Don’t sell your soul…ever!

Life is all about seizing the opportunity. Grabbing every opportunity that’s thrown your way regardless of your fears.

A few years back, I was getting sacked from my job in sales. It wasn’t because I couldn’t sell, I could sell all day long and sell well too! It was because the product I was selling didn’t benefit anyone except the company that was selling it. If something is a benefit to someone else, they won’t get off the phone from me without taking the product – if it’s the other way around and the product is useless/costly or detrimental to a person’s life, I won’t touch it.

So as a result of the low sales targets, it came to a meeting with the director and the head of sales. Both of them pointed out my negatives, how I was failing to perform, failing to make enough calls, failing to reach my targets, etc, not focusing on any of the positives in my time in the company, just the stuff to get me out of the door. Well, I wasn’t about to let it happen.

I explained to them how I’d taken a career in sales, as I knew the harder you worked, the more you could earn – it’s a simple fact. But what I’d always wanted to do was something IT-related. I spent the majority of my childhood playing with computers and know more than those with qualifications in the subject as it’s a passion I’ve always dedicated myself to.

So they offered me a job on the website development team (under the assumption I knew a lot about it). However I knew absolutely nothing about the subject, sure I’d played around with free websites but that’s not the hard coding digital stuff they wanted me to be doing. So I took the job, knowing nothing about the industry. Give me a broken computer and I’ll fix it in an hour, give me a website and I wouldn’t know where to start. However, I still took the job.

3 years down the line, I’m now in charge of a website that turns over millions of pounds a month.

How did I get there? Well, it was something I was passionate about, so I’d learned about 70% of what I needed to know within the first 6 months, just by being interested in it. I made a leap of faith and it paid off. I saw an opportunity and went for it, and it has given me bounds of success along the way.

But!

All along the way, I put in more than I got out. I spent extra hours working for the company (unpaid, off my own back) trying to reach a common goal (knowing I’d learn more along the way, and hoping it would lead to further promotions. After I while I started to tire myself out from overworking, but it didn’t matter because all I had in my mind, was that it wouldn’t be a waste of time.

But now, when the company really should be turning around screaming and shouting about my success, they’re more ignorant and blind to it than ever. I’m not the type to go and shout about my achievements and workload, but it’s been long enough for them to recognize that their business wouldn’t function this efficiently without me. I’m now virtually a manager, without the wage packet to go with it and only half of the responsibility (which trust me, is more hassle than it’s worth).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy I took the opportunity, it’s opened up a brand new career for me, in a field I’m interested in. But don’t sell your soul for the opportunity, it will bleed you dry.

Seize every opportunity, but not at the cost of your happiness, health, and sanity.