We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Luke Wiercinski. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Luke below.
Hi Luke, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I think my career has come from taking a different path. I was never really an academic student. I wanted to work hard, but school didn’t excite me. From a young age, maybe 13 or 14, I started delivering newspapers and pamphlets. My first job was at McDonald’s, where I learned resilience and work ethic.
At 16, I worked in a supermarket while finishing high school, which is like your senior year in the US. I found work more interesting because it gave me immediate financial rewards. This seemed better than studying for a payoff later in life.
After high school, I briefly tried personal training but then moved into car sales through a friend. I discovered I was good at talking to people and improved my people skills. This led me to car finance, real estate, and stockbroking.
Now, I’ve founded a college debt consultancy business to help veterinarians like my partner. Seeing her struggles while working with wealthy clients made me realize there was a gap that needed to be filled.
When I worked in a supermarket between the ages of 16 and 18, I learned that hard work led to earning more money. This experience followed me into other jobs, like the car industry, finance in car dealerships, mortgages, stockbroking, and real estate. I noticed that the harder I worked, the more successful I became.
In sales, hard work often beats talent. When others quit, I doubled down and kept going. This drive is something I can’t quite explain, but it’s a big part of my success. Now, as a co-founder of Clear Your College Debt (CYCD), I’ve learned that hard work is important, but having the right team is crucial too. People who share the same work ethic and goals can help you achieve even more.
At 31, I’m also thinking about the future and my family. I want my kids to be proud of what I’ve achieved. This thought motivates me to keep working hard and make smart decisions so that CYCD can grow and succeed.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Now, my main focus is on my business, Clear Your College Debt (CYCD). The idea for CYCD started a few years ago when I met my girlfriend in Australia. She was studying veterinary science and was about halfway through her postgraduate degree. At that time, I was working in stockbroking, helping high net worth individuals manage their money and make better investment decisions.
I noticed that the knowledge I shared was helping these people build their wealth. In contrast, my girlfriend had a lot of loan debt from vet school, which kept growing due to interest from the government student loan program in the US. This debt burden was much heavier than what I was used to seeing in Australia or the UK.
Many students didn’t realize the extent of their debt until after graduation. My girlfriend worked hard and avoided taking personal loans to pay down her debt. Seeing her struggle made me want to help. I realized that the financial advice I gave to wealthy clients wasn’t available to college students like her. These students graduated with degrees but also with a lot of debt and no plan or advice on how to manage it.
There wasn’t any comprehensive program out there to help them, so I decided to create one myself. I wanted to provide support for college graduates who were underserved in this area. That’s how CYCD came to be.
Before I left Australia, I began working with a marketing consultancy. This was a close friend and mentor from my time in the personal training industry. He had a successful career in business and financial planning. We teamed up with another marketing expert from Perth to bring our idea to life.
Starting out was slow and costly. We had to come up with a business name, strategy, and target audience. Luckily, my girlfriend fit our ideal customer profile, which made things easier. We aimed to provide advice in areas she needed help with, like student loans, buying a house, and financial planning.
We realized there were better solutions for these needs. That’s how CYCD started. Now, we have partners in student loan consulting, mental health coaching, real estate coaching, and financial planning. My co-founder, Dr. Priola, is also a veterinarian ambassador.
We plan to add tax strategies next. Our focus began with veterinary graduates and college graduates but will expand soon. The next area we’re targeting is human dental graduates since they often have high student debt.
Starting with veterinarians felt natural because it was close to home. Next, we’ll move to dentists within the next year or two as we grow the business further.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey are work ethic, resilience, and an entrepreneurial spirit. My entrepreneurial drive didn’t come from family; it developed from my desire to take a unique path in life. I was inspired by successful people around me, especially when I started in the car industry after leaving school. Seeing wealthy and successful individuals made me realize that was the path I wanted.
A past girlfriend and her parents also influenced me during my formative years, shaping me as a young adult. Resilience, a strong work ethic, and professional skills helped me communicate with people of different ages and backgrounds. Reading, listening to podcasts, and journaling have also been crucial in honing my skills and expanding my knowledge.
Advice for my younger self would be to surround myself with the right mentors. It’s important to take advice from people who are where you want to be. Although I’ve made mistakes, recovering from them taught me valuable lessons. For example, if I had listened to my cousin, a financial planner, I might have made better financial decisions. In hindsight, these experiences were lessons that shaped who I am today.
In the past, I made emotional decisions that affected me financially. Instead of starting a business, maybe taking a vacation to Europe would have been better. Moving interstate and starting a business changed my life in ways I didn’t expect.
I want to teach others, including my children and people around me, about taking risks and managing debt. I might even write a book about my experiences. This is similar to programs designed to help college graduates and veterinarians.
Having support is crucial, but I didn’t reach out for help when I needed it. There might have been shame or guilt stopping me. It’s important to be open to advice and feedback at a young age.
For veterinarians in their mid to late 20s, or even earlier, starting their careers is a critical time. They are taking their first steps in their chosen paths. My goal is to inspire and guide them on their personal journeys.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
We are looking to partner with large corporate veterinary groups that have multiple clinics. We also want to work with student bodies and organizations at the college level. Our goal is to support veterinarians as they graduate and enter the workforce, as well as those who have been working for a few years, like Dr. Priola.
These veterinarians may have some experience and might be on different career paths than they expected. We aim to help them feel more comfortable in their roles and advance their careers. This includes improving their financial situations, managing debt, considering mortgages, buying cars, and planning for the future.
Veterinarians might want to stay in their current jobs for many years or explore other options like parenthood, travel, specialization, residency, or moving into not-for-profit or wildlife sectors. These areas often align with their passions and degrees.
We are interested in connecting with both individuals and corporate clients who are pre-employment or currently employed. We also want to reach out to those who may be looking to open their own clinics. These are the types of clients we wish to engage with on both personal and corporate levels.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://clearyourcollegedebt.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/clearyourcollegedebt/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/clearyourcollegedebtusa
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/connectwithluke
- Twitter: https://x.com/clrcollegedebt
Image Credits
Dr. Alexis Priola
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