My Entrepreneurial Journey - Part Eight
Onward with my adventures (and misadventures) as an entrepreneur. In my last article, I told you about how I made money using OPM (Other People's Money). So let's skip ahead a few chapters and get right to it.
Naturally, after the success of investing other people's money, I figured all I had to do was get more money from more people and my commission would take off.
I was wrong. Immediately, I used my experience and results to attract new clients. It worked! The year was 2020. The pandemic was easing, and people were starting to have faith again.
At that moment, the financial market did something never seen before: an incredible upward curve of growth. Many "experts" said it was going to crash, that it was impossible to keep going up, that we were at the top.
But none of them managed to spot the most important thing at that moment: THE WORLD HAD CHANGED! And for good.
New fortunes were made (and lost), new professions emerged. Being a YouTuber was now a legitimate career, and we discovered that we didn't need offices for work to get done. And just like that, the financial market changed too.
Cryptocurrencies exploded, new financial instruments were created, and ETFs emerged (including crypto ETFs). More and more "artificial money" was created. All of this happened with the "blessing of the Father Fed."
[I'll leave these two excellent videos that explain why our system was, is, and will continue to be manipulated. (Sorry...)
* https://youtu.be/PHe0bXAIuk0?si=a1IcYYpeZRwO6thV
* https://youtu.be/DyV0OfU3-FU?si=9sTB6Wp1rPmuHDll
In short, everyone wanted to get rich from the stock market opportunities.
Opportunity, Patience, and More Money
By then, I had raised a six-figure sum from a handful of clients. I invested in undervalued stocks with a good performance record for the year. We saw an 18% return in 2020, then 12% in 2021.
In absolute terms, these were solid numbers with low risk exposure. However, you already know what clients want, right?
100, 200, 300% annual returns. That was the REAL expectation of the clients. Honestly, if I knew how to achieve those numbers, I wouldn't have taken money from anyone else to invest. I would have mortgaged everything my family owned and gotten rich in 3, 2, 1...
In the end, patience (or the lack of it) is what beat me. I always traded very little—maybe two or three trades per month. Most of my time was dedicated to reading, researching, understanding, and tracking the businesses we were invested in. Each month, I'd make small adjustments, either reducing or increasing our position based on the company's value movement each quarter or significant news.
Disillusionment or a Lack of Understanding?
The part of the financial market that frustrated me the most was always having to warn people about the risks and manage their expectations. And in the end, I'd hear the same excuses.
Investors need to understand how boring and complex the financial market is. In the end, what we know is just a drop in the ocean of what we don't know.
That's why my recommendation is (if possible): Never sell anything! Good investment ideas are rare. You're lucky if you have two or three good ideas a year, except during major events like the COVID pandemic.
We have less control over a company's price and fundamentals than we like to assume. I always recommend: have savings, avoid debt, have a three-month emergency fund, and have cash-generating assets or a highly specialized job (because it increases your salary).
Only then should you invest.
At the end of 2021, I returned 100% of the money to investors without charging my commission fee. Making 12% for the year wasn't enough for them.
Lesson learned: Create businesses where you have the most control over the outcomes.
In Part 9, I'll talk about the next steps I took toward the business I have today and how my path was shaped. Until next time.
#business #nostr #ideas #entrepreneuship
