As you get ready for a job in sales, the most important thing to work on is — wait for it — self-actualization.
Does that surprise you?
What it means is that instead of seeing yourself relative to other people, or relative to what you wish you were, or relative to what your parents may want for you, now is the time to figure out who you are and, given that, what would be the best match for you.
Here’s a real-life example.
My good friend Bill is a sports nut. He grew up in the New York City area and fervently followed the Nicks, Giants, Rangers, Yankees and so on. After college, he went to work for a big Wall Street firm and was doing well for the first five years, making the big bucks and on pace to crush it over the next 10 to 20 years of Wall Street work. Unfortunately, while the company was good and the money was great, he didn’t love the work. So he started to look around and eventually took his advanced sales skills to Sports Illustrated, where he had an outstanding career following all manner of sports and selling advertising to other sports-oriented companies and people. My friend Bill really found his calling and would tell you he only wishes he had started there instead of taking the Wall Street money bait.
With that in mind, here are the three types of job you can get:
No. 1: Your dream job (best case scenario)
This is a job in an area that you enjoy and have some experience in. It allows you to work as remotely as you like in your chosen geography. It has the compensation structure that matches up to your goals. It has the company size and culture that matches up to what you want. You love going to work!
No. 2: This job stinks (second best)
You took this job likely because you just needed to get a job and they offered something. It will have a culture you hate, a compensation structure that is shaky at best and overall not a good work environment. This is in second place because a job this bad will force you to keep looking for a better spot.
No. 3: The lingering dead (last place)
This is a job that is not a great match but pays well enough and not so bad that you have to leave it. I see lots of folks that are stuck in a joyless job and get their kicks in other ways. (I hate my job but I love softball/fishing/sports…)
But shouldn’t you love it all?
Ask yourself: What is the best job for me? That is the key question, and if you are not sure of the answer, then get some help. Our company noobschool.org helps in this area but so do plenty of others, including mentors, career counselors and life coaches. Because it is so important that you figure out what you want, you should take the time needed, invest some bucks and give this all-important job selection the attention it deserves.
I mean, wouldn’t you rather be at the Super Bowl selling ads than trading stocks and bonds in the boiler room?
John Sterling is the Amazon bestselling author of “Sales for Noobs” and CEO of NOOB School, an online resource for new salespeople. Previously, John helped build and sell Datastream for over $200 million. He has trained and hired hundreds of sales reps globally. Subscribe to his YouTube channel for new sales content every week. https://noobschool.org
