Strength to Sell Ties

In order to achieve a goal, we must take steps forward to reach it. Sometimes we see it right in front of us, but other times have to believe and trust that it is really there. Like a finish line off in the distance, we find the strength to continue in its known direction.

But during the race towards accomplishment, factors like desire can change a course or the goal itself. So where do we find the confidence and direction to take several steps back in order to move forward towards something new? Where do we find the strength?

When I graduated from college, my first full-time job was in retail management in Atlanta. It didn’t take me long to realize that it wasn’t a good fit for me. There were some aspects I enjoyed like working with the public and discounts on the store’s merchandise, but others that grew tiresome, like running around nonstop during the Christmas season.

After a few years, I decided it was time to move forward, and so I went to graduate school to get my Masters in Business. I was very career driven at the time and wanted to be the next Donald Trump, only with a better haircut and less of a sour look on my face.

My first job out of graduate school was as a marketing manager for a uniform company in Chicago. I analyzed sales numbers, worked with designers on new products and created layouts for catalogs. My retail experience had definitely helped me in this new position, but I preferred my desk job.

Then one day I decided that what I really wanted to do was move to New York City and study writing. I couldn’t afford to go to school full time, and planned on continuing to work in a corporate environment while I went to classes at night.

The problem with that plan was that I hadn’t foreseen the competitive or volatile nature of New York’s job market. After a year of temporary positions as a caterer and administrative assistant, and watching my life savings dwindle down to nothing, I had to make a decision. My choices were to move and give up on the dream, or take any full-time job I could find to pay the rent.

I found myself selling ties at Ralph Lauren in the lowest part of the store known as, “the pit.” It was a humbling experience for me to move from a corporate desk job back to retail sales. My masters in business I’d worked so hard to attain meant nothing to customers, who were only interested in how fast I could ring up and gift wrap their purchases.

I constantly worried what my friends from graduate school would think of me. Did they see me as a failure for falling down a level on the career ladder? Would they understand that I was taking a step backwards to somewhere I’d been before because I wanted to move forward in another direction?

I shouldn’t have cared what other people thought. But at the time, I didn’t have the strength. My fears had gotten the best of me, and every day as I walked down the stairs into the tie pit, I counted the seconds until I could walk back up.

But those long, hard days eventually paid off. For one, selling ties in New York City was a lot more profitable than I’d expected. To this day, it is the largest annual salary I have ever drawn at any job, even my corporate one.

Another advantage was the hours. When I left the store at the end of the day, I left behind all of the worked involved with it. I wasn’t expected to stay until my boss departed, or asked to put in a fifty or sixty hour workweek. This made my evenings free to take writing classes, which is why I’d moved to New York City in the first place.

To be clear, I by no means felt that selling ties was beneath me. My inner conflict stemmed from thinking that I had gone back to somewhere I’d been before instead of moving forward. But through time, I realized that I was merely changing courses to head in the direction of new goals.

A career path for some might be very cut and dry. But for others, it is a long, bumpy ride with many detours. By using the experiences of our past, we will be better equipped to handle the future. By focusing on our new goals and direction, we will find strength.