How did you get this job at a bank? And how old were you when you first started? I suspect you didn't just jump in at 19 and start taking over the investment division.
So I was 17 years old. I was working at a chicken farm at the time and I wanted to, I did go to school. Sadly, I did go to school, but I was thinking, and I give my mom and dad props for this. They're like, Caleb, like we got to start thinking about what you're going to go to school for. Cause again, at 17 years old, I didn't even know if I wanted to go to school for. I maybe business finance.
So I met this guy named Dick Judy and he was on the board of a community first bank. He was also one of the head business department leaders at a university. And one conversation I walked in, I actually was so nervous that I forgot to turn my car off. It was like below zero in Wisconsin. My car's running. My mom helped me write out questions to ask Dick Judy. So this is, I just want to share this because people that know me are like, Caleb, you're a great speaker, all this stuff. And like, I was so nervous. I didn't even know how to say hello.
Within five minutes of talking to Dick Judy, he just was like, young man, you need experience. I'm going to help you. He picks up his phone and gets me a job with one phone call at a bank as a teller. And that was one thing that I learned of like, sometimes your net worth can be in your network. Sometimes there's so much more fuzzy ROI that comes from people that you know.
I worked as a teller at a bank, learned to meet people. Remember spelling was really difficult for me. So I learned how to take phone calls and look up accounts. But then the other big blessing in disguise was money wasn't taboo. Like literally, I know your social security number. I know how much money you make. I know the account that you're hiding from your spouse. And it's like, so one thing that I learned that I didn't even know was valuable at the time is like every day I'm working with money and I'm showing people money. And that just set me up for a solid foundation because majority of America doesn't talk about money. And that's why we're broken, miserable.
A couple of things you said there that I think is really important that we harp on a lot, right? But you're, you know, you said your network is your net worth. And you've probably, if you're listening to this, heard that saying before, but just seeing that in action and showing you how true it actually is, where you hear the motivational speaker saying that, but like actually one phone call got you a job as a teller. And I know I've talked to many bank tellers before, and I can tell you that the feeling that I get from most of them is that they're going to show up and they're going to do their nine to five job and they're going to leave. And they don't really care to ever grow. They're going to collect their paycheck. And it's probably interesting to see what people have in their bank accounts, but they're never doing anything with it. And so what did you do at age 17? Which by the way, how do you get, do you not have to be 18 to get a job like that? You do. That's the power of a network, a connection.
Not the job. I've never applied for a job in my life. The two jobs that I got before starting BetterWealth were just people, word of mouth. I probably at the chicken farm, there's probably some laws that were broken because I don't know, like gutting chickens. But anyways, this might be the most valuable thing I say in this interview for your listeners is I was an HR nightmare. And even my mom, because I got paid $8 an hour. She's like, Caleb, you probably could make more money working other places. And I'm like, mom, I don't care about money at all. I went back to Robert Kiyosaki. People, if you get paid per hour, you will always be broke. You will never be wealthy. But if you can get paid for the value that you create, you will become wealthy.
I was literally, Craig, at an institution that had loan department, investment department. We were super involved in our community. We had some of the best people in the community doing banking with us. If I couldn't leverage that for myself, it would be insane. So I became an HR nightmare because as a teller, I got to the bank usually the first. I usually left the latest. I would work on the weekends. I would go to networking events. I would start writing commercials. I started working in our loan department. I worked in our investment department. I became an HR nightmare because I would just show up to meetings. I would just say, hey, I'm not getting paid because I just want to listen. And they were like, Caleb, we can only pay you for X amount of hours. And so I would just punch in for those hours and then work for free elsewhere. And they were all freaking out. And I'm like, guys, I do not care because it became super clear that this was way better than a college education. I literally got to learn how loans worked and write commercials and read commercials on the radio. And that's incredible as a 19, 20-year-old. And that ultimately set me up for some amazing opportunities when I turned 21.
Hey, it's Caleb Williams here. I want to thank you so much for watching till the end. Obviously, we want to be the one-stop-shop for every financial decision. And part of that is creating great content. We have a lot of things going on. So whether you have questions about the AND asset, the X-ray, you want a wealth efficiency quiz, or anything else to help you with your money, check out our resources page. And if there's anything that we can do to serve you and help you live intentionally, we're in. And I just want to, again, thank you for watching our content.
