Testimonials + Community
The Rebel Haiku experience isn’t meant to simply transfer knowledge. It’s meant to create community. To unleash momentum. To forge ideas. To change people. We asked some clients, students, and partners to share some love about their experience with the haiku and here’s what they said.
“Jon did an awesome job with our team. There aren’t too many things that would be more intimidating than being brought in to help a marketing agency market themselves better. But Jon navigated our leadership super well, leading us through a detailed process which helped us define and beef up our personal brands, and then apply his guidelines, checklists, and processes toward building a comprehensive content plan for ourselves. Just a few months later, we’re regularly publishing articles, social content and have launched a podcast. We’re finally following the best practices we preach, and it all came together from Jon’s leadership of our leadership team. We’ve even had a couple of inbound sales qualified leads – a first! I highly recommend him as an expert and as a person.”
Steve Smallman, CEO, Fifteen4
“Jon was instrumental in creating a clear marketing roadmap, bringing together the many voices and interests that power AchieveUnite. His energy and commitment to the success of our team were evident from day one. He actively listened to and understood our needs and goals, and then helped design a plan that gave everyone the chance to do their best and most creative work. Jon is a ringleader of creative organization and a must for your organization!”
Theresa Caragol, Founder and CEO, AchieveUnite
“Jon Barnes and Rebel Haiku is a critical member of the BTS Team. Jon’s ability to take our high-level strategy and objectives for the company’s growth and convert them into effective marketing and messaging campaigns has earned him a spot in our leadership inner circle. In a crowded market of companies that compete in our very narrow market sector, Jon brings the discipline, planning, attention to detail, and certain “X Factor” that helps BTS stand out in the crowd. The results are demonstrable, measurable, and directly impact our ability to meet our goals. We could not be happier with his support and partnership.”
David Tohn, CEO, BTS
“Taking a class with Rebel Haiku was one of the highlights of my summer (seriously!) I walked away with the skills to not only strategize and plan for our communications/marketing but also to create tangible things like high quality photos and videos. The skills I learned in Jon’s class impacted real-time projects and initiatives at my organization. I’ve improved my workflow and enhanced my creativity thanks to this class. Big thanks to Jon and the Rebel Haiku team.”
Katie Sutton, Foundation and Grants Manager, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School
“Jon Barnes is the manifestation of inexhaustible enthusiasm. He gathers and inspires professionals from a spectrum of industries, disciplines, and career paths in an effort to provide transformative insight and divergent perspective… and he does it with compelling verve. Observing him in action, one quickly realizes that Jon’s an alchemist; he’s able to turn rote jargon into a vivid, personal call to action. In the world of marketing, there may be nothing more valuable.”
Pete Burch, Board Member, Production Club of Baltimore
“As someone who aims to work smarter and not harder, I found Rebel Haiku’s marketing templates and guides super helpful and informative. Using these tools saved me valuable time and energy that I can apply to other projects and tasks.”
Folakemi Awe, Director of Marketing & Communications
“As a business owner, finding strategic partners to fill important roles is one of the most difficult tasks. We started with Jon at a very critical juncture where we needed to move from a startup phase to a growth stage in the business. We quickly learned that one of Jon’s greatest assets is his ability to think outside the box. He jumped in headfirst, learned the brand from top to bottom, and over a period of several months, was able to quickly help us dial in focus and understand who we were and where we were going with great confidence. His strategic planning and assistance with the execution in the beginning is something that we are truly grateful for. If marketing was a rock band, Jon would definitely be the lead singer!”
Brad Blackwell, Founder – Distiller, Lost Ark Distilling Company, Vice President, Maryland Distillers Guild
“Jon has been instrumental in developing processes in rolling out marketing content. The use of templates, checklists, and calendar management, amongst other tools, has really aided us to take a proactive approach in planning out everything that would need to go into a new marketing initiative so important steps aren’t missed. Jon is very knowledgeable and has taken on the role of an educator amongst other things, so we can all be trained on the proper processes for our marketing plans and initiatives. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Jon and his team.”
Diana Wolf, MA, BCBA, LBA, co-CEO of Verbal Beginnings
“Jon’s deep knowledge and insightful advice for using LinkedIn has helped us deploy our content and execute our initial on-line marketing strategy. Having an experienced guide, concrete plan and detailed roadmap makes all the difference.”
Steve Pimpo, Principal, Greenhouse Consulting
“Through his own creative storytelling, and teaching style, Jon inspires you to want to make noise about your idea, your story, your brand. He believes that every brand is unique, and the key to effectively communicating an idea is in creating an experience for the audience. He is an engaging presenter, a passionate listener, and involves his audience in the process. He has the ability to convince you that with energy and enthusiasm – once you set your mind to something, anything is possible, and he provides the tools to help create the strategy to get you there.”
Margaret Barry, Former Director of Brand Development and Merchandising, The Greene Turtle
“Jon knows how to get content moving! From YouTube to SEO we’ve been able to splash gasoline on our marketing fire and tackle bigger and badder challenges than ever before. Get some of his brains!”
Dave Lowe, CEO, isiFederal
“Jon provided some of the most relevant tools and tactics to bringing our marketing strategy into better focus than I have found from anywhere else. The calendars, publishing timelines and checklists are going to be great resources for me going forward. These tools will allow me to get more focused, build a better brand, and differentiate us from the competition. This was exactly what I needed and at a perfect time of the year as well.”
Logan K. MacDonald, GSEC, Social Media Director, Cyber Watch Systems
“The Rebel Haiku class delves into all aspects of marketing from high-level strategy to detailed tool tutorials. You walk away with actionable ideas and the means to do it. Thanks, Jon, for the help with developing strategy, the encouragement to try new things and the push to get things rolling!”
Beverly Weber, Former Development Director, Laurel Pregnancy Center
“Yesterday, I finished a five week Marketing & Strategy training course at Rebel Haiku. Such a great experience learning from Jon Barnes and collaborating with people from other organizations/companies throughout Maryland. The course focused on marketing plans, video for social media, measurement, event planning, design, and content curation. I highly recommend checking out Rebel Haiku’s training opportunities, especially if you are in marketing and tend to wear a lot of hats in your position!”
Jordan Sosanya, Marketing Manager, HealthCare Access Maryland
“Thank you, Jon Barnes and Rebel Haiku, for an informative and material-rich training. Jon makes it look easy, and, with the right tools and resources (which Jon shared), and preparation, it is! Jon is a gifted presenter – teaching and learning simultaneously while keeping the sessions engaging and fun. The Rebel Haiku space is extraordinary as well – a gem!”
Sarah Schlenker, Communications & Development Professional
“Taking the Rebel Haiku class was fantastically helpful in building my brand as a photographer. The class was fun and exciting every week and always jam-packed with marketing ninja goodness. You’ll walk away from the class with new friends, a polished brand, and a stacked tool case with everything you’ll need to grow your business.”
Greg Ferko, Photographer, Ferko Photo
“I attended a branding workshop led by Jon and his team at Rebel Haiku. I had just begun the early stages of branding for my own company, which for some reason felt very different from the branding work I did for clients in the past. The obstacles I faced during my creative process left me searching for answers, and that’s when I discovered the Unlock Your Inner Branding Warrior event. The insight and expertise Jon provided helped to jump-start my creativity and proved to be one of the last stepping stones to my eureka moment. Over the next week, I developed a cohesive and mission-driven brand that’s now ready to undergo the design process. Thanks, Jon!”
Kerrin Marchese, Content Writer & Editor/Founder, Good Deed Creative
“The Marketing and Strategy class was just what I needed as a one-woman marketing team, to create a thorough, well thought out marketing strategy for the next year. The tools and ideas I gained throughout this class have empowered me to execute our plan to the fullest degree.”
Alyssa Liberman, Marketing Manager, Campus Guard
“I’m so thankful to have been a part of Jon’s coaching cohort. Jon is an incredible teacher and is always quick to listen and understand the problems I am facing. He has given me life-changing advice and wisdom that I will continue to impart to my team and lead with at Voices of Vets.”
Kassie Sandacz, CEO, Voices of Vets
“Working with Jon has been a dream. He helped me, who self identifies as an extremely right brained and creative person step fully into the whole of who I truly am so that I could bring my brand and website to life. He made things easy for me to understand and could tell when I was getting overwhelmed and quickly helped me pull out of that mindset. He understands creatives because he is one and how we can get stuck on things and lose momentum. I have used his teachings and have seen such great results from getting people to my website organically and then booking them. I highly recommend Jon. He’s a marketing and branding wizard and so glad he’s on my team!”
Kelly Rae Kerwin, Shamanic Healer, Twin Cities Reiki
“Jon has a centered and focused style of working through his courses. This laser focus was crucial in keeping everyone on track through multiple weeks of information that, in my case, shed light in the gaps of my limited knowledge. Jon’s offerings were organized and flowed in a way that was relatable and brought to a level that new and more seasoned entrepreneurs could grasp the ideas and find value wherever they were on their career path.”
Luca Ponce, Stylist
“The Marketing & Strategy coursework through Rebel Haiku was a great jumping-off point for our organization to further the conversation about our brand messaging and to fine-tune our processes and data analytics metrics we track. The coursework was full of useful tools and templates that are helping our organization quickly get to the next level in our marketing. ”
Melanie Kincaid, Marketing & Communications Manager, Anne Arundel County Food Bank
“Jon’s marketing class was on-point. The class was fun, engaging, and jam packed with practical tips and tricks. I’d highly recommend working with Jon and his team at Rebel Haiku.”
Brooke Bednarski, Director of Admissions & Marketing, Trinity School
“Rebel Haiku is a bottomless pit of marketing knowledge rooted in real-world experience. The marketing strategy training series was fun, interactive, and a great value for us as a non-profit with limited resources for professional development.”
“Jon is a great ball of marketing energy with fantastic strategy, marketing and planning lessons, key tips and information and valuable TOOLS! You will get your money’s worth and then some!”
“Jon is a fantastic teacher! The presentations were relevant and interesting. the take-away tools will be incredibly useful to me.”
