Hi! I haven't been on in a long time but I feel compelled to share.
I am one of "those people" who work in Direct Sales. A common misconception I get is that it is a scam and not a "real" job. There are plenty of people who join my company or any other DS company in general and don't make millions of dollars. I see it all the time and I look back and I see that they all have one thing in common: they don't treat it like a business, don't work like it's a business and then lo and behold, they fall out and that's that.
Then there's me.
I have an office, I have office hours, I work HARD, I've built and entire little empire and I make more money now than I ever did in a "real job." I get that not everyone "gets" what I do, but I assure you, my job is very, very real.
7 years since your last post! Don't be a stranger.
My first job was in commissioned sales and I hated it (well, I hated the work). My experience was that it definitely takes a certain type of aggression to
excel (read: climb the ladder) in sales, but I'm sure many people are able to make good money in sales while maintaining a good work/life balance.
One of the reasons I like working in support (vs. sales) is that I always felt that in sales, I wanted something from the customer (a purchase), while in support, the customer wants something from me (to fix their problem). I never liked that perceived power imbalance.