What should you do for a living? I know, we all have bills to pay. Trust me, this was a harsh realization when my fiancé and I moved from Savannah, Georgia to near Orlando, Florida to give me a better opportunity to use my freshly earned degree in Computer Animation (by fresh I mean we moved three days after the graduation ceremony). We had planned for a slight increase in bills as we took this leap of faith into The Sunshine State, but Holy Moly we were not expecting that huge of a jump in expenses! I had accepted the first offer handed to me in Florida in order to cover immediate expenses. That experience taught me a great deal about myself…
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My first position in Florida was as a “Promoter”. Better explained, I stood at a kiosk in a partnering Sam’s Club selling that week’s product. First let me give a shout-out to anyone who has the heart to handle face-to-face immediate sales like that! It takes thick skin and a determined soul to deal with that every day, so please try to be nice to them, okay?
Back to the story. Every morning we went through training on how to approach people and pitch the product: Introduction, Short Story, Presentation, Closing, Rehash. Check out Prezi’s video here for a more thorough explanation on this process, but this is the gist of the morning exercises: grow accustomed to pitching to your coworkers smoothly to better prepare you to pitch to the customers at the store. Easy enough.
I became good at pitching to FAMILIAR FACES! I’ve always had “minor” social anxiety when approaching new people, so these exercises gave me a false sense of security when it came to sale pitches. Fast forward to about three weekends. I have now grown accustomed to the steps and have learned to think on my feet for stories to share for the pitches. My managers and supervisors have seen great progress and have determined that I’m ready to try pitching without shadowing someone. I go out, make that pitch, and made the sale! Hooray, right!? I…felt…horrible!
It wasn’t due to the product because quite frankly, I wanted to buy one of those heat pads myself! They were awesome! I felt horrible because of all the suppressed social anxiety I was holding in due to that whole interaction. How often do you see a sales person and divert your eyes to avoid eye contact? Don’t worry, I did it too. Well, I was given that reaction a lot prior to making my first independent sale, and I just wanted to go hide under a rock. My nerves were on edge and I couldn’t focus on going back out to make another pitch, so I took an early break to go sit down and calm myself in the food court.
For a moment, I couldn’t fully understand why. I just told myself to get it together because bills needed to be paid. When I thought I had gotten myself together, I got up to return to my post, saw the kiosk, and immediately broke down in tears! I couldn’t do it! I couldn’t go back! Suddenly, I had to grab my supervisor and drag her to the restroom with me as I transitioned into a full-throttle panic attack! I was literally AFRAID to make any more sales pitches that day! After a while of comforting, I was released to go home. That night, Stevenn had to wrap me in a blanket and comfort me until I cried myself to sleep.
My managers and supervisors that day were extremely supportive (and never the less shocked at what happened). Before I left, one suggested that I consider Content Marketing. She knew that I had earned my degree in Animation and marveled at how quickly I had learned the lessons. I didn’t think much of it since “marketing” was a bit of a sour term at that moment due to my recent meltdown, so I pushed the thought to the back of my brain and forgot about it.
I’ve taken a few Networking & Security courses and was working as Technical Support (once again, a shout-out to anyone who works Technical Support because they will get blamed for anything under the sun that relates to technology). I was not happy. By that point, I had been prescribed anti-depressants from the VA and was loathing myself for seemingly not being good enough to be accepted into any of the animation studios in the area. Somehow, the idea of Content Marketing popped back into my mind (assumingly out of desperation) and I decided to do some research and take inventory of my skills and preferences:
1) I enjoy helping people.
2) I don’t like face-to-face pitches with strangers.
3) I can pitch to familiar faces.
4) I don’t like approaching strangers.
5) I’m fine with strangers approaching me.
6) I do enjoy suggesting and sharing things that my friends might like.
7) I love turning ideas and information into animations and designs.
8) I enjoy researching new topics that fascinate me.
From this list (plus others added on), I narrowed down my job search to specific interests that aligned strictly to my list and came across a position for a Multimedia Designer at a small company that specialized in Instructional Design. Let me say that I am now in this position and am loving every minute of it. I am ecstatic! I even look forward to Mondays because it means I go to work for something I am passionate about- helping others to learn and grow through creative mediums! My team even encourages me to learn new things so that I can turn that into something beneficial for others! And to push the ideas forward, I use the pitching lessons that I learned from my time as a Promoter.
Now I appreciate what I went through then because 1) I probably would not appreciate as much what I have now and 2) my work most likely wouldn’t be as much as an impact without the lessons I learned then. I do however suggest that we all analyze the positions we are in now: Does our job make us happy? Are we doing something we’re passionate about? Or are we just there to cover our bills? Take an inventory of your skills and interests and customize them into an opportunity where you can soon work for your passion and not just for a paycheck.
But what do you think? Please leave a comment, subscribe to the page, and remember to live and learn from one story at a time!
Take care,
Kyndall Bennett from Kyrabe Stories
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