Aaron Warby is the owner of Online Trading Academy, the leading provider of financial education with three Valley locations. As a small business owner, a marine and a father of five, Warby discusses getting past the naysayers and the importance of a strong work ethic. Learn about Aaron Warby…
Hometown: St. George, UT
First job: I was 14 when I got my first real job as a food line tech at a Subway franchise in Vernon Hills, Ill.
Favorite ways to spend your free time in AZ: I enjoy the outdoor activities in Northern Arizona where the desert gives way to the pine trees.
The person who has impacted your life the most and why: My father has most impacted my life. He is a man of iron and velvet. He is a rare mix of absolute resolution and universal love. My father has always been an intelligent and hard-working individual. He is always up by 5 a.m. and doesn’t stop working until going to bed at night. Work days, holidays and weekends were all the same for members of his family. Work came before play. On weekends my father would have me up at 5 a.m. to work and usually to help a neighbor with a project (often without the neighbor knowing that the project was being done). My father liked having fun and was willing to relax but never at the cost of unfinished business or work. As I have matured, I have found the value of work, service and unabashed truth. In my career as a United States Marine and now as a small business owner, the work ethic that my father passed on and his outlook on life that I have gratefully inherited has served me well and pushed me through tough times through circumstances that I would have otherwise failed in.
Your biggest accomplishment in your eyes and why: Keeping a loving family around me is and will continue to be my greatest accomplishment. I have five children ranging from 3 to 16 years old; three girls and two boys.
The biggest obstacle you have overcome: The biggest obstacles to any successful person are always the naysayers. Getting past the negativity and forging ahead into the paths rarely taken has to be the one obstacle that ends up separating the doers from the dreamers.
Someone who inspires you and why: My wife is a constant source of inspiration. She is unfailingly honest, kind and possesses the best moral compass I have ever met.
Favorite quote: “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Advice to someone pursuing a career path in what you do: Ensuring the success of the student is everything! Always improve the efficiency of the learning process.
What you think makes someone fabulous: Fabulous to me is those who dare to do what others won’t and that see what others can’t. It’s listening to your successful investor in the experience of life that sets people apart, for in the end, the only thing that we truly possess is our experiences that shape us. The only currency that truly matters in life is time and that only when it is spent well.