About This Episode

If you took a new job and on day 1, your boss told you,

“The next year is going to be the hardest and most challenging year of your life.”

Would you stay? 

Or would you do what so many others in the current workforce are seeming to do and bolt for the door in search of something a little easier and more manageable? 

Now imagine that this new job was in a new city, in an industry that you knew next to nothing about.

What would you do? 

If you’re anything like Tyler Menke, you’d summon every ounce of courage that you had, dive in head-first, and commit to slugging it out in a new industry, a new city, and a new job, all in pursuit of long term success. 

Tyler is the Strategic Accounts Manager at Myriad Genetics, and was a gust on the Sales Engagement Podcast recently. We talked about overcoming obstacles, the grind of the hardest year of his life, why he thinks work-life balance is way more complicated than people think, the difference between a goal and a commitment, and his new book, The Pirate’s Guide to Sales.  

Overcoming Obstacles

Tyler’s story is a unique one. 

After spending time in college thinking he was going to become a doctor, he was poised to enter Medical School, but was diagnosed with a learning disability.

So he changed his major to Business, and decided to pursue Medical Sales instead. In this case, sales chose him. 

One of the things that drew him to sales, but to Medical Sales in particular, was the ability to change lives. 

Commitment vs. Goal

After Tyler’s hiring manager told him that he was in for the hardest year of his life, Tyler had a decision to make. 

He knew he wanted a career in sales. In particular in Medical Sales. But did he have the commitment needed to get where he wanted to be? 

Tyler knew the difference between a goal and a commitment. He knew that a goal was useless if you didn’t have the commitment to achieve that goal. 

So he went in to the opportunity and set his expectations early. 

Tyler made his goals known, and through that, was able to stay committed to them. 

Work/Life Balance: A Myth?

Don’t misunderstand. Work/life balance is crucial. 

Particularly in the sales world, it’s common to see people burn out because they can’t figure out how to take a minute for themselves or their families. 

A sports car with an empty gas tank is just a fancy paperweight. 

But sometimes, you’ve got to go 120% in order to get the plates spinning, as Tyler said during the interview. You’ve got to put in the hard work now, the exhausting work now, in order to see the forest through the trees and get to the good stuff later. 

Should you work 80 hours a week forever? Not if you want to keep your sanity and family. 

But are there seasons in a career, especially as you’re learning a new industry, that you may need to put in a substantial amount of extra time and sacrifice time with loved ones in order to set yourself up for success down the road?

Absolutely. 

We talked about so much more during this interview, including Tyler’s new book. So go ahead and check out the entire episode, go buy Tyler’s book, and get ready to be inspired. 

This post is based on a podcast interview with Tyler Menke from Myriad Genetics. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to The Sales Engagement Podcast.

If you don’t use iTunes, you can listen to every episode here.