Matthew Tan’s Post

3 lessons on the 1-year anniversary of quitting my job and beginning to walk the Pathless Path: https://lnkd.in/gNJeTiG4

Back to school week for us here in the UK, which means back to work for me. A huge part of why I have my own business is to be able to take the summer, almost, off. The school holidays represent lazy days, late nights, no alarm clocks and literally chilling out. Yes, I’ve worked, a little. I’ve served my fab clients and made sure they always got what they needed from me. I’ve recharged and felt zero guilt for only turning the laptop on for an hour. Earning a full time income in part-time hours didn’t happen overnight. It also requires reviews and refinement throughout the rest of the year - but it is possible. Whether it's your kids, grandkids, or a hobby that’s a priority for you - we can make part time hours and a full time income a reality for you too. If you’d like next summer to look different, there’s never been a better time to start. Together we will; 🚀 develop a completely personalised strategy for your business to thrive.  🎉 Establish how you can attract clients that are excited to work with you. 🎯 Prioritise alignment over hard work and allow your business to grow without you having to put in more hours It starts with a conversation, then, if it feels good a £97/$123 session, then we both agree if there are next steps. Remember; nothing changes, if nothing changes. I’m looking forward to speaking to you. Link to book below.

Naming things is not my ‘thing’. Which is why I’ve not tried to come up with anything clever for ‘Get Organised in September’. It does just what it says on the tin. If you’re a solo business owner who is sick of ‘fresh starts’ that just don’t last, or you’ve got countless (mostly unread) self help books on your shelf, that just don’t make a difference to your daily life, come and do this instead. You’re not broken. You don’t have a problem that needs ‘fixing’. But you do need the accountability to make tweaks and sustainable changes to your life and the way that you work. Join me for a month (25 work week days - we don’t do ‘tasks’ on weekends here) of 'do-able' daily tasks. Tasks that will move the needle and make a difference to your life.  ✅ Set aside just 30 minutes each day. Morning. Afternoon. Evening. Whenever suits you. ✅ There’s no ‘falling behind’. If you miss a day, you don’t need to play ‘catch up’. ✅ No obligation accountability group. I say ‘no obligation’ as not everyone wants ANOTHER group to have to check. But the accountability is there for if and when you need it (plus it’s great to celebrate those wins!) ✅ Investment of £99 for the month. We start Monday 9th September. Enough time to get the little ones back in the classroom and breathe a sigh of relief. Hop in here: https://lnkd.in/ef54jV6D

Today's my 35th birthday And I want to share a gift with you Ever look at someone’s life and think, “I want that?” I used to feel that way until I decided to change how I think about my career with one simple shift. I was done waiting for my company to train me because the writing was on the wall. Training is slim to none. Everything is very high level. No help implementing what I’m learning. Assuming that a 1 day workshop will fix everything. I didn’t want to wait around because the fact is no one will ever care about my development more than me. So why the hell would I act like they did? Sounds like it’s common sense, right? But you'd be surprised how many folks fall into this trap. They clock in to their Tech Sales job and wait around to get coaching that’s never going to come, then wonder why they’re always missing quota. No wonder why 3/4 of Software Reps missed quota in 2023. Trust me, you don't want to be one of them. I was one of those people and I was miserable. Being great in tech sales isn’t just about finding great company It’s about creating a life that you reflect on when it’s your birthday and say… “Wow…my life is f****** great!” That’s why for the past decade I’ve went all in on investing in myself, even if it meant saying to “no” to investing in the stock market or other things. And here’s why… The highest ROI you’re ever going to get is investing in yourself. You learn in 60 days what someone learned in 10 years. You shave YEARS off your development and get some pretty cool payoffs. Like becoming financially free and not being stressed about quota…ever. And the ability to create a life that YOU want to live. I’ve been able to create a life for myself that I never could have imagined. From seeing the Pyramids of Giza, to the flawless sands of the Maldives, to exploring all of the wonders of the world (I’m writing this from Peru). And being able to quit corporate America to build the business of my dreams. I’m living life on my terms. All of it…simply because I made the decision to go all in on investing in myself. That’s where my bday gift to you comes in. I want to make it a no brainer for you to join Beautiful Savage Sales Academy. Which is designed specifically for Tech Sales Reps, and I to teach you the systems to take back control of your career and life. It’s what took me from missing quota, broke, and miserable. To #1 at Salesforce, helping scale 2 startups to 9 figure exits, and being named one of the top CROs in Tech at 34. So here’s my gift. For the next 5 people that sign up, I’m going to 2X the time you get in my program. Instead of getting 6 months of hands-on coaching from me directly. You’ll get an entire year of coaching. I’ll teach you everything I know. Every aspect of what it takes to be an elite software sales professional. Gained from close to 15 years experience in the game. Comment "Birthday Gift" if you want to learn more

Working while watching college bowl games today (which I will be doing for many days now, delightfully) made me notice how much they talk about "tempo" in football now, and it seems like a newer focus of the commentary. Since I've been reflecting on our first year a lot this past week, the tempo mentions made me think of the rhythm we've experienced and tried to take advantage of during Elivate's first year. 3x during 2024, things got significantly slow, quieter. As an "offense", we went lower tempo, in response to our customers' tempo. We utilized the time to analyze results, plan improvements, and try not to worry about the ebbs and flows of demand. These times were both productive and unsettling. During these weeks, I was uneasy, worried, and working almost manically to try to push momentum. When we were consultants, we also had these cycles, and I wasn't very good at it then either. It was always hard for me to enjoy being "on the beach" during lulls in client work. At the end of this first year, after experiencing these cycles in this business for the first time, I'm trying to be more grateful (and to chill more) during these down-tempo times because of the mind space they gave me. The downside of the downtempo times in this business is WHEN they happen. In consulting, they were conveniently during holidays and summers, and now those are not down times, but our go times - so here we go for the coming week!! Anyone else having tempo reflections from 2024?

In 2024, I found myself standing at the base of my first mountain. Starting from scratch-or rather, from experience-l was in the midst of transitioning my career, my business, and myself. This mountain felt impossibly high, and the peak represented a thoughtful return to having a GST number. Not a quick climb, but a deliberate and intentional one. The journey up the first mountain looked like this: Accepting work that wasn't perfectly aligned with me but helped clarify what I truly want. Trying new things I didn't know I was capable of. Speaking to an audience over 30 times—my favourite space to be. Participating in volunteer work that aligned with my goals. Making lots of 51% decisions (just enough certainty to move forward). Building new friendships. Continuing to show up for my family, kids, and community. And then, I saw it-the top of the first mountain. But in the distance, I also saw the second mountain, the one I plan to scale in 2025. This next climb will be about: Seeing my work reflected in my client's successes. areas of my business. Bringing on team members to support and grow alongside me. Seeing my work reflected in my clients' successes. Embracing more travel, fun, health, and family time. Did 2024 show you the first or second mountain?

Building business is fun. - How do I decide what to do when there are two very productive options presented to me? - Either write invoices so I can get paid orrrrrrr go install cool new stuff in my shop so I can do more cooler work? - I opted for the invoice route. - I'm not perfect at it, but I like to try and get the boring stuff out of the way first so it's done and finished. Then I can enjoy the easy and fun stuff like designing and decorating my shop without a looming cloud of "still gotta do that other thing" - I feel like I still have a good 80hrs worth of work to do before I can even think about opening this box. But I also can't sit at a computer for a whole week and might need to get up and move around. - Business is booming. Learning lots of stuff as I tackle new challenges daily. Constantly getting connected with great people I feel that I want to work with. People working for me are leveling up their skills as we prepare them to be put into action. - My brain doesn't always see it, but I think we're getting set up for success here despite how it sometimes feels like I'm going nowhere. - There was a time when I had a fair amount of scripture memorized. Some of it still hangs around my brain. James 1:2 reminds us to "Count it all joy brothers and sisters, when you face trials of any kind" - Lots of things are hard. But we know that hard work bears good fruit! I'm building a strong foundation for this business to operate on. I want this thing to last so it's important to build it right at the beginning. - Strangely to me, I seem to keep attracting help along the way. I don't know how it happens, but I'm blown away by the mentorship that is speaking into my life as I progress on this journey. What an incredible gift. - Have a great day Eppic fans. Make it a good one for someone else if you have it in you. I promise you will smile if you make someone else's day just a tiny bit better than yours! - #bluecollarlife #haveagreatday #gomakesobodysmile

Remember when you said: '2024 will be the year I finally take control of my career and life.' Well, here we are—just under 3 months left until 2025. The good news? You still have time. The bad news? The clock is ticking, starting today. This is it—your final boarding call. The plane leaves, with or without you. 3 months is all it takes to change everything. But you need to shut down those doubts that keep creeping in like: “No one’s hiring me.” “I’ve been out too long.” “I’m not ready.” Those thoughts are keeping you stuck. And if you don’t act now, you’ll end up pushing your dreams to 2025, 2026, and beyond. I know you’re tired of feeling stuck. I know you want more. You want: To escape the job that drains you To spend more time with your family To stop feeling trapped in the daily grind and finally breathe It’s possible. I’ve seen it happen. 3 months is all it takes. If you’re ready to make it happen, DM me “READY.” I’ll send you a free 15-minute strategy call to map out your next steps. Let’s finish this year strong, together.

New on my blog: 'MAKE 2025 THE BEST YEAR YET': “at the start of each year instead of making resolutions (who keeps those?), let us change the word to ‘Commitments’ as in “I am going to make some commitments in my life and in my career.” It feels different – using the word Commitment feels like it has a purpose (there is no going back!)........" Here are my commitments for 2025: https://lnkd.in/euhZMBXp

December 31st. Also known as New Years Eve. A day that I am working from home at my new work area in our basement thanks to my wife surprising me with a new desk. It's hard to be productive. Let's rewind and explain a bit. I (like many founders/owners) wear many hats at Captivated Content. Thankfully I have Mason Wassmer and Maggie Newcomb to help with the various style of hats we all wear. At my core, I'm a video creator and marketing person guy. But I also really enjoy growing our business - or wearing the sales hat and business-owner hat. So back to today being unproductive. We have some video projects we are wrapping up, but Mason is handling most of the editing duties on those projects. I was really excited to just sit at my cool new desk, listen to the rain on the sliding door next to me, and get some early work on the new year. I quickly realized that what I planned on doing may not be the best idea. I wanted to do a little cold and warm outreach and get some conversations started --- only to realize the day before a new year may not be the best day to do this. Part of my unproductiveness is that I am trying to figure out what will be a good way to spend today and the rest of the week when I get back into the office. One of the hardest things to balance as a business owner (or even just an entrepreneurial team member) is the desire to grow your business and the desire to exceed your customers expectations. I think this is why businesses traditionally have an operations side to the business and business side to the business. There are many times where I feel I should be editing a video when I have downtime. Or thinking creatively for our clients. When I spend a day like today just looking and analyzing the past year's financials, projecting next year's work, and just thinking - I feel like I'm being unproductive. But in actuality, I'm just starting a new loop of productivity. I'm getting a start on what we need to do as a business to be successful in 2025 (which we started this a couple months ago, but the reality of 2025 being here has me thinking more). I'm getting a start on what will be a fun filled January of projects. I'm getting a start on how can we better serve our customers. And last but not least, I'm getting a start on how I can be better for our team. Happy New Years Eve!