Updated March 8th 2023, from my home in Auckland, New Zealand.
Answering the question, “Will I enjoy doing a job that is exclusively sales?“
1 month ago I started a short 3 month contract at a New Zealand start up I’m a massive fan of called Banqer. They’ve built a website to help primary school and high school students become more financially literate. This includes teaching them about how to open bank accounts, how to take out a student loan, how to write a CV, how to have a career, how to set a budget, how to decide which insurance is suitable and how to invest in stocks. My reaction when I first saw the platform was, “I can’t believe this exists!”
Given my background in education startups and massive interest in personal finance, I was really excited to help out. As a business development rep, it’s the first sales role I’ve ever tried, where the work is exclusively sales. I’ve had some friends who have told me over the years that I could be very good at it. Until 1 month ago, I had ignored those friends. 1 month later, I’m so glad I finally decided to listen.
From knowing nothing about the company to one month later managing the sales pipeline of the company’s flagship product for all of New Zealand, it’s been an exciting ride so far. As it’s a contract, I’m not working full time hours. So I’ve managed to accomplish this doing around 30hrs a week.
The amount of ownership over the role I’ve been given in such a short amount of time says a lot about the quality of the people I’m working with at Banqer who have helped me succeed since starting this contract.
Alas, the contract is coming to an end at the end of April and unfortunately there’s no further work available. The main reason for this is because I’m based in Auckland and they are in Christchurch (they really want someone who can work in the office and I’m not willing to move from beautiful Auckland! I’m originally from Melbourne and have lived in Auckland for 3.5yrs. My partner and I live in the city and don’t have any family here, so our Auckland friends are all we have. To move to a different part of New Zealand would be…like moving countries.)
The reason I took this job was because I wanted to answer the question, ‘will I enjoy doing a job which is exclusively sales?’ The answer, to my surprise, is a categorical yes. I’ve absolutely loved it. I’m pretty excited to see if I can make an impact by taking on a full time job in sales somewhere else.
The search begins!
Clevedon Village Farmers Market
Other than Matakana Market, this has to be the best food market in Auckland. My partner and I drove down to Clevedon last weekend and this time (our second time at the market) we didn’t make the mistake of arriving halfway through. Instead, we arrived right on the start time and pretty much had the place to ourselves for a little while. It was awesome.
I love discovering the stories behind the things I buy. When there isn’t a line of people, there is time to hear these stories. I bought some blueberries, some organic lettuce and a baguette. Yep, I went all out.
The market is on every Sunday from 8am-1pm. But seriously, rock up at 8 and the experience will be 10x better.
There is also a craft market in the township of Clevedon that you can visit after the Village Farmers Market. Resist the temptation to stop in the town before you go to the farmers market. The farmers market gets really busy really quickly. The town has some cool shops, to explore afterwards.
Clevedon is so close to Auckland City, yet it feels like a million miles away. Will be back soon to rewrite the definition of going all out.
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