Charles E. Gaudet II

Today’s buyer trusts algorithms before they trust you.
If your business depends on you… AI buries you.

That’s why most founders feel like this:

→ 60+ hours/week, still behind
→ No pipeline unless you chase it
→ Team can “execute” but can’t think
→ You can’t take a real vacation without anxiety
→ Growth is unpredictable because you are the system

You didn’t fail. You just scaled the wrong way.

I help founders escape... permanently and grow companies faster, more predictably and less dependent on themselves.

🔥 What we actually do:

We transform founder-led, referral-dependent, decision-bottlenecked companies into AI-resilient, systematically scalable enterprises using the Predictable Profits® Operating System.

This isn’t consulting.
This is engineering.

Examples:

- Agency: $950K → $66M in 7 years (company not dependent on founder)
- Healthcare: $250K/year → $250K every 3 weeks (50% less founder involvement)
- Professional Services: 40% revenue growth while breaking referral dependency
- Manufacturing: 30% growth with the founder having zero guesswork at what's working and what's not

One client said it best:

“It felt like using cheat codes. I went from 65 hours/week to 45… and grew 40%.”

🔥 Why our system works

Because we eliminate the three locks of The Founder’s Trap™:

→ No Demand System – 80%+ referrals = no pipeline control
→ Founder-Led Sales – you close 70% because the system isn’t doing the selling
→ Decision Bottleneck – everything breaks unless you approve it

The Predictable Profits Operating System replaces:

Reactive decisions → Clear frameworks
Founder heroics → Repeatable processes
Ad-hoc marketing → Demand engines
Founder-led sales → Scalable sales architecture
Chaos → Predictable growth

🔥 Who I work with

High-performance founders who are:

- $250k - $1M (Launchpad); >$1M - $10M+ (Board of Directors)
- Stuck in operational gravity
- Drowning in decisions
- Scaling by force instead of structure
- Tired of being the bottleneck in their own success

If you’re winning because of how hard you work - not because of the strength of your systems - you’re the person I built this for.

🔥 Recognition & Media

→ #1 Marketing & Sales Thought Leader 2025 (DMNews)
→ “The Go-To Business Coach for 7 & 8 Figure Entrepreneurs” — International Business Times
→ “The CEO Whisperer” — Yahoo Finance
→ Host of Beyond 7-Figures Podcast

🔥 Your next step

👉 https://start.predictableprofits.com/superconsumer

You built this far.
Now build something that can scale without you.

For Speaking: https://www.CharlesGaudet.com

CEO & Founder | Business Coach for 7 & 8 Figure Companies

Predictable Profits is an international network of premium business coaches and strategists for 7- & 8- figure entrepreneurs who seek better sales and revenue systems for more predictability, profitability, and scalability in any economy.  

The company follows The Predictable Profits Methodology created in 2010, which has helped thousands of businesses in over 55 industries scale faster.

Advice from our team is featured on Fox Business, Forbes, Inc., Success, Entrepreneur, and countless other media channels around the world.

See what countless others have said about their experience with us here: https://predictableprofits.com/testimonials/

Working next to my son in San Diego before Thanksgiving… and I’m watching him starting his own business. Wild moment.

Because the game he’s entering is NOTHING like the one I walked into in 1999.

Here are the 5 ways business has completely changed between 1999 and 2025:

1. Buyers used to call you. Now more and more are calling AI first.

Back then, people asked experts.

Now they ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, whatever pops up in their agentic browser.

If you don’t show up in AI, you don’t show up at all (this will be especially true in 2026!).

2. Marketing used to be loud. Now it has to be accurate.

 In 1999, whoever yelled the hardest won.

 In 2025, irrelevant noise gets buried.

The winners master AEO, message market match (SuperConsumer!), and actually answer the buyer’s real questions.

3. Sales used to be persuasion. Now it’s proof.

You could “close” people back then.

Today, buyers are researchers with receipts.

They want frameworks, systems, case studies, receipts and receipts on your receipts.

4. Businesses used to be built on hustle. Now they’re built on systems.
 
My early companies ran on adrenaline and chaos.

That model doesn’t work anymore.

Founders who refuse systems get swallowed by the Founder’s Trap.

5. You used to compete with people. Now you compete with algorithms.
 
Google. Meta. AI Overviews. Social feeds. Recommendation engines.

If your content, brand, and demand strategy aren’t algorithm-proof, you’re invisible.

Sitting here next to Branson, I’m watching him build a company in a world I couldn’t have imagined in ’99.

Harder in some ways.

Better in others.

But the opportunity… if you build it right… is insane.

Talks about #salestips, #businessadvice, #businessgrowth, #marketingadvice, and #predictableprofits

#1 Coach for 7–8 Figure Founders Escaping the Founder’s Trap™ | CEO @ Predictable Profits | Architect of the Predictable Profits® Operating System

Most founders don’t realize their business is being held back by one fundamental problem.

They don’t know their SuperConsumer.

Not the “ideal customer.”

 Not the cute persona with a fake name.

 I’m talking about the tiny group of buyers who:

• Spend 2.5 to 4 times more
• Buy 6 to 10 times more often
• Refer everyone
• Shape the market
 
And create 50 to 80 percent of your profit…while being as little as 10 percent of your customer base.

Here’s the part that stings.

If you don’t know who this group is, you’re building your entire business around the WRONG people.

You’re obsessing over leads that never convert.
You’re lowering your prices for buyers who don’t value what you do.
You’re writing content for people who will never become clients.
You’re building products for the middle of the market.
And you’re wondering why everything feels harder than it should.

Meanwhile, your SuperConsumer is out there shouting

* “I NEED WHAT YOU DO” *
 
...but you can’t hear them because your message is aimed at the masses.

The moment you identify your SuperConsumer, everything changes.

Your marketing sharpens.
Your sales accelerate.
Your demand engine wakes up.
Your pricing power jumps.
Your roadmap becomes obvious.
Your growth becomes predictable.

And you stop building a founder-dependent business that chews you alive.

The fastest path to scale isn’t doing more.

It’s building for the buyer who grows your business the fastest.

**If you want the exact breakdown I use with our 6, 7 and 8 figure coaching clients to pinpoint their SuperConsumer and break-free from the Founder's Trap... take the first step here: https://lnkd.in/e9WBdY_J **

At 23, I was dying.

My organs were shutting down. The ER doctor's face told me everything before he said a word.

I'd set my alarm for 3:30am every single day. Seven days a week. Morning to midnight. Because I'd bought the biggest lie in entrepreneurship:

**Hard work equals success.**

I took it literally. Outworked everyone. While competitors slept, I ground. While they took weekends, I pushed harder.

Yet some were making 10x what I was.

Lying in that hospital bed, IV in my arm, I struggled to find meaning.

On the way home, I realized:

You can't outwork a broken strategy.

My body shutting down wasn't weakness. It was physics. You can only redline an engine so long before it explodes.

The competitors making 10x more? They weren't working harder. They were working on the right things.

They had systems. I had hustle.
They had leverage. I had hours.
They had boundaries. I had burnout.

That dark moment in my life taught be that:

• 4 focused hours beat 16 scattered ones
• Energy management beats time management
• Strategic thinking beats tactical grinding
• Recovery isn't weakness, it's weaponized

One year after that moment, I created my first multi-million dollar business.

Not because I found some hack. Because I stopped confusing suffering with success.

**Your 3:30am alarm isn't discipline. It's dysfunction.**

The market doesn't care how many hours you log. It cares about the value you create. And you can't create value when you're destroying yourself.

Stop wearing exhaustion like a medal.
Start treating your energy like equity.

Because success isn't about working until you drop.

It's about working until you don't have to.

**What "hustle harder" advice nearly broke you before you learned better?**

============

Ready to break free from the founder bottleneck? Join me on "Cracking the Code of Predictable Profits" this Wednesday at 1:00pm ET. Comment "FREEDOM" and I'll share our proven framework.

10 things most people don't know about me:

1. **Diagnosed with one of the worst learning disabilities my doctor had ever seen.**
Multiple forms of dyslexia. ADHD.  And a lot more. Teachers said I should never have made it in a 'normal' school. Turns out it was my superpower.

2. **Went an entire wrestling season without winning a single match.**
Three years later? Undefeated. Three state championships. The gap between failure and greatness is smaller than you think.

3. **My dad's death broke something open in me.**
Three years ago, I went from never crying to tearing up at commercials. Turns out emotional walls don't protect you. They imprison you.

4. **People call my personality "intense."**
Guilty. I abhor mediocrity. I'll push you harder than you're comfortable with. Because your potential deserves more than your comfort zone.

5. **I respect failure more than success.**
If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough. The key is learning from them and persisting forward. Every one of my wins has a graveyard of failures behind it. That's the price of admission.

6. **"Work-life balance" is bullsh*t.**
I believe in work-life integration. When you love what you do, Monday morning feels like Friday night. Find that. Everything else is settling.

7. **Being a dad is my greatest achievement.**
Built companies. Generated millions. Coached thousands of founders. None of it comes close to watching my kids become who they're meant to be.

8. **Joined Babson's dance ensemble to meet women.**
Zero rhythm. Two left feet. Met my wife of 23 years there. Sometimes the worst ideas create the best outcomes.

9. **I invest thousands yearly optimizing my brain and body.**
Biohacking, supplements, testing, coaching. Your mind is your money maker. Treat it like the million-dollar asset it is.

10. **Nobody has ever called me "normal."**
Black t-shirts daily. Tattoos visible. Pushing people past comfort. Investing in brain optimization. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Normal is where dreams go to die.

The pattern? Every weakness became fuel. Every failure became data. Every "impossible" became inevitable.

Stop letting your story write you. Start writing your story.

**What "impossible" thing are you avoiding because someone once told you that you couldn't?**

🏆 “The CEO Whisperer” (Yahoo Finance) | CEO @ Predictable Profits | Author, Keynote Speaker | 6x Entrepreneur & Business Coach

We just discovered something at one of our recent Board of Directors client meetings that's changing everything.

Google AI Overviews is now scraping and citing LinkedIn posts as authoritative sources.

Not just indexing them. Actively citing them when people search.

We're still researching this. Exploring the patterns. Refining the strategy.

This is one of those benefits you get in the Board of Directors when you're surrounded by some of the top 7 & 8-figure CEOs and founders leading their markets.

Someone discovers something. We all test it. We share what works.

Everyone's content strategy just leveled up.

Full breakdown in the article 👇

Can you imagine if F1 drivers changed their own tires?

The race would be over before they finished the first pit stop.

Because at that level, winning isn't about doing everything yourself.

It's about maximizing return on time.

The driver focuses on ONE thing: driving the perfect lap.

Everything else? The team handles it.

Pit crew changes tires in 2.3 seconds. Engineers optimize strategy. Team principal makes the calls.

The driver who tries to do it all? Loses every time.

Here's what hit me:

**Most founders are still changing their own tires.**

You're driving the car. Managing the pit crew. Analyzing the data. Negotiating with sponsors.

Then wondering why you can't win.

The Founder's Trap isn't about working harder.

It's about not understanding where YOUR time creates the most value.

In F1, every role is optimized for maximum impact:

• Driver: Execute the race strategy
• Pit crew: Flawless 2-second stops
• Engineers: Real-time data and optimization
• Team principal: Strategic decisions

In your business, it should work the same way:

• CEO: Strategy, vision, key relationships
• Sales team: Converting qualified leads
• Operations: Delivering consistent results
• Marketing: Generating demand

But here's what actually happens:

You're on a sales call (should be your team).
You're fixing a client issue (should be operations).
You're designing the ad creative (should be marketing).
You're approving every expense (should be a system).

Your $5,000/hour time is being spent on $50/hour tasks.

That's not dedication. That's why you're losing.

The F1 teams that win championships? They obsess over one metric:

Return on time for every role.

If the driver is doing anything that doesn't make the car go faster, they've failed.

Same in your business.

If you're doing anything that doesn't move the company forward strategically, you're trapped.

The breakthrough comes when you ask:

"What can ONLY I do?"

Everything else? Build a system. Train a team. Get out of the way.

Your competitors aren't just working harder.

They've figured out how to multiply their time through their team.

You're still changing your own tires.

---

QUESTION: If you tracked your time last week, what percentage was spent on things only YOU can do as CEO?

And what percentage was spent on tasks someone else should be handling?

Be honest. Most of us are spending 70-80% of our time in the pit crew when we should be driving.

What's your number?

Your LinkedIn posts are being scraped by Google AI Overviews right now.

But 99% of them will never get cited.

Here's why.

I just discovered something that changes everything about LinkedIn content strategy.

Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity - they're all crawling LinkedIn posts and using them to answer search queries.

Your content isn't just social media anymore. It's searchable knowledge.

But here's the problem:
Most LinkedIn posts have near-zero chance of being cited by AI search engines.

Why?

Because AI engines downgrade content that's:

- Self-promotional fluff
- Shallow and generic
- Written for "everyone"

The posts that DO get cited?

They're written for a specific person with a specific problem.

Last month, I tested this with two posts:

Post A (Generic):
"Your buyer doesn't trust you anymore."
Result: 409 impressions, 12 engagements, zero AI citations

Post B (SuperConsumer-Specific):
"Most founders don’t realize their business is being held back by one fundamental problem. They don’t know their SuperConsumer."

Result: 4,317 impressions, 52 engagements, appeared in Google AI Overview and Google Organic for "SuperConsumer vs Ideal Customer" among others.

Same expertise. Same platform.
Completely different results.

The difference?

Post B was written for my SuperConsumer.

Not my "ideal client profile."

My actual top 20% of clients who:
- Generate 80% of my profits
- Have the highest lifetime value
- Share the exact same pain points

Use the exact same language to describe their problems

When you write for your SuperConsumer, something magical happens:

✅ AI engines recognize you as an authority on that specific problem
✅ Your content becomes citation-worthy (specific, not generic)
✅ Search intent matches perfectly (they're Googling what you're answering)
✅ Engagement skyrockets (pattern recognition: "This is me!")

------
If you want access to our "SuperConsumer Intelligence Tool", comment "Super" and I'll send it to you for free.

Most founders are obsessed with “ideal clients.”

That's wrong.

If you want predictable scale, you need to stop thinking about who you want to sell to…

...and start identifying the tiny group of people who actually grow your business.

Your SuperConsumer.

They’re not your “target audience.”
They’re the small minority keeping your entire company alive.

Here’s 7 things your SuperConsumer does that everyone else never will:

1. They spend more money before you even ask.
If you need complicated funnels to close someone, they’re not a SuperConsumer. They’re a charity case.

2. They consume everything you publish.
If they don’t finish your content, they’ll never be a buyer. Consumption drives conversion. Attention is the real qualification.

3. They self-identify as the buyer you secretly want to work with.
They show up with urgency, not excuses.

4. They create results that make you look good.
You’re not great. THEY are. SuperConsumers amplify your expertise.

5. They see you as a strategic partner - not a cost.
If someone is price-shopping, cool… they’re not a SuperConsumer. Move on.

6. They pull more buyers into your ecosystem.
SuperConsumers replicate themselves. Average clients replicate your headaches.

7. They align with your worldview so tightly that working with them feels unfairly easy.
If you’re exhausted after every client call… guess what? You’re talking to the wrong humans.

The reality is that most businesses are built for the wrong people.

They bend their model to accommodate average buyers…

...then wonder why scale feels impossible.

Here’s the shift:

Stop optimizing for “more clients.”
Start optimizing for “more SuperConsumers.”

Everything changes when you do.

If you want the framework I use to identify a SuperConsumer in under 20 minutes, take the first step here: https://lnkd.in/e9WBdY_J

You Have a 3-5 Year Window. Then You're Irrelevant.

I just finished our 2026 CEO Outlook Report, and one quote stopped me cold:

"If you're still using a traditional model of revenue tied to hiring salespeople, you're going to become irrelevant quickly. You have a 3-5 year window to adopt new revenue strategies, utilizing automation and systematizing the approach to generate revenue without increasing headcount."

That's not me talking. That's Arash R., CEO of Archer Insight, and he's not alone.

Here's What 52 Agency CEOs Just Told Us:

76% of agencies are stuck because they lack systems to drive growth. Not strategy. Not ideas. Systems.

• 50% cite inconsistent revenue as their #1 problem
• 80% still rely entirely on word-of-mouth for leads
• 40% admit "nobody can sell better than me"

But here's the kicker: 78% are eager to innovate and 64% want to scale operations.

They know what needs to happen. They just haven't built the infrastructure to make it happen without them.

The 3-5 Year Clock Is Ticking

Another CEO nailed it: "The future belongs to billion-dollar companies with only a few employees and thousands of AI agents."

That's not science fiction. That's the next 36-60 months.

The agencies that survive won't be the ones with the most salespeople. They'll be the ones who figured out how to generate revenue through systems, automation, and processes that work whether the founder is in the room or not.

To the 52 Agency Leaders Who Shared Their Truth:

You didn't just fill out a survey. You exposed the reality most CEOs won't admit: we're running modern agencies with outdated revenue models.

Your honesty about struggling with founder dependency while maintaining fierce optimism about the future? That's the kind of leadership that transforms industries.

The insights you shared about AI integration, systematic growth, and building resilient businesses are going to help thousands of agency owners stop being the bottleneck and start being the visionary.

The Hard Truth:

The gap between agency ambition and agency reality isn't about talent or market conditions.

It's about whether you're willing to build systems that make you replaceable in the next 3-5 years.

Because if you don't, someone else will build those systems and replace you entirely.

You can get the full 2026 CEO Outlook Report + Agency Leader Directory below.

Are you building systems or hoping your sales skills scale forever?

#AgencyGrowth #PredictableProfits #SystemsThinking #AITransformation #ScaleWithoutBurnout

2026 CEO Outlook Report

Most founders don’t realize they’re trapped until it’s too late.

And AI made the trap 10x tighter.

Let me explain.

Five years ago, the Founder’s Trap™ looked like this:
You worked too many hours…
You approved everything…
You staffed too late…
You sold every deal…
You were the bottleneck everyone pretended wasn’t a problem.

Annoying? Yes.
Deadly? Not really.

But then AI rewired the entire buyer journey.

And now, the same behaviors that slowed you down before…
are the exact behaviors that will collapse your business in 2026.

Here’s the part nobody’s saying out loud:

AI punishes founder-dependent companies.
Brutally.

Why?

Because buyers now trust algorithms first - you second.

If your business depends on YOU for everything:

- Your positioning is generic
- Your messaging is inconsistent
- Your content is sporadic
- Your systems are “stored in your head”
- Your marketing is reactionary
- Your sales is founder-led
- Your operations run on heroic efforts

Your brand is invisible in AI Overviews

Meanwhile…

Your AI-native competitors look bigger, sharper, more credible than you (even if they’re half as good).

They aren’t better.
They’re not smarter.
They don’t have your scars.

They’re just not stuck in the trap.

Here’s the brutal truth:
**You can’t win an AI-first market with a founder-first business.**

If everything depends on you…
AI will erase you.

It won’t surface you.
It won’t recommend you.
It won’t choose you.
And buyers won’t find you.

Your work ethic won’t save you.
Your referrals won’t save you.
Your talent won’t save you.

Only a system will.

The Founder’s Trap™ used to cost you sleep.
Now it costs you discoverability, demand, revenue, and relevance.

If you want 2026 to look different, start here:

- Replace founder-led decisions with frameworks
- Replace heroics with systems
- Replace ad hoc marketing with a Demand Engine
- Replace founder-led sales with a scalable sales process
- Replace scattered execution with The Predictable Profits Operating System

Because if you don’t escape the trap…your competitor will.

And AI will put them in front of your prospect while you’re still grinding 60 hours a week.

Want the first step to get out?
Comment TRAP and I’ll send it.

Fair warning:
Most founders discover their biggest opportunity isn't what they thought.

"Charlie, can I share something with you?"

The Board of Directors member's voice was different. Not worried. Not stressed.

Excited.

Yesterday's wins session proved what I've been preaching for years: 

**When founders execute the right systems, momentum becomes inevitable.**

Not hope. Not luck. Predictable outcomes.

Let me show you what I mean:

**Debra** just completed her 2026 strategic planning. But here's the kicker - her entire team is EXCITED about it. That's what happens when vision meets leadership.

**Kathleen** took that new vision statement she crafted and completely revamped her Sales Playbook. Hiring, scaling, messaging - all aligned. One document. Total clarity.

**Lyndsi** embedded an email strategy into her automation. Result? 13 replies, a January follow-up booked, and one new client closed. That's not a campaign. That's a system.

**Linda** spent a month hunting for the right developer. Found them. Launched her content strategy. Then a prospect slid into her DMs saying price "didn't matter." 🚀

That's what LinkedIn visibility does when you do it right.

**Rob's** commission-only salesperson just outscored him on discovery calls. Why? Our Predictable Profits Implementation Bots scoring system. When your newest hire beats the founder, you've built something scalable.

**Lauren's** finalizing her Unique Advantage Proposition. Sounds simple. Changes everything.

**Kristen** completed her vision statement and 2026 goals. Strategic clarity achieved.

But here's my favorite:

**Nolan's** LinkedIn content is exploding! Four new clients in the past few weeks. More than the rest of the year COMBINED.

**Benjamin** confirmed the ripple effect - more business coming from Nolan's momentum.

And **Kathleen** used our proposal templates to cut her drafting time by 70%. 

Here's what most people miss:

These aren't isolated wins. They're connected.

Vision drives strategy. Strategy drives systems. Systems drive results.

Every single win started with the same thing: A founder who stopped hoping and started executing.

Your competition is still winging it. What system are you building?

============

Ready to join founders who measure progress in wins, not wishes? The Board of Directors has a proven playbook for predictable growth. Comment "SYSTEMS" and I'll show you what's possible.

"How old are your customers?"

He looked confused. We'd been talking about his outbound strategy for 10 minutes.

"I'd guess the people responding are 45 and older," I said.

His jaw dropped. "That's exactly right. How did you know?"

Simple. Gen X responds to great outbound. They read your email, like what they see, and reply. Done deal.

Millennials and Gen Z? Completely different game.

**Before they respond, they're investigating you like the FBI.**

Your website. Your LinkedIn. Your team's profiles. Customer reviews. Case studies. Social proof.

The average Millennial checks your digital presence 2-6 times before responding to outreach. Gen Z? Even more.

I watched him process this. His outbound was crushing it with older demographics. But younger prospects? Radio silence.

"Your outbound is solid," I told him. "But your web presence is killing your conversions."

No clear positioning. Generic value props. LinkedIn profile that could belong to any PR firm. Website that doesn't answer the question every buyer asks: "Why you over everyone else?"

**Your outbound might be world-class. But if your digital presence isn't dialed in, you're invisible to an entire generation of buyers.**

They're not ignoring you. They're researching you. And when they find nothing compelling, they move on.

The brutal truth? In marketing, everything is connected.

Your email gets them curious.
Your website needs to close the deal.
Your LinkedIn proves you're legit.
Your content shows you know your stuff.

Break one link in that chain, and you lose the sale.

That CEO left our conversation with one mission: Fix the digital presence before sending another outreach email.

Because great outbound with a weak web presence is like fishing with a broken net.

**How many deals are you losing because prospects can't find proof you're worth their time?**

Founders keep telling me their leads “fell off” this year.

No… they didn’t.

AI hijacked the buyer journey.

Google’s new AI Overviews are now answering your prospect’s questions before they ever visit your website.

Traffic is down.
Leads are down.
Everyone’s blaming the economy…

But the real problem?
Your business is getting cut out of the buying process.

I recorded this video to break down exactly how the AI-Distorted Buyer Journey works - and what you need to do right now before you become invisible to the people already searching for you.

Watch this. It’s the most important shift founders are ignoring in 2025.

👇

"I sold beer at a music festival once. It was gross and exhausting."

That's what Brad Flowers said about his early days building Bullhorn.

Most founder origin stories skip these parts. The unglamorous grind before the glory.

But here's the truth: **Every successful founder has been stuck in The Founder's Trap™.**

Including me.
Including Brad.
Including everyone else before they break out.

From the outside, his agency looked like a success story. Growing revenue. Great clients. 

From the inside? Everything ran through him.

Every decision. Every process. Every client relationship.

**He wasn't running the business. The business was running through him.**

Sound familiar?

I just published the full story of how Brad escaped The Founder's Trap and built an agency that actually scales.

Inside you'll discover:

• Why word-of-mouth referrals are a trap (not a strategy)
• The hidden cost of being "indispensable" to your business
• How aligning your team around metrics changes everything
• Why ambitious founders feel guilty about growth (and shouldn't)
• The specific systems that freed Brad from daily operations

Plus the beer-selling story that shaped Bullhorn's entire culture :) 

Know this: **Being busy isn't the same as building a business.**

If everything depends on you showing up, you haven't built a company. You've built a job with extra stress.

The good news? The Founder's Trap isn't permanent.

Brad proved it. Dozens of founders in our Board of Directors have too.

See exactly how Brad transformed from founder-dependent to system-driven.

Read the full case study below.

View newsletter: The Predictable Profits Letter

Most founders don't realize they've entered The Founder's Trap™ until growth stalls. It happens quietly. You build momentum, add clients, hire people…

Open article: How Bullhorn Creative Escaped The Founder's Trap™ (And How You Can Too) by Charles E. Gaudet II • 5 min read

How Bullhorn Creative Escaped The Founder's Trap™ (And How You Can Too)

How to close high-ticket sales without price objections (and 3X your revenue from the same prospects)

Most founders struggle to close deals over $10K because they're making one fatal mistake.

They're asking prospects to marry them on the first date.

I'm serious. Here's what the typical high-ticket sales process looks like:

Qualifying call → Sales call → $50K proposal

And you wonder why your close rate is stuck at 10-15%.

Here's what's broken: In personal relationships, we'd never jump from "nice to meet you" straight to "let's get married." 

We date. We have coffee. We build trust over time.

But in business? We skip all that and go straight for the ring.

**The Gateway Sales Solution fixes this.**

Here's the 4 step framework to close high-ticket sales:

STEP 1: Add a Gateway Between Sales Call and High-Ticket Close

Instead of: Qualifying → Sales → $50K Close (12.5% close rate)

Do this: Qualifying → Sales → Gateway Offer → High-Ticket Close

STEP 2: Design Your Gateway Offer

Your gateway should be:

• 10-20% of your high-ticket price ($3K-$5K for a $50K offer)
• A component that delivers a quick win
• Something that proves your methodology works

Gateway examples:

• Detailed roadmap or strategic plan
• Comprehensive audit with recommendations  
• Design phase or proof of concept
• Diagnostic deep-dive with custom analysis

STEP 3: Sell the Gateway First (Not the Full Commitment)

You're not asking them to trust you with $50K sight unseen.

You're saying: "Let me show you what I can do for $5K first. Then decide if you want the full transformation."

Gateway close rate: 30-65% (vs. 10-15% direct to high-ticket)

Step 4: Convert Gateway Clients to High-Ticket

Once they've experienced your work firsthand, conversion to high-ticket is 60-86%.

They've already seen results. The trust is built. The objections are gone.

---
REAL CLIENT RESULTS:

BEFORE Gateway Sales Solution:
• 10 prospects → $62,500 revenue
• 12.5% close rate on $50K offer

AFTER Gateway Sales Solution:
• 10 prospects → $207,500 revenue  
• 50% close rate on gateway offer
• 73% close rate on high-ticket upsell
• 3.3X MORE REVENUE

Same leads. Triple the revenue.

---
WHY THE GATEWAY WORKS:

Price objection eliminated: $5K is easier to say yes to than $50K

Commitment fear removed: They can test-drive before buying

Trust accelerated: You prove your value before asking for the commitment

Competition neutralized: You won their trust while competitors are still pitching

The gateway doesn't slow down the sale. It accelerates trust.

------------
P.S. I'm running a live Gateway Sales Strategy Workshop on December 17th at 1:00 PM.

You'll leave with:
✓ Your gateway offer designed and priced
✓ The exact sales script to present it
✓ A conversion strategy from gateway to high-ticket

→ Register here: https://lnkd.in/egeAAxF3

If you're selling anything over $10K and your close rate isn't where it needs to be, this 90-minute workshop will change that.

When I first crossed paths with Dan Sullivan, Tony Robbins and Jay Abraham, they didn’t feel human. They felt like mountains.

I was the kid at the base, staring up, scribbling notes, trying to catch pieces of wisdom falling like rocks from the summit.

Today, I opened an article… and my name was listed beside theirs.

For a moment, the world went still.

Because you don’t notice yourself rising. Not while you're grinding. Not while you're bleeding for a vision only you can see. 

Growth is silent. Then one day, it taps you on the shoulder and whispers, “Look how far you’ve climbed.”

Sitting in that moment, seeing my name next to men who shaped my life, I felt one thing: gratitude. 🙏

Most founders don't have a sales problem.

They have a generational buyer problem.

I was talking with a CEO of a marketing agency about his outbound strategy. Sharp guy. Hungry. Sending great emails.

"Your prospects responding are probably 45 and older," I said.

He froze. "How did you know?"

Simple. Gen X responds to outbound like this: 

Read email → Like it → Reply. Done.

Millennials and Gen Z? They're running FBI-level investigations on you first.

Your website. Your LinkedIn. Your team bios. Customer reviews. Case studies. Your entire digital footprint.

The average Millennial checks your digital presence 2-6 times before responding to outreach. Gen Z? Even more.

**Great outbound with a weak web presence is like serving a gourmet meal on a dirty plate.**

Your outbound might be world-class. But if your digital presence is garbage - no positioning, no proof, no clarity - you're invisible to an entire generation of buyers.

They're not ignoring you.
They're researching you.
And when they find nothing compelling, they ghost.

In 2025, research IS the buyer journey. This is the AI-Distorted Buyer Journey in full force.

Your email gets them curious.
Their browser gets the final vote.

Break one link in that chain - email, website, LinkedIn, content - and you lose the sale before it started.

That CEO left with one mission: Fix the digital presence before sending another outreach email.

Because buyers aren't ignoring you. They're researching you. And what they find isn't strong enough to make them stay.

**Your SuperConsumers are researching you right now. What are they finding?**

=========
Want to know exactly who they are and what makes them buy? Comment "SUPERCONSUMER" and I'll send you the tool that reveals their buying psychology, pain points, and exactly how to reach them.

Fair warning: Once you see who your money-makers really are, you can't unsee it.

Most founders build their business for the average customer…
...and then wonder why growth feels like a street fight.

The truth is harsh.
Your next million won’t come from everyone.
It will come from the few.

Your SuperConsumer.

The top 4 to 20 percent of people who drive the majority of your revenue, profit, retention, referrals, and momentum.

And I built a private AI system to identify them with surgical precision.

Not ChatGPT.
Not a prompt.
Not guesswork.

A dual-model intelligence engine that:
 • crawls your website
 • analyzes your industry
 • audits your competitors
 • tracks your buyer’s AI-distorted journey
 • aggregates patterns
 • and synthesizes everything into a complete SuperConsumer profile, ready to use in marketing, sales, and product strategy.

Here’s what the output includes.

1. SNAPSHOT
A crystal-clear description of who your SuperConsumer really is.
Identity, behavior, beliefs, motivations.
The person who would happily pay more, stay longer, and buy faster.

2. PAIN POINTS
The real obstacles keeping them stuck, sabotaging their momentum, and increasing their urgency.

3. GOALS & MOTIVATIONS
What they actually want.
Not the generic stuff… the specific outcomes they’re willing to pay premium prices for.

4. DECISION TRIGGERS
The exact moments that flip “I’m interested” into “I’m ready.”

5. BUYING PSYCHOLOGY
How they think, what they trust, what they fear, and what they interpret as real authority.

6. CURRENT SOLUTIONS & GAPS
Where your industry consistently fails them.
Where the frustration builds.
Where the opportunity lives.

7. MESSAGING & HOOKS
Phrases and emotional triggers that slice through noise and stop them in their tracks.

8. LANGUAGE & TONE
How to speak so they instantly feel,
 “This founder gets me.”
 “This offer is built for me.”
 “This is the person I want guiding my growth.”

9. OPPORTUNITIES
Specific high-leverage plays to win their attention, trust, and loyalty faster than your competitors.

10. NEXT MOVES
The exact strategic steps a founder should take next to attract more SuperConsumers and build a business designed around them instead of the masses.

Every founder has a SuperConsumer.

But most never see them…
...so they scale chaos instead of scale demand.

And today, if you want me to run your business through this system and show you who your SuperConsumer actually is…

...you get the entire thing for FREE.

Take the first step here: https://lnkd.in/e9WBdY_J

Enjoy! 💪 💪 💪 

-----

PS: I'm literally giving you the entire output with nothing held back - real market research that would cost you thousands (before AI). So if you want, you can DIY and get all the insight in a few minutes.

This is the first step in your business that changes everything.

https://lnkd.in/e9WBdY_J

Most founders don't realize they're already in a losing game… until Sunday exposes it.

Today I caught myself doing something I've done for years:

Scrolling through my calendar…
Looking at next week…
Feeling that familiar pressure in my chest.

That voice whispering:

"You didn't move fast enough."
"You should be further ahead."
"Everything still depends on you."

And for a long time, I believed it.
I thought the pressure meant I needed to work harder.

Now I know better.

The pressure is the evidence of The Founder's Trap.

The trap where:

• every decision runs through you
• every system lives inside your head
• you can't take a day off without something breaking
• you confuse activity with advancement

And here's the part founders hate admitting:

The trap was already killing us slowly.

AI didn't help.
It made the trap 10x tighter.

Because while founders kept grinding…
AI rewired the buyer journey.
Buyers trust algorithms first - you second.

And if your business depends on you, AI buries you.

Your competitor's mediocre product ranks above you because they built systems while you built dependencies.

I don't say this to create fear.

I say it because most founders will spend tonight mentally prepping for another 60-hour week…instead of asking the question that actually matters:

"What system would remove me from being the bottleneck?"

Not a tactic.
Not another tool.
A system.

If you build that, next Sunday feels very different.

**Name the ONE thing that would break if you took next week off. That's where your system needs to start.**

Your buyer doesn't trust you anymore.

They trust ChatGPT first. You second.

Watch any prospect do their research today. They're not on your website. They're asking AI: "Best ______?" "How to ______?" "What _____ actually works?"

By the time they reach you, they're already half-educated and completely wrong.

**7 brutal truths about the AI-first buyer journey:**

**1. They arrive pre-loaded with generic garbage**
AI fed them the same "top 10 solutions" it feeds everyone. Zero context. Zero nuance. Just regurgitated listicles that sound smart but solve nothing.

**2. They think information equals expertise**
"I already know what I need." No, you know what AI told 50,000 other people. Real expertise comes from implementation scars, not ChatGPT summaries.

**3. They're more confident and more confused**
AI makes everyone feel like an expert in 5 minutes. But confidence without context is just expensive ignorance.

**4. Price becomes their only differentiator**
When every solution sounds identical (because AI makes them sound identical), buyers default to spreadsheet decisions. Cheapest wins.

**5. Your expertise feels like "sales talk"**
You share hard-won insights from 1,000 implementations. They think you're pushing an agenda. Because AI already gave them "unbiased" advice.

**6. They want validation, not education**
They're not looking for the right answer. They're looking to confirm the answer AI already gave them. Fighting that is exhausting.

**7. Generic positioning is now business suicide**
If AI can explain what you do, you're already commoditized. The only moat left is what AI can't replicate: Your scars, your process, your specific genius.

**Stop competing on information. Start competing on implementation.**

Your buyer thinks knowledge is free because AI made it free. What they can't get from ChatGPT:

• How you saved a client from a $2M mistake
• Why your approach works for their exact situation  
• The 47 edge cases you've solved that AI never mentions
• The implementation roadmap born from real failures

Information is cheap.
Wisdom is expensive.
Implementation is priceless.

The companies winning in 2026 won't be the ones with the best information.

They'll be the ones who make AI-educated buyers realize how much they still don't know.

**How are you positioning against the "I already asked ChatGPT" buyer?**

==========

Want to learn how to position your expertise where AI can't compete? Join founders in our Board of Directors who are building moats AI can't cross. Comment "IMPLEMENTATION" and I'll share how we're helping them win.

taplio

Charles E. Gaudet II's Linkedin Analytics