Today we’d like to introduce you to Mitchell Kaufman.
Mitchell, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up on a farm right on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin. It was simple living. We heated our house with wood, we grew a lot of our own food, and we stored extra produce and canned goods in a dirt-floored root cellar beneath the house. Our lifestyle was modest, but also rich in many ways. I had the privilege of beginning life in a quiet environment, surrounded by natural beauty, in the company of horses, goats, geese, chickens, dogs, cats—and even a pig named Wilbur.
One thing is for sure about rural living: there is always something that needs doing—chopping wood, feeding animals, tending the garden, fixing something that broke—the list is endless. That kind of environment instills a strong work ethic in a person and a motivation to learn how to do things for yourself. It also makes you appreciate what you have.
Given how hard we worked at home, you might think I’d have been a diligent student, but when it came to school, I rarely applied myself. I just did the bare minimum to get by. It’s not that I wasn’t capable, it’s that I didn’t really care. I coasted through school without giving much thought to what came next, and I ended up going to college only because my mother insisted.
I began college as a marketing major because I had some interest in it, but mostly because it seemed like studying business was a practical choice. I continued to coast into my junior year until I took a philosophy course as an elective, which ended up changing the direction of my life. There were things about philosophy that I found genuinely compelling. For one thing, it’s not like so many other subjects where your grade mostly depends on memorization and regurgitation. Instead, it’s about clarity of thought, logical rigor, and sound argumentation—and it also shines a light on some of life’s deepest questions. I was hooked by the intellectual challenge of it, and by the end of that semester, I declared philosophy as a major. I also started getting straight A’s.
That pivotal decision eventually led me to graduate school at the University of Washington in Seattle, where I earned a PhD. Graduate school was highly demanding and deeply formative. It was essentially intense training in how to think critically, communicate precisely, and solve complex problems effectively. However, even before finishing my doctorate, I realized academia wasn’t the career path I wanted to pursue. I did stay on to teach at UW for a while, but I was soon ready to change direction again. That meant a return to marketing, but now with a great deal more writing experience and a much sharper analytical toolkit.
Breaking into marketing as a recovering academic wasn’t easy. I had to start at the very bottom, landing my first junior roles purely on the strength of my writing and editing ability. Still, I was determined to sprint up the career ladder as fast as possible, so I took whatever work I could get and used every opportunity I had to learn, develop, and advance. As I gained experience working for companies ranging from startups and SMBs to multinational corporations—and across industries as diverse as advertising, finance, software, and AI—I progressed beyond content marketing to develop expertise in branding, go-to-market strategy, product marketing, and demand generation.
Eventually, after moving from Seattle to Los Angeles, and then to Greenville, SC, I ended up as the Head of Marketing for a tech startup based in Atlanta. At this point I had shown that I could help build sales pipelines and grow revenue for a variety of products and services. I had reformed and optimized several marketing organizations and had also built one from the ground up. What I had yet to do was start and run my own company and be responsible for the full scope of a business.
At the same time, I felt most drawn to conceptual and strategic work. I wanted to focus on brand development, high-level marketing architecture, and more varied business consulting. I wanted to help companies understand themselves and their markets, develop comprehensive roadmaps for success, and solve their most complex growth problems. I suppose what I wanted was to do the kind of work that best draws from my philosophical training—work that primarily depends on conceptual frameworks and the relationships between ideas.
By late 2023, I decided to build the kind of company I wanted to work for, and in January of 2024, I founded Free Agent Marketing—a full-spectrum marketing services provider and consultancy. The company is structured as a distributed network of talented brand experts, marketers, and designers. Depending on the project, we assemble a team that best meets the client’s specific needs, and stay flexible as goals and circumstances evolve. This model keeps us agile, scalable, and efficient, and it avoids the overhead and rigidity of a traditional agency model.
The name “Free Agent” was inspired by the free agent pools in professional sports. We are experts for hire who have no fixed affiliation and who are ready to adopt our clients’ goals and make their mission our own. Our motto says it best: “Our business is growing yours.” Our value comes from giving clients direct access to senior talent without the need to build expensive internal teams or commit to long-term contracts. Every engagement is custom-tailored, and every solution is built to achieve definite outcomes.
Now, a year and a half in, we’ve partnered with a range of local and national businesses to address their marketing needs. We’ve done the big things—like building brands, crafting full lifecycle marketing strategies, and executing omnichannel demand gen programs—but we’ve also done the small things, like designing menus and signage, running email campaigns, and creating content for social media. Whether supporting founders, advising executive teams, creating content, or leading targeted initiatives, we’ve focused on one thing: making marketing a growth engine for our clients, not just a cost center.
Looking back, my path from philosophy PhD to Managing Director and head consultant at Free Agent Marketing makes more sense than I originally thought. Strategic thinking, clear, compelling communication, and real-world problem-solving are at the core of successful marketing, so I guess training in philosophy is one effective path to get there. I’m proud to say that Free Agent Marketing is where all of that comes together, and we’re just getting started.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. I don’t think I’ve ever taken the easy or obvious path—and in the end that’s probably for the best.
Skipping past the challenges of my youth, one of the most formative tests I faced came while completing my PhD. I chose to work on the issue of moral responsibility in the international realm, where the prevailing practice is to evaluate events as interactions between entire states. I believed—and still believe—strongly that only a certain methodology is appropriate to answer those moral questions, but I found myself developing an argument that didn’t align with my committee’s views. That made the process of completing and defending my dissertation especially difficult. But I’m not the type to give in easily to pressure or conform just to make things easier. So, I spent years writing and revising that document—tightening the logic, refining the language, bolstering my argument, and anticipating every possible objection. In the end, I probably only nudged my committee slightly toward my side, but I proved that my work had real merit and I ultimately earned the degree. There’s a certain satisfaction in accomplishing something like that the hard way, and that experience taught me a lot about persistence, independent thinking, and persuasive communication.
After that, moving from academia into marketing wasn’t easy or straightforward either. I didn’t have a portfolio, agency experience, or formal credentials in the field—just strong writing skills, extensive training in critical thinking, and a willingness to start from nothing. I took junior roles as a thirty-something PhD and did unglamorous work—but that put me in a position to learn a lot, and learn fast. It was humbling, but also incredibly useful. Starting at the bottom gave me a full view of how the work gets done and forced me to build my skills brick by brick. In hindsight, I’m glad it wasn’t easier because I believe the struggle made me sharper and more adaptable.
As I moved across companies and industries—tech, finance, AI, you name it—I had to constantly reset, learn quickly, and figure out what worked in each new context. It was chaotic at times, but it was actually a gift. It pushed me to design flexible systems, deepen my strategic thinking, and stay focused on fundamentals: understanding the business, knowing the audience, and letting the data drive my decision-making. Now, I can step into almost any environment and quickly make sense of what needs to happen. That’s not something you learn in a straight-line career.
Starting Free Agent Marketing came with its own set of tests. Even with experience leading teams and owning results, launching your own company is a different animal. There’s no playbook and no built-in momentum—you have to create everything from scratch. I had to learn how to run a business, not just a department. And while that meant some long nights and hard decisions, it also meant total creative freedom and the opportunity to build something great from nothing. Every obstacle pushed me to become a smarter strategist, a better operator, and a more grounded leader.
So no, the road hasn’t been smooth, but it’s been meaningful and formative. Every challenge pushed me to level up, and I’m a better marketer, consultant, and business owner because of it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Free Agent Marketing?
Free Agent Marketing is a strategy-first marketing consultancy and service provider designed to be a plug-and-play solution for businesses that need expert marketing support. We combine senior-level talent with a flexible, scalable delivery model to provide cost-effective, high-impact solutions tailored to each client’s goals.
Our team can do just about everything, but we specialize in brand development, go-to-market and growth strategy, product marketing, demand generation, content creation, and media production. Our clients range from high-growth startups and established B2B and professional services firms to small businesses. On a given day we might be found spearheading an expansion strategy, conducting market research, or planning a campaign—we could just as easily be managing a social media account, creating promotional advertisements, or designing and printing conference collateral.
What sets us apart is how we operate, our versatility, and our ability to deliver results at lower cost. We have the benefit of being a distributed network of experienced marketers, strategists, and creatives who can come together as needed to provide results for our clients. Our operating model allows us to work across industries and adapt quickly to a wide variety of client needs. And our lower overhead helps us do so at comparatively reduced rates.
We’re proud to be known for sharp thinking, friendly communication, and our ability to move the needle. Our clients appreciate that we feel like a part of their team and they trust us to quickly get to the heart of the matter, simplify complexity, and make marketing an engine for business growth.
At Free Agent Marketing, we operate on a simple mission captured by our motto: “Our business is growing yours.” Everything we do is built around helping our clients succeed.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I think the best kind of networking doesn’t start with a pitch—it starts with curiosity. You can build very valuable relationships by just reaching out to someone whose work you respect. People respond well to being asked good questions and having someone be genuinely interested in their perspective. You don’t need to “network” in the traditional, transactional sense—you just need to build real relationships.
The same is true when it comes to finding mentors. In my experience, mentorship tends to emerge more naturally than it does through formal programs or cold asks. If you do good work, stay curious, and keep putting yourself in proximity to smart, generous people, you’ll find that the right mentors show up. Sometimes they’re senior to you, and sometimes they’re just people who are excellent at something you’re trying to get better at.
My only other piece of advice would be to not try to “collect” people. Aim for fewer, higher-quality connections and relationships built on mutual respect and actual shared value. Those are the ones that last, and those are the ones that help you grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://freeagentmarketing.com
