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Here&#39;s a look at a day in the life of a sales associate in the Fixed Income division at Bear Stearns in New York.  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;6:45&lt;/b&gt;     Get to work.  (&quot;I try to get in around 6:45.  Sometimes it&#39;s 7:00.)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;6:50&lt;/b&gt;     After checking e-mail and voice mail, start looking over The Wall Street Journal.  (&quot;I get most of my sales ideas from The Wall Street Journal.  I&#39;d say 70 to 75 percent of my ideas.  I also read the Economist, Business Week, just for an overview, some Barron&#39;s and the Financial Times.  Maybe three issues out of the five for the week for FT.&quot;)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;7:15&lt;/b&gt;     Start checking Bloombergs, getting warmed up, going over your ideas and figuring out where things stand.&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;7:45&lt;/b&gt;     Meet with your group in a conference room for a brief meeting to go over stuff.  (&quot;We go over the traders&#39; axe [what the traders will focus on that day], go over research, what the market quotes are on a particular issue.&quot;)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;8:15&lt;/b&gt;     Get back to desk, and get ready to start pitching ideas.  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;9:15&lt;/b&gt;     Have a short meeting with your smaller group.  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;10:00&lt;/b&gt;     One of your clients calls to ask about bonds from a particular company.  You tell her you&#39;ll get right back to her.  Walk over to talk to an analyst who covers that company.  (&quot;I&#39;m in contact a lot with my analyst.  I listen to my analyst.&quot;)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;10:15&lt;/b&gt;     Back on the horn with your client.  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;12:30&lt;/b&gt;     Run out to lunch with another salesperson from your group.  (&quot;We often buy each other lunch.  Sometimes to celebrate a big deal we&#39;ll order in lunch.  We usually go to Little Italy Pizza Place, or Cosi&#39;s Sandwiches.  It&#39;s always the same people, and it&#39;s always the same six places.&quot;)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;1:00&lt;/b&gt;     Back at your desk, check voice mail.  (&quot;If I leave for 30 minutes or so, when I get back, I&#39;ll have five messages.)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;2:00&lt;/b&gt;     One of your clients wants to make a move.  (&quot;I trade something every day.  Maybe anywhere from one to 10 trades.  It&#39;s on a rolling basis.  You plant seeds, and maybe someday one of them grows into a trade.&quot;)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;3:15&lt;/b&gt;     Another client calls and wants to place an order.&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;5:30&lt;/b&gt;     Still on the phone.  (&quot;Although the markets close, that&#39;s when you can really take the time to talk about where things are and why you think someone should do something.&quot;)&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;7:30&lt;/b&gt;     Head for home, you&#39;re meeting a client for a late dinner.  (&quot;Often on Thursdays we go out as a group.&quot;)

Derek Loosvelt

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