Robert’s Perspective:

As any proper story should, I feel like the best place to start is at the beginning. When Mireille and I met, like most, it was through dumb luck. I was 28 and had a company that went bankrupt the year before and a degree in Finance. Not a great pedigree being the world was still recovering from the modern depression. The short story is I had a life long friend with a nice car and pair of loafers, I on the other hand did not possess such. When I asked what he did for a living, he mentioned he was in software. As any broke man in my predicament would do, figured this would be a good direction for my life.  He made the introduction and ended up landing the job at what would be one of the fastest growing companies in Atlanta. At the time I met Mireille, I was currently 6 weeks into role and north of 150% to my quarterly plan. This seemed like a dream job. Software sales is different than anything I had ever known. I was surrounded by brilliance every day and the product you are selling is constantly changing and evolving, literally.  Stimulation everywhere. It had the excitement of derivative securities (what I’d hoped to do on the exchange out of college) with the luxury of wearing flip-flops paired best with a lunch cocktail. What a time to be alive… Software was exciting: Ask questions to identify pain points and articulate a solution in a way that addresses their needs. Come in early and leave late, simple enough. Rinse, wash, repeat. I digress. When I say we were the fastest growing start-up in Atlanta, I need to provide a little perspective. We were onboarding in the range of 15 – 20 people a week. Incredible growth. Every week one of the guys I worked with would ask if I wanted to go with him to walk past the onboarding room to see if there were any attractive girls we should speak with and every week I would pass on the opportunity. I was a single guy at the time but not entirely bought in to the idea of dating at work. Not that there is anything wrong with it. I just looked at is as I was there for one primary function. Make as much money as you can. Let me be the first to tell you how quickly life changes. One week when asked, I decided to take a walk with one of the guys in my division past the onboarding room when I saw her for the first time. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I was nervous. So I did what anyone would do in my situation and walked in to introduce myself. Said hello to the new hire trainer and pulled up a chair next to Mireille splitting the small crowd of guys conveniently sitting all around her. I introduced myself and said: “Hi, my name is Robert. What’s your name? She replied, “Mireille” and paid me no attention. Clearly she had dealt with this before. Noticing they were conducting a practice exam as a part of their new hire training. I replied “You look perplexed.” Wait, what?!?! What the hell was I thinking.

Mireille’s Perspective