Tara Horstmeyer

Happy Words

I believe you were made to lead, not exhaustively create LinkedIn content.

ABOUT HAPPY WORDS ⬇️
Hi! I'm Tara. 

After a 20+ year career as an award-winning editor, writer + leader, my career evolved to building Happy Words: A writing, consulting + training team that supports executives around the country.

As The OG LinkedIn Ghostwriter, I've trained and influenced many of the best in the best in the business. I’ve also been featured in Business Insider, Vox and Morning Brew as a LinkedIn Ghostwriting industry expert and have spoken at events + workshops while appearing on dozens of podcasts.

This truly sets me apart as I can both appreciate + serve busy executives who desire to impact others through their LinkedIn presence.

Executives—like you.

WE GET IT—BECAUSE WE GET *YOU* ⬇️

We know firsthand the weight of leadership duties and professional ambition leaders carry daily.

In fact, my unique background in people leadership + professional writing has firmly cemented me and my Happy Words team's reputation as the obvious choice for world-class executives and their teams.

You can't afford to leave your professional reputation or company’s brand to chance with just any Ghostwriter or service.

You genuinely need trusted social strategists AND experienced media experts to guide you.

Experts—like us!

Bottom line:

You were made to lead, not exhaustively create a LinkedIn presence.

We're here to help you expand your influence, grow your presence and stand out as the authoritative thought leader you ARE.

LET'S CHAT. HERE TO SERVE YOU ⬇️
You could be (and, let's face it, *should be*) the talk of LinkedIn.

Serving individuals, founders, execs, teams + companies:

1. CONTENT: LinkedIn Post Strategy + Ghostwriting
2. WORKSHOPS: LinkedIn Mastery Workshop + Workbook

Founder

Gravy

Worked with the Channel Partnerships team to scale Gravy’s client relationships program by helping establish new relationships while optimizing existing one-to-many channel partnerships.

Director of Partner Success

Tested and proved Gravy’s inbound and outbound strategies through non-conventional SDR methods, including pioneering voice and video, resulting in new clients + MRR.

Built scalable Sales Development program from scratch, including proving prospecting methodology, testing messaging, strategies and approaches, resulting in new clients, referral partners and a new stream of predictable revenue.

Helped implement SalesLoft in Q1 2020, including writing and testing all cadences, snippets and more. 

Ultimately recruited, hired, trained, onboarded and led new SDRs to build out our SDR team, helping 3 out of 5 break previous quota records within their first 60 days of onboarding.

SDR / SDR Growth Manager

Provided Gravy's overall content direction by producing and repurposing original content, including client communications, lead magnets, blogs and webinar + email marketing campaigns. 

Built and launched "The Outsider" newsletter, which is quickly becoming a pillar piece of communication for clients and subscribers.

Awarded Gravy’s highest honor in August 2019: Gravy MVP.

Content Manager

Assisted the sales manager and project managed all sales-related activities, including prospecting, discovery, referrals, maintaining CRM updates, email campaigns and led sales enablement activities.

Inside Sales Specialist

RevGenius

www.revgenius.com/mag

- Laid foundational framework that helped establish scaleable systems and processes.
- Assessed all inbound authors before approving to submit for RevGenius Magazine. 
- Assigned deadlines and brainstorms article topics while maintaining pipeline of content and authors so magazine has articles well in advance of publish date. 
- Recruited new authors for RevGenius Magazine as needed, and strategized additional ways to expand magazine’s engagement and reach through promotion, video use, etc.

Founding Managing Editor: RevGenius Mag

North Point Community Church

Recruited, trained, developed and led more than 225 volunteers as a director in the United States' second-largest student ministry setting.

Directed leaders and coaches through regular one-on-ones, relationship building, pastoring and helping to navigate any situation that would affect the small group. Developed leaders through trainings, weekly communication and meetings run one-on-one and in large groups.

Supported ministry as a whole through assisting with events, camps, trainings, leader meetings, written communication and resourcing volunteer leaders to help students pursue and discover a faith of their own.

Developed, curated and wrote the Transit small group leadership training manual used across campuses and at partner churches across the globe.

Groups Director

Naylor Association Solutions (Naylor, LLC)

Worked with association clients to plan, vision cast and produce all materials for print, online and event publications, including monthly magazines, newsletters, directories and additional resources as needed. 

Liaison between clients and sales to produce content and annual editorial calendar both favorable for members and to promote advertising revenue. 

Collaborated with clients to create broad-scale vision for publications as well as fine-tune the details needed to execute established vision. 

Produced original editorial content, served as copy editor, chose appropriate art, wrote design worksheets and detailed plans to ensure production and design team maintained integrity and clients’ expectations in their print, online and trade show presences. 

Managed all relationships via consistent email and phone communication. 

Developed, encouraged and enforced tight deadline schedules for clients and production throughout the planning and publication process. 

Worked closely with production, design and shipping to ensure clients’ expectation of excellence in both overall experience and product results was exceeded.

Maintained a workload of approximately 50 projects per year.

Awarded 2008 Editor of the Year, a highly coveted award spanning the U.S. and Canadian staff.

Editor

The Gainesville Sun

Reviewed articles for grammar, punctuation, flow, AP style and accuracy.

Wrote headlines and subheads. Produced breakout boxes as needed.

Selected appropriate stories and art to fill selected internal sections, capture readers’ interest and encourage advertising support.

Copy Editor

Sun Sentinel Media Group

Reviewed articles for grammar, punctuation, flow, AP style and accuracy. 

Wrote headlines, subhead and summary decks. 

Collaborated with reporters to clear up any ambiguities.

Copy Desk Summer Intern

Simplifying LinkedIn | Individual + team training you need to succeed on LinkedIn | Executive Ghostwriting | Content Coaching | Hands-on Workshops

"One person posts, and I now know them. Multiple people post, and I now know their company..." - MJ Peters. (Powerful, huh?)

Execs: I believe you were made to lead—NOT exhaustively create LinkedIn content.

Yet:
> Figuring out how to engage + leverage the power of LinkedIn.
> Finding a TRUSTED Executive LinkedIn Thought Leadership team that understand business.
> One that also offers content strategy, company LinkedIn training and high-level, strategic writing execution...

...can feel like another full-time job.

I'm here to remove this burden.

HI! I'M TARA ⬇️

The Original LinkedIn Ghostwriter + Founder of Happy Words. 

My 20+ year career as an award-winning editor, writer + leader gives me a unique understanding of not only what it takes to leverage content in a digital world...

But also what it takes to work with impactful leaders—in the REAL world.

After scaling to 30K+ followers + driving well more than 6-figures of revenue solely from my LinkedIn as THE Original AND highly sought-after LinkedIn Ghostwriter...

My career evolved to building Happy Words: A writing, consulting + training team that supports executives like you.

I’ve since been featured in Business Insider, Vox and Morning Brew as a LinkedIn Ghostwriting industry expert and have spoken at events + workshops while appearing on dozens of podcasts.

This truly sets me apart as I can both appreciate + serve busy executives who desire to impact others through their LinkedIn presence.

Executives—like you.

Bottom line:

You were made to lead, not exhaustively create a LinkedIn presence.

I'm here to help you expand your influence, grow your presence and stand out as the authoritative thought leader you ARE.

LET'S CHAT. HERE TO SERVE YOU ⬇️
Serving individuals, founders, execs, teams + companies:

1. CONTENT: LinkedIn Post Strategy + Ghostwriting
2. WORKSHOPS: LinkedIn Mastery Workshop + Workbook

---

So, that's a little bit about who I am, what I built (for years) and how I've served countless leaders (like you!) on LinkedIn.

I am ALWAYS up for a chat in the DMs. So...

Drop me a note.
Say hi.

DMs always open.
Cheering for you!

- T

Executive LinkedIn + Leadership Trainer

I help executives, companies and teams build their LinkedIn reputation at scale.

------

Leading is a full-time job.
Exhaustively figuring out LinkedIn shouldn't be.

No matter if you are looking to build your executive personal brand on LinkedIn, bring visibility and opportunity to you, your company or team or create an employee advocacy program, I can help you achieve it all.

You were created to lead — not spend your time writing for LinkedIn.

Let’s work together to bring YOU, your business, your team and your company to those who need it the most.

🔥 Expand your influence. Grow your reputation. Ignite your opportunities.🔥

3 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU ⬇️

1. LinkedIn GHOSTWRITING:
Writing WITH you + AS you is what I'm known for.
DM or email for information, packages and availability.

2. LinkedIn 1:1 + Corporate TRAINING:
From corporate workshops to 1:1 consulting + employee coaching, I've worked with the best to leverage LinkedIn.

Shoot me a DM to design your session now.

3. LinkedIn Brand CONSULTING + COACHING:
Whether you are looking for an all-encompassing LinkedIn strategy that works or need a professional editor's eyes on your (or your team’s) posts, I'm your guide to help you along the way. 

Shoot me a DM to discuss a Coaching or Consulting plan or visit me here:

tara@happywordssell.com
www.happywordssell.com

MSP Sales Partners

We help IT and MSP businesses transform sales into their superpower. 

Our services include: 

- Sales training & coaching for closers
- Sales community and training for SDRs/BDRs
- Fractional sales and marketing leadership
- Sales audits and process assessments
- And more

Whether you need strategy, execution, or team development, we deliver results that move the needle.

Founder & Chief Revenue Officer

Repeatable Revenue Ventures

Elite Growth Studio + Venture Fund For B2B Founders Ready To Scale

We select a handful of ambitious B2B companies each year, providing the expertise, capital and resources needed to achieve 3-5Х growth and build a premium exit-ready asset.

Managing Partner

RJG Incubator

Courses, Community & Coaching to build valuable, scalable assets through proven systems and frameworks.

Some results from inside the RJG Incubator:

✔️ Close rates increasing from 26% to 44%
✔️ Doubled pipeline conversion
✔️ Millions in predictable revenue
✔️ Real enterprise value through systematic growth

We have 3 ways to help you grow:

1: Get The Roadmap Course

Our proven course for systematic revenue growth on LinkedIn, sales and internal processes. 10+ hours of practical, actionable training. 

2: Join The Community

 250+ B2B founders scaling together in a community, with access to a complete training library (100+ hours). 
 
3: Join The Accelerator

Monthly 1:1 strategy sessions with me. Providing unlimited async support, feedback and custom growth roadmap development.

Founding Member

Sales and sales management advisor for small and midsize IT business.

Expert In Residence: Sales & Sales Management

SaaS Academy

Advisor, consultant, and fractional sales executive for SaaS Academy, the largest B2B SaaS coaching & consulting program in the world.

Sales Consultant

LAW Publications

Recruited by investors to determine scalability of company and drive growth through operational and sales improvements. 

Key wins included:  
- Highest month of revenue in co.'s 45-year history
- Rebuilding of executive team
- Introduction of principles-based management culture
- Overhaul and improvement of products (including Gold Davey Award Winning product)
- Installation of company-wide CRM
- Integration of a company operating system
- Development of analytics capabilities, tools, and resources
- Professionalization of key functions in HR, production, finance, operations, and sales
- Replaced handwritten, manual processes and paperwork with automation and technology, including integration of a company-wide CRM, national rollout of iPads, installation of VOIP systems, and collaboration software.

Chief Executive Officer

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

During my career with the US Chamber of Commerce, I ascended through roles of increased scope and responsibility for the world’s largest business federation representing 3M+ businesses, associations, and organizations. 

In this role, I held primary P&L accountability for a nation-wide SME unit. I directed multiple sales and membership acquisition channels, including outside, inside, direct mail, and online sales, as well as customer services. I defined and executed the business unit’s long-term strategic direction. 

Highlights include…

~  Secured first year-over-year growth in small business membership by launching new membership model. 

~  Spearheaded initiative to boost political and special issue fundraising, which would go on to surpass membership fundraising for the first time. 

~  Increased membership engagement rates by 33x through new digital communications strategies. 

~  Relaunched Chamber’s small business online presence and deployed new digital model to acquire members.

Managing Director, Small and Midsize Business

I received a promotion to assume P&L accountability over the Chamber’s national sales and fundraising center, which oversees political fundraising, special issue fundraising, membership sales, customer service, and membership operations. 

Highlights include…

~  Achieved first revenue increase in 11 years, positioning center to become largest SME fundraising operation in the Chamber. 

~  Doubled revenue-per-sale of specific-issue fundraising by generating substantial new sales and delivering comprehensive fundraising best practice training. 

~  Fostered culture of achievement through strategic hiring, training, and motivational compensation plans.

Managing Director, National Small Business Sales & Contact Center

I advanced the company’s sales and revenue growth objectives by managing an inside sales team of the National Small Business Membership Center. In addition to recruiting, hiring, and coaching Sales Directors (as well as other sales personnel), I defined and executed sales and fundraising messaging. I managed all aspects of sales operations and quality assurance. 

Highlights include…

~  Met and surpassed ambitious sales objectives every month of tenure. 

~  Diversified and grew sales by integrating novel and innovative sales programs. 

~  Significantly enhanced sales capacity by launching recruitment and training programs to repeatedly add sales directors who performed in the upper quartile.

Division Manager, Inside Sales

Promoted three times from direct fundraising to support, manage, and lead special projects, sales divisions, and growth initiatives.

Key wins included:
- Creatively developed solutions to monetize non-paying members through partnerships with Fortune 500 companies.
- Exceeded every sales and fundraising goal.
- Supported senior management initiatives, including program to enter midmarket membership with new products, services, and offers. 
- Developed framework for the Corporate Leadership Advisory Council, a policy council for midmarket sized companies.

Fundraising - Special Projects - Corporate Relations

Various Companies

Started, sold, worked for, and advised 10+ ventures, including: 

Operating Partner - Like My Mother Does: LMMD is an entrepreneurial venture that began when the founder started making custom baby bedding on Etsy. Within months, demand dramatically exceeded capacity and the waiting list stretched almost four months long. I helped the founder turn her hobby into a boutique referral only business and discover profitability by developing financial, shipping, and inventory models; developing a pricing strategy that resulted in quadrupling prices; and updating and automating digital strategies. 

Operating Partner - After Hours Flowers: Family owned, retail florist that I co-led the turnaround of, took online, pivoted the business model away from third party wire services, and sold. 

Founder - Imagine Promotions: Founded and later sold a music promotions company that represented 20+ artists and organized  or co-organized dozens of concerts and festivals. 

Worked for and advised numerous other startups, ventures, and independent businesses.

Founder - Managing & Operating Partner Roles (RJG)

Napster (Rhapsody International)

Customer Success Specialist

Repeatable Client Acquisition & Fulfillment | Our mastermind community helps you convert online income into a real business | Book a call or DM to apply

In 2019, I walked away from the C-Suite and moved my family to a remote Mexican beach, leaving behind a successful corporate career to pursue a new path.

Prior to going out on my own, I had:

• Been recruited by private equity groups to lead turnarounds as CEO

• Spent 10 years as a senior sales executive, never missing a quota or bonus

• Received 7 promotions in 7 years, rising from sales rep to Managing Director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation

• Earned my Executive MBA and was invited to Beta Gamma Sigma as a top 20% student at a top 5% business school

• Founded and turned around several small businesses, two of which we sold

But I got tired of building other people's dreams while putting mine on hold. 

So, my wife and I extended a family vacation to Baja indefinitely, determined to build a new kind of business and lifestyle on our own terms.

As an independent consultant, I've had the pleasure of working with world-class clients like Dan Martell, the world's largest B2B SaaS coach; Robin Robins, the world's largest IT business coach; and other well-known names.

Through my company MSP Sales Partners, we help IT companies and MSPs scale sales through our fractional sales management and strategic consulting services that start with a proprietary 360º Sales Audit. 

Through my community, I coach other B2B founders through the process building and scaling their businesses. 

And through Repeatable Revenue Ventures, I lead the process of providing all the resources a select number of B2B businesses need to 3-5x their business, systematize growth, and exit--including the necessary expertise, people, and capital.

Visit www.RayJGreen.com to learn more.

Ray J. Green

HR tried to block one of my best hires ever.

Purple dye in his hair. No verifiable references. Red flags everywhere.

I hired him anyway.

Within two years, he was leading the organization in new business sales and built out an entire client acquisition channel that didn't exist before.

Everyone talks about hiring like it's a science.

Scorecards.
Structured interviews.
Competency frameworks.
Data-driven decisions.

And they're half right.

Yes, you need systems to screen candidates.

But what most people won't admit out loud is that once you're down to your final few candidates—the ones who all score between 80-95 on your rubric—the decision isn't logical anymore.

It's emotional. It's gut. It's feeling.

I've hired hundreds of people over 20 years. Built teams that reversed a 10-year decline at the US Chamber. Took a sales division from $598K to $1M/month in 90 days. Fired and rebuilt an entire 35-person executive team.

Every single outlier hire—the top quartile performers who absolutely crushed it—came down to gut.

The guy I hired at a bar.
The economics major I didn't have a role for.
The candidate HR told me to pass on.

Those were the ones that changed everything.

A lot of leaders won't tell you this because it sounds unprofessional.

But if you've built a deliberate culture and you're choosing between qualified candidates, your intuition is the only tool left that matters.

And the more you use it, the sharper it gets.

I recorded a quick podcast breaking this down. 

Listen here: https://lnkd.in/eh8K2CUZ

CEO @ MSP Sales Partners | Helping MSP Founders Build Sales Teams That Actually Sell | Ex-PE Backed CEO | Former U.S. Chamber Managing Director

No alternative text description for this image

I work out 7x a week—and have for 15+ years.

A friend just asked me what my favorite fitness books are.

I scanned my entire library.

Something interesting I learned about myself today:

I own ONE book on fitness: Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body. 

I bought it 15 years ago.

I thought, well let me scan my YouTube history for a recommendation.

None there either, except some bodyweight workouts I pull up while traveling.

Legitimately surprised to realize that as much as I read and learn, I don’t consume fitness content.

I’ve used the same few regimens for more than 15 years:

• Walk 6-10 miles a day
• Strength training 1-4x a week
• Jog 1-2x a week
• Eat decent (not perfect)
• Revisit a sports I love like boxing occasionally 

I’m not going to win a bodybuilding competition, spar with real fighters or place in a triathlon anytime soon.

But at 45, I feel pretty damn good about where I’m at.

Guess that one book was all I needed.

Implementation > Consumption

One of the first things I did as a sales leader was kill the call minimums.

My COO thought I was insane.

I'd just taken over a team that was required to make 100 calls a day.

Every day. No exceptions. Volume was king.

And I eliminated it.

And what happened next? 

Revenue per sale doubled.

We led the first membership increase the organization had seen in a decade.

Then we hit our number for 10 years straight—through economic crashes, political chaos, and everything in between.

But the part most sales leaders won't admit...

Managing to activity metrics is the easy way to manage.

It's measurable. It's simple. Anyone can do it. 

It's not hard to stand over someone's shoulder and say "make more calls."

As counterintuitive as it sounds, it's also killing your results.

Most sales teams are optimized for the wrong thing. They're cracking the whip on volume while their best producers get written up for not hitting call counts—even though they're crushing quota.

There's a threshold. A specific point where more activity actually decreases results.

And most managers never find it because they're too busy counting calls.

I break down the exact framework (the Laffer Curve applied to sales) and why this matters more now than ever with AI about to eat every volume-based sales job alive.

Here's the podcast: https://lnkd.in/e7KN2JBu

Tom Brady said something that stuck with me.

"Champions do what the stars aren't always willing to do. I would prefer to be on a team full of champions over stars."

Think about that.

He also said "I won Super Bowls with a lot of sixth round picks, a lot of undrafted free agents." Guys who worked hard. Put the team first. Showed up every day with a good attitude.

Receivers who cracked safeties. Running backs who picked up blitzing linebackers. Linemen who took on two blockers so somebody else could make the tackle.

That's team football.

Stars want stats. Highlights. Individual glory. And look... you can make a lot of money that way. But you won't win championships.

I learned this early in my career.

First sales team I took over... we fired half the roster. Rebuilt around culture. Hired people, not just players.

For 10 years straight we didn't miss a single goal. Not one. Through recessions. Political chaos. Leadership changes.

We had one rule. No prima donnas.

I didn't care if you were the top rep. You were expected to maintain the culture. Train the new guy. Share what was working.

Your numbers didn't buy you immunity to be an a-hole.

Once you've been part of a real team... you don't want to play the game any other way.

Resilience, patience, grit, and stick-to-itiveness are great.

But sometimes the hard, necessary thing to do is quit.

If you've achieved any level of success through sheer will and determination, quitting is harder than it sounds.

Because you've been rewarded for enduring pain.
The pain has become a positive feedback loop.

And that's why you succeed when others quit--you have the tolerance to see it through.

That's a strength, until it's not.

Until you hit a wall that won't move no matter how much force you apply.

Or a problem that can't be solved with more effort and mental toughness.

Like a physical injury or illness you prolong and make worse because you won't rest.

Or a business model problem you try to solve by burning yourself or others out.

At that point, mental toughness becomes a liability.

The data points and feedback loops you're relying on start misleading you.

They're telling you to push through, grind it out, don't give up, keep trying.

When the real answer is: pause, pull back, reassess, and attack the problem from another angle. 

Rest, don't run.
Pivot, don't persevere.

The ability to push on when others won't is just one tool at your disposal.

Having a hammer doesn't make everything a nail.

PS - "you" in this case is me. And this is me sitting on the curb humbly waiting for my wife to pick me up after tweaking my knee on mile 6 of a run my physical therapist cleared me to go just 3 on. Lesson learned.

Wednesday = content & creative day. ❤️

Most traditional advice tells you to be kinder to yourself.

Silence that inner critic.

Quiet the voice that says you're not doing enough.

Stop pushing yourself so hard.

I tried all of that for years.
It made everything worse.

So I did the opposite.

I leaned into the voice in my head that constantly said "you can do better."

And that decision changed everything.

Here's what I've realized: The inner critic traditional advice told me to silence?

It's been my biggest competitive advantage.

It's a feature to be leveraged. Not a bug to fix. 

I went from a family with addiction, broken homes, and no college education to raising my kids in Cabo with a life I couldn't have imagined.

That didn't happen because I learned contentment.

It happened because I refused to accept lower standards.

But there's a critical distinction that makes this work without destroying your mental health.

And if I'd missed that, I would've burned out entirely.

But if you get it right, it becomes fuel.

I shared a personal podcast with two things I did to turn my inner critic into a strength instead of fighting it.

This perspective won't land for everyone—and that's fine.

But if you've got that same voice and you've been told it's a problem?

You might want to hear this.

Listen here: https://lnkd.in/evdj5swT

P.S. Fair warning: I hold myself to higher standards than most people around me. If that sounds exhausting, this probably isn't for you.

Yesterday we ran an SDR Fantasy Draft.

Our fractional SDR management program has been growing fast, so we brought on two exceptional full-time sales managers to build dedicated teams.

Yesterday was draft day.

We had all the rep analytics pulled, a custom territory maps to avoid market conflicts our ops manager built, and a room full of competitive energy.

When the time came at the end of the day, we fired up the draft timers, poured drinks, and went to work picking teams.

My wife—the actual fantasy footballer in our house—said this doesn’t count as a legitimate fantasy draft.

Fair.

But she also said she hasn’t heard that much laughing and energy from me at work in awhile. 

So we’re doing something right.

Business owners keep asking me: "How do I remove myself from sales?"

It's the wrong question.

And it's costing them years of freedom they could already have.

You don't want to escape sales. You want to evolve through it.

And there's a very reliable sequence to do it—and most owners skip the steps that actually matter.

I recorded a quick podcast breaking it down here: https://lnkd.in/ebm_gQb2

taplio

The Battle

Tara Horstmeyer

Ray J. Green

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taplio

The Battle

Tara Horstmeyer

Ray J. Green

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);}Ray J. Green's LinkedIn Performance

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