How to develop confidence early in your career

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• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hey everybody, Michael Martin. Thanks for being here. So, a question came in. How did I develop my confidence early on? Granted that it was many years ago, and it was a very, very different world that we lived in. There's a newer trader, has built some momentum, and has asked, this is actually a student of mine. How did you go from having that belief initially to truly internalizing it? How did that then manifest in your behavior in the early parts of your career? So, you have to remember, I came from a great school, but all the money that I had made at that time in my life, which was substantial, was from grinding.

• 0:42Speaker 00

  I had designed and put together a landscape company, taking care of the bigger pieces of property within a 10-mile radius of where I lived. And so, I used to, we called them estates in those days. And so, I could go out and cut an acre of property in about 20 minutes, and then do the manicuring part with the weed whacker, and blah, blah, blah. And I had an aesthetic for it. I had a good eye for it. I also had a big three-foot bobcat that would take me back and forth, it would make the lawn look like a golf course, so people kind of liked that. So, I saved a bunch of money, but then, that was kind of seasonal, and I needed something. So, then, I started waiting tables too, and caddying golf bags.

• 1:26Speaker 00

  And so, how did I have the feeling that was with me, kind of came from more of the fear side? Meaning, I had this great education, and now I had this great job, working mostly as a financial advisor. I really had an opportunity to go from like, broke, poor, middle, lower class, to at least middle class in a white-collar job. That was very new for me, and I didn't want to lose that. So, my performance was like, okay, here's what I need to do to make sure, in those days, we were measured in quintiles. So, they broke the class up into quintiles, based on assets gathered, the number of new accounts that you opened, as well as what we called gross, gross commissions and fees.

• 2:11Speaker 00

  And if you were in the first quintile, you were in the top 20%. So, my goal was to be the top first or second quintile across all three. That did a couple of things for me. One, it wasn't so much a self-esteem thing, but in the eyes of the branch manager who hired me, it helped me understand that I was among the people who were succeeding, at least for that window of time. This came out every month, to give you context. So, it was very nerve-wracking, because you didn't want to slip. Typically, the folks who were in four or five, and stayed there, they didn't make it. And I didn't want to be associated with that, because I didn't want to, I remember I was

• 2:53Speaker 00

  trying to trade, so I didn't want the management to be looking at me if I was in like, fourth or fifth quintile, and trying to be a trader, so I'm not hitting any goals. So, for me, the goal was to try to be a winner, across everything that I did, because I wanted that winning mentality, that winning feeling, and all those feelings running through my body, all the time. Because I believed that they're kind of related. So, for me, it was like, I don't want to fall backwards, because I knew how to wait tables, I knew how to caddie golf bags, I caddied for the club champ, and I knew how to hustle, but it was a grind. And it was also not scalable, because it was all based on my time. I had to exchange time for money.

• 3:38Speaker 00

  And that was the first thing that I wanted to make sure I didn't do, was to bring that blue-collar mindset, save the grit, to Wall Street. Meaning, I didn't think there was any kind of value or valor, even, working in like, a 15-hour day. It was not productive. So, I had to work hard, I had to work smartly, so I thought, what's the best way for me to use my time? Because again, I didn't have money, family money, to support me. I didn't have a trust account. I had to pay my own bills along the way, you see? So, I had all of that going on, that I used as motivation.

• 4:20Speaker 00

  Also, to consider was like, I look at life as a journey, right? And I don't want to sound like a Hallmark card, but there's a lot of ways you can pay your dues. Like, back in the day, a trader would start as a runner, right? And then, even back before then, they were called chalk boys, because there was no digital screens to get the quotes. And so, there'd be, effectively, this gigantic chalkboard in a room, with what would be, effectively, a scaffolding, you know? Or these big stairs, and at the top, there'd be a bit of a platform. So, the thing that, like, if you've ever had to, you know, pull up on a plane to a gate, they do this at Burbank a lot, where there's no gate thing that kind of comes

• 5:03Speaker 00

  to the door, and you walk through the tunnel, and you come out in the airport. You actually have to exit the plane, and you go down the staircase. They had that type of a thing, and you'd stand there with an eraser and a piece of chalk, and they would say, okay, General Electric, or Anacott Steel, was XYZ price, and he would erase the price, and write in the new number, and that was kind of like the board. So, the world had evolved quite a bit, from me, and I knew that I could go back to making a lot of money. And in some cases, I'll be humble enough to tell you that, in the first year, there were weeks where I made, or months, actually, where I made much more money, cash, from having done weighted tables, from having weighted tables and/or caddying golf bags, because I did those at the same time.

• 5:48Speaker 00

  I would go to the golf course in the morning, and then I would wait tables at night. And then, I'd get up, and that would be weekend shift, so that was bigger money. But even in those days, I was making like, 1,500 cash. Like, I was a dog, a dog! So, you know, that's, you know, making 4,500 to, you know, 6,000 cash, then that's a long time ago. Like, man, I'm not cheap, I like to have nice things, I just don't need crap, right? So, I don't spend money on things, just for the sake of doing it. But if I had to, I could live on 6K.

• 6:30Speaker 00

  I don't have a fancy car, I don't need that, don't need to go out, don't need a collection of cars, I'm very, so what I do need is paint, you know, I need some yellows. And I buy expensive paints, so that's my advice. But actually, Rover here is going away. Someone asked if they could buy it, so I might sell it, but I'm doing a lot more painting, and I just have the place to dry. So, say goodbye to my red dalmatian. They do happen in nature, it's a recessive gene, in case you want to know, although most are black. So, this is how I built momentum, was just believing in myself, because I didn't want to fall backwards.

• 7:12Speaker 00

  And then, I stayed in the things that I was hired to do, to stay in those top quintiles, also honoring your stops. We're going to talk about that, today's Wednesday, we'll talk about that Friday, in that, no matter how you think, no matter how you feel, no matter how aggravated you know you're going to feel, when you get knocked out of a trade, no matter how pissed you're going to be, for having taken that loss, those feelings are still superior to the despondency that you would be in, if you knew better and didn't put the trade in, right? And then, lost more money than you really should have, because you thought it wasn't going to happen to you. So, all of that stuff built my confidence up, because I was doing the things that successful traders did, even though I didn't have the money, and I didn't have the track record. What I mean by money, I mean assets under management.

• 7:57Speaker 00

  You know, because my own capital was very limited at the beginning. So, it was looking at all of those little wins, those micro, in marketing, they call them marketing, micro-conversions. Some follow me on Twitter, it's not a big ask, you know what I'm saying? Please like and subscribe, right? It's a micro-conversion. So, those were the things that I did. I said, like, this is a journey, it's a marathon, I'd love to have great success in a month, but in a month's time, if you have great success, you don't know if it's skill, or you don't know if it's luck. So, I let go of that. I let go of needing that immediate dopamine hit. I needed consistency. So, I focused on that path.

• 8:39Speaker 00

  Like, if I do things consistently, I'll get consistent results. It was basic algebra, right? So, those were the things that I focused on. If you have anything that you're working on, like this, in your own path, that, you know, don't get sidetracked when people are like, I just made 10,000 today on this best scalp, blah, blah, blah. That's where they are in their journey. Good for them. I don't think those types of things, I'll give you a great example. In '05, '06, I was up over 300%. Three markets went parabolic for me. Sugar, copper, and gold. Gold was trading at like, 560 bucks the ounce. All three went parabolic. I virtually had no buying power in my account.

• 9:24Speaker 00

  My margin to equity was about 100%. And I teach off those documents, because I have the monthly statements, I have the charts, I have the trade confirmations, and it talks, it's not about making the money, it's about being in the zone, and knowing when to amp up your size, when you're there. But if you go look through inner voice trading, none of those trades are mentioned. Why? Because gloating about wins, and how much money you have, and that you're an innate figure this, that doesn't help most people. What helps them is the relatable story about, what does it feel like when you feel like a failure, and you still want to get up the next day, and try to do this? When you have no evidence that you're going to ever succeed?

• 10:06Speaker 00

  That's the 90% of this business that, to me, matters the most, which is why, you know, I'm not going to go on those shows, and talk about bullshit, that doesn't really matter, because that's all hype, right? And I'm happy to have my 7,300 subscribers, because I know you're all here, working hard on hitting your goals. And this stuff, as you've said to me in the comments, is more life-changing, right? So, it is more about like, I don't want to give you fish, I'm going to teach you how to fish, so that you can do it for yourself, it'd be a much more rewarding experience. Anyway, keep the comments and questions, please like and subscribe, micro-conversion. I do get the data, and that data is valuable, so that when I come to the microphone like

• 10:47Speaker 00

  this, I hopefully create something that's going to resonate very well with the audience, because there's no other mechanism of feedback. Some people write emails, some people leave comments, but once you like or subscribe, that data tells me a lot in the YouTube dashboard. Anyway, thanks for being here, folks, I'll see you tomorrow.