The road to full time
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@darri
Absolutely agree. TBH I don't expect to be as profitable as I am constantly monitoring the markets and the games.... but I don't need to be. I'd rather sacrifice some profit for a life. It becomes a job ultimately and I'd now rather work less hours for less pay.It isn't just for me though, I'm in my 60s and now fortunate to be retired with more free time. I've spent my whole life working long hours building businesses and it would be grossly unfair on my missus to start saying we can't do this or that in our retirement because I'm busy trading. If I can top up my pension with a few quid that allows us to do other things then I'm happy but key to that is having the time to do them.
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Feels good to be back after small breaks when you come on to speak to like minded people. There does seem alot of new faces on the forum. As you can tell this blog/thread is all about me posting my thoughts as I go through my trading journey. The key going forward and what I want to see from myself via accountability of this blog is doing simple things consistently well. Sounds silly but over time I hope this can resonate well with traders new and previous followers of the thread. The last two years have been about learning and growing. Achieving that full time goal. The next two years I hope to show maturity with trades. Managing my time/screen time well and efficiency I cannot stress that enough. Hopefully the transparency of the blog previously and in future helps me and you
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@bottlabroon since October my aim with trading changed. It really did drain me. I know sounds rich to say given not everyone gets to be profitable, but work/life balance in this industry isn't the same compared to your usual jobs. I'm at a stage now similar to you by sounds of it where I'm happy with my bank and my trading. It's just about efficiency now. Get best bang for buck and actually allowing myself to enjoy the rewards. I feel like iv done the grind phase of trading. I think this is the same with most traders as they progress. You find good strategies early then grow them as much as you can. Then as you mature as a trader realise how to manage yourself better. That's the stage I'm at and working on. I think people will be surprised at my trades last 2 years to what they are going to be over the next 2 years. The attention to detail in my trades last two years undoubtedly got me to be full time in 2 years which is expect is quicker than most. I simply wouldn't have got to this stage nearly as fast without that approach. But now I feel I can measure success and growth better. Taking a little foot off the gas. I'm trying to look at games ahead and plan out if those games will fit my work/life schedule. Would I still recommend people do the detailed trades absolutely the growth is there but comes at a cost of time and effort to get there which you have to manage. And at times I haven't managed that well with the work life balance. Probably because I came from bad financial decisions before so getting good income I felt like I needed to maximise all the time. Efficiency is key this year and is if anyone is interested the stage I'm at with my trading journey now.
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@anthony-rogers
You only really 2 have options in my experience for automated trading, Bet Angel & BF Bot Manager.
Both have their positives and negatives but for me I much prefer BF Bot Manager, primarily because a lot of my trading is football and it allows me to specify exact match minute, in play stats and score to enter.With automated trading (unless you're going to leave your PC on 24hrs) you also need a VPS. I have one through simply hosting at £10 month which has been brilliant. I could have got a cheaper package with them probably but wasn't sure how much data I would be using so opted for plenty of cover, in reality I barely use 5% of my allowance.
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@bottlabroon
I'm still relatively new to trading & up to now have traded manually using Geeks Toy - I've been looking into bots but haven't had much luck. Can you suggest bots that work for you & others please? -
@Darri
I can empathise with the negatives and loneliness. I ramped my trading up quite a bit after retiring and it's too easy to get consumed by it. With the end of lockdown in sight and better weather to come, I'm determined to reduce my screen time, get out and do other things. To that end all my work over the last couple of months has been on automated trading. I've lost the will and focus to be spending so much time monitoring markets and in play stats, the aim now is to get a life
The aim is to set up the bots last thing in the evening or first thing in the morning then forget about them for the rest of the day - it feels quite liberating
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@keith-anderson yep I actually probably wouldn't trade as much as I do if I did not have this forum even if it is a 2 min chat with someone about it. Really hit me mentally end of last year which I wrote about. Just trying to find ways to improve or work around it when it gets too much
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@darri said in The road to full time:
@chris-osborne thanks bud! Yep ngl my initial goal was to be a full time trader the title of this blog/thread speaks for itself. I have since managed to achieve that goal. Along the way however iv seen and experienced issues with being a full time sports trader. Good and bad. Freedom and money are the obvious benefits. But in the last say 4-5 months iv also seen the negatives. The loneliness it brings, this is quite honestly maybe an individual case. Like I said those with kids want a job that gives time that why it's attractive, I don't and I'm at that age when I want to be active all the time. That said I'm still very dependant on trading going forward but hopefully by starting these side projects they will keep me mentally sane/fulfilled. It's why when I trade I run a blog alongside just to help feel involved in the industry rather than just silently trade.
It's great they are back isn't it. I always find it fascinating how people seem to adapt way better to summer leagues. I'm sure it'll be the same this year too.
How has your trading been going mate?
The loneliness that comes with trading is real @Darri For me it is my only downside to trading.
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@matt-wood saw that blog just as I was scrolling very detailed thought mine was detailed
love that kind of stuff. If not published YouTube videos but my recurring revenue is with YouTube creators so all taxes will funnel down whatever changes will come over years. Still an emerging platform so many new laws will of course come over time still.I'll have a read of that fitness thread. I was a part of a martial art up here in Scotland called soo-yang-do it changed syllabus from choi-kwang-do I think rightly. Made it to first dan which is one belt above black. Loved it then women, alcohol and betting took over
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@darri
Thats fantastic that you have a passion which also can generate an income. I have learnt that this sort of situation is wuite rare for most people, it is a lucky person that can achieve this sort of life.
Just as a side note, although you are probably already aware, if any of your stuff is based around YouTube they are introducing extra taxes for content creators, I would imagine this will affect the creators' editors as well. Not sure how much it will affect us in this country as we have some sort of tax deal with the USA. Probably not overly important to you at this stage if you are treating your projects with no pressure
Best way.Sipox11 has started a good blog. I have had some very good talks with Dan MacKinnon about unders trading. Also the Book club thread has some interesting posts. Also @alan-steward has been posting some helpful stuff in the main thread. The Food and fitness thread has had some great chats lately around martial arts, but thats off topic and more of a personal passion of mine.
No apologies needed Darri, we all have to do things in a way that is best for us as individuals.
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@matt-wood cheers bud, yep it's a passion project that if only just started to monetize. Iv been involved in tv and video stuff before but trading has allowed me to focus on my own work. It's taken a while to build it up started just editing videos for people but now moving into creating them too. Like with how I started trading just gonna see how it goes no pressure.
What kind of topics caught your eye mate? I tried to scroll on the forum but there is way too much to read/catch up on.
We are all looking forward to summer leagues. The reason being it gives everyone more focus. Less games and you spot value more. You'll see even those who tend to struggle start to improve. It's why you'll see the full timers or pros have the same focus for both summer and winter. If you can spot that and add that to your own trading you'll be consistent
It's good to be back sorry for the stop start nature but iv found that I often trade in batches then need rests in between. Just to keep mentally going. Hopefully I'm working on being more consistent so I won't need to do these stops so often.
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@chris-osborne yep c19 effects are noticeable more for the bigger teams. Id like to use that as an excuse for my team Celtic bottling the 10 in a row
still tho I'd be interested to see if goals wise the numbers between this season and last if there is a noticeable difference or if we are just over hyping that angle because there are a couple of major teams struggling. I mean Liverpool for example is that a crowd thing or the fact their defence has totally been wiped with injuries etc. I definitely originally thought the same and still do but I'm sure sky sports will highlight this stuff more near end of season summaries. Pretty sure I read that the schedule is just as bad as previous years just adding in c19 affects that have maybe hampered injuries. As a goal trader tho I'd be interested in goal data and comparing different seasons see how big a difference it is actually having.Iv spoken to James about different sports and value in them. I always stand by this concept. Football and horse racing are very data driven. So odds work more mechanically meaning it's more likely you will adopt a set and forget style. It's more consistent. With tennis and cricket your trading data and opinions. You gain an edge from your individual skill. Master tennis or cricket you'll have way more potential to make bigger returns. It's why I try to trade football with late goals. Because it's involving in play analysis so adds opinion to it giving a slight edge. But it's also why learning tennis and cricket are harder. I now trade football and T20 cricket comps. Nice balance between data driven and uncapped potential.
Glad to see you getting in the groove mate, always like seeing those that stick at it and try real the rewards.
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@darri Welcome back Darri, great to have your voice back on the forum
Great that you have got the video production rolling along. As I understood from reading your blog here it is a passion of yours as well as a potential stream of income.
Fair few new members popping onto the forum lately. As always on here, some interesting chats going on around trading and ideas about methodologies.
As @Chris-Osborne said the summer leagues are kicking in now. This would of particular interest to me as I started during the summer leagues so I will now have a 'like for like' comparison from last year (c19 notwithstanding of course).
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@darri I've been working from home for a year now since the start of the pandemic and the loneliness is something I definitely understand and empathise with.
Football wise I had a rough January but been going ok since then although I have scaled back quite significantly due to the lack of fans. I personally think its having a massive effect on alot of scores and results. Liverpool for instance would never have lost 6 home games in a row with fans present regardless of the players they have out. Not just happening in this country either but all over Europe.
Been focussing more on Tennis which I think eventually will take over from football as my main sport to trade.
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@chris-osborne thanks bud! Yep ngl my initial goal was to be a full time trader the title of this blog/thread speaks for itself. I have since managed to achieve that goal. Along the way however iv seen and experienced issues with being a full time sports trader. Good and bad. Freedom and money are the obvious benefits. But in the last say 4-5 months iv also seen the negatives. The loneliness it brings, this is quite honestly maybe an individual case. Like I said those with kids want a job that gives time that why it's attractive, I don't and I'm at that age when I want to be active all the time. That said I'm still very dependant on trading going forward but hopefully by starting these side projects they will keep me mentally sane/fulfilled. It's why when I trade I run a blog alongside just to help feel involved in the industry rather than just silently trade.
It's great they are back isn't it. I always find it fascinating how people seem to adapt way better to summer leagues. I'm sure it'll be the same this year too.
How has your trading been going mate?
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@darri welcome back, hope the video production went well and sets you up for the future. Not sure how many on here are full time but I would imagine the vast majority have a full time job and are trading as a hobby.
From a football point of view, I guess the main thing going on is summer leagues are gradually starting to get going.
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Just finished my last piece of my project and thought I'd sign back up and see what's happening. I said this to a member earlier, sometimes it's good to have other things outside of trading to keep you going. For me I'm 28 and don't have kids so I'm not aiming to try trading for the freedom it gives time wise to spend with fam, for me it time I can use for other things. So as people will know I setup a video production side project. It was to allow me to get something outside of trading. Trading has allowed me to invest in these things. So don't think I'm leaving just yet. But diversifying is a strong ambition of mine these next few years. When c19 hit only getting Belarus and the Germany to trade opened my eyes to having other streams of income.
I'm looking forward to getting back to this now after taking time away to work on video projects. If someone can catch me up as to what if missed this month that would be great
I'm planning on getting back to live trades and keeping the blog updated. Need to reupload my sheets too. Good to be back and refreshed -
@darri said in The road to full time:
Im gonna be quite quiet on the forum still for another month or so. Working on a project outside of trading for a change as always good to have other income streams ongoing. Been working away at building that up so that i can then not be over reliant on trading as much. Im planning on having a few passive income streams and allowing me to focus on bigger video projects in future. Its a long term ambition for me. Trading is something i expect to use for personal income but the rest goes into business and other streams. Diversifying is something im very keen to get on with. When covid hit it was a reminder that being over reliant on trading isnt always so good. Having only a handful of teams to trade wasnt ideal. So sorry if that means the next few months are quiet. Had planned on going full on transparent mode again with live trades and results etc, but just no time. Using this horrible period of covid to really scale everything up and come out of it in a good position both financially and mentally too.
Ill try to keep the sheets updated as the SHG filter has got some easy data now with which im looking to start to optimise now a decent sample is together. Ill look to do a post on that end of feb as that would be 2 months of games. Hope everyone is doing well. Please ask questions on here and ill get back to you as ill keep popping my head in from time to time.
All the best, Darri.
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@darri said in The road to full time:
Im gonna be quite quiet on the forum still for another month or so. Working on a project outside of trading for a change as always good to have other income streams ongoing. Been working away at building that up so that i can then not be over reliant on trading as much. Im planning on having a few passive income streams and allowing me to focus on bigger video projects in future. Its a long term ambition for me. Trading is something i expect to use for personal income but the rest goes into business and other streams. Diversifying is something im very keen to get on with. When covid hit it was a reminder that being over reliant on trading isnt always so good. Having only a handful of teams to trade wasnt ideal. So sorry if that means the next few months are quiet. Had planned on going full on transparent mode again with live trades and results etc, but just no time. Using this horrible period of covid to really scale everything up and come out of it in a good position both financially and mentally too.
Ill try to keep the sheets updated as the SHG filter has got some easy data now with which im looking to start to optimise now a decent sample is together. Ill look to do a post on that end of feb as that would be 2 months of games. Hope everyone is doing well. Please ask questions on here and ill get back to you as ill keep popping my head in from time to time.
Best wishes on whatever you choose to do, Darri. Don’t be a stranger!
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Im gonna be quite quiet on the forum still for another month or so. Working on a project outside of trading for a change as always good to have other income streams ongoing. Been working away at building that up so that i can then not be over reliant on trading as much. Im planning on having a few passive income streams and allowing me to focus on bigger video projects in future. Its a long term ambition for me. Trading is something i expect to use for personal income but the rest goes into business and other streams. Diversifying is something im very keen to get on with. When covid hit it was a reminder that being over reliant on trading isnt always so good. Having only a handful of teams to trade wasnt ideal. So sorry if that means the next few months are quiet. Had planned on going full on transparent mode again with live trades and results etc, but just no time. Using this horrible period of covid to really scale everything up and come out of it in a good position both financially and mentally too.
Ill try to keep the sheets updated as the SHG filter has got some easy data now with which im looking to start to optimise now a decent sample is together. Ill look to do a post on that end of feb as that would be 2 months of games. Hope everyone is doing well. Please ask questions on here and ill get back to you as ill keep popping my head in from time to time.
