Twenty-two
May 31, 2019, the very first day I put the very first energy into the possibility of a future beyond my previous firm, I began seeing signs from the Universe everywhere that I simply couldn’t ignore. They were obvious and undeniable. I felt like Ms. PacMan, gobbling them up as they were placed perfectly in front of me at precisely the right moment in time. The first confirmation that I was on the right path was a message sent on a license plate. You know how I know it was for me? It said: 4JT. 4JT 688 to be exact.
The sign came just hours after an in-depth conversation with a colleague in Massachusetts who emphatically encouraged me to think bigger. She said essentially, “Your Monster Idea is going to change lives, follow your heart, this is bigger than our firm. I’m sorry to say, you’re going to need to leave. Go, now! Forget about the big cheese lady, start calling Ellen Degeneres. This is going to be big. BIG!” I phoned Kelly to fill her in and she says, “Wait, what’s her name, I think I might know her?!” Me, “Shut the front door, she lives in Massachusetts!” ...where Kelly grew up… Kelly, “Ask if she went to XYZ High?!” The gal practically drops her phone, sure enough, she and Kelly grew up in the same town, same high school, friends in common, the whole bit. What are the odds??
That evening, I’d planned a fun outing for us. Our stress level was off the hook and we needed a fun distraction, so we headed downtown to try a glow-in-the-dark yoga class, Glow-ga. We planned to call our Massachusetts connection together on our way downtown so the three of us could digest this mysterious connection. I was stuck at the only stop light between my house and Kelly’s and my eyes glazed over as I sat there tripping on the day’s revelations. My mind engaged: …this gal’s enthusiastic encouragement…her connection to Kelly…it’s all so nuts…I think she’s right…I think I need to leave the firm. The light was about to turn so I brought my attention and focus back to driving. The first thing I see as my eyes refocus is the Massachusetts license plate in front of me! I quick snapped a photo and texted it to the Kelly.
Three minutes later I pick Kelly up and ask, “Did you see the Sign I just texted you!!?” Kelly, looks at her phone, “OMG! That IS for you!” I exclaim, “I know, right! Massachusetts, how crazy?!” Kelly’s tone changes, dropping, “No, LOOK! It’s a message for YOU! It says, 4JT!” Me grabbing her phone, “WHAT!?! Lemme see that!” Sure as shit, 4JT! 4JT 688. Ok, we know who JT is, what’s 688? We added the numbers up. 6 + 8 + 8 = 22. As we headed to Glow-ga, she googled it on her phone. Turns out, 22 is a universal manifestation number. You don’t have to read very far before you’ll see “it’s one of the most powerful numbers, able to turn all dreams and desires into reality” or “this number is the master builder, which means that it provides the power to achieve almost impossible things.” Wow, we’ll take it! Our fascination with the number 22 began to brew.
22 Kelly and I are standing in front of our new spot, still negotiating for the lease and suddenly my eyes pop out of my head, I gasp and grab for her arm. “Kelly look! Look at the address, 7735. She looks, looks back at me. I blurt, “Add up those numbers, 7 + 7 + 3 + 5 = 22! There’s our 22, this IS our spot!”
22 I’d consulted my feng shui practitioner about the location and also inquired about a date to sign the lease. Mercury was in retrograde and 4th of July holiday was coming up but I was anxious to secure this prime location, on the busiest intersection in downtown Aptos. “Sign on the 3rd or the 4th.” I printed out the lease on the evening of 7/2 and left it at the head of my dining room table, I’d sign it first thing in the morning. Kind of cool that I’d be signing on July 3rd, I pondered, Travis and I met on 7/3 and it’s always been a special day to us.
22 I woke up early and couldn’t wait to sign the lease! I sat down at the table, flipped to the back page and signed and dated the document. Julie K. Tauriainen, 7/3/2019. And then I stared at the numbers and goosebumps covered my body. 7 + 3 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 9 = 22!
22 WOW! I sat back in my chair, how cool to be signing this on the anniversary of the day Travis and I met, too. We’ve done so many great things together since we met…in 1997. Hey, ummm, 2019-1997=22! 22 years ago! What the?? More goosebumps.
22 My sis’s family came to visit from Alaska for the last ½ of July, for some sunshine and to help me celebrate my 50th, or Half-time, as I like to call it. I was filling them in on the 22 phenomena. It’s safe to say my sister believes in numbers as much as she believes the earth is flat. But her hubs turned to me and with a shaky voice, “Jules, add up our kids ages…they’re um, 22.”
22 Naturally, when we picked a day to move on, we picked the 22nd, 8/22 was our target day to leave and launch our new business.
22 Our goal was to resign at 7 am and we were told it would take hours for my licenses to come through. When we showed up to send in our resignation letter, nerves and adrenaline got the best of us, slowing us down a bit and we finally got fax confirmation of our resignation at 7:22 a.m.
22 After resigning, we sped to our new location. It was supposed to take hours for my licenses to be activated so we were going to have some down time for champagne and a pedicure, until my phone buzzed at 8:22. At 8:22 a.m. on 8/22/2019, my licenses were officially activated and Serendipity Securities was born. Right on time.
22 At 2:22, I was enjoying an afternoon running around, heading to the beach, when my car alerted me, that I was very low on gas. I hit the prompt that displayed the closest gas station, 2 miles away. Ugh, but it’s the annoying gas station, I never use it, it’s inconvenient and expensive but it’s close and I’m low. I pull in and remember the other reason this place is annoying; they only take cash. All I had on me was $10. As I march to and from the cashier, a mom stammers the cutest apology that made my day. “I’m so sorry, my little boy can’t stop staring at you. He’s enchanted! He’s never seen a woman taller than his mom before.” We had a fun Tall Sister chat, she’s “only 5’10” to my 6’1”, but that cute little boy made me feel 11 feet tall and his mom and I had a good giggle. I gassed up and I glanced at the display as I put the nozzle away. Haha, my $10 just bought me 2.222 gallons of gas.
22 Kelly and I were doing some business planning, anticipating our one-year mark. We set a goal and I crunched the numbers to see how much year over year growth. You know it, 22%!
22 I believe that until women understand our finances, we won’t be equal. So, when I launched my business, I created a funding mechanism to Make Sisters Savvy PlanetWide. I direct the first 1% of my growing business to support Women’s Financial Literacy Programs PlanetWide. My donations this first year were already targeted for my home state of Alaska (teaching girls how to budget) and Zambia (providing microloans for women). However, I’m passionate about giving back to my community so when I had the opportunity to sprinkle the love locally, right off the bat, I jumped at it. Small but significant, in November 2020, I wrote the very first check out of my philanthropic account for Serendipity Securities. I opened my new book of counter checks and, making sure I had the very first one in the packet, wrote a $222 check to WELI, the Women’s Education & Leadership Institute through Hartnell College Foundation. Then, I went to record the check in my records only to realize it wasn’t the first check, it was actually the fourth check in the series, check 0994. Confused for a sec, wait… what the… and I threw my head back and started cackling with glee. Yes, of course the very first check I wrote out of my Serendipity Securities philanthropic account was for $222 on check 0994! 9 + 9 + 4 = 22!
One more sign I’m on the right path. It’s Serendipity.
Any opinions are those of Serendipity® Securities and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. Investing involves risk and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of strategy selected.
