On... Running a Business

Trade like you're running a business, not like it's a hobby. Because business makes money and hobby costs money. 

Well, to be honest, a lot of business don't make money and they go bankrup, but that's not how we want our trading/investing to end. So what is the criteria of running a successful business? To me, three things come to mind. 1.Money, 2.Time and 3.Luck.

1.Money. Every business require money. Capital Expenditure to start the business and Operating Expenditure to keep the business running. So, if we want to run our trading as a business we should be prepared to fork out some capital to get it started and also to expect some monthly expenses to keep our trading business running. Example of Operating Expenditure can be our trading losses. If we're not prepared to take losses, then we can't run our trading as a business. Of course we would like the profit to more than the losses over a long period of time, but in the short term, losses are inevitable. 

2.Time. No one who just started a business will just let it run on autopilot. After the business have matured and is well established, you might hire someone to run it, but you will still need to oversee it. When the business is just starting out, time and effort is a must. It is the same if you're running your trading as a business. If you only spend 5 minutes per day, don't expect to beat the market. If you want to run it successfully, spend as much time and effort as some one who just started a business.

3.Luck. Luck is a must in everything we do. And business is not any different. Sometimes things might not go our way despite our best efforts, and that's life. 

If you want to succeed in trading and investing, treat it like a  business. That's what the pros do and that's why they're successful.