I Wasn't Supposed to Be in Sales. Then I Built a Company Teaching It.

I wasn't supposed to be in sales. I took a job in media advertising shortly after university because it sounded fun, not realizing I'd signed up for a sales career. I was half the age of the people I was calling on, knew half as much about business as they did, and had zero sales experience to lean on.

So I learned. I asked questions. I got curious. And I built a way of selling that actually felt like me. Even though I spent the first decade refusing to call myself a salesperson. 😛

Twenty-two-year-old me had absolutely no idea she'd one day build a company teaching exactly that. This month, Boost Coaching turns ten and I've been thinking a lot about how we got here.

Sixteen years in ad sales. Three maternity leaves. Three times climbing back from the bottom of the mountain when clients had moved on while I was away. And after the third time, I finally stopped and asked myself: I've been giving advice to clients for years. Why am I not taking it myself?

So I started building my own brand. I got my own custom business cards. I launched a newsletter. I started teaching, still as an ad rep, just doing a little more of what felt natural.

Then I was invited to lead a lunch and learn for a room full of young entrepreneurs. They were frustrated that their content marketing wasn't getting traction. Everyone assumed they needed more advertising. But what I saw was something different: they were hiding behind their screens, competing with the entire internet, when what would actually grow their businesses was getting out and connecting with humans. Relationships. Conversations. The invisible work that nobody sees, but that's actually what builds most local businesses.

That was my "aha" moment. I realized I had more to offer than the single lens of an ad rep. I knew how to sell and to build a brand. And I knew how to teach it in a way that didn't feel like selling at all.

That's where Boost Coaching was born; and in that very first year, I published Hands-On Marketing, putting into print what I’d learned in those 16 years in ad sales.

From the beginning, I knew that community was everything. I started hosting small, intimate Boost Networking gatherings. What began as a way for me to meet new people has grown into one of my most favourite parts of what we do. We initially met for happy hour beverages, switched to brunches a few years ago because let's be honest, everyone loves brunch, and I've hosted every summer and holiday season for all ten years running. What began in Saskatoon has taken us to Toronto and Vancouver too. The repeat attendees, the colleagues who have become champions, the clients who started as strangers at one of those tables; that community is one of the things I'm most proud of building.

Ten years later, what started as one-on-one coaching and keynotes has grown into structured sales and marketing training programs delivered to teams coast to coast; from financial professionals to business associations to service-based business owners. COVID shut a lot of doors, but it opened one I hadn't expected: the opportunity to bring training directly into corporate teams online, at scale. What felt like necessity became a whole new chapter of the business.

I've gone from a solo operation to half a dozen core team members plus facilitators supporting our corporate clients in both English and French.

Thank you for being part of this decade. Whether you've been here from the beginning or just found your way to Boost recently; I'm glad you're here.

Here's to what comes next!

All the best, Daria