No Regrets

Bio Justin Robinson:

Unscripted life has learning moments and successes, but no failures and no regrets.

Good parents instilled in me that I could do anything I wanted.  My father was in pharmaceutical sales.  My mother was a teacher, copier sales manager, and a PhD in clinical psychology.

My parents set the professions before me as fully attainable. I looked at engineering, the law and the medical field. Our neighbors were judges, lawyers, engineers and doctors in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I was an easy fit.  At an early age, I embraced the professional lifestyle.

My parents put engineering sets before me with all kinds of legos,  encyclopedias, and dictionaries.  I read it all. There was never a time that I didn’t feel that I could do well.

Challenge

At first I struggled to make my choice. My parents placed me in a private school from first to third grade. After that I was enrolled in an advanced public school.  And I did well.

A neighbor was a judge.  He put me in an internship in his office. A doctor friend of my parents gave me a closeup look into medicine.

Since my mother had been a teacher, she went beyond the basics. She was thorough and relentless. She gave it all to me and I absorbed it.

College decision

I knew I wanted warmer weather than I had in Wisconsin,  so I narrowed the choice down to Emory or Morehouse, both in Atlanta. Emory offered the same mixed student body composition that I was accustomed to in Milwaukee.

Morehouse offered a more culturally rich environment. And I thrived there. In fact, when my youthful exuberance got away from me for a spell, Morehouse brought me back down to earth.

No regrets.

I don’t believe in regrets. What seems to be a mistake at the time can plant a seed for substantial growth.  I am committed to that approach and continue to move forward.  Either I win or I learn.  But there is no losing or regretting.

Best part of Morehouse

The support at Morehouse is amazing. The faculty has your best interests at heart. Sure, the curriculum is difficult and rigorous, but not more so than the outside world. It’s better to be fully prepared to succeed than to graduate and be only partly prepared.

Atlanta was a cultural shock to me. I had been coddled and sheltered under my parents.  But the large black and progressive population of Atlanta was a test for me.

I was not all that responsible my first year in Atlanta.

Morehouse helped me to grow. It took me longer than four years to get my degree, but I got it.

Like my mother, I sold copiers for three years. Then right on cue, pharmaceuticals came knocking once I had experience in outside sales.

Pharma

I not only had a biology degree but I have also passed the (MCAT) medical college attitude test. On reflection, I realized that my personality did not lend itself to my becoming a medical doctor.  Besides, I had a daughter in 1993, and I graduated from Morehouse in 1996. I didn’t want to put by daughter in the background. So I had to choose a job that would allow me to spend more time with her.

Next I worked at KV Pharmaceuticals.  I sold to gynecologists, OB-GYN. Selling prenatal vitamins to doctors can be lucrative and fun. That was a fantastic job. Imagine, I was paid handsomely to talk to women all day. I was paid a lot of money, had a company car, and an expense account. It was a plush job. With success, I also had freedom. My manager was in another state. As long as my production was up, he let me alone.

My first Pharma company ended up getting into trouble with the FDA.

So I went to Bayer Healthcare selling IUDs and birth control devices. I worked there three years.

A colleague left Bayer and went into laboratory sales. It seemed like a good idea so I got into laboratory sales also.

Bio Reference was such a good fit that I worked there for nine years. There was a substantial increase in compensation.  The average salesman was earning between $250,000 and $1 million a year.

In pharmaceutical sales, the company gives you a script, a list of doctors and extensive training. With the labs you have to figure it all out yourself.

I chose to see the doctors that I already had a good relationship with and asked them what would they need beyond what they already had.  They dictated to me what they really wanted, and I found a way for them to have it. In this way, my doctors taught me then and they still teach me today.

In fact, when I switched from pharmaceutical sales to lab sales, I took all my clients in Georgia with me to the new company.

Best quality of PROPATH now called Sonic HealthCare

Leadership dictates the product, the service and drives employee satisfaction.

At Sonic HealthCare, Medical doctors own the company and they run the show. They actually do what is best for the patients ahead of making money. In fact, I left my previous company for that very reason.  Now they are out of business.  And I saw it coming and got out early.

Why are some reps more successful than others?

Outside sales is so hard because everyone you see already has a copier or a lab service.  The challenge is to find the limitation of their present product and offer better benefits that would warrant a change.  It has to be in your DNA to help others at that level. You have to earn their trust.

For example, one company does phone interviews for potential reps. They save a lot of money that way. Dealing with rejection is a big part of outside sales.

So the interviewer asked me how to do deal with all the rejections. I said there are no rejections on my commission check.   He asked me if I can fly out next week for an in-person interview. I got the job. Sales is a numbers game. If you talk to a certain number of people you will make a certain number of sales. Just keep talking to potential customers. On my first job selling copiers I made $90,000 a year.

On my first job in pharmaceutical sales I earned $120,000.

Many are not aware that such a job exists.  How can you aspire to something that you don’t see.

I wouldn’t change a thing about my career.

Benefits

For me, success is not just about the money, it’s also about having the freedom to enjoy the money.  You need a residual income or passive income.  Yes, you are still earning money without always working. That makes for a great lifestyle.

I enjoy my toys. I cycle, practice at the pistol range, the rifle range, enjoy my house on a lake, the deck, watching hummingbirds feed, fishing, watching wildlife frolic on my property.

We have 4 cars, a Porsche, 2 Infinities, and a Toyota with a mini van body. Our next vehicle will be Tesla.

We have indoor parking for 8 cars at our house. Our compound has two mother-in-law suites, one downstairs and another upstairs. We have a 1000 square-foot guest meditation lounge.

My wife, Linda, and I also enjoy our five dogs.  They are like family to us. And they patrol the grounds, keeping us safe.

I have no regrets.