My two careers: Motherhood and Sales

As many of my fellow redditors know, or can ascertain from my post history, I am a mommy. My children are freakishly smart, strikingly adorable, and my reason for working on improving myself. I’ve been married for over a decade, and my children are in elementary school and Pre-K, as reference.

One thing you must know about me before I go on is that I am very hard on myself and fiercely independent. That being said, I started my sales career when my oldest was 2 years-old. As I progressed, I found myself selling cars. Most people know what kind of schedule car salesmen have; mine was no different. My children were a huge motivator for me changing industries, but that is another post as to how I did that.

Currently, I sell medical devices from my office at the company’s headquarters, and I am physically in the office from 8am-4pm. I travel about twelve times per year, with the longest duration being about a week.

Oftentimes, we get a male’s perspective on what it is like to be in sales while having a family, or attempting at having one. It is the nature of the beast; there is a distinct lack of the fairer sex in sales, not just /r/sales. Furthermore, it is increasingly difficult to be successful in sales and be successful at home, no matter if you go by Mommy, Daddy, or “you there.”

Here are a few actions I have taken in order to be successful at work without sacrificing my children and marriage:

1. I have help. I’ll admit it and have no qualms in doing so. Our nanny comes in when I leave for the day to take my kids to school, picks them up in the afternoon, runs them to piano, gymnastics, et cetera. She is a part of our family and is that extra pair of hands that makes me feel more at ease for leaving my kids. I was fortunate enough to stay home with each of my children until they were two year-old. I still have an enormous amount of mom guilt for missing school parties, but learning to not beat myself up about it has made a world of difference.

2. I keep my hours, most days. 4 out of 5 work days, I am home by 5pm. I put my phone down, I take off my heels and I focus on my other job: being mom and wife. I decompress by cooking dinner, playing with my kids, checking their homework. They are in bed before 8 and I focus on my marriage and myself.

3. I’m an early riser. I am up between 4:30am and 5am to work out, answer emails, and get my head right for the day.

4. I am constantly learning. I read books I might not have picked up because it is a topic on which I know little. I learn languages I have not mastered to move different parts of my brain. I talk to strangers, and friends with different life experiences from mine so I can work on seeing a bigger picture.

5. I make myself a priority. Whether it be a skill I am learning, working out to improve my health, getting my nails done, seeing a movie in the middle of the day, or going out with my girlfriends for happy hour. It has taken me a long time to get to this point. I am guilty of not doing this; I lose myself and become the mom in yoga pants who doesn’t remember what sexy underpants look like.

But what do all of these points have to do with being successful in sales and balancing my career with family life. Simple: because I my goal is to show my children a good example of a successful woman, I work smarter. I take advice from those who can teach me (like here) and treat being their mom my other job. I have to show up, I have to put in the effort, just like my W2. In order to do so, I have to be as productive as possible during the hours I do work. I have to make sure the work I do put in has a higher ROI, the conversations I have need to be more substantial. When I do travel, when I am at trade shows and symposiums, I seek out key opinion leaders and take what they can teach me so that I can better understand my clients and prospects.

I realize I have rambled on for some time, so for those who made it, thank you. I am by no means a perfect mom or a perfect sales person, but I hope how I live my life can give someone an idea of how much work and effort it takes to be both.

Submitted March 08, 2017 at 03:05PM by MrsC7906 http://ift.tt/2m3jx2g