Luke Jensen, a technical sales pro at Cloudera, says 50 billion connected devices will flood the market with data in five years. He learned early that listening to understand beats listening to reply, and he treats relationships as lifelong assets. His advice: find an escape like exercise, keep learning, and remember that harder work makes luck.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Luke Jensen with us. He's a technical sales professional currently working for Cloudera in the big data and analytics space. So welcome to the show, Luke.
Hey Tyler, thanks for having me on.
Of course, thanks for joining us. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Luke, is is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah, that's a great question. I think it actually goes back to when I was young. I was 10 years old and really when you're 10 years old, there's not much you can do to make money. There are a few options. You can mow some lawns or start a lemonade stand, but I wanted to do something I think a little bit differently. Actually, I had a suburban neighborhood, 55, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 60 houses and I decided to kind of create a 3-page neighborhood newsletter that didn't really exist at the time. It was pretty unique. We were— we do everything from interview new neighbors to find out local scores for soccer games that different kids had played in, things like that. And actually, you know, we charge $1 for an issue and got all the neighbors involved and was able to make almost $1,000 in my first year at 10 years old, which is a lot more than you can make from lemonade stand or even mowing lawns. You know, for me, the lesson there was my dad had challenged me. He said, you know, go do it, right? And I think the lesson is just don't be afraid to do things differently and just be ready to put the work in to make it happen. And your age, your position, your education, they don't limit or define your full value. You can really always bring something more to the table. So don't, don't feel like you can't. Just be ready to put in the work that it takes to get there.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Yeah, no, that's a great question. And as you mentioned, I'm in the big data and analytics space currently, and I think an interesting fact there is— I tell a lot of people this— that in just 5 years, the number of smart or connected devices in the world will amount to over 50 billion. And all of those create data in many different forms. We call it unstructured or semi-structured data that can be shared, collected, and analyzed. So for organizations, they need a platform now that can really take advantage of that data and bring business value from it because in 5 years when all of those are connected, you'll be kind of behind the 8-ball in terms of being able to ingest and take in all of that data. And actually, the second I have, just from the industry as a whole and when you're in a sales type of role, I would say that the biggest communication problem is that we don't listen to understand, we listen to reply. And that's kind of a quote that I've always carried with me. Always be ready to understand what it is that somebody's looking for or the problem that they face rather than just listening to understand or rather than just listening to reply to a specific statement.
Yeah, I agree with that. That's a big learning lesson. The next question I have for you then, and it might tie in, but what's your best piece of overall business advice and not necessarily industry-specific?
Yeah, so I think that the communication can carry into both, but I would say another really big piece of advice is to know that You're kind of always on the clock, right? And people call that your network, network, network, right? But I'd say just always be professional and know that, you know, you'll carry a lot of these relationships from a very young age. A lot of the relationships that you develop will be carried with you throughout your life and throughout business, and your network will only be growing. And so always feel like you're adding value to any and every discussion, and people will really resonate to that. And want to, you know, continue those relationships. And then secondly, I'd say in business, you always need to be able to find an escape. And for me, it's exercise, but for a lot of people, it's different hobbies or hiking or whatever it may be. Have to have that escape and be able to separate yourself from work and just get your mind off things and find whatever that is that can help you kind of find that escape.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Invest in yourself. Take advantage of every learning opportunity, whether it's playing a sport, instrument, taking a class, meeting somebody, attending a speaker, learning something new. You know, the older you get, the less time you have to really take advantage of those types of things. You never really know your true passions until you experience them. So don't be afraid to do something different and invest in yourself and make sure that you're really taking advantage of every opportunity that's put in front of you.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Yeah, so that's an age-old question, right? It's a tough question, but, um, I think it stems from one thing, and it's loving who you are and what you are doing in all aspects of life that you find important, right? So whether that's your faith, religion, uh, whether that's your family, uh, work, health— love where you are in all of those aspects, right? Love, love how you are spending time with your family and the amount of time you're putting in Love what you're doing. That's obviously well known is that if you love what you're doing, you'll never work a day in your life. Then really take care of yourself and make sure that you're loving where you are in life in all aspects of it that you really find important. I don't think it's wrong to strive to improve and get better. Having those things to chase and pursue are much better than feeling stagnant. And thinking that you're not really being your best self.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Yeah, that's a great question too. The best book I'd say I've read specifically for my industry as well is The Challenger Sale. It really teaches you how to— it really teaches you that those who succeed are really those who provide value to everyone around them. And they don't necessarily do things the same way as everybody else. It's challenging the status quo, and don't be afraid to take those calculated risks that can help you succeed and move forward in your career. And when you're doing the same things that everyone else is doing, then you may get the same results. But if you challenge the status quo and feel like there's, there's new value that you can provide, um, you'll find yourself succeeding and moving forward a lot of times much faster an accelerated rate.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
Yeah, so this is tied back to Thomas Jefferson, and he said that, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." And I carry that with me because "you're so lucky" is something that we all say, right, when we see somebody that's doing well or has something that, you know, we may envy. It's a commonly used phrase that's just thrown around in so many different aspects of life, but oftentimes the luck comes from a determination to succeed, refusing to fail, and a whole lot of hard work and long hours that are put into perfecting what it is that you're doing and whatever task is at hand. Yes.
Thank you so much for coming on, Luke. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, shoot me a note on LinkedIn and a connection as well. I love, like I said, growing my network, meeting new people, learning from them, and then helping in any way I can. So just find me on LinkedIn. You know, it's obviously just my first and last name, and I'd love to connect with anyone.
Awesome. Thanks again, Luke.
Yeah, Tyler, thank you for having me on. It's been a pleasure.
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