EP 165: 6 Stock Market Lessons I Learned from Trimming my Hedges

In this episode, I tie my experience trimming my hedges with the common reluctance to invest in financial education or mentorship. With the initial overwhelming nature of the stock market, I share my personal experience and the lessons I've learned: meeting unrealistic deadlines, avoiding the temptation to give up, and the crucial importance of taking action. I encourage listeners to seek help, join a community, and never hesitate to invest in themselves to achieve financial success. Tune in, together we can achieve financial milestones faster and with fewer pitfalls.

Transcript

Jason Brown [00:00:00]:
In this episode, I'm gonna share with you the 6 lessons that I learned from trying to trim my hedges, and you would be surprised how much this relates to the journey that most people go through with getting in the stock market and trying to do it alone. And let me tell you, them hedges kicked my butt. Let's get into the episode.

Jason Brown [00:00:23]:
Do you feel like you were meant to live a life of financial abundance? Like, you know, your money is supposed to work harder for you than you work for it. Maybe you heard about the stock market and the new millionaires being created and wonder why not me? Maybe you wanna invest in the stock market, but you don't know where to start. Maybe you have a 401 k or an IRA, but you wanna enjoy your money now, not just in retirement. Maybe you've already had some success in the stock market, but you wanna take it to the next level. Working for somebody else and watching free YouTube videos will only get you so far. To truly be financially free, it takes a strategic game plan, an investor's mindset, and a willingness to take calculated risks. When you're ready to get out of

Jason Brown [00:01:05]:
the rat race and go on

Jason Brown [00:01:06]:
to the fast track, join us here when we break down how to manage money, how to navigate the stock and options market, and how to approach investing with the right mindset. I'm Jason Brown, stock market coach and options trader, and this is the 5 year millionaire podcast.

Jason Brown [00:01:26]:
Hey. What's up, traders? Welcome to the 5 year millionaire podcast, and I'm your host, stock market coach and option trader, Jason Brown. And let me tell you, coming off the holiday weekend, boy, do I have a story for you. And I really think it relates to a stock trader's journey, especially, in the beginning if you're brand new and if you're trying to go at it alone. So just to give you a little bit of background, before the 4th July, my son, we had his birthday party July. No. June 30th. So last day of June, we had his birthday party.

Jason Brown [00:02:08]:
So let me tell you, trying to get ready for this kid's birthday party, it and 4th July, basically, all at the same time for having a bunch of people over the house, family, friends, etcetera, is a task in itself. Anybody who knows that there was a party and is hosting, you go through this phase where you're just like, I'm gonna clean up everything that I haven't cleaned up all year long, and I'm gonna do it in about 2 days. Yeah. Something like that. I'm just gonna do it in about 2 days. I'm gonna clean up everything that I haven't cleaned up in a year, in 2 days. And that was me. It was like, I'm gonna clean the gutters, which needed to be clean.

Jason Brown [00:02:53]:
I'm also gonna trim the bushes. I'm gonna power wash. I'm going to fix a couple loose or broken pavers in the back because I don't want anybody tripping over them. And I'm just telling you, the list just got so big and so long and so out of control. So I end up cleaning the gutters, and I'm like, alright. I gotta tackle these bushes or trimming these hedges out front. These hedges needed to be trimmed. Last year, probably the year before that, I'm like, I'm gonna trim the hedges.

Jason Brown [00:03:25]:
Gotta get that taken care of. People coming over. First thing you'll see is the front of the house. Gotta get it taken care of. You know what I'm saying? Now let me preface this story by saying there was some little kids coming through the neighborhood, and there were some little kids who were, offering to do work and and cut some hedges. Now I just wanted to throw that out there, but we'll get back to that story part of the story in a minute. But the part that I think so far, the lesson that I wanna talk to you about, number 1, the first lesson is have unrealistic time frames and deadlines. I think we do this in the stock market as well.

Jason Brown [00:04:06]:
And I look at the fact that I needed to do a whole year or what I felt like was a year's worth of work in 2 days while still being a father, while still running the business, while still getting some work done, while still watching my own trades and sending alerts, It was, like, unrealistic. And I think we do that a lot of times in life and in the stock market. We come into something that we haven't been studying or preparing for or working on for a year or longer. We or we've never been prepared for this industry. And then we have this unrealistic time frame and deadline. It's like, by next week, I should be making $1, 000 a week consistently or making money in the stock market. And when I was thinking about all the stuff I had to do, trim the hedges, clean the gutters, power wash, fix the pavers. Not just fix the pavers.

Jason Brown [00:05:02]:
I had to watch a couple YouTube videos on how to fix it, scrape some the glue off the back, and I'm like, what glue is best. I mean, it was a whole process, and I'm like by the way, I took took apart my Sunbrella umbrella because the cord for that broke. I'm like, we gotta fix the Sunbrella because people, if it's hot, they gonna need some shade. It was just unrealistic the amount of work that I was trying to get done in the time frame, And we do that in the stock market. We come in and we just say, hey, I'm gonna give this a week, 2 weeks, 30 days. And if I'm not making a killing, I'm I'm I'm gonna quit. And so we gotta have realistic time frames for the work that we're trying to do as well as the result that we're trying get. Because that's really what it boils down to.

Jason Brown [00:05:54]:
The result that I wanted was, like, everything pristine on the house. Gutters, bushes, pavers, power walk. I'm I want it all pristine. Grass cut, edged. I wanted everything pristine. And the result that I wanted did not match the time frame. Well, it matched the time frame because I had to dig deep and find the energy and the power to get it all done. But I'm telling you, it was not a pretty sight.

Jason Brown [00:06:26]:
And that goes into lesson number 2. You know, for the first time in a long time, it's like most people like, I wanted to give up. Like, I put the I put the little things down, align the bushes, and I'm sweating like crazy. I think we got some footage of it if you're watching this on YouTube. I'm sweating like crazy, and I'm cutting these, trimming these hedges, trimming these bushes. And I am telling you, when I say I wanted to quit, not just quit, I was like, I'm selling the house. Alright. Now is anybody else out there with me? I'm like, I'm selling the house.

Jason Brown [00:07:05]:
I just went extreme. Like, why we got this big house? We don't need this much room anyway. I'm not gonna be spending my whole life doing maintenance on the house. Now do I spend my whole life doing maintenance on the house? No. But I'm telling you, in that moment, with that sweat dripping off my face, I'm trying to pound some water, cutting these I'm like, in little bugs flying outside and popping on me. I'm like, I'm selling the house. Anybody ever felt like the I I know somebody else with me out there where you just let something so small and it gets so something so small gets so big and overwhelming. You're like, I'm selling the house.

Jason Brown [00:07:48]:
I'm downsizing. I'm never doing this again. Why do we and it was like, Jay, just trim the bushes. Okay? Just trim the bushes. Don't get. But that's how it felt. I was ready to give up on this huge thing. And that's lesson number 2, is that when you're doing it alone and you're doing something that you either haven't done in a while or never have done, when it gets tough, you forget about the big picture.

Jason Brown [00:08:15]:
I forget we got, like, 70 people coming to Jaylen's birthday party. I forget that we got another 60, 70 RSVPs for the 4th July and everyone's coming to see the fireworks show and play on in the lake and kids playing in the sand. None of that mattered. The whole big picture of that just went out the window. I was just like, I'm selling the house. I'm moving. I'm downsizing. I'm making it seem like it's just me, but, just that's how I felt.

Jason Brown [00:08:48]:
Only only my feelings matter at that moment. And I think that's how it is with most people with the stock market is you have an unrealistic time frame, unrealistic deadline to get the results that you want. And then you come into the game and and you start doing the loan. You're like, how do I open an account? What's the call? What's the put? What's an option? What's the candlestick chart? What's support? What's resistance? Buy, sell? How do I even deposit money here? How do I take it out? How do taxes work? And let alone if you jump into a trade and it goes against you and you start losing money, you go, WTF. What have I done? I'm getting out of this. I'm just going back to work. I don't know why I thought I can make money, get rich, supplement my income from this. You are just ready to throw in the towel and you 100% forget about the big picture, which is why you did this in the 1st place, which was for me why you bought this house and why you wanted to trim the bushes in the first place.

Jason Brown [00:09:48]:
Like, I wanted to entertain, have all our friends and family come over. Forget about all that. Same with the stock market. You're like, okay. My money can work harder than me than I can work for it. This could help put my kids through college. This could change our family's financial future, pay for a car, get us out of debt. You get us in our dream home.

Jason Brown [00:10:07]:
I mean, you could go on and on and on and on. But in that moment, when you're going at it alone and you look at the long list of to do's that you have to do, and you're like, how am I go get any of this done? How am I go get all of this done? It can become overwhelming, and then you're ready to throw the towel in on the whole project. Now remember those kids that I told you about in the beginning? I said, remember, there are some kids that were going around knocking on doors and they're like, hey. We wanna do, you know, landscaping, lawn work, anything you need. We specialize in doing bushes. They literally said that. They're like, hey, we'll trim all your bushes and hedges for you. And so didn't hire the kids.

Jason Brown [00:10:55]:
However, my neighbor actually hired the kids. And so as I'm starting to cut the bushes well, first, I see them at my neighbor house doing his bushes, then he had them back there doing the sand. So So I text my neighbor to a little flyer. I'm like, hey, are these the same kids? He's like, yeah. They were coming around asking to do work. And I'm like, man, I didn't hire him to do my bushes. He was like, well, they doing mine. Maybe they'll do yours.

Jason Brown [00:11:25]:
So I text the kid, and he didn't answer his text. So then we walk over there, like, hey. You know? You willing to do our bushes too? He's like, well, 200. You know? And he told me 200 the first time that he was here. He told us 200 the first time. We were like, no. We can do it ourself. But after I saw how hot it was, how much work we had to do, I'm like, yeah, but we should pay.

Jason Brown [00:11:49]:
And then I I think seeing my neighbor hire the kids. I'm like, why didn't I do the hire the kids as well? And my neighbor, you know, I again, he said, I'm just glad to see kids that wanna work, plus it saves me some time and energy so I can do some of the other stuff to get ready for the 4th July. And I'm like, Tone, you're right. Let me see if they can cut my so the kids were like, well, we booked up for the day, but if, you know, we can come back. And I'm like, we'll throw in, rake in our sand, and something else for the same price. And the kids said no. And I'm like, well, that's alright. If we change our mind, we'll let you know.

Jason Brown [00:12:27]:
And so I'm like, man, they $200 to do all this. That's too much money. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. When I got out there and got to cutting them hedges, you can't you won't believe how bad I wanted to pay them kids $200. I'm like, why am I out here slaving away, chopping down these bushes, edging them up? Now they look good now. But I was like, I you. I'm telling you, I wanted to pay them kids $200.

Jason Brown [00:12:59]:
And a couple things went through my mind. Number 1, when my neighbor said, and this is lesson number 3, when my late neighbor said, Jay, I'm just happy to see kids that want to work. I thought, man, that's a really good mindset and psychology to have. Like, I'm just happy to see kids that wanna work, and therefore he wanted to support the kids as well as buy some of his time back because he knows there's only so much time for us to get ready for these parties. But we had a party before the party. We had a party before the 4th July for my son's birthday. And so it really made me start to think about how I look at service work. It's like especially if it's kids or somebody that's trying to work.

Jason Brown [00:13:45]:
I'm like, man, they could be out here robbing, stealing, breaking into cars. But, no, they're trying to cut some hedges. I'm like, please just support the kids of nothing else, plus advise you some of your time back. And I thought about this when it comes to the stock market, and I thought, man, would wouldn't it be nice if we had the same mindset that people often say, like, if I could get mentored by a millionaire, if I could just get close to 1, if I can just get close to somebody in the stock market, invest, and teach me how this works, I would pay anything. And when someone like me comes around with my program, my system, and we're like $200 a month, Sometimes we're like, oh, I could figure it out myself. I could do it by myself. I can go watch some videos. I could do that.

Jason Brown [00:14:37]:
But it's like, what if we had the mindset to or sometimes people take the opposite approach. The other, of the end of spectrum, which is like, well, why they gotta charge $200 for that? And that was kinda me. I'm like, why they charge $200 unless they throw this in and do this. I ain't I ain't paying them. I'll do it myself. And that was the big mistake. And I think that's the same mistake that people make when they're trying to become successful. Right? Successful people value their time.

Jason Brown [00:15:05]:
And if they put a program or their knowledge together, they're basically saying that, hey. I can give you the shortcut, but it's gonna cost you something. You gotta have some skin in the game. And that's what these kids tried to do. They tried to give me the shortcut. They're like, look. We do this. We go up and down the neighborhood trimming these hedges.

Jason Brown [00:15:25]:
We got you. We'll give you our system, the shortcut. You can get some of your time back, but it's gonna cost you $200 or should I say it's gonna be an investment of $200. And I didn't make the investment, and I really wish I did. And I think that happens with most people when they finally have a chance to get mentored. Because I'm telling you, I get so many texts. Can I take you out to lunch? Can I take you out to dinner? Can I buy you coffee? And I'm I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with that. But the reality is, like, I could buy my own dinner.

Jason Brown [00:15:58]:
I could buy my own coffee. You really wanna be mentored by me? Join Power Trades University because that's where I'm helping 100 and thousands of people. And so now you want me to come outside of that system, go meet you at Starbucks or some restaurant and let you pick my brain. And most of the time, it's just not the best use of my time, and it's also not the best way that I can help you. I can help you better inside my platform where I got the tools, the software, I can screen share, and do all the things necessary to help you make money. And what if I'd had that attitude with the kids? Like, man, I I look he had now I look at the weed whacker or the the tree trimmer that we have. We got 1 battery. So I only could do half the trees, then I had to go put the thing on the battery, find something else to do while the battery charged.

Jason Brown [00:16:48]:
I'm like, my man got all the tools. He got all the equipment. Him and his little partner that was coming around trying to trim hedges. They also had it down to a system. So it's like, I should've just tapped into what they had going on and just paid the 200 to $200 instead of trying to do my own thing. So lesson number 3 is having that mindset of my neighbors. Just like I'm just glad to see kids doing work. Same thing when it comes to stock market or investing or working with somebody that's a millionaire or whatever financial situation that you wanna be in, you should be feeling like, man, I'm just glad that somebody willing to share because most of the times we say, rich people don't wanna share their secrets.

Jason Brown [00:17:32]:
They won't don't wanna tell us how it works. Instead, we should have a mindset when someone does. It's like, oh, it's only $200. Like, I'm just glad that these kids, myself being the kid, I'm just glad this person, this investor, this stock trader, this millionaire is willing to share their system. We should be willing to tap into it. So I I know for a fact myself, I am going to look very differently at some of these door knockers that come through. Just people who offer a service whether I need it or not. It's like, okay.

Jason Brown [00:18:03]:
Can I support? Because I'm just happy they're doing something positive. Or if I actually need it and they doing something positive, it should be a no brainer. I should just go into the petty cash account and be like, absolutely. Hit the bushes, shovel the well, we got a snow blower, but you know what I'm saying? In this particular instance, go ahead and trim the trees. $200. I'm supporting the kids. They're doing something positive. I'm glad that they're here to help.

Jason Brown [00:18:28]:
Why wouldn't I tap into their system? So that's lesson number 3. Just having that mindset shift of being glad that people are sharing, that they wanna work, they wanna share with you their secrets. Lesson number 4, though, is this one's a big 1 for me because I realized that I'm paying for those kids' time in their system. Of course, I can trim my hedges myself. It's kinda like the stock market. Of course, you could learn it for yourself. Of course, you could watch a bunch of YouTube videos, read a bunch of books, but how long is that going to take you? And so I'm paying for these kids' time, and I didn't really look at it like that initially. And this, I'm just like, man, I could cut my own hedges.

Jason Brown [00:19:12]:
I gotta treat his trimmer in the garage. And I think some people look at it like, I got access to YouTube. I got a laptop. Why would I pay you, to learn about the stock market? And it's like, you're not really paying me to learn about the stock market. You're paying for my time and for my system. And that's what those kids brought to the table. Look. They have my neighbors done quick, and then they was on to the next house.

Jason Brown [00:19:39]:
He was like, yeah. We booked up. We ain't even got time to do yours. And I'm like, he booked up because he got a system. He probably in and out, hitting it, moving on to the next 1. I didn't even have a system. I was like, alright. I saw he put the tarp behind, put it in front.

Jason Brown [00:19:56]:
That made sense. I I did that before where you try to get all the hedges, clippings to fall on the tarp, and you pull the tarp out and you dump it. But bottom line, lesson number 4 is you're paying for their time and their system. I'm paying for that kid's time and that kid's system. Like I said, he had 2, 3 batteries with him. He was already prepared. He had the system down. He knew he was gonna run out of battery power.

Jason Brown [00:20:18]:
He mighta had the other 1 charging while he was finishing cutting with the other battery. Like, he had it down to a system. I was like, I didn't even think that I would run out of battery power and that I only have enough to do half the bushes. And so I'm like, man. Man, I totally missed the fact I'm paying for his time and his system. And that's the same thing in the stock market. You paying for the power trade system, the power charts, power trades, power profit system. You're paying for our system of picking stocks, our system of reading charts, our system of picking options, our system of when to buy, when to sell.

Jason Brown [00:20:58]:
You're paying for the system. And then you're paying for the time that I take to send text alerts to write up. Oh, here's what I'm seeing. I think we got a opportunity here. You are paying for that system. So just remember in life, when you got an opportunity to invest in someone's program, whether it's a stock trading program, stocks and options, or get Jeremy your hedges. You are paying for there's time in their system to get it done. The more I think about it, even just watching him do my neighbors, I should have paid him for it because I started seeing, like, oh, he got 3 batteries.

Jason Brown [00:21:34]:
Even though I saw you had 3 batteries, it didn't dawn on me that we only had 1 battery. But just seeing the system alone was valuable and worth the investment. Now lesson 5 is, you know, this after I pushed through and trimmed the first hedge, just had the battery charge and came back out due to the second. Saw I did a similar system to him, had the tarps on the front and the back kinda wrapped around the bush roots so that it fell on the tarp and pulled them out and threw them in the, compost bin. And then I found another handheld trimmer, and I had that 1 going. So now I had 2 trimmers, which means essentially I had 2 batteries, which means I can go further longer. So, basically, after I pushed through, got through the sweat, got through complaining, got through cursing, got through 1 wanting to sell the house, like, selling. Once I got through all that, I started to see a little light at the end of the tunnel, and then I had my own little system going.

Jason Brown [00:22:41]:
And then that's less than 5. You're either gonna buy someone's system or you're gonna develop your own. And developing your own only happens if you don't quit. Only happens if you push through and you kinda look back and say, wait a minute. I thought we had a second trimmer in the garage. Right? And so pushing through is similar in the stock market. It's like after you get into the game, you gotta decide. Am I gonna buy somebody's system, invest in the coach, a mentor to teach me a way to do this? Or am I gonna develop my own? But here's the key, and here's the key within the lesson or the lesson within the lesson.

Jason Brown [00:23:22]:
The lesson is that you're either gonna boss on a system or develop your own, but there's a lesson behind that lesson. And that lesson is simply this. If you're going to develop your own, you have to embrace all the pain, the cuts, the sweat, the bruises, the amount of time that it's gonna take to develop your own system. See, I went in to just say, ah, I should cut my own bushes. It's fine. I I didn't go into thinking like, wow, I don't have 2 batteries. Wow, it's hot out here today. Wow, I gotta figure out how to do this quicker because it's gonna go from a 3 hour job to a 8 hour job.

Jason Brown [00:24:01]:
And so I didn't go in thinking like, man, if you develop your own system, Jay, it's gonna take you all day. And then the question was, do I have all day? The answer is no. The party was in, like, 2 days, and I'm out there sweating my butt off trimming some bushes and I still didn't fix the pavers yet. Still didn't power wash yet and do some of the other I didn't try to consider developing my own system, which, you know, looking back on, it's like, just cut the check. $200, get a system, get it done. Right? So you either go buy somebody else's system or you're gonna develop your own. But if you develop your own, you gotta understand it's gonna take time, some headaches, some cuts, and some bruises to to get through. And then the final lesson is as this all wrapped up and it's all over, I realized that I look back.

Jason Brown [00:25:03]:
I'm like, man, I'm glad I actually went through and didn't quit whether I bought their system or developed my own. I'm glad I went through and didn't quit because as I look back, I'm like, wow. The bushes are beautiful. I I finished the backyard. I did push. I got everything done. I was very tired, But I was thinking about the fact that, like, when you tired and you sweating and you wanna quit, whether you buy someone else's system or develop your own, the magic happens when you put in work. Like, no magic happened while I was sitting there complaining, sitting drinking water.

Jason Brown [00:25:46]:
I think I text my neighbor a few time like, dude, next time some little kid next time I try to I texted my best friend. I said, next time I try to save $200 slap me. I text my neighbor and said, next time some little kids wanna trim bushes, please talk some sense into me and not doing it myself. He laughed at me. My best friend laughed at me. I'm just sitting there moping, complaining. And this is the final lesson is that the work, the the magic is in the work. I couldn't develop my own system as long as I'm complaining, moping, like, I don't feel like doing this.

Jason Brown [00:26:22]:
And so the moment that I just sprung into action, like, look, kids ain't coming back. He said he booked up. You gotta get this done by tomorrow or in 2 days. It was like, roll up your sleeves, finish trimming the trees, and get it done. And as I finished, that's when I'm like, wait. I think I not finished, but as I got accepted that I am gonna have to just knock this out. That's when I'm like, I thought we had a second trimmer. Boom.

Jason Brown [00:26:48]:
Got that 1. Had 2 trimmers. Then I unraveled the tarp and put it the long way. So the bushes that are long in a row, I'm like, oh, I could do about 4 or 5 bushes in a row instead of doing 1 or 2. And I developed my own system, and it it it actually became easier as we went along. But it couldn't get easier if I didn't put in the work and start taking some action. And so that's what I wanna leave you with. If you're looking at the stock market, you're looking at invest, and you're looking at stock options, and you stress, you tire, you're like, it's a lot to learn.

Jason Brown [00:27:23]:
I don't know where to start. The magic can't happen for you unless you just start trimming the hedges. Unless you start doing some work, you start chipping away at it. Once you start to take some action, some doors open up for you, some systems that you're like, oh, I'm starting to see how this work. I see how I could speed this up. But none of that can happen for you if you don't actually spring into action, then the magic can't happen and can't show up for you. And so I hope that, you know, my $200 trying to save $200 on getting these hedges. I really hope it helps you because I think a lot of people are trying to save $200 in life.

Jason Brown [00:28:13]:
They're trying to save $200 on our group coaching program and try to figure out the stock market on their own, and they're failing. They're buttoned their head up against the wall. They're sweating. They're tired. They're questioning why they even thought that they can do this because they're just trying to save $200, and they're not really thinking about the time frame and deadlines. They're not thinking about the fact that they're trying to do it at along, which makes it even tougher. They're not thinking about the fact that they could just pay and have access to someone who's been there before, who's currently doing it real time. They're not really thinking about the fact that, oh, they're paying for someone's system and someone's time.

Jason Brown [00:28:52]:
They're not thinking about the fact that if they try to develop their own system, the reason they're having a headache is because that is part of developing your own system. You have to learn all the mistakes that the hard way instead of tapping into someone else's knowledge. And most people quit or get discouraged, And they never push through to get to see the magic happen, which is by doing the work and keep going. So, again, I hope my experience will motivate you both in your home life and in your financial life to say, you know what? Let me not try to save $200. Let let me be penny wise and pound foolish. Meaning, you're trying to save pennies when you can tap in with us and make 1, 000 and possibly 1, 000, 000. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I hope this help.

Jason Brown [00:29:42]:
I'm signing off saying, remember, you never go broke taking a profit. But I think our other quote is more profound for this 1, and that is a trader alone is a trader at risk. Find your community. Find your people. Quit trying to save $200. I'll see you on the inside.