The Marketer's Exit

TMT Network
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to The Marketer’s Exit: Your Front-Row Seat to Going Solo Ever wondered what life looks like beyond the 9-to-5? The Marketer’s Exit is the podcast for marketers curious about freelancing, side hustles, and solo entrepreneurship. Hosted by Tas Bober (former in-house) and Tim Davidson (former agency), we’re pulling back the curtain on the reality of going solo. We share the stuff no one puts in their LinkedIn posts—the smooth parts, the scary parts, and the "group chat only" secrets.

  1. 4d ago

    Why Connor Lewis Almost Quit in Year One, and What Got Him to $1.3M (Ep. 33)

    Connor Lewis's revenue has gone from $114K in year one to $448K, to $858K, to pacing $1.3M in year four. What the numbers do not show is the year he was crying at Christmas, barely making rent in Boston, and seriously applying for creative director roles because he thought he had made a mistake. His then-girlfriend talked him out of it. He is glad she did. This episode covers all four years. 0:00 – Intro 4:47 – From video intern to a team of three at Predictive Index and the layoff that started everything 8:06 – Going all in on a $10K severance check with no sales skills and no LinkedIn presence 13:57 – Year one rock bottom: $70K revenue, 60-hour weeks, and applying for jobs at Christmas 17:22 – The pricing evolution and why Tas immediately told him $40K starting price was still too low 19:13 – What the full Studio Lewis deliverable actually looks like for a $40K engagement 25:09 – The workshop: $5K to start, applied as a credit, 60% close rate, and why it changed everything 29:09 – Choosing project-based over retainer and building an offboarding engine that drives renewals 40:24 – Iris, the first full-time hire, and what Connor does now instead of running shoots himself 43:05 – The $30K project that was never used, the on-set disaster, and the client who came back #FreelanceMarketing #VideoMarketing #SoloFounder Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober The Marketer's Exit – themarketersexit.com

  2. Sep 23

    Dave Gerhardt on Almost Shutting Down Exit Five and the 3-Line Email That Saved It (Ep. 32)

    Dave Gerhardt thought he was burnt out on B2B marketing. He was actually just burnt out on being alone. He had close to $1M a year, a community, a newsletter, a podcast, and nobody to complain to when something went wrong. This episode, live at the Exit Five event in Stormont, is the most candid version of that story he has probably told.0:00 – Intro4:21 – Why the Drift return did not work and why being a disruptor to the existing team was not sustainable6:54 – Solo consulting, $10K a month from a few companies, and why it felt like the answer7:01 – DGMG to Exit Five: Patreon, Facebook group, flagship sponsors, and almost $1M solo9:14 – Dharmesh as an OG Facebook member and the naming advice Dave took seriously13:38 – Moving the community off Facebook, losing $30K a month, and doing it anyway15:44 – Burning out and nearly walking away to start something completely different16:22 – The email to Dan, the offer structure, and what happened when Dan saw the numbers19:16 – Realizing he was burnt out on being alone, not on the work21:21 – Building a team of nine and landing close to $5M with no outside capital22:19 – What the creator plus operator model actually looks like day to day30:13 – Momentum creates clarity and why waiting until you are ready is the wrong move#B2BMarketing #CreatorEconomy #FreelanceMarketingConnect with the hosts:- Tim Davidson – https://linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41- Tas Bober – https://linkedin.com/in/tasbober- The Marketer's Exit – https://themarketersexit.comGuest Speaker: - Dave Gerhardt – https://linkedin.com/in/davegerhardt/

  3. Sep 16

    Eric MacColl on Leaving Atlassian and the Referral Network That Built His Business (Ep. 31)

    Eric MacColl spent 15 years climbing the in-house ladder from a paid search agency to Scripted to Lyft to Atlassian, where he watched his team grow to 60 people and realized he had stopped doing any actual marketing. He was being managed up and out of the work he loved. Four and a half years into running Demand Gen Solutions, mostly from referral business. 0:00 – Intro 0:55 – Agency to Scripted to Lyft to Atlassian and the Tom Brady on the sidelines moment 6:12 – How the first clients came in from former Atlassian colleagues 9:00 – 80 to 90% referral business and the network plays that made it possible 12:58 – Flat rate retainers, four-client cap, and how he manages scope creep 17:20 – Why he struggles to scale and why he keeps choosing to go deeper instead 22:10 – The Emily Kramer recommended contractor list and what it did for inbound 25:00 – The private equity portfolio model and why it reduces how often he has to sell 40:49 – The March gap, the tax bill he did not see coming, and the interview calls he started taking 47:09 – Why he does not post on LinkedIn and what happens every time he does 49:37 – $30K a month, a one-year-old, a new house, and why San Francisco keeps him from slowing down #FreelanceMarketing #FractionalMarketing #SoloConsultant Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasboberThe Marketer's Exit – themarketersexit.com

  4. Sep 9

    Eric Linssen Built a 700-Member Invite-Only Community on Annual Sponsorships Alone (Ep. 30)

    Eric Linssen spent years running Demand Collective as a paid community that stayed stuck at 80 members no matter what he tried. Then he got laid off, gave himself one quarter to make it work, switched to a free model funded entirely by annual sponsorships, and watched everything click. He is now 700 members in, has 9,000 newsletter subscribers, and runs it completely solo from San Diego. In this episode he tells the full story. 0:00 – Intro 3:27 – What Demand Collective is, who gets in, and why the membership criteria matter 5:22 – Six failed side hustles before this one, including a hot tub rental business and a TikTok analytics tool 8:41 – Why the paid model stalled at 80 members and what the pivot actually changed 11:11 – 700 members, 9,000 newsletter subscribers, and the Demand Day Summit with 1,600 registrants 14:39 – Why sponsorships work inside a community of marketers and how category exclusivity is handled 17:19 – The content philosophy behind the community: practitioner-first, no vendor bias, zero how-to fluff 23:42 – Annual contracts, five sponsors, and why shorter deals are a bad deal for everyone 29:22 – How much work it actually takes to run this solo and what a normal week looks like 59:04 – The camel vs racehorse framework and his advice on surface area for luck 59:56 – Would he go back in-house? The most honest answer any TME guest has given #FreelanceMarketing #CommunityBuilding #SoloFounder Links: • Tim Davidson – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 • Tas Bober – http://linkedin.com/in/tasbober • The Marketer's Exit – http://themarketersexit.com/

  5. Sep 2

    Brand Partnerships Part 3: Reporting, Red Flags, and Contract Rules You Need to Know (Ep. 29)

    Before you sign your next brand deal, watch for these red flags. Most brand partnership advice stops at getting the deal. This episode is what happens after: when to send the numbers, how to frame a renewal conversation, what to put in a contract, and the red flags that tell you a brand is going to be more trouble than it is worth. 0:00 – Intro 2:50 – Two-part performance reporting: one week out and one month out 5:13 – Impressions, saves, sends, and the qualitative callouts that make a report stand out 8:34 – When to use a deck versus a screenshot and how to match the format to the partnership 12:09 – Asking for a renewal and the one-sentence framing that keeps the door open 14:02 – How Tas has expanded her Unbounce partnership over three renewals by pitching what she was already going to create 19:09 – Hashtag ad, the brand toggle, and why Tas stopped using both 26:49 – Creative freedom as a non-negotiable and what happens when a brand starts editing your voice 33:00 – The walking billboard problem and how many sponsored posts is too many in one week 34:11 – Contract terms to watch for, payment red flags, and the impression-based pay deal to always decline #BrandPartnerships #FreelanceMarketing #LinkedInMarketing Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41/Tas Bober – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tasbober/The Marketer's Exit – https://themarketersexit.com/

  6. Aug 19

    LinkedIn Brand Deals Part 2: Pricing, Packages, and Paid Usage Rights (Ep. 28)

    If you do not know what to charge for a sponsored LinkedIn post, this episode gives you a starting point and walks you through an actual brand partnership⁠ deck Tas sends to every brand that's resulted in $100k+ in brand deals. This is part 2 of the brand deals series, make sure to check out the others. Tas' Brand partnership Timestamp: 0:00 – Intro 1:02 – Starting out: letting the brand set the rate versus setting your own floor 3:46 – Tim's $1,000 minimum, the three-post bundle, and how he frames it as a discount 7:33 – How to use your consulting hourly rate as a filter for brand deal decisions 14:24 – Tas's full deck walkthrough: philosophy framing, social proof, and format options 20:35 – Stats from brand deals 25:17 – Starter, core, and flagship package tiers explained with real examples 1:00:41 – What to charge on top of the post: usage rights, thought leader ads, and resource hub listings #LinkedInMarketing #BrandPartnerships #FreelanceMarketing Links: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasbober The Marketer's Exit – themarketersexit.com

  7. Aug 12

    Making $161K in Brand Partnerships from Posting on LinkedIn. Part 1/3 (Ep.27)

    Brand partnerships on LinkedIn are not just for people with massive followings. Tas and Tim started landing them before they were big, and together they have made $161,000 from posts alone. This episode is the playbook, including pricing, pitching, the three-post rule, and small talk that turned into a two-year deal. Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro 0:56 – Why this episode exists and what the $161K number includes 3:22 – Tim's first brand deal: UserGems, three months, $2,500 total 7:12 – The three-post rule and the slot machine logic behind it 11:03 – The Typeform post that went viral 13:34 – How Tas turned a landing page audit into a paid brand content format 17:23 – Four ways to get brand deals and which ones actually work 21:30 – Tas’s Unbounce partnership and how it started in a Riverside waiting room 24:49 – How to price your self 26:22 – What Tim does when a sponsored post underperforms 27:23 – Tas's highest single-post rate and what happened after it went live This is part 1 of a 3 part series, stay tuned for the rest! #LinkedInMarketing #FreelanceMarketing #BrandPartnerships Links: Tim Davidson – linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41Tas Bober – linkedin.com/in/tasboberThe Marketer's Exit – themarketersexit.com

  8. Jul 29

    Nikhil Hunshikatti on Building a Fractional CMO Practice the Right Way (Ep. 26)

    Nikhil Hunshikatti ran a billion-dollar consumer revenue portfolio at Gannett before going fractional. He did not plan to go fractional. He tried three in-house leadership roles first, lost all three to internal candidates, and only then decided to hang his own shingle. Three years in, he has built a model that works, but not without losing 50% of his revenue in one quarter and spending 18 months too heads-down to do any pipeline work. 0:00 – Intro 1:50 – Background: USA Today, Gannett, and running a billion-dollar consumer revenue portfolio 3:52 – The moment that made him leave and why survival mode was the breaking point 5:12 – Going fractional by accident after three failed in-house leadership bids 8:26 – How the first client came in and why the Pro Football Hall of Fame made sense 12:11 – How fractional CMO engagements are structured and why it is different from a retainer 17:08 – The five Ps framework he runs through in every immersion workshop 23:04 – Sitting at the C-suite table as the only fractional and what that dynamic actually looks like 34:12 – Year one: three clients, full capacity, zero pipeline work, and what he would do differently 43:37 – Losing 50% of revenue at once and how he is navigating a slow market right now 44:51 – His advice for fractional CMOs who cannot find their first client #FreelanceMarketing #FractionalCMO #ConsultingLife Connect with the hosts: Tim Davidson – https://linkedin.com/in/tadavidson41 Tas Bober – https://linkedin.com/in/tasbober The Marketer's Exit – https://themarketersexit.com Guest: Nikhil Hunshikatti https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilhunshikatti/

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Welcome to The Marketer’s Exit: Your Front-Row Seat to Going Solo Ever wondered what life looks like beyond the 9-to-5? The Marketer’s Exit is the podcast for marketers curious about freelancing, side hustles, and solo entrepreneurship. Hosted by Tas Bober (former in-house) and Tim Davidson (former agency), we’re pulling back the curtain on the reality of going solo. We share the stuff no one puts in their LinkedIn posts—the smooth parts, the scary parts, and the "group chat only" secrets.

Information

  • Creator
    TMT Network
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © TMT Network
  • Show Website
    The Marketer's Exit

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