That first class was in Thailand. We did it again in Vietnam. And then when I got back home, I was wrapping up my last part of seminary and my friends in Dallas asked me to teach them. I said, “I actually have a class online.” I didn't have a class yet. I just wanted to see if somebody would buy it. And two people said, “Yeah, teach us.” So I built out an online course and now it's gone from two to over 20,000 that I've taught how to trade.

Q:  How much have you made trading and how much have you made off of the Trade and Travel course?

A: So in trading, you're looking at percentages of your actual cash amount. When I was trading as a teacher, I was only trading about $35,000. And even with my goal of $300 per day at the max, I would end up making around $60,000. So that's almost a 100% return. That's great as a trader. But it's only $60,000. I remember one year, I think it was 2019. I traded an account that was $25,000. I made $75,000 and I was so excited because I had made a 300% return. But when you think about 2019 in my course business, that was the first year I had made a million dollars.

Unfortunately I have to say in 2020, I reported a loss [from shorting Tesla]. Sometimes it happens, right? I still had a pretty significant tax bill. Last year was pretty good. It was positive, and I made seven figures in trading, but it definitely was not as big as the courses.

I'm still not trading a huge account when I trade. And with Trade and Travel, it's based on how many people decided to take my course — 2020 was a crazy amazing year. So the topline revenue is over $40 million, but then you have to take out some for expenses.

Q: What do you think is the most important skill in trading?

A:  Thinking about small bite-size goals is really important. Small, consistent goals add up. Then having a big risk management plan in place. We [at Trade and Travel] have six different things we look at with risk management, whether that's the quantity of your trading, to your stop losses and protecting yourself, to your risk tolerance. So having that risk management plan in place is important.

Q: We're seeing rising interest rates, the hottest inflation in a generation, war. All these things have made equities very volatile this year. As the market declines, is it causing students to drop out of the class?

A: It's not causing students to drop out, it’s actually causing them to upgrade to our VIP program. Advanced economic conditions require advanced trading tools like shorting, covered calls and options which we cover in VIP. I personally think that we are heading into a recession, and people will win with strategies that make money as stocks go down.

Q: How else are you coaching your students on how to deal with both this current downturn and the possibility of a recession?