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Bao 0:00
Hey guys, this is Bao, better known as modern rock. Welcome to our second podcast.
Alex 0:06
What’s up everyone, my name Im Alex 26 years old I have been trading for about six years now. And today’s gonna be a really special episode to today’s episode is going to be about how bow and myself got started trading, and how we kind of met each other and kind of where we are today. But before I continue, I kind of want to mention that if you’re brand new to trading, if you don’t know anything about stocks or the market, bow and I create a free two hour mentorship course for the brand new trader, there’s no strings attached, there’s no funny business, all you have to do is reserve your spot at my investing club.co. So let’s get started about do you want to kind of talk about your job?
Bao 0:45
Well, this is gonna be a special edition because I’ve always wanted to tell my story as in how I started and what it takes and the reality behind what it takes. Because a lot of people think that trading you have to be from Ivy League, you have to go to Harvard, you have to be this, you have to be that you have to have a lot of money. And that’s further from the truth man. The best traders. I know, they didn’t, they didn’t grow up rich. They didn’t go to college. They didn’t go to Ivy League’s they, what they had in common was they work their ass off. They’re disciplined, and they never gave up. And so that’s what we want to talk about today. Because Alex and I are very different in terms of our backgrounds, in terms of who we are our age difference, things like that. But we have something very in common. We were very passionate, but we do. We’re very hardworking. And you know, we care, we care truly care of ourselves, our families, all that stuff. And so all that has translated to our success and my success, and I’m not talking about financially, I’m talking about just being the person that we are that we want to be come. So with that in mind, let me start by telling everyone how I started Okay, Alex, I’ve been trading for a long time, man. Like over two decades, people didn’t realise that stocks used to trade in fractions, man. Right now you see a stock trading, let’s say at $2.52. It didn’t happen back then. Back then it was actually is weird. I still want to say like, we think about it logically should be in decimals like it is now. Right? But it wasn’t for some strange reason fractions meant IBM was trading $104.03 eighths. What the heck is a three eight. So we used to have these capillaries. I used to have a calculation by my desk, Alex. And I would actually have to be 3/ 16 What the hell is that? Right? So you have a bit like 103 sixteenths by 105 sixteenths, I will be just like, what’s the spread? It’s so we came very good at math. So back then it was kind of funny, right? I mean, if you think about logical nouns, like, what the heck, computers were like, We’re doing that stuff. You don’t say? So it seems kind of counter intuitive. But the reason they did that, in my opinion before is because when you do get fractions, the spread is so big, because with decimals, you can get down to one penny, right, Alex? And what is a penny? In fractions? It’s 1/100. You don’t see that? The most I’ve seen is like 64 or 32. But if you’re doing $100 stocks, you do 1/4 1/8. And you imagine, you know like right now, if a stock was trading at let’s say 25 cents spread, you’re like holy cow. That’s a big spread, right? Imagine you’re trading in fractions, you’re trading by 25 cents you’re trying 1/4 is 25 cents. And so the market makers, were making the spread these companies, these brokers making the spread, and so they were big bucks back then.
How Did You Get Into Day Trading?
Bao 3:46
And so when he started to become decimalized, people were scared, because everyone’s scared of changes, right. So I remember back then when they started talking about decimalisation when I was like, holy cow, how can you trade the trade? I wasn’t an expert trader by The Back then I was just gambling. At that point. I just started trading. I was just gambling. But they thought that the world would end decimalisation and y2k, things like that. So it’s kind of funny where the market has shifted, when logically should have been a decimal to begin with. Who the heck is trading and three eighths, right, things like that. So that’s the world that I came from. But even before then, now I want to talk about we don’t want to do this podcast to try to inspire you as to you know it, you don’t need to start. You don’t need to have like an Ivy League education. You don’t need to have like super rich parents in order to day trade. And day trading is not gambling. So the moment I became successful at day trading is the moment I realised that it is not gambling, if you do it correctly is not gambling. So how when you started trading Alex it was already decimals, right?
Alex 4:55
when I started trading, it was right when the marijuana stocks were We’re collapsing. So everyone made a shitload of money on the marijuana stocks. I wasn’t really involved. And as I started, everything just went straight fucking down. And I was like, What the hell is going on here? Because I didn’t know that I as a small time trader could trade NASDAQ stocks, I thought that I could only trade penny stocks, OTC stocks because I wasn’t a professional, you know?
Bao 5:21
Yeah, man. It’s like, dude, the marijuana was crazy, man. I mean, many millions on this. That crazy. It was crazy. But anyways, even before that, man, let’s, let’s let us talk about our upbringing, how we grew up, and so people can understand, like, where we came from, right? I’m actually an immigrant man, I came. You’ve probably heard this story many times. But I’m going to tell it again. From my point of view. I came to America when I was five years old, didn’t speak a language. I was actually a Vietnamese boat person. That was the name technically after the war. So after the Vietnam War, it was very bad. And so people were trying to escape Vietnam. So my family my mom got into a boat. It was a tiny house boat. I posted pictures of this on Twitter. People could believe me. But we escaped man, it was three days in the ocean. No food, no water. My best recollection of my favorite meal was when we were finally rescued on the boat and the sailor guy. I forgot who rescued us. But it was on our way to Thailand. They gave me crackers, dude, and I still remember this cracker for the rest of my life.
Alex 6:36
Oh man you found that first. So for those that don’t know, we do the podcasts on audio. And we also do it on video on YouTube. And the video version, I’m pulling up the picture of bow from Vietnam. So if you want check out the podcast on YouTube, it’s youtube.com/my Investing Club.
Bao 6:53
Yeah thanks for finding that man. I mean, for the longest time, I was very ashamed of this photo growing up because I was like, Who wants to be an immigrant dude, I when I saw this photo was actually in Thailand. And this was like taking taken like, not too long ago, but that we actually arrived in Thailand. So we got saved as the whole thing was to flee Vietnam to go to Thailand, because Thailand now we are refugees so that we so my dad was in the war. He was in America raised so he sponsors over from Thailand. But that picture is very significant, man. I mean, I for the longest time I was so ashamed of this photo because I’m like, I just want to be a regular kid. I want to be a regular American. I want to be thought of as like some dark skinned kid who’s from Vietnam and back then it wasn’t like this today. This was 1980s I arrived in like 1980 or something like that. And I lived in Portland, Oregon men, Portland, Oregon. I was the only Asian in the whole entire truss. It was me and one African American named Ray Ray Do you remember it to this day? We I got bullied every day they call me Bow wow wasn’t cool back then. And before the rapper little bow wow. Bow wow back then was like a dog barking at me. It was It was horrible, man. And so this is what the adversity I grew up with. It is beginning English. We were poor. We were on welfare. I mean, which is you know, trying to fucking survive. Do people would not believe it the way that I am today. People still don’t believe it. But when I look back, I still don’t believe I cannot believe I was even alive. A lot of people that escaped Vietnam that we made it. It was like so this is a very similar story to your dad.
My Dad’s Journey to the United States
Alex 8:40
My dad lived in Turkey. So he lived in a village in Turkey. And they had a house the size of a closet. I think it was like made out of stone or something. Something old school. He had three brothers and four sisters living under one roof. His father was a blacksmith, you know, the makes like fucking metal shit. And basically they were they were bullied and hazed all their life because they were religious. Right? So my family is Christian. And in Turkey, a lot of people are not, they’re not into that stuff. So every single day after school day, there used to be kids that threw rocks at my dad and his siblings. And the moment that my grandfather found out about that, he built them all these fucking metal rods he did his blacksmith shit to build a metal rods, so that if anyone ever threw rocks at them again, they would have a way to protect themselves. So after all that shit, you know, my father wants to kind of have a different life and come to America. He said it’s the land of opportunities where everyone is going, his goal was to go there to make enough money to bring his family to America. So he came here in his early 20s. I think he was maybe 21 or 22 didn’t speak language only spoke Turkish that didn’t have really $1. The way that he came here is he went to Canada. And then from Canada, he came to New York. So he actually, it’s kind of crazy. Because I think about myself, man, like, if right now I’m 25 years old, and I fucking fly to Russia. And I don’t know the language and I don’t have any money, I have no idea how I would ever survive there. Yet, my dad found a way to do it. And it’s kind of blows my mind, like the whole story of even You bao like you coming and not really not knowing anything. And being bullied is kind of crazy, because shit, man, it’s like, it’s like, I can’t do that stuff today. So I have a very deep level of respect and admiration for anyone that kind of does that stuff these days.
Bao 10:45
But that’s the thing I feel sometimes, like, I am like your dad, Alex. And I’m like you as well. You know, I’m like combination, because, you know, I went through the adversity that your dad did, but at same time, it’s like, you went through the same shit that I went through, you know? So it’s the same exact bullying, same thing, because people don’t understand this man. They look at you, Alex. And they go, Oh, that’s a rich kid. But they don’t understand that the struggles that your dad went through, you still saying they just take it for granted. They look at me now. It’s the same exact thing. They look at me and they go, this guy that drives nightclub. He doesn’t relate. He’s an asshole. He’s an egomaniac. He has, you know, it’s like, dude, do you not understand that? That doesn’t mean shit. For me. It’s everybody is can do this. So my whole thing when I grew up, man was to be able to tell the world that hey, man, I am not marginalised. The people that are immigrants, the people that are, you know, like, the people that that work their ass off to get what they’re, you know, like, Dude, it those are the people that pressed me the most. And when I grew up, there was really hardly anybody that fucking helped me, man, I came to this realisation that societies kind of fucked up in the sense of they only want to help people and the benefits themselves. So like the Paul I want to get the policy with the politicians always do stuff because they want to get votes. friends want to be friends with someone because they got money or fame or something they want from them, right. And so it was a very sad feeling growing up to be very lonely, to be able to me to be to be like, basically shoved aside like trash. Because that’s what we were meant I was an immigrant. My family was an immigrant. We were considered fucking trash, dude. It’s like, how do we help society? How do we help America. And so growing up I cared so much fucking hate with me. Which drove me to my success as well I can say but same time, I was very angry. I was not happy. I did everything for the wrong reasons that it just so happens. I made it. That’s because I had to do I had taken There’s no fucking choice. There was no safety net, there was no if I felt I’m dead. You shouldn’t say so. So that was the whole thing I didn’t know as an agent as well. Like, if you felt not only do you let yourself down, you let your family down your, your dynasty down your ethnicity down, your your dog down whoever the fuck it is, you know, say it was the most horrible feeling so. So I’m stuck in this fucking Asian world, but I’m not really Vietnamese, Vietnamese, I’m saying I’m not really American. So it’s kind of like half so. So I am a very represent very, like normal representation of fucking the American fucking like melting pot. There’s so many people like us just wanting to, you know, just to have our own piece of the American dream, right? So I’ll tell you how I how I did it, guys. I did it by you know what, man, I could fight back. I could do whatever. But I chose that reason that that energy to fucking have a purpose. And so you can take your chip on off your shoulder and either do something negative and fight and do stupid shit like that and hate on others people. I hated people. But I didn’t fucking act on it. That’s the difference I channelled it to do while I do my whole goal was to say one day and fuck you. I’m going to be your boss for you to come and ask me for a fucking job. I will fucking say no, that was my fucking dream as a kid, you know, saying so. At what but when that happened, it didn’t really make me fucking happy. So I’ll tell you one good story that kind of changed my life as well. So I was I was maybe in eighth grade or ninth grade I forget was one of those. I used to get beat up every day and in PE so you know, like the the locker room you take off your shirt, you change your pee. Every time I took on my shirt. I was a little chubby little Asian kid, whatever. And so the guy next to me was a big big guy. He was like an and he would beat me up every fucking day. And I was like, I fucking hate it but I had no choice. I was what what can I do? So only they had us laugh it off, but I As I hate to go into PE dude, hate doing this shit, but I sucked it up. And then that one day I got sick. And then I went back, and I go, where’s that bullying? Where’s the end the someone next to me goes to you didn’t hear yesterday when you’re gone sick. He got stabbed, but who the hell stabbed them? This Asian kid next to him so I wasn’t around for him to bully so he tried to bully the neighbour. But the neighbour was a thug. He took a pencil and stabbed them. So they both us belt. They both got expelled, and I was like, oh my god, now I have fought so everything happens for a reason. You know, it’s just very unfortunate. So then that’s when I realised there’s two ways to act in life. You know, people piss you off all the time. You can either suck it up like I do and and fucking challenge it. Or can we act negatively like him? So I mean, I don’t I mean, you could call me a pussy or I’m not but it’s kind of like that helped me man. What What good is it for me and my family? I got expelled. Right. It had been during the hallway. The hell it is the stabbing, right. So. So that taught me a valuable lesson in life too. Is that okay? Bad? Ego is one thing, but just you can’t be too fucking stupid, man. Same thing with you, man. I mean, like Starbucks, people don’t believe like, how did you end up in Starbucks? You told me, but I don’t know. You want to share with people.
Getting a Job at Starbucks
Alex 16:22
Yeah, I mean? Sure. So let me actually pull up the photo. So this is me when I was working at Starbucks, if you can see the screen, Photoshop, bro. Yeah, me Photoshop. Right, this is skinny. So what ended up happening is so my dad came to this country in the 80s. He opened up his own business. And he was thriving for a very long time until I think it was early 2007, early 2008, his business went bankrupt. So all of a sudden, all the hard work that he did, and everything that he worked has asked for was almost disappeared instantly because of the whole, you know, 2000 1000 2007 2008 in America. So, you know, I had a choice, I could either just sit there and do nothing, or I could try to get a job and try to help my family out. So that’s kind of how the whole Starbucks thing started. There was a Starbucks, maybe five minutes away from my house, I applied to get the job there. I learned everything about the whole business and the drinks and everything. And the crazy part was back then, you know, I was making, I think it was like 100 or $120 a week. After taxes.
Bao 17:31
How old were you in this picture? Man?
Alex 17:33
This picture is gotta be when I was like 18 or 19. So yeah, I think I was I think I was end of high school first year college or something like that. Very, very early. So I started just working there because I said, you know, that’s probably going to be I just wanted a job, man, I just wanted a job to make some money. I had a girlfriend at the time. So basically, the way that I split up my money was, you know, gas was really, really expensive back then. So to fill up my tank, it was like 60 hours. So I fill up my tank for $60 You know, I took my girlfriend out to the movies for 40 bucks, maybe had some food for like 30 bucks and that was that I had no more money left for the entire week. So I was working my ass off the entire week just to be able to you know hang out with this girl make her happy and you know what ended up happening is she broke up with me and I was really upset so this was kind of like my first real girlfriend at the time. And I really liked her and I was head over heels this just been young I guess but
Bao 18:31
She broke up with you for the manager.
Alex 18:33
And she broke up with me I think she found she found someone better I guess I don’t know. Someone more good looking. But
Bao 18:40
really Oh that’s awesome, man. You see the commonalities now so working at Starbucks it takes I mean dude I don’t know if I can work at Starbucks now it because people were screaming at you right your
Alex 18:53
you have no idea you have no idea so there’s guys ordering you know? Venti double Frappuccino lattes with skim milk and you know all this shit that you got to remember and they they are they’re really they have no no patience for you. You know what I’m saying?
Bao 19:06
Yeah, cuz the people that drink coffee in the morning man they give me my damn coffee man. I can’t start my day and stuff so and then I see a man it’s like it takes a certain personnel a personal personality to like be able to take it because I’m Yeah, I I work retail. My first job actually was at I’m at a great news.
Where Did You Get Your Name?
Bao 19:25
It’s called Great American was Six Flags amusement park. So I actually worked there for fucking minimum wage to $3.50 Wow, that’s how old I home. My minimum wage back then was $3.50. I remember working for dude basically almost a month and got like three and $1 paycheck my first paycheck. I remember exactly what I did with it. I bought a CD player, CD player for almost like $253 That’s that’s expensive right back then. And two CDs and all I work our entire fucking month due to buy like two CDs. And CDs was brand new back then. So I still remember the first CD I bought.
Alex 20:09
It’s funny. I don’t even know who that is.
Bao 20:14
That’s Modern rock @ That’s where I got my name. So people always asked me why I got monitored. While modern rock is a genre of music. It’s like New Wave music is European kind of, kind of pop dance, kind of like the precursor to trance like I can say, I don’t know. It’s it’s basically synthesised music with synthesisers. So that’s where my name comes from modern rock. is cheesy as hell is. I don’t know why it’s just kind of carried on for like, Jesus. I was a kid and I just gave myself a stupid as name.
Alex 20:56
that’s funny but yeah, I mean, so I was at Starbucks my girlfriend broke my heart and I said you know, I have a choice I could either get upset and just deal with it and you know become a hermit and just whatever or I could find a way to kind of you know, like you said bow like never deal with that shit again, I thought the way to deal with it was just get rich. So I said I’m gonna get rich now I’m going to make her regret her decision. I’m going to show her why she lost and if she ever comes back when I say no is gonna be the best moment in my life.
Bao 21:27
why she How does she see what happens man some some bad thing happens your life and you can take it two ways you can say fuck you fuck you. Or you can challenge the way Alex did because you know what, man? I’m gonna pluck and prove to her but when when he says prove to her I think is more you’re gonna prove to yourself Alex that’s what it is. And so same thing as me man is like fuck this shit. I’m gonna fucking prove to myself that I am not just some some garbage trash immigrant because nowadays man this is a big It hurts me man. But when I see these these immigration wars and stuff, it’s like people don’t understand like man, I rather have a bunch of great hard working immigrants and a bunch of spoiled entitled Americans it’s up to me to for me it’s like man Americans do not understand how great they have it no they always complain complain but do we live in the best fucking country that’s why I always advocate other people going to different travel to see third world countries to so that you can appreciate this shit. I appreciate now so fucking much that because I grew up with nothing and I visited did not this was the first time I went back to Vietnam do they even have the Dude they’re taking? It was an outdoor toilet. It was basically a hole in the fucking ground. So I this was a while back I went to Vietnam and Digital’s like Saigon which is the city to men and I remember going to a cell phone store to visit someone and I asked for the bathroom and she’s like I don’t think you want to go to the bathroom to her go bathroom and so she she takes me out to the back and this is a cell phone store do you right and this is not like someone’s house or anything this is fucking business and in the back was literally a fucking hole on the ground but that’s the sort of stuff was like man we I’m not gonna take shit for granted anymore literally shipment but but those type of things like puts me back to reality because like like Alex says man is like, I want to prove to her or brother prove to myself so a story. Like so. Man, I was bullied all all through high school and stuff. I was a very weird kid. I was I kept to myself, I was an introvert I think I’m still an introvert. I just happen to socialise because I have to for work. But the downside I kind of liked to keep to myself. But all throughout high school my goal was to say fuck you everybody. I’m gonna come back to the to the 10 year anniversary like a reunion and say fuck you. Fuck you. Look at me. Look at me. So when that happened, when my 10 year anniversary reunion, high school reunion came up. I didn’t fucking go. I was super successful then. I hate you. I hate that word. But. And I had classmates like classmates, like hit me up and say, Well, Matt bow Why don’t you go I hear you’re a baller now. And so I my whole intention to go was to to to flaunt it to them to say fuck you. And um, so when that time came and I when I actually made something myself, what is the fucking point trying to prove to a bunch of people I do not like, you don’t say so. This is exactly what you helped me with the today Alex because I you know, like I I’m a very sensitive guy. Allison, this White House. I have great friends. You know? He’s like a brother meet because dude, he’s he’s an awesome big hearted guy just like me. We have so much feelings and emotion. And so, and we were on our sleeves, man, it’s like we, we get hurt. I’m a guy but we’re emotional. And so you know, so we always like so Alex likes to remind me bow Why are you always trying to please the people that don’t matter? Right focus on the people that you care about. And so same thing with the high school youth when that time came, I was like, fuck I came to the realisation this is what I was. So this is there’s many steps in life that you remember as in your maturity growth. And that high school reunion was one of them. I wanted to go so badly drive in my with my fucking Ferrari say, Fuck you. You think I’m a loser? You bullied me all this shift left Cuba when that time came? It was not worth it. I didn’t go. I felt great, but not going because what’s the fucking point? It’s just like, those people don’t mean anything to me. And now that they finally talk to me because they see them successful, or was it Hello, it is they want to be my friend. It’s like, where the fuck were you when you were bullying these fucking throughout school? Right? They call me all sorts of name, man. It’s fucking you know, it’s very different. I think if I grew up today, Alex, I’ve even more fucked up social media has really fucked up a lot of kids. And so
Alex 26:22
bro you have all the cyber bullying, like having friends comment on your posts and say like very hurtful and mean things having all these internet trolls come after you like it’s just, it’s tough, man. It’s a tough world to live in these days.
Bao 26:35
I don’t know, man. That’s why I decided to do a podcast today. Because I’m like, so you helped me a lot. Alex, you basically said, you know, like, man, there’s always gonna be people that’s going to talk shit about you, whatever the hell it is. They don’t know you who cares? And so, so it’s very hard for me as as a caring individual to like, overlook that. But I have to. I mean, I’m an old man now. And I’m still worried about what people think about me. Because, but, but I think that’s the good and the bad thing. It keeps me grounded and says I do I do fucking care about people met. I’m not sitting here saying fuck everybody. I’m genuinely helping people. Anybody that hits me on DM, just like yesterday, man, this people ask me for money all the time. It’s good that you give me $4,000 do you fund this? Can you buy me this shit of the so it was like so I did the reverse of what I normally do. I actually kind of listen to him. So I first I kind of scolded him. But but but by being positive, like constructive as like, you know, a man. Instead of asking for money, you know, this year, you had an opportunity to ask me any questions you want. When I was growing up, who I had no mentors to ask, if I wanted to help on college? Who the fuck should I have? If I wanted to help on my job information or whatever the hell right. So nowadays, social media, people using it to show off to, to troll other people, but do is a great way to meet people like myself and Alex, who’s been there who can help you. So this guy is able to interact with me. And so so I’m thinking in my head, least he’s fucking reaching out versus attacking me or some shit. And so I started telling him that that he started to apologise to me, he finally came out and said, you know, he’s from Africa. He only makes $2 a month. And so I know, I did one thing for him on that. When I go out, I spent hundreds of dollars on stupid shit. Like how cool. Today, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna give him 100 bucks, just to fucking light. Because like, I want to show to him that someone fucking cares, and doesn’t want anything in return. If I can save one person a day, my goal is that just just be a positive influence on one person a day, you imagine that one person goes out helps another person and vice versa, right? So this is the thing I’ve been trying to do every day, every day, I’m trying to do one positive act. It’s very hard, man. I’m telling you, it’s very hard to to do things without selfish reasons. And so I’ve been trying to get my head around that right. Like everything that we do, we always want some shit out of it. So is there such a thing as a selfless act? I mean, just because that’s the thing I feel bad by just talking about. So by talking about does it mean that I’m actually selfish that I’m bragging that I did this, you know, saying so it’s like, but the reason I speak up upon it is I want other people to look at life like that is to say, like algae, they helped me a lot. You know, he you know, not many guys can tell another guy Hey, brother, I love you. You know, things like that, right? A lot of guys are like, very tough and shit. And so I appreciate that. And so
The Importance of Helping the Little Guys
Alex 29:39
I love you bro because I do it’s what I’ve known or what I’ve learned about you is you’re a very caring person, you really actually care about trying to make the world a better place. Like, you know, one of the first times I’ve met you when we were a party together and what I remember is, you know, rather than tipping the hosts at the club or tipping the bouncers you went The bathroom and tip the bathroom guy $100. And you had no reason to do that you don’t get anything out of that. But that just goes to show that you are even trying to help and look out for the little guys that are overlooked. And that’s why I think this stuff matters so much to us. Because, like you said, you’re trying to do one good day to day to make it so that another person does a good deed and then a domino effects to make the world a better place. And, you know, some of these people on the internet and on social media are just such hateful negative people. And the problem is that, you know, we have to be focusing our energy on trying to help the people that want to be helped, rather than wasting our time trying to help people that are clearly very brainwashed in their thought process. So I mean, dude, like I say it all the time. And you say it all the time that we’re both very emotional people. I don’t I mean, maybe it’s a good thing, maybe it’s a bad thing that we’re like this. But I mean, it’s caused us and led us to where we are today. And again, it’s not easy, trying to give constructive criticism to someone, it’s not easy trying to help someone, because at the end of the day, no matter what advice you give someone, no matter what you tell them, unless they want to change unless they want to improve, they will never do it themselves. It’s the same thing with the Starbucks story, I had a choice, I could either sit there and do nothing, or I could try to improve and make my life better. So that again, maybe for my own selfish reasons, I could feel better about myself, you know?
Bao 31:30
Yeah, man, that’s the thing it’s like. So let’s talk about trading now. Which wasn’t talking about our stories. But you know, this is a big component of who we are. And in my opinion, a big key ingredient to success, regardless of what you do is being humble. Being able to drop your ego and say, You know what, man, I am vulnerable, I am sensitive, I am emotional, I am, I am not a perfect person, I am willing to learn, I’m willing to become better. I’m not here to fight you. I admit, I have these flaws. And so I that was my thing all along when I started learning to trade. So I’m open to hearing and helping to hearing other people helping me, it could be a guy that just started trading can give me one great advice. He was like, Alex helped me a lot, you know, say, and that’s how we bounce back to one another. And so I’ve always had great trading buddies, I had a few. What they have in common was, they’re exactly the personality I do they are, they are not jealous, they’re happy for your happiness or success. That’s a key thing that’s very hard to find in another human being man. Because people are people in our industry, if you’re competitive, if one person is up, they’re like, Oh, I’m smarter than you, I can do better, I’m better looking at you, I can make more money. And so they’re not help happy, but they don’t want to say that you know, a man. It’s like, if they if another person is a sees that does not mean that it makes you any less, it should motivate you, if you think you are truly smarter than the other person. The other person having success should motivate you to say, You know what, man, if this guy can do it, I can do it 10 times better. And so that’s, you know, that’s the sort of attitude in my opinion that you should have in life. Don’t be hating, be appreciative that he has paved the way and showed you that even as dumb ass guy can do it, I can do it. And that’s always been what I was trying to tell the world. If you take a look at how I am versus the rest of the traders out in the world, we are very different. I mean, I’m not here to flashy shit. I’m like, I’m a normal guy I drink I don’t try to hide shit from people. I tell people how I am. I’m a I’m a flawed human being. But because of that, you know, it helped me to get through all the negative shit in my life, as well as to show the world like No, man, you don’t have to be a fucking perfect person become successful at anything fucking do. You know, just be your fucking self. If I can do it, guys, if I can do it, if Alex can do it, and you guys can do it too. We are definitely not the model. The model Ivy League, fucking Goldman Sachs type of guys. You know, in fact, I apply for those jobs and shit. They don’t accept me. I didn’t go to the right school, when I went to apply for jobs. So let me tell you another inspirational story. So I went to UC Davis, I studied engineering. And so for most people, UC Davis is very good school. I had a bunch of choices. I could go on to I turned out Berkeley actually was a top engineering school in the fucking country. Right? I turned it down. That’s because I grew up in the ghetto. We didn’t have counselling. We didn’t have guidance counsellors. You know how to the fucking SCT Alex? No, you took the prep courses right? Yeah, I walked into the fucking class like that exam time I read the fucking instructions, bro what to do the SATs, I’m reading the directions on the fucking satv wow, I still did very well, I scored a very good score. I got to I got into Berkeley. But that’s the thing, man. It’s like the privilege that it is a great start but being I’m not privileged is doesn’t mean it’s a it’s an ending to your life. And I want to tell you something man, if I if I was counselled to go to Berkeley, I would not be here with you. I’d be a fucking normal boring ass engineer hating my fucking job regardless how much money I made. So when I got out of school, I applied for jobs. And they always asked us, what other schools did you apply to, and I told them Berkeley and then and then I thought I didn’t want to go to no one believed me. So first off, I was already fucking troll dude, the moment I graduated college, I was a troll. They didn’t take their thing. I was a paper fucking admissions paper college guy. But so I never got those jobs I really wanted. You know, I consider myself highly intelligent, highly skilled for that job. But the fact that they didn’t believe me, and that was not credible, even though it’s a fucking absolute truth. They didn’t hire me.
How to Reinvent Yourself
Bao 36:26
And so I only got hired by one company. And it was, you know, and that’s what led me to look and reinvent myself. So I’ll tell you, the secret of life is called finding your niche guys, if I had a job as an engineer, I would never fucking work my butt off to excel, I were very comfortable making my comfortable nice salary. As an engineer, I would never look to do and maximise my other talents. So I call it finding your niche. You know, my niche was I was good engineering, but I wasn’t the best engineer. I like to party I can go out I didn’t like to study where the real poor engineer guys aren’t do their home on Saturday nights reading a fucking coding book, a computer book, you know, say they’re living and breathing. That’s why they’re successful. I could do all that. And so I have to find my niche. You know, I looked at myself I go, what are you good at though? So I found so I’ll give you a sample. So why there was this I said, No, man, I’m very good at articulating complex things to a normal human being. And so I went into sales engineering. And so now instead of coding and making the product I was selling the product and I make twice as much three times as much during that as I did as an engineer it’s fucking remarkable because I when I found my niche, I was like, Who the fuck can articulate things well be personable to talk to executives, who are buying decision is not the engineers who would nerdy and stuff. So I was competing with the wrong in the wrong things. So when in life, if you do not like to test questions is wise like to tell me right? If you do not like the test question, go and write your own fucking test. So I wrote my own fucking test, I went out, I forged my niche to find exactly what I wanted to do. So I wasn’t huge. So I was very surprised. I’m like, do I work? Like, a third of the time as much as I did as an engineer, I made fucking two three times as much as me. And so you just have to find what what your niches? You don’t say. And so I was not very successful as an engineer because I hated doing that engineering shit. I was very good at the bare minimum. And so that’s the thing with that. So if I had gone to Berkeley, I would have never found my niche because I will be too comfortable. And then when I found my niche, I realised that there was a glass ceiling in corporate world I did I can only do so much. I was passed over for a lot of promotions. So one thing that registered to me Alex, this is crazy, man. They in sales. It’s all about talking and how you look and presentation right? Now. My boss before he did not promote me, he basically told me, why don’t you change your name? People can’t fucking pronounce your name. Like Well, the fuck you I told him I was like, I’m not gonna change my name. People better learn to pronounce my name correctly. And so with that attitude, I’m like, Dude, I’m not going to fucking sit down and conform to what people think. I’m not going to be fighting people but at the same time, there’s a limit. If that can form I will still be there fucking monkey you. And so I felt I’ve reached a glass ceiling because of racism. People don’t believe man. It’s fucking huge racism out there. God what when I’m on the phone with a customer they think I’m a white guy. And then when they meet me the holy shit you’re fucking Asian. Right? I don’t sound like an Asian. What’s the nature of the sound like as far as I sound like is The way it was I fucked up shit. And so so that’s what I that’s what I moved to New York. I was living in New York and working as a sales engineer. And there was doing day trading I just happen to love it dude. In the beginning I was gambling I thought it was a gamble I made a lot of money in in my job so I will take that money and just fucking luck and start trading stocks. When you start trading it you think you think you have a fucking system? So I had I was gambling on earnings. And I was like, huh I’m gonna analyse the earnings and guess so my very first trade my very first trade I made three 3% Silicon Graphics. It fucking wait, the stock went up. I was like, Fuck, this is easy, dude. I got fucking system. So I was like, I’m gonna start like, if I make 33% Every fucking trade. I’m fucking a billionaire soon.
Bao 40:48
So all I did was research this shit. I thought had the fucking game because I started making money doing the earnings. And next, you know, do I pick the wrong shit, it started going down, and I lost all my fucking money. Obviously, you always lose all your money. But that’s when I realised that you know what, man, I love this trading thing. And I became very good at because I was very passionate about. So I always tell people make passion, your paycheck. I never knew I was gonna be like how I am today trading I would never imagine that’d be fucking sitting here with you. 20 years later, helping other people being successful, whatever the hell it is. Right? I just wanted to do because I loved it. I did not like my job. But you know what, man, there’s a levelling up in life. Just because you I love playing football to doesn’t mean I’m fucking quitting my job become a wide receiver for the Cowboys. You know, saying like, that’s what I want to do. What I said was great, man, I wrote essays on how I wanted to be the wide receiver for fucking Calgary, I didn’t fucking realise that they’re not gonna take no four foot 10 Asian guy.
How Alex Lost a Lot of Money in His First Trade
Alex 41:49
It’s crazy, because I had kind of like a similar experience in my first trade. So I was actually when I started trading, after Starbucks, I lost a bunch of money going long, because what I was taught was that you have to just buy the breakout anytime the stock breaks out is when you got to buy it. And that’s the trade. And every time that I did that the stock did the reverse. It was straight down every single time. So it wasn’t until I discovered what shorting was, which was you make money when the stock goes down, then my trading kind of change. So the first short trade that I ever took was on a stock called V GGL. I shorted 2000 shares at $4. And it was like 30 seconds later, the stock tanked 50 cents, I made $1,000. And I was like, That’s it, I’m gonna be rich, I found that I found the secret. And then slowly, like you said, valve, the trades after that were losers because you have no process, you have no idea what you’re doing, you’re just shorting shit or buying shit because up or down. And that’s not the right way to do it. So it was only until again, like you mentioned that we have to refine our process and understand that we should only be trading with an edge. And that’s kind of what changes our trading around, you know.
Bao 42:58
Hey, Alex, do you have that spreadsheet? The calendar that I made back in the day? 2009?
Alex 43:05
Yeah, let me try to find that. Give me one second. In the meantime, you want to talk about it?
Bao 43:11
So yeah, so So flash forward to trading. I you know, a bad people make a lot of money, people lose a lot of money. What I realised is this man, it’s not how much fucking money you make in one day is how much you can consistently make it over time. And a good example is that so one of my old friends, this he took me to the next level of trading. He didn’t realise this, right? So I was just making my $300 a day, bro, I was making consistently every five days three to three, Lord, that and this guy is a dumb guy. I don’t hate says dumb, but he’s not very intelligent. He’d be swinging up and down. 25,000 10,000 And it’s like, holy fuck this this guy. But he will be losing that the next day. You’d be fucking losing them the next day, right? But then remember when I said you can either look at someone and hate them, or admire them to motivate you? So that got motivated me? I didn’t hate him. I was like, Fuck, this guy can do it. I could do it too. Because I was a whip dude. I was trading tiny size. So I started increasing my size. And he knew I was making consistently 1000s of dollars a day. But But then, but then he always looked down upon me. He’s like, Oh, you’re trading penny stocks. You’re you know, so he never took me seriously. And then later on, he blew up obviously blows up. He’s now driving Uber. Taxi. He was he was to win. Remember when I talked to you? Alice you were swinging up and down like him? I saw that dude, I don’t want you to be like that. It’s like you want to scale over time? You know as you don’t jump in making 20 30,000 a day you’re gonna fucking eventually kill yourself and stress or whatever else. And so he fucking he just fucked up. It’s like when you train that size you just can’t handle it. You know, I’m saying so. I don’t wanna get too much of that story because Alex knows that story too. And one of his partners, my friends and stuff, but um,
Alex 45:09
so here’s I think I found the screenshot now this is 2009. Let me see. Let me see my zoom in a little bit.
Bao 45:21
I’ve never shown anybody this. Count the number of red days, Alex.
Alex 45:25
So this is 123456789. So nine red days in all of 2019 2009 I sorry, yeah, no,
Bao 45:40
there’s some more here. Let’s see. Let’s count on one here. I got one. Cuz he wants you to how many?
Alex 45:47
Obviously, I got one in January. Two in February. Three in March. Nothing in April. Nothing in May. Nothing in June. July was one August was three September nothing October, nothing these November. Nothing is summer. Nothing.
Bao 46:03
December. I’m fucking pissed off because I took off on vacation. But But take a look at the last days. How big were the last days?
Alex 46:13
Yeah, so 1000s. So January, losing day was $2,000. But you still made 27,000 on the week. With February. That month, you made 103,000. February you lost 5000. But you made 27,000 in that week.
Bao 46:35
Did that scratch I don’t come to scratch. It doesn’t scratch.
Alex 46:37
That’s nothing other than I don’t look at that. But look, if you look at consistent January 103,000, February 52,000, march 72,000, April 54,000, mae 67,000, June 576,000, July 232,000. It just goes on and on and on, you know.
Bao 46:58
So this was not my biggest financial year, by far, but it was my most consistent year. And so that’s what I was the most proud of. And so there is a level of size that you can go up and then the more you’re not comfortable, you’re gonna get dinged. And so, I mean, I did well, if you take a look at this, it’s like, I call it like, you know, fishing there. There’ll be days where I just make 1000 bucks. $500 And then there’s other days I’m making like hundreds of 1000s of dollars in a day. So you just have to you just have to fucking fish and work your process. So that gear I ended up missing out on I hate talking about this shit, but yes, I do. Okay,
Alex 47:42
that year was around 2.1 million.
Bao 47:45
So let’s see. Let’s take a look at 2010
Alex 47:48
So 2010
Bao 47:52
Look how we fucking got bro. So 2009 What happened? I did not resize up man. To be honest. I’m really sized up I kind of pushed it but I didn’t fucking over push it. She doesn’t tend as this is a problem. So 2000 After 2009 I only have a 10 losses right 10 Fucking last days or something ridiculous nine or 10 entire fucking year. I’m like, why my pussy. Imagine I double my size. I’d be fucking chillin. I’m making 5 million bucks. Right? So 2010 I kind of pushed it and look how many red days I got it just fucking like dude. You see the toll is fucking different. I’m still up. But the losses are just like, like staggering more me it’s still okay. But it’s nowhere where I should have been. So this was an example of over pushing it in. So I’m saying one year I was very consistent. No stress. Alex, by the way, talking about no stress. This year was more stressful. I made money because I’ve kept on pressuring myself. And so sizing up and pressure so may not always lead to a bigger payout. Yep,
Alex 48:56
it’s true. It’s true. And that’s kind of what I was struggling with. You know, I became a consistently profitable trader, I started making a start with, you know, 50 hours a day, and I went $200 a day and it went to 205 100 and 1000. And then it got to the point where I said, I have to stop being a pussy and it’s time to size up. And what ended up happening is, you know, I’ll be making 30,000 on Monday losing 50,000 on Tuesday and making 80,000 On Wednesday, and it was just so so so stressful that I kind of found myself losing touch with reality. I found myself getting more and more upset and more and more depressed and it was only until I slowed down my training that I kind of started to find a little bit more happiness in my life and found actually more money trading less sighs
Bao 49:42
So so those calendar years no one even knew the fuck I was guys. I was doing this for a long time. People knew me because of the Fannie Mae but the Fannie Mae trade didn’t come until 2013. That was all the way back to us at nine. So you see the levelling up process people go oh by God, you did so well, but they don’t realise that dude I was doing I was building up for that one fucking trade I always call it luck is when opportunity meets preparation where I prepare for that one fucking day. Now I’ve never shown anybody this I held this I didn’t want I didn’t want this to defy me, because this is just like just people think oh, fluffy got lucky Why the fuck but but but I wanted to show you that 2009 Because this was four years after that 2009 And people didn’t see the five years before 2009 That was billing myself for making $300,000 a year trying to find 1000 to a million, you still say it’s a slow consecutive process that leads up to all this thing. So it leads up to that one. So go back to that. The p&l Alex, what I like the most about this is not the money, which I like the money to obviously but so I was trading many accounts. So this has happened before accounts. But if you take a look at that, so go down to the third account XUI I was fucking making, I was trading billions of dollars of stock making $1,000,001.4 million and still managing a 400 dollar fucking position.
Alex 51:17
It’s funny because some things never changed.
Bao 51:20
So I’d like to point this out because this is what it is, man. It’s kind of like this is my mentality. It was I was never in it to make the money to be honest, man, I didn’t see the fucking p&l. I was trade. So I we always say trade your process, right? So keep to your process. So the moment I looked at Peter, I just shipped myself, that’s when I started to say fucking exit exit. So so the point is, this is like, do I kept with my process? I didn’t know what’s gonna fucking make this. Who knows anything? You know you to make them. But I kept my process. Look at the other stocks I was trading at $79 on an O R x, two or $90 on that? Why the fuck am I still managing these positions? It’s because it’s my process.
Doing the Robotic Process
Bao 52:03
You don’t say I’m just doing the robotic process. And so if you deviate for your process when you screw up, and so this is part of my process, if I if I just didn’t do my process, I don’t think I would have been successful. Even $500 means a lot of money, guys, because I don’t want to take because if I take $5 for granted, what’s going to stop me from fucking them everything else. So I got to maintain forum throughout the whole thing. And so that was always always been my thing, man. It’s a process. So I wanted to show everybody this the path that I never saw any business. People think that oh, 1000 Asshole, I was lucky, whatever. But people don’t understand this is I showed you 2009 This is 2013 You know, you didn’t see five years before that you can see after you didn’t see any of that stuff. But that point is this is decades, building up to this fucking level. And when you make it, I always have this book. You only need to get rich once guys, I fucking made I put it away, we’ll say I’ve moved away. I don’t fucking need to be trading these sizes anymore. Markets conditions change. I was a young kid. I had no fear because I was young. If I didn’t make it, I had time to fucking go. And I’m older now I have family support. I have no responsibility. I’m not I don’t need to be fucking stressing like this. And so this. So this is why I wanted to teach people and so I didn’t we didn’t launch MIC until a year ago. And you know, as always that 2009 I couldn’t start a service do 10 years ago, I couldn’t start a service. I was I was. But I didn’t want to because I didn’t think that I was even ready. I had the technical skills. But I mean, I didn’t have the life skills. I didn’t know how to teach. I didn’t know how to do this. So throughout the 10 years, I finally learned how to teach. I mentored a bunch of people, they became multimillionaires. One of the guys that make 8 million bucks, and then fucking retard. When I made them setting matrei He made over a million dollars. He was my biggest competitor that day. He took most of my fucking Phil’s because I taught him and he was basically training the exact entries and exits as I am. That’s how that’s how in sync. We were the same thing. I mean, you Alex.
Alex 54:15
Yeah. And it’s crazy because you think about the way life works is I actually had dinner with that guy last night, you know, so who would have ever thought that when you were trading with this guy years and years ago that, you know the two people that you traded with now are just hanging out and grabbing dinner together. So everything happens for a reason. It’s kind of like a full circle type of thing. It’s just if you think about it’s pretty fucking crazy, right?
Bao 54:38
Dude, everything happens for fucking reason, man. We it’s like life comes full circle. I’m so glad that I’ve met you Alex. Seriously. I I believe in fate, man. That’s fucking fate, bro. When we found all these old tweets that we were tweeting back at each other. It’s
Alex 54:51
yeah, man. It’s crazy. It’s crazy how and even time flies but we’ve known each other for so long now that’s just like, but we’re like family now. It’s more than just friends. You know?
Bao 55:01
guys like, dude, man, I, we knew we’re gonna start this. I’m like, fuck dude, I didn’t start this thing 10 years ago, why would I ever start this now? And so we always tell people man which is the truth is like you have anything in life it’s timing you have trading is about timing or relationships about timing. The relationship I had with Alex to form him I see is all timing i We have to be in the right place. I have to be in the right mental capacity to want to help people. Because like, Man, I made enough money where I can just fucking sell into the sunset. Just like David, he moved to Turks and Caicos and Scotland disappeared because a million bucks to get to football. I don’t want to tell people how much I made my career but so you imagine if my fucking pupil made a million dollars trade with me? And like, the four years whatever the hell he did? You can imagine. So like I could have fucking disappeared. And so why would I fuckin sit around? answering people’s fucking emails? Helping people? Unless I really wanted to do it. So it’s all timing. So I’ll say man. Now I’m going to pass my wisdom to the world. I want to help people because man when I die, man, what the fuck am I going to be remembered for? I’m not gonna be I don’t want to be remembered for any other shit. I wouldn’t be remembered for helping people to changing people’s lives. I will fuck about my own life. I’m dead already. But there’s gonna be generations that can be benefited from our help. And you know, they may not become the best traders in the world. Not everybody is destined to become the best trader but the information that they get is going to help them in any career that they fucking want the hard work that discipline being being able to like be surrounded by positive people with like minded goals and that’s all thing and my see is a great plugin place for people to come in and have positivity check out after hours after hours hours
Alex 56:57
All right. Here’s a picture of you in Philly.
Bao 57:03
See people just hanging out chillin like, Dude, we work hard. We build lasting relationships. And that’s the whole thing we wanted. We wanted people that’s got fluid Pima we flew in always from Australia, man. And he brought us a boomerang. I believe in karma. You know, brands like what goes around comes around, what do you what do you give you get back, right. And so this is this is, to me, in my opinion, this is my kind of legacy with you to help change lives and we have changed a lot of lives. Pull up that tweet that. Go go to my Twitter and pull the tweet I have with Tom diesel. This is a remarkable story. Do I want people to see this? This is so remarkable.
Alex 57:45
So you want to talk about how you met Tom first? I want to pull this up. Yep. So Tom,
Bao 57:49
he joined him I see the right way to kind of entered. And he basically was a Vietnamese guy living in Europe. And you know, we kind of like he was a very humble guy. And he’s like, Bao, I’ll work my butt off. And he goes, Man, I’ve always had a discipline problem. And so we worked together to solve that. And he, dude, he drove a fucking Uber. Just so that he had money to trade. He worked another job, a job with Uber while working in a job. We read some of this man, we send this out loud, Alex.
Alex 58:30
So So topic, guys start with the guys on top guys. So Tom said, guys, I just want to share the good news. I’ll be moving to a new home at the end of this month. Sorry, I haven’t been around to help much. But you know how stressful this can all be. I just want to say that without my seed, it would have never been possible for me to to reach this goal. It’s crazy how things have turned around in just one year. I’m glad to be part of this family. MIC changed my life. And I’m sure we’ll do the same for many people in here. Love you guys as well. And Tom was saying that he was driving Uber at night so that he will be able to
Bao 59:03
we are here man. He goes.
Alex 59:06
Yeah, so he said man to think back and made me cry. I don’t even know how I did it. I was driving Uber at night, because that time no one would drive and it gives you better rates. I was driving from midnight to 4am that slept in the morning to train in the afternoon. You know, it’s relative. Even reading the show right now makes me feel it makes me feel like so humbled that Tom is exactly the type of guy that deserves to have all this success because he actually put in the work for it.
Bao 59:36
Dude, he he was down I remember man, he was down to his last $700 Dude. And he wanted to quit he goes man, I can’t do any more my family I can’t support my family all that so don’t tell anybody this. So what I did was I gave him a free membership to if I see and I was like dude, man don’t worry about they’ll tell me now they’ll ask me for free memberships? Okay. You know I had this As a Type I am me like, Man, I have faith in someone, because everybody just needs someone to say I believe in you. And I truly believe them. Because you know what, man, he worked his butt off how many people would drive an Uber at night to trade? You know, I’m saying, that is the work ethic. And he’s honest, man, he’s fucking putting himself out there. He was down to his last $700 do. And then he started making $25 a trade over and over $50 and start slowly building his bankroll. And now he fucking moves into a new place is made. I don’t want to fucking talk about how much he makes his that’s his whole thing. But I guess he’s like, he went from 700 bucks a year. I mean, holy fuck.
Alex 1:00:44
I don’t know what it is. But shit. He was saying that the average salary where he’s from is $1,500 a month. So he’s making almost 10 times that.
Bao 1:00:54
So I mean, you make the point is this man, the point is not the dollar amount is the fact that this guy is able to do this. And you can to the only difference is he actually executes and he acts upon what he wants. Law of us just sit around and talk. I want this. I wish this but we don’t make it happen. So just just like me, man, the reason? I am I am guilty, Alex, I’m like, fuck. Today. I didn’t work. I had some stuff that I had to handle. And then I like, I always put shit to the more like, oh, I want to do this podcast tomorrow. And so then I was like, I’m mad. I’m like, fuck, man. Fuck this shit. I’m gonna fucking do this podcast today. Why? Why put off until tomorrow when you can do today. So I’m starting. Does Alex have the hardest working guy? Man? I cannot believe how hard you work. Alex. You work so hard. And you inspire me man. I was like, I’m gonna get on my lazy ass. answer emails, PM. Do the podcast, whatever it is. I was like you Alex, I worked my ass off when a kid and or time is tiring, man. To be honest. I was very tired. I’m very glad I met you. And it’s like, I hope you don’t break down my age. But as you can see, now it takes a toll man, right? It takes an army it takes a lot of friends and support system to do all this. People think all this shit is easy. It’s not fucking easy. It’s like, fuck. We never worked as much as we did. Now. For the past year, we worked our butt off was just us and like Tosh races, and a bunch of handful guys.
The Importance of Having a Good Attitude
Bao 1:02:35
And I think all the moderators now that that are helping us. These guys are wonderful people, man. I mean, I, I love these people. I have no idea before MIT. But they were just wonderful people. That’s a you know, they don’t need to be a fucking multi million dollar trader to be a moderator. That’s not my intention. My intention is to pick the right people with good attitude to inspire people to help people. They are now learning doesn’t matter. People becoming awesome fucking traders, man. I think they’re better traders than I am now. And I’m glad I’m fine with that. I want the moderators and you guys to trade better than I do. You know, I’m saying because you I mean, if I can coach you to trade Well, fuck, dude, I can do this. We can do this for the masses. That’s my whole point. My whole point is to help other people, I’m not here just to fucking help myself. And, and I know, that’s why I think it hurts me a lot. When I hear these negative things going we honestly really wants to fucking help people is we put our heart and soul into this and it’s just fucking sad. But, you know, some people are trying to tear us down and stuff. So But you’re right, man, we have to just kind of like forget it. This is one thing I’m learning. That’s That’s my negative sign. I get into these depression modes. That’s how I was when I was a kid. Right? So some people have the positive side and negative side. When I work I’m on then it just getting to the point where I’m actually focused on work. That’s the hardest thing for me right now. Good because I really don’t want to do this shit. Because I have so much other shit going on. I’ll need to do this shit. And so I have to find the passion and the reason to do this. And so when I read stories like tom toms story is buck and motivate the fuck out of me. It’s like Damn, dude, there are people out there that are just wishing for the opportunity to learn to do this. And we’re no I’m not taking credit for this shit is is is is all him man. He fucking phenomenal give him straight up. And he is now helping other members to do this. And that’s why I love that was basically our conversation to Tom. my conversation with that guy was like, you know, I pay for it pay for it. I don’t. What do I want from Tom? You know, yeah, seven and ours is? He has free membership. He has a wonderful fucking guy, man. Seriously, I just love it when people know that. It’s like there are Good people out there that deserves fucking an opportunity. That’s all every immigrant wants in the world, guys is that opportunity.
Alex 1:05:09
And like you said, All it takes is one guy to say that I believe in you. And that was what you did for him. And that changed his life.
Bao 1:05:17
And you changed my life. Alex, you know, you like bow. I believe in you. Let’s start something different. And that’s how MIC was started, man. I thank you, man. You believed in me? I was looking seriously at that time. I didn’t fucking work. I didn’t need to work. I will film more than once a week whenever I wanted to fucking work. You know, I didn’t need the fucking money. I’m fucking like, Dude, I was basically killing myself seriously, because I was so I had no purpose guys. Alex knows this. It’s like, dude, everybody needs a purpose is not financial net. You don’t need to be fucking poor to be sad. I was very well off. I was taught by world my my, one of my saddest work moments. was the day I made all that fucking money and fame in one day. And then I woke up the next day I thought it would be I would be fucking cured of all my depression. I would be fucking happy. But I was so miserable. That actually hurt me when people found out because now my friends never started and my friends didn’t pay for Chef and then they go about like, what the fuck? No, I never got birthday gifts. No, what’s up birthday dinners for me because they’re like, Fuck take bow. What the fuck does he need what can get out? I never got any fun. I said everybody Christmas gifts all those pigs. I said all those lucky charms. You see it? I said I don’t get shit from anybody. Because they always look like me like, Oh, me shit. But I just wanted fucking like, Dude, you the best gift you give is not a financial. It’s a thoughtful, caring gift. Like you think about them. Right? And so the pig I sent to you, whatever. It was a cheap ask if I have right here, bro. Yeah, my desk always on my desk for good luck.
Bao 1:06:56
The funny thing is, I had to pick through more, because I thought the piece gave me bad luck my pigs. So I guess the pig I gave was good, but actually keep it for myself.
Alex 1:07:09
I mean, I mean, it’s crazy. Because as like, like we started the at the beginning of the podcast, we kind of talked about how we got started, like our adversity, what we did to kind of that one moment in our life, we had a fork in the road, right? That’s the one thing that all of us have in common. We had a choice, we could either continue to be depressed, or we could do something about it. Tom had the same choice. You could either spend that last 700 he had, or he could try to be proactive and change his life. So whenever you’re at that crossroads in your life, because it’s going to happen eventually, know that the easy way of just giving up is the wrong way. If you put in the work, and you actually want to improve your life, there are so many resources out there that could help you improve your life. Yep.
Bao 1:07:58
How long is this podcast? Sorry.
Alex 1:07:59
That’s it, bro. It’s been an hour and 10 minutes. So let’s let’s
Bao 1:08:03
keep we’ll save the rest for the next time. I hope everybody enjoys that story. It was not really a blueprint on how you should live your life. But I guess you now you understand Alice and I will more. And so I’m you know, hopefully you didn’t get bored and trying to figure out who we are. But, you know, that’s our story. You know. There’s more interviews online you can find me and Alex chat with traders has it? I don’t want to repeat all this stuff that’s in chat with traders. But check it out man chat with traders episode 100 is mine.
Alex 1:08:38
104 I think
Bao 1:08:39
104 so perfect. You know if you guys want to know more, but the bottom line is, is I’m gonna leave you guys with one thing. You can do it. Don’t think that you cannot I we all came from huge adversity. I was not even supposed to be alive. I was on a boat. We were Raided by pirates. I thought I was gonna die as a kid. But here I am. And we went through adversity. So success is what happens. I hate these quotes. But it’s true, man. It’s like it. Life is not a linear life. You have your ups and downs. It’s how you bounce back from your failures, man. It’s not belt as a temporary bump on the road right to your destination. So don’t ever fucking lose focus of the goal. And always think positive. So I’ve my whole life. I was like, you know, you can either think of life as half empty or half full. I’ve always been blessed man even even when I had nothing. I was very blessed because I’m alive. But a lot of kids over a phenomenal life. So So my advice to you guys is you know a man. But fuck everybody, man. Do you be positive fucking work your ass off and you can’t fucking do it.
Alex 1:09:50
Thanks, guys. We’ll see you next time. All right, thanks, guys.