You’ve heard it before with no risk there can be no rewards. True? Absolutely. When I was 18 I took one of the biggest risks in my life. Making a MASSIVE decision to move across Canada on my own - to pursue a career I knew nothing about.

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Risks are critical to each and every person on this earth. From busy CEOs, 9-5ers, and hungry young entrepreneurs. You must take risks in order to grow, move forward, and yes, fail. 

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Success often shows up when we take a leap and figure it out. And that’s exactly what I did over 14 years ago. I jumped and never looked back (well maybe once :)). 

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So this is how my story goes so many years ago, from risking it all for a dream. 

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The Year was 2009

It was 2009 and I had taken a gap year after high school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do or pursue so I decided to work full-time at the hardware store I had previously been working part-time while in school. 

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I didn’t want to rush into anything right away and never really liked the structure and pointlessness of school. (I’d often question when, where, and why I needed to learn about random facts and figures that I didn’t care about). 

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So, work was my best option. I decided to continue to live at home for free (win) and make some good money as a fresh 18-year-old out of high school working 40 hours a week. 

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The year went well, I made some money, and had many laughs with friends, but knew I wanted to do something different, new, and exhilarating. 

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I began researching “cool” jobs and career paths that were different from the norm. I didn’t want to be like everyone else, I didn’t want the same life as everyone else. That I knew from an early age. 

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I landed on the golden egg of coolness - helicopters. What was more badass than a flying machine that could hover? You guessed it - nothing. 

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I Had Nothing to Lose

With nothing to lose and a heart full of hope, I researched it deeper. I looked into where I could go for training, and what new and exciting opportunities existed and found one that got my attention. 

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While I can’t remember exactly how I found this place (I’m sure it was google or somewhere on the internet) I came across a school in British Columbia, Canada. 

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I was currently living near Toronto Ontario, so lived over 3000km away. 

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I remember receiving a package from the school including more information. It contained a brochure and a DVD (yes DVDs were popular in the early 2000s…).

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My parents and I sat down and watched the video and knew I had to make this happen. Green mountains with trees as far as you could see. Helicopters were going down rivers and exploring areas that you wouldn’t be able to access any other way. 

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We sat down and created a solid plan of how to actually make this happen for me. While I didn’t come from money or get easy handouts, I knew I’d have to work my butt off to make this happen. I didn’t care because I knew hard work pays off. 

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I ended up getting a student loan from my bank and some financial support from my parents (thanks mom and dad :)). 

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Spring of 2009 I flew to Vancouver BC on a one-way ticket. I didn’t know a single person in over a 3000 km distance. But, I knew what I wanted and knew it involved this. 

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I moved to a smaller suburb outside of Vancouver and trained for 4 months and was a certified helicopter pilot with 100 flight hours (yes it’s that fast). But It comes at a cost. 

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Operating helicopters is very expensive, especially in comparison to planes. Helicopters have thousands of moving parts, thus high maintenance and operating costs. 

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I Owed A Lot of Money

I graduated and was in over $55,000 worth of debt (ouch). 

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Finding a job was hard and I was unable to land any flying gigs until several years later.

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I was willing to move anywhere in the country or the world for that matter. I didn’t have any attachments to anything or anyone at that time. I was 18 and mobile, willing to do whatever it took to gain experience in the industry. 

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After a tough year of struggling to break into the industry, I was running out of money. I took on some full-time positions in other fields that I worked in previously - such as snowboarding and the hardware store. 

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Things weren’t looking good for me and I need to pivot and pivot fast. As much as I didn’t want to quit I needed to survive and create a new plan. In 2010 I was broke and struggling to make ends meet. I was young and in need of help. 

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I talked to my parents and decided to move back to Ontario to live with them. The plan was to go back to work full-time (at the hardware store) I worked at in high school until I could make some more money and figure out my next move. 

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I Had to Move Back Home

It was tough to move back home. From all of the freedom in the world to moving back in with mom and dad once again. (I’m sure those of you who’ve done it know what I mean). 

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I worked for a year and finally found a solution to my problem. It was becoming more apartment that many people dealt with the same issue. Low-time pilots are a dime a dozen and rarely find work, especially flying.

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Insurance costs are expensive on million-dollar flying machines, and if you don’t have much experience it’s hard for the owners to give you any seat time (to practice your skills). 

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I found a way that I could still pursue aviation and the same industry but in a different way. I wouldn’t give up on flying but only postpone it until I was able to get an “in” so to speak and gain more authority. 

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The Potential Solution

I flew back out to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2011 and was accepted to attend B.C.I.T also known as British Columbia Institute of Technology to become an A.M.E. (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer).

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For the next year and a half, I went to school, following another two and a half years of working as an AME apprentice. 

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Finally four years later and I was a licensed AME working on helicopters.

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I began flying more when I was working as an apprentice at multiple helicopter companies. This was my foot in, the plan was starting to take shape. 

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And while my story continues much further than this, we’ll stop here. This was the key information for me starting to find a job/career out of high school.

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Did things work out? Eventually. 

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But, life had a very different plan than my initial one.

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Key Takeaways

While this is a different post from my norm I wanted to share some early days of my working career and allow you to see the real-life struggles of pursuing your dreams. 

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Even though things weren’t working out with flying, I leapt and I continued to dream, believe, and strive for what I loved. 

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Flying never really worked out for me in my aviation career. I instead because an AME expert working half of the year and earning over six figures. 

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Life moves fast, and you must be willing to take risks, learn, adapt, and shift on the fly. 

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If I didn’t end up moving to Vancouver back in 2009 my life would probably look a lot different. 

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I’ve accomplished so much out here and have built a solid life that I love. 

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My aviation career lasted about 13 years into 2022. I now run a career consulting/coaching business full-time. 

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My top 3 tips in this post:

1. Don’t be afraid to risk it all and take a leap of faith. Regret hurts a lot more than failure.

2. Do what you love and always chase your dreams (no matter how big they are). 

3. Things don’t always work out how you might have initially thought they would. That’s OK, create a new plan, pivot, and move on. 

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I hope you found some positive insights in this post. Be sure to join The Work to Live Newsletter and receive career content right to your device weekly!

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Thanks for the continued support and be sure to do what you love, and love what you do. 

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Chris M Wilson