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Joseph Haecker
Fractional CMO
Joseph Haecker, Inc.
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Actively exploring consulting roles
10
What’s My Superpower?
(It’s Not Marketing. It’s Not Strategy. It’s Something Much Rarer.)
Published on:
11/19/25, 6:58 PM

There’s a question people love to ask in job interviews, workshops, personal development retreats, and on social media:

“What’s your superpower?”

Most people hesitate.
They reach for something safe, something agreeable, something LinkedIn-friendly:

“I’m a great communicator.”
“I’m detail-oriented.”
“I’m a team player.”
“I care a lot.”

Cute answers. Safe answers.

But none of them actually explain what makes you valuable, or why someone should bring you into a room.
And none of them explain the truth behind high-impact people:

Superpowers are rarely “skills.” Superpowers are behaviors.

Superpowers are patterns you repeat without trying — patterns that have shaped your entire career.

And this year, in the most unexpected setting, mine became painfully obvious.


The Cattle-Call Interview That Confirmed Everything

A few weeks ago, I sat in on what could only be described as a cattle-call style job interview.

Dozens of people.
A panel of executives.
A rigid schedule.
Lots of generic hand-raising.
And questions that made it obvious who was an employee — and who was a builder.

One by one, candidates raised their hands:

“What’s the dress code?”
“Is this remote?”
“What’s the PTO structure?”
“Who owns the intellectual property we produce?”
“Is there upward mobility?”
“What’s the culture like?”

Important questions…
but those are questions employees ask.

While everyone else fixated on job structure, boundaries, and expectations…

…I was doing something entirely different.

I wasn’t thinking about PTO.
I wasn’t wondering where my desk would be.
I wasn’t even thinking about the role.

I was analyzing the entire system.

Where the bottlenecks were.
Where the inefficiencies lived.
Where automation should have been deployed years ago.
Where the marketing strategy was bleeding time instead of compounding growth.


While the room talked about logistics…

…I was writing a proposal for how to radically streamline and automate the exact departments they were trying to hire for.

That’s when it hit me — again, like it has for the last twenty years:

My superpower isn’t marketing.
It isn’t writing.
It isn’t branding.
It isn’t leadership.

My superpower is solving problems.

Not slowly.
Not incrementally.
And not within the existing framework.

I solve problems at the root, rebuild the system, and automate everything that doesn’t require a human.


Most People Wait for Problems.

I Don’t. I Attack Them Before They Exist.

People who think linearly believe problems are obstacles.

People who think exponentially understand problems are invitations.

As a serial entrepreneur, I don’t wait for someone to ask me to fix something. I don’t wait for instructions, approvals, or meetings.

When I see a broken system, I build the solution.

And over the years, I’ve learned that “solving problems” isn’t enough — you have to choose the right problems.

The problems that matter.
The problems that scale.
The problems that compound.

The problems that — once solved — never need to be solved again.

That’s where automation comes in.

I don’t just build solutions.
I build self-sustaining machines.


That’s Where Customer-Centric Marketing Was Born

Most businesses are built around this pattern:
1. Build a product or service
2. Realize no one knows about it
3. Start marketing
4. Burn time and cash trying to “get noticed”

Most marketers repeat what worked for someone else:
• Improve the website
• Run ads
• Hire influencers
• Cross your fingers

They behave like consumers, not platform architects.

I discovered early that I’m wired differently.

And that’s why I created Customer-centric Marketing.

Because marketing should never be about “promoting the brand.”
It should be about building a machine where the customer does the promoting for you.

That’s what social platforms do.
That’s what user-generated content ecosystems do.
That’s what Only Fans Insider Magazine does.
That’s what Open To Work Social does.
That’s what Sxgram does.

These systems don’t require constant ad spend.
They don’t rely on trend-chasing.
They don’t collapse when budgets get tight.

They run.
They grow.
They compound.

Because the customer has a reason to participate.


18.6 Million Page Reads

$0 Spent on Marketing
All Because of One Superpower

My latest digital magazine — Only Fans Insider Magazine — didn’t grow because of ads.

It didn’t grow because of SEO.
It didn’t grow because of paid influencers.

It grew because I solved a fundamental problem:

Millions of creators had no press.
I gave them a platform.

And when you give someone a platform for themselves…
They promote the platform that promotes them.

Between May and October 2025:

18.6 million article views
2.25 million rolling Instagram views every 30 days
0 dollars in marketing spend

That’s not luck.
That’s Customer-centric Marketing paired with my superpower — creating automations that turn customers into marketers.


Why I Don’t “Fit” Traditional Jobs — And Why That’s A Feature, Not A Bug

Recently, I was denied an executive role.

Not because of skill.
Not because of culture.
Not because of experience.

But because the owner looked at my businesses and said:
“You’d be too distracted.”

I laughed.

Because what they called “distraction” was really:
• Multiple successful automations
• Multiple revenue-generating platforms
• Proof that I can take a brand from zero to global
• Evidence that I don’t grind — I build systems

The truth?

Most executives solve problems with man hours.

I solve them with design, automation, and Customer-centric ecosystems.

Their solution would have chained them to the desk.
My solution would have freed the entire company from the desk.

But they couldn’t see it.
Because they weren’t looking for a strategist.

They were looking for a rule follower.
A proceduralist.
A practitioner.

Someone who follows instructions on the box.

Not someone who invents the recipe.


At 48, My Superpower Is Crystal Clear

I don’t follow instructions.
I don’t wait for assignments.
I don’t operate in limitations.

I solve problems —
systemically, strategically, and sustainably.

And once the machine is running, I automate it so the business isn’t dependent on me or anyone else repeating the same tasks forever.

If you want to scale like a startup but operate like a social platform…

If you want your customers to become your marketers…

If you want to replace “busyness” with systems that run 24/7…

If you want a strategist, not a task-doer…

Then let’s talk.

You don’t need another CMO.
You need a problem solver.
You need a platform thinker.
You need someone whose superpower is deconstructing chaos and building engines that grow on their own.

That’s what I do.

That’s who I am.

And that’s why Customer-centric Marketing works.

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