Salary

Average Salary: $42,000

Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,753,416


The money you can earn as a sales worker supervisor depends very much on what type of sales you're doing. Some sales worker supervisors work for an hourly wage and get a bonus. Some get a base salary and commission on what their staff sells. Others get straight commission—in other words, no sales, no money.

There are three main types of sales worker supervisors: retail, service industry, and industrial. Retail sales worker supervisors deal with things like clothing, grocery, building supplies, etc. Those in the service industry handle less concrete products like insurance, media (radio/TV ads), conventions, and events. Industrial sales worker supervisors are all about heavy equipment, tool and die manufacturing, and industrial supplies.

Working retail will generally get you a terrifyingly low $23,000 (source), not including a bonus...which you may or may not get. Bonuses for retail sales worker supervisors are generally based on annual sales, not individual performance; if the sales are bad, you might not get extra cash for Christmas. On the other hand, you just need a high school diploma or GED to get this job, so your hard-earned cash won't go towards paying off mountains of debt.

If you want to have a little more financial security, a four-year college degree is required. Put in the cash, though, and you could come out with a service industry job and a $72,000 (source) salary, plus a bonus based on staff performance. That kind of money will pay off those student loans pretty darn fast.

When it comes to cash flow, though, the clear winner is an industrial sales worker supervisor. Yes, overseeing the selling of manufacturing equipment might seem boring...but $81,000+ a year (source),  sure doesn't. Especially not when you add in a 10-15% annual bonus based on sales staff performance, profit sharing, stocks, a company vehicle, a 401(k), and paid vacations. People in this job always have a four-year college degree, and many of them have an MBA, too.