My first day / Labels don't matter

I remember my first day in the business like it was yesterday.  First, some background.

I entered the business at the tail end of the Penny Stock period.  For those of you who don't know this is the same period that was depicted in the Wolf of Wallstreet and Boiler Room, so you get the idea.

I had applied at three different firms: Dean Witter, Merril and a small Midwest penny firm; I didn't care how I got in the business, I wanted in.

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My first lesson in the business started immediately: it doesn't matter what you know, it matters who you know.  Both Dean Witter and Merrill required that candidates take internal tests in order to screen for candidates.  The penny firm didn't care because all they wanted were bodies to "dial for dollars."

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It's important to know that when I was getting into the business I was at a point in my life where I had finally figured out what I wanted to do but I did not know how to gain access.  At the same time, I was pretty poor.  My dress shoes had holes in them and I used to go to Happy Hours even though I don't drink; I went because they had food and I could eat.

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Anyway.  I took the tests at Dean and Merrill where I ended up being the highest score at Dean and in the top 10% at Merril.  I was absolutely ecstatic but also nervous because when I saw the other candidates, they all wore very nice suits and expensive shoes.  I figured that I would just do what I do: work harder than everyone else and succeed.  I was completely wrong.

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Neither Merrill nor Dean offered me a job even though they did congratulate me for my test scores.  I was surprised that I was passed over for positions that by their own metrics, I was one of the best candidates for.  I could not figure out why until many years later.

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The reason I was not hired was because I did not come from a wealthy family nor did I have a circle of wealthy friends that I could reach out to and gain as immediate new clients.  It did not matter what my score was what mattered was who I knew.

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Furthermore, I did not "look" the part.  My suit (I owned a single suit) was not from a haberdasher, was not custom and my ties (I owned 3 of them) were not silk.  My shoes were from Macy's so they didn't have a fancy Italian sounding name.

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But those rejections are what led me to that first Penny firm and the path that led me to a firm I stayed at for over 25 years, which is unheard of in the business.

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Years later I happened to be out at a lunch with clients.  I was wearing a custom suit, silk tie and fancy non-Macy shoes.  My cufflinks cost more than the total I had spent on my original suit and shoes.  As I was waiting for the server to approach I was engaged in some small talk when I heard a voice say to me "Holy crap man! I can't believe it's you~!"

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The server was one of the guys from the Dean entrance exams.  He had graduated from an Ivy and had the nicest suit, the nicest shoes and a big fat Rolex.  His hair was always perfect and he always had money - his parents helped him out.  He had also been hired by Dean and yet less than 5 years later, he was waiting tables at an upscale restaurant.

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I asked him how he was and he told me that Dean was a shithole.  They worked them 12 hours per day (I regularly put in 16 hour days) and they required that each of the new hires open accounts with at least 10 family and friends.  He told me that while he had done all of this, he realized that the shit he was being forced to buy for those clients was terrible and that usually it was just something the firm wanted to get rid of.  As he walked away I chuckled at just how badly I had judged what really matters in this business and in any business.

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• The person in the suit matters way more than the suit itself.

• There is no business that hard work over time will not produce exceptional results.

• Going to the "right" school or having the "right" last name only opens doors.  If you want to stick around, you have to stand out and the easiest way to do this is to work harder than anyone else, to learn more than anyone else, and to kiss a lot of frogs.

• Watches can be borrowed (turns out the Rolex was his Dad's - and he lost it at a strip club).

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Because of this early experience it was instilled in me that even if there were people who were smarter than me, most would not be willing to work as hard as I did at gaining knowledge and profiting from it.  It is one of the reasons I have so much confidence that how I do things works - because I have watched others try a different way and they have all failed.  Of course their failures were for varied reasons but at the end of the day, they all shared one thing in common: they had not worked for the opportunity but had been told that they were "perfect" for the job.  They had a false sense of self importance that had governed all of their decisions.  They did not have to scrum and get dirty.  And therefore their ability to do their job was severely hamstrung from the beginning.

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I succeeded by the Grace of God and my willingness to do whatever it took to get the job done.  It is the same attitude I have today teaching and discovering investment opportunities.  I can continue to beat the "Big Boys" despite all of their advantages because I am willing to work harder then they are.  And I had the advantage that my suit label was Macy's and not some bespoke designer.  

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I will leave you with this: if a guy like me with no college studies focused on finance or economics, with shoes from Macy's (I really liked Macy's, no?), a tie from Kohl's and a suit from Foley's, who started at a Penny firm, can achieve all the opportunities that I have, than anyone can learn how to trade.  Anyone.

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Lables don't matter.  Who you know doesn't matter.

What you do with the opportunities and challenges in your life will be the single greatest determining factor of success or failure.  

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Are you ready to get started?