Jeff Zigman, “The Business Engineer”

Partner Rally

THE AUTOMATED HIRING FUNNEL

Get an Army of 1099 commission-only salespeople in weeks with a software to manage them effortlessly.

Of fill any other role in weeks (used with sales, senior developers, markets, attorneys, trucker drivers, even CEO's).

The Automated Hiring System filters out 95% of candidates automatically for you, without reading a single resume, so you can spend your time meeting with the small minority who may be a fit for your needs.

There's a $3,000 setup cost (refunded in full if it doesn't get you results) in which we roll up our sleeves, figure out what you need, and customize every aspect of the "funnel" to your needs, which includes:

1) Posting to get attention
2) Implementing automated systems to track and respond to applicants in a personalized way, despite no API offered by Indeed
3) Adding auto-cancellation criteria to further filter down the end people you meet with

So you end up with ~5% of people appearing in your calendar, with everything you need to know about them in front of you.

This is the result of 6 months of experimentation with Indeed.com that would otherwise cost a company paying a Hiring Manager, CTO, and Automation Engineer for 6 months of experimentation and optimization.

You get it for $3,000 with a refund if it doesn't work for you (it has worked 100% of the time, more than 40 times so far, over a 2 year period).

See more here:
https://partnerrally.com/hiring_automation
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PARTNER RALLY

Once you have the people, you can use Partner Rally to take over from there.

Partner Rally automates everything you need to scale a team effortlessly.

1) Onboarding
- Checklists, with tracking and notifications to admins
- FAQs
2) Training
- Training material, including videos
3) Commission tracking for salespeople
4) Automated commission payouts for salespeople
5) Regular communication updates from your 1099's
6) Leaderboard for gamified competition

See more here:
https://partnerrally.com/

Chief Technology Officer

TRUEclaims

TRUEclaims.io has 4 software offerings for the automotive space, related to vehicle damage claims.

1) IF YOU'RE A VEHICLE OWNER WHO RECENTLY HAD A TOTAL LOSS AND YOU WANT TO GET A FAIR MARKET VALUE OF YOUR VEHICLE

Get your Fair Market Value in 1 minute here:
https://trueclaims.io/public_fmv?a=1701124930633x196506364394955400

2) IF YOU'RE A PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY HELPING YOUR CLIENT WITH A DIMINISHED VALUE CLAIM

Sign up here and you can generate Diminished Value Reports in ~2 minutes, equivalent to 1.5-3 hours of skilled work
https://trueclaims.io/

3) IF YOU'RE A PUBLIC ADJUSTER WHO WANTS TO HANDLE 50x THE NUMBER OF MONTHLY TOTAL LOSS AND/OR DIMINISHED VALUE CLAIMS

Sign up here:
https://trueclaims.io/appraisers

4) IF YOU'RE A COLLISION CENTER OR BODY SHOP WHO WANTS TO MONETIZE EACH CUSTOMER

See how you can monetize off every total loss and a bunch of the damaged vehicles you see here:
https://trueclaims.io/body_shops

The Enterprise MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

The Enterprise MVP brings lightning fast software development into the Enterprise space.

All results-oriented to completely re-risk every project for the enterprise.

Every implementation follows very quickly goes through the following steps in quick succession achieving functional deliverables in weeks.

1) Requirements Gathering
2) Specifications (Use Cases, UI, UX)
3)System Design
a. Database Design
b. Programming Logic
4) Frontend and Backend Development
5) Testing /Quality Assurance
6) User Acceptance Testing and user rollout
7) Feedback and iteration
8) Adjustments based on user feedback

With ongoing Project Management and CTO orientation.

See more here:
https://enterprisemvp.carrd.co/

The 2 Week MVP

I have built 12 Minimum Viable Products in anywhere between 3 days and 3 weeks.

I'm always in search of other Niche Industry problems that software can be used to solve and am happy to connect with anyone that wants to partner to get the right tech solution built quickly.

I'm not looking for Unicorn $1B startup ideas.

I'd prefer a Niche Industry of business customers where we get 100 paying customers at $1,000-$5,000 /month in recurring revenue.

Watch examples below to see the scope so you understand these are not small softwares built.

I've been a Business Analyst 12 years, having gathered 10,000's of Software Product Requirements as a startup founder.

I've been a Chief Product Officer and CTO for 10 years, founding and building from scratch.

To date, I've designed, led, built, and optimized more than 300 SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) modules across many products.

Here are a few of the MVPs (and beyond MVP that I've built):

Trucker Matcher (~1.5 weeks to MVP)
Partner Rally (~2 weeks to MVP)
Lead Bridge (~5 days to MVP)
Easy Work Orders (~3 days to MVP)
Real Estate Showcase (~2 weeks to MVP)
Community Helper (~4 days to MVP)
COVID-19 Marketplace (~3 weeks to MVP)
Commercial Real Estate CRM (~2 weeks to MVP)
U10K - Uber For Freight (~3 weeks to MVP)

If you have a strong network with many industry B2B connections where you see a need that software can fill, reach out, let's chat, and see if there's an opportunity.

Chief Product Officer / Chief Technology Officer

Consultant

I do consulting and direct execution for VC funded startups and already-profitable businesses looking to scale.

SOME CLIENTS

VC Funded Startup
- Hired me initially for No-Code automation
- Turned into heavy focus on Requirements Gathering for upcoming feature development
- Fixed up their confusing User Experience

Medical Counselling Practice
- I was brought in by a fellow Fractional CTO due to my expertise in Requirements Gathering
- The mandate is requirements gathering, specifications (a software blueprint), followed by software selection and integrations

Security Company
- The company is looking for salespeople
- I built an automated inbound hiring system, leveraging Indeed
- It filters out 90% of candidates that aren't a fit and schedules the viable ones with him

Fractional CTO / Business Analyst / Business Automation Specialist

Active Shooter Preparedness Online Skill Builder

The only immersive online Active Shooter Prepardness Training made for Enterprise scale rollouts and schools alike.

Customizable to the floor plans, shelter options, rally points, and unique instructions of every unique location.

Interactive, gamified, and trackable by management.

Requires no scheduling, no coordination, and can be rolled out to 10,000 people in days.

Created in conjunction with Alex Killie (former Department of Homeland Security ~5,000 people trained).

Video Testimonial by Joy McIntosh, Assistant Head of School (watch below)
"I would purchase SKILL BUILDER['s Active Shooter training] again without any hesitation.

I really found that this course… really made you THINK… I’ve been in other courses where it’s in person… and the time to really think ‘what would I personally do’ really isn’t possible when you’re all together in one space… because you’re not even in your own space… [this really makes it] what’s true FOR YOU…

A lot of the same messaging was included in the in-person trainings [we’ve done], however… this course makes you think about your specific situation… it’s much more PERSONAL and that’s what I’d say is the biggest difference…

Jeff is fantastic! You send him an email, you get an answer! And if he doesn’t have the answer, he says ‘hang on, I’ll get the answer’… It’s been amazing… the turnaround with any question has been nearly instantaneous, if not right then within that minute, then it’s as soon as he can possibly get the answer to the question.

it was like a One-Stop-Shop, which was really excellent… 

I actually put all of our policies and procedures into the course, so as they were going through the overall course, so they could see as they were going through the course that Yes, we have these in place and here they are in writing… it was Incredible… it made it really useful to our particular school… and it was EASY… it was easy to use, it was easy to fill in… it was seamless… it was… it was excellent."

CEO, Founder

SKILL BUILDER

SKILL BUILDER is all about remote learning and employee training.
---
ACTIVE SHOOTER PREPARATION TRAINING

James Marr, Retired Law Enforcement, High-End Security Professional, Asset Protection, Executive Protection
"the way you have put this training together, I’ve never seen anything like it… it’s a paradigm shift in learning which I’ve never seen before… this is interactive, it tests one’s ability to retain, first understand and then retain… it makes the student think while they have a comfortable safe environment to do so… nothing is guaranteed in an active shooter situation… but if you take this course, you should be able to have some type of fundamental preparation, should an incident occur… as far as a 1-on-1, I believe this is the best you can do"

Burke Slater, 20 Years in Medical Device Big Pharma Sales & Management
"my overall opinion of this training is it’s fantastic, it’s needed… I think everyone is better for having gone through it… I think it’s a fabulous way to train a lot of people at once in an economic fashion… it definitely takes you down the path and keeps you on path and guides you through the whole process from A-Z… Skill Builder takes it to another level… everyone is being coached on the same exact strategies… I couldn’t imagine any other way you could feasibly roll this out to a large number of people… with in-person, the cost would be through the roof…this training is applicable to everyone… if you have 10 people or 100,000, this should be seriously looked at as a way of keeping your people safe… this is invaluable, you can’t put a price on it"
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Other Training Courses Created:
- Applying the ASAM Criteria (For Mental Health and Addition Therapists)
- The Personal Contact Phase of Impaired Driving Investigations (For Police Officers)
- Turning Startup Ideas Into Features, Use Cases, and Mockups So Developers Can Understand (For Startup Founders)
- and many more

See video testimonials below.

Founder, CEO

Montreal Mini-Storage Group

I spearheaded all technical challenges for Montreal Mini Storage, Quebec's largest provider of self-storage with roughly 7,000 units and 40 employees.

Overall Mandate: Remove technical obstacles and automate as many manual processes as possible to scale. Initially 3 month trial contract, then renewed monthly by CEO (detailed video testimonial below).

To quote Simon, the CEO, 
"It is worth the investment, and then some, to work with someone like Jeff. You really don't realize the amount of money you DON'T make, especially when you don't have the right solutions involved, you don't realize how much of your own time you're wasting, and only after I started working with Jeff did I see the value that was freed up, not just for myself, but the value to not have people working with frustrating technologies that didn't quite fit perfectly. I'm very very pleased with the decision and I would tell my young self that that's one of those things that's certainly worth it... I've always known that when I wanted to make up a good contract I should hire a lawyer... this is something that's no different."

Mandates completed (a few of the 15+), by order of value to the business:
- $25,000+ yearly in perpetuity: Designed, led, developed a custom storage booking system integrated to their existing backend system -> Removing dependency on expensive vendors ($25,000+ yearly in perpetuity)
- $100,000+ & 12+ months: From 3 days of business requirements analysis, I determined that the 6 previous months of development (before I joined) was a waste and avoided the next year of development-> I course-corrected.
- $24,000: Turned a website quoted at $25,000 by a vendor, into a <$1,000 implementation -> Analyzed, removed redundancies, extracted essentials, found a freelancer.
- Automated Google Reviews: Converted a manual review collection for storage locations, into an automated daily running system with no human error (started getting ~50+ Google Reviews /month - Completed within 1 week)

Technology Consultant and Business Analyst

ORGIT

ORGIT makes Transport Management Systems and Warehouse Management Systems.

I am coordinating all involved business and technical parties, including an off-shore development team, to design, direct, and build out the above TMS and WMS systems.

*Company closed down due to COVID19

Director Of Software Development

Automation Integrators

We help people and businesses that are highly focused on sales (emphasis on real estate) to maximize their revenue by closing more deals through the incorporation of advanced software automation into every facet of their business, enabling each person to achieve what it would otherwise take 3-5 people to achieve, without working more, and with no learning curve.

Some of our automations are designed for helping a brokerage/agency as a whole, keeping all sales people "on track" and improving global performance, while others are designed to maximize what each person is able to accomplish by automating certain time consuming and repetitive parts that most people find tedious and demotivating to do.

Here are some of our ever-growing list of automations (if you would like to know more about specific ones, just ask):

GLOBAL PERFORMANCE
- The Automated Personal Assistant For Every Agent
- The “Lazy Agent” Lead Reassign
- The Auto-Reassign of Extra Leads
- Auto-Pull New Email Leads Into CRM

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
- The Delayed Email Auto-Reply
- The Bad Lead Weed-Out Form
- The Automated Text Message Follow-up Grind

If you have a specific problem you would like us to try to solve through an automated system, let us know and we'll see what we can come up with.

Automation Integration Specialist

I love solving difficult business problems with software.

Want to get my help 1-on-1 by text or video or see more about me?
https://mvpexpert.carrd.co/

Here are some of the 15 complex problems I've solved and I'm always looking for other lucrative ones worth solving.

Each with a 👇 can be seen in more detail in my "Experiences" below.

1) 👇 The Automated Hiring Funnel helps you filter out 95% of candidates who are a waste of your time, so you can focus on the 5% that are viable potentials.

It piggybacks off Indeed.com and has been used to find viable candidates in many roles within a 2 week period. See below for more.

2) 👇 TRUEclaims is a software for Attorneys, Auto Appraisers, Body Shops, and Towing Companies, that generates Diminished Value Reports and Fair Market Value Reports for damaged/totaled vehicles in 1-5 minutes, equivalent to 2-4 hours of manual skilled labor.

I built it with the consulting help of an Auto Adjuster who has assessed over 20,000 vehicles, who spent 15 years trying to automate the process, unsuccessfully. He went through 19 companies, all of which said it was impossible, one of which wanted to charge him $1M to attempt to build it with no timeline provided. I built a working version in less than 1.5 months.

3) I created an Amazon buying and selling software in 2 weeks, that worked, that a company tried to build, unsuccessfully, for $500,000.

4) I created a matching system software to help fight antisemitism, connecting victims to attorneys willing to help pro-bono. This system would have cost $80,000-$100,000 to build. I built it in 1.5 weeks. (this one I did pro-bono)

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THE CRITERIA I LOOK FOR IN SOFTWARE TO BUILD

a. A problem that is non-simple with complex requirements that most people would get wrong
b. Where a solution will produce massive value (increased profits, decreased losses, valuable customer insights, huge time saved)
c. Where a single customer would pay at least $1,000 /month for a solution

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I've spent a decade trying to find a strong Business Development partner.

If you're a natural salesperson, unrelenting, self-motivated, I'd like to meet you. We'll make a lot of money together.
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MY BACKGROUND

- 13 years Business Analyst
- 11 years CTO
- 13 years User Experience optimization (when I build software, it rarely requires any training with customers)
- 17 years Software Testing
- 10 years Database Design & Logic and System Design
- 13 years Project Management
- 11 years Selling
- 11 years creating business relationships

I've also been doing martial arts for 20 years.

Jeff Zigman, “The Business CTO”

Narrate Creative

Representing yourself on social media and controlling your narrative has never been more important. AI is everywhere, but it’s no match for the real you. 

A Founder’s network and influence are proven to be the biggest levers for growth available to companies of all sizes, especially to early-stage startups. 

But posting thought-provoking social media content every day is hard, and you have a lot of other areas of your business to worry about. 

That’s why we have a process to collect your thought leadership, in your words, to help you show up consistently on social media with content that will resonate with your specific ideal audience. 

Our systemized approach will help you start more sales conversations and earn more revenue. 
Want to use LinkedIn content to create more sales opportunities? I will create you a week’s worth of content — in your own words — FREE. No commitment required and no hard sell. 

Here’s how it works: We’ll meet for a call, and I’ll interview you to create a week’s worth of video and text posts and help you schedule them on LinkedIn.

Sound good? Message me on LinkedIn to chat about it.

The Lean Marketing for SaaS Podcast

Host of the Lean Marketing for SaaS Podcasts, featuring guests that include SaaS founders, marketers, creators and more. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJhJq-ikqELM84mS3_2CXWf0ostuPAPFG

Host

Tell Ten Friends Marketing

Tell Ten Friends is a new media marketing company, specializing in using web-based tools to grow your customer base, and building your website to be a complete sales tool.

Owner

Hootsuite

Manager of blog and social team. Senior Editor of HootSuite blog, strategist and lead social media manager for marketing on all of the major social networks: Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook and Instagram.

Lead Storyteller/Content Manager

Work at Play

Accounts and Strategy professional with an emphasis on social media and professional sports.

Account Executive

Strutta

Strutta is a software platform for online photo and video contests, that has worked with some of the world's largest brands and ad agencies. 

In the capacity of Director of Community Relations and later Director of Marketing, I have led Strutta's marketing from pre-launch to cash-flow positive status. Site content, sales materials, staffing, training, CRM management, agency and client relations, project management, assistance with "productizing" our software and many other business operations fall under my stewardship. 

Strutta continues to be a leading technology provider for multimedia contest campaigns on Facebook, and self-hosted. Contact me if you are interested in the power of contests with social media.

Director of Marketing

Fulcrum Agency

Public Relations and Marketing Manager for a firm specializing in Sales Training and Business Coaching. Specializing in online marketing initiatives, email campaigns and business blogging.

Manager of Marketing and Public Relations

CHUM Television

Producer, copywriter and editor of local advertising and promos for Victoria television station. Also managed several annual marketing events throughout Vancouver Island to promote the station.

Commercial Producer

Island Publishers, The Business Examiner

Advertising Consultant

Peak Publishing

Managing a large client base as a Display Advertising Rep for a semi-weekly newspaper and special sections.

Marketing Consultant

We do thought leadership social media content for Founder-led sales. In just two 30-minute interviews a month, we create one post per weekday for you, and help you start more sales conversations.

Founders, social sellers and thought leaders: I can help you book more meetings from your social media content.

I’ll help you build a simple, time-effective workflow that will help you build your influence on LinkedIn with content (in your own words) and fill your inbox with sales leads automatically.  

We’ve helped dozens of tech startup founders with founder-led sales. Our systems help them grow their qualified leads and revenue. I use the same system to book 5-10 qualified leads a week. 

Happy to walk you through the systems on a quick call. Click the link below my name above; my calendar loads on that page.

Jordan Behan

STOP saying these words and phrases in your content. 

Here are three examples of things that I try to edit OUT of my client's content (recorded in their own words), to make them sound smarter: 

1. "So." I don't know when it happened, but so has become an overused filler word. Sometimes it adds useful context, but most of the time, a sentence is stronger without it. So stop it (see what I mean?). 

2. "At the end of the day." This one has just become too popular an idiom. See also: "ultimately." It's a useful phrasing ("after [x], [y] happens"), but it's overused. Instead of suggesting a substitute, I challenge you to be more specific. Tell us what [x] is, specifically. This approach might NOT be as succinct, but it will help you sound more like yourself and less like everyone else. 

3. "I think." You are, therefore you think (hat tip to Descartes). You don't have to tell us every time. The problem with this one, especially starting a sentence with it, is that you sound unsure of yourself. I think you'll sound more confident without it (see?). 

What other examples can you think of that we can do without in our writing, especially as it applies to LinkedIn content?

Give me two 30-minute meetings a month and I’ll make your personal social content kick ass. Done-with-you content production for CXOs, in your OWN words.

LinkedIn content reach is way down, and here's my hot take: So what?  

Posts that used to get 1000s of impressions are now lucky to get a few hundred at best. Panic time? No. 

My advice for how to beat the algorithm in an era of AI slop, false promises and manufactured controversy?

Don't even try. Instead of trying to "go viral," go NICHE (pronounced "neesh," and I will die on that hill). 

The goal with LinkedIn content is to get attention or start discourse around an idea, I'll grant you that. 

But there's not much benefit to doing that with a large group of random strangers. It's good for the ego, but likely not good for the actual business outcome you were hoping for. 

Instead of creating content that you hope will appeal to the masses, create something of value for your specific ideal audience, and create it YOURSELF. 

Need an AI assist? That's fine, but the more humanity, vulnerability, and "handmade" creativity you put into it, the better. Your goal should be to make someone think or change their mind about something. 

Someone. Even just one person. Creating your LinkedIn content for an audience of one will have better long-term results than chasing likes and impressions. 

Caveat: You still have to be interesting. You can't change minds without something unique to say and by grabbing attention. But think about whose attention you want and create for them. 

If you've read this far, I invite you to roast me on the irony of using an AI-assisted headshot in this post to stop the scroll. I go to the gym 3x per week, but it's been a little generous with the shape of my biceps, I mean, really. 

Maybe a good time to remind people that an algorithm is not our enemy. We aren't trying to crack a code; we are trying to capture the attention and curiosity of a specific type of person. In that sense, using an AI-filtered selfie is not ironic at all. After all, if my hook didn't grab your attention and get you to read, you didn't even make it this far.

Jordan in front of a harbour, a headshot that was sent through an AI filter. 

I could sell just about anything. 

And no, I'm not talking about "sell me this pen" sales skills, though I'm surprisingly good at that, too. Try me some time. 

What I mean is, my agency services could be very diverse. We could "do it all" and "sell to everyone." 

But we don't. We sell and deliver one service, to one specific type of buyer persona. That's it. 

Why so specific? Because that's all I can afford to do. If I try to appeal to everyone and promise to do anything, I'll appeal to no one and sell nothing. 

By focusing on one business problem, with one solution, and one price, my messaging resonates. Because it's consistent and strikes a chord with its intended audience. 

I know exactly what lists to build. What topics to write about. What pain points my prospects are experiencing. 

And best of all, that consistency comes with proof. A growing list of testimonials from C-Suite clients (ask about these). 

Momentum in the sales process. Every day I get better at communicating my offer, because I'm only sharpening one saw. 

Here's a lesson here for you, dear reader. How clear are you being about what you do? Are you still making the mistake of thinking that taking a "mile-wide, inch-deep" approach to marketing actually works? 

Try going an inch wide and a mile deep. Specialize. Focus. It works, trust me. It's counterintuitive and scary, but it works. 

If you've "tried marketing" and "nothing worked," have you thought about why? What have you ACTUALLY tried? 

Also PS: Yes, I tried one of those AI headshot tools. I would never use the suit pic as an actual headshot, so I'm using it as a throwaway here. It's giving me "Harvey Specter from Suits, but much older and ordered from Ali Express," with a side order of uncanny valley. Do you agree?

An AI-assisted head-shot of Jordan wearing a suit, which he very rarely does. 

Your AI-generated comments are not making you sound smart. 

They are making you look lazy and unoriginal. 

They're sycophantic; at best, they summarize what the post is already saying, and we can spot them a mile away. 

And they're killing the buzz of LinkedIn. 

Commenting is great, don't get me wrong. Done right, they can position you as a subject matter expert or an all-around funny person that people want to hang out with. 

But not if they're AI-generated. DON'T outsource your creativity. 

If you use ChatGPT to help you craft a succinct comment, that's fine, provided you're feeding it an original thought to begin with. 

But that's not what I'm seeing. I'm seeing a spray-and-pray approach where the commenter didn't even stop to understand the context. 

Want proof? Someone will unironically leave an AI-generated comment on THIS post, and they will stand out like a sore thumb. 

If you're reading this and you still leave comments using Gen-AI and some kind of automation tool, stop. Quietly move on and adopt another tactic. 

A lot of people are desperate for engagement on their LinkedIn posts, so they won't always call you out, but believe me, they can tell. We can ALL tell. And it's not a good look.

An AI-generated image of an AI bot leaving comments onb LinkedIn while Jordan enjoys a coffee and some shut-eye. 

In the past 24 hours I've seen no fewer than three CEOs post food pics with funny captions on their LinkedIn feed. 

You know what this means, right? That LinkedIn is becoming...

A more human networking site. Keep up the good work, everybody. 

*My first ever Shake Shack chicken burger (and yes, I said chicken burger! 🇨🇦) for attention*

I replaced my entire AI workflow with 100 SDRs and now we’re generating eleventy-billion in top line revenue without a single prompt. 

If you want get a copy of the exact sequence and workflow we’re using, comment “SICK” below and I’ll DM you the playbook, and as a bonus, a real estate listing for an amazing bridge that just came on the market. 

#sickofthisshit

My clients' content almost never goes viral on LinkedIn and neither does mine. Is it because I suck at this? 

By now you know me better than that. I'm keenly aware that I am very fucking good at this. 

And my clients are good at what they do. 

Distributed marketing (huh?). Food commercialization. EV charging network monitoring. Trust and estates automation. Cybersecurity. 

Not exactly fodder for LinkedIn virality. But the reeshes are in the niches, if you catch my meaning though my Canadian accent. 

All of those topics need a champion. And every one of those champions has a different goal. 

Yes, most of my clients are doing founder-led sales. But some have no lead generation motives whatsoever. Like the CTO who's "walking the walk" as a way to attract talent. Or the supply chain expert who needs more partners (literally looking for vendors to buy from). 

When their content gets 500 impressions and a few dozen engagements, it's not unheard of. It's the norm. And we consider it a win.

When was the last time you were in a room with 500 people? That's like three or four large weddings worth of people. That's four full breakout rooms at a conference. It's a full house at a minor league hockey game. It's nearly a sold-out show at Cirque du Soleil. 

This post is long on purpose. And hand-typed. The only use of AI was in creating that terrible image that's made me look 10 years older and is not at all like the reference image.

500 of you might see this, and I'm giving it a 50/50 shot that it's fewer than that. And I can live with that. It was made just for you, if you're one of the faithful few who made it this far. 

Keep going. This stuff works, and sometimes all you need is a bit perspective about what 'working' looks like. 

Oh and if you're looking for an AI for HR framework, or a way to automate your processes at your trust and estates firm, I know a guy.

An AI-generated, animated style image of Jordan, podcasting, that makes him look a full 10 years older than he is. 

Every year I post a version of the same joke on American Thanksgiving.

Something like: Hey Canadians, happy “get a lot of work done with fewer meetings” day to all who celebrate. 

But the joke won’t seem as clever when LinkedIn shows you this post three weeks from now 🤷🏻‍♂️

No alternative text description for this image

I yelped quite loudly, complete with an F-bomb, and my teenage kid came running downstairs to see if I was ok. 

The funny thing is, I just sharpened my chef's knife the day before, and here it was, sinking into the flesh of my thumb while I was cutting a bagel. 

I was a bit embarrassed and also a bit glad to have one of my kids show genuine, immediate concern. 

'Twas but a scratch, and I'll live. And here's what it taught me about B2B sales: 

Ok, ok, I joke. But the preceding story is true, and I share it to illustrate a point. The point is that this is a story about something that happened to ME. 

MY flesh, being incised by my own knife. My struggle to get to the Band-Aids and patch myself up. 

As good as my custom GPT is, it could not have told you this story. 

At least, not without being prompted by me, and that prompt would have had to contain details of my story. In other words, I would still have had to tell a story. 

This is what AI can't yet replace. My anecdote. My feelings in the moment. They are genuine, and my hope is that they've captured your attention, even if only for a fleeting moment while you scroll. 

As I write this, a grammar checker highlights my spelling and usage errors. I could also run this text through my various prompts to clean it up further (I won't, but I could). But the original tale was mine to tell, and I hope you agree that a machine could not have told it this well. 

Even if it could, that's not my point. My point is that there's value in sharing my first-hand experience. Even if I have an assist from AI to do so. 

My mistakes, my lessons, my insights and my questions(Holy shit that sounds like an AI wrote it but it was me, I swear). 

This is the drum that I've been beating for several years now. Telling our authentic stories, sharing our unique insights, inviting feedback and conversing as humans... this still has value, and I'm wagering my entire business on the idea that that value won't diminish. 

The bots will get better at sounding like us. They will save us plenty of time (I've been writing this for 24 minutes already). But it will be a while before they're asked to join us around the campfire. 

Consider this my invitation to you to share more of your own stories. Embrace your humanity and the everyday experiences that make you uniquely YOU. 

People will appreciate and connect with your message much more than they would with some AI slop or a message prepared by a marketing team. 

Let's agree to stay in touch with what makes us human, and use the tools for what they are: tools. 

Normally I would tie this back to my work and what I do, but my call to action for you today is much simpler: Tell more stories.

Do you believe in manifestation?

I read Mind Magic recently, and I figure there's no harm in saying this out loud: 

Before the end of year, I want to start TWO more engagements with companies that have several executives looking for social media coaching and content production. 

(But is it even "manifesting" if I write about this publicly and then start doing human-powered outbound to find those clients? Tag a company in the comments and I'll give you the credit, not my mind or the Universe)

How the heck did I end up in marketing? First, I had to fail as a sportscaster. 

When I was in high school, that was the dream. 

My guidance counsellor told me I'd better get some work experience, which is how, at the tender age of 16, I was hired into a weekends-and-evenings job as a sports reporter/photographer for my local newspaper.

After two years of community college, the reality of working in broadcasting seemed daunting and competitive. 

I still ended up putting in a few years at a TV station, but just like my hockey career, there came a time when I had to accept that I wasn't gonna go pro. 

In my short-lived TV career, I transitioned from news to creative services. 

Writing and editing advertisements. I spent a year in Toronto as a production assistant for film commercials before coming to Vancouver (my "Goldilocks" city), with a goal of working in marketing. 

As a fledgling marketer, I became fascinated with "Web 2.0." The democracy of it. The fact that I could break all of the "rules" I was taught in news and be my own publisher. I knew that meant that everyone could, and I knew damn well that everyone WOULD. 

ICQ. Blogger. Twitter. MySpace. I carved out little corners of the web and met some amazing people with similar interests. I got jobs at startups, including Hootsuite, which was in hypergrowth. By that point, I was already one of the "grown-ups" in the room; my internet hobby had given me valuable work experience. 

Eventually, the siren's song of entrepreneurship lured me. I'm leaving tons of detail out of this story for brevity, but that's more or less how I became a "social media" guy who turns 50 this year. 

I've even struggled with calling myself a social media guy. I'm not a famous influencer or tv personality, but I've been in this game a long time. I've never been the leading scorer, but I make a heck of a player/coach. 

One of my superpowers is predicting how people (the vox populari) will react to an idea, a campaign, or even a single piece of content. Which is how I know this post will flop 😆 

But it makes me good at writing subject lines, or asking questions in interviews, and writing hooks for my clients (a skill I can't seem to master for myself, alas).

I write this from the cozy confines of my home office. No broadcast make-up or fancy suit required. Decades of experience in my rearview and no signs of stopping anytime soon. And I know I'm in the right spot. 

The path to get here meandered, but it was all meant to be. Professionally, nothing pleases me more than sharing my knowledge with my clients, hyping them up and seeing them thrive. 

If you want to come on this journey with me, drop me a follow or send me a DM. I'll share my knowledge and make YOU a social media powerhouse. 

If you've read this far, tell me: What was your high school dream, and did you achieve it, or pivot? 

*Pic: Me in 2013; a keynote at Hootsuite. Photo by Bob Garlick

START using these words and phrases in your content: 

*(My most popular post from the past six months is one with words I said to STOP using, so this is the antidote)

1. Rad. I don't know when it happened, but the word "rad" seems to have fallen out of fashion. Take it from a Gen-Xer, this one is underrated, and it WILL make a comeback. Be the first to start the trend. 

2. Antediluvian. The word rad is thought to be antediluvian, and I think it's anything but. Let's bring it back. (Means "old-fashioned," by the way) 

3. Cattywampus. I had to look up the spelling of this one, but it's a perfect example of a word that bots aren't likely to use, so sneak it in when you can. Plus, it's fun as hell to say. 

4. Ineffable. It's tempting to think that this one means "Not to be f*d with," but it actually means "too great to be described in words." What's a better word to use than that? 🤣 

5. Civil disobedience. I should probably write something political here, but instead I'll use it in a sentence: The engagement on my post about what words to STOP using was a form of civil disobedience. 

What am I missing? What popular words or phrases should we be using more often? (Welcome all ye copywriters and wordsmiths)

I'm long on human-generated content with an AI assist. 

Need proof that human authenticity is still a differentiator? 

The biggest GenAI companies (OpenAI, Anthropic et al) are paying human content creators salaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Case closed.

I bought a 3D printer, and I love it. 

Not since the Nintendo Entertainment System have I been this giddy about a piece of tech. 

My friend John Biehler was an early adopter of 3D printing, and I had SO MANY questions that, rather than keep blowing up his phone, we sat down to record a podcast so I could ask them all. 

My biggest concern: Will the novelty wear off? "I don't think so," says John.

If I was in a crisis that required a carefully planned response and communications plan, I'd call Carla S. Shore.

If you're in a jam, not only can you call Carla, but you can sign up for her crisis communications bootcamp and be ready BEFORE the unthinkable happens. 

Details in Carla's post below.

Senior communications specialist; Post-secondary instructor

Is your organization ready to communicate when a crisis hits? Because it will, and you should plan ahead. I'm giving a workshop this Thursday in Vancouver: Crisis Communication Bootcamp: Build Your Response Plan. It's by donation so incredibly affordable. 

https://lnkd.in/gdU25YKW

Method and Metric SEO Agency #crisiscommunications #publicrelations #vancouver

Open article: Crisis Communication Bootcamp: Build Your Response Plan by eventbrite.com

Crisis Communication Bootcamp: Build Your Response Plan

No one will see this post, but in case you do, a quick poll to get your opinion:

Should I rebrand to Social CXO? (I own the domain) Or is Narrate Creative still the best option? 

The author can see how you vote. Learn more

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The Battle

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Engagements

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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);}Jordan Behan's LinkedIn Performance

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