Dominic Turner

Introduction and Welcome

Taryell Simmons: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Rise Every Nation. I have a special guest in the building. I have been talking with this brother offline, and I said, I have to get you on the podcast. He said he would love to join. On the podcast this morning, we have the one, the only, Dominic Turner. How are you doing this morning?

Dominic Turner: Doing well, doing well.

Taryell Simmons: Tell the people where you are joining us from today.

Dominic Turner: Joining you from Atlanta, Georgia, where it is about 65 degrees right now and sunny.

Taryell Simmons: That is not bad for Atlanta right now.

Dominic Turner: Not bad at all. A good day for sports.

Taryell Simmons: He is watching the World Cup this morning. Who is playing right now?

Dominic Turner: France and Denmark.

Taryell Simmons: Who are you rooting for?

Dominic Turner: I like France for this one.

Taryell Simmons: By the time this episode airs, we will know the results. For the people who have not had the pleasure of meeting you, who is Dominic Turner?

Generational Legacy and Community Activism

Dominic Turner: I am the result of generations of people who came before me. I am standing on their shoulders and trying to push things forward by being active in my community. Community involvement is really what led me to my career in technology sales. I get it from my father, who was a huge community activist and pastor in Washington, D.C. He was also a military chaplain in the Korean War during the 1950s. I watched him take ownership of his community without anyone giving him a title. He cleaned up the wooded area across from our house to make it safer, working his way around the block over the years. Eventually, community leaders took notice. He secured $40 million from the D.C. government to improve sidewalks, streetlights, handicap accessibility, and overall safety. When he passed, they erected a memorial where he started, and that memorial is still there today.

Taryell Simmons: That is amazing.

Dominic Turner: I took that as my model when I came to Atlanta years ago. I saw a need in a community south of where I live now after someone passed away on a street lacking lighting, sidewalks, and guardrails when their car went off a 40-foot embankment into a ditch. I reached out to city government, connected with officials, and within six months they had blueprints. When the architects and designers met me on-site, one woman pulled me aside laughing. She told me she had pictured an older white gentleman on the phone rather than a young Black man driving this level of community improvement. Within nine months, they installed half a mile of sidewalks, twelve streetlights, and guardrails. That is my background: stepping up, taking ownership, and being active in the community.

Taryell Simmons: That is a beautiful story. We are our ancestors' wildest dreams. What was your father's name?

Dominic Turner: Reverend David Turner Jr.

Taryell Simmons: I am honored to hear his story. I am from D.C. as well. What part of D.C. was he in?

Dominic Turner: Northeast, right on the D.C.-Maryland line near Eastern Avenue and Queen's Chapel Road.

Taryell Simmons: I know exactly where that is. I lived in Northwest D.C. on the Takoma Park border and went to Coolidge Senior High School. What kind of conversations do you have within your close circle and the community you have built?

Dominic Turner: Those conversations range from sports and cigars to weekend football. I keep a small circle and do not broadcast what I am doing because I am not looking for notoriety. I let the work speak for itself.

Bridging Community Organizing and Enterprise IT Sales

Taryell Simmons: You bring that same problem-solving mindset to your career. How does that translate to your job in technology sales?

Dominic Turner: I have been in technology sales for nearly two decades. My entry into complex IT sales resulted directly from my community work. People noticed my approach and invited me to join a Homeowners Association board. A mentor on the board recognized that the skills I used to organize communities—building grassroots coalitions and reaching leadership—transferred directly into complex IT sales environments. He advised me to work at a lead generation firm in Atlanta for a year. That launched my career selling IT security solutions, including firewalls, log monitoring, threat intelligence, and penetration testing. The exact same coalition-building principles applied directly to enterprise IT sales.

Taryell Simmons: What was your career trajectory before entering technology sales?

Dominic Turner: I attended Morehouse College twice. The first time, I studied business. I left college and spent 13 years in retail selling electronics and appliances. Feeling that I had left something unfinished, I returned to Morehouse to study sociology and criminal justice, which I was far more passionate about. That combination of retail experience, academic completion, and community involvement opened the door to my tech sales career.

Taryell Simmons: Retail provides a great foundation in communication and sales. I used to work at Circuit City on commission, and every department had its own distinct culture.

Dominic Turner: I worked at Circuit City for ten years. It was exactly like the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Early on, I realized sales reps were territorial, so I learned every department—televisions, home audio, car stereos, and major appliances—to become a full-floor salesperson who could guide customers through the entire store.

Redefining Wealth, Time Freedom, and Seizing Opportunity

Taryell Simmons: If you could have any other career, what would it be?

Dominic Turner: It is all about having control over my time. Mark Cuban once said the greatest benefit of wealth is having complete control over your time. When you work a job, you trade eight hours of your day for a paycheck. Wealthy people control their time and can direct it toward their passions, their children, and diversifying income streams. True wealth means replacing your active hours with income streams that generate revenue while you sleep.

Taryell Simmons: What separates being rich from being wealthy?

Dominic Turner: The difference comes down to time. Being rich means earning a high rate for the hours you work, like professional athletes with lucrative contracts. Being wealthy removes you from the middle of that equation; your assets generate income whether you are actively working or not. In our communities, many entrepreneurs struggle to build wealth because fear and lack of trust keep them operating as sole proprietors. To build scalable wealth, you must trust others, delegate, and hire qualified professionals rather than doing every task yourself.

Taryell Simmons: What advice would you give your past and future self?

Dominic Turner: Looking back five years, I would tell myself to invest three times more capital into the stock market to let compounding returns work. Looking forward, I am expanding my real estate investments to acquire rental properties managed by professionals to replace active income. Life consists of windows of opportunity that open and close. When I returned to Morehouse, Circuit City provided tuition support and financial aid covered my expenses. Soon after, Circuit City laid me off with a ten-year severance package. That combination allowed me to finish my degree full-time without needing a second job. Recognizing and stepping through windows of opportunity changes the trajectory of your life.

Career Advice for High-Tech IT Sales

Taryell Simmons: What was your very first job, and what did it teach you?

Dominic Turner: My first job was at McDonald's in downtown Washington, D.C., through Mayor Marion Barry's Youth Leadership Institute. It taught me the value of earning my own paycheck and how to handle unpredictable situations.

Taryell Simmons: What steps should someone take to enter high-tech IT and software sales?

Dominic Turner: Working at a lead generation firm is the best starting point. It equips you with sales methodologies to navigate complex enterprise hierarchies and deliver compelling messages to key decision-makers. From there, you can advance into software license sales or managed cybersecurity services. Enterprise software sales is a lucrative field with six- and seven-figure earning potential. The interview process is rigorous, often spanning up to eleven interview rounds and mock presentations, but it can be life-changing.

Dominic Turner: Although people of color remain underrepresented in IT sales, you must remain focused on your mission, stay curious, and execute your objectives fearlessly.

South Atlanta Park Revitalization and Community Coalition

Taryell Simmons: What current projects are you working on, and how can listeners connect with you?

Dominic Turner: I am currently leading an initiative with the City of Atlanta to revitalize a neglected park on the south side of Atlanta. While parks on the north side are well maintained, this park suffered from illegal dumping, overgrown brush, rusted playground equipment, and broken basketball courts. I connected with the commissioners of Public Works, the Department of Transportation, and Parks and Recreation. Over seven months, city crews removed truckloads of debris with heavy machinery. We have secured $150,000 for park lighting, $250,000 for a new playground set, basketball court resurfacing, and forestry work to raise tree canopies for safety. Over the next two years, the total investment will reach approximately two million dollars.

Taryell Simmons: We encourage everyone in Atlanta to connect with Dominic and support this community transformation. How can they find you?

Dominic Turner: Connect with me on LinkedIn by searching Dominic Turner. I welcome partnerships with anyone dedicated to building community coalitions and improving our neighborhoods.

Taryell Simmons: Thank you, Dominic Turner, for sharing your wisdom and inspiring our listeners.