Christopher J. Fritz profile picture
Christopher J. Fritz profile picture

Christopher J. Fritz

Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant at Empire Launch

Moving to Austin. Want to break into entry-level sales.

Trying to pivot from self-employment to entry sales. Currently in FL, moving to Austin, TX this year. 

I want to start at the bottom -- ideally in-person, high-volume cold calling -- selling something that's actually worth buying. The most I've ever made in a year is $38k as a supply chain analyst, and my average year is probably closer to $20k, so as far as salary goes, I'm easy to please. 

The reasons I want to break into sales are:

- I want to build the skill so I can have it for the rest of my life. 
- I want to be part of a team because I'm tired of flying solo with no peers or mentors. 
- It's the part of entrepreneurship I enjoy the most, but do the least, since I've had to personally fulfill EVERYTHING I've ever sold. 

For the last few years, I’ve been working day jobs (stocking shelves and bussing tables mostly) while doing freelance marketing on the side. 

In 2023, for the first time, I made more money from self-employment than from my day jobs, all as a result of studying sales. (I made $15k from W2 work and $20k from self employment last year — just $3k short of the most money I’ve made any year, ever).

What started working for me was: social selling on LI (posting frequently for top-of-mind and engaging with SMB owners who are active on LI) -> warm LI outreach, -> ~2 month sales cycle with Loom videos, multiple strategy calls, and strategic follow up (usually to share relevant 3rd-party resources, since I haven’t had time to create my own). 

Problem is, like I stated earlier, every time I sell a project, I then spend 3+ months working on someone else's business full-time (instead of my own), so I only get to spend a few hours per month selling (usually less). 

I tried to pivot into an agency structure because I was bogged down in fulfillment and wanted to spend more time selling, but hiring and training took up even MORE time, and I was hemorrhaging money on freelancers who couldn’t operate on my level, so I've decided the best solution is to actually go into sales, because I don't want to do marketing anymore -- I want to hunt opportunities, build relationships, and sell a product or service that I don't have to personally fulfill so I can spend my free time writing fiction and going back to school (I'm a huge nerd -- want to get two more Bachelor's Degrees for fun: philosophy and psychology). 

My challenge is the typical "entry level" obstacle course I have to navigate since I have no W2 sales experience. (I went into freelancing because I thought it would solve my experience gap, only to find out most employers don't see self-employment as valid, so I'm still fucked.)

I have transferable skills and experience from 5 years of self-employment -- 2 years as a working musician and handyman, 3 years as a freelance digital marketing specialist. I can tank rejection, ridicule, and failure, I can perform under pressure, and I'm a highly organized / productive person. 

I've used Salesforce, Apollo, and Sales Nav -- and I've even sold / implemented them for some of my customers and students. I also have experience under the hood with dozens of other SaaS tools, so my learning curve on most SaaS products wouldn't be as steep as most beginners (though I'm not dead-set on tech sales). 

I paid for some "break into sales" courses and communities (from some of the influencers y’all dunk on here), but they didn't really help. Also, I can't create an account on RepVue because I don't have a current sales job.  

So, here's my request:

I'd like to connect with some people here to help me workshop my resume / cover letter for a handful of entry-level opportunities I've found. 

Now that DMs are a thing here, I figure this will be WAY easier than it was 18 months ago when I first signed up. 

If you're open to review my docs and maybe jump on a call, lmk. Hoping to find some friends / mentors. 

In the meantime, this is my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christhefritz/

I post pretty frequently about stuff related to my business, my personal studies, and my life, which I know a lot of people here don’t like, but for those of you who don’t mind it, I’d love to connect. 

Cheers, savages, and thanks. 🙏 

🎯 Career Development
🚀 Career Goals
🎈 Mentorship
7

16 comments

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pirate
Big Shot
2
🦜☠️ Account Executive
Hi Chris,Welcome in! Most of us stay anonymous on this platform and that adds to the value because people can give you more advice without their companies coming after them for it...Few things:- Savages here can help build your CV (most people redact all companies and personal info and then post it here as picture). Looking at your CV now. It misses a lot of metrics and achievements. Only your last role has it. You are musician... great...maybe not that relevant to hiring managers... Unless again you add numbers and gig performance and how well you can promote yourself- You say you want to be in entry level sales but then you are also saying that you are working on someone elses business then. Like it does not sound like you want to work for someone else? Or perhaps I am misreading this- Skills... you say you know Apollo, Salesforce etc. Your LinkedIn profile says it is office, fundraising, facebook, SEO, music. So everything but what they would look for you to be BDR or SDR- Your reasons for going into the sales... I would not buy it or hire you. You want to use the company and do something else. Which is fine but do not say that. More like: you are hungry, you like selling, you want to learn, you want to be successful, you want to sell with a team - A lot of people do not see self employment valid because usually it is like... oh I was a musician but never had any gigs and never got any audience and my company was realistically a part time job etc.
So I would maybe start by addressing the above :) And figuring out if it is sales you want or maybe you just need co-founders for your business or even see if you can hire someone to help you out. Just based on your profile and experience, I am not sure if you want to sell for a corporate like company that would take all your time and energy.
pirate
Big Shot
1
🦜☠️ Account Executive
Formatting seems to have died :D
1
Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant
I want to sell full-time, and unfortunately I can’t do that for my own business, so that means working for someone else.

I have no problem punching a clock. I only started my own business so I could get experience.

My typical workweek is about 60 hours. I work pretty much every day. I’d love to work a little less (maybe 40-50 hours), be part of a team, have some mentors.

I’d happily work for one company for the next several years if they paid me at least $50k. I’ve just always had to have side hustles to pay the bills.

My long term life goals are to write and publish books and music, and it’s hard to do that AND run a startup full time. So I’d rather kill the startup and pursue my hobbies without having pressure to monetize.

I don’t really care about SELLING music / books / etc. I just want to do the creative work, get it into the world. Those are my hobbies.

I figure the best way for me to have the lifestyle I want — earning $50k+ with 1-2 days a week off to do stuff I like — is to get a 9-5 that I vibe with.

If no one is willing to let me rip 100 dials and get yelled at every day, when I’m eager to do exactly that, I’ll just go work at Whole Foods.
popejuatpaul
Executive
1
Sales
MemoryBlue has an office in Austin- they match entry level/ career changers with tech companies but they train you in-person and have you fully on-site the first 6 months. People get hired out by their clients all the time. There is an element of luck of getting a good client. Typical multichannel BDR stuff. It’s 100 dials a day though. People are typically out the door from 3-4 pm.
1
Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant
I just saw them pop up in my feed and was planning to apply thanks for the highlight
braintank
Politicker
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Why are you moving?
1
Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant
Aiming to do some schooling. Also I’m into a lot of creative pursuits (podcasting, music, writing) and Austin is packed with opportunity — and only bound to get better — for people like me.

The way I see it, my best bet is to tightly target a few orgs (probably in Austin), connect with people on the sales team who are local, then tailor my approach based on their suggestions and get them to champion me internally before I even send my shit in to the ATS.

I’m not desperate for work. I just know I can do the work, and I’m willing to start at the bottom.

Worst case scenario I’ll work at Whole Foods. They pay more than any of the jobs I’ve had the last couple years, lol. Then I can just keep freelancing and playing music on the side, probably pull a combined 50k.

Would have to say “fuck it” to school in that case, but if that’s how it shakes out, it’s cool.
braintank
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
Austin (and moving) is also very expensive
pirate
Big Shot
0
🦜☠️ Account Executive
To do his phd
braintank
Politicker
0
Enterprise Account Executive
missed that
Chris are you already enrolled in school?
0
Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant
Not yet. Been out of school for several years, so I’m going to grab a few more BA degrees (part-time, 1-2 classes at a time), bring my GPA up a bit and get some recommendation letters.

It’ll be probably 5 years before I can start PhD, but I’m intending to take undergrad classes in Fall.
waterjugsales
Politicker
0
Account Executive @ Funemployed
You have something good with your business, you just need to figure out how to better deliver the results without investing a shit ton of time.

That’s why as a sales person selling GTM enablement often times leads people to basically just becoming a sales/marketing contractor on an hour to hour salary all over again so basically an employee.


I wouldn’t honestly quit on your business, you just need to repackage your offer so you aren’t like all of the other commodity sales mercenary consultants that are out there.

That’s why often sales people I’ve seen build great businesses solely focus on building their own GTM and leave service delivery to others
0
Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant
Yeah I want to nurture it on the side and niche down to the music industry: indie labels, recording studios, booking agents, venues, and touring musicians.

My offer is pretty solid: revops consulting OR fractional revops leadership. I’ve figured out my pricing and service packages and I know my sales cycle (~2 months).

But it’s going to be SEVERAL years (3-5) before I can reliably go full time with my stuff. So I also want a solid job so I can say “no” to any side work that isn’t aligned — ideally in a role where I can grow (I’m tired of stocking shelves).

Plus I miss having a 9-5. I like being on-site, with a team and mentors.
oldcloser
Arsonist
0
💀
Long post. Appreciate the context, but you're not going to get hired in the WR with a linkedin style, personally branded post. Advice. Call hiring managers at the Austin companies where you'd like to work. You've got to do the research.
0
Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant
Already on that. Pulling info with Apollo and Sales Nav.

Not really banking on getting hired from Bravado — planning to build relationships internally with a handful of orgs where I can play to my strengths (ideally selling software or services to SMBs).

Have spent 200+ hours on calls in the last 9 months networking with sales, marketing, and recruiting leaders. Gonna try to cash in on some good will.
justadude
Fire Starter
0
The only sales guy
TLDR: Indeed and Cloudflare are almost always hiring in ATX from what I remember.

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