Growing up, I always gravitated towards sales.
I was raised in a very small town called Mansura, Louisiana. My father was an agricultural businessman, primarily involved in the buying and selling of cattle, hay, and pecans. My father’s career in sales inspired me to learn the art of selling – starting with selling pecans.
While attending the University of Louisiana Lafayette, I worked as a mattress salesman by day and a server by night. The day after I graduated college, I accepted a role as an oil and gas landman representing various oil companies. I gained experience managing a sales pipeline, negotiating, and researching, but I never found the work to be fulfilling or meaningful. This is when I turned to yoga and meditation. I was astounded by the impact yoga had on my ability to regulate stress levels and improve mental health.
In 2015, oil prices fell from $100 a barrel to $40 a barrel and I was laid off. I immediately enrolled in a 200-hour hatha yoga teacher training program and invested all my time and energy into learning about the yoga tradition. Upon completing my initial yoga teaching certification, I began working at a studio in Lafayette, LA. Finally, I was selling something I truly believed in. The owner of the studio was so impressed with my ability to sell yoga packages that she gifted me half ownership of the local studio. I made the decision to open up a private yoga practice focusing on traditional yoga in late 2019. Then COVID hit, preventing me from hosting my intimate yoga classes. At the same time, my partner and I found out that we were expecting our son, Cassidy.
Cassidy was the catalyst of my career switch to DISCO
With a baby on the way and the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down my business, I needed to find another career opportunity where I was selling something I believed in and wanted to share with other people. I did not want to work for an organization with limited growth opportunities, poor diversity, or a work culture where work/life balance was overlooked.
I landed on two things: 1) becoming a sales development representative (SDR), because it was an entry-level sales position with uncapped upside and 2) working in tech because of work/life balance.
However, one huge problem remained: Who was going to hire a person who had been teaching yoga for the past five years? Sure, I had run my own business, but I knew nothing about the tech world, workflows, or cold-calling.
One day during my job search, I noticed an ad for a tech sales bootcamp called SV Academy that provided a 30-day crash course of working in a tech environment. A few days later, I interviewed and was accepted. Everyone that I talked to thought I was crazy– this was a drastic switch from a yoga studio owner. SV Academy was challenging but prepared me for what was to come. Towards the end of the program, a cohort member told me about DISCO.
DISCO checked all of the boxes
DISCO’s mission, work culture, and growth opportunities resonated with me, but it wasn’t until I watched a video of Kiwi speaking that I knew DISCO was the right place. From the video, it was clear that Kiwi had found his purpose in strengthening the rule of law and creating a magical experience for lawyers. I knew I wanted to be a part of that. On top of that, I read in an article that the company culture and environment is aimed to be a place where current Discovians would want their children to work. I immediately told my fiance that I found the organization that I wanted to work for. From offering parental leave for any parent and providing top of the line health insurance to 401k matching and fostering an inclusive and diverse environment, I was so impressed.
As a father of two young children, it’s refreshing to work for an organization that honors parenting and understands that sometimes a bit of time will be missed to handle parental responsibilities. I go to management without feeling guilty or worrying about losing my job if I am needed on the family end of my life. My son was born just after my first month on the sales floor. DISCO gave me a month of paternity leave after only one month of my employment. How could I not want to work for a place like this!
My career transition into DISCO was seamless.
I can largely attribute this to two things:
1. DISCO’s training. I participated in a thorough two-week training program that covered everything from different types of litigation and personas of law firms, to how to approach cold-calling and emailing, as well as the various sales tools that we use regularly.
2. My SDR Manager. My manager is my ultimate supporter and mentor. He has the incredible ability to read situations and give concise feedback. I will never forget a meeting that he set up just after I started at DISCO when the team was struggling to work together. I remember thinking, “Oh no, here comes a fire drill.” Instead of coming into the call and reprimanding us for anything that had gone wrong, he asked each one of us to articulate our struggles and explain how we felt about the current situation. After the meeting, I felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off my shoulders. My manager's guidance, patience, and trust gave us the self-confidence and motivation to turn everything around, and we did.
I’m thankful everyday that I’m an SDR at DISCO! DISCO has shown me that if you work hard and drive impact you will get recognition and be provided with more challenging opportunities to develop your career. I have been given several great opportunities by my director, who has a knack for placing talent in all of the right places. On top of my day-to-day SDR work, I now conduct SDR outreach for our channel partner team, which is something I truly love doing. With the support of the team, I participate in conversations with C-suite members of legal service providers about potentially adding DISCO to their portfolio. I recognize that this exposure to talented senior legal tech professionals is an incredible opportunity that many people might not have so early in their career.
Everyone I have worked with at DISCO carries themselves with kindness, professionalism, and openness. DISCO is supportive — you have the freedom to learn.In my opinion, the SDR role is the best entry level position to have, because you are planting seeds for the organization to showcase its product and value to the market.
I have seen it all – from selling pecans, crawfish, mattresses, and fine dining to yoga and now legal technology.
I believe in selling something with an impact on the world. Yoga supports people through tough times and helps them overcome stress. DISCO uses technology to strengthen the rule of law – so lawyers can get to the evidence faster and more efficiently. DISCO is currently impacting some of the most important legal matters going on in the world today, and that matters to me.
It's exciting to be part of something that not only creates magical experiences for lawyers, but also supports their health by making their job less monotonous and stressful. I always jokingly say, “Not only do I sell the leading legal tech platform, I also sell lower blood pressure and extra time with family.”