In a recent episode of “Scroll Sessions,” hosted by Dan Page, guest Jaron Erickson, founder of Sales Dojo, shared his inspiring journey from uncertainty to empowerment in the tech industry. Jaron’s story begins with his roots in a family of entrepreneurs, which imbued him with a drive and passion for thinking differently. This foundation led him to leave his conventional career path and pivot to a life in tech, eventually guiding him to establish Sales Dojo, a platform designed to help others break into tech sales.
During the podcast, Jaron discussed the transformative power of self-belief and education, emphasizing how these elements fueled his career shift and the creation of Sales Dojo. His venture is not just about teaching sales; it’s about changing lives by equipping individuals with the skills needed to succeed in tech sales. Jaron’s philosophy is deeply influenced by his own experiences and the support he received from mentors, including pivotal interactions with tech leaders who demonstrated the importance of nurturing and believing in emerging talent.
The conversation also delved into the broader impacts of Sales Dojo, highlighting success stories of individuals who have dramatically changed their career trajectories through the program. From construction workers to gym receptionists, Jaron illustrated how Sales Dojo has been a catalyst for profound personal and professional growth, providing more than just job skills but also instilling confidence and a renewed sense of possibility. As Jaron plans the future of Sales Dojo, he continues to focus on expanding its reach and refining its curriculum to support a diverse range of students, including initiatives specifically empowering women in tech.
Jaron Erickson’s journey is a testament to the impact of mentorship, the power of a supportive educational environment, and the profound effects of believing in one’s potential. His story and the work of Sales Dojo emphasize that with the right guidance and opportunities, anyone is capable of rewriting their professional narrative to achieve success in the dynamic field of tech sales.
Transcript
0:09okay so our guest today is jiren Erikson a dynamic individual passionate about
0:14changing lives through Tech sales uh jiren’s Journey from uncertainty to empowerment is a testament to the
0:20transformative power of self-belief and education after leaving his position at divy jiren embarked on a mission to help
0:27others break into Tech into the tech industry resulting in the creation of sales Dojo where they help people break
0:33into a career in Tech sales uh join us today as we dive into jiren story philosophy and the impact of his work
0:40jiren it’s great to have you on the podcast today yeah well thanks a ton Dan I love what you guys are doing and I
0:47feel privileged to be invited on the show with you this is sweet thanks man appreciate it well tell tell me about
0:53your like your entrepreneurial background you have entrepreneur parents and growing up in a home like that is
0:59like different than what I experienced for sure so how has that impacted you and your your journey like starting yeah
1:06it it’s a really really good question um for context yeah my parents ran their
1:12own business for I don’t know almost like 14 years I believe it was while I
1:17was growing up and it wasn’t until I hit like I was almost 20 where they ended up
1:22my dad sold the company and then started working in the tech industry again so I’ve just seen my parents run their own
1:29business my whole life yeah but when I look back on I was so young it just I didn’t know any different so that’s just
1:35how things were and and looking back as I’ve learned more about like the numbers behind what they’d accomplished I was
1:41like dang Mom Dad you guys are legit yeah yeah like you guys are awesome it was pretty cool um but for me I guess it
1:49was less about seeing my parents be entrepreneurs that motivated me to be an entrepreneur it’s more I’m just an idea
1:55guy and I think my parents let my ideas just come to life and kind of gave me
2:01permission to dream think big and to think differently I think has been the biggest component for me that’s awesome
2:09because my path with school has been a little bit different I’ve been in school I’ve been out of school I’ve been back in school I’ve been back out like I have
2:14had a crazy experience with school yeah but my my parents have always wanted me to focus on learning and there’s so many
2:22different ways to learn and so even if I wasn’t in like a traditional four-year
2:27degree they’ve always been so supportive of what I’ve been learning through different means and I think that’s where
2:33the entrepreneurial Spirit comes in totally it’s less about like hey what what business can we start it’s more about how can we learn and how can we
2:39leverage so many resources to help you or myself like reach uh where I want to
2:46go yeah and and solve problems like the only way you’re going to solve problems is by talking listening reading
2:53observing all those things you know 100% that’s awesome what what were there any like pivotal moments or experien with
3:00your parents that you felt like kind of like put you on an entrepreneur path did you always want to be an
3:05entrepreneur yeah it’s it’s a really good question I think the biggest pivotal moment for me and I’ll look back
3:11at this moment my whole life but I remember sitting in the car and I just was I was struggling I was I was going
3:18through a hard time I was in college SCH you’re in college okay so I was running track at UVU I was studying business
3:26management yeah and I just had this moment where I had no idea what I wanted to do career-wise yeah and it was really
3:34difficult for me to be in school pursuing this career path or degree that I had no idea if I even wanted or where
3:41it was taking me and I remember being on the phone with my dad and he’s like hey
3:47jar you can take a break from school I was like what like that did not even
3:53register yeah he just gave you the permission yeah yeah he gave me the permission he’s like hey you can take a break from school and go get a job he’s
4:01like you could actually go work for one of these tech companies in Utah gain some
4:07experience and then come back to school and like figure out what you want to study and so once my dad gave me like
4:14you said that word permission and and the support to do something different it
4:20totally changed everything um we’ll probably get into it but like that’s led to me working at divvy that’s led to me
4:26starting Dojo but the key component behind it for me is just just uh my dad
4:31letting me think differently and giving me permission and support to figure out
4:37what works best for myself and that has been such a pival moment that has totally changed my life oh that’s
4:44amazing man and I think like uh a a privilege for sure it’s like we’re I
4:50think Super Lucky like I had also amazing parents too that all allowed me
4:55the space to dream to work hard to do all those things also push me you know
5:00and I I’m sure it’s the same for you um but I think it’s a total privilege to
5:06have that and to also like like have that Journey you know so talk to me a
5:12little bit about so your your your dad exited and went back into Tech and you
5:18you know left school went into Tech what how was like that trans how was the
5:24transition going from school into like working full-time in Tech it was it was
5:29really different I mean I’d never had a full-time job before yeah and
5:35so Dy took a chance on you pretty much I I go into the interview process I’m 21
5:42at the time yeah I have no sales background I have no degree I have no Tech experience let alone like work
5:49experience anything no kidding and I just go through the interview process and like they hired me yeah and I
5:56remember showing up to work for the first day at divvy going going dude what am I doing here I’m 21 I’m like just
6:03smiling I’m like all right I’m going to work as hard as I can and yeah and I just started to learn as I went but I
6:09think fintech you’re like fintech what’s fintech dude I think I was like I think I took an accounting class at UVU yeah
6:16yeah um so I know somewhat about accounting I guess but I just remember being the youngest one there and just
6:24trying to learn as much as I could from everybody around me like all my account Executives even the other sdrs when I
6:29started I just tried to soak in as much as I could and you started as an SDR right uhhuh yeah started as an SDR and
6:36um just I was surrounded by so many leaders and mentors at this company that
6:41that was like a whole degree in itself of watching I mean leaders like Alex
6:47Bean Blake Murray Sterling build a company yeah and me just being on the
6:53inside of them making decisions a little bit LinkedIn Legends for sure those guys yeah pretty much I still admire them
6:59from a distance um so it was it was cool to be inside of that experience even
7:04being so young at the time well that’s awesome what do you feel like are some lessons that you learned from those guys
7:10like pivotal moments maybe in that either helped you in your career or helped you with sales or maybe change
7:16your mindset a little bit yeah I I kind of have like two just come to mind um
7:22one was with Alex Bean again I was an SDR I was like like bottom of the bottom
7:28entry the bar sales yeah but I was in and um so I ended up messaging him me
7:34and two of my friends at dby We messaged Alex being on slack and like hey Alex can we take you to lunch like we’ll pay
7:41and he’s like deal let’s do it and so uh two weeks later because he was so busy we went to lunch it was Alex Bean the
7:49co-founder of divy and three of us who were all sdrs and that was just such a cool
7:55moment for me that the co-founder or just will to take the time big busy man it took the time to talk with us for
8:02sure and to teach us and help us believe in in ourselves and that was something
8:08that I just loved I was like hey these high-end leaders they do care they want to see you be successful and they want
8:14to teach and share lessons that they’ve learned if you let them totally uh so
8:19that was something cool I learned is I could learn from like big leaders like that well also like you took the risk of
8:26like messaging them and saying hey we’ll pay pay for lunch but also like for them to say yes and for them to go with you
8:34and also you know take that time it’s huge cuz not I mean I think we’re lucky
8:39in Utah because I think we have amazing leadership here especially at the some tech companies but you don’t always see
8:45it even still and like for him to do that is pretty amazing especially kind of probably where deie was at at the
8:52time like you guys were it was like a rocket ship basically yeah when you put it in context I think we like hit
8:58hypergrowth we’ raised our series D and then it was like yeah Alex being still taking average people yes TI some sdrs
9:06to lunch I’m like this is cool that’s awesome so I do you remember the ADV remember any specific advice he gave you
9:12at the time uh for me um even as like with a lot of mentors it’s come less to like
9:20what they’ve said specifically and it’s come more of them just holistically
9:25believing in me or the other people that they’ve mentored I think sometimes that belief component plays a way bigger
9:32Factor than any type of specific strategic advice yeah totally that they can give I just remember Alex like the
9:38thought of Alex Bean used to be in college he used to be a student athlete I was a student athlete yeah now he started a company and he’s had this
9:45whole journey and struggles of like getting to where he’s at totally I think it was just cool to see someone that has
9:50like made it yeah also have low points or hard times or questions they’ve had
9:57them they’ve had them they just sometimes people don’t talk about them you know for the most part we don’t talk
10:03about it but it allowed me to just relate more and go this guy’s not just a super human like he’s really smart works
10:10his tail off but I think I can get there I think I could do something like that and yeah so I’ve just been around people
10:16that have believed in my abilities and I’m like you know maybe maybe I could do
10:21that someday you know yeah who knows no no totally and I think you have talk to me about your journey in at divy so
10:28starting as an SDR what was your your path for you were there a couple years weren’t you or two two years it was it
10:35was pretty quick stin I was there just under 18 months okay 18 months okay so I came in um right before Co and then Co
10:43hit half our team gets let go yep still there worked through Co and then stayed
10:49with them until their acquisition with Bill with Bill okay so yeah that ride
10:54with divy was totally life-changing um let alone like the skills that I gained
10:59as being an SDR like one of the reason I’m so passionate about tech sales is because you learn skills that are going
11:06to benefit you for the rest of your life 100% like do I believe every single person needs to get into Tech sales and
11:11go be an AE and move up and be VP sales no yeah but do I believe everyone could benefit from working in Tech sales 100%
11:19because you’re going to learn skills you’re going to meet people in connections and you’re just going to learn how to run a company so maybe you
11:26just communication like the the amount of communication that sdrs do is like
11:33abnormally High you know it’s uh very very akin to other you know or not akin
11:41to other roles really it’s it’s crazy the amount of like the amount of Dos you guys have to make you amount the kind of
11:47people you have to talk to like all of those things so what talk to me about
11:52maybe what makes a good SDR I we can kind of lead into sales Dojo a little bit yeah um um it was cool my manager at
12:02divy kind of like helped me Define what that was and even the whole leadership team to be honest because like I said
12:09when I came in I didn’t have any previous sales experience yep yeah you a Lear from the ground up I didn’t have any technical background I didn’t even
12:15have a college degree and they hired me and what was cool is they hired me
12:22because they saw I had a desire to learn I was going to push myself and I was
12:27going to work harder than everybody else around yeah and you can learn the skills like that’s something obviously we want to
12:33solve with Dojo is helping people learn the skills before they start but you can learn the skills but it’s harder to
12:39teach the character so I think to be honest if you can hire people that have the right character and the desire to
12:46learn the humility to overcome mistakes those are the people you want on your team and I feel like I feel like I
12:52embodied that and they took a chance on me and things panned out and for me and hopefully for them yeah but um
12:59I think that’s what makes a better sales rep or like just individual is having
13:05High character rather than any type of so qualified credentials it’s more about
13:10who you are than what you’ve done I’d say yeah no and and I think that totally Rings true especially like I’m just
13:16thinking about like who we have that work at scroll like our our team and
13:22like uh really like everybody it’s always been a gut hire for Shane and I
13:27which is kind of funny um um want to admit that but it’s always been a gut hire where it just feels right and it
13:33feels right because their character’s good you know even though they may not be the most technical person ever or
13:40they may not you know know exactly what they’re doing they they they are trying
13:46very hard they know how to learn they’re curious like all those things the character is so huge uh in in any role
13:54especially in Tech where I feel like it’s a lot of fluff for the most part
13:59yeah I think it’s really easy to get caught up on on outside image and and different things um social media is a
14:06great tool but yeah if you definitely start comparing yourself and you lose track of where you are and where your
14:13feet are then it can be I don’t know not the most positive place in the world
14:18yeah no yeah no kidding um so at divyan transitioning to sales Dojo
14:25what was that transition like and what what kind of clicked for you to say hey I I think I can I can help others learn
14:33how to do this how to get into Tech that’s that’s a good question um I’ll kind of answer that in two parts like
14:39the first part is understanding entrepreneurship I think a lot of people
14:45think of Entrepreneurship as I have an magical idea and I commit to it and like
14:51I get lucky and everything works out and I think some people also think like I’m gonna sit down and come up with
14:56that magic idea but that’s really not how things work I think in most R
15:03because for me it wasn’t like I woke up and was like I’m gonna start a company that teaches people how to be in sdrs
15:09and then help them get hired yeah that just didn’t come it originally started as my manager at divvy telling me about
15:16his Entre entrepreneurial Ventures yeah and then our us having one-on ones about
15:21like how maybe I could do something like that long term and run like an outsourced SDR team and and so as I
15:29started moving through my time at divy like this was a a over a year-long process where I just started to have
15:36thoughts and new ideas come into my head to the point where my manager I don’t
15:42get to tell this part of the story as often but my manager had a one-on-one with me and he said jiren you don’t
15:48belong here I was like dude what do you mean like I’m on your team dude you just
15:53blindsided me like what do you mean and he’s like dude you don’t belong here like you need to go do something bigger
16:00than this you either need to go move up in the company or you need to go back to school and do something different or
16:05start your own thing and that was just a wakeup call for me again back to this mentorship about my manager his name is
16:11Lee he saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself yeah and that kind of
16:17stuck in my head I was like I don’t belong here I don’t but I knew that I could do something bigger than just working at dby and so once their
16:25acquisition came my stock invested or a piece of my stock invested and I was like I’m going to take the chance and
16:32and I left yeah I left D and I went back to school now I didn’t leave divy going
16:37I’m starting my own company I’m G to change the world I said I’m leaving divy and I’m going back to school because I
16:44love teaching yeah and I think I’m going to be a professor interesting and I
16:49start going to school and I I went from making like over 100k as a as like
16:55potentially be on that partnership team to making zero yeah and sitting in my gender of psychology class I was dying I
17:04couldn’t I couldn’t handle it I was like what is going on and uh an Academia is no joke it was tough man going and
17:11teaching is no joke it was tough and so I was like just grinding it out with school and I was like all a sudden making no money and I just had this
17:18thought I was like okay well I need to get a part-time job I’m like what am I good at well I’m good at sales okay
17:25maybe I’ll be a part-time SDR at another company so I start interviewing with
17:30these these companies to be a part-time SDR and not to be prideful but I was
17:35like I know more about being an SDR than your whole company does yeah I’m like I
17:41can’t get that job yeah for sure but somebody else would love that job and
17:47could benefit a ton from it you saw like a gap you saw a gap in the Market at the time and so I was like well nobody even
17:53knows these positions exist cuz it’s not being talked about at school there’s no course training that’s done for these
18:00roles like I didn’t even know about it and my dad worked in the tech industry yeah so I had this idea I was like okay
18:07well what if I start a course and I will teach people how to be sdrs and I will
18:14help them get hired into these s strr positions and so I was like all right
18:20let’s try it I’m just at school I’m like like I I’ve got to lose nothing to lose here yeah and so our first cohort was
18:27three people it was my sister uh a friend of mine and
18:33a kid that we convinced to take the pro program and I like came up with this curriculum and started talking to all
18:39these companies and and like we run through the course wasn’t perfect but all three of them got hired into tech
18:46companies yeah that’s amazing first three case studies first and I was like dude this works and so I started I’m
18:52three for three I’m three for three I’m like 100% so I started talking to companies I was like Hey what if there
18:59was like a course that taught people how to be SDR so they were trained before you started with your company and
19:05Company’s like oh that’d be great like we’d be very interested in interviewing these people I was like okay so started
19:11to try to get more students and we just ran more and more cohorts to the point where we’re at on our 24th cohort right
19:18now wow and we just now haven’t stopped and it’s evolved and changed but um that
19:24whole fouryear growth period um of like idea
19:30to where we are now yeah it’s it’s evolved it’s changed but it never came
19:36all at once and it took someone believing in me and then just a lot of trial and error along the way to like
19:42actually make it happen yeah but that’s amazing and it’s it’s cool that like I
19:48think your ability to to see those things and and then have that idea and
19:54then obviously go execute it because like uh everybody’s got ideas and ideas
20:01are a dime of dozen especially these days especially now with AI and all the things but like the ability to like say
20:08I’m going to go execute and I’m I’m just I’m going to just give it a shot like
20:13that is the Difference Maker between honestly those who succeed long term and
20:19those who just don’t or just stay where they’re at yeah I would I’d totally agree with you and I feel like to be
20:25honest I got I got lucky in the sense that I could take that type of risk yeah
20:32um I didn’t have a lot to lose I was just at school and I wasn’t working at
20:37divy anymore and so I was like let’s just try it but I think a lot of people view entrepreneurship as being very
20:43risky like I didn’t go all in on dojo after the first cohort it wasn’t like oh I’m gonna quit school and just do this
20:52no I was in school for a while doing Dojo on the side and then it got to a point where I felt it was more risky
20:59doing two separate things at a mediocre level than to just go all in and so I was like let’s try it I can always come
21:06back to school this will always be here but dojo and this opportunity won’t and so I just went for it but it wasn’t it
21:13didn’t feel as risky because I was making money yeah and it had sustained
21:20to a point where I was like I think this can keep working it’s a it’s calculator risk for sure and like I think yeah a
21:28lot of people are like you know swing for the fences take big risk risks for sure but like I think for the most part
21:34entrepreneurs are pretty risk averse people they just take very calculated risks you know so was there any other
21:42risks that you felt like you’ve you know taken that have paid off for you guys in the last couple of years outside of
21:50sales Dojo that’s a great question even in sales Doo yeah
21:55um I I’m trying to think of some specific risk but I think think for me what I’ve seen is I I like to view
22:02myself as someone who’s willing to take a risk and like try new things but I’ve also seen I’m the type of person that
22:08likes security like I I like to you know feel stable with what I’m doing not have
22:14to always be walking on the invisible Bridge hoping that it’ll still be there and so I’ve seen to be honest our
22:20company grows when we take are willing to take risks and our company becomes
22:25stagnant when we stop yeah and so I think it instead of just like big risks
22:31it’s been little things like trying new marketing material or starting a podcast with our graduat or new Outreach
22:38strategies to companies like those are smaller risks and changes that we’ll take
22:44internally um that continue to help our company grow because it does take an
22:49investment to certain things or you’re putting Capital into it uh and you don’t
22:54know if it’s going to pay off you hope it does but if you stop doing those things taking those risks then that’s
23:00when things start to become more stagnant yeah no for sure I think the there’s a good analogy of the uh the
23:06minor with the gold you probably I don’t know if you seen the little picture and he’s like been going super hard looks
23:12like for forever and the gold is like literally a foot foot or two away and
23:18you see him you know just turn around and just walk away cuz he’s done he’s tired I like I I’ve been going for too long I’m done and it was right there
23:25like just if you just kept going you know you you could have you could have had it
23:31um yeah that’s a tough story to think about because I don’t want to be that guy yeah and I’ve or early on I was like
23:41oh what if there are other people that try to do what we’re doing and I was like afraid that other people would come
23:46in and and and try to to overpower what dojo’s trying to build and like maybe
23:51they’re smarter they have more resources we saw a few people try yeah and they
23:56stopped yep and and they probably had more resources and and things at their
24:02their um and their graphs but they just didn’t keep going and I think for me
24:09DoJo has been imperfect like 100% people ask like how’s business I’m like somay
24:14it’s great there’s other times I’m like really really stressed yeah yeah um but we haven’t stopped and because we’ve
24:21kept going it’s allowed us to keep growing and that’s like a a really
24:26powerful reflection for me where I’m really proud of that that even
24:31when it has been uncertain or even when I’ve doubted myself or you know
24:37resources that I have or my own abilities to keep doing this we just keep trying and keep going and I think
24:43that has been the biggest thing that set us apart from other people that have also tried to do what we’re doing yeah
24:50no 100% like just don’t give up and like you’re going to have maybe many failures
24:56but like if you don’t get up I mean don’t get up if you don’t give up get up
25:02if you if you don’t uh more or less give up like you you will succeed eventually
25:08like because everybody else is either going to stop because it’s human nature like we all feel it and sometimes it’s
25:13like during the same day like you have such high highs you also have such low lows and that can be by the hour by the
25:21day especially as an entrepreneur and a business owner um but just keep going you know just keep going and it will it
25:28something will pan out you know hopefully man yeah totally well tell tell me about a good like story or
25:35success story from when your students because you’ve you’ve had you’re in your 24th cohort which is amazing like and I
25:41know you’ve had a lot of students what’s been some of your your personal favorite stories dude I’m super glad you asked
25:48because that is the whole reason of why like we started do like I think we’ve kind of been talking about you know how
25:55I did it and how I started it but to be honest the whole reason behind everything we’ve done is to change
26:00people’s lives totally I’m a huge believer that Tech and specifically Tech sales can change your life because it
26:07changed mine yep and if you can work for a company that’s going to pay you well
26:12like I think jobs in the tech industry pay like 30% higher than other Industries so you get paid well you have
26:18really good growth opportunities to move up in your company and you’re going to be surrounded by leaders and mentors
26:24like if you can get people into those settings or scenarios you’re going to change lives guy’s the
26:30limit and it’s not US changing the lives it’s them changing their own lives and we just want to be a catalyst to make
26:36that happen and so some of our story like some of the stories have been so
26:41cool um like we’ve worked with people from so many different backgrounds like people ask me like what’s your ICP
26:47what’s your ideal customer that comes into the course and maybe I can get better at like really nailing it down
26:53like we do a lot of door to door people into Tech but we’ve also had people come from construction or come from retail
27:00come being teachers or like moms who have been divorced but need to get back into the work Workforce yeah and it’s
27:08been incredible one of my favorites um we had a student come through who was working construction he had like two
27:15kids at the time taking care of his family and he ends up breaking his back
27:20he broke his back on the job working construction gets put out for a while
27:26and in his head he’s going I still have to work construction for the rest of my life in order to provide for my family
27:32for sure ends up having a family friend refer him to our course we get him into
27:37the course and he gets hired as an SDR and so all of a sudden he’s working from
27:42home his family y all of a he’s now moving up to be an account executive
27:47he’s going to be making over six figures yeah and taking care of his family in such a better way than he was doing
27:53before yeah way less harder on his body way less harder on his body way more growth opportunity
27:59and way more money at the end of the day um soing stuff like that but then also like we’ve had um one another student
28:07she was a gym gym receptionist so she was working at like Vasa yeah just front
28:12desk front desk just talking to everyone like the most social fun girl and uh her
28:17boyfriend was like yo I heard about this program like I know you’ve been looking for a new job you should think about
28:23doing it so we hop on a call and CH to the course and she’s like I’m I’m going to take a chance she had never done
28:30sales before but she’s like I think I could be good at it you know like I’m good with people comes in and all of a
28:38sudden once she comes out of the program she had like three different offers from different tech companies that’s amazing
28:43and she went from making like I don’t know like maybe like 40K yeah to like 80 all a sudden wow and now she works at a
28:51company called zeni where their VPS Sals is Megan Prince so another woman and she’s she’s being mentored by other
28:58amazing women there other amazing women that are kicking butt and I’m like that’s what I’m talking about that’s what you don’t get working at vosa yeah
29:05and that’s those are the stories the scenarios that we at Dojo want to create
29:10more and more of yeah that’s amazing man that’s fantastic that’s so fun I I see it like lights you up and I love that
29:18cuz like that’s like that’s your why you know like that’s 100% your why and it also those are the stories that like
29:24keep you going that like hey not only is it good for marketing but like it
29:29literally serves as those like the the heart moments that like really keep you
29:35going you know that’s awesome so like tell me a little bit about women in Tech
29:40because that’s I think like exploded even more in the last probably like five
29:45six years um talk to me about that because I know I know you serve you know anyone and everyone who wants to get
29:51into Tech but talk to me specifically about women in Tech dude I I it’s kind of weird to say but I I really am
29:59passionate about this topic yeah cuz I’ve seen my mom my mom is like a kick
30:04butt she she like starts her own company she still likes working she was always
30:10present with us growing up as kids but she is very involved in the workforce
30:16and silicon slopes and so my perspective is you know women if that want to work can
30:23absolutely come in and crush it I’ve also had multiple women on my sales teams like when I was at divy yeah where
30:31they were literally like my top competitors I was like how are they doing so well and I’m like trying to
30:36talk to him like teach me what you’re doing because you’re kicking some butt right now and so I’ve just seen how well
30:43women can do in the industry yeah and I think a lot of people just don’t even consider it yeah like we have we have
30:50companies reaching out who are like wanting to hire more women specifically to be on their teams for sure cuz they
30:57see that they just just um like they have different skill sets a lot of times they have this ability to connect and to
31:03understand yeah but they’re also just like they not how to grind totally and they can come in and and really level up
31:10the whole team around them and so I think it’s starting to change uh we’d
31:15like to keep making a bigger push like one of our goals is we want to run a full women cohort like we want to have a
31:21woman instructor we want to have at least 10 women in that cohort I’m sure you got to get Megan you got to get
31:28Meg Prince to come and do it we would get her as a guest speaker for sure um but like we would just bring in all these women sales leaders and run a full
31:35women cohort that’s that’s something I really want to accomplish um we even have people who are providing
31:40scholarships for women to come through it’s been cool and so um again we serve
31:46everyone but um I’m I’m excited to see that push continue to make greater waves
31:53yeah as you know the the workforce becomes even more and more diverse is pretty cool no totally and I I feel like
32:01women in general have that innate I would consider in my opinion it’s the this kind of innate biological ability
32:07to be empathetic and to relate unlike unlike men can in sales to be honest um
32:16and so I think like uh women that take it seriously can really succeed you know
32:22and that’s that’s fantastic and and it’s exciting to see like you guys moving
32:27even more in that direction I think long term so that’s awesome yeah I’m just really grateful for those sales leaders
32:33who are women who speak out about it and who are examples like I don’t know I don’t want to embarrass Megan but she is
32:40like a really cool Mentor for me and I always show her LinkedIn profile to like
32:45so many of the women we talked to because she started as an SDR Y and then she went County Executive senior county
32:52executive team lead director of sales VP of sales like she’s walked the path and
32:58it’s really cool to have someone see that someone else has done it and that
33:03they could follow the same thing kind of like me with Alex Bean again yeah not comparing our to divy at all that would
33:10be great but I was like I saw his path and I was like you know maybe I could do
33:16something like that yeah and I think it’s the same thing if you can see someone who’s walked it and you can
33:21follow them just have that belief ignited again I think it does really
33:26really powerful things for your own personal performance yeah no 100% and having having and finding mentors is is
33:34huge like what what advice do you have for you know e kids in college I say
33:40kids in college but yeah whoever is in college uh you know even if you’re stuck
33:45at you feel like it’s a deadend job like what what advice would you give somebody to like start looking for a mentor start
33:52getting out of where they’re where they’re at dude it’s such a good question that to me has been probably the biggest component of why Dojo has
33:59gotten to where it’s at it has not been me kicking butt in the world every day
34:05it’s me talking with someone that wants to help or sees the vision of what we’re doing and is like you should talk to
34:11this person or let me introduce you to this company let me do this and I’m like wow so it’s it’s really been like a team
34:17effort obviously with like a lot of different mentors and people in my own life one of the things that really kills
34:24me is when I’m talking to a lot lot of college students or like I’m on
34:31one-on-one calls with people that will reach out um and I look at their LinkedIn profile and it’s like very
34:38underdeveloped yeah like they have like an old profile picture they don’t even have 500 connections looks just
34:43unprofessional y it kills me because they don’t understand how big of a tool
34:49LinkedIn can be in creating mentors for yourself oh yeah there’s this one of the things I’ve learned like through running
34:56a company and through like seeking mentors is senior leaders want to give back they want to
35:04share their experiences but they don’t have as many opportunities and you probably don’t feel as great sharing it
35:10with someone who’s like on the same level as you but if you’re talking to a student dude you’ll tell them everything
35:16tell them all the tips all the tricks and so I think so many college students
35:22underutilize the ability to reach out and ask for mentorship opportuni
35:28yep like somebody can say is no like the worst thing it’s the worst possible thing they could say is no but but
35:35they’ll remember saying no to you and then all of a sudden you’re on their radar so if you meet them in person like they’ll remember and then maybe it opens
35:41up a future opportunity yeah but um I have a buddy of mine his name is Dylan Heaton he’s studying performance
35:47psychology and I told him I was like dude you need to build out your LinkedIn profile and you need to message other
35:54performance psychologists on LinkedIn and say hey hey could I get 15 minutes
35:59on your calendar I would love to just learn from you and ask you a few questions about your career path sent
36:06that message out to like I don’t know 10 performance psychologists lined up three or four one-on-one meetings with am
36:13coaches who are working with professional teams yeah I’m like yes this totally works you just ask you just
36:21to ask well and also provide value too like like not only I think a lot of
36:26people aren’t specific enough in their ask and also like are either not
36:33specific super generic or also don’t provide value to the person that they’re asking and I think that’s where a lot of
36:39people get hung up um and if you do that like it’ll open so many more doors for
36:46you if you’re specific in your request if you’re succinct short and you you’re
36:52also trying to give them value too you know for sure yeah my dad will tell me this quote like when companies will
36:58pitch him to raise money cuz he does Angel Investing he’ll say like if you ask for money you get advice yeah if you
37:05ask for advice you’ll get money and we I’ve seen that like you know if you come
37:11in you’re just like hey can you help like um like this is what I want like can I don’t know it’s just not the same
37:17but if you’re asking like hey what are your thoughts on this or how do you see this or what did you do and people start
37:24giving you perspective all of a sudden they like want to help people want to here’s the thing people want to talk
37:29about themselves like you’re serving like a really innate like human nature
37:35trait of ours is like we do for the most part we like to help like we we’re
37:41willing to give when asked you know so it’s like just ask you know 100% and my
37:47other tip like this is something I’m really working on um with my own mentors uh John Tyler Richards they run a boot
37:54camp called startup ignition it’s all focused on Founders and scaling their business now John and Tyler they are
38:01they live and breathe the educational space and like the boot camp world and so they’ve been really cool mentors for
38:06me yeah one of the things that I’m really trying to do with my mentors and this would be my number one tip of
38:12working with mentors is um give them feedback on the and report back on the
38:18things that you’ve done so I think a lot of times mentors like will give you advice and then never hear from you
38:24again yeah I think it can really amplify relationship and build trust when they give you advice you do something about
38:32it and you tell them that you did it totally cuz all a sudden if if someone’s coming to me saying like hey jiren you
38:38told me to uh improve my LinkedIn profile I’m at 500 connections I’ve been posting every day for a week I’m like
38:44dude that’s amazing you should do this as well okay and so it just amplifies
38:49this relationship so that’s something I’ve been doing trying to send like a weekly update weekly report and then um
38:56you know take their advice make it actionable and tell them it becomes an
39:01actual relationship at that point like that’s the that’s the key like if you really want a mentor like it’s a two-way
39:07street and you’ve got to nurture the relationship just like in anything else
39:13you know you have to nurture it to for you to learn and grow dude 100% so big
39:21fan mentors yeah no that’s awesome what’s what’s uh what’s next for sales
39:26Dojo Jaren like what like you guys have done the corts you do the trainings you get these these sdrs placed like what
39:34where do you want to continue to take sales dojo and what’s your vision for
39:40the future yeah that’s a great question um again kind of referencing this boot
39:45camp I took took a startup ignition and John Richards former BYU entrepreneurship Professor he taught us
39:51that like over 90% or I think it’s like 90% not over of businesses fail
39:57because of premature scaling and I think that’s such an
40:03attractive thing to pursue is just you know hit the ground running and make it reach as many people as you can yeah but
40:10that can kind of backfire if you haven’t set up the right process of place and so when I went to this boot camp it was
40:16kind of a gut punch of going hey we actually have some good things going but also like we need to improve on in
40:23certain areas yeah and so for us we’ve really looked at like locking in our
40:28internal processes making sure that everything is systematized and ready to
40:34go um and then for us our our next step is we want to be doing 20 students a
40:39month we want to do two cohorts every single month we work with a lot of Utah companies but we’ll start to expand more
40:47into different Tech hubs y um and we also because we went back to the drawing
40:53board we focused on how we could improve our curriculum and our connection with partners and companies and so we’ve
40:59actually implemented a new AI tool where we’re able to do we do all of our training live like over Zoom it’s very
41:06interactive but we also now have an AI tool that we use to be able to supplement outside learning so we’re
41:13able to practice sales role plays using this tool while we’re not even in class
41:19um that are going to help us with call recordings and then be able to send call recordings to companies so that they can
41:24vet reps um we have some things we really excited about internally um but
41:30that the next step for us is going to be doing 20 students a month and uh locking
41:36that in we’re excited about that yeah that’s super cool man and I’m excited for you like I think it’s it’s cool to
41:42see you also document your journey like I feel like a lot of a lot of
41:48Founders don’t understand I don’t know if it’s how to do it properly but it’s like it doesn’t come off as authentic
41:55and I feel like you you you’ve documented your journey very
42:01authentically especially on on social media especially on LinkedIn talk to us about maybe
42:07your choice to document a little more publicly and kind of how that maybe is
42:13directing kind of the future of sales Doo dud that’s a good question
42:19um I hope I never come across as someone who just seeks Spotlight or seeks
42:24attention or recognition um cuz I don’t want to be that guy and I don’t believe that I am that guy um but I do love
42:33sharing on LinkedIn yeah and I do love sharing what we’re doing because people
42:39if people don’t understand what you’re doing they can’t help you and so I think I’m I try to be a little bit more open
42:46because I want people to know so that they can see that we’re working we’re making changes and if they have advice
42:52or help like they’re willing to help and to reach out but also I’ve been super
42:57fortunate with Dojo where we’re very Mission driven like we’re not just a
43:04software company that’s created to make money and I obviously I’d love to start
43:10one of those someday I think that’s I think that’s something definitely on the radar right uh but right now we are a
43:17Missi driven company that’s out there changing lives and so so much of what Dojo is is again not me or our team that
43:26is like kicking butt it’s the stories of people that were changing their lives or
43:33helping them connect with other companies where they’ll start working and that is my favorite part of sharing
43:39on social media it’s not shouting out myself or my my own accomplishments but
43:45is shouting out other people and what they’re doing and how we’ve been able to help them get to where they want to go
43:51so I think it’s been a little bit easier to document because we are so Mission driven and outside like others
43:58and we have fun with it and it’s been enjoy but I think it’s a combination of
44:04you know having a good Mission behind what we’re doing but also not hopefully
44:10seeking attention for myself well yeah and and it’s funny because it’s like at the end of the day too like personal
44:17brand especially nowadays like drives so much uh I think more or less eyeballs it
44:26drives a lot of eyeballs for the most part into because people relate to people right like people no longer
44:33relate to companies anymore they relate to stories they relate to people and I think you guys are doing an amazing job
44:39at that well I appreciate that I seriously I think I could not agree more with you about having a personal brand
44:47um it’s very important like we teach that to our reps like when they’re interviewing with companies like you’re LinkedIn that’s your brand like people
44:53are going to look at you and we want to make sure that looks good and so for me my own personal brand like I hope people
45:00can view it as someone who actually cares about others who seeks to do good
45:05um and also is not afraid to like do things differently or or challenge the
45:11status quo um I think that’s just how I that’s how I operate like I see a
45:16problem and I question like why does it have to be that way why do I have to go to school for four years and yeah like
45:22why do I have to do these things I want to be someone that can challenge the status quo but I also want to be someone
45:27that’s very focused on serving those around me and and hopefully that’s my brand yeah that’s amazing I think so I
45:34think uh probably more than you think it is which is awesome um tell me a little
45:40bit more about your the actual Co cohorts themselves like what do you
45:46work on specifically and kind of what’s the path that you put people on to you
45:52know start from ground zero and end up with anr job
45:57by the end of the cohort yeah it’s a great question so our number one focus
46:02with the course is to help people get hired like that is the number one thing
46:08we want to accomplish it’s not to just come in and learn new skills and let it
46:13fizzle out it’s like no we’re here to help you connect with companies and help
46:18you land the best job that you can so that’s our number one Focus the way we go about it is being able to kind of
46:24reverse engineer the SDR role so when we were creating our curriculum we talked
46:29to a lot of different tech companies we go hey what do you want in your sdrs before they get hired what are you
46:35looking for but then we also went to top performers and go what are you doing
46:40like what are things that you’re doing that are helping you be successful in your role and all a sudden we’ve been
46:46able to kind of combine that along with personal experience and perspective into our
46:52curriculum and with our curriculum I think one of the reasons we’ve been successful is because we do things a
46:58little bit differently um we do everything live yep so it is over Zoom
47:03it’s a remote course but we have live instructors we keep our courses very interactive and we actually apply the
47:11skills that we’re learning we’re we’re having a conversation about this earlier where I think education has changed from um qu quality
47:22to quantity in certain elements yeah and so like we’re trying to take all these classes and just taking as much
47:28knowledge as we can all these podcasts all these books which is great huge supporter of that but in order to learn
47:35on a deeper level you need to have application y of what you’re learning totally and so a lot of people have said
47:42hey you guys should do a remote course and like an online course people can click through I was like that’s a great idea it’s really scalable a lot of other
47:48people do that but it just doesn’t develop the same level of skill as
47:53having a live instructor real feedback actually does long term yeah so we are a
47:59huge fan of doing it live and now supplementing with AI outside of class so we can continue to have application
48:06of what we of what we want to learn but the course itself we run a four-week
48:11program so again we want to talk about quality yeah it’s quick quality over quantity we want to be able to get in
48:19learn practice and apply the skills we need and then get out yeah so all of our
48:25courses taught in the evenings so I’d say about 90% of the students we work with are working full-time or are
48:32students in college that are going above and beyond by taking an evening course
48:38to progress in their career and so we do uh we meet from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
48:44mountain time we do 90 minute classes four days a week for four weeks and
48:50throughout that whole course like we talk about character development like character traits of top performers we
48:56talk about like skill set doing cold Outreach like the exact skills you’re going to be doing as an SDR and then we
49:02talk about processes so like how to set up your day how to operate at a high level within your role and then of
49:08course we talk about interviews like how we can prepare ourselves to actually sell ourselves and show what we are
49:14capable of to another company so we enjoy a ton of what we do we’ve had some
49:20amazing instructors as well who come in and help teach and uh yeah we’re hiring
49:25instructors right now so we’re we’re getting ready to scale that up a little bit which we’re excited about that’s cool man and I think it’s it’s it’s
49:32awesome that you can take somebody from like just uh oh
49:38wait Liz we’ll just cut this out and I’ll just start the question over it’s pretty cool that you can take
49:45somebody from a construction job put them into your course in four weeks like
49:52hypergrowth and get them into a job probably I would assume Within a couple
49:57months after they finish the Cort which is pretty amazing and you guys have a pretty solid placement rate don’t you
50:04yeah so we that’s a big Focus for us is being able to improve that placement rate yeah uh to be honest it’s gone down
50:10a little bit because we have started working with more remote students and we don’t have as many remote partners and
50:15so we recognize that the market the Market’s super interesting right now too so but in Utah we have an extremely high
50:24placement rate I think if you’re a girl through the course we’re at like a 90 to 95% placement rate for your girl com
50:30through the course and you hit the criteria that you need um and so for us
50:35that’s what we want to continue to build and what’s great for all of our current students is they have an Alumni network
50:42that’s already come through the course and works for a lot of these big tech companies so like we have students
50:48inside plural site we have students inside of Podium inside of Bill like
50:53these are Big tech companies juggernauts in Utah our students currently work there and we
50:59even have Partnerships with a lot of these companies where we’re able to skip the line of all these other applicants
51:06and get you to the front where you’re able to interview yeah amazing that has been so exciting to watch because I hear
51:12so many stories of like I’ve applied to like three 30 40 companies yeah and I
51:18haven’t gotten I’ve gotten like two interviews like dude something’s broken
51:23you know and so it’s it’s really important to be able to have like outside source that can vouch for you
51:28that you can set yourself apart by taking a course and then you can actually have the skills that you need
51:34to perform at a high level in the job yeah no well a th% but also have the the
51:39network by the end of the course that like I think the one thing that you guys provide that’s really unique is yeah
51:46that that’s the the partnership and the network during plus after where you you
51:52make that secondary intro you know so that they can get that second interview
51:57or they can get you know get started or get ahead of you know the line of thousands literally thousands of
52:04applicants yeah which is crazy um talk to me about your uh really kind of like
52:11your more or less your your your next steps like what’s you’ve got the cord that’s coming up is it this month or is
52:18it next month yeah we’re starting Monday you’re starting Monday so you’re coming into this next Cort and then out outside
52:25of sales dojo what’s next for jiren are you are sales Dojo kind of like your
52:31bread and butter Mission like you want to do it forever or what’s what’s next for jiren 2 that’s a great question um
52:39number one sales Dojo is like my main focus like I’m not doing I don’t have any side hustles going on right
52:45now um my side hustles would be living a balanced life so I I’m a huge believer
52:52in finding balance like I love training for different races um I’m a big guitar player so like
53:00I have these other passions or Hobbies I’m pursuing like I’m a single guy I need to be social yeah and you you love
53:07to travel too I do travel yeah I I’ve done a couple humanitarian trips I’m
53:12doing another one this year but um those are important to me and maybe a lot of
53:18Founders would disagree that I just need to be more Allin or whatever you want to call my business which I feel like I’m
53:24pretty Allin but still prioritize other things outside of work just because work
53:30doesn’t Define me and I never want it to I really want to be defined by like the
53:36things I’m just doing holistically in my life like how I’m serving others or
53:42things I’m accomplishing like even physically like I’m proud of those things and so um I really try to find
53:50balance um I don’t have a a race on the calendar right now um except I think I’m
53:55going to sign up for the s St George marathon in um in April is when the
54:00signups open and the reason behind that is because I want to eventually do a full Iron Man yeah I’ve done two halves
54:08currently and someday I will do a full and I will get there it’s going to
54:13happen and I know the marathon’s the first step so if I can do that in 2024 maybe 2025 could be my year so I love it
54:21I I love that concept of you know having other things that I get excited about cuz if I’m getting my butt kicked at
54:28work I still have other things that are keeping me grounded that can keep me going at a sustainable level um to make
54:36sure I can operate at my best in inside of work yeah no it’s the put the uh put
54:43the oxygen mask on first before you help somebody else metaphor you know it’s like you got to take care of your body
54:50you got to take care of your life in order to give the best in your business
54:56um you have to talk you have to talk more to Shane because he’s he’s running Ultras all the time and you have to talk
55:01to I maybe introduce you to Lane because laye works for us and he’s uh he’s done an full Iron Man and does tries and he’s
55:09a major biker too so uh yeah man I’m excited for you especially this year so
55:14yeah those are people I love to talk about CU yeah I mean if you can do that you’re a high performer yeah like I I
55:22seriously believe it all bleeds together you can’t just be a disciplined athlete
55:29with also just without being like disciplined in school like if you’re going to cut Corners totally in one area
55:34you’re probably going to cut Corners in other areas and I think that’s why I like training is because if I can if I
55:40can lock in and you know perform at a high level physically I feel proud of
55:45myself I feel accomplished and it’s going to help me lock in perform at a high level mentally or spiritually and
55:51with my business so I love that J I wish we had more time to like keep going on this topic but what is your like more or
55:59less last piece of advice for someone wanting to break into Tech or get out of
56:05the rut maybe that they’re they’re in right now that’s a really good question
56:10um just kind of looking back at myself when I feel like I’m in ruts I think it always comes back to belief in
56:18oneself and belief is is hard to like
56:24sustain at all times but when I feel discouraged or I have
56:32moments of like weakness or I’m doubting myself it always comes back to a core
56:37like do I believe in my own abilities and sometimes it’s not me finding it internally but it’s me being around like
56:44I mentioned a mentor or my mom or my dad or a friend that helps me see it again
56:51in myself and I think that has been one of the biggest reasons we’ve been successful as a course as a as a company
56:59is because when people come into our program some of them forget they have this ability to learn or they they don’t
57:06believe in their potential but by the end of the course one of the most common themes that we create and we get
57:13responses about this all the time is people come in and they leave feeling more confident and it all comes down to
57:20helping people recognize and believe in themselves again and so if you’re going
57:26through a hard time I think try to find it within yourself but if not go be around other people that can pull it out
57:32of you like there’s got to be a friend there’s got to be a teacher there’s got to be a mentor that can help bring it
57:38back out because once you feel it that’s all you need to keep going I feel like that’s what dojo’s run off of is belief
57:46um it’s one of my favorite Concepts belief and confidence confidence is doing something that you’ve done multiple times and you know that you can
57:52do it belief is believing that you can accomplish something that you’ve never done before at a high level and I feel
57:59like I run off belief a lot of times yeah is I need to make sure that I have my belief system in place and there are
58:05people around me that can support that I think that’s my biggest piece of advice and you do it enough and you keep going
58:11and that’s what’s we’re going to build the confidence 100% 100% well jiren thanks so much for being on today man I
58:18appreciate it and thank you for your advice and and sharing all of your background and I’m really excited for
58:24sales Dojo it’s been so fun to follow you it’s was fun to run your ads for a minute um but it’s uh but it it’s
58:32exciting to see kind of where things are going for you and I’m excited for the future for you um where can people find
58:37you LinkedIn dude I think that’s I so cliche but LinkedIn is such a good spot
58:43like um don’t just follow me but you can connect with me um and then honestly a lot of people follow our sales Dojo
58:49LinkedIn page because we’re always giving shout outs to our graduates and things that they’re accomplishing and it’s really important for them to have a
58:55network as well so connect with me on LinkedIn um or follow us on with sales
59:01Dojo on LinkedIn or Instagram those are probably the best places if you want to apply for a cohort and like see if we
59:07can get you in then you can actually go to sales dojo.com and then there’s apply now section if you mention the podcast
59:14then I’ll hop on a oneon-one call with whoever reaches out um with you and we’ll see if we can be a good fit so
59:20sounds good well thanks Jaren appreciate it man well I I appreciate what you’re doing I I love this
59:26a medium that you allow us to connect and it’s so cool what you’ve built with scroll like we don’t get to talking
59:32enough about like what you do and how you’re an entrepreneur and all these things so thanks man thanks for letting me talk and share but I’m a big fan of
59:39what you guys are building I appreciate it Jared thanks that’s a WAP appreciate it thanks man it’s fun it’s it’s always
59:48so fun [Music]
