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Hello! My name is Colton. Thanks for reading this blog! This is my story from high school, all the way up to where I'm at today. Enjoy!

So, I was sitting in Ms. Holt's Junior English class in 2010. We had a guest speaker from a local University come in and speak with us about our future. You got your typical answers from most of the students; "I want to go to a four year university and become a veterinarian," or "I want to go to school for 10 years, and become a doctor or a lawyer." When the representative came to me, I was not sure how to answer the question. I absolutely hated school, and there was no way in hell that I was going to go to college after I was finished with high school (if I made it through high school, that is). But, your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. pound it in your head that if you do not go to college after high school, you would not be successful. I had given a lot of thought into what I was going to do after high school. While still in high school, I was one of the kids that had to work to put gas in my car, and pay a few bills here and there. When I turned 16 years old, I had a vehicle given to me by some family, due to a family member passing away. I immediately began applying for jobs. I was so excited to do so, I could not wait to start making money for myself. My first job as a 16 year old was at a Sonic Drive in, flipping cheeseburgers. I thought it was going to be fun, but was I dead wrong. I hated, and dreaded going into work everyday after school, and on the weekends. I would occasionally call in just because I simply HATED going to work. Eventually, after calling in too many times, they fired me. I, then, had to make up some excuse to my mother as to why I got fired. She was furious, but simply stated that I had to get back out the next day and apply for more jobs. I went from fast food restaurant to fast food restaurant. I hated it every single day, I could not wait to get a little older so I could get a "real job". Upon graduating from high school (yes, I made it!), it was time to decide what I was going to do with myself. Do I go to college? Do I go to a technical school? Do I work for minimum wage? WHAT DO I DO? So, I decided to enroll in a local university. The first day of class wasn't too bad, but I had something else coming at me if I thought the entire school year was going to go that way. I lived about 30 minutes away from the campus that I was attending, so I was driving back and forth every day. This campus was also known as the local "party school", for it is one of the only wet campuses in the country. I had quite a few friends that were staying on campus, so, occasionally, I would stay there and party. OK, most of the time, I would stay there and party. Needless to say, I did not last long in the college student world. I attended school for about half of a semester and decided it was time to become a full-time BUM. I would stay at home ALL day long and play video games, get on facebook, etc. I would stay up until about 4am every morning playing video games online with my friends. After a few weeks of that, and partying with my friends that lived in the same town as me, I began dating this girl. I never would have thought that she would have had the impact on me that she now does. We dated for about a year and a half before we moved in with eachother. We then found out that she was pregnant (what a scare that was), but we lived through it! Months and months go by of working for a company by the name of Arc of the Ozarks. Basically, my job was to essentially "hang out" with individuals that had mental disabilities. It was a very rewarding job, but, did not pay the bills very well. I then went to work for a call center (not fun at all). While working at the call center, my girlfriend and I were in need of a new vehicle. She had bought a new car the previous year, and I was in dier need for one. So, we went to a few different dealerships and had NO luck whatsoever. We came to a dealership called Crossroads Chevrolet and Cadillac in Joplin, MO. While there, I realized I could not buy much (I was 20 with no credit history). I test drove a few vehicles, that were all older with about 80K miles (thats all I could get approved for). While negotiating, I was not impressed with the numbers I was presented with, at all. When I told the salesman that I could not do that, he went back to the sales desk. When he came back, he had a Manager with him. I was thinking to myself Great, now he's getting the manager involved to try and talk me into buying this thing. While the manager was speaking with me, he asked if I would like to work there. Of course, I hated my current job, but was not too sure about the way a car salesman got paid. So, I got all of the information that I needed from him about how the pay works. I told him I would call him back on the job offer, but not about the vehicle! I called him the next day and told that I would take the job, and he wanted me back the next day to fill out paperwork. I could not be happier about the decision I made that day. Since that day, I have sold about 16-20 cars (I worked about half of last month, and then this month). I have been inspired by sales managers, internet managers, veteran salesman, etc. I have set myself VERY high goals, and expectations. I plan on purchasing my own car within about 4-6 months of being in the business. I plan to purchase a home for myself, my fiance, and my daughter within about 8-10 months of being in the business. I also plan to be able to take two vacations per year, just to name a few of my personal, long-term goals. With that being said, this business has dramatically changed me, my family, my friends, and most of all, this business has changed my BANK STATEMENT.

That's my story, I hope you all enjoyed!