I couldn't take it anymore. I was having a panic attack while driving into work and I was running late anyway so, I called in and quit. Not the most conventional course of action, to be sure.

I had some money set aside for "emergencies," in this case, rash decisions like quitting your job without really thinking about it, so I took some time to figure out what I wanted from my work.

My Mumsie always used to tell me that, "the choices you make in life dictate the life you lead." It was time to make some life dictating choices.

Every day, I woke up and perused the job boards, clicking on random jobs that caught my eye, there was one that grabbed me: a position at Edward Jones as a Financial Advisor.

You see, a few months prior (another job I quit at the drop of a hat, I was on a roll in my emerging adult years), I worked with a company helping newly established eCommerce businesses gain visibility and credibility on the search engines. I've always been curious by nature so, one day, I took it upon myself to ask a few of my clients why they decided to start drop shipping businesses online. I mean, I had looked into doing the same thing, but I was in my early twenties. The majority of the folks I worked with were in their 50's and, from the training sessions, were not the most technologically adapted. So, it struck me as odd that they would just start up a drop shipping business.

Long story short, the majority of my clients saw an ad in the classifieds (newspaper, for all you youngins) claiming they could make "$10,000 dollars a month," so they called it because they were trying to figure out how to be able to retire. This was post-2008 and a lot of folks made rash decisions with their retirement portfolios at the bottom of the market, kind of like I had been doing with my employment opportunities. That experience got me thinking, "There must be a better way."

To me, the job posting for a Financial Advisor was a sign showing me the direction I wanted to head. It revealed a glimpse of the "better way" to approaching financial independence and stability. There was only one problem, I didn't think I would even get an interview. I had no experience in financial services, no college education, and I ended up getting my high school diploma online (at a school that may or may not be a real thing.) So, the next part of the equation was to find a job that I was qualified for and opened the door to becoming a Financial Advisor.

To cut to the chase, I found a stepping stone and shoehorned my way into becoming a Financial Advisor, one stepping stone after another, never wavering from the goal, because I believed, as a Financial Advisor, I could make positive impacts in people's lives and help prevent them from taking disastrous missteps with their finances.

Turns out, by the time most people meet with a Financial Advisor, it's too late. Most people avoid meeting with a Financial Advisor until they're on the cusp of retirement and most Financial Advisors encourage that, because after all, Financial Advisors are paid on assets that they manage, most folks' investable assets are in the retirement account provided by their employer, which they can't do much with until they... retire. 

Sure, I worked with lots of folks who had figured it out and set themselves up nicely to continue to maintain their lifestyles and enjoy their golden years. It was the once who hadn't that are heartbreaking, they were several days and several bucks late and would have to make substantial modifications to their lifestyles to even think about retirement. Again, I was thinking, "There has to be a better way."

I believe that, if folks had access to the fundamental frameworks of wealth creation early on in their lives, they would have the capability of making better choices with their hard-earned cash to set themselves up for the future.

If folks make better choices with their dollars for a longer period of time, they can accumulate more substantial resources (a.k.a. free time, energy, and money), which then creates more opportunities for them to lead higher quality lives.

It took a several years from my initial epiphany in 2016 to muster up the courage and resources to be able to bring this concept into reality, but here we are. 

More importantly, my Hubsy and I are living, breathing proof that the traditional timeline from entering the workforce to retiring from corporate ladder climbing can be condensed and financial independence is a distinct possibility without inheriting oodles of money from some distant relative, working in a highly-compensated and awarded position, or scrimping, saving, and sacrificing the now for the later.

I'd be honored if you'd allow me to share with you the fundamental frameworks from my classical training in wealth management and the strategies and tactics I've learned along the way of creating independence in my own life.