I am not sure why you got into Sales, but I did because I never wanted to work a self-employment 8 to 5 desk job. After graduation from College, I started off as an employee for a County Parks Department. After my first couple of years, the Management team for the division I was working for all left. As a new team was brought in, I made inquiries as to my future with the division and was immediately informed that no one with any type of responsibility under the age of 30 would be on the new team. So began my venture in looking for Business opportunities that would not require age as an analysis to my productivity but would judge me on my skills and productivity alone.
As I started to look at my options, I discovered that Sales might just be the right fit for me. I immediately understood that Sales would provide me with a healthy income as well as a flexible schedule. As I continued to grow my skills and my business, I also discovered that this flexibility came at a price. The flexibility I had in my schedule was directly related to the amount of production I had in my pipeline. So, I focused on the mental game I needed to achieve my goals. I slowly discovered that my mental clarity and my effectiveness with my clients increased the more I focused on building my business as if I owned the company. This thought process brought me to one of the main topics of the new book I am writing. That is to be the most effective Salesperson I can be is to see myself as Self-employed. This comes without the burden of owning the real estate where the business is located or any of the overhead associated with the creation of the product or service I sell. This provided me with an entirely new way of looking at things. I no longer view days that did not end at 5pm as a burden. I no longer regretted taking a client call on the weekend nor did I have any negative emotions attached to a dinner meeting that went well into the evening. Because like an owner, I realized that these are the tradeoffs one makes to be in control of one’s own future.
Please look for my book in Jan of 2024