Getting Pushed into Sales Helped Me Connect the Dots

A few years ago, I was working at a company as a product manager. Everything seemed fine at first. Then, slowly, I started noticing I was left out of certain meetings. Some conversations were happening without me.
Eventually, I got reassigned to sales.
No one said it was a demotion, but I knew what it meant.

I didn't like it at first. The skills and things are totally different, and the clients I talked to are streetsmart owners. I felt like a nerd when talking to them at first. Most days I just tried to get through what needed to be done.
But over time, I started noticing things.
In conversations, I became more aware of tone and hesitation.
I started picking up on the way people avoid commitment without saying no, or agree too quickly without meaning it. I even learned from Wolf of Wall Street - Jordan Belfort's sales lessons.
There wasn't a clear skill being built—but I was starting to pay closer attention. It didn't feel like growth at the time - these things were more or less useless in product roles.

Later, when I left that company and started working on my own projects, I found myself going back to that experience.
When meeting collaborators or making hiring decisions, I noticed I was relying less on credentials and more on gut feel.
I could tell, sometimes in the first conversation, whether someone would be a good fit—not just professionally, but personally.
That wasn't something I learned in a workshop. It came from those years doing work I didn't like, with people I had to figure out quickly.

At the time, I didn't understand that quote.
Now I think it just means: a lot of things make sense later, but not while they're happening.
Being pushed into sales wasn't a turning point.
It was just a small thing that didn't feel right—but eventually helped me make better decisions.
It became a dot.
One that connected to where I am now.

That's what I mean when I say "connect the dots."
Not in a big, dramatic way.
Just that some experiences feel meaningless when they happen—but later, they quietly start to matter.
You don't need to explain everything right away. Just follow your heart, vision, gut or whatever. Just keep moving—and trust that one day, things will line up.
Now all my dots are connected to make Codot.