How The Wrong Job Taught Me Some Valuable Lessons (Part 1)

Careers, blogs, comedies and television series' have been carved out of plots surrounding odd jobs, with lively personalities and stories. You need not look any further than shows like, Dirty Jobs featuring Mike Rowe and classic comedies such as, Office Space, that still capture the public's imagination and bring to life funny, all-too real situations. My first stint in a sales job was not exactly fodder for comedy. It was simply the wrong fit. I wasn't cut out for tele-sales but I learned the craft long enough to discover a lot about myself.

I moved to Boston in early September of 2004 looking for a new adventure... and a job. I left my first job out of college on Long Island, largely because it was a road to nowhere, but mostly because my heart was leading me to a new challenge out on my own. I graduated college in May of 2003 and moved in with Mom and Dad, like many other newly minted college graduates. It was a fantastic experience being back home with my parents, who I love dearly. But it was also tough at times, particularly after living on my own for four years.

I craved more personal freedom and time to explore, so off I went, my future unclear, but quite a bit of hope in my heart. Yes, that's right, this dyed in the wool Yankees fan arrived in, "The Hub" just one month before the beloved Red Sox would mount their historic run to, "Reverse the Curse" and win the World Series for the first time in 400 years (OK, I'm kidding, it was only 86 years). For a Yankees fan, that part of living in Boston was torture!

Shipping Up to Boston

Before I go on I must tell a quick story- You have to take yourself back nearly 12 years ago to a time where the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox was so fierce, people legitimately harbored hatred toward each other. You could cut the tension at Yankees-Sox games with a knife. I attended many of these games, and fights, verbal jabs and insults were just part of the experience. Sometimes baseball seemed like a side story.

I pulled into Boston just before Labor Day of 2004. My Mom drove up with me from Long Island. We we were right about to get off Interstate-90 or in the Bay State, the Mass Pike, when  we realized we were in for a rather interesting welcome. Right when we were pulling off exit 17, I noticed a car parallel to us on the exit ramp. The car honked frantically, so I turned over to look. As soon as my Mom and I turned, the person in the back seat quickly flashed a t-shirt in the rear window that read, "Yankees Suck!" Welcome to New England. And welcome to the rivalry on the other side!

I had ups and downs during those two years in Boston, both personally and professionally, and yet I made friends, began my first journey on my own after college and found a sales job that I hoped would put me on the track toward a great career. It simply wasn't the right job fit and it didn't take long to figure out that I had not yet found my life's work. Instead, what I found was a stepping stone that enabled me to meet some great people, learn what it meant to sell and a host of other things. Allow me to explain...

Rejection

Working in sales means that you need to be wise and centered in order to better handle the extreme highs and lows. Gaining new clients, driving new business and building relationships are key. But there's a lot of rejection in between. I started at a small software company that was in major-growth mode- the story of many millennials and several of my peers.  At the time, I was only 23 years old and still very much trying to figure out, "what I wanted to be when I grew up."

Many of us still try putting those pieces together every day. And there's nothing wrong with that!

I found that it was very hard to take being rejected as just part of the job. As much as I realized it was just business and not personal, at times it could feel personal- even though I was selling a software product. That was the emotion talking.

I learned how to handle rejection by being resolute in my mind and separating the, "No's", and the lack of responses, from being a reflection on me as an individual. In sales, rejection can be due to the product but, I took it to mean that I could always improve my sales pitch. I could always learn more about the product, the potential customer and their business. This drive to get better kept me going and served as an inspiration that has remained with me. Every rejection brings an opportunity to open a new door and to uncover new possibilities.

Courage to Sell Myself and a Product

Selling means believing in a product (or an idea) and yourself enough to have the conviction to speak, describe and pitch it to another individual. For many of us, our first couple jobs in the workplace are confusing. They're chock full of uncomfortable moments filled with change. Speaking on behalf of the millions who don't know what they want to do right after college- and often end up in jobs that are light years from what their passions are- I can tell you that it's 100 times easier to want to hide in a cubicle and surf the Internet all day; as opposed to putting yourself out there on the front lines and risking rejection.

It takes courage to learn how to market yourself and to learn enough about a particular company, product and individual. It takes emotional intelligence and savvy to be able to communicate effectively enough to win new business. I learned that I needed to be on my game during these calls and meetings and that if I didn't believe in myself, I had already lost. Preparation, as they say, is the mother of victory. In order to prepare yourself for victory, focus on eliminating any doubt in your mind, and any possibility of failure.

Part 2 of this blog post will follow tomorrow with the rest of my journey and lessons! Thank you for reading! Please share your thoughts in the comments section, below. Hit me up and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: