I Make $200,000 Per Year In Sales, But Love Aviation. What’s The Right Career Move?

How to decide if you should keep your high paying job to do something you love for less.

In this video coaching newsletter I discuss an email from a 28 year old viewer who makes $200,000 per year in medical sales. However, he loves aviation. He’s slowly getting his flight hours and becoming a pilot, but is unsure if he should make the leap full time to aviation which probably means a pay cut, or if he should keep his current job and continue aviation part time. My comments are in bold italics like this below in the body of his email.

Hi, I’m Coach Corey Wayne, and this is my Video Coaching Newsletter. And the topic of today’s Members Only Newsletter is, “I Make $200,000 Per Year In Sales, But Love Aviation. What’s The Right Career Move?”

Well, this particular email, this guy is 28. He makes 200 grand a year in Medical Sales. But he loves, he’s training, I guess, to become a Pilot. And it seems like he’s teaching classes on it as well. And so he’s kind of, it sounds like he’s thinking about getting out of Medical Sales to do only Aviation, but it looks like it’s probably because he’ll be getting paid by the hour that he’ll end up probably taking a pay cut.

So he’s kind of figuring like, “what do I do? Do I just burn the boats and go do only Aviation? Do I keep my 200 grand a year job and continue doing the Aviation thing part time on the side?” So I’ve had several phone sessions with clients lately that are in these kind of situations where they’re making really good money, and then they got a side hustle thing that they really want to do long term.

And so it’s like, “when is the transition? When do you transition out of what you’re doing before to what you want to really do full time? Or should you do a hybrid of a little bit of both?”

So let’s go through his email.

Viewer Email:

Hi Coach,

My name is Bob, I just turned 28 and live in North Georgia. I came to your work about 3 years ago after a relationship ended and you have made my life considerably better. I am in a great relationship, have a great job, and am pursuing my life passion of aviation. I have read 3% Man countless times, and am on my 5^th read of Mastering Yourself this year alone.  I started seeing a Network Chiropractor in Atlanta given your recommendation, and the Physician I saw knows Dr. Dominick D’Anna. It has been great for me.

Of www.besimplywell.com in Orlando, Florida. If you guys can make it and can afford it, I highly recommend you go and spend a couple of weeks in Orlando. Obviously, call ahead and make sure Dominik will be in town for those full two weeks, and then get worked on as many times as you can over those couple of weeks. Typically, you get worked on in the morning and then you get worked on in the afternoon.

He’s usually open like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and sometimes Tuesdays and Thursdays, just like in the morning. And he’s also open on Saturday mornings. So if you can get 6 or 7 treatments over the course of a week, and then you do that for two weeks, that’ll really help you advance and cause your body to really loosen up and really help you. So www.besimplywell.com.

And go check out Dominick’s website if you’re just looking for a doctor referral, it’s a level three certified. I’d contact Dominick and call his office, his number’s on the website. www.besimplywell.com or you can email him there and see if he’s got a referral in your state or your country or your city that he would recommend. But again, if you can afford it and swing it, I highly recommend you go. Just camp out in Orlando. Maybe get an Airbnb or a hotel.

It’s real close to where he’s at in Winter Park, so it makes it really easy and convenient to go get work done multiple times a day, so you can really advance through care really quickly, because each time you go, you loosen up a little bit and it’s really helpful. But if you’re one of the lucky ones, like this guy is, and you got a good network care doctor in your city, then I highly recommend you go do that as well.

What you do often you do best, and the more treatments you get over a shorter period of time, the more you’re going to loosen up. The more you’re going to relax, the more you’re going to feel peaceful and calm, the more you’ll feel comfortable making changes and doing things that feel right for you, and it just completely changes your reality filter. I did an article and video many years ago called, “How To Become More Confident & Sure Of Your Actions”, where I really go into detail on the benefits of network chiropractic care.

Regarding Mastering Yourself, I love seeing your life and hearing your life experiences. You have been a true role model of mine and have given me the mindset to go after what I want in life without fear. Part of the reason I am writing today is for career advice. As I mentioned, I love Aviation. I currently work a Medical Sales job and am making almost $200k per year.

Which is good money.

Much like your story and experience in the construction industry, I feel I am meant for more and went after all my Pilot certifications and passed all my checkrides.

Well, my path through the construction industry was really a means to an end. I knew when I was 18 that I wanted to buy, fix and sell single family homes for a profit, and my choice was to go learn the construction industry so I could learn to build and renovate and manage construction projects and understand how to build. So after I had about five years of construction experience, then I left to do real estate investing and foreclosures full time.

So I loved what I did, and then I kind of completely got away from flipping houses, got into general real estate mortgages, built a big company with my two partners. My partner Paul had a title company, and we did real well before that. 2007, 2008 the bust came along. So I go into detail on that in Mastering Yourself. And so I went to college for that. And the reason why I went to college was because that, going to school, enabled me to take my general contractor’s exam in the state of Florida a lot quicker than I would have.

Because the way it used to be was that you needed like five years in the construction industry, managing projects, at least one year on a project that’s three stories or more. If you got a four year degree in the College of Engineering and Design, like I did at FIU, that four year degree counted as four years of construction experience. And then I just needed basically one year working on a project of three stories or more to qualify to sit for the exam. So when I graduated I had 4 or 5 years of experience.

Plus I, you know, so I was kind of overqualified to take the test. And if you’re going to go to college, you should go to college only if the degree you’re going to get is going to enable you to get a job and pay you well enough to make it worth your while, or worth the expense that you spent on going to college in the first place. You shouldn’t just go to college to get a degree for the hell of it, like in sociology or something like that. Unless it’s going to get you a good job and a good career, then I would not recommend that you do it.

I feel I am meant for more and went after all my Pilot certifications and passed all my checkrides self-paying the whole thing with some money I saved.

Which I think that’s the best way to do that.

I now instruct part time on the weekends and after work, but am having a hard time taking the jump from my current salary to then a would-be Flight Instructor hourly paid job.

Well, just there alone, I would work smarter, not harder. I would continue to stay in your medical sales job because that pays you a lot of money and you got to pay yourself first. So if you’re making 200 grand a year, 40 grand a year, 20% of that has to get put away stocks, retirement, SEP-IRA, whatever kind of retirement plan that you have for yourself. Because the time is going to pass and you can always find things to spend your money on, but you always need to spend 20% of whatever you make to pay yourself first and put it away towards retirement.

Your retirement account, you know, that kind of thing. Or money that you set aside to invest in things like real estate or, or whatever. So you just you can’t spend that money. That’s the money you’re going to live off of. You’re going to live off the interest when you get old enough to retire and just live off the interest. So you only work when you want to. So that’s what I would definitely do if I were you. Keep the high paying job and continue working in the aviation industry part time, especially if it means you’re going to make less money.

And so it’ll take you longer to get all your certifications and become a pilot and everything. But again, if you look at you’re making so much money in the medical sales job, that’s a really great field to go into, especially if you love sales. Or you can make a lot of money, stack a lot of cash, put a lot of money away for your future retirement. Because this way you’re doing something that pays you a lot of money and you got the the pilot or the aviation industry, which is what you’re really passionate about, but it doesn’t pay as well.

And so at least when you’re working in it and you’re getting your certifications and you’re going up the chain as far as different types of planes and things that you qualify for, you know, obviously you can qualify to where you’re visual flight rules. Where you fly basically during the day, and then you learn to fly by instruments and all that kind of stuff. So there’s a process that you go through, and especially if you know you’re going to take an income hit.

I am trying to apply what I have learned in your books, specifically Mastering Yourself to decide what I should do, quit and flight instruct full time and get my remaining 1000 hours quicker or continue to work my good income job and have it drag out longer.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. You have 100% changed my life and I hope to cross paths at some point in our lives.

All the best Coach!

Well, I would do the latter. I would keep the job and then drag it out longer. Because at least this way you’re scratching your itch. You’re doing the aviation thing, which is a true passion of yours. Because you may do it for a few years and you may decide that although you love it, it’s not how you really want to go about earning a living, especially if you think about being a pilot, working a commercial airline. Things of that nature. Versus the medical sales job. Medical sales job is great for your social life.

You’re going to meet a lot of hot girls and offices, and it’s great for networking, and you’re going to have networking opportunities that you’re just not going to have as a pilot. But if you do both and you do them concurrently. At least this way you’ll feel like you’re doing what you were put on this earth to do. So it just doesn’t make financial sense to ditch the medical sales job unless you absolutely hate it and you’re willing to take a pay cut to do the aviation thing full time. But it seems like I mean, if you’re making 200 grand a year, you’re probably good at it.

You’re a people person. It’s great for your social life. It’s great for networking. And so that’s why if I were you, I would keep the high paying job. And then the aviation thing will be the side hustle. And you can do both concurrently so this way you scratch your itch for both. So because what is success? Success is making progress. In other words, you got to feel like you’re making progress towards your grandest goals and dreams in order to feel successful in life. And so this way, you’re doing both. You’re making great money in medical sales, and you’re doing the pilot in the aviation thing, and you just take your time and have fun with it.

So in other words, you’re not obligated to and you’re not hungry. You’re not trying to make money or advance your career being a pilot, it’s just something for fun and joy and your love of aviation. And then the money you make is just gravy. Maybe you do at night, or you work on the weekends, or you’re not doing the medical sales job. But I think the way you’re going about it is the right way to do it. Because I was going to college, I was tending bar. I was working in the construction industry and getting experience and doing all the above.

And then I left, working for other people to work for myself full time when the opportunity was there. That’s the best way to do it, versus just, you know. Because I wrote about that in Mastering Yourself when I got out of real estate, I wasn’t doing anything but being a life coach. And so I had to figure everything out from scratch. So although it was fun, it would have been better to I really couldn’t stay in real estate at that time because 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, those were just not those were very lean years in real estate compared to the boom the way it had been.

So going back into real estate wasn’t really an option. Even though I could have gone to work for a new home builder, making, you know, just as a construction management job, making six figures, doing that. But I didn’t really want to go back in that industry. So that’s why I was willing to wait tables for ten months when I was trying to figure out my business model. And that was very motivating, working a job that I did not like at all, and I hated it, caused me to reexamine my reasoning and look at my approaches to how I was marketing my business and be more open to change, because I just was so highly motivated to get out of waiting tables at 39, 40 years old, which wasn’t a lot of fun.

I didn’t really want to be doing that, but I was willing to do it for a short period of time. I did it for about ten months and it was a means to an end. So I think you’re doing great, man. Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep both jobs. The smart thing to do, the financially smart thing to do is keep the medical sales job, because you can really put a lot of money away.

And if you can save more than 20%, I mean, do it. If you could save half your income, even better. So no matter how much you make in life, the 20% gets paid to yourself, to your retirement, and then whatever’s left, the other 80% you can pay in your rent, your mortgage, your cars. You can piss it away. You can buy watches, clothes, take girls out on dates, travel, whatever it happens to be. But before you spend a dime, the 20% comes off the top.

So, if you’ve got a question or a challenge and you’d like to get my help, go to UnderstandingRelationships.com, click the Products tab at the top of your screen on any page, and book a coaching session with yours truly. Until next time, I will talk to you soon.