I’m Not A Salesman

There’s a moment almost everyone knows.

You’re looking at a job posting…
sometimes because you want a change,
sometimes because you need one,
and sometimes because life pushed you into the search before you were ready.

At first, something inside you flickers.

Maybe… maybe this could be it.
A step up. A chance. A stretch that feels exciting.

Then the scroll begins.

“Preferred experience…”
“Must have led…”
“Deep expertise in…”
“Advanced degree required…”
“Global responsibility…”
“10+ years in…”

And quietly, almost unnoticed, the shift happens.

Your energy drops.
Your doubt rises.
Your finger stops scrolling before your brain even realizes why.

You start telling yourself the story:

I’ve never done it at that level.
I’m not deep enough in that area.
I don’t check all the boxes.
Someone out there fits this better than me.

And without even applying…
you’ve already eliminated yourself.
Simply because you couldn’t yet see the bridge between where you’ve been…
and what you’re capable of.

And you’re not alone.
Far from it.

The Pattern I Keep Seeing

In the past year, I’ve had countless conversations with people facing the same quiet battle.

People who are smart.
Experienced.
Talented.
Kind.
Highly capable.

People whose peers trust them.
Whose teams rely on them.
People who have delivered real results… consistently.

But the moment the role is bigger…
or the expectations are less obvious…
or the qualifications don’t line up in a straight, clean list…

They shrink.

They assume they can’t make the jump.
They assume others see them the same way they see themselves in that moment.
They assume their value begins and ends with what’s printed on their résumé.

And here’s what I’ve learned:

Most people aren’t held back by a lack of ability.
They’re held back by a lack of translation.

They know what they’ve done.
They just don’t know how to tell the story of how what they’ve done prepares them for what’s next.

That bridge…, the one between your experience and your potential…
doesn’t build itself.

You have to build it.

And I know that because I had to build my own.

The Part I Didn’t Expect in My Own Journey

When I left corporate, I wasn’t naïve.
I knew entrepreneurship would require resilience, strategy, discipline, and belief.

What I didn’t realize, not fully, was how many people would say the same sentence to me:

“Ed, at the end of the day… you have to be able to sell.”

And it rattled me.

Because for most of my corporate life, I never thought of myself as a salesman.

I wasn’t the pitch guy.
I wasn’t carrying a product bag.
I wasn’t cold-calling.

So the question echoed:

Am I even built for this?
If I can’t sell, what happens to all of this?

That’s when I did something everyone should do at some point:

I sat down and looked at the whole picture of my career.

Not just the job titles.
Not just the responsibilities.

The real work.

The moments I had to convince leadership to take risks.
The moments I had to influence senior executives without authority.
The moments I had to fight for people, projects, ideas, and budgets.
The moments I had to win trust in rooms where trust was earned, not given.

And suddenly the truth was unavoidable:

I had been selling my whole career.

Not selling products…
selling vision.
Selling clarity.
Selling calm in chaotic moments.
Selling direction.
Selling possibility.
Selling belief.

I just never labeled it that way.

And once I built that bridge…, once I connected what I had already done to what I needed to do now…
the doubt started to melt away.

This is what most people never give themselves permission to do:

To reinterpret their past
so they can reimagine their future.

The Hardest Part Isn’t Being Capable

It’s believing you are.

It’s seeing what isn’t obvious.
It’s translating your wins into new rooms.
It’s taking stock of the skills that never show up in a bullet point.
It’s saying the words most people are afraid to say:

Yes, I can do that job.
And here’s why.

Hiring managers don’t just evaluate your experience.
They evaluate your belief in that experience.

If you can’t articulate the bridge,
they can’t see it for you.

But when you can?
Everything changes.

Build The Bridge

If you’re looking at a role that scares you a little… good.
If you’re questioning whether you’re “ready”… that’s normal.
If you’ve been doubting your ability because the description feels bigger than your history… welcome to growth.

But before you count yourself out, ask:

What have I actually done that proves I can do this?
Not in the same form.
Not with the same title.
But in essence.
In skill.
In impact.

Build the bridge.

Your future depends on the version of you who chooses to see more in yourself than what fits neatly on paper.

And if you can build that bridge…
you can walk across it.

P.S. If these articles have brought you any kind of value, perspective, or spark…just wait for the book!! Join the waitlist and be part of what’s coming next 👉 Leadership At The Dinner Table.

With Absolute Sincerity,

Ed Clementi
Founder & CEO of Inspired Fire, LLC

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