This week, thirteen years ago (2011), I started my first “career” job after graduating from University. It was in the same place that I had done my work experience (IBM), so I already knew a lot of the people, and the halls were very familiar.
Everyone was extremely friendly, always willing to stop for a chat, share their advice and generally be very helpful. The work was challenging, yet doable, and the entire work environment was one of cheerfulness, and calm ability.
There was just one problem.
I hated it.
That’s not to say that I hated the work itself, because I didn’t. I just hated the idea of the working world, the “daily grind”, and working for a paycheck.
I decided that week that I would do everything in my power to leave the working world as soon as humanly possible. Drop the typical 9-5 for that all too revered “freedom”, and everything that comes with it. Whatever it took.
Fast forward to 2019, and I was finally leaving IBM… to go and work for another tech company called Twilio.
So, you’re probably asking yourself the same question that I did…
What went wrong?
Well, to put it bluntly, I failed. I failed a lot, and I failed often.
It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.
Warren Buffet
I should have taken Warren’s advice early on, gotten a mentor, followed a proven system / strategy before taking action, and going into uncharted waters alone, and unprepared.
Some people like to endlessly come up with ideas, and never act on them. Others like to try things out, and learn from their mistakes. While I have definitely spent time in both categories, I usually fall into the latter.
There was, of course, a third option – find a credible mentor, and learn from their mistakes.
While as clear as day to me right now, there was a time when this seemed unnecessary, even a burden – having to work to someone else’s rhyme and reason, instead of forging my own path. But ah, the folly of youth! It’s true what my grandmother used to say – you can’t put a wise head on young shoulders!
Don’t get me wrong – I did still try to follow advice from all the latest trending gurus and, dare I say it, charlatans – I just wasn’t aware of how little my success (if any at all) meant to them. They of course had their own problems, their own agendas, and while not every single person out there peddling a money making system has foul intentions, it can be difficult at first to separate the wheat from the chaff. And even if they did have good intentions, that in itself didn’t mean that they could guide me towards the promised land, after all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
One of my other biggest mistakes during this period was not keeping a journal of all my failures (hence this blog) – however, I will list below a few of the most poignant ones that still persist in my mind to this day:
- I tried day trading for a living – but found it too stressful
- I briefly tried my hand at Lead Generation – but it didn’t feel like the right fit for me, and there was a lot of existing competition
- I tried drop servicing – it worked initially, but unfortunately I found that I had entered a saturated market, and it also took a lot of time to run, with meagre results
- I invested in bitcoin – had some small, yet reasonable results – recently I switched to using MBT (Micro Bitcoin) options instead, in order to free up capital for use on other projects
- I spent a couple of years doing matched betting – with good results until finally all my accounts were gubbed (limited) by the bookies – there are some less reputable ones who also refused to payout, leading to large losses – at some stage I will write an article about my experiences in this arena
- I wrote and ran a trading robot on the VIX – I got the idea from a book written by some mathematics PhD in finance, who had seemingly never tried out his own system, and neither he, nor I understood the markets at the time – in short, I wasn’t aware of contango, and while the robot worked correctly (according to the algorithm), I lost a significant amount of money
- I tried various other stock market shenanigans and money making systems, which had mixed results, but ultimately never amounted to anything better than simply just purchasing and holding shares of the SPY for the long-term
But perhaps this is all part of the process, and in reality, they aren’t failures, they are simply part of the path to success. Like Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
It’s good to be able to self reflect, and looking at my past, at both the wins and the fails, there is an emergent pattern of behaviour:
1. When finding something that works, I don’t stick with it, instead I try to find something else (shiny red ball syndrome)
2. I spent too long searching for the perfect risk free system (the holy grail), instead of learning to live with losses – mostly applies to the stock market
3. Have lacked a plan, discipline, structure and consistency
4. No accountability
Just like with my physique (if you can call it that), it’s been on and off with different strategies for countless years (if not decades). Despite all my best efforts, neither my physique nor my bank account have changed positively all that much.
It’s time for a different approach.
It’s time for a change.
You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.
Warren Buffet
More haste, less speed. Since wanting to leave work in the first week after graduating, back in January 2011, I have been too focused on the end goal – the result, not the journey. By trying to rush progress, I’ve somehow managed to keep spinning my wheels, and have gotten nowhere fast.
During the pandemic in 2020, I found myself back living with my folks, essentially basically broke again, with a net worth of 0, or close to it (I was actually in debt, so not yet back to 0).
However, with the help of my parents (who have put up with all my misgivings, I can’t thank them enough) I saved up, bought a house (along with additional help from the government and bank), and finally managed to have a place to call my own, albeit, with a nice big mortgage attached.
That being said, I was, and still am working 9-5 for a living (it’s actually 9-6 – don’t tell my boss).
This is the year in which I aim to change that, simply by taking a different approach.
In my new approach I am going to try and address all of my previous mistakes, in the hopes that this will allow for eventual (not immediate) success. That means I need to have some form of accountability (this public blog), decide on a path (my goals – see below), and finally to be patient and consistent, knowing that if I stick to the process, and put in the work, the results will take care of themselves.
With all that in mind, this year (2024), my goals are to:
1. Leave my job to pursue running my own business
2. Participate in a trading competition (more accountability), and make sound investing decisions – USIC (United States Investing Championship) – https://financial-competitions.com/ – I have already entered for 2024
3. Document my progress (in this blog) so that myself and others can follow my journey, and possibly learn something along the way
Like Einstein said, “everything is relative” – I have been trying and “failing” for 13 years now, and looking back, I can’t believe it has been that long. I am now 37 years young, yet looking forward, age 50 seems very distant – even though those time periods are exactly the same in duration.
Age 50 is also when I’ll first get access to my private Irish pension fund(s) 🙂
Perhaps it is mildly provident then, that I should be starting this blog along with the adoption of a new mindset at what seems like the halfway line…
As I learned from Richard Branson, the best way to get started is by taking the first step.
It’s 2024, and this year, I’m going to make that change. It won’t be all at once. It will be gradual – baby steps.
But when 2025 rolls around, if I have stuck with the program, when looking back at 2024, there will be evidence of a change in behaviour, and with that, perhaps a change in results.
Generally speaking, we can set goals, but we cannot set results or outputs, only inputs, e.g. we can’t decide how much a stock is going to go up by, but we can invest in the stock of a valuable business when the price is relatively low, and hold onto it until such a time that we feel it is no longer a good investment.
So it’s not about making a million dollars by 2025, and finally revealing those 6-pack abs (although that would be nice!) – it’s about showing up, it’s about putting in the work, especially when I don’t want to, because a new season of The Witcher has just aired, and it’s so much easier to just sit back and relax, waiting for the next paycheck to roll in.
So then, in short, what do I need to do this year?
- Every week, I need to show up to the gym, at least 3 times, and actually put in the work. I also need to eat a “healthy” diet with the right macro and micronutrients.
- I need to check the stock markets every weekday, (but not overly so – there are entire volumes written on the subject, but suffice to say I will simply be aware of the markets and my own positions on a regular basis, and stick to my trading rules religiously).
- I need to write at least one new blogpost per week, along with any progress updates, and hopefully new lessons learned or insights to share.
- I need to run my own business, make some sales, learn how to scale and delegate work so that instead of working for money, it starts to work for me.
While not part of the main set of actions, I think it’s important that I also make time for friends and family, the odd hobby and holiday, and to not take life so seriously, while also making sure that the people I love and care about are safe and happy.
It’s a new year, a natural time for a new beginning.
There’s a world out there full of problems and potential.
It’s time to finally make a difference.
It’s time to show up.
