Almost 10 years ago I was sitting in Penn Station waiting for the next train back to the jersey shore with the biggest smile on my face. I had just left the highest base salary job in my career and I could not have felt any better.
I didn’t have any opportunities lined up, I was in debt and living at my parents house. I had just completed a 6+ month job search after parting ways with my last company. I had this gut feeling that I made the right choice at the moment to leave that company and not look back. The smile on my face as I looked out of the window of the train as it zipped past northern new jersey is a feeling I will never forget.
The culture of the office was to look busy and hope that no one caught on. To work through your lunch and sit at your computer hoping that a VP didn’t ask you what you were working on. I needed space, ideas and to be meeting with potential clients face to face. I was not in alignment with my boss, how the company operated and sitting in an office. I needed a change of pace, it had been six weeks since I started the job but I was scared to start over. I had searched for this staffing job for 6 months while moving back home to my parents house. This was the career move that I needed to be back in NYC and take over the staffing industry after the downfall of my last adventure.
We zoom into a Wednesday morning and my boss pulled me aside to express concerns he had been hearing around the water cooler. That I was not a hard worker, that I was out of the office doing whatever I wanted to do. He saw all my progress and meetings, I was hitting my numbers and breaking into a new industry for the company. It was just the perception of what I was doing in the office. I could not believe that I would have to fake doing work so that other people would feel a certain way. I looked at my boss and thanked him for the opportunity but I was taking the next train home and never coming back.
I did not know where my next opportunity would come from or that eventually it would lead me to the west coast, but leaving that job and taking the hour and a half train ride home changed the course of my life.
10 years and a few jobs later, it seems I have finally found the perfect balance in my life. It took working for a couple 100% commissioned jobs, working at restaurant's to pay bills, some bad bosses and a pandemic but I found a place that works best for me. I'm able to set up my life and be a top 10 producer for the company while working remote and having a great boss.
Don't be afraid to leave a place because of a gut feeling. At the end of the day, you only have yourself to give you the life you want. If your sales career is being oppressed by a bad boss, long hours countless voicemails and Starbucks gift cards find a place that fits your needs.
-Kendall
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