I can’t quite believe it …

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of my company Trinity.

Where has the time gone?

I vividly remember that first morning, waking up suddenly self-employed, having spent my entire career in the corporate world. My wife Shelley wished me luck, kissed me goodbye and headed off to work. And there I sat, at my little Ikea desk in our spare bedroom wondering what the hell I should do now!

I was scared witless, way out of my depth, unsure where to start, questioning my decision to throw in a great career in my mid-30’s, to pursue this vague notion of running my own race.

As I pause to reflect on this 10-year milestone, I thought I might share a few reflections from the road, for any cubicle escapees out there, plotting their own course to freedom.

  1. Your Network Is Your Net-Worth: Most of the new clients, warm leads and exciting projects that came my way, came from my network. My advice: Build strong lasting relationships, nurture them and they’ll help sustain you when you need them most.
  2. Redefine What Success Means for You: In my corporate days, I defined success narrowly. Over-achieve quota, maximise earnings potential, progress your career. Nowadays success for me includes time with family, working on interesting projects with interesting people, financial security and freedom to make my own decisions, providing challenging opportunities for my team, constantly learning and pushing my comfort zone, making an impact and I hope, building something lasting.
  3. Go An Inch Wide and A Mile Deep: When I first set up Trinity, if you’d asked me what I did, I would have said ‘Sales Training and Channel Management Advice” or something equally bland. Now I’d reply “We help B2B vendors better understand why they win and lose the deals they pitch for”. Become known for something, it makes you much more referable.
  4. Conquer Your Impostor Syndrome: So many times, I thought “I’m out of my depth here … I’m about to get found out … Any second now I’ll get the tap on the shoulder”. I’m happy to report the tap never came, although it still might!
  5. Find A Few Great Mentors
  6. Never stop learning and questioning
  7. Take responsibility for your own self-development
  8. Back your own ability, you’re more capable than you give yourself credit
  9. Great Content Starts Great Conversations
  10. Ask Yourself “What’s The Worst That Can Happen?”
  11. Avoid long lists of life lessons, you’ll run out of space!

Looking back, it’s hard to know where the time went, but it’s been one hell of a ride. Thank you to my wife Shelley McLoughlin for her unwavering support. To Andrew Powell for being my very first client all those years ago. And most importantly thanks to my amazing team, to all the wonderful clients, mentors and friends I’ve met across 5 continents. Too many names to mention for this post, but you know who you are and your friendship and support means the world to me!

Can’t wait to see what the next 10 years has in store!

Cian McLoughlin is the Amazon #1 bestselling author of Rebirth of the Salesman, a regular keynote speaker at sales kick-off’s around the world and one of the Top 50 Sales bloggers in the world for the past 2 years. He is a passionate proponent of an ethical, honest and authentic approach to sales. His company, Trinity Perspectives, is committed to helping sales organizations unlock the latent potential of their customers’ insights with their Win Loss Analysis and Sales Transformation services. To read more of Cian’s sales articles visit www.trinityperspectives.com.au/blog

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