Stuck isn’t a Sentence: What my Ops (Operations) to Sales leap taught me

I used to lead an operations team at a digital marketing agency. Today, I work in strategy and sales, client-facing, pitching, negotiating, and closing deals. On paper, that sounds like a clean career move. In reality? Going from ops to sales was less ‘next step’ and fuller rewire. There was more unlearning than learning. But I wanted it badly enough; I wanted to be the person in the room with the client, not three steps removed from them, so I did the work anyway.

Here's the part nobody warns you about: for a good few years, despite getting promoted on time in my old role, I felt completely stuck. I'd apply for client-facing positions and not even get an interview call. Not a ‘you're not quite right’, not even a rejection email - just silence. And silence, when you're trying to grow, is its own kind of gaslighting. You start wondering if the problem is you.

It wasn't me. It was like the industry is penalising you for wanting to change lanes, for wanting to do what you like. Once you're boxed in as ‘the ops person’ or ‘the admin’ or whatever your first label happened to be, that label sticks like a name tag nobody remembers to peel off. You can be excellent at your job and still be invisible for the job you actually want.

So how do you sit with that fear of being stagnant without letting it curdle into panic or, worse, into taking the first exit sign you see?

You get clarity first. Before anything else, I had to get brutally honest about what I actually enjoyed doing, not what looked good on a LinkedIn headline. Once I knew that being in front of clients, shaping strategy, not just executing it - everything else became a filter. Every ‘no’ stopped feeling like proof I was stuck and started feeling like a sign that role simply wasn't the right one yet.

That's the second thing: I didn't change my job until I got the right role. It would've been easy to jump at any opportunity just to escape the feeling of being stuck. I didn't. Because taking the wrong exit doesn't solve stagnation - it just relocates it. You end up stuck somewhere new, except now you've also burned the goodwill and stability you had.

But the learning never actually stops, even once you've ‘landed’ your next role. Every job, every pitch, every client conversation since has taught me something I didn't know I needed. That's what makes transitions - the next one, and the one after that -  faster and less terrifying each time. You've built the muscle.

If you're in that stuck feeling right now; watching the industry move, watching other people trying to pivot, wondering if you missed your window - the good news is- you haven't! Get clear on what you actually want to be doing. Build toward that specific thing, not just ‘something different’. Meet people; find out more and stay curious. And when the silence comes, and it will, let it sharpen your aim instead of shrinking it.

Stuck is a season, not a sentence. I'm proof it ends.

And let’s say you genuinely don’t know what to do, then let me leave you with one of my favourite quotes by Oscar Wilde ~

If you know exactly what you want to become, you will become it. That is your punishment. Not knowing what you want to be, reinventing yourself every morning, not being a noun but a verb, being moving in life and not being fixed is actually a privilege. 

Writer: Sana

Published: 13/07/2026

Note: The information provided is purely for entertainment purposes and does not encompass the views of TWIS as an entity. These are written by our volunteers and showcase their personal experiences and stories. Take what is helpful to you and leave behind what does not resonate.

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