🦾 The Bankruptcy Diet:

My Journey From Self-Sabotage to Self-Mastery

Imagine standing in front of a mirror, barely recognizing the person staring back at you. That was me in November 2011.

Bankruptcy papers in hand, a failed business behind me, and a weight that wasn't just physical pressing down on my shoulders.

I was drowning, not in water, but in a sea of disappointment, cheap beer, and even cheaper excuses.

The Abyss - November 2011

The bankruptcy filing? That was just paperwork. The real bankruptcy was in my spirit. Six years of blood, sweat, and tears gone.

My business, my dream, reduced to ashes. But the worst part?

The deafening silence of my own self-doubt.

Every night, I'd drink 8 beers and/or devour a pint (or maybe a half gallon) of ice cream. Anything to numb the pain of failure that echoed in every corner of my mind.

The feeling I had let everyone down. Wondering what my children thought of me and how I had failed them.

I felt like a puppet, my strings pulled by circumstances I couldn't control. Waiting, always waiting, for someone else to determine my fate.

Lesson learned the hard way:

Rock bottom isn't a place. It's a state of mind.

The Slow Climb - 2012

They say the darkest hour is just before dawn. Well, my dawn came in the form of a corporate job - my first since 2000. But don't be fooled.

This wasn't some magical turning point where everything suddenly got better.

No, this was the beginning of a grueling uphill battle.

Every day was a struggle to engage with others, to put on a brave face while repressing the tsunami of emotions threatening to drown me at any moment.

The weight of failure hung around my neck like an albatross.

But something unexpected happened.

As I started making small changes to my physical health, a tiny spark of hope ignited. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep me going.

The truth I discovered:

Sometimes, the body must lead for the mind to follow.

The Pivot - 2013

2013 rolled in, bringing with it a mix of triumph and frustration.

I made President's Club for my 2012 efforts - a victory that should have felt sweeter than it did.

I had lost 30 pounds, but now I was stuck. Plateaued. Stagnant.

In desperation, I turned to Team Wilson Bodybuilding. Little did I know, this decision would change everything.

They introduced me to macro tracking, and suddenly, a light bulb went off.

If it's important, you must track it. Fitness, weight, sales goals. PERIOD.

As the pounds continued to melt away, something else began to grow - my confidence. For the first time in years, I wasn't guessing if I could be successful.

I was confident because I was working the process not judging myself against the goal.

The revelation that changed everything:

Confidence isn't given. It's earned through consistent, measurable progress.

The Awakening - 2014

2014 arrived, and with it, a hunger for more. I set my sights on a sales leadership role, sure that my recent successes would pave the way. But life had other plans.

Five interviews. Five rejections. The old doubts started creeping back in.

Then, standing outside my gym, phone in hand for yet another interview, I heard it. The victim in my voice.

The man who still believed life was something that happened to him.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. The emotional scars of my failures ran deeper than I'd realized. But in that moment of clarity, I made a choice.

My success wasn't up to fate, or luck, or anyone else. It was up to me.

The next interviews? Nailed them. Landed a VP of Sales role at a tech company. A year later, an SVP position. My salary tripled in 12 months.

But more importantly, I had taken control of my narrative.

The hard truth I faced: 

You can't outrun your past. You have to turn and face it, then choose to write a different story.

The Phoenix Rises - 2016

In 2016, I did something that would have terrified the 2011 version of me. I launched Ken Lundin & Associates (now RevHeat).

This wasn't just starting a new business. This was me burning the boats.

No plan B. No safety net.

Just a man, his hard-earned wisdom, and a burning desire to help others avoid the pitfalls I'd stumbled into.

The Ongoing Journey

As I poured my experiences into what would become Sales Fit Insider, I realized something profound.

My journey - with all its ups and downs, triumphs and failures - wasn't just my story.

It was a roadmap for others who were struggling to balance their health, their personal lives, and their careers.

The mission that emerged:

To create a community where sales professionals could learn to thrive, not just survive.

But it was more than that. It was the culmination of years of hard-won wisdom, not just from my personal battles, but from the trenches of sales transformation.

Since founding RevHeat, I've had the privilege of witnessing and facilitating remarkable transformations.

  • We've helped companies grow 3-6x in less than five years, adding hundreds of millions in sales.

  • Our clients have sold more than $1 billion using our sales methodology.

But the numbers, impressive as they are, don't tell the whole story.

I've seen reps on the brink of being fired turn their careers around, going from nearly unemployed to earning over $600,000 in just three years. 

Allowing them the freedom to choose where they live, what schools their children go to and how much their spouse works.

I've watched experienced salespeople shatter their own ceilings, leaping from $250,000 in earnings to more than $800,000. Surpassing even their wildest dreams.

Each of these successes was a testament to the power of holistic change - of aligning personal growth with professional development.

But with each victory, a question nagged at me:

  • Why do so many people feel they have to choose between making money and being healthy?

  • Why is burning out seen as a badge of honor in sales?

The launch of Sales Fit Insider is my answer to these questions. It's the culmination of my combined successes and failures, both personal and professional.

It's my way of giving back, of saying, "You don't have to choose. You can have it all."

This isn't about work-life balance. It's about work-life integration.

It's about understanding that your health impacts your sales performance, that your personal growth fuels your professional success, that taking care of yourself isn't selfish - it's essential.

Sales Fit Insider is more than a newsletter or a community. It's a movement.

A revolution against the old way of thinking that says you have to sacrifice your wellbeing on the altar of success.

It's a holistic approach to living a full life, where crushing your sales quota and crushing your fitness goals aren't mutually exclusive.

To everyone who's ever felt torn between their career ambitions and their personal wellbeing: I see you. I've been you.

And I'm here to tell you that not only can you have both, but you'll be better at both when you nurture them together.

Your journey to becoming Sales Fit starts now. Are you ready to stop choosing and start thriving?

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