Z
The person behind all of this
Zach
Maldonado
Austin, TX

Not a marketing agency. Not a guru. Just someone with 4+ years building the systems that make marketing actually work, who got tired of watching good business owners waste money because nobody explained the basics.

I spend my days building CRM automations, email lifecycle programs, and revenue attribution systems for companies. I spend my free time on the BJJ mats and across a Magic: The Gathering table. And somewhere in between all of that, I built this.

Everything on this site is stuff I've either done professionally or watched small businesses struggle with firsthand. None of it is theory.

4+
Years in marketing ops
CRM, automation, lifecycle, and revenue attribution
$1.09M
Pipeline influenced
Through email, lifecycle, and funnel optimization
1.29M
Emails sent
99.67% deliverability. Yes, really.
45.8%
YoY CTR increase
From systematic A/B testing on subject lines, copy, and CTAs

What I actually do for a living

My day job is lifecycle and email operations. That means I build the systems that decide who gets what email, when, and why. CRM architecture, automation flows, segmentation, deliverability, revenue attribution.

The boring version: I make sure the right message gets to the right person at the right time without ending up in spam. The real version: I build the plumbing that turns leads into customers.

I've done this at a marketing agency working with clients across industries and before that at an outsourced sales and marketing firm. HubSpot is my home base but I've worked in Pardot, Mailchimp, Zoho, and a bunch of outbound tools.

The stuff I built this site with: ChatGPT and Claude for writing and building, GitHub for version control, and Netlify for hosting. Zero agency. Zero budget. Just tools and stubbornness.

HubSpot Lifecycle Marketing Email Automation Segmentation Revenue Attribution Deliverability A/B Testing CRM Architecture Funnel Optimization Marketing Ops Claude ChatGPT GitHub Netlify
Lifecycle & Email Operations Manager
Marketing Agency  ·  May 2023 – Present
Owned the full email lifecycle from lead capture through re-engagement, sales handoff, and expansion. Built persona and intent-based nurture streams. Designed onboarding, reactivation, and upsell paths driven by behavioral signals. Managed authentication and inbox placement across SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Ran A/B testing on subject lines, copy, CTAs, and layouts.
$1.09M+ pipeline influenced $362K direct revenue 99.67% deliverability 45.8% YoY CTR lift
Lifecycle Email & Automation Specialist
Outsourced Sales & Marketing Firm  ·  Jan 2022 – May 2023
Built lead nurture, drip, and re-engagement programs in HubSpot and Pardot. Created segmented journeys for trials, webinars, and gated content. Maintained list hygiene, deliverability, and performance tracking. Produced dashboards for engagement and conversion analysis.
Education
Texas State University  ·  BASc Business Administration
Bachelor of Applied Science in Business Administration. Associate of Arts from Central Texas College.

Built this site with

ChatGPT
Claude
GitHub
Netlify
Zero budget
A lot of stubbornness
When I'm not building funnels

Purple belt.
4 stripes.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

I train BJJ and have for a while. Purple belt with 4 stripes means you're past the point where you're just surviving and into the point where you have a game. My game is pressure.

I'm not the flashiest person on the mat. I don't do a lot of leg locks or spinning stuff. I like to get heavy, stay heavy, and make people uncomfortable until they give me something.

When they give me something, it's usually one of these:

Kimura
Shoulder lock from almost anywhere. If I get the grip, it's usually over. Works as a sweep, a control, or a finish.
Paper Cutter Choke
Half guard top position. Pressure based. Very much my style. Slow, methodical, and then suddenly it's done.
Also on the weekends

Magic: The Gathering

Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit
1
W
🌳
🌲
🧙
Legendary Creature — Halfling Scout
"Partner with Samwise Gamgee"
Whenever Frodo attacks, you may sacrifice a Food. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Frodo and he gains indestructible until end of turn.
1/1
Samwise Gamgee
1
G
🧑
🍳
Legendary Creature — Halfling Peasant
"Partner with Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit"
Whenever another creature enters under your control, create a Food token. When Samwise enters, return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
1/1

Currently running a Hobbits Food deck built around Sam and Frodo as partners. The whole thing is basically a value engine that makes Food tokens, uses them to protect Frodo, and grinds the game out until you win through sheer resource advantage.

Which, now that I think about it, is exactly how I play BJJ. Pressure. Resources. Patience. Eventual submission.

Format: Commander / EDH
Strategy: Food tokens, value engine, protect the ring-bearer
Colors: Green / White (Selesnya)
Win con: Overwhelm through incremental advantage

What I believe about marketing

Most marketing advice is written for people who already understand marketing. Which is great if you went to school for it. Most small business owners didn't.

They're running a business. They're doing the actual work. Marketing is the thing they know they should be better at but never have the time or the right language to figure out.

Complicated is easier to sell. Simple is harder to build. That's why this site exists.

01

Give more than you ask for

Everything here is free. No email wall before the results, no upsell hiding at the end. Good information given away because it's the right thing to do.

02

Keep it simple

If you need a marketing degree to understand the marketing advice, the advice is the problem. Plain language. Always.

03

Always be testing

Nothing here is gospel. Try it, track it, adjust. Your data tells the real story.

04

Honest beats polished

A D grade with a clear explanation of why beats a nicely designed report that doesn't tell you anything useful.

01
The 5 P's Diagnostic

Find your strongest marketing lever and get a plan built around it.

02
Lead Funnel Visualizer

See exactly where you're losing people between first contact and closed client.

03
Cost Per Lead Calculator

Find out what each lead source costs and whether the math works in your favor.

04
Marketing ROI Calculator

Get a letter grade on your marketing and a recommended budget based on your industry.

The honest truth

This costs about $200 a month to run.

No ads. No paywalls. No VC money. No agency backing. Just me, paying out of pocket every month because I think small business owners deserve access to tools that actually work without having to hire a marketing consultant to explain what a CAC is.

So here is the deal. This runs on the honor system. If something here saved you a bad decision, a wasted dollar, or 10 hours of Googling, there are three ways to pay it forward. Pick whichever one fits where you are right now.

$49
Once on Venmo — access forever
Every tool, every update, for life. Honestly the best deal in marketing education. @zachary-maldonado-6
Share it with one business owner
Know someone who wastes money on marketing that doesn't work? Send them the link. That's honestly worth more than money to me.
ok
Keep using it for free
Maybe you're just starting out. Maybe times are tight. Maybe you're a cheapskate. All three are valid. It's still here for you. The only thing that would actually sting is if you found this useful and never told anyone about it.
Download the full guide
Free PDF. Always up to date.

Every tool, every definition, every framework on this site in one PDF. Generated fresh every time you download it so it always includes the latest content. Print it. Share it. Keep it.

+ The complete marketing funnel guide
+ Every metric and what it actually means
+ Email marketing 101 with the rules that matter
+ Ad budget framework and channel timelines
+ The full marketing dictionary (60+ terms)

Generated fresh. No email required. Actually free.

If this helped, cool.

Everything here is free and always will be. But if this saved you even one bad marketing decision, buying me a coffee is a pretty solid ROI. No pressure. Seriously none.

Buy Zach a coffee on Venmo
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