My first job was in sales the summer after high school (2006), selling
these lovely kitchen implements. I was paid a combination of commission and a base rate that was on a per demo basis. So it basically depended on how long I spent with a client and how much they ordered. Worst case scenario: didn't sell anything and received the $15 base rate for doing the demo. If it took me an hour to do it, plus an hour to go to their house and come back, that was $15 for 2 hours - $7.50 an hour. Suppose instead that I made a $600 sale and received a 20 percent commission - $120 for 2 hours, or $60 an hour. The best clients were the ones who already owned Cutco knives and wanted more; they'd just look at the website, call me and tell me what they wanted and I could fill orders without even leaving my house.
It definitely helped me improve my ability to sound professional on the phone and be able to give a persuasive verbal presentation, things most 18 year olds are terrible at. But it's very much a networking job: I'd sell to my rich friends' parents, who would refer me to their rich friends and so on. I'd be sitting in on sales meetings with kids who had met with clients every single day that week and didn't sell a single thing - there was just no extra money to go around in the neighborhoods where they lived and visited.
