When I was 16, I knew I wanted to own my own business. Thanks to
and a couple of others.The only problem was, it takes money to make money and I was absolutely broke.
Taking Bull’s advice, I found a sales job. At 17, I was selling schools on setting up online apparel stores and businesses uniforms/aprons/etc.
I was absolutely killing it, then the two owners who were 50/50 partners and cousins to make matters worse, tried to damn near kill each other.
Ultimately, it led me to D2D Sales, so I’m extremely thankful.
Why I Chose D2D Sales
In my humble opinion, D2D is the best kind of sales job. I know it sounds crazy, but bear with me.
Name one other job that an 18-year-old can do to make 10k a month. Commercial fishing? Well, you could also die and there are no transferable skills.
I won’t sugarcoat it, getting rejected by +50 people in a day can be brutal at first, but you become numb to it. It’s a skill/numbers game that requires you to bring your best self every day. No matter what you sell, you probably only need 1-5 sales a day to kill it. Knock 100-200 doors and you’ll get the sales/skills.
Once you hit intermediate to expert you can hit 20k a month. If you sell and have a team of 10 people?? 30-50k a month is within reach. If you have multiple teams that are killing it? 100k+ a month.
Spend 10 years to become a doctor or start making 10-100k a month for 10 years. It didn’t take much convincing for me.
Some teams knock year-round, but most do 3-6 months in the summer. You’ll want a month to decompress, travel, and enjoy life. For the other 8-5 months you’ll have plenty of time to recruit and build a side business.
Some guys do real estate, others do home service businesses, online businesses, gaming studios, consulting—you name it—and D2D guys are doing it in their off-season.
You don’t want to have to knock forever, so you build something that makes you money in your sleep.
Most D2D guys who have been knocking for 10+ years are extremely well off. They invest, start other businesses, or build a huge RE portfolio. (RE not recommended)
Some blow all their money every off-season on months-long trips to Mexico/Thailand with hookers/blow. Don’t be that guy.
Some will literally do nothing but go to the gym and travel for 6 months. Then they get depressed because they don’t have a mission. I speak from experience after my first summer.
You shouldn’t HAVE to sell after 5-10 summers, but you will probably want to anyways. The thrill of the hunt becomes addicting once you are skilled.
Pros & Cons
Everyone loves bullet points, so here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons.
Pros:
Money
Clear mission/purpose
Camaraderie of your team
Time off for side businesses
No degree or scarcity of opportunities
Builds discipline/routine management
Builds selling/social skills
Learn how to manage/motivate others
Pay taxes like a business vs an employee
Almost impossible to be fat walking 5-10 miles a day
Incredible sleep from natural sunlight
A sweet farmer’s tan
Cons:
Massive rejection
No guarantee
Prone to burnout
Long hours while working
Strain on personal relationships
Exponential learning curve
Can’t “coast”
Physical exhaustion
Easy to get dependent on caffeine/nicotine
Easy to get bored in the off-season if you don’t build a side business
As you can see, the cons are extremely similar to starting your own business. D2D sales is basically your own business except you only have to focus on the sales side.
The only problem is you can’t get equity unless you are a top performer with a team and negotiate that in your agreement. Equity is when you really get loaded.
If you have more pros and cons, post them in the comments!
I love hearing from you all and I will answer all questions related to D2D/Sales.