.

I made a commitment to myself this year.

To stop stressing about LinkedIn.

When to post.
What to post.
How often to post.
How to maximize engagement.
How to best monetize my platform.
Blah blah blah...

Instead I decided to post what I want, when I want, as often as I want about whatever I want. 

In the last year, I generated 1.1M impressions.
In the last 90 days? 528k 

Nearly half of them, in a quarter of the time. 
So far, I'd say my strategy is working out just fine.

Is it the best to optimize lead gen, monetization or whatever other buzzword we feel like tacking on?

Probably not, but I'm enjoying it a whole heck of a lot more.

69,613 people saw my Oreo cake recipe.

That's about 69,000 more than my professional posts.

Nice.

I've been quietly going through a pretty big health journey over the last year,  losing weight, running, training for Hyrox and making lots and lots of ice cream along the way.

I started posting about it on weekends on a whim.

But 3 posts. 100k impressions. 50+ new followers. Lots of DMs.

Apparently Oreo and running hit different than cold outreach tips. 

So I have a question for the people who just followed me:
What do you actually want to see?

More health/fitness content? Recipes, training updates, the whole journey?
Or was this just a fun detour and you just want me to go back to mocking Grant Cardone and Andy Elliott? 

Please drop a comment! I'm genuinely curious.
(seriously, asking you to drop a comment isn't actually me trying to hack my engagement...this time 🙃)

Most AI tools are great at sounding smart.

They'll draft a beautiful email.

To the wrong person.
At the wrong company.
At the wrong time.

Because the AI doesn't actually know what's actually happening in your accounts. 

It's working off whatever you tell it, not unified buyer intelligence, not identity-resolved signals, not complete account context across your CRM, product, and engagement data

You have a choice, spend an hour researching your account, feed that information into AI, saving you no time OR check out Common Room's new Claude integration.

With Common Room connected to Claude, it’s no longer guessing from a prompt.

It’s reasoning over unified, continuously updated buyer intelligence.

Based on which accounts are heating up. Who just engaged. What signals matter.

Not vibes. Not guesses. Not a LinkedIn stalk that took 45 minutes.

For a solo seller like me with no RevOps team and no massive marketing budget behind me?

This is the closest thing I've found to having a full team in my corner.

Claude becomes the interface. 
Common Room powers the intelligence behind it.

My DMs are filled with outreach asking to "partner".

I'm starting to think I might have a different definition of partner than others.

If our engagement involves me giving you money for a service, it's not a partnership, I am your client.

I realize folks are trying to use "softer" words in cold outbound to feel less salesy, but using imprecise language is even worse, in my opinion.

But I'm also a bit anal about language, so maybe I'm in the minority here?

If somebody is trying to sell you their service, would you rather than come right out and say it instead of using words like "partner" or "synergies" or whatever other buzzwords are hot right now?

I finally got a treadmill this winter.

I was convinced I’d hate it.

Turns out, it wasn’t so bad.

While I don’t miss how soggy my feet currently are, I am happy that it’s 6 degrees and I can get back outside.

And it was also an excellent reminder that I do, in fact, hate the treadmill.

No alternative text description for this image

How to make a million dollars.

The easy way.

Ask Dad. 

But seriously, she goes on to explain how she plans on making a million dollars before she turns 20, but when the plan starts with:

"I work for my Dad's company" you start to lose a bit of credibility. 

It's just another reminder that generic advice on social media is almost always 🐴  💩 

Because unless you have a rich pops who can give you a job, this probably isn't relevant to you.

Or maybe I'm just jealous 🤷

I’ve seen some wacky 💩 in sponsored content contracts lately.

Not sure if it’s because the LinkedIn influencer space is still maturing…

Or because some companies are testing how much they can get away with.

I try to live by: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

But these two from the past week made me pause.

1️⃣ “We own the content you produce for us.”

Hard no.
If the content lives on my account, it’s mine.
You’re paying for distribution and audience access.
Want usage rights?
Great. Let’s price a license.
But ownership of something published on my platform? Not happening.

2️⃣ “We’ll pay you after all 3 posts go live.”

Why is the creator financing the campaign?

I’ve seen too many brands:
Delay payment
Renegotiate after performance
Or decide a post “didn’t go viral enough”
Meanwhile the creator has already delivered the asset and the reach.

Ideally: paid upfront.
At minimum: paid per post.
Anything else shifts all the risk to one side.

If you’re a creator navigating a contract, I’m happy to take a look.

And if you’re a brand… structure deals like a partnership, not a gamble.

Any experience creators see other wild clauses in creator contracts?

I used to brag about size.

Pipeline size that is, get your mind out of the gutter.

Felt like a large pipeline was a guarantee that I'd hit my number.

Until I realized, pipeline is made up.

All the "happy ears" in the world won't help you hit quota when you're avoiding what really needs to be done.

Qualification. 

That means asking the tough questions.
That means disqualifying prospects. 
That means your boss might ask you "what's wrong with your pipeline>!"

So we avoid it.
And we pad the list, instead of dealing with our poopy pipeline.

Is LinkedIn using AI too much to enforce their policy?

Or are they thinking about my mental health?

Because the a-🕳️ I was referring to in the comment that they took down?

Me. Full self deprecating. 

Apparently they decided I'm not allowed to harass myself! 

...not sure why they think they can kink shame me like that.

Any other runners have this problem....

Or is it just me?

I swear they all have a purpose!
The Hoka Mach 6 are my outdoor spring/slushy beaters
Adidas Boston 13 are my long run (10km+)
Adidas Supernova Rise 2 are my recovery shoes
New Balance Fuel Cell v4 are for intervals (and likely to be my Hyrox race shoe)
Adidas Evo SL are my shorter run shoe (less than 10km)

Though to be honest, as many awards as the Evo won...I kinda don't like em 😅, not particularly stable in my opinion.

...and yes Adidas has a big sale earlier this year.

Which begs the question, am I the only one who collects running shoes and convinces himself they all serve a purpose?

Never go back and review your answers on a multiple choice test.

75% of what you just read are wrong, designed specifically to trick you.

Your brain can't tell the difference anymore.

It starts second-guessing the things it actually knew.

Kinda like scrolling LinkedIn for 20 minutes.

What's with all the pizza party hate?! 🍕 

Pizza is great.

Sure, as a reward from corporate it kind of blows, but why would we take the pizza away?

This should be an AND situation, not an OR situation.

Give me pizza AND a bonus.

#bringbackthepizzaparty

PS: Pizza from one of the best spots in Montreal and no, not just because I'm related to the owners 😅  Forno Pizza Frankie's

Ice cream for weight loss.

Rocky Road edition.

Yes, you can eat ice cream every day and still lose weight.

BTW am I the only one who didn't know Rocky Road was just marshmallows and nuts in chocolate ice cream? 

Recipe via Eli Mack at FitnessProductFinder (link in comments):
400g Fairlife Chocolate Shake (topped up to 400 with high protein milk)
20g Monk Fruit Sweetner
10g cocoa powder 
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Xantham gum

Mix-ins
10g crushed walnuts
10g dehydrated mini marshmallows 

Mix it together. Freeze 24 hours. Leave out for 20 minutes.
Run hot water around the sides & base for 30 seconds to break down any ice crystels.
Spin on light ice cream.
Add 10g of crushed walnuts & 10g of dehydrated mini marshmallows.
Run the mix-in setting.

357 calories
31g protein
11g fat
40g carbs

Get spoon. 
Eat entire pint.
No sharing necessary. 

Let me know if you want the Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream next!

taplio

The Battle

Francisco Martinez

Chris 🦄 Cicconi

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreFrancisco Martinez's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreChris 🦄 Cicconi's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Francisco Martinez

Chris 🦄 Cicconi

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);}Francisco Martinez's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreChris 🦄 Cicconi's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreFrancisco Martinez's LinkedIn Performance