For me, I took it the way that people probably shouldn't. HA! It wasn't easy at all. I was working a job where they brainwash people into staying aboard and I didn't go along with anything they had to say. I had to get out. They sent me to a seminar for sales training where there was a sales pitch for an investment program. A bunch of my friends and I signed up and I was the only one that took it seriously. Then, last summer I had the opportunity to leave the job and concentrate on trading.
Fortunately my girlfriend KNEW that I could do it, and knew it would just take time. The time part was the only unknown. How long would it take? So, we started looking at it from the perspective of "traditional" startups and how long it takes them to become profitable. So, I started figuring with putting in the time needed to startup say like a small pastry shop or something (LOTS of hours and hard hard work) that it might take anywhere from 12-24 months for me to become profitable.
So, here I am getting close to the 12th month since I went solo, 10th month day trading futures, and its been a long battle. THANKFULLY my girlfriend is a finance manager and has a HUGE budget at her job to finagle so getting our finances in order during the "break-in" period was easy as pie. She didn't mind working while I was at home losing money.
And now that I've crossed the most major plateau coming into the year anniversary of going it alone, I really feel that I'm there on the path to consistency. Am I banking HUGE amounts of cash? For my needs, absolutely. For most other traders? I make pocket change. But that's not what I'm really in it for. Trading for me is a means to live without the limitations of a job. As long as I can consistently make what I was making at my other gig then life is grand. I mean...we grow lots of our own food, pay next to nothing in utilities for our home because we're SUPER "earth aware" in our usage, have just 1 car (Scion xA which gets 32mpg in the city, 36 on the highway easily)...so with expenses as little as ours and life as great as it already is...trading then becomes something easier on the mind.
Anyways, thats my ramblin'