Total commission sales is wild. That means it’s all profit or loss and you see it with each decision you make. If you make a sale you get paid, but if you don’t make a sale you don’t. It doesn’t matter how many hours you spent, it’s whether your time was effective. 

All of my jobs have had up until now been buffered from the direct responsibility of my paycheck. I mean, if I showed up, I generally had a positive influence on the company, but not direct, not instantaneous. If I did well, maybe got a pay raise, but going the extra mile never had an immediate payout. In teaching, we all got paid by some mysterious chart in HR. In retail, I got tiny yearly raises. In my office jobs we would get companywide bonuses, if it had been a profitable quarter then proportional to our rank. The highs and lows were minimal.

Now I get paid directly for each sale. If I make two, twice as much— same as all the other sales people. If I want time off I let my mentor know I’ll be out, but I don’t have to ask permission. There’s no one to impress or disappoint but yourself.

Sales is like riding a mountain bike without a helmet or shoes or breaks. Some days you crash into a tree root and others you coast along admiring the view. It’s not for the faint of heart and I am not sure I will quite same afterwards.