Alex and Lauren trade their best and worst dating stories to show how the same habits that sink a first date, desperation, generic gestures, and grasping at a specific outcome, are the ones that sink a sales deal.

Episode Navigation:

00:40 — Alex and Lauren set up a different kind of episode: love, dating, and why marketing yourself is sales

01:52 — Desperation vs. discernment: two ways to approach someone across the bar, and the same two ways to approach a prospect

04:50 — Worrying whether they like you instead of asking whether you like them, and what that means for qualifying fit

07:26 — Lauren on reentering the dating world and the date that became a channel partner introduction

09:48 — Alex on “fail fast,” approaching strangers in New York, and why regret stings more than rejection

17:14 — The Visionary Mirror: how you show up in your career is how you show up in your relationships

19:10 — Planning the marriage, not just the wedding, and selling through implementation instead of to the close

22:55 — Worst dates: bright red pants, a screaming phone call, and a rewritten Bible

28:54 — Weekly roses and donuts for a gluten-free date: why generic generosity doesn’t make anyone feel seen

34:30 — Ditching the three-day rule, being direct, using the takeaway, and holding outcomes loosely

Connect:

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@SalesWasJustTheStart

Sales Was Just the Start: saleswasjustthestart.com

Alluviance (Alex Kremer): alluviance.co

Sell with Goodell (Lauren Goodell): sellwithgoodell.com

Clustr (Lauren Goodell): getclustr.ai

Resources:

How to crush your quota without crushing your soul - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2rGW9QG0MTuao6rwF1rkEiw

The 4 masks of sales - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2NM3dwRaFTAKnZIWUZm7kGQ

The 5 day inner game reset challenge - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2W1Ko6wnZQPazEVXSwXVD1A

Lauren and Alex break down what actually goes into building a personal brand online, picking pillars, finding your voice, and surviving the LinkedIn-lunatics phase. They get into why the compliments you're most afraid to receive are usually pointing straight at your brand.

Episode Navigation:

05:11 — What a “Clem” is, and the first real lesson either of them got in personal brand and reputation

06:23 — Fitting into the corporate mold early on, and the parts of themselves it pushed down

10:03 — Lauren’s investor-mandated LinkedIn experiment, and how it became her top revenue driver

13:18 — Alex’s post-layoff commitment to posting daily, and treating the whole thing as an experiment

19:40 — Picking your pillars: the mistake most founders and sellers make building a brand

28:04 — The exercise for finding your voice: asking people for the best compliment they’ve ever received

35:03 — The line that reframes personal brand: “You are who you think others think you are”

42:32 — The quote on power, vulnerability, and staying credible while being honest

45:21 — Advice for starting small: “baby steps” and picking the first thing you’re willing to open up about

Connect:

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@SalesWasJustTheStart

Sales Was Just the Start: saleswasjustthestart.com

Alluviance (Alex Kremer): alluviance.co

Sell with Goodell (Lauren Goodell): sellwithgoodell.com

Clustr (Lauren Goodell): getclustr.ai

Resources:

How to crush your quota without crushing your soul - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2rGW9QG0MTuao6rwF1rkEiw

The 4 masks of sales - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2NM3dwRaFTAKnZIWUZm7kGQ

The 5 day inner game reset challenge - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2W1Ko6wnZQPazEVXSwXVD1A

Lauren and Alex get real about the exact moments that pushed each of them out of a comfortable sales career and into founder mode. Lauren's seven-figure wake-up call at Salesforce, Alex's leap from Outreach into Alluviance and the fear, timing, and self-trust it actually took to make the jump.

Episode Navigation:

03:01 — Lauren’s path from Microsoft to Salesforce, and the entrepreneurial itch she didn’t notice at the time

05:48 — Hitting a seven-figure year at Salesforce, and realizing the money didn’t fix what was missing

07:01 — The financial advisor’s advice that changed everything: “Why don’t you do it now? Life is short.”

18:44 — What “feeling alive” actually meant, and why Lauren chose it over stability

24:45 — Zinnia’s pivot from offsite retreat planning to sales-intelligence software, and why LLMs upended it

30:08 — Alex’s exit from Microsoft to Outreach, and the three questions that shaped his next move

36:13 — Bringing Wim Hof breathwork into team meetings, and the pushback that came with it

42:53 — How “Alluvium” went from an invented word at breakfast to Alex’s company, Alluviance

53:13 — The two questions Lauren asks anyone wondering if it’s time to leave

Connect:

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@SalesWasJustTheStart

Sales Was Just the Start: saleswasjustthestart.com

Alluviance (Alex Kremer): alluviance.co

Sell with Goodell (Lauren Goodell): sellwithgoodell.com

Clustr (Lauren Goodell): getclustr.ai

Resources:

How to crush your quota without crushing your soul - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2rGW9QG0MTuao6rwF1rkEiw

The 4 masks of sales - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2NM3dwRaFTAKnZIWUZm7kGQ

The 5 day inner game reset challenge - https://ruvbi.share.hsforms.com/2W1Ko6wnZQPazEVXSwXVD1A