Client Case Study

FROM LETTING IT HAPPEN TO MAKING IT HAPPEN.

Paulo Leal built a successful sales career on inbound calls and network flux. When he finally paused to invest in himself on purpose, he turned one job search into a framework, multiple offers, and a second business.

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Paulo Leal, Career Evolved client

Watch Paulo's story

The Challenge

Paulo had never stopped to invest in himself strategically. His career had simply developed naturally, through inbound calls, a call here, a call there, and network flux.

The Shift

He paused mid-transition to build a deliberate six-factor framework for evaluating offers, and learned to market himself with the same rigor he used to sell products.

The Outcome

Almost two years into the role he chose from multiple competing offers, Paulo is also scaling his own businesses alongside his wife.

Olivia Gamber

A Note From The Founder

Olivia Gamber, CEO

When Paulo and I first started working together, he was already a strong sales executive, the kind of person other people call when they need a favor filled or a role staffed. But when I asked him how he had built his career, his answer surprised me: it had just happened. Inbound calls. A network that built itself up on its own. He had never once sat down and asked what he actually wanted next, or built a deliberate case for himself the way he built one for every product he ever sold.

That is a common trap for people who are excellent at selling everything except themselves. Paulo was in transition, weighing multiple paths forward, and by his own account he was nervous the first few times he had to have a conversation that was actually about him. He did not know how to present himself. He was, in his words, a sales guy who was not used to selling himself.

What I watched over the following months was someone decide, on purpose, to stop letting his career happen to him. He built criteria. He practiced the conversations until they stopped feeling foreign. And he came out the other side with something better than a job: a way of evaluating opportunity that he still uses today, in a role he loves and in businesses he is building on the side.

CAREER ON AUTOPILOT

Olivia Gamber

So I want to just dive right in. When we met, you were in transition, and I know you ended up securing multiple offers. I'm just curious, how did you go about selecting and thinking about where you wanted to align your talents and what offer you wanted to go with? How did you assess that as a sales executive?

Paulo

Yeah, it's weird because I feel like most people in the industry had never stopped to invest in themselves, right? In their careers. And I was like that. I was so focused on my career had just developed naturally, right? Everything that happens, I get called from someone here. Someone called me there, right? Like my network builds up and I fall to flux there...

So this time around on the side, I want to really invest in myself. I want to pause, right? And just build on what I have not. And I think your program helped me out so much on that.

“This time around on the side, I want to really invest in myself. I want to pause. And I think your program helped me out so much on that.”

LEARNING TO SELL HIMSELF

Olivia Gamber

A lot of folks in your shoes are hesitant to market to CEOs because of that putting them on a pedestal, right? It's different when you're selling a product or service. But if you're marketing yourself, it's more emotional, right? Did you ever have any of that come up in your head where you're like, well, what am I going to say? Why would they talk to me? Or did you have no issue there?

Paulo

Yeah, I think it comes to a situation, if you're a sales guy, you're so used to selling products, right, but not selling yourself necessarily... The sooner you realize that you have to get out there and market yourself, the faster you're going to get leads and the faster you're going to get start conversations to generate job offers ultimately.

You make some mistakes in the beginning, right? You're nervous. You don't know how to present yourself. But then it's so natural, Olivia... Now it's so much crisper, right? And that's every person should have that mindset of I have to be a salesperson. I have to sell myself.

“You make some mistakes in the beginning, you're nervous, you don't know how to present yourself. But then it's so natural. Now it's so much crisper.”

WALK AWAY POWER

Olivia Gamber

I think that's something that you do really well. You can't fake this kind of energy, but it's like you're qualifying them. This is especially true for you as a sales executive. If you're in convince mode, you've already lost.

Paulo

Exactly.

Olivia Gamber

Because then you need them more than they need you. That dynamic can't work when you're the revenue driver.

“I'm worth for this. This is why. You need me. That's the position you put yourself in.”

THE PIPELINE, THE FRAMEWORK, THE OUTCOME

Paulo

There's a lot of jobs out there. So many of them. It truly is. But the market has shifted. You can't just apply for a job and wait for an application to go through and expect that you're going to be called for an interview. You really have to leverage your network to build out that pipeline of interviews for you. My colleagues come to me asking for referrals. I go to my colleagues asking for referrals.

“You really have to leverage your network to build out that pipeline of interviews for you.”

Paulo

But I go back to those six things that I told you about in the beginning, right? The company culture, the leadership alignment, right? The company's vision of the product and go to market, right? Salary, focus on how can I build my team and grow for myself? And all those things aligned with this company. And honestly, it's been almost two years working there, but I love it. But that also opened up the door and the vision for me to expand it to my own businesses.

Paulo

It's probably been two to three years now that we've been engaged together. I had questions. I had doubts. You and I talked through so many things here. And you helped me accelerate myself. Really built my mindset and put that in the right place. Because it's not always like that. And it's easy to get lost in this space.

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Read the full transcript

Olivia: Did you ever have any of that come up in your head where you're like, well, what am I going to say? Why would they talk to me? Or did you have no issue there?

Paulo: I think it comes to a situation, you know, if you're a sales guy, you're so used to selling products, right, but not selling yourself necessarily.

[Question shown on screen]: Did you ever have any of that come up in your head where you're like, well, what am I gonna say? Why would they talk to me?

Paulo: there. You make some mistakes in the beginning, right? You're nervous. You don't know how to present yourself. But then it's so natural, Olivia. And that transition from like, I have conversations. I know where I made mistakes in the beginning.

Olivia: what I'm looking for. Did you have that clarity and know what you were doing? Or did that come through just with the market?

Paulo: I feel like most people in the industry had never stopped to like invest in themselves, right? In their careers. And you're so, I was like that. I was so focused on my career had just developed naturally, right? Everything that happens, I get called from someone here. Someone called me there, right? Like my network builds up and I kind of fall to flux there, right?

[Question shown on screen]: When you have value, it'll create demand and you're very skilled at that. Did you have that clarity and know what you were doing or did that come through just with the market?

Paulo: So this time around on the side, I want to really invest in myself. I want to pause, right? And just build on what I have not. And I think your program helped me out so much on that,

Olivia: Well, good for you. You're killing it. Thank you so much for sharing your story. Is there anything you didn't share that you want to share before we wrap up?

Paulo: And you helped me accelerate myself, right? Really built my mindset and put that in the right place. Because it's not always like that, right? And it's easy to get lost in this space.

Paulo: And all those things aligned with this company. And honestly, it's been almost two years working there, but I love it. I love it.

Paulo: But that also opened up the door and the vision for me to expand it to my own businesses,

[Question shown on screen]: Is there anything you didn't share that you want to share before we wrap up?

Paulo: It's probably been two to three years now that we've been engaged together.

Paulo: The sooner you realize that you have to get out there and market yourself, the faster you're going to get leads and the faster you're going to get start conversations, right, to generate, you know, job offers ultimately, right? And it's the same with learning the language. I remember when I first moved into the U.S. here 20 years ago, I never spoke English, right? And I had to get out there. I had

Paulo: And that's every person should have that mindset of like, I have to be a salesperson. I have to,

Olivia: as you're thinking about, like, let's say you're talking to a sales executive like you. So high level, but they're in the worst job market in a decade. What would you say to them right now?

Paulo: You really have to leverage your network to build out that pipeline of interviews for you, right? And I mean, my colleagues come to me asking for referrals. I go to my colleagues asking for referrals, right? Like, it's hard to just look for a pipeline of candidates and pull out candidates. You want A players. You want recommendations. You want to leverage your network, people

Paulo: I'm already building the bench of players that I'm going to hire. And I haven't even opened the racks yet, right? So the time I open the racks, I'm going to have the candidates placed already. That's how it works every time. Because you don't want to waste time either trying to hire people. So these windows, when people reach out to you, and even though they don't know there's a rack open, you have to reach out to the network. You have to leverage the connections, right? So building that strong connection and building your profile is going to help you get a position,

Olivia: what are you seeing? Are you seeing people more hesitant to close these bigger deals? Or are you seeing even more opportunity? Like, what's your world look like?

Paulo: But you should be really concerned about how can I use AI to skill myself, right? And grow myself and my value. And AI really is here to stay,

Olivia: where do you use AI? Where do you not use it? And kind of, how do you see that?

Paulo: my email. Sometimes I want to build an outline for a presentation, right? I leverage some for something like that. I'm still talking to customers, right? I still have to sell. I still have to present stuff, data to my executives as well internally here, right? So I use that to my benefit, things that would take me hours to do. Now I can get it done in minutes or seconds, we

Olivia: It's so interesting that you're literally sizing someone up in 30 seconds and you just know instantly. So can you expand on that?

Paulo: what people should be looking at is, how can I help solve a problem? Do I have the background to solve that problem, first and foremost,

Paulo: someone asks me the question, so help me understand your problem. Help me understand what your role is all about.

Paulo: I want them to ask questions. I want them to really validate the job that they understand the problem before they try to sell people on anything.

Paulo: what's happening today more than anything is, like, people seem so desperate and they want to sell themselves pretty fast into a conversation,

Olivia: what are you working on? What are the challenges that you're facing?

Paulo: I want to really continue to focus in on that next year in my day to day job. How can I help scale my company? How can I help scale my business here internally with the company I work for? And I help build my team and my customers make successful, right? And on the side here, my wife and I have been building different businesses and we're also scaling on that,

Olivia: Because then you need them more than they need you. And that dynamic can't work when you're the revenue driver, right?

Paulo: I'm worth for this. And this is why, right? You need me. That's the position you put yourself in.