Episode 008 - Interview w Valerie Fox of TradeFocused.com

Hello and welcome to the Consistent Profits Podcast, brought to you by Inside out trading and Brian McAvoy, where the focus is on consistency, because when you have the consistent part down, profits become easy. Hello, everyone. This is Brian McAvoy with a new episode of the Consistent Profits podcast. I'm excited today to be interviewing Valerie Fox, creator of Trade Focused. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Yes, thanks for having me.

Valerie is the owner of an online coaching company that has helped and continues to support thousands of traders worldwide. She's also a published author and hosts the Trade Focused podcast. She generates her own trading revenue while she empowers traders around the globe on their own trading journeys. Again, thanks for being here and for being game for this interview.

Of course.

Now let's go and jump into it. In your bio, I like how you note specifically family first. And I know that you just had another child here not too long ago. How is it trading with a little one around?

Yeah, great question. So, you know, it's interesting. My trading has evolved over the years. I've been trading with my own money for over 12 years, and when I first started trading, I was very much in the weeds every day doing more scalping and intraday trading. And as I. I've progressed in my trading endeavors, I've transitioned to more of a swing trading approach. And that honestly allows a lot more time freedom throughout the week. So, you know, I had my little one home with me for about seven months, and, you know, my trading style really only takes about 15 to 15 minutes a day, so it was pretty easy to squeeze in with a little one.

Nice, nice. And said you had her around for seven months. You didn't get rid of her, did you?

No. She's now going to school to give me a little more time to get back into coaching.

Oh, okay, okay. Like I said, just reworded. It was like, oh, what?

Yeah, she's gone.

I noticed that, you know, you've done some different stuff. You worked in different industries. I mean, I saw that you had worked at Cabela's Sporting Goods, you know, and Ulta Beauty and even the Montessori School. So how did you wind up doing choosing, trading out of the thousands of other things that you could have done? And how's your journey as a trader been?

Yeah, so long story short, because as you mentioned, I've done a lot of different things, but I went to college, and after college, I went into a management training program in corporate America at a company called Cintas. Some of you may have heard of it. But it was a great program. I was excited to climb the ladder and work for a company and, you know, had a lot of growth in my career, went on to work at different companies, continuing to accelerate my professional development. And I kind of just hit this phase where I started to feel a little bit like a hamster on a hamster wheel, a little bit kind of chained to an office and wanted a little bit more financial freedom in my lifetime freedom. So I just started exploring different ways to make money. After a lot of research and soul searching, I landed on trading that. I really wanted to pursue that while I was still working full time. So I, I educated myself, you know, working with traders, you know, and reading and learning online and ultimately spent about three years trading while I was still working full time. I was able to do it on the side, kind of build it up, experience a lot of failures along the way, of course, which almost is like a trader's birthright. And then eventually, you know, I was able to work my way through building and optimizing my own strategy. And it's just kind of taken off from there where I was able to le my job and build and grow my own trading strategies. And, you know, I really kind of missed working with people from that point. You know, trading is kind of a lonely business and in my corporate career I enjoyed all that time developing others. So I kind of took that and applied it into a coaching business a couple years ago.

Nice. Nice. Yeah. Well, now I have to ask just because, I mean, this is the Consistent Profits podcast and personally I focus on consistency. That's like the main thing I try to get across to everybody. Don't, you know, don't focus so much on strategy is consistency. What do you see as key for, you know, consistent profits for a trader?

Yeah, if I had to put it into one word, it's focus. And what I mean by that is, and hence trade focused. But what I mean by that is focusing on one strategy, having it written down, having a trade plan. I have a quote that I say, which is consistent execution will yield consistent results. So when you have a trade plan and it's rules based and objective, you can get that consistent results over time and then from there you can refine it and optimize it to get better results over time.

Cool. Yeah, very good perspectives, very good. Now you also have a book out, the Self Reliant Trader Method. What inspired you to write the book? And you know, give us a little peek inside, you know, what can we expect in the book?

Yeah, so I don't know, years ago I had this like big dream that I was like, I'm gonna write a book someday. I had no idea what it was going to be about. I, I had the dream before I was even a training coach. I was just like, that would be really cool to be like a published author and have a book. Well, you know, 10 years later I'm a trading coach and I'm helping traders and I'm, you know, reflecting on my own, you know, learning experience and my journey to success as a trader. And the light bulb kind of went off where I was like, okay, I'm ready to write this book. It's going to be a trading book and it's going to help traders ultimately work towards getting long term results and being in that 10 of traders that succeed instead of the 90 that fails. So you know, a peek inside the book is that I have this four stage method that I use to help traders and it's all about focusing on the right things at the right time to get those consistent results. So you know, first and foremost you have to have a strategy. Then you need to work on implementing it and following your rules, refining your, your own operational excellence. You know, it's, it's one thing to have a strategy, it's another thing entirely to follow it. And a lot of traders, you know, underestimate what it takes to do that. So I give you some, you know, tactics to be able to focus on those certain components and then from there it's about optimizing your results and scaling your growth.

Now as far as the, the self management of trading, because yeah, you said, you know, implementing it and staying focused is a challenge. I know and it's just been a kind of a topic lately that I seem to keep running into is how the self management of trading is really one of the biggest challenges. How do you, what are you, what's your advice as far as helping traders to attend to the self management aspect of it since it is a pretty isolated, you know, occupation? Yeah.

You know, I tell all traders within their trade plan they should have what I call a trade management protocol. Again, a very rules based black and white way of managing your trades so that you're optimizing your results and mitigating your losses. So for example, using a stop loss or a stop order and an ultimate profit target and then from there also knowing how you're going to manage the trade while it's moving in your favor when you have an active trade. So all of those rules should really be lined out in advance and Then from there it's about just like scheduling in time throughout your day depending upon the type of your strategy and holding yourself accountable to that. No different than, you know, a job where you have a start and end time or a doctor's appointment where you need to be there on time. Trading should be the same.

Yeah, and actually, yeah, that's a cool thing, you know, that I think too few people bring up is setting your hours, your work hours. Because it's so easy for people to say, yeah, you know, I'm just going to trade a couple hours a day. But they wind up sitting there staring at the charts for like all day and are doing all kinds of things they're not supposed to do. Now of course, another, you know, big topic is, you know, the psychology of trading. It goes right along with management of it. Now how do you help traders when they say, you know, I've got rules but I'm just having a hard time sticking to them. How do you help them with that?

Yeah, I mean, discipline in other words, is required in trading. And I'll go back to my quote, which is consistent execution will yield consistent results. So if a trader is wanting consistent results over time, not with every single trade obviously, because there's always going to be profitable trades and losing trades. But if you want consistent results with your strategy, you have to operate in a rules based way where you can apply yourself in the same way. Trade over trade over trade. So if someone's desire for consistency is strong enough, they will need to learn how to follow trading rules.

Okay, all right, fair enough.

I don't know, it's, it's, it's a pretty direct thing. I think there's also a lot of emotions that come up with trading which cause traders to not follow their rules. I actually have an entire chapter dedicated to that in my book. The like seven common emotions that derail traders, why they happen and how you can avoid them. So you know, fear, fear of missing out, fear of, you know, not making money or not trading the right strategy and you know, shiny object syndrome or you know, revenge trading, there's a lot of things that can come up that can really come get in the way. But when you focus on using a rules based strategy and when you have your trade management protocol defined in advance, it's trading is more about just following through on the plan than making decisions in the moment. And when you're able to do that, the emotions honestly disappear because you're more focused on your operational excellence than the actual outcome of each trade.

Yeah, part of the reason I was grinning when you said revenge trading when I first started out, that was one of my like Achilles heel. I would do something stupid and. But I felt like hurt by the markets because they turned didn't do what I didn't do what I, you know, I wanted them to do. And so I would get mad and it's like, you know, look back on it even, even when I was in the middle of it, I would like be laughing at myself because I knew how stupid I was being but at the same time was I was caught up in it and you know, time to time with people. So yeah, you know, they just want to get back at the markets and it's like it doesn't work that way. We know that but unfortunately the rational mind is not in control right now.

Yes. So yes, it happens to the best of us.

How funny. Now you, you also do coaching, right? Not just book, but you also do coaching. So when somebody wants to work with you beyond the book, what's, what's that like? What's that process? What's your process and the experience for your clients?

Yeah, you know traders beyond the book. A lot of time every trader is in a different place first and foremost. So there's a couple different ways beyond the book that traders can work with me. If you're a forex trader, I'm a forex trader personally. So if you want to learn my exact strategy, I have a group coaching program that you can join. It's called the Consistent FX accelerator where I literally teach you the exact way that I trade. I give you my trade plan, I support you with sharing my trades every week, hosting a weekly group coaching call, and I'm available to you anytime in the group. So that's one thing that's very specific to the way I trade and to forex trading. On the other hand, I work with traders in all different markets with all different trading styles as well in more of a custom tailored approach with one on one coaching. So that's more of a discussion. Right. So I have a way to set up a call with me which is just on my website@tradefocus.com call. It's a free call. We can touch base, we can talk about what you're looking to achieve. I can share how I think I might be able to help you and then ultimately you get to decide if that's something you want to pursue.

Okay, very good. So it's pretty much as easy as swinging by your site and booking a call with you.

Absolutely.

Okay, very good, very good. Now I noticed that you, in your bio you said that you like to read personal development books. As one. Do you have any favorite books that you would recommend?

Yes. So on the trading front, one of my all time favorites is the Disciplined Trader which I'm, I'm sure for most traders is on everyone's reading list. That's a great book. Whether you read it, you know, a couple years ago or you've never read it, it's another, it's a good one to pick up. It just, there's always little nuggets to take away from a trading perspective about remaining disciplined, trading without emotion, using rule based strategies. One that I love on money mindset, which I think is a really huge component to trading is called Dollars Flow Easily to Me by Richard Dots. So it's not specific to trading but it is very specific to money mindset and attracting more abundance in your life and it pairs really nicely with traders because a lot of times what happens is traders end up having this like scarcity mindset and it really gets in the way of their ability to be open to the growth that can happen with trading. So that is another one of my favorite books.

Oh, very cool. Well, how about just General Personal Development? Getting any favorite?

I've been, I've been really into James Clear's Atomic Habits.

Oh yeah, great book. I love that book.

Yes, I've, I follow his weekly, he has a weekly email that's like short and succinct and has like a few quotes every week and it is spot on and it brings, it refreshes me on a lot of the topics from his book. But it's just about, you know, being productive and, and being focused and getting things done and it's just a really great read and very applicable to a lot of trading things as well.

Yeah, cool. That you mentioned, I heard that about, I think it was probably four or five years ago. Yeah, excellent. He's got some very cool perspectives in there and personally his writing style, it was an enjoyable read. It wasn't like work plow through it. It's like no, this is just fun to read. So yeah, that was yeah, good call with that one. Excellent. So you know, in your, in your growing up years or in your trading, do you have any particular heroes, you know, people, you know, people who've impacted you in a significant way?

You know I, on the trading front, I did a lot of my early training with a guy named Vic Noble and he runs a company called Coach's Corner and he does a lot of price action trading which taught me a lot about reading the markets in my early years without indicators, without things like that. And there was a point when he was my hero. I've. I really idolized a lot of the way of his trading in my early years, and. And he kind of got me over some humps with roadblocks that I had. So that was someone who I looked up to a lot.

Very cool. Yeah, Good call. Yeah, excellent. Now, you used to live in the States, but now you're over in Europe. Have you been to. You like to travel. So what. What. What all countries have you been to that, you know, you found particularly noteworthy?

Well, I live in Portugal, which I think is a very amazing and beautiful country. I live on the island of Madeira. So if you've never heard of Madeira, which I hadn't for a long time, I encourage you to look it up. It's a very beautiful island. I've also did a study abroad in Spain when I was in college in Sevilla, and that is an amazing country as well. I most recently went to Ireland, which is beautiful, and the people there are amazing, and the food is quite tasty as well.

Really?

Oh, yeah, Yeah. I had some great food while I was there.

That's one thing I've never heard about Ireland, that, you know, that they would be noted for their food, you know, other. Other countries. I mean, usually, you know, you don't. You don't equate Ireland with food. It's usually, you know, the grain and the beer and the broth people. But yeah. Really? What. So what foods?

I mean, I'm not a food connoisseur. I'm going to preface with that. I'm no food connoisseur, but I think it's. I'd done a little research on just finding, like, highly ranked restaurants and meals at restaurants. So I felt like when I went places, the things I had were delicious. Nothing out of the ordinary necessarily, but just. It was a little bit unexpected for me too, as well, because you don't hear people talk about Ireland for their food, but it was just all quite good.

Yeah, usually Ireland, you know, it's like corned beef and cabbage. That's what Ireland's known for.

Yeah. And I did have some really good corned beef and cabbage.

Well, did they have any other.

But I also had some good cod, some great brunches, some Turkish food. Like, there was a lot of good things there.

Huh. Wow, that's surprising. Yeah. I never heard anybody comment on the food in Ireland. In South America, they had some pretty. Pretty excellent food. And I was amazed at how it was. You could get a really excellent, like a huge platter of food down in Ecuador for like a buck and a half. It was crazy.

Yeah, it's insane.

Yeah.

Really insane.

Very cool. So what other places do you have on the calendar ahead of you as far as where you'd like to go?

Well, being in Europe, I'm quite close to a lot of countries that I've never traveled to before. So France is on the list.

Nice.

I would really like to go to Vienna as well.

Yeah, good call.

And I've never been to Switzerland. That's on the list as well.

So.

Yeah. And there's a lot, I mean there's a lot of countries in Europe I haven't been to, so I've never been to Greece. So there's the. The list is long. I. Yeah, I think the first couple are going to be maybe France and Vienna, but we'll see. I don't have any trips booked at the moment.

Good choices. Good choices, huh?

Yeah.

Excellent. Well, I tell you what, I really enjoyed our chat here today and very cool. Do you have any last words of wisdom for our listeners?

I would say that if you are really interested in making trading a long term thing, know that it's possible. Know that with the right focus you can make it happen. And with the right support of coaches, if you need help, there are plenty out there. Myself included, you included, obviously. I invite everyone to check out my book. It's $5. It's called the self reliant trader method at my website.

What? Five bucks? Oh my God.

Yep. Yeah, five dollars includes three bonuses. It's at my website, tradefocus.com so check it out. Take a read or a listen. It includes the audio ver of it when you buy it on my website. And you know what, if it's not valuable, let me know and I'll give you back your $5. But every trader that reads it, that talks to me says there are several nuggets they took away were able to apply directly in getting their trade plan drafted, optimizing their strategy and improving their performance.

Excellent. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I tell you what, thank you for sharing all that you have today. It's been worthwhile and enjoyable for sure and for everyone listening if this resonates with you at all because Valerie keeps talking about focus, which really can't be stressed enough. It's so easy in our noisy world to get distracted with this, that and the other thing and try to have 50 plates spinning as the phrase used to Be and focus really is so critical. And if you can just, you know, keep that in your mind, that, yes, if you'll just focus and keep the noise blocked out, you know, that will go a long way to helping you in a lot of regards to your trading. And she's, that's like her main thing. So obviously the name of the site Trade Focused. So but anyway, if, you know, again, if any of it resonated with you, you know, don't just sit there and do nothing, you know, go ahead and swing by our site tradefocus.com and pick up her book. And if you want to book a call with her, you know, feel if you personally, you know, feel comfortable with her, yeah, go ahead and book a call. You can see she's pretty easy to talk to, pretty sharp. And the main thing is, you know, go ahead and do something though. Don't just sit there if your trading is not going all that well. I this I can't stress enough. One of the biggest things in trading is you are your own limitation. And it is so critical to get outside help because trading is not something that lends itself to being figured out. And a lot of people that have been trading for 5, 8, 10, 12 years and are still struggling with the same problems because when you're trying to learn this on your own, you can't see what you can't see and you don't know what you don't know and the markets are not going to tell you. And so you really need the outside help to move you beyond your own limitations so that you can go ahead and be successful at trading. You have what it takes, but the outside help is really critical. I just can't stress it enough. So, yeah, like I said, if you're comfortable with Valerie and you like what she's got to say, definitely swing by her sight, take that step. And if you want to get a book, oh my God, five bucks. I don't think you can get a large latte at Starbucks for five bucks anymore. They keep raising their prices, so it's even better.

It's a good value, I'm not going to lie.

So. But yeah, go and reach out to her and you know, again, don't just sit there, go ahead and do something. And that's it for this, this episode. Valerie, thank you again for being here.

Thank you for having me. It's been a blast.

Excellent. And we'll see everyone on the next episode of the Consistent Profits podcast. Thank you for joining us today on the Consistent Profits podcast. Brought to you by Inside Out Trading. If you enjoyed the show, make sure to subscribe on your favorite channel and we'll see you on the next episode. Cheers.