By Mary Madigan

Copyright news

When Sarah Anne was just 18, she was in the midst of a mental health crisis, where she wasn’t sleeping and she was unable to hold down a job.

She’d been kicked out of school, dropped out of TAFE and was terrified about her future.

“I was in so much pain emotionally that it physically hurt,” she told news.com.au.

“The doctor told me I should go on a disability pension.”

Ms Anne said hearing from a medical professional that they didn’t believe she was capable of work left her feeling “scared and helpless” but also like something had to change.

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At the time, she felt burnt out, but also determined.

She went on a health journey and started exercising and eating food that made her feel good and slowly started to deal with her mental health issues.

There was no overnight fix, but slowly she found herself in a better frame of mind, and it gave her the confidence she needed to start looking for employment.

She secured a sales job which was a door-to-door gig with no prior experience required. The job was commission only.

At the time, Ms Anne was also studying psychology, purely as a hobby as she wanted to understand herself more. This became her secret sales weapon.

“The more I understood myself, the more I understood other people,” she explained.

“I ended up being really good at selling.”

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She was great at the sales job, but she ended up quitting after acknowledging that she hadn’t fully dealt with her mental health issues.

Ms Anne then went through a period of being hired for sales jobs and quitting them shortly afterwards; she also made a significant financial mistake.

“I ended up having all these loans because I’d get approved for them when I had a job,” she said.

In the end, she had four outstanding loans, owed around $20,000 and couldn’t make the repayments or find a job.

She ended up entering a part 9 agreement with the bank she owed money to, which is a legal agreement under the bankruptcy act that allows individuals to make a proposal with their creditors to avoid bankruptcy.

Ms Anne describes it as a “step away from bankruptcy”.

The creditor must agree to the proposal, but in her case, she asked to pay back the debt in repayments without accruing any interest.

Ms Anne was lucky; the creditor agreed to her terms, but the whole near-bankrupt experience left her rocked.

Despite the huge financial scare, she agreed the whole mess was a good thing because it served as a much needed wake-up call.

She moved on from that experience and started working in a call centre, quickly becoming the company’s top seller.

“We sold insurance and no one wants to get cold calls from an insurance company,” she said.

“The trick is not to make sales about you and instead make it about the person on the other end.”

Ms Anne advised that if you can figure out what the customers wants, then you are going to “win” but you have to have the skills to be able to do that.

The fact that she was the company’s top seller led to them ask her to train other people, and she discovered that she had a knack for it.

“I would take people who were about to be fired and teach them how to be top performers,” she said.

“One of the key things was helping people sell and connect in ways that work for them.”

The sales expert said that employees started to become successful when they stopped being robotic and began building connections with people.

“It was about helping them sell in a way that feels good to them,” she explained.

Once she worked out she had a knack for training others, she realised that she wanted to start her own business coaching people.

Ms Anne, now 31, started her company, SM Unstuck, in 2019, which aims to help businesses grow their Facebook communities and create spaces where they can speak directly to consumers.

It was a great idea but she struggled to make it work.

“It took me two years before I even made $250,” she said.

“I was a sales trainer that couldn’t make a sale.”

The business owner explained that she didn’t know enough about social media or technology, and even though the idea was good, she needed to upskill.

She spent over $50,000 investing in herself and the business. By this point, she was working in sales and making $70,000 as a base and over $100,000 after commissions.

Ms Anne said she spent the bulk of her salary growing the business. She participated in business coaching programs and was hungry for information on how to succeed.

“I had to walk to work because I didn’t have money for the bus,” she said.

The business wasn’t taking off, but Ms Anne admitted that she never once thought about quitting; she knew she had something to offer.

“Once I made the decision that I wanted to start a business and work for myself, I just kept going until something worked,” she said.

Even though it took her two years, she eventually locked in a client, and then another, and then another.

She’d put in the groundwork, so when the business started gaining traction, she knew how to leverage it.

The business went from strength to strength, and Ms Anne went from earning $0 from her business to making over $200,000 a year.

Last year, the business generated $1.2 million in revenue, and this year, she anticipates the company will surpass $2 million.

“The first sale was really cool, I was like, ‘Oh my god! Someone will actually pay me for this?’ That is crazy and that is bananas,” she said.

“The first six-figures is exciting because you can quit your job, and that is really cool, the first million dollars you make, it feels like okay, this isn’t a fluke.”