Do I quit the best job I ever got?

[Matias]

So, I didn't want to jinx myself by telling everyone how stoked I was about the job I landed about a month ago, since I have had kind of a shitty couple of years with jobs not working out. They mostly seemed to not workout because I said the wrong thing to the wrong person. I have learned how to bite my tongue and refined the way I talk with clients and coworkers, and this recently culminated in me landing a position as an account manager/sales arborist for a bigger/mid-size company that seems to punch way above their weight class. I have been consulting for Stanford U and Menlo College, and my advice has been very well recieved. The company has had the Stanford account for 27 years, and now also handles the campuses at Apple, Paypal. Levi's Stadium, etc.

The pay is totally fair, and would be adequate if I had already been living in the area and my living expenses didn't include my land in Oroville, with my two dogs and two cats- and the associated vet and feeding costs...If I didn't need to maintain all that plus the fuel and vehicle maintenance costs associated with trying to drive 200 miles each way most weekends in order to manage all the brush for fire season, and check in on my father in law, who is barely capable of taking care of the dogs and cats... He can't even do an oil change on the smallest generator, which runs the well and is the backup charger for cloudy/rainy days when winter vomes back around.

I don't even want to quit but the base pay before comissions is not quite enough, and I am worried that I won't get up to the pace of sales I'd need to be at until I've run out of reserves and can't keep up with my rent. I have had struggles with ginding an apartment- got denied at some more modestly priced places but approved at the more expensive ones, which further strains the budget...

I had started the gig under the impression that they had a bunch of requests for bids that they needed handled, but my supervisor has been handling all of those just fine, while I have been working on generating my own leads. He threw me the jobs at Stanford and Menlo because they involved sickly trees and my supervisor isn't much of a biologist. I know that I will keep building steam- I have only been at it for two weeks, but I am scared of getting locked in to a 12 month lease that I can't afford. If I get sued for almost any amount, I could lose my land. and that's all I have.

I'm just scared of losing everything if I can't turn this around almost instantly, and it's no less scary than quitting, and being once again without any income or work lined up.

Do I quit and go back to building my own one man show, possibly growing from there? Or do I cross my fingers and go become the sales guy that many people seem to think I could be?

 

[southsoundtree]

Ask for a raise to make it work out financially before quitting.

 

[data farm 26]

Hmm... Based off of what I know about you from the buzz (which could be basically nothing,) you strike me as free-spirited and independent person. I have no doubt you could be a killer salesperson, but at what cost to your freedom and independence?

I am in a similar but different position. about to start up the one man band after failing to get other endeavors off the ground. I only have a crappy hourly landscape job to compare to though, so pretty easy choice to get back into tree hustle. Can't seem to step of the ledge quite yet though...

I'd say root down on your land with your animals and FIL and get busy making your own movie again! I have been reading ask Abby all morning lol.

 

[Reach]

My first thought would be to go to your employer, and explain your situation and your feelings. Tell him how much you like what you are doing, and how much you like where you are working now, but explain your concerns about the finances and the travel, and your apartment hunting issues.

Maybe he will be able to assist, he might know a landlord, perhaps can help you with your income, or perhaps not. If you don't ask though, you'll never find out.

Up north where you are spring also hasn't quite arrived yet, so the spring rush probably hasn't hit. I suspect that when it does you will be busier, things really kicked off here the last two weeks or so, so you are probably not far behind.

 

[Matias]

I definitely planned to talk about it with my boss before making any irreversible decisions.
And you're not wrong Levi, I would rather do my own thing, but I have to work for someone else a little longer to be able to get my own contractors license. This is just a neans to an end, and not a long term plan for me. That's why I haven't tried to go work for Sean or Ryan up north; wouldn't wanna rock out right up until we had a good rhythm going together and then bail on them.

 

[southsoundtree]

Wishing you success there!



I try to take advantage of quality skills for the duration available.

 

[ATH]

A) being hungry is supposed to drive you to do better with sales...but as an arborist that's always been a little distasteful to me - I want to help people care for their trees and be motivated by that not by up selling soni can make more. But point being hungry should lead to hustle.
B) perhaps ask if you can temporarily have a higher base pay and lower commission % phasing into your current model as pre amount of time passes.
C) you said current supervisor isn't sharing jobs...are they supposed to be sharing those? Their boss may need to address that, but be careful how you approach that one. Don't want to be accusatory or a tattle...but if the structure says you should have more. Maybe "When I was hired, it was my understanding that I would have XYZ did I misunderstand that or can we work together to transition those to me?"
D) you said you are better with the biology/health stuff? Talk to your supervisor about helping on more of his accounts. He keeps the whole account, but you get commission on new PHC services.

 

[Matias]

A) being hungry is supposed to drive you to do better with sales...but as an arborist that's always been a little distasteful to me - I want to help people care for their trees and be motivated by that not by up selling soni can make more. But point being hungry should lead to hustle.
B) perhaps ask if you can temporarily have a higher base pay and lower commission % phasing into your current model as pre amount of time passes.
C) you said current supervisor isn't sharing jobs...are they supposed to be sharing those? Their boss may need to address that, but be careful how you approach that one. Don't want to be accusatory or a tattle...but if the structure says you should have more. Maybe "When I was hired, it was my understanding that I would have XYZ did I misunderstand that or can we work together to transition those to me?"
D) you said you are better with the biology/health stuff? Talk to your supervisor about helping on more of his accounts. He keeps the whole account, but you get commission on new PHC services.

A lot of echoes of thoughts that have been racing through my mind. I don't know if he's "supposed to be" sharing those jobs, but I do intend to ask, as I did get the impression during the interview there would be a little more of that. I am also worried it might just be that I am paying a bunch in taxes for use of a company truck.

 

[Serf Life]

More $$ and less physical toll could mean more energy and funds for your digs vs working extra hard at both while running a business. Different climate from you, but every winter I'm like "what exit strategy should I get going that's less phys demanding". More snow today, fuck March.