RESEARCH_FILE
Commission Famine-Feast
Commission famine-feast is the structural pattern of extreme, involuntary income swings created by 100%-commission pay: a closing can bring months of income at once, followed by weeks or months of nothing, with no salary floor underneath. Research on income volatility shows this kind of swing is common even in salaried work — commission-only structures simply concentrate it into fewer, larger, less predictable events.
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“What if no one buys this month”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“A pending deal is data on what's moving, not a paycheck I've already spent.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Open your CRM. Find one person you haven't reached in 30+ days. Send them a non-sales message with one question. Document that you did it. Notice whether you made contact from calm or from famine dread.
How it sounds in your head
The inner script: 'I closed nothing this month — I must be losing my touch.' The data say the same commission structure that paid three months of income last quarter is engineered to also produce months like this one; the swing is the design, not a verdict on skill.