The Decision
“I hate this.”
It’s 5:30 AM and I haven’t slept since the night before last. I stare into the mirror of my Evansville, IN hotel room as what must be my 47th cup of coffee brews nearby.
The journey to that moment began 2 years earlier. I had interned as an Accounting Major from The University of Alabama in PwC’s BCM group in the Manhattan Office. I paid $1,400/month for an 8x12 ft studio with a bathroom I shared with the floor and cooked my Ramen in the microwave (the only appliance I had).
I worked 80+ hours per week for three months to painfully discover that accounting is to conservative as finance is to liberal. I left the internship with a plan to break in to finance.
I completed 21 credit hours that summer, graduated in August, and in September flew to Madrid and entered the 3rd best MS in (quantitative) Finance program in the world at IE Business School. A year later I graduated with a 3.0 and 1st Prize in the Regional CFA Institute Research Challenge. I personally emailed the Director or President of 100 boutique Long/Short Equity Funds in NYC, LA, and SF with targeted cover letters and commentary about their recent activity (a month long task).
I got one email and it was from PwC offering me a job as an auditor.
Heavy sigh.
I took it, worked 100 hours per week for a year while taking 4 flights each week and on Sept. 25, of 2015 this happened:
Some of you will know what this feels like.
The other side of this was terrifying. I was leaving a stable career of $60,000 salary to go to a startup with a base less than half that, in a field I had no experience in, and an industry I had only ever admired.
18 months, 4 promotions, 2 product updates I was directly responsible for, and several raises later I am happy I did.
But how did I go from auditor to salesperson!?!
That’s easy.
Think about your own life. Do it. Right now!
Your parents about why it’s important to make your bed.
Your teacher on why you should do your summer reading.
Your guidance counselor on the value of a clean resume.
Your friend on that movie you just have to see.
Your waiter who just happens to leave the dessert menu.
Your miserable acquaintance on their amazing trip to Nice.
Your favorite talk show host on why we even care about some celebrity’s stupid 2 year old.
You see where I’m going here.
Everyone sells. And everything is selling.
In short I just started being more me. Every conversation you’ve ever had in your life is a sales conversation.
Period. Full stop. No mas.
Take a look at your life right now, the level of success or failure you have with difficult conversations, your level of personal self-awareness, and your depth of communication with the people you do life with — I promise you they all are won and lost by your sales ability.
So how do you get better?
Stay tuned.
We’ll be exploring all the topics we can related to sales, management, workflow, and the tech space. Any topics you want to see, comment below. Just hit that follow button to stay up to date.
Stay curious. Stay brave.
Daniel
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