3 Steps to 6-Figures 💵

Read time: 3 mins

The average SDR earns $82k a year.

The average Junior AE earns $130k a year.

That’s a $48k difference.

We’d all be lying if we didn’t want that extra cash. Even the status of being an AE is tempting. If that’s you, you’re normal, it’s human to want to be successful.

Sometimes though, we want to get there too quickly.

Everywhere we look; social media, our colleagues etc tell us promotions and pay rises will make us happy and we start to obsess over them.

Problem is, most people never make it. Some quit. Some do the same role for years and never move forward. Why is that? How can you make sure it’s not you?

In this newsletter I’ll share 3 steps to get what you want short term (promotions and pay rises) and set yourself up for long term success.

Let’s dive in.

Step 1: Vision

Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? What is your purpose? What are you passionate about?

These are BIG but necessary questions for us all to answer.

Being extremely clear about where you’re going comes down to your ability to visualise it.

If you can visualise it, your decision making today will be better. You’ll keep going when its tough. You’ll make one more dial at the end of the day etc.

These micro decisions compound over time and its your vision that helps guides them.

Ultimately, if you’re reading this you want be successful (otherwise stop reading) but that definition is subjective for each of us. It’s case by case. So make it individual. Build your own vision.

Example:

SDR 1 - unsure if they want to be in Sales. They don’t see themselves in sales or using the skills in their future vision of themselves.

SDR 2 - able to visualise themselves as an AE. They see themselves as the top AE and going to presidents club every year in 10 years time.

SDR 1 - often makes a lot of excuses for not hitting todays activity goals.

SDR 2 - has a clear reason why hitting activity goals today will help them get to AE. Thye understand the skills they learn today will help them build more pipeline in the future to help them close more business and be a top AE.

Sounds simple, right? It’s not. But the key is spending time visualising your future self. Start there.

Tip: Don’t you just ask ‘‘where do I want to go’’. Write your life down in 10 years time. Visualise that person and now consider what you need to start working on today to take one step closer to that objective.

One A4 page is enough to make your vision concise enough to execute against.

Step 2: Commit

You should now have a very clear idea of where you want to go. But it’s unlikely you know how to get there. This is where most people stop. They think by writing down their goals and vision they will magically achieve them.

Think about it. We do it every year with new years resolutions. We write them down and start to take some action then quit.

This is why I so strongly believe in the concept that 99.9% of successful people aren’t better than you. They just stayed in the game long enough to achieve high performance.

Question: What makes us quit?

I’ve studied this for years with SDRs and my conclusion is simple. The person who quits isn’t weak they just don’t see Sales in their future.

This is why the having a vision is so important for your future successful. If you don’t see yourself in sales 10 years from now, why continue building skills and working hard on something that won’t help us achieve your dream future self?

This leads us to commitment. When you have a vision. The next stage is to commit to it. Acknowledge the journey will be hard.

The bigger the vision, the harder the journey. But also note the journey is what you’re committing to.

Your ability to keep going when things get tough will determine whether you actually reach your vision or not.

Story:

18 months ago I told my parents I was quitting my £180k job (they have never earned more than £40k). Naturally they were nervous for me.

But I remember my dad saying ‘‘whenever you’ve done anything, you’ve committed fully to it, you can’t fail if you do that’’.

So I did. I just committed to the process of working out how to become a successful entreprenuer. Sure, I' have a long way to go. But that’s the fun part. Getting addicted to the process is how you make your vision a reality.

Even today, when things get tough I remember that conversation and it brings me back to the fact life is hard. Building a biz is hard. Having a job is hard.

Whatever I choose will be hard and thats part of the process.

Commit or quit.

Step 3: Relentless Learning

According to Angela Duckworth, high performance is a combination of passion and perseverance.

So far, we’ve built a vision around your passions and then I’ve shown you why committing will ultimately make you successful.

What I’ve found to be missing is the obsession someone needs to have with their own development.

Some would argue that’s part of commitment and maybe they’re right.

But I think it’s all well and good being passionate about something and then working really hard at it. But imagine combining those superpowers with working on the right thing as close to 100% of the time as possible.

That would make you unstoppable. The harder you work on something you love the more you’ll get obsessed with it.

The further you’ll look for the 0.1% changes that give you the edge over everyone else.

The best people are the ones who work hard but are able to self coach based on their experiences. Their losses. Their wins. Their draws.

Combining a thirst for relentless learning with the ability to keep going and working hard (commitment) on something you love is the secret sauce to high performance, and getting there fast.

Conclusion:

If you want a promotion, a payrise whatever.

Start with your vision…

Is being an AE helpful for your bigger plan? If so, commit to the vision. This is what will help you stay in the game when it’s tough. And when you win or loss, learn from it and never be scared to keep trying new things.

If you do that and you’re an SDR right now, you’ll be an AE very soon and go from the median salary SDRs achieve of $82k to the median salary for an Junior AE of $130k.

If not, quit and find a job that’ll help you achieve your vision.

That’s all for this week, see you next Friday.

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