This letter is a tough one to write.
Took me a while to decide if I should share this…
3 years ago, 1 month before my baby girl was born…
I lost almost all my money in trading.
(Together with my wife’s money)
It was a tough period.
I felt ashamed, stupid, and lousy.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably have been seeing only the good things…
The success stories of my clients…
The fun with my kids…
But the truth is I was struggling just 3 years ago
Now that I have emerged from that low point of my life…
I’m ready to share my journey.
Why?
Simply because I want to inspire hope in people.
Especially to those who might be struggling now.
And those who might struggle in future.
Because life is full of ups and downs…
And when life is down, it’s hard to climb up.
We all need that belief and hope.
Hope that it is possible to get out of that dark place or low point, or whatever you want to call it…
Here’s how I lost almost everything and made it back in less than 3 years.
So in 2021, I was finding ways to increase my income.
I only had one source of income which was the salary I was drawing from my music business.
I wasn’t drawing much.
And I was worried about not having enough after having my 2nd kid.
I wanted to prepare for the increase in cost of living.
(Baby stuff, childcare, helper etc)
So I persuaded a friend to teach me options trading as he was making good money from it.
For those of you who know about trading – the strategy we did was basically to sell naked puts.
Which is a damn risky thing to do as we were overleveraging.
As 2021 was bullish, we made good money.
On a good month, I could earn up to $15k from trading options.
As I’m writing this, I went to dig up the records…
You can see my earning and losses here:
This generated an extra $3k+ per month (the numbers are in USD).
So at that point, I felt secure.
I attained a skill that could generate me income every month.
I had big dreams…
Like never having to work again.
I can just stay at home, lie on my bed and trade options.
Sounds perfect?
WRONG.
Because in Jan 2022, I was forced to close all my open positions.
Which wiped out almost the whole account’s money.
I remember holding my phone…
Staring blankly at it.
Almost $80K SGD got wiped out.
The few months after were tough.
In fact, I will never forget how in the month of Oct 2022, my bank only had $400.
Let me find that screenshot:
This was when I had a 5yo attending pre school…
And soon my daughter had to attend pre school too.
Basically I wasn’t having enough income to meet my family expenses.
Thankfully, my wife was working and we could still get by.
So how did I then climb back from that “hole” which I dug?
It’s all a blur now.
The first thing I did was to start working out weekly.
Yes, it seems odd, since I should be working harder to make money back.
But don’t forget, at that period, my mind was at a loss.
I had a lot of unhealthy thoughts.
Thoughts like:
“I should have taken up a banking job, which would pay me a lot more and I wouldn’t have to trade to get extra income”
“I took the wrong path… my friends around me are so much more successful than me”
So I realise all these were just depressing thoughts that had to be out of my head.
I wasn’t feeling “happy”.
So I started to exercise.
Why?
Because it’s scientifically proven that when you exercise…
It triggers the brain to release endorphins.
Endorphins are linked to increased feelings of happiness.
It helps to put you in a better mood – which helps to combat depression and anxiety.
So I swam weekly.
20 laps per week.
Just once a week will do.
Because I wanted to start with something very simple so I can follow consistently.
Yes, my overall mood increased, and the stupid thoughts started to disappear.
More importantly, I started to have mental clarity.
I had a clear idea on what I should be doing next.
I started posting video content about Facebook ads on my TikTok and IG.
I just forced myself to do it even though I didn’t feel like it.
Because I knew that I had to take action, instead of being passive about my situation.
Here you can see me carrying my baby daughter while filming.
I started to feel traction.
The progress of doing and creating consistently.
Which led me to doing the next thing.
I created my first digital product and coaching program.
Which is the eBook you will see at the bottom of this letter.
I wrote an eBook called ‘Profitable Ads Secrets’ where I share tips on running profitable Facebook ads.
It was my first low ticket product.
Which then led to the creation of my group coaching program.
Till date, I’ve probably run 3-4 rounds of that.
In case you’re wondering if I’m running any now – I’m not.
Not sure if I’ll ever be doing it again.
But yes, the coaching program was what helped me grow my income.
I held mostly Zoom sessions, but had a few in-person session as well.
Let me dig back some pics:
Some of them went on to become my private 1-1 clients…
And I’m still in touch with most of them.
Fast forward to today…
After helping countless business owners with their ads…
I’ve moved on to doing private consulting and done-for-you services.
This whole journey allowed me to recoup back what I’ve lost, and more.
So you could say the key was I kept taking action.
But I want to share something really important here as well.
Throughout the whole episode…
Even the parts where I felt shitty…
I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN MYSELF.
I never lost that self-belief in me.
Deep down, I KNOW that I have what it takes to climb out of this “hole” or whatever it is.
To all my past and present clients reading this…
Thank you for seeing the value in me.
So here’s a shoutout to those of you…
Whether you’re building, still climbing, or already scaling…
Never give up.
Always believe in yourself.
And keep taking action.
