How well do you know yourself?

When I was 20 years old, I applied for a role as #Financial #advisor, I had no idea what that entailed. It was one hour away from where I lived and it was #commission only. I had no driving #licence but my #hiring #manager happened to live in the same town as me. His name was Khosrow Farzad. He was older than me, almost a father #figure. He would drive near by my house and I would get a ride from him to the #offices. He trained me in all #areas of #soft skills. My #interview #techniques, how to #sell. What to say and what to #avoid. I went on many #courses and passed #tests and I #qualified to sell #pensions, #life #insurance and #savings #plans. There I #learned how to budget and how to put #Financial #Portfolios together. I learned how to get quotes. Cold calling and dropping off leaflets, going down to the #library and getting a list of #households per street name. Doing #campaigns. I attended many #seminars where someone always gave me a lift. I was given standard #scripts to #practise getting #right over the #phone but I was not very #successful. Then one day I decided to try a different technique. Instead of sticking the #standard #script, I called and asked whether they had received a blue and white #Pamphlet through the post. I said I #understand if you have thrown it away but I need to #ensure the job has been done so would you mind letting me know? They asked me what it looked like. I said it was a blue and white and it had the title of #Mortgage Cost reduction. that was the hook. This line of mine really worked so I put it in to action and before I knew it I was so busy attending client #meetings and #overwhelmed by the amount of work I had to do, I ended up sleeping on the #train one night. I got 11 referrals per client. They saw me as someone who was there to actually help them. I would say things like " No you do not need any more life cover as you have #plenty" #Greed was not driving me, the life insurance would have give me much more in commission. We needed to earn what they called pips it was a #standards of #measurement the #company set for every policy had it's own #definition. But when I ended up putting myself at #risk and this was brought to the #attention of my line manager, He called me in his office and said, Zahra look you have not been #earning that much, you would be #better off working in a post office. Needless did he know that my 11 #referrals per #clients were in the #pipeline. I took his advice and left. I did not stand and argue for I knew that my drive had #resulted in that night on the train. It was a cold #winter night and I had missed the last train #home and if it had not been for that #security guard in the train station who unlocked one of the train cabins and allowed me to take shelter I honestly don't know what would have become of me. Would I still be here to tell this story? I did many jobs after that awaiting to go to #University. I worked in a fish and chip shop after that and serving my clients I had only seen yesterday was a very hard pill to swallow. That is where I learnt about #humility, I worked in offices but that did not last very long as I had not taken my #homework #seriously enough so I was asked to leave there too. I worked in a shoe shop and I worked for Dixons an #Electrical store, I left there to attend #university and I tried to keep that job as a Saturday job but the #students in my dig were so loud coming back on a Friday night form the student union I struggled to keep to be well enough to go to that job so I left that too so I worked all summer as a #nurse to reduce my student loans. Until I graduated from university after #acquiring my Chemistry Hons degree, I decided to become a project manager and I looked in to the various routes. You see I had sat an aptitude test prior to that where I scored highly on #Management #Consultancy but looking in to that a #lifetime of living out of suitcases was not one I wanted. At 28 time was not on my side so #travelling was out of the question. So I decided to get my head down and look for #employment. Shortly after graduating I met my husband and a series of events brought us closer together. I was trapped in to a life of mortgages and #paying off #debts before I knew it until I decided I had built enough reserve to have one of my own. That Financial #planning came in really handy and I #knew that as long as I have a #duty of #care towards someone I could never go self employed. Now he is older I can now take on not just working for myself but I am looking to #lead others in #helping them #achieve their #dreams. I want you all to find that #happy home.