Kirby

Sales Representative

Acclaimed Answer

Burnt out. I need help.

I'm at the end of my rope. I can't keep doing these 10 and 12 hour days and working over the weekend.

I'm in a startup, literally doing the jobs of two people. The situation is a bit unique, but I'm basically both an AE and CSM, closing leads and implementing our solution over several weeks.

I've gained weight. My wife is upset with me. I haven't been able to read or meditate or do the things I like to do. And I'm genuinely considering taking some interviews for SDR roles just so I can breathe again.

When I asked our COO when leadership plans on hiring someone to help me with the workload, she said I should be able to handle both jobs and reminded me they're paying me well for it.

The money is good but not great for the amount I'm working. The main thing keeping me here is I hold a significant number of shares in the company. I own nearly 4% of the company. So if this is successful, I could make hundreds of thousands in a few years.

What do you all think? Did I get myself into a quasi-founder role and just can't handle the wearing multiple hats thing? or am I being fucked?

🏋️‍♀️ Leadership

🧢 Sales Management

20

40 comments

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Incognito

WR Officer

13

Master of Disaster

Hundreds of thousands in a few years? What about now?

Red flag #1 - expecting you to do 75(ish?) hour weeks every week and dismissing you when you say it’s draining is shit. They should at least let pretend to give a fuck.

Red flag #2 - the brass ring. Sure, 4% sounds great, but you should be paid NOW for your efforts (unless you know for sure this is some rocket ship and you have some control over the direction and flight path). How do you know they’re not gonna cheap out on something important in the future and accidentally self sabotage when they’re cheaping out on adequate staffing?

Talk to the COO. Tell them you’re burning out. What’s the cost of finding and training a replacement vs adding a team member to let the rocket ship soar?

braintank

Politicker

4

Enterprise Account Executive

100% on this.

Investing in team and their well-being is a good indicator of success. These people seem unwilling to do either.

sketchysales

Politicker

3

Sales Manager

Also, I would ask the question, is the 4% worth breaking the relationship with your wife if you just let this carry on?

Incognito

WR Officer

3

Master of Disaster

Counterpoint - personal relationships can have their own negotiations outside of work. If my partner didn’t support my ambitions 100%, we would not be a good match.

I would be willing to bet that it’s a symptom of burnout vs a reason in itself.

sketchysales

Politicker

1

Sales Manager

Dont disagree however if its the job thats causing the tension because of unreasonable expectations at work then thats the issue. Yes you need a relationship where its supportive of your ambitions absolutely but there's limits to everything and you have to draw a line somewhere.

@Kirby is this the new job since the one you quit earlier this year where you had issues?

SlinginSoftware

Politicker

2

Account Executive

Counter-Counterpoint: Supporting your partner is a lot different that sacrificing your relationship. If your idea of support is your partner giving 100% and you giving 0%, you won’t be a good match for anyone

Kirby

Politicker

0

Sales Representative

@sketchysales It's a new job. I've had 3 jobs this year, so I'm not eager to leave again.

And concerning the "is it worth straining your relationship" question, my wife is on board with my ambitions. I think Incognito is right, that it's more about me being burnt out and not able to have energy and presence when with my wife, not about the time commitment per se.

But regardless of how you slice the pie, I want my relationship with her to be healthy, and currently it's not.

Incognito

WR Officer

2

Master of Disaster

Again, you’re projecting your own notions of what “support” in a relationship means. That’s a very subjective word.

sketchysales

Politicker

1

Sales Manager

Fair enough @Kirby you are kind of between a rock and a hard place, i would be the same not wanting to move again plus its not going to look great on a CV to have a 4th move. I guess the deal here is hopefully your manager will see what their expectations are not sustainable. Im not sure what advice i can give really other than try have a honest and frank conversation with them, explain how you do care about your job and how you enjoy it but at the moment its becoming hard to keep on top of it and how its affecting your personal life. Maybe try document everything you do in a day that covers all different roles and maybe try explain how you will be more effective and the company better off if you had the support.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

3

Rolling 20's all day

I was going to write a comment but @Incognito really covered this well.
I would add that they must not be looking longterm if they are not giving their team what they need to be successful. This is saving pennies and losing a lot in the long run comparatively. Why not just hire a CSM for 50K who can provide even better 100% focused service to up retention?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Completely agree. Very well stated.

Kirby

Politicker

1

Sales Representative

@Incognito , thanks for the advice. You're right about both red flags, and I'm going to show her the math for how much time the two roles I'm doing actually take. Hopefully, without threatening to quit, I can get her to think about the cost of replacing me vs the cost of adding a team member.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

8

☕️

"So if this is successful..."

Take it from someone who gave themself ulcers and other health issues killing themselves for a potential future payoff: don't fucking do it. It's not worth it, especially if you don't see a clear exit plan.

Go to leadership and DEMAND, not ask for, DEMAND, additional headcount in 2022. You need someone to parter with you either on the AE or CSM side. There's no way to preserve longterm quality of life or work while you do both.

Once again, there is no use in killing yourself today in order to potentially get paid out later. I owned 10% of a company at one point, and I left. 2 months later they were bought and I lost out on a good chunk of change. Was I upset? For about a month. After that, I realized that when I got out and got back to a healthy relationship with work (and thus, life) I was much happier.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

6

🦊

No better advice than from someone who has been in your exact predicament before.

Incognito

WR Officer

6

Master of Disaster

And one of the WR GOATs for advice in general

CoorsKing

WR Officer

5

Retired King of the Coors Knights

All hail king Bean Boi. The greatest Knight of them all. The wealth of knowledge never ceases to amaze

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Excellent advice. Adding headcount to increase the bottom line + customer satisfaction AND avoid employee burnout should be a no-brainer.

Kirby

Politicker

3

Sales Representative

Thank you for this advice. I've already passed the health issues problem. I'm a naturally big guy and pretty tall, but I went from 280 lbs to 300 lbs to now 310 lbs. I can't fucking keep doing this.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

1

Rolling 20's all day

The other half of this argument. If you quit, how fucked are they? They should want to work with you to alleviate this before you implode and leave (assuming that's not happening already).

LordBusiness

Politicker

3

Chief Revenue Officer

1) if you own 4% it should mean more than "hundreds of thousands" 2) The market is crazy on fire right now, if you are miserable go find a well paying job that isn't.

braintank

Politicker

3

Enterprise Account Executive

Yeah... 4% = hundreds of thousands doesn't add up.

Also I'd be leery of a company that won't hire for critical roles (like implementing their software). If they're scrimping on important stuff they're going to have a difficult time scaling up.

And that reaction from your COO is shit. If you're burnt out and asking for help and their response is Don Draper: "that's what the money's for" then they don't seem to have your interest in mind.

@Kirbyare you confirmable sharing your OTE?

Kirby

Politicker

0

Sales Representative

I was estimating on the very conservative side. It could be 1 or 2 million when all is said and done.

@braintank My OTE is 150K. Considering that my closing experience before this was all B2C, and my B2B experience is all SDR work, I was thrilled.

braintank

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Remember, you're also doing 2-3 jobs: SDR, AE, CSM.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

From what you mentioned it seems that though you have fairly good equity, your company care a shit about mental health. Though they pay you well doesn't mean they will make you work like a machine because you're not one.

If I were you I would speak to my Manager again and tell him straight that I love my work but I don't expect to work 12*7 as I am a human. And I would show the value of adding new team members that would you help me pace up my work + get more top line.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

1

Account Executive

If you're seriously considering quitting, let me know and I can refer you. If you're confident on the phones and sound good, I'd be happy to. We're hiring for inbound SDRs and outbound BDRs. My company desperately needs decent BDRs. I'm on a team of 7 usually only 2-3 of us crush it. I know what it's like to wear multiple hats when I was at my old company.

We've got a pretty great W/L balance as well. SDR's base is 50-55 I think, but I'm sure you could get 65 bases if you came in as a BDR. We also raised a fat series B recently. As for wearing multiple hats, it's annoying cuz I'm here to make calls, set meeting and make money, nothing else.

Kirby

Politicker

0

Sales Representative

I appreciate that. What industry are you in, and what industry do you sell to?

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

1

Account Executive

In the event space. Currently in the number #2/3 spot in terms of competition.

We sell to essentially everyone who works with event platforms, in person, Virtual and Hybrid events. There's a lot of demand globally especially with the covid waves etc.

SaaSyBee

Politicker

1

Founder

That sounds like a lot. Not sure exactly what you're making, but if you're unhappy and it isn't sustainable, then it's not worth it. If you think you can hold out for a few years and you see those shares becoming valuable by then, it may be worth staying. But only if there's a clear end in sight.

Kirby

Politicker

0

Sales Representative

I need to become more involved in those conversations, so I can get a better feel for if/when there's an end in sight.

Jewcan_Sam81

Politicker

1

Account Executive

I'm really feeling this too, y'all. I'm kinda feeling like I'm out of gas and I can't get my tank filled up if you know what I mean. Not sure if I'm just on autopilot and bored, if it's the eyerolls caused by management, or just general personal life + professional life exhaustion.

Or perhaps it's all of that combined with the feeling of total and complete impending doom that I feel is closing upon Planet Earth as if the end of the world is happening in slow motion and I have no way to emotionally and mentally deal with it....

Maybe I'll just go drink some coffee and make some calls....

Kirby

Politicker

1

Sales Representative

I'm going to go grab a coffee too, mate

Jewcan_Sam81

Politicker

0

Account Executive

The immediate solution I think

MonthEndSpecial

Valued Contributor

1

Enterprise Account Executive

If you are not calling the shots, you do not deserve the stress. Period. I would demand that they hire a CSM (you will be more valuable as the Sales Rep, and harder to replace). Do a back of the napkin calculation for them of how much money they will lose in the 6 months it will take to train your TWO replacements.

GoldDigger

Fire Starter

1

Sales Rep

"She said I should be able to handle both jobs and reminded me they're paying me well for it." - This person does not care about or your well being. If they did care about you, they'd be scrambling to help you and keep you. The market is on fire. I just spoke to an SDR friend who got $80 base + $60 OTE for 50 hours a week.

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

1

MDR

Take it from someone who gave themself ulcers and other health issues killing themselves for a potential future payoff: don't fucking do it. It's not worth it, especially if you don't see a clear exit plan.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

1

ISR

Investing in team and their well-being is a good indicator of success. These people seem unwilling to do either.

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Tell them you are burnt out and you’re going to flame out.

Aftamath

Personal Narrative

0

CSO

If I may, what kind of product, service or solution are you selling? How long is the sales cycle, what is the AoV, where are you based?

The reason why I ask, is that I build sales teams for a living. As a small company specialising in working with Starts-ups, I am often in this situation where companies want to build their sales teams but do not necessarily have the funds to expand.

In these situations, if the company has incoming leads, an innovative SaaS based solution with a short sales cycle, my team and I are not adversed to undertaking commission only sales roles for a short period of time to help boost up the revenue.

After a few months, most companies do not like paying us our high commission only fees (50% of the contract value), so are usually quite happy to entertain conversations in regards to team building contracts.

As we take the risk for the organisations in the sense that we take on the employees and provide an outsourced service, there is no real risk to your company. In addition we offer all new customers a 3 month money back guarantee should we not pay for ourselves within this period.

caS2ie

Good Citizen

0

All things people

"So if this is successful, I could make hundreds of thousands in a few years."

That's not a lot for your time...

You should demand headcount and scope it out. Forecast the exponential amount of output the company could see with 1 additional headcount on your team, 2, 3 etc.

There is diminishing output and productivity the more burnt out you become and they need to understand that.

I've been tied to golden handcuffs before and it's not pleasant, especially if you're being overworked.

FaxMachine

0

Channel Account Manager

Ahh the Steve Jobs effect; I see this in a lot of startups where the C group act like fools. If you don't have a clear line of sight to greener pastures with the business, ask for it. Still can't see, bolt.

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