In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Nicole Afton, creator and host of The Journey of Development, an online roundtable series focused on human capital management, and a business development professional at Scrimmage Innovative Learning and Engagement Technologies. Nicole shares the story of how she unexpectedly entered sales after college, moving from executive assistant to a B2B sales consultant role. She emphasizes the importance of looking beyond personal goals to consider the impact on colleagues and the broader organization. Nicole advises building a "tribe" or circle of influence—people who motivate, support, and challenge you both personally and professionally. She offers advice to her younger self: don’t fear failure, seek opportunities, and ignore others' opinions. On happiness, she highlights self‑knowledge and emotional intelligence as key. Her most influential book is "Main Street" by Donald Main, which taught her to appreciate both successes and setbacks of entrepreneurs. Her favorite quote, "Well‑behaved women seldom make history" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, reinforces the value of questioning norms. Nicole directs listeners to connect with her on LinkedIn.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by WagsMedia. WagsMedia provides you with everything you need to generate more customers and grow your brand. Head on over to wagsmedia.com, W-A-G-S-M-E-D-I-A dot com, to enter a contest where you can win a free, done-for-you custom website valued at $2,500 for a limited time only. 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 Nicole Afton with us. She is the creator and host of The Journey of Development. Online roundtable events for peer-to-peer learning focused on human capital management, and der business development at Scrimmage Innovative Learning and Engagement Technologies. So welcome to the show.
Thank you.
So we'll dive in, Nicole. The first one that I have for you is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Holy cow, the best story. That's a challenge. I was prepared for some other questions. The best story. I would say kind of how I started my sales career. I talked with a lot of people in my network, kind of how I ask a lot of questions about how they got started and share my story. I worked for someone after college. I had anticipated to kind of take a couple of years off and work and then go to law school. And I worked for the president of a boutique real estate company in West Michigan as his executive assistant. And after a few months of working for him, he approached me about being part of his sales team. And my thought on sales was more of it being kind of used car sales, and it just wasn't for me. So I kept saying, yeah, I don't think that's a good fit. And after a few months of going back and forth, I walked in the office and he shoved a piece of paper at me and then opened a door to a closet that was converted to an office and said, you know, you're now in sales. Go pick up your company vehicle, go get your training, hire and train your replacement. Kind of laid it all out for me. And I said, I didn't agree to this. And he said, you, you did if you're going to work for me. And so that's, that's how I started my journey in sales and learned that I I love the business-to-business side of sales where you, you can truly act as a consultant, dig in and learn and how to help others grow as well.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I think that we can often get too focused on our goals and we forget about the impact on those around us. So just being open to serving and supporting other people just to collaborate gain a greater understanding of the different parts of the organization that we work in, and not only just other business units, but also at different levels of individuals throughout the organization.
And what's your best piece of, like, you can go overall business advice, or if you want to stay kind of niche, like in sales, like if somebody was just getting started in sales, like what's the first thing you would like tell them, or like what advice would I think no matter what area of business you're going for, or even industry, is, is the best advice I could say is build a tribe of influence for yourself.
I call it a tribe. Some people call it circle of influence, but just both personally and professionally to really kind of have people there that who motivate you and support you, as well as those that have different interests and can really challenge you on the way that you think and your goals, because I think that this makes you even more strong.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Don't worry about what other people think. Don't be afraid to fail. You can learn quite a bit. Seek out opportunities and explore and broaden your experience and just go for it.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Truly get to know yourself. Have a really good understanding of, of who you are, what drives you, what, what inspires you, what, what fears you have, your strengths, your weaknesses. Really build up that emotional intelligence, I think, is, is the key.
And what is the best book that you've read, and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
I love to read, but I think one of the— what the books that had the biggest impact on me is years ago I read a book called Main Street. It's a tribute to 27 West Michigan entrepreneurs by Donald Main. And it spoke to me because he shared not only how people, like the successes that they reached, but kind of the setbacks and failures that they went through in that journey. I think sometimes people get so focused on where people are today, and don't really realize what it took for them to get there.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Well-behaved women seldom make history by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. I think her intent was that it has a— that women overall who've had a positive impact on society are overlooked. To me, it speaks to me that you don't have to stay in line. It's okay to ask questions and push boundaries and to step outside that box.
Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find you online?
On LinkedIn.
Perfect. Thanks again, Nicole.
Thank you. Have a great day. The podcast you just heard was published with Anchor. Got something you want to say to the creator of this show? Send them a voice message using the Anchor app, free for iOS and Android.
