Being Great At Your Job Won’t Save It

There’s a myth
in society
that doing a great job,
that caring,
that working really hard
for an employer
will give us
job security.

I don’t think
that myth EVER reflected reality
but it certainly
doesn’t reflect reality today.

As we discussed yesterday,
salespeople are losing their jobs
because they are landing huge deals,
because they are doing their jobs
TOO well.

Doing our jobs terribly
will likely result
in being let go also.

As would doing our jobs not stellar,
not terribly,
but just well enough.

There is NO job security.

We should assume
we’re daily workers.

Negotiate for the highest
base salary we can.
Use the benefits immediately.
Do the things we want to do
through the employer
as soon as possible.

Save, if we can,
for the jobless days ahead of us.
Invest in financial vehicles,
in our own side businesses,
in ourselves.

Have an identity outside of the job.

Put YOURSELF first,
far ahead of your employer.

We no longer have job security
through an employer.

But we CAN have life security.
Focus on achieving THAT goal.

Small Deals Matter

A salesperson loved one
works for a HUGE tech company.
He regularly works on
million dollar deals.

He hustled to close
a two thousand dollar deal
last week.

Why did he care
about that tiny deal?

It might lead
to a larger deal
in the future.

But most importantly,
it puts him ‘on the board.’

When staff-reduction-focused
management asks for a list
of all the salespeople
who didn’t close a deal
this month,
his name won’t appear
on that list.

Of course, he is continuing
to work on the big deals.
But he has closed A deal
and that might save his job.

Chase the big deals
but close A deal
this month.