THE RAW TRUTH - WHY I SELL A TRADING COURSE! The common reaction (mine included) is: “If you’re actually so great of a trader, why would you sell a course?” Why is a supposedly "elite" trader openly sharing his knowledge or doing any of this at all!? The assumption is I must be a fraud, broke (lol), or washed up. 1. First raw truth - I no longer am willing to pay the physical, psychological, and emotional costs of trading. I HATE the feeling of constantly checking my phone to check positions when I wake up or before bed. I HATE constantly thinking about my exposure while at the gym or at dinner with friends. My dad died young and I’m acutely aware of my health and the sacrifices I made to get where I am at such a young age. Trading is NOT healthy. You’re indoors, sedentary, high-stress. It RUINS my sleep. I’ve had a professional team track and confirm that. My goal is to be happy and live long. Trading doesn't help either of those anymore. Only for big market opportunities am I willing to trade bc I recognize what that money does for others at limited cost to myself. Plus trading is REALLY hard. Always. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that I don’t want to be on forever. To what end? More money??? Now look, if you are in the trenches, if you are looking to make your nut still... I 100% get it. You SHOULD be sacrificing for success. I don't regret sacrificing my 20s for the freedom it has bought me whatsoever. But my values have changed over time, rightfully so. I'm now here to help you make that trade-off and help you earn your freedom, if it is one you wish to make. 2. “Yea, but why not just trade way smaller?” For the same reason Tom Brady isn’t out there playing rec football. Nobody on earth wants to go from the highest level of their craft to trading in the little league lol. 3. "But you're giving up so much money." Issue is the market will ALWAYS be there. Unlike athletes, aging isn’t gravity in this craft. Just because I can keep doing it, should I really obsessively trade and put myself through this for the rest of my life just because there is MORE money out there? By that logic, shouldn’t every rich person always do their job until infinite? Obviously not. (FYI - the hardest part of moving on from trading has been ignoring the financial opportunity cost. This gets discussed thoroughly in my Market Wizards chapter. I am blatantly aware that I am giving up huge money over the course of a lifetime. I promise I can do math, know that money compounds, and am not a dumbass.) 4. “Ok, I get why you trade less, but why make a course?” Look, I didn’t think I’d do this either. Years ago, after leaving @TRLM I started sharing my knowledge on Twitter for kicks. No plan, no vision. To my surprise, the content took off thanks to people like @investorslive. I spent my whole career at Trillium mentoring and training other traders. And I enjoyed it! I enjoyed seeing others win! Now I could do that at a massive scale. BUT - all of my content was being done haphazardly. For my more time-intensive content I started a Patreon that donated 100% of proceeds to charity. With minimal effort on my part, we raised $250k+! AND… the traders LOVED IT! That was the lightbulb moment that I should do this properly. 5. Giving back is genuinely important to me, not just performative. My life philosophy is that we all win when everyone else wins. The world is a better place when we lift each other up. Before I had much, I started a non-profit @impact_comp in 2018. It has now touched the lives of THOUSANDS of students, THOUSANDS of people in need (mental illness, homeless, cancer patients, children w Down Syndrome, food banks, etc) and my social impact competitions are now at over a dozen colleges across the US! I truly believe that my content helps cut through much of the scammers out there. It was awful hearing stories of good people wasting years of their life and thousands of dollars on bs. The trading community deserved better. Same reason why I have been a longtime speaker and Boardmember at @traders4acause. I want to connect traders, educate them, help them find success, and then give back. It has been amazing to see how many people my knowledge has helped! I’ve had people in rural Wisconsin, a regional airport in Norway, at a racetrack, at a small gym, and all over thank me for what I do. That’s cool! Don’t wana buy my course? No worries, I have years of content here and on YouTube 100% FREE! 6. “But why charge? Haven’t you made enough money?” Yes, I have. So have many rich people. Why does Brady still get paid? Or Sam Altman? Or Elon Musk? To many it is part of the scorecard, that is one factor. For me, it is more than that. Most of my wealth will go or has already gone to charity. That said, how cool would it be to be able to donate $100k/mo NOW AND FOREVER!? That has long been the stated goal of the course. (We are nowhere near that yet. Turns out marketing is quite hard!) The other issue with not charging - and every single marketer told me this from day one - if you don’t charge, the user doesn’t value the content. I ignored that advice, refused to believe it, and ended up dead wrong. That was my biggest mistake and a part of why we ended the free version of the course and are instead re-purposing it all onto YouTube (YT also increases our reach & removes a sign-up friction). Our data clearly showed that paid users value the knowledge more and commit to a course far more when they have skin in the game. 7. It turns out, I actually LOVE learning this new business. I’ve been absolutely fascinated learning from Hormozi. To get to learn from a living genius in-person is an incredible experience. This work is ZERO stress to me. I never have a bad day due to content or marketing. I love thinking up new video ideas. I love seeing what gets clicks and what doesn’t. Only driven, type-A people get here to begin with. So sue me bc I don’t wana lay by the pool all day? 8. As I’ve immersed myself in the world of content and marketing, I’ve begun to see the matrix. Building my personal brand has so many asymmetric positive effects and possibilities. How do you think I got into the Market Wizards book or featured on WIRED!? That only happened bc I was public for people to find me. I’ve been able to converse on this platform with some of my favorite idols. James Clear used a quote I tweeted in his newsletter. I’ve DM’ed with Bryan Johnson. In a month I’m going to Dubai to work with a trading firm. I’ve now worked with a handful of the best traders AND trading firms around the world bc of this platform. All of that is SO COOL TO ME! I have a vision for what I’m building that is so large nobody would ever believe it. I do think there is a world where in 3-5 years, I become one of the trusted voices in trading and markets. That would be badass! 9. Finally… I’ve made incredible friends from doing this. Yes, big dogs like @theshortbear. Yes, even the crazy characters like @timothysykes. All of them, people like @investorslive, have shaped my life and who I am. But the infinite traders in between. From @RealSimpleAriel, to @jscherniack, to @LikeTheHotel, to @TheStrongTrader, @traderkylec, @thelaptoplegend, my pickleball bro @tradethedownhill in Miami, to even the close friendship with @TradesTurbo crushing steaks across the pond together! 10. There will always be a few haters who doubt my achievements no matter how much proof you put in front of them. That is the GREATEST compliment you can ever give a man! THANK YOU! You are the best free marketing I can ever get 😘 So there ya go… the most comprehensive answer I’ve ever given on why I do this despite all the skepticism around trading courses / content creators. Now.... let's get the f*ck to work! Much love, - (The One) Lance B