Date: 1 August 2023.
At this point I have tried all there is in the world of "making money online". From freelancing as a web developer (till date the most profitable, made INR 70,000 in one and a half year), affiliate marketing in ClickBank, blogging, starting an SMMA, and what not. (this blog/note that you are reading is not another attempt at making money. These are notes to myself. If someone benefits from them then great!)
With a frustrated mind full of anxiety I come across a video from this guy called Jacob Hopkins. He's telling his story of how he had tried so many businesses but nothing worked. I instantly connected. Turns out he has a millionaire neighbour (Alex Hormozi), who advised him to learn a skill, preferrably sales by working at a full time position in one of his companies called Gym Launch. Soon Jacob becomes the best performer and now is a skilled salesman looking to open his sales training agency.
Seems like a good advice. Get paid to learn. I binge watch Alex's youtube channel. Some things I learned:
1) Volume negates luck. Do something so many times that it's unreasonable to suck at it.
2) Work for someone and get paid to learn. Doing a job is not a bad thing. You have to start somewhere to go somewhere. It's crazy what these people have put in our minds, things like "Escape the matrix"!
3) Once you have a job and once you're good at it, start a side hustle. Do that for as long as you match your income and then sustain that for 6 months before going full time.
Following his advice I start applying at jobs for a sales development rep. I had some prior experience cold calling for my SMMA and interning with a company, CupShup.
I get my first interview at a US based AI SaaS startup, called Leadbeam.
And I get the job! I was on the 7th heaven. It was a commission based job. More than money I wanted to learn so I grabbed the opportunity.
Date: 16th August, 2023.
After waiting for 15 days for them to complete their BETA version I start ringing the phone (mind you I am the main guy doing the phone calls). And BOOM! I land two meetings in the first week!
I couldn't accept the fact that life was going so smooth. Life said, "Oh! you don't like it easy! Take this then!"
Turns out the software wasn't ready so the founder says to wait and we did not onboard the new customers. Very dissapointing!
Date: September 6th, 2023.
It's been more than a month. The founder says we need to go the investor route so they're looking for a funding. In the mean time I decide to look for better opportunities.
Some questions I need to answer for myself:
1) Is it good to work for a startup? What to look in a company before joining?
Yes and No. If the start-up has a big team and a decent number of employees and they are funded then, just go for it! Because if they are funded, they will pay you, and if they pay you they will force you to work harder and you'll grow.
If the team is small (less than 5), and not funded then you have to look at another factor. Is the founder ambitious? Does he give you work? Does he put pressure for results? Is he a quick decision maker? Does he do stuff quickly? If not then it's not a good fit because you'll not grow!
Learnings:
1) Look for a start-up who are funded and has a big team (10 plus).
2) If you come across a commission based opportunity (because usually they'll have a small team and not much funds to hire you full time), then look at the founder. Is he ambitious? If they do not match your ambition, they are not a hustler, then do not work for them!
So, all in all joining a start-up was not a mistake!
I learned what to look at, the next time I look for a job. Also got some exp and confidence that i can get appointments!