My story
I have been an entrepreneur since June 2015 the company I work with has completely changed the way I save money. I had a guy that sold me one product and it was called an RRSP. I thought I was on track, and I got told that an RRSP didn’t make sense for me right now. I was saving $200 a month, my friends were saving $50…. be careful who you compare yourself to. The company I work with now freed up $1000 a month of money I didn’t know I had. I went from saving $2400 to $12,000! On top of saving more, I became properly protected for emergencies, properly protected for my loved ones if I pass away, and was now covered if I became critically ill. But most importantly I have flexibility in my life and with what’s going on right now I can appreciate this.
I was born and raised in Kelowna and I always wanted to be a professional NHL player. I had an unbelievable opportunity to play some high-level hockey, the highlight of my career was scoring a goal on Carey Price! To make a long story short I was hit from behind during a came and went headfirst into the boards. My shoulder was separated, my collar bone was fractured, and I also had tendon damage. Sadly, my career was cut short and my NHL dreams were done.
You don’t need good grades to be an NHL superstar but you do need decent grades to get into University. I fluked out and was accepted to Okanagan College and there I enrolled in the business program that I worked towards accounting and finance, which is funny because it took me three times to pass Math 12. After all the challenges I graduated in 2009 and walked into one of the worst global recessions in history. I couldn’t find work but I had a $50,000 piece of paper that was going too much for me. With an intention to find a job I moved to the big city of Calgary, sadly I couldn’t find work there either so I had to work part-time stocking shelves at Sobeys and sharpening skates… at least the hockey career was useful.
Two years later I was hired by TransCanada Pipelines and I thought I hit the 6 figure lottery! I received a pension, benefits, and holidays. I thought I would spend the rest of my life there, but after a couple of years I started to panic, the job was boring, stressful, and I got passed over for promotions time and time again. I started to think if this was going to be the next 40 years of my life, I felt stuck at 28 and I felt capped out.
The problem was no one was banging on my door saying “Hey Justin we want to coach and mentor you in business, we want to teach you to be in control of your time, control of your income”, I was lost and didn’t know what to do.
I was lucky enough to be invited by Grace (Now my wife) to a presentation in Calgary in 2015. I heard some things that were possible and got really excited about where the company was heading and the things they did for families. But as excited as I was I became disappointed because I couldn’t quit my job just yet, I had these things called bills that had to be paid.
But when I found out I could learn the business part-time and the company would work with my schedule, I became intrigued. So I took some of my spare time and learned the business within my own schedule. Boy was I glad I did because a couple of months later I got called into my boss’s office. It was one of those motivational talks, I now get to work for 60 hours a week but get paid for 40. I told them thanks but no thanks and they eventually laid me off and most of the department I worked within which was approximately 300 people.
I walked away from the oil and gas industry, was it easy for me? No, but it has been worth it! Is it easy, no! Building a business of any kind has its challenges. This isn’t a get quick rich fad and you’re not going to get a pink BMW in 2-3 months. This is one of the oldest industries out there and we have partnered up with some of the biggest names in the financial industry. What our company does for families impacts their lives for generations and if you ever have any questions, please reach out to me.