In another universe, I would have driven down to Chicago from my Wisconsin home, started my job in the Chicago Board of Trade building, and lived happily ever after. But this isn’t another universe, and while I did make that drive, when I got there, I discovered my career was over before it had ever started.

So, I made a U-turn and came back to Wisconsin. I was down but definitely not out. It was time to make a change and move forward.

Doors Close and Doors Open

Up to that point, I had done all of my commodities trading at Northwest Commodities, and once they offered me a job, I assumed it would be my home for the foreseeable future. Upon my arrival at the office, I learned the person who hired me was himself let go, which meant my position went with him. I needed to move on.

Once I got back to Wisconsin, I gave my future a lot of thought. Of course, I still wanted to trade commodities, but was it worth starting all over again?

In a word: Yes. I now knew doing this as a job was a real option. Big Chicago firms wouldn’t put out an offer if I wasn’t any good, so it was possible. After explaining to my father this was my future and that working at the boatyard just wasn’t for me, I decided to move forward. Even though I didn’t have an office or a business card, I started calling myself a commodity trader. I willed it into existence.

Working for Beans

While the job at Northwest hadn’t panned out, it did give me a lead. They traded mostly in the livestock and grain markets—soybeans, corn, those kinds of things—and all my experience was in silver. Before I made that fateful drive, I had to learn a lot about that industry, so I did. This meant I had tons of knowledge floating around my head with nowhere to go. Not unless I directed it somewhere.

I decided to move my trading activity to Heinold Commodities with a focus on trading livestock and grain in addition to silver. Soon after that, I started seeing positive results, and from there it was off to the races. I had friends and relatives who wanted to participate, so I helped them out by opening their own futures accounts. It all worked out quite nicely.

Learning Things Firsthand

I wasn’t a grain expert, but I did have a window. When I started to read about an upcoming drought, I looked out that window and thought, “Right. It hasn’t rained in a long time.” Crops need water, and if the forecasters were saying a drought and heat wave were damaging soybean crops, then I was glad I held my position.

I bought into soybeans cheap, and now other traders were latching on. They wanted in on the action too, and soon, the phrase I started to hear was “Beans in the teens,” a catchphrase for the impending $13 per bushel price soybeans were about to hit. Yes, things were definitely going to change.

Back at it Again

This was huge for me. My initial $6,000 investment turned into $35,000, and that got the attention of the people at Heinold. They were in Chicago, and now, with a new branch opening in Milwaukee, they wanted me as a broker.

This time, there was no U-turn. Instead, I got the job, converted some of my friends and relatives into clients, and started to expand my portfolio. Things were perfect, and I thought they would be for the foreseeable future.

​And it would have been had it not been for Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd.