Nothing to lose, everything to win

I was in the Honours Economics and Finance at McGill, taking classes with students who end up working for McKinsey, KPMG, the World Bank and who go on to do their Masters Degrees at places like MIT and Oxford.

I liked the competition aspect. At the start of this program, there were 150 of us, and by the end, there would only be 30. I wanted to be one of those 30. 

Sadly (or honestly not sadly anymore) I failed the program in my 2nd last semester, meaning I lost the “Honours” label on my degree. Boo hoo. Life moves on.

Now that I was no longer this “Honours Economics and Finance" kid, I had EVERYTHING to win, nothing to lose.

I had a chance to start over.

Fall 2024 - My last semester at McGill

I knew I wanted a part-time job to fill my time/make some money while still a student, so I looked.

Should I go back to the café I worked at before? Should I learn how to bartend? Should I be a waiter?

I asked around, but nothing worked out.

In mid-September (yes, only 6 months ago) I was sat in a café with a friend, and I told him I wanted a job.

He mentioned to me that he was starting to run the social media for a sliding door company in Montréal and he wanted to learn how to edit videos. I’ve been editing videos since I was 14, so I know a thing or two.

So I tell him “listen if you need tips just let me know.”

He starts asking me a bunch of questions. “How does this work in CapCut? How does the algorithm work on TikTok? What sorts of videos perform well?”

After half of hour of questions, he’s like “Mike, I’m sick of this, I don’t have time to learn to edit, how much can I pay you to edit these videos for me?”

That was in September, and that was my 1st client. I got approached by a 2nd one on Linkedin in October. In November, I got my 3rd.

I made the decision, right there and then, that I didn’t wanna get a “real job.”

I was going to make videos and get paid to do it.

And I’ve been all-in on it ever since :)