Global Public Articles

I trade for a living now. When I was in “the real world” working for a living, I recalled an axiom that changed my view on work and life. “Are you living to work or working to live.” Psychologists tell us that satisfying work is essential to emotional and mental well being. However, so many of us are attempting to climb the corporate ladder or just slugging it out day to day to make a living. What kind of a life is that?

I spent 25 years in the corporate world and was a loyal corporate soldier until I got wise to what’s really important. I was the poster child for corporate commitment. I drank the Kool-Aid. The corporation wanted my blood, my first born and my soul. I was “living to work”. OK, so why I am I telling you all of this!? I came to my senses. I realized my personal satisfaction and well being was not the corporation’s first priority. You think you have security but you don’t, not really. The only real security is relying upon your ability to create your own freedom. Trading can do that for you.

I now call my own shots, which includes defining how I want to handle my trading business. We’re talking today about “Time Commitment” to your trading business. There is obviously ramp up time and effort needed to learn the business but once you are comfortable with your knowledge base and the infrastructure of the market, you can then determine your trading style which directly correlates to your “Time Commitment”.

I do this full time but I don’t trade all day long. I experimented with Day Trading and made money doing it but it didn’t fit my personality and what I wanted out of trading. I thought, “Why am I exchanging one high pressure situation for another Bell to Bell job”!? I had to define my willingness to commit my time.

I opted for a much more relaxed style of trading that allowed me to actually have a life and still reap the tremendous rewards of trading. There are those that crave the adrenaline rush of one minute charts with eyes glued to the computer all day long and I say, “If that’s for you “Go For It”! My typical trading day comprises reviewing the before market activity and my positions for about 20 minutes in the morning, a quick mid day glance (I really wouldn’t even need to do that) and an end of the day assessment of my positions after markets close. If I need to consider adjustments to any of my positions, I will make those plans and execute them at the next day’s open.

My aftermarket review takes about 45 minutes. I do most of my due diligence over the weekend and that can take up to 4 hours. I am a voracious reader of market information, so as a matter of course, my reading is market related material which is fun for me. So in assessing the amount of time I spend in my trading business, it’s about two hours a day and 4 hours on the weekend. I can live with that. The rest of my day, I go to the gym, I meet friends for coffee, and help my fellow traders learn how to trade successfully. Then there is always the “HONEY DO LIST” at the house to deal with, but it’s not too bad.

Your trading plan needs to include the amount of time you are willing to commit to this business. Time is precious. Once it is gone, it is gone and it’s not coming back, so plan wisely. My most gratifying times now are the time spent with my wife, children and close friends. I also get tremendous satisfaction in helping others succeed at trading. My life is very different now. I am in control and I can pursue my daily activities without worrying that I am stealing time from the corporate monster. However, I must warn you that you can exchange one monster for another if you do not carefully assess the time commitment that you are willing to give to your trading business. This is a vital part of your business plan. You need to be very realistic, especially in the beginning because it will take an extra amount of time as you learn the business.

In order to become proficient at trading, you must be willing to make a commitment of time and energy. You must align your trading plan to be consistent with your lifestyle and what you want to achieve from your trading business. If you make a commitment to be good at this marvelous business, you will never regret it. The whole idea as far as I am concerned is to create total financial freedom and security and having the time to enjoy it. Be careful not to get trapped into another job. Keep your trading fun. You must ask yourself, “Do I want to live to trade or trade to live?”

Mark Espy (aka RobinHood Trader)is a full time trader and professional educator. Mark loves to help others master trading skills and is co-founder of a rapidly
growing trading education company. Receive a free lesson and learn more about how to improve your trading skills.

Millionaires, multi millionaires and in particular billionaires are in love with what they do.

They love it so much that during their free time, they are flat out non-stop, thinking about how to become more efficient, how to harness new and existing strategies to run their businesses even more profitably and make even more money, and looking ahead to try and guesstimate what the future holds in store.

The millionaire formula, as taught to me (and to be learned and applied by you) by the incredibly successful and seasoned business entrepreneur Keith Cunningham is pretty simple, and it goes like this -

1) Find out what they want,

This means knowing your customer IN DEPTH. To start, with who is your customer? Define exactly who you want to make sales to, and although obvious its important to be clear that you gotta go for someone who has money. After all, sales are the essence of business, no sales = no business.

Once you have defined who it is that you’re going after (that you’re going to make sales to), then the next question is what will they willingly pay for. This type of market research is often underrated,though to be ignored at your peril.

2) Go and get it,

Now, its time to put together your plan. How are you going to source or produce product at a price at which your customer will buy, and that you will make a sustainable profit?

How will you compete with your competitors (and they do exist - no matter what you may think?)
How will your customers know that you or your product exist? What is your marketing plan?

Do your sums, work it out. What is your break even point? How are you going to finance the business until it starts to turn a profit? How much money do you need? And a host of other questions, but remember this if nothing else - “A bad plan is better than no plan,” or as Roy Keane put it - “Failure to plan, is planning to fail.”

3) Give it to them,

Arguably, the single most important piece of the jigsaw is getting it done. Also known as execution,
doing what you need to do.

There are lots of people with great ideas and the intelligence to formulate impressive plans, but are
they getting it done? Its never those who know the most who become the most successful, but rather
those with the singular ability to consistently take action, and accomplish the task in hand that
repeatedly and assuredly rise to the top, each and every time.

As Bruce Lee, the most accomplished and successful Martial Artist and Oriental Actor of the 20th Century stated so simply -

“Willing is not enough, we must do!
Knowing is not enough, we must apply!”

So in a nutshell, if you’re committed to achieving a life filled with memories that will forever inspire you and those around you, we highly recommend that you get to grips with the principles elucidated above.

By the way, if you’re interested in learning more about the Secrets of those who are accumulating fortunes of multiple millions right now, then go to http://www.ThinkAndGetRichBootcamp.com, and sign up for our FREE Success Tips.

Property booms come and go, they always have and they always will. Is it conceivable that in another ten years we could have another property boom here in Ireland? Resoundingly, YES. Its unlikely to be quite as strong or of such long duration (and you never know), but what is certain is that over the longer term that property prices will resume their upward trend. Quite simply, they always do and will again.

The thing is many of us are interested in eating, going on the occasional holiday and enjoying ourselves over the number of years, and the idea of waiting for another property boom doesn’t really appeal.

The trends or patterns that stand out during the property boom do however apply to all small businesses, and when we recognise that the same skills learned as part-time landlords can be transferred to other business opportunities, then we begin to get a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Home businesses, which is what most peoples property ventures really were, whether full-time or part-time are the next wave of business growth in Ireland. Large scale manufacturing and factories are a relic of the past, and the future is in personal responsibility for your own financial success.

The business buzzwords for the future success of this mini revolution will be low overheads, the internet, network marketing, and exponential growth.

There are a world of opportunities like this on the market at the minute, and although we don’t know it, Ireland is one of the best places in the world to set up such a home based internet, network marketing or other similarly themed venture.

The fact of the matter is that the Irish talk a lot, to each other and to everyone else. We speak the English language with our own unique accents and people love it. They’re automatically more receptive to us. We can sell, often without trying very hard at it, and we already have some huge “networks” before we even start, simply by virtue of the fact that Ireland is a small country. We often stay in touch with people from school, university etc, come from larger families than many other countries and
just know more people.

I’ll give you an example, a few years ago Curves the ladies only fitness franchise came to the Uk and Ireland at the same time. In both places the franchisees had the same issues to deal with primarily getting their message to the market, allowing them to demonstrate the strength of their product and its unique benefits, those being a 30 minute workout that combines strength and cardio training, but more importantly a facility only for women.

While the membership take up in England was quite slow, the gyms in Ireland took off like a rocket. It was so significant that the owners of the Curves franchise decided to find out exactly what was going on to make such a difference, and their conclusion was that in Ireland we just talk a lot. Because communities were smaller and family/ friends connections larger the news spread so much quicker.

So when you sit down later on to think about how exactly you can best take advantage of the current economy, remember the unique benefits of this fantastic country and plan to make your fortune.

Did you know that an elite group of home based business start up experts, and by the way also multi millionaires are coming to Ireland soon?

Check it out at - http://www.ThinkAndGetRichBootcamp.com, and sign up for your FREE Success Tips.

There may be many strategies for financial freedom, but the most important is probably your focus.

Whenever you are walking or driving, you have to keep your eyes ahead of you, otherwise you would swerve away from your path. An archer has to take aim in order to hit his target. When a football player goes to score a goal, he has to see the ball hitting the back of the net before he kicks it.

It is the same with creating wealth. If you want to be rich you need to focus on what you want and keep focusing.

You start by deciding exactly what your financial goals are and, most importantly, what you want the money for. Visualize what you will do with the money. Think about how it will help others: your family, your friends, charities or others. Think about the lifestyle you can have. When you have all this in place, you will know how much you need, either on a monthly or yearly basis. Write this figure down. Visualise having the things or the lifestyle that this money will bring, and do this daily.

When you set clear financial goals you are doing something constructive for your future and ensuring your success. Relying on luck, or just drifting, is destructive because you are denying yourself the power that you have to create your dreams.

Setting goals can appear scary to some people because they are unsure how they are going to achieve them. Often we prefer to only commit ourselves to something once we understand how we can achieve it.

In fact, this way of thinking does not work. Without commitment, your mind will not apply itself to discovering how to get there. When you commit yourself to achieving something by setting a goal, without knowing how you are going to get there, your mind will begin to work on ways to fulfil your goal. You will see opportunities that you may never have seen otherwise, and you will find ways of getting round the obstacles that are in your path.

Deepak Chopra, the world famous guru of wellbeing, said you would not have a desire if you did not have the means to fulfil it. Each of us has the power to create whatever we want.

When you do not have clear financial goals you will simply drift along, moving into the future without any decision or definite purpose. You may become a victim of circumstance, subject to the whims of dominating personalities and without the strength to set your own course.

A vague idea of some day being rich is simply not enough. If you really want to achieve wealth and financial freedom you must have a specific figure in mind AND a clear idea of why you want it. If it feels easier for you, you can start out with a relatively small figure and then expand it when you reach it. An easily achievable goal will provide you with the confidence to set a higher goal next time.

Your goals may not happen overnight, but by thinking, visualizing and affirming them every day, the ways and the means to achieve them will gradually become clear and you can then take the action that you need to take.

In all strategies for financial freedom you must always start with a very specific goal and focus. Ask yourself “how much?” before you start thinking about “how?”

Ros runs her own online business and is also a successful writer and life coach.

Ros’s coaching site is at Career and Home Business Coaching

Find opportunities at her website at Financial Freedom Online

One day as a teenager I saw an advertisement that read, “Challenge a chess grandmaster”.

A Russian chess grandmaster who was visiting my city had claimed that he could play 20 people simultaneously and beat them all. I signed up for the challenge. While I had never played

seriously and had developed no particular playing strategy or system, I was quite familiar with the uses of the individual playing pieces and felt I knew how to exploit the strengths of each. I had been playing regularly with friends for the previous six months and felt that my skills were pretty well honed and that while I would not match the Russian, I could at least compete. To my surprise, within 30 minutes of the challenge starting, the chess grandmaster had already won multiple quick victories.

His history of studying chess strategy and specific offensive and defensive systems easily defeated our collective labored efforts. To each of our moves, he had a predetermined counter move which he employed, seemingly without thought. He always seemed to know ahead of time what he would do in each circumstance. While we each grew frustrated, he enjoyed the confidence that came from playing with a well-mastered strategy.

As a stock and options trader, I have come to realize a trading system can be just as valuable in ensuring consistent profits in the market as the chess grandmaster’s strategy had been in enabling him to easily and effortlessly defeat me and others at the chess match. The challenge in trading, as in chess, is to understand how to integrate the knowledge we have into a trading strategy.

It is relatively easy to understand the separate components. As in chess where you can master the movements of the pawns, rooks, knights, and other pieces quite easily, developing a strategy that optimizes those moves and applies them appropriately in each situation, is the key to ensuring a consistently winning game.

One chess book I glanced through recently was hundreds of pages in length, but only a small fraction of those pages was spent outlining the concept of the game and the movement of the individual pieces. Similarly, learning trading instruments that will afford you the opportunity to profit in bullish, bearish, and stagnant markets is relatively straightforward and can be learned quite quickly and easily. The challenge is in learning to combine those instruments into an overall strategy that will provide consistently winning trades.

There are many investment training books and courses that explain how to use trading instruments and even when to use them. Few, however, take the next critical step of integrating the various disparate components into an investment system and strategy that works consistently. That is why so many investors continue to trade unprofitably, even after taking training courses.

Conversely, the training program at Stock and Options Training provides the knowledge and tools to be able to react effortlessly to any market condition. So when I purchase a stock only to see it move in the wrong direction, I’m able to employ a predetermined strategy and turn that potential loss into a winning trade.

I’m now able to profit in every market condition “up, down, sideways, volatile, flat” you name it. I know when to enter and when to exit the market. And if a stock moves against expectations, I’m able to adjust my strategy to minimize loss or maintain profit. No longer a challenger, reacting to the market, I’m now prepared for any event like the grandmaster. The grandmaster ended up winning 19 of his 20 matches that day. Just think of the profit potential with a 95% winning record!

Mark Espy (aka RobinHood Trader)is a full time trader and professional educator. Mark loves to help others master trading skills and is co-founder of a rapidly
growing trading education company. Receive a free lesson and learn more about how to improve your trading skills.