Career & Life Advice I Wish I Knew Sooner

I turned 31 recently on 4/20 and I couldn’t help but do some reflecting.

I asked myself “what advice would I give my former 22 year old self starting out as an SDR in tech sales 10 years ago?”

I came up with a list of 8 principles that I hope guide you in maximizing and sustaining both your success & your happiness along your career journey.

1) All opportunities are tied to people &, although you need to hit your numbers, relationships come first.​

2) Give to those above & beside you and they will elevate you to promotion.​

3) Focus on owning & trusting in the process and surrendering the outcomes (you’ll get better results faster & be a lot less stressed along the way).​

4) It’s important to conceive career plans but always hold them loosely & stay open because God has a plan far greater than our small mindedness can begin to conceive.

​5) Your worth as a person is not tied to your performance or the prestige of the company you work at. Keep a long term perspective that in sales you can fail miserably one year & then succeed gloriously the next (always keep a short term memory & forward focus).

6) The fastest way to learn in sales isn’t by reading theory…it’s by stealing from the best and getting on the bike and riding. Don’t over analyze and delay action. Get on the court, learn through doing, & fail forward.​

7) Always have an upward aim and know that the pursuit of progress and meaning (not money or arriving at the destination) is the sweet spot where we access the joy that sustains human beings.​

8) Life is like a tapestry. On the back it’s chaotic and full of knots but without those knots you don’t get the beautiful image on the front.

Wherever you’re at in your tech sales and life journey I hope this encourages you.

Happy Selling & Happy Living,

Chris