Shad Rockstad

Shad Rockstad, AmericasBestMarketing.com’s founder, brings over 35 years of business development, marketing, and leadership expertise to empower real estate professionals and small business owners. With a proven track record of driving transformative growth, Shad has personally crafted and executed marketing campaigns that have generated over 50,000 inbound transactions, retail orders, and leads. His career spans executive roles, entrepreneurial ventures, and innovative marketing strategies, all rooted in a passion for helping clients achieve their personal and professional dreams.

Shad’s entrepreneurial spirit ignited early. At 10 years old, in 1981, he became a Grit magazine salesman while in the fourth grade, selling copies for $0.35 each in downtown Wichita and rural Butler County, Kansas. Each Saturday morning, he walked from business to business, and on Sundays, rode his bike to homes near his family’s, covering long distances to sell around 25 copies mailed to him weekly. Keeping a dime per sale, he handed his father a bag of change, Grit’s $0.25 share per copy, to mail as a check, learning the value of hard work, rejection, and community engagement early on.

Inspired by Ronald Reagan’s 1984 ‘Morning in America’ campaign, Shad got his first taste of politics at just 13, handing out brochures door to door in Andover, Kansas, for Reagan’s re-election campaign. Soon after, he ran for middle school Student Body President and won, which was the beginning of a lifelong series of leadership roles.

As a freshman in Andover, Shad launched his own commercial window-washing business. He went door to door asking shopkeepers for a chance and earned their trust by showing up week after week, keeping their windows clean for years. With a sarcastic smile, he liked to call himself a ‘transparent vertical panel maintenance technician.’ At school, his leadership continued as he was elected Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior Class President, and eventually Student Body President, earning his classmates’ votes with strong campaigns and keeping their trust by following through on his promises.

By the age of 19, Shad had built a solid reputation among local business owners who had relied on him for years. That trust led to his appointment as Executive Director of the Andover Area Chamber of Commerce. For the next two years, he championed his hometown’s businesses, even testifying before a U.S. Congressional subcommittee on the impact of the devastating 1991 Andover tornado.

Reflecting on these early years, Rockstad quips, “It was pretty much downhill from there.” Though in reality, corporate roles sharpened his strategic and operational expertise during the 1990s. As National Sales Manager at National Spencer Inc., he led a North American sales team, expanding market share for the petroleum equipment manufacturer. At Hixon & Fiering, Inc., as Executive Vice President and Vice President of Marketing, he grew a wholesale division’s revenue from $450,000 to $1.75 million in two years, while overseeing the $10 million company with over 100 employees. These experiences built a foundation for driving growth and managing complex organizations, which he now applies to client success.

Shad’s entrepreneurial spirit has been a hallmark of his career. In 2001, he founded America’s Best Barbecue, Inc., an online retail company that processed over 48,000 orders totaling over $8 million, earning recognition from Reader’s Digest for its “Make a Grown Man Cry” gift package as one of the top five gifts for Father’s Day 2005. He later founded AmericasBestTrucking.com, a logistics and recruiting platform that ranked at the top of Google’s organic search results, generating 10,000 qualified leads and onboarding 650 owner-operator truck drivers in partnership with Landstar System, Inc. Both ventures were successfully sold, cementing Shad’s reputation as a builder of high-value businesses.

At Fusion Growth Partners, Shad served as Vice President and Partnership Development Executive, leading client partnerships with businesses achieving over $500 million in annual revenue. He cultivated expert teams to deliver comprehensive business growth platforms, including social media, digital, direct mail, and email campaigns, as well as CRM implementation and video production. His hands-on approach ensured clients’ marketing strategies were tailored to their geographic markets and spheres of influence, driving measurable results.

In 2022, Shad launched SOI Marketing Strategies, an information resource for business growth and client nurturing, before founding AmericasBestMarketing.com in 2024. His philosophy is simple yet powerful: a winning marketing strategy elevates your brand and communicates your unique value through frequent, multi-channel touchpoints. Through AmericasBestMarketing.com, Shad and his team provide done-for-you marketing systems and executive coaching programs that position agents and businesses as category leaders in their communities.

Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Shad leads AmericasBestMarketing.com as founder and CEO of Vertigroove, Inc., with a client-first mindset, drawing on his expertise in business development, digital marketing, and executive coaching. Whether you’re building your brand, launching a campaign, or simply trying to stand out, Shad’s mission is clear: to help you get seen, trusted, and chosen.

Connect with Shad on LinkedIn