Operating in Abundance

 How do you operate in abundance if life, the markets and everything else feels like its crashing down on you?

Nag prepare ka naman but still, you lost?

Ginawa mo naman lahat but still, it wasn't enough?

Inaral mo naman pero still, nag fail?

It's depressing. I know. Been there not just once, but many times and in different instances. It's part of life and part of being human.

As a trader, I think I've witnessed at least 7 bear cycles and lost millions in the process. It's a humbling experience but It was necessary for me to learn important lessons.

One lesson that I've learned is that life operates in cycles or seasons - just like the markets. There will be good times or bull markets and there will be bad times or bear markets.

Most of the time, we anchor who we are on our job, our relationships, our thoughts, our abilities, who we think we are, 

and most especially... 

the money in our bank accounts. 

Ever notice how you feel so successful when you make that good trade that makes you thousands or millions? Then feel depressed when you lose? 

Parang crypto lang eh no? Volatile.

I just turned 33 and here's one core lesson that I've learned going through these cycles.

What you have or your net worth is not your identity.

If you want to live life to the full and operate in abundance to the point where you overflow, then anchor your identity to God who is the source of everything.

As history has shown time and time again the markets will crash, pwede rin na hindi ka piliin ni crush, your investments may depreciate, you might not get that promotion that you hoped for, or win that championship, and yes all these things hurt. But if you understand who you are and how God sees and loves and chooses you every single day and anchor on that -- even if it hurts right now, you will be operating in abundance and that will translate to your future victories.

Everything fails.

God won't.

Pain and Mastery

Here's one way to visualize how traders become masters of the craft and their style. 

(Credits to RedBull)

 

It's months or years of trial and error and repeating the process until you achieve your desired results. 

Is it painful? 

Yes. 

You lose thousands and millions, sometimes your precious relationships and a bit of your sanity in the so-called "process" for what? The skill to create wealth; to regain everything you've lost and more -  time, relationships, and ultimately, 

Yourself.

To all you traders who are still in the process of finding themselves, may God be with you in your journey. Do tell me how it goes once you've reached mastery. I'm pretty sure it's going to be quite a story.

Personal Notes Series 027 : Where's Zeefreaks?

This pandemic season has been an insane ride for me. It's been two years but it feels like 5. I've been working my ass off with my team to build the best trading community, make deals, and expand my network. 

Everything is paying off.

If you've been following me for some years now but aren't part of our closed community, just watching from the sidelines, I think at this point you should know that before we got to the sweet spot where we are, there was chaos. I'd like to call it the dark ages of ZFT3.0.

The company (ZFT) was mismanaged due to my incompetence as a leader and a business owner. I don't think my being ideal was a sin in business, as it drives innovation... but my naivety was. I was also too passive and didn't correct mistakes, trying to be on people's good side at the expense of the greater good. We actually almost closed down. 

I think the worst thing we were able to uncover was our 2nd highest officer in the company who secretly messaged incoming students to enroll in his underground course instead of ours. You'd be surprised what people are capable of doing in pursuit of money, fame, or power.

I'll save the rest of the tea for those who request it in our community. It's quite a series of stories and revelations.

I'll never forget the words of the lawyer I consulted about my case, he said "Having friends is good. But control is better." 

But you know what? I'm grateful for these experiences. Because for those who decided to stay, it was a revealing moment. We understood what we wanted and what we didn't. Despite the pain, the mocking, and the doubts, we decided to rebuild. 

It wasn't easy. It's funny when we talk about it now... my team would always confess how they thought we were NGMI, because we weren't like the all-star cast that left. 

Well, let me tell you that if you have a clear vision in your mind of the future you desire and a team of like-minded individuals, you're all gonna make it. 

Fast forward to the present and we now have over 10 employees and dozens of volunteers working across all our communities.

We were able to build a network of at least 700 in our closed community called the Trading Republic. A FREE learning community of ~20k members (Trading For Rookies by ZFT) where you can learn about trading with our OWN (not copy-paste stuff) curated albums of reading materials and videos and a dedicated group for the youth (Youth Traders by ZFT).

We were able to publish our very own unique and interactive book on trading (for beginners and I promise you, it's child friendy) that is set to be released this quarter. 

 

Over 10M php worth of company assets handled by at least 15 of our own traders (yep, we fund our outstanding students and community members) across local, global, and crypto markets.

An upcoming discord server called Playworks dedicated to covering anything under the crypto sun. P2E, NFTs, DeFi, Launchpads, Investments,  etc. (You can join with this undying link https://discord.gg/WcMnuvcDfj)

Here's some alpha for you, we've got 4 teams here that I want you to know of...

NFT Mavericks, our investment committee.

TR.E-Games, a guild dedicated to managing P2E pilots or scholars.

NFT Vanguards, a team dedicated to filtering the noise across the space.

Project Trident, the company's official funded team dedicated to NFT flipping and investing. 

I've finally established a network of insiders that regularly offer business opportunities that can make life-changing money for the average Filipino - opportunities I will be opening to our closed community (because unfortunately, unlike trading, these kinds of deals are limited.)

It's amazing what the crypto industry was able to do for me. Opportunities and new networks have opened that I was able to amass insane wealth in such a short amount of time that I have now unlocked my parameters for being an investor. Even if I stop working and don't trade or do anything at all, I'd still make at least mid 6 to probably 7 figures (in a bull run)

every

single

month.

How much more if I work?

But even with this kind of abundance, I love my job. I don't ever think I'd stop.

DeFi is the way, my friends.

This is why I'm able to dedicate my attention to building the community we have. And one of my goals is to have more people in our network, experience this level of financial state. 

A great community is built with great culture and leadership. And if you surround yourself with a network of people who share the same principles and vision, you are set for success.

I'm excited about this year because we're finally establishing our DAO. I won't be able to disclose much on this but here's the gist: think of Trading Republic as a community-owned company. So whenever you support any of our paid products and services, you're supporting the community and its interests.

There are many other plans I have in mind but talk is cheap. I'd rather show them to you once it's done.

It's amazing how just several years ago we were just anonymous trolls trading the PSE. We've accomplished a lot and there's so much more left to do... 

Doomfist was right. Only through conflict do we evolve.

There have been plenty of instances where life dealt me bad cards. But it doesn't really matter. If life doesn't give me the cards I want, I'll work hard to earn it.

 There are two kinds of luck.

The first is what everybody knows.

The second is hard work.