Graduated in 2024 with a major in Music Production & Engineering. Principal instrument: saxophone.
Position: Financial Salesperson. Tom works for Getty Advance, which provides private loans to businesses. In this commission-based sales, job, Tom reaches out via telephone to small businesses who may need a short-term loan and need it quickly. In a good week he’ll put together two or three deals for loans.
Overview: Tom’s big goal in life is to run his own recording studio. But he’d put himself through college selling things, and he figures the best way to achieve this dream is to earn enough money elsewhere to make it happen. Both before and after graduation he sold solar panels door-to-door, which often included financing options. But ultimately he grew tired of this job and wanted something better. He got an apartment in NYC, then left that job in late October 2024 and spend the next six months or so traveling, working short term in various places.
By the spring of 2024 Tom had settled in New York and started applying for various sales jobs on Indeed. He was pleasantly surprised to hear back from his current company so quickly, and was hired into his current position within a month.
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You can see Tom’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “I enjoy sales–it’s like mental gymnastics. You’re forced to talk to people, be good in uncomfortable situations.”
“In sales, it’s very helpful to have a routine. You do the same type of thing for the same amount of time every day, so when you measure what you got out of it you have a control variable….Sales is a brutal skill to learn, a useful skill to have. The returns you get, it’s like learning music. Based on fundamental principles you develop and apply. There’s also an overwhelming amount of rejection. Learn to not attach your ego to those nos and that separates a great salesperson from a mediocre one.”
“At my job, if you don’t perform you get cut. At Berklee, it was very similar. You have to deliver. So I went into my job knowing how that works.”
Many things don’t go as planned. Take opportunities when they appear in front of you, even if they’re off the path you envisioned, will lead you to be happer and have an easier time, at least financially. It’s scary, it’s hard, you’ll fall on your face and feel overwhelmed, but everyone who tries to figure it out will, it’s just a matter of time.
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