Pick Your Poison | Ian Koniak, Founder of Untap Your Sales Potential

From the number one enterprise rep at Salesforce to a self-described "functioning addict" living a double life at the top of his game, Ian Koniak traces how a 20-year work-hard-play-hard grind nearly cost him his marriage and his family, and what it finally took to get sober. Founder and CEO of Untap Your Sales Potential, Ian joins Jolie to riff on the president's-club culture he lived and loved, why "the pain of staying the same has to be greater than the effort to change," the rock bottom that turned him around, and how honesty, faith, and recovery rebuilt a life he's actually proud of. His message for anyone white-knuckling a secret: pick your poison, there's a 12-step for it, and the opposite of addiction is connection. Key Takeaways • Ian was Salesforce's #1 enterprise rep while deep in addiction, and didn't think his life was unmanageable. • "Work hard, play hard" is a cycle: build up, build up, then blow up. • A functioning addict is still an addict: the sneaking and secrecy are the tell, not how often. • The real rock bottom wasn't a car crash or a stuck roller coaster: it was seeing the pain he'd caused someone he loves. • "The pain of staying the same has to be greater than the effort to change." • Honesty was the medicine: getting sober meant no more secrets, and the marriage got lighter for it. • Whatever your poison is (alcohol, weed, the phone, work), there's a 12-step for it. Start with the one that's unmanageable. • The opposite of addiction is connection: isolation and endless scrolling live on the same spectrum. • From greed and excess to service: his worth stopped riding on money and status. Timestamps 01:00 "What makes you you?": authenticity and the human struggle 02:00 A wild resume: Venezuela, Australia, and meeting his wife at a Tony Robbins firewalk 04:33 Chasing the thing that was available to him all along 05:00 Cross-addiction and the need to always be doing something (the new triathlon) 07:00 Closing the biggest deals of his life while falling apart: did anyone know? 08:00 The functioning addict: work hard, play hard, build up then blow up 11:50 President's Club and tech-bro culture, lived for 20 years 15:00 The opposite now: family man, faith, and getting baptized 18:00 How 12-step started the shift, and the values that came with it 22:00 Feeling "the addict" come on: restlessness, and the phone as the new numbing 24:00 Doom-scrolling, disconnection, and why the opposite of addiction is connection 27:00 The confessional: telling his wife everything 32:00 His car crash at 25 and the luck that let him walk away 35:00 "God shots" and finding purpose in the near-misses 40:00 The rock bottom, in his own words 42:00 What compulsive behavior actually is, and finding the rooms 43:00 The roller-coaster moment and the promise that changed everything 47:00 The year he kept the secret while coaching others 50:00 The day it all came out, and the scare that scared him sober 57:00 Honesty as the medicine, and a marriage that stayed 1:00:00 Baby Luke, the life he rebuilt, and where to find Ian Like this one? Follow Revenue Mind, and leave a review if it hit home. It’s how more revenue leaders find the show, and how we keep mental health right next to the number. Links Ian Koniak: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iankoniak/ Untap Your Sales Potential: https://www.untapyoursalespotential.com/ Jolie Shapiro: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jolieshapiro/ Revenue Mind: https://www.linkedin.com/company/revenuemind/