Have you had a wake up call lately?

I received a phone call eight years ago that changed everything for me. It was my boss calling to tell me that I was being fired from an account.

I wasn’t losing my job but I was losing an account that made up 70% of my book of business.

In sales, this is never a good thing.

Three months later, I received another call. This time it was an executive at another account. He told me they were moving their business to a competitor.

My career was on life support. Not good with a wife and three kiddos at home.

Have you ever been punched in the face and told you weren’t as good as you thought you were?

That’s what happened to me. And, it was the exact thing I needed to reinvent myself and my career. A wake up call.

Thankfully, we had parameters in the contract with that client and it bought us some time. Have you ever had your boss or CEO call you on a Saturday morning? I had my boss and boss’s boss and our CEO all call me to figure out how we were going to navigate this. It was a hard process.

We eventually earned the right to keep the business. The process, the bounce back, led me on an introspective soul-searching journey. Not just business-wise but personally as well.

I was fortunate to keep my job and find a different way to operate.

Looking back, I was selfish. I had some success at times but it was a selfish endeavor. It was about me and making money.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against earning a living and making money. But, I learned that a paradigm shift in thinking was needed for me to reach my potential.

I shifted to a “how can I add value” mindset. Serve first was my approach. It opened up my mind and heart to the importance of giving first and to the art of truly listening.

After a few years of harnessing the power of this servant approach, I found myself building trusted partnerships and deep friendships. My book of business grew as a lagging indicator of that. I was blown away by the results and I was excited that I was going about it the right way. And, there were many people that helped me get there. The power of a team approach is important.

I’m now super fortunate to lead one of our sales and account teams. I get to build into my team and our customers. And, I get to teach these lessons and learn from some inspiring leaders along the way.

My aim is to pull back the curtain on the challenges that I’ve faced and the road back. I’ve done a lot of personal reflection, writing, praying and learning through these last eight years. I’ve interviewed over 100 thought leaders, business executives, sales reps/leaders and coaches.

I want to build into you a meaningful way.

I’ve created a framework that has helped me immensely and I’ve leveraged to help others. It’s a fundament way of thinking that I use on a daily basis as I try to serve and add value to my family, friends, colleagues, clients, etc.

I call it the Intention Flywheel. I had a gap between where I was and where I wanted to be eight years ago. We all want to do great things and be respected don’t we? And, we want to feel great about the way we’re doing it.

How do you feel? Are you content with the way you’re going about your work and life? If so, keep going. And keep finding more ways to serve and add value to others.

If not, that’s okay. That realization is exactly what you might need to start moving toward your potential. Those calls eight years ago were the realization I needed to evolve.

Here’s a peak at the first component of the flywheel – Awareness. It all starts with understanding who you are, what you stand for and what you believe. It’s also important to know what’s holding you back. I had blind spots I wasn’t aware of back then. Do you have any blind spots now? (Hint: if you’re human, you do ; ). We’ll unpack how to uncover these blindspots as we go.

I’m looking forward to sharing this with you in the coming weeks and diving deeper.

Thanks for being a part of this tribe. Simply by showing up and subscribing to newsletters like this, you’ve shown a commitment to getting better. And, that’s an important thing.

I know time is precious and I appreciate your time greatly.

Have a great rest of the week!

With Intention,

Jon