Hey world, this is Gabe, remember me? I'm the guy who hasn't really updated in a long long time.
So what have I been doing since the last post? Unfortunately not too much. I'd love for my life to have been too busy to update, it's more so that there hasn't been much to update about. I'm still working as a salesman and have had my ups and downs with that and I'm still looking for a teaching job.
I guess I'll give snapshots of each month starting with November. The things I remember most about November are canoeing with my brother, Thanksgiving dinner with the Dewey's, selling 10 cars, and of course the Redskins destroying the cowboys on Thanksgiving day. Getting to 10 cars was a big bonus for me at work and what I thought was a sign of good things to come. It got the attention of a lot of people at work and helped put some cash in my pocket. Unfortunately, I don't remember a whole lot else from the month.
December got me off to a solid start at work, I sold 6 cars in my first two weeks and was looking good going forward, but then I got the flu. It was my first experience with the flu and it wasn't pleasant. I was in bed for four days, I did try to go into work on day three but used up all my energy making it through the morning meeting and went home again. It was extremely frustrating given the "role" I was on at work. After I recovered from the flu I couldn't sell a thing for the rest of the month. The week after Christmas is supposed to be the busiest time of the year and I didn't sell a thing. That was rough. Christmas itself was a delight. I had three days off in a row which was the weirdest thing ever. Not including the illness I normally only get 1 day off a week. That being said I had no idea what to do with myself. I mostly just rested since I was kinda still getting over the flu. Oh, I actually did go see The Last Bison in concert with some friends. A night of Christmas Carols and originals. The Last Bison are a local band that's getting big on the national scene, they're definitely worth checking out.
Christmas day itself was weird though. If you don't mind me getting real for a minute here. I had planned to spend time with my brother and his family before heading to Fort Monroe to have dinner with the Dewey's. However, when I woke up that morning I had this internal battle of not wanting to do anything. Every step of the process from getting out of bed to getting ready and getting in the car was a struggle. Initially I wasn't sure why, but the more I thought about it I realized it was because I was being selfish. I make no pretense that I generally don't get excited for Christmas and that I don't do the whole presents thing, but I was dealing with some real inner frustration. That being said I did follow through with my plans and was very happy to do so. It was nice to be spend time with family and create some memories.
On to January. I ended up working on the 1st because I was told if we sold a car on the 1st it would essentially count as 2 units and could count towards either December or January. Well, I sold one and it allowed me to reach my bonus for December which definitely helped. Shortly after that though they changed our pay plan at work for the new year and made it more difficult to get the bonuses. Previously if I sold 8 cars I would get a $500 bonus and if I sold 10 cars I would get a 5% bonus on my commissions. This means that if I sold 10 cars with an average gross of $1000 I would normally make $250 per car, but with the bonus I would make $300 per car. Multiply that times ten and it goes from $2500 to $3000. Anyway, they changed the bonuses from that to $1500 for selling 10 cars and the extra 5% for selling 12 cars. All that being said I sold 6 cars in January. Add that to the fact that the Redskins lost in the playoffs and RG3 tore his ACL and equates to a rough month.
February wasn't much better. I ended up getting pretty darn bitter in February actually. It is supposedly the slowest month in the car business and it was my slowest month so far. There were a string of days in there that I was seconds from quitting, or at least I felt like it. I did get my hopes of for a little while though as a job at St. Mary's International School opened up. It was pretty much the exact job I wanted. I sent in a CV and a cover letter with references and all and still haven't heard back. It's been over a month so I'm not really holding my breath. It was a nice thought for a little while though. One other thing the winter months brought was an interesting new friendship. Robbie, my friend who got me the job at the dealership, introduced me to his good friend Thomas. All three of us were/are at the transition point in our lives and it was nice to have some people to identify with in my frustration with my current situation. That being said, Thomas was a little further in his transition than either Robbie or I and has since started that transition. Robbie and I are still waiting for it.
That just about brings us to the present, or at least this month. This month got off to an encouraging start as I made more money in the first two weeks than I did in all of February. It's nice not being broke. As we speak I'm sitting at 7.5 units for the month and have a couple deals working. I'm hoping I'll at least get to 10, maybe even 12 with the end of the month coming next week. Aside from car sales, March has also brought new ideas of what to do for the future. At the moment I'm leaning toward, or at least strongly considering going back to school, at least part time, next year. I could get a masters in Music Ed. from ODU and still do some kind of part time work (likely not at the dealership), maybe in substitute teaching and private lessons. I'm still in the info gathering stage but will need to get the ball rolling on that soon if that is what I end up doing.
I'm also keeping an eye out for teaching positions here, there, and everywhe.....well, not everywhere, but I am actively looking.
That's all for the past few months.
Until next time, peace out!
So what have I been doing since the last post? Unfortunately not too much. I'd love for my life to have been too busy to update, it's more so that there hasn't been much to update about. I'm still working as a salesman and have had my ups and downs with that and I'm still looking for a teaching job.
I guess I'll give snapshots of each month starting with November. The things I remember most about November are canoeing with my brother, Thanksgiving dinner with the Dewey's, selling 10 cars, and of course the Redskins destroying the cowboys on Thanksgiving day. Getting to 10 cars was a big bonus for me at work and what I thought was a sign of good things to come. It got the attention of a lot of people at work and helped put some cash in my pocket. Unfortunately, I don't remember a whole lot else from the month.
December got me off to a solid start at work, I sold 6 cars in my first two weeks and was looking good going forward, but then I got the flu. It was my first experience with the flu and it wasn't pleasant. I was in bed for four days, I did try to go into work on day three but used up all my energy making it through the morning meeting and went home again. It was extremely frustrating given the "role" I was on at work. After I recovered from the flu I couldn't sell a thing for the rest of the month. The week after Christmas is supposed to be the busiest time of the year and I didn't sell a thing. That was rough. Christmas itself was a delight. I had three days off in a row which was the weirdest thing ever. Not including the illness I normally only get 1 day off a week. That being said I had no idea what to do with myself. I mostly just rested since I was kinda still getting over the flu. Oh, I actually did go see The Last Bison in concert with some friends. A night of Christmas Carols and originals. The Last Bison are a local band that's getting big on the national scene, they're definitely worth checking out.
Christmas day itself was weird though. If you don't mind me getting real for a minute here. I had planned to spend time with my brother and his family before heading to Fort Monroe to have dinner with the Dewey's. However, when I woke up that morning I had this internal battle of not wanting to do anything. Every step of the process from getting out of bed to getting ready and getting in the car was a struggle. Initially I wasn't sure why, but the more I thought about it I realized it was because I was being selfish. I make no pretense that I generally don't get excited for Christmas and that I don't do the whole presents thing, but I was dealing with some real inner frustration. That being said I did follow through with my plans and was very happy to do so. It was nice to be spend time with family and create some memories.
On to January. I ended up working on the 1st because I was told if we sold a car on the 1st it would essentially count as 2 units and could count towards either December or January. Well, I sold one and it allowed me to reach my bonus for December which definitely helped. Shortly after that though they changed our pay plan at work for the new year and made it more difficult to get the bonuses. Previously if I sold 8 cars I would get a $500 bonus and if I sold 10 cars I would get a 5% bonus on my commissions. This means that if I sold 10 cars with an average gross of $1000 I would normally make $250 per car, but with the bonus I would make $300 per car. Multiply that times ten and it goes from $2500 to $3000. Anyway, they changed the bonuses from that to $1500 for selling 10 cars and the extra 5% for selling 12 cars. All that being said I sold 6 cars in January. Add that to the fact that the Redskins lost in the playoffs and RG3 tore his ACL and equates to a rough month.
February wasn't much better. I ended up getting pretty darn bitter in February actually. It is supposedly the slowest month in the car business and it was my slowest month so far. There were a string of days in there that I was seconds from quitting, or at least I felt like it. I did get my hopes of for a little while though as a job at St. Mary's International School opened up. It was pretty much the exact job I wanted. I sent in a CV and a cover letter with references and all and still haven't heard back. It's been over a month so I'm not really holding my breath. It was a nice thought for a little while though. One other thing the winter months brought was an interesting new friendship. Robbie, my friend who got me the job at the dealership, introduced me to his good friend Thomas. All three of us were/are at the transition point in our lives and it was nice to have some people to identify with in my frustration with my current situation. That being said, Thomas was a little further in his transition than either Robbie or I and has since started that transition. Robbie and I are still waiting for it.
That just about brings us to the present, or at least this month. This month got off to an encouraging start as I made more money in the first two weeks than I did in all of February. It's nice not being broke. As we speak I'm sitting at 7.5 units for the month and have a couple deals working. I'm hoping I'll at least get to 10, maybe even 12 with the end of the month coming next week. Aside from car sales, March has also brought new ideas of what to do for the future. At the moment I'm leaning toward, or at least strongly considering going back to school, at least part time, next year. I could get a masters in Music Ed. from ODU and still do some kind of part time work (likely not at the dealership), maybe in substitute teaching and private lessons. I'm still in the info gathering stage but will need to get the ball rolling on that soon if that is what I end up doing.
I'm also keeping an eye out for teaching positions here, there, and everywhe.....well, not everywhere, but I am actively looking.
That's all for the past few months.
Until next time, peace out!
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