I’m Going To Ohayocon This Year!! Also, I’m Quitting My Job…Again!

That’s right, I’ll be attending Ohayocon for the very first time! Turns out that one of my friends from UU didn’t want to go so that leaves an open spot for me. This is certainly good news amid a bunch a crappy news.

I’ve been trying to get into Wright State in order to boost my GPA (it’s at 1.715 and needs to be at least a 2.0) so that I can attend BGSU. As you may know, I owe money to UU still, but I want to get my degree so that I can live in Japan. So far, things have not been going my way. Wright State told me flat-out no, but I didn’t tell them my name so I could just omit that I went to UU. They wouldn’t know unless they did a background check on me, and I doubt that they’ll do that if I’m paying cash for my classes at Wright State.

I know what you’re thinking: “Andy, if you have the money to pay for classes at Wright State, why don’t you pay off UU?” Well, I don’t have that much money, but if I get a good enough paying job, then I can arrange monthly payments.

I’m Quitting My Job…Again

That’s right, I’ve decided to quit selling Rainbows. I’m thoroughly disgusted with their selling tactics. Here’s what I said in the Steve Pavlina forums:

I was hired a week ago to sell Rainbow air purifiers. No, I’m not trying to sell you guys one. I took the job not only to pay back the $30,000 worth of debt that I’ve accumulated (mostly from college, some credit cards, lawyer fees, etc), but to improve my public speaking skills.

I want to improve my public speaking skills so that I can start my web 2.0 consultation business. Just as businesses have helped other businesses go online back in the 90′s, I would be helping set up businesses to get into web 2.0. By web 2.0, I mean blogs and social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.

Although I dislike salespeople because they can be manipulative, when I went through some of the training it seemed like they were a good company to work for. However, something came up that clashes with my personal values.

The big thing is the process of selling. My company gave me an outline of what I’m supposed to say to the customer in their house and over the phone. Although the outline can help me in figuaring out what to say to the customer, I find what I have to say and do around the customer to be very manipulative and pressuring to the customer.

I can’t decide whether or not to quit this job only a week into it or continue to see if it gets better.

Although I want to quit because of the tactics I’m supposed to use in selling, I fear that I might be acting out of my fear of speaking in front of people.

What should I do?

P.S: There is a Toastmasters International just a town away from where I live. I’m going to go there to get help with speaking around people (my mom wants to go as well so we could carpool together).

Next, I replied to a comment made by Steve himself:

What Steve Said:
In an absolute sense, if a job conflicts with truth and encourages you to do anything deceptive or manipulative, you’re turning your back on growth. The job will hurt you more than help you. Quitting is the best option. It doesn’t matter what your values are. Truth is an absolute. You can never hope to grow and improve by succumbing to falsehood and denial, regardless of the slick packaging.

Toastmasters is a much better environment to learn good communication skills. They have a manual on persuasive speaking with 5 projects you can do. But the material is honest and non-manipulative.

I get the sense that you took this job as a delay tactic. You may say it’s an indirect way to work on your primary goal. But it’s really just procrastination. I think that deep down, you know that.

Go after your primary goal directly, regardless of your current skill level. You’ll learn what you need to learn along the way much faster than by taking a side job. You’ll also build more courage that way.

What I Said:
Now that I think about it, the reason I’ve gone through several jobs in the past 6 years is because they conflict with truth, love, and power.

I’m manipulating people (either directly or indirectly) to buy products (whether it’s Rainbows, cheeseburgers, or groceries). As a result, I feel guilty about it and disconnect myself while I’m working. Finally, because I’m disconnected from truth and love (note to self: don’t make a Team Rocket reference ), I have become easy to manipulate and therefore relinquish my power. It’s a dirty, dirty cycle. Meowth, that’s right (dammit!).

I don’t like salespeople because they are horribly misaligned with truth. I thought that selling Rainbows would be different because I like the product. The product works and I would be selling it to people who need it like people with allergies, asthma, or people who want clean air in their house. I’m not selling bubble gum to Ethiopians here . I felt like I would be making a difference in people’s lives and delivering value. However, the means that I would deliver that value are not aligned with both truth and my own personal values. Therefore, I am not delivering real value.

The reason I was looking for a new job is because I want to pay off my debts (I can’t attend college without paying them off) and go back to college. Most people go to college so that they can get a good-paying job. I want to go back because I want to learn and make connections with like-minded people. Because of this, I don’t want to do online courses, live off-campus, or take one class per semester/quarter. I can’t establish good connections with people if I remove myself from them.

After college, I want to live in Japan for at least a year. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Why don’t you just hop on a plane and go there?” Simply going to Japan isn’t enough for me. I want to fully immerse myself by learning the language, culture, and making connections with people. As far as spoken Japanese goes, I’m slightly better than someone who learns by watching anime without having a basic understanding of Japanese sentence structure. I understand several words, but usually I can’t interpret a complete sentence. When it comes to written Japanese, I’m completely lost.

Also, the vast majority of English-speaking expatriates start making an income by teaching English to Japanese people. By law, you are required to have a 4-year degree in order to teach English in Japan. I wouldn’t mind teaching English, but I wouldn’t want to do it for a long period of time. I would much rather be on Japanese television, either as part of the cast or as a special guest.

I was deeply inspired to do this by my favorite guitar player Marty Friedman. He left the band Megadeth when it was at its commercial peak to persue a completely different musical career in Japan. Now, he’s insanely famous from all of his television and musical appearances in Japan.

Essentially, I would like to learn Japanese, live in Japan, and get involved with Japanese television & music. I would also like to make more connections with people.

I was going to say that it was too early for me to quit my job and continue working for at least a month, but now I see that I should quit now because I’m wasting my time with it.

Wow, this reply was a lot longer than I thought it was gonna be .

Then, Steve shocked me with his next response:

What Steve Said:
My younger brother moved to Japan several years ago. He got paid to do so. He started by teaching English classes to Japanese students, which covered his expenses. He had to take a big pay cut to do that because he used to work as a network admin in L.A., and teaching English didn’t pay as well. But he was happy with the decision.

He studied Japanese while he was there, and his co-workers helped him with the cultural adaptation.

After a couple years, he knew Japanese well enough to get a job in Tokyo as a network engineer. I think he also bought a condo in Tokyo.

He also sings in clubs and plays guitar. He’s been on TV in Japan a couple times for his music. His website is http://www.mondaiji.com/ if you want to check it out. There are some videos of him on his site singing in Japanese.

In March he’s getting married to a Japanese girl. Erin and the kids and I will be at the wedding.

It sounds like my brother has already done much of what you’d like to do.

What I Said:
I watched a couple of his videos, and he’s a pretty funny guy! You’re right, he has done much of what I want to do.

The big thing that I’m struggling with is trying to find a way to make money in Japan without having a 4-year degree. Do you guys have any suggestions?

Steve Then Said:
If a Japanese teenager can do it, surely you can find a way. I doubt you lack the creativity to figure it out.

What Could My Job Be In Japan?

After doing some research, I’ve found that I could be many things besides an English teacher. According to Gaijinpot, I could work at a gaijin bar, restaurant, in the entertainment field, or as a male model. The cool thing about the modeling gig is that you don’t have to be especially good-looking to be a model. I think that being a gaijin tarento (foreign talent) would be an interesting path for me to follow.

See Ya At Ohayocon!

Well, this has been an especially long post so I guess I’ll wrap it up. Have fun this weekend and if you’re at Ohayocon, don’t be afraid to say hi. Good-night!

TheAndySan