Kyle Willis

MadKudu

Vice President, Sales

RevRoom

Founding Member

ZoomInfo

Director, Sales

Manager, Sales

Enterprise Account Manager

Account Manager

Directive

Enterprise Sales Lead

Director, Sales Development

Senior Sales Development Representative

Sales Development Representative

Outside Sales Representative

DoorDash

Account Executive

Wilhelmina

Fitness Model

Aftershock Clothing LLC

Co-Founder

Equinox

Membership Advisor

First Team Real Estate

Sales Representative

VP Sales, MadKudu | Men's Fitness Cover Model | LinkedIn Top Voice | 5am Fitness 🤙🏽 | Follow me for Tech, Motivation, Fitness, and Accelerated Career Advice ⏭

In 2013, I dropped out of school with a semester to go.

I spent the last 6 years:

- Climbing from SDR → VP Sales
- Scaling two businesses to $28.5M in ARR
- Leading team's of 70+ people
- Landing a cover on Men's Fitness magazine
- Regularly featured in Men's Health and Muscle&Fitness
- Building a community of ~37,000 business professionals

with no degree and battling Chronic Lyme Disease.

I’m now working on scaling my third business.

Think I can help?

kylejosephwillis@gmail.com

In 4 years, I went from SDR to VP of Sales in Tech.

And I don't have a college degree.

Use these 5 lessons to accelerate your career:

Lesson 1: Always go above and beyond.

Keep it simple.

⤮ If your manager expects 20 calls, make 30.
⤮ Overdeliver on your commitments.

Lesson 2: Believe you've already been promoted

This is a mindset.

⤮ AE wanting management? Operate as a manager.
⤮ Individual -> Team Driven

Lesson 3: Obtain external mentorship

External is critical as everyone is drinking the kool-aid.

⤮ Find someone you respect, offer to help them for free.
⤮ Ask them to push you - you don't want easy.

Lesson 4: Make daily exercise a non-negotiable

This isn't a to-do list item, this is a lifestyle.

⤮ +Energy, +Focus, +Perseverance, +Everything.

Lesson 5: Stand out however you can

Be unapologetically known for something specific

⤮ The LinkedIn Guy, The Fitness Gal, The Whatever
⤮ Being top of mind will give you the edge.

--

Many people will deliver a number.

Most won't go the extra mile to stand out.

Be an outlier today.

🤙🏽

The Top Salespeople in Tech that I know didn’t come from an Ivy League school.

They came from:

- Restaurants
- Youth Sports
- Church
- Music
- Volunteer Work
- Construction
- Fitness

The game has changed.

You are more qualified than you know.

🤙🏽

Old me:

- Answer slacks/emails at 4am
- Run calls at 5am
- Burn the wick until 6pm
- Answer slacks until bed

New me:

- Slack notif’s off + scheduled email block
- No calls before 8am
- Scheduled lunch, rest, meditation
- Offline @ 5, back tomorrow

Find your best rhythm,

deliver your best work product.

🤙🏽

I've been mocked for my morning routine publicly.

Makes sense if you don't know the story.

My morning routine:

- Wake up at 3:59am
- Water + Coffee
- Read
- Journal
- Meditate
- Gym

Why?

I've battled Chronic Lyme Disease for 13 years this November.

Once in the brain/heart, Lyme wreaks havoc in the body.

Heart arrhythmias, vertigo, tremors, headaches, pretty wild.

Have come a LONG way and this morning routine has carried me.

Do you have a morning routine that you follow?

🤙🏽

You can be great at a great company and still get laid off.

Think less if the company is “recession proof” and more if you are recession proof.

4 ways to be recession proof:

1. Write on LinkedIn about your expertise. 
- Every day. Twice a day. 3x/day. Start.

2. Create new external relationships.
- Every day. Twice a day. 3x/day. Start.
- Put it in your cal, daily.

3. Interview with other companies.
- Line them up early and often.

4. Pour into external relationships.
- Put it on your cal, daily.
- Real relationships that can and will help.

None of this replaces continued great work.

Your results go with you.

But if 2022/2023 has taught us anything, often “great” isn’t enough.

🤙🏽

I quit drinking 60 days after my 21st birthday.

Some think it's weird, others totally respect it.

8 Lessons I've learned from 8+ years of no alcohol:

1] You can make challenging, life-altering decisions in a moment.
2] People will judge without knowing the full story. That's okay.
3] Your health is vital. Don't take advantage of this gift.
4] Early mornings produce earlier results. Gain the slight edge.
5] Masks are just that, masks. There's good stuff behind them.
6] Discipline and self control can take you far, fast.
7] We are all insecure - seek to understand, not to be right.
8] Life is hard. Be kind, slow down, and be thankful. You are blessed.

Haven't looked back and thankful for that freedom.

🤙🏽

My self-talk at 25:

- You will never make it
- You aren’t doing enough
- You will never have enough
- You will never be enough

My self-talk at 29:

- Bro, chill. You’re good. Be grateful.

🤙🏽

Grateful The Willis Fam got 1 additional headcount for Q3 2023.

Baby girl coming in October!

God is good and my wife is truly incredible.

Could not be more excited. Let’s go!!

🙏🏽

New week and I still believe exercise is the single best thing that you can do for your career.

🤙🏽

A few months back, I recognized I was walking around with a mean mug on my face.

I wasn’t angry but my facial expression said otherwise.

Here’s what I’ve experienced since intentionally walking around with a smile on 👇🏽

- Daily impromptu conversations with strangers 
- New friends
- Better all around mood
- More positive thoughts
- Deeper desire to serve others
- Fresh perspective
- Improved sleep
- Renewed energy

This is the least business related post you’ll see today.

But if you intentionally walk around with a fat smile on your face, 

you might experience some of this as well.

Have a great day

🤙🏽

You’re playing it safe on your sales calls out of fear of rejection.

Call it what it is, you don’t want to be told no.

Here’s why👇🏽

• No doesn’t feel good
• Slim pickings out here in this market
• Want to keep everyone happy
• Idea that any wrong move turns a yes into no

This leads to sellers selling from an anxious place

It leads to a lack of confidence,

which leads to poor performance,

which leads to checking out.

Leaders,

Encourage your people in this today.

Instill confidence → not fear.

Embrace growth → not lack thereof.

And call them out in a loving way.

They are counting on you.

🤙🏽

I used to think that in order to get ahead, I had to skimp out on:

-meals
-sleep
-hanging out
-anything that felt like fun

Had it backwards, all in the name of productivity.

If you’re going to skimp out, skimp out on:

-booze
-mindless scrolling
-negative self talk 
-comparison 

Today is what you get

Make some space on the calendar to take it all in

🤙🏽

Not happy with where you’re at in your career, health, relationships?

You may be a Comfort Optimizer without even knowing.

Here’s what I’ve learned about optimizing for comfort 👇🏽

Optimizing for comfort:

- Keeps you living in the future, missing out on the present
- Feels good at first but quickly turns to boredom
- Leads to insecurities as you’re always chasing more
- Creates more anxiety than the anxious desire for comfort itself

We optimize for comfort and then complain about plateauing in our growth.

Levi Lusko sums it up best,

“Comfort zones don’t keep your life safe, they keep your life small.”

To break the cycle, start small:

- Celebrate how far you’ve come
- Take care of your body and your mind
- Make space on your calendar to just be (walk, read for fun, listen to music)
- Tell someone what’s going on

“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”

-Navy Seal Creed

🤙🏽

10 views, 100, 1k, or 1M.

Anyone that’s building anything will struggle with imposter syndrome.

Imagine speaking to a room of 1,000 people and feeling like, “man - no one cares about this.”

Keep plugging away.

Work on something you care about.

Work with good people.

And just create.

🤙🏽

In Tech and want to be challenged in your Health/Fitness?

28+ Founders, CEO's, VPs, and IC's charging 8 Weeks of dialed in:

💪🏽 Fitness
🍎 Nutrition
🧠 Meditation
🕺🏼 Networking

Last chance to Join The 8STR8 Founding Cohort ↓

8STR8.carrd.co

PROMO: 8STR8 for $100 off

Happy Friday ya'll.

🤙🏽

Exercise is the single best thing that you can do for your career.

In Tech and ready to take your health and fitness to the next level?

Come join professionals from DocuSign, Qualtrics, Brex, Gartner, Gong, and more that are getting after it, together.

Second Cohort of 8STR8 starting soon.

Enroll Today → Link in Bio
—
PS - another testimonial only 3 weeks in. 

Let’s go!

🤙🏽

30

What a trip

The older I get, the more I crave the simple things in life

Met with friends and family this morning for breakfast at The Sugar Shack in Huntington Beach.

My 90 year old buddy Bill always leaves me with a fresh perspective.

Here are a few of his nuggets:

- Growing up, I only had one pair of shoes, whether they fit or not.
- Simpler times back then - there was never “more” for us to chase.
- Picked all of our own food, Mom canned the fruit. No preservatives. I think that’s why I’m still around today.
- I rode my bike 4 miles to mow lawns. Took 4 hours with a push mower, made 50 cents. Bought a model plane, I guess I’ve just always loved planes.

I made a remark about the coffee being pretty weak.

“You want a good cup of coffee?” he says while he struggles to stand up from the table.

The guy walks over to the restaurant next door and brings me back a fresh cup of coffee.

“That’s Kona coffee. You’ll like that.”

Be more like Bill, you thirty year old.

🤙🏽

Tech is a crazy world to work in.

Long days, crazy high stress, income dependent on much out of your control.

Too easy to prioritize work over health, so we decided to build this👇🏽

3 weeks ago, Jc Pollard and I launched 8STR8, a Cohort Based Fitness Challenge for Tech Professionals.

42 like-minded individuals getting after their personal health and wellness goals as a unit.

Most people want to get in shape but struggle to stay committed to the everyday disciplines.

We made a bet:

Give people the tried and true framework

Build a community to rally and support one another

and folks will have a significantly greater chance at achieving their goals.

Boy, is this crew off to a hot start.

—

PS - Enrollment is now open for our next 8STR8 Cohort starting June 8th.

Hundreds on the waitlist, grateful it will fill up fast.

You ready to find your best self?

LETS GO

🤙🏽

One time, I started seeing this dude James Parry⚡️ all over this platform.

He was very clearly just being himself, writing about the things he loves and supporting others in the process.

If you’ve ever had a convo with JP, you’ll find yourself realizing that the things you’ve been so worried about are really just small potatoes in the grand scheme of life.

Always appreciate your perspective, wild stories, and zest for life James.

🤙🏽

—

PS - peep the hoodie.

Next cohort of 8STR8, a Fitness Challenge for Tech Professionals, begins June 8th.

Signups are now open and spots are limited

Join today: 8STR8.carrd.co

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