I'm thinking of getting into sales myself, but I wonder if it is fulfilling enough. What are your thoughts?
Is driving a brand new BMW 5-Series fulfilling? How about lingering over a $90 bottle of crisp French wine over a dozen oysters at an overpriced Hamptons eatery with a hot date? Or, perhaps, dropping $800 on an accessory sure to go out of style in three months? Are those things fulfilling? Of course they are. They are also the kinds of things that a successful career in sales can bring you.
There are thousands of very spiritually rewarding careers out there that can pay the bills—and some of them can earn you top dollar. However, for the average person without a load of specialized skills or an advanced degree, sales is the fast-track ticket to wealth.
| With sales, someone basically sets you up with a computer, phone, desk, health insurance and an expense account, then prays that you can pull in four or five times your salary. The rest is up to you. |
Look at me: decent enough education at an exclusive "you didn't get into Yale, but..."-type Northeastern college, pretty good writing and social skills, and a smattering of business experience culled from a variety of mid-level positions at various publishing companies. Fits neatly into your typical mediabistro.com reader demographic, right? I'm pretty smart, but I'm certainly no genius, and since I opted out of paying another $60,000 for an MBA, my choices are limited: If I aspire to make some "real" money, it's either sales or starting my own business.
With sales, someone basically sets you up with a computer, phone, desk, health insurance and an expense account, then prays that you can pull in four or five times your salary. The rest is up to you. If you are insanely motivated (by greed, mostly, but that's okay), then you'll find a way to move whatever it is you have to sell. Then you can watch the BMWs roll in. It's a pretty fulfilling life. Make enough dough, and you can assuage your privileged guilt by giving some of it away to charity.
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