I’m an engineer, in Sales Support, and the most successful sales people I know have so much free time they don’t know what to do with it all. It’s the not very productive ones who work so hard just to barely make a quota that they have no life beyond work. The good ones, the ones who are truly talented and smart, are found on the golf course on Monday afternoon, skiing on Friday morning, taking a huge long lunch on Wednesday, and cramming in a tough 6 hour day at the office or on calls the rest of the week. They make Presidents Club every year and blow out their numbers and take home $300 to $500K on average.

The ones who are average at their jobs put in 60 hour weeks just to keep from getting fired for not making their quota. I don’t begrudge good sales reps one bit for the money they make, and I don’t fall into the trap of thinking that all the successful ones are sleazy, dishonest slime balls who would say anything to make a buck. They’re not! Sure there are some to be found, but no more so than those people occupy the ranks of realtors, lawyers, doctors, police, government or other industries.

If you want to make well into the 6 figures, you don’t need an MBA, you don’t need to have a rich father. Just get into sales and learn how to be succesful working for a good company with an in demand product. Whether that product is a house, a big computer, or an artificial hip, doesn’t make much difference.