Discover how I made $143.33 in one month!

[OutofPoverty]

From October 3, 2018 - October 27, 2018 I had a commission only job selling Verizon Fios where the business model was network marketing. It was a "marketing company" aka direct marketing (face to face). I didn't receive my paycheck until November 2, 2018.

The Failure​

• Long story short, I worked for a shady company that lied about their pay structure. There was no "paid training" only commissions with no benefits.

• My paycheck should have been $286.66 but it was $143.33. More importantly, the "paid training" was 30% of what your leader made. For example, on 10/5/18, my leader did two apps. 30% of $143.33 is $43. When I was in "training" with my leaders, we did a total of 6 apps which is $258. If there was paid training, my paycheck would have been $544.66.

• Why I Left (1): I CANNOT stand Dishonesty. I do not know how they can sleep at night knowing they deceiving people with fake job titles such as "Sports Minded Customer Service - Full Time/ Part Time, Customer Service Representative, Marketing Coordinator - Paid Training with Travel & Growth Perks." The script they wanted us to tell homeowners felt dishonest. For example, "we're just out doing some customer service." If someone has Comcast and I'm with Verizon, that's not customer service but me trying to convince someone to switch cable providers. When I started to question the script, people would deflect and say "it has been in use for thirty seven years so we are keeping it this way."

• (2): Another reason I left was due to the vibe that nobody wanted me to stay there. My last day on the job, I spoke to manager about my day and why I did zero sales that week. Once the conservation was over, I shook his hand and noticed everyone was giving the evil eye. Their facial expression showed disgusted as I looked at everyone before I left the room. For some reason, I felt humiliated and shamed as I walked out the office.
• (3): I felt unethical at times pitching to people because I can't force someone to sign up and my integrity cannot bought for $143.33. For example, I could have signed up a lady who had brain cancer and only two months to live. Also, she lost her husband and three kids. Last minute, she changed her mind and decided to stick with Comcast. I got called a pussy from co-workers for not signing her up.
• (4): I discovered they would write fake reviews to cover the bad reviews with fake accounts.

Lessons/ Principles I learned​

• People will take advantage of your ignorance if you allow it

On October 17, 2018, I had a guy who wanted to switch to Verizon if I could save him money. I needed help building his package because I didn't want to mess up it up and had him pay more money than expected. Minutes later, I called my leader because my tablet was freezing and processing incorrectly. He decided to come by the house since we were in the same territory. Minutes later, he came and build the package and took the order on his tablet while I was using the man's bathroom (I had a gut feeling something was wrong while I was on the toilet). That app (sale) should have been in my name and not his (my leader).

I forgot to mention that the training was poorly done because it felt rushed. I never grasp the concepts of the bundle wheel or done tablet work (building a package for a customer). When I told my co-workers I need help with the product knowledge, I was told "dude quit being a little bitch and just do work. Shawn did three apps in one day and he barely has product knowledge."

• Always listen to your intuition (the most important one)

I wouldn't be in the situation I am in if I listen to my gut from 10/2/18 to 10/4/18. Ever since my second round interview was over and the interviewer told me "sit right here while I talk about it to my manager," my gut was screaming SOMETHING SEEMS SHADY ABOUT THE PAY. RUN AWAY FROM THIS JOB. I chose to not listen to it and now I put myself in an undesirable situation (unemployment with student loans and little food in the fridge.) The good news is if I can put myself in a bad situation then I can get myself out.

• Time is wealth

The hours were "11:00 am" - 1:00 pm for training but if you were entry level, it was 10:00 am - 1:00 pm. Also, if you were a leader it was 9:00 am - 1:00 pm. The field (door to door) was from 2:00 pm - 8:00 pm and everyone had to get back to the office by 9:00 pm. Once we get back to the office, we had to do a bell party (people who got sales) and talk to the manger before we leave which lasted to 9:45 pm. We worked 10-12 hour days for six days (Monday - Saturday).

I would observed people and noticed that some are not happy. It reminded me of chapter 2 and 3 of Unscripted where Mj states "For most people, it's dismissed as life's background noise. Others hear the whispers and bury it with weekend merriment." I noticed my former co-workers would smoke cigarettes or juul to numb their pain. I could sense they did not want to do this but were trapped by the consumption scam, lifestyle/education servitude, change adversity and the belief that this job was the only option they had.

I felt like a prisoner with little free time to do anything. My soul would speak to me daily, especially on Sunday, with noise of discontent.

• Chapter 30 & 31 in The Millionaire Fastlane (Commandment of Control and Entry)

I am referring to the sections Think Shark, Not Guppy and you can be the sheep or the sheep herder. MJ was right when he talked about the fish analogy and being in the auditorium where critical thinking was no where to be found. When it was time to circle up for the morning meeting, people would clutch on to everything the manager said especially the quote of the day.

Everyone looked up to the manager as a god and kiss butt to him to get on his good side (the managerial a$$ kissing described on page xiii in Unscripted ). People would sweet talk, flatter, and compliment him and the only thing he did was made them believe that they could be earning six figures in a year or two. Also, it felt like a cult because everything you did or said would get reported to management so you could become a manager's favorite employee. Favoritism was huge at that company.

• Don't live in regret

Lastly, my only regret (besides working for them) was not finding out if my former co-worker had a crush on me. I met a beautiful twenty-seven year old lady who I spent two days (10/4/18-10/5/18) on the field with. When I approached her on 10/5/18 to say hi, I noticed she winked me as she said hi back and my mind thought "does she have a crush on me?" Then the following weeks, I noticed she blushed when I came to work and excited to see me. I didn't know if she was being friendly or attraction. Days later, I started to develop a crush on her because of her personality. In hindsight, it was not hard to make her laugh.

It pondered my mind for days but I never made a move and came up with bullshit excuses. "Why would a twenty-seven year old be interested in a twenty year old like me? There's no way she likes you? What if you get rejected and tells everyone at work?" I carried these excuses with me and now I'm left wondering "did she have a crush?" I'll never know because I allowed limited beliefs from my past relationships affect my present.

Overall, it was one of the worst companies I worked for. The only thing I liked was when I visited luxury homes in Pasadena Maryland. I met a homeowner who was involved in some startups in his early days and was able to live in his home without a mortgage. Also, It was interesting seeing real life applications of people on the sidewalk, slowlane, and fastlane.



I hope someone found value in this.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Bumping this, great write up my friend. Rep++

And thanks for sharing your war stories.

 

[Thomas Baptiste]

This resonates with me so much man, every single line. Props to you for sharing this experience.