Written in 2015:
This summer marks our fifth summer with vivint and i would be lying if i told you that it’s all been a big dream and that we love every minute of this job. i feel like i have two attitudes about it: the off-season attitude, and the summer attitude. the off-season attitude is pretty pumped about life because i get a stay-at-home husband/dad for my daughter, a stacked bank account, and i can look back on all of our summer adventures with fondness because i’m not living them anymore. but my summer- attitude is forever a work in progress; it’s hard to remember that these sacrifices are going to pay off when you’re living in a hotel with a toddler in wyoming all summer long.
This summer marks our fifth summer with vivint and i would be lying if i told you that it’s all been a big dream and that we love every minute of this job. i feel like i have two attitudes about it: the off-season attitude, and the summer attitude. the off-season attitude is pretty pumped about life because i get a stay-at-home husband/dad for my daughter, a stacked bank account, and i can look back on all of our summer adventures with fondness because i’m not living them anymore. but my summer- attitude is forever a work in progress; it’s hard to remember that these sacrifices are going to pay off when you’re living in a hotel with a toddler in wyoming all summer long.
but truth be told, i think that i get better as a vivint-wife as time goes by. i’ve learned how to handle the stress and the loneliness and the demanding schedule. i’ve learned that this job isn’t just a job; if you allow it to, it can help shape your character, teach you and your husband invaluable skills, and it can introduce you to some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.
so here’s what i’ve learned about surviving summers over the past five years:
1. bad days happen, and bad attitudes make them worse. there are days when david doesn’t sell and those days are especially hard. he feels like he’s been hustling all day, getting no luck, and i feel like i’ve been stranded in a hotel all day for a big fat $0. bad days happen and that is okay. just because today was a bagel-day, doesn’t mean tomorrow won’t be a 3-spot. stay positive and encouraging and your bagel-days will decrease, i promise.
2. get out of the apartment/hotel. even if it’s just for a trip to walmart, there is something about getting out of the house that always refreshes my mood and makes me feel like there is life outside of the job. explore your city! get on yelp and look up the best local restaurants. find a great park to take your kids to. go meander the mall or spend three hours walking through target (guilty.)
3. get involved in the office. it has always been easier for me to get through the summers when i feel like i am somehow a part of the team. if you’re the OA, that is awesome for you, i am sure your summer will fly by! but if you’re not, take the time to get to know the guys in the office, talk to your manager about starting a social media account to recognize and unify the guys, invite your husband’s car group over for dinner, have a sunday bbq, do something that will make you feel like you are meaningful to the team.
4. comparison is the thief of joy. i am sure you feel me to some level on this, but social media can be so defeating sometimes. i am not 95lbs, my kid is not an angel by anyone’s definition, i wear yoga pants just about every day and i would tell you the last time i washed my hair but i really don’t want to gross you out.that is the truth. but sometimes social media can give us a false sense of someone else’s reality, and that can make us feel like we suck. don’t fall into that. there will probably always be someone smarter or skinnier or more creative or someone with a prettier house or a richer husband. don’t get sucked into feeling like you aren’t enough and don’t get sucked into feeling like your husband isn’t enough because he doesn’t have 100 preseason accounts and isn’t averaging 35 accounts each week like some of the guys you see on insider. celebrate yourself for being the beautiful, genuine, kind, lovely girl you are and celebrate your husband for being the hardworking, dedicated, talented guy he is. don’t compare yourselves to strangers on the internet.
5. get to know the other wives in the office. you might not hit it off with all of them, but you might also be surprised to find some of the sweetest girls you’ll ever meet. there have been some women i’ve met over the summers who have forever impacted my life and made me a better wife and a better mom; that is priceless to me! plan a morning to get pedicures before the correlation meeting, have them and their kids over to play, go to the park or head to a movie on a saturday. they are really the only people who will understand just how demanding this job is and i bet that common ground alone will give your friendship a great start.
6. document your summer. last summer i made a video and i am so glad i did! it gave me a little something to be working on all summer and then during the offseason, we would watch it and feel all sorts of sentimental and excited for the next summer to come. it might not be a full representation of how challenging this job can be, but it captures all of the good things and will help you remember that this job is actually really fun and pretty cool.
7. be your husband’s partner. i always find myself saying this is “our” job and “we” work, but really...i’m not out there knocking doors with david. but honestly sometimes it feels like i am! we try really hard to be a team and that’s made a huge difference in our summers and in his productivity. i love listening to him tell me about his day and the doors he’s knocked, he tells me about the new people at one-stop and how he was on the phone on hold for an hour, we chart his goals together and i help him find the time to read and study before his meetings. be your husband’s partner in every sense of the word, including his business, and i promise it will bring you guys that much closer.
one of my favorite things about working the summers is that it gives me the opportunity to sort of disconnect from the world. for four months, it’s just me and my baby and my husband working really hard to hit our goals. i try to remember that these are our adventure years, and that there are no great stories without adversity. some days are hard, and that is okay because these summers filled with long days and 11pm
microwave lasagna dinners and endless laundry of vivint polo shirts are wonderful to me. they have brought me and my husband so much closer, they have introduced us to countless friends we love, they have paid our bills and bought us a home, they have taught us what real hard work is, they have let us travel the country, they have made me grateful for the little things i might take for granted during the offseason, and they make me proud because they have taught me that i absolutely can do hard things. and so can you. and if you have the right attitude about it, the hard things can be the absolute best things too.
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great
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