Justin Shie is a sales professional putting in the work. He’s got a killer morning routine that sets his day up for success. If you know the JBarrows team well, you’ll know that’s something we subscribe to as well. On this episode of James Picks Brains, we uncover the process behind Justin’s morning routine and how he stays motivated to push the boundaries with his work. Stay tuned for a great insight into how Justin leads by example and sets the precedent by working to his maximum everyday, setting the bar super high to get the most out of his career.

Morning Routine

James: A morning routine is important for every sales professional. Tell me about your average day. What’s it look like?

Justin: I mean, it depends on some days I, I try to wake up early. Uh, it could vary between 4:35. Just get up, workout as soon as I’m done working out, drink a cup of coffee and get on the computer. I’m a subscribed to a couple of newsletters. Read an article and get my day going. So I always start my day looking around on social and getting my brain moving on what’s happening in the world as well. That’s the basics of my morning routine.

Work/Life Balance

James: Historically, work life balance is something that a lot of sales reps struggle with and it’s kind of a buzzword today. Work life balance. I know a lot of people that call BS on it. So tell me about your initial thoughts on work life balance.

Justin: I’m one of those people that that calls BS on work life balance. I love it. So sales is a lifestyle. You you get up and you go get some deals, it doesn’t stop and you gotta fit it into the lifestyle. If it’s not a fit there, it’s kind of hard to do this job.

James: Yeah, I agree with you 100% all right. That’s a good answer. And I think a lot of people out there that are top performers would agree. I think the average salesperson though might be like, ah, you really have to balance your time. I think if you’re doing what you love, you’ll always make time for it. And that’s the name of the game for me.

Justin: I love it. I mean, I might take a vacation here and there, but my daily life, I love it. It’s not hard to keep going. I’ll be doing this until the day I die.

Before 9AM I…

James: A good start to the day is what builds a momentum. Tell me what you’ve accomplished before 9:00 AM every morning.

Justin: Yeah, I’m up at 4:45am, I’ve already gotten my workout in. I’ve already ideally cooked up a nice breakfast. I’ve had my cup of coffee, I’ve had a little bit of reading done. I check my socials and make sure I’m up to date on what’s new and like what’s going on in my industry.

James: So I feel like I do the same thing and we have the same routine. I get up, I used to get up between 4 and 5 every day, but I don’t know what happened. Ever since I started with JBarrows, I’ve been sleeping like a little bit later. Every day. The other day I got up at 7:00 AM and I texted everybody in the in the group and I was like, what have you guys done to me?

Justin: And I say that, I don’t want everyone to think I’m like super disciplined every single day at 4:35. Today I woke up at 6:30.

Leadership Style

James: Every salesperson and every sales leader has a style. Tell me if you could sum up your style. What’s your style man?

Justin: That’s hard. Yeah. I mean it changes over time. But one philosophy that I’ve had kind of consistently throughout my sales career is that it’s a social and moral obligation for me to perform at my best and to get my product out there. Because as I was saying earlier, right now I’m working for Kustomer, we sell a customer management platform. And it really helps enhance that customer experience. So everybody buys something and everybody will need to reach out to customer support at some point. So for me, I’m doing my part in this society and just helping everybody have a better day through what I do.

James: Yeah, that’s really simple, man. Helping people have a better day. Think if you could pitch any person that’s at the management or, or higher level and told them, no man, my whole goal is to make sure you have a better day. I don’t know what person wouldn’t gravitate towards that and be like, tell me how. At least tell me how that’s possible. So I feel like that, that’s such a good line man. Like just helping people have a better day. I love that.

Climbing The Career Ladder

James: Everybody kinda climbs the ladder different way, right? How’d you get this job, man?

Justin: Yeah, I’ve been in sales for for a while now. I started out in like more more B to C. so overall I’ve been in sales for about 10 years, but I started my, I would say my real career in tech B to B sales about three years ago. And I started out as an inbound slash outbound SDR. And at this point I’ve been promoted. I w I got promoted three times in a span of three years. And then recently I changed a new position and I’m a enterprise rep. So I mean when it came to climbing, I think, uh, yes I was ambitious and I wanted to climb, but more importantly I just, I love the lifestyle. I love doing what I do and that that shows.

Loving the lifestyle has to be part of having a career in sales. Don’t be, we’ll have sales jobs, other people have sales careers. Right. And I feel like that’s a big distinction that you’re making right now just by saying that it’s a lifestyle that’s enough for me to say like simpatico. Right.

I think we feel the same way about what it is to be in sales long term. And let’s be honest, right? It’s a, it’s a long game. You know, you can come into sales and in a very short amount of time and you realize it’s not for you, but it takes a lot of time to fall in love with sales processes and the people and the outreach and no, and the rejection and the acceptance and the, yes, right. Like all that stuff is like yin and yang. One can’t exist without the other.

Your Biggest Influence

James: Final question here. Everybody has an influencer, a thought leader, a mentor, somebody. They look up to. A lot of people have influences in their lives that have kind of shaped the person that they are today. Who were your influences that made you who you are?

Justin: I wouldn’t call him a mentor. He’s been dead a lot, very long time. But I, I read this book, it’s called meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

James: Ah! I know him.

Justin: Yeah, the philosopher King.

James: Here’s a famous thing that I know about Marcus Aurelius is that as he walked through Greece, there was somebody that followed him around and said, you’re only a man.

Justin: Yeah, I think it was a Roman general following him around to remind him.

That’s a wrap. Join us next time

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