43. Stop Chasing Leads and Start Generating Clients with Lindsey Wagnon

Lindsey Wagnon left a thriving corporate marketing career in 2019 to build Lindsey Wagnon Marketing, and she has spent the years since helping small and mid-sized businesses break through what she calls the "Valley of Death" - the revenue plateau that stalls so many founders. In this episode, Jack and Lindsey dig into her Southwest Virginia upbringing, the sales instincts she picked up from her dad, why she walked away from a promising corporate marketing role six months before COVID hit, and how her practice evolved from full-service execution into true fractional CMO leadership. They also get into the difference between lead generation and client generation, the clients she wishes she'd never taken on, and a lightning round covering inboxes, docking stations, and office quirks (yes, there's a piano involved). Chapters: 00:00 - Intro and the scrappy vs sophisticated question 03:17 - Growing up in Southwest Virginia and her dad's sales instincts 08:22 - Networking anxiety and how to exit a conversation gracefully 12:16 - Leaving corporate in August 2019 to go out on her own 19:41 - Pushing back in corporate and why she'd be a bad employee now 24:05 - Finding her ideal client and what the Valley of Death looks like 29:14 - Systems, ownership, and lead generation vs client generation 35:36 - Lightning round: inbox habits, desk setup, and office quirks 43:51 - Scrappy vs sophisticated verdict and what's next for her business Connect with Lindsey Wagnon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lrwagnon/ https://lindseywagnon.com https://www.instagram.com/lindseywagnonmarketing Connect with Jack Tompkins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-tompkins/ https://www.pineapplecf.com https://www.pineappleanalyst.ai/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCalnj5yLU0ZH9y_tVl1J4ng