Advice: "I took a new sales job for way more money, but now I'm regretting my decision."

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Dear Quota Team, 

Long time listener, first time caller here. I’ve been in sales for almost eight years, starting right out of college. Last year, I took a new job that bumped up my pay by almost 75% from what I was making before, but also bumped up my workload by about half. 

I’m happy to make the money, but I think ever since I took this job, something has felt “off.” At first, I thought it was just the anxiety of getting used to working somewhere new, but in the last few months, I am starting to realize that I was a lot happier at my old job than I am here, despite the big pay bump. 

At the old place, I had more work-life balance, I had better relationships with my coworkers, and I felt more comfortable with the overall sales process than I do here. The current job is super corporate, and it’s basically all-out stress Monday through Friday and on weekends too.

Just wanted to run this by others. Is this normal or am I an idiot for missing a job that paid me less money? I definitely went into sales to make bank, but I’m finding out that the way I truly feel is that it can’t be only about the money. What are your thoughts?

Unfulfilled in California 

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Dear Unfulfilled,

You’re not the first sales rep to assume the grass is greener on the other side, and you won’t be the last. More money is great, and for many people, it’s the only thing that matters. For you, that’s clearly not the case, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. 

It is our humble opinion that many sales reps view things a certain way because that’s how everyone around them views them. Meaning: those who value work-life balance or how well they get along with their coworkers might disregard these factors in favor of making more money because that’s the prevailing approach among many other (more vocal) people who work in sales. 

It’s your life, and you’re not getting a do-over. You know the kind of life you want to lead much better than we do, and much better than whoever it was that convinced you that money is the only thing that matters in a job. So there’s probably a reason why you wrote in without asking any specific questions: you already know the answer yourself.

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