We are late-40s, and I think it is safe to say we are fully-FI -- about $4.5M net worth and about $110-120k cost of living before any big splurges. (Almost exactly 3% withdrawal rate once I subtract education funds and other earmarks.) I've been tempted to walk away a few times, but at the moment, don't have inspiration for how/where I'd spend my time and energy. (Of course, when you are focused on A, it is hard to make progress on B.)
I'm in sales, and I've been incredibly fortunate over the last 5 years to have some absolutely great years financially -- with a few years being over 400k and one year hitting nearly 800k on my w2. About a year and a half ago, the company I work for was acquired. My role shifted to where I was no longer directly responsible for closing deals, no longer eligible for presidents club, etc. The idea was that I would move into this role with a higher base, but lower ceiling (and supposedly lower volatility). They did not keep part of their agreement, and I never saw any increase in my base. In fact, as I reminded my boss a few weeks ago, I've only gotten a 1% bump in base pay over 3.5 years.
We just finished our fiscal year, and I squeaked out compensation of $240k, falling well below my $290k "on target earnings," as my small group of accounts underperformed across the board. However, I was more excited about this upcoming year, and even showed my boss a few days ago deals that were already cooking, with a strong projection for Q1. He even commented that it was nice to see me excited.
That excitement ended on Friday when my other boss (yes, I have two bosses) called to talk about quota. The powers above him made a switch, and cloud revenue will now be counted double what it was last year. To balance that change, my quota is being raised by 77%.
Here's the thing. In my accounts (financial services), there is very little cloud, and very little desire to purchase cloud. Last year, the accounts I cover did $200k in cloud. So doubling that this year only gets me to $400k, but this change carried a net increase of $3M in quota.
Given this new quota, and even with some nice deals already cooking for the year, it seems mathematically impossible for me to hit my number. While anything can happen, I'd likely fall 30-40% range. That would likely put me at full compensation of around $200k for the coming year.
So I find myself in an interesting spot:
* I'm no longer "hungry" for sales. No question about it. I don't want to be out there hitting it hard. I could probably talk some company into hiring me, but I would almost certainly immediately regret it.
* I think I could likely ride this current gig and make $200k for 30 hours/week. It isn't a bad role -- and the stress is medium-low. It isn't lost on me how many people would absolutely kill to be in that position. I know...I was one of them 20 years ago. It just feels completely defeating to continue on knowing that for the 3rd year in a row, I'm likely taking a pay cut and working against an unattainable goal.
* Financially, we are rock solid, but it seems like there is always one more goal I'd like to hit. Could I really be someone who walks away from a $15-20k monthly auto-deposit? Maybe -- but I'd need to be really excited about my next chapter.
* I could look internally for a new role -- and maybe find something with more upside, without the risk or learning curve of going to another company.
* I could look externally for a next chapter -- but I struggle with what exactly I'm looking for. In fact, I've pretty much told myself that there would be no next "job" -- only opportunities that I drive for the love of doing it. Maybe it is time to put serious exploration in to that.
As I mentioned, I realize how entitled this must sound. I get it, it wasn't that long ago that I was making 45-60k.
Anyone been down this road and have wisdom to offer?
Update: I wrote this on Sunday and saved as draft. As I read it this morning, I'm thinking about a few actions I can take:
* Start watching the internal job board closely.
* Spend no less than an hour/day working on my next chapter. Don't just daydream. Take some actions, setup lunches, build a plan.
* Be honest (not accusatory or rude) to my management team. Pull data and build graphs. Let them know that this change in how the beans are counted has absolutely burned any chance at success. After all, that affects them as well up the chain. I have nothing to lose.
submitted by /u/moneyminded14
[link] [comments]
I'm in sales, and I've been incredibly fortunate over the last 5 years to have some absolutely great years financially -- with a few years being over 400k and one year hitting nearly 800k on my w2. About a year and a half ago, the company I work for was acquired. My role shifted to where I was no longer directly responsible for closing deals, no longer eligible for presidents club, etc. The idea was that I would move into this role with a higher base, but lower ceiling (and supposedly lower volatility). They did not keep part of their agreement, and I never saw any increase in my base. In fact, as I reminded my boss a few weeks ago, I've only gotten a 1% bump in base pay over 3.5 years.
We just finished our fiscal year, and I squeaked out compensation of $240k, falling well below my $290k "on target earnings," as my small group of accounts underperformed across the board. However, I was more excited about this upcoming year, and even showed my boss a few days ago deals that were already cooking, with a strong projection for Q1. He even commented that it was nice to see me excited.
That excitement ended on Friday when my other boss (yes, I have two bosses) called to talk about quota. The powers above him made a switch, and cloud revenue will now be counted double what it was last year. To balance that change, my quota is being raised by 77%.
Here's the thing. In my accounts (financial services), there is very little cloud, and very little desire to purchase cloud. Last year, the accounts I cover did $200k in cloud. So doubling that this year only gets me to $400k, but this change carried a net increase of $3M in quota.
Given this new quota, and even with some nice deals already cooking for the year, it seems mathematically impossible for me to hit my number. While anything can happen, I'd likely fall 30-40% range. That would likely put me at full compensation of around $200k for the coming year.
So I find myself in an interesting spot:
* I'm no longer "hungry" for sales. No question about it. I don't want to be out there hitting it hard. I could probably talk some company into hiring me, but I would almost certainly immediately regret it.
* I think I could likely ride this current gig and make $200k for 30 hours/week. It isn't a bad role -- and the stress is medium-low. It isn't lost on me how many people would absolutely kill to be in that position. I know...I was one of them 20 years ago. It just feels completely defeating to continue on knowing that for the 3rd year in a row, I'm likely taking a pay cut and working against an unattainable goal.
* Financially, we are rock solid, but it seems like there is always one more goal I'd like to hit. Could I really be someone who walks away from a $15-20k monthly auto-deposit? Maybe -- but I'd need to be really excited about my next chapter.
* I could look internally for a new role -- and maybe find something with more upside, without the risk or learning curve of going to another company.
* I could look externally for a next chapter -- but I struggle with what exactly I'm looking for. In fact, I've pretty much told myself that there would be no next "job" -- only opportunities that I drive for the love of doing it. Maybe it is time to put serious exploration in to that.
As I mentioned, I realize how entitled this must sound. I get it, it wasn't that long ago that I was making 45-60k.
Anyone been down this road and have wisdom to offer?
Update: I wrote this on Sunday and saved as draft. As I read it this morning, I'm thinking about a few actions I can take:
* Start watching the internal job board closely.
* Spend no less than an hour/day working on my next chapter. Don't just daydream. Take some actions, setup lunches, build a plan.
* Be honest (not accusatory or rude) to my management team. Pull data and build graphs. Let them know that this change in how the beans are counted has absolutely burned any chance at success. After all, that affects them as well up the chain. I have nothing to lose.
submitted by /u/moneyminded14
[link] [comments]