Nugget #2 - Achievement is Preceded By Commitment

When you make a real commitment to something, the path to achievement will reveal itself to you.

Let me share some background about me: I’m not a “natural” salesperson. My entire life I’ve convinced myself I’m a massive introvert and lacked social skills. This was due in part to my emotional abandonment traumas experienced as a kid. I was an extraordinarily sick kid. Every season change I’d catch pneumonia and be hospitalized. I had major ear problems culminating with a tumor developing in my left ear. Ugh.

All of this snowballed into a state where I was overweight, not active, and sad for years. You wouldn’t know from the outside looking in because I was really good at putting on a mask. I was the “good kid”, never getting in trouble. I was hiding in plain sight.

The person I’m describing doesn’t sound like a gregarious, outgoing, confident sales professional.

And that’s exactly why I committed to selling as a profession. I discovered sales in college and was drawn to the career possibilities. The money, the time freedom, the lifestyle; it all sounded like exactly what I wanted for my life.

I understood the risks, too. Sales was positioned to me as the best job in the world when you’re selling, and the worst job when you’re not. If I was going to do sales as my career I needed to be really good. To be really good meant growth. And growth is scary.

How could I be a really good seller when I was extremely uncomfortable in social situations?

That’s the point. That’s why I needed sales. I figured out early in my career - my first week, in fact - that growing into a great seller would be I need to grow as a person. To grow in the way I always wanted to grow.

A fraternity brother helped me secure a job with his company my senior year at Frostburg State. That company was memoryBlue - a leading appointment setting firm for high tech companies. This felt like the right opportunity for me to grow.

On my first day the first cold call someone answered, I immediately hung up. Holy ****. I felt that familiar rush of panic. I stared at the phone for a few moments wondering if I made a huge mistake getting this job. I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

I knew I couldn’t be like that here. I needed to grow.

I had to make a decision - either I needed a new job ASAP or I would commit to be the very best at this job. It was a terrifying choice.

It felt like a real fork in the road decision. I knew that if I decided to keep in the profession it would hurt. It would hurt trying to grow. I told myself that if I commit to growing through sales I’m going to be absolute best I can be & do whatever it takes.

I chose to commit.

An immediate weight was lifted off my shoulders. I felt relieved and excited. It seemed that only being half committed kept me in this no man’s land of rejection. By making a real commitment I started to have answers come to me. I immediately realized what I needed to do to grow.

It felt like the answers revealed themselves to me once I committed. I took the leap of faith and something caught me. My next post will detail some of the specific learning I discovered. I breakdown how I actually went from scared to successful.

Within a month, I was a top 3 performer in the company for the next 6 months (out of 60+ SDRs). I was promoted to memoryBlue’s prestigious inside sales team sourcing new business for the company. With my commission check I bought an Audi A4 (looking back that certainly was not the wisest financial decision, but it was validation for my early success in selling).

If you have something you’re afraid of doing with your life it may be a sign to commit. You will break through your fear and achieve what you never thought possible.

If this introverted, awkward, socially uncomfortable kid could breakthrough his fear and enjoy a fruitful sales career, you can do anything. You just have to commit.