zoë hartsfield 🌊

Airtop

Brand Consultant

the little ghost

influencer marketing, brand consulting + ghostwriting services

Owner

Slate

Content Creation and Brand Strategy partner for Slate.

Brand Strategist

Warmly,

Maximize the ROI of marketing.

Automate conversion of high-intent target accounts that visit your website. Ensure that no lead falls through the cracks.

DM me for an intro to their team:)

Strategic Advisor

Apollo.io

My job title is weird this is the stuff I own:

- Apollo's Youtube channel (content strategy, creation, editing, project management + analytics reporting)
- Executive Evangelism (Executive Brands)
- Employee Evangelism (Employee Advocacy)
- Influencer Collabs (Youtube, LinkedIn + MasterClass talent sourcing)
- Content Host (Youtube, LinkedIn, Webinars)

Sr. Manager, Product Evangelism + Video Content Strategy (Youtube)

My job is to bring you the most actionable tactical sales tips over Linkedin, Youtube, Instagram & Webinars. 

If you can’t walk away knowing how to make more money, I’m not very good at that job

Sales Trainer in Residence

Pioneering a new B2B Influencer marketing program for GTM pros.

Sr. Manager, Influencer Marketing + Evangelism

Building a world class b2b influencer marketing program. 

Creating sales + marketing content to help our users get the MOST out of our product.

Influencer relationship management.

Content creation. 

Public speaking.

Copywriting.

Sr. Manager, Evangelism, Executive Presence + Community

Stealth Startup

up the content, community & demand gen functions.
Q1 & Q2 OKRs + Wins:
- 4x inbound traffic
- organized and generated Sales Collateral Library
- guested on 15 podcast + webinars to evangelize the brand
- onboarded tools: HockeyStack, Warmly, Demandwell
- Stood up content calendar
- Stood up product release marketing with CS
- Trained the GTM team on social selling
- Created Community Driven Pipeline Playbook
- Launched Events marketing program hosting in-person and virtual events
- Stood up partnerships program
- Stood up first-ever referral motion (generating 15% of pipeline after 2 months)
- leveraging my personal brand to generate new business opportunities
- Set up GA4 + marketing attribution model
- Generated 50% of pipeline from inbound, content + community
- Generated 39% closed-won revenue from inbound, content + community
- did all of this without ads^ 😏

Head of Marketing & Evangelism

Spekit 🐙

New biz is the name of the game.

Growth Marketing
Demand Generation
Community
Paid Ads
Pipeline Generation & Acceleration

Demand Generation (Growth Marketing) Manager

- generated first ever community influenced pipeline (30+ meetings in 60 days) to help the team hit pipeline goals in Q1
- grew social media (LinkedIn & IG) presence by 50% in first 90 days
- successfully executed series B social blitz and PR announcement first week on the job
- manage customer advocacy campaigns and initiatives
-grew social media following by 105% in 5 months
-increased G2 reviews by 30% in Q2 (took on 2 new leader badges as a result)
-Building our Marketing Advisory Council

More to come:)

Community Manager

Dooly

Sourced and onboarded 10 net new partners in first 90 days. 

Built out tracking/project management flow to store partner data and comms.

Ground up - built and scaled referral program for PLG product motion. Referrals convert at 7x the rate of those who find our site organically. Driving new users and revenue through the referral program.

Community/Partner Manager

BombBomb

-grew social media presence by 25% in first 3 months
-increased avg webinar registration (260%) and attendance (80%)
-guest on podcasts, webinars and LinkedIn Live to further brand awareness and train on video communication best practices
-explore new channels to bring education around video, BombBomb and Human-Centered Communication
-collaborate with content and design team to promote and create engagement around events, webinars and product launches 
-train and equip staff to engage on social platforms and enhance their personal brand
-write, host and Youtube/short-form podcast for the brand

Community Marketing Associate

-generated 3.1 mil in projected pipeline in 6 months
-87% hold rate
-set record for quickest outbound SAO after start date for the team
-writing sales copy & sequencing that incorporates personal video to start conversations and turn prospects into customers
-social media strategy, content creation, demand generation sequencing, data analytics

Business Development Representative- Mid Market

-Leveraged personal relationships to bring on new business
-Top Performer (4/6 months excluding ramp-up)
-Converted leads higher than expectations consistently throughout tenure
-onboarded and trained new reps
-highest hold rate on the team during tenure

***Clearly got bored of not working after one semester and found a new job 3 months later. continued to work full-time and attend college full-time.

BombBomb is helping teams rehumanize their communication by enabling people with easy to use video and tracking for email, text and social. Whether you need better touches with your clients, clearer communication between your remote teammates, or higher conversion rates, video is proven to help. Let us show you how!

Sales Development Representative

T. Rowe Price

Promoted to Specialist shortly after completing licensing. 
Trained and coached new reps. 
Worked 45 hrs + per week while doing school full time.
Had lowest errors on the team.
Was involved in leadership training and development.

***Left to focus on school full-time in the Spring Semester.

Financial Service Specialist

Asked to join team full time before completion of internship. 
Had highest interview score of incoming hire class.
Passed all licensing exams on the first try.

Financial Services Representative

Receiving, sorting and processing client requests regarding their 401k's. Completing high volumes of work with accuracy and attention to detail. Submitting client requests, allocating funds, updating client information and supporting leadership with various processing projects.

Participant Transactions Processing Intern

good @ building pipeline | bad at most other things | currently building pipeline + evangelism at Apollo

I've generated over 100MM impressions for brands on social media in the past 24 months. Most coming from LinkedIn. Building world class employee, executive and influencer advocacy programs for B2B software companies. 

I'm a marketer by trade, but sales has my heart. Also passionate about helping younger professional level up in their careers (mostly by charing lessons I learned the hard way).

-------------------------------------------------------------

If you're a brand and want to collab on content, shoot me an email at zoe@zoehart.co

If you're a young professional looking for tips, hacks, and learnings to help you level up, hit the bell & follow me on IG (@zoepatience) and TikTok (@zoeeharttt).

If there are other ways you hope to work together, shoot me a DM- let's chat.

Standing up the content, community & demand gen functions at Swantide. 
Q1 & Q2 OKRs + Wins:
- 4x inbound traffic
- organized and generated Sales Collateral Library
- guested on 15 podcast + webinars to evangelize the brand
- onboarded tools: HockeyStack, Warmly, Demandwell
- Stood up content calendar
- Stood up product release marketing with CS
- Trained the GTM team on social selling
- Created Community Driven Pipeline Playbook
- Launched Events marketing program hosting in-person and virtual events
- Stood up partnerships program
- Stood up first-ever referral motion (generating 15% of pipeline after 2 months)
- leveraging my personal brand to generate new business opportunities
- Set up GA4 + marketing attribution model
- Generated 50% of pipeline from inbound, content + community
- Generated 39% closed-won revenue from inbound, content + community
- did all of this without ads^ 😏


We are making implementing and configuring salesforce 10x faster, 10x simpler at 1/5 the cost. It's so easy, I can set up your Salesforce instance. DM me if you're about to or just bought SFDC and need help with configuration & system management. We've got you covered 😎

zoë hartsfield

Update on the starbucks gift cards for flight attendants. 

1. United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliners have 10 flight attendants, not 8. 

2. They will come up and individually thank you, and your seat mates might ask “why are these flight attendants coming by every 15 minutes?” 

3. It feels nice to do nice things and I feel selfish and weird for admitting it but it brought me a lot of joy to bring them joy. 

4. A fourth point… 


Anyway, was nice to spread a little holiday cheer. 

Also Janice kept the mimosas flowing for me on flight number 2 so that was a dubbbbb. 


happy turkey day:)

running influencer marketing @ fullenrich | personal brand, social selling + executive ghostwriting for B2B SaaS/AI | ask me about your LinkedIn strategy

No alternative text description for this image

6 reasons i will NEVER go back in office: 

- working from anywhere has allowed me to be more present with my family (especially my grandparents who are older than time itself. the extra moments with them are priceless

- the amount of money i have saved on commuting is astronomical. gas, lunch at or near the office, happy hour drinks with coworkers each friday… literally thousands a year saved 

- i get to hang out with my dog all day. which is way better than him hanging out with someone else all day… or alone. you want my dog to be alone all day you psychopath!? 

- i’m more creative. something about being home, going on walks, working from coffee shops or airplanes or hospital rooms (remember the line about my grandparents being older than time?) knocks me out of my routine and allows me to think more creatively

- i’m actually way more productive at home. i’m a yapper, so being in office is great a few days a month but i also get so much less done when im there. i’d rather blitz a productive few hours in the morning and spins. few meetings in the afternoon than lose my day catching up with chad about his boys fishing trip last weekend. 

- my house has a fireplace. does the office have a fireplace? no? cool. case & point. 




remote work offers flexibility, productivity& cost savings to many people. it may not be for everyone- but neither is being in office 5 days a week. 


employees crave flexibility. that’s worth its weight in gold. 



ps this is day eleventythousand/100. literally less than 30 days left in this challenge and im hype:)

running influencer marketing @ fullenrich | personal brand, social selling + productivity | ask me about ghostwriting + founder brands

I just closed the largest ghostwriting contract of my life this week and it almost got pushed to 2026. This one question moved the deal up a whole quarter:

Me: “When do you need to start seeing that value from this initiative?” 

Them: “Well, ideally in January.” 

Me: “Okay, based on your brand today, we needed to start last month to have a chance at hitting that target. No worries though, we still have a good amount of runway to get things up and moving- I’d expect you to hit those goals Feb/March if we start next week.” 

Them: “Okay, let’s do it, can you send a contract today?” 



^ Christine Rogers at M3 Learning walked us through the idea of “uncovering urgency.”

No more trying to manufacture urgency that isn’t there- just thoughtful questions that get the prospect to reveal the urgency that already exists. 


This was one of the many tools she taught me in the past few months. 




I took the Proactive Selling Cohort training over the last 10 weeks and feel like I got a madterclass in sales. 

I wish I took this back when I was a rep, but now as a part time solopreneur, it’s helping me close more business than i ever pictured I could.  

If you’re: 
- an experience seller in need of a repeatable process
- a new seller in need of some guidance
- a founder or entrepreneur who needs help selling your services/product

I cannot recommend it enough.


So grateful to Christine & the whole M3 team for the course. Was career changing. 


(I’ll drop deets to sign up for their Jan cohort in the comments. I don’t get paid or anything for it, I just genuinely would recommend this training to ANY seller looking to level up.)

the biggest lie corporate america ever told:

hard work gets your promoted...... no, it doesn't. you know what does?


good work + visibility. 


visibility beats ability

visibility beats effort

visibility beats title

visibility can EVEN beat results



i learned this the hard way when my VP promoted a teammate over me. 

on paper i was:

- in the office earlier
- stayed later
- booked more demos
- had a higher conversion rate
- was 5% better than her in every KPI


but you know what she had?

- a great relationship with the VP
- a great relationship with the AEs
- a CLEAR conversation with leadership that THIS was her next step


my VP pulled me aside the day he promoted her. he knew I was crushed. 

Him: "Go ahead Zoe, ask me."

ME: "Why her and not me?"

Him: "You left it too close to call. Never leave it up to the Umpire. You should make yourself the obvious choice."




promotions are not about who works harder... they are about who works louder

- throw those wins in the group slack
- share templates that work with the team to share success
- write about your learnings on Linkedin + highlight the team in the process


visibility >>> ability

I've posted 547 LinkedIn last 2 years. (yes i counted them all like a psychopath). anyway... here are my completely unfiltered thoughts on LinkedIn content: 

- stop asking "thoughts?" at the end of every post... it's implied.
- carousels are NOT actually better than text posts
- commenting "great post" has added approximately zero value to anyone, ever
- if you're reposting the same motivational quote everyone else is using... maybe skip it
- personal stories beat business advice 99% of the time in reach
- tactical business advice beats personal stories 99% of the time as lead gen
- using "we" when you reallllly mean "I" makes you sound like you're hiding + like a douche
- polls are annoying
- your morning routine is not revolutionary content (and i don't believe you really wake up at 5a and cold plunge everyday)
- stop humble bragging about your "failures" that were actually huge Ws
- if you wouldn't say it in real life don't type it on LinkedIn


after spending too much time here, these are my unfiltered thoughts.

but I want to hear your unhinged takes on Linkedin.

not the safe ones everyone obviously agrees with... the ones that might get you some angry comments.



what drives you absolutely insane about LinkedIn content?

75/100

Reason 617272817 i love remote work: 

this is my view right now as i clear my inbox 



does your office have that, chad? 

#remotework #workfromanywhere

turns out my selfies are the thing people remember most about my posts.

soooo glad i put all that effort into learning to spell the word “strategic”. 😂


seems like folks looked at my rushed, poorly lit, slightly confused face and thought, “f*ck her points about social selling- let’s remake THIS.”

fine. i’ll lean in:)
but if i’m going to become a meme, at least let me provide a proper reference image.



here you have it Matt Firestone 
 
the most aggressively posed, try-hard, i-promise-i’m-not-hurt selfie i could produce. 

it’s giving “main character,” 
but also…”please don’t zoom in too close.”



my therapist says exposure builds character… 

90/100

#selfie #linkedin #socialselling

I haven’t worked in sales since 2020, but I sell almost everyday (just closed a $15k deal last night which puts me over my annual goal 🥲. I also demo a surprising amount for someone who:

- Doesn’t actually carry a real quota at her company
- Doesn’t sell a product/tool for her side hustle

The beauty of creating content around the problems we solve is…..

Prospects often come to you:)

It doesn’t always make sense for me to hop on a call with someone who wants to buy FullEnrich.

It doesn’t always make sense for me to send them to a sales rep either. 

So my new hack is AI-powered product demos for that awkward in-between step. 

I use Consensus to create a sort of “test drive” so when these one-off leads come in I can send them somewhere to check out the product without any pressure. 

Our tool has a pretty solid free option so the next step is usually them signing up for a free trial or pinging me for a proper intro to sales. 

I used to spend 2-3 hrs a week on calls answering product questions. Now I just send  Consensus demos, free trial links or “book a sales call” emails and let the sales team collect the bag. 

They recently launched their Consensus for Marketers product for interactive tours + personalized demos. It’s mobile friendly which is perfect for someone like me who spends half my life in the back of an uber. 


Consensus = faster sales cycles, less of my time demoing a product that honestly, people just want to get their hands on. Win win. 



Here’s a video of me sending one to someone while I was on the road. (Another great use case for on demand demos). 


#ConsensusPartner

In high school, my Trig teacher told me:
"You'll NEVER make it in the professional world if you don't learn to show your work."

Well, Mrs. Gordon... 

I am proud to say I have never needed to use Pythagorean Identities OR been asked to provide a Proof since college. 

Clients just care about results. 



While showing your work helps you generate opportunities + establish credibility...

Outcomes get you paid. 



If she'd weighted homework as much as exams, maybe I would have done it sometimes. 🤷🏻‍♀️


Lazy people with efficiency kinks rule the world.

trying to channel my inner Lana Ivory 🦋 and snagged some starbucks gift cards for the flight crew. 

traveling this time of year is wild. you get a range of super cheerful folks and some of the grumpiest humans i’ve ever encountered. 

i feel grateful that airport & airline staff are working so i can go be with the people i love most over the holidays. 

loved Lana’s idea of going the flight crew a little gift as a “thanks for getting us there safely!” 

i’ll let ya know how it goes:) 


happy holidays yall!


wish i’d held these right side up 🫠

Me to my boss: "Did Finance look at my notes on the FY26 fiscal plan?
Him: "You didn't leave notes on the annual plan."
Me: "Exactly... so wtf is Brad from accounting doing in my copy doc?"


Why is this the most relatable image I've seen as a marketer ever?


AND why is it that eVeRyOnE thinks they're qualified to comment on (read: ruin) marketing?


I don't show up to your cubical and tell you how to do your spreadsheets, Karen! 



Marketing by committee is where good ideas go to die. 





Ps. This billboard from Clay was perfect. No notes. 



PPs. I shamelessly stole this graphic from the team at Draf because it literally made me want to cry. It's brilliant. Give your social media manager a raise.

I’m posting everyday for 100 days. After 71 of them, here are the 3 things that have made the MOST impact in the quality + performance of my content:

1. Consistency - which feels sort of meta.

Posting everyday for 100 days inherently bakes in a forced consistency but I have noticed a level of “anticipation” from my network. I will even get a “no post today?” from a connection if it’s late in the afternoon and my content hasn’t gone live.

Think of it like a TV series. People expect a new episode every Tuesday. They tune in at 7p on the dot.

Post at a similar time and similar frequency and your network will fall into that rhythm with you.


2. AI is GREAT for ideation 

100 days of posting is a recipe for “idk wtf to write about anymore.” So using AI to help you brainstorm hooks, and content ideas is a game changer. 

I personally use Stanley (Your Content Coach) which sends me a report every Sunday based on my top performing content from the week and breaks down “WHY” it worked or flopped which helps me think through my next batch of posts.


3. Speaking of batch of posts- I batch my content. 

I write most of it on Sundays after that Stanley email comes in.

I find that setting aside time to get into a creative flow is easier than waking up at 6a everyday and trying to be creative on demand.

I would HIGHLY recommend anyone getting into content creation or trying to double down on it in 2025 challenge themselves to posting 100 days in a row.

And if you need help staying consistent, understanding what your audience responds to and coming up with creative post ideas, I’d check out Stanley as your AI powered creative writing partner. 

Since I personally started using Stanley my average impressions are up 42% WoW. 

Try it here: https://lnkd.in/eHHzy8Gi)




Cheers to day 71/100. At the end of the challenge I’ll share my total growth stats. Stay tuned:)




PPS. I was supposed to post this on Friday but life... ya know. So the voice-over is all kinds of messed up BUT at least my vocal fry still makes everyone angry. 

#stanleypartner #contentassistant

I used to use flights to crush through emails and clear my inbox, but now idk what to do with myself… 

I literally hate email. Like I hate it. Like I avoid my inbox at all costs and handle it in big batches because reading and replying to emails is the bain of my existence. 

I’ve tried literally EVERY email assistant under the sun… but none of them could draft email replies in my tone or could capture the context of the previous emails in the thread. 

I’d spend more time editing AI generated drafts than I would have just writing the d:)mn email myself…

Until now.

Fyxer AI  just dropped Drafts 2.0 and it’s actually fire. 

It fixed the problem of context and tone in a way that I didn’t think these AI email assistants would be able to do for months. 

I can set my own "tone" guidelines and it uses my previous emails to write in a voice that sounds like me... ANNNND in the context of the conversation so it's tailored to the recipient as well. 


Now I ship out replies with minimal edits and clear out my inbox in literally half the time.

There’s one hour and 52 minutes left on this flight still.




Anyone got any podcast recs?

#FyxerPartner

After posting 77 days in a row I gotta say I wouldn’t recommend it. 

Excellent experiment. Learning a ton. But for 99% of people it doesn’t make any sense.

Linkedin has new(ish) analytics features! I’m going to teach you line by line what metrics are available to you and exactly what they MEAN for you, your brand and your business:

First the obvious ones:

Impressions 
This is every time someone scrolls past your post for half a second. It showed up in their feed. This signals “distribution” of your content.

Engagements (Likes etc)
This is people who went a step further to show some kind of support of your content.

Comments
This is where it gets interesting. Someone found what you said insightful (or infuriating) enough to let you know what they think.


Now we have the more nuanced metrics:

Members reached
This is actual individuals you reached.  

Profile Viewers
I'm always yapping about optimizing your profile as a landing page- this is why. When someone reads your content for the first time and it sparks curiosity they click your little headshot and go to your profile to check you out. Make sure they have something to look at. 

Followers Gained From This Post:
This is people who saw your content and decided to follow you SPECIFICALLY from the follow button on the post itself. *This doesn't count people who go to your profile and follow you from there. 

Reposts
Someone found your content valuable enough to share with THEIR audience. (Also signals to the algorithm, hey, this is super valuable!)

Saves
This is where we get into the true "dark social" of Linkedin. Hard to see or quantify but another signal that the post was valuable enough for someone to want to come back to it. 

Sends
Andddd another dark social signal. A share we cannot see! Someone in your audience wanted someone specific in their audience to see this. 

Button clicks (premium only)
If you have a custom button on your profile/under your headline + someone clicks it- CONGRATS! They saw enough value in whatever you wrote to explore whatever it is you take them to next. For me, it’s my newsletter. For you, it could be your website or demo form or a video of you making sourdough bread on Youtube… idk your life. 



I made a really detailed Tango because I was trying to walk someone thru this over Slack on a plane + found this walk thru to be way easier. And I saved it– so now you can have it. (peep it in the 📌 comment)


If you ever are in a bind or find yourself explaining/re-explaining complex topics or ideas that really do better with a visual aid, you should try tango (dot) ai.

Teach it once. Never explain it again:)

#TangoPartner

I’m trying to reconcile Linkedin’s own advice about posting timely, relevant and value add content with an emphasis on industry news and current events… 


and the fact that 80% of my feed today is posts from 2-3 weeks ago. 

those current events aren’t so current anymore

Can't wait to find out about the Cloudflare outage in 2 weeks.

30 days left in the year. 

are you packing it in early and hoping for a better one next year or squeezing every ounce of life you can get out of 2025 still?

My answer in the comments:)

86/100

Stacie Sussman

CRO l We're the all-star team that'll actually increase your bottom line revenue l Business Strategy l Operations l Sales l Marketing l Revenue Growth

After 17 years in media sales, I thought success meant grinding harder and steering the ship alone.

Then I looked around at the CROs I admired—brilliant, well-paid executives who looked… haggard. Burnt out. Like they’d lost their spark somewhere between board meetings and impossible targets.

That’s when it hit me: the system was broken. And I’d lived it.

I spent those 17 years running into obstacles that shouldn’t have existed, feeling like a one-woman show when sales should have been a team sport. I watched talented leaders march in place, trying the same patch-job solutions while the real problems—misaligned departments, broken attribution, CROs and CMOs working against each other—went unfixed.

For the past 7+ years, my team and I have been fixing foundations, not symptoms.

At RevUp Advisory, we take B2B businesses from duct-taped growth to marketing and sales alignment that actually works. We create cohesion between departments that have been at war, align everything with executive vision, and build operational excellence that turns chaos into consistent revenue.

Here’s the truth: we often rip out bad consulting work first. Everyone says they can drive more sales. But saying it and delivering sustainable results? Two very different things.

The transformation? Those scathing emails from bosses stop coming. Pipeline reports finally line up. Attribution makes sense. And instead of being seen as “that hopeless department,” you’re respected as the strategic partner you always were.

Because here’s what I’ve learned: companies should work smarter, not harder. And when you fix the foundation instead of patching the cracks, everyone gets their spark back.

Ready to stop the patch-jobs and actually scale? 

Let’s talk: stacie@revupadvisory.com

CRO - Revenue - Sales - Marketing - Operations - Business Strategy - Growth Plans - Customer Journey - Salesforce - HubSpot - Enablement - Training - OKRs - KPIs - Tech Stack - Pipeline - Forecasting - Sales Operations - Marketing Operations - Revenue Operations- B2B - Founders - CRO - CMO - CRM  - Pricing - Revenue Modeling - Sales Funnel - Marketing Funnel - Customer Success - Foundational Structure - ICP - CAC - LTVC - ARR - MRR - Fundraising - Leadership Consulting - Management Consulting - Sales Coaching - Compensation Planning - Workshops - Training - AI Agents - Process Optimizations - Flows - Automations - Tech Stack

Founding Member

The Upside is a curated, global community for consultants and industry experts.

My accountability partners just served me my own advice. And it stung.

Picture this: I’m in our group meeting two years ago, celebrating another client win. We’d just helped a mid-market company build this incredible scalable GTM strategy.

My partners stop me: “Stacie, you always tell clients to pick the right channels and scale them. But what about YOU?”

Ouch.

Here I was, building go-to-market strategies for companies, helping them move beyond one conversation at a time… while RevUp Advisory  was stuck in exactly that mode.

One Zoom. One call. One connection at a time.

The irony? I was literally solving this problem for clients every day. That wake-up call changed everything. 

We took our LinkedIn Live content and strategically expanded to our C-Suite Strategies podcast and Substack newsletter.

Now we’re having meaningful conversations with hundreds of leaders simultaneously instead of one at a time.

The DMs and emails we get prove it’s working: “I couldn’t describe my attribution problem until your episode gave me the language and process I needed.”

Here’s what I’ve learned about support systems…The best ones don’t just cheer you on. 

They hold up a mirror and force you to face the gap between what you preach and what you practice.

Sometimes the most uncomfortable truth from your network becomes the catalyst for your biggest breakthrough.

Grateful for the people who care enough to call me out and push me to grow outside your comfort zone. 

What uncomfortable truth is your support system serving you that you’ll be grateful you acted on?

CRO | Fixing Marketing & Sales Alignment That Stalls Revenue | Marketing Ops l Sales Ops l AI + Process Optimization l Revenue Growth

I used to roll my eyes at “find work you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Total BS, right?

Picture this, I’m in my Upper East Side apartment. I’m dragging two dining room chairs into my bedroom because it’s the only quiet space away from kids, nanny, and chaos.

Sitting across from my “in-house Wendy” (think Billions), mapping out how to escape 17 years of corporate sales hell.

Every day felt like Groundhog Day → subway downtown → sales calls → spreadsheets → mani-pedis → dinners → repeat. 

Someone else was raising my kids while I chased quotas for companies that didn’t listen to my ideas.

I was trying for baby #2, but my schedule wasn’t my own. 

The company was circling bankruptcy (spoiler: they did go under). 

And I kept thinking: “If I have to start over at another media agency, calling on planners getting younger while I’m getting older… I may just poke my eyes out.”

The financial pressure was crushing. 
The fear was real. 

But sitting in those bedroom planning sessions, something shifted.

What if I bet on myself instead?

Three clients lined up. Boom we were off!

Then COVID hit a year later.

There was relief. Terror. Scarcity mindset screaming “WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?”

But also this fierce determination, “I am going to make this work come hell or high water.”

Here’s what I discovered about that cheesy quote about loving your work? It’s not BS.

RevUp Advisory became bigger than I ever imagined. We don’t just change revenue trajectories → we change lives. 

The consulting work, the impact, the legacy… it all started in a bedroom with two dining room chairs and a woman who refused to stay stuck.

To anyone sitting in their own version of corporate Groundhog Day….your ideas matter too. Your brain power is being underutilized. And sometimes the scariest leap leads to the most extraordinary landing.

What’s your version of those bedroom planning sessions? 

What are you mapping out for your next chapter? Let’s hear it.

I haven’t told my LinkedIn hive this, but I have a confession. I’m a roller blader.

My uncle bought me my first pair when I was a kid during our annual summer California visits. Blue and white with pink laces. He was the fun uncle—the one who’d say yes to adventures.

Fast forward multiple decades and I find myself
in a Florida ski store looking for something my son and I could do together. 

And when I found the coral-pink Rollerblade skates that felt like destiny. Those memories of learning how to skate in Venice Beach came flooding back. 

But here’s what happened next. I’m ready for this grand rollerblade adventure and my son started complaining halfway through our rides. 

That’s when I realized this thing we could do together? Could just be something I could do. At my own pace. My own rhythm.

And oh my god, it’s the best feeling ever. I’m gliding with music in my ears, not thinking about much of anything. Getting lost in the trail. 

There’s this sense of joyful freedom that’s completely unmatched.

For years, I thought hobbies were frivolous. That you had to grind through everything on your to-do list first. 

This year I realized that stepping away might be as valuable as stepping back in.

When you do something that feels free and joyful, then return to your challenging problems? You come back with renewed energy. A totally different vantage point that might actually solve the problem.

The philosophy of constantly staying the course is doing the opposite of what we think it’s doing.

What childhood joy are you ready to reclaim? Share in the comments—I’d love to hear your stories.

PS - Here’s me on my favorite rollerblade trail.

The Mr. Rogers sweatshirt that changed how I lead with dignity.  My first job out of college was at Condé Nast Bridal Group. Not the glamorous Vogue side of the company, but a solid revenue maker run by absolute tyrants.

I watched my friend, a fellow sales assistant, get tormented daily by her boss. 

The crime? 

Wearing a Mr. Rogers sweatshirt to work. 

We weren’t making the big salaries, but this woman made my friend feel so small, so worthless, that one evening she just… left. Walked out at 7 PM and never came back.

The rest of us? We watched it happen. 

We couldn’t intervene without risking our own jobs. TBH, we were all scraping together rent in Manhattan.

But I made myself a promise that day. I will never be treated this way. And I will never treat people this way.

Fast forward to today. 

Companies literally pay me to have the tough conversations their leaders can’t handle. 

Last week, I had to tell a client their 17-stage Salesforce process was driving everyone crazy.

The difference? 
I don’t humiliate. 
I educate.

“You’re completely overcomplicating this, and no one is willing to tell you,” I said on our Zoom call. “We’ll be the ones to tell you this doesn’t make sense.”

When they got defensive (they always do), I didn’t double down with ego. I removed the titles, spoke person-to-person, and showed them what “great” looks like when you’ve only known “bad.”

Here’s what I’ve learned about dignity in leadership from those early corporate days. 

The toughest conversations aren’t about being right. They’re about being helpful. 

You can deliver hard truths without destroying people’s humanity.

In 2025 and beyond, leaders who can ask the difficult questions while preserving everyone’s dignity? 

They’re the ones who will build teams that actually want to follow them.

The bullies at CNBG? They got compliance through fear.

I get transformation through respect.

Which leader do you want to be?

December 1st isn’t the time to coast. My boss was breathing down my neck about a massive General Mills deal. They wanted to start in January, but we needed something - ANYTHING - to hit our Q4 numbers.

Most people would’ve accepted “January” and moved on.

Not me. 

When I commit, I go ALL IN.

Picture this scene. I’ve got coffee carts with our logo strategically placed in their office lobby. 

Holiday lunches. Holiday dinners. 

Phone calls up and down the entire media chain. 

I was orchestrating everything while telling my bosses exactly who to call and when to email.

But here’s what made it brutal…

This wasn’t just convincing one person to say yes. 
We needed approvals from the client team, to the head of the media agency, to budget allocation, to the brand team. During the holidays. When half these people are mentally checked out.

There were definitely “holy ****, is this actually worth it?” moments.

But they were RESPONDING. 
Taking our calls. 
Showing up to dinners. 

In my experience, when clients are engaged like that? There’s real potential.

December 19th, the paperwork came through.
7-figure deal. DONE.

Here’s what that deal taught me about sales. 

December isn’t dead money. 

Your prospects haven’t all disappeared. 

There’s still budget sitting in “use it or lose it” policies. 

Onboarding can still happen. Clients can still get serviced.

We’re officially December 1st with about 3 working weeks left before everyone calls it quits.

This is your reminder that it’s still not too late to make something happen.

What’s one deal or opportunity you’ve been putting off until “next year” that you could actually push through right now?

When I stopped being polite and started being truthful.

Week 12. Another status call with a client who’d been “working on” the same simple tasks for three months.

I watched their marketing team squirm as I asked my usual diplomatic question about progress. 

More corporate speak. 
More “we’re prioritizing it.” 
More billable hours with zero results.

That’s when I decided to stop dancing around it.

“Is this tolerable and acceptable within your organization? Are you willing to do something about it, or are you willing to just steer a sinking ship into an iceberg?”

The Zoom went dead silent.

Here’s what I learned about this fast-growing company in that moment. They’d scaled through acquisitions but never upgraded their infrastructure. One person had “volunteered” to build their Salesforce by watching YouTube videos. It worked for a single company… but not for five.

The result? 

Marketing firing on all cylinders, but sales ops held together with digital duct tape and hope.

After my blunt wake-up call, something shifted. 

The embarrassment turned into relief. 

Finally, someone had said what everyone was thinking. “Please save us,” they said. “Tell us how to fix this.”

So I pitched what I’d wanted to propose from day one - the comprehensive overhaul they weren’t ready to hear about initially. The real investment they’d been trying to avoid.

They said yes immediately.

Sometimes being brutally honest is the kindest thing you can do for a client. They were drowning in broken systems, but everyone was too polite to call it what it was.

Stop trying to solve million-dollar problems with thousand-dollar band-aids.

Your team deserves better than digital duct tape.

What conversation have you been avoiding because you’re being too polite? It’s never too late to start this December.

One skill separates successful consultants from completely burned-out ones. Learning to identify reasonable vs unreasonable people.

Here’s what I mean…

When a client’s Salesforce-HubSpot integration breaks down (and trust me, it happens), reasonable clients get it. Yes, it’s frustrating when leads can’t flow from marketing to sales. But they understand our team is working on it, we have SLAs in place, and sometimes complex fixes just take time.

Then there are the unreasonable ones.

You can present facts 17 ways till Sunday. You can bring in multiple people to explain the situation. You can appeal to logic, emotions, whatever. But unreasonable people live in their own warped sense of reality, and you’re NEVER going to get through to them.

I learned this the hard way in my corporate days. 

Had a boss who would “yes” me to death when I asked for coaching, feedback, or career advancement opportunities. But when promotion time came? Crickets. If you’re asking to be developed and someone won’t give you real feedback OR help move your career forward, that’s textbook unreasonable behavior.

Here’s what I’ve learned from two decades in corporate. Unreasonable people are like cancer in your organization. They suck the life and energy out of everything they touch.

That’s exactly why we built a “no-a**hole policy” at RevUp Advisory. 

After working with countless unreasonable people, I decided if we’re going to build one of the best consulting firms out there, we only work with reasonable people.

Setting boundaries on what you’ll tolerate isn’t just nice-to-have—it’s business critical.

What’s your experience? Have you worked with unreasonable colleagues or clients who drained your energy no matter what you did? 

Share your stories below.

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