Supply always comes on the heels of demand.
- Robert Collier -
I hate Sydney; it's too crowded, noisy and far too, "big-city," for a small-town country boy like me. Make no mistakes, it's a beautiful and vibrant city with so many things to do and I love visiting, staying three or four days and leaving...I just couldn't live there and am not inclined to work there...but that's my reality at the moment...potentially at least.
I work for a national trucking, shipping and logistics company at management level and do a reasonable job; I'm reliable, work unsupervised and get the job done. In fact, the State Manager is whinging at the moment as I've recently brought in accounts that apply supply-pressure to vehicle fleet. It's all good though, I'm salaried with a commission structure so I just keep pushing on it to gain the accounts - it's up to the operations team to deal with the aftermath of my efforts.
I'm happy working in my own State as I know it well, understand the transport corridors, drive-times and the people I deal with - and get really great results - but I got a call today.
The directive, hidden by a thin vail of choice and framed in a questioning manner, left little room for choice in reality; they want me to head over to Sydney to drive sales for a little while and I'm less than enthused.
I'd half-expected this to come along based upon the results I've gained here, and with plans to double revenue in Sydney it makes sense to send me there to kick a few doors down and generate some accounts to drive revenue.
I have a solid and proven track record of results and they know what they'll get. So the, "question," was asked and there's not really a good reason to say no. I'm a team-player and whilst I'm not all that keen to move up the ladder, it wouldn't reflect well on me if I was to opt out when they called upon my expertise. Besides, I like the State Manager in Sydney and if I can help him out a little I'm happy to do so. I just don't relish the idea of working in Sydney which has a population of about six million people and a traffic situation that is certain to drive me fucken bonkers in the first ten minutes I'm there.
There's a distinct difference between people across Australia; it's such a vast country that each State tends to have its ways, mannerisms, and even accents and sayings and being born and bred here in South Australia means I understand my own State well - it helps me do what I do more effectively. Those bloody Sydneysiders are bonkers though, and dealing with them will be different. Having said that, the accounts I gain there could, and in all likelihood will, be very lucrative for my personal budget and it's feasible I'd add millions of dollars to the company's revenue in the time I'm there based on ongoing accounts I won. If I was making the decision I'd send me, so I understand their thoughts on the matter.
Here's the thing, they have been trying to recruit for my role over in Sydney [and Melbourne] for almost six months and have been unsuccessful.
Candidates have been few and those who have come along are unsuited - No, having seen a truck once in your life doesn't qualify you for the role. There's been some nutbag applicants for sure! It really isn't an easy job at all and some skills are required.
I wondered if it's a remuneration thing but the salary is extremely healthy as is the commission structure providing a very solid OTE [overall total earnings potential.] With Sydney being such a vast metropolis, all run on the back of trucking and transport, it doesn't make a lot of sense that they cannot find anyone due to the remuneration and so there must be another reason. It's interesting to note here that since the pandemic situation when the government handed out money to people for staying home, it's been difficult to find good employees.
It'll be good for me, even though I'll hate it, as the revenue generated from the accounts I gain there all goes against my budget and that means additional commissions. But...Sydney? What the bloody fuck, I hate that place. #WTBF
It's undetermined if I'll have to go just yet although it's looking like I will. If it happens it'll be in the next couple weeks or so and I'll have scant notice; it'll take some shuffling here at home as I have a lot going on right now, but I'll make it work. They'll have to get me some Sydney-oriented business cards and all but otherwise it's a simple matter of getting on a plane, picking up my company car in Sydney and cracking on with the door-kicking.
Have you ever had to travel for work?
I know some who travel regularly, in fact some who live here in Adelaide and fly to Melbourne and back daily as it's only a forty five minute flight each way. I'm not keen on that, but have travelled for work quite a bit. If you travel for work, or have in the past, did you enjoy it or hate it? If you don't travel for work, do you think you'd like to if given the chance? Feel free to comment below and left me know.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
I took the image in this post today.
