Noob School - Discipline, Purpose, and Sales: Troy Pusateri’s Story

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

What does it take to go from an All-American athlete to a Navy SEAL, then transition into a successful sales career in the tech industry? In this episode of Noob School, I sit down with Troy Pusateri, whose journey is a masterclass in discipline, purpose, and perseverance.Growing up around Baltimore, Troy excelled in swimming, becoming an All-American at Clemson University. But instead of taking the conventional route after graduation, he chose to serve his country, joining the Navy and eventually becoming a Navy SEAL. His time in the SEAL teams, including protection detail work in Afghanistan, shaped his mindset, resilience, and leadership skills—qualities that would later prove invaluable in his business career.After leaving the military, Troy took an unconventional path into sales, starting as an Executive Assistant, then moving into business development at Pegasus before making the leap into the tech industry. Today, he’s a Regional Sales Manager at BLACKWOOD, having also worked with AWS as a Navy Account Manager.In this conversation, we dive into:✅ The power of discipline and how it translates to success in business✅ Why having a clear purpose is key to staying motivated✅ The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people✅ Lessons from the SEALs that apply directly to sales and leadership✅ The transition from military service to corporate successWhether you're in sales, the military, or just looking for inspiration on building a successful career, Troy’s story is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.Tune in now!Get your sales in rhythm with The Sterling Method: https://SterlingSales.co I'm going to be sharing my secrets on all my social channels, but if you want them all at your fingertips, start with my book, Sales for Noobs: https://amzn.to/3tiaxsL Subscribe to our newsletter today: https://bit.ly/3Ned5kL #SalesTraining #B2BSales #SalesExcellence #SalesStrategy #BusinessGrowth #SalesLeadership #SalesSuccess #SalesCoaching #SalesSkills #SalesInnovation #SalesTips #SalesPerformance #SalesTransformation #SalesTeamDevelopment #SalesMotivation #SalesEnablement #SalesGoals #SalesExpertise #SalesInsights #SalesTrends#salestrends

All right, welcome back to New School. I believe this is episode 147. Don't hold me to that, but we're thinking it's 147. Anyway, today I've got, believe it or not, another wonderful old friend, Troy Pusetary. Troy, thanks for being here. Very welcome. Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it. Yeah, man. Troy and I have been friends for over 20 years, and amazingly, we can't remember how we met. Isn't that wild? Yeah, it's been a hot minute, but I do know why we met. It was because initially you had reached out to whoever the mystery person that introduced us. Yes.

But your son at the time was starting the process of going into Buds, which is Navy SEAL training. I think you wanted to have a little bit of someone to talk to who's kind of been there, done that. You and your wife kind of wanted a little bit of guidance while he went through that process. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and you were, you mean, you didn't know me from Adam, clearly, but you couldn't have been nicer and explained the process. And I remember one thing you said to me, after I'd ask all these questions, you said, John, don't worry about it, it's going to be okay. Yeah. And that made us feel good.

And it turned out, he did make it. It wasn't certainly for nobody. It's not easy. But, yeah, that started a really good friendship. and we'll tell you all about it here as we unfold. Troy, as you might have gathered, what was a Navy SEAL, and then after completing his duty, became a contractor back to the same group. So he's been protecting us for quite some time.

But we'll peel it back to before that. grew up in Baltimore grew up just outside of Baltimore and a small town called Falston, Maryland About 20 minutes outside of Baltimore, it's not Baltimore, it's Baltimore, right? You got to be a D in there?

Yeah, there is. Baltimore. Sometimes there is, yeah. And then were you involved in that wired, the wire, that show, the wire? You know what, I've never even seen an episode that I'm not going to lie. I heard it's pretty wild.

Well, it is. It doesn't make me want to live in inner city, Baltimore, I should say. It was a good series. And you grew up as a great swimmer, and you were belonging to the same club, and we're friends with the Phelps family, Michael Phelps. That is correct. We all swam from a, came from the same swim club. It was called North Baltimore Aquatic Club. It was founded by our coach back then, Murray Stevens, who, Still, I keep in touch with to this day. He's mentored so many kids, you know, like myself, and he's had over a dozen, maybe close to two,

that have gone through the Olympics. So a great fantastic goat coach. And he was also my high school teacher as I went through high school because he was an English teacher at the high school. Really? Really? So, yeah, I get the double dose of them, you know, pretty much from seventh grade on to I graduated high school.

So what makes him so good? What does he do or say that makes you swim faster? I think his coaching style, and back then it was a little different, right? But what made him great was he held us accountable. He never let us slacked off. And I really Cannot thank the man ever enough Because he ingrained those attributes and qualities in me

To not quit, to not back down That I learned at a very young age as an athlete That I took, you know, going into college athletics And I took going into the military That I still carry with me now in sales Like, you know, you get knocked on your ass Nine times out of ten, you're going to get up every Those nine times, right?

Right. So without having that background, and that I know for a fact I would not be where I'm at today. Wow. I love that. That's a great lesson. I mean, you know, they say, you know, once you decide that you're going to win, then you're going to win. It might take you a little longer than you thought. But, I mean, as long as you don't quit, you're on the path.

Exactly. And I also read recently, Phelps was talking about, you know, his discipline of practice leading up to the Olympics. And he said he didn't miss a day ever, like 365, Christmas Day. I mean, every, and he said he knew if he missed one day, it would kind of almost all be over. And that was pretty standard for us back then. I mean, I can remember when we would have Christmas break, right? And schools would shut down for two weeks. Instead of us doing, you know, one a day or two a days practice, we're in there doing now three days.

Because you'd have more time. We'd swim at six in the morning to eight and come back at lunch from 11 to 1 and then come back in the afternoon from 4 to 6. Like we were doing three practices a day. But, you know, outside of those breaks, my life through high school was every morning, get up at, you know, 4.30, drive through the pool, in the water at 5.5. 5.30, swim until 7.30. Shower. Shub breakfast down your face. School, as soon as school is out, back in the pool for two and a half hours. Drive home, shove food in your face, homework, rinse, wash, repeat. I didn't have time to really do anything else besides that. I mean, I did occasionally, but like that was my, that was my schedule from 7th to 12th grade.

Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. And so, when you're in the pool, what was your best event? So I was a distance swimmer. It's not the most exciting to watch. They always used to put those races at the very end of the swim meets because nobody would really sit around for them. But yeah, the mile of a thousand, I kind of gravitated to those longer events. Yeah, and again, not very exciting to watch.

Not very exciting to do either. But good for the discipline. Just keep doing it. And so you went from there from a great program, the great coach. You went from there to Clemson, and you were an All-American swimmer there. But I was curious, why Clemson? How did you pick Clemson? When it was time for me to go to college, I applied to a couple schools, and then I got into three of my top choices,

where it was Clemson, Florida State, and then the Naval Academy. And I got in all three of them. ironic that I didn't go to the academy and then I graduated Clemson and went to the Navy. I'll still never figure that one out. But I just like Clemson because when I came down for my recruiting trip, the coach was very kind of similar in mindset. I felt like to my former coach in high school, it wasn't too far away from home that I couldn't get back there relatively quick, but it was also far enough away where, you know, you felt like you can get that kind of genuine college experience. And it sat right there kind of like in

the Appalachian Mountains. I mean, the university itself, and I actually just rode through it on the way up here today. It's really. Yeah. And it's just a beautiful school. It's just right there on Lake Hartwell, right at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. And like, I always like going outdoors and hiking and camping and all that stuff. And it's all right there. So, um, It had a lot to play. Those were the main reasons that really kind of drove me. Florida State, I felt, was just kind of not really, you know, my thing, kind of a typical, you know, Florida, cheesy kind of town set back in time.

And then the Naval Academy, I got in. But I also didn't think at that time I was ready to go down. that path yet and dedicate myself kind of through that military mindset path yet because, and it was a good thing I didn't because, you know, I know now looking back I wasn't ready. But that's what kind of led me to go into the Navy when I did graduate from Clemson. I was like, I need to figure this out. I need to get some discipline here because I lost a little bit of that. I think kind of in the college, the college years, you know,

Doing the academics, doing the swimming, and then, you know, throwing in the girls and the party becomes a lot. You lose a little bit of kind of like that northern star where you want to go because there's just so much coming at you. But yeah. Well, I think it's interesting. You know, I had a chance to go to the Citadel, but I had a chance to go to West Point. And I made the same decision. I was like, I had a great school. But do I really, can I make a decision when I?

I'm 17, a 10-year decision. It was a 10-year decision, four years plus the six years, plus this summer. Literally, right? You have to report in June for training, you know, before the school even starts. I was like, I don't know if I'm really ready to make that decision. And I'm kind of glad I didn't, you know, because I don't think you should make a decision like that unless you're sure. And, you know, when I went to the Navy and Labor,

I always found, at least I always felt, and I think a lot of guys will testify to this, and I'm sure Jack would, you know, your son would say the same. The best officers usually are the ones that came from like an ROTC program, or they started as enlisted and they crossed into that officer realm after, you know, they'd done four or six years as an enlisted guy because, you know, you've been there, you've done that, you got the T-shirt, you earned it, right? And I always felt like those guys, it was just something a little bit more about them

that kind of made them a better leader. And I think those guys kind of, they earn that respect. Right. Right. Because they've been there, done that. Right. So.

Yeah. It's true. I mean, I think sometimes the, if you come into an organization, whether it's Cecile's or something else, and you come in like, I'm the officer in charge. I graduated from here. You know, it's almost like that is supposed to make me a good officer

versus are you a good officer or not. And same with business. Like, you know, someone who transfers in or someone gets elevated really comes down to, you know, results. You know, what are you producing? And I think in the SEALs is true that you're more likely because you have smaller teams and everyone's an expert at something

that the leader tries to figure out what the goal is and then goes to the team and says, y'all give me a plan, you'll tell me how to do this, right, instead of micromanaging. Right. Yeah.

And why do you think that is? How did that, why is that? It's big boy rules. I mean, you get to that point, you've gone through the training, and yes, you were right, everybody kind of has a specialty. But I think what makes guys in the teams

or in the platoon's unique is, you know, you might be good at demolition. I might be a medic and this and that. On our off team, guess what you're training me on? How to do demo better and I'm training you on how to do some medical, because there's going to possibly come a point in time where I go down or you go down and guess what? Someone's got to do it.

Right. Right. So, you know, you don't want to kind of put or take a chance on, oh, we'll figure it out. No. Yeah. But I think, you know, the officers understand that, and it very much is that mindset, big boy rules.

And, you know, if there is something asked of you and he, you know, gets a group of you guys together and you can't come up with a solution, it will go back to the table and we'll bring in more people and figure it out, you know. But they give you enough chance to prove yourself, but also enough of, rope to also hang yourself too

when you first go into the teams right it's kind of a let's see how good this guy is or let's not let's see how good he or where he needs help or where he needs assistance right so it's kind of a give take of them yeah well certainly one of the best

organizations in the world for what you do so you got out of Clemson All-American Swimmer and you decided to become a seal. So how did you make that decision?

I had always known I was when they go in the military as a kid. I was always that kind of kid, you know, when I wasn't, my more younger days, when I wasn't swimming as much, I was running around the backwoods, you know, playing G.I. Joe with the other kids in the neighborhood. But when I graduated school, I took a hard look at myself and, and needed to find something that can give me a sense of more drive and discipline at that time.

And I needed it, because four years of college, it was fun, well, five years, I went five years, excuse me, it was on the five year program. Bonus, bonus point. Yeah, a lot of fun, great mates and great friends, but I definitely needed to kind of, to find that guiding lighting end. So I literally knew I was going to go in the military.

That's when I started research, and I was like, well, what is the absolute hardest thing there is to do. That was the first question that entered my head. What is it? What is it? And I started doing research, whether it be a pilot or a seal or whatever. So I went and took the ASVAPs, and then I started talking to the recruiters, and I did very well in the ASVAP. They wanted me to be a nuclear sub-officer, and I said, you couldn't pay me enough money to sit in a tin can underwater. But yeah, I wound up on the Navy SEALs, and I had a couple of body's mind that went prior before I did and heard about the how hard it was, heard about the horrors

of it, the training, but also, you know, in the flip side, if you make it through how much fun it is, how, I mean, and I will be the first to say that still to this day, it's the best job I've ever had and I will ever have had. There's nothing else out there that I can do even moving forward, I think that would match not only how exciting the job was to do, but really is the people that you work with. And that's what made it exceptional. I've yet to really find that equivalent, camaraderie, if you will,

and working with others yet since I've left. And I don't want to give up, right? I just don't see it happening. I have to say that I can't, maybe one day if I started my own business venture and brought on a team and hired like that, I could build something like that. But where I stand now, it's hard to be that. Difficult. Sure. Yeah. Well, it would be great if you did that one day. You brought in your own team.

And, of course, you probably have us, just like the SEALs, you have a support team somewhere helping you. But you could have your little nucleus, you know, the people. You and Jack, maybe. Yeah, there you go. Well, that's cool. So that's ironically the same question Jack asked when he was getting out of college is what's the hardest thing I could do. He came up with the same answer. Yeah.

And anyway, good for you. That's awesome. And then you got out after a while and you had a medical. medical discharge. And then they still wanted you to help them. And so they hired you back through a military contractor to help. Yes. So I went to a company called Dine Corps.

They were being contracted out by the State Department. Went right back to Afghanistan and lived there for four years, pretty much, them, they're straight. And we work in and out of the embassy doing protection. for folks when they would come in, like, you know, bigwigs. We would do protection for, like, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, kind of Lisa Rice, stuff like that. And then also, you know, folks from the USAID or whatever,

but we would do long-range movements, you know, five, six, seven, eight hours outside of Kabul, which it's just you and these folks you're moving and four dudes with guns. Like, it was kind of interesting. support. We didn't have support from the... No air support. No air support, no nothing. It was just us and like, hey, good luck. Which kind of made it wild. It was like the Wild Wild West.

Were they trying to get you, the bad people? Oh, I mean, I got, that was the, I got blown up an IED doing that job. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. Um, yes. But, um, interesting, it was an interesting time. the rules of engagement when I was in the military were really non-existent at that time and even in the contract when I went there as a contractor it was still very much wild wild west

it was a fun time to be in Afghanistan I think I remember tell me if I'm crazy but you were on Facebook and I would follow you on Facebook and I would see you like catching fish somewhere like you would have a weekend off or something and fly to the Philippines or I don't know what the heck you would do

Yeah, so we would get, you know, you could take a long week off if you wanted to, depending on how much time you had racked up. And, you know, instead of coming all the way back home, stateside, which that flight from Afghanistan, you're going from there to Dubai, Dubai to Atlanta or whatever. I mean, that's a 24-hour, 30-plus ordeal. So usually, you know, we would fly to, you know, somewhere in Dubai. where I remember when I was doing a lot of work, after I left Afghanistan for the maritime security, you know, down in Kenya, down in Africa. I get to play a lot down in Africa.

In Kenya and South Africa, you know, we would do up in Djibouti. We were diving with whale sharks, like stuff like that. Yeah. Did you get some fishing in too? Yeah. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Well, that's just crazy to think that you were over there

doing all that serious work and then able to, like, catch a fish. Yeah, you know, you do that kind of work and you need, you can't just keep doing it 24-7, 365. Nobody, after a while, you're just going to mentally drown yourself. You're going to just be exhausted. So getting those little breaks here and there just to cut loose and do something where, you know, your intensity and your attention levels up here constantly elevated. You got to find ways to bring it down and kind of. Chill.

Yeah. A little bit. But yeah, it's hard to believe. I did that between the military and the contracting for about 14 years. I think I've been to over probably damn near 50 countries in that span, different countries doing different things, whether it be for work or pleasure. You know, and I love it. You know, people always talk and look back.

things different. Do you have any regrets? And I think everybody has that in some way, shape, or form, and I do, but I really don't. I don't think I have any regrets because I got to see and do a lot of stuff that people never get the chance to do. So I'm really grateful for that. Yeah. Well, good. That's awesome. That's awesome. And we appreciate that you did it. You did it for, what, 14 or so years. So then, let's talk about the transition because again I think I kind of came when you came back I think I kind of came back to your we became friends again because you were looking for help to transition into the business world which is very difficult when you come from something as

cool as you're doing to like coal calls and business lunches and you know staying at the embassy suite you know I mean and again we've done quite Quite a bit of this kind of coaching here in Greenville was as other seals have moved here. You guys have done a hell of job with the Future Foundation too. Well, thank you. I got on, I'm now on the app, and I've been on it for a while. I just realized I had it. Yeah.

But to see the growth of how much that organization, not only here, which like you guys do and everybody's done locally, but throughout the entire country, man, that's just really phenomenal. It's good. Thank you for that. Well, gosh, it's my pleasure. I'm glad. But I think Greenville is the, you know, outside of your two bases, Virginia B. in San Diego, Greenville's the number one hub for seals.

That's awesome. Yeah, that was our goal. So it's great, it's great that's happening. We certainly have a safe city now with all you guys walking around. I want to say, first of all, I'm proud of you because from the beginning, you know, when you got out, it was very difficult. And you have very strategically worked your way from selling steel, right, your first job. My first job out, I wasn't in sales. I was actually hired directly to be the CEO's EA, executive assistant.

Oh, really? Yes. Chief of staff. Yeah. Whatever you want to call it. I didn't know that. Yeah, I was his right-hand man basically helping him day in, day out. And he's a great guy, fantastic, smart businessman, you know, entrepreneur.

kind of like yourself, started his business in his 20s, and he actually just sold it last year. Made a great, great amount of money. I congratulate him. But he was South African Special Forces. So when I came in and do the interview, he looked at my resume, and I explained to him that I'm making the transition,

and he didn't hesitate to bring me on. And he's like, I just want, you better be here before me every morning, you better leave after I do. But it was an exceptional role because I got to wear a lot of different hats in that two-year time and working with him. And he's still a mentor to me this day.

I still call him for advice, just like I call you, right? And that's what I figured out that I had to do, and it took me about a year to figure that out when I was making that transition. Had it not been for the likes of someone like him or getting help from like you, you know, going through that nonprofit that I went through to train me up

on how to work in the tech industry and sales, I don't know where I'd be. Yeah. So, I mean, and it's a hard thing, I think, for guys to do, like with our background or in military in general, to make that, to turn this switch off and try to turn another one on and not have any real direction,

because let's face it, the DOD doesn't give you shit. they don't give you a one-day class on here's how you're going to transition out get out of here right and there's a lot more to it and I also kind of attribute I think that's why you know we we have a lot of guys that are taking their own lives and I think in my experience when these people can't find a sense of purpose and they're trying and they're trying and they're trying and they don't have the guidance they need or the know-how or the direction, I think they all, they give up. And it's sad to see. And I'll add to that, this is kind of a sales lesson to some degree. I don't know how I'm

turning it into that, but, you know, having dealt with a lot of people transitioning out of the military, the ones that are super sad are believing things that aren't true. They start telling each other things like nobody cares about us and, you know, there's no one will help us. And, And then you can just turn around and say, well, sure there are. Maybe not all of them, but John will. Yeah. And the guy from Pegasus will. I mean, there's plenty of people that want to help.

Yeah. And so I think, you know, particularly if you start hanging around other people that are negative and saying. Your feet on it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to hear anything else. And the flip side, if you hang out with people that are positive and they want to help you out, like it's, it's, you know, you feed on that too.

And it just takes you to a different route. You've done a great job of reaching out over the years. And many times Troy will reach out, and he'll be, I think, pretty sure what he wants to do. Like, I think I want to go change and do this job. But he'll call me and probably this, several other people, and just say, I want to run this by you and get your feedback. I'll say what I think. Maybe he hears three or four opinions. Then you decide.

It's because he calls me. Doesn't mean he's got to do it, right? You just get someone's opinion and decide. So I hope everyone will reach out and find people that will have good conversations and stay away from negative, get to the positive people. Yeah. Well, that's good. We have a good story because it's been very good in terms of helping each other. Exactly.

I finally got to help you out and I still hit you up now. I think if we were to put each other as who's helped who more on a scale, I think you're winning. Who cares? Who cares? Well, but another thing you did that was good is, you know, you got kind of, I guess, brought back into the business world with your first job with Pegasus, you know, working for this great CEO. But you start to think, you know, I want to get into the tech world. Yeah. And not only that, but I want to sell tech somehow to the military, to the Department of Defense. I want to, because I want to, I don't want to just throw away all this 16 years of work in the military. I want to keep those connections and contacts and my background, make it important, security clearance, all that stuff.

And so you went and you took a class on that. Yeah, so why I wanted to get in the tech real quick, I mean, being in the military and in the contracting work, I directly see how having technology available to you can change the outcome on a battlefield very, very quick. if you have that advantage, right? So I've always been drawn to it. And then another reason I wanted to get into it, I had friends that, you know, I went to college with, and they started doing that a while way before me. But, you know, they didn't have it, and not to be arrogant,

but they didn't have the drive that I did. And I saw that become wildly successful. I was like, well, shit, if they can do it, I know I can. Right? So those were kind of the reasons I wanted to do it. But yeah, to your point, I went and I found, day. It was a nonprofit at the time called, it was a program called TechQuod. It was a married couple, a husband and wife that were taking veterans into small cohorts and training them up

over the course of 10 weeks of everything IT 101, you know, week one will focus on cloud, week two will focus on cybersecurity, week three will focus on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Every week you get a 101 education in a different area. And they're also training you how to do sales 101, right? And you go through the program. It was pretty competitive actually really to get in. And when they first started, they were only taking officers. And I think the reason, and they never said this, but I think,

the reason they were doing this is because usually officers will come with the bigger roll with that of contacts in the DOD. But I was the first enlisted to get accepted. And it took me two times to apply before I accepted that. They said, no way the first time. And I came back and did it again. They're like, well, we're not going to get rid of you. I guess we'll let you in.

But yeah, that was how I got my introductory into IT tech sales. and I knew I wanted to ultimately wind up in the DoD space because even though I couldn't wear the uniform anymore in certain country, like, this is the next best thing. Like, let's get the gear and the tech into the hands of the men and women in the military so they can go out there and kick ass and do their jobs and have the best chance of success. And I think it's not as cool as being a team guy anymore,

but, I mean, again, it is the next best thing to ensure that these people now fighting the fight have everything they need. That's awesome. That's a very good reason to do it. I was thinking it's because you get paid more, but I guess that's part of it. Yeah, that is true. But you know what? When you see your friends do well, it's kind of like the old four-minute mile.

Because, I mean, once some guy ran the four-minute mile, like everyone, like 15 people did it, right? So if you see your friend, your goofball friend from Clemson, you know, making all this money, you're like, I can do this. No problem. So that's cool. That's a very, that's a good story. And then, and then from there, I'm just trying to remember, you got into cyber, right? Yeah. So when I graduated that class, my first job was at a small MSSP down in Augustin, Georgia. Yeah. I did one year there, and my first year in sales, right?

Within the first six months, I had like one of the largest sales in the entire history of the company. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. Yeah. I remember that. Right? And within the end of the first year, another company found out about me and I kind of got recruited in there. Now, at this point, I was still on the commercial side of the house, and I had set, I'd

always set a goal in my head. Like, if I can't get on the DOD side of things within five years, like, I'm going to probably not stay in this career. because that's where I wanted to be back to in some way, shape, or form. But I was able to get there in three. So I did a year at the small MSSP, two years at Citrix, and then AWS Amazon Web Services call me up and said, hey, how would you like to work on our Navy team?

I said, sign me up. Yeah, I remember that because I thought that was perfect. I mean, you can't really get to work for a much better, large company than Amazon. Yeah, it was a great. opportunity, a great place to cut my teeth as introductory and going into the DOD. Because they have a good mix of

folks in there that have a DOD background that came like, you know, right from the military and some that don't. So you're getting, you're surrounding yourself with people that have a wide various background.

And you work there. Like, it's, you You've heard the stories, I'm sure. I mean, one year, AWS or Amazon feels like seven somewhere else, and it's absolutely true. But, again, I don't regret it. It was a great place to really cut my teeth and learn and learn and learn. And make contacts. Yeah.

So you were selling storage, Amazon storage, cloud storage, right? Yeah, all their cloud services, yeah. Back to the Navy? Yeah. So, you know, across the entirety of the Navy from an AWA. standpoint there was probably a half a dozen or a little bit more account executives that covered the entirety of it right and you know some of us covered certain commands the others covered certain commands because to do have one person do all that yeah so somebody might

cover yeah the fleet people or the air people they couldn't do it in it if they could they would you know they would be working right themselves literally what was your area So I kind of, they gave me the commands that really kind of focused on like supply chain, facilities, facility maintenance. But then I also kind of got a couple unique ones like NCIS and investigative services. I finally convinced them that give me Naval Special Warfare because no one's ever really got in there. And, you know, if you have the secret handshake, you can kind of get your foot in the door, right? So, but yeah, it was a pretty good territory. When I started, it was maybe generating, you know, like 400K, like ARR.

And when I left there, it was just shy of $4 million a year. So I was able to grow up pretty quick. But yeah, yeah. I enjoyed my time there, but I ever go back? Probably not. And you know this. There's just such a big difference between big box companies like that and Google and Microsoft. and then the smaller organizations like where I'm at now,

when you've kind of been subjected to those big box companies, it takes a toll on you. Just mentally, and that takes a toll on you physically. And just a lot of political red tape BS that you've got to deal with on a daily basis. Back in the Navy. Well, there are a whole different story, though, too. I mean, I do think it's a good idea. it's not a bad idea for someone building a career,

in your case having to start one later, is to, like, if you can work for the best company in the land for just a little while, you know, get your, get to know a bunch of people, call us a big account, somebody smaller is going to grab you and pull you and give you more responsibility, probably chances to make more money, because you now have all that experience. And it won't be probably as hard.

And that's exactly kind of what has happened now. I went from AWS down to a very small organization. There are a hundred of us there in the whole company in totality. And I got now the, I covered for them the entire U.S. Navy and the entire U.S. Marine Corps, which is kind of new to me covering the Marine Corps. But learning. It really gives you a hard time because you're not a moment. Marine? No. I mean, if they do, I just give it right back. I don't care. The challenge your sale. And that's

why I like the job because, you know, in talking to these customers in the DOD, they're very straightforward. And if you can earn their trust and they like you and you can demonstrate a value proposition, like they just want to work with you. It's like the Marine people you would call on, is that Quantico? Or would that be somewhere in Washington? Everywhere. Everywhere. I've got free reign to call on everybody. across. So they're making independent decisions at different places maybe about what they need? You know, for the, like you talk about like policy and all that. Well, I mean, if you're trying to sell them something from your company, yeah.

They would buy one thing at Quantico and a different thing at Paris Island. Oh, yeah. That's how they do it in the DoD. That's kind of one of my big beefs. Okay. I just thought it would be the same thing. No, you would think. Yeah. No, man.

And I can say this because I'm former military, but now that I'm on the outside looking in it through a different lens, there isn't a day that doesn't go by when I'm in this job and this role selling to the DOD that doesn't make me want to shake my head and put it right through the wall. Because there's a lot of them out there that are sometimes in the same command and they're trying to solve for the same problem and they're not even talking to each other. They have no clue. Just a big, big bureaucracy.

It is. And it's frustrating to see, and it's sad to see. But you know what? It is what it is, and the best you can do is when you see that, to call it out, try to bring those folks together and help them. And at the end of the day, I've never really liked the term being called a sales or salesperson. I think what we do is solve problems. I like to be called a problem to solve.

because if you can do that for somebody, you're going to have a lifelong customer, and you continue to solve those problems for them. I'm sure you're crushing it. So now this company is based in Washington? Is that right? So they're based out of Annapolis, Maryland. They've been around since the late 70s, but the most recent owner, he bought it from his parents about 10, 12, 10 or 11, 12 years ago.

Super young guy, younger than me, he's probably 38, 39 years old. but exceptionally smart when it comes to the industry. He's exceptionally talented leader. He has figured out very quickly how to treat his employees very well. And with that, the tenure within that company is something that you never see across like tech. People staying there for 10, 12, 14 years. So what is he doing to make that happen? his open door policy,

no matter you are, you can always call him, get a meeting set up with his ability to listen and actually care versus just dictate or kind of bark orders, I think, sets him apart. And he just knows how to take care of his employees and treat him all. You know, I can say, like, that didn't happen

when I was at AWF. Right. Right. And now coming into this environment, it blew me away. Right. And it blew me away that somebody so young was able to figure that out. That's right. And build just a great little small company.

We're very niche. And the fact that we only focus on like cyber data analytics and AI. So like our line card, you know, where most VARs are, you know, four or five, six hundred products. Ours is like 40. So we're just laser focused on certain areas. That's good. Well, I just think, you know, in terms of, you know, a teaching moment for the listeners is, you know,

you've got yourself in a situation where you know how to sell. You've certainly got your discipline, you know, from your experience over the years. And you're selling to an area that you should be selling to. and you're selling something that's very important, you know, with a good company. You're really in a good spot, I think. It's probably the best spots you've been in since the teams. And I'll say, if, you know, if something happened to that company or they sold or, you know, who knows what. You know, with what you've established, you can just walk across the street.

There's other people who would want your skill set and your connection. So I think that's a very valuable thing you've created. And again, having known you all through this, it wasn't always. that way. Hell no. It's a process and it's still an ongoing process. It always is. Always looking to improve the situation but I think the situation is as good as it's been. Exactly. That's awesome. Okay, a couple more questions. I'm very happy. A couple more questions. Are you using the AI tools like

GROC or chat GPT? Are you using those on your job these days? For like prospecting and outreach or anything like that? You know what? I have not dove into that. The way I do prospecting in the DOD is it's kind of different than the commercial side because, you know, if someone would have a hand me a list of, hey, if here's 500 emails and here's 500 numbers, like, let's just be honest. A lot of people don't want to go through that. And I've done that. I've done it. I've tried it.

And it's a numbers game. You know that. You know, if you're batting four or five percent, like, hey, that's a great day. I like to try to make connections. So a lot of the outreach I do, I'm stalking people on LinkedIn. I'm not going to lie. And that's how I got my first big meeting at AWS. The CEO of one of my commands wrote a white paper and I read it.

And I could relate to it. And I just sent them a blind message on LinkedIn asking him if you wanted to go tour an Amazon fulfillment center. And like in 10 minutes I got a response back. That's what is shit. But that's how I try to. to find and build. I'd rather have refined five or ten really good contacts

that I can relate to in outreach than go through a list of a hundred. You know what I mean? So I guess it's a little old school but not too old school, but no, I have not doving that yet and it's something I need to look into, but have you, have you

tried it? Have you? All the time. I would consider it first and foremost as a complete replacement for Google. It just gives you better information, more information. It's more of a summary of the answer to your question versus a bunch of links. Okay. So I would definitely switch. I would use grok.

That's my favorite one. This is the X one. And you can ask for more information about this person, this colonel, whatever, whoever it was. You know, you can say, give me more information. about this person and what's the best way to reach them and I mean you can just get all kind of stuff so you're even more prepared before you go in you go in so I would I tell everyone I would suggest you use it a little bit every day for something because it's so you're using it more than for this prospecting yeah you're using it just to very quickly attain general knowledge on

the subject or that subject absolutely quickly to it I can say I'll say give me 500 words summarizing the answer to this question. I don't want one link and I don't want a white paper. Right, right. 500 words or give me the five bullet points with three lines under each one. That's a great idea. See, I'm always learning for you.

I'm always learning from it. AI is cool. AI's cool. And then social media, you mentioned LinkedIn. That's your main social for customers? Yeah, because, you know, you're always finding people that are putting, like, for example,

white paper on there that they wrote or or they attended this seminar and had this, they thought of this outcome or this and that and you can kind of start seeing where some of their challenges or pain points are and if you can read through the lines, right? So that's where I like to kind of do all that. And again, I'm not in an area where, you know, I need two or three hundred customers. I want like five good ones. Yeah.

And that's it. And that'll keep me more than busy. Yeah. Right. So, you know, finding them and starting that connection that's genuine right out of the rip, I think is important. Because, and I said it before, you know, I think if people, for people who want to work with you, they got to like you, they got to trust you, and they got to understand your value proposition. And if you can accomplish that kind of trio, like, you.

you're going to have a great relationship. Well, I also like something you said, you know, in terms of inviting the guy to come see a center, an AWS center. So you're, instead of most people, first of all, most people don't do it in the first place, right? They're just sitting there complaining that there's no good leads. But if you're trying to prospect and find people, most people will find the person and say, hey, I read your white paper, it looks good. could I call you and tell you about our product?

You know, something, and the guy's like, that's a waste of my, it was a waste of my time. But if you say, I think it might be helpful if you took a look at this fulfillment center we have, and if you want a tour, I'll give you a private tour. And that's what I did. And you know what? It could not get any better because the command was NavSub,

which is Navy Supply Command. And the way I thought of that, I was like, well, shit, these guys are the, they're the Amazon of the Navy. Yes. They are. Yes. I was like, I was like, sir, I read your white paper and I understand you're trying to

modernize your supply chain with the Navy. Would you like to come see how Amazon does it and one of our fulfillment centers? Yeah. There was literally two sentences. He was like, hell yeah. Where and when? Like, this is a four-star admiral. Yeah.

Wow. And now when we do we do it like that first time. we did it like two or three more times. And every time he would bring more of his entourage and, you know, the CIO and the CISO and all these other people. And now, like, that's how I got AWS into that command. Yeah. When I got there, they were doing zero dollars with us. Well, I love the idea of having a thing.

You know, the thing could be the tour of the center or the thing could be. meeting the guy on our board who's a senator over so-and-so, or it could be going to a Clemson football game, or going to the seal range, you know, and shooting a 50-cowl or something. But something that you can offer somebody that would be interesting to them to get them to say yes to you. And then you say, hey, can we talk some business?

Yeah. So you give first. Yeah. You give first. And I still think that. Like I've had conversation with like my engineers, you know, they're the most important part of any sales team from a tech sales standpoint. But I've had to have, and it took me a while to figure this out. But once I saw it as clear as they, but, you know, I'll ask my engineers like, hey, I don't want you to mention a product or a service that we sell in the first two or three calls.

Until we know shit and know what the business problem is. Right. And what they want to do. I don't want you to mention anything. Good going. Yeah, that's great. So I was like, let's figure out the problem. Let's how to solve it from a business standpoint.

What happens if we do? What happens if we don't? Translate that. Yeah. Okay. We want to do this. Now, what can we pull off of this shelf from a text standpoint that can we put together as a solution that will solve for that problem?

them. Well, imagine if you... And that's fun. It is fun. But imagine if you were leading your team, your seal team, and you start saying, okay, you go take your 50 Cal and go up on that, they're like, what are we trying to do, boss? You know, until you know what you're trying to do, and salespeople make that mistake all the time. Yeah. All the time. They say, hey, I'm John Sterling. Nice to meet you. Let me tell you about my sales training. Okay. This is what I've been in businesses. it's, you know, all that stuff. I mean, it's crazy. It's so much easier just to listen.

Exactly. Good for you, Troy. Yeah, especially with the engineer type for them to sit back and listen. It's something you've got to train them on, just like we all need training, right? And when you find one that can actually sit back and listen and take the time and listen, because they're smart as hell. Yeah. They're super smart.

They want us to start talking and try to. get things out there and have you thought of this? Have you thought of this? Pump the brakes. Let's hear first what the problem is and truly embrace and understand what it is. Good. Well, a couple of cleanup questions. These are very important. Okay. Favorite all-time book. So it's not a book specific, but it's a type of book and I'm a big fan of the, it's either the, Idiot's Guide to or Something for Dummy Books.

Because I'm always working on learning something or other. And I just like these books because they're the Cliff Notes version. They give me like a one-on-one knowledge set of how to do whatever it is. And it gives you enough courage to go out and try that whatever you're trying. And that's where the real learning takes place. Once you have a little bit of confidence and a one-on-one knowledge set to go out and I'm going to go, I'm going to go try to rebuild my transmission. I read the idiot's guide

how to rebuild transmission and you got and try it. Okay, let's do this. And now I'm out under the truck. Shit's falling everywhere. I'm covered in oil, but I'm making progress. Yeah.

Right? So it's a style of book. That's any of those. Yeah. So the old 80-20 rule, you kind of get 80%, you kind of understand it and then you figure it out from there.

Yeah, well, 20% understand it. And then the other 80% That's all the job training. All right. And what's your favorite word? Oh, gosh. You know what? I'm going to have to let the Baltimoreian in me come out.

It's probably pandemonium. Pandemonium? Just because of the way you say it from Baltimore, it's hilarious. There's a couple good skits out there. I think I can find it on you, I'll send you one. You'll understand why I said that when I said it. Pandemonium. Yeah.

Okay. Pandemonium. Chandimony. Pandemonium. All right. And favorite band. I'm a hippie at heart, so that's going to be a toss-up between the Almond Brothers and the Grateful Dead. Yeah, man, those are two good ones.

Those are two good ones. Did you see the dead in person? I have. Yeah, where did you see them? Even before Jerry Garcia died. Up in Maryland, they would always play at like RFK Stadium and this and that. Now I will go see there's a lot of good tribute bands, but the debting company, which still has now I think three left of the original band,

but they have John Mayer standing in and playing guitar and singing I actually was blown away, how good. He's very talented. He's so good. Yeah, exceptional to see. If you liked that at all, you've never seen that in company put on your to-do list. You're a musician.

I know you would. I've seen him once. I saw him once. Yeah. With Jerry. So it was pretty cool. Very cool. Well, I'm so good.

glad we got to have this conversation today. A lot of good nuggets for people to learn from and happy for you where you are now. Eventually one day we might remember how we met. It'll be real nice. So thanks for coming. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Yep.