๐๐ก๐๐ง $๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ: ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐โ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ญ
Hey Breakers,
You start a company from scratch.
You believe in the work.
And one dayโyou finally hit it big.
But then the orders come faster than you can handle.
The systems arenโt ready.
The partners arenโt aligned.
And just like thatโgrowth becomes the thing that breaks you.
Thatโs exactly what happened to Jolene Levin, my friend, entrepreneur, innovator and founder of NorvaNivel.
She built her education furniture company in Australia from nothingโliterally delivering plastic chairs while nine months pregnant. And just three months after entering the U.S. market, she booked $10M in orders. No CRM. No sales team. No fulfillment strategy.
Two years later?
She was fired from the very company she built.
But this isnโt a cautionary tale.
Itโs a blueprint for rebuildingโstronger, smarter, and with zero fluff in your sales strategy.
The Problem Most Founders Ignore: Growth Without Guardrails
Everyone loves to talk about sales goals.
But few talk about fulfillment capacity, seasonality, and buyer alignment.
Jolene scaled fast. But without the backend, things buckled under pressureโespecially in a market like education, where the school calendar compresses everything into 90-day fulfillment windows.
If you're running founder-led sales and your ops are still โduct-taped,โ youโre not scaling.
Youโre stallingโat a higher speed.
Mindset Shift: Selling Without Sounding Like a Salesperson
Jolene led all the sales herselfโbut never pitched like a typical rep.
โEven though I had a furniture company for 18 years, I donโt think I sold a piece of furniture a day in my life.โ
What she did sell was transformation.
She wasnโt offering chairs and desks.
She was helping schools reimagine the entire learning environment.
That shiftโfrom selling a product to solving a problemโwas everything.
Instead of listing features, she connected her solution to deeper outcomes:
๐ธ Student engagement
๐ Collaborative learning
๐ง Flexible space for teacher growth
Itโs the difference between pitching โnew furnitureโโฆ
and being seen as a strategic partner in student success.
Strategy Shift: Stop Selling to Buyers Who Donโt See the Value
One of the biggest shifts in Joleneโs sales journey?
She stopped trying to convince people.
And started filtering for the ones who already cared.
โNot every school is your customer.โ
Interest doesnโt equal alignment.
Some districts saw furniture as a box to check. Others saw it as a lever for student growth.
Jolene focused on the latterโand that changed everything.
If your buyer doesnโt believe space impacts learning, itโs not your job to change their mind.
Your job is to find the ones who already want the impact you offer.
๐ฅ Itโs like Joshโs favorite window washer metaphor:
Donโt pitch clean windows to someone who doesnโt care about the view.
Sales Tactic: Know Who NOT to Sell To
This was one of the most tactical moments in the interview:
Jolene broke down how she learned to spot misaligned buyers earlyโprocurement folks focused solely on cost, with no appetite for change.
If their 3 a.m. problem was budget cutsโnot student outcomesโthey werenโt her customer.
Her advice?
โ Listen for motivation, not just interest.
โ Say no fast when it doesnโt fit.
โ Focus on the districts where you can go deep, not wide.
After the Fallout: Getting Firedโand Getting Back Up
Yesโshe got fired from the company she and her husband founded.
But thatโs not where her story ends.
Itโs where her real mission started.
โThe greater loss wasnโt the company. It was asking myselfโhow do I keep doing this work?โ
Jolene didnโt just rebuild her business strategy.
She rebuilt her confidence, her boundaries, and her buyer filters.
Now? Sheโs clearer than ever on who she servesโand how to sell without sacrificing her sanity.
Remember: Sales Donโt Always Mean SuccessโIf Youโre Not Ready to Fulfill
This episode isnโt just about furniture.
Itโs about selling smart.
Scaling with systems.
And knowing when to say noโeven if itโs a $1M deal.
๐ง Listen to the full episode now:
โ Apple
โ Spotify
Because in founder-led sales, the real risk isnโt a dry pipelineโItโs one you canโt deliver on.
โJosh
