Being Your Own Boss
The responsibilities you have as a self-employed trader are going to be much different from the duties you did in your old regular day job. In the latter case, your responsibilities were to stay away from Internet Surfing, do your job and make sure that you used the time you were at work as efficiently as possible to help your company. When you’re a self-employed trader, much of what you know about working will be turned completely on its head.
Stringent Money Management
If you’re accustomed to getting a regular check, the first thing you’re going to find out about being a self-employed trader is that some strict rules are will need to be put in place for managing the money you make trading. It’s just part of the world of being self-employed, in general. Sometimes, you’ll get a big fat check when your trades close with profits and sometimes you will end the day flat. In fact, there may even be periods of just break-even trades which translates to not much income at all.
The first part of dealing with the anxiety of your paycheck being entirely dependent on your trading prowess is accepting that it is an unavoidable condition of being self-employed. Self-employment means a lot of freedom but along with freedom comes a lot of responsibility. Make sure you squirrel some of your profits away for those weeks when the markets are slow. Get used to the idea that a fat paycheck is a resource you may have to exploit for an extended period, not a bonus that you can blow willy-nilly on impulse purchases. The real thing is this has a way of teaching you to appreciate the money you do have.
Taking Breaks Away From the Trading Screen
When you’re self-employed, whether that means building web pages, working with a day trading system or doing anything else to make your living, you can get carried away with the amount of time you spend working. As a self-employed person, you’re going to have to realize that there is a point when sitting at your computer working on problems isn’t doing you any good and when it starts to do you harm.
Learning to take breaks and get away from the computer for a little bit is going to be something that requires discipline when you’re a self-employed trader. In fact, the situation will be just the opposite of a more traditional day job. Rather than waiting for break time, you’re going to have to discipline yourself to get up and take those breaks so that you don’t become stressed out and ineffective.
Like all things worth of doing in like, it will take change and skill to become successful as a self-employed trader. Whether you work from your home or rent an office, starting out a new life as a self-employed trader will require you to change your understanding of a typical work day. You must member to get a good night’s sleep, exercise away built up stress and give yourself permission to take breaks throughout the day.