I went to a Bible College for a year and a half before dropping out. The dropout was not really due to a lack of interest in the subjects, but just a really poor work ethic on my part.
I landed a job in medical magazine recruitment advertising sales after a friend referred me in. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did well after some sales training. Eventually I decided to change jobs when I discovered that the magazine distribution numbers were wildly lower than what I was quoting to my clients. My company was lying to the advertisers. I took a short term gig as a cold caller at a financial advisor firm, working for my father-in-law's team. I ended up staying there for 3 years, passing the 7 and learning that I have no passion for finance.
While I was at the firm, I attended a lot of networking events and hosted a few myself. I met many people in the Philadelphia area who were involved in the tech scene and discovered where my passion really lied. I tried to get a startup running, but I didn't have the technical chops yet. Eventually, I quit the financial job, took an all commission job selling credit card machines to brick&mortar stores, so I could find a job at a startup where I could learn. Side-note, it's not a great idea to quit your job 1 week before your twins are born. Even when it all works out in the end, the stress is unbearable.
After 6 months of selling and searching, I ended up working at an online ticketing company as a salesperson. I worked there for about 3 months, and became the top salesperson before they laid off the entire sales team, because it was an experiment that didn't work out. Startups, huh?
I was unemployed, with 3 kids, a mortgage and nowhere to earn. I started leaning on my contacts pretty heavily. Luckily, the CEO of the ticketing company wrote us all pretty great references, and reached out to his network to get us jobs. I ended up as an Analyst at RJMetrics, where I am currently. I've been here nearly 4 years now, and I've learned a lot being here. I've been able to build and launch multiple internal technical projects, while starting the sales organization here.
I landed a job in medical magazine recruitment advertising sales after a friend referred me in. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did well after some sales training. Eventually I decided to change jobs when I discovered that the magazine distribution numbers were wildly lower than what I was quoting to my clients. My company was lying to the advertisers. I took a short term gig as a cold caller at a financial advisor firm, working for my father-in-law's team. I ended up staying there for 3 years, passing the 7 and learning that I have no passion for finance.
While I was at the firm, I attended a lot of networking events and hosted a few myself. I met many people in the Philadelphia area who were involved in the tech scene and discovered where my passion really lied. I tried to get a startup running, but I didn't have the technical chops yet. Eventually, I quit the financial job, took an all commission job selling credit card machines to brick&mortar stores, so I could find a job at a startup where I could learn. Side-note, it's not a great idea to quit your job 1 week before your twins are born. Even when it all works out in the end, the stress is unbearable.
After 6 months of selling and searching, I ended up working at an online ticketing company as a salesperson. I worked there for about 3 months, and became the top salesperson before they laid off the entire sales team, because it was an experiment that didn't work out. Startups, huh?
I was unemployed, with 3 kids, a mortgage and nowhere to earn. I started leaning on my contacts pretty heavily. Luckily, the CEO of the ticketing company wrote us all pretty great references, and reached out to his network to get us jobs. I ended up as an Analyst at RJMetrics, where I am currently. I've been here nearly 4 years now, and I've learned a lot being here. I've been able to build and launch multiple internal technical projects, while starting the sales organization here.