The "stats guy" had done some figuring to determine how much Kosoma LLC was earning from our DT Course. He shares these inaccurate figures with anyone who will listen to his seedy plan. In his figuring he had left out a TON of expenses that he has no clue about. He has obviously never ran a company or corporation before - why should he care about the truth when he can just make statements and attacks? I envision him with $$$ signs in his head, his calculator out, and a goofy grin on his face. It seems he wanted more than the thousands of dollars he "Claimed" to have been making trading. 

This has escalated to the point where we had to involve attorneys to investigate the lies, slander, defamation, and mud slinging he has been sending our way. I hate dealing with lawyers, and law, and suits, and slander, and on and on. Normally the attorneys are the only ones who win, and I know that. But this fellow left me no choice on the matter - even though I gave him many chances to do so. He has even now been contacting my affiliates to try to get them to work his "new" trading program. His filth has caused a few of my affiliates to lose sales, and that bothers me more than anything he could do to me personally. I could quit teaching right now and do just fine, but when hard working folks - My Affiliates -  have been listed as WHORES, on his web site it has gone far enough.

My initial thought was to just ignore him. That most folks would ignore such a negative thinking person and that anyone who would be attracted to such obvious slime tactics would not be the type of person we would want on our team anyway. 

However, then one of my online friends said to me "Doug, this guy has got to be stopped. He has called you a thief and a liar, and so far all the public is hearing is his side of the story! Man he is out to ruin the good reputation you have built online since 97." The attorneys said, "Just wait, give him some more time and he will hang himself." In my mind he had already done that, and the lawyers told me they have well over 100 pages of defamation and slander, but I set by silently.

Now most folks who know me know that I am a simple, fairly quiet man. I believe in keeping most things in life including web biz, web pages, trading, friendships, fishing, etc. simple. It has been my style and it has served me well. I think, check that I KNOW, simple is what most folks WANT. Still, I was going to try to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I even wrote several emails to him pleading for him to stop. That if he wanted to violate his nondisclosure agreement with me I would not pursue the matter as long as he quit blasting me and just promoted whatever he was promoting on it's own merit. It quickly became apparent that he preferred to do things the hard way, the complicated way, the long drawn out nobody is really a winner way. (He may in fact be the author of the lose-lose philosophy - I prefer win-win if at all possible).

He told me, and I quote his email:

------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Post To Your Blog
   Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 10:07:06 -0400
   To:     <Doug@kosoma.com>

"I am not sure where you are getting the idea from
that I am planning to unleash some system to sell
people I am not. I have created my own system and
it's for me alone. That is another huge issue, 
every system needs to be for that person on their
own. You can try to teach basics for sure but you
can't force someone to do things as you've stated. 

I also quite agree with you that mechanical systems
will never work unless they actually execute the 
trade for you and even then they like all trading
systems will not be perfect.

I have NO question about the fact that you've traded
the Emini longer than I have.. right now I've only
been trading it for about 18 months so you've got 
double the experience I do on that market. 

Well again I am not sure where you are going with this,
but your history is being an MLMer and an author, I would
say that you have done those two things for a lot longer
than you have trading, please correct me if I'm wrong...
Again we are back to the great system I am developing
I think there is some confusion there.. My system is
developed and it's for me alone. I am not nor will I
ever sell my system to anybody.. as I have no desire
to teach."

J.
-------------------------------------------

Well yes, and I have been a father, and a grandfather, and a husband, a tree farmer, an AT&T technician, a mechanic, a public speaker, an insurance salesman, a cook, and a dishwasher too. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China???? Who in the world says that ANYBODY has to do only one thing in life to qualify to show others what he knows about a particular subject???? If that is true, then all the info sellers out there on the net best give up right now. Well, at least according to you know who ^  :-(excluding himself of course;-(

You will notice that I am not naming this person, I have no reason to. The legal team we have hired for this will deal with him and all the issues involved, but I did want to clear the air here for those that my be interested in knowing the truth behind the smear campaign. 

I was right all along. The guy who blasted me for having an affiliate program now has one for traders. The guy who blasted and keeps blasting me for teaching (hey but wait, you pitched me on 4 or 5 different MLM programs in the last month that I was talking to you - you were also some sort of PC guru or so you say - what now qualifies you to teach trading - you have less experience than I do - haven't you been a PC tech longer than a trader? Please correct me if I'm wrong) and swore that he had no such thing in mind now has a system he is, or will soon be selling (he was forced to do this he claims, by his many fans out there - give me a break). Again he has even approached some of my affiliates trying to get them to work his exciting new trading program (one of them is a person that he has listed as an "Affiliate Whore" on his site - go figure, this master affiliate told him to go fly a kite or something less kind).

KEEP IT POSITIVE  - OR DIE AS A TRADER - no pun intended

I hate that I even have to clear the air on this issue, but it has gone on long enough. It is easy to SAY that something is so, but this guy's cheesy actions should speak MUCH louder than the slimy words.

I really feel sorry for anyone who gets mixed up with such a negative thinker. I used to think he was positive, but I've not heard anything positive come from him in some time. I'm told that he continually blasts me in his blog. Though my lawyers are archiving it, I don't have the stomach to read any more of it. 

He has actually posted phony negative testimonials on his web site supposedly written by folks who have  taken our training (when no such named person exits - or as in one case -  is a great friend of mine here in Oklahoma who has done work for us, and who we have even helped in purchasing a new car - she didn't write it - so I'll give you one guess who did). Oh, I'm sure he has found a whiner or two that will listen to him and has somehow convinced them that he is the one who can lead them to trading bliss. Boy are they in for a BIG surprise! Wait till they discover the REAL STATS GUY! (You mean we had the power to do it ourselves this whole time? Without the stats guy????)

His goal all along has been to steal traffic from our site, steal students, steal affiliates etc. etc. etc. If you have such a HOT system of your own, why not market it on it's own merits?? That is all I ever really asked.  All he could say is that he was not now or Ever planning on marketing any trading course of his own. Then he had the audacity to say that HE tried to talk to ME, and since I wouldn't talk to him, he was forced to put on the smear campaign. Does that make any sense? Why not just forget me if he thinks I'm that horrible (even though for 8 months DTME was the greatest thing since sliced bread)?

Here is a letter he sent out to a small group of traders who he had found among my students. They were all fairly experienced so I did not mind if they wanted to form their own small master mind group, but one of the folks in that group told me that he was constantly pitching them on products and MLM programs (yet he was supposedly earning thousands a week trading - why not just focus on that since he thinks anyone working an MLM program is so horrible???). Once I found out about the smear campaign he was launching I asked him what he was up to, and that it seemed like to me he was priming folks for something he was planning on selling. He then sent this letter to his small group:

----------------------------------------------
Hey Everyone, 

Well as someone of you are aware I was contacted by the FTC this week in 
regards to some of Doug's advertising and income claims… and after that 
I posted a review on my blog about the DTME course. Doug has since 
replied to that post… I replied to that…and we just finished round two.. 
hahaha… it's all quite interesting… I am not going to copy the emails 
in here any longer I am just going to point to the blog and that is the 
last post I will be making in there before the new site opens up sometime 
this month… 

Enjoy if nothing else it's interesting to see how badly he misses the 
point on why I don't feel comfortable promoting his product anymore. 

J
----------------------------------------------
Now does that sound to you like a guy that is wanting to talk and work things out????? For his information I did not Want him offering my products as I don't want flim flam men representing ANYTHING I put my name on  (actually he had not been entitled to his commissions we had been paying him for some time as he did not keep his membership active). He CLAIMED that the FTC had contacted HIM about MY affiliates making some false earnings claims. Now does that make any sense? To date I have not heard one word from the FTC about any claims. 

Why would the FTC contact HIM about MY Affiliates???? He said it was because they knew that he was a prominent student or some such thing - WOW, talk about a guy with an inflated ego. He then gives a case number to his small list (and of course I'm getting a copy of everything he sends them - there are some folks who have some loyalty to their online friends), and IF that case number is real, then it must be cause HE contacted the FTC to file a complaint himself. Now if that is true, then the boy is playing an EXTREMELY dangerous game. Filing an FTC complaint to try to bring down a competitor is a no no. I began to wonder if the boy was playing with a full deck of cards.

At one point (just before the smear campaign began) he tried hard to get me to join a really complicated MLM type training program for trading. A person would need about $500 a month to keep it turned on and the charting was EXTREMELY involved. I actually considered it. I told him that some of my more advanced students might like it. He had visions of me pulling all of my affiliates under him in this MLM. I finally had to tell him that the complicated thing really goes against every fiber of my being. Later in his blog, or somewhere I read where he was blasting that program, and that he was glad he got out of it before he lost his money. After that he told me that he liked the program, but not the MLM  - well here is his email on it:
----------------------------------------------
I guess we should also clear up the PN issue. I am still
a fan of the PN software and it works great on the FX
markets that was my main reason for wanting to get it....

... my problem with PN was the MLM program
-------------------------------------------------

When he was pitching the program to me, he told me it was an excellent Emini trading system, or for trading anything for that matter and that he had NEVER lost a trade with it. I guess if you are not trading it is hard to lose a trade. Well, I don't know if he was or not, but my point is, first it was GREAT, then it was OK but just for FX trading, then he was glad to get out of there before he lost his money trading, and then it was just the MLM part of it he didn't like (yet he had been trying hard to convince me to join and pitch it to my folks, for the MLM money). I think you can see that the boy has a problem keeping his story straight (and soon he may have to do that in a court of law, where the pressure would be on)

Just after the PN pitch came this one:
-----------------------------------------------
Subject:  Ok Doug time for lift off.
   Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 16:40:42 -0500
   From: Your Weekly Trading Offer
    To:  <Doug@kosoma.com>

Hey Doug,

Ok here is finally the perfect compliment to
your DTME course. 

How about a program that will only cost you
145 bucks to get started. It will not make
you learn anything about charts, indicators
or anything else to do with trading, but it
will make you a profitable trader. Simply
by showing you exact entry and exit points
on the forex. It is stunning how profitable
its' been for me. It will cost you 100 bucks
a month to use the system but it's a no
brainer as you can make ten times that just
trading a mini forex account. Plus you don't
have to use real money to start if you just
want to use it with a demo account. 

.......
---------------------------------------------
Later he was not saying much about that program anymore, and I think he quit it too.
 

Then came this offer:

--------------------------------------------
Hey Doug,

You have probably seen this thing already, as I do with everything
I tell you this is NOT a sales pitch just giving you the facts.
It's called the XYZ System, here's my link if you want to
see the page http:Edited by me-xyz) I'll give you a quick
rundown.. it's a two up system..but as they are in pre-launch
right now they are waiving the two ups, so you start making
money from your first sale. It's basically just a jazzed up 
version of the program you were selling for 199.00 the lifetime
training... the program is more or less that. It has all sorts
of videos, audios, pdf's etc.. in the back office.. it tracks
all your site hits, etc..etc.. anyway the point is that it's
a great place to get an education for online marketing, plus
of course you can sell the package. Their pitch is that you
don't have to do anything it sells itself, which we've all
heard before..but this time it's been true so far. I had a
buddy ask me to get in about three weeks ago, I was too busy
told him later... since that time he's made 43 sales and over
21,000 bucks.. doing nothing..and I mean nothing. So I asked
for more details he said basically he just places solo ads
and uses google adwords and poof people go to the call and
then he makes sales.. well you know me, never one to look
free money in the mouth I signed up. It's 597.00 for the 
whole thing, the 97 is paid right to the company then the
500 directly to us.
---------------------------------
Yes I know well by now that you will do ANYTHING for money. I get it!

Several times he pitched me on this MLM conference plan. His goal was that I would come in under him of course and then pitch it to all my folks:
-----------------------------------
Hey Doug,

Ok I am going to make my push for Hot Conference
again. I received emails from two people last night
and this morning that were on the call. Both say
they would really love to join but the thought
of how much long distance they would have to pay
calling from South Africa and Malaysia is just too
painful. When they take into account a few hours on
Sunday night to start an hour or so each morning
then if they want to stay on the calls for any
length of time...it would be huge. They both said
just making the call to the biz opp is very costly.

So I know that peope in North America can just
get VoIP and not worry about costs but this is
not an option for those overseas...

I still believe it's something worth looking at...

What are your thoughts??

(the rest is edited by me)
Here is my link ........blah blah blah - Sign up NOW
before it is too late.
--------------------------------------------------
It has been pitch after pitch since I have known the guy. Many of the things he pitched me on he later was blasting. So, it should have been no surprise to me that he would do the same with my program. But it did catch me off guard, at least for awhile. Then I began to see the real person. The "stats guy" who I thought was a good trader (well maybe so, but not in the sense of trading the market), and who at one time I had considered a friend. Pieces of the puzzle came together and I had a paradigm shift concerning him. He was Not what he presented himself as at all! Just another thief who was not willing to use his own creative mind to come up with his own plan, but a guy who has no doubt made a slim living by being dishonest and deceitful.

Since my mind does not generally work in negative terms (I have always been a positive person, and continue to read at least one self development book a month - and the best positive thinking book ever written - the Bible - over and over), I tend to have trouble understanding the negative thinker. Even when we have offered "Our Opinion" on home biz offers in this very publication (or ones before it in our mail order days) we did not do a smear campaign and put up a site tearing them down, or worse yet start calling the owners names, or their affiliates whores. We know there is more than one way to catch a fish or skin a cat, and if your way does not suit me, then fine. You do it your way, and I'll do it mine.

We have now trained over 600 people on how to trade the S&P Emini (a market our critic "stats guy" did not even know existed until he found our course), and we have had thousands of affiliates so I'm sure there are some that are negative out there (though it is a relative few by our count - he would have you believe that not one single person has enjoyed or appreciated what we taught them). It is not hard to find ones who want to blast everyone and anyone. They are easy to spot. Their failures are always someone else's fault. No matter how many others may be having positive results with the same biz, investment, job, book, etc... 

The stats guy claims because no one has contacted him to talk about their long term trading, that the training we offer does not work! Even though we continue to get email after email of satisfied students (and many of them show up on the Thursday eve calls to talk about their success), he claims there are NONE out there. At one time he told me to have all my people contact him or to send him a list of email addresses and phone numbers. WHY? So he can pitch them on his affiliate plan. Who in their right mind would want to contact this guy, or worse yet have their affiliates contact him????? You have to read between the lines with the stats guy, cause he does a LOT of double talk! And it becomes obvious that he really does want to build HIS stats and post HIS ideas regardless of how wild, slanted, or flat out wrong they are.

One thing I know for sure when it comes to trading, or any biz for that matter -  but Especially trading  - is that you had Better Keep a Positive Attitude or the market will eat you up. So I try to be positive in the wake of such an obvious smear campaign. I have wanted to post some things on this, but I hate the negative slant we Have to cover in order to get the job done. Notice I am not giving out any names here. That is not the purpose, or my style. But, I have come up with a somewhat positive way to rebut the falsehood and out and out lies (more on that in a minute).

I had one other student that I know of that took my course and then violated his Non-Disclosure agreement by marketing his own course. I was upset a little at that too. However, looking back at it, he at least did market his course on it's own merit without trying to tear someone else's down. I don't think he is in business any longer (perhaps the "stats guy" taught him how to run his biz).

One of my more experienced students (who had already traded for years before he took my class) said: "Hey Doug, tell that guy there is more than one way to trade" referring to the smear campaign. That is so true, and not many self-proclaimed experts agree on everything, and sometimes not much of anything - Especially when it comes to trading!

Listen To the Stats Guy From Canada Here:
(as you know he is now trying to sell his own course,
but you can hear his real thoughts on our system here. He didn't even
know what an emini was until he found us):

One of the things I have always believed in when it comes to building anything, a business, a family, a farm is that to do your best, you MUST work on the person from within - YOU. From the inside out. When we first started our trading program back in 2004, we knew that. I had already tried some fairly complicated systems that took the focus off of me, and what the price was doing in the market, and directed all my time, energy, and effort on reading the darn thing.

After looking at and buying TONS of things out there on various aspects of trading I came across an online article, and I'm sorry but I can't even remember the author's name or where I found it. I read something in that article that jumped out at me. He basically said that if you keep your trading chart simple, you can use your mind to see set ups and focus your energy on YOU instead of your tools. Use your Brain he kept saying, not a ton of crutches and tools. He went into more detail but basically what I got out of it - and it was so profound, and made more sense than anything I had read or heard - was this:

"Keep it simple, use your brain, and control your emotions and you will be WAY ahead of most traders"

WOW! What a concept. I knew from looking around that most if not ALL of the training systems for trading out there were Anything but simple! If I could just find one that was, I would have a jewel that we could share with our subscribers here in OIO. What a gem it would be. How great it would make me feel to find that and share it with the readers! I would be doing my job as a researcher and a writer. Well, as most of you who have listened to any of our conference calls know, we couldn't find it. Not 1 stinking course could we find that was simple and easy. Many were multiple monitor set ups or if they did use just one monitor is was sooooooo clustered with stuff that it was hard to tell where the price was, let alone what it was doing. "Look at your tools, not price - look for the green light, check your other monitor, listen to the squawk box - YUK!!".

Now I am not saying that these complicated systems were not working for some folks out there, nor have I ever said that. What I have always said is "I don't see how they ever make a trade". Does that mean I think they don't? NO. Obviously there are TONS of folks out there making trades, and they use all kinds of tools to read the market (most try to predict the market which is impossible, but that is a whole other story).

Fast Forward to 2006. Since I found and read the above mentioned online article and molded my own system from some simple tools and set ups, I have read MANY more authors who have said you MUST keep it simple. Sometimes they don't come right out and say it. You may have to read between the lines, but they do say it. They may not agree on which indicator(s) are the best, or what type of moving average you should have on your chart, or if you should have lines, or bars, or candlesticks, or what formulas you should use for pivot points and ratios - but most of them do say you need to control your emotions and/or keep it simple. Here are some examples:

You have to be able to control yourself. 
You can't let emotions get in the way of your mind." 
Warren Buffett 

Emotions have to be checked at the door in 
this business. We have no room for rooting or 
hoping. People treat this biz sometimes like 
a religion. They believe that if they pray, things 
will work out. 
THE MAD MAN - JIM CRAMER 
 

Mark Douglas Multi Million selling author of 
trading books, and trainer of THOUSANDS of
traders says "Keep it simple and control 
your emotions". 

The list goes on and on, but you get the point. 

It was not until some time after we had already been training ones to spot easy set ups that happen over and over in the market, use their brain, control their emotions, keep it simple, and stay positive that I realized we were sticking to the concept that I had heard years before by author Stephen Covey (International Best-selling Author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"). 

Covey said that many trainers had gotten away from teaching people how to build character, and were focusing on techniques. He said those techniques may work if you do this and this. He called them personality traits that could be put on and may cover up the real person inside. But for any long term success people would have to learn to build their character - the real person inside. He related it to an iceberg. He said the technique type training was like the tip of the iceberg, the small part that you can see on top of the water. The real problem or challenge was controlling or training that HUGE part of the ice under the water. Learning to control your emotions and stay positive was right on target with what he was teaching. Without fully realizing it, we had been teaching folks how to build character, and many of them got it (I think it is safe to say, the "stats guy" didn't get it).

I had one of my female students say to me, "Doug, I didn't know that I was going to get to do so much self development when I got into day trading!" I just smiled cause I knew she got it. This girl would be one of the folks that could do whatever they wanted to with this. I realized when I got Covey's material back out and starting rereading it that we were more on track than I even knew! 

You see, most trading trainers out there are SO all about the latest tools, techniques, and gadgets that they ignore the MOST important part of trading and developing into a real trader. That is NOT the tools you use, but the ability to control YOU. Does not common sense tell you that you will be better able to do that if you keep your system and tools simple? That has been my point all along, and time has proven we are on the right track. I predict right here and now that time will show exactly what my critic is. The real man he is on the inside, and if it is ANYTHING like his actions it is NOT going to be good for him, or those that chose to listen to him.

He claims that I am against folks adding something to the techniques I have shown them. That I somehow scold people who go on to become successful traders by adding a thing or two here and there. That is so totally ridiculous! I have always told folks that my rules can NOT be your rules. I teach folks my money management rules, but they will have to find theirs. I will show you the set ups that I look for, and a few others that I have traded. They are all simple. Depending on the time of year, the market acts differently. You may have to look for a different set up. BUT, you CAN find those set ups on simple charts. You don't need the latest greatest tools to find them. You will be WAY ahead of most traders if you keep it simple and work on YOU! If you think my chart won't work for you, you are right. If you think it will, you are also correct. Do whatever YOU feel makes you comfortable, but keep it simple, use your brain, and control your emotions.

Now, if you end up enrolling in my class some day, you are going to get some excellent ideas on how to work on YOU. And, when we release the things that we have been working on, and add even more passive profit streams to the mix (don't worry we won't pitch you on a new fad or mlm every week like the "stats guy", it is all trading, investment, and personal development related - those who know me know that I am slow to change, but when we make a change it is a real improvement and not change for the sake of change) - you will be LIGHT YEARS ahead of traders that are looking for a new tool, a new system. Sure, if it is not working for you, tweak it to fit your style. No 2 traders are exactly alike. Just don't fall into what Mark Douglas calls the "BLACK HOLE" of technical analysis. Looking for the Holy Grail. 

I would like to quote from the Preface of Mark Douglas' great bestseller "Trading In The Zone" here:

"The goal of any trader is to turn profits on a regular basis, yet so few people ever really make consistent money as traders. What accounts for the small percentage of traders who are consistently successful? To me, the determining factor is psychological - consistent winners think differently from everyone else."

The secret you are looking for is right inside YOU. Learn to control that and WOW, what a wonderful feeling it will be to know that you can put on a trade from anywhere - as long as you have net access - and the sky is the limit! Not all of your trades are going to go your way, but most of them could. If you really want to be a trader, you CAN get there. And, regardless of what the "stats guy" or anyone else says, you WILL do better if you have some other profit streams, and that is EXACTLY why I wanted folks to have a quick paying affiliate program to help them while they are learning how to trade. The "stats guy" would have you believe that is a horrible thing (even though he now is pushing his own plan). I think it is just the thing to help pick you back up when you fall. I hope that never happens to you, but what if it does? We have a plan for that, and soon that plan will be even better.

We take folks that have never traded ANYTHING and within a couple days have them up and running and reading a simple chart and making trading decisions. Will you learn more as you go along? SURE! We are all constantly learning in all areas of our lives (or at least we should be). If nothing else, you will learn from experience. BUT, whatever you do, you will be WAY ahead of the game if you keep it simple, and control your emotions. Oh yes, you will have to stay in the game if you want to win. When you were first learning to walk did you just give up the first or second time you fell down? If you did, you would still be in a diaper now right!

The Psychological Side Of Trading is HUGE!

Master Trader Ken Woods with 29 years of full time trading experience says that 85% of your trading success is based on your mindset, and only 15 percent is your system. I think it may be even higher, like 90 - 10. But whatever it is, the psychology is HUGE in trading! It can not be over stressed. BUT, guess which part of the equation most traders focus on, and most trading trainers for that matter - you guessed it, the small part. We like to get past the simple set ups and technical side of things (which again does not have to be nearly as hard as many traders make it) fairly quickly and spend the time on YOU. That is where it is at.

I recently got this letter from someone considering my course:

------------------------------------------
Hello, 

I have a question for you, but I didn't want to ask it on the public 
phone conference... 

I'll very briefly give you my picture... 

I recently lost my job. I have a wife and 3 young children. I'm too old 
to start a new career. I REFUSE to sell myself on an hourly wage! I'm 
looking at your system to use as my primary income source to support my 
family in an ongoing manner. I need at least $5,000/month to pay rent, 
bills, etc etc. 

My question - How much would I need in your expert opinion to be able 
produce this kind of income - conservatively speaking?? (ie approx 
$5000/month) 

I will be getting a line of credit on my mothers house to enter into 
this, so I'm trying to get a rough estimate on how much I need to work 
with. 

I do understand your disclosures and that nothing is guaranteed. I'm 
hoping however that you can give me some ball park numbers that I can 
work with so I can get the process rolling. 

I very much appreciate your time and thoughts. I am in a bind, and I'm 
hoping very much that your system might be the answer for my family. 

Thanks again 

Kind regards 
Scott

-------------------------------------and here was my answer to him:
Scott, 

You are in a very tough position to try to learn trading and
use it as a primary source of income. In fact, my personal
feeling is that it is tough for anyone to start trading and
have it supply their ONLY source of income. 

That is the biggest reason I wanted to have a quick paying
and highly profitable referral program for my students. 

Recently on a call, one of my students said that he noticed
that the worst trades he ever made were at times when he
NEEDED the money. The best trades he has made have been at
times when he had no financial worries. This particular
student of mine has earned as much as $10,000 in one week of
trading. So it meant a LOT to me to hear him explain this.
It is EXACTLY what I have been saying all along. 

I would recommend that you get some passive income going and
I feel the internet is the BEST way to do that. Get that
going first by either working my affiliate program or
something else that you like on the net, and then work
toward becoming a trader. 

Soon I will have a new site up called: 

passiveincomemadesimple.com 

You can go there to look for some ideas, or just search
around the net for something you like that is NOT pie in the
sky. Just be careful, there is a LOT of junk out there, but
there are some good programs too. 

It is really not that hard to earn from $200 to $2000 a week
or even a day from trading. BUT, there is soooooooooo much
psychology involved when it comes to live trading that you
MUST work to get there and NOT jump in before you are
mentally ready for it. The technical side of it (especially
with our simple trading training) is not really that
difficult. Many would have you believe that it is hard, and
that you need every fancy tool in the world to be a good
trader, but you don't. 

However, a person in your situation - in my humble opinion
is going to put WAY too much pressure on them self to be
effective - at least right away as a trader. 

On the other hand, you could be practicing now, while
working the affiliate program to build your income. It takes
time anyway. If that is the route you want to go. If not,
look to build some passive income from something that is
fairly solid, and then your hopes of becoming a full time
trader can happen. 

I would recommend that you get a copy of "Rich Dad, Poor
Dad" and digest every word ASAP. You can find a copy at your
local book store, Staples, or order online from Amazon.com.
Many times it is just how we perceive things that causes the
impasses and failures in our lives. 

I hope this helps and answers your questions. As far as what
it would take for YOU to reach your income goals, I can not
say - because I don't know you or your ability to stay
disciplined and follow your trading rules, or any abilities
you have for that matter. It would also be illegal for me to
say what it would take to get you where you want to go with
trading. I will only say that whatever your reasonable goal
is (and $5K a month is not far fetched - some will tell you
it is but it's not) that you CAN get there. Maybe not your
first month but you might get there in a week - who knows. 

I once had the opportunity to interview Country Music star
Garth Brooks for a entertainment mag that we were running in
OKC. Our readers were aspiring singers, songwriters, and
folks that wanted to break into some type of entertainment
biz. 

I asked Garth, "What advice would you give to our readers
who want a measure of success in the biz". He replied (among
other things he said too many to recall here) "Well it is
your dream, don't let anyone steal it from you." 

I think that is some great advice! 

I was once in a similar situation as you are in right now. I
had a family to support and I had been laid off of my 10
year job with AT&T. 

While I was kind of excited about turning my part time mail
order and mlm business into a full time income, I was also
kinda scared. 

Looking back on that now, it was one of the best things that
ever happened to me. I no longer had a back up plan. I HAD
to make it work, and I did. I have not looked back since.
That was in 93. I started looking for something I could do
online in 96, went full time online in 97, and it has been
all I ever imagined and more. 

I am sure that you can get to where you want to be Scott.
Just don't let anyone steal it away from you. 

Doug West 
Kosoma LLC 
------------------------------------------

In closing I would say the same thing to you, whether it be trading, investments, home biz, farming or whatever your goal is - Stay Away from Negative Thinkers and Don't Let Them Steal It Away From You!

I also want to share one more thought with you from best-selling author and motivator Stephen Covey. He talks about the 3 steps we must all go through to become mature people. Here they are in order:

1) This is where we all start. It is not hard to get there. Because of our sinful nature we all begin in step one with what he calls a "Dependent Attitude". Folks in this phase are dependent on others to get what they want from life. They seem to say "What can you do for me, and what have you done for me lately?" They don't take any responsibility for where they are in life right now, and they blame anything that goes wrong on others. 

I think Covey is right on the money here. This type of person ONLY looks out for number 1 and YOU better give them what they want or it will be YOUR fault that they failed. In my opinion, most people NEVER get out of this phase, but I like to surround myself with folks in the next 2 phases, and fortunately for me MANY entrepreneurs are there. They are:

2) This is what Covey calls the "Independent attitude". This is when you realize that if it is to be, it is up to me, and you take charge of your life. I think I reached this phase at 33 when I was laid off from AT&T. Sadly, some folks never get to this phase.

3) The final step to maturity as a person is one who has what Covey calls an "Interdependent Attitude". This is where you realize that you can get more done working with teams - other folks. That if you help enough people get what they want, you can get want you want. BUT, he says (and I agree) that you MUST get to step 2 before you can EVER get to step 3. 

Ask yourself, do the actions of the "stats guy" really prove that he wants to help others? Do his thoughts, the way he expresses himself, the words and language he uses, and actions show this? Or does he sound like a guy that is stuck in phase one? A mere baby dependent upon others and blaming them for HIS failures, and getting anyone who will listen to him to blame their failures on others as well (wait until these negative thinking folks have been with the stats guy awhile - a real neg fest!)? You decide, but remember what Mark Douglas said:

"consistent winners think differently from everyone else."

So should it surprise you or change your thoughts if you hear the "stats guy" or other losing traders say that "Simple Just Does Not Work"? If it is working for you, don't let ANYONE steal it from you!

We will keep on doing what we do and pay the lawyers to handle the negative stuff. Again, I wanted to clear the air here, but won't be mentioning it again in OIO. Oh what a wonderful world it could be if we didn't need attorneys. A world FULL of phase 3 fully mature Interdependent folks. But hey, that is why I have LOVED working and dealing with soooooo many entrepreneurs over the years. You guys are great!

So what is the positive thing I have come up with to help answer this smear campaign against me? Again, it is a simple plan. I will have a new page up soon at:

       http://oiopro.com/PremierePack.html

That page will not only lead you to TONS of REAL folks talking about REAL experiences they have had using our system and taking our course. You won't have to wonder if they made that up or if there is some ulterior motive for them saying what they do. I did not ask one of these folks for the testimony, they are just real emails from real people telling me their Real feelings. We may ask some of them to record an audio testimony about what they have learned with us. You will also get access to some great motivating Positive Audio's that can help you in your quest to work on YOU, no matter what your chosen field is. We won't even hold it against you if you want to do more than one thing in your life!

We hope you will view the page above and book mark it for future reference. It should be ready soon. 

Have a GREAT day and keep it positive!
 

Adjust Your Biz & Mindset Now 
For Max Home Income 

      - by Doug West

© Doug West - All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Can you feel it? There is a new and exciting trend that is
 going on right now, and for those with the wisdom to see it
 and the ability to act upon it, fortunes are being made, and
 made fairly quickly!

 What is that trend? Well to see it clearly you need to go
 back to 1997 with me for just a minute. Back in 97 when I
 first started earning nearly all of my income online there
 was a different trend. Back then many $10, $15, and $25
 monthly programs begin to appear, and they were fairly
 popular with the online crowd. There was a mad rush for the
 creators of these programs to get their systems set up for
 launch.

 Who would be the next infoprenuer? These plans grew and grew
 not so much in size but in quantity on the web. Soon there
 were too many, and the weaker ones begin to disappear, and
 that is still happening.

 Back in 97 we had a $69.95 program that did very well. The
 main product was web hosting, and we still have a few folks
 that have those same hosting accounts with us today. We
 offered an affiliate program that paid more than the
 $19.95/month programs paid, and so we grew. 

 As cheaper and cheaper hosting appeared, our affiliate
 program was dwindling. By that time there were not many
 $19.95 programs left anymore (at least not good ones) so we
 set a Good one up, and the members came. Fairly quickly we
 had over 1,000 members. The support was a nightmare, but the
 money was fairly decent (we also had many other things our
 affiliates could sell and earn profits on, and a few other
 web bizs that did well too).

 It only took a few years of online experience and
 entrepreneurs and affiliates realized that they could work
 just as hard to sell a $29.95 item and earn a $5 or $10
 commission as they could a $1,000 or more item and earn
 Hundreds. That it took about the same amount of time, money,
 energy and effort to do either. So which one would you work?

 So the current trend is that folks want something to offer,
 and the more passive the better. BUT, they would like it to
 be a decent size sale and commission.

 In his now famous book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad best selling
 author Richard Kiyosaki states over and over that to become
 what he considers rich, you need to have a business that
 runs itself. So that no matter if you are there or not the
 business goes on earning income for you. 

 The net offers what I feel like is the best opportunity for
 the small guy to get a biz like that going. There are many
 ways to build passive income, but by far the web is the
 least expensive, and has unlimited potential. So look for
 something that you can earn a nice commission with, get your
 site set up and traffic going to your site, and you might
 just get there.

 Kiyosaki also claims that if you truly want to be wealthy,
 and you have expenses of say $2,000 a month, then when you
 get an auto pilot biz that earns you $2,000 or more a month,
 you are there.

 My question is, do you want to do that $10 at a time, or
say several hundred or even thousands at a time? Believe it
or not, it will take the same amount of effort whichever
route you choose!
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Want more passive income? Tired of plans that are
hard? Want something that really works even when
you don't? Then you need to visit:

http://PassiveIncomeMadeSimple.com
(this site will be up soon)
-=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The article is formated at 65 Char. per line.