career

Why It’s OK to Be a Big Ass Failure w/Ashley Zagst, Zagst Consulting

People are often afraid to make mistakes or fail. But no failure means never learning and growing as a person or a professional. In this interview, I talked with Ashley Zagst who is a professional dancer/choreographer turned digital marketer.

Our conversation focused on how Ashley made the career transition from dancer to marketer and what she’s learned along the way about learning from mistakes. She is the former Head of Marketing at Bravado.co, the first digital community exclusively for sales professionals committed to elevating the profession by changing the stigmatized perception.

Key takeaways from the interview:

Everyone has transferable skills! No matter who you are or what you have done in your life, the skills you’ve developed along the way are NOT lost as you move to new phases in your life and career.

Why Ashley decided to transition from a professional career as a dancer and business owner to a digital marketing career in Corporate America. Find out what that transition was like for Ashley and how she achieved her goals.

How Ashley knew she could make the leap from performing arts to working for a tech start-up even though at first glance it might seem an unusual career choice.

When making a career transition, steps you can take to get to the root of your strengths and skill sets.

Why following this “discovery” process can be even more important for women looking to transition in their careers?

Why becoming comfortable with making mistakes and failing big is actually a benefit to our careers.

How feedback delivered in the right way leads to cultivating creativity, not stifling it.

Finally, learn about the connection between creating art(movement) → creating content → serving customers/members → building/being a part of a community → changing an entire profession!

Listen and enjoy the interview with Ashley!

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About Ashley– Connect with her on LinkedIn Explore Bravado and become a member

Ashley Zagst is a professional dancer/choreographer turned digital marketer. She is currently the Founder of Zagst Consutling and the former Head of Marketing at Bravado.co, the first digital community exclusively for sales professionals committed to elevating the profession by changing the stigmatized perception. Prior to working at Bravado, Ashley helped build the brand marketing team at Digital Trends. In between working, dancing, traveling, and spending time with her pup, she also finds time to crush the occasional triathlon.

Feature header blog post photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash

Making a Difference in Your Sales Career with Lori Richardson, Women Sales Pros & Score More Sales

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

Today’s topic is focused on how to make a difference in your sales career. This is a great topic because proactively taking charge and managing your career path should be your top priority. Don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for your good work to be noticed!! There is some great career advice offered up in this interview. Soak it in and put the ideas into practice!!
My guest is Lori Richardson who heads up Women Sales Pros and Score More Sales. Lori is one of the original voices for more women in sales and sales leadership in B2B industries where there are male-majority sales teams. She speaks, writes and consults with companies on ways to find, hire, develop and retain women within sales and she also speaks directly to women about ways to rise within their organization. Find her @WomenSalesPros online, on Twitter, Instagram, FB, and LinkedIn.
Okay, buckle up. These are the questions Lori and I tackled.
Lori, you like me, have been in sales for a long time. What’s so great about a sales career?
How do you find what you call, “Salesvana”?
How do you decide what direction to go in your sales career?
How do you present an idea to management for a new role, division, or sales segment?
What if you feel that your manager does not respect you or your ideas?
What if your company leadership or immediate manager does not talk about a formal career path?
If you want to write job posts that really compel people to take a look at your organization, Lori mentioned this great resource! https://textio.com/
Another insight packed interview, which I encourage you to listen to and enjoy!
Apple Podcasts – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.
Spotify Stitcher Google Play Don’t use any of these platforms to listen? Listen HERE
Thanks to our Sponsors!
This podcast is presented by our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster, along with other female leaders in the company, are driving for change, trying to bring more women into the technology industry. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Or visit partner.microsoft.com
Thanks to our Media Sponsor. Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

Building and Thriving in a Career in Sales with Annie Matthews, TechTarget

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

In this episode, I talked with Annie Matthews, VP of Sales at TechTarget about how to build and thrive in a career in sales. I’ve always loved being in sales, and although it is a great profession, I notice that there are still a fair number of women who do not consider entering into sales as a career.

As an advocate for women in sales, you’ll enjoy hearing how Annie has built her own successful sales career and how she helps other women to do the same.

In my conversation with Annie, we talked about:

Why she felt that more women should consider sales as a career. And, of course, that led to talking about how Annie got started herself.

The traits and strengths that she feels women bring to the profession that enables them to be successful.

The pre-conceived notions that women often have about the sales profession.

What Annie believes we can do to encourage more women to consider a career in sales.

Enjoy the interview!!

Apple Podcasts – Please subscribe so that you never miss an episode! Write a review for the podcast if you like the interviews.

Spotify Stitcher Google Play

About Annie

Annie Matthews is VP of Sales for TechTarget, the global leader in purchase intent-driven marketing and sales services that deliver business impact for enterprise technology companies. Focused on the Business Applications, Application Architecture, Network and Security segments, Annie oversees a team of account managers responsible for the growth of new and existing client relationships. She loves nothing more than rolling up her sleeves with clients and her team to build revenue. Having grown her own career from entry-level to leadership, Annie is keenly attuned to empowering others to realize their own potential. Annie strives to be a cool mom in and out of the office, challenged mostly by her hip team.

Connect with Annie:

LinkedIn
Twitter

Thanks to our Sponsors!

This podcast is presented by our Elite Sponsor, Microsoft. Corporate Vice President and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster, along with other female leaders in the company, are driving for change, trying to bring more women into the technology industry. Gavriella and Microsoft are committed to giving “young women better role models and a stronger voice to all women.” You can hear more from Gavriella and other Microsoft leaders, on the Microsoft Partner Network podcast. Or visit partner.microsoft.com.

Thanks to our Media Sponsor. Women Sales Pros has a vision for more women in B2B sales and sales leadership roles where there are currently male-majority sales teams. We help educate companies on how to do this, and we champion women on what a professional sales career can be. We also showcase the very top women sales experts who are speakers, authors, consultants, trainers, and coaches. People can sign up to get updates HERE and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WomenSalesPros

Your Brand | Your Career | Your Journey with Lindsay Zwart

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

Lindsay is an advocate for women in leadership roles. She told me why that advocacy is so important to her.

We also talked about:

Why Lindsay believes women need to put more emphasis on building their brand and why she believes that it is important for career success.

To be successful, we certainly cannot go it alone. I asked Lindsay to share her advice for networking effectively – inside and outside of any organization where you work.

How Lindsay’s international experience has been of value to her working for Microsoft and how she leverages experience that in her career.

Lindsay also shared her suggestions for women to help them identify their next roles and once those roles are identified, how to create a plan to get there.

Finally, we talked about work/life balance because Lindsay is an extremely busy executive, as all the women in this leadership series are. Lindsay talked about how she maintains the balance between work and her home life. Good stuff!

Enjoy the interview!

This episode is sponsored by Hubspot.

HubSpot CRM makes it easy to organize, track, and grow your pipeline. And it’s free. Forever! You should give it a try right NOW!

About Lindsay:

Lindsay Zwart is General Manager of the US SM&SP National Sales Organization (NSO) at Microsoft. Lindsay’s team manages Corporate Accounts Licensing and in SMS&P, Software Asset Management, Sales Excellence and CTM Strategy. Lindsay previously led the U.S. Dynamics Partner, Industry and SMB Sales organization, the Dynamics Country Lead for New Zealand, and led the consulting team within the Microsoft Services organization. Lindsay worked for IBM before joining Microsoft. She enjoys working in a vibrant, collaborative environment, and is an advocate for supporting women in leadership roles and empowering people through trust and accountability. When not working, Lindsay enjoys time with her husband and two girls, ages 12 and 9, keeping busy with sporting activities and adventures.

Connect with Lindsay on LinkedIn and Twitter

Your Brand | Your Career | Your Journey with Lindsay Zwart

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

I love this topic because it is a reminder that we are the owners of our plan for work and life! My guest in this segment was Lindsay Zwart, Microsoft General Manager of the US SM&SP National Sales Organization (NSO).
Lindsay is an advocate for women in leadership roles. She told me why that advocacy is so important to her.
We also talked about:
Why Lindsay believes women need to put more emphasis on building their brand and why she believes that it is important for career success.
To be successful, we certainly cannot go it alone. I asked Lindsay to share her advice for networking effectively – inside and outside of any organization where you work.
How Lindsay’s international experience has been of value to her working for Microsoft and how she leverages experience that in her career.
Lindsay also shared her suggestions for women to help them identify their next roles and once those roles are identified, how to create a plan to get there.
Finally, we talked about work/life balance because Lindsay is an extremely busy executive, as all the women in this leadership series are. Lindsay talked about how she maintains the balance between work and her home life. Good stuff!
Enjoy the interview!
This episode is sponsored by Hubspot.
HubSpot CRM makes it easy to organize, track, and grow your pipeline. And it’s free. Forever! You should give it a try right NOW!
About Lindsay:
Lindsay Zwart is General Manager of the US SM&SP National Sales Organization (NSO) at Microsoft. Lindsay’s team manages Corporate Accounts Licensing and in SMS&P, Software Asset Management, Sales Excellence and CTM Strategy. Lindsay previously led the U.S. Dynamics Partner, Industry and SMB Sales organization, the Dynamics Country Lead for New Zealand, and led the consulting team within the Microsoft Services organization. Lindsay worked for IBM before joining Microsoft. She enjoys working in a vibrant, collaborative environment, and is an advocate for supporting women in leadership roles and empowering people through trust and accountability. When not working, Lindsay enjoys time with her husband and two girls, ages 12 and 9, keeping busy with sporting activities and adventures.
Connect with Lindsay on LinkedIn and Twitter

Your Network is Your Garden…Take Care of It

By Barbara Giamanco Leave a Comment

Having a strong network is tantamount to success. That holds true whether you want to secure the next promotion, close the big deal or land a new job.

As I have talked about in other posts, keeping your network healthy and well tended is as important when you don’t have a job as when you do. If you don’t think so, just talk to a few folks who’ve found themselves displaced with no network to fall back on. Being out of work AND trying to build a network at the same time is no fun at all!

If you are your own paycheck then it goes without saying that networking is vital to keeping the funds flowing in. An important point often missed by solopreneurs and business owners. If you aren’t networking then you aren’t growing.

Even if you don’t like the idea of having to go to networking “events” remember that there are lots of ways to network these days. Social media tools like Twitter provides a very different way of getting to know others outside of your world.Your network is kind of like your garden. You need to plant new seeds, water and nurture them as they grow, and you need to be sure to weed out the dead stuff when necessary.

As we are poised to move into another New Year, now is a great time to ask these 5 things:

What seeds do I need to plant to build and strengthen my network in order to grow my business or move my career to the next level?
Who are the people in my network that I need to spend more time with to build a stronger relationship that will benefit both of us?
What technology do I need to learn in order to extend my network reach?
Who is on my contact list that needs to go?
How can I expand my network doing things differently than I do today?

Remember to keep your network and your networking fresh. If you tend to your garden it will tend to you!

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