Replay with Connor McWilliams and Max Ceron

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
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Happy welding.
Hello and welcome to anotheredition of the cwb association
podcast.
My name is max serron and, asalways, I'm going coast to coast

(01:08):
to coast.
Find the stories out there incanada and around the world for
you, my faithful listeners.
Today we have connor mcwilliamscoming to us from vancouver,
which I would say sometimes it'ssunny, but most of the time is
not.
Uh, connor, how are you doingtoday?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
i'm'm doing great, Max.
Thanks for having me on here.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
You bet buddy, so you told me you're in Vancouver.
That's a big area and lots oflittle pieces out there.
So where in Vancouver are you?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, so I'm actually just based out of Steveston.
It's a little fishing villageabout 30 minutes south of
Vancouver there, and it's a nicelittle neighborhood.
I mean, the homes are prettyexpensive, you know.
You're looking at about two anda half million a piece.
But if you're OK with that,then it's a nice place to live
in for sure, steveston'sbeautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
The harbor is nice.
They bring out the tall shipsevery year there at the port.
My family lived in Richmond,which is right next door, for
almost 20 years, so you know Ibelieve all Steveston
technically is underwater rightnow and if there's an earthquake
those two million dollar housesdon't float very well.
But it's real pretty.

(02:16):
It's real pretty.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
It is really nice.
Yeah, I'm dead, basically ifthere's an earthquake, so if you
lose me halfway through this,awesome.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
So, Connor, where were you born?
Is that where you've alwayscalled home?
Is that kind of the south sideof Van?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yeah, yeah, exactly so.
I was born and raised inRichmond and grew up in
Steveston, you know, grew up inlow income housing.
So, as you can imagine, it wasa bit tough for us growing up.
But you know, for myself, Ithink that's really what got me
into the welding industry.
Right was growing up in thatenvironment.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
So, you know, in low-income housing.
You know, depending on what thesituations were, I lived in
low-income housing for a bit andit's like you know, my dad was
a tradesperson.
It was always like anin-between place, but sometimes
there's people that are therefor life and I mean it is what
it is For yourself.

(03:18):
You know what was your, I guess, what created that ambition for
you as a kid to perhaps pursuea trade or get out of that
environment.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
That's a great question.
Yeah, so I spent uh 14 years,from five years old to 19, in
low-income housing and formyself, I grew up playing a
really high level of hockey.
So, um, you know, was trainingwith some whl teams.
Uh used to train with, actuallya captain of team canada there
with uh brent seabrook, for alittle while when I was 16, my

(03:48):
grandfather unfortunately passed, but he left me behind a chunk
of money, so $8,000.
I had the opportunity to spendthat money to join a hockey team
for a year or to buy a Mustang,as you can imagine, with any
16-year year old just went tothe Mustang route and that's

(04:11):
what led me down going intotrades.
I just started working on thecar and got a new exhaust for it
and I was like man, this isreally cool stuff and that's
what inspired me to get goingworking with my hands.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
So so did you have any trades background in your
family?
Any uncles, aunts, parents?
Was there anybody that was likehey, this is a good avenue for
you, or and and if I guess.
If not, how did you find thetrades?

Speaker 2 (04:38):
that's a good question.
Yeah, so for myself I didn'thave that.
I had, uh, quite the oppositeactually.
So I had my parents who wereencouraging me to to stick with
hockey and to go pro and, youknow, at least play pro in
europe or something of that sort.
But uh, you know, I ultimatelydidn't want to do it, like I'm
sure it's a lot of kids dreams,but it just wasn't mine.

(04:59):
So, uh, I really liked once Igot my mustang in the car and
just fooling around with it.
And you know I was fortunateenough that in some high schools
they offer apprenticeshipprograms where you can finish,
you know, a bit early.
So I went in the automotiveroute and got my automotive
level one service technicianticket and then I started

(05:22):
working over at Chevrolet thereand it was a great gig and I
managed to land anapprenticeship through them,
which was nice because theywould pay for all the schooling.
But I remember just being atwork and, you know, trying out
welding just on some of the carsand 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 likeyou know, just even operating a
torch, like I was like, hey,you know, if I could get any

(05:42):
sort of role that involved.
Like you know, just evenoperating a torch like I was
like, hey, you know, and just anacetylene torch, like if I can
just use that to bend some metalon 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 atabout 18 for my level one for
welding, just got out of auto sothen you're.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
You're still living in steveson at this point
because you know, following yourtimeline, you were there until
you were 19.
So you're working at chevyowning a ford.
You know, which is fine.
I own a ford and a chevy and myford is a mustang.
So I I've had, uh, threemustangs.
Now this is my third one.
But you do the mechanic, you dothe auto body technician.

(06:28):
Did you not feel like that wasyour home, or did you just think
that the welding portion of itwas the coolest part of the day?

Speaker 2 (06:38):
That's a good question.
So, yeah, I actually got rid ofthe Mustang, not by choice, I
crashed it so before I wasworking at Chevrolet.
But no, what happened was, youknow, basically I was over at
Chevrolet and I enjoyed workingon cars, but I had another car
at the time and I stripped theinterior and went to throw a

(06:59):
roll cage in it and you know Iwas like man, this is some bad
stuff thrown in a roll cage.
Like you know.
It was like man, this is somebad stuff thrown in a roll cage,
like you know.
It just felt so cool.
So I was like, why would I nothone in on this?
And you know you look at thattoo.
And then you look at what is awelder make, you know an oil and
gas field versus what does youknow my future look like at
Chevrolet making whatever 70,80,000 a year.
And you know that was justanother factor and I was like,

(07:21):
hey, you know what, I'm going togo this route and that's really
what led me there.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
So what program did you take then?
So you started looking aroundtrying to find something.
What did you end up taking?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah.
So I got my level C throughBCIT and right away, right out
of the gate.
I know some people strugglewith getting welding gigs.
I was fortunate enough.
I just walked into some guy'sshop.
He was looking for welders.
He said, hey, connor, we got aproject going on.
We're building this FedExwarehouse I think it's the main

(07:52):
distribution factory over in,you know, western Canada because
it was huge.
But they were severely behindtheir schedule.
So when I went to him I waslike, yeah, are you guys hiring?
And he said, yeah, when can youstart?
And I said, well, whenever Ijust finished school.
And he said, all right, you'restarting tomorrow.
So I went right into a gig twodays after getting my ticket,

(08:14):
welding seven days a week, 12hour days.
And yeah, it was good, fun anddefinitely a pay increase from
working at Chevrolet, as youcould imagine.
So that was, that was good yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
So that's pretty fortunate and I think a lot of
kids right now coming out ofprograms I shouldn't or I
shouldn't say kids or people,cause lots of people are
retraining right now to get intowelding.
A lot of people that are comingout now.
I find that there's quite a bitof work, um, albeit that there
is some requirements ofcertifications now.
Now, like it's gotten a littletrickier in today's welding
world because there are ticketsand qualifications that people

(08:47):
expect for you walking into a anew warehouse construction build
.
I'd imagine it's probably likeyou needed your base, uh, cwb,
all position, mig and stick,maybe, maybe a flux core, I
don't know.
Structural stuff right yeah,yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
So I got my uh stick cwbs and, uh, that was that was
it.
After that I was smooth sailingand I I did that project.
That was a three-month projectand I went into ironworking
following that with my uh stickwelding experience and I wasn't
a huge fan.

(09:23):
Just with the amount of rainthat we get in vancouver I'd be,
you know, throwing some i-beamsup and I'd just be getting
electrocuted so I I wanted toavoid that, so we got over there
a couple months in, but uh yeah, it was a good experience and I
definitely recommend you knowgetting your cwbs for whatever
position you can get them in ifyou know you're new to welding,

(09:44):
and it'll help you significantlywith landing a career right, so
it makes it easier to startwell, some trades are very, are
very CWB, certification orqualifications dependent.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Like you mentioned, the iron workers.
I worked with the iron workerslots in my younger career and
they I always tell young peoplelike if you're struggling
looking for work, get youropposition stick and go to the
iron workers.
Like they'll throw you outthere.
You might not be welding allday, you may not weld at all for
a few days, but it's work andit's really good paying work
with really good pensions andbenefits.
And you know, don't look a gifthorse in the mouth.

(10:18):
Work is work, right.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
So um, but it is a whole nother thing.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
A couple of months ago I did see an article and I
actually got a phone call aboutit being.
Like you know, they alwaysstudy the shock hazards of
electricians so carefully, likehow many shocks they get.
If an electrician gets a shockon the site, they're off work
for like days.
There's a whole like process ofgetting back in there and

(10:46):
they're like do welders ever getshocked on site?
And I was like dude all thetime but no one seems to care
about us getting shocked.
You know, electricians, oh no,take the day off.
We're like with our hairstanding up all day.
But whatever you know, I guessI guess that's part of the job.
So yeah, so let's keep goingdown the timeline.

(11:07):
You tried out iron working fora bit.
Uh, you know they say vancouveronly gets around 70 to 75 sunny
days a year.
That ain't a lot, so that's alot of rain.
Now, where'd you go to fromthere?

Speaker 2 (11:19):
yeah.
So after that I went into ashop where we were building
storage racking.
It was called RPAC and it was agreat place and it was through
a temp agency at that point intime.
And you know it was a nice gig.
It was four tens.
The pay wasn't that great asyou can imagine going from, you

(11:42):
know, working the field withironworking, where you have lots
of overtime, to a shop rolewhere it's, you know, basically
40 hours a week, maybe an extraday of ot sort of thing.
Um, so that that was a bit tough.
But uh, at the same time I gota call from the temp agency
asking, you know if I want totry another gig.
And I enjoyed where I was at.

(12:03):
So I told them no.
But I told them him hey, I hada friend, he just got a C level,
can, can he join on?
So he joined them.
And then I call him.
I said how's it going over atthis new place that I got you a
job?
And he's like, oh, it's goinggreat.
And I asked him how much he wasmaking.
He's making more than me.
And I was like, man, I got thisguy a job making more money
than me, I was like what am Idoing so?
I, yeah, elected to go.

(12:25):
I said, hey, well, are theyhiring?
And you know I went over andapplied and, you know, got the
job and that was over at a placethat's called Commercial Truck
and that's over in Delta, so youknow, again, about 30 minutes
from Richmond or Vancouver, andwe were building commercial
trucks.
It was a super cool job.
You know I was able to use myautomotive experience and you

(12:46):
know we were able to build allthese trucks.
I was getting a little bit ofelectrical work, some hydraulics
, some welding and, yeah, it wasa pretty good time.
I love that place.
It's a good time.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
So where are you in your apprenticeship as you're
continuing this journey.
You know you got your level C,but you're continuing this
journey.
You know you, you got yourlevel c, but, um, you're working
a few more places.
You know the year's gone by now, have you?
Are you looking to go back andfinish off blocks?
Are you looking to go towardsthat jp?

Speaker 2 (13:15):
so, absolutely, I was definitely looking to get my
red seal and you know, I was putinto a funny position because I
was put in charge of this bigcontract, you know, as a lead
hand I guess.
So I was managing, you know, 10other guys and I had to be
there right for the company tomake sure that that contract

(13:36):
went through.
And, you know, at the same timeI wanted to get my journeyman.
I was like, well, how am Igoing to go back to school?
So it was one of those thingswhere I just told them, hey, I'm
gonna go back for my b leveland you know, if you can keep me
on, great, if you can't, then Iguess that's it, which is, uh,
you know, I guess you could saya ballsy move when you're living
almost, uh, paycheck topaycheck at that point in time.

(13:58):
Yeah, right, so I, I went aheadwith it and you know, sure
enough, they needed me there.
So I was able to go and take myB-level while working there,
which was basically Monday toFriday.
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 classdoing my B-level, and that was

(14:20):
my routine, for I can't evenremember how long B-level was
three months, three months, fourmonths, something like that,
right.
And uh yeah, no, it was.
It was a good time.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
And how were your skills going back to school?
Were you, were you still there?

Speaker 2 (14:34):
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 TIGexperience not a whole lot.
So it took me a little bitlonger than the average person
to go through that schooling.
But you know, when I came backI 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.

(14:56):
So when I worked at this othershop it's called Aggressive Tube
Bending.
They do a lot of work withboiler makers.
They do some stuff with youknow the aircraft industry and
you know some military contracts.
You know some art installation.
So I was building really coolstuff.
I loved what I was doing, but,you know, unfortunately after a

(15:18):
little while I suffered fromsome nerve damage my lower back,
I had a ruptured disc in my L5and L6.
So that took me off work forabout a year.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
So was that from hockey?
Was that from welding?
Was it a shock of like aninjury, or was it like a
repetitive strain like leftlumbar 5'6"?
So that's kind of right in themiddle of the curve there.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, so that's just repetitive lifting, you know for
?
A tall, skinny guy.
I guess that's uh, you know,pretty common from what I hear.
But it's just one of thosethings where you're in a fab
shop and you're picking pipes upfrom the ground, you're
throwing them on a stand andwelding them up, and you know it
, you're you're trying to savetime so you're not using the
overhead crane and stuff likethat, and that's's basically

(16:04):
what got me there.
But you know, max, as far asthat goes, I don't think that it
was a bad thing.
I think I was very blessed tohave that, because it gave me
the opportunity to reach out tofriends that were welding
inspectors and say, hey, how didyou get into this?
What was the deal right?
So that led me into the nextpart of the career, which was
nice.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
So you get the year to work on your health and rehab
your back.
Did you have to get surgery ordid you manage to skirt it
without surgery?

Speaker 2 (16:32):
uh, you know what I?
Uh, I got a cortisol ejection.
Have you ever had one before?
Yeah, I have yeah, yeah and uh,exactly so man I, I had to get
three injections like rightaround the same area and I kid
you not, man, my, by the thirdinjection, like my nose started

(16:54):
bleeding and I was about to passout yeah, and the doctor tells
me.
He says okay, you're allfinished up and I was like you
know, I'm like, I appreciatewhat you did, but I hope I never
see you again in my entire life.
Yeah, I've had him.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
I have had him from my neck because I blew out my
neck and my shoulder which isvery common welder problem is
blown out left shoulder.
I'm still going like it's forthe rest of my life.
I go to chiropractor.
I was just booking it thisafternoon for my left shoulder
because it's flares up.
But I mean you learn, you learnto take care of it, you learn
what to do.
But but yeah, yeah I mean uh,use the equipment kids yeah yeah

(17:31):
, absolutely cortisol feels likefire going in.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
It's not fun like no, no, it's not too fun.
I went there that once and thatwas it.
So that's yeah.
That's as far as that goes.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
So you're sitting healing, not working,
reevaluating your life becauseyou're like dang, I don't want
to be hurt all the time.
This isn't cool.
And you said you startedreaching out to inspector
friends.
Now are these inspector peoplethat you met through the trade
or people that you went toschool with, that kind of went
down that route?

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, so these were people that worked at shops with
me previously.
Yeah, so these were people thatworked at shops with me
previously.
Uh, you know, I I think it's agood idea for any welder to keep
in touch with you know, um, allthose people in the welding
trades, because you never knowwhen a shop's gonna networking
is everything you know yeah,exactly right.
so reached out to him and hesaid hey, you know, just go and
go and get your level one.

(18:21):
And, uh, I went and got mylevel one inspector's ticket and
then, and when I went andjoined them, they were just
starting with the Trans MountainPipeline there.
So I went and hopped on thatgig and there's a ton of as you
can imagine, a ton ofcertification needed and all
that sort of stuff.

(18:41):
So I was one of the onlyinspectors basically working
there and well, on this portionit was Spread 7B, which is in
Hope and Chilliwack area, and itwas a good gig, you know,
working basically 712s.
But it was now at this point alot more slacked.
It was just taking on moreresponsibility, obviously.

(19:06):
But yeah, it was a nice gig.
And then, at the same time, youknow, as getting my level one,
I really had an interest ingoing into finance.
So you know, I actually wentahead and started getting
educated a bit before that infinance but got my tickets that
allowed me to provide financialproducts during that time period

(19:28):
so what?

Speaker 1 (19:29):
what allured you to finance?
That's?
Uh, you know not to joke toomuch about welders, but if
there's one thing welders aren'tvery good at is holding on to
money, you know.
So, like I mean, and I'm I'mbasically 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

(19:51):
most part, we get offeredpeople to do our finances for us
.
You know, like most of our jobshave financial attachments to it
to help us because we'renotoriously bad at the money we
make.
Um, so like I always toldpeople 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 likeprofessional sports athletes

(20:15):
welders you know we get paid alot.
Our work life might not beforever because you know you
don't see too many 60 year oldwelders out there it's kind of
like a gig where you make a lotof cash and you try not to blow
it, you try not to, you try notto let it slip through your
fingers, because you want towork yourself into a coaching
gig someday, or an off-the-iceor an off-the-field gig.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
That's like the dream sports career.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
Right, you go play sports for 15 years.
Then you become a coach or anowner or whatever I said,
welding's the same.
Get out there, make your money,but work yourself towards a
supervisor job or an inspectorjob or an owner job, right.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, yeah, totally, totally, absolutely.
That's hilarious, it'sdefinitely that route right,
especially in oil and gas whereyou work lots of hours.
But yeah, what led me down thatroute?
I mean, first of all, I wouldsay almost anyone growing up in
low income housing is thinkingyou know, how the do I get out
of here and how do I make surethis doesn't happen for me and
my family?
Right?
So you know, once I went intothat environment where I was

(21:15):
working seven days a week, 12hour days.
I was making great money.
I had no idea what to do withit.
So I asked some of the otherguys and I was like, what should
I be doing?
And you know you get thatadvice from certain guys, at
least back then, when cannabiswas starting to be legal oh, buy
this weed stock.
And, you know, buy this AirCanada stock and all this sort
of stuff.
And I was like, well, ok, I'lltry that out.
And you know, it proved to be abit interesting.

(21:38):
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 juststarted purchasing rental
property and, funnily enough, Ihad my mom who was willing to
help me.
She had been a property managerfor about 20 years and being

(21:59):
like a true welder, beingstubborn 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 happenedto be an occasional crackhead
who somehow forgot to pay renton time and I ended up losing
about 12.
I don't know if it was 12 or 15grand in about three months and

(22:21):
then I was like you know okayyeah, well, you know, I should
learn how all this stuff sort ofworks, right?
So, I just took some courses.
I had no plans of getting intofinance at all.
Like you know, I was very happywelding.
I love what I was doing, it wasa great field to be in.
So I just took random coursesand, you know, took them through

(22:45):
a local college, eventuallytransitioned over to McGill.
If you were to ask me the nameof what courses I took, I
couldn't even tell you.
It's been a little while nowbut uh, yeah, at that point in
time.
Uh, it really helped me a lotseeking that financial literacy,
with getting a betterunderstanding of what I could do
with my money well, and therental game is a tricky game.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
I got some properties and my wife's my property
manager, because I don't likedoing that stuff.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
I'm the fix it guy.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
I'm the fix it guy I'm like, okay, someone's broken
, send me, I'll do that.
But all that other stuff, man,I don't even want to know like
someone else can take care ofthat yeah, exactly so what kind
of stuff did you get?
Like you said, you're able tosell products.
That sounds like like what kindof what kind of education did
you have to get and whatabilities were able to do while
you're out in the field and youknow, offering what you call

(23:29):
products?

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Yeah.
So as far as that goes, I wasvery, 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 throughschooling for finance, the
struggle that I found was thatI'd meet all these people that
you know could benefit frommaybe changing certain things in

(23:52):
their portfolio or, you know,getting cheaper insurance,
whatever it was, and I'drecommend it to them, but they I
couldn't ensure that thatactually took place.
Right, that's what I found.
Was that?
Okay, I'll recommend this toyou, but, hey, it's not
happening, for whatever reason.
So I needed to actually be ableto help them make sure it
happened.
So I asked him.
I said what licenses do I need?

(24:13):
And he said you actually needtwo licenses.
You need a one's called theCISC.
It's a Canadian InvestmentFunds course.
It teaches you all aboutinvestments in Canada.
It allows you to sell mutualfunds if you ever chose to or
manage your own.
The other one is an LLQP LifeLicense Qualification life
license qualification programthat allows you to sell
insurance based products.
Both courses honestly takearound like 50 hours to complete

(24:35):
.
It's not a ton of time, whichis surprising, but those are the
two licenses that I got andfrom there I was able to help
people, you know, with a lot oftheir financial problems.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Now, did you find that that market is saturated?
Because, like I'll tell you, asa kid coming up in canada,
through a variety ofdemographics, financially and
culturally, there's a lot ofpeople that turn to selling
finance and insurance as kind ofas kind of a temp gig.

(25:05):
You know there's a lot of peoplethat kind of fall into.
What I would say is like thebig insurance companies ponzi
scheme, where they bring insomeone young, give them a
little bit of training, givethem a little bit of licensing,
but really what they want is allthat young person's contacts.
They just want to be able tograb everybody out of your
contact list and then and thenthey don't care about you no

(25:25):
more.
And I've had lots of friendsover the years fall for that and
be like, oh, I'm an insuranceguy now or I'm selling stocks
now, and it's like are youreally or are you just working
for a company that's flippingyou a little bit of coin so you
can give up your contact list?
You know how did you competewith that?

Speaker 2 (25:42):
holy.
So I think you know, whatevercareer, whatever field you go in
, your success ultimately isusually defined by the people
who are realistically giving youadvice or giving you a game
plan to follow, right?
So for myself, with mychildhood best friend, like I
was just fortunate, like I said,he happened to be someone who
was making half a milliondollars a year profit, right.

(26:05):
So obviously he's able to giveme a more solid blueprint in
terms of you know how you go outand find clients and things
like that.
But definitely that was one ofmy concerns, right.
So I started actually on apart-time basis in finance and,
you know, once I was able tomatch or get close to the income
I was making as an inspector,then I was able to make this

(26:25):
transition over to full-time infinance.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
So were you doing both jobs for a while there?

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yeah, absolutely, I was doing inspecting and I was
also doing a bit of advising onthe side, but you know that was
definitely a difficult time inlife.
You know, maybe helping aperson or two every month or so,
right, but just family andfriends and definitely man,
there is a lot of that going onwhere those insurance companies
will go ahead and try to get allthose contacts from you.
You, I mean, if you look atrecruiter positions for those

(26:54):
insurance companies, they pay,you know, around 200 grand a
year right so obviously they'redoing what they can to, um, you
know no other way to really putit but bleed you dry of those
contacts.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Well, and I think that's how they make their
living.
Like I mean it it's, it's anold game, right?
It's been around, yeah, for aslong as money has been around
really gaining access tofinancial literacy, Right.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
So, um, it's like, you know, it's, it's crazy the
amount of people living paycheckto paycheck nowadays.
It's, it's just astounding,Right.

(27:38):
So to be able to give back topeople that were in a position
that I was in is is reallyemotionally rewarding, honestly.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Well, it's interesting conversation.
I hear it sometimes from a veryignorant standpoint, where it's
like the schools aren'tteaching our kids to be
financially, financiallyliterate.
The schools aren't teaching ourkids about finances or taxes or
saving or their budgets.
It's like what's wrong with theschool system.
It's like, okay, well, first ofall check yourself.
The school's never taught thatthat's not, that's not something

(28:08):
that ever existed.
The difference is that 100years ago, 20 years ago, there
was a lot more disposable incomeat every level for most of
society.
So you would learn yourfinancial literacy from your
parents.
So I always say like rich kidsknow how to save right, because
rich kids are taught to savefrom when they're little.
Like rich kids grow up with abank account.

(28:29):
Rich kids grow up with theirparents telling them about you
know, we're going to save upmoney and we're going to go to
Disneyland this summer or we'regoing to save up money and mom
got a brand new car, but poorkids, we didn't get any of that.
There was no saving, there's nodiscussions about banks, there's
no talks about RRSPs in ourhouses, you know, it's always

(28:58):
like like, oh, the price of milkand oh the price of bread and
oh the price of gas, right, like, yeah, it's a constant struggle
.
So for for people to talk aboutfinancial literacy not
happening at home, it's becausethe homes don't have the
finances to do it.
Yeah, it really.
And but I like, I mean, andthere are free courses offered
across canada for financialliteracy.
Many universities and collegesoffer them and I've taken them.
I ended up going back to schoolfor some finance stuff myself

(29:18):
because after tanking a couplebusinesses, I realized I don't
know how to run a business.
Maybe I should go to school andthe things I learned were
invaluable and, like you said, Ithink everyone should learn
these things.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Absolutely Right, Because it just gives you a
better understanding of what'shappening with your money.
Even if you don't want tomanage your money, you know.
If you think your time could bebetter spent with your family
or working more hours, whateverit is, that's great, that's
fantastic.
But if you're not someone whohas full trust in what your
advisor is doing, then having abetter understanding of what

(29:54):
they're actually doing with yourfinances is is going to be, you
know, so rewarding and it'sgoing to really help you
emotionally.
I think there's there's a lotof people that lose sleep over
over their finances.
Realistically Right, so yeahthat's true, it's true.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Well, let's take a break now for our advertisers
and sponsors and the people thatpay our bills, and then, when
we get back, we'll kind of startfrom where you are now in this
new part of your life and I gotsome questions about the
previous part of your life toobut we'll be right back on the
CWB Association podcast withConnor McWilliams here, and

(30:28):
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And we are back here on the cwbassociation podcast.
My name is max seron and I'mhere with connor mcwilliams
coming to us from vancouverabout.
We're talking about his career.
He started as an auto bodytechnician, then welder, then
inspector, now finance guru, youknow, and that's quite the turn

(32:23):
.
We've cracked jokes.
But in all reality, finance issomething that people in the
trades often get stung by.
You know, it's the joke, it wasthe joke.
Out Like I, mean out in theWest.
Get stung by.
You know it's, it's the joke,it was the joke.
Out like I'm in the out in thewest.
We have such a bust and boomeconomy that, uh, everyone's
always like oh yeah, look at mybrand new truck and then three
weeks later, oh, no truck.
And then a year later, look atmy new truck and then six weeks

(32:45):
later no truck.
You know it's like, uh, theauctions are always busy out
here, but that is something thatI think we need to really
really learn, right?
So let's talk about you.
You know you start getting intofinancing finances, and did you
want to connect the two?

(33:06):
Did you want to connect thetrades to your financial goals?
Did you see the people in thetrades trades persons, trades
companies as a potential sourceof clients?

Speaker 2 (33:19):
So, as far as that goes, what it started with was,
you know, when I started doingsomewhat well for myself
financially, I had family andfriends reach out saying, hey,
how can I, you know, rework myfinances?
What can I do here to improvethings for myself, Right?
So I started helping justfamily and friends,

(33:39):
realistically, and that was whenI was, you know, becoming a
welding inspector.
A welding inspector at thatpoint, and I just loved the
emotional impact that it had onthe people around me, right,
because there's so many timeswhere I help people and I just
thought, man, if my parents justknew about even half the stuff
that I know today as a child, Iprobably would not have to have

(34:02):
had to deal with, you know,certain situations that I had to
deal with growing up.
So, from there it just it madea significant impact on myself
in terms of helping my community.
To be totally honest with youmyself, like my best friend, he
recommended how to build mybusiness.
He recommended helping smallbusiness owners.
So that's actually what I wentfor, was helping small business

(34:25):
owners.
Now, what I thought about tomyself was I'm helping all these
people who are most of the timedoing, you know, anywhere from
$48 million a year of revenue,but it's not as emotionally
rewarding, realistically sothat's actually what led me to

(34:45):
start wanting to educate a lotof welders right, was hey, I was
in that situation where I hadno idea what the hell to do with
my money.
And when I was at these shops, Iyou know, I had the HR guy sit
down and he'd say do you want todo medium or high risk?
And I'd say I don't even knowwhat I'm what I'm talking about,
right?
So, yeah, um, that's what kindof led me down that route and I
was like you know what?
There's so many welders thatcould benefit from expanding

(35:07):
their own level of knowledgewhen it comes to finances, and
it would make such a big impactbecause, honestly speaking, a
lot of the guys in the tradesare making good money.
There's no reason why theycan't retire early.
It's just that they're notshown how to do so right.
And, like you said, unlessyou're coming from a rich family
which, truth be told, mostwelders, at least the ones that
I met, weren't right uh, you'rejust not gonna get that sort of

(35:30):
dialogue that you would get, youknow, growing up with those
types of parents.
So yeah, that's kind of howthat went well, you know, I got
a.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
I got an interesting little story in my life that
showed me both sides of the coin.
My dad won not a huge amount,but a decent amount of money in
the lottery when I was, like, Ithink, nine or ten.
So we went from, like you know,a very different part of the
city to a very nice part of thecity and, uh, and I, you know, I

(35:58):
started a new school over thesummer and I was in this, you
know, brand new school.
It's really good computers and areally nice library and digital
clocks, and it was like not atall where I, where I had come
from as a kid, not at all whereI, where I had come from as a
kid, and everyone around me wasalready talking about like I got
five hundred dollars in mysavings account, or grandma gave
me a hundred dollars forChristmas, and it was a whole

(36:20):
different world where it seemedlike everyone had exposable
income, expendable income, evenas children, you know, even as
children.
You know I'm cleaning the wholehouse and mowing the lawn for a
buck so that I can go buy aslurpee on friday, you know.
And, and you know little jimmyat the school, you know his, his

(36:42):
parents are lawyers and he'sgot a hundred dollar, crisp,
crisp, hundred dollar bill atthat circle k and I'm just like
what is happening in this world.
But that kind of was good for mebecause it taught me that you
know there's a lot, I don't knowthere'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.

(37:03):
I don't want to ever have toworry about, you know, the price
of milk.
You know, screw it, I'm justgoing to, I just want to.
If I want milk, I'm buying milk.
I don't care if it's two bucksor six bucks, I'm getting the
milk, which you know.
Years later I asked a mentor ofmine um, how do you know when
you're happy, like financially,cause it's a never ending game,

(37:24):
it's the rat race right, likeyou can run forever.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
So what are you happy ?

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Like what is your measure of happy for making
enough money?
Because some people I know arevery happy at $70,000 a year,
like they are, you know, content.
And then I know people thatmake $250,000 a year and they're
still chasing the tail right.
And this guy says to me youknow, you've made it.
When you don't care about thegas price of gas or the price of

(37:47):
groceries, when you just go tothe gas station and you don't
pick one because it's a centcheaper and you don't pick a
grocery store because they got asale, you go to that one
because it's got the best meatand you go to that one because
it's got the nicest car wash.
And I was like, hmm, that's areally interesting way.
But what he was trying to sayis that it's about your personal
choice.
What are the personal things inyour life that you consider

(38:08):
necessary?
And if you have, have them,you're good.
If you're not, then you're notright, totally, totally,
absolutely.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
I think that's a great question to have and you
know, I always it's funny youasking that because I always ask
others what's your definitionof financial freedom but I've
never had someone ask it to me.
So as far as that goes, youknow, with that question, um,
I've, I've had many points in mylife where you know I, like I

(38:39):
said, grew up no, no money.
Um, had months where you know,making, as you can imagine, like
a pretty large, substantialamount of money.
Uh, you know what someone mightmake in a year, just in a month
.
But what I found was that onceyou reach the point, at least in
my experience, of making around$10,000 a month, you can most

(39:02):
likely cover your expenses,cover the expenses of your
family, not really worry toomuch about, like you said,
getting gas or you know whereyou're going for food or things
like that, but anything pastthat, what I've found is that
your lifestyle doesn't reallychange all that much.
It's, you know, it's just anicer restaurant, it's just

(39:23):
nicer clothes, it's a nicerhouse you live in, it's a nicer
car.
So you know, once, once I wasable to attain that ten thousand
dollar month mark, after tax,that is, I was, you know, pretty
happy with the way things weregoing, and yeah.
But you know, then again,financial independence, or you
know your financial goals isdifferent to everyone.

(39:45):
But I think in today's day andage, with you know how
everything's going.
I mean, in a recent survey theydid 86% of Canadians say
inflation is the biggest issuein Canada right now.
Right, 46% say they're doingworse than what they anticipated
doing this year.
I mean gas prices up 5.6percent last year, right.

(40:05):
Food prices 22 and a halfpercent last four years right
it's.
It's becoming crazy to be ableto afford things.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Most people's pay is not matching inflation, honestly
, yeah yeah right, I rememberwhen I was coming up, yearly
raises were based on a minimumof inflation.
That was like an industrystandard.
If inflation was three percentyou'd get a minimum three
percent raise plus whateverbonus for your good good
behavior or good work.
And then somewhere along theline that got dropped and it was

(40:36):
like why would we stop keepingup with inflation?
That doesn't even make senseyeah, yeah, totally totally,
it's.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
It's so interesting to see.
I agree completely Right, andyou know, with.
That said, with the issue, Imean, in the last six years, you
know, with with certain peoplein positions of power, it's
definitely been a lot morechallenging for most Canadians.
Canada pension plan, which iswhat most people pay into, what

(41:07):
most people rely on I don't knowif they know this or not, but
the amount that you're payinginto it has actually increased,
right, it's gone up.
It used to be 4.95% of yourpaycheck annually and it had
been that way for about 30 years.
In 2018, it started increasingyear over year.
It's now 5.95% and it's crazyto expect that to cover the
expenses for the, the expensesfor Canadians who are retired,

(41:28):
because, as far as that goes,what's the most amount of money
you can earn from that?
about $1,280 a month max isright, it's, it's.
It's sad, and I really wishthat there's a lot more
education around the topic.
But I mean, hey, that's uh whyI'm here and that's that's what
I'm trying to do both my parentsare retired.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
My dad was a boiler maker his entire life yeah and
uh, he, uh, he hated financiallyhow he retired, like it didn't
go at all like it was supposedto be.
Uh, he put all his money intorsps in the 80s and 90s because
every person in canada was toldto put all their money into RSPs

(42:07):
for like 30 years and then 2008happened and 2016 happened and
2019 happened and everyone'sRSPs were worth nothing.
So I remember him telling meafter he retired he's like,
don't believe anyone.
He's like I would have beenbetter off putting this money in
a sock drawer, like, reallylike, if I would have put the
same amount of money into a bag.
I would have been better offputting this money in a sock
drawer, like, really like, if Iwould have put the same amount
of money into my into a bag.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
It would have been better off when I was like, oh,
I hate hearing that, dad, youknow like you know, absolutely,
man, and, and it's justrealistically, I think a lot of
people are exploited due to alack of financial literacy.
An example of this would be,you know, my dad, for example.
He was provided a permanentinsurance product at a young age
, around 22 years old, and youknow he canceled it after a

(42:53):
couple of years and he told me Ilost all this money.
With this insurance productYou'll never get insurance,
you're going to lose money.
And now that I'm in theindustry, I said well, dad, the
reason why he lost money wasbecause you pulled out.
You have this charge, that'sthere the first 10 years.
You know, if you had keptcontributing, here's how much
money you would have now.
And that's what that lookedlike.
And he said well, I no one toldme this when I canceled, you

(43:15):
know, so it's.
It's kind of one of thosethings where I just wish that
more people were being educatedon this sort of stuff, and you
know to.
To go back to your point of RSPs, so many people think that RSPs
because the name literally saysregistered retirement savings
plan that that's what you usefor retirement.
For any person that thinkslogically, that makes sense.
But it actually negativelyimpacts the amount of money that

(43:40):
you receive from OAS and GISwhen it comes time to retire,
because they base the amountthat they're willing to pay you
in benefits on how much taxableincome you receive.
So if you're getting benefitsfrom RSPs or pensions, then it's
actually going to hinder theamount of money the government's
willing to give you inretirement, whereas if someone
had gone with something like aTFSA, for example, you could be

(44:02):
making tons of money for a TFSAon a monthly basis and it would
have no impact on those benefitsthe government are willing to
pay.
And as welders, most people aremaking a great income and it
sucks to see that happen becausethose people have paid those
taxes for things like OAS andGIS.
I mean welders most of the timerealistically built the country

(44:22):
.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Almost everything nowadays home, whatever it is,
had an involvement of a welderand uh, it's sad that those same
people are then not taken careof right, yeah, yeah, like I
mean, I I went into property too, like everyone always said, you
know, like at the end of theday, nothing is more valuable
than land.
So I've taken that to heart andyou know, that's kind of where

(44:43):
I've started looking and I havea just a.
I have a philosophical distrustof money.
I think that currency currencywithin itself is is is is the
last step and the weakest pointof any transaction.
You know what I mean.
So, yeah, it's easy come, easygo, as simple as the saying says

(45:05):
.
You gotta be careful, and likeI mean I, I, I.
I have a finance guy, financialguy here in regina.
He deals with my stuff and hebut every year we do our review
and he's always like you knowwhat's your goal, what's the,
what's the per month you want toget when you retire?
And I'm like zero, I just wantto have no debt.
I'll take care of the restmyself.

(45:26):
You know like I'll put awaywhat I need to put away and I'm
like zero, I just want to haveno debt.
I'll take care of the restmyself.
You know like I'll put awaywhat I need to put away and I'll
have my things in order, what Ineed.
But all I want on the day Iretire is a lump sum for me to
put bows on the things that Ihave going on and that's it.
I'll never see you again.
Have a nice life yeah, hethinks I'm crazy, but hey, I
just that's.

(45:47):
I feel like if I tell someone Iwant a monthly, something will
happen and it won't happen, likeI mean, I don't know, I just
don't believe it, or I'll bethat guy that's like, yeah, I
retired and die in two months orwhatever.
Something stupid, like no,forget it.
Just big lump sum.
That's all I want.

Speaker 3 (45:58):
Thank you very much yeah, yeah, you're probably
thinking this guy's dumb but, no, not at all, not at all.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
And and to be totally honest with you.
Even myself, you know youexperienced that with your
parents, with you know yourdad's saying you know rsps
aren't the greatest and all thatsort of stuff.
Myself too, we we had a similarexperience in my family my mom.
She had a car crash and wasn'tworking for five years, so she
got five years of salary all atonce.
It it was like a $250,000settlement and for people that

(46:28):
don't have financial literacy,that's a very large I mean even
people that do, that's a largeamount of money Very dangerous,
yeah, and we went and talked tothe bank, and I won't say which
bank, but we qualified forprivate banking, which is, you
know, if you have a certainamount of assets that you hold,
you qualify for private levelbanking, which is where they can
provide you.

(46:48):
You know, etfs, individualstocks, all different investment
products that are, you know,doing usually a lot better than
what you receive at a branchlevel.
But the products that she wasput in were bringing about like
one and a half percent per year,right, and less than a checking
account.
Yeah, really, and I was likethis is, you know, a private

(47:10):
level banking it.
It was mind blowing.
So that definitely motivated meto go and do that and I hope
that more people do what it isthat you did and you know, went
and sought that advice and youknow, as far as getting debt
free, totally that's a big thing.
Right, there's so manyCanadians nowadays I mean 40%.
In a recent survey they didfrom the Financial Consumer

(47:31):
Agency of Canada, about 40% ofCanadians are worried about
their debt, right, which is ahuge percentage of the
population genuinely.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Well, and then it's a big risk for welders,
especially young welders.
You're going to come out ofwelding school first year're
going to make 50 60k.
Then you're going to startclimbing.
Banks are going to notice andthen you're going to start
getting those letters and Iremember being in my early 20s
and I would just literally getcredit cards in the mail with 10
, 15, 000 limits ready to go andthat's extremely tempting.

(48:02):
You know, like you go tocanadian tire, oh, all of a
sudden I have a canadian tirecredit card, and then I got a
west jet credit card and then Igot a costco credit card and
then it was like okay, likerelax.
I remember being in my mid-20s,coming up on 30, and I had a
stack of credit cards and Ididn't apply for a single one.
You know, what I mean, like theywould just show up in the mail

(48:22):
and that's really dangerous fora young person that's, you know,
new to making money.
And especially like you'regonna have a family, you're
gonna buy a house and thenyou're gonna have a stack of
credit cards on your back like Ihaven't been able to get my
credit score over 700, like in20 years man like yeah, yeah,
absolutely, so there's there's alot of things that affect

(48:48):
credit score and it's funny thatwe deal with these issues,
because if you go and travel toother countries, like, for
example, in Iran.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
I mean, they're not an example in any way for a lot
of things, but when it comes tofinances, like if you're in debt
, you're just, you go to jail,that's it Right.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
So not allowed.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Not a lot of people in debt over there, right?
I personally believe thatCanadians well, north America as
a whole is really taught to buy.
It's a consumer-based society.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
Capitalism is based on debt.
A large part of it right.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
Totally, totally right.
With banks, for example, withthe money that they print, I
mean, for those that don't know,whenever you do deposit, let's
say, $10, into a bank, they'reactually taking $9 from that and
they're giving it to someoneelse.
They're lending it out, Right?
So they're they're basicallyprinting money based on what,
what you put in.
So it's it's very crazy.

(49:42):
And you mentioned, you know,the impact of other currencies.
I mean for myself, uh, with myAirbnb business, it's based in
the U S, so I get paid in U Sdollars and you know, whenever
I'm, I'm looking at things hereand I I have my you know,
earnings from my Canadianbusiness.
I go well, what the heck.
And I can't really afford muchin terms of, you know, usd.

(50:03):
Right, it's crazy.
You go to anywhere well, notanywhere, but most places in the
US, like, for example, dallas,where I have some Airbnbs, and
the things that we purchaserestaurants, whatever gas it's
around the same price.
It's just that now it's in USdollars.
I'm like what the heck's goingon?

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Yeah, yeah, I remember being able to go to the
US and spend lots of money downthere and it was like a viable
place.
Now I find the US to be, if notmore expensive, the same as
here.
I'm not getting any deals downthere, no more.
And housing, yeah, you canstill find some nuggets in the
US that are neat, but it's beenpretty picked over at this point

(50:42):
and over at this point and, um,I mean, I, I have I'm starting
to invest back home in southamerica because it's like
finding the nest, next markets,right, like it's like where,
where, where can I go to to lookfor, I guess, those?
I don't know what I'm like.
No, I don't want to saybackdoor deals like the.
You want to get a one-up, youwant to find the next great

(51:02):
thing before somebody else findsit right.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Absolutely, absolutely, totally, yeah, and
and so many people are trying todo that.
You know I, um, I wish that thegovernment would have a larger
role in making it easier forpeople, in terms of real estate,
for example, to get a um apermit.
Just to build a property inVancouver, it's about 50,000.
For that same permit in Texas,it's about 500 bucks, right?
So there's so many of thesefactors that come into play.

(51:28):
When you're looking at, youknow, the state of the Canadian
economy and I think a lot ofpeople you know, with raising
taxes, like they did withcapital gains, they just rose it
up, you know, to 66% or 66.67.
Whereas before it was 50%.
Is they expect to take all thismoney from people who are
wealthy when, realistically,they're just moving it to other

(51:50):
countries?
And I think it's pretty sad tosee, honestly, right.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
It's a tricky balance , because rich people in Canada
also are notorious for spendingtheir money in other countries.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
So it's like?

Speaker 1 (52:02):
can you trust rich people?
You know the rich to actuallyinvest in your own country?
That's a big question because Iknow I've worked for many
millionaires, even billionaires,in my career, because as rich
as welders are the companies wework for are way richer, right

(52:23):
Pretty good.
And none of them live in Canada.
Even if it's a Canadian company, they're filtering all their
money to Phoenix or the Bahamasor somewhere else.
So when I see those tax gains,those tax increases, I do get
the other side of it being likelook rich guy, I can't trust you
to put that money back intoyour own economy.
So I'm going to have to take it, because otherwise you're just

(52:45):
spending it somewhere else.
Now if all rich Canadians wouldjust spend their money in
Canada, invest in Canadianbusiness, invest in Canadian
housing, man, it would be somuch better.
But I don't know.
We're free market capitalism.
We can't tell people where tospend their money.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
We can't right, yeah, yeah, we can't tell people
where to spend their money.
We can hope that they spend ithere, but you know that's it's a
very interesting topic.
I think that you know.
As far as that goes, it's, it'svery crazy and I think it boils
down to at least from thepeople that I know, like the
clients I have who are doingvery well financially is a lot

(53:22):
of them just don't feel rightwith what's happening with their
tax dollars.
You know, for example, forevery dollar you spend in taxes,
20 cents of it is going, uh,towards interest just on debt
for a government.
Right, it's?

Speaker 1 (53:34):
uh, yeah, it's it's, and I think we have the lowest
debt ratio out of the g8.
So you know, the other seven ofthe g8 are in worse positions
debt wise.
It's like what's happeningevery like, and who do these
countries owe the money to like?
Okay, so, so the us owned oweslike more money than the rest of
the world combined.
They're the most indebtedcountry in the universe right so

(53:56):
the united states owes, likewhat?
38 trillion dollars, whatever itis, to who, to who like to?
To Mars?
Do we owe it to the sun, like,how do you owe that to yourself?
If anything you owe it to thepeople, give it back to them.
You know what?
I mean Like I don't understandhow we build debt against

(54:17):
ourselves as a country, like Iguess it's probably a more
theoretical question, but I justfind it so funny when it's like
oh, I'm from south america, solike argentina is just going
through a terrible politicalrevolt right now and their
inflation rate was at 187 thislast year, right, and people in
canada are, like you know,freaking out over six percent
and we're all like losing ourhair going gray over six percent

(54:40):
.
Meanwhile the us is sitting atlike seven, you know,
argentina's at 1877, and eveneven Canada in the 80s was at 20
.
So for, for, for.
Statistically we're in theglory years, but realistically
we don't feel like it you knowwhat I mean, like what's?
what's the disconnect betweenall these different systems?

Speaker 2 (55:00):
right, what's what's going on?
What's the best route?

Speaker 1 (55:04):
you know, absolutely it's.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
It's a very interesting concept for sure,
and uh, you know, I I thinkthere could be lots of changes
made to make things better.
I mean not only canada,obviously, in all these
countries.
Uh, you know a lot of lobbyingand things like that, but uh, I
think you know, to really boilit down, it just comes down to
getting educated when it comesto your finances.

(55:27):
You know what are you doingwith your paycheck.
You know it starts early.
Put away 10, 15 percent of yourpaycheck.
Start learning that when you'reyoung, get that financial
discipline.
That when you are a rig welderyou're not buying all those
lifted trucks and ski sleds andstuff like that, right, so, but
I love my Mustang Don't tell mewhat to do.

(55:49):
That right so, but I love mymustang don't tell me what to do
.
Yeah, that's you gotta, yougotta find the fine line right,
that's it.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
Yeah, yeah, okay, so like for yourself now.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
What do you see like in the future?
You know you've had a couplecareer changes, but you're still
a young guy.
You know like what do you seeyourself as, as you know?
Do you see yourself expandingyour business in your financial
world, setting up a firm?
Are you looking at, you know,being an entrepreneur yourself?
What?
What is it that's on your, onyour end list?

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Right now I have my owncorporation, so I have a
contract with around 75different institutions, uh to
provide financial services inCanada.
I would like to do the same inthe US.
Realistically, where I plan toearn my income from is from my
Airbnb based business.
It is operating in the US and Ijust plan to expand in the US

(56:41):
through that business.
You know using things like debtand all those sorts of tools to
help myself out in that regard,but I really love the campaign
that I'm currently doing to, youknow, help welders.
That's what I do with a lot ofmy spare time.
At this point in time, theAirbnb stuff is mostly passive.
You know, maybe three or fourhours a month of work, something

(57:02):
like that, but it's verypassive.
So rather than just sitting athome and you know dwindling with
my thumbs and you know justlooking at walls and whatever
being bored, I would rather, youknow, do something where it
feels like I'm helping out.
So it would be great to be ableto do the same thing in the US
and you know kind of tackle thatroute.

(57:23):
As far as my goal, my mission Imean my mission right now is to
educate people at no cost, andI would love to just see that
expand.
In terms of a number, I don'treally have a number in mind
that I would like to help.
I just, I just want to seeeveryone get help.
I don't know if you've seenthose, max, but they did studies

(57:43):
about.
You know, if you want to becomea doctor, what your financial
outlook looks like versus goingto trades, and I'll tell you
what man like.
If people do it right, thetrades is 110% the way to go.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Right, I have.
One of my best friends is achiropractor and I've out earned
him most of my career.
Like, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Exactly Right, and people think it's it's all all
amazing when you're, you know,especially as a business owner.
And you know I have a clientright now in vancouver and his
company does about one and ahalf million.
He owns a chiropractor businessbut about 85 of that just goes
in expenses, right, so I don'tthink it's as great as these
people assume it is being abusiness owner in that regard,

(58:26):
right, there's so many headachesthat come alongside it.
Even you know, when you dobecome a doctor I mean, most
doctors are making around aquarter million a year, but they
they get to graduate with halfa million dollars of debt, right
, it's more yeah, yeah, no.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
So so from your point of view, I guess like there's a
couple things.
Number one how do people findyou like?
How do people reach out to youif they're listening to the
podcast?
They're young or old, well,there doesn't matter, you're
somewhere in the trades journeyand you'd like some financial
literacy, some education.
You know how do they find it?
How do they reach out to you?

Speaker 2 (59:04):
absolutely so.
Advertising in can, in Canada,has proved to be a lot more
expensive than it is in the US.
There's also a lot more rulesand regulations around that with
finance as a whole, so mymission wasn't really to make it
this huge advertising campaign.
It's more so word of mouthmarketing that I like to do.
If people want to get a hold ofme, they can reach out to me

(59:27):
through LinkedIn.
My name is Connor McWilliams.
They can shoot me a phone call.
You know my phone number is778-887-1455 or shoot me an
email.
You know, connor, c-o-n-n-o-rMcWill, m-c-w-i-l at gmailcom,
and I'd be more than happy to.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
Cool, cool.
And then, in terms of you know,your, your mission of education
, are you going to be doing likea tour?
Do you want to get on like someshows?
Do you want to get on a stageLike you know?
Do you?
Do you want to be kind of ahype person for financial
literacy of the trades?

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
yeah, that's, that's a great thought and, honestly
speaking, I was uh talking toanother friend of mine.
He's he's coming from plumbingbackground and he's thinking of
kind of doing the same thing.
He's in finance, he's done wellin real estate and you know,
we're thinking of kind ofgetting together and, just like
you said, you know, maybe goingto all these shops and sharing
the mission, because I thinkwhat happens is a lot as well.
There's this uh well, there'sdefinitely a different way of
talking when you're a welderversus when you're talking to

(01:00:31):
your uh, you know banker.
So I think being able to talk tothose 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, andthe next week you're getting
laid off and you're like whatthe hell is going on, right?

(01:00:53):
So, definitely, providing moreaccess to that community is our
goal and at some point, yes, Iwould like to go all across
Canada and provide theseservices and reach out to shops
and all that sort of stuff,absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Well, you brought up something there that's really
interesting, which is somethingthat we discuss on this podcast
all the time from a number ofdifferent angles.
It's the language, the waypeople communicate.
I'm in Saskatchewan.
We have banks, we have grocerystores, we have things a whole
economy in Saskatchewan builtaround agriculture.

(01:01:27):
We have commercials on TV beinglike if you're in agriculture,
come to this bank because wespeak agriculture.
You know, shop at these storesbecause we support agriculture.
We support farmers right, whichis a very smart way to do it,
because farmers have a certainway of talking and being and
they want to be comfortable whenthey go to the bank.
You know they want to becomfortable going to the grocery

(01:01:47):
store.
These are their people.
They they can to be comfortablegoing to the grocery store.
These are their people.
They can be themselves.
They don't have to pretend toput on a suit and be weird or
whatever.
They can just be farmers.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
But people don't talk about that, about the trades.
You know like what bank tradespeople you know.
You got a guy who works or agirl that works 12 hours a day,
seven days a week, for months onend.
They get maybe a couple daysoff every few months to go hang
out with their family and theirkids and they got to take a one
hour trip out of that short timeoff to go to the bank and talk

(01:02:20):
finances and you know what.
It's not comfortable.
You don't feel good about ityou don't feel like you don't
what you're talking about.
You don't feel like you're evenwelcome there, because everyone
around you is all clean, cut andsqueaky clean and all businessy
.
And you're in your, you knowyou're in your burnt up hoodie,
with your, with your work bootson and your ripped jeans and

(01:02:40):
they look at you like you'rekind of like oh, what are you
doing here?
Meanwhile, you probably makemore money than every person in
that bank.
You know I remember feelingfrustrated about that.
All the time people look downon me oh, he's tattoos, he's got
piercings, got long hair.
Look at this grubby guy.
It's like yo, I make more moneythan literally everyone in this
building, right?
so so you know that language isa barrier right, it's a barrier

(01:03:04):
because trades people sometimesdon't feel welcome in these
establishments of finance.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Totally, totally, absolutely.
And you know, even for myself,you walk into the bank and you
get this huge, you know like 40pages of paperwork and you're
like what the am I looking at?
I'm just going to sign it,right, you have no idea what
you're signing up for and a lotof that comes from, you know,
being made to feel, like youjust said, like you're almost an
alien, walking to a place whereyou're not welcome, right.

(01:03:32):
So creating that environmentwhere, hey, man, you know I came
from the same background, Itotally understand how it is in
the trades Right, it just makespeople a lot more comfortable.
And you know, as far as gettingaccess, I do everything through
Zoom, right, I mean, I do havean office in Vancouver, but I
like to go there once a week.
Try not to drive in downtown youknow, all those one ways and

(01:03:53):
traffic and all that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Oh, I know, I know.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Yeah, so I'll run meetings through zoom and you
know it's, it's.
Uh, I don't have any sort ofset schedule.
Like I said at the start, Ijust worked those blue collar
hours in a white collar job, soyou know, usually doing seven,
twelves.
But I mean, doesn't get tootough.
I mean, the toughest part of myday is adjusting the air
conditioning right.
So that's about it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
Yeah, yeah, and and we've already gone over an hour,
but I actually want to touch onthat point too, because we
talked about that before westarted recording the show and I
think it's a neat thing todiscuss because it's something
that a lot of blue collar peoplethink about and are kind of
scared to do.
But for you, was it a hardtransition going from a blue

(01:04:34):
collar lifestyle to a whitecollar lifestyle, Because I have
my views on that too, you know.
So like I'd like to hear yours.

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
Holy.
I think the biggest thing isalmost like an identity crisis
that happens right at first.
Where you go, man, I never didwell in school, you know.
I went into welding at leastfor most welders, right and or I
just got my tickets and I don'tknow how I could do this.
And I would say the best way tomake that shift is reach out to
people who are leading livesthat you would want to replicate

(01:05:06):
.
Right With myself.
That's exactly what I did.
I asked someone who was living alife where there were certain
areas where I wanted toduplicate, right.
I said hey, man, how do I doall this?
How do I get involved?
This, I don't think it mattersat all what you go into.
You could be freaking sellingpickles and you know, as long as
you found a mentor that didwell selling pickles, you could
probably duplicate the sameresults, right?

(01:05:28):
So I would say, reach out tothose people.
A lot of them are a lot morewilling 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 USfor Airbnbs or any of this stuff
.
And there's this guy onInstagram and I just shot him a
message and he makes you knowlike two million dollars a month
.
I was like, hey man, how do?
How do I do this?

(01:05:49):
I'd like to do it.
That was it.
Right now he helps me in allthat stuff.
So I think that helps a ton.
And uh, you know, that's whypeople get business coaches.
But uh, yeah, you know, go gointo that, make that shift
Additionally.
Anywhere where you can startand you can earn money part-time
, you get to control when you'reworking and you're able to
match your income on a part-timebasis and you're making

(01:06:11):
full-time welding, then you knowyou can make that transition
right.
That's a good time to give it ashot, obviously if you have
savings right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
But yeah, well, you know there's a couple of pieces
there that I want to contributefrom my end.
Number one in Canada there's afree federal program called the
Futurepreneur Program.
If you're a young entrepreneurin Canada looking to switch
careers or start up a business,there is a government grant and

(01:06:38):
part of the grant comes with amentorship matching where you
get to actually, if you don'thave one, they'll find one for
you.
I'm registered in there, so Ihave been matched with young
welders looking to go intoentrepreneurship because you
know I've started companies,I've been a part of lots of
startups young welders lookingto go into entrepreneurship
because you know I've I'vestarted companies, I've been a
part of lots of startups and youknow, now, now I'm a, you know
sort of pretty good where I am,I guess and um so I I do like to

(01:06:59):
mentor and, like you said,mentoring, mentorship is huge in
in in community, whether it'sblue collar or white collar and
um.
And then the other piece I wouldsay to people that are in blue
collar, looking to move intowhite collar, is don't take your
foot off the gas, because bluecollar moves fast.
Blue collar is resultsorientated.
Blue collar is about meetingdeadlines.

(01:07:21):
Blue collar is about theseparts got to go out the door
because people need them, andthat's that.
When you get into white collarworld, it's a lot of BS and a
lot of bureaucracy and red tapeand people spinning their wheels
and and people having meetingsfor the sake of having meetings,
and it's a whole lot of stuffthat, oh yeah, you're going to
be able to power through if youkeep your blue collar mentality

(01:07:42):
going into white collar.
You're going to work circlesaround people and you're going
to do things faster, better andon 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 whitecollar is not like that
typically, so you're gonna havea bit of a fight when you get

(01:08:02):
into white collar, because somepeople 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 upearly every day.
I don't have to because I havea white collar job.
I can make my own hours, but Ikept my schedule.
This is a schedule that made mesuccessful before.
Why would I stop?
Why?

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
would I change that you?

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
know.
So what if the other people inmy world only work four hours a
day or six hours a day?
Not me, that's not.
That's not my shtick.

Speaker 3 (01:08:30):
Right so.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
I'm, and then it's like you know, wow, how did you
get all that done?

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
It's like well cause cause I got it done Like I mean
that's cause, that's what I do,Right Like.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
I mean I like to be able to work circles around
people I always have, even inblue collar.
I liked being, you know, a good, fast clean welder.
Well, now I'm a good fast cleanpaper pusher.
Like it is.
It is what it is, right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
Yeah, absolutely Absolutely no, that's uh, that's
so true man, it's.
It's crazy.
When you just take thatmentality that you're, you're
driven into and even you know,uh, with being a welding
inspector, the same thinghappens, right, I don't know if
you're ever in that role, but Iremember being a welding
inspector going from anenvironment where you swipe into
a job on this electronic clockand you punch in and then you

(01:09:14):
punch out the second.
You're out to be super timeefficient and try to get the
lowest amount of hours on it.
And I went into welding,inspecting, and I'd be doing
inspections and half the time ittakes normally, and they'd be
like, what are you doing?
And I'm there hustling, bustingmy ass like popping under the
screen or whatever.
And they're like, just just slowdown, right, just like no, I

(01:09:41):
was like, well, how do I do that?
Like right.
So, yeah, it's, it's, it'sdefinitely an interesting change
.
But I, I think you know, uh,oddly enough, with being an
advisor, it's funny that I wouldsay this.
But I don't think life is allabout money.
I think it's about becoming thebest version of yourself and I
think if you're someone thatwants to explore that side of
yourself, you know, go and tryit out.
Get yourself someone likeyourself who helps other people,

(01:10:04):
who are welders.
Go into those roles where youknow 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 thatyou'll just find a new you know
self-identity realistically, andI think that will stay with you
longer than any.
You know financial freedomwould really have a have an

(01:10:25):
impact at least on your life,it's true, and don't and don't
fall for imposter syndrome.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
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 likewhat the hell am I doing here?
I used to just burn rod foreight hours a day.
How did I go from burning rodto this?
But mind grenade, you rightlike, just push through, stay
confident, right, totally,totally, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
And the people that usually doubted you at the start
of the people that usually comeback to you and ask you for the
most amount of help, that'sthat's what I found right, I get
all those texts.
Connor, what credit card do Iget?
Right?
And it's like three years agoyou were telling me like who are
you to become an advisor?
Right, and so it's like, yeah,it's funny the way it goes yeah,
all right.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Last piece of advice here for the people you know
what would be a first step.
You know you listen to thepodcast.
You got a little bit ofinspiration here to try to
figure out your finances.
Whether it's you or not, youknow what.
What would be the first stepsomeone should do just to start
getting their head wrappedaround this?

Speaker 2 (01:11:26):
I think, um, really great step and this is something
that you know my mentorsuggests I did was think about
what sort of lifestyle you wantto live.
Right, think really in depth.
What does it actually cost on amonthly basis, all that sort of
stuff?
And then work backwards Okay, Iknow that I need to make X
amount of dollars to make Xdreams happen.
Where can I find that source ofincome?

(01:11:47):
Okay, so I can find that sourceof income through all these
different routes.
Who do I know in that fieldthat's doing well?
Okay, how can I connect withthat person, whether it's, you
know, instagram, linkedin,whatever it is?
There's so many different waysto connect with people nowadays
and, uh, I I think that's reallythe greatest place to start is
figuring out you know what sortof lifestyle you want, what sort

(01:12:13):
of person you want to becomeand what actual opportunity
provides you.
The easiest route to go andachieve that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
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 tobecome a part of your social,
your local CWB associationchapter.
We are all about networking allacross Canada.
We do have a chapter in BCwhich I just made a note you are
going to become a member of now.
Sorry, I'm voluntolding youright here on live air so no one
can see.

(01:12:38):
I didn't warn you, but you knowthat is part of what the
association investment is.
We invest millions of dollarsacross Canada into just letting
people connect this podcast.
This is an investment that wemake in getting people like your
story out there, and we havechapters in every province
across Canada where we havelike-minded individuals that

(01:12:58):
support each other.
That's all it is Volunteerssupporting each other, and
they're funded by us here atheadquarters.
So you know that's the type ofpeople we want to get together
and I'm pulling you into thenetwork, buddy, you may want to
get together and.
I'm pulling you into the network, buddy.
You may.
You may want to or not, butyou're going to meet a lot of
welders.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
So that's that's.
That's part of what happenswhen you come on the podcast,
yeah it does.
Yeah, it's in the hidden fineprint there.
It's like when I go to the bankI never know what I'm actually
getting ready.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
All right.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
Yeah, we're doing it it gonna be good for you.

Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
I love it there.
You go.

Speaker 1 (01:13:28):
All right, man.
Well, thanks.
Any shout outs to anybodybefore we go?

Speaker 2 (01:13:32):
uh, yeah, no, I mean, I mean you know, as, as far as
shout outs go, I mean there's uh, you know I like to, I don't
know, I guess.
Thank people that helped me gethere.
I think that there's a fewreally bright minds that really
played a large role, even in my,my entrepreneur's days.
Today, you know the owner ofthe shop at aggressive tube
bedding, this guy named Yuri,he's a, he's a genius in my

(01:13:54):
personal opinion, the guy and hebusts his a shop owner.
He's a great guy.
And uh, another guy that thewho managed the welding
inspecting company as part ofhis name's, uh, stephen, it's
called Mat-Tech, their littlelittle company.
But uh, I always used to jokewith him.
I said, steven, you should becuring cancer, not figuring out
if there's cracks in cranes,cause he's just the smartest guy
I've ever come across, right,but uh, yeah, it's, it's, uh,

(01:14:18):
it's a great network to be inand, uh, I'm definitely looking
forward to hopefully helpingmore people Awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
Well, thank you very much for being on the show today
, Connor.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
Thank you so much, max, and it was a pleasure
meeting you.

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
Awesome and for the people that have been following
along, make sure you click onthe site, come check out the
podcast, look at all.
We'll be sharing hisinformation on our social media
and on our website.
Become a member of theassociation so you can get in
contact with these types ofpeople through our network and,
as always, keep commenting,downloading and and letting us
know what you'd like to see onthe podcast.

(01:14:49):
We're always looking for greatstories, so you know, it's the
people and it's the communitythat make the podcast as
successful as it is.
And, just like Connor, we'removing into the US soon here too
, so we're expanding and wecan't wait to bring in all of
America together into thisnetwork.
So stay tuned for the nextepisode.
We hope you enjoy the show.

Speaker 3 (01:15:21):
Do you own a company in the welding industry or want
to share a targeted message withour listeners?
Then this 45 second audio adspace could be yours.
We have the coolest listenersfrom all over the world, with
over 60,000 downloads, and 88%are from North America.
This podcast serves to educateand connect the welding

(01:15:42):
community together and isavailable on all major platforms
, including the CWB GroupNetwork.
If you are interested, reachout to info at cwbassociationorg
.
Look at that.
I just gave you all of thatinformation in only 45 seconds.
You've been listening to theCWB Association Welding Podcast

(01:16:03):
and if you enjoyed what youheard today or want to send us
some questions to answer, youcan text the show using the link
in the episode descriptionbelow.
We can't wait to hear from you.
Please subscribe or visit us atcwbassociationorg to learn more
.

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