I Can See Clearly Now the Commute Is Gone

In this interview, Omar, a Remote Lead Generation Specialist with TeleReach Corporate, reflects on his past life in the rat race, commuting not just into “a city,” but into “the city,” the “Big Apple” for work, contrasted with working from home in the present. I wonder what Sinatra would have said about considering remote work as a place to “make it anywhere” when he sang, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere”?  But “anywhere” does include working from home, and today, working from home could literally be “anywhere.” Omar did already “make it there,”and now he’s demonstrating that he can “make it anywhere” working from home.

Omar: I don’t think things will ever go back to the way they were before the pandemic. More people are seeing the value of working remotely and seeking the inner contentment that comes much easier when you can get away from not only the stress of commuting but away from the office politics. It’s good for the future of companies like TeleReach Corporate that provide a way to make a good income while working from home.

I can see Manhattan from here in North Jersey

It’s only 25 miles away, but it’s usually about an hour and a half commute. I had a business and I was commuting into Manhattan on a regular basis. That’s why I enjoy working from home now. It’s good to be free of the rigors of going into the city, especially with that long commute. I feel like there was so much unproductive time spent commuting, regardless of which mode of transportation you took to get there. From our back yard on my side of north Jersey, we can still tell why it’s called the Garden State, with wildlife all around us, deer, quail, wild turkeys and even a few bear sightings. If we point in one direction, we see cows and horses, and if we point in the other direction, we see some huge shopping malls and highways. My wife and I like the feel of it here. It’s not too crowded. I grew up here, and we moved back here when we had kids.

Tracie: What’s your background? What did you do before you joined TeleReach?

Omar: I studied economics in college, and after that I got a job with an investment banking firm on Wall Street. I also had a career in commercial finance for about ten years, then started another company with some partners, which we sold. I became an entrepreneur at a young age, and I lived in Italy for a period of time. Now that I’m older, I look back on those days of that commute as something grueling. I used to think of the glitz and glamor of the city, but it’s just not as much fun as I thought it was back then. All the way back to college when I was 18, I commuted into the city. So, I’ve spent a lot of my life commuting into the city since I am approaching my mid-50s.

The thing I’ve always done and felt comfortable with, all the way back to that first job on Wall Street, is getting on the phone and having conversations with people. Before I went to work at Lehman Brothers, my father gave me some important advice. The advice that my father gave me helped me understand that no matter what position you have, you’re actually a sales person, whether you’re doing home improvement telemarketing, working for a brokerage firm, or a doctor or lawyer, you’re always needing to drum up new business. Even as a parent, you realize that it is good training to be able to sell ideas to your kids, as well as be able to listen and grab the key signals that a person is giving you.

 

He had a friend in the industry who told him that if I wanted to be successful in that career, that it was important for me to go and get a telemarketing job. So, in college,I went to work doing telemarketing in the home improvement industry. I can still remember the script word for word from when I was 19 years old. There must have been 60 or so people in that room making these calls, all kinds of people who were aspiring actors, boxers, people of all types of backgrounds and education. What I learned was that the successful ones, when they got on the phone, kind of turned on their ‘game face.’

 

Then, when I applied for a major internship, the first thing they did was hand you a telephone before you get licensed or take all the tests. You can’t sell anything at that point, because you don’t have your license yet, but you can identify decision-makers and connect the line to the successful brokers. Then I learned that the more successful brokers, when I transferred them over, would do more listening than talking.

Tracie: Tell us about your journey here to TeleReach Corporate. How did you find us?

Omar: When it came time to start searching for something new to do working from home, I started a search for companies like TeleReach Corporate, but I didn’t find you right away. Before I found TeleReach, I ran across several organizations that I did not feel good about. When I finally found TeleReach Corporate, I felt comfortable with the people, the methodology and the type of work. And I feel invigorated when I set an appointment because I know that I am helping a business find a solution. I also feel invigorated to know that I am doing something to benefit the economy.

We had a lot of snow in the winter, which is another reason it’s good to work from home. In the future, our job will be more and more appealing because:

  1. We’re in the business of providing information that is valuable to people.
  2. People just don’t want to go into the office anymore.
  3. At some point, people begin to realize that there’s more to life to than the stress of commuting.

Tracie: Thank you, Omar, we are thrilled to have you on the TeleReach team!

About the Author

Tracie Chancellor, CEO and Founder of TeleReach Corporate, national business to business call center specializing in sales appointment setting and lead generation, based in Houston, Texas. Chancellor is an MBA graduate of the University of Houston with over 20 years hands-on sales and marketing experience, working with privately-held businesses, universities, non-profit organizations, as well as Fortune businesses in the business to business marketing space.