Success is not luck. It is a formula.

It is not something built overnight and it requires hard work and a fighting spirit.

I sat down for a conversation with Jacob McLaughlin about the medical sales industry.

He shares the value of attainment programs for medical sales and his role in helping people live their best lives.

Jacob shares his journey from seeking opportunities to growing as an influencer to the importance of taking responsibility for what’s happening in your life.

Stream now to learn more about this trail blazing Medical Sales Professional and how he has enterprised his career!

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Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

Device Rep To West Sales Manager – The 2 Year Sprint With Jacob Mclaughlin Part 2

Welcome to the show. We bring you part two with Jacob McLaughlin. We had him on and he gave us part one. It was a very in-depth interview with good quality stuff. For those of you that want to get into the industry and for those of you already in the industry, this is someone you want to listen to so make sure you tune in. As always, we do our best to bring you guests that give insight, provide value, and give you resources to experience an even better career, help providers and ultimately, help the patients. I hope you enjoy this interview and thank you for tuning in to the show.

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Here’s something I want to discuss. We’re talking about getting into the industry. One thing that we all know very well is in order to pour into other people’s lives, you have to be pouring into your life. Talk to us a little bit about what are the things that you do outside of work and medical sales that feed you, nourish your spirit, and put you in a better position to continue to give to your own following and people that have a passion for medical sales.

Number one, it’s always going to be my time with God. I’m someone spiritual. I say this to everybody. Everyone is going to believe what they believe and that’s awesome. I’m glad for you. For me, I do a devotional every morning. I’m spending that time because it’s easy to grab my phone, start trying to help people, and put out fires right away. I need to take that time for myself and have that time of peace and quiet. I’m working on my soul and working where I’m going. That’s number one. I always help people.

Number two is working out. I was a personal trainer. There can be some frustrating times in my life and there could be some times when I want to yell and punch a wall. That’s where moving some weight can help out as well. With that, I tell people that working out is the most cherished time of my day after my devotional because it’s the 45 minutes to 1 hour I’m only focusing on. I’m only focusing on what I’m trying to do.

I’ll be listening to the music. You’ll see me dancing at the gym, doing my thing, but in the same respect, I’m working through a lot of things in my head. I’m going through business problems. I’m like, “Why can’t I figure this out?” I’m working through some of the frustrations and reflecting on situations that I probably didn’t handle the best. It’s not other people. I have to take extreme ownership. I’ll be like, “Maybe there are some things I didn’t do that I should have done,” and I learn from that.

There are times when I’m like, “I didn’t handle that situation right. I need to go send a text message right now,” while I’m working out. I send a text to that person and apologize or get on a call with them. Working out is big for me. After that, I’m huge on self-development. I’m always either reading a book or listening to a lot of YouTube videos and TikToks. I love Gary Vee, Eric Thomas, and those kinds of guys. They’re entrepreneurial people, but people who also feed into your soul and preach happiness. Money and all the material things are great. At the end of the day, if you’re not happy without money, you’re not going to be happy with money. I can say that from living proof and seeing people.

[bctt tweet=”Focus on yourself and what you’re trying to do first so you can change other people’s lives too.” via=”no”]

Lastly, for me, is being able to talk to my nephew on FaceTime. I’m a big family guy. I got a nephew. I also have a dog. I got a dog named Samson. He’s a Whoodle. If you guys don’t know what that is, it’s a Wheaton Terrier Poodle. He is a giant Teddy bear. Those are the things that get me. I’ll take him hiking. We’re getting out in nature. That’s what refills my cup, so I can go in.

The number one thing my family, friends, and past relationships say is, “You give to everybody else all the time.” That’s what I’m here to do though. I still personal train on the side. That fills my cup. I get to talk to my clients. I get to see kids that I’ve been training since they were nine, and other young men. We’re having real-life conversations. They’re talking about, “I got a girlfriend.” I want to leave people in a better place. We get talked that it is cars, sex, money, and all this stuff all the time, which leads to unhappiness a lot of times. Sometimes, it’s being a sounding board for other people, “That’s great but let’s talk about the things like I like you because I like you. It’s not the other stuff.” Being able to have those real-life talks with my clients also fills my cup.

That is quality living right there. I’ll take it. That’s good stuff. Let’s go back to social media. We’ve talked about your history. We talked about some of the stuff you’re doing in this space. We’ve talked about how social media has changed your life into new opportunities. We have a lot of people here that want to get in. We also have a lot of people here that are in medical sales. They’re working for a company and they’re thinking, “I want to build a brand, but I don’t know if my company is going to appreciate that,” or “I want to build a brand, but I don’t know the value,” or “I don’t want to put a bunch of pictures of my dog out there.” What is the value of doing this whole brand thing on LinkedIn? Talk to us a little bit about your take on that.

I love it. I love when people are like, “It’s a waste.” I like chomping a bit on those. Here’s the thing. The power of social media, my podcast and your show is that we’re able to help people. We were talking about how many lives you’ve impacted. I’m not impacting just people here in Arizona. I’m not impacting just people in the United States. I got a text from the UK. I got a message from Australia. I got a message from Singapore.

This is why I love Gary Vee. When you’re on social media, it’s not your little circle anymore. It’s the world. You can impact people worldwide. You can make a product that can be talked about and touched worldwide. You can make something that when you fall asleep, you get paid for when you wake up because the world never sleeps.

The other thing about people that are like, “I don’t want to post my dog because I don’t want to share my social life,” that’s okay. That’s fine. There’s stuff that is supposed to be private, and I agree with that. I’m a little more open. I’m an open book. I wear my life on my sleeve. I don’t care what other people think. That’s all thanks to Jeremy. He helped instill that in me. Everybody who thinks that everybody is judging you are not happy in their own life.

I’m going to live my own life. Everybody that tells me what I should do with my own life is not doing it in their life, so I’m going to live my life. I do what makes me happy and fills my cup. At the end of the day, there are going to be people who hate that, and they will let you know. There’s going to be people who love that, and they’ll let you know sometimes too. For me, I’m cool with who I am. I got my cute dog. I’m living my best life. I say that with the power of social media. You can make an impact on somebody’s life. You won’t even know you were making an impact in people’s lives because of the posts you’re making and the brand that you’re building.

This is why I get so passionate. People will go die at a job, but they won’t work on themselves. For example, me at Medtronic. I’m a rep for Medtronic. I’m Jacob. I have a name. That’s what I teach people in my course. People see me at Medtronic, but if they just see me as the TruClear rep, I’ve lost. I failed. The number one thing that happens when I walk into the hospital is they’re like, “Show me pictures of your dog. What trip are you taking this week?” They want to know me. I have made those relationships with those people. That’s what has helped me with success. We can dive deeper if there are even more specific things because I know I ramble a lot.

Going in with a company, there are a lot of rules on companies. There are a lot of things but I don’t care. I was telling you off-air. When I first got into medical device sales, one of my buddies had a podcast. He tagged me in it, shared it and said, “I can wait to have Jacob share his journey in how he got with Medtronic, the top company.” This is the first podcast where I’ve said my company’s name. I’m not trying to get sued. I’m not trying to put myself in situations, but I don’t work for them anymore.

I signed my contract and I got a call from my manager. My VP said, “You’re not allowed to go on that podcast.” They saw it. My manager was like, “You’re not allowed to go on.” I said, “That sounds good,” and I went on the podcast. The reason I say that’s such a big deal is at the time, I wasn’t making six figures. The contract I signed was to make six figures over. That was a big step. At that moment, I said, “I might work for a company but a company does not own me. If they think I’m coming to join their team and they’re going to be like, “You get to do A, B and C because I said so,” I can go back to personal training. I’m in a place where I’m like, “I can go make six figures with personal training just doing my own life. I don’t need your company.”

[bctt tweet=”Money’s great and all the material things are great, but at the end of the day, if you’re not happy without money, you’re not going to be happy with money.” via=”no”]

That’s where I’m at now. There was always like that for me. I was like, “I got to be careful. I got to walk the line.” There’s a reason why you haven’t seen me share a lot on LinkedIn about my stuff. It was always very general. I got to be careful in the HR realm. On the podcast and YouTube, my manager called me one time. She was like, “What the heck is your podcast?” I was like, “What are you talking about?” She’s like, “I’ve talked to nine people. They all call me and they all know about your podcast.” That was a special day for me because I was like, “It’s working.” It’s doing a thing.

If a company feels like they own you, some people are cool with that. I’m not that person. In my interview with Inovus, I was like, “I can’t wait to work for this company that I’m with.” The CEOs are the coolest guys. I also was like, “I do a podcast and I’m not going to stop. I know that I’m changing lives.” I told people, “Once you get to a point where you make a certain financial goal and you hit that point, which is different for every single person, it’s not about the money anymore.”

I do stuff because we’re financial beings, and it’s going to help me. I can financially change my life and my family’s life. I got a message from a guy sending me an engagement ring. He was like, “Because of you, I can buy this cash. You changed my life.” That’s what it’s for. You can take the cash away from me. I can get it all taken away now. If I got to go back to landscaping for $12 an hour and do some personal training, I can do that. I’m not too good to say I’m not, but I know those messages mean more to me than anything.

I know guys that don’t post stuff because they’re like, “My company might fire me for it.” On my podcast, I was like, “If Medtronic is going to see this, they’re going to fire me. That’s cool.” That’s how much of it is. When I say I don’t care and I’m going to stay true to who I am at all times, I mean that. I put that out for the last couple of years. If one person at Medtronic would’ve seen that who didn’t need to see it, I would be gone the very next day. I know that was a gamble I was playing. Every time somebody brought it up to me, I said, “And?” They’re like, “What if they fire you?” I’m like, “I get a severance package and I go find something new to do.”

One thing that’s very evident is you have a free mindset. You have the confidence to be in any situation and believe that you can make it work. You mentioned earlier that God is what keeps you going and what you center everything around. I’m sure that’s an enormous reason of what bolsters that confidence that allows you to say, “Regardless of whatever situation I’m put in, if I’m doing something that’s going to add value to someone else’s life in a major way, I’m going to do it.” That’s a beautiful thing to be able to say.

I appreciate that. I want to state this because like everybody in life, we all have our journey. We all go through some tough times. There have been some times I’ve been through where I’ve made it through and I’m on the other side. There’s nothing I can’t take. I truly have the mindset of whatever I want to achieve in my life, I will. I tell people that what’s got me the last couple of months to be out there is my best friend. He passed away from brain cancer. I was there when he took his last breath. The reason I say that is I took a trip right after that. The most freeing moment was I was hiking on a Tuesday in Montana. I was hiking in Park City on a Thursday. I didn’t have to do anything. We put ourselves in this society in a box that we have to do A, B and C, and here I was.

I am somebody who is like, “Live for today and aim for tomorrow.” I do smartly with my finances. When Tommy bought a motorcycle for $30,000, I was like, “You could have bought it for $10,000 and invested the $20,000.” That’s my mind. I sat there and I tell people that when he took his last breath, the last thing I ever thought about was Tommy. I thought about how happy that motorcycle made him. He was 25 but he had the biggest impact on this world. For me, that’s what I tell people. That’s why I’m even more driven. He was going to do stuff for his family. He’s not here to do that anymore. Someone has to do it. I don’t have to take that responsibility but I want to.

That’s real to see something like that. It prioritizes what life is about really quick.

I enjoy the company I work for. My manager tried to call me when I was going through that. She was trying to talk to me about work. I said, “I don’t give two things about work right now. It is the last thing in my life that I’m ever worried about, whether somebody is doing a hysteroscopy right now. I want the best for that patient, but at this point, you take the call. I don’t care. I got to go through my stuff.” I say that because I get passionate about it. It’s free.

People are going to sit there and complain about their life. They say they can’t do stuff and they have a company. I’m never going to be that. No one is going to ever tell me what I can and can’t do. That’s why I went with the company I’m with. They trust me. They’re like, “This is your stuff. We’re going to be there to help guide you.” My guys, Elliot and Jordan, are leaders and they’re doing the work. That’s why I’m so proud to be behind them. It’s because they’ve done it. They’re leading from the front. They’re pulling the rope with us, not just barking orders at us.

[bctt tweet=”Live your own life. Do what makes you happy.” via=”no”]

I get so passionate about it. That’s why I live the way I live. After doing this and seeing that, I can get in my car tomorrow in five minutes and die. I know that. You get to that point where you’re like, “I’m going to live happily every day. I’m going to live every day making an impact. The piece I can have is if I do die tomorrow, I know where I’m going. I know what I’m doing. Hopefully, I helped 1 or 2 people in this world. That’s it. Our time will come when it comes, but as long as I’m helping people and making a difference in people’s lives, that’s it.

Can we take a moment to let that sink into the audience? That is fantastic. I love it. On that same note then, if you can give one piece of advice to everybody out there that’s thinking about getting into medical sales, whether it be medical device sales like what you guys do, pharmaceutical sales, diagnostic testing or any kind under the medical sales umbrella. All of us in this space help professionals get into these amazing roles. What’s one piece of advice you would give?

The number one and the best advice I can always give is to be true to yourself. The reason I say that is there are people who don’t like me with how free I am and how I think. That’s okay. I wouldn’t want to work for those guys anyway. I’m going to go to a place that’s going to see me and appreciate me for me. That’s where I’m going to go flourish. When I’m flourishing, I’m flourishing in their company as well. I know that.

As you guys break-in, a lot of people a lot of times are going to try to change who they are. First off, you’re talking to salespeople every single day. They can read when you’re being fake so don’t be fake. When you’re staying true to who you are, you’re going to get the right opportunity for you. That’s going to be the best fit for you. That’s what it’s got to be. When you guys are going through this process, I know you guys want to break in. I know you’re like, “I just need one.” You do just need one.

We talked about helping to identify which one would be probably a good one. Which one is the best fit? I want to say that number one is staying 100% true to who you are. I say this in my podcast and my course all the time. Take your experience out. I don’t care what your experience is. I don’t care what you’ve done. I care about who you are. When they hire Samuel, who are they getting? What are you bringing to the team? What are the values you’re bringing?

Every single person is different, so everybody brings something different. There’s going to be a great strong point to that. That was one of the questions in my interview. They were like, “Why Inovus for Jacob? Why should Inovus take a shot on Jacob?” I’m like, “You’re not finding another Jacob. You’re not finding another person who’s going to be as driven, as passionate, and who’s going to get punched in the face and smile and get back up.” I have my list of I know who I am. Stay true to who you are, and then piggyback off that. It’s what I’ve talked about the whole time. You got to work. I meet too many people who want to make a six-figure income and they have a five-figure work ethic.

If you want to make it in the top 10% of the world or above, you got to be a little different. That would be my advice. One is networking. It’s being with the right people and getting someone like Samuel who can help you. Being with somebody who’s living it and has done what you want to do. It is mentorship. It’s them saving you time, and it’s going to change you. I say this all the time. You don’t know what you don’t know. You’re not going to understand it until you get in. If you can have somebody who’s living that season every single day, has done it, and helped hundreds of other people do it, that’s going to make a big difference.

There is one more population of people I want you to address in our audience. The reps out there giving it their all. They’re probably in the car. Maybe they’re working out. Maybe they’re about to see an account. What’s one message you would like to give all the working reps out there as far as leveling up whatever they’re doing, advancing their career, and doing things bigger and better? What would you like to say to them?

I know you guys are already doing it, but just keep adding value. That sounds so dumb to many people. The reps that are in the car are like, “I already am doing that.” The conversation I’m saying is when I turned in my two weeks, my doctor hugged me. He asked me to stay in touch. He asked for my personal phone number and what my career was going to do. The person who’s the supply chain manager said, “You’re the best rep I’ve seen in twenty years.” Do you want to know why? It wasn’t because I was so crazy. It was because I took my sales cap off every single time when I walked in the door and I was Jacob. I’m Jacob caring about Samuel.

When I did that every single time, I win. That’s why I was able to take the lowest performing territory. That’s why I’m able to take a management role with startups that usually only take people with five years of experience with under two. It’s because I’m a person first. I’m relationship-based first. I’m going to come in, but I want to make sure I’m not going to talk to Samuel about anything until I make sure Samuel is good.

[bctt tweet=”You didn’t even know you were making an impact in people’s lives because of the posts you’re making and the brand that you’re building.” via=”no”]

Whether it’s your scrub tech, your nurse, your supply chain or your doctor, let’s get to know them first and let’s be real. Some people don’t want to. Some nurses suck. It is what it is. I’m not going to go, but if they’re my decision-maker, they’re people that I also am making friendships with. That’s what I would encourage everybody.

I’ve said it a million times. Relationships are everything. The reason you’re not in a position that you want to be in is you haven’t made the right relationship yet. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I will state this. I’ve been told that in the position I got in Medtronic, I beat someone out with over ten years of experience. We can go back around. You can go, “I haven’t made the right experience.” That’s crap. It’s who you are. It’s what you bring to the table and what value you can bring.

I know a lot of people are going to be like, “Jacob has only been in for two years. Screw him. I’ve been in for ten.” That’s most of the guys in my DMs telling me to shut up, which is fine. People get very jaded in this industry. They get stuck in their ways. That’s why I’ve been able to continue to have success. My manager, when I first got here, was like, “Don’t take anybody’s word for anything. Go find it out for yourself and keep re-learning.”

It’s that freedom of mind. When you’re freeing your mind, you can have two years of experience and overshadow everybody that has ten-plus years because you have that freedom of mind. It allows you to see opportunities and create opportunities that other people aren’t able to see or create. That’s well said. We’re going to come to a close here. We could do this for two hours.

I can keep going all day.

This is premium quality content here. I hope everybody is taking notes. One thing I like to do is I like to close things off with a few questions I’m going to ask. You have about ten seconds to answer, so you can’t deliberate too much. You got to shoot them out as they come to you, and then we’re going to go ahead and sign off. The first question is what’s the best book you’ve read in the last six months?

It’s Winning by Tim Grover.

What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the last six months?

Top Gun: Maverick.

What’s the best meal you’ve had in the last six months?

[bctt tweet=”People will go die at a job, but they won’t work on themselves.” via=”no”]

It was in San Diego, and it was Surf and Turf.

Lastly, what’s the best experience you’ve had in the last six months?

It was being able to experience freedom all the way.

That couldn’t be said better. Jacob, it has been a pleasure having you on the show. We are going to be following your career track. Congratulations on the big move. I thank you for being on the show.

Thank you so much for having me.

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That was Jacob McLaughlin’s part two. You’ve been reading about him for two episodes. He has left some pearls of wisdom and given some good insight. One thing that I love that we talk about is his freedom of mind. He has removed any obstacles from whatever vision he wants to create. He has removed any obstacles from getting it done. He has done it for himself. He does it with his colleagues and clients. He does see opportunities and he believes that there can and will be a way. That is the mindset to operate by for anyone, not just medical sales reps but anyone.

When you want to attain something, the first thing you can do that’s going to serve you before you do anything else is to believe that you can make it happen. This is not some rocket science or new revelation. This is something that has been known. Every now and again, we need a reminder. We need an example of what it looks like. I believe we did this with this two-part episode.

Maybe you’re someone out there and you want to get into medical sales. You might not know what field you want to be in. Maybe it’s medical device sales, pharmaceutical, dental sales or diagnostic testing. You’re not sure, but you know you want to be in medical sales. You’ve read these episodes and you’ve been thinking to yourself, “I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I don’t have any sales experience. I don’t have any medical background. I don’t have any sale experience or medical background. I don’t know if my skills are transferable. I have no idea where to even start.” The first thing you can do is believe that you can be in this space. That’s the number one thing.

The second thing you can do is visit EvolveYourSuccess.com and select Attain Medical Sales Role. Give us some information. Let’s have a conversation and get you into the career you know you want to be in. Let’s help you find what the best fit for you is and then get you into a position. Maybe you’re out there and you’re tuning in to this show and you’re in medical sales. You have a position or a territory, but you’re not getting the results you want. You’re not seeing the progress you want and you want to change things, but you’re not quite sure how. Visit EvolveYourSuccess.com and select Improve Sales Performance. Give us some information. Let’s have a conversation and get you the results you want to produce.

The last thing I want to mention, and we talked about it a little bit in this episode, is we talked about the power of social media. If any of you have been following me in my content and following this show, you know that’s huge with us. Your brand is becoming the new business card, the new book, and the new reputation that you can carry with you to anything anywhere.

For medical sales reps or anyone in the medical sales space, building a brand can change your career, for the company you work for, for an opportunity somewhere else, for giving back and pointing to other people’s lives, and for even providing value to your customers. Building a brand on a social media platform can be a game-changer.

If that’s something that you know you want to understand more of or maybe you want to do it, but you don’t know where to even start, visit EvolveYourSuccess.com and select Improve Sales Performance. Select our LinkedIn selling. Give us some information. Let’s have a conversation. Let’s get you on these platforms and start building your brand. As always, we do our best to bring you guests that give insight, perspective, and true resources to give you the career you’re meant to experience to allow you to provide more value to your customers and ultimately, more value to that end user, the patient. Make sure you tune in for another episode of the show.

Important Links

• Winning
• Attain Medical Sales Role
• Improve Sales Performance
• https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/jacob-mclaughlin-5192b312b/

About Jacob McLaughlin

Self-motivated individual who is driven by results. As a former collegiate athlete, I know the importance of leadership, teamwork, and the building of relationships to help obtain success. I’ve been brought up to know the value of a strong work ethic and make sure to display this in every aspect of my life.

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