How I Did It

When I graduated college I wanted to be a Consultant. I spent a lot of time studying I/O psychology, things like employee motivation & job satisfaction, and developed a passion for management consulting. Leadership was a hot topic during that time of life.

I remember going to the University career fair and talking with a recruiter from Deloitte. Getting a job at one of the "Big 4" was a goal of mine. I knew Deloitte had a 3.2 GPA requirement and at the time my GPA was 3.18. I had a spiel prepared and wasn't going to take no for an answer.

The recruiter reminded me of the GPA requirement, I hit him with my spiel, he actually seemed impressed, and it got me an interview scheduled for the next day. I met him at a coffee shop for a more thorough interview and never heard back.

But my dreams of becoming a Consultant didn't die there. I tried starting my own consulting business about 6 months later, but that lasted a short few weeks because, well, I had no idea what I was doing!

So I settled into whatever job I could find working at a technology company to get some experience in what I deemed an exciting industry.

In 2019, I was working for a small CRM vendor as a Customer Success Manager. I felt stuck, uninspired, confused about the direction of my career, and wanting more freedom & more money.

A lot of my role involved managing partnerships with Implementation Partners and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). This allowed me to land a position in Partnerships at a Salesforce ISV company, Formstack. Formstack has many products, which means many integrations and a few packages listed on the Salesforce AppExchange. As a Partner Enablement Manager, the primary responsibilities of my role involved training, enablement, and implementation support for Salesforce implementation partners.

As I progressed in the role, more & more of my time was spent supporting Salesforce partners. The more time I spent with Consultants, the more those aspirations from back in the college days of becoming one were stirred up.

While forecasting for 2020 targets, I was talking with my boss at the time, and we concluded it was a win-win for me to get certified. The only problem? I was consistently working 12-hour days and had horrible time management outside of that.

While I was in a Salesforce DevOrg on a weekly basis, working 12-hour days isn't conducive for structured studying. It took me about two years before I started to prioritize studying Trailhead modules.

I started again and quit multiple times throughout, but the desire for more freedom, more control, and more money in my career remained constant.

In May of 2023, I was laid off from Formstack along with ~100 of my coworkers and knew it was at that moment I had to finally prioritize obtaining my first Salesforce certification. I had spent years off & on solving problems and studying for the exam, and it was time I stop procrastinating.

Looking back, the one thing I regret most is that I didn't go all in sooner. I wish I had hired a coach to accelerate my Salesforce career.

The good news for you?

You came to the right place to do just that.