How to be your own boss

Would you like to have more time to do the things you really want? Would you like to make money from your own home? Would you like to be your own boss, have more freedom? You can make thousands of dollars a month just working part time. If this sounds like you, don’t pick up the phone and call one of those 800 numbers. Do yourself a favor and look seriously into trading.

“90% of traders don’t make it.” This is true. It has to be because I read about it in the internet somewhere. However consider this. Of those 90%, how many of those traded for more than a year. How many of those people actually found a successful method, studied it, and adapted it to their own personality? How many of those people had unrealistic expectations?

Your typical day trader comes into the industry expecting to make six figures in six months to a year. If they can’t do that then it isn’t worth it. Well allow me to let you in on a little secret. If you approached trading as a career, just like any other career, your probabilities of making it would be much higher.

If you want to have a white collar job and make a median wage, which for sake of argument I’ll say is 50k here in nyc, then you can’t just show up at the office. The first thing you need is a college degree. Sure your first two years are classes that will for the most part be useless, and even those things you learn in your later years won’t be used at your new job, since you will be trained, but you do have to find a way to fork up 10k a semester.

Let’s just say you were a good student , but not the best , you’ll probably get a few scholarships and loans, and if you’re lucky only get 15k in debt. So let’s get this straight. You spent four years learning your craft, of which you’ll use different textbooks that are directly related to that craft for only two to two and half of those years. You’re already in the hole for 15k. Yet, you’re not even getting that starting 50k salary unless you’re the creme de la creme. You should be happy getting anywhere from 37.5k to 45k.

“But it’s a sure thing”. The only sure thing in life are death and taxes. By your third year you would have learned about the popular corporate term called the layoff. New hirees will get higher salaries than you. By your third year your lucky to be making 60k. If you want to get to 100k, you probably have to be in some mid to high level IT or finance position. Of course, this will probably happen at your third job, because that’s the best way to get a raise. Companies don’t believe in promoting their own. Mind you, this is seven years after you started your journey, because that’s what you went to college for , to get a job.

You want to make 75-90k out of school. Go get an MBA which will take you a year or three after your four year college. After that your pay raises won’t go as quickly as you want either. Want to make 120k or so, go to law school or get a doctorate. Oh yea, I forget to mention that neither getting your MBA or getting your other degrees are free. That’s proabably another 20 – 50k in the hole, and that’s being conservative.

Succes at trading is a matter of approach. If you took four years and invested 15k into your account and went about it in a methodical method, reading books, watching succesful traders, taking time to perfect your own method, there’s no reason you can’t make 100k after four years. Once you increase your equity you can increase your risk and guess what? Your pay raise will be much higher than a paltry 10 to 20k. Heck after ten years you can be making more than 500k a year. There is no ceiling as to how much you can make.

The beauty of it is that there are no time constraints. You don’t have to take four years. Maybe it takes you one to be profitable. Maybe you’re making 100k after two years. This is very possible. The key here is to treat trading for what it is. It isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It isn’t a fun way to spend your time. It is a job. A career choice where not only can you make a living, but a very good one at that. Once you do that, you don’t have to deal with the excess BS forever constant at a “secure” job. No sucking up to your boss. No avoiding certain coworkers or worrying about being politically correct at the workplace. No getting yelled at by your superiors. No having to use your vacation days to take your kid to a ballgame in the middle of the summer. You are your own boss. Better yet, you hold the keys to your destiny. So what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Are you going to contnue to make the 90% a fact or turn it into an urban legend? Take control now. Operators are standing by.