After I left Howe & Bay and started a new position with Canaccord Genuity, I had the intention to become a licensed stock broker. All the resources were there for all of it to manifest. At first I was excited because it was something new to me and the change was refreshing. The office had a dope view of the mountains as we were on the top floor. I would have steady income while working on TableTutors part-time. Thought it was a good plan at the time.
My meals were usually always paid for by my Sr. Team members or clients. I had the benefits package and everything. The coffee was decent and didn’t have to pay for that either. I was determined to learn very quickly so that I could get my brokers license within a year. The first few months were a blast, I was learning what I needed to learn to get things done, and had everything done on time. Project after project, Sh*t got repetitive really quick and started to get some sense of discomfort again.
I was getting bored and unmotivated. My attention to detail to the projects started slipping and I knew it. I didn’t know why but I felt like I was purposely but non-maliciously letting things slip. This is when I started questioning myself about what I really wanted. The only reason why I’m here was only for the money, I had no sense of purpose, no sense of drive to want to become a Stock Broker.
I thought that maybe I should get started with getting my broker license. That should stir things up a bit and get me motivated again. One of the perks that made me decide to take the opportunity at Canaccord was that they were going to pay for my course to get my license.
The course is online and we were mailed the textbooks. When I picked up the book and read the first chapter, I was in for a huge surprise….
This stuff was DRY af….
As I was talking to people in the office about my experience studying the book, they all agreed with me. They all felt sorry for me and was told that all the information in the book was useless to actually become a broker. Being a great broker is about charisma and selling, but there are strict rules you do need to know. In Canada, everyone usually follows the rules. I was told about a tutor who specializes in this subject and is known to help people pass the test. I decided to take it and I felt it really helped with learning the book and making it more fun.
I was shown a pretty good studying strategy for the test and thought to myself that I can pass this test. I reviewed everyday and read the chapters. At the same time, when I would get to the office, I was still not really happy at work. I really enjoyed the people on the team I worked with, but the actual work sucked. Because I didn’t have a license and Canada’s strict rules, I couldn’t do what I really wanted to do, sell. I was stuck to paperwork until I get my license.
I also noticed that a lot of the Sr. Brokers had really concerning health issues and being a Cancer Survivor, I took my health seriously. Everyday I would jump on the skytrain to go to work, review for the test, but to be honest, nothing was really getting absorbed because I was getting the feeling that I didn’t want to do this anymore. During this time, TableTutors DJ Academy started to pick up. This is when things started to really change.
Interest started to spread and more people wanted to learn how to DJ. During work at the office, I would be on my phone working on TableTutors. I thought I was being discreet about it, but I was given a heads up about my phone use. That still didn’t stop me from using my phone, I was still using it to work on TableTutors. I knew it was a disrespectful thing to do as I should be working on TableTutors on my own time and not while I’m at the office. I can’t explain to you why I was still doing it, but I just kept on doing it. I had a couple more warnings about my phone use during company time.
The time came to finally write my exam. I had reviewed everything and I felt ready for the exam. Here’s probably one of the first signs that this wasn’t the path for me. When the test roomed opened up, I found myself a spot and went to go grab my stationary. I then realized I forgot to pack my pencil and eraser. I was like “F*&K!” I had to go find a pencil, I checked the clock and looked like I had some time to go find a pencil. There’s a 7-11 across the street, so I ran to it and looked at the stationary section. There were no pencils being sold. Time was ticking and was thinking where’s the closest store to get a pencil. The closest place I could think of at the time would be too far to get to and back on time for my test.
I went to go try my luck at the security desk at the school and asked if they happen to have a spare pencil. When I asked the person behind the desk if they had a spare pencil by chance, he said that he hasn’t seen one of those in a while, but he proceeded to look in his drawers. Coincidentally, he happened to find an Automatic led pencil, the ones you click like a pen and the led comes out. The only thing was that it didn’t have an eraser.
Whatever, at least I had something.
I finally got back to the test room with some time to spare and was looking around if there was an eraser on the ground or something. Didn’t find one. It came time to start the exam and the clock started. I remember going through the test once over, then went back and started answering the questions to the best of my knowledge. With the tutoring strategy I had, I felt like I was getting the correct answers. I had it completed and then went back to review my answers. I saw that I felt I made some mistakes, so I looked at the person behind me. I saw that he had an erasure. I quietly politely asked him if I could borrow his erasure for a bit and allowed me too.
I made the corrections and then handed in my test.
Feeling good about the test, I didn’t think about it for a few days. I had a good feeling that I did a good job….
Boy was I wrong. I finally got the notification that my test results were in and when I went to go check… I BOMBED it BIG TIME…. I had a 48% and you needed a 70% to pass. I’ll admit that I was sad and disappointed. I felt like I had let my team members, family, and friends down. I told them that I was gonna write the test and pass it. I was gonna become a Licensed Stock Broker within a year. Looks like life had different plans for me.
After the test, I had a performance review. By this time, I was really jaded with the work and what had happened to my chances of becoming fully licensed. Sitting down with my management team, they made me aware that my work has been declining and my performance hasn’t been up to par. Again, they reminded me about my phone usage during work. Since they really liked me on a personal level, they wanted to give me another chance. They said that they will give me another 3 months to improve and will review my work then. I thanked them for giving me another opportunity. I also told them if I can have a couple days to think about what’s going on.
After a weekend and a couple of days during the week to think things over, I realized that I did not want to do this anymore. I didn’t want to work in a corporate office with all those boring rules and regulations. I loved the team, but the work was the thing I didn’t like doing. All I could think about was dreams of how TableTutors is gonna get big and I wanted to be part of the team that built it! I made a decision of wanting to go part-time at Canaccord and Full-Time at TableTutors.
I asked the management if I could have a couple of minutes with them to let them know about my decision. With respect to my current team, they needed someone full time to do the daily duties and understood why they couldn’t take me in part time. However, they still wanted me to succeed in my endeavour and told me to reach out to HR and see if there was any part-time sales type positions available in other depts. I spoke with the HR dept and told them the situation. They didn’t mind it at all and they actively looked to see if there was anything. I told them I comfortable cold calling and knew they needed help in that dept because not a lot of people really like making those cold calls.
I was told that they will a position for me within a couple of weeks and told my current team. They asked me if it was ok for them to start looking for someone else for my position as we all knew that I was gonna leave. During that process, they ended up finding someone to replace me and was hired. All looked like it was going according to plan…
then...
I get a call from HR. When I got on the call, I could just tell something wasn’t right. I was told that the part-time job they had lined up for me wasn’t there anymore as the dept had made some changes on the route they wanted to take. The feeling of disappointment set in once again but…. It didn’t last really long. I thought to myself that this is some sort of sign that I’m not meant to be here. I looked back and just saw all the signs telling me that I don’t belong here.
From that point I made another decision to just take that LEAP of faith. Leave my life of acquiring steady consistent guaranteed income and jump into the work of Entrepreneur. Take that chance that I might not make money on some days. I already battled Cancer and still came out on top, what the worst that can happen?
So I jumped….
The next day I had my 2 week notice written up and handed it in to HR that I’m leaving Canaccord entirely. I wanted to pursue the unknown and live my life having to deal with new situations daily. I had an exit interview and told them that I loved the people here but the work was just not for me. I wish them the best, said good-bye to my team and other friends I made on the same floor. That was the last time I ever worked full time at a corporate job and I never had any regrets…
I am Happy!