Hello Traders.
Today we start a new feature. Two
beginner traders will be posting blog posts to thinklikeatrader.co.uk.
The posts will be completely unedited by me and will allow you to step
into the mind of a beginner trader. You can see the ups and the downs,
the mindset and the goals they set themselves as they move forward.
Hopefully it will also let you see that you are not alone in what you
are doing and trying to achieve - trading can be a lonely business and I
hope these blog posts will shine a light on what it is that you are
striving for and help you along the way.
Our first post
is from Craig Sanders. He will be a regular contributor to the blog, as
will 'blogger two', who will be introduced next wee.
Below is Craig's first post and introduction (I think we can all agree that he suits the hat!)
I hope you have all had a great trading week!
James Orr
Blog Post 1 - Craig Sanders
Hi
guys, my names Craig Sanders, I'm 31 years old, originally from the
Midlands in England and have been residing in Australia for the past 7
years.
Originally back in 2009 i arrived in Australia on a 1 way
ticket with the mindset of attempting to be a carefree backpacker with
an unknown view of what to expect for the year to come.
I managed
to travel around for several months doing all 'backpacker' type things,
like party, live a care free attitude and much much more. Then 1 day
reality hit me in the face early one morning whilst waking up from yet
"another heavy night out" in a filthy hostel in the city of Brisbane, in
eastern Australia. The hangover, from what I recall was so sickening
painful that I recall being laid in my bottom bunk reminiscing about
what i should really be doing in life or will eventually go on to do, as
I knew at that point that i no longer wanted to carry on living life on
the edge and feeling this way on a daily basis.
That following
lunchtime I remember checking my bank balance and seeing I had $45.00
left to my name. Here I am, an english guy on the other side of the
world in a city I hardly knew my way around and feeling terrible yet
sorry for myself from "another" chosen heavy night with the added realty
check whilst standing in the stinking hot sun with a $45.00 digital
balance staring me smack in the face. "Craig, what are you going to do"
It was at this point id decided get my act together and begin to search
for some form of employment and seek some "normality" again as I knew
it. (Get a job, save money, survive).
Dropping out of the
travelling scene and finally securing employment after several months of
being in Australia seemed to give me some sense of identity back to
which I remember from my life in the UK. Get a job, work hard, save,
repeat.
From that point on up until 2016 I had worked for 2
Mining companies in the outback of Australia on business sponsorship
agreements which enabled me to earn a salary better than id ever been
exposed to before in the UK and also the opportunity to choose anywhere I
wished to live on the eastern side of the country due to the nature of
my job.
In a period of a 1-2 years in the above position, I had
pulled my finger out and saved extremely hard most of my income in order
to buy some rental properties back home in the UK and take care of my
own pension at the same time. I figured this was a smart thing to do at
the age of 27 years old and remember to this day thinking "ahh ill enjoy
myself after thats achieved" return to work and not worry about the
future .... little did i know then, until of course afterwards that it
would give me the drive and hunger to seek bigger and better goals once
this had been accomplished!
fast forwarding .............................................................
Back
in Oct 2015 - last year, I was on a domestic flight back out to the
desert in the middle of Australia on my way to start my roster with work
again, yay not!
Whilst sat beside a work college at the time who
happened to be sat working different percentages out on his iPhone
calculator in the seat next to me. I remember asking him what it was he
was working out and winding him up about his age and retirement. Little
did i expect for him to turn to me and say he was working out where to
take his family on holiday with the profits he had gained from his
trading account.
(This is the point ill always remember the
"alarm bells" going off inside my head and where my curiosity &
introduction to trading finally started.)
I guess my initial
interest was in property investing and always wanting to be and do
better in life than just work, sleep, work sleep. This type of mindset I
believe is what lead me to the initial interest in trading and once
introduced as I learned I thoroughly enjoyed it, what was involved and
the opportunities it could potentially create for myself.
Initially
when I began trading and actually started understanding it in more
detail, I had the instant image in my head of how nice it would feel if
it were possible to gain a secondary income of any value at all and then
to add that to my primary work income and compound my overall earnings.
Then this would of course allow me to either save more for investments,
in turn making it a faster turn around and having the cashflow for when
an opportunity arises or begin to plant some roots down in Australia
and finally buy a home to live in myself with a lot more ease.
My
current aim within this next year is to continue with reaching my goal I
set 'daily' which is "to be a consistently profitable trader". No
matter how small this profitability is, as long as its consistent and
continues this way then I'm content for now and will continue to keep
learning and progressing forwards.
My hope in the near future
around year 2-3 of my trading journey would be to be well on my way of
striving forward and growing my trading account and hopefully being able
to withdraw a small enough income whilst also continuing to grow my
knowledge, skills and of course account at the same time.
As time
does progress and the years slowly pass by my overall aim is to be
continually improving my trading. This meaning, rectifying any errors I
make that could have been avoided and always working on turning any
error into a consistent rectification moving forward. By year 5 I desire
to be well on my way with trading success and for that ultimate moment
of being able to acknowledge and say "I am a full time professional
Trader" with that silent grin inside :)
Great blog Craig, I look forward to following your journey, onwards and upwards 👍
ReplyDeleteThanks Jane :)
ReplyDelete