In anticipation of our Women In Revenue event on August 29th, “Advice I’d Give My Younger Self”, we’re kicking off a quarterly blog series featuring similar advice from founders and members. Here are some great tips and takeaways on career advice, and things we wish we’d known sooner about pursuing a career path in revenue. We encourage you to join the conversation and add your own advice in the comments!
Doors open when you aren’t looking
“My biggest piece of advice would be to NOT have a clear end point. Doors open when you aren’t looking, listen to the signs and when opportunities come knocking, listen. Tune into your gut and ask yourself ‘does this feel good’, that feeling of joy and excitement is your inner compass, your higher purpose talking through your feelings. Learn to listen to it!
When someone tells you you can’t do it, let that be the fuel to your fire! Only YOU know what you can do and what is best for you. Be authentically, unapologetically you! “
~Amanda Khalow, Founder and CSO, 6Sense
“Pay attention to helping others. It took me a while to understand that when you help others, that goodness comes back to you. So I’d tell my younger self to focus on solving problems and helping others achieve their goals. It took me a while to get that and had I learned it earlier, I would have reduced some of the hard lessons I learned along the way.
I started my career in revenue and here are a few things that would have been helpful in the early years:
- Ask for help (from your network, your management team, your CEO, your clients)
- Get personal – I kept my personal life separate from my professional life….once I merged them, I become dramatically enriched in my relationships
- Have a growth mindset-you’ll remain constantly challenged”
~Debe Rapson, Enterprise Accounts Director, Sprinklr
“Don’t waste time planning out a pre-determined “career path”. You change. Environments change. Business changes. What you may think you want today will be different in 10 years. Focus on finding something today that you are good at and makes you happy. Then do more of what works, and less of what doesn’t. What you are good at and what makes you happy is magic. Follow that path as it unfolds. Your instincts are right. Trust yourself. The job you are in is likely not the one you will retire from. Have the experience you are having and learn from it. It is not forever. “
~Jen Dimas, CMO, Gigster
“I thought success was achieved by being the smartest, hardest working person in the room. But that’s only a small fraction of the equation. It’s about being able to read the room. It’s about understanding what a “win” looks like for everyone. Being a leader is about empowering others vs crossing the finish line the fastest.
Being a great seller is about being a great problem solver. If you have to “sell” something, you’re either not talking to the right buyer or not understand the problem their trying to solve for.”
~Lauren Goldstein, CRO, Annuitas
Make sure to register to join us in SF on August 29th for our live event, featuring great career advice from Heidi Bullock, Laura Ramos, Sydney Sloan, and Tracy Eiler! And stay tuned for more great advice in this blog series in September.
