A Licensed Financial Consultant based in Vancouver reveals the 5 real signs you’re built for this industry and what getting started actually looks like.
Before I got into finance, I was an accountant. Did my bachelor’s in accounting and finance back home, then when I landed in Canada – I wasn’t going to wait around for the right opportunity to show up. I took whatever work I could get at night and spent my days working at a CPA firm, studying, and doing the real hands-on accounting work that most people skip. Eventually I moved into a full accounting role at one of the biggest trucking companies in the region, then went to work with a major roofing material supplier as an accounting assistant.
Five years of that. Reading balance sheets, understanding cash flow, watching how businesses actually make and lose money.
That accounting background is the reason I’m good at what I do now. When I moved into financial consulting, I wasn’t starting from zero. I understood numbers before I ever learned how to sell.
I tell you all of this because if you’re reading this page, you’re probably at a similar crossroads curious about financial services, maybe already working in something adjacent, and wondering if this is actually for you.
Here’s what I’ve noticed about the people who actually do well in this field and the ones who don’t.
It’s not about how much you already know about finance. I’ve seen people with accounting degrees struggle and people with zero financial background build strong books of business inside two years.
It comes down to five things.
Not close deals. Not hit targets. Actually help.
The Canadian financial system is confusing by design. Most people have no idea what a TFSA contribution room reset actually means for them. They don’t know how capital gains are taxed on death. They’ve never heard of infinite banking. They’re leaving money on the table every single year without knowing it.
If you find yourself wanting to fix that if you get irritated when someone tells you their plan is just to “save more” that’s a good sign.
This job rewards people who are genuinely bothered by financial illiteracy. The ones who just want a commission cheque? They burn out fast.
When I started, I didn’t know everything. I still don’t. But I had a discipline from accounting you don’t guess, you verify. You understand the mechanism before you recommend it.
Financial services rewards that same discipline.
You need to study for your licensing exams. You need to understand the products you’re recommending well enough to explain them clearly to a 22-year-old with their first paycheque and a 58-year-old business owner planning their exit. Those are very different conversations.
If you’re the kind of person who cuts corners on understanding and figures it out later this will catch up with you. If you’re the kind of person who goes deep before going wide, you’ll do well.
Most people are more willing to talk about their marriage problems than their finances. When you sit across from someone, they need to trust that you’re not going to judge them and that you’re going to tell them the truth even when it’s not what they want to hear.
That’s the whole job. Everything else is just product knowledge.
Do you find people open up to you easily? Do they ask you for advice even when you haven’t offered it? Do you handle awkward conversations without shutting down?
I won’t pitch you on easy money. The first year in financial services is real work. You’re building your book. You’re learning the products. You’re earning trust with clients who don’t know you yet.
But here’s what’s also true a consultant who builds a solid client base has recurring income, referrals, and real flexibility within three to five years. I know advisors in their late thirties who cleared more last year than most senior managers in their industry.
That trade-off slower start, compounding returns is actually something people from accounting backgrounds understand better than most. You’ve seen that pattern in the numbers before.
If you need big money in month two, this isn’t the right move. If you can run a longer game, the ceiling here is genuinely high.
The reason I’m building a team isn’t because I need bodies. I could do this solo. The reason is that there are people sitting in jobs right now who are capable of doing what I do helping Canadian families and business owners build real financial plans and they just haven’t found the right door in.
If you join my team, you’re not a number. You come in with the same foundation I had actual training, real mentorship, and a clear path to getting licensed and building your own clients.
You’ll understand the products. You’ll know how to have the client conversations. You’ll know how to build a practice, not just make sales.
You book a 20-minute call with me. No pitch, no pressure. I ask you a few questions about where you’re at and what you’re looking for. You ask me whatever you want about what this actually looks like day to day.
If it seems like a fit, we talk about next steps licensing, training, what onboarding looks like on my team.
If it doesn’t seem like a fit, I’ll tell you that too. I’d rather have that conversation upfront than three months in.
Results in financial services vary significantly depending on individual effort, experience, and market conditions. Nothing on this page constitutes a guarantee of income.
