Every Deal is a Package Deal

I've complained (on more occasions than I care to count) about my occupation, sales - I would say "chosen occupation", but that's just flat-out incorrect; I never chose it, really - I just kind of drifted into it. It was a way to potentially make good money, without a lot of up-front training and with a minimum of corporate flag-saluting bullshit.

Which brings me to the whole package deal concept. Yes, I have enjoyed some good paychecks, but like many financial morons with variable income, I consistently based our spending on an annual income that I always projected would equal my best month times twelve. A spectacularly defective strategy, it turns out.

And I've enjoyed autonomy, too, in varying degrees, and the freedom to work my opportunities as a kind of virtual entrepreneur. Again, with a trade-off - I'm measured - literally every working day - on how much revenue I've brought my company recently. And offering excuses for bad numbers is a dependable way to make things worse.

My current gig is really pretty promising - I work with smart people who respect my experience and take my ideas seriously, plus I get to work from home more often than not, sparing me, my car, and the environment a two-and-a-half hour daily round-trip commute. But once again, every working day manages to contain periods of intense stress alternating with mind-numbing record-keeping and mechanical tasks.

So why do I do keep doing it? First, it's what I know - a feeble statement, but, hey, it still carries weight. And second, when it comes together, and the deal closes, I've made something happen that would not have happened without me; a circuit's been completed, and I get a charge, a buzz.

Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.