By Emily Champagne
As a child growing up, I had my heart set out on being a police officer. I come from a family of law enforcement and military, and I always admired their work ethic. I was strong-willed, outspoken, and determined. As a mother now, I see those qualities in my 4-year-old daughter. Lord knows I found a new appreciation for my parents raising a child like me. As a young lady, we are typically taught to be soft-spoken, delicate, and more reserved.
In my teenage years, I quickly realized that wasn’t me. What does a young woman who has more of an “aggressive go-getter” mentality become in the world? At the age of 18, I got my first dose of sales. I started working in business development for a car dealership, and that’s where my love of sales began! My Grandmother was the first and only woman in a sales position for the same car dealership in her early 30’s. I felt as though I had big shoes to fill, but I wanted to make her proud. I quickly started to realize how male dominant sales roles were, especially leadership positions. That never deterred me.
A Path to Success as a Woman Tech Sales
In my mid- 20’s I started my career in tech sales. I fell in love with the industry, but it was very competitive, and like my career in car sales before, there was a lack of gender diversity. I wanted to figure out how to excel in this industry, which meant coming up with a pathway to nurture my success. The data shows that only 25% of salespeople in tech are women, and only 12% of sales leaders are women. According to these numbers, the odds were stacked against me, but I was determined to work my way to the 12% of that statistic.
One of my mentors told me to read the book called “The Secret” by Rhonda Bryne. Following the completion of the book, my “goal-setting frenzy” kicked in. I became enamored by the Law of Attraction and all of the practices associated with it and firmly believed that even if the odds were stacked against me, I could accomplish anything. Every morning I spend 5-10 minutes writing down the things that I am grateful for, my affirmations, and my goals. Not just my long-term goals, my short-term goals as well. It helped me stay focused, and it enabled me to keep my eye on the big picture.
Applying the principles I learned from “The Secret” has helped me grow exponentially as a professional and person. I am more intentional in everything that I set out to do. I manage to be a full-time working woman, a mother, and a wife successfully. When I became a mother, I found it hard to balance the attention I wanted to give my daughter without feeling like it was taking away from my work. Then sprinkle in being a wife, and I felt like there was never enough time in the day. Being intentional with my goals and my “plan” helped balance all those roles. I had a strong desire to get into a sales position on a regional level within a company whose culture matched my beliefs. December of 2020, I landed my dream job with Telesystem as a Regional Channel Manager after 18 months of planning and executing my path to get there.
I leave you ladies with this, with each small goal you achieve, you build confidence, and confidence builds success. Putting your pen to paper is the first step. Then, you put action behind what you write down, and you are off on a trajectory to conquer the world!
“You create your thoughts; your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality.”- Wayne Dyer
Author Bio
Emily Champagne is a Regional Channel Manager for Telesystem’s Southeast Region. Emily has 14 years of sales experience within different verticals and has a history of maintaining client relationships, driving sales, and developing new client relationships. Emily is a volunteer with Southwest Florida Coalition Again Human Trafficking and a Trauma Mentor for Lee Memorial Hospital in her area. Her expertise is in driving positive customer experience, growing and maintaining her book of business, and identifying new partner relationships.