The One Reason Why Happiness at Work Matters More Than You Think

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking… “You’re too young to be burnt out”, “Wait until you’re 40, 50 or 60, kid”. You’re right, and that’s okay. I’ll be the first to admit that I shouldn’t have been feeling that way. There are so many of you out there going through so much more than me. I empathize with you. As you’re reading this, start internalizing your feelings and think back to a time when you were energized by your career.  When you were excited to sit down at your computer, or when you looked forward to going into the office.

It took me a few weeks to realize I had these feelings after joining Sumtotal in September of this year. Obviously, I was over-the-moon excited about joining the organization, but it’s hard to reflect about a job change when you need to go through onboarding right away. “Drinking through a firehose” is the first experience you receive when you join any organization. Introductions, meetings, getting into the software… all keep you feeling overwhelmed. It wasn’t until my wife and I were reflecting on the big job and life changes we’ve had over the past year or so to realize that I was in a rut.

This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the companies and people I worked with over the past two years. I enjoyed them very much. This is something different… something better. The challenge! The tasks to achieve success in enterprise sales. The types of conversations I’m having internally and externally with customers and prospects. The magnitude of knowledge I have access to as an employee and by talking with my colleagues is outstanding. I’m continuously pinching myself, thanking the man upstairs, and counting my blessings.

Here’s the part where I share with you a little information about the leadership I report to. Yes… I’m well aware they could read this. No, this isn’t my attempt to suck up or be a brownnoser. This is where you put yourself in my shoes and think about your immediate leadership. Reflect on what they do, what they don’t do and decide if you’re in the best possible position to achieve your goals. Also, if they read this; good! Everybody needs praise and reminded that they’re doing something that not a lot of people like doing; leading teams and motivating people.

It takes grit to run a team of sales professionals! Not only are they response for individuals, they’re responsible for those individuals’ quotas. You thought ‘carrying a bag’ was difficult, try carrying seven of them… try carrying 60 of them. On top of their daily job, they’ve got to manage these people, make sure they’re doing their jobs, helping them when they can, and report their wins/losses to someone else. And guess what… if something falls through the cracks, who’s ultimately responsible?

These folks I’ve been working with, do it all with grace! Sales management, training, support, legal and services… There’s no issue that can’t be resolved together. It doesn’t matter the job title or seniority of these individuals; they’re all happy to help. I’ve truly been amazed at the conversations I’ve been included throughout my short tenure.

Great Jordan… What’s your point? What does this mean for me… Great question! I’ve been reminded of what it’s like to be on a team. A team that cares. A team that motivates. A team that’s willing to join the battle and fight with you, and a team that’s willing to give its’ all even if we fail. That, right there, is why I’ve been reenergized. I’m challenged everyday and I have the support of a team that will back me up. I don’t spend Sunday nights dreading the next morning.

So… If there is ONE thing you can take away from reading this piece, I would challenge you, to ask yourself, “Are you fulfilled in your career?” That’s a loaded question, obviously. But it’s a good start. That will get the ball rolling. That will challenge you to begin re-working your goals. That will help you take the first step towards finding happiness in your work.

As I re-begin this journey to produce content, you can stay up to speed on the topics I’ll be covering on LinkedIn and my personal website www.JordanBarta.com. Topics included are; sales, social selling, motivation, goal setting and overall positive attitude. If you took away something from this article, please share that with me in the comments below. And do your network a favor by sharing, liking and commenting on this! You never know what impact you’ll have on someone else’s life!

Thanks!

30-60-90 Day Business Plan

Wow – I recently got a bunch of folks online asking for a sample of my 30-60-90 day format. So, as promised, here it is. FIRST and FOREMOST, read through the entire thing, take what you like, remove what you don’t and MAKE IT YOUR OWN… specific for the job! I think this can be used for SDR’s, AM’s, sales folks and every customer success. Include #’s and metrics too.


Business Plan: 30/60/90 Day SAMPLE

First Month:

  • Successfully complete onboarding
  • Learn internal landscape (sales, support etc)
  • Learn ‘Company Name software’
  • Obtain access to Salesforce (CRM) and run reports so I have a clear understanding of what data is available
  • Determine which accounts are coming up for renewal and which accounts can be sold additional solutions/features
  • Dive into ‘software being offered by the team’ and begin updating contact information
  • Interview and survey current SDR/AM/AE/sales people to determine what makes a SDR/AM/AE/sales people successful
  • Determine ‘the perfect’ day and ‘the perfect’ week (Prospecting, scheduling meetings and emails)
  • Read and study customer testimonials to leverage for future use
  • Obtain/create talk tracks for new business and current clients

 

Second Month:

  • Identify the top influential decision makers within accounts to prospect into
  • Connect with all clients and establish a partnership
  • Identify high value external networking groups to join
  • Determine which clients have mutual contacts within my network and determine how to leverage them
  • Determine which clients can be references
  • Leverage personal network to create mutual partnerships
  • Continue approaching accounts which can be sold for additional revenue
  • Create auto-drip email campaigns; current clients and for prospecting
  • Update create/execute weekly tasks

 

Third Month:

  • Continue to learn more about the product offering
  • Be comfortable enough to give a demonstration
  • Beginning writing posts on human capital management which will be shared and sent to clients/prospects
  • Expand my network leveraging LinkedIn to create additional mutual connections
  • Continue approaching accounts which can be sold for additional solutions
  • Continue prospecting and scheduling meetings

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask or comment. Also, share if you find valuable!

 

Thanks!

Jordan

Why I Eat The Same Breakfast Everyday And You Should Too

This relates to routine, efficiency and cost effectiveness… all things that directly relate to how any professional should utilize their day! I eat two pieces of bacon and two hard boiled eggs at 9 a.m. +/- 10 minutes. I wake up anywhere from 5:15am to 6am to begin my day and I have a cup of coffee. By eating the same thing at the same time everyday, I know EXACTLY when I’ll be hungry for lunch and it’s one less decision I have to make in the morning. My stomach doesn’t growl, I don’t get cravings for snacks and it costs me roughly $1.08 per breakfast.

Preparation: In The Office & In The Kitchen

Just like how some professionals prepare for their day in advance; ie: who they call and what meetings they have, I prepare the weeks breakfast on Sunday. I can hard boil the eggs and bake the bacon at the same time. This might seem like over killer or insane, but I save so much time every morning not having to make a decision about breakfast. One less decision to make allows me to focus on the other choices the day will present. Why do you think Zuckerberg and Jobs wore the same thing everyday…?

Also, from a cost saving strategy, I save a lot of money! I don’t get cravings, I don’t go to Starbucks and I don’t get any type of food crash. By preparing my breakfast prior to week, I can focus on the job at hand. Eating on the go is also very easy…. AND who doesn’t love bacon?

Routine: Every week

We all develop some type of routines in our lives because it’s a sense of security. I like finding a routine and then making it better and more efficient. While I prospect for new business, I have a routine that I go through every day. I will add or remove steps to increase efficiency. Same goes for how you prepare yourself for the week. I am conscious about my health and maximizing how much effort I put forth during the day. In order the maximize out put, I need to maximize input.

I don’t stop working to eat breakfast and I rarely stop working to take lunch. I eat right through it… why? because why waste an hour during the day when you can be focusing on your goals & dreams? Nobody ever got anywhere by taking a long lunch or spending time in the cafeteria hanging out. It might seem excessive but it works for me and I love it.

Money…

We all want to retire and we all want to go on nice vacations… all the time. By minimizing the amount of money I spend on food, but maximizing the nutritional value, it’s a win/win. It’s the athlete in me thinking about consuming food based on nutritional value. I know exactly when I’ll be hungry after my 3 minute and $1.08 breakfast. Because I’m in sales, there are a lot of moving parts. Prospecting, clients, management meetings.. etc. If I have to worry about all of those things and then I need to figure out when I can eat, I might go mad.

The beautiful part of having a simple routine like this is that it allows me to focus on other things. It also helps keep my other routines moving smoothly. It might seem silly to you, which is fine, but I can guarantee that this small routine has done wonders for me and I know it can do wonders for you.

If you want, lets talk about how a small routine can help you. I can even share with you my cooking routine! I also cook my lunch while I cook my bacon and eggs. A few years back, I ate oatmeal and a scoop of protein… it also worked very well for nutritional value.

Side note: I consume a keto diet; high fat, low carb. My test results for my cholesterol and blood are near perfect.

Start small! Let me know your thoughts 🙂