The road to full time
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@darri Thats the plan. I've been in enough forums to know how they work and the 'look at me threads' I only tend to post if I have something that will help someone in a similar position to me or a new member.I'm happy to soak up info from those who are successful, like you and Ryan, because you havew made the mistakes, so ideally taking that on board should mean I and others don't.
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@dave-hayes as long as you stick around the forum long enough, i feel its only inevitable youll succeed, the wealth of knowledge individuals have can only be a good thing if you soak it all in. It just takes time to find your feet and your own voice in the community but it'll come in time. Dont need to force it, just be patient.
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@darri Very wise words my friend and certainly taken on board for sure. I'm certainly happier and more confident with my own trading plan, than I was when I first arrived thats for sure and that is thanks to you and Ryan for very useful advice, which has been taken on board for sure
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@dave-hayes do you think it might be time for you to start your own blog? This would save you writing your own thoughts and questions on all the threads. It might be better for you to keep everything together. Iv seen in your signature that you are a pro sports trader, within 1 month?! Yet on other threads asking fundamental questions that pro would know. Just take it easy bud, the success will come in time and there is no rush. If you manage months of consistency and have a good year then maybe you can do the pro trader tag. Remember the forum isnt a social media plug were we just tell everyone how good we are elsewhere in life, its important to know that this community has and always will work best when it helps feed people with info that is good for trading. Its not about a reputation or building one. Just be patient with this. Its hard in the first few months to not always be itchy fingers trying to get your name out there on the site, but it will come with results mate. You are eager to get cracking but just be patient and in time you will realise there is more to being a pro trader than just a good run of games traded, its in the consistency long term not the short. Im not having a go only advising that maybe you need to think about allowing for some patience, both in the way you use the forum and the way you wish to get to full time. You need to understand the fundamentals which will come in time with experience of markets. Many come on the forum in the same manner and get hit with overconfidence early and never come back, i was almost one of those casualties. Dont think about the PRO trader tag yet its very early days mate and many challenges will come up before that can be a realistic tag.
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@darri Nice update!... One I can relate to and for me, following your progress its been enjoyable and relatable to see the reasons behind what you have done.
The strats you have, possibly with the exception of SHG, I like and can se why you chose them. Whereas you have wanted to try other areas of MMO(Make Money Online) I have done that for the past 21 years, the last 9 full time and thats what brings me in passive income, but having 'dabbled' with BF since October properly, like the idea of Football Trading.
I moved my Bitcoin earnings out from Coinbase, and put it into my BF account, Bitcoing is too volatile for me.
So my goal, from reading and enjoying your blog and having looked at my own stats on paper which have now been transferred to a Google Spreadsheet, which for some unknown reason makes it easier to evaluate, I now see clearly which path works best for me, thats in LTD. Thats a given.
I agree with you that trading is probably the easiest way to earn money online, that you have 99.9% control over. The 1% obviously is the actual match itself and players actions. I know you prefer S&F, which I was doing with LTUD before coming here, but now I like the Trading and Greening up part of it.
Based on what you have written about retiring at 40, 11 years from now, going on what you have done so far, thats more than a possibility.
So I am going into 2022, with the sole intention now of becoming a Full Time BF trader, because its what I like best
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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My 2021 summary:
I started the year as normal having built a trading bank that had been acquired from 2 really good years of trading. I got a bit fed up of trading and felt a little boxed in. I was inplay trading a lot of hours within a week waiting for good games to pop up to trade. I wanted to venture into other avenues of money making businesses. So on March 21st i cut back on my trading bank and deployed that cash into the other streams iv been really interested in. I kept £1k in the trading bank and wanted to restart this whole process again. This time with a view to doing it all faster and less time consuming. I wanted this to be a passive income source rather than something i wholeheartedly relied on.
I brought in strategies like the Pre Match LTD. These are strategies i never thought id even contemplate. Iv always known the best way to make money in trading is always inplay. But my mindset changed. Instead of trying to eek out the best profit per game just accept smaller gains but with less time needed to be taken up. I now place my trades in the morning and let whatever happens happen. Iv now further added to this with a new ov1.5 strat and its no wonder we all tried this after seeing the success keith was having and the simplicity of it. I had been tracking something similar but keiths egged me on. I still believe to this day that if people just traded mine and keiths stuff while they learn theyd make a generous bank and perhaps better than most current strats out there. Thats not big headed its just facts.
The £1k we started with turned into £3.1k. Dont tend to get this kind of gain anywhere else for such little effort/risk, the s&p 500 for reference has only made 29%, a good year for it, my trading made 210% gain, no extra deposits nothing but trades building the bank. Trading really is one of the best money makers for those of us with less capital to splash about with. Its probably the best funnel for future ventures that i can think of. I mean before trading id barely ever seen £2k ever touch my bank account. Iv built this all up from scratch. This was also In a year which saw me juggle about with strats, change criteria and cut cricket. This was by no means efficient trading. I still believe that this amount should have been substantially more. However lets not be greedy. The lessons learnt this year have been great in terms of the transition from inplay trader to set and forget. Iv regained the buzz of trading and the joy of it. It is boring, but not when its just 10 min work in the morning. Im not sitting waiting for games, avoiding family or friends, i can work on other passions too. The drive to hit retirement come 40 is still there for me. Ill not retire but ill be in a place where i could financially. Thats the goal. I have 11 years left. This whole process if nothing gets in the way of course will be documented here on this blog. I look forward to sharing it with everyone. Especially now every single trade people can do themselves. You just know Jan is going to be a losing month dont you
lets hope not tho and kickstart what will be an interesting year for football and the insane schedule. Im looking forward to the next set of challenges sports trading will bring in 2022. Just wanted to do this post now so that my next post is gonna be a trade and the first one of 2022 
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@dave-hayes Thanks mate, just passing on all the things iv found that work for me. A lot of people can talk about techniques and strats but unless you have proof then they just become pointless words. Its about putting them into practise and in a way practise what you preach. The blog keeps me accountable to that and when i do stray off my own advice i can refer back to this. Iv always been someone who learns more from the doing than the theory, I think we can all talk good games, but its all in the delivery of actual results. I spent too much of my life trying to convince people with words that my view would work, but you dont win people round for the long term without actual results and proof. I think thats why the blog has helped me and others along the way. Its helped cement that what i do works and people have seen that progression and perhaps used some to their own gains too. Hopefully 2022 continues that narrative and we can all improve the things we need to, to take the next step. For me thats fining up my set and forgets and making sure to rethink my brain from wanting to eek out every penny to just be happy with making steady gains. I spoke to someone who asked for help once, we dont need gambreaking strats, we dont even need gamebreaking profits, we just need steady earnings that can be compounded, there is nothing wrong with being average in trading, average is boring, but it makes consistent profits. Im just hopeful that 2022 with the use of my blog sheds light that this is all possible, we can make an income from it and it doesnt need to be a fancy strat just the basic but doing them well.
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@Darri. This was a very useful post and one that makes total sense. I like the way you have set 3 strategies which are in my eyes 'unrestrictive' by which I mean that LTD, is a result that happens over 80% of the time, as does OV 1.5 goals, however I like the style of it, keeping it simple and fuss free.
Thanks for sharing it and I'll be keeping an eye on your blog as we move into the new year for sure.
I haven't traded much at all during December, I was going to but obviously COVID hit a lot of the games I was going to do an had chosen, which had an impact, but hopefully that will change going forward
I spent my christmas period transferring some of my data onto a Google Document much like you have done, and in doing that have found similarly to you, but which I hadn't realise till reading your post that I have a lot of data which is on paper of games I had chosen, but didn't trade, but logged the result and in almost every case through careful selection my results are around 80% Correct, so that pleases me.
Following you with avid interest in 2022, you speak wise words
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@chris-osborne I’d be up for building the community post around this getting everybody’s input and collect it in a nice, easy to read to the point post.
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@darri Lets have a great 2022
This little period over Dec that you have paused your trading is a fantastic lesson to those of us learning that sometimes it is ok to just sit back and watch your data collect. We don't need to be placing trades constantly to achieve long term success.
Thanks for all the updates during this time too.Roll on a profitable 2022 for as many of us as possible
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Today also marked the last day of my data collecting break. From jan 1st ill be back posting regularly. How did december go? Very very well, yes i wish i had actually traded it, no i dont regret my decision. Iv now seen that my strategies will do well over the course of this period. My strategies seem to be able to power through wholesale team changes and crazy fixture congestions. It also allowed me to spend time with family and be present with them rather than having trading as a side thought. So yes the year could have been finished with an extra +20% to the bank, but again the reasons were legit and im happy i stuck to it. This next year we can now get on with trading again. The set and forget approach will now get a full year without too many tweaks and a solid 3 man portfolio. Nothing gets added, im not interested in any other strategy. These are going to be LTD, Ov1.5s and SHG. Yep thats right the 3 most basic yet consistent strategies there are. My approach to these arent fancy and anyone can do them.
So come jan onwards every trade will again be posted with nothing left out. All my gains/losses will be there for everyone to see im not hiding anything and full transparency, you dont get many people doing this. Along the way if tweaks occur or topics get highlighted ill do a post explaining my reasons. 2022 is all about taking this to the next level in efficiency. A truly passive income instead of my main income. Away from the long hours and into a morning routine that is set and forget, with the occasional SHG if im free. This allows me to not be stuck with trading as my only avenue for income. Many know im a busy mind guy and want to reach a passive income goal before i hit 40. Im 29 currently. This year is going to mainly be about trading my way to what id like to be as close to the range of £15k-£20k as possible. Seems pretty bold to turn £3k to that however hopefully ill be able to de myth that and show it is possible. its not a sink or swim total if i reach it or not just we all like to have targets to aim for. Lets see if i can do it starting Jan 1st
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@chris-osborne because what you will likely see is ill do it differently to them, which will just confuse the issue. Its better if we just work on helping the people interested in our ways of thinking. I have different approaches to helping and explaining. Not saying one way is better than other, im just happier helping in my own way because i know it works. I dont think you can explain it within one video. Each person needs a tailored approach. Some get certain parts others dont. You need to work at each step individually to get the best outcome. Its why many fail, because they try adopt too many approaches and try the next hot trends, when really its the simple steps and tailored approaches that get the best outcome. If it was a one size fits all approach then no one would ask me for help as the info would be in one place. I trade differently to keith doesnt mean our approaches are better or worse than each other all that matters is we both profit long term and compound. Some months ill do better some keith, who cares, as long as the bank grows. Its like warren buffet wishing he jumped on stocks he missed out on, hes still one of the richest men in the world by focussing on his own area of competence and knowing them inside out.
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@darri Why not do a combined video with either Ryan or Martin?
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There has been a lot of talk about filters and how to tweak them recently. Iv been thinking about a big blog post for it, then realised its too much. How about instead of me trying to explain tweaking filters, which is more simple than you think, people just ask specific questions and ill answer how id do it. I genuinely think people are thinking its difficult because they are trying to tackle every issue at once, turning small simple steps in big ones. Trading with small simple steps has always been they way i help people. Its not about giving them a pile of info at first. You dont just become profitable straight away. Its about building a solid logic to what you are doing so as you improve, the steps arent so drastic and make more sense. Its hard to understand at first its kind of like the endless options dilemma with beginner trading. What strat etc, with the filters its like what criteria is actually worth it. Its honestly all in your data collecting or strategy performance. Remember the reason we track in first place and not just our end of month p/l is so we get the best bang for our buck. You can easily not use a filter once you reach a good level of market understanding of price. But that will never be more optimal than data, it removes opinion.
The thing s trading can be condensed into small/simple effective ways of profiting. Take a look at say myself and keith. There are many traders who have said they follow our trades. Then take a look at others around this forum and outside, the complexity of their strats is way over the top. Its like they have multiple strats for every scenario. That is just a micro management headache and not optimal even tho they think it is. Managing yourself and having solid reason for your trades is key to long term trades. Dont worry if you think you can avoid small losers with tweaks, as long as your main trades are logical and simple to understand slowly over time youll understand what games to avoid.
Its all about the fundamentals of trading. In 2022 im going to make sure when i publish big blog posts that i condense them into easier to read topics. Perhaps targeting smaller steps. Those who i work with individually know that i prefer small gradual steps, some people iv been working for months with, only now are they ready to make this a proper income for them. They didnt take shortcuts, they just removed all the fluff and focussed on the actual opportunity of one strategy. Ideally id like to be working with a few more people in 2022 so please if you need help ask questions and be prepared for small steps and not overnight success.
The filters for me is just the basics and if you do this part correct really makes the rest work nicely, but its best to keep this stage as simple and logical as possible so any tweaks can make sense rather than hit and hopes. Dont just bombard the software with endless criteria, end of day you want to have a reason for each crietria and know the value of it to your strategy and ability to pick the best games. Sometimes i see people trying to find a filter thats as close to perfect at first as they can, thats just total guesswork and not a good approach. Build a market overview at first and then as the games pile up the tweaks will present themselves without you forcing it. While you build that up without pressure the better long term results you will get. In meantime you can just follow the likes of myself and keith like many others are doing based on blogs iv seen to make good profit. Then when its ready move to the tweaked version and best version of your own strategy you have been building. Iv around 2-3 people who have fully committed to that this year and you can see them flourish in their blogs and progress. It just takes time. There really is no rush and compounding is your best friend in catching up "lost time" from tracking. Imagine just starting a restaurant without any knowledge, you wouldnt, so why treat trading any different, build a knowledge and make sure you are doing it in logical steps and slowly.
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@Darri Spot on Good advice mate. I don't plan to look at Betfair at all tomorrow.Luckily I have a supportive wife who has been known to gamble herself on WH, but who is now interested in what I am doing with BF
I'll use the next couple of days to chill.
Pigs in blankets!!! ...Got load of them, which amuses my wife, cos I like them and used to be a copper, til I quite 12 years ago, fed up with everything Police wise.Became an entrepreneur instead and now I am evolving into a BF trader.
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Cheers lads, remember to enjoy this xmas period with fam/friends and be in the moment with them all. Dont be logging onto betfair to be placing trades or even worry about it. A few losses in those turkish games tomorrow will affect your mood regardless. Yes they may win and hype you up even more but be present with your friends and family. Trading verges on an addiction at times, we must control ourselves. Iv seen many bad stories with trading and gambling, everyone knows my story by now, how gambling creates that bubble around yourself and you dont feel the actual impact it has on others around you. Dont ever let it get that far. We want no more horror stories in this day and age. Be with them this time of year guys/girls. And more importantly stock up on those pigs in blankets
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Merry Christmas Bro,
thanks for everything this year here’s to a ripping 2022
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Merry Christmas to you and your family Darri. Let’s hope next year is a profitable one.
@darri said in The road to full time:
I know iv already done a xmas sign off earlier, but i get a bit excited and hyper still with the festive period, even at the age of 29
Have a merry xmas you lot, ill be back on here for the start of 2022 and we can kick on and resume the bank progress. I have really enjoyed being on this forum this past year and helping others get towards profitability. Being able to show a transparent trading journey documenting and sharing all my trades has been something iv been very proud of. I like that my blog is quite different to others out there and on other sites. Hopefully it gives for decent value and thought. But more importantly thanks for all the people that reached out and started a convo going. Trading can be a lonely profession. Once you reach the stage of profitability you dont always need forums to learn, but more to interact with like minded people, who dont mind discussing football data, spreadsheet geeks.
Heres to a merry xmas and hopefully we can continue to build my bank aswell as yours in the coming year. Have a good one
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@Darri Merry Christmas to you and yours as well thanks for your help and advice so far, been really helpful.
