Work in Life As I Know It - 2022

The new job is going well. My first day on the phones I managed to set 1 appointment. I was so excited! The guy was a real jerk and a mysoginist. Tim (my boss) ended up calling him that same evening to just introduce himself and give him a couple of videos to watch before their appointment. They ended up talking for 2 hours. He agreed the guy was an ass. But its a 500,000 home and the guy agreed to hire Tim. Tim just needs to get the paperwork signed.

Tim lives in Sunny Isles, FL. The house to be listed is in Gaithersburg, MD. So what happens in that case is he has one of his team members who is a licensed agent up here in the Frederick/Montgomery County area to physically go to the client and get paperwork signed. Once I get my license, I’ll be able to assist with showing houses and getting paperwork signed.

My job now is to set up appointments for Tim, or in the MD area its Casey, to go and list the homes. I’m basically “pre-selling”. If I can get people to set an appointment, 9 times out of 10 they will sign on with us. So the job is important.

Right now I’m getting paid $12/hour plus bonuses for each appointment. The first appointment of the week I get $50. Second appointment I get another $50. Third one I get $100. Fourth one I get another $100. On the off chance I get more then that, the bonus would increase. However its rare to get more then 3. 3 is our goal.

I’ve told Tim what a shitty financial bind we’re in because my last boss, Blaine, really screwed us over. We had given Blaine a months notice. 2 1/2 weeks before our end date, he fired us. Just out of pettiness. We were counting on that last paycheck to keep us afloat. Now we’re seriously struggling financially. Pat hasn’t gotten paid for a full pay week yet. He had gotten a one week pay on Friday. A whopping $400. Which was spent before we even got it because we had to pay $250 on a water bill (Which was $500!!!!) and we had car insurance to pay. Which left us like $75 for food and gas to last us 2 weeks, which obviously didn’t happen! We’re going to end up having to go out and do UberEats at least 1 days this week just to put some food on the table. Unfortunately though that uses up gas, and we never make enough to put gas in the car AND eat. So its a conundrum as to what to do. I don’t get my first pay until the 1st. And he doesn’t get another pay until the 2nd.

So anyway, back to my pay stuff. Originally I was supposed to get $12/hour plus the bonuses for the first 90 days and then I’d get bumped up to $15/hour plus commissions instead of bonuses. That would be 5% of the gross commission on each sale. On this 500,000 house for example, I’d get $625 when it sales if I was on commission rather then bonuses.

After telling Tim how bad the financial situation was, he said “Jen, I’ll tell you what. I know that you’re going to be one of the best ISA’s that we’ve had. I’ve seen your raw talent. We just need to get you trained up a little more. You’re doing such a good job and I’ve seen the hunger in you to succeed. So here’s what I’m going to do for you. Once we get you trained up to the point that you are able to consistently set 3 appointments/week, I’ll bump you up to the $15/hour plus commissions, and I’ll make the commissions retroactive on ALL sales from the time you started.” WOAH!!!!! Thats a big deal!!!!!!!

Commission don’t get paid until the property closes which is to be expected. That can take up to 90 days. Thats what will happen once I get my license and I’m prepared for that to happen. But until he bumps up my rate of pay, I’ll still be getting the bonuses!

It feels good to know that he has so much confidence in me. I was really pretty shocked that he felt that I have the potential to be one of their best ISA’s. That really inspires me to learn and get good as fast as possible. It’s not going to get me out of my current financial crises but its really going to be good in the long run.

He had me write out my ultimate goal in life. To be very specific with my goal. Know what mine is?

To have $1 million in the bank in 5 years.

I thought he’d laugh. I don’t know how unrealistic that is. But he looked me straight in the face and told me “That is extremely do-able, especially when setting Florida appointments.” Florida property is EXPENSIVE. Especially in the Miami-Dade area. He recently sold a condo in one of the Trump buildings for $2 million!!! He gets 3% commission off that. Had I set that appointment, I’d have gotten $3000!!!!! I’ll take it!!!

I need to come up with $1500 (at least) to get my licensing and board fees. That includes the class which is $386. PLUS we need to come up with at least $5000 to get us moved to Virginia. Virginia has reciprocity for Maryland realtors. Meaning I won’t have to get licensed again there. (Though I can and probably will once my renewal comes up). I just need to pay the VA board fees. Which is another $700 give or take.

Right now though our main need is food and gas for the next week until we get paid. Dad can help out a little bit but we feel weird taking money from him.

Anyway, I’m super excited about the possibilities ahead. I just need to keep my head down and learn as much as I can and stay focused.