April 6, 2014, I joined these forums. I wasn't much back then... and I don't think I'm much now.
Here's my story for you young-guns joining these forums.
I was always pushed into academics. This is the way. High school teachers, parents, aunts/uncles: "go to school" "become doctor, lawyer, accountant" etc. If you don't go to university, you will be a failure at life.
During high school I did alright for the most part. I never studied too hard, never really applied my self. I scored about average.
When it came time to apply to universities, I didn't get into the programs I wanted too. I did get into a few, but, didn't get those esteemed "science" programs that I was destined to go into.
So, I decided I would take a leap year to boost up my grades. I took a semester at a different high school, got my grades up across the board and that year got into all the programs I wanted too (all science stuff). I was even given a few "scholarship" options.. but, unfortunately, my family not knowing anything about how the school system works here in Canada, pushed me to "follow my passion". No one talked 'sense into me'... sure, I mean, ultimately it's my fault. I was arrogant, thought that going to a program with a better title would mean better options for my future and there was no one able to talk me down from my high-horse. At 18, we know everything.
But nope, I wanted that "specialty" program at a further school. It didn't come with a scholarship. My commute time went from what could have been 20 minutes, to over an hour at a much further "commuter school". Winter time was brutal..
Well, school started: I had issues with my parents and funding of said school. They went from telling me to follow my passion to, "oh where am I supposed to find money to fund your school". So I continued to work quite a few hours while in school, I did my best to have all my classes in 1 to 2 days so that I wouldn't need to commute to that shit school, and could work more hours on my off days.
I quickly ended up hating my life. Hating school and not really caring about it... I still went, but started skipping classes. Trying to get notes/details online and from other students. That didn't work out to well and I fell behind, started doing shit in school.
My first year was shit. Passed a few courses, failed a few, dropped a few, etc. But managed to not get kicked out.
Year 2 was much of the same. Shit, but worse. That year my dad got sick which weighed heavily on me. I ended up failing out year.. (there were other things going on as well, more family related but I will leave that out as anything more specific)
I took about 6 months to figure out what to do next and took a diploma course at a community college. (In Canada things are perceived like this: university is like the 'big deal' and college is like for the high school failures - think trades, 'hands on'.).
anyway, college was a joke for me academically. I finished a 3 year program in 2 years, with honors. I managed to get a job from a 'job fair' the school had with banks/local recruiters. I was pretty much the only guy to get hired immediately.
Because of how I fast tracked my program, I was finished in August, and started working in September.
I started out making $45k. I learned a lot about sales. I was selling financial services. I was a hot shot. things were going well for me and soon enough I was promoted to a senior sales guy. My salary went from $45, to $55.. I stayed in the role and hustled and my salary grew. Around the time I transitioned to the new role, I joined these forums. 2014.
The great thing about working in the bank and dealing with clients, you do see people from all walks of life and you get some ideas of things that work and things that dont. I would say that my specific role really opened my eyes to how businesses work.. and being in sales my self, I could see the parallels of what made a successful business owner vs. my own personal success.
I kept hustling, my pay went up (raises/revaluating the role bank wide, etc) and my salary continued to rise year after year. I topped out around $80k, my best year of sales/etc. But I hated my job. I hated the constant managers berating us for more sales. I kept trying to get another position, but by now, I'd been in the same role for to long. I feared I had been black-listed. I couldn't move. I was stuck. Management kept dangling twinkie bars on me though "but if u work really hard, we got an assistant manager job for you".
I was always a pessimist, but I always gave them a chance... so I bought into the whole "work hard to become an a$$-man"... That year I was told to interview for a$$-man position because our vice-president had suggested I interview.. But it was a joke. The didn't actually want to hire me, it seemed like they needed to weigh a pre-selected candidate against me. After they turned me down, the VP wanted a debrief with me personally.. where they told me not to be discouraged and to work hard/blah blah blah.... I knew it was a load of bullshit cause I had seen the shit they were promoting to a$$-Mans across the district... barely functional retards.. seriously... People that had no skills in leadership, were the ones being promoted... meawhile the good people - and yes I consider my self a good rounded person - was left to do the heavy lifting with zero reward.
So, I changed my tactic, and started applying externally. Luckily for me I got scooped up by another bank for a different role with an additional pay-bump. No sales to worry about.
Now, don't get me wrong. My current job is amazing. It's easy work for me, and I get paid about $100k to do it. I dodged a bullet with Covid as I am working from home.. While customer facing roles are still meeting with customers!
But, I'm bored to death.
You're asking, well, where do you suck? Well I turned 35 this year and this is not how I saw life unfolding. While I could do this job for the rest of my life (assuming we aren't axed at the next Shit quarterly earnings) I just feel like every day is the same, and my mind rots. I try to keep my brain active by always pursuing a new designation - thankfully the good thing about banks here is they generally pay for more education...
But I really suck because after 6 years of being on these forums I've accomplished nothing else significant with my life.. (yeah I got married, bought a home, etc) but I don't feel any accomplishment.
I can't scale my income. I can't work hard to make more. I can't get another job because working for a bank comes with rules... The stuff I'm good at like mortgages and real-estate, I can't sell because it's a conflict of interest/etc. I can't self promote my self... another conflict of interest.
I feel trapped.
That's a lot of "I can't"... yeah, I know. Which ads to why I suck..
And then I weigh out the cost-benefit analysis of doing things...
Build a website? learn to code? build a social media empire/help people with instagram?
I dabble... I like to dabble... I'll turn to this website every so often, get excited, try to do something.. Then stop..
I really liked the build a website.. I started doing it.. Figured out how to buy a domain/get hosting, start on word-press, get SSL,etc,etc.. but then I think about it... what will I sell? what trinkets will I sell? Whatever, throw it up there... but then my pessimist comes out...can I do this legally? whats the risk?
what if i sell something to someone and they get hurt/sick/etc. I get sued to make $10? I risk my wife assets along with my assets, to make $10?
I liked the idea of building websites for businesses too... but then I think about the same stuff as above....I'm still working my job and while I can finish my work quickly and have more free time during the day, what am II going to do? spent 30 hours to make $500? what's the real scale of building a website? what if I get real good... What's the timeline look like...and how much time do I need to get real good.. learning programming is a STEEP curve... like real programming..
but you have to understand these waht-if's come from years of working in business field.. I see small businesses failing all the time... they suck. they don't answer the phones when clients call. they make things overly complicated for their clients. they don't focus on the customer.
I've met thousands of clients that come in with their big-dicks swinging like they are king shit with this all-mighty business plan and flopppppp. And now their home is refinanced to the hilt carrying this shit debt that they sacrificed for.
over thinking becomes my crux... im damaged goods from years of seeing people fail/seeing what it takes to succeed/etc...
Anyway, now you know why I shoot your post down or give a sarcastic post and that's why I also suck.
Here's my story for you young-guns joining these forums.
I was always pushed into academics. This is the way. High school teachers, parents, aunts/uncles: "go to school" "become doctor, lawyer, accountant" etc. If you don't go to university, you will be a failure at life.
During high school I did alright for the most part. I never studied too hard, never really applied my self. I scored about average.
When it came time to apply to universities, I didn't get into the programs I wanted too. I did get into a few, but, didn't get those esteemed "science" programs that I was destined to go into.
So, I decided I would take a leap year to boost up my grades. I took a semester at a different high school, got my grades up across the board and that year got into all the programs I wanted too (all science stuff). I was even given a few "scholarship" options.. but, unfortunately, my family not knowing anything about how the school system works here in Canada, pushed me to "follow my passion". No one talked 'sense into me'... sure, I mean, ultimately it's my fault. I was arrogant, thought that going to a program with a better title would mean better options for my future and there was no one able to talk me down from my high-horse. At 18, we know everything.
But nope, I wanted that "specialty" program at a further school. It didn't come with a scholarship. My commute time went from what could have been 20 minutes, to over an hour at a much further "commuter school". Winter time was brutal..
Well, school started: I had issues with my parents and funding of said school. They went from telling me to follow my passion to, "oh where am I supposed to find money to fund your school". So I continued to work quite a few hours while in school, I did my best to have all my classes in 1 to 2 days so that I wouldn't need to commute to that shit school, and could work more hours on my off days.
I quickly ended up hating my life. Hating school and not really caring about it... I still went, but started skipping classes. Trying to get notes/details online and from other students. That didn't work out to well and I fell behind, started doing shit in school.
My first year was shit. Passed a few courses, failed a few, dropped a few, etc. But managed to not get kicked out.
Year 2 was much of the same. Shit, but worse. That year my dad got sick which weighed heavily on me. I ended up failing out year.. (there were other things going on as well, more family related but I will leave that out as anything more specific)
I took about 6 months to figure out what to do next and took a diploma course at a community college. (In Canada things are perceived like this: university is like the 'big deal' and college is like for the high school failures - think trades, 'hands on'.).
anyway, college was a joke for me academically. I finished a 3 year program in 2 years, with honors. I managed to get a job from a 'job fair' the school had with banks/local recruiters. I was pretty much the only guy to get hired immediately.
Because of how I fast tracked my program, I was finished in August, and started working in September.
I started out making $45k. I learned a lot about sales. I was selling financial services. I was a hot shot. things were going well for me and soon enough I was promoted to a senior sales guy. My salary went from $45, to $55.. I stayed in the role and hustled and my salary grew. Around the time I transitioned to the new role, I joined these forums. 2014.
The great thing about working in the bank and dealing with clients, you do see people from all walks of life and you get some ideas of things that work and things that dont. I would say that my specific role really opened my eyes to how businesses work.. and being in sales my self, I could see the parallels of what made a successful business owner vs. my own personal success.
I kept hustling, my pay went up (raises/revaluating the role bank wide, etc) and my salary continued to rise year after year. I topped out around $80k, my best year of sales/etc. But I hated my job. I hated the constant managers berating us for more sales. I kept trying to get another position, but by now, I'd been in the same role for to long. I feared I had been black-listed. I couldn't move. I was stuck. Management kept dangling twinkie bars on me though "but if u work really hard, we got an assistant manager job for you".
I was always a pessimist, but I always gave them a chance... so I bought into the whole "work hard to become an a$$-man"... That year I was told to interview for a$$-man position because our vice-president had suggested I interview.. But it was a joke. The didn't actually want to hire me, it seemed like they needed to weigh a pre-selected candidate against me. After they turned me down, the VP wanted a debrief with me personally.. where they told me not to be discouraged and to work hard/blah blah blah.... I knew it was a load of bullshit cause I had seen the shit they were promoting to a$$-Mans across the district... barely functional retards.. seriously... People that had no skills in leadership, were the ones being promoted... meawhile the good people - and yes I consider my self a good rounded person - was left to do the heavy lifting with zero reward.
So, I changed my tactic, and started applying externally. Luckily for me I got scooped up by another bank for a different role with an additional pay-bump. No sales to worry about.
Now, don't get me wrong. My current job is amazing. It's easy work for me, and I get paid about $100k to do it. I dodged a bullet with Covid as I am working from home.. While customer facing roles are still meeting with customers!
But, I'm bored to death.
You're asking, well, where do you suck? Well I turned 35 this year and this is not how I saw life unfolding. While I could do this job for the rest of my life (assuming we aren't axed at the next Shit quarterly earnings) I just feel like every day is the same, and my mind rots. I try to keep my brain active by always pursuing a new designation - thankfully the good thing about banks here is they generally pay for more education...
But I really suck because after 6 years of being on these forums I've accomplished nothing else significant with my life.. (yeah I got married, bought a home, etc) but I don't feel any accomplishment.
I can't scale my income. I can't work hard to make more. I can't get another job because working for a bank comes with rules... The stuff I'm good at like mortgages and real-estate, I can't sell because it's a conflict of interest/etc. I can't self promote my self... another conflict of interest.
I feel trapped.
That's a lot of "I can't"... yeah, I know. Which ads to why I suck..
And then I weigh out the cost-benefit analysis of doing things...
Build a website? learn to code? build a social media empire/help people with instagram?
I dabble... I like to dabble... I'll turn to this website every so often, get excited, try to do something.. Then stop..
I really liked the build a website.. I started doing it.. Figured out how to buy a domain/get hosting, start on word-press, get SSL,etc,etc.. but then I think about it... what will I sell? what trinkets will I sell? Whatever, throw it up there... but then my pessimist comes out...can I do this legally? whats the risk?
what if i sell something to someone and they get hurt/sick/etc. I get sued to make $10? I risk my wife assets along with my assets, to make $10?
I liked the idea of building websites for businesses too... but then I think about the same stuff as above....I'm still working my job and while I can finish my work quickly and have more free time during the day, what am II going to do? spent 30 hours to make $500? what's the real scale of building a website? what if I get real good... What's the timeline look like...and how much time do I need to get real good.. learning programming is a STEEP curve... like real programming..
but you have to understand these waht-if's come from years of working in business field.. I see small businesses failing all the time... they suck. they don't answer the phones when clients call. they make things overly complicated for their clients. they don't focus on the customer.
I've met thousands of clients that come in with their big-dicks swinging like they are king shit with this all-mighty business plan and flopppppp. And now their home is refinanced to the hilt carrying this shit debt that they sacrificed for.
over thinking becomes my crux... im damaged goods from years of seeing people fail/seeing what it takes to succeed/etc...
Anyway, now you know why I shoot your post down or give a sarcastic post and that's why I also suck.
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