I never wanted to be an AE

Life doesn’t turn out at all how we think

It’s funny, nobody decides to ‘just’ work in sales. 

I don’t think any kid ever went to career day and gleefully dreamed about eating shit and getting their teeth kicked in through a barrage of rejection. 

I had aspirations of nobility as a child. I dreamed of becoming an Optometrist, being an American Gladiator, enlisting in the Army, or serving the public as a State Trooper. 

But I was always a fuck up as a kid. 

The dream slowly died to compounding moments of fuck ups.

Actions carry consequences

I regularly got arrested over drunken shenanigans acting like an absolute idiot. Raw stupidity and dumb luck is the only reason I’m still able to walk. I shouldn’t be alive if I’m being honest but the universe had other plans.

I struggled throughout college because of the partying and lack of discipline. 

Eventually I would drop out my 3rd year because I couldn’t afford the $500 books (lol my grades sucked, it was inevitable). 

After I had broken up with my long-term girlfriend at the time, I financially just collapsed and ended up having to move back in with my parents in this cemetery-middle-of-nowhere-tiny-as-fuck-town. 

In a desperate hail Mary, I moved in with a girl I met online and we got pregnant within a month of barely knowing each other. 

Self-sabotaging like a motherfucker but that was my “normal”. 

It wasn’t until my instincts for survival kicked when the mother of our child was around 8 months pregnant that reality really sunk in.

I have to survive. I have to thrive. I must endure. I must provide.

This wasn’t a dream. There wasn’t a choice to quit. I didn’t have an option to just walk away.

I had to get my shit together. I had to do what I had to do in order to make ends meet.

I had purpose. I had an obligation. I had people counting on me. 

I was invited to an opportunity waiting for me in Texas. A fresh new chapter in my life. I pounced without a second thought. We packed our bags and I left my home in Kentucky behind without telling a soul.

Guess I’m knocking doors now

The day my daughter was born was the happiest moment in my life, I cried uncontrollably. 

She instilled in me a vigor I hadn’t felt in years. 

If I was to explain what the physical manifestation of motivation was, it would be cradling your newborn baby. 

The opportunity I spoke about, though? Outside roofing sales. Door knocking in Texas heat, son. 

Never sold roofs in my life. That didn’t matter though, I needed to make money.

Got me a brand spankin’ new white Ford F150 to look the part of a roofer. 

I went neighborhood to neighborhood banging on doors absolutely petrified. Totally scared shitless. 

I would sit paralyzed in my truck trying to muster up the courage to canvas neighborhoods. I’d see signs of other roofers and I’d just come up with all these imaginary scenarios of reasons not to get out. 

But I’d stare at photos of my daughter and I’d suck it up. Failure wasn’t an option.

The raw anxiety I’d feel hoping and praying the person on the other end of the door wouldn’t open their doors. 

All of my fears though would go largely unfounded. The anxiety would melt away after I’d get my first “No” of the day. Not so bad, Landon. 

Still though, I was terrible. I might’ve been naturally charismatic but I truly was awful at selling roofs.

There were many many many days I’d come home completely dejected and have to put on a mask to keep my family feeling secure.

But that’s the game I signed up for. That’s my life now. Survive or die.

The Path of Evolution

Working 100% commission sales started to rewire how I saw the world.

It was a rollercoaster of emotions every single day. Every day I was fighting for my life and I loved it.

The feeling of winning got me more endorphins than any regular job could ever hope to achieve.

In all of the irony of self-sabotage I inflicted on myself, the risk/reward of working sales formed a paradigm shift in how I framed my reality. 

Slowly, very slowly, my career transformed in ways where all the misadventures seemed to finally come into place.

D2D 100% Commission -> 100% commission slinging phones -> 100% commission credit repair -> 100% Commission solar sales -> AE software sales -> Startup land

Venturing into life as an Account Executive wasn’t something I ever really wanted.

You don’t think about this as a kid. The concept is so inconceivable.

I sell technology that sounds like it belongs in science fiction.

I tried telling my mom about ZoomInfo and showing her Gong and it completely blew her mind.

lol try explaining intent data to your friends back home, they’ll think you’re crazy.

It feels like I’m in a parallel universe sometimes. Kid Landon never could’ve imagined this future but here we are.

This career path at times feels treacherous, hopeless, two-faced, and perilous.

Our job security is based entirely on how we perform.

You’re measured in KPIs and pipeline. What’s mental health? That world ain’t us.

Fuck you, go sell my stuff.

But that world now is what I’ve chosen.

And I wouldn’t do anything else.

Stay Savage

-Landon

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