Andrew Lasky (00:00)
Everybody welcome to the very first episode of the commissions and cashflow show I am your host Andrew Lasky We have the one and only Scott Karten today on the show Scott. Welcome to the show brother

Scott Karten (00:19)
Happy to be here.

Andrew Lasky (00:20)
Awesome. So Scott, you've been very instrumental into my life, affected me in many different ways. But today is not about me, it's actually about you. So if you want to go ahead and share with the audience your background and how you got into sales and where you are today.

Scott Karten (00:37)
Sure, so look, I've sort of got into sales. I think I've been in it my whole life, to be honest. I just didn't realize that I was selling. At a young age, I'd just been always hustling. Whether I was mowing lawns, whether I was working a little on end jobs, whether it was me being a paper boy, I just was always trying to find ways to make money.

You know, in college, I was trying to make ends meet and it was me and my college roommate that were basically trying to figure out ways to make money and it was us coming out with a business out of our dorm room. But I would say my first real, real sales job, you know, was when I got out of college and I was basically trying to figure out what I was going to do because I got an internship in college.

with the sports basic marketing agency, which was almost a sports agency. And I thought I was an athlete growing up, thought that I was going to play professional soccer. And then I blew my knee out and all of my hopes and dreams to become, you know, a professional soccer player, which is what I thought my aspirations were going to be, were sort of gone within, you know, a few month period of getting multiple knee surgery. So it was like, what was I going to do? What was the next step for me? And like I said, I mean, people that know me best know I didn't come from much.

Um, and I'll never forget the people that sort of told me, you know, what I can and cannot do in life. And I always say that I don't come with a little bit of a chip on her shoulder. come with a pretty big chip on my shoulder. Um, and I just said that like those, those who told me that I can't, I'll make sure that I'll show them what I can do. Um, and I never really thought sales was what I was going to do. Like I said before, it just sort of found me. Um, but it was, you know, whether it was this.

you know, creating this business out of my dorm room or then becoming an ice cream man, you know, in college, not to go backwards, but people would be like, man, you were an ice cream man. But I, if I really go back and think about that job during the summer of college, you know, where most people were going to the beach, you know, I was working seven days a week, but I had to go back and really think about, okay, how do you sort of navigate that business? And it was looking at a map of all of the different neighborhoods and trying to say,

Okay, you can either go here, here, here, here, or I can territory manage and make sure that the neighborhoods that I was gonna go were gonna streamline directly into each neighborhood. And then how was I gonna make sure that the parents would use me versus the other ice cream man? So I came up with, hey, I would give out free blow pops to all of the kids. And the first week I would get out of the truck and play the sports that in the streets with the kids.

So the parents were like, hey, wait for the guy that played hockey with you. Wait for the guy that gave the free blow pop. And, you know, I just was constantly hustling. And so while everyone was out at the beach, I was working seven days a week. had to go every night, go to inventory management, see what was in the truck and basically go that next morning and go to the place where you got the world with the ice cream and had to like constantly go back and restock. then

have to figure out through my soccer backgrounds, there were certain tournaments that were there and go and try to find a way to pay the tournament off to get on the field. And literally, you know, in a single tournament, I made a few thousand dollars. And well, once again, everyone was enjoying their summer off. You know, I made upwards of $13,000 for a summer to help me pay for, you know, school. So I was just always hustling, always finding a way to sell. I just didn't realize at the time that was sales. I was just hustling.

Andrew Lasky (04:20)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Karten (04:21)
And then, like I said, I got an internship with a sports agency and thought that if I wasn't going to be an athlete, what's the next best thing is I'll represent athletes and only two people that were given an internship with this company every year. And if you were lucky enough to get an internship, you were basically guaranteed a job at that company. So I said, all right, done. was my junior year in college. That's what I'm going to wind up doing. I'm going to wind up being, you know, an actual

sports agent or a so-called sports agent, because you didn't have to go to college. I mean, you didn't have to go to law school to wind up working at this firm. They had a sports marketing firm and they also had a sports memorabilia part of the firm. And the sports marketing side, I'll remember this very well, was like, hey, they had like a dog tick fleece spray and they wanted you to go through your athletes and see who had a dog and who was willing to bring their dog to actually to the actual events and say, hey, here's my dog and so on and so forth.

You know, this was from New York. The firm was actually in New York City. It was a company called Steiner Sports Marketing. And, you know, they had athletes such as Derek Jeter, Mariana Rivera, know, Mia Hamm, Jeremy Schake. And you were able to represent these athletes. And it was just such a cool thing for someone that was so into sports to be able to sort of work on that side of the business. But so if I fast forward, that's when I'm getting done with college.

I basically was after 9-11, the company had left New York City and went to Westchester. And, you know, what you did is you would basically call that company and sort of see, was the CEO there? And if you interned with anybody of sort of someone of elk, you would make sure that that person was there as well as the CEO. You would go to the office and sort of say, hey, I just got done with school. And most of the time you were given a job. And basically I was calling and it would just so happen to be that

Hey, the CEO wasn't there. And the person that I interned for was like number three in the company. And it just so happened that one was there, the other wasn't. One was there, the other wasn't. And an opportunity for an entry level medical sales job was sort of fell into my lap. was no salary, straight commission, selling what looked like a credit card in from terminal that basically checked patient eligibility verification where you would swipe your patient.

your insurance card and it would spit out immediately if the patient had insurance, what the co-pay would be. And I wasn't really excited about the opportunity, but they were looking for young guys, young gals right out of college and that were willing to hustle. And my mom had said to me, Scott, it was right after 9-11, the economy wasn't great. You have one more time to go see if those two gentlemen were out in Steiner.

or you're going to go on this interview with this other company because you don't wait for tomorrow what's in front of you today. I called again to see if they were there. They weren't there. I begrudgingly went to the interview. I was able to get the job. And somebody that I grew up with, my best friend growing up, also was able to get the job with this other company. And his dad's best friend was in med device sales and at that time worked for a company selling pacemakers.

And at the time that was considered the creme de la creme of actual med device sales. And he told me and my best friend that, Hey, this is the type of money he made. And at that time he was making $500,000. And right then and there, my eyes were opened and he's told me and my friend that we had to pay our dues and basically have do four years of like B2B sales, do this type of job, build up a brand book.

meaning that we would have to have a track record of success, have some awards that were to our name, P-Clubs, so on and so forth. And that if we did that for three and a half, four years, that those types of jobs that he was in would open up for us. And that was all I needed to hear because the job that I was doing, the intern job, was great and had the perks where I got to hang out with all these athletes, but it wasn't a sports agent.

where you were making that type of money, the perks where you got to hang out with all of the athletes. Now the salary was good, but it wasn't that. And to me, no. And so when I heard that, was like, boom, know, blinders were on. I was like, that is what I'm going after. I want that type of money. So I basically put my head down and I just started grinding. And you know what?

Andrew Lasky (08:41)
Mm-hmm. It wasn't the 500,000.

Scott Karten (08:57)
I didn't realize that all of the other jobs that I was doing throughout my life was I was selling myself. I was just always a hustler because everything I wanted to do in life was to try to just either make myself better and was trying to level up. And I was just willing to work hard. I always say that I'm not better than anybody. I'm just willing to outwork you. I'm not smarter or better than anything. And so I just started working really, really hard, but I was always super personable.

I found success pretty immediately with this job. And so I spent a year and a half with that company. I wound up doing extremely well. And then I wound up being able to get a job with another company that actually paid me a salary. was like $30,000 if my memory serves me correctly. And it was selling EMR software, which was software to physicians that was doing what that job was doing, but it was doing, hey, medical billing. It was checking patient eligibility verification, but it definitely related to what I was doing.

that this other company was willing to give me an opportunity. So I actually took that job, was able to do that for three years, I became the number one rep in the company. And I did that for three years. And so now I had basically four years of experience. And I said, I'm ready. I've done it, man. I got my four years have that track record of success. Let's go. I'm ready for that. ⁓ our job like there here I come, I'm going to go get my 500k. And my buddy that I had started with that we both

his dad's best friend was in the O.R. He had landed a job in the O.R. with a company called Stryker and he actually told me, hey, you know what? Stryker actually has a new division that's just starting and I think I can get you an internship or an interview, I'm sorry, with this new division. And he was able to get me an interview with that new division and I started an interview process with them.

You know, Striker has a very long rigorous interview process. You have to go through what's called the Gallup, which is like a personality assessment. And if you don't pass the way that they want you to pass, like you'll be dead at go. Yep. So I basically did this interview, but because they didn't even have literally a V they just had a VPSL. They didn't have a Salesforce or anything just yet.

Andrew Lasky (11:02)
I remember that I did that myself.

Scott Karten (11:15)
This process was super long. Now, normally if they have a sales team and they're just adding a rep, your sales process, the interview process could be, you know, maybe a month, you know, maybe even longer, but mine was super long because they had literally no infrastructure, just the VP of sales. And I was probably interviewing for like a month and a half or so. And then I got a call from a recruiter about a company called Sinusher Laser. And it was something completely different than anything that I was.

ever interested in because literally my blinders were on and I was like fully focused on getting into the OR. That was all I was thinking about was OR, OR, OR based on that recommendation that I was given from that gentleman. And when I got a call from the recruiter, I literally said thanks, but no thanks about this laser job. And it was my wife that I was about to get married in two weeks who was a recruiter that told me call back that recruiter.

get, tell them that you'll take the interview because I bet you Stryker is going to make you do a bunch of interviews more. And you might as well go on that interview and keep sharp. And so I called the guy back. I told him I would do the actual interview. And when I went on the interview, the gentleman that sat across from me was a former professional baseball player that worked at Stryker. And he actually told me, Scott, what I want you to do is, cause I was about to get married is go get married, go on your honeymoon.

Andrew Lasky (12:18)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Karten (12:42)
and come and work for me. Trust me, you're skipping a step. And what happened is all of sudden I was at a fork in the road where everything that I thought in my life was to go right, because now I had paid to do, so I'm ready to go. And now I had this quandary of like, do I go left? But what happens is, and this is what I realized, is that sometimes in life, it's not necessarily what you plan. And what you plan is right there in front of you. It's sometimes

person that you're going to work for. And the person that was sitting in front of me, I just related to, and I believed him and I related to him extremely well. And I left the interview saying, you know what, I'm going to do as much homework as I can in this short period of time. I researched the industry and I called a few people. I called my buddy that worked at Striker. He told me to stay the path of Striker. I called another buddy that was in Med device and he heard enough about lasers and

thought that it was a really good opportunity. And I took a leap of faith and I chose the laser side. And to be honest, the rest is history and that's sort of where I've been. And it was the best decision I ever made. So I think that's a little bit about, you know, how I got to where I am. I could obviously expand a little further, but I

Andrew Lasky (14:03)
No,

no, that's that's great. And so look, I was your junior rep, what you've done in the laser industry has been incredible. You're a multiple president club winner, then moving up into your mid level management and then moving up into you know, a director and being on a national scale, every single you know, position that you've held, you've just crushed it. And so I want to stick right now on to the actual sales part of it. So you mentioned in college,

You would go on these routes into these different neighborhoods that you would, you know, route them out so that you were minimizing the time and working, you know, the route properly. Other than that, you know, what how did you like structure your day in medical device sales to continuously be a top rep year after year after year?

Scott Karten (14:53)
Yeah, I think that it was just to me there, you know, people that are successful in, in med device or in my world, but I think in general in medical, you know, you can either be successful in work nine to five. I, for me, it was a lifestyle and it's always been a lifestyle. And I've just always put in the homework. think the toughest part about the job is the homework. And it's what are you're doing after hours and it's either are you educating yourself by just getting better on

sales? Are you making phone calls to people that are better than you and trying to find out what are they doing and working on your pitches, working on your craft? I was always just trying to find out ways to get better always, but I also just was relentless on my network to be honest. I realized that I can only be in so many places at so many times, but if I was able to find ways to find other people in my territory that I could befriend and make friends with,

that my spider web could be bigger than other people's. So not only would I work efficiently with my time, but if I was able to then create people that worked in different sectors, but were calling on the same specialties, and then they were actually helping me, I always said, like, once again, I was going to never stop working. My phone never shut off and still never does. But if I had people that were actually helping me along the way, I was going to be unstoppable no matter what company I worked for.

So now that stuff doesn't just happen overnight. think people think that like, ⁓ now for instance, to give you an example is look in my space, you know, and you know this, but for others that are listening, right? Like, you know, in cosmetics or in the aesthetic space, you have people that sell injectables, you have people that sell skincare, you have people that sell, you know, low level other devices. You are all going to be in the same offices all the time. Sometimes I think when I first got in the industry, I would go into a meeting and I'd be like,

look at this person, they have to do a lunch. The doctor wants to see me and I almost overlooked them. And I realized like, that's very silly thinking and very short-sighted. You you need to be able to realize that if you can befriend someone like that and realize that we're all trying to get to the same goal, well then all of a sudden I wound up becoming great friends with the people that worked at this injectable company, this injectable company, that injectable company, then this skincare line.

And then all of a sudden I had all of these people that became really good friends. But now I had all of these people looking out in these offices that wind up, they only covered maybe 20 square blocks where I covered multiple States. But these guys were my ears and eyes in all of these different offices and were looking out for me and were saying, Hey, you know what? This practice is looking potentially at maybe this product or this product. And therefore

I was working smarter as well as harder. They always say work smarter, not harder. That never existed for me. I was always working hard, but I also was working smarter than my competition where I didn't overlook anybody because to me, sometimes I was overlooked. So I never overlooked anybody. I was always like, Hey, if I could have a better network, plus work efficiently by maybe working my territory in a way where instead of me saying, I'll jump here, jump here, jump here, jump here.

I'll try to streamline, but also having all these people from different industries looking out for me, that was going to help me if I was just running as just a solo person. Well, now I had 15 people that were working for me, maybe in different companies, but working for a common goal. So I think that that helped me immensely.

Andrew Lasky (18:37)
Yeah, I think that's huge. So, you know, a lot of reps, they go into other offices and they do see other reps, but you've been able to actually develop these relationships to where you're benefiting them and they're clearly, you know, benefiting you by giving you leads. How were you able to do that for the people that are maybe, you know, medical device reps in this industry, or maybe it's a different industry? How did you nurture those relationships so that actually turned into business for you?

Scott Karten (19:04)
Yeah, sure. I think that when I first got into the space, like I said, I think I completely overlooked them. think that, you know, when you first get in, think most sales reps will come from a place of, I think most great sales reps come from a place of insecurity, whether they want to admit that or not. A lot of us come from sports backgrounds and we all want to try to prove something and you know, probably come out. Like I said, I was like, I'm better than you or Hey, you have to do this. You have to do that. And I don't need to do that. And I did overlook them.

It was when actually the recession of 07, 08 happened and I actually left the laser industry and I went to actually help launch a Dermpath company, which is when you actually cut out skin and check and send it to a lab to see if it's cancer or not. And I actually was then the one going and doing a lot of lunches and building networks with a bunch of dermatologists and plastic surgeons. Then I kept seeing the same reps over and over and over again, doing those lunches. And I actually ran into somebody that

I kept seeing over and over again. And then I realized like, Hey, his wife went to actual high school with my wife. And we just got along really, really well. And we developed a friendship from us seeing each other over and over and over again. And I realized that, and we just were very, very similar in a lot of different ways. And I realized that, Hey, I could help him. He could help me. And I was like, this is so silly. I was being so narrow minded.

in the way that I was going about my business previously. And I knew that I was doing the Derm Path job as a, that was a job, it wasn't a career. I loved the lasers and I knew that eventually I was gonna get back into that space. And I was doing the Derm Path as a way for me to even further my network and that when the economy righted itself, I was gonna come back with even a bigger network of the core market as we say, which in the lasers, the core is your germs and your plastic surgeons.

And I was going to have this huge network of dermatologists and plastic surgeons because I was going to be calling on them consistently with the DERM path. But what I was able to do was I was able to meet all of these other reps on a very regular basis. And through this one connection with this one guy, he then introduced me to all of his reps at his company. And then thus I made friends with the other major injectable company and met all of those guys. But they realized

that I wasn't just out there. They used to be scared of laser reps thinking that you're going to go in there and literally just burn down the village and that you're going to sell a laser and then basically ruin a relationship because those reps, have smaller areas and they live off of that doctor consistently. Whereas if you came in with a laser sold them something and it didn't maybe work, you could destroy that relationship that they've harvested and farmed for a very long time.

I was now not doing lasers, but made them realize that I was a good guy and that my way of doing business was I was brought up by a family that look, I do everything the right way. I'm not looking to just try to make a quick hit and get out. I wanted to do things the right way. I believed in my technology and I wasn't now in lasers. I was simply trying to do things to try to help with cancer, but I developed relationships, let them realize who I was as a person.

And just made that. And when I was doing ride days with them, I sort of said, Hey, I'm going to take a day out. I'm not going to try to sell my services. It's a lonely job being the rep. are literally just you and your dashboard. And a lot of times people will say, they'll listen to sports talk, or they'll do a phone call with somebody else. Just trying to chop it up to me. That's wasted time, wasted effort. So

I was like, hey, it's a lonely day. Do you want to do a ride day together or whatever it is? And I realized that if I was, if they were lucky enough to bring me on their call day, if I was going to be selfish enough that when they brought me in behind some of their accounts and I was like, Hey, by the way, here's what I do. They would never do it again. So I just sat back and was an observer and I didn't try to sell any of my services. I just listened and tried to develop friendships with these people. And then it was them that said,

Hey, they're like, who is this? They're like, oh, this is my buddy and he actually represents this company. And then, and only then did I then detail them a little bit about what I was representing. And by doing it that way, I gained trust. But it took something that I had to put in the time and effort over a while. It was a slow burn. It wasn't something where it was instant gratification. I had to take the time. But by doing it that way, I was able to develop a network that once again,

was untouchable. And this was done in New York City. And that when the time did come for me to come back to lasers, man, I was untouchable.

Andrew Lasky (23:54)
Mm-hmm.

remember. So obviously, you know, I was your junior rep, and I would try to get into all of these derms and plastics. And I would see a meeting pop up, Scott Carton is going to go meet with them. I just called the office. I just went in there twice in the last month. And I couldn't get a meeting and you were able to get a meeting due to those relationships. So that's, that's amazing. It works for you year and year and year again. So one thing that you mentioned before that I want to make sure that we don't skip over. So you talk

a lot about how, you know, it was the homework that you did outside of the nine to five that really made you successful. You know, you have a beautiful wife and three beautiful kids, or medical device reps that are listening that are starting to have families or have families. How were you able to, you know, get your work done outside of those hours and still spend time with your family because

I know the relationship that you have with them is incredible and you don't just win on the field, but you also win off the field and that's being at home.

Scott Karten (25:07)
Sure. I think it's very difficult, right? I mean, I can't try to make that sound like it's easy to do. I think it's having somebody that understands you at home, that realizes that like what your passion is. And, you know, my wife knew that I've always wanted more for me and for her. And my passion has always been that like, look, I just want to give for my family everything that I necessarily didn't have.

Like I said, I'll never forget the people that sort of told me and made fun of me for not having designer pants. You know, when I was in third grade, I'll never forget the people that made fun of me that I couldn't hit a baseball. And that's what drove me to play soccer every single day. And the person that made fun of me because I had the fake pair of pants, that's what drove me to mow lawns and, you know, deliver papers and just sort of work and work and work.

And when I met my wife, she knew that my aspirations were I was just gonna keep working to try to just attain everything. I wear the same, notice, I wear the same black t-shirt, I wear black pants, I wear a black suit with a black shirt. I don't do anything for me. Everything is for my family. I just wanna give them everything that I never had. But it is very hard to juggle when you're trying to accomplish great things.

I'm home, I'm working. What I try to do is even if it's just me sitting with my wife, well, she may be watching a show or reading a book. If I'm just sitting next to her while I'm trying to do things, it's just being present and being that I'm sitting next to her. Maybe I am working, but she knows that I'm there. Right. So, and for my kids, like I sit here in my office and next, I mean, we have the success behind me, but I

three pieces of art that sit to the right that says, grind, hustle, execution, run, verb, to perform repetitive tasks over and over in order to attain a goal. Hustle, verb, to only control the pillar of success. Execution now and stop talking and put in the work. My office used to be right out, right when you walked out of my house and I have the French doors and glass. And even if daddy wasn't home, they got to see those three things.

Every time they left the house, my wife retired at the age of 28. My kids don't have to want or need anything. And that's because daddy grind, hustles and executes. I make a point to go on vacation twice a year with my children always. And when I'm on vacation, it took me a while because on vacation I used to still take calls, but now I've learned to be able to wake up early in the morning. I get out before everyone I get to the sand. I stick my feet in. I check my emails early.

at lunchtime, I'll check the emails again. But other than that, I shut off and I be with them. But they do know that I work super hard, but it's for them. And what when I am off and like if it's for the weekends, I cut out everything is for them. But when it's for the other stuff, when it's the homework, they know that like I'm just putting in those extra efforts and it's just trying to get better. And I try to let them know that

Look, everything that daddy does and everything that I am doing is so that I can try to provide them with the best life possible. So they never had to deal with the things that I dealt with. And that's feeling like maybe that you're a less than or maybe this, but I also tell them the day that they're not a good human being, this all goes away. Like I don't care. Like they can, if they ever become snooty, if they ever do this, I just want them to take care of other people.

make sure that they are good human beings. If we see somebody in uniform, we go over to them and say, thank you for your service. Like we take care of other people first. As long as they are good people, daddy will go out and take care of them. But it is very difficult to be quite honest. If you want to be great at anything in life, you have to be willing to have sacrifices. And sometimes some of those sacrifices are missing things. It is, you know, if I was just selling, you know, Hey, I was working long hours.

But at least I got to sometimes be home. Once I started to move up into management and I was managing the Northeast, then managing the East coast, and then going on a national level that did require me traveling. And when I was traveling, look, I missed certain things. I missed games. I missed certain things that is tough and it's hard for your kids. But when I am home, I try to extremely be present. Like to me, my best friend is my wife. She's my North star. Everybody that knows that knows that.

⁓ when I'm on the road, I make sure that I call her. let her know that I'm present, even if I'm there, ⁓ because everything I do, I do for them. ⁓ and they know that, you know, so, but it is difficult. Like I can't stress that enough. It's, not easy. And if you want to be great, ⁓ and like truly great, doesn't nothing in life. People that think that they're going to just show up and they're going to make that type of money. I'm sorry. It doesn't exist. You could make okay money.

Andrew Lasky (30:00)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Karten (30:21)
But if you want to make an excuse, if you want to make fuck you money that comes with an intense amount of work. Right. And like, if you see success, it's not an accident or a chance. It's hard work, patience, learning and sacrifice. Right. And then to my left, they told me I couldn't. That's why I did. Right. Like, once again, I'm not better than anybody. I'm just going to have fucking work you and that's the fact. Right.

Andrew Lasky (30:29)
There he is. There's Scott Caron, I know.

Yep. I love

it. I love it. You you you outwork everybody in all aspects of your life. Again, you know, doing what I used to do what you currently still do. You know, it's very difficult. You know, I see a lot of reps that are on the road all the time. You know, whether they like to discuss it with us or not, like their at home life isn't as great as they want it to be. And somebody like yourself that has this beautiful family that, you they look up to you, they cherish you, they

they're happy for you. And you've been able to continuously win year over year, not just as a rep, but as a manager as well. And that's the next segment of the show that I want to get into. You know, what you've done as far as, you know, moving up and building a team. I mean, your energy is completely magnetic. People want to come, they want to work with you. You know, how are you able to build a team that will literally

run through a brick wall for you.

Scott Karten (31:45)
I think that at the end of the day, you could be very corporate. You could tell people, hey, when you're on an interview or whatever it is, this is what you're looking for. I think when I first got into management, my interviews were very conversational and I was just like, hey, this, that, the other. think as I've more like, you know, been in management for a much longer period of time, I've always said to level up, got to be around great people.

I've been fortunate enough to be around a lot of great people and I've been very professionally vulnerable and been able to say, ooh, what is that person doing? How could I incorporate that and make that mine? And I've learned certain interview styles and processes that have been able to make me a very strong interviewer. But I think either you have it or you don't have it. But if I like someone and I'm able to just identify something that I see in someone, I eventually will then walk you through.

what my, where I came from, right? And I will get a little bit deeper into like, what makes me me. Okay. And I will start to like unravel, but like, first I got to get a little bit of a better understanding of where you're coming from. I asked these, these canned questions. have an interview guide that I go through. And to be honest, I don't really care about some of the questions. I'm just trying to understand what makes you tech and like to find out something about this person and where they come from.

I'm looking for people that have a little bit of a chip just because I know that in my experience and in our industry, the people that have something that's there that they're trying to prove tend to wind up doing extremely well in this industry. But once I get through the process, I will let them know, Hey, this is where I came from. I'll never forget the person that made fun of me. I'll never forget the other guys that made fun of me for not hitting a baseball and that I sat there.

at that birthday party, not being able to hit a single ball when I was fourth grade and just sitting and hearing all of my friends laughing at me thinking I lost all of my friends and being like, my God, and just wanting to get to that damn pizza room so quickly because I thought that's it, my life was over. And when you have those things happen to you, those are moments in your life where you're just like, man, like they can either make or break you. And when I went into that car on a carpool,

And I went into my house, I ran to my mother crying, thinking, that's it, my life was over. And then I was able to have a pity party for all of like 30 minutes. And then I ran into the backyard and I started practicing soccer every day. And I said, I will become great at that. I will work and work and work. And I wasn't better. I wasn't stronger. I was just faster and I wanted it more. I was more aggressive than everybody. And I just worked super hard. And just like that girl that made fun of me cause I didn't have

Andrew Lasky (34:22)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Karten (34:37)
the pants because I had a knockoff pair. I could have sat there and been upset, but I just said, you know what, I'm going to, as soon as I can get a job, I'm going to work. And I started mowing lawns and I did every little honor job so that when it was time to like buy clothes, I had my own money to try to contribute so that maybe I could have a little bit more. But I let people know these stories. And I say that, look, the reality was I just never forgot any of this stuff. And I just always held it in and I just wanted to be better.

And like, as I started to get better and better and better, I started to realize like, Hey, you know, as I was progressing in soccer, like back when I was a young kid, and I'll just share with you the story. Cause this is what I'll tell to someone. And when people hear that you're being real and you're being authentic and that it doesn't come from a fake place. Cause they're used to interviews where people are just sitting there buttoned up and just giving you canned answers when they hear it from this.

They know it's authentic. They know it's real and that you're just someone that's out there just trying to help people. Right. So they'll want to work with you, but it's like, the reality is, like, look, I'll never forget that. I'll never forget what made me practice soccer every day. And I thought that maybe I'm going to be a fresh soccer player. When I blew my knee out, I'll never forget like, crap, here I go. Like all of my hopes and dreams for maybe getting a scholarship. But my sister was like the 4.0 student and she was great at school. And so my, she would say to my parents,

Why are you being easier on Scott when all of a sudden, you know, he's just cause he's great at sports. She's like, well, I'm going to wind up making more money than him. So all of a sudden my sister went on my list. So it was like, check, she'll be on my list then. So when everything happened for me, I just would sit there and compartmentalize all of these people. Well, then I know that when all of a sudden I wound up getting into school anyway, in college, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. I told you, I got that internship. I wasn't sure what I was going to wind up doing. I remember getting out of school and thinking,

Am I ever going to make $100,000? Like, I don't know. I got that job. And when I started making a hundred grand, I was like, Oh my God, well, you know what? That's not that much money. You know, I live in New York after taxes. You take that back. It's like, well, that's not that much. Well, could I make 200? I remember in my head being like that 500 K. So I started to get to 200. I was like, well, let's just keep going. Keep working hard. Put your head down. Keep grinding. Keep grinding. I get to 200. I know that deep down inside, when I was a kid, I was resentful at my parents and my dad.

because he couldn't get me this certain amounts of things because as a young kid, you're a snot nose little kid and you don't realize that your parents were just trying everything they could, but you just didn't know. You don't realize what your parents are going through, but I was just young. So as soon as I started making any amount of money, when I crossed over 200,000, I just wanted to say thank you to my dad. Cause I never thought to be honest that I would make anything. So was like, Hey, when it was my dad's birthday, I went and I bought him a Movado.

Then it was father's day. went and I'm putting him into the Waldorf Astoria in the city with my mom and said, Hey, go out for dinner and have the weekend. Then it was the Plaza. Then I put him up into Boston at the Ritz Carlton, then into Philadelphia at the Ritz Carlton there. But then I was like, man, I'm going to get, I always remembered that 500,000. And I said, I'm just going to keep grinding. Put your head down, block out the noise and just keep grinding. Keep going. Keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing. And then wound up getting to 500,000. was like, let's frigging go.

Come on, keep going, keep going. And I wound up hearing in my industry, in the lasers, that there was a guy out there that made a million dollars. And I was like, is that fucking possible, man? Can I do it? Can I get to that number? And I was like, just go, man. Block out the noise. Put your head down. Keep grinding. Keep hustling. And I just kept going. lo and behold, bang, I crossed through seven figures and I made that million dollars. And I was like, holy shit.

came time for my father's birthday and I bought him a Rolex. Fucking right, man. So to me, was like, you know what? Everything in life, my sister wound up marrying an accountant and she was doing, he was doing the taxes from my parents. He wasn't qualified to do my taxes, but I let him do my taxes just so my sister that told me she would make more money than me. She could realize how much more money I make that her and him combined. My life is a period of people telling me what I can and cannot do. And my whole life is good will hunting. You like apples? How do you like them apples?

Andrew Lasky (38:26)
Let's go! Let's go! Let's-

Scott Karten (38:53)
I will let every single rep that if I like them, I will let them know my story and I will let them know that I, my whole life has always been, I want now my father, when he was worried, I know when I got hurt that my mom and my father were worried. What was going to happen with their son? Because their hopes and dreams were that I was going to get that scholarship and I was going to be successful. I now know that when my dad gets on the phone with his friends,

Andrew Lasky (38:54)
Hehehe.

Scott Karten (39:21)
He's able to say to his friends that his son made it. And it's not because I'm better or smarter than anybody. It's because I'll outwork and I grind and I hustle and I execute. And like I said, I was able to retire my wife at 28. My wife, my kids don't want her need for anything. And it's because I just fucking work.

And now I've reached everything that I've ever wanted. I've surpassed that million and I keep fucking working. And the proudest things that I get to do now is to be able to give those types of opportunities to other people. I don't care anymore. My LinkedIn used to say 12 time president's club winner. took that shit off because people in the industry, they know who I am. I don't have to like boast for myself. So the reality is, is why people want to work for me is because I'm an executive that I make her sometimes.

Andrew Lasky (39:58)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Karten (40:15)
Right? But in a world that may be dirty, look, my wife is my North Star. I am loyal as loyal can be to my family. I will work as hard as I possibly can. But to the right and left of my bookshelves, the most important things to me besides my wife and my family are all the awards that I have won. Is being able to be recognized amongst my peers. But the biggest satisfaction I get now is being able to let other people get to reach their goals and their aspirations. For them to be able to show their people, whether it's their parents,

whether it's a significant others, whoever it is, or to be able to prove to the people that told them they weren't good enough. Guess what? I did it. So when I'm getting on an interview with people, there was something that I just haven't, it was God given that when I'm able to sit across from someone, I'm able to recognize and feel it and say, man, this guy or this gal, they got it. And I just want to be able to give people that opportunity to say, let's go out and let's frigging get it. Let me give you that opportunity to be able to earn it. So

Andrew Lasky (41:11)
Now let's

talk about that it factor. is it, you looking for somebody that has, you know, that event in their life where now they have something to prove to other people? Is that that it factor that you're looking for when you're hiring somebody?

Scott Karten (41:25)
Yeah, I think I just look for I mean, once again, I have these canned questions that I asked, and it's less about the question. It's more about the story that they tell. But yeah, I am looking for something that people tell me that like, was whether it's a watershed moment, something that they have that is driving them a driving force. That's not for everybody. But like, look, I definitely do look for and it just it just happens like I'm able to feel it like I've been very, very fortunate that

Look, there's been a lot of people I hired that are top reps in, in, you know, almost every company out there that I'm able to find young, like a lot of people are like, Hey, I can recruit and I'll go grab the top rep at this company, that company, that company. I pride myself that I find, I find new reps. I'm able to develop reps. So, Hey, you may be able to steal reps. I'll develop my own. So go ahead. You may be able to hire mercenaries. I'm going to develop my own man. So, ⁓

Andrew Lasky (42:10)
Hmm?

Mm-hmm.

Scott Karten (42:23)
But it is something where it's a combination, right? I tell recruiters, give me the people that other people said no to. Give me your tired. Give me your week. Give me the people that have been told, no, give me the guy with a chip on his shoulder. I don't care if they went to college. I don't care this. I don't care that. Give me the guy that's hungry. Give me the girl that's hungry. Give me something like I'm just looking for the story. Like, but I don't know. I wish I could tell you there's something that like you can put in a book.

that you'd be able to tell it, but there's a feel to it. There's a cadence to it, but I am looking for, it definitely does help them when they've got something.

Andrew Lasky (43:01)
Now on the opposite end, what are some red flags that you see in an interview where you decide, know what, this person's not a good fit for us?

Scott Karten (43:13)
Sure, think that when someone thinks they're not professionally vulnerable and they think they have it all figured out and they're just like, hey, look, I'm sort of, I know it all, I've been there. That to me is a bit of a flag because like, look, at the end of the day, I don't care how great that I feel that I am, I'm learning every day. And by great, I don't mean like I'm great. I'm just saying like, hey, I think that I'm pretty good at this space.

⁓ but at the end of the day, I'll learn more from an entry level rep coming in because I still remember where I came from and I'm still very concerned that one day I'll be back to that guy that couldn't afford the pair of pants. So I need to feel that no matter who the person is, that they are going to be vulnerable enough to be able to constantly learn. And when I hear from someone that's like, man, like, look, I wouldn't hire someone because unless they did like, then that to me is a flag.

Yeah, so I'm just looking for people that are definitely always open to new ideas and things like that. When someone comes to where they think they sort of know it all. But I am OK with someone being on the borderline, especially if they're young enough that are cocky, confident, because that was me. But they have to be willing to learn a bit.

Andrew Lasky (44:29)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

absolutely. So Scott, I could go all day long talking to you about this. We're gonna move on to the final part of our show, which is called the final four. These are the same four questions that we ask every single guest. Question number one is gonna be what is your favorite sales book or sales movie?

Scott Karten (44:54)
Sure. So I guess I can give you both. So one was more of a management book that like I was turned on to and it was First Break All the Rules by Gallup. And I think that like for anybody that manages, mean, it could be, you know, that when you get into management or even if you were managing like a small pod, I think it was was a great, great book for me. So that would be from the book standpoint, as far as like a sales movie.

I think that the answer that probably every young person would give is Wolf of Wall Street, which is great, but that's not gonna be for me. I think that for me, the sales movies that I liked a lot were, I loved Boiler Room, I think was a great one, but Glengarry, Glen Ross was a good one. There's a bunch of them that were really good.

Andrew Lasky (45:52)
Awesome,

awesome. Question number two, what sales strategy or tactic that you implemented completely changed sales for you and things just started to click?

Scott Karten (46:04)
Sure.

You know, so I think because I constantly change and evolve, right? I think that when I realized, you because I always knew my analytics of like, hey, on my best years, I knew how many lasers that I sold a week. I think when I started to say, okay, do I need to keep track of like, every little piece of the business and know, okay, well, are demos making sense?

how many credit apps to get to a deal make sense, like to really to granularizing and starting to know things like that. But then, yeah, yeah. So really trying to calculate analytics. But then if I take it even a step further, to be honest, I always pitched and sold conversationally and just would sit next to somebody and just talk.

Andrew Lasky (46:46)
Just doing the math.

Scott Karten (47:06)
It was when I decided to start using PowerPoint presentations and started having more of a set cadence and being able to utilize that, I think really, in my louder years, I think that that really helped refine me to even a far superior state. So I think that, to be honest.

Andrew Lasky (47:32)
Awesome, cool. What is your favorite purchase that you've ever made with a large commission check?

Scott Karten (47:39)
My home theater.

Andrew Lasky (47:41)
Ooh, very, very nice.

Scott Karten (47:43)
I think a lot of times people, because I got watches this, that, the other, but that's something that's like the gift that keeps giving always. Every time I sit in the theater with my family and whatever, I always reflect back and say, hey, this was from accomplishing that. And yeah, I think that's been great.

Andrew Lasky (47:49)
Mm-hmm.

That's awesome. Knowing what you know now after all the years of experience in sales, if you had to start all over again, what's the first thing that you would do to get back to where you are right now?

Scott Karten (48:15)
Hmm, that's a question.

think if I knew all of it...

Yeah, I think probably I would, because like the whole PowerPoint thing, it's a very different way of selling. And it's kept me, you know, because I knew that there was a flow to the way to sell. And I don't know necessarily if I would do the PowerPoint per se. But it was a way of me making sure that I was going over specific aspects of the sale, like, hey, what the product is.

where we're going and so on and so forth, like what's the market, what's the product? And I set up my presentation in such a way where it's really going over everything and it just leaves no holes. That I think that if I knew that way back then versus me more conversational, I was doing it that way anyway, but it was more talking. I think I would have incorporated that very early on.

Andrew Lasky (49:19)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Karten (49:23)
And I think I could have been more efficient. So yeah, I would say probably doing that early.

Andrew Lasky (49:29)
Cool, awesome. And then last question. If people want to learn more about you, Scott, where can they find you?

Scott Karten (49:36)
Yeah, I would say that if they wanted to, I'm not a huge social guy, but like if they want to find me and if they're interested in getting into my space and being able to change their financial futures, you could always look to hit me up and get a job at Sinusher Lutronic and reach me directly on LinkedIn. My name is Scott Carton. You can come and reach me there or you can come in through our company and find me there as well.

Andrew Lasky (50:03)
awesome. Scott, this has been an amazing episode. Very insightful. Thank you so much for your time and being on the show. And I'll see you soon, my friend.

Scott Karten (50:11)
My pleasure, Later.