What I Learned Working at America’s Last Great Financial Chop Shop

Let me tell you something, son. Never say you’re sorry to a potential client. Ever.

The year was 2007. I found myself in Great Falls, VA interning at a company that presented itself as a high-end investment brokerage. 

That image is what attracted me to the opportunity. 

Great Falls, VA is a suburb of Washington, DC. It’s consistently one of the wealthiest counties in the country on a per capita basis. And it’s surrounded by four or five of the other richest counties in the U.S. 

At the time I wanted to break into the world of investment research. And that’s exactly what the broker who recruited me promised.

The reality was the exact opposite.

The inside of this operation looked like a scene from the old movie Boiler Room. It was a bit dark and dingy. And there wasn’t a computer to be found. 

In fact, computers were prohibited. As were cell phones. They still wrote up trade tickets for clients by hand like the old days.

And there were only five rooms in the entire office. You entered through something of a narrow hallway.

Immediately to the left as you walked in was the conference room. The next room on the left was the president’s office… which was mostly just for show. He never came to work.

If you kept walking, the hallway would open up into our larger workspace. It was a sea of cubicles. They each consisted of a chair, a phone, and a small desktop. Then in the very back you would find the restroom and the compliance officer’s office.

I’m not sure what exactly the compliance officer did all day. But he was a self-described blue collar Italian from “Philly”… and he happened to also be the president’s brother. 

He’s the one who was scolding me.

Listen to me – you’ve got talent. I think you’re the next big thing in this industry. But you gotta grow up. Let me tell you something, son. Never say you’re sorry to a potential client. Ever.

My cubicle was right in front of his office. Which seemed to lack a door. 

He took a liking to me because I worked hard. I recognized at the time that he was just trying to give me what he considered to be good advice.

The problem is, it wasn’t good advice. 

Nor was I working at a high-end investment research firm. It was a chop shop where we made cold calls all day.

Still, that was quite a formative experience for a young guy who wanted to break into the world of finance. And I vividly remembered this story as I sat down to write to you today.

I planned to start out by thanking you for wading through all the marketing emails I sent last week. I figured I could say sorry for blowing up your inbox as well. 

Not because I don’t believe in the message I wanted to share. I very much do. But I also know that we are all bombarded with all kinds of messages every day… and it can be draining. 

So thank you.

Our launch for The Phoenician League last week exceeded my expectations. This was only the second time we have opened our doors. We’re still a new thing.

And to top it off, I received a kind note from a gentleman who joined us during our first launch last year. He shared with me some of the wins he’s had since joining our network. And he was very complimentary of the program we’ve put together.

We’ll open our doors again at some point later this year. I’m not sure exactly when it will be… but I’ll send out a bunch of emails when we do. That’s just what we have to do to get noticed.

Perhaps I should apologize for that in advance. Or maybe I should adhere to my Boiler Room mentor from Philly’s advice and stay mum on the subject.

Either way, we’ll start sending out weekly “infotainment” emails once again now that the launch is over. 

My hope is that these are short, entertaining, and informative. And we’ll put a link at the bottom of each email.

Sometimes it will be directing you towards our stuff. Sometimes it will go to somebody else’s stuff who we find interesting and important. 

But either way, our only goal is to provide value and an actionable takeaway. That’s the first and second rule of writing a daily newsletter. I learned them from my friend Tom Dyson.

And since I dropped Tom’s name, I’ll put his new research service in front of you today. 

He’s the investment director over at Bonner Private Research. It’s absolutely a contrarian take on the world of money, finance, and investing.

You can subscribe to their free daily e-letter on Substack right here: Bonner Private Research