I had a great twitter conversation a couple of days ago with a buddy.  I told him that I started an entrepreneurial venture a number of years ago and when it didn’t work out I ran back to Corporate America.  However, when I quit AGAIN on 3/31/06, to trade full time, I burnt the bridges behind me (figuratively not literally).  There ain’t no running back this time.
I always say that sleep is over rated. This video reminded me of that…
“If you want to be successful you gotta be willing to give up sleep. Â You gotta be willing to work off of 2-3 hours sleep. Somedays you may have to stay up three days in a row, because if you are asleep you may miss the opportunity to be successful!”
Who in their right mind would quit a six figure gig to pursue an advocation that only 1% of those that pursue it were successful? Â Well, today marks the fourth anniversary of the day that I lost my mind. Yes, I miss the whining and dining of customers that I routinely did as a software salesperson. Â As well as the sales conferences and golf outings. Â That being said, I can count the number of Mondays I looked forward to in my corporate career. Now I can’t wait for Monday to come.
There were several articles floating around this weekend about day trading. Â Henry Blodget, of internet bubble fame, said that day trading was the dumbest job ever. Â He quoted research from a University Professor that stated
80% of day traders in the study lost money (something that is very hard to do in a bull market)
Only 1% of day traders in the study were “predictably profitable.”
I don’t consider myself a day trader, but Blodget and the Professor would lump me into that bucket.  I am an active trader that earns my living by trading the market.  Am I “predictably profitable?”  What the hell does that mean?  The professor can predictably pick up his paycheck every week, because he has tenure.  That doesn’t exist in the real world.  A pink slip can arrive on your desk any day.
I have managed to maintain my same lifestyle over the past 4 years – as I did as a working stiff. Â So, that is “predictably profitable” enough for me. Â Statistics such as those above keep people stuck in cubicles and dreading Mondays. Â Life is too short. Â Pursue your passion – you may get lucky and find yourself in the one percent.
Note: The Time and Money Group is a “work in progress” founded by Michael K. Dawson to encourage people to pursue their dreams. Â Its mantra is “Why trade time for money – when you can have both…”
Note: This was written before Tiger plowed into a tree on his way to hit a bucket….
When I opened my first paycheck as a summer intern for a now extinct electronics company, I will never forget saying that if they are paying me this now without a degree, once I receive my degree, I will be living LARGE. That thought would get me through Calculus II – not once, but twice and many other difficult courses along the way to an Engineering degree.
Five years later, my dream came to fruition as I received a job offer as a design engineer. Since I had sucked it up and stayed in school for my Master’s degree, a few additional dollars accompanied offer. Life was good.
About three months into my “dream†gig, I began to learn about the mutual exclusivity of time and money. My last year in college was great. I didn’t have much money, but I had free-time galore. My first class wasn’t until noon. Every day I was in the gym by 8:00 a.m. Afterwards, I would have a nice leisurely breakfast then off to class. By 4:00 p.m., I was shooting hoops or whatever.
Now as a highly paid worker bee I found that I had money, but no time. The work day started at 8:30 a.m. If I wanted to go to the gym beforehand – I would have to be there at 6:00 or 6:30 a.m.; that’s wasn’t happening. I had to cram all of the fun stuff into the weekend and two measly weeks of vacation time. I guess my dream left out a few details.
Years later, I would learn of this concept called financial freedom – the ability to do what you want when you want without worrying about money. That’s what my dreams were really about. I am not sure how I got confused with this job thing.
Not pleased with many of the commonly accepted definitions of Financial Freedom, I redefined it in my own terms: Financial Freedom is freedom to focus on what is truly important to you and your family without having to trade time for a wage. It is enabled by a portfolio of income producing assets, managed by you, which generates sufficient income to cover your yearly expenses on an ongoing basis. It provides both time and money.
In my research, I learned that the pathway to Financial Freedom starts with a dream. Interestingly, most people who venture down this path are simply devoured during this stage. They quickly realize that the chasm between reality and their goal is so large that it is senseless to pursue. Many then channel their energy into something more socially acceptable like climbing the corporate ladder. The few who crack the code and make it from Stage I to Stage II – all have one thing in common: they think differently than the most people.
I was recently watching an episode of The Haney Project on the golf channel. The show is about Tiger Wood’s golf coach, Hank Haney, attempting the near impossible – to fix Charles Barkley’s golf swing. Words can’t describe Barkley’s swing. Train wreck comes to mind, but that’s an understatement.
As I often do, I take ordinary situations and think of how it applies to attaining financial freedom. As Haney was explaining a typically Tiger day, I was floored with its parallels to someone moving out of the dream stage.
Here is a typical Tiger day:
6 a.m. – lift weights for 90 minutes
7:30 a.m. – breakfast
9-11 a.m. – hit balls on practice range
11-11:30 a.m. – putting
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 a.m. – play 9 holes
12:30 -1 p.m. – lunch
1-3 p.m. – hit balls on practice range
3-4 p.m. – work on short game
4-5 p.m. – play 9 holes
5-5:30 p.m. – hit balls on practice range
5:30-6 p.m. – putting
Before Tiger, how many golfers considered golf a sport? Tiger has taken it to another level by thinking differently than the rest and the rewards have followed.
Many celebrities and athletes have cracked the code. I recently got sucked into Twitter around the time of the Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) / CNN battle for a million followers. I was intrigued that one person could have a voice as large as a media giant. I immediately signed up to be an Ashton follower – to do my little part in seeing “the man†go down in defeat.
Like many people new to Twitter, not knowing what to do with it, I decided to follow a few celebrities. Shaq (@THE_REAL_SHAQ) is always good for a few laughs. I bet if anyone has a golf swing uglier than Barkley’s – Shaq’s the owner. I have sent a few barbs his way; seeing if it would invoke a response – no luck.
One of my favorite celebrity Twitters is Diddy (@iamdiddy).  That’s a little strange because I am not into hip-hop and can’t tell you what on his latest album. However, Diddy, a member of the Forbes Celebrity 100, knows what it takes to get past the dreaming to the making stuff happen stage. He uses Twitter primarily as a motivation tool and is constantly encouraging people to get locked-in a sort of the modern day version of Napoleon Hill’s burning desire concept ( Forest Whitaker Reminded Me of A Key to Success: A Burning Desire).
Here is what getting locked-in is all about:
Head down, eyes trained on his Nikes, Lebron James stormed off the court in Boston last year. No congratulatory handshakes or good-luck hugs. No words.
“We need to get continue to get better, James said. “If that means some personnel changes that need to happen, then so be it.â€
James then set out to change himself. He took two days off and then was right back at it. If a championship wasn’t in his cards, he was getting a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.
Chris Jent, Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach, remembers a more determined look in James eyes during those workouts. “He was so locked in. His concentration was different than anything I had ever seen before. He was, I don’t know different.â€
Tiger, Diddy and Lebron are all in the upper echelon of the upper echelon – top 1%ers in their fields. Fortunately for us, we only need to get to the upper echelon, top 5%ers, to achieve Financial Freedom. I often equate achieving financial freedom to getting a sports scholarship to a Division I college. It is not impossible, but it is not easy either. In reality, it is probably a little more difficult than attaining the scholarship – because it is not nearly as much fun as dribbling a basketball.
Here are my “5 Not So Easy Steps to Financial Freedom:â€
Dream – Why do we spend so much time preparing for when we can do what we want (retirement) instead of doing it now?
Shift – Main Stream Thinking leads to a gold watch for 40 years of service. Making a mind shift enables you to buy your own watch while fulfilling your dreams.
Learn – Unfortunately there are no short cuts. Certain knowledge must be acquired.
Act – The fastest way to accomplish a goal is to find someone who has achieved it and do what they do.
Learn Some More – The learning never stops. Specific knowledge makes freedom possible.
I believe that if you can make the transition to thinking against the grain you are very close to cracking the code and well on your way to achieving financial freedom.
Check me out on the twitter. I use it mostly to talk about stocks. You can find me at www.twitter.com/TrendRida
Note: This article was written before Lebron pulled a nutty and walked off the court without shaking any hands after being spanked in the Eastern Conference Finals. It will be interesting to see how the story plays out. Maybe there will be another lesson to learn. The primary objective of this article is to simply highlight the drive of the athletes mentioned.
The word “Financial Freedom” is misused more than any term that I can think of. It is often associated with a get rich schemes. In this case, financial freedom provides a college student freedom to rent an apartment. Woo Hoo…..
Credit cards being accessible on college campuses has now become expected; high school seniors are prepared for the applications and no longer enter the doors of a financial institution to gain the plastic card which gives them shopping freedom. Attaining a credit card is now simpler than ever.
Having a high credit score enables many adults the financial freedom and ability to receive loans to purchase a car and eventually a house. Having a low credit score hinders this freedom, causing a co-signer to be called upon for considerably trivial things, such as acquiring an apartment lease.
I thought that a person practiced baseball or football. In this day and age, apparently people practice with finances.
Having a credit card at a young age is a good way to practice with finances. It gives everyone the ability to establish credit, as well as fix any mistakes that are made earlier in life. Credit cards are the least daunting method of establishing credit. Credit card accounts should be opened early, and college is the prime location for doing so.
Advertising such as this should be a criminal offense.
Financial Freedom is freedom to focus on what is truly important to you and your family without having to trade time for a wage. It is enabled by a portfolio of income producing assets, managed by you, which generates sufficient income to cover your yearly expenses on an ongoing basis. It provides both time and money.
We all know many people who “talk the talk†and a few that “walk the walk,†but what is it that the separates these two groups of people. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. When I left my job almost a year ago to pursue my dreams as an entrepreneur, trader, financial freedom seeker many of my friends simply didn’t get it. The ones that had a good idea how much money I was walking away from were the most shocked.
What would possess someone to walk away from a high paying job? What about the status? What about the security? What about? What about? What about? How do the “walkers†suppress the “what abouts†and pursue the trail of “what ifs?â€Â What if I land this deal? What if this trade takes off?
Napoleon Hill in his classic book “Think and Grow Rich†identified the characteristics of the successful. The one that stands out the most to me and best captures why I do what I do – is having a burning desire. A burning desire is an urge, a passion, an inner drive that is so overwhelming that if denied will make you miserable no matter how much money or prestige you may have. The little known secret is that this desire is so all-encompassing that if embraced success is almost guaranteed.
I was reminded of this listening to Forest Whitaker’s acceptance speech at the Oscars for Best Actor.
When I was a kid, the only way that I saw movies was from the backseat of my family’s car. At the drive-in. And, it wasn’t my reality to think I would be acting in movies, so receiving this honor tonight tells me that it’s possible. It is possible for a kid from east Texas, raised in South Central L.A. in Carson, who believes in his dreams, commits himself to them with his heart, to touch them, and to have them happen.
Because when I first started acting, it was because of my desire to connect to everyone. To that thing inside each of us. That light that I believe exists in all of us. Because acting for me is about believing in that connection and it’s a connection so strong, it’s a connection so deep, that we feel it. And through our combined belief, we can create a new reality.
That thing inside each of us is desire. We were all born with it, but very few choose to nurture and develop it. Those who do – can create their new reality!
Like many people new to Twitter, not knowing what to do with it, I decided to follow a few celebrities. Shaq (@THE_REAL_SHAQ) is always good for a few laughs. I bet if anyone has a golf swing uglier than Barkley’s – Shaq’s the owner. I have sent a few barbs his way; seeing if it would invoke a response – no luck.
The word “Financial Freedom” is misused more than any term that I can think of. It is often associated with a get rich schemes. In this case, financial freedom provides a college student freedom to rent an apartment. Woo Hoo…..
We all know many people who “talk the talk†and a few that “walk the walk,†but what is it that the separates these two groups of people. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. When I left my job almost a year ago to pursue my dreams as an entrepreneur, trader, financial freedom seeker many of my friends simply didn’t get it. The ones that had a good idea how much money I was walking away from were the most shocked.