4 Things I wish I knew when I was early in my career
I started working with a mentee yesterday through Women In Revenue! She’s 24, two months into a new sales job, and all she wanted to know was what I wish I knew early in my career. When I thought about it, four clear themes emerged:
Authority
I started working in Sales when I was 22 years old. And at the time, everyone seemed a lot older and wiser than me. If you were 27, you were ancient and so much more experienced. As you can imagine, this proved hard when engaging with higher ups but also my customers.
It wasn’t until my second Sales job that I began to feel empowered thanks to my manager at the time, Connie Johnson. She said things to me like “You are a Senior member of this team. Act like it!” and “Don’t be afraid to ruffle feathers.” She gave me permission to have authority and to push back a little. It was good to know she always had my back.
Another big aha! moment for me was when I realized that I was working in B2B and what that meant. When you’re working Business-to-Business, it’s not about you as an individual. You’re representing your business and that’s your job. That shift in mindset made me less afraid to represent my company brand and speak up.
Agency
Another thing that took me way too long to realize is that Work is not School. You don’t get points for showing up. You’re not paying to be there. In fact, a company is paying you for your services. Your success or failure is dependent on your outputs. Your participation, effort, and attitude can make or break you.
What helped me realize this was being put on a Performance Improvement Plan in my first sales job. There were a lot of things I didn’t quite grasp about my responsibilities there. I will admit that I took that job for granted a little bit and was going with the flow too much.
When I got to my second sales job, that’s when I was like “Okay, you gotta work. That’s why it’s called work!” I told myself, “You’re here to WIN.” That shift in attitude made a huge difference in my numbers, reputation, and time at that company.
Acuity
If I could go all the way back and do it again, one thing I’d do is start working for startups way earlier! I had a negative impression of startups when I first started working. I thought they’re unprofessional. There are no rules. They are companies destined to fail.
That is not at all the case! Startups have a more relaxed culture, yes. There is a lot more flexibility, yes. And many of them do fail, but that’s not the point. Whether the company is a success or not, you will learn so much.
What’s great about working at Startups is that it’s a smaller, close-knit team. You can meet everyone and understand how the business all fits together. You will have greater impact and your voice will be so much louder. And there’s a lot more upside at startups than at larger companies.
Three years at a startup will feel like ten! I learned so much more working for startups than I would at any business school.
Advocacy
The last misconception I had was that if I did everything right, promotions would get handed to me. That’s not the case. The reality is that you have to ask to get promoted. You also have to ask when you think you deserve a raise. You have to push back when someone says you’re not qualified for a role and prove that you’re 80% there. Advocate for yourself when someone says you’re not right for an opportunity.
I learned this many times. The first hurdle for me was transitioning from AdTech to SaaS, which was too hard. My four years of AdTech experience translated to ZERO years of SaaS experience. I took a title and salary dip to get into SaaS, from Enterprise to Mid-Market Sales.
Then I had to advocate for myself to get a promotion and a raise after proving my performance for one year. I asked a more senior teammate for her mentorship and she told me exactly what to say. She told me how to set the meeting up, how to bring it up, and how to phrase my ask. Ask for this help in your own organization. It’s less intuitive than you’d think.
And finally, most recently, I’ve had to advocate for myself to become a manager. I tried the trusted internal route three times and the cards never aligned. So I left my full-time job and pursued a non-lateral job at another company. Many people told me the odds were against me, but I advocated for myself. And I succeeded.
Never stop advocating for yourself. Don’t let people tell you who you are, and what you can and cannot do. Yes, you are! Yes, you can!
