How Sales Expert Ishita Nigam Moved to Content Creation

Ishita is a freelance content creator at Pepper. Currently working as a senior manager of client relationships for a company, she has over nine years of experience in corporate B2B sales. Writing has always come naturally to her, and she turned it into a career a few years ago.

“I remember writing stories when I was a child. To date, writing has been my strong suit,” she says.

Challenging Conventions

Ishita grew up in a family of highly educated people. Being an academic achiever, she always felt the pressure to pursue conventional career fields. “I was born to a family of scientists and mathematicians. It made me feel like an ugly duckling, because I wasn’t too interested in science,” she reflects.

Although it wasn’t planned, she appeared for an entrance exam for business administration studies. She cleared the exam and even ended up being a university topper for three consecutive years. She went on to pursue a master’s in Manchester.  

Ishita worked in the supply chain industry for seven years after her masters. “People call the supply chain industry a black hole. Once you enter, there’s no easy way out. I wanted to change this perception,” she says. And she did. She successfully made a shift to the consulting and marketing industry in the later years of her corporate career.

Owning Her Passion 

Ishita has always been an avid reader, and her reading style is observant. She carefully dissects how the writer has expressed themselves. This habit has also shaped her skills as a writer.

In all her jobs, she gained appreciation from her colleagues because of her writing skills. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and her company closed operations in India, she took it as a wake-up call. “I thought this was the time when I should try to find my true calling,” Ishita recalls.

This incident prompted her to start a blog on Medium. She was unsure of the viability of written content in the sales domain. But the response she got on the first piece she wrote was an indicator that she was going in the right direction.

Starting Salestors, a Blog for “Sales Creators”

When Ishita saw the need for quality sales content in the industry, she decided to bridge the gap. This resulted in Salestors, a blog that features industry-oriented sales content and tips for managing corporate life.

Salestors has been a big hit in the creator community. Ishita’s first big achievement as a creator was getting featured on KoolKanya, a women-centric networking site. It was declared “Blog of the Week” by the platform. This attracted a lot of traffic to Salestors and opened doors to several other opportunities. 

Eventually, Ishita got featured on platforms like the Himalayan Writing Retreat and Unscreen as well. Within six months of starting Salestors, she was invited to Deb Calvert’s talk show “Monday Morning Sales Rally.” Salestors gave her the chance to connect with international sales experts like Jill Konrath, Deb Calvert, Lori Richardson, and many more. 

Embracing the Freelance Life

The recognition garnered by Salestors pushed Ishita to create more content. “I always had this creative side to me. I used to make a lot of sales collateral for the companies I was working with. So I thought of utilizing it to continue creating content,” she says.

Last year, she started expressing herself through creative pieces like poems and short stories. She also took up an online course in fiction writing. Her stories have been featured on literary platforms like Commaful, Reedsy, and YourQuote. “At that point, I thought, ‘This is it. This is the highest I can go,’” Ishita recalls.

But she added another feather to her hat by getting nominated for Pepper’s Next Big Creator Awards 2022, and received huge support from the community. We, at Pepper, were highly impressed by her experience, and reached out to her recently. She joined us as a creator last month.

Message to Fellow Writers

Ishita considers resilience and a risk appetite the most important assets of any writer. She feels fear limits creativity, and being open to challenges is crucial to creating impactful content. Furthermore, she suggests that every creator and entrepreneur reads Winning by Jack Welch. 

“No matter what your goal is, you must never skimp on quality,” Ishita advises fellow writers.

We are proud of creators like Ishita, who are taking the next step in their careers with Pepper. Our community is filled with creators who bring expertise and dedication to the table. If you’re someone who has a knack for writing, we’re waiting for you!