I’m writing this from my camper somewhere between San Diego and Phoenix. I’m currently on my way to Oceanside, CA to have some new solar panels installed on my rig so I can stay remote for even longer periods of time.

I just spent the last four days parked on the edge of a mountain, taking cold showers on a cliff, working from Starlink with nothing but my laptop and the view.

Tonight I’ll probably watch the sunset from the beach in Oceanside and work from there this week while my truck has it’s upgrades completed.

This is what location-independent income actually looks like.. not Instagram reels from Bali, not laptop-on-the-beach stock photos, but the real, dirty, barefoot, alive version of freedom that most sales reps don’t even know is possible.

Ten years ago, I was a BDR at a cybersecurity company grinding through cold calls, quota resets, and the same fluorescent-lit office every single day. I got promoted three times. I ran the inside sales team. I maxed out around $150K.

And I was miserable.

Not because the money was bad. Not because I didn’t like the people. But because every single day felt the same. Because my entire life was optimized around someone else’s pipeline. Because I knew that no matter how hard I worked, my reward was just a bigger quota and another year of the same cycle.

So my business partner and I started a social media marketing agency on the side back in November of 2016.

Two weeks later, we landed our first client. Six months after that, we both quit. Nine months in, we were each making over $100K per year.

Today, our business does over seven figures annually. I work about six hours a day. I have a team of 20 contractors all over the world. My MRR is around $100K per month from about 15 clients paying between $5K-$10K in retainers.

And I haven’t had a “Sunday scary” in years.

This isn’t a brag. It’s proof that the skills you already have as a sales rep are worth 10x more when you apply them to your own business instead of someone else’s pipeline.

Let me show you how to build this.

The Truth About Location-Independent Income

First, let’s kill some misconceptions.

You don’t need to be a digital nomad influencer. I’m not posting from co-working spaces in Thailand or doing yoga on beaches. I’m working from my camper, getting dirty, taking cold showers, and living a life that actually feels like mine.

You don’t need a lot of money saved. We started this business with basically nothing. No fancy tools. No massive ad budget. Just outreach, conviction, and the skills we already had from sales.

You don’t need to quit your job first. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. The smartest move is to build this on the side, get proof of concept, and then make the leap when the math makes sense.

What you do need is a business model that works without you being in one place, a skill set that translates to remote work, and the guts to actually start.

Sales reps are uniquely positioned for this because you already have the hard part figured out: you know how to get clients.

Why Sales Reps Have an Unfair Advantage

Here’s what nobody tells you: sales is the best training ground for building a location-independent business.

When I was a BDR, I was already doing everything a digital entrepreneur does:

• Cold outreach

• Discovery calls

• Handling objections

• Closing deals

• Managing a pipeline

• Working with leads and understanding what makes them convert

The only difference? I was doing it for someone else’s product, someone else’s commission structure, and someone else’s dream.

Starting my own business wasn’t learning new skills, it was just redirecting the ones I already had toward something I owned.

And here’s the kicker: your sales experience gives you an unfair advantage in understanding how this business should work. You’ve been on the other side. You know what businesses need. You know how leads flow. You know what a good sales process looks like because you’ve lived inside one.

Most people who try to start an agency have never been in the trenches. You have. That’s leverage.

The Business Model That Actually Works

Let me break down exactly what we do, because this model is repeatable, scalable, and doesn’t require you to be in any specific location.

The Service: Lead Generation via the 3-Step Funnel

We help local businesses get more leads using a simple, proven system:

1. Ad (Facebook, Google, whatever works for the niche)

2. Landing page (opt-in, capture info)

3. Automated follow-up (email, SMS, nurture sequence)

That’s it. No complicated custom development. No 40-page proposals. Just a productized service that works the same way for every client.

Why This Model Works for Location Independence:

• It’s digital. Everything happens online. No physical products. No in-person meetings required.

• It’s recurring. Clients pay retainers ($5K-$10K/month). You’re not chasing one-time project fees.

• It’s delegatable. Once you have the system dialed in, you can hire contractors to fulfill the work while you focus on clients and strategy.

• It’s proven. Businesses will always need leads. This isn’t some trendy new thing—it’s a fundamental business need repackaged in a way that’s simple to sell and deliver.

The Economics:

Right now I have about 15 clients, each paying between $5K-$10K/month. That’s roughly $100K MRR. I work about 6 hours a day. I have a team of 20 contractors handling fulfillment.

My role? Client management, strategy, and business development. I can do that from anywhere with an internet connection.

How We Built This (The Honest Timeline)

Let me walk you through what actually happened, because the journey matters.

Month 1-2: Starting While Employed

We started the business while still working our sales jobs. We didn’t quit. We didn’t burn the boats. We just started reaching out to potential clients in our spare time—nights, weekends, lunch breaks.

Two weeks in, we landed our first client. That was the “oh shit, this might actually work” moment. They paid us $2,750/month. It wasn’t life-changing money, but it was proof.

Month 3-6: Building Momentum

We kept stacking clients. One turned into two. Two turned into five. We were working two full-time jobs at this point, our day job and our side business, but the math was starting to make sense.

By month six, we were both making enough from the business to cover our bills. That’s when we quit.

Month 7-12: Scaling Without Breaking

This is where we made our biggest mistake: we didn’t delegate soon enough.

We were so used to doing everything ourselves (sales rep mentality) that we tried to handle all the fulfillment, client management, and business development on our own. We hit a ceiling fast.

Once we started hiring contractors, media buyers, copywriters, funnel builders—the business exploded. We went from $10K/month to $50K/month to six figures in MRR.

The lesson? Your job isn’t to do the work. Your job is to get clients and build systems.

The Minimum Viable Tech Stack

Here’s what you actually need to start:

To Get Clients:

• Email (Google Workspace)

• Website (even a simple one-pager works)

• CRM if you want to stay organized, but honestly, a spreadsheet works at first

To Fulfill Services:

• We use GoHighLevel for all client fulfillment (ads, landing pages, automation). It’s simple, it’s all-in-one, and it works.

• We use Monday.com to track our team’s work and keep projects organized.

That’s it.

You don’t need fancy tools. You don’t need a $10K tech stack. You need the ability to reach out, close deals, and deliver results.

Here’s the truth: You can land your first client with nothing but an email address and a pitch. Build the infrastructure after you have revenue. That’s how you stay lean and move fast.

The Day-to-Day Reality

Let me give you a real picture of what this life actually looks like, because it’s not all sunsets and mountain views (though there are a lot of those).

My Typical Day:

• Wake up naturally (no alarm)

• Slow coffee in the camper, check emails, do some writing

• Cold shower outside.. sounds brutal, but I feel alive

• 2-3 hours of deep work (client calls, strategy, team management)

• Workout or walk the dogs

• Another 2-3 hours of work (emails, operations, business development)

• Sunset, stars, maybe stream a football game

Total work time? About 6 hours.

Compare that to my old sales job:

• 8-10 hours in the office

• Commute time

• Sunday scaries

• Performance reviews

• Forecasting meetings

• Constant anxiety about hitting quota

Now I watch the sunset every single night. I look at the stars. I travel full-time. I get barefoot, dirty, cold, uncomfortable, and it’s amazing.

I’m back in touch with something ancestral. Something real.

That’s what location-independent income actually buys you. Not just money. Time, autonomy, and the ability to design a life that doesn’t feel like you’re waiting for the weekend.

What You’re Actually Trading

Let’s be honest about the trade-offs, because there are some.

What You Give Up:

• Stability (the illusion of it, anyway)

• Benefits (health insurance, 401K matching)

• A guaranteed paycheck every two weeks

• The safety net of a corporate structure

What You Gain:

• Ownership of your income (no comp plan ceiling)

• Geographic freedom (work from literally anywhere)

• Time freedom (design your own schedule)

• Creative freedom (build something that’s actually yours)

• The ability to scale without a promotion or permission

For me, the trade was obvious. I’d rather have uncertainty and freedom than security and a cage.

But here’s what most people miss: the “security” of a sales job is an illusion anyway.

Your quota resets every month. Your territory can get cut. Your comp plan can change. Your company can get acquired or do layoffs. You’re always one bad quarter away from a performance plan.

The only real security is owning your own income stream.

The 5-Step Framework to Get Started

btw - my business partner Derek and I break this down in crazy detail in this video here

Alright, let’s get tactical. If you’re a sales rep reading this and you want to be where I am in 12 months, here’s exactly what you need to do:

Step 1: Pick a Niche You Understand

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Pick an industry you already know from your sales job.

If you sell cybersecurity software, go after MSPs or IT consultants.
If you sell to healthcare, go after clinics or med spas.
If you work in construction, go after contractors, roofers, HVAC companies.

Why? Because you already speak their language. You understand their pain points. You’re not starting from zero—you’re leveraging experience you already have.

Step 2: Offer a Simple, Proven Service

Lead generation. That’s it.

Every business needs more customers. You’re going to help them get leads using the 3-step funnel (ad, landing page, follow-up).

Don’t try to be a full-service agency. Don’t offer “branding” or “strategy consulting.” Offer one thing that gets predictable results.

Why? Because simplicity scales. The more complex your service, the harder it is to delegate and systematize later.

Step 3: Land Your First Client (Fast)

Use your sales skills. You already know how to do this.

• Write a cold email

• Reach out to 50-100 prospects

• Offer a free trial or pilot (30 days, no strings attached)

• Get them results

• Turn the pilot into a paying retainer

Your goal isn’t perfection. Your goal is proof. One client at $2K-$3K/month is enough to validate the model.

Step 4: Build the System Before You Scale

This is where we screwed up. Don’t make the same mistake.

Once you have 2-3 clients, start documenting everything:

• How you run ads

• How you build landing pages

• How you set up automation

• How you onboard new clients

• How you report results

Turn it into SOPs (standard operating procedures) so you can eventually hand it off to someone else.

Why? Because if you can’t delegate, you’ll cap at 5-10 clients and burn out. The business won’t grow without systems.

Step 5: Hire, Delegate, Scale

Once you have the systems in place, start hiring contractors:

• Media buyers to run ads

• Copywriters to write landing pages

• VAs to handle admin work

Your job shifts from doing the work to managing the business. That’s when you go from $10K/month to $50K/month to six figures in MRR.

And that’s when you can actually work from anywhere.

Addressing the Objections (Because I Know You Have Them)

“I don’t have time to build this while working full-time.”

Yes, you do. You just don’t want to give up Netflix, scrolling, or whatever you’re doing from 8-10 PM every night.

I built this working nights and weekends while holding down a full-time sales job. It sucked. It was hard. But six months of hard bought me a lifetime of freedom.

“I need benefits. I can’t give up health insurance and a 401K.”

Fair. Here’s the math:

• Health insurance for my wife and me costs about $600/month (we buy it on the marketplace).

• I put more into my SEP IRA every year than I ever did with a corporate match.

• The tax benefits of owning a business far outweigh anything I got as a W2 employee.

• Making 10x more from my company far outweighs any perceived “benefits” my employer used to offer me, lol..

Benefits are a solvable problem. Don’t let them be the reason you stay stuck.

“I’m just a sales rep. I don’t know how to run a business.”

Bullshit. You know how to get clients. That’s 80% of running a business.

The rest (operations, finance, systems) you can learn or delegate. But without clients, there’s no business. You already have the hardest skill.

“What if I fail?”

Then you go back to sales and you’re in the exact same position you’re in now. Except you’ll have learned more in six months of trying than most people learn in six years of playing it safe.

The downside is capped. The upside is infinite.

The Smallest Viable Version

Look, not everyone wants to live in a camper and take cold showers on cliffs. I get it.

But here’s the thing: location-independent income doesn’t mean you have to become a nomad. It just means you have the option.

Maybe you stay in your city but work from home.
Maybe you travel a few months a year.
Maybe you just want the freedom to take a Tuesday off without asking permission.

The point isn’t the lifestyle, it’s the autonomy.

The smallest viable version of this is:

1. One client at $2K/month

2. A simple service you can fulfill remotely

3. Enough proof to know this works

From there, you can scale it into whatever life you actually want.

What I’d Tell Someone Who’s Scared to Start

I get it. It’s scary.

You’ve spent years building a career in sales. You’ve got a steady paycheck. You’ve got benefits. You’ve got a title. Walking away from that feels like jumping off a cliff without a parachute.

But here’s what I know now that I didn’t know then:

The cliff isn’t quitting your job. The cliff is staying in a career that resets every month and caps your upside forever.

You’re already living with risk. Your quota resets. Your territory can shrink. Your comp plan can change. Your company can fold.

The “security” you’re clinging to is a mirage.

Building your own income stream isn’t riskier—it’s actually safer because you control the inputs and the outcomes.

And here’s the other thing nobody tells you: it’s easier than you think.

You already have the skills. You already understand the business model (you’ve been selling into it for years). You already know how to handle rejection, run a pipeline, and close deals.

You’re not starting from scratch. You’re just redirecting what you already know toward something you own.

So if you’re scared? Good. That means it matters.

But don’t let fear be the reason you stay stuck.

The Moment Everything Changed for Me

I’ll never forget the day I quit my sales job.

I walked into the office, told my boss I was done, and felt this weird mix of terror and peace. Terror because I was walking away from $150K and a “stable” career. Peace because I finally felt like my destiny was in my own hands.

That was ten years ago.

Since then, I’ve built a seven-figure business. I’ve traveled full-time. I’ve worked from mountaintops, beaches, deserts, forests. I’ve watched more sunsets in the last three years than I did in the previous ten.

But the craziest part? It wasn’t the money or the travel that changed my life.

It was the feeling of waking up and knowing that every single thing I do today compounds into something I own. That my effort isn’t resetting at the end of the month. That I’m not building someone else’s dream—I’m building mine.

That’s what location-independent income actually gives you.

Not just freedom to work from anywhere.

Freedom to live like you’re actually alive.

What’s Next

A good first step is to go ahead and schedule a call here: https://escape-sales.com/

If you’re a sales rep and you’re ready to stop trading your skills for someone else’s upside, here’s what I’d recommend:

Start small. Pick a niche. Reach out to 50 people. Land one client. Get proof.

Build systems. Document everything so you can delegate later.

Scale smart. Don’t try to do it all yourself. Hire contractors. Focus on what you’re best at (getting clients).

Stay consistent. This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a real business that compounds over time.

And if you want help, I’ve built a free training that walks through exactly how we went from zero to seven figures using the LGA model. It’s the same framework I just laid out here, but with way more detail on the client acquisition process, the fulfillment systems, and how to scale without burning out.

Watch the free training here or book a call with me if you want to talk through your specific situation.

Either way, know this: you’re closer than you think.

The skills you have right now as a sales rep are worth 10x more in your own business than they’ll ever be worth on someone else’s comp plan.

You just have to redirect them.

And when you do? Everything changes.

– Dave

Currently somewhere between San Diego and Phoenix, watching the sunset from my camper, living a life I didn’t think was possible ten years ago.

The Escape Plan Most Sales Reps Never Consider

The life of a sales rep in today’s work culture is… pretty bleak. If you’ve lived it, you know exactly what I mean.

Every year the quotas get bigger.
Every quarter the targets reset.
Every month brings some new “strategic realignment” that shuffles leadership, restructures teams, and leaves you wondering whether you’re even playing the same game you signed up for.

But the craziest part? Most of us don’t stop to question it. We convince ourselves that we’re making “good money,” that this is just what adult life feels like, that the stress is normal because that’s what everyone around us is doing.

For years I did the same thing. I tied my sense of accomplishment, and, if I’m honest, my sense of self-worth, to whatever number appeared on my commission check.

I told myself that once I hit a specific income level, I’d finally feel secure. Or comfortable. Or proud. Or safe.

But safety is an illusion in sales.
You hit quota and your reward is… a bigger quota.
You crush a quarter and leadership responds with silence.
You have one slow month and suddenly you’re questioning everything you’ve ever done.

It’s a recipe for burnout, and I followed it to the letter.

But instead of giving you another rant about corporate sales culture (you get enough of those from me on TikTok), I want to tell you about the moment things shifted for me—and the alternative that I don’t think most reps even realize exists.

Yesterday, at 4:30 PM, I crossed into Baja.

Golden hour.
Sky glowing.
The Pacific to my right and a decade-long dream finally turning into a real experience.

My wife and I were rolling in with the dogs sleeping behind us, Big Blue humming along, and the air felt different, wide open in a way I hadn’t felt since I was a kid.

There wasn’t a meeting I needed to rush to. No Slack notification that could ruin my mood. No performance review lingering in the back of my mind. No anxiety about how leadership might shake up territories next quarter.

I told my wife that it reminded me of heading to scout camp as a kid. Even though it was only an hour away it felt like it took 12 hours to get there because time slows down when you are excited.

It’s freeing. This is what is missing from the life of sales people today.

Just freedom. Real, literal freedom.

And it hit me how radically different this was from who I used to be.

A few years ago, I wouldn’t have believed this version of my life was possible.

Back then, my days were defined by forecasts, pipeline coverage, and the constant pressure to perform. Sundays weren’t weekends, they were countdowns. The first of the month wasn’t fresh opportunity, it was a reminder that everything you did last quarter no longer mattered.

I told myself that this was the cost of success.
That the anxiety was part of the job.
That “good money” was worth it.

But as I sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic, chugging black coffee, stepping into yet another office full of stressed-out top performers… I kept wondering why no one seemed genuinely happy. Why we were all running so hard toward some undefined finish line that kept moving the closer we got.

Corporate sales gives you the illusion of progress, but the reality is that you’re sprinting on a treadmill someone else is controlling.

So what changed?

The simplest way to put it is this:

I stopped using my sales skills to build someone else’s recurring revenue…
and I started using them to build my own.

The truth is that you already have everything you need to create a life with more autonomy, more flexibility, and more upside than any sales compensation plan will ever give you. Sales reps underestimate how valuable their skill set is, mostly because they only use it inside the walls of one company.

But the same skills that help you hit quota are the exact same skills that can build your own business:

• Prospecting

• Running pipeline

• Handling objections

• Following up consistently

• Communicating value

• Closing deals

The difference isn’t the skill set, it’s who benefits from it.

When you sell for someone else, you build their wealth.
When you sell for yourself, you build your freedom.

That’s the shift most reps never make because corporate life trains you to think that entrepreneurship is “too risky,” when in reality the riskiest thing you can do is stay at a job where everything resets to zero every month and your entire future depends on hitting an arbitrary number.

Crossing into Baja reminded me why I made the leap.

Not for the money.
Not for some ego-driven “entrepreneur” title.
Not for the hustle culture nonsense.

I did it for this moment.

This ability to pack up and drive south for a few weeks—to work from beaches, mountain towns, or wherever I feel pulled. To build a life where time is abundant, mornings are slow, and my energy isn’t tethered to a CRM dashboard.

Corporate life teaches you that freedom is earned.
Entrepreneurship taught me it can be designed.

If you’re still in sales and feeling the burn, you’re not imagining it.

The system isn’t built to give you peace.
It’s built to extract the maximum performance possible until you break, or until you decide you want something else.

And if you do decide you want something else… you don’t need to reinvent yourself.
You just need to redirect the skills you already have.

That’s what this newsletter is for.
That’s what the Escape Plan is about.
And that’s why I’m writing this from a small coastal town in Baja instead of a fluorescent-lit office.

I’ll keep sharing the journey.
And if you’re ready to build your own version of it, I’m here to help you do it.

If you work in sales today and are ready for a change, I invite you to book a call here.

- Dave

Hello there -

Welcome to my Substack.

I used to measure my life in quotas. Pipeline reviews, QBRs, commission checks. The kind of numbers that make you feel important until you realize they’re just shackles with a shinier name. I hit them, I missed them, I obsessed over them. And somewhere between the back-to-back Zoom calls and the “President’s Club” promises, I started wondering if I was actually living a life of my own, or just renting one from someone else’s balance sheet.

Anyway, this isn’t that.

This is The Escape Journal. For me, Substack feels like the closest thing we’ve got to an old café bulletin board. Slower, quieter, a little more human. Something you stumble across, tack a note on, and come back to later.

Frankly, something that I feel is missing from today’s day and age.

I’ve always fancied myself a writer, ever since I graduated from college with my English literature degree I had high aspirations for but never did anything with.

I don’t know exactly what this will become yet, and that’s the point. I want it to evolve like a long road trip does. Unexpected turns, good coffee, breakdowns you laugh about later. What I do know is that my wife and I are about to trade square footage for miles. We’re moving into our van, pointing it southeast, then tracing the map north up the coast, across Canada, into Alaska, and eventually, who knows. A years-long loop of empty highways and full notebooks.

Here I’ll be sharing pieces of that journey: the places we find, the mistakes we make, the small freedoms we collect. Some of it will be practical ie what it actually takes to build your own business and buy back your time. Some of it will be personal, things I’m reading, thinking about, or jotting down late at night when the road noise is the only soundtrack. And some of it will just be for fun.. because not everything has to have an ROI.

This is for the ones who feel trapped by their 9-5 but dream about open space. For the builders, the wanderers, the restless, and anyone curious about what happens when you trade certainty for curiosity.

I’ll figure it out as I go. Maybe you will too.

Thanks for reading. I’m glad you’re here.

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