by Mary Ann Marriott, CIRP, is a Licensed Trustee with Grant Thornton Ltd. and works out of their Bridgewater, Nova Scotia office. She is passionate about helping others succeed financially and regularly provides workshops, presentations and social media pos
May 14, 2015[caption id="attachment_102" align="alignleft" width="242"] Mary Ann Marriott[/caption]
I started out in this industry back when IBMs were the computer of choice and DOS was the operating platform. I remember typing our forms in duplicate and – gasp! – smoking at my desk. Happily, I can report kicking the smoking habit long ago. The desire to excel in the insolvency world, however, has stuck with me.
Around year eight I started to get a little bit bored in my role as an Estate Administrator. I had gone as far as I could and had no intention, at that time, of becoming a Trustee. I stuck it out for a couple more years before I left and decided to answer my entrepreneurial calling and start a home-based business.
I learned a lot in those years. I learned that running your own business from home has its challenges. I also learned that having two kids while running your home business from home adds more challenges. And I learned that being passionate about something doesn’t necessarily translate into huge income.
So when my old boss invited me out for coffee, I agreed. I knew that he was going to offer me a job, but I really loved what I was doing, so I went with the intention of politely refusing. That was 10 years ago. He was very persuasive! I started working with him within months and have never regretted that decision.
The Insolvency Industry had a whole new feel for me this time. I came back to it as a different person and the industry had undergone some changes - most notably the 2009 amendments -with more to come in the next few years. I decided pretty quickly that if I was coming back to the insolvency world, I was coming back fully fledged and enrolling in the trustee program. And I did. That was in 2006.
In the spring of 2014 I shed tears of joy when the letter from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy came in saying that I had passed the Oral Boards and was now a Trustee in Bankruptcy. I shed those tears partly because I had reached my goal, partly because I was proud of myself for sticking with it, but mostly they were tears of relief because I was so tired of studying.
By now I am sure you did the math in your head. Yup - eight years! Did I mention my two kids are 10 and 12? Let me tell you that studying for the first time in MANY years, having two kids, and working full time was not what I had envisioned myself doing. I never thought it would take me so long. But once you start the process, it’s pretty darned hard not to give it that one last try. Sometimes I felt like I was on a marathon, just dragging my feel along to the finish line, with no end in sight. And although I was so, so, so tired of reading the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, and felt like giving up too many times to count, I was pretty sure that I would just keep going towards that finishing line until I made it across or dropped to the ground exhausted.
Those who know me, know that I’m a silver-lining type of gal. I always look for the positive in a situation. It occasionally takes me a little time to find it and I may need a gentle reminder to look now and again, but I typically get there. What I began to realize was how much I was actually learning by reading the Act over and over and over and over again. Did I mention how tired I was of reading the Act?
I was unmistakably retaining more and more as the years went on. I mean, how often do we read the Act cover to cover? For those of you with your licence already, when was the last time you read a good portion of the Act? We simply don’t. And if you do, you are an anomaly to be admired, revered and called upon anytime we need advice.
So, there it was, the silver lining, staring me in the face, every time a coworker asked a question. “Hey! I’m really getting this stuff”, I thought. “Maybe I CAN muster up the strength to do it one more time!” After all, it is benefiting me regardless of whether or not I get to the finish line. And so I did.
Would I have continued going if I missed it last year? I can’t say for sure. But I think I would have. I studied differently at the end, and I might have continued with that method for another try and then who knows. Fortunately I didn’t have to find out.
My point in sharing this with you is to offer a glimmer of hope to those going through the process and feeling the frustration of not getting there as quickly or as easily as anticipated. When I entered into the program, it was a five-year program. Now it is a two-year program. If you get it in two years that’s great! Pat yourself on the back, hang your licence proudly on your wall, and if you’re new to the industry don’t stop reading the Act and learning. The knowledge over the years is invaluable. If you are still struggling to get through the program, maybe you can find something here to re-energize you.
On that note, I‘d like to offer a few suggestions based on what I did in the last couple of years that I feel helped me tremendously. I would also like to invite all of you reading this post to offer your comments, so those in the program, and those entering it for the first time, can learn from our successes and, maybe more importantly, our misses, as ultimately they were the learning experiences for our eventual success.
My top three tips:
- Get a study buddy. It really helps to be able to talk things out.
- Record your notes on a voice recorded. Smartphones are fantastic tools. I recorded over 30 hours of notes that I could listen to in the car, on the beach (did that a lot one summer), or when I just needed to stop reading. I even played the really difficult concepts when I slept. I do caution against listening to your voice while driving and recommend that you keep the clips short.
- Utilize the resources in your firm and if you are a part of smaller firm with less resources (as I was for the first seven years of studying), ask for help in the industry. Find a mentor. Or two. You might be surprised by who is willing to help you if you ask!