This post features Nathan, who was interviewed by Make More Monie as he has demonstrated, like others I’ve had the privilege to interview, tenacity in attaining his goal. This goal initially was to be a part of his family’s tradition of high-rise window cleaning, which goes back almost fifty years and serves the never-ending need to keep Canada’s skylines gleaming. Once attained, a new goal was envisioned, and a plan to attain that goal – to grow the company to a size unimagined decades earlier – was formulated and followed, resulting in where he is today; literally and figuratively, at the top.
Early on in life, due to his dad’s work, Nathan’s family moved often, which is always tough on a kid. Having to find a way to blend into new school surroundings, sometimes in completely different provinces, is never easy. Knowing that he would have to say goodbye to newfound friends, sometimes even before the school year ended, made it almost not worth the effort to make any friends at all.
Despite high marks in school being relatively easily attained by him, especially in the math sciences, and being equally quick-witted and physically competitive – all traits which would make it easy to fit in with almost any late-nineties, overachieving, high school clique – he never gravitated to them. Instead, he fell in with a crowd that didn’t put much stake in academic, artistic or athletic achievement. The main bonding agents amongst this group was drinking, drugs and delinquency.
In his early teens, he dropped out of high school and began working. Initially the job was to make enough money to continue the lifestyle he had begun with his friends, but by the time he turned sixteen he was out of the family home. This new reality hit home when, by the time the rent was paid, there was only enough left for food or fun – not both.
At this point of the interview, Nathan noted that, while watching his father work hard, he himself worked hard alongside him to keep up and to show his dad that he was capable. And so, from the age of sixteen when he began to see the world as it really is, the value of hard work was never lost on him.
What also became apparent to the young man was the value of working smart, and that of money management. During these years, while he and his father scaled the high-rise towers of Vancouver cleaning windows in the name of his dad’s company, he had to wait patiently to get paid. Money was tight, as customers always waited long after the hard work was done before paying, and there were always overhead and supply invoices to take care of first before he – the sole employee of the company – was paid, as, if not there would be no company at all.
By nineteen, Nathan, after three years of hard labor, decided to get away –with his mind set on Australia. By the time he turned twenty he had saved enough to pay for his flight to the land down under, and he and his one-year work visa were off to Oz.
Looking back, he ponders whether the nomadic existence he was forced to accept as a child had its benefits, possibly resulting in his being comfortable in new surroundings as an adult. Perhaps it was the maturity that comes with becoming a man, regardless of the age manhood is attained, that led to his newfound lucidity. Regardless, but also for certain, though, that year of meeting new people and seeing new things was life-changing. For the first time in his life, he had a clear goal.
He was determined to forge a life filled with travel, and by travel, he didn’t mean as a tourist staying in five star resorts for a week or two at a time. His stays would be for months, allowing him to appreciate and absorb the culture and cuisine of those indigenous inhabitants living there, all the while enjoying deep dives, literally and figuratively, in the beautiful turquoise waters of the world’s atolls and exotic locals.
Disclaimer: The information contained herein should not be construed or considered professional advice. Nonetheless, thanks for reading! If it resonates, there’s “plenty more where that came from” on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube ‘n’ Twitter.