How to build your freedom in Tech Sales

Almost exactly 3 years ago today was my last day at Telstra Enterprise.

I was 1 of over 8000 employees that lost their job at Telstra during the restructures of 2018-2021,

as part of their 'T22' strategy to cut costs and 'modernise the business'.

At this point I had been working for Telstra for about 7 years in various roles, starting in the retail shops in late 2013 and working my way up through the ranks.

Whilst looking back now I can see how the corporate game is,

at the time I was devistated, furious and betrayed.

At the time of being made redundant, I was:

• less than 12 months from being recognised as a Top 1% Leader within Telstra Enterprise
• coaching other Senior BDMs in sales as a stretch project requested by management
• managing a new VIP account that was directly handed to me as a leading performer in the business
• had never missed quota with an average achievment of ~150%

Even worse - I got made redundant because I put my hand up to help the business.

Not to take a package, but to apply for the new roles that were purported to be the 'next generation' ones.

I thought I'd be a shoe-in for a role given all the extra work I was taking on - surely I'm part of the new future of Telstra?

Wrong.

What my manager had failed to tell me is that if I had applied for these new roles and wasn't successful,

then I wouldn't be allowed my old role back and would be made redundant.

Little did I know then that office politics would decide the game of musical chairs within those roles, not merit.

The toxic ones that conformed kept their seats, whilst many of the good ones got sent packing.

I was fighting to save the role of a colleague who was being made redundant just weeks beforehand,

completely unaware that I would be part of the fallout too.

The restructure was a massive one within Telstra, it felt like the walls of the business were crumbling down.

In the weeks leading up to June 30 no-one had a clue what was going on,

it was absolute chaos and it was every man for themselves.

I spent my last day at Telstra alone, still trying to close deals to help my customers get the solutions they needed.

I was honest in telling them that the service was going to drop off badly when I left and they believed me,

pulling forward deals to make sure I could do my best for them before I left.

I detailed my last day in an episode of my podcast here back in 2022 if you want to know the gory details.

Funny fact - the episode made its way amongst the staff through Telstra after I left as an example of how bad the redundnancies were handled.

A lot of people reached out offering their support and appreciation which was heartwarming.

I spent the months after my redundancy in a dark place.

My anxiety shot up, I had multiple panic attacks, was heavily traumatised by the abandonment.

Even worse - lockdowns were still occurring and I couldn't leave my house.

I just had to sit alone, reeling in the wounds, with no escape or relief.

I chose to take the next 6 months off finding a job to "take a break",

but in reality I was scheming.

I swore to myself I'd never let another corporation have that power over me ever again.

I would never be a cog in another machine,

a human boiled down to a number,

helping live somebody else's dream.

I wanted my freedom.

The people inside these corporations weren't smarter than me,

nor did they genuinely give a shit about me.

If it wasn't for giving me a product to sell and paycheck to match,

they added no value to my life.

I sold over $15 million as an IC that year and barely made $200k return - that's a 1.33% return on my efforts.

I had come to realise that if I had sold my own product at just 10% of the volume ($1.5m) over the next 5 years,

I'd still make double the money than my last 7 years at Telstra combined.

In late July 2021, I would have the epiphany to build my own sales coaching practice and course.

In the 3 years since then, everything I have done has been towards building my freedom and staying out of the corporate machine for good.

I went into Cisco knowing that I would leave, using it as a means to build freedom.

I was happy to take a 'pay cut' for a 'freedom raise' as a Virtual specialist,

giving me time and location freedom to build my side hustles.

I had no idea of the wild ride Cisco would take me on around the world,

and I am eternally grateful for the journey and what it has given me,

but as we've seen in recent times no-one is safe from redundancies anywhere.

Today I am grateful to be in the place I am,

finally building my freedom and working for myself.

No corporation that can chew me up and spit me out,

no toxic manager who has no idea how to look after people.

I have fought tooth and nail to get here,

working 70 hour weeks for the last 2 years,

solely focussed on fighting for my freedom.

Now it's time to help you out of the machine.

In speaking to my students and potential customers, what many people are intrigued about is HOW I built my business and got out of corporate.

In fact I'm about to coach someone into building their own course so they can build their freedom too.

The reality is that NO-ONE wants to be a cog in the machine, we all truly want our freedom.

Not to mention no-one is safe from redundancies.

We can all see the writing on the wall in Tech given all the recent redundancies,

and with AI looming redundancies are about to get exponential over the next decade - more on that next week!

There is a way to build your own freedom using Technology Sales - I'm living it.

To quote the great Naval Ravikant:

"If you can learn to build and learn to sell, you will be unstoppable."

I know how to sell, so I learnt how to build.

First I built myself through my transformation, and now I've built my path to freedom through Tech Sales Academy.

And now through the Academy I want to teach you the same.

I want to teach my community the sales and life skills necessary to live a great life, free to:

• do what you want
• with who you want
• wherever you want

And soon I'll be living in integrity of that when I move to the sunny beaches of Thailand to focus on building the next phase of Tech Sales Academy.

As I've just laid out over this newsletter this isn't easy, but entirely possible.

And through the new Academy you'll be able to follow in my footsteps and process, being open-source with all my skills and resources to sell & build.

Unfortunately today I have to remind you that you are just a number to these corporations,

that your wellbeing will be compromised for a dividend,

your humanity melted down into a cost centre.

Even as a Top 1% performer you are not safe from the insatiable consumption of shareholder interest.

Fortunately there is a way for those that choose the hard path to build their freedom.

And I want to help you get there my friend.

That is part of my mission in life.

To pull others up with me towards the beautiful and abundant future we all dream of.

How do we begin?

To take the first step you can now join the Tech Sales Academy community for free using this link.

I was hoping to have more of the new community & free content done by now but this cold has delayed my plans a bit.

Nonetheless you can register and enjoy the draft version of Tech Sales OS for free in Classroom > Digital Mentorship.

Once the community gets cooking you'll get:

• 10+ hours of free introductory Tech Sales content
• heaps of free resources for personal development
• a free Weekly Q&A with yours truly to answer any questions you have!

You can always choose to upgrade to Tech Sales OS for my best Tech Sales content and learn how to really play the game.

We're going big here folks, and I hope you're a part of it.

Link again to the free community