Did you hit you dream income goal? What happened next?

For some reason I keep seeing stories about how when people finally hit the dream income goal they realized they are not happy......as a way to say you need to have modest goals or what ever.....



I wanted to hit $120,000 annual income for a long time.


2 years ago I blew it away and made $150K


now I have a base of $130K and OTE of $260K


When i hit $120K I was fucking PUMPED!


like i knew a huge goal of mine had been accomplished.


I was living the life I dreamed of and so many prior issues in life went away. (of course life still isnt perfect)


AND I WAS HAPPY! i DIDNT have this sinking feeling like I had been lied to.


I felt like I fucking crushed it!


anyone else feel this way? or did you feel lost because you realized you were not happy even with accomplishing a huge goal?

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24
washedD1soccer
Politicker
3
Regional Sales Manager
For me, I was happy for about a day. I think people, including myself, tend to focus on that goal metric and not envision what our life will look like when the goal is reached, good or bad. I have had to switch gears from monetary goals to different priorities like how much time I will be able to spend with family (because Iโ€™m not worrying about money) or where I can live to give my kids the best shot at a happy childhood. For me, money is the most exciting goal yet least satisfying on its own.

Another example, when I achieved a sports goal I had spent most of my life at that point trying to achieve, it felt great for about 2 days and then I realized I had never thought about what came after or how my life would be different. I quickly realized I was miserable and hated the very sport that my long-term goal was anchored to. I think everyone who played sports will understand that athletes tie up their identity into their status as an athlete. Eventually you walk away from sports and realize that your main athletic goals arenโ€™t going to determine you as a success or failure in life. I think itโ€™s similar for sales.
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
so this is a good distinction. knowing what life will look like is the real goal. Money just gets you there.ย 

but its kinda the easiest thing to measure.ย 

why were you happy for a day?ย 

When I was in a commission only role i felt that all the time. As soon as i reached a new high I was almost get depressed because I know i had to do all that work all over again hahah.ย 

maybe the most satisfying thing was when I hit a BASE of $120K +. I knew from here on out everything was just a crazy bonus.ย 
countingmyinterest
Politicker
3
Account Executive
Not yet, I want to make $1m a year at some point in my life. I'm far away but I know it's doable.ย 
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
do you want to do that purely from your AE job? or from a combo of different sources?
countingmyinterest
Politicker
2
Account Executive
No, combination of sources. For me to do $1m in W2 comp, I'd be paying up the ass in taxes.ย 
ruca1213
Contributor
0
Regional Sales Director
Let me know how you envision doing that- thatโ€™s my goal too.
countingmyinterest
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Real estate investments + digital product sales + W2 is a good start!

With real estate, it's not unfathomable to hit $1m in a few yearsย 
ruca1213
Contributor
0
Regional Sales Director
great stuff thank you!!

if you had liquid cash would you invest in stock market, or save and invest in real estate first?
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
3
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
I want to make $420k a year at a typical role to be a catalyst to dump most of it into investments.

I will eventually quit said role if I can achieve $200k a year passively and with no debt in my personal life. Iโ€™ll still make an income off hobby hustles but itโ€™ll be carefree at that point.
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
love the sound of this!
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
๐ŸฆŠ
You have any hobby hustles now?ย 
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
2
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
A beer bus, b-stock/trinkets on eBay, and photography. Would love to be more in the consultancy space as well because thatโ€™s just getting paid for advice.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
๐ŸฆŠ
You had me at beer bus.
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
I want to know more about the beer bus.ย 
fuzzy
Notable Contributor
5
CMO (Chief Meme Officer)
Itโ€™s a 65 Ford Falcon TravelWagon converted to hold a beer fridge system with 6 taps + a soft serve ice cream machine so I can serve ciders over dole whip
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
๐ŸฆŠ
I want to go to there.
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
hahah omg this is an incredible idea!ย 
ruca1213
Contributor
0
Regional Sales Director
Same hahaha
ruca1213
Contributor
0
Regional Sales Director
This is epic
SaaSam
Politicker
2
Account Executive
When I hit my annual income goal that I had set for myself to achieve in 5 years about 4 years ago I was pumped. I hit it early. About 3 months into a new job and I closed the biggest deal of my life to date. The stars had aligned to make that happen. My CEO called to congratulate me and I mentioned how stoked I was because I hit my 5 year goal just under a year early. His response was awesome.

"Great, now set a new goal and go make more money."

I think folks that get that feeling of disappointment after achieving something like that are expecting money to solve all of their problems or their financial goal was an end all be all in their minds so they're lost once they hit it.

Money solves a lot of problems but not all of them. Financial security is the antidote to a lot of stress but can only go so far.ย 
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
totally agree. and i love that in sales we can hit our goal and then make a new one and know we can hit it.ย 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
๐ŸฆŠ
Nah I'm still working on it ๐Ÿ˜Ž
Justatitle
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
My goal 5 years ago was to get to a base of 100 and OTE of 200 minimum. Iโ€™m there now but the next goal is 300k in the next 3 years. If I close whatโ€™s in front of me, I have the opportunity to go over 250 OTE.ย 
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Got the OTE I wanted when I joined the company I'm at now, haven't looked back.ย  Goal is to continue to exceed my number and take those vacations we've been putting off.ย  Maybe I'm not sad or dissatisfied about it, because the goal was to get the OTE and that's a recurring thing, not tied to a single big deal or single outcome.ย  ย  It's an ongoing thing.ย  :)
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
interesting that you separate the OTE from the base. did you have a base salary goal or just an OTE goal?

JDialz
Politicker
2
Chief Operating Officer
Iโ€™m not even close. My BHAG drives me to continuously improve and help others improve with me!
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
nice! is your income goal based off of a base salary? or and OTE your company gives you? or a number you make in one one year in total?
JDialz
Politicker
0
Chief Operating Officer
Mine is most easily calculated from gross revenues because we're commission-only and I also have an ownership stake. There are a lot of possible combos of insurance commission, AUM fee, management fees, etc. that can get me to my number.ย 

I'd like the model with the highest AUM target to be realized, however. That one has the highest proportion of recurring revenue stream for our firm, and thus me.
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
nice. I was in financial services before saas. And trying to keep track of all the different commission percentages was always annoying haha
JDialz
Politicker
0
Chief Operating Officer
It is complicated, that is for sure!
Pachacuti
Politicker
1
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
I got my dream base a few years ago and felt like I was on top of the world. Then the Great Recession happened and it got crushed. I finally got up to the level again and feel like Iโ€™m still wanting more.
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
wow. thats really really impressive that you were able to get back to where you want to be!ย 


E_Money
Big Shot
1
๐Ÿ’ฐ
I did hit it, then I kept moving up! No where else to go but up my friend. TO THE MOON
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
hahah the best part of being in sales for SURE! ๐ŸŒ‘
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of โ™ฅ๏ธ
Not there YET
Hoopnip
Politicker
1
Commercial AE
Itโ€™s because sales never stops and you always have a quota and someone asking you for more. Work for yourself and get that in residual income and you will feel differently. If you live in CA you need $500k a year to support a family of 4 in a nice house. You get numb to big checks because you have to keep going in order to save more for investing for retirement. You need at least $5M to get $250k in annual income. $7-10M is truly the number you need in order to live happily ever after with no worries about anything .
Boudreaux
Politicker
0
Regional Manager
I never let myself get too happy about things, but I did have my largest commission check ever at the end of last year and promptly quit that job for one I saw as a better opportunity. I took the time to spoil my wife for putting up with me for all these years and hooked up my daughters too, knowing it was going to be a grind in the new job.
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
0
Professional Day Ruiner
I don't think I'll ever hit my income goals. Every time I do it just gets higher. First it was 5k a month. then 5 figures a month. then 20k a month. Now its may, and I've made over 20k every month so far this year. My goals now have shifted more towards building investment income (I don't count this in my income because it all just gets dumped back into investments to continue to grow). Right now I want to grow my real estate portfolio to 5k a month in net profit.ย 
Hoopnip
Politicker
0
Commercial AE
$100k a month is the goal in real estate. $20M in rentals. Get r done.