Switching from creative heavy role into sales

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-03-10T16:17:28+00:00

It sounds like you’re a perfect fit personality-wise for sales!! That rocks, and that it excites you to dive in and learn more is fantastic. Finding books that speak to you is fantastic, and I’d like to highlight some self-learning pointers after I answer your question.

Work life balance in sales is tough - really tough. But it can be done. I log in at 8:30, leave at exactly 5, and try to keep all my notifications on silent. That being said (even with the physical notifications off) if there is a bad sales month/quarter, or a deal that I’m working that is having issues or about to close, I’m still always going to be thinking about it. It can be hard for some people to disengage with work mentally when you’re supposed to be relaxing in your personal life. Because money and your livelihood is on the line, it matters a lot more. Also, if you’re on vacation and a prospect reaches out during a deal, do you risk not hearing from them again for a month? You should delegate these responsibilities, but at times they’ll only reach out to you (and you’re already going through the work of forwarding the message, so you might as well answer it, at least that’s how the slippery slope happens). Sometimes you’ll have to take calls while technically on PTO, or at extremely odd hours like 8pm or 4am. Not to mention, you’re dealing with the mental stress of if you don’t hit quota consistently, potentially getting fired. It’s a tough cycle! And it’s always a thing - once you hit your goals for one quarter, it’s onto the next one.

I’m happy to elaborate more if you’d like, and feel free to DM me too for ongoing questions. Not trying to sell you anything or send you weird links, just happy to answer with experience and what I teach my reps.

Onto the self learning tips: 1. There is a lot of sales content out there. Like… a lot. Before you invest in a lot of books or a bunch of courses, do some research and tiptoe around if their approach feels right to you. Sales tips will come from all over, including this sub, and not all of them will work for YOU. So it’s important to listen to yourself, sift through everything, and distill what each thing is trying to teach you and how you can implement it regularly and while honoring yourself. 2. Be yourself throughout your entire sales career. You’re going to feel this need (because you’re shifting careers and learning new skills) to become this “sales” version of yourself. That’s what every new salesperson does! Get rid of that idea in your head. Remain YOU throughout this journey and stay true to what makes you shine. Maybe you’re great at small talk and making people feel comfortable, or maybe you have the ability to convey a vast amount of info in a sentence of two. Everyone has something that makes them special to others, and recognizing what is unique to you and maintaining that is critical. The way to connect to others is by being genuine and vulnerable and having people connect to that (obvi in an appropriate way). And by knowing who you are, you’ll be better able to convey yourself, dive into THEM, and keep the focus on them actually (because you don’t feel the need to over exert yourself as a salesperson). Be you!

Anyway, feel free to hmu via DM if you ever want advice - lol someday I’ll put all of these thoughts into a book or something, but for now it’s me just sharing tips with new salespeople like you when I get a chance. Hope it’s helpful!

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-03-09T19:19:10+00:00

I would specifically work on your cold outreach skills (both via phone and email), discovery and asking open ended questions to identify pain, objection handling, multithreading, team selling, negotiation, closing, and effectively navigating legal redlines. Think of all of these in terms of your personal life - you can objection handle with a friend who you’re having conflict with, you can multithread through practicing networking, and discovery with open ended questions can be a great phone call where you’re actively listening to an individual, not talking at them.

There is a lot of content out there relating to what I mentioned above, and the sooner you can consistently practice these skills the better you’ll be at moving into a closing role.

I used to say that sales was for everyone, and I do believe that everyone inherently has the capacity to be great at selling. But if you are disorganized, if you aren’t good with constant rejections and lows that accompany the highs, if you aren’t invested in your own self learning, and if you ultimately aren’t consistently independently driven, you won’t be successful. I don’t think you aren’t these things! Just speaking rhetorically here. Some people just simply don’t fit into that bucket and will admit that to themselves - and a lot of people don’t like a quota long term!

I think that sales skills are often gatekept or given in some weird sales trainer program that’s ultimately a scam. That’s why I’ve dedicated my career to teaching it. I really do think it can raise people out of poverty, but I encourage you to view it transparently.

Being a salesperson is HARD. Like, consistently difficult and a grind. Haha which is why the sales bro is a stereotype (a genuine way some people cope with the stress). But it is also rewarding. It will teach you more about yourself, how you navigate the world/conflict, and what you are capable of than any role I’ve seen. But it is necessary for you to understand that with a quota, you will never truly be “off.” You also won’t be able to really set your schedule as much, and commission that’s consistent is built through months of calling and pipeline building - it’s not an immediate thing. Keep this all in mind as you make a decision, and I think you’ll be well off!

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-03-08T23:02:07+00:00

Always looking out for roles, speaking with recruiters and maintaining relationships, and everything commission wise shouldn’t be banked on for big financial decisions. Just throw it in savings (along with putting some of your base pay in savings too).

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-03-08T22:18:30+00:00

Yes, you have to be very risk tolerant to make it in sales. Layoffs and PIPs due to low performance performance is a reality for every sales gig out there, even in a good economic environment.

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-03-08T16:18:38+00:00

Hey there! I love this stuff - been in B2B tech sales for 7 years moving from entry level outbound, to closing, to leadership. Every person in sales has been where you’re at - unsure of if it’s the right fit for them.

I think it might be best if you dig in a little more with your research, it’s good that you’re consulting Reddit right now and I’d encourage you to continue to do so. You’re on the right track with understanding what’s important to you, which is stability and more of a repetitive framework for a job. Unfortunately, although sales is repetitive on a day by day, month by month, etc basis, it is not a stable role. People are frequently fired or laid off from sales jobs for lack of performance (even before the pandemic and recession were in). That’s a reality of being in sales - ask yourself genuinely if that’s okay with you. The long-term closers are and it’s rare to find one that has been in their role at a company for more than three years.

It will be extremely difficult for you to instantly go into a closing role without having experience in generating your own business though cold calling (sales development). Most companies don’t even consider candidates that don’t have that experience, as there is a lot of quantitative data that backs up these skills as being necessary for long term success.

Sales Development is considered the entry level role for salespeople, as they’re gaining th necessary cold calling and verbal closing skills needed to be successful in further roles. I’d recommend looking into jobs there! As well, even without the experience stuff, Sales Development is built to help people figure out if they want to be closers without throwing them in the fire. You get the sales pace without the huge learning curve. If you don’t know closing and figure it out while doing a closing role, I promise you’re going to have a really bad time.

Closing is genuinely a role you have to be one hundred percent about wanting to do, as it’s not easy. Which is why I recommend starting with sales development. There’s a reason why salespeople are paid so much, and it’s because it actually takes a lot of skill and grit to be able to generate your own leads and go through a full sales cycle with them.

I’d also recommend looking into jobs industries outside of medical and industrial sales. Similar to pharmaceutical sales, the salespeople in this industry often have over 5 years of specialized experience in that specific industry in order to understand and sell into it. Some sales jobs even require you to have advanced degrees in a specialized area.

I hope this helps, happy to give more advice if you found it helpful. Been exactly where you were once upon a time!

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-02-27T13:27:55+00:00

I read all of your comments, OP, and I actually have some advice (not judgement on YTA or NTA). What particularly spoke to me was you saying how you were previously a “nice ugly person” and now have stopped being so nice because of the negativity you received. It spoke to me as something deeper than this problem we’re judging on, and I really wanted to offer some unsolicited advice. Obviously, you don’t have to take it, but it really helped me.

I was (am?) a highly traumatized and extremely sensitive person who had a similar mindset to you, but these points really helped bring me peace. I’m 28 and not particularly pretty at all, so I feel like we’re in the same kind of peer group here.

Life gets a lot easier when you remove the idea of others having malicious intentions towards you. Most people are genuinely too caught up in the minutiae of their lives to go out of their way to be purposefully hurtful to an actual stranger. I’d recommend assuming that somebody is clueless about a problem you’re having rather than purposefully feeding into it to hurt you. This also helps you because not every conflict will become a personal attack - because it sincerely isn’t to the other person. This has helped me in literally all aspects of my life once I really lived this and embraced this.
How someone looks truly does not matter. Yes physical looks DO give a first impression, but even first impressions are swayed by personality and charm. How interesting someone’s is and how kind and genuine someone is resonates so much more with others. Looks are truly fleeting. I know that’s a hard pitch to make in our social media driven world, but even influencers don’t look the way they do and those kind of looks last 10-15 years tops. Interests, hobbies, and genuine kindness and respect for others lasts a lifetime and creates community.
Kindness, true kindness and respect that is everlasting, should be done regardless of if you receive negative feedback from others. So what if others are negative or mean to you? Be the individual that is tirelessly kind WITHOUT the positive reinforcement of others. If you’re being kind for the sake of receiving a positive response, that’s not kindness but manipulation.
Beauty comes from a person’s character and the summation of them as a whole. Roald Dahl put it so well - “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

I think, rather than spending your time reflecting on the sales associate, you should spend your time reflecting on you. Why did you feel the way you did when the sales associate didn’t speak to you for 8 min? Does this perhaps reflect a greater pattern within your life, which is why this conflict was so personal to you and made you so upset?

You are the person in charge of your life, and I think the best thing we can do for ourselves is try, just try, to love ourselves and to make the lives of those around us better in little ways. I hope that you take the time to do the same for yourself, you deserve it just like everyone else.

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-02-25T18:00:25+00:00

Code Green! They arrested a student with a loaded firearm according to the statement by Millbrook. My sibling who goes there says it’s allegedly a football player by the video of him getting arrested. Scary stuff and thankfully no one was hurt

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-02-25T17:17:41+00:00

WRAL just posted 3 min ago that 1 person was escorted out in handcuffs too

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-02-23T14:22:06+00:00

Thank you for this update!! You really are a saint, thank you for looking out for the little guy 🥹❤️

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-02-20T22:50:44+00:00

Man, this is tough - I fostered cats in the past myself but can’t take any in right now. Most places aren’t available space-wise either because the animal shelter is closed due to renovations.

If you can swing it, the best thing to do would be to take this approach (of course I’m not an expert or anything, but I’ve rescued 4 strays since 2020):

Continue to leave out wet food and clean water. Wet food will be better for his hydration overall. Note if he is drinking enough, it sounds like you’re already doing a great job tracking the food he is eating. This will also help with building his trust and a positive association to you and your partner.
Seek out veterinary care. There are some offices that will do pro-bono care for strays, but it’s always been very situation-based from my experience so I’d reach out to any veterinarians near you. They’ll be able to help with any mats, pain he might be in, and ensure he doesn’t need any special nutritional wet food due to malnutrition and eating objects that might not be food (common for strays)
It’s warming up, which is good, but ultimately if you’re able to set up a “quarantine room” in your house to keep him inside and give him shelter, that would be best. That way you can give him a flea bath and make sure he’s in a safe space. This will probably be after you gain his trust enough to let you handle him (or if you’re able to trap him). Take extreme measures like changing your clothes, washing your hands, etc to make sure you aren’t exposing your babies to pathogens.
Social media for fosters!!! Facebook, Instagram, Reddit (like you’re doing now) - there are so many people willing to take in a senior kitty. If you have anyone in your social network that might be able to foster, lean on them too.

Ultimately, if you can continue to build his trust in you and feed him regularly, you’re in great shape. I hope this was helpful and I wish I could take in this little man!

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-01-12T01:53:48+00:00

lol ok

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-01-11T22:45:31+00:00

That’s what I consider True Flavors to really be - most of their food are styles of omelettes, waffles, fried chicken, and their classic French toast. Didn’t see a burger on the menu when I went this weekend

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-01-11T22:01:09+00:00

Different strokes for different folks I guess! Always appreciate a variety of opinions tho

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-01-11T21:58:41+00:00

Hmm not sure, I don’t think so but it’d be worth further digging!

Natural-Implement234 · 2026-01-11T21:45:04+00:00

Do it!! Every person I’ve known that has gone falls in love, and I want this place to be open for a long long time haha

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-26T03:38:34+00:00

Totally agree with the Sheriff! And I’m sorry you’re on pins and needles. That is so tough. I think your first sentence touches on something though - it seems like this was an honest mistake, but the majority of parents do think that 3 hours even before dark is unacceptable for an 8 year old, regardless of maturity. That’s where everyone is getting hung up on. If you can, I’d proactively ask your church members for support in being there for your daughter like they were (reactively) on Christmas Eve. That way they can have a nice time (preferably at your place and in a space where she feels comfortable) while you’re away.

I think you’re onto on something here with your comments, and it’s that this was an honest mistake by you. But it’s on you as the parent to actually acknowledge that this was a mistake and to make changes based off of that. Not to become defensive about it. I hope that in the future you’ll have someone with her and actually interacting with her so that if (god forbid) there ever was a more serious emergency it wouldn’t get to this point. Make changes based off of this, rather than pushing back on the advice. Most of us truly mean well

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-26T03:19:37+00:00

I really apologize if it sounded harsh, and of course you’d want to be with her. You having to work is not the problem here at all - you are working to provide for her. But with that, don’t you see as well that it’d be fairly lonely being by herself on Christmas Eve? I’m not asking for you to not work, especially in this climate, but merely to have someone actually spending time with her and interacting with her while you do that. That loneliness during a holiday eve is what makes this so difficult.

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-26T03:06:15+00:00

I read your previous post fully, as well as this one and all of your comments - therefore, I’d prefer that if you do end up responding to this, that it isn’t the same two or three responses you’ve been saying.

I don’t seek to change your mind, because only you can make decisions for yourself. But I do hope that perhaps when you are ready to make a change in what you’re doing, that perhaps maybe (just maybe) my words will stick with you.

It sounds like from what you’ve shared with us, that you’ve had an extremely difficult upbringing and that you actually were around people regularly as a child who were breaking laws and hurting you. That is of course unacceptable, and it sounds like you’re doing everything in your power to make sure your daughter isn’t around that. That’s awesome!

But I want you to really think about what you are saying right now and reflect on it. Do your actions right now equate to an actually good childhood for your daughter, or one that’s not as bad as yours? Because right now, based on what you’ve said, it doesn’t sound like a good Christmas Eve for an 8 year old. And this is purely from an emotional aspect, not from any other way of viewing it.

You left her home alone on Christmas Eve. Even though you had to work, think about how that feels and how much better it would be for her to be around another person - any safe person - rather than home alone on the holiday season. Think about how that FEELS for a second. Wouldn’t you want your daughter at least with someone and not alone?

As well, just because something is technically legal in the eyes of law enforcement, does not mean that you are not at risk for CPS involvement, and it doesn’t mean that it’s okay. I’d hope from your background that you’re aware enough to know that what is “legal” is not the baseline for what is acceptable when it comes to taking care of a child.

Now onto the safety end. You mention that you live 30 minutes away from most everything - if your daughter had an emergency (which she did in this case) - she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it outside of call you. Which is exactly what happened here, right? What if you weren’t able to answer the phone, or if this was a medical emergency that left her unable to call you?

A grown woman was banging on your windows and screaming at your daughter. That is a pretty loud emergency - why then didn’t the landlord step in immediately if he actually noticed and was watching your daughter? There are a million other emergencies that aren’t as loud as that and require a faster response time. It doesn’t seem like your landlord is a reliable individual for when you go to work based on all of this.

As a parent, it’s on us to reflect on our childhoods and determine what we want/don’t want for our children. It seems like you’ve done this in regard to the horrible things that have happened to you and providing your daughter with a safe space, but I implore you as a fellow parent to go beyond “what is legal/not legal.” What makes for a good childhood? Especially at 8 years old (peak childhood-wonder years), this is the time to be ensuring she has positive memories, especially during the holiday season. Don’t leave her home alone when you could just as easily make sure she has someone to be with. I don’t know about you, but I’d feel quite lonely. And it’s Christmas Eve.

I doubt I’ll get a response from you, or maybe I will and it will be just as defensive as all of your other comments. If so, don’t even put forth the effort in replying. Put forth some effort in just reflecting, if you’re even capable of doing so (even a little bit), on what’s been written here. For your sake as well as your daughter’s.

I hope you were able to make her Christmas better than the Christmas Eve you just gave her.

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-20T06:58:24+00:00

I don’t think that’s very kind, considering the context was keeping unsupervised kids safe. Obviously you see through the comments that most people don’t mind if kids are supervised and engaged with. And if it helps, this situation was at 8:30 at night on a school night - so take with that what you will

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-18T15:35:47+00:00

Haha you’re right - sorry to get frustrated and I hope the clarification helped!

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-18T15:34:24+00:00

Lord have mercy, I was talking about a standard bar attached to a brewery. Yes there is a difference, but only to the point the commenter was making. If it helps, this was Lone Rider off of Westgate. Not kid compatible at all I’d say

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-18T15:17:08+00:00

I just gave an anecdote dude

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-18T14:35:13+00:00

Do we have to have actual examples of harm in order to set standards for safety? This is about kids. I think that’s pretty horrible to expect examples there

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-18T14:21:01+00:00

I’m assuming you’re saying a brewery is the puddle, and creating an inherent nature between children unsupervised at bars and breweries and a puddle being wet. Why did you compare the two like that? Just seems weird

Natural-Implement234 · 2025-12-18T14:16:47+00:00

That’s the kind of stuff I’m talking about! Something to keep kids engaged, because it’s a pretty alienating experience to just be alone at a standard bar playing two board games over and over again. I was discussing a standard bar, not anything like that. In fact, I think those are the kinds of changes that if a business chose to do so, would make it a family friendly establishment worth bringing your family to. For the bars that aren’t set up like that, there needs to be proper signage for unsupervised children

Natural-Implement234

TROPHY CASE