Jody Samuels is still a trader, a coach and a business woman, as she was when we interviewed her for the first time five years ago. Her business is different in what she offers, but it is still about educating other traders. She talks about the challenges in working home and the sets of habits she needs to develop being her own boss. She also underlines how crucial it is for female traders to keep time for themselves – “The key is to be organized and to learn how to say ‘no’ when necessary.”
Coaching Traders
* Do you still have the same job than the last time we spoke, in July 2010?
In the interview conducted 5 years ago, I was focusing more on my FX Trader’s EDGE coaching program and working one on one with traders. Today, my business looks completely different in the sense that we have a solid course offering which revolves around understanding the convergence of the key analysis techniques, Elliott Wave Analysis, Fibonacci, and Harmonics, and combining it with strategy to find high probability trades. We also provide daily Elliott Wave commentary on various currencies and CFD’s, to give traders a roadmap for where we think these markets are headed. To further keep traders on track with the price action, we offer daily analysis rooms during New York and London. Ironically, with my book being released in August by Wiley called The Trader’s Pendulum – The Ten Habits of Highly Successful Traders, I feel that I will do some more one on one coaching once the book comes out.
Keep time for oneself
* I think you work from home. How do you manage to keep work and private life separate?
Yes, I work from home and keep to myself during the work day. My children are older now, so they require less of my immediate attention and my husband also works out of the house albeit in a different floor. So our paths don’t really cross until dinnertime. The exception is when we play tennis together during the summer months – we try to play 3 times a week. The challenge for me in working from home is establishing a start time and an end time to be at my computer. I have a tendency to work evenings and I’ve been told by my family they don’t appreciate the amount of time I spend at my computer. This has been exacerbated with the book writing process this year, as there just didn’t seem to be enough hours in a day! Now that the book is finished, I can breathe some fresh air and plan my working hours better.
* What do you love and hate about running your own business?
I love the freedom, creativity, flexibility and independence of running my own business. I love some of the challenges of running a business when it means growing the business. I also hate the challenges at times, especially when I feel like I am up against a ceiling of complexity and need to simplify things. Sometimes I have to take a step back and try to observe my business as an outsider. I also need to make sure that I have the right team in place to bounce ideas off of and help grow the business through the marketing and promotional side.
* What does it take to be your own boss?
Being my own boss requires developing a set of positive habits that supports my business. These habits include taking the time to periodically review the goals, performance metrics and strategies for building the business; getting clear on any obstacles or hurdles that stand in the way such as people, business strategy or execution; maintaining focus and accountability by having clear priorities; and, keeping up with the technological advances in order to better serve our trader clients.
* Any advice on how women can balance personal and professional lives, now in 2015?
Women need to be so much more organized than men, no kidding! A woman in a family can easily be pulled in so many different directions and lose sight of her strengths and abilities and what her passion is for making a difference. While it is important to manage the needs of a family, it is also key for women to make time for themselves and organize their schedule to make time for their trading. One of the main characters in my book is a woman struggling to balance her trading career with motherhood. It is certainly something that many women struggle with. The key is to be organized and to learn how to say “no” when necessary.
Women’s instinct
* Do you still have the same opinion about the differences between men and women in trading than five years ago?
Five years ago, I said that women may have more of an intuition about the market, almost like a gut feeling that the market will go up or down. I also said that women might be more conservative and less aggressive than men. While these are sweeping generalizations with absolutely no proof on my part, let’s go with it with some caveats.
If it is indeed true that women have intuition, they still have to trade with a clearly defined strategy and trade plan. What the intuition does is stop them from taking all trades, almost like a filter, so that the high probability trades are supported by that gut instinct. There are also some very talented men that have that ability, just by internalizing the market setups that seem to do better than others and going with those. It would certainly be interesting to do a poll to see if some of the gender differences discussed five years ago are true today. Because one thing is clear. I am seeing more and more women traders now than I did five years ago.
Links:
- ‘Women have an intuition about the market, almost like a gut feeling’ – Jody Samuels (Interview July 2010)
- Jody’s webinars and articles on FXStreet
- FX Trader’s Edge, Jody’s website