Hey guys,
Just wanted to give a quick update on my life right now and how time is currently being allocated.
As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been busy producing videos for the “How I Trade Binary Options” video series along with some other promotional series as well. Making videos doesn’t require a clear mind, it only requires time and prep work.
I write all the scripts for my videos during the commute to and from school. I work on the power point slides when I get home, my main issue with power point is that the flow has to be right to make sense to people. As a teacher, I try to make it flow as smooth as possible. Once that’s done, the actual recording starts, sometimes I have to record the episodes in segments then piece them together. After recording, comes editing. Before I render, I have to rewatch the whole episode one last time to make sure it’s ready to go. Lastly, upload it onto youtube then add in all the descriptions and post it onto the blog, facebook, twitter and forums.
A break down of the approx time:
- Script writing: Between 30 mins up to 2 hours depending on my creativity
- Power Point: Minimum an hour up to 2-4 hours to tweak the flow
- Recording: In a perfect world, I do it once = Video length. If not, the longest I’ve ever recorded is 2 hours since I kept messing up (Note, the longest episode so far is only 40 mins long)
- Editing: Minimum video length x 1.5, I have to watch and edit at the same time, so it’s about 50% more time than the video length depending on how many mistakes I make
- Rewatch: Video length
- Rendering: 5-10 Minutes (Only fast since I recently upgraded my computer, previously took me over 30 minutes)
- Upload: Between 5 – 20 minutes
- Description: 5-10 Minutes
Total time approx. between 3.5 hours up to 8-10 hours (i.e. a long time!)
Ask any video producer, making videos take a hell of a long time to do especially if you screw up a lot. The first 5 minutes of recording is always a write off for me, I always mispronounce things or stutter etc.
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Now, on the other hand… Trading requires a complete clear and focused mind to execute properly. I know myself and I know I don’t trade well when I’m rushed or under pressure. Thus, I have not been trading lately, there are some pending trades that I’ve yet to post but those will be posted sometime this week, nothing exciting, pretty much break even. The reason why my head isn’t clear right now is because it’s midterm season!
I had round 1 of midterms in the past couple weeks, I have round 2 of midterms after the reading week (this upcoming week). I have no school from Feb 20th to 24th, 2012. I have an assignment due on Feb 27th, 2012 then I have a midterm on Mar 1st and Mar 6th, 2012.
Usually after a midterm, my brain is dead, literally. I can’t do higher level thinking (i.e. trading), so you should’ve noticed what I do to “cool-down”… make videos! What better way to spend “cool-down” time. Productive and efficient with my time rather than fooling around. I do not foresee myself trading again until at least the middle of March. If I don’t get an opportunity to trade then, I’ll have to wait until the semester is over because final exams are in April. FYI: I graduate this year, so after this semester, I’m done school. I’m looking forward to this summer because for once, I won’t have summer school (maybe I’ll be working a bit) so I can free up more time to trade actively.
The new fans seem to be pushing me to make videos more frequently rather than maintain this blog with trades. So, when the time comes, I’m really keen on making the “See Brian Trade” series, so that can be used to maintain this trading journal as well as post videos for people to watch. If push comes to shove, and I don’t have time to commit due to midterms/assignments then obviously, there’s nothing you can do about it.
My question to the people pushing me: Have you even watched all the videos yet? Ep 1 has 3k views, Ep 2 and 3 have 1k views, the rest have under 600 views each, so WTF?!. Unless you’re a keener that has watched each episode and understand them all clearly, I don’t see where the issue lies. IF you do fall under this group, then PLEASE send in REQUESTS >>>>> http://www.financialtradingjournal.com/strategy/video-series/requests/. My creative mind can only come up with so many ideas at once + I lack time, I’m not a full time youtuber/blogger/trader to do this all the time.
Just a reminder/update on current/upcoming series at this point in time:
- How I Trade Binary Options: I have potentially 5-7 episode ideas at this point in time.
- Broker Features: Will be completed “soon” with broker overviews and reviews (tentative plan)
- Broker Promos: I consider this complete since all I have to do now is wait for brokers to approach me and then I’ll add them onto this list.
- Lazy Traders: This is also complete, I started and finished it last night. I will add more onto this series as more signal providers become available on the market.
- Ask The Brain: For all the small questions asked that aren’t big enough to have their own episode in the main series. I’m aiming to get this series up and running ASAP.
- See Brian Trade: Obviously if I don’t trade, I can’t make these videos….
- How I Trade Forex: Will be the next main series that will come out, for those of you that watched the Binary Options series, you’ll notice most of the strategies carry over to forex since that is the underlying asset that I trade. The only difference for this series is that the strategies will incorporate order types: stop loss, take profit, trailing stop, limit orders, market orders etc and how to execute a trade properly according to risk/reward ratios.
- How I Trade Stocks: Will be placed on hold until I actually get enough capital to trade stocks
- Economics 101: This one will come out eventually since I want to share my view on the markets via economics speak.
- Life lessons: This one is a mix: motivational / rant / educational for both my normal audience as well as my students in tutorials.
Summary: I’m extremely busy with my time constraints so please bear with me. I will try my best to satisfy everyone’s interests (including my own obligations) as I move forward.
Regards,
Brian
sending...
