The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Episode 188 with Connor McWilliams and Max Ceron
The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world to share their passion and give you the right tips to stay on top of what’s happening in the welding industry.
Unlock the secrets to a fulfilling career in the trades and finance by tuning into our latest episode featuring Connor McWilliams. Learn how he navigated his way through his high school Apprenticeship program to earn his level one for Automotive Service Technician and eventually finding his calling in the welding industry, despite his parents' hopes for a professional hockey career. Connor's journey from welding to finance reveals crucial tips on managing earnings, investing wisely, and achieving financial security. Hear his personal anecdotes and practical advice on financial management, and understand the importance of education and mentorship in securing a stable financial future. Whether you're in the trades or just looking to improve your financial literacy, this episode offers valuable lessons on becoming the best version of yourself.
Follow Connor:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connor_mcwils
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-mcwilliams-459a12212/
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All right, I can check. Check, I'm good. So I'm Max Duran. Max Duran, cwb Association Welding Podcast, pod pod podcast. Today we have a really cool guest welding podcast. The show is about to begin.
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Speaker 1:This episode is brought to you by our friends at Miller. We're excited to talk to you about their training solutions, offering MobileArc, an augmented reality welding tool designed to introduce and recruit students to welding. We all know that engaging new welders can be a huge challenge. Mobilearc uses augmented reality to simulate live welding so that recruits can get hands-on experience that introduces them to a career in welding, and that only seven pounds, it's easy to transport to remote learning and recruiting events. Introduce, recruit and inspire the next generation of welders with MobileArc. Head to MillerWeldscom to discover the right training solution for you. Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association Podcast. My name is Max Saron and, as always, I'm going coast to coast to coast to find the stories out there in Canada and around the world for you, my faithful listeners. Today we have Connor McWilliams coming to us from Vancouver, which I would say sometimes is sunny, but most of the time is not. Connor, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great back.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me on here you bet buddy, so you told me you're in vancouver. That's a big area and lots of little pieces out there. So where in vancouver are you?
Speaker 2:yeah, so I'm actually just based out of steveston. It's a little fishing village about uh, 30 minutes south of vancouver there and it's it's a nice little neighborhood. I mean, the homes are pretty expensive, you know. You're looking at about two and a half million a piece, but uh, if you're okay with that, then it's a nice place to live in for sure steve sims beautiful, the harbor is nice.
Speaker 1:They bring out the tall ships every year there at the port. Uh, my family lived in richmond, which is right next door, for almost 20 years, so uh, you know, I believe all steveston technically is underwater right now. Yeah, um, and if, if there's an earthquake, those two million dollar houses don't float very well, but but it's real pretty.
Speaker 2:It's real pretty it is really nice. Yeah, I'm dead basically if there's an earthquake. So if you lose me halfway through, this Awesome.
Speaker 1:So, connor, where were you born? Is that where you've always called home? Is that kind of the South side of van, or?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I was born and raised in Richmond and grew up in Steveston, you know, grew up in low income housing. So, as you can imagine, it was a bit tough for us growing up.
Speaker 1:So, as you can imagine, it was a bit tough for us growing up. But, you know, for myself, I think that's really what got me into the welding. You know, my dad was a trades person. It was always like an in-between place, but sometimes there's people that are there for life and I mean it is what it is for yourself. You know what? What was your? Uh, I guess what created that ambition for you as a kid to to perhaps pursue a trade or get out of that, that environment?
Speaker 2:perhaps pursue a trade or get out of that? That environment, that's that's a great question. Yeah, so I spent uh 14 years, from five years old to 19, in low-income housing and, for myself, I grew up playing a really high level of hockey. So, um, you know, was training with some whl teams uh used to train with, actually, a captain of team canada there, with uh brent Seabrook, for a little while right and when I was 16, my grandfather unfortunately passed but he left me behind a chunk of money, so $8,000. And I had the opportunity to spend that money to join a hockey team for a year or to buy a Mustang, or to buy a Mustang and, as you can imagine, with any 16-year-old, just went to the Mustang route and you know that's what led me down. You know, going into trades, I just started working on the car and, you know, got a new exhaust for it and I was like man, this is really cool stuff and you know that's what inspired me to get going working with my hands.
Speaker 1:So did you have any trades background in your family? Any uncles, aunts, parents? Was there anybody that was like hey, this is a good avenue for you, or and and if I guess. If not, how did you find the trades?
Speaker 2:that? That's a good question. Yeah, so for myself I didn't have that. I had uh, quite the opposite actually. So I had my parents who were encouraging me to stick with hockey and to go pro and, you know, at least play pro in Europe or something of that sort. But you know, I ultimately didn't want to do it, like I'm sure it's a lot of kids dreams, but it just wasn't mine. So I really liked once I got my Mustang in the car and just fooling around with it. And you know I was fortunate enough that in some high schools they offer apprenticeship programs where you can finish, you know, a bit early. So I went in the automotive route and got my automotive level one service technician ticket and then I started working over at Chevrolet there and it was a great gig and I managed to land an apprenticeship through them, which was nice because they would pay for all the schooling.
Speaker 2:But I remember just being at work and, you know, trying out welding just on some of the cars and I was like man, this is awesome, Like I love doing this, and you know, if I could get any sort of role that involved, like you know, just even operating a torch, like I was like, hey, you know, and just an acetylene torch, like if I can just use that to bend some metal on a car, like pass it over. And that's where I started. Looked into some programs and, yeah, signed up for school and then went through school at about 18 for my level one for welding.
Speaker 1:Just got school at about 18 for a level one for welding, just got out of auto. So then you're. You're still living in in steveson at this point because you know, following your timeline, you were there till you were 19, so you're working at chevy owning a ford. You know, which is fine. I own a ford and a chevy and my ford is a mustang, so I I've had, uh, three mustangs. Now this is my third one, but um there you go, you.
Speaker 1:You do the mechanic, you do the auto body technician. Did you, did you not feel like that was your home, or did you just think that the welding portion of it was the coolest part of the day?
Speaker 2:that's a good question so yeah, I, I actually I uh got rid of the Mustang, not by choice, I crashed it. So before I was working at Chevrolet. But no, what happened was, you know, basically I was over at Chevrolet and I enjoyed working on cars. But I had another car at the time and I stripped the interior and went to throw a roll cage in it. And you know, I was like man, this is some bad stuff Throwing a roll cage, like you know. Know, I was like man, this is some bad stuff throwing a roll cage, like you know, it just felt so cool. So I was like, why would I not hone in on this? And you know, you look at that too. And you look at what does a welder make? You know an oil and gas field versus what does, uh, you know my future, look like at chevrolet making whatever 70, 80 000 a year. And you know, that was just another factor. And I was like, hey, you, hey, you know what, I'm going to go this route and that's really what led me there.
Speaker 1:So what program did you take then? So you know, you started looking around trying to find something. What did you end up taking?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I got my level C through BCIT and right away, right out of the gate. I know some people struggle with getting welding gigs. Some people struggle with getting welding gigs. I was, fortunate enough. I just walked into some guy's shop. He was looking for welders. He said, hey, connor, we've got a project going on. We're building a SpedEx warehouse I think it's a main distribution factory over in Western Canada because it was huge. But they were severely behind their schedule. So when I went to him I was like, yeah, are you guys hiring? And he said, yeah, when can you start? And I said, well, whatever, I just finished school. And he said, all right, you're starting tomorrow. So I went right into a gig two days after getting my ticket, welding seven days a week, 12 hour days, and yeah, it was good, fun and definitely a pay increase from working at Chevrolet, as you could imagine.
Speaker 1:So that was, that was good, yeah so that's pretty fortunate and I think a lot of kids right now coming out of programs I shouldn't or I shouldn't say kids or people, because lots of people are retraining right now to get into welding a lot of people that are coming out now. I find that there's quite a bit of work, um, albeit that there is some requirements of certifications now, like it's gotten a little trickier in today's welding world because there are tickets and qualifications that people expect. For you walking into a new warehouse construction build, I'd imagine it's probably like you needed your base CWB, all position, mig and stick, maybe a flux core I don't know structural stuff right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I got my uh six cwbs and, uh, that was that was it. After that I was smooth sailing and I, I did that project. That was a three-month project and I went into ironworking following that with my uh stick welding experience and I wasn't a huge fan. Just with the amount of rain that we get in vancouver I'd be, you know, throwing some i-beams up and I'd just be getting electrocuted. So I I wanted to avoid that, so I got out of there a couple months in. But uh, yeah, it was a good experience and I definitely recommend, you know, getting your cwbs for whatever position you can get them in if you know you're new to welding, and it'll help you significantly with landing a career right, so it makes it easier to start.
Speaker 1:Well, some trades are very CWB, certification or qualifications dependent. Like you mentioned, the ironworkers. I worked with the ironworkers lots in my younger career and I always tell young people people like if you're struggling looking for work, get your opposition stick and go to the iron workers. Like they'll throw you out there. You might not be welding all day, you may not weld at all for a few days, but it's work and it's really good paying work with really good pensions and benefits. And you know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Work is work, right.
Speaker 3:So yeah, um, but it is a whole nother thing.
Speaker 1:A couple months ago I did see an article and I actually got a phone call about it being like you know, they always study the shock hazards of electricians so carefully, like how many shocks they get. If an electrician gets a shock on the site, they're off work for like days. There's a whole like process of getting back in there and they're like do welders ever get shocked on site? And I was like dude all the time but no one seems to care about us getting shocked. You know, electricians oh no, take the day off. We're like just with their hair standing up all day.
Speaker 1:But whatever, you know I guess uh, I guess that's part of the job yeah so let's keep going down the timeline. You tried out iron working for a bit. Uh, you know they say vancouver only gets around 70 to 75 sunny days a year.
Speaker 2:That ain't a lot, so that's a lot of rain.
Speaker 1:Now, where'd you go to from there?
Speaker 2:yeah. So after that I went into a shop where we were building uh, storage racking it's called r-pack and uh it was. It was a great place and it was through a temp agency at that point in time and, um, you know, it was a nice gig. It was four tens. The pay wasn't that great as you could imagine going from, you know, working the field with iron working where you have lots of overtime to a shop role where it's, you know, basically 40 hours a week, maybe an extra day of ot sort of thing.
Speaker 2:Um, so that that was a bit tough. But uh, at the same time I got a call from the temp agency asking you know if I want to try another gig. And I enjoyed where I was at. So I told him no. But I told him, hey, I had a friend, he just got a c-level. Can, uh, can he join on? So he joined them and then I called him. I said how's it going over at this new place that I got you a job? And he's like oh, it's going great. And I asked him how much he was making. He's making more than me and I was like man, I got this guy a job making more money than me what am I doing?
Speaker 2:so I uh, yeah, elected to go. Uh, I said, hey, well, are they hiring? And you know I went over and applied and, you know, got the job and that was over at a place it's called commercial truck and uh, that's over in delta. So you know, again, about 30 minutes from richmond or vancouver and we're building commercial. It was super cool job. You know, I was able to use my automotive experience and you know, we we were able to build all these trucks. I was getting a little bit of electrical work, some hydraulics, some welding and, um, yeah, it was. It was a pretty good time. I love that place. It was a good time.
Speaker 1:So where are you in your apprenticeship as you're continuing this journey? You know, you, you, you got your level C, but you're working a few more places. You know the year's gone by now. Are you looking to go back and finish off blocks? Are you looking?
Speaker 2:to go towards that JP. So, absolutely, I was definitely looking to get my red seal. And you know, I was put into a funny position because I was put in charge of this big contract, you know as a lead hand I guess. So I was managing, you know, 10 other guys and I had to be there right for the company to make sure that that contract went through. And, you know, at the same time I wanted to get my journeyman.
Speaker 2:I was like, well, how am I going to go back to school? So it was one of those things where I just told him, hey, I'm going to go back for my b-level and, you know, if you can keep me on, great, if you can't, then I guess that's it, which is, uh, you know, I guess you could say a ballsy move when you're living almost, uh, paycheck to paycheck at that point in time, right, so I, I went ahead with it and you know sure they needed me there. So I was able to go and take my B-level while working there, which was basically Monday to Friday, I'd be working 6 am to 3.30 pm, and then from 4 pm to usually about 9.30 pm I'd be in class doing my B-level.
Speaker 2:And that was my routine, for I can't even remember how long B-Level was three months, four months, something like that right. Yeah, no, it was a good time.
Speaker 1:And how were your skills going back to school? Were you still there?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely With the B-Level. The only thing that changed, though, is the TIG welding right. So I got a little bit of TIG experience not a whole lot, so it took me a little bit longer than the average person to go through that schooling, but uh, you know, when I came back I was like man, I love that you're not catching on fire, you're not really getting electrocuted too, often this is the role that I want.
Speaker 2:So, uh, when I worked at this other shop, it's called aggressive tube bending. They do a lot of work with boiler makers. They do some uh stuff with, uh, you know the aircraft industry and you know some military contracts, you know some art installation. So I was building really cool stuff. I love what I was doing. But, uh, you know, unfortunately after a little while I suffered from some nerve damage in my lower back. I had a ruptured disc in my l5 and L6, so that took me off work for about a year.
Speaker 1:So was that from hockey? Was that from welding? Was it a shock of like an injury, or was it like a repetitive strain like lumbar 5-6? So that's kind of right in the middle of the curve there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's just repetitive lifting. You know, for a guy I guess that's, uh, you know, pretty common from what I hear.
Speaker 2:But it's just one of those things where you're in a fab shop and you're picking pipes up from the ground, you throw them on a stand and welding them up and you know you're you're trying to save time so you're not using the overhead crane and stuff like that, and and that's basically what got me there. But you know, max, as far as that goes, I don't think that it was a bad thing. I think I was very blessed to have that, because it gave me the opportunity to reach out to friends that were welding inspectors and say, hey, how did you get into this? What was the deal, right? So that led me into the next part of the career, which was nice.
Speaker 1:So you get the year to work on your health and rehab your back did you have to get surgery, or did you manage to skirt it without surgery?
Speaker 2:uh, you know what I? Uh, I got a cortisol ejection. Have you ever had one before?
Speaker 1:yeah, I have yeah, yeah, and uh, exactly, man, I.
Speaker 2:I had to get three injections like right around the same area and I kid you not, man, my, by the third injection, like my nose started bleeding and I was about to pass out. And the doctor tells me he says okay, you're all finished up. And I was like you know, my man, like I appreciate what you did, but I hope I never see you again in my entire life yeah, I've had him.
Speaker 1:I have had him from my neck because I blew out my neck and my shoulder, which is very common. Welder problem is blown out left shoulder. I'm still going like it's for the rest of my life. I go to chiropractor. I was just booking it this afternoon for my left shoulder because it's flares up. But I mean you learn, you learn to take care of it, you learn what to do. But yeah yeah, I mean, uh, use the equipment kids, yeah, yeah, absolutely cortisol feels like fire going in. It's not fun.
Speaker 2:No no, it's not too fun.
Speaker 1:I went there that once, and that was it so that's yeah, that's as far as that goes so you're sitting healing, not working, reevaluating your life because you're like dang, I don't want to be hurt all the time. This isn't cool. And you said you started reaching out to inspector friends. Now are these inspector people that you met through the trade or people that you went to school with, that kind of went down that route?
Speaker 2:yeah, so these were people that worked at shops with me previously. Uh, you know, I I think it's a good idea for any welder to keep in touch with you know? Uh, all those people in the welding trades, because you never know when a shop's gonna network is everything you know yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 2:So reached out to him and he said hey, you know, just go and go and get your level one. I went and got my level one inspector's ticket. Then when I went and joined them, they were just starting with the Trans Mountain Pipeline there Went and hopped on that gig. There's a ton of, as you can imagine, a ton of certification needed and all that sort of stuff. I was one of the only inspectors basically working there and uh, well, on this portion it was spread 7b, which is in uh hope and chilliwack area, and uh, it was. It was a good gig, you know, working basically 712s, but it was now at this point a lot more slacked. It was just uh that's just taking on documentation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Taking on more responsibility obviously but, uh, yeah, it was a nice gig. And then, at the same time, you know, as getting my level one, I really had an interest in going into finance. So, you know, I I actually went ahead and started, uh, getting educated a bit before that in finance, but got my tickets that allowed me to provide financial products during that time period.
Speaker 1:So what? What allured you to finance? That's, you know not to joke too much about welders but, if there's one thing welders aren't very good at, is holding on to money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm basically quoting my life as a welder, you know, but you know for for a young guy who's welding and and now inspecting, you know you, you have. For the most part, we get offered people to do our finances for us. You know, like most of our jobs have financial attachments to it to to help us, because we're notoriously bad at the money we make. Yeah, um, so like I always tell people that you know I've told welding students since we were, since I started teaching 10, 15 years ago it's like we're like we're like professional sports athletes, welders. You know we get paid a lot. Our work life might not be forever because you know you don't see too many 60 year old welders out there. It's kind of like a gig where you make a lot of cash and you try not to blow it. You try not to you.
Speaker 1:Try not to let it slip through your fingers, because you want to work yourself into a coaching gig someday or, uh you know, an off the ice or an off the field gig. Yeah, that's, that's like the dream sports career. Right, you go play sports for 15 years, then you become a coach or an owner or whatever. I said welding's the same. Get out there, make your money but work yourself towards a supervisor job or an inspector job or an owner job yeah, yeah, totally, totally, absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's hilarious, it's, it's definitely that route right, especially in oil and gas, where you're working lots of hours, but uh, but yeah, what? What led me down that route? I mean, first of all, I would say almost anyone growing up in low-income housing is thinking you know how the hell do I get out of here and how do I make sure this doesn't happen for me and my family, right?
Speaker 2:so um, you know, once I went into that environment where I was working seven days a week, 12 hour days. I was making great money. I had no idea what to do with it. So I asked some of the other guys and I was like, what should I be doing? And you know you get that advice from certain guys, at least back then, when cannabis was starting to be legal oh, buy this weed stock. And, you know, buy this Air Canada stock and all this sort of stuff. And I was like, well, ok, I'll try that out.
Speaker 2:And you know it proved to be a bit interesting. But growing up around Vancouver, I was like you know what, if I just put my money in real estate, I'm sure it's going to go up in value. So around the age of 20, I just started purchasing rental property and, you know, funnily enough I had my mom who was willing to help me. She had been a property manager for about 20 years and, you know, being like a true welder, being stubborn and not wanting any sort of advice or help. I was like no, I got it sorted, I'm all good, I can take care of myself. And the first tenant happened to be an occasional crackhead who somehow forgot to pay rent on time and I ended up losing about 12, I don't know if it was 12 or 15 grand in about three months.
Speaker 3:And then I was like you know what Okay, mom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, three months. And then I was like you know, I should learn how all this stuff sort of works right, so I just took some courses. I had no plans of getting into finance at all. Like you know, I was very happy welding. I loved what I was doing, it was a great field to be in, and so I just took random courses and, you know, took them through a local college, eventually transitioned over to McGill. If you were to ask me the name of what courses I took, I couldn't even tell you. It's been a little while now. But yeah, at that point in time it really helped me a lot, seeking that financial literacy, with getting a better understanding of what I could do with my money the rental game is a tricky game.
Speaker 1:I got some properties and my wife's my property manager, because I don't like doing that stuff.
Speaker 3:I'm the fix-it guy. I'm the fix-it guy.
Speaker 1:Okay, someone's broke and send me, I'll do that. All that other stuff, man, I don't even want to know Someone else can't care of that? Yeah, exactly what kind of stuff did you get? You said you were able to sell products. That sounds like. What kind of education did you have to get and what abilities were you able to do while you're out in the field offering what you call products?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so as far as that goes, I was very, very lucky in this sense that my childhood best friend, who also grew up in low-income housing, had gotten into finance, and so, after going through schooling for finance, the struggle that I found was that I'd meet all these people that you know could benefit from maybe changing certain things in their portfolio or, you know, getting cheaper insurance, whatever it was, and I'd recommend it to them, but they I couldn't ensure that that actually took place, right, that's what I found was that?
Speaker 2:okay, I'll recommend this to you, to you. But hey, it's not happening, for whatever reason. So I needed to actually be able to help them make sure it happened. So I asked him. I said what licenses do I need? And he said you actually need two licenses. You need a one's called the CISC. The Canadian Investment Funds course teaches you all about investments in Canada, allows you to sell mutual funds if you ever chose to or manage your own. The other one is an llqp life license qualification program that allows you to sell insurance-based products. Both courses honestly take around like 50 hours to complete. It's not a ton of time, which is surprising, but those are the two licenses that I got and from there I was able to help people, you know, with a lot of their financial problems now, did you find that that market is saturated?
Speaker 1:because, like I'll tell you, like as a kid coming up in canada through a variety of demographics, financially and culturally, there's a lot of people that turn to selling finance and insurance as kind of as kind of a temp gig. You know there's a lot of people that kind of fall into. What I would say is like the big insurance companies Ponzi scheme where they bring in someone young, give them a little bit of training, give them a little bit of licensing, but really what they want is all that young person's contacts.
Speaker 1:They just want to be able to grab everybody out of your contact list and then they don't care about you no more. And I've had lots of friends over the years fall for that and be like, oh, I'm an insurance guy now or I'm selling stocks now, and it's like are you really, or are you just working for a company that's flipping you a little bit of coin so you can give up your contact list? You know, how did you compete with that?
Speaker 2:totally so. I think you know, whatever career, whatever field you go in, your success ultimately is usually defined by the people who are realistically giving you advice or giving you a game plan to follow, right? It's so for myself with my childhood best friend, like I was just fortunate, like I said, he happened to be someone who's making half a million dollars a year profit, right, so obviously he's able to give me a more solid blueprint in terms of you know how you go out and find clients and things like that. But definitely that was one of my concerns, right. So I started actually on a part time basis in finance and, you know, once I was able to match or get close to the income I was making as an inspector, that I was able to make this transition over to full-time in finance.
Speaker 1:So were you doing both jobs for a while there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, I was doing inspecting and I was also doing a bit of advising on the side, but that was definitely a difficult time in life. Maybe helping a person or two every month or so, right, but just family and friends and definitely man. There is a lot of that going on where those insurance companies will go ahead and try to, you know, get all those contacts from you. I mean, if you look at recruiter positions for those, those insurance companies, they pay, you know, around 200 grand a year right so obviously they're doing what they can to um you know no other
Speaker 1:way to really put it, but bleed you dry of those contacts well, I think that's how they make their living, like, I mean, it's, it's an old game, right, it's been around, yeah, for as long as money's been around, really like yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But you know what with that said? Uh, as far as that goes, I think that still in canada today, there's a lot of people that could benefit from gaining access to financial literacy, right. So it's like you know, it's crazy the amount of people living paycheck to paycheck nowadays. It's just astounding, right. So to be able to give back to people that were in a position that I was in is really emotionally rewarding, honestly.
Speaker 1:Well, it's interesting conversation. I hear it sometimes from a honestly Well, it's interesting conversation. I hear it sometimes from a very ignorant standpoint, where it's like the schools aren't teaching our kids to be financially literate. The schools aren't teaching our kids about finances or taxes or saving or their budgets. It's like what's wrong with the school system? It's like, okay, well, first of all check yourself. The school's never taught that. That's not. That's not something that ever existed.
Speaker 1:The difference is that a hundred years ago, 20 years ago, there was a lot more disposable income at every level for most of society. So you would learn your financial literacy from your parents. So I always say like rich kids know how to save right, Because rich kids are taught to save from when they're little. Like rich kids grow up with a bank account. Rich kids grow up with their parents telling them about you know, we're going to save up money and we're going to go to Disneyland this summer. Or we're going to save up money and mom got a brand new car, but poor kids, we didn't get any of that.
Speaker 1:There was no saving. There's no discussions about banks. There's no discussions about banks. There's no talks about RRSPs. In our houses, you know, it's always like oh the price of milk and oh the price of bread and oh the price of gas, Right, Like, yeah, it's a constant struggle. So for people to talk about financial literacy not happening at home it's because the homes don't have the finances to do it. Yeah, it really. And I like I mean, and there are free courses offered across canada for financial literacy. Many universities and colleges offer them. Um, and I I've taken them.
Speaker 1:I ended up going back to school for some finance stuff myself because, after tanking a couple businesses, I realized I don't know how to run a business. Maybe I should go to school and the things I learned were invaluable and, like you said, I think everyone should learn these things.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Right, because it just gives you a better understanding of what's happening with your money. Even if you don't want to manage your money, you know. If you think your time could be better spent with your family or working more hours, whatever it is, that's great, that's fantastic. But if you're not someone who you know has full trust in what your advisor is doing, then having a better understanding of what they're actually doing with your finances is is going to be, you know, so rewarding and it's going to really help you emotionally. I think there's there's a lot of people that lose sleep over over their finances, realistically Right.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:It's true. Well, let's take a break now for our advertisers and sponsors and the people that pay our bills, and then when we get back, we'll kind of start from where you are now in this new part of your life and I got some questions about the previous part of your life too but we'll be right back on the CWB Association podcast with Connor McWilliams here, and don't go anywhere Looking for top quality welding machines and accessories. Look no further than CannaWeld. Based in Vaughan, ontario, cannaweld designs, assembles and tests premium welding machines right here in Canada. Our products are CSA certified and Ontario made approved, reflecting our unwavering commitment to excellence. Count on us for superior service that's faster and more efficient than market competitors. Whether you're in aerospace, education or any other precision welding industry, cannaweld has the perfect welding solution for you.
Speaker 1:Visit CannaWeldcom today to discover why professionals rely on canna weld for their welding needs. Canna weld where precision meets reliability in welding. Enjoy peace of mind with our four-year warranty on most machines. Conditions do apply, and we are back here on the cwb association podcast. My name is max seron and I'm here with connor mcwilliams coming to us from vancouver about. We're talking about his career. He started as a auto body technician, then welder, then inspector, now finance guru you know, and, uh, that that's quite the the turn.
Speaker 1:We've cracked jokes but in all reality, um, finance is something that people in the trades often get stung by. You know, it's the joke. It was the joke. Out like I'm in the out in the west we have such a bust and boom economy that, uh, everyone's always like, oh yeah, look at my brand new truck. And then three weeks later, oh, no truck.
Speaker 1:And then a year later look at my new truck and then six weeks later, no truck. You know, it's like, uh, the auctions are always busy out here, but that is something that I think we need to really really learn, right. So let's talk about you. You know you you start getting into financing finances and did you want to connect the two? Did you want to connect the trades to your financial goals? Did you see the people in the trades trades persons, trades companies as a potential source of clients?
Speaker 2:so, as far as that goes, what it started with was, you know, when I started doing somewhat well for myself financially, um, I had family and friends reach out saying, hey, how can I, you know, rework my finances? What can I do here to improve things for myself, right? So, uh, I started helping just family and friends realistically, and that was when I was, you know, becoming a welding inspector. A welding inspector at that point, and I just loved the emotional impact that it had on the people around me, right? Because there's so many times where I help people and I just thought, man, if my parents just knew about even half the stuff that I know today as a child, I probably would not have to have had to deal with, you know, certain situations that I had to deal with growing up. So from there it just it made a significant impact on myself in terms of helping my community. To be totally honest with you myself, like my best friend, he recommended how to build my business. He recommended helping small business owners.
Speaker 2:So that's actually what I went for was helping small business owners. Now, what I thought about to myself was I'm helping all these people who are most of the time doing, you know, anywhere from 48 million a year of revenue, but it's not as emotionally rewarding, realistically. So that's actually what led me to start wanting to educate a lot of welders. Right Was, hey, I was in that situation where I had no idea what to do with my money and when I was at these shops, I, you know, I I had the hr guy sit down and he'd say do you want to do medium or high risk? And I'd say I don't even know what I'm, what I'm talking about, right?
Speaker 2:so yeah um, that's what kind of led me down that route, and I was like you know what? There's so many welders that could benefit from expanding their own level of knowledge when it comes to finances, and it would make such a big impact because, honestly speaking, a lot of the guys in the trades are making good money. There's no reason why they can't retire early. It's just that they're not shown how to do so right and, like you said, unless you're coming from a rich family, which, truth be told, most welders, at least the ones that I met, weren't right uh, you're just not gonna get that sort of dialogue that you would get you know, growing up with those types of parents.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's kind of how that went well, you know, I got a.
Speaker 1:I got an interesting little story in my life that showed me both sides of the coin. My dad won a not a huge amount, but a decent amount of money in a lottery when I was, like, I think, nine or ten. So we went from, like you know, a very different part of the city to a very nice part of the city, yeah and uh. And I, when you know, I started a new school over the summer and I was in this, you know, brand new school with really good computers and a really nice library and digital clocks, and it was like not at all where I, where I had come from as a kid and everyone around me was already talking about like I got 500 in my savings account, or grandma gave me 100 for christmas, and it was a whole different world where it seemed like everyone had exposable income, expendable income, even as children, you know, even as children. You know, I'm cleaning the whole house and mowing the lawn for a buck so that I can go buy a slurpee on friday, you know, and, and you know little jimmy at the school, you know his, his parents are lawyers and he's got a hundred dollar crisp, crisp, hundred dollar bill at that circle k and I'm just like
Speaker 1:what is happening in this world. But that kind of was good for me because it taught me that you know there's a lot, I don't know there's a lot about this money. And it put a fire in me, young, that I want to not have to worry about these things anymore. I don't want to ever have to worry about, you know, the price of milk. You know, screw it, I'm just gonna, I, I just want to. If I want milk, I'm buying milk. I don't care if it's two bucks or six bucks, I'm getting the milk, which you know. Years later I asked a mentor of mine um, how do you know when you're happy, like financially, because it's a never-ending game, it's the rat race right, like you can run forever.
Speaker 3:So what are you happy like?
Speaker 1:what? What is your measure of happy for making enough money? Because some people I know are very happy at $70,000 a year. They are content. And then I know people that make $250,000 a year and they're still chasing the tail right. And this guy says to me you know, you've made it. When you don't care about the gas price of gas or the price of groceries, when you just go to the gas station and you don't pick one because it's a cent cheaper and you don't pick a grocery store because they got a sale. You go to that one because it's got the best meat and you go to that one because it's got the nicest car wash. And I was like, hmm, that's a really interesting way. But what he was trying to say is that it's about your personal choice. What are the personal things in your life that you consider necessary? And if you have them you're good. If you're not, then you're not right, totally, totally, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think that's a great question to have and you know, I always it's funny you asking that because I always ask others what's your definition of financial freedom, but I've never had someone ask it to me. So, um, as as far as that goes, you know, with with that question, um, I've, I've had many points in my life where you know I, like I said, grew up no one, no money. Um, had months where you know, making, as you can imagine, like a pretty substantial amount of money. You know what someone might make in a year, just in a month. But what I found was that once you reach the point, at least in my experience, of making around $10,000 a month, you can most likely cover your expenses, cover the expenses of your family, not really worry too much about, like you said, getting gas or you know where you're going for food or things like that, but anything past that, what I've found is that your lifestyle doesn't really change all that much. It's, you know, it's just a nicer restaurant, it's just nicer clothes, it's a nicer house you live in, it's a nicer car. So, you know, once I was able to attain that $10,000 a month mark after tax, that is, I was, you know, pretty happy with the way things were going and yeah.
Speaker 2:But you know, then again, financial independence, or you know your financial goals is different to everyone. But I think in today's day and age, with you know how everything's going. I mean, in a recent survey they did 86% of Canadians say inflation is the biggest issue in Canada right now. Right, 46% say they're doing worse than what they anticipated doing this year. I mean gas prices up 5.6% last year, right. Food prices 22.5% last four years. Right, it's becoming crazy to be able to afford things. Most people's pay is not matching inflation, honestly yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 1:And I remember when I was coming up, yearly raises were based on a minimum of inflation. That was like an industry standard. If inflation was three percent, you'd get a minimum three percent raise plus whatever bonus for your good, good behavior or good work. And then somewhere along the line that got dropped and it was like why would we stop keeping up with inflation? That doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah totally Totally, it's. It's so interesting to see. I agree, completely Right, and you know, with that said, with the issue, I mean, in the last six years, you know, with with certain people in positions of power, it's definitely been a lot more challenging for most Canadians. You know, for example, a pension plan, which is what most people pay into, what most people rely on. I don't know if they know this or not, but the amount that you're paying into it has actually increased, right, it's gone up. It used to be 4.95% of your paycheck annually and it had been that way for about 30 years. In 2018, it started increasing year over year. It's now 5.95% and it's crazy to expect that to cover, you know, the expenses for Canadians who are retired are retired, because, as far as that goes, what's the most amount of money you can earn from that?
Speaker 2:about 1280 a month max yeah, right, it's it's. It's sad, and I really wish that there's a lot more education around the topic, but I mean, hey, that's uh why I'm here and that's that's what I'm trying to do both my parents are retired.
Speaker 1:My dad was a boilermaker his entire life and he hated financially how he retired. It didn't go at all like it was supposed to be. He put all his money into RSPs in the 80s and 90s because every person in Canada was told to put all their money into RSPs for like 30 years, and then 2008 happened, happened, then 2016 happened, then 2019 happened and and everyone's rsps were worth nothing yeah so I remember him telling me after he retired he's like don't believe anyone.
Speaker 1:Like he's like I would have been better off putting this money in a sock drawer. Like, really like, if I would have put the same amount of money into my, into a bag, it would have been better off. And I was like, oh, I hate hearing that, that you know.
Speaker 2:Like you know, absolutely, man, and it's just realistically, I think a lot of people are exploited due to a lack of financial literacy. An example of this would be, you know, my dad, for example. He was provided a permanent insurance product at a young age, around 22 years old, and you know, he canceled it after a couple of years and he told me I lost all this money. With this insurance product you'll never get insurance, you're going to lose money. And now that I'm in the industry, I said Well, dad, the reason why you lost money was because you pulled out. You have this charge. That's there the first 10 years. You know, if you'd kept contributing, here's how much money you would have now. And that's what that looked like. He said well, no one told me this when I canceled, you know. So it's kind of one of those things where I just wish that more people were being educated on this sort of stuff.
Speaker 2:And you know, to go back to your point of RSPs, so many people think that RSPs because the name literally says registered retirement savings plan that that's what you use for retirement. For any person that thinks logically, that makes sense. But it actually negatively impacts the amount of money that you receive from OAS and GIS when it comes time to retire, because they base the amount that they're willing to pay you in benefits on how much taxable income you receive. So if you're getting benefits from RSPs or pensions, then it's actually going to hinder the amount of money the government's willing to give you in retirement, whereas someone had gone with something like a TFSA, for example. You could be making tons of money for a TFSA on a monthly basis and it would have no impact on those benefits the government are willing to pay and as welders, most people are making a great income and it sucks to see that happen because those people have paid those taxes for things like oas and gis I mean welders mostly realistically built the country.
Speaker 2:You know almost everything nowadays home, whatever it is, had an involvement of a welder and uh, it's sad that those same people are then not taken care of right, yeah yeah, like I mean, I I went into property too, like everyone always said, you know, like at the end of the day, nothing is more valuable than land.
Speaker 1:So I've taken that to heart and you know, that's kind of where I've started looking. And I have a philosophical distrust of money. I think that currency within itself is the last step and the weakest point of any transaction. You know what I mean. So it's easy come, easy go, as simple as the saying says. You got to be careful. I have a financial guy here in regina. He deals with my stuff and he but every year we do our review and he's always like you know what's your goal, what's the, what's the per month you want to get when you retire? And I'm like zero, I just want to have no debt. I'll take care of the rest myself. You know like I'll put away what I need to put away and I'll have my things in order, what I need. But all I want on the day I retire is a lump sum for me to put bows on the things that I have going on and that's it. I'll never see you again. Have a nice life.
Speaker 3:He thinks I'm crazy.
Speaker 1:But hey, I just I feel like if I tell someone I want a monthly, something will happen and it won't happen. Like I mean, I don't know, I just don't believe it, or I'll be that guy that's like, yeah, I retired and died in two months or whatever. Something stupid. Like no, forget it. Just big lump sum. That's all I want. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, all and and to be totally honest with you, mac, even myself, you know you experienced that with your parents, with you know your dad's saying you know rsps aren't the greatest and all that sort of stuff. Myself too, we, we had a similar experience in my family my mom. She had a car crash and wasn't working for five years, so she got five years of salary all at once. It was like a 250 000 settlement and for people that don't have financial literacy, that's a very large.
Speaker 2:I mean even people that do, that's a large amount of money Very dangerous yeah, and we went and talked to the bank and I won't say which bank, but we qualified for private banking, which is, you know, if you have a certain amount of assets that you hold, you qualify for private level banking, which is where they can provide you. You know, ETFs, individual stocks, all different investment products that are doing usually a lot better than what you receive at a branch level, but the products that she was put in were bringing about like one and a half percent per year.
Speaker 1:Less than a checking account? Yeah, really.
Speaker 2:And I was like this is a, you know, a private level banking. It was mind blowing. So that definitely motivated me to go and do that. I hope that more people do what it is that you did and you know, went and sought that advice and you know, as far as getting debt free, totally, that's a big thing. Right, there's so many Canadians nowadays. Right, there's so many Canadians nowadays I mean 40%. In a recent survey they did from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, about 40% of Canadians are worried about their debt. Right, which is a huge percentage of the population genuinely.
Speaker 1:Well, and then it's a big risk for welders, especially young welders. You're going to come out of welding school first year. You're going to make 50, 60k. Then you're going to start climbing banks are going to notice. And then you're going make 50 60k. Then you're gonna start climbing, banks are gonna notice. And then you're gonna start getting those letters and I remember being in my early 20s and I would just literally get credit cards in the mail with 10, 15 000 limits ready to go and that's extremely tempting you know, like you go to canadian tire, oh, all of a sudden I have a canadian tire credit card and then I got a west jet credit card.
Speaker 1:And then I got a WestJet credit card and then I got a Costco credit card. And then I was like OK, like relax. I remember being in my mid 20s, coming up on 30, and I had a stack of credit cards and I didn't apply for a single one. You know what I mean. Like they would just show up in the mail and that's really dangerous for a young person. That's, you know, new to making money. And especially like you're gonna have a family, you're gonna buy a house, and then you're gonna have a stack of credit cards on your back.
Speaker 2:Like I haven't been able to get my credit score over 700, like in 20 years man like yeah, yeah, absolutely so there's there's a lot of things that affect credit score, and it's funny that we deal with these issues, because if you go and travel to other countries, like, for example, in Iran, I mean, they're not an example in any way for a lot of things, but when it comes to finances, like if you're in debt, you go to jail, that's it right.
Speaker 2:So, not a lot of people in debt over there, right? I personally believe that you know Canadians well. North America as a whole is really taught to buy. It's a consumer-based society.
Speaker 1:Capitalism is based on debt. A large part of it right the money that they print.
Speaker 2:I mean, for those that don't know, whenever you do deposit, let's say $10, into a bank, they're actually taking $9 from that and they're giving it to someone else. They're lending it out, right? So they're basically printing money based on what you put in. So it's very crazy and you mentioned, you know, the impact of other currencies. I mean for myself, with my Airbnb business, it's based in the USs, so I get paid in us dollars and you know, whenever I'm, I'm looking at things here and I I have my you know earnings for my canadian business, I go, well, what the heck? I can't really afford much in terms of you know, usd, right, it's. It's crazy. You go to anywhere well, not anywhere, but most places in the us, like, for example, dallas, where I have some airbnbs and the things that we purchase restaurants, whatever gas it's it's around the same price. It's just that now it's in us dollars. I'm like what the heck's going on?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, I just took it like I remember being able to go to the us and spend lots of money down there and and it was likea viable place. Now I find the US to be, if not more expensive, the same as here. I'm not getting any deals down there, no more. And housing, yeah, you can still find some, some nuggets in the US that are neat, but it's been pretty picked over at this point and, um, I mean, I I have I'm starting to invest back home in South America because it's like finding the next next markets, right like it's like where, where, where can I go to to look for I guess those? I don't know what I'm like. No, I don't want to say backdoor deals like the. You want to get a one-up, you want to find the next great thing before somebody else finds it right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely, totally, yeah, and so many people are trying to do that, you know. I, um, I wish that the government would have a larger role in making it easier for people in terms of looking at, you know, the state of the Canadian economy and I think a lot of people, you know, with raising taxes, like they did with capital gains they just rose it up, you know, to 66 percent or 66.67. Whereas before it was 50 percent is they expect to take all this money from people who are wealthy when, realistically, they're just moving it to other countries? And I think it's it's pretty sad to see, honestly, right? So, um, it's.
Speaker 1:It's a tricky. It's a tricky balance because rich people in Canada also are notorious for spending their money in other countries. So it's like can you trust rich people? You know the rich to actually invest in your own country? That's a big question, cause I know I've worked for many millionaires, even billionaires, in my career. Cause as rich as welders are, the companies we work for are way richer right.
Speaker 1:And none of them live in Canada. Even if it's a Canadian company, they're filtering all their money to Phoenix or the Bahamas or somewhere else. So when I see those tax gains, those tax increases, I do get the other side of it being like look rich guy, I'm not. I can't trust you to put that money back into your own economy. So I'm going to have to take it, because otherwise you're just spending it somewhere else. Now if all rich Canadians would just spend their money in Canada, invest in Canadian business, invest in Canadian housing, man, it would be so much better. But I don't know. We're free market capitalism. We can't tell people where to spend their money.
Speaker 2:We can't right, yeah, yeah, we can't tell people where to spend their money. We can hope that they spend it here, but you know, it's a very interesting topic here, um, but you know that's, uh, it's, it's a very interesting topic. I think that, uh, you know, as, as far as that goes, it's, it's very crazy, and and I think it boils down to, at least from the people that I know, like the clients I have who are doing very well financially, is a lot of them just don't feel right with what's happening with their tax dollars. You know, for example, for every dollar you spend in taxes, 20 cents of it is going, uh, towards interest. Just on debt for a government, right, it's, uh, yeah, it's, it's, and I think we have the lowest debt ratio out of the g8.
Speaker 1:So you know the other seven of the g8 are in worse positions debt wise. It's like what's happening every like, and who do these countries owe the money to like? Okay, so so the us owned owes like more money than the rest of the world combined. They're the most indebted country in the universe, right? So the united states owes like what? 38 trillion dollars, whatever it is to who to who like to?
Speaker 1:to? To mars? Do we owe it to the sun? Like, how do you owe that to yourself? If anything you owe it to the people, give it back to them. You know what I mean? Like I don't understand how we built debt against ourselves as a country, like I guess it's probably a more theoretical question, but I just find it so funny was like, oh, like, uh, like I'm from south america, so like argentina is just going through a terrible political revolt right now and their inflation rate was at 187% this last year and people in Canada are freaking out over 6% and we're all losing our hair going gray over 6%. Meanwhile the US is sitting at 7%, argentina is at 187% and even Canada in the 80s was at 20%. So statistically we're in the glory years, but realistically we don't feel like it.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean like what's? What's the disconnect between all these different systems?
Speaker 2:right. What's what's going on? What's the best route? You?
Speaker 2:know, absolutely it's. It's a very interesting concept for sure, and, and you know, I think there could be lots of changes made to make things better. I mean not only Canada, obviously, in all these countries. You know a lot of lobbying and things like that, but I think you know the really boil it down. It just comes down to getting educated when it comes to your finances. You know what are you doing with your paycheck. You know it starts early, starts early. Put away 10, 15 percent of your paycheck. Start learning that when you're young, get that financial discipline, that when you are a rig welder you're not buying all those lifted trucks and ski sleds and stuff like that, right.
Speaker 1:So but I love my mustang.
Speaker 2:Don't tell me what to do yeah, that's you gotta. You gotta find the fine line, right, that's it. Yeah, yeah, okay, so like for yourself now.
Speaker 1:What do you see like in the future? You know you've had a couple career changes, but you're still a young guy. You know like what do you see yourself as, as you know? Do you see yourself expanding your business in your financial world, setting setting up a firm? Are you looking at, you know, being an entrepreneur yourself? What? What is it that's on your, on your end list?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Right now I have my own corporation, so I have contracts with around 75 different institutions to provide financial services in Canada. I would like to do the same in the US. Realistically, where I plan to earn my income from is from my Airbnb based business. It is operating in the US and I just plan to expand in the US through that business, using things like debt and all those sorts of tools to help myself out in that regard. But I really love the campaign that I'm currently doing to help myself out in that regard, but I really love the campaign that I'm currently doing to help welders. That's what I do with a lot of my spare time. At this point in time, the Airbnb stuff is mostly passive maybe three or four hours a month at work, something like that but it's very passive. So, rather than just sitting at home and dwindling with my thumbs and just looking at walls and whatever being bored.
Speaker 2:I would rather, you know, do something where it feels like I'm helping out. So it would be great to be able to do the same thing in the US and, you know, kind of tackle that route. But as far as my goal, my mission I mean my mission right now is to educate people at no cost, and I would love to just see that expand in terms of a number. I don't really have a number in mind that I would like to help. I just, I just want to see everyone get help. I don't know if you've seen those max, but they did studies about, uh, you know, if you want to become a doctor, what your financial outlook looks like versus going to trades, and I'll tell you what. Like, if people do it right, the trades is 110% the way to go.
Speaker 1:One of my best friends is a chiropractor and I've out-earned him most of my career. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Exactly Right. And people think it's all amazing when you're, you know, especially as a business owner. And you know, I have a client right now in Vancouver and his company does about one and a half million. He owns a chiropractor business, but about 85% of that just goes in expenses, right? So I don't think it's as great as these people assume it is being a business owner. In that regard, right, there's so many headaches that come alongside it. Even you know, when you do become a doctor I mean, most doctors are making around a quarter million a year, but they get to graduate with half a million dollars of debt right, it's not or more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah. No. So from your point of view, I guess like there's a couple of things Number one. How do people find you Like? I guess like there's a couple things number one. How do people find you like, how do people reach out to you if they're listening to the podcast? They're young or old, well, there doesn't matter. You're somewhere in the trades journey and you'd like some financial literacy, some education. You know how do they find it? How do they reach out to you?
Speaker 2:absolutely so. Advertising in Canada, uh, has proved to be a lot more expensive than it is in the US. There's also a lot more rules and regulations around that with finance as a whole, so my mission wasn't really to make it this huge advertising campaign. It's more so word of mouth marketing that I like to do. People want to get a hold of me. They can reach out to me through LinkedIn my name is Connor McWilliams. They can shoot me to me through linkedin my name is connor mcwilliams. They can shoot me a phone call uh, you know, my phone number is 778-887-1455. Or give me an email uh, you know, connor c-o-n-n-o-r mcwill, m-c-w-i-l-h. Emailcom, and I'd be more than happy to help them out cool, cool.
Speaker 1:And then, in terms of you know your mission of education, are you going to be doing like a tour? Do you want to get on like some shows? Do you want to get on a stage Like you know? Do you? Do you want to be kind of a hype person for financial literacy of the trades?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's, that's a great thought and, honestly speaking, I was talking to another friend of mine. He's he's coming from plumbing background and he's thinking of kind of doing the same thing. He's in finance, he's done well in real estate and you know, we're thinking of kind of getting together and, just like you said, you know, maybe going to all these shops and sharing the mission, because I think what happens is a lot as well. There's is, uh well, there's definitely a different way of talking when you're a welder versus when you're talking to your uh, you know, banker.
Speaker 2:So yeah, absolutely I think being able to talk to those people is is, uh, a blessing in disguise and really, coming from that background, I understand how tough it is, where you know one day you're told, hey, there's going to be, you know, five months of steady work, we're all good to go. And the next week you're told, hey, there's going to be, you know, five months of steady work, we're all good to go. And the next week you're getting laid off and you're like what the going on Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, providing more access to that community is our goal and at some point, yes, I would like to go all across Canada and provide these services and reach out to shops and all that sort of stuff, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well, you brought up something there that's really interesting, which is something that we discuss on this podcast all the time from a number of different angles. It's the language, the way people communicate.
Speaker 3:I'm in Saskatchewan.
Speaker 1:We have banks, we have grocery stores, we have things a whole economy in Saskatchewan built around agriculture. We have commercials on TV being like if you're in agriculture, come to this bank, because we speak agriculture, you know, shop at these stores because we support agriculture, we support the farmers right, which is a very smart way to do it, because farmers have a certain way of talking and being and they want to be comfortable when they go to the bank.
Speaker 1:You know they want to be comfortable going to the grocery store. These are their people. They can be themselves. They don't have to pretend to put on a suit and be weird or whatever. They can just be farmers.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, people don't talk about that, about the trades. You know like what bank trades people. You know you got a guy who works or a girl that works 12 hours a day, seven or seven days a week for months on end. They get maybe a couple days off every few months to go hang out with their family and their kids and they got to take a one hour trip out of that short time off to go to the bank and talk finances. And you know what.
Speaker 1:It's not comfortable. You don't feel good about it. You don't feel like you don't what you're talking about. You don't feel like you're even welcome there because everyone around you is all clean, cut and squeaky clean and all businessy. And you're in your, you know you're in your burnt up hoodie, with your, with your work boots on and your ripped jeans and they look at you like you're kind of like, oh, what are you doing here? Meanwhile, you probably make more money than every person in that bank. You know. I remember feeling frustrated about that all the time People look down on me oh, he's tattoos, he's got piercings, got long hair. Look at this grubby guy. It's like yo. I make more money than literally everyone in this building.
Speaker 1:Right so so you know that language is a barrier. Right, it's a barrier because trades people sometimes don't feel welcome in these establishments of finance totally, totally, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And you know, even for myself. You walk into the bank, you get this huge, you know like 40 pages of paperwork and you're like, what the am I looking at? I'm just gonna sign it, right yeah, you have no idea what you're signing up for.
Speaker 2:Uh, and a lot of that comes from, you know, being made to feel, like you just said, like you're almost an alien walking to a place where you're not welcome, right? So, creating that environment, well, where, hey man, you know, I came from the same background. I totally understand how it is in the trades, right? Um, it just makes people a lot more comfortable and, you know, as far as getting access, I do everything through zoom, right, I mean, I do have an office in vancouver, but I like to go there once a week. Try not to drive in downtown, you know all those one ways and traffic and all that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know, I know yeah, so I'll run meetings through zoom and you know it's, it's. Uh, I don't have any sort of set schedule. Like I said at the start, I just uh work those blue collar hours in a white collar job. So you know, usually doing 7 12s. But I mean doesn too tough. I mean the toughest part of my day is adjusting the air conditioning right. So that's about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and we've already gone over an hour, but I actually want to touch on that point too, because we talked about that before we started recording the show and I think it's a neat thing to discuss because it's something that a lot of blue collar people think about and are kind of scared to do. But for you, was it a hard transition going from a blue collar lifestyle to a white collar lifestyle, because I have my views on that too, you know. So like I'd like to hear yours holy.
Speaker 2:I think the biggest thing is almost like an identity crisis that happens right at first. Where you go, man? I I never did well in school, you know, I went into welding at least for most welders, right, and or I just got my tickets and I don't know how I could do this. And I would say the best way to make that shift is reach out to people who are leading lives that you would want to replicate, right With myself. That's exactly what I did.
Speaker 2:I asked someone who was living a life where there were certain areas where I wanted to duplicate, right. I said, hey, man, how do I do all this? How do I get involved? This I don't think it matters at all what you go into. You could be freaking selling pickles and you know, as long as you found a, a mentor that did well selling pickles, you could probably duplicate the same results, right, right. So I would say, reach out to those people. A lot of them are a lot more willing to actually communicate with you than you think, even like with my Airbnb stuff, man, to be totally honest, I had no idea how to get into the US for Airbnbs or any of this stuff, and there's this guy on Instagram and I just shot him a message and he makes you know like two million dollars a month. I was like hey man, how do I do this? I'd like to do it. That was it right now.
Speaker 2:He helps me and all that stuff. So I think that helps a ton and you know that's why people get business coaches. But yeah, you know, go into that, make that shift part-time. You get to control when you're working and you're able to match your income on a part-time basis you're making full-time welding then you know you can make that transition right. That's a good time to give it a shot, obviously if you have savings right.
Speaker 1:But yeah, well, you know there's a couple pieces there that I want to contribute from my number one. In canada there's a free federal program called the futurepreneur program. If you're a young entrepreneur in Canada looking to switch careers or start up a business, there's a government grant and part of the grant comes with a mentorship matching where you get to actually, if you don't have one, they'll find one for you. I'm registered in there, so I have been matched with young welders looking to go into entrepreneurship because you know I've started companies, I've been a part of lots of startups and you know now, now I'm a you know sort of pretty good where I am, I guess.
Speaker 1:And um so I I do like to mentor and, like you said, mentoring, mentorship is huge in in in community, whether it's blue collar or white collar, and um, and then the other piece I would say to people that are in blue collar, looking to move into white collar is don't take your foot off the gas, because blue collar moves fast. Blue collar is results orientated. Blue collar is about meeting deadlines. Blue collar is about these parts got to go out the door because people need them and that's that when you get into white collar world.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of bs and a lot of bureaucracy and red tape and people spinning their wheels and and people having meetings for the sake of having meetings, and it's a whole lot of stuff that oh yeah you're going to be able to power through if you keep your blue collar mentality going into white collar.
Speaker 1:You're going to work circles around people and you're going to do things faster, better and on time, because that's what blue collar is trained to do. We're trained to do that. You know at all at all like get her done, and white collar is not like that typically. So you're gonna have a bit of a fight when you get into the white collar, because some people are not gonna like that movement. Stick to your guns, though. Keep your pedal to the metal. Keep the same attitude. Like myself, I still get up early every day. I don't have to because I have a white collar job. I can make my own hours, but I kept my schedule. This is a schedule that made me successful before. Why would I stop? Why?
Speaker 3:would I change that?
Speaker 1:you know. So what if the other people in my world only work four hours a day or six hours a day? Not me, that's not, that's not my shtick right exactly I'm. And then it's like you know, wow, how did you get all that done? It's like well, because, because I got it done, like I mean that's because that's what I do, right like I mean I like to be able to work circles around people I always have, even in blue color. I liked being, you know, a good, fast, clean welder.
Speaker 1:Well, now I'm a good fast clean paper pusher pusher. It is what it is right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely, no, that's so true, man. It's crazy when you just take that mentality that you're driven into. And even you know, with being a welding inspector, the same thing happens, right, I don't know if you're ever in that role, but I remember being a welding inspector going from an environment where you know you swipe into a job and this electronic clock and you punch in and then you punch out the second. You're out, right To be super time efficient and try to get the lowest amount of hours on it. And I went into welding inspecting and I'd be doing, you know, inspections and half the time it takes normally, and they'd be like what are you doing?
Speaker 2:And I'm there, you know hustling busting my like hopping under this crane or whatever, and they're like just just slow down right, just like no. I was like well, how do I?
Speaker 2:do that like that's the deal right. So, yeah, it's, it's definitely an interesting change, but I I think you know, oddly enough with being an advisor it's funny that I would say this but I don't think life is all about money. I think it's about becoming the best version of yourself and I think if you're someone that wants to explore that side of yourself, you know, go and try it out. Get yourself someone like yourself who helps other people who are welders. Go into those roles where you know they can be self-employed or or or at least try it out. Just show them the path and and uh, you know, reach out and ask for help and through that you'll just find a new you know self-identity realistically, and I think that will stay with you longer than any. You know, financial freedom would really have a have an impact at least on your life.
Speaker 1:It's true. And and don't and don't fall for imposter syndrome. Everyone, we all get it. I still get it. I'm almost 50 years old and, uh, you know, and there's still days that I wake up and I'm like what the am I doing here?
Speaker 3:I used to just burn rod for eight hours a day how did I go from burning rod to this?
Speaker 1:but uh, don't let, don't let your own mind grenade you, right like, just push through, stay confident, right, totally, totally, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And the people that usually doubted you at the start of, the people that usually come back to you and ask you for the most amount of help, that's, that's what I found right and I get all those texts, potter. What credit card do I get? Right, and it's like three years ago. You were telling me like who are you to become an advisor? Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny the way it goes. Yeah, all right. Last piece of advice here for the people you know what would be a first step. You know you listen to the podcast. You got a little bit of inspiration here to try to figure out your finances. Whether it's you or not, you know what. What would be the first step someone should do just to start getting their head wrapped around this.
Speaker 2:I think a really great step and this is something that you know my mentor suggests I did was think about what sort of lifestyle you want to live. Right, think really in depth. What does it actually cost on a monthly basis, all that sort of stuff? And then work backwards OK, I know that I need to make X amount of dollars to make X dreams happen. Where can I find that source of income? Ok, so I can find that source of income through all these different routes. Who do I know in that field that's doing well? Okay, how can I connect with that person, whether it's, you know, instagram, linkedin, whatever it is? There's so many different ways to connect with people nowadays and, uh, I I think that's really the greatest place to start is figuring out you know what sort of lifestyle you, what sort of person you want to become and what actual opportunity provides you. The easiest route to go and achieve that.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that and I'm going to throw it out there as well. I'd add to that Don't forget to become a part of your social, your local CWB Association chapter. We are all about networking all across Canada. We do have a chapter in bc, which I'm good. I just made a note you are going to become a member of now. Sorry, I'm voluntolding. You're on live air so no one can see. I didn't warn you, um, but you know that is part of what the association investment is. We invest millions of dollars across canada into just letting people connect this podcast. This is an investment that we make in getting people like your story out there and we have chapters in every province across canada where we have like-minded individuals that support each other.
Speaker 1:That's all. It is volunteers supporting each other, and they're funded by us here at headquarters. So you know, that's the type of people we want to get together and I'm pulling you into the network buddy that you may. You may want to or not, but you're going to meet a lot of welders.
Speaker 2:So that's that's. That's part of what happens when you come on the podcast yeah, it does yeah, it's, it's in the hidden fine print there. It's like when I go to the bank I never know what I'm actually getting right all right, yeah, we're doing it it's gonna be good for you.
Speaker 3:I love it there you go.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks. Any shout outs to anybody before we go?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I mean, you know, as far as shout outs go, I mean there's, you know I like to, I don't know, I guess. Thank people that helped me get here. I think that there's a few really bright minds that really played a large role, even in my entrepreneur's days. Today. You know the owner of the shop at Aggressive Tube Bedding, this guy named Yuri. He's a genius in my personal opinion. The guy he busts his a** as a shop owner. He's a great guy. And another guy who managed the welding inspecting company. I was part of his name, Steven. It's called Matek, their little company, but I always used to joke with him. I said, steven, you should be curing cancer, not figuring out if there's cracks in cranes, because he's just the smartest guy I've ever come across, right.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's a great network to be in and I'm definitely looking forward to hopefully helping more people.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you very much for being on the show today, Connor.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, max, and it was a pleasure meeting you show today, connor.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, max, and it was a pleasure meeting you. Awesome. And for the people that have been following along, make sure you click on the site, come check out the podcast, look at all. We'll be sharing his information on our social media and on our website. Become a member of the association so you can get in contact with these type of people through our network and, as always, keep commenting, downloading and and letting us know what you'd like to see on the podcast. We're always looking for great stories, so you know it's the people and it's the community that make the podcast as successful as it is. And, just like Connor, we're moving into the US soon here too, so we're expanding and we can't wait to bring in all of America together into this network. So stay tuned for the next episode. We hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 3:You've been listening to the CWB Association Welding Podcast with Max Servant. If you enjoyed what you heard today, rate our podcast and visit us at cwbassociationorg to learn more. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on what you'd like to learn about in the future. Produced by the CWB Group and presented by Max Ceron, this podcast serves to educate and connect the welding community. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.