Apparently there are some people who visit this blog who don’t quite understand the point of what I am doing. The most obvious example is the person who emailed me with a complaint earlier today. I tracked that guy down and called him on the phone and he told me I did not misunderstand his criticisms, he thought he was being helpful….I disagree.

Ya know, I have been doing this blog for nearly one year and I have to say that it has been fun sharing my market views and experiences with what is generally a good and positive group of people. I have established new friendships and learned more about the markets from your feedback too. I do not mind constructive criticism, isn’t that how we grow? I may not agree with your opinions, but that is what makes a market, right? The emails I get are overwhelmingly positive and on a rare occasion I get the one like I did today and it annoys the hell out of me because the person who wrote it somehow thinks that I owe him something. Please remember that I am not directly compensated for this blog and neither are any of the other fine bloggers (the blogs on my links and dozens of other great ones) I know out there. I write/ do videos for a few reasons, if you haven’t figured those reasons out here they are.

I am a businessman. I want to maximize my earnings potential and this blog is one way which I try to do that. I have tried various approaches to generating revenue from this blog; uploading my videos to Revver because they imbed advertisements which I can get paid for (although I’ve never made more than $200 in a month with them), I have also put a “PAYPAL DONATE” button on the side, which has generated some income, but if I were to put an hourly figure it based on the time spent researching the market and getting those ideas out there I would qualify for food stamps. I also use this blog to promote (in an unoffensive way) a class that I teach once per month at MarketWise. This class has had great feedback FEEDBACK and I have consistently been told that it is a great value. By the way, next class is THIS FRIDAY if you use coupon code “TRIMW” you will save $100 off the listed price of $299. Those are my financial reasons for this blog. All of the money I receive is voluntary from the reader, I do not charge a subscription fee and I truly appreciate the good natured people who donate.

Now for the warm and fuzzy reasons for this blog. Like I said, I have met some great people who read this blog, people I consider to be good friends and good friends are hard to find…so that is very cool in my eyes. I also remember what it was like to start in this difficult business and how hard it was to find good information from a real trader, that is what I try to provide each day (I trade everyday). I really do like helping others and am a sucker for that golden rule of treating others fairly. Anyway…I do care what people think of my work because I take pride in it and for someone (granted it is one ignorant person with anger issues) to tell me to work harder or say I am copping out annoys me.

This blog also helps me clarify my own thoughts and hear different perspectives about my ideas, it helps me be a better trader.

Let me make my current view of the market 100% clear just in case I haven’t articulated it as well as I thought I have. I believe that the recent sell off MIGHT BE the beginning of a further setback for this market and the recovery has been very unconvincing in my eyes. My opinion will probably change based on more market action, but right now I think that the market is dangerous and that most people should be either sitting on the sidelines until things become clearer or that they should be aggressively daytrading…or they should be looking elsewhere for their ideas. I do not have all the answers, no one does! When I don’t have firm convictions I am not going to make something up just so I have ideas on my blog, that would be insulting my readers.

I hope this helps explain what I am trying to do. And now I don’t feel like “working harder” so no video with fresh ideas for tomorrow (: