I’ve spent my career figuring out how businesses create demand, convert attention into revenue, and build systems that make growth more repeatable.
That work has crossed direct response, customer acquisition, paid media, funnels, launches, sales enablement, business building, recruiting systems, international market expansion, creative strategy, and applied AI.
The industries, technologies, and tactics have changed.
The underlying work has remained surprisingly consistent:
Understand the market. Understand the customer. Build the offer. Create demand. Improve conversion. Systematize what works.
Selected Results
$1B+
Submitted Loan Applications
$100M+
Opening-Weekend Launch in 2025
100K+
Registrations Generated in 60 Days
$700K+
Generated From One Launch in One Week
$1M+
Online Sales in a Single Day
20+
Major Product & Company Launches
27 Years
Marketing & Growth Experience
My experience doesn’t fit neatly into one traditional marketing box.
I’ve worked as a CMO, co-founder, growth strategist, direct-response copywriter, performance creative strategist, sales leader, launch strategist, marketing systems builder, and AI systems architect.
Across those roles, I’ve worked on:
ReadyStacks
Founder | March 2026
I founded ReadyStacks to build custom AI marketing knowledge, content, and workflow systems for businesses and agencies.
The idea came from a problem I kept seeing with generative AI:
Businesses suddenly had access to extraordinary production capability, but most AI-generated marketing sounded generic, ignored the nuances of the business, lost the brand’s voice, fabricated information, or failed to account for compliance and channel-specific requirements.
I wanted to build something different.
ReadyStacks systems can integrate:
One recent medical-wellness build contains more than 8,500 lines of structured training and instruction designed to produce compliant, on-brand marketing across multiple channels.
I’ve developed structured reference architectures, multi-pass build and audit protocols, source-grounding requirements, and self-auditing quality-control systems designed to reduce unsupported claims, generic AI language, compliance problems, and off-brand output.
Depending on the business, these systems can support:
Organic social • Email • Newsletters • SEO/AEO content • Video scripts • Lead magnets • Reputation content • Paid advertising • Content multiplication • Research and strategy
The goal is not simply to produce more content.
It is to turn business intelligence and marketing judgment into a system AI can consistently follow.
CONFIDENTIAL PERFORMANCE MARKETING AGENCY
AI Content Systems Builder, Creative Strategist & Lead Copywriter | March 2025 – March 2026
I served as the sole copywriter and creative strategist supporting 20+ funnels across 6+ client accounts operating at six- and seven-figure monthly advertising spend.
The volume of ad copy and video scripts produced was significant, but the role went far beyond writing copy.
I developed:
$100M+ Opening-Weekend Launch
I heavily supported a major 2025 launch campaign operating at millions of dollars in paid media leading into launch.
The launch generated more than $100 million in business during its opening weekend.
My work included high-volume development of advertising concepts, hooks, copy, scripts, creative ideas, and supporting marketing assets inside an environment where creative performance was being tested and scaled aggressively.
12+ Funnels for a Major Education Company
I also led strategy, copy, and messaging across 12+ funnels for a leading real-estate investing education company.
That work included:
I worked closely with a multi-person creative and video team to turn concepts into finished assets.
During this period, I also built AI-assisted research, drafting, strategy, creative-management, and quality-control workflows that increased production capacity while maintaining performance standards.
Many of those approaches went on to beat prior winning creative.
I also trained video-team members on AI-assisted production processes and helped develop systems for managing creative production at scale.
SURV FINANCIAL | COACH FINANCING
Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer | 2019 – 2024
I co-founded and led marketing for a fintech platform serving coaches, consultants, and course creators.
We started from scratch, I built the website and developed much of the company’s core:
Within the first 36 months the company generated more than $1 billion in submitted loan applications.
We enrolled more than 2,500 paying coaches, consultants, and course creators, generating seven figures in upfront revenue, six figures in monthly recurring revenue, plus additional revenue through funded loans.
I managed approximately $50,000 per month in paid media and directed outsourced media buying.
I also built qualification and conversion systems supporting an internal sales team that reported closing at least 50% of qualified demos month over month.
Additional systems were designed to continue monetizing prospects who did not qualify for or complete the primary sales process.
Beyond acquisition, I was involved in day-to-day marketing operations spanning brand, affiliates, partners, content, customer support, funnel optimization, and external marketing resources.
CONSULTING, LAUNCHES & BUSINESS BUILDING
Independent Marketing Consultant
2003 – 2019 | Concurrent With Other Roles
For more than 15 years, I worked across dozens of consulting engagements involving direct response, positioning, customer acquisition, launches, conversion systems, copywriting, recruiting systems, and business-model development.
That work included 20+ major product and company launches.
Dr. Joe Vitale
I served as copywriter for Dr. Joe Vitale, including the launch of Hypnotic Selling Secrets, which generated more than $700,000 in one week.
I also worked across many other six-figure launches, coaching programs, promotional campaigns, email sequences, and recurring subscription initiatives.
Neurs.com
I was brought in to help launch Neurs.com.
The launch generated more than 100,000 registrations within its first 60 days.
Simplexity → NewEarth
I spent approximately nine months helping lead the multi-million dollar rebrand and relaunch of Simplexity to NewEarth.
The engagement included:
Flash Mobile
I developed pre-launch and distribution marketing for Flash Mobile, an ACN mobile-phone company, supporting launches in Mexico and Colombia.
Younique
I developed a UK pre-launch strategy for Younique that helped a new representative rise into approximately the top 0.01% of a global field of more than 100,000 representatives.
MatchRate PLUS
I co-founded MatchRate PLUS, served as CMO and recruiter, and helped develop and patent a new business model for the merchant-services industry.
The model allowed business owners to participate economically in their own merchant-processing relationships and earn from referred processing accounts.
HVAC
I served as a CMO and sales contributor for an HVAC company.
I completed specialized HVAC sales training in Colorado and then developed customized sales presentations, marketing materials, and supporting sales infrastructure for the company.
This experience gave me direct exposure to the economics, sales process, customer acquisition challenges, and operating realities of the home-services industry.
B2B Recruiting Systems
I created an online recruiting system for a B2B benefits-software company designed to attract, qualify, filter, and enroll independent sales representatives around the country.
The system helped move candidate qualification upstream so hiring managers spent less time sorting through low-quality applicants.
B2C Recruiting Systems
Direct Response & Product Marketing
Across consulting engagements, I wrote hundreds of:
Markets included information products, software, coaching, consulting, supplements, consumer products, home-and-garden products, and countless other categories.
I also built and ran more than a dozen recruiting systems supporting direct-selling company and product launches.
VMDIRECT / HELOWORLD
Marketing Systems Builder | 2003 – 2009
VMdirect was one of the earliest major chapters of my digital-marketing career.
I became deeply involved in figuring out how the internet could be used for customer acquisition and recruiting inside an industry that had traditionally relied heavily on offline prospecting and personal networks.
Around the initial company launch, I generated approximately 30,000 leads in 30 days. That database ultimately grew beyond 50,000 leads.
I also helped generate more than $1 million in online sales during a single-day launch event in 2003.
#1 Recruiter
I ranked as the company’s #1 recruiter for multiple consecutive years among tens of thousands of representatives.
At one point, the online recruiting system I developed was generating approximately 30 new representatives per month personally, with a 50% enrollment rate.
I built repeatable systems around:
I also supported pre-launch and expansion initiatives across:
United States • Canada • United Kingdom • Australia • New Zealand • Mexico
This period was one of my earliest experiences recognizing that a technological shift had changed how an entire industry could acquire customers and build distribution.
EARLY SALES & MARKETING
U.S. Cellular
Sales & Store Management | 2001 – 2003
I opened and managed a cell-phone store in Concord, New Hampshire.
Within its first 30 days, the location set the New Hampshire state record for most new customer activations by a store.
I managed day-to-day sales activity, customer acquisition, and store operations.
Local Marketing Agency
Website Sales & Marketing | 1999 – 2001
My marketing career began during the early commercial-web era.
I sold websites and digital-marketing services to local businesses throughout New Hampshire through outbound calling and in-person prospecting.
At the time, many small businesses still had to be convinced that they even needed a website.
That gave me an early front-row seat to what happens when new technology changes the way businesses acquire customers and compete.
Kirby Vacuum
Direct Sales | 1997 – 1999
My professional career actually started at the least glamorous end of sales: Door-to-door Kirby vacuum sales.
I consistently ranked among top performers and earned multiple incentive trips after reaching the New England top 10 in sales.
It was an early education in prospecting, persuasion, rejection, customer psychology, and closing.
APPLIED AI
From Marketing Systems to AI Systems
I began working deeply with generative AI in May 2023, when OpenAI launched the ChatGPT iPhone app.
I quickly became interested in a question that went beyond prompting: Could decades of marketing judgment be encoded into systems that AI could repeatedly follow?
That led me into increasingly deep work around:
That work ultimately became the foundation for ReadyStacks and many other projects revolving around AI.
I don’t view AI as a replacement for strategy.
I view it as an extraordinary force multiplier when the intelligence underneath the system is strong enough.
A few examples:
I tested a new strategy that enabled me to go from zero to 10,000 followers on TikTok and generated millions of views across multiple videos that went viral.
I also used my AI methodology to develop a system that allowed me to write a book on AI in one day, written in my own words, backed by my own deep research and a presentation I did in front of a group of small business owners.
I have also had music I created using methods I’ve developed with AI featured in multiple magazines, podcasts, played on radio stations, and added to playlists in businesses around the world.
PUBLICATIONS, RECOGNITION & CREDENTIALS
Publications
Author of three books, including:
Overwhelmed: For The Ones Trying To Run A Business While AI Changes Everything
Recognition
Second Place – AIXP Houston AI Pitch Competition, 2026
Sales copy has also been featured in professional copywriting training materials (under other names).
Credentials
ClickUp University – Expert Certificate
Anthropic Claude Partner Network – Approved Partner (ReadyStacks)
Anthropic Academy – Ongoing coursework; certifications in progress
EDUCATION
Green Mountain College
Poultney, Vermont | Coursework, 1999–2000
LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO CAN CONNECT STRATEGY, GROWTH, EXECUTION & AI?
My career has never been limited to one marketing discipline because I have a wide variety of interests and enjoy learning, synthesizing information, and spotting trends and opportunities.
I’ve built businesses, launched products, generated demand, created acquisition systems, supported sales organizations, developed performance creative, architected funnels, and built advanced AI marketing systems.
Today, I’m interested in opportunities where that combination can create meaningful leverage.
That may be a senior marketing or growth leadership role, an AI-enabled marketing initiative, a strategic growth project, or a company facing an opportunity that doesn’t fit neatly into an existing job description.
If that sounds relevant to what you’re building, let’s talk.
I’m the author of three books, including: Overwhelmed: For The Ones Trying To Run A Business While AI Changes Everything.
The book provides a practical look at what AI is doing to businesses, marketing, differentiation, and the people trying to navigate one of the fastest technological shifts of our lifetime.
I’m open to conversations around senior marketing and growth leadership, customer acquisition, performance marketing, applied AI systems, strategic projects, and opportunities where my background can create meaningful business leverage.
If you think there may be a fit, reach out.
“What used to take me an entire weekend now takes minutes. And the quality is better than anything we ever got from a writer. It actually sounds like us.
What blew me away was when I needed a 7-day promotion. It didn’t just write the content for social, email, and our website. It gave me a complete step-by-step game plan. Things I wouldn’t have thought of.
It’s like having a Chief Marketing Officer available 24/7 who deeply understands our business and customers. We’ll never hire another content writer. This saves us thousands a month. And I have my weekends back.
If you do any kind of content marketing, you need this.“
— Stacy E. Founder, Monarch Quantum Wellness
“Rob is a tear-down-the-walls gorilla copywriter with power, punch, and speed like I haven’t seen in decades.
The guy is hungry, smart, fast, and nice, too. I love his work and am constantly impressed by him. I predict we won’t be able to afford him in one year.”
— Dr. Joe Vitale
Author of way too many books to list here, including “The Attractor Factor”
“I worked as the assigned Customer Success Manager for Act-On Software for a company that Rob was launching.
I can’t tell you enough what a great guy he is to get to work with. I would jump at the chance to get to work alongside him again.
There is not a doubt in my mind that whatever project Rob aligns himself with will be a hugely successful venture. Success follows those who strive to make a difference. Rob is one of those individuals.”
— J.P. Niemann
Senior Sales Engineer at Act-On Software, Inc.
“I went through a very rigorous and detailed hiring process after reaching out to my entire network (which is significant in our industry)…
We hired Rob. He is a breeze to work with, his copy gets people engaged and to take action. Ask Rob for my contact info and feel free to call me so I can rave more about him and your specific needs. I consider Rob not only our copywriter, I also consider him a trusted asset in our industry.“
— David Gonzalez
Founder of the world famous ‘Internet Marketing Party’
“If you have not yet had a chance to meet Rob Hawthorne you are missing out! He’s a wealth of knowledge and shares real, actionable strategies to help you grow your business in the ever-changing world of AI!“
— Erin Paumen, Health Insurance Agent