You sold someone a gout-ridden three-legged horse for the price of a stallion thoroughbred. Which is not illegal on its own. But you told them it was a stallion even though you knew for certain that it was not…. Not only have you lost your license but the Federales are now prepping to feast on your criminalizing carcass.

You said buy, buy, buy, when you shoulda said sell, sell, sell. And your clients said "lose my number, lose my number, lose my number." Now you sell real estate in a new city.

You broker and sell and are in the middle of lots of transactions. Nothing amazing. No breakout new big clients you win for your brokerage. But you never screw up either. Kinda Ice Man like. Nice long career of tie-wearing. Decent money.

You win Fidelity's business anew and now you're the BSD on the trading floor. (Michael Lewis term from Liar's Poker. Read it.) The other brokers envy you and you get the corner office with a view and a couple million bucks a year or more.

You run the brokerage. See the prior example and move the clock forward a decade when the board looks for the Big Producers to take the firm to the next level.