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Btw, we’ve moved out “live from the sales floor” section down towards the end. We know that’s a fan favorite. Just a heads up. Working out kinks and stuff.

In this edition:

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At a recent event we attended, Tim Huelskamp of 1440 Media and Cody Sanchez both said essentially the same thing on stage. They also run wildly profitable businesses. Find the best people you can. Pay them more than most will. Then get out of their way.

There are two kinds of people you can work for in sales:

The first type wants you to make as much money as humanly possible. They see your upside as a direct reflection of theirs. When you win big, they win big, and they've built the structure to prove it.

The second type is running a different calculation. They're looking for ways to complicate your comp plan, move the goalposts on accelerators, shave points wherever the contract allows, and make sure you never quite hit the number that would make them uncomfortable.

They'll call it "restructuring." It's just taking money off your table.

Some sellers have worked for both. And can tell pretty quickly which one they're dealing with.

Working for the second type doesn't just effect your take-home. It’s unknowingly costing your development as well.

When your comp plan is designed to cap your upside, you start unconsciously optimizing for the ceiling. You stop thinking about what's possible and start thinking about what's achievable within the box. You close deals, hit a number, plateau.

They don’t reward further, so why try to go there?

The real problem: You start to confuse that ceiling with your actual skill level.

Compare that to working for someone who pays you like they mean it. The ceiling is genuinely high, the structure rewards production, and you start stretching into a version of yourself that the previous environment never gave you the chance to become.

The hidden lever isn't talent. It's environment.

This doesn't mean every high-paying opportunity is the right move. There are companies that offer big numbers and deliver chaos, zero support, and a product that nobody wants.

That's not the move either.

What you're looking for is a company that pays well because they believe in leverage. They know what a great seller can do inside their business, and they're willing to share the upside because they understand the math.

Those places exist. You’ve just got to find ‘em.

A massive career-killer is staying too long in the mediocre middle because it’s “okay”.

The base is fine and the risk of leaving feels bigger than it actually is.

But if the guaranteed piece is the whole story, that should tell you something about what the company actually thinks of you as a sales professional

Find the operators who think like Tim and Cody. Working for one of them, even for a few years. This does more for your trajectory than a decade of grinding for someone who's always looking for a reason to pay you less.