The Life of a Door-to-Door Salesman

Taylor and I are in Chicago this summer doing door-to-door sales. I decided I wanted to sell with him mainly because I didn't want to find some minimum wage job just for four months. I never thought I would do door-to-door sales, but I also had just a slight curiosity of what it would be like. Well, now I know :) Here is what it's like, the good and bad.

At the beginning of summer, each night after selling we stopped at a gas station to get a treat. If I didn't sell anything that day, then Taylor would tell me to get a treat to help make me feel better. If I did sell that day, then it was because I deserved it. My treat of choice was usually a cosmic brownie, but that soon had to come to an end :)

It's been strange for me to see that most people don't realize door-to-door salesman are real people. It's almost like we are some different type of person and it's completely acceptable to be as rude and disrespectful as you would like. I hate that. People are rude and act like I am the biggest nuisance to them because I knock on their door and take 30 seconds of their time. I often times just think to myself, "If they knew me personally, or if they knew that I was out here to just try to get a little ahead in life and to pay for Taylor's school, then they would treat me like a normal person." But because I'm a "salesman" that "gives" them the right to be as rude as they would like. 

I have to wear a shirt that is made for a man. That means my sleeves end at my elbows. I am also out knocking in the hot sun everyday, so I have a very noticeable tan line whenever I wear any of my normal shirts (ones that are made for women).

I get to spend all my time with Taylor! We now live and work together. So we are together all the time. After spending our entire dating days living in different states, we are loving all the time we get together.

For me, if I get one sale a day then it's a good day. I often go out with a prayer in my heart and ask the Lord to help guide me to just one person who is in need of our service. A few days the Lord has answered that prayer within the first couple of hours, but most days he likes to wait until the very end of the night. Last month there was a day where I hadn't sold any and was done for the day. Taylor came and picked me up early, but when I got to the car, I decided I better knock for another 20 minutes. Right when 20 minutes was up, I knocked on a guy's door and he was probably the easiest sale I have ever made. The next day was the exact same story. After what had happened to me the day before I decided to knock until the end and again sold my very last door. Simple things like that are little testimony builders to me that the Lord is watching over me and that if I work hard and do my best, then it will pay off.

We don't have a tv, so whenever there is a sports game on that we need to watch, we drive 2 miles to the Buffalo Wild Wings. One week we were there 3 out of the 7 days.

Being away from family has made me really appreciate and miss them so much, both mine and Taylor's family. We are missing them so much and can't wait to get back so we can all play again.  I think being away from everyone has been the hardest thing for me out here.

However, I do also think it has been one of the best things for me too. Now I have a husband, and being away from family has really made us learn to rely on each other. I have learned that I can turn to Taylor for support when I need it and I know Taylor is always working to do what is best for the both of us.

Being away also means I get super fun packages in the mail :)

The rain this year has been the biggest love/hate relationship for me. I love that I don't have to knock, but I hate that I can't make money when it's raining. 

On our little time off, we are able to go explore all the great things Chicago has to offer. 

After this summer I don't think I will ever want another peanut butter and jam or honey sandwich ever again. Taylor and I eat them every day for lunch because they are the only thing I can think of that was stay good if it sits in the hot car all morning. 

It's technically illegal to go door-to-door with out a solicitors permit. However, nobody buys those permits. It would end up costing each individual rep. thousands of dollars if they got a permit for every neighborhood they knocked, so everyone goes without. Most of the time nobody cares, but every once in awhile you get the cops called on you. Usually the cops don't care, quite frankly most of them hate that they get called out for such a petty thing. They just tell you that you better leave that area for the day. Except one cop in Elgin. I usually like cops and never say bad things about them, but this cop that pulled me over made me want to call him bad names. He was the rudest guy I have ever met and was doing everything he could to scare me and it worked. As soon as I finished talking to him, I got in the car and just started bawling.

Coming out here I knew I wasn't going to be able to walk at my college graduation and I was perfectly fine by that. I didn't think it matter at all. Except when the day came, that was the only thing I wanted to be doing. I wanted to be back in Logan, walking across the stage and feeling so accomplished and have everyone proud of me. So when that day came I was kind of having a hard time. My family was so sweet though and sent me this picture letting me know they were thinking of me and that they were proud. 

I have a long list of people's houses I want to egg at the end of summer. I also have a list of people who were so unexpectedly sweet to me, that if I ever become wealthy, I'm going back to those houses and giving them a portion of my money. 

This job gets kind of monotonous. By monday I'm dreaming about the weekend. We have a team meeting at 10, leave the apartment by 11, get to our area at 12, knock until 2:30, take a break until 4, knock until 9, get home at 10, eat, go to sleep and repeat. 

We love our church ward out here. Everyone is so sweet and friendly. I think part of that is because it's so diverse, but also because not many people have family out here, so they turn to the ward for support. I've also noticed that most people in the ward are converts, which is something I'm not used to. It's been neat to hear all their stories and get their perspective on the church. 

We've had a great summer with a lot of fun experiences, but we are now getting so excited to move back to Logan!!!