I have a job?

As I said a couple of posts ago, in my search for a job, I'd leave no stone unturned. Well, it looks like that may have paid off, in the most unlikely of ways. Kind of.

Via the online Penn alumni directory, I got in touch with a guy who runs a digital agency that develops fully integrated website solutions for businesses. What does that mean? Think of everything that goes into a website. Not just what consumers see, which any agency and their mother can design these days, but all the stuff you don't see, the unglamorous, technical stuff to which many give lip service but few deliver: capturing data, generating traffic, tracking consumers' interactions with the site, building customer and prospect databases, etc. This guy's company does it all.

I thought I was going in for a simple informational interview. I left with a job... in the loosest sense of the word.

You see, this guy needs someone to generate new business. And based on our 90-minute meeting, he came to the conclusion that I could help him do that. How? I don't know; there's still a ton I need to learn about the agency's resources and capabilities. And, oh yeah, I've never actually been in sales before. So there's that.

There's got to be a catch, right? Yeah, there is: there's no base salary. That's right! At least to start, payment for this job is 100% based on commission. Now granted, I only would need to bring in four or five customers to this agency each year to be making good money. But when you're asking a new customer -- in this economy, no less -- to invest something in the six-figure range for a new/updated website, generating even that much business is a pretty big ask. So that's a bit shitty.

Why do it then? Because it's completely non-committal, with zero risk. I'll be committed to making this "job" work, yes. I'll have to take some time to try to learn the ropes, yes. And I'll definitely be trying to make some sales, yes. But at the same time, I have complete freedom to continue to search for work. In fact, that was the owner's selling point: You're currently searching for work at home. Why don't you start to do that from my office, and at the same time, I'll show you what we do here. If you like it and make some sales, great. If you don't, or you find something else you'd rather do, you're free to move on. What's the downside for me in that pitch??? I thought about it for a day, and I couldn't think of one.

When contemplating jobs I'd like to do, something like this would be far from the top of the list. But this is a no-lose situation? I try something new and see if I like it. If I do, great! And if I don't, I lose nothing. I start on Monday. And who knows? Maybe this will be the start of something new and great.