(This is part of our Faith Journey Series. If you want the full context, click on this link to read the earlier posts: https://www.simplycampbell.com/blog/categories/faith-journey-series )
On August 5, 2022, one week after Life Surge, I attended the stock trading weekend without Courtney. She stayed home with the kids this time. I was uncomfortable sitting in a large room with a bunch of people I didn’t know, but still feeling like I needed to be there. My introverted nature was washing away as I met the people at my table who were mostly like me. Most of them had little knowledge, were eager to learn, and happy to be around other people with the same desire.
I gained a firehose of information that I couldn’t possibly comprehend all at the same time, but it helped give me an idea of what is possible. After having listened to the speakers and talking with coaches who have turned trading into a full time job, I was hopeful that this could be something that I could replace my income with.
As to be expected, they offered further training for an additional cost. This program would have lesson material, one on one coaches, daily zoom calls, a community forum, and tons of other resources. By the end of the first day, I was torn. I am not one to spend a lot of money or make impulsive purchases.
Unbeknownst to me, my campus pastor, Mike Schirle from Discovery Church was there and came up to me during our first break. He offered to take me out for lunch where we discussed more of what Courtney and I were wanting to do. At the end of the next day, I was still torn and shared that with him who then prayed with me for wisdom and next steps. I was thankful for his company, wisdom, and compassion towards Courtney and I. Especially since we had only known him for about five months. I decided that I needed the evening to think about this more, talk it over with Courtney, and pray together.
Courtney was almost immediately on board with investing in the coaching program. She thought it sounded very fitting for me. She has always called me “the numbers guy.” It seemed evident to us that this was a reason for why God had been shutting the door on a house for the last six months. We would’ve missed this if we were wrapped up in house searching, purchasing, moving, or settling.
The last day of the event was on Sunday. With it being a Christian company, they did a morning church service. A man named Blair Nightingale gave a short backstory to his life along with some preaching. While he was speaking, I was given the thought to go talk to him about our families story. Ours seemed relevant to his.
I was a little nervous to go up to him because I don’t normally do things like that. I told him that I felt like God wanted me to share my story with him. He was very appreciative that I had taken the time to talk to him and I was glad I did.
I also met Steven Andrus who was the brother to the man that spoke at LifeSurge about stock trading (there is a video clip on this post of him). I gave him an elevator version of our story and shared my reluctance with him about the coaching program. He said that I had the right mentality when it came to being skeptical about investing in it. He added that impulsiveness is not a good quality to have when investing in the stock market.
Steven shared with me how he has made most of his money from trading in the stock market. He then used that money to get into real estate investing. That’s something that I have been interested in for six years.
Steven said that the information that I would gain from these coaching classes would be extremely valuable. Better yet, I could learn it from the comfort of home. He shared that he had learned how to do trading by driving an hour one way after work for a couple of hours to his mentor’s house.
Given the things that I had told Steven about myself, our family, and our goals, he said that stock trading could be a great asset for our family. He does his trading drinking his coffee in his pajamas on his bed and is done before lunch.
The idea of waking up, having my morning coffee and working off of a laptop sounded quite inviting compared to how I had been making a living. That would also mean more time with my family and give me the ability to take better care of myself.
I decided to take yet another big leap of faith and enter the program.
I asked myself why I should pay for a program when there are so many free resources available on the inter web. I concluded that the zoom calls and coaching would fast track my pace of learning. I also liked that it was started by a pastor who has forty years of stock trading knowledge and that the program was built upon biblical wisdom. I was excited to learn.
When I first started, the program was extremely interesting to me. The information was overwhelming, but I was determined to digest as much as I could and as fast as I could. My goal was for this to replace my current income as soon as possible, but it was a slow process.
I stayed up late many nights to watch the videos and to work on the course material. I felt like I was on a hamster wheel juggling this program, family, and work. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep this pace up. I knew it would be hard when I signed up and it was.
Stay tuned.
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