A Story About My Three Successful Uncles
Over the years I have been privileged, but not in the way most people think. My family didn't grow up with a lot of money, my parents worked very hard with blue collar jobs and provided a really happy, and fulfilling upbringing for me.
My parents are amazing, and they worked incredibly hard to provide for myself and my brother growing up. I am humbled to this day, and will remain humble understanding where the roots of my personal work ethic and desire to help others came from.
Success is not about money many times, it is about your state of mind and the happiness you have in your life. Sure money can be an accelerator for that, but it is not the only thing that success is a derivative of. So I want to make that clear. If you are not happy with $100 in your bank, chances are you won't be all that happy with $100,000 or $100,000,0000.
I was also fortunate to be exposed to financial success growing up, what it looked like, and what it took to achieve success. Through my parents brothers and sisters (my Aunts and Uncles), I had the luxury to see success at an arms reach. I want to tell you a story about each, and how they played a role in not only my mind set, but helped with my understanding in business.
This is the story of the elite banker, the real estate mogul, and the fisherman.
The 'Elite Banker' Uncle.
My Elite Banker uncle, started out as a teller in his early 20's working for one of the 5 banking majors in Canada. The idea of working hard and getting ahead in life, was relevant back in the 1970's in the same way it is now. He worked his way up to the C-Suite (management), working out of the headquarters eventually in Toronto, Canada.
He didn't start out with a "jump start". He didn't have an "in". He took one of the most amateur jobs in the bank and through constant self-improvement and working hard, he became one of the most successful "employees" at the bank.
This came with a high salary, but came with all sorts of other financial benefits like stock options and naturally, and astute understanding of money, the banking world, and the global stock market.
I remember telling him when I was 13 years old that I was interested in investing. I used to read the stock prices in the paper daily at that age, trying to make sense of stocks that went up and down. I didn't really know what the heck I was doing, but through time I certainly learned.
He sent me the Canadian Securities Course when I was 14 in the mail, it was a fat book that was the requisite knowledge that one had to learn to become a stock broker. He pushed me to succeed, and certainly inspired me within the financial world at an early age.
He also taught me how to enjoy life, as an avid golfer, cruiser, and sun seeker in the winters to escape the frigid temps of Toronto, Canada. Work hard, play just as hard.
From my Elite Banker Uncle, I learned about investing and the importance of making your money work for you. Not just that, but if you work hard, you can get ahead in life...even working for someone else or within a corporate world.
The 'Real Estate Mogul' Uncle.
My Real Estate Mogul Uncle started a real estate investment strategy at a very young age, and by the time he turned the age of 50, owned over a dozen houses, and mini storage company, as well as a development company.
In essence his core investment strategy was to use one property's equity as leverage to purchase his next property. Then he used the equity of both of those properties, to buy another revenue generating rental property. Then this model snowballed, the more properties that he had.
This Uncle taught me about real estate of course, but in terms of business he taught me how to treat customers, in his case tenants. To create great tenants, it starts with a great landlord and one that puts them first (not money). Very similar to how we run WA, putting the people here within the community first, not our own pocket books.
Also the idea of leverage, taking equity from one revenue generating asset and pouring it into another one. This is a strategy that I use to this day within my own personal income, as well as in business.
The 'Fisherman' Uncle.
My last Uncle, was The Fisherman. This Uncle taught me how to run a business with ingenuity and flexibility, often times making decisions off of pure instinct.
He went from owning one of the most lucrative Salmon fishing boats on the west coast, pivoting with impeccable timing to the aquaculture industry buying up land leases for shellfish (oysters, clams) in one of the most desired shellfish locations of the world. I worked on these leases for 3 years, and learned firsthand about hard work (and probably about the laborious type of work that I didn't want to do for the rest of my life lol.
He then saw opportunity selling products to his competition, fellow aquaculture businesses. They needed these products to run their businesses, everything from netting, to small oyster and clam seed.
He was willing to pivot on the drop of a hat, if the landscape of a business changes he changed and he benefited greatly from that. He was also willing to work long hours, and outwork and out grind the competition.
These are skills and attributes that I have taken from this Uncle. Most people are unwilling to work hard in a sustained fashion in the business world, and we have learned this over the years within this particular industry, but this is the case with any business.
Use your intuition, work your tail off, always look forward opportunity, and remain flexible in your business. The results will follow.
That is the story of my Three Successful Uncles who achieved success in three completely different ways. They all had had completely different, but a great deal of influence on my life and have influenced the way I operate as an entrepreneur over the years. The taught me the merits of hard work, being dedicated to your craft, thinking creatively, and most importantly doing something you love and enjoying the beauty of life that you have before you.
I thought I would share this with you as I am sure you have come in contact with many people that have been influential in your life, but likely people that you can leverage as influence in your business moving forward as well.
Do you have anyone that you have looked up to over the years, that have taught you a great deal about success and what it takes to achieve great things? I would love to hear any stories that you have to share.
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Hi Kyle,
Thank you for sharing such an inspiring story.
I may not have relatives who were achieving enormous success, but there were positive influences from my dad and granddad
Although their successes were quite modest they certainly showed me the need for hard work
My dad started his work life as a bank teller but found he was going nowhere fast as the structure of the bank system did not offer a lot of advancement. Nevertheless, he stayed in this important but fairly low-paying position until the opportunity came to move to a totally different business.
The company he joined was a small food brokerage where he became the office manager until he retired. I never forget the day he went to work for the last time, he was so thrilled to be retired and to be able to do some of the things he wanted to do with my mother.
He taught me to wait for the right opportunity in my life to come by before going for it. This lesson of occupational patience has helped me sometimes overcome the eagerness to leap at something that might not be the best thing.
My grandfather's story was a little more traditional, especially in the early 1900s. He left the farm and move to the big city and got a job as a bank teller. This bank grew to be a large financial institution in that city. He grew with the bank to become the First Teller of about 25 tellers.
My grandfather showed me how to enjoy life and that hard and faithfully work brings wonderful rewards.
Helping others is one of the reasons Sue and I have considered to be a success at Wealthy Affiliate.
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Bill
Beautiful and inspiring true story of your uncles Kyle, and with the ambition you have you instill everything that you learn through them, and here you are, applied even-thing with a different mindset in your business, and helping many people throughout the world.
You have achieved success from the examples of your uncle’s. Great story. I will share mine in a blog.
Thanks for sharing.
Elizabeth.
Thanks Elizabeth, when you are able to look back and see some of the clues as to what you do what you do, and why you have achieved what you achieve, it can be very interesting indeed. I definitely attribute my work ethic, and my approach to building a successful business largely to what I have learned through others over the years (and the confidence in my own abilities, instilled by my parents).
This is such an inspiring story and I totally agree with you. It is so important to find inspiration in the work people around you are doing and try to learn as much from them as possible. They can encourage you and help you grow in so many ways.
On the other hand, understanding that success isn't just a number on your bank account, but rather making every day the most of your life and working on something you are passionate about is crucial. We ourselves decide whether we stay where we are or grow and build our dream life.
Yeah, there are a lot of components to success and those that just focus on the financial element of it, are those that typically never achieve it. The financials are the "result" of other things that you do in business. The hard work, the ability to remain flexible and pivot, and to have a lot of persistence. You can outwork the competition, and you can become better through these few traits alone.
Inspiring story. I think we all have people in our lives that we learn from.
My grandfather always told me to look at everything as training no matter if it was good or bad,
My grandmother taught me how to enjoy each day and make the most out of it.
My mother taught me about the importance of a positive mindset , responsability for oneself and how to stand up for my own beliefs and wants.To take action without fear and to follow my heart.
My father taught me how to plan and dream . I learned that nothing is impossible.
The list goes on.
I have learned something from so many people., but I think the ones I mentioned are all things that have influenced my afiliate marketing.
That is awesome Hilde, it sounds like you have had many inspirations in your life over the years. Thanks for sharing your story! :)
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I do have some people like that in my life! My Grandpa was in real estate and my Dad and Mom were as well so it seemed natural that I follow suit. None of us did it full time or were agents but we all do it part time as an investment.
My best friend is a fisherwoman and very inspirational. She started as a deckhand on salmon boats in Prince William Sound in Alaska at a very young age and that is how she paid for college. She went on to get Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Medicine all paid for through fishing and scholarships!
She quickly decided the nuclear world was not for her however after a short stint at the World Nuclear University in London.
She went into fishing full time and had bought and run more boats than I could count by the time she was in her 30's.
She ran salmon boats in Alaska in the summer (as Captain) as well as squid boats in California in the winters.
Then a few years ago she figured out that tendering for the salmon fleet was more stable and profitable than fishing. She bought a barge in Mississippi and spent all winter turning it into a tender! She sailed it up through the Panama Canal and spent her first summer tendering! The next year she bought another barge, retrofitted it and sailed it through the Canal as well. At this point she captained one tender and her boyfriend captained the other. Last year they split up and he got the better end of the deal with the bigger tender, 2 airplanes, cars, trucks etc. So she went back down south for the third year in a row and this time bought two barges and retrofitted them at the same time and sailed them both up!! So now she has 3 tender and he has 1!!!
Anyway, she is very inspiring to me. She came from a very average family that did lawn mowing for a living and has become very successful all on her own. She doesn't follow anybody else's rules.
She is also starting a mariculture business here growing kelp and bought an apartment building as well!
We are the only people we know who are similarly entrepreneurial so we keep each other motivated!
Jessica