Well, what a weekend we had
The picture above is of me an Nikki Chapman or pop idol fame - she's a big time record producer here in the UK and i was booked to do some disco work for a BBC programme called 'Holidays from home' to be screened in the UK in September. We were filming in the Black Bull Pub in Mansfield.
Nikki was sweet as anything - ive worked with a few celebs in the past and to be honest theyve always been assholes and ego maniacs - Nikki immediately came over to me with a beaming smile and outstretched hand - what a pro!
Anyway, i was filmed a time or two during the day so maybe ill be on the telly - again!!
Ill post a few more piccy's later.
Onto trading then and answering in particular a specific question asked by Running Turtle in the comments.
First the trading.
This morning has had a great start for Hilda - the first trade of the day was long @1.7537 and closed at 1.7548 for 11 pips - then a prime hilda short from 1.7552 which i closed at 1.7482 for 70 pips - so 81 on the day and happy as larry so for (who's larry by the way).
Now - the question from RT
Basically his comment was one i get a lot of - and i might as well answer it here and just refer people to it in the future.
His question was this " Why bother selling system if it so good ? I would not sell it to anyone... You know it is such a big effort: make a website, blog to as marketing tool, presentations, videos etc. Why don't you just take a few thousends Pounds and multiply it with your systems, isn't it easier :)? "
well, its a fair question i suppose for a newbie so ill answer best i can
firstly i am that experienced i can build and populate a website inside 20 minutes, blogs can be setup by anyone in less than 10 minutes - so it aint much hardship is it.
Ive been trading now for close to 4 years and ive ran businesses selling all manner of things from windows to utilities to ebooks for about 10 years - I even ran a radio station at one time and have also been a consultant to some of the most powerful men in british industry such as the board of directors at Rolls-Royce plc and i can bet that ive had more jobs than youve had hot dinners.
Ive never stuck at any job for more that 3 years cos i get bored very easily - i tend to start businesses on a shoestring and build them up before i sell them and move on.
Anyway, i guess what im trying to get over to you all is that im a bit of a workaholic - never can see myself sitting on the beach for hours on end unless im on holiday - i like to work and the pursuit of money is my primary driver (had to be in sales or you starve) so im a bit of an entrepeneur. I make no apologies for this, money makes the world go around and i like having it.
It all comes down to your own personality - and think about this - why does this question always get asked to the unfamous system sellers? - why doesnt anyone ever pose this question to Alexander Elder, or Mark Douglas or John Bollinger? - the answer is simple - i sell books and systems because i can - why the hell not would be my basic reply?
Im sure that running turtle and others reading this have read books such as Market Wizards and Trading in the zone - well, the authors of those books were traders - why dont you ask them why they dont just trade their knowledge? - cos without that knowledge you may never have got a handle on forex trading.
I have knowledge and skills to pass on - just as an engineer may write a book about his designs so a trader may write a book about their methods and systems.
Why didnt bill gates stop at producing the windows operating system - he's got several billion dollars and yet he still continues to produce software and sell them - why not just sell windows?
Im sorry RT but this question you asked was a no-brainer - i sell em cos they work and i can make money out of trading the system as well as selling it - whats wrong with that? - its the way of the world.
I think the real thing behind this question when people ask it is this. Most people (myself included) came into trading because of the 'get rich quick' mentality - there's nothing wrong with that - its exactly the reason i started. However if you stay the course then you learn that like any business it takes time to build and master.
RT is like many of the newbies that come and go in the chat rooms in so much as he wants your knowledge for free without expending effort or monetary capital - well im sorry. I will give away lots of information and stuff that i think you will find useful - however i will not give away something that i have worked on for 6 months to perfect. and when you have something like i do with the system ive designed whats wrong with eeking out the maximum possible benefit that i can from it by selling the thing?
Selling a system is not going to make it less effective - even if i sold 50,000 copies - in fact it may well make it work better - look at fibonacci - its all bollocks but it works because so many prople follow it - its self fulfilling. so if i sold say 200,000 copies of hilda then it wouldnt get weaker it would get stronger - as long as there are more traders NOT trading it as there are trading it then it will work.
Now im ranting so ill close this little chat.
Before i do just take a moment to read my profile - you will see that i dont trade as a professional as such - trading is my retirement fund - i dont take out of it often and my day to day selling businesses is what pays the bills. I love to work and sell things on the net - I love to trade too so whats wrong with doing both?
I rest my case for your comments
4 comments:
very true about the newcomers, we always want information for free :), for some time now people ask me about my system and forex in general so guess i'm moving away from the newcomers status..but still a noob :)
Soul you took the comment far too personaly at least it looks so. By the way calling me a newbie without even knowing me is also a no-brainer. I have expected the answer to be more overthought. I am trading stocks since 1996, Forex since 2004 and running FX Managed Accounts Program while being Saxo Bank's Introducing Broker. I do not want your knowledge for free nor for any fee. I have just stumbled on your weblog by browsing some webpages where there was a reference link to your sites...and after reading the contents of both, this was an obvious question and really no offence meant.
The examples you have mentioned are not quite good, because after a nice lecture of all those books you would not be a better trader nor profitable one (this for sure). You can read them all and still fail. Ask anyone who read these books. They certainly do not sell their knowledge - it is just an illusion. Traders are writting books disclosing here and there something but this is far from a complete methodology or system. It is a way to being recognized and memorized as a human being and world's top trader. That's why I would not ask them such a question. I would not even ask you the question given you would start a signal service. Assuming you can not or do not want to manage accounts it is a logical way then...but selling a complete trading system is not, at least from my point of view.
Talking about Bill Gates...did he ever disclose the sourcecode of his operating system ? He is selling the product not the knowledge to build it. Read your Windows licence - he even prohibits backengineering. Using or buying Microsoft services/products does not mean you will get the know-how, you receive the end result of their knowledge.
Why not build a signal service Soul ? One client is a 150 USD a month - a modest fee. With 100 subscribers you have then a revenue of 15,000 USD monthly a steady income and you still do not disclose the trading system. Take it as a business idea from a trader or do it your own way. The choice is always yours and do not act this way because you will have many potential clients asking this simple question and you should be prepared to answer it properly rather than saying "geezzz this stupid question again". A lot of people will ask themselves "if it so profitable why he spents his time selling it instead of trading". It is not a no-brainer at all Soul. Just look from the side of your client and you should if you are an entrepeneur.
Good Luck !
hi mate - didnt take anything the wrong way - just that the number of times that comes up is unreal.
Apologies if ive offended you i didnt mean to - just get sick of the usual questions and yours did sound rather newbie-ish
you obviously havent read elders come into my trading room - that is a complete system and no-one asks him why he sells it.
anyway, its funny you should say this about a signals system cos ive given this some serious thought in the last few days.
cos i do actually trade hilda myself so i guess its just as easy to make the calls as i trade them.
Herein lies a problem tho - Hilda can be taken on many timeframes - personally i trade it intraday however it can also be traded for swing or even position trades and i wont be making calls on timeframes that i dont trade.
This means that the swing traders wont subscribe cos i wont be calling those and they will miss out on a system that can make them good money.
There is also a second thing. I dont particularly want to be tied down to giving calls every day - if someone pays for these they think they own you and that you must be around to give them the calls- this wont work with me cos im not always around all day - i am for prob 3 days a week here every minute but the other two days i have business to attend to.
this is a quandry - you have any suggestions?
Im also thinking along the lines of giving the system only to seminar delegates but then i suppose shooting onesself in the foot again giving away the 'sourcecode' as you put it might not be so good either.
Quandry you see - all the business ive ever done in the past has been sell it and forget it - get the next thing done - not sure im into commitment.
any advice gratefully recieved.
ps - if i did do signals it would be more like £100 a WEEK for hilda - $150 a month is taking the piss for a system that makes the sort of results this does :)
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