My two biggest lessons learned as a trader are take risks and get comfortable with taking losses and setbacks to help move you forward.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It's important to understand how people perceive risk, and how that translates into investment behavior.
There is no training, classroom or otherwise, that can prepare for trading the last third of a move, whether it's the end of a bull market or the end of a bear market.
I talk a lot about taking risks, and then I follow that up very quickly by saying, 'Take prudent risks.'
The best restraint is old-fashioned market discipline, in which financial traders know that they, personally, will lose a ton of money if they take risky bets that don't pan out.
When I take a risk, I like it to be a calculated risk, meaning I make it as small as possible.
I've made mistakes in business, but none so big I couldn't recover and learn from them. The more you try to change consumer behaviour, the riskier it gets. You have to work out your potential losses against the obvious gains.
Just taking risks for risk's sake, that doesn't do it for me. I'm willing to take risks that I think are worth it, and I've worked so hard to make sure that I survive.
Business wise, I have always learned valuable lessons so I don't regret any decisions I have made.
In business, you try to minimise risk.
The most important thing is to stay the course - not to get shaken out of the market during a difficult time.