1.6 MILLION
I heard someone giving advice on how they made $1.6M in tech sales by age 30.
It was well meaning.
They wanted to help.
To show others what’s possible.
But the message intentionally or not was:“Do what I did, and you can make this kind of money too.”
I’ve made $1M in tech sales.
And I’ve given advice too.
But here’s what I don’t say enough:I got lucky.
Right product.
Right timing.
Great marketing.
A boss who gave me equity and it happened to hit.
An industry with momentum.
A comp plan that hadn’t been “realigned” yet.
Sure, I had skills.
But so do you.
Had you been in my role, with those same conditions, you probably would’ve crushed it too.
Maybe even more.
Flip it around?
Put me in your job, with your challenges and comp plan?
I might be struggling.
Sales isn’t a perfect meritocracy.
It’s messy.
It’s tilted.
And yeah, luck plays a bigger role than we like to admit.
This isn’t a knock on anyone who’s found success.
Celebrate it.
Share it.
Just don’t forget the part we can’t control.
Sometimes, “Here’s how I made $1.6M in sales by 30”is really just:“Here’s how things happened to line up for me.”
And that’s okay too.