20 years ago, at the age of 32, Paul Owen was broke.
Now a successful businessman who has run his own company – Sales Talent – for more than a decade, Paul is sharing his story to inspire others who find themselves at a financial and emotional low point.
“I can still remember lying on my mate’s sofa one sunny summer morning and sobbing. I had no idea how to change my life for the better,” London-based Paul recalls. At the time, he was living on the floor of his friend’s bedroom, with a mounting pile of debt courtesy of his nine credit cards. His £8,000 per year data admin role wasn’t cutting it either financially or in terms of intellectual engagement.”
“I had no money to spend, no savings behind me, no professional calling or relevant experience and no idea how on earth I could get out of the mess I was in,” Paul remembers. “And my investment banker girlfriend had just ditched me because I suspect, she was getting a bit tired of me being rather needy – calling her at work for a ‘quick chat’ as I had nothing else to do, unable to take her out or even buy her a drink when we went out together…”
It was a single job opportunity that was to be the turning point in Paul’s fortunes.
A small, family-run firm took a chance on him and hired him for a sales role.
Paul still recalls the exhilaration of discovering his passion for sales as part of that role.
When Paul joined, the firm had six employees after 20 years’ experience in the business. Three years after taking on Paul, it had grown to over 50 employees, with turnover up by 450%.
For the first time ever, Paul received a bonus that took his annual earnings above £100,000.
It was at that small family business that a lifelong passion for sales was born.
A little over ten years after he took the role there, Paul struck out on his own, founding Sales Talent.
Through that business, he has helped well over 10,000 people improve their sales skills through his sales consultancy, training services, and podcast. He has delivered seminars at more than 40 universities, and he has become an Amazon bestselling business author with his book, Secret Skill, Hidden Career.
Paul isn’t sharing his tale from the deck of a superyacht – but he is now in his own home, settled in London and doing work that he loves. He concludes:
“My story is not about incredible success with a multi-million-pound business exit but hopefully it will serve to encourage the thousands of people out there who feel lost. Who feels like their career and resulting life has not really worked out the way they wanted them to. “
“Change is possible. I changed my life. I got a lucky break with the job (though I worked my backside off too!) and that short period of time utterly and completely changed the course of my life. “
“Oh, and I won back the investment banker too – she’s now my wife!”
