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About Me

I'm a 8 x Certified Salesforce Consultant, a Salesforce enthusiast with a keen interest in productivity, self-development, and helping others achieve their goals.

 

I guess you could say I'm just a regular Joe, I have a wife, two kids, a dog, and a mortgage. I don't hold a degree, nor do I have a long list of letters after my name, I'm just Dave Massey, the kind of guy you see trying to wrangle two kids while drinking a cup of coffee!

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My Background

For the last decade or so I've been working in and around Sales and Service, I've been a top-performing salesperson myself, trained salespeople, and lead teams of salespeople.  I also have a solid understanding of customer service having worked as a customer service rep myself, and set up new service desks and the processes involved.  I've worked in a wide range of industries in various sizes of companies from initial start-ups of 5 or so people through to large companies with 500 or so employees and worked with both customers directly and businesses.  I've been around the block a few times!

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Covid and the Collapse of My Career

Before the COVID-19 Pandemic, I was a Travel Agent, as you can imagine once COVID-19 hit, my days were pretty much numbered.

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January 2020 began and the details of COVID-19 started to filter through the news, by February the Travel Industry was significantly affected, and by the end of March, I find myself on furlough with a very grim outlook for the future. Being largely commission-based my income is massively reduced and while trying to balance my monthly budget spreadsheet, it hits me, like a sucker punch to the gut. If I don’t do something soon I won’t be able to pay my mortgage or put food on the table for my family, and the very real vision of losing everything crystallises right in front of me. Potentially, life as I know it is about to be shattered into a million pieces.

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I decided something needed to change and as I sit there with a large cup of coffee (or should I say a huge glass of red wine) I begin to research different career paths... I designed a criteria that’s critical for me to make the change. After all, I’ve worked incredibly hard to reach the competency level that I have in sales, I’m good at it and I can earn decent money wherever I go and whatever I sell. This change has to be right, with that in mind I boil it down to 3 main points, my new career must be...

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  • A career, with real progression and room to grow and develop.

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  • Future proof, with the advancement of technology and the ever-changing work/office landscape such as remote working and artificial intelligence whatever I do needs to have a level of protection from that. 

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  • Money, I need to earn a certain level of income, and tied in with holiday payments, savings, and cost-cutting I work out I’ve got around 6 months before I need to earn at least half of what I used to.

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My research carries me across a sea of professions, I explore a range of industries and roles before landing at 2 major contenders - Cyber Security or Salesforce..​.

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My Salesforce Journey

I’d like to say it was a tough choice between the two, but I wasn’t, it was easy. While Cyber Security is massively in demand, has incredible career progression, and is certainly future-proof, it doesn’t really excite me. The money looks incredible too after a few years of experience but it just doesn’t take my fancy, I couldn't imagine myself doing it for the rest of my working life.

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Salesforce on the other hand, WOW! As a sales professional with experience of not only the sales lifecycle but also reporting, training, documentation, service, and support I was blown away by what it can do. It is a salesperson's dream, the capabilities, the efficiencies, and ease of use for everyone makes my decision incredibly simple and straightforward.

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In April 2020 I started my Salesforce journey, I created my Trailblazer account, completed my first introductory modules and trails, and followed the “Prepare for your Salesforce Administration Certification” Trailmix. The more I learned and more hands-on I became the more I saw the potential, and while I could only commit part-time hours to my study due to family commitments and my recall back to the office  I set a goal of a minimum of 2 hours in a weekday and ideally double at weekends.

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By the end of May I pass my Admin exam and become a Certified Salesforce Admin, by June I have my Platform App Builder and in July I land my first Salesforce role to start the following month.

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Fast forward 10 months from first discovering Salesforce and here I am, 7 x Certified doing a job I love, helping clients fulfill their potential and making a difference.

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I haven’t detailed my story to impress you, more to impress upon you that if I can do it, anyone can.

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To back that up here is the top 5 reasons why I shouldn’t be able to do what I do (all of these were given to me by recruiters or employers when I rang them or applied for junior positions)

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  1. You don’t have a degree (I only achieved A levels and none IT related at all)

  2. You don’t have any IT experience (it’s true, I have never worked in IT)

  3. You don’t have any Salesforce experience (I’d never even seen a Salesforce screen before April)

  4. You don’t have enough experience (strange that for an entry-level Salesforce Admin role you need 2 years experience doing the same job)

  5. Unless you sign up for our training course we can’t work with you (can anyone say upsell?)

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So, How Did it Turn Around?

I'd love to say that it was entirely down to my hard work, my incredible sense of humour, and my charming northern accent but in truth it was, it was luck.

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I got lucky, I found a company that was willing to take a chance on me.

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Ben Stevenson and Liz Rhodes at Art of Cloud took a punt on me, giving me the opportunity to show them what I could do and how I can contribute to the rise of Art of Cloud. I hope I am paying their faith in me back little by little and proving to be a worthwhile roll of the dice, I certainly feel I am with my wider sales experience proving insights that might have been missed, my resilience and grit to push on (15 years in sales breeds that never die attitude!) and my willingness to take on any challenge.

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Art of Cloud helped me turn the page and start a new chapter in my life, for that I am extremely grateful.

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The Next Step - Giving Back

Over the last 10 months, I have been very fortunate to have people help and guide me through my journey.  I hope with the development of this website, I too can give back and help people move forward.

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Click the button below to find out more about how I aim to give back through this website.

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