Shortly after we moved to the lake and my parents got divorced and my mom was forced to find a new property. She found a small two-bedroom mobile home to rent for us. It wasn’t easy moving from my dad’s beautiful log chalet to an old mobile home. I wasn’t worried about it because I knew it was only temporary. The months passed and my mom started looking for a home to purchase. She worked as the head cook in a restaurant on the lake, so my expectations of where we were going to move were much higher than what she could afford.

After months of searching, my mom found another mobile home with an attached 2/3 acre property beside it. I couldn’t believe we were renting one old mobile home and now she was purchasing an even older mobile home. She kept telling me that it was a good investment and it would pay off in the long run. I was only eight at the time and didn’t understand why she was making such a stupid decision. Little did I know she would tell me four years later,

“I just made a 56.25% return on my investment”

One of moms greatest priorities was always keeping the fridge full of food. I slowly learned how lucky I was and although she couldn’t give my brother and I everything we wanted, we always ate very well.

Having a materialistic personality caused me to complain a lot about not having things my friends had. New clothes, toys, bikes, spending money for candy, etc. She was a single mom and worked long hours to provide for my brother and I. She just couldn’t afford the extra’s because it wasn’t in her budget.

One day she got fed up with me comparing myself to my friends at school and decided to show me her financial situation. She said,

“This is how much money mommy makes every month and this is how much money mommy owes”

After that, I shut up and never complained about money again. I understood the math and that her expenses were more than the money she was bringing in each month.

A couple years later, I got a job as a dishwasher at the restaurant my mom worked at. I was only eleven and couldn’t legally be on payroll. So the manager decided to pay me a portion of what the servers were tipping out every night. After the servers found out about this they lost it. The restaurant manager concluded that they would pay me under the table.

I worked like crazy as a kid and soon had thousands of dollars in my bank account. When you’re eleven, $100 seems like a lot of money. But when you have thousands of dollars in your savings account, you think you’re unstoppable. I started to buy all kinds of unnecessary “things” because what else do you buy at that age? My mom quickly noticed how much I was spending and began to teach me about budgeting and investing.

I learned that if I take my money and invest it, it would pay off in the long run. I couldn’t invest in stock or anything that was high risk because of my age, so I just started with a simple savings account and GICs.

As I grew up I became fascinated by financial literacy. I first started with Rich Dad Poor Dad and soon began to build a library of books that would teach me about investing, budgeting, and cash flow. While my friends would party on weekends I was only focused on my future and ensuring it was a successful one.

This is when I knew I was destined to be an entrepreneur.

My first venture was a clothing line I started at sixteen. I hated how cheap companies would make t-shirts and mark them up by 100% to customers. I knew there had to be a way to provide people with a t-shirt made of quality breathable material that could sell for the same price as all the retail stores products. I knew all the best designer brands were made in Italy and the small town I grew up in mostly consisted of Italians. So I decided to name my company, Desiderio which stands for “desire” in Italian.

That summer I trademarked the logo, incorporated the company, and had 150 t-shirts printed. When I arrived back to school in the fall, I told a couple friends about the company I started. They loved the quality of the t-shirts and the logo of my company, so I was able to sell a couple shirts for twenty-five bucks a pop. Soon I started having people approach me in my high school and ask if I had anymore t-shirts available. First it was one, then three, then five. Before I knew it I sold all 150 t-shirts. There’s nothing like the feeling of walking down your high school hallways and noticing every second person wearing your brand.

I decided to create a business plan for Desiderio and enter it into a contest for small businesses. I placed second and won a $2000 cheque to help further build my startup. Over the years I continued to work on Desiderio and further educate myself on financial literacy until I was finally old enough to invest. Since entrepreneurship was such a highlight in my life, it only made sense to enroll in university for business & marketing.

Shortly after my eighteenth birthday, I booked an appointment at TD Canada Trust bank to set up a Waterhouse account so I could begin to invest in stock. I remember walking into my appointment and being drilled with questions from one of the financial planners. She asked to see every piece of ID in my wallet because she thought my appointment was a prank. It made perfect sense. I did look very young for my age and it’s not too often you see an eighteen-year-old setup a Waterhouse account. After she knew I was serious and my meeting was definitely not a prank, she was blown away that I was doing this. She worked at the bank for years and only set herself up with a Waterhouse account the previous week. Every Christmas she sends me a card to check up on how I’m doing and congratulates me for taking the steps to becoming financially free.

My second venture was a concert promotions agency. I met my best friend in university and after we completed our first year, we went back home to our summer jobs. I worked at a small Provincial Park doing maintenance and yard work, while he put on a couple of sold out concerts in his small town.

When we arrived back for our second year of university, I couldn’t believe how well his concerts did. The feelings of jealousy drove me to team up with him and take the concert promotions business model to a new level. We named the agency, “Go Live Entertainment.”

Over the next couple years, we toured across Canada hosting several live shows for weeks at a time. We had the opportunity to experience a lot of amazing things and meet a lot of amazing people. Our goal was to bring class and professionalism to the music industry. This was and still is, a rare trait to find in promoters. Our motto was,

“You didn't come to a Go Live show because you didn't know about it. The reason you didn't come was because you didn't want to come”

We worked as hard as we possibly could to ensure that everyone knew about our concerts. This marketing strategy is what kept us afloat in the industry.