I don't actually play the Lottery, which improves my odds of winning...or so I'm told. But I certainly like to dream about how my life would be different if I did indeed win.
I suppose I'm searching for some type of release...this endless daydreaming. I frequently coddle myself and think that I have worked Harder than the Average Bear. The truth is that I have been greatly blessed in my life.
I'm not an embalmer. I don't work in a slaughterhouse. I'm not a prison guard and I will never work in a paper mill. These are tough jobs that require hard work day after day after day.
My path in life has been to work in sales management. I've been doing this for 15 years straight. The upside is that one can be compensated very well if one is sales savvy. (My reps at a former company earned $150,000-$200,000 yearly for about 5 hours of work a day. None of them had a college degree. They were arrogant, ostentatious and acted like prima dona's. They got away with murder because they generated the revenue. They sold print advertising and were hated by the editorial staff, the production crew and the admin team. Oh, their Ad Director hated them too. (That was me.) Which is why I quit and took a sabbatical to recover from the idiocy that pelted me every day while I had that job. The payouts were so high and the effort on the reps' part was so low...it began to feel immoral. But the reps stayed on and continue to earn ridiculous amounts of money, even to this day.)
Despite the upside, sales is difficult. Every day, you are only as good as the number that you produce.
- You exceeded your targets last month? Terrific. Now exceed that number by 10% this month.
- You missed your targets during the summer season? Here is a warning that your position is at risk. The company depends on You to generate the revenue to keep operating/growing/ expanding/amassing cash.
- Fulfillment is operating at 75%? We need more sales to make up the difference. You must generate 1500 additional sales this month in the remaining two weeks.
- The competition has dropped their price point by 25%? Too bad. Sell value.
- Customers yell at you because our service record is below 60%? It's all a Numbers Game. Keep selling.
So, to help me get through this fire-drill existence, I daydream about winning the lottery. I meticulously plan how I would spend the moola.
- Tithing is automatic. We love our church and eagerly support their good works.
- $350,000 would go to a pastor in Northern California. He is a wonderful person with 3 children...and he just lost his wife to breast cancer. He has never owned his own home and I would love to see him be able to buy one.
- The current home we own would be sold and we would move to Carmel...an artist's heaven. I would stay home and raise our two adopted kidlets. My husband could paint all day long and never earn another nickel. I could buy my goats, get two dogs and attempt to write a book.
- I would develop several community services for children across the country. Free art classes, free theater classes, free books from a book mobile and free coats for the winter season.
- My (blind) sister's mortgage would be paid outright.
- We would make anonymous gifts to people who are helping others...or need some extra cash to just make it through a difficult time.
And that's about it. No fancy cars, no flat screen anything, no minerals for my ears, neck or wrist. Just the freedom of spending time where and how we want. Plus a little work on the side to help others' lives a little better, a little more secure.
