I would like to start out by stating that there is no such thing as making money quick. It doesn’t matter if you prefer to trade forex, binary options, play the lottery, place sports bets or go into a casino and gamble. While any of those options may result in short-term income, profits or winnings, they won’t lead to a repetitive positive outcome if you approach it with a get-rich-quick mentality. While anyone has to chose what is the best fit for them, I have settled in on forex trading as well as sports betting. Many may compare the two and label them as gambling, but they couldn’t be further away from the truth.

When I was in high school and right after it during my first job, a low paying job my friends helped me get at the docks, I did a lot of gambling. There is a big difference between gambling and sports betting. Gamblers just make a pick, through some money at it and then hope they get it right. Their best odds are 50/50. They don’t bother with research and analysis and I used to be in the same camp. I gambled small amounts of money, often together with my friends, more for fun than anything else.

It feels great to get a bet right and collect your money. It was often spend on dinner and drinks with friends while all of ignored how much money we spend to get a small payout. Trust me, in the end you are running a deficit chasing money this way. The first big change in my approach came roughly six months working at the docks. There were plenty of gamblers, but one older colleague of mine stood out. He told me that when he was a bit older than I was back then, he survived almost five years simply through sports betting.

At that point, to me they were the same. The biggest surprise to me is that he was able to support himself through this. He told me he paid all his bills and expenses through sports betting and his friends confirmed his claim and told me he had no other jobs. I asked him how he managed to handle this. That’s when he explained to me the difference between those who gamble with a short-term mindset and those who use a strategy with a long-term mindset. He admitted that the stress was way too high, but that the key was research and analysis.

He mentored me from that point forward. One f the biggest lessons was that you need to learn before you can earn. He used to spend over twelve hours per day researching the teams, doing the math, reading up on developments and following everything he could about the teams and players. I asked why he is working at the docks now. After a smile and a pause he told me that the stress was not worth it, that he now places only a few bets per day and more out of pleasure and that he discovered forex trading.

Forex trading? I was a bit puzzled at first, but he explained to me that through his years as a sports better, he really perfected his skills at research and analysis with everything that involves numbers. Forex trading made perfect sense to him. The market is open 24 hours per day and five days per week. His biggest secret is that he only trades three currency pairs, just like he only places sports bets on three different teams. He told me that it is better to be focused on a few than confused on all. He agree to guide me through my learning process, but that I needed to make my own mistakes and learn from them.

The first step was to open a live account at PaxForex, which is where he has been trading for over ten years. He told me that PaxForex is the easiest forex broker to work with, very friendly and trustworthy. I followed his advice to pick between three and five currency pairs and to focus my strategy on them. Diversification is very important which is why I picked the EURUSD, the GBPCHF and the AUDJPY. Those are three currency pairs which give me trading opportunities across the global economy and are unrelated. Diversification is achieved by trading unrelated assets in your portfolio and not different assets which move in the same direction.

I think the biggest lessons I learned as I changed from a gambler to a forex trader is that you need to be patient, focused and diversified. You also need to put in the hard work through research and analysis and have a long-term mindset. I asked my mentor why he is still working at the docks, despite his forex trading income. He told me the most valuable lesson of all: He likes to work outside and with people. Forex trading is done by yourself and inside. Balance is very important. So, start your own forex journey today at PaxForex and remember not to be motivated and driven by profits. Enjoy what you do, do it right and create a healthy balance. The profits will soon follow you!