The Marketer's Exit

Most B2B events have speakers, sponsors, and a budget. What they almost never have is someone with a camera documenting any of it. Ding and Jake saw that gap and built a whole business around it. In this episode, they pull back the curtain on how Event Shark went from free shoots and $500 gigs to a full production company with eight employees, a new office in Austin, and deals ranging from $10K to $30K.We cover:• How a failed rap career and a LinkedIn parody video accidentally started the whole thing• Why logistics companies were their first real clients and what a blue ocean actually looks like• The moment they realized events were the offer worth building around• What custom scoping looks like when your deals range from one-day shoots to three-day conferences• Why inbound through personal brand has been their biggest growth lever• The cash flow scare that almost had them walking back office plans• What it actually looks like to scale from founder-led delivery to a team you trust• Solo vs. co-founder, the real answer from someone who has done both• The worst advice people give marketers who want to go out on their ownIf you are thinking about going solo or building something with a partner, this one is worth the listen."

You don't have to do everything right to build something that works.Kaylee Edmondson has no scheduling link on her website. She barely posts on LinkedIn. She has a conflict bot built in Claude because she's bad at hard conversations yet she's one of the most sought-after fractional Demeand Gen operators in B2B SaaS.This episode covers:- How she went from a 230K W2 to beating that number in the first four months solo- The audit-to-retainer pipeline that quietly became her best business development tool- Why she considers her exit strategy for every client before she even starts- How a portfolio model, two senior hires, and a hard cap at two clients each changed everything- The Perplexity million-dollar sweepstakes and what she actually did with itIf you're early in your solo journey and feeling like you're doing it wrong, this is the episode to listen to.🎧 The Marketer's Exit is hosted by Tim Davidson and Tas Bober.

Most people going solo think hiring means a full-time employee. It does not. In this episode, Tas and Tim get into everything they wish they knew before hiring their first virtual assistant, the good, the bad, and the stuff that took way too long to figure out.We cover:Why Tim started with a VA 2 months into his business and now has threeTas's first VA experience and why it took her too long to let goHow to know when you actually need one versus when you are just excited about the ideaWhat Tim's two full-time 40-hour-a-week VAs are actually doing every dayTas's version, the non-trustworthy list of tasks that require zero sensitive accessThe VA agency vs. going direct conversation and why the agency cut might shock youHow to set up Last Pass so they never actually see your passwordsThe red flags that tell you it is time to move on before you waste more timeWhy the travel, reporting, and IRS call stories might be the most convincing arguments for hiring one. If you have been doing everything yourself and quietly wondering whether a VA is worth it, this episode will help you figure that out.

You just went out on your own and immediately someone's trying to sell you a course, a community, and a coach.Tim and Tas break down all three. What they bought, what they regret, and what actually moved the needle.• Tas spent $300 on courses including Justin Welsh and Ken Yarmosh. Tim spent zero. Both have opinions.• The Ship 30 for 30 cohort that cost $800 and taught nothing new• Why paid communities beat free ones every time• The Slack keyword filter trick that keeps community noise from eating your day• Why the final boss isn't a coach or a course. It's a group chat with three colleagues and peer

Before you build anything, you're going to get distracted by tools.This episode is the shortcut.• Tim's $546 starter stack vs Tas's $2,800 one, and what the difference actually bought• The four non-negotiables when you're just starting out• Fathom, Slack, Canva: paid or skip?• Why Tas is paying 4x more than Tim for the exact same Google Suite plan• The business bank account mistake Tim made that his accountant still hasn't forgiven.

You can't always avoid a bad client, but you can get a lot better at spotting them early. Tas and Tim go through every red flag, mid-engagement nightmare, and hard lesson from years of going solo.We cover:• Why the big logo client turned into Tas's biggest nightmare• How Tim almost walked away from a client that became one of his favorites• The personalities to watch for, Rushing Ralph, the Billionaire Bully, the Moody Truity• Setting expectations so clearly that you rarely have to enforce them• When to refund, when to hold firm, and when to just walkThe right clients make your best work possible. This episode helps you find them.

A sales deck won't close deals. Your POV will. In this episode, Tas and Tim break down the full sales deck conversation, from what to build when you're just starting out to why both of them barely use one anymore.We cover:• Why your first sales deck should come before your website• The 68-slide horror story that inspired a completely different approach• How Tas structured her deck around April Dunford's positioning method• The free audit question, who should do them and when to stop• Why substance beats style every single time in a proposal• The 5 P's that cover everything a buyer actually needs to know• When to show a deck, when to show your workspace, and when to just talk• What Tim learned from watching his LinkedIn impressions drop 58% while revenue went up 45%The best version of your sales process probably doesn't look like anyone else's. This episode helps you figure out what yours should look like.

We built terrible consulting offers. Tas made a 45-slide deck for a client who ghosted her. Tim tried to sell ""advisor-only LinkedIn ads"" with zero takers. Neither of us charged enough.This is the offer episode. What we got wrong, what finally worked, and how your offer should evolve if you actually want clients.We cover:1. The psychology behind three-tier pricing (and why we both defaulted to it)2. When to add an intro offer, audit, or guarantee3. How to test your offer without torching your reputation4. The delivery cube framework (Hermosi, but actually useful)5. How to ask the right questions to find what's broken before you kill the offerIf your offer is still in a Google Doc draft, congratulations, you're right on schedule.

Most annual reviews are boring. This one got uncomfortably honest.In this episode of The Marketer’s Exit, Tas and Tim discuss the thing nobody does publicly, a real annual review of their businesses and another solo founder. Numbers, stress, pricing decisions, and the moments where each of them genuinely questioned their life choices.Three business models. Three very different years.1. Fractional demand gen2. Productized services3. Niche retainer consultingWe get into:• Why more revenue didn’t automatically mean more freedom (and for one of us, it meant less)What actually drove growth — and it wasn’t impressions• The pricing changes that increased income without adding a single extra hour• Where we overcomplicated things, and where structure quietly saved us• Why time-based goals ended up mattering more than revenue targets for some of usNo slide decks. No “”10x your business”" koom baya energy. Just solos who built their own thing, telling you what the year actually looked like.If you’re freelancing, consulting, or just quietly wondering whether going solo is worth it, this one’s got real numbers and real reviews.

In this episode, we explain exactly how to get new clients for your solo business becuase new business solves all problemsWe break down the six levers every consultant should use to get clients:1. Thread Sniping: hanging out in Slack communities like a sniper waiting for someone to ask for help2. Friends With Revenue Benefits: partnerships that make you money while you’re asleep or ignoring your inbox3. Outbound: not the sleazy kind — the “hey, I left my job, tell your friends” kind4. Exclusive Club Referrals: tapping the people you already know because shocker, they actually like helping5. Network-onomics: why a single coffee chat can do more than three months of posting6. Vitamin Content — the endgame. You don’t have to love it, but it worksWe also cover: why referrals eventually dry up, why content isn’t a magic wand, and how I somehow turned “Growth-finity Stones” into a legitimate framework.If you’re trying to get clients without losing your mind or you want to steal the systems we accidentally built, this is the one to listen to.

How do you price yourself as a freelancer or consultant… without spiraling, undercharging, or attracting the world’s worst clients?That’s what we get into in today’s episode of The Marketer’s Exit, the pricing conversation we wish someone had with us before we quit our jobs.In this episode, Tas and Tim break down their actual prices, the mistakes they made early on (hi, hourly billing), the clients who tried to nickel-and-dime them, and the exact packages they use today.We cover:• How Tim went from $6K/month to $8K/month by accident• How Tas raised her prices from $500 audits to $18K productized projects• Why the cheapest clients are always the neediest• How to create boundaries and charge premium• Whether you really need pricing on your website• Why raising your rates feels terrifying (and why you should do it anyway)If you're freelancing or thinking about a solo jump, this is the pricing episode we wish we had.

Should you productize your offer or stick with retainers?Which one makes you more money?Which one gives you your time back?Which one secretly destroys your soul?In this episode, Tas and Tim pull apart the two business models most solo marketers start with and reveal what actually happens behind the scenes.Tas breaks down why productized offers work (fixed scope, zero scope creep, minimal meetings, repeatable process) and why they also create terrifying revenue swings. Tim shares why retainers feel stable (recurring revenue, fewer sales calls, long-term relationships) but quietly turn into a meeting factory if you’re not careful.We dig into:• True definition of productized with examples• Why Tas refuses Slack and Tim is slowly trying to escape meetings• Why pipeline anxiety exists in both models• The moment three of Tim’s clients left in the same two weeks• How Tas rebuilt her entire delivery system after hitting a wall• Capacity limits, hiring, bringing on contractors• And the secret third model that gives you the best of both worldsIf you’re a marketer thinking about going independent — or you’re already doing it and want to fix your business model, this is your front-row seat.

Most marketing consultants pick a niche by accident. We picked ours by chaos, panic, and one Panera-based intervention.In this episode, Tas and Tim break down exactly how they landed on landing pages for B2B SaaS (Tas) and ABM with LinkedIn Ads (Tim), what they tried before that, what blew up in their faces, and why the internet oversimplifies the whole “just pick a niche” thing.We get into:- The real difference between going broad vs. picking a niche- How Tas went from “I do everything” to becoming the landing page person- The slide-deck text exchange that pushed Tim into ABM + LinkedIn- The client Tim lost because he was too niche- The client Tas won the day after she niched down- Why people will still hire you for stuff outside your niche- When not to niche (yes, that’s a thing)- How to use data + time-tracking to choose a niche you won’t regretIf you’re freelancing, consulting, or thinking about jumping, this is the episode that shows you what niching actually looks like in the real world, not the LinkedIn version.

Welcome to the first episode of The Marketers Exit, where we talk about what it really looks like to go out on your own.Two marketers. Two completely different backgrounds. One shared exit.In this kickoff episode, Tas and Tim break down how they went from burned-out in-house and agency jobs to running their own consultancies and why neither of them planned on becoming “entrepreneurs” at all.They talk through:• What finally pushed them out of corporate• How LinkedIn accidentally became a growth engine• The early mistakes, awkward starts, and unglamorous parts• The difference between agency vs in-house paths to going solo• Why everyone keeps asking them “How do I do what you do?”• And why this podcast now replaces all future “pick your brain” callsIf you’re thinking about freelancing, starting a side hustle, or just wondering what life looks like outside the 9–5, this is your front-row seat.