| Positives and Negatives |
| March 31, 2011 |
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| I really enjoyed your website. It reminded me a lot of my own personal experience selling books with Southwestern. A couple of important points that I didn't see on others testimonials on this site: while Southwestern does lie about potential money people can make by manipulating statistics you can make a good final check. For me I made about $1700 profit my first summer and about $4000 profit after my second summer. That seems like a good check but it came at a price. I lost out on a couple of the summers in my prime of my life and I had to work over 60 hours a week to earn that. I figured it out that equaled about $3.50 an hour. I also still feel guilt about selling books to Mrs. Jones that she couldn't probably afford and more than likely didn't use. While Sundays were a day off, you very rarely found time for rest and relaxation. Most Sundays you are in meetings and when you’re not you will probably be on the road. Most of the day you are by yourself and you are force to say positive things to prevent you from crying. However, there are a couple positives I took away from my experience that I will always enjoy. I met a lot of great friends through this experience. I also had a chance to live in the Northeast for 2 summers and this is something that I would have never had the chance to do otherwise. Currently in my career I have had to relocate twice for my job and I still use the southwestern experience to help me with the move. Another plus to this job is that you do learn a lot about business and unfortunately that the bottom line is performance. You learn about responsibility and how hard things can get. You also learn that people that perform well you are rewarded and if you don't you’re not. However do not be fooled, hard work does equal a big check. In the end the truth about southwestern is that for most people it will not be worth it. Some people will love this most will not. The experience and money that you gain will more than likely not be worth what you give up. I encourage anyone who considers this "internship" to remember that this is a hardcore sales job and that is primarily what it is. |