The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Is a full-time commission sales job slow lane or fast lane?

Fern Yvette

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
100%
Aug 22, 2016
3
3
62
Is a full-time sales job, from 9 to 5, call calling on businesses, a slow lane or fast lane? You are considered an employee and must put in 40 hours but there is no base salary only full commission. What are your thoughts?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Process

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Jul 19, 2017
273
611
Solving Pain
Is a full-time sales job, from 9 to 5, call calling on businesses, a slow lane or fast lane? You are considered an employee and must put in 40 hours but there is no base salary only full commission. What are your thoughts?

You don’t have control or maximum scale. It is superb experience and a strong way to gain capital. Just don’t confuse it with a Fastlane.

I am a commission sales guy working on my Fastlane. It sure beats washing dishes.
 
Last edited:

pmaloneus

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
145%
Dec 3, 2017
191
276
US
Would say depends.... primarily on how awesome & effective of a sales person you are, how effective you can be at delegating, the situation of that specific job, whether or not you enjoy sales, the perks you get, and what 'unlimited' commissions actually means.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Greg R

Act, Assess, Adjust
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
465%
Oct 28, 2015
1,060
4,933
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
I don't know guys... I met a sales dude today who makes $40k/m. It would only take a few years to bank roll that into what most of us are going to take 10+ years (or a lifetime to do). In this moment it is gaurenteed income, he is completely liquid and doesn't rely on enterprise value or worry about having to sell an asset. His skills are easily transferable to another company should his employer expire his control. Yea, I'd call it Fastlane. He is making more per month in cash than 90% of business owners.
 

NursingTn

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
212%
Jan 30, 2019
126
267
Any sale and marketing experience will surely help build your foundation as an entrepreneur.

Many entrepreneurs agree that learning to sell and market are some of the top skills any aspiring entrepreneur can develop...

I, too, am applying for a marketing position because I need more experience while getting consistent income still.
 

Walter Hay

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
401%
Sep 13, 2014
3,318
13,305
World citizen
A commission rep being required to put in 40 hours per week is really an oxymoron.

A commission rep should only be required to get sales. The hours don't matter. It's the results that count.

I have employed many commission reps, most of whom were female and more successful than their male counterparts. The women almost invariably worked school hours so that they could drop off their children at school, get on the road and sell, then go pick up their children.

When employed as a sales rep, I was on a salary, not commission. Oh! If only I had been on commission! My salary was pathetically low, and despite promises, was not increased for over 3 years. In that time, year on year I doubled the previous year's sales. Even so, by the end of those 3 years, my boss began counting my sales reports. The number of calls I made was to him far more important than the sales I achieved!:rage:

My sales were so high that on a fair rate of commission I would have been a millionaire after 3 years. To achieve that, I quit and started my own business with almost zero capital.

I do know of commission reps who have earned vast amounts. They were paid on results, and did not have to put in set hours. They rarely visited the office. Their "employer" was totally dependent upon them. If that's not true Fastlane, it was close enough for them.

Walter
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Scot

Salad Dressing Empire
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
472%
Jul 10, 2016
2,975
14,055
Florida
Full time sales rep here.

Definitely slow lane.

Do I make stupid money? Sure.

But it violates about half of the CENTS commandments.

The biggest violation is control. I’m in pharmaceutical sales. I had a new product I busted my a$$ launching. 5 am every morning in surgical suites staring at buttholes. The drug finally hit its stride and I was looking at raking in $10k commission checks on that product alone.

The boom. Company decided that another salesforce should sell that drug and then pulled it from me.

Zero control.

Is it a great job? Sure.
Does it build some great skills I can use for my fastlane business absolutely.

But, does it run without me? Nope.

Do I make the profits from it? Hell no.
 

Greg R

Act, Assess, Adjust
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
465%
Oct 28, 2015
1,060
4,933
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
I typically refrain from opining on here nowadays, but what-the-heck...

To Scot's point, I think that there are two sides to this and preference can be weighted via industry, commission structure, etc..

A software sales rep can make insane money that is recurring.

People also forget that business can be slow lane too. I know plenty of people on the forum and outside of the forum who work extremely hard, for far less in their business than what they could make at a job. But they have their reasons and it is what they want to do. Sometimes this can go for a very long time without reward meanwhile hovering on the brink of personal and financial ruin. What are your risk tolerances?

Still, in both instances you have examples of people earning very high income with relatively high autonomy.

It all comes back to how your why and what you want to get out of it I think.
 

Kevin88660

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
118%
Feb 8, 2019
3,456
4,078
Singapore
Is a full-time sales job, from 9 to 5, call calling on businesses, a slow lane or fast lane? You are considered an employee and must put in 40 hours but there is no base salary only full commission. What are your thoughts?
Fast Money but not fast lane.

I am in financial sales. Time is not scalable here. You can only talk and pitch to one person any time. The key thing in my industry is to meet higher net worth clients to gave bigger accounts and bigger deals.
 

Real Deal Denver

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
245%
Jan 13, 2018
899
2,199
69
Denver, Colorado
Fast Money but not fast lane.

I am in financial sales. Time is not scalable here. You can only talk and pitch to one person any time. The key thing in my industry is to meet higher net worth clients to gave bigger accounts and bigger deals.

You explained it well. There are only so many hours in a day.

If you're trading hours for dollars, you're slow lane.

If you can multiply your business and reap the rewards of OTHER people's hours, or your business can run on auto-pilot, like an online shop - then you can clone it and multiply your results - then you have a machine. Then you have Fastlane. Scale baby - it's all about scale.

But, on the other hand, I would take some of those high paying gigs in a heartbeat. I once had a girlfriend that was into high dollar selling. Not only did she make the big bucks, but I got to go along on those oh so nice expense account parties/lunches/dinners. She lived like a queen, and she loved the work.

Then, like @Scot above, though - she did bring the ship into port. She landed the big deal. She was the only one that could have done it because she had the right connections. Then the company took it away. Control baby - it's about control!
 

G-Man

Cantankerous Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
544%
Jan 13, 2014
1,989
10,825
I’m still doing it because it’s my straightest line to high income, but the control thing is spot on.

I got a program started that would have been 3-4K/mo from a single low maintenance customer. After the first couple orders of my product from a major computer hardware company with a square shaped logo that shall remain nameless, they cut off my supply. After a lot of BS I found out why....

How did 3-4K/mo of income go straight to zero overnight? My regional rep, who won’t even take my phone calls, got jealous when he found out a rep from another region was selling to me outside of territory, and killed the whole thing.

Not high on the control scale, but, on the other hand, once you do the business develop work, you can get 5 figure payments just for answering the phone and taking a re-order.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Fern Yvette

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
100%
Aug 22, 2016
3
3
62
Thank you all for your comments. Very insightful and gives me a lot to think about. You are correct and pointed out things that I never considered before. I will use this opportunity to build my marketing skills and then dump it to build my own scalable fast lane opportunity.
 

Ing

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
102%
Jun 8, 2019
1,621
1,651
58
Bavaria
I don't know guys... I met a sales dude today who makes $40k/m. It would only take a few years to bank roll that into what most of us are going to take 10+ years (or a lifetime to do). In this moment it is gaurenteed income, he is completely liquid and doesn't rely on enterprise value or worry about having to sell an asset. His skills are easily transferable to another company should his employer expire his control. Yea, I'd call it Fastlane. He is making more per month in cash than 90% of business owners.

where do you know, what he earns?

i d say no fastlane
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Juke

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
96%
Oct 23, 2019
23
22
United Kingdom
Definitely slowlane in my opinion.

I’ve been in B2B sales for 8+ years and done well, earning good commission but to so you need to put in a lot of time and effort and your employer can pull the plug at any time.

As a salesperson you also have no ownership of the company so you are not building an asset that you can sell.

I’d be amazed if there are any multi-millionaires made solely from sales jobs - - unless they worked non stop for 40 years (but that would be quite the slowlane)
 

Dan_Cardone

Losers make excuses. Winners find solutions.
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
360%
Jul 23, 2019
331
1,192
A commission rep being required to put in 40 hours per week is really an oxymoron.

A commission rep should only be required to get sales. The hours don't matter. It's the results that count.

100% this.

I don't care how many hours my reps put in as long as they hit their quotas.

Sales is a great way to get important experiance while making money.
 

Greg R

Act, Assess, Adjust
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
465%
Oct 28, 2015
1,060
4,933
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
where do you know, what he earns?

i d say no fastlane

If any one here wants to know what Fastlane is and what it really looks like. Go to the Summit.

All ages of people from all walks of life. All in diffrent financial situations. Yet, all if them are still Fastlane. Anyone who has been to the submit will tell you Fastlane a mindset.

A better question to ask ourselves is if our decisions are in line with our goals.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Walter Hay

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
401%
Sep 13, 2014
3,318
13,305
World citizen
100% this.

I don't care how many hours my reps put in as long as they hit their quotas.

Sales is a great way to get important experiance while making money.
I never worked to quotas. I just got out there and sold as much as I could even though I was on a salary, not commission. It was not appreciated by my boss, although it added substantially to his wealth. At least I learned a lot and put it to good use when I set up my own business.

In my own business I didn't set myself quotas or targets. I just did as much as I could as efficiently as I could. The result in business #1 was very fast entry to the Fastlane. In business #2 the result was a business that grew so fast that franchising in 4 countries was the only way to handle it.

I agree with @Dan_Cardone, that sales is great for experience, AND you can make good money in the process (if you are on commission.)

Walter.
 

PapaGang

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
256%
Jul 10, 2019
637
1,632
Milwaukee, WI
Not Fastlane if:

• violates CENTS framework
• you are compelled to show up and put in your 40
• you are not building an asset that you can sell

HOWEVER:
• one of the most entrepreneurial positions in a company
• invaluable experience in sales - sales is the lifeblood of a company
• you DO own something - the customer relationship. That is no small thing.
• great opportunity to make money, bankroll it, and start looking at ways to build something bigger than yourself.

Also look at ways you can decouple your time from your money there. Tim Ferriss has some great suggestions in 4-hour Workweek.

I love sales.
 

Roli

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
160%
Jun 3, 2015
2,061
3,301
Is a full-time sales job, from 9 to 5, call calling on businesses, a slow lane or fast lane? You are considered an employee and must put in 40 hours but there is no base salary only full commission. What are your thoughts?

When I was a salesperson I used to have a saying which I repeated when a perspective employer told me it was commission only.

"No basic, no Roli."

Why the hell should I commit to a 40 hour week and you're not even going to pay my bus fair? So you get all the upside, me sitting in a chair slaving for your dream, and I get all the downside, tied to a job that doesn't even give me guaranteed income.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

PapaGang

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
256%
Jul 10, 2019
637
1,632
Milwaukee, WI
When I was a salesperson I used to have a saying which I repeated when a perspective employer told me it was commission only.

"No basic, no Roli."

Why the hell should I commit to a 40 hour week and you're not even going to pay my bus fair? So you get all the upside, me sitting in a chair slaving for your dream, and I get all the downside, tied to a job that doesn't even give me guaranteed income.
I left a place when I realized that. I remember the day when I had the epiphany:

"Wait, so if I don't sell, I don't get paid. Just like running my own business! What's the difference, except that I don't have a terrible manager with his thumb on me. I can work when I want, and I get to build an asset instead of working to build someone else's dream. I'm out!"
 

Kevin88660

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
118%
Feb 8, 2019
3,456
4,078
Singapore
There is always two sides of things. While sales job is definitely not fastlane, it offers upside income potential without having to deal with the complexity of a true fastlane business.

In sales if you are in a proven market with a proven brand, you just need to work hard and hit the number. You don’t have to worry about products, order fulfillment, marketing...sometimes you are given leads. It might sound defeatist but not everyone is cut to make a great product and make their money that way? You work for a company and do not have control..yes. But you do not have control in many other business risk also as a business owner: supplier reliability, customer payment on time, regulatory changes, experienced employee jumping ship or worst stealing your money.

If you represent a big firm that has been in the market for more than 30 years , financial sales for instance,(selling loans for banks or insurance policies for insurance companies), you do not have to worry too much about losing control (Company shut down) as compared to selling softwares for a sme that has been around for five years, although you are more likely to make money in a growing industry with few regulation. Longevity in sales pays off because as your book of business grows the money grows exponentially.

My advice is no good or bad it is just a different game.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MitchM

Act. Then Adapt.
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
228%
Nov 15, 2016
490
1,116
28
Atlanta, GA
It really depends on how much you earn.

Commercial brokers and others who operate on commission can make millions a year. My cousin is a realtor and he made ~5mil profit last year.

In my mind, the Fastlane is a way to grow your net worth to a point that you can invest it and then literally not have to work the rest of your life if you want to.

So, that depends on what kind of lifestyle you want.

$2 mil at 5% is $100,000 dollars a year without having to lift a finger.
 

Walter Hay

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
401%
Sep 13, 2014
3,318
13,305
World citizen
I found that owning a business did not provide total control.

My manufacturing and exporting business was thriving and then came the Yom Kippur war in 1973.

Arab countries imposed an oil embargo, triggering a worldwide mini recession. Panic set in. The manufacturing industries I supplied in many countries ceased manufacturing. My sales dropped to zero.

I had absolutely no control. For three months my income was non-existent.

As a substitute for control I had operated for years on a low budget with negligible overheads. I had been very conservative regarding investments, opting for low risk, low returns. I had no borrowings that needed to be repaid.

The result was that I weathered the storm. In a way, that was as near to real control as I could achieve.

Walter
 

Itizn

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
190%
Sep 25, 2019
600
1,139
Colombia
This is my current path as well. I think as many have said it isn't true fast lane but if done right it can offer the quickest route to a massive change of quality of life. From there the fast lane is definitely within reach.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Kevin88660

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
118%
Feb 8, 2019
3,456
4,078
Singapore
It really depends on how much you earn.

Commercial brokers and others who operate on commission can make millions a year. My cousin is a realtor and he made ~5mil profit last year.

In my mind, the Fastlane is a way to grow your net worth to a point that you can invest it and then literally not have to work the rest of your life if you want to.

So, that depends on what kind of lifestyle you want.

$2 mil at 5% is $100,000 dollars a year without having to lift a finger.
5 million through doing deals himself?

Is he running an agency with men working under him?
 

MitchM

Act. Then Adapt.
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
228%
Nov 15, 2016
490
1,116
28
Atlanta, GA
5 million through doing deals himself?

Is he running an agency with men working under him?
Both, he’s dominating luxury homes in a specific area.

His real profit before taxes was actually around 7 mil and a considerable portion was from his own sales.

He hasn’t shared to me what that portion is, but he was doing extremely well (7 figures) before having others under him.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top