Marathon Mode, the 25% LinkedIn Rule, and Sales Dogfooding

Hey founders, sellers, and the sales curious!

After a marathon last 2 months (more on that below), we’re finally back. Since our last edition, we have 77 new subscribers! Welcome! You’re in good company amongst 400+ founders, sellers, and builders 💪

Let’s dive in ⬇️ 

• How I avoided burnout working 54 days straight this On-Season 🧠 

• Dogfooding my own sales routine and embracing the ‘Sales Chaos’ 🦴 

• A LinkedIn Social Selling audit, the real-time investment, and how to avoid your hard work falling flat 😮‍💨 

P.S. Want to know how founders raised $750K+, closed hundreds of thousands in new deals, and learned modern B2B SaaS Sales? Find out here 👈

GROWTH WITH GREALY

Using Marathons to Avoid Burnout

This is the next instalment of my On-Season OS series.

After breaking my collarbone, I was told it would take 20 weeks for full recovery, and that for 2 to 8 of those weeks, I’d be brain fogged with only one functioning arm.

It felt like everything I’d been working towards was getting further out of reach: our Sales Accelerator, my SouthStart debut, and our team growth.

I had two options:

1. Push everything off and delay my goals

2. Accept my reality and start chipping away

So I opened my calendar, counted to the end of our Sales Accelerator, and began my ‘Marathon Mode’.

My belief is that just like an athlete ramps up, peaks, deloads, rests, and goes again, founders should too.

In an On-Season, my life is structured for peak business performance.

In an Off-Season, my life is structured for the best rest I can give it.

Everything, from the alarm to my diet and mindset, changes to match. 

• A Marathon is a longer period of work at a lower intensity and a test of endurance.

• A Sprint is a shorter burst of work at a higher intensity and a test of speed.

Both have side effects and, if not managed correctly, can result in injury (burnout).

How to Run a Marathon in an ‘On-Season’

Step 1: Acceptance

In my opinion, Sprints are easier. Quick, focused, all-in. They take savagery but less control.

Marathons are different. They take patience, deep self-awareness, and the ability to push through walls.

At the start of all this, looking at my calendar and my goals, I accepted what was in front of me. I didn’t need to Sprint, but I did need to commit to the long haul.

Step 2: Your Marathon Distance (The End Date)

Before you start, set your end date. Knowing how long you’ll be running is your light at the end of the tunnel.

For me, it was 54 days. Every day of the week.

Make the end date visible too. I used the Days App to start a countdown.

And make sure that the “light at the end of the tunnel” is real. Not just a weekend off.

Ideally, one full week of rest minimum after a Marathon ends.

Step 3: Work in Zone 2

In sports, Zone 2 is the endurance-building pocket. It feels slow or boring sometimes, but it’s what allows you to get further.

Zone 2 in a work Marathon looks like:

• A slow, consistent pace

• One task at a time

• Deep nasal breathing

• Reminding yourself you have time

If you push too hard, you’ll hit burnout, get sick, or implode.

Step 4: Routines and Rhythms

• Peak Energy Days: Recognise your peak energy days and intentionally combat them with low-energy days.

• Manage Expectations: I set up email and LinkedIn auto-replies for the entire Marathon to explain my delayed responses.

• Reward Small Wins: Break big projects into chunks so you can celebrate milestones.

• Diet: Marathons require consistent and healthy fueling.

• Sleep: Sleep will be sacrificed. During this Marathon, I was routinely going to bed at 1:00am with 6:00am wake-ups. I am not superhuman. This SUCKED. But I optimised with low-energy WFH or no-client days to recover.

I want to be clear, I’m not endorsing this as a regular way to operate during your On-Season. But when I don’t have a choice, I use this framework. It might be a last resort, but it’s still a skill worth harnessing when required.

A small ask: ☝️ This is writing from my personal notes, if you liked it or want more on Sprints/other OS lessons, I’d love to know.

FOUNDER ASKS

25%+ LinkedIn Network Rule for Social Selling

I’ve worked with hundreds of founders on LinkedIn Social Selling, and I hear versions of this question all the time.

The truth is, no matter what you do, LinkedIn will be an ineffective channel unless 25%+ of your network is your Ideal Client Profile (ICP).

LinkedIn works for top, middle, and bottom of funnel when there’s a constant flow of potential customers entering your 1st network.

The problem is, most estimates suggest your content will only reach 5-15% of your network at first, and 48.5% of users log in just once a month.

That means if your network doesn’t align with your ICP, you’re just throwing content into the void and hoping the right people see it.

Here’s Our Advice ⤵️

First, start with a mini audit to check if your LinkedIn strategy can actually work:

1. What is 5-15% of my current network size?

2. Is 25% or more of my network made up of my ICP?

3. Does my content consistently speak to that audience?

4. Am I starting conversations and chats, or just sending blind connects?

5. Am I adding weekly value to address my ICP’s top-of-mind problems?

If you’ve realised your ICP network is small, don’t worry. This is common for founders who often jump straight from building a product to sprinting in sales. It's worth noting that if you need immediate results, Social Selling can’t be your only approach.

It will take 2-3 months to get the system firing, and if you’re new to Social Selling, you’ll need to rebrand yourself in the eyes of your audience.

A rebrand can take 2-6 months to cement, and it depends on:

1. How many connects you send

2. How often you post

3. How often your network logs in and engages

4. ICP density in your first network

5. Your real-life engagement with this audience

6. How long you’ve been connected to each ICP (trust + nurture + intent)

If you’re reading this, you may have seen my own rebrand in action. You probably now think of me as ‘that sales guy’. But I’ve been ‘the bike guy’, ‘the aged care tech guy’, and ‘the recruitment tech guy’ too. Each time, I built a new ICP and network with Social Selling.

How to Get Started Building Your ICP Network: A 3-Month Plan

Month 1:

1. Complete the audit

2. Beef up your profile

3. Create an ICP profile (decision-makers and influencers)

4. Comment thoughtfully on their posts (increase visibility)

5. Start sending 10 connection requests a day (no message)

6. Post at least once a week

7. Send a message to accepted connects

Month 2:

1. Review your current ICP percentage

2. Find influencers in your industry and engage with their content

3. Begin rolling out first bottom-funnel content (product/social proof)

4. Start conversations with accepted connects (add value + ask a discovery question)

Month 3:

1. Ramp connection requests with automation (now we know what works)

2. Review top-performing content (dial this up)

3. Review top-performing connects and double down

↩️ Reply to this email if you need help with this advice, or forward to a friend who might be sharing gold with the wrong crowd 🤝

SALES INSIGHTS

Embracing the Founder-Led Chaos

For me, that would look like two hours a day, three to five days a week of active prospecting. Time to update my CRM, do all my follow-ups, and book new meetings.

When we discussed how people approach sales and manage their schedules, one founder summed it up: 'This sounds like chaos.'

My advice was: if you only have one to two hours a week for sales, block it out and focus purely on revenue-generating activities. Skip the admin, the updates, and the ‘want to’ tasks.

But as I was speaking, I realised I wasn’t following that advice myself.

The following Monday, I blocked out 11am to 1pm for sales. As I worked, it felt like the ultimate dogfooding moment. I was embracing my own advice and focusing on the highest revenue-generating task, even when it felt chaotic and messy.

I shared my results with the Accelerator founders to show what could actually get done in that short block of time, and how chaotic it might look in practice. The group ended up coining it ‘Sales Chaos’.

Now, a one to two hour ‘Sales Chaos’ block is a regular part of my routine, a reminder to focus on outcomes and let go of perfectionism.

It’s not about building another rigid system. The whole point is to let go of the pressure to do it right, and just get it done.