Then and Now

Just not too long ago, I closed sales from as little as RM450k to slightly more than RM18m a year; I dealt with all levels of people from the Business Managers, to IT Directors to bank owners; I have accumulated enough flying and hotel points that I got to stay at the same room every time I checked into the hotel of my choice; I never have to worry about entertainment expenses whenever I was traveling on business; I enjoyed making decisions on strategies in winning sales; I enjoyed my jobs for the past years.

Just a week ago, just when I got a little excited about the prospect of revisiting one of my favorite cities, Bangkok, with this new job, I was bogged down by chores of checking hotel rates, applying AND justifying for an expenses advance for a mere additional RM500, then took a budget flight arriving at the hotel at 2.30am local time.

Just yesterday, I was told I should’ve made notes when attending conferences even though the presentation notes/slides were expected to be distributed; how to make myself ‘current’; and my boss made a call in the middle of the sales meeting to a principle in Singapore just to verify if what I’ve reported was true; suggested some ideas in making appointments with prospects; then another fella seized the opportunity and commented about time management; and wrapped up the 2-hour meeting by deciding to hire a junior sales exec which I planned to reject.

Life’s a bitch!

The camera I brought along probably saved my sanity.