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My not-so-secrets to success
 

AVPGuerilla's picture
IB
 
Points)
 on 10/31/12 at 7:30am
1Not Secret.jpg

Mod note (Andy): "Blast from the past - Best of WSO" - while Eddie is away this month in his place we'll be posting up some of the most popular posts from the past. This was originally posted on 3/2/12

In the past few months, I've been approached on a few occasions by college-aged folks asking the typical question: how to succeed on the street from a less-than-stellar undergrad background. It's given me the opportunity to look back on my admittedly short career (6ys since grad) and reflect a bit. What have I done right? Where did I trip up? What would I change? Success in business certainly ain't rocket science... If you ask me, anyone with a decent math and writing skills can kill it on the street, regardless of your collegiate background. 

That said, here's my take. You can find my general career path if you search posts, but to rehash: went to a city school (think SUNY/CUNY), paid about 5k a year in tuition, graduated with 17k in student loans and started in the back office of a middle market bank. Busted ass and ended up in banking. Hopefully I'll get the VP nod next year. Here's how I did it, in no particular order.

1) keep everything in perspective. Family first- everything else is secondary..
2) don't get discouraged. There are going to be naysayers along your path. Use them as motivation. Set yourself a goal to prove them wrong. You CAN make it out of ops into banking. You CAN make it into banking from a shitty college. Nothing is impossible.
3) stay focused on your next step. Don't set goals that are too far out... Maybe you'll make parter by the time you're 40, maybe not. Main thing you need to focus on now is making associate. That's all that matters right now- the next step.
4) be diplomatic. Don't shit on people when they piss you off. Don't fire off and send nasty emails - to anyone. Especially not clients.
5) Respect the admins. Appreciate what they do, and show it. Wish them happy birthday- merry Christmas. It's the little things that count, and they can (and will) fuck your career up if you treat them like shit.
6) be genuine, don't be a dick - to anyone. If you do start to succeed and move up the ladder, don't you fucking dare step on anyone to take that next step. Even if you win out at someone else's expense, it'll make you look like shit.
7) never forget where you started, where you came from. Keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. Nobody likes a cocky asshole.
8) be ethical in your business dealings. Enough said. We get a bad enough rap from the media. Don't be the asshole that fucks up bankers public image any more than it already is.
9) have an unquenchable thirst for success. Focus on greatness. Good is not enough. It never will be. 
10) think and act like an owner, and one day- you will be.
11) find a mentor that believes in you. Make them want to take a gamble on the kid from the shitty school. Prove it was one of the best personnel decisions they ever made.
12) take personal pride in your work. If you have difficulty doing that, you are probably in the wrong line of work.
13) be ethical - have I said that already? Worth repeating. Be ethical. This is a business that can tempt you do do some stupid shit for short term gain- don't do it. If you do, you may very well ruin your career forever. I have seen it happen before. Get blacklisted on the street, and you're done.
14) be coachable- extremely coachable. 
15) keep your chin up (see #2). This is a difficult industry... There may be days, weeks, months, even years that absolutely suck. Stick it out, it'll get better. Your career is in your hands.
16) go where the firm needs you. Even if it's equities in dallas. See #10.
17) when your star starts to rise, you may find yourself with less friends. Fuck em. They were never your friends to begin with - they are your colleagues.
18) commit to your firm. Even if you can make 50% more elsewhere, stick it out if things are moving along title-wise. Firms reward commitment.
19) don't complain. To anyone. Whiners get left in the dust.
20) have a go-getter attitude. Go above and beyond. Don't be shy. No upside to being shy. also no upside to brown nosing, so hit a good balance.

Hopefully this is helpful to some of the younger monkeys out there. I remember when I started out on WSO... 2007, I think? My tag has since changed from analystguerilla, to associateguerilla, to AVPguerilla. And I have every intention of dropping that "A" from my tag at then end of this year. 

These not-so-secrets to success are working for me. Try them out- you may be pleasantly surprised.

I did it. So can you. Go.

Step 1: Dream the Dream || Step 2: Live the Dream || Step 3: Rinse, repeat.
Tags:
UFOinsider's picture

WINNER!!!

O
(Human, 10,349
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:02pm

WINNER!!!

YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...

Lemenz08's picture

Congrats AVP; a refreshing

(Monkey, 48
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:06pm

Congrats AVP; a refreshing read.

Human's picture

Thanks for sharing. Couldn't

PE
(King Kong, 1,891
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:10pm

Thanks for sharing. Couldn't agree more, with everything stated above.

"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."

swagon's picture

put me in, coach! always glad

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,973
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:14pm

put me in, coach!

always glad to hear about nontargets ballin out.

swagon's picture

.

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,973
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:14pm

.

M Friedman's picture

Really enjoyed the list. It

(King Kong, 1,007
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:15pm

Really enjoyed the list. It is nice to have some reassurance that success has principle

See my WSO blogs here.

Abdel's picture

This is for you

O
(Neanderthal, 2,064
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:18pm

This is for you

TraderDaily's picture

Fantastic post. Great to see

(King Kong, 1,045
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:39pm

Fantastic post.

Great to see another nontarget doing well and debunking the "target or die" myth. This should be posted on my undergraduate business school's website.

Hats off!

whateverittakes's picture

AVPGuerilla wrote: 2) don't

IB
(King Kong, 1,056
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:43pm
AVPGuerilla:

2) don't get discouraged. There are going to be naysayers along your path. Use them as motivation. Set yourself a goal to prove them wrong. You CAN make it out of ops into banking. You CAN make it into banking from a shitty college. Nothing is impossible.

Very important.

Michael Jordan was so insanely competitive that he took the pettiest slights as full-on attacks against him. The media who discounted his legacy, the coaches who crafted up defensive schemes to stop him, etc. Even if he didn't really have a legitimate reason to hate someone, he would manufacture one and use it to drive harder.

An alum of my non-target school works in PE now. I reached out to him several months back thinking I could get some help and some referrals. He looked at my resume and told me flat-out that I wouldn't get anywhere in PE. He then told me I should prep my app for bschool now and hope to break in post-MBA with no pre-MBA PE experience.

Although rooted partially in truth because he had worked at a MF before, I was not looking to get into a larger fund that would cut me out strictly because of my GPA and wouldn't give me the chance to state my case. I'll have to hustle my way into a lower MM fund, and that's fine with me. But I hate that guy now. He was just being his blunt, worst-case-scenario self, but I fucking hate him, and I cannot wait to prove him wrong.

leveredarb's picture

TraderDaily wrote: Fantastic

(King Kong, 1,237
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:46pm
TraderDaily:

Fantastic post.

Great to see another nontarget doing well and debunking the "target or die" myth. This should be posted on my undergraduate business school's website.

Hats off!

Id argue becoming an associate in ibd is worse than death, but thats beside the points.

if i had any bananas id give you one op, good post.

Aragorn's picture

Incredible! SB to you sir!

(Orangutan, 335
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 6:52pm

Incredible! SB to you sir!

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light." - DT

FinancialNoviceII's picture

Fantastic post. Most of the

CS
(Neanderthal, 2,460
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 7:29pm

Fantastic post. Most of the list seems to be obvious or to some extent common sense, but so often forgotten.

mapr89's picture

Reading this every now and

PE
(Baboon, 102
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 7:29pm

Reading this every now and then helps a lot.

Chocobo's picture

Loved reading this post!

 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 7:49pm

Loved reading this post! Thank you for taking the time to post it! :D

Value_added's picture

Great post - lots of good

O
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 7:51pm

Great post - lots of good things to keep in mind

General Disarray's picture

I have a good feeling that we

IB
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 8:00pm
GekkotheGreat's picture

+ 1 SB. Haven't seen a legit

ST
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 8:57pm

Gambler Daily

neil joseph's picture

wow......for som1 who just

PE
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 9:31pm

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." ~George Moore

Phanster's picture

Thanks for the read,

 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 9:38pm
A2Allegiance's picture

Life is all about

 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 9:38pm
Irresistible's picture

+1 great post!!

 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 9:53pm
Back Office Bay's picture

+1 ... Hoping to alternate

(Chimp, 14
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 10:22pm

"It's all about money, not freedom, ya'll, okay? Nothing to do with fuckin' freedom. If you think you're free, try going somewhere without fucking money, okay?" - Bill Hicks

Fake it 'til you make it!

go.with.the.flow's picture

good shit

EN
(King Kong, 1,109
 
Points)
 on 3/2/12 at 11:01pm

|| But feeling good and enjoying life are prerequisites to success, not by products of it- Midas Mulligan Magoo ||

swordfish712's picture

Gonna refer to this in the

(Monkey, 39
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 12:01am
APAE's picture

Congratulations. This is the

(Neanderthal, 3,660
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 1:26am

A lot of people do certain things to add days to their life. I do things to add life to my days.

KingHasReturned's picture

def need more of this on the

AM
(Monkey, 53
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 2:00am
deal_mkr's picture

21) be the drunkest person at

IB
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 2:05am
Relinquis's picture

AVPGuerilla wrote: [...] 1)

RE
(Neanderthal, 2,186
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 6:45am

relinquis... Killing the GMAT this December; Over/Under set at: 725 GMATs.

Ronaldo7's picture

Great post mate - good luck

 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 1:05pm
Banker14's picture

"18) commit to your firm.

IB
(Monkey, 39
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 1:11pm
NewGuy's picture

AVPGuerilla wrote: 18) commit

HF
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 1:14pm
U Accrete Me's picture

I'm from Suny/Cuny system as

IB
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 7:13pm
fast6060's picture

This is great!!!

PE
(Monkey, 40
 
Points)
 on 3/3/12 at 8:34pm
Rumplesmoothspin's picture

Hope that A gets dropped real

 
Points)
 on 3/4/12 at 7:26am

When do you sleep?...Sunday

jaabberwocky's picture

Thanks alot for this. For the

(Chimp, 7
 
Points)
 on 3/4/12 at 10:45am
marcellus_wallace's picture

Awesome shit. Big fan of #10.

ST
(King Kong, 1,617
 
Points)
 on 3/4/12 at 2:17pm
D M's picture

Great practical advice

O
 
Points)
 on 3/5/12 at 2:04am

"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer

njmonkey46's picture

Thank you for the

IB
(Baboon, 166
 
Points)
 on 3/6/12 at 8:54pm
unslain's picture

Good stuff. Thanks for the

 
Points)
 on 3/7/12 at 4:40pm

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

monkeyc's picture

solid post. if that's your

(Orangutan, 340
 
Points)
 on 3/7/12 at 10:35pm
xqtrack's picture

congratulations on your

HF
(Gorilla, 600
 
Points)
 on 3/8/12 at 7:26am

Financial Modeling Training
Guide to Finance Interviews

Relinquis's picture

Firm loyalty = corporate

RE
(Neanderthal, 2,186
 
Points)
 on 3/8/12 at 8:12am

relinquis... Killing the GMAT this December; Over/Under set at: 725 GMATs.

AVPGuerilla's picture

Glad that the post resonated

IB
 
Points)
 on 3/8/12 at 8:44am

Step 1: Dream the Dream || Step 2: Live the Dream || Step 3: Rinse, repeat.

SaucyBacon85's picture

AVP...lovely words. Been

CO
 
Points)
 on 3/8/12 at 9:35am

__________

jaybird47's picture

Keep whipping ass. Love it.

IA
(Chimp, 13
 
Points)
 on 3/9/12 at 11:03am
AnATLieninNY's picture

very inspiring post and even

ST
 
Points)
 on 3/9/12 at 3:44pm

I say fuck change, I don't chase dimes

TerpStreeter's picture

Great post. Starting my

HF
 
Points)
 on 9/15/12 at 4:55pm
IamObama's picture

Wonderful post. That is all

ER
(Gorilla, 621
 
Points)
 on 9/16/12 at 12:33am
IamObama's picture

Actually, I will add

ER
(Gorilla, 621
 
Points)
 on 9/16/12 at 12:35am
See_ya's picture

This is a great post and

O
 
Points)
 on 9/16/12 at 1:43pm

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