Cassie Patt

I recently had someone ask me about my choice to leave the classroom and go to work for Kinko's back in 2001.  They asked if I liked the sales "gig" better than working with the students in the classroom.  The answer is more complicated than just a yes or no, so, I thought that I would go over the decisions that I have made that have led me to where I am today. 

To begin, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher as long as I can remember.  Even as a child, I was always "teaching" others (sometimes, whether they wanted me to or not).  I remember setting up gymnastics lessons in my front yard and forcing the neighborhood kids to take my "classes."  During school, I always felt like more of a peer to the teachers than to some of the students (ironically, later, when I became a teacher, I felt more a peer to my students than the other teachers). 

Upon graduating from High School, I went straight through college to receive my BA in History and my MA in Secondary Education.  I hit my first year teaching with all of the enthusiasm and idealism that a 25 year old can have.  My first year, I taught in a low SES Middle School.  I loved it!  I could see my kid's responding to my enthusiasm and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  The following year, I was recruited to the district's brand new high school.  I coached cheerleading and tennis and once again found my classes full of students who really seemed to respond to my teaching. 

Unfortunately, I forgot that I was not 18 anyore, and tore both of my ACL's working out with the cheerleaders.  I spent the next 3 years going through 4 knee surgeries, rehab and in and out of a wheelchair.  As a single mother, I decided to move closer to my parents during this difficult time. 

For the next 2 years, I taught middle and high school Social Studies at a private school.  I found that these high SES students had their own unique set of challenges, keeping me motivated.  However, as a faced the economic challenges of buying a house for my son and I, I came to realize that it was going to be extremely difficult to make ends meet on a teacing salary.

So, I threw my idealism out the window and became a corporate trainer for Kinko's (a friend of mine was the director of training there and had suggested the position to me).  Things were going pretty well, although when August came around, my heart ached for my classroom!  Then, a few weeks after school started, September 11th happened and Kinko's decided to cut our training team.  Lucky me!!!

At that point, Kinko's was expanding their outside Commercial Sales Department.  Having worked retail since I was 14 (my father was a VP for a Retail Chain, and I had always worked in his stores), I decided to apply. 

While I was quite new to the corporate sales arena, I had a wonderful mentor and manager who had a similar learning style to mine.  As a result, he was constantly suggesting books for us to read to improve our sales skills, enrolling us in sales workshops and modeling strategic sales techniques for us.  Thanks to his guidance and my persistance, I was able to crush my quota every year.  Having been an athlete/competitor all of my life (gymnastics, cheerleading, soccer, track, debate team, etc), I was extremely motivated by the "friendly" competitive challenge of "outselling" my colleagues.  However, I was still missing the classroom.  Therefore, when FedEx bought Kinko's and lowered our commissions, my old idealism sprang up and I quit. 

By this time, I was married with a stepson, my own son, a new baby and another baby on the way, with a husband who had just been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder (you can read more on this in my other blog).  This was obviously not the best time for my "idealism" to spring its head, but, luckily for me, I found an incredible opportunity to work in Education Sales with an incredible mentor and boss at Pearson.  I found that working in Education Sales allowed me to keep in touch with my first love, the classroom.

I absolutely loved my work at Pearson, and would have loved to work there for the rest of my career.  However, Scantron, my division's largest competitor, bought my division of Pearson.  So, after returning from our President's Club trip, I was told that due to duplicate sales forces and my short tenure, I was being let go.  I was in full panic mode!  Keep in mind that my husband's health was deteriorating quickly and he was about to face a bone marrow transplant.  In fact the transplant was scheduled for 1 month after I was let go.

As a result, I took a position with Atomic Learning.  Although I absolutley loved their products and still recommend them enthusiatically, this was a huge reduction in pay (half of my old pay).  Therefor, when my former manager from Pearson offered me a sales position at TeleParent, back in my former payscale and with a fantastic product, I had to take him up on it. 

After several postponements, my husband finally had his bone marrow transplant in February.  During the worst part of the transplant, when he was hanging on for his life, I was informed by TeleParent that, due to the economic times, they could only keep the sales team on as a consultants, rather than a full time employees.  I am grateful that they are willing to try to work with us during these difficult times and in some ways, I appreciate the independence this has provided me to truly evaluate my options and look at the big picture.