⚡️ Get the best marketing jobs delivered to your inbox every week: https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com/

The real LinkedIn growth isn't what you see on the surface. It's the behind-the-scenes work that happens in DMs, profile optimization, and strategic commenting. In this episode, I sit down with Alison Ditmer, a LinkedIn strategist who's helped countless founders build thriving businesses on the platform. We break down what actually works in 2026: the consistency required, why clarity beats content volume, and the conversations that turn into real client relationships. This episode contains the secret to growth on LinkedIn and becoming a thought leader on LinkedIn.

CONNECT WITH ALISON DITMER

🌐 Website: https://allisonditmer.com/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonditmer/

📹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@allisonditmer/videos

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 - The Algorithm Lie Nobody Talks About

3:15 - How Often Should You Actually Post

8:45 - The Busy Founder Problem

12:30 - Show Your Work, Not Your Life

18:00 - Why Comments Beat Posts Right Now

24:15 - The Real Money Happens in the DMs

30:45 - How to Audit Your Profile for the Right People

36:30 - The Lacey Picasso Attribution Story

42:00 - What's Actually Working on LinkedIn in 2026

48:15 - Testing the Phone Posting Theory

52:45 - What Alison's Building Next

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COhatch (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking): https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

Peter Guba spent nearly a decade at Google managing more than 1,000 ad accounts before launching Profit Mill, where he now helps B2B startups, scale-ups, and service businesses turn ad spend into measurable profit. In this episode, Peter pulls back the curtain on why most B2B paid ads campaigns are quietly broken before they launch, the 50/50 truth about offers and setup that most agencies will never tell you, and how he is rebuilding his agency around AI without losing the human edge. If you run paid ads or are thinking about starting, this is the inside look most people in this space will never give you.

CONNECT WITH PETER
🌐 Website: https://www.profitmill.io/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterguba/

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - Why Fridays are sacred at Profit Mill
11:30 - Why Peter wakes up at 3am
18:12 - From Google to founder
22:00 - The "drain the swamp" lesson
27:25 - The all-nighter that started automating the agency
33:45 - Why speed is the only moat
43:40 - Who's actually ready for paid ads
46:30 - The 50/50 rule of paid ads
52:18 - Why your hook has nothing to do with your customer
55:30 - Where the name "Profit Mill" came from

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

How I Got My First 5 Freelance Marketing Clients: https://mmgdesign.kit.com/first5

If you're a freelance marketer trying to land your first few clients or break six figures for the first time, this is the playbook I wish someone had handed me when I got laid off February 1st of 2024.

This presentation was given at the SEO Search Summit. It walks through the exact three-part system I used to get there using a podcast and LinkedIn outreach. Stick around until the end. The lead generation section is the most important part of the whole thing.

All resources, links, and tools mentioned in the video are below.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

- The three-part system: podcasting, LinkedIn, and lead generation activities
- The mindset shift that has to come before any of this works
- Guest selection framework (potential clients, referral partners, thought leaders)
- My 9 highest-performing LinkedIn post types with examples
- LinkedIn profile optimization basics
- The Fibonacci follow-up cadence I use to close more deals
- Bonus: how I got my first 5 web design clients (resource link below)

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO

Marketing by Design Podcast: http://www.mmg.studio/podcast

How I Got My First 5 Freelance Marketing Clients: https://mmgdesign.kit.com/first5

Subscribe to Columbus Marketing Jobs (The Best Marketing Gigs in Columbus delivered to you, weekly, for free)

http://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com

⚡️ Get the BEST marketing jobs in Columbus delivered to your inbox every week: https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com/

Nikhil Hunshikatti has built his career at the intersection of legacy media and modern marketing, from Ogilvy in Mumbai to the Chicago Tribune to running fractional CMO work today. In this episode, we get into what AI actually changes for marketers (and what it doesn't), why "write AI, edit human" is the operating principle he lives by, and the specific workflow he uses to turn raw client data into boardroom-ready strategy. Nikhil also shares the 90-10 philosophy that shapes how he approaches his career and what he's teaching his kids about life in an uncertain world.

CONNECT WITH NIKHIL
🌐 Website: https://hunshika.com/about/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhilhunshikatti/

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 Website: https://mmg.studio
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
01:30 - From Mumbai to the Midwest
03:00 - The Lakeshore Drive phone call
05:30 - Gen Z has internships backward
09:00 - How the Tribune pivoted into digital
13:00 - Write AI, edit human
18:00 - Raw data to executive deck
20:00 - The AI slop problem
25:00 - The skill AI will never replace
28:30 - Why agentic checkout has limits
30:30 - The 90-10 rule

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://mmg.studio
🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COhatch (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us): https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

Bridget O'Murphy is the founder of Envision Partnerships, where she's spent 20+ years building strategic brand partnerships for companies like Nickelodeon, Tyson, and Coca-Cola. In this episode, we dig into what it actually looks like to build a business on relationships, not just talk about it. Bridget shares how she landed her first client on a plane ride, the gifting habits that create real loyalty, the client she lost by not asking the right questions, and why the compounding effect of daily relationship investment is the most underrated strategy in business.

CONNECT WITH BRIDGET
🌐 https://www.envisionp.com/
💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridgetomurphy/

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TEAM
🎙 Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
🤝 AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org
COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us): https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

In this episode, I sit down with Clay Ostrom, founder of Map & Fire, to talk about why customer research has become the backbone of every smart brand decision. Clay walks through how his agency evolved from brand strategy into research-first work, why AI can speed things up but can't replace a real conversation with a buyer, and how one research project completely flipped a medical client's positioning. We also get into the creative founder's tension between craft and margin, and how Clay went from hating sales to genuinely enjoying it.

CONNECT WITH CLAY
🌐 https://mapandfire.com/
🛠 https://smokeladder.com/
💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayostrom/

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 https://mmg.studio/
💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:18 Can your parents explain what you do?
04:00 From computer science to brand strategy
07:00 Why entrepreneurs become unemployable
10:00 A day inside a research-first agency
14:30 Hands-on vs. hands-off founder tension
18:30 Protecting your best thinking hours
25:00 How research took over Map & Fire
29:30 The case study that flipped a brand
35:00 Clay's 180 on sales
42:30 Detaching from any single deal

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://mmg.studio/
🤝 Powered by // American Marketing Association Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org/
☕ Supported by // COhatch (2 free weeks of premium coworking): https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

In this episode, I sit down with Clay Ostrom, founder of Map & Fire, to talk about why customer research has become the backbone of every smart brand decision. Clay walks through how his agency evolved from brand strategy into research-first work, why AI can speed things up but can't replace a real conversation with a buyer, and how one research project completely flipped a medical client's positioning. We also get into the creative founder's tension between craft and margin, and how Clay went from hating sales to genuinely enjoying it.

CONNECT WITH CLAY
🌐 https://mapandfire.com/
🛠 https://smokeladder.com/
💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayostrom/

CONNECT WITH ANDY
🌐 https://mmg.studio/
💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:18 Can your parents explain what you do?
04:00 From computer science to brand strategy
07:00 Why entrepreneurs become unemployable
10:00 A day inside a research-first agency
14:30 Hands-on vs. hands-off founder tension
18:30 Protecting your best thinking hours
25:00 How research took over Map & Fire
29:30 The case study that flipped a brand
35:00 Clay's 180 on sales
42:30 Detaching from any single deal

TEAM
🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://mmg.studio/
🤝 Powered by // American Marketing Association Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org/
☕ Supported by // COhatch (2 free weeks of premium coworking): https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ START YOUR WEBSITE REDESIGN HERE:
⁠⁠https://www.mmgdesign.net/visualswipefile⁠

Casey Brown has spent 25 years helping businesses stop leaving money on the table. She's the founder of Boost Pricing, author of Fearless Pricing, and her TED Talk on knowing your worth has been viewed over 4.5 million times.

In this conversation, I got to sit down with Casey and dig into why so many marketers, freelancers, and founders chronically underprice their work, and what it actually takes to communicate value with confidence.

We talked about the brain science behind why we fold during pricing conversations, the hidden cost of "Midwest nice," and practical structures anyone can build to stop discounting in the moment.

This is one of those episodes I'll keep coming back to personally.

🌐 Website: https://caseybrown.com/
📕 Book: https://www.caseybrown.com/books
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseybrownboost/
🏢 Boost Pricing: https://boostpricing.com/

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro
02:30 - A TED Talk with 4.5 million views
05:15 - Why we can't talk about our own value
08:40 - The definition of selling that changes everything
11:20 - When "no" feels like a personal attack
14:00 - The startup trap that kills your pricing forever
17:30 - Why being cheap makes clients trust you less
21:00 - The cobbler's son problem for creatives
24:15 - Selling yourself is actually your duty
27:00 - What happens when you say no to the wrong work
31:00 - The blind spot keeping you underpaid
38:30 - Why Casey's real job title is confidence coach
41:00 - The pricing feedback you never hear
44:30 - The zip code trick that kills pricing fear
50:00 - How Midwest Nice costs you real money
53:00 - One rule to never cave on price again
56:00 - Your amygdala is running your sales calls
62:00 - Why pricing is more like poker than math

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/
🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/
🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org
and our friends at COhatch (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us): https://www.cohatch.com/mbd