I’ve been wanting to share more about my background and how I operate (aka why I am the way I am 😂).
For context: before sales, I was in the Army. My job was route clearance in Iraq.
That meant keeping the roads free of IEDs so traffic — military and civilian — could move safely.
Five nights a week, 8–12 hours at a time, we crept down the road at 5–10 miles per hour. Speed was not your friend in that game, as you might imagine. 🙃
My primary role was protection, as the gunner for the truck. My secondary role was lookout.
That meant scanning trash piles. Disturbed earth. Parked cars. Anything that looked even slightly different than the last time we ran the route.
I rotated between thermal optic, night vision, and the lit-up stretch of ground in front of us. Just hoping to find the thing before it found us.
Ate a LOT of sunflower seeds to stay awake. Had plenty of “you had to be there” conversations in the truck.
But here’s the truth: route clearance demanded absolute accountability.
You didn’t get to skip steps. You didn’t get to be sloppy. Everyone took their role seriously, because lives depended on it.
Talk about “extreme ownership.” It was monotonous and terrifying all at once.
How it shaped me as a seller
Looking back, I realize that environment shaped the seller I’ve evolved into:
I do the prep.
I anticipate the threats.
I move deliberately through each milestone.
I use specialized tools and pull in the right teammates.
And I take full ownership, because accountability is not optional.
Now, I typically despise when people make war analogies in the business world.
To be clear, that’s not my intent.
Sales and war have nothing to do with each other. But from the standpoint of emotional impact, war has everything to do with how I sell. We’re all the sum of our experiences.
That’s how I think about selling today: not rushing a close, but guiding people through dangerous terrain of change so the path is clear for what comes next.
Not a technical seller
I’ll admit it: I’m not a great technical salesperson.
Fortunately, I don’t have to be. Because I focus more on navigating change effectively.
And sales is about change.
Every deal is a minefield of risks — budget freezes, procurement stalls, shifting priorities, executive turnover. Safely navigating those requires intentionality and diligence, not just clever talk tracks or feature knowledge.
The takeaway
So to the sales folks out there: you don’t need to buy another course or tack on the latest methodology.
In fact, you probably already have — right now within you — all the skills you need to succeed.
Just lean into who you are at your core. That’s your superpower.
One of my core values is Tenacity, and I define that as:
“Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”
That’s my superpower. What’s yours?