Seriously! Avoid becoming a car salesman. Stay away from the idea like a plague. When I first started in 2012, I was excited. I thought such a job would embolden me, and give fresh start to becoming self-employed or an entrepreneur. The reality after four months, couldn’t be further from the truth. In conclusion, I believe big car dealers are nothing more than slime-ball marketers, and snake-oil salesmen. It murdered my ambitions and soul and caused me to lose faith in humanity. What an epic FAIL! This blog went off-line, and sat in limbo for a while.
I went back to school at Southern Utah University and now I’m starting out fresh again. It’s 2014, and I’ve been able to build my network to over 100,000 people on social networks like Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr. I’m first and foremost a photographer but not much of a blogger. I want to change that and write daily. I don’t want to give my thunder to the social networks and I sure as hell don’t want them to OWNING ME. My content belongs on an independent site.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; They are all good for professional marketing and building a brand but they are also just tools. You should not rely on them to be a content management system. Social networks aren’t in the charity biz, and they will OWN YOU eventually if you don’t break away and do your own thang.
Take my advice and put ALL OF YOUR STUFF on an independent site of your own. Utilize the social networks for your marketing. Don’t be addicted to them. Learn how to use them to your advantage in marketing. I’m doing this as I move along, and I’m learning.
In closing, the photo above was shot with an old iPhone 4s at the Stephen Wade Honda Dealer in St. George, Utah, in 2012. These poor saps (salesmen) are shooting the breeze right before closing time. It’s a terrible memory. We dubbed Stephen Wade’s dealership, Thieving Wade, not because of what happened to unsuspecting customers but what happened to the car salesmen, themselves; We literally had to dispute our paychecks with the human resources department every pay-period over earned commissions, etc! To every desert rat out there, stay away from car sales.
Pretty interesting read! : )
I think it’s also important to point out what a good lesson you learned from that experience! Every failure is one step closer to success. I think being a car salesman probably motivated you to do something so you wouldn’t have to sell cars much longer!