how I got my foot in the door (two years ago, today)

Two years ago today, I stuck my foot in the door at LocaModa.

In my first blog post, No Free Lunch, I discuss how it took me over a year of continually following up with Steve King before he gave me a shot as an unpaid intern that lasted three months before I was offered a fulltime position. I thought I would share the email chain that got me where I am today.

Steve,We last spoke in February and it was to early for you to hire an
inexperienced sales guy.
To be candid, I want to join your team and I want to become a
sales/marketing intern. I am fully employed but I still have the
desire to get on the ground floor and do what it takes to help build a
winning product. I have no problem putting in endless hours.I would be more than happy to discuss further when convenient for you.
Cheers-Gregory Stellato

Steve replied with the following;

Greg, you want to sales intern here? Bust your ass, make calls, dial for dollars, send emails, manage campaigns, log hours of database transfer on SalesForce? If yes then let’s get you in. Thing is, when will you find the time seeing as how you’re working full time?How will this work?
SK

I was fully employed but I knew I had to be on the ground floor of a startup even though I had never been. Without anything to lose, I responded with this;

Steve, to give you some perspective, when I was a headhunter I was
working 80 hours, before I discovered the appeal of startups I wanted
to be an investment banker (100 plus hours)… I love espresso and I
want to bust my ass, make calls and be the little sales bitch that
could. I have said it before, I’m hungry and I want to get my foot in
the door…. so I will do whatever it takes to get some exposure and
learn.I’m not sure how things run in the DOOH ad space but I assume it’s not
a 9 to 5 gig. (previous employer) only allows me to work 36.25 hours a
week…. so I have plenty of time on my hands. I get out of work at
4pm, I’m at Central by 4:30 and I can make calls until whenever the
west coast decides to leave the office. I will work weekends, make
calls at lunch…whatever it takes.

Greg Stellato