How Josh Lost It All But Bounced Back To Achieve 6-Figures In Funding.

So from getting funded within 6 months of learning how to trade, to getting multiple payouts on his funded account, to then sitting in drawdown for months on end, to then moving to the other side of the world from UK to Australia, to finally getting funded again with $100K— this is the story of how my student Josh has done all of that and is now on the road to become a full-time trader. So I say this every time, but there's going to be a lot of lessons in this one. So strap in, give it a watch, let us know what you think, and I'll see you in the next one. Hello mate, how are you?

Hi mate, I'm good thanks, how are you?

Good, yeah, I'm all good, thank you. Let's get rid of this. You just, um, have you just got back from work now, for you?

Um, no, so I got back around Um, it was around 4 o'clock, 4:30, so literally getting straight on the charts because that's 7:30 at home. So yeah, and then straight home and straight on this. Cool.

But yeah, we'll, um, we'll, we'll just run through over, run through everything really. Um, I mean, it's super informal, just really want to find out a little bit about your journey, sort of what you've gone through, sort of getting to the stage you are today. And yeah, just giving people that are watching, I guess, a bit of an insight into, um, into your journey really. So I guess to start with, I guess, give, give us a bit of an intro into yourself, um, and then yeah, we can, we can kick things off from there.

Yeah, so I'm Josh. I'm from Manchester originally. I'm currently living in Sydney. And I've been trading with yourself now for around, well, coming up to 2 years. June 2023, I think I started with you, um, and I finally passed my second funded challenge now, um, in the last couple of weeks. Cool.

So I know we've been working together for quite a while now, I believe. You passed quite a while ago, didn't you? You got funded before and then recently got funded again, right?

Yeah, so I started in June '23 and then I passed my first funded challenge, which was a $50K challenge, in December '23— end of December, beginning of January. Um, so yeah, so I had that and I was trading on that Or so I did well at the start of last year, first 3, 4 months I was, took a couple of payouts and consistency. And then all of a sudden it just, um, yeah, just got into drawdown, struggled to get back out, was in it for months. Um, and then I think around, oh, was it August time, I think, then I lost that funded Um, yeah, which, which was, um, a bad point. Yeah, but I suppose you've got, you've got to get to— I think you've got to experience that to, to then progress further. And yeah, so you're, so you're learning and you don't make the same, uh, same mistakes.

Yeah, no, 100%, 100%. So I guess, I guess backtracking a little bit then, obviously when you when you came to us, I guess, what was the motivation to get into trading in the first place? And I mean, you, you weren't living in Australia back then, right?

No, so I was back in Manchester then, um, when I first started with yourself. Um, and the reason I got into it is because I'd been, I'd been in it for a couple of years, maybe like 2, 2 years, 3 years. The whole signals, um, Telegram, just full of channels And yeah, I've always, I've always been in it but never been, never done it right. And yeah, I even tried another group back at home, a group in London, which was like a community. But yeah, that was, it wasn't great at all. And so yeah, so I then carried on down the Signals route and I knew there was something to be made of this. And because you see it all over social media, and obviously you do keep the signals, you do take wins, but then you obviously take losses, it doesn't work out, but the wins are there, you know, you know it's possible. And so then I came across yourself, and I think it was on Instagram, and yeah, we had a chat and then went through things and joined and Yeah, great decision.

Yeah, no, definitely, definitely sounds like it. I mean, obviously I'm asking quite a big question here because it was quite a while ago, but I mean, from what we did, I mean, what was the sort of things that you were looking for that we kind of ticked the boxes on that sort of led you to actually say, okay, no, I'm actually gonna go with these guys? What was the, I guess, the reason why you did sort of trust us and want to go with us?

I think it was just from our initial chat, how you explained things, talking about the education that was in the group, and obviously helping me learn because that's what I wanted to learn. Because obviously I was just following other people, and like, I knew it was there to be done, but I needed to learn instead of just copying. You explained it and I— yeah, it was, it was a no-brainer really.

Cool, cool. So obviously you sort of took action and, and sort of worked obviously very hard to get that first funded account. Walk us through, I guess, what you did to go from sort of starting out with a little bit of experience and not sort of self-training and stuff like that to, I mean, not too many months later getting yourself funded. I mean, what was that sort of first stint like for you in terms of Like, what process did you follow?

Um, it wasn't too bad. I did well. I went through the education, I went through that fast. I was going to work, coming home, and I was on the laptop all night. Um, early mornings before work, I was just going through all the videos and the education, and I was hooked. Like, because I knew this is— I knew it was there to, to be done. And so I was just straight into it and picked it up, picked it up quite well. Like I said, passed the funded challenge within 6 months. But, um, yeah, that was, um, yeah, I just got stuck in straight away and, and just went all in with it.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess that's kind of what it takes, right? We always say this to people, anybody that comes in and just gets their head down and works hard for 6 months they've got the possibility to get funded and actually see results. I guess you're kind of testament to that. But then things kind of took a bit of a turn and you got yourself into drawdown. And I guess, what do you think the— do you think there was any sort of real reason why things went from going really, really well to then sort of turning and sort of going in the opposite direction? Was there any sort of key things that now looking back you can sort of reflect on and and maybe understand why that happened.

Mindset, mindset, 100%. 100%. Because I think when I first started, I picked it up and then I was passing the free challenges, passing them, and then this was my first funded challenge and I passed it so easy. So I never really had any setbacks. I wasn't really stuck, I just literally started and just got better and better and just passed that straight away, so I didn't really have any setbacks. And then took a couple of payouts, that good run was still flowing, and then, yeah, then when I got into drawdown, that was something new for me. Oh yeah, I never experienced that, never experienced being in that situation and I think it just all got a bit too much and I didn't know how to control my mindset. And then, yeah, when I— so I was in that for months, just up and down, up and down, profit, drawdown, profit. And then when I finally lost it, that's when— no, I don't even think it switched then because I started a couple of challenges after that, struggled with them, but I think I was still struggling to switch back to when I first started. Um, yeah, yeah, it was a difficult, difficult to get out of that mindset and switch back into how it was when I first started. But, um, yeah, this year is definitely, um, definitely switched from that.

Yeah, well, I imagine when, when you spend so long in drawdown, that kind of starts to become the norm, right? And you start to have all of those thoughts sort of embedded in your mind, and you start to forget what actually got you profitable in the first place. And I guess it kind of takes a bit of time once the weight's off your shoulders and you're not in drawdown anymore. You sort of, sort of got a bit of a clean slate. You kind of got to relearn some of those things so you can continue to push on. I, I imagine sort of looking back at things now, I mean, I guess there's probably a few things, but, but what, what would you, what would you do differently if you knew what you knew today back then to maybe help you not have to deal with sort of months worth of of pain, I guess.

Yeah, so I think when I was going through that, um, situation with the drawdown, I was too eager to get out of it. Like, so I would, I would get out of it and then I'd be like, right, there we go, let's start moving forward. And then a couple of bad trades takes you back in there, and then just too eager to take trades to try and get out of it, just trying to maybe rush it. 'cause I had the feeling, the good feeling of taking payouts. So yeah, so the feeling of being stuck in that drawdown and not being able to get out of it for months, yeah, that took its toll.

Yeah, yeah, no, 100%. I've been there myself. I've been there myself where, yeah, you just, I think you kind of get put in a position where your mindset is really tested. You want to break your rules, you want to do something that you shouldn't be doing to just give yourself a chance to get out, but then it's kind of like, As soon as you move the goalposts for yourself and you lose that edge, then you kind of, then you kind of have to realize that you're never going to get yourself out because you're actually not consistently profitable at that time. So you then just get in that, in that cycle of just, you then become a trader that hasn't got an edge. So you don't deserve to be out of drawdown, you do deserve to just go around in circles and not get anywhere. And I think that's where a lot of people, a lot of people struggle.

That's definitely where I was. Like some of the trades were like, looking back at them now, I would never take them trades now. Or you're just so eager and yeah, you're just, you're just trying to, you're trying to look for things instead of things coming to you and then taking it. Like you just sat working constantly looking at patterns and looking like trying to find trades instead of waiting. Yeah, patience, that was, uh From since losing that funded last year, patience was a massive, a massive thing for me to, um, just slow it down, not take as many trades, um, and just wait for the, the best, um, for the best trades to come to you.

Yeah, yeah. So on your sort of newest account where you've got, got yourself passed again, you sort of, you know, you're now refunded How— what I guess, what has changed? What have you done differently this time around to try and mitigate some of the problems that you did face beforehand? I mean, does it come down to you just now having a much more stricter mindset around strategy? I mean, is there anything else that you've, that you've sort of put in place to make sure that there's some longevity in this?

Yeah, so my trading plan, so, um, that went out the window obviously when I had my 50K funded and I was in drawdown. Wasn't sticking to that. Like I said, moving the goalposts. And so, so from the start of the year, did my trading plan and I made sure I'd stick to that every single day, every single trade, um, and don't break that. That is, that is the Bible.

Yeah, no, 100%. I mean, that's, it's kind of the message that I try and put out there with every piece of content that I do is like, there's no argument whether somebody's unprofitable or profitable if they have the data and they have the trading plan in front of them that has been tried and tested and the data proves that they have an edge over the market. Like, that is plain and simple. If your process is rigid and mechanical and you've got the data behind it to suggest that it's got an edge, it's going to give you an edge over the markets, then your job then is just to follow it. And the second that you don't follow it, it's the second that you then become a gambler. I think you do have to go through the— I mean, it's probably the worst case scenario where you sort of get past, you pass an account when you don't have an edge and you are gambling, and then you get yourself into drawdown, and then you sort of have to go through the, go through the sort of peaks and the troughs of sort of emotional discipline. And then eventually you then decide, okay, if I just follow my rules that I've already tested, then I actually will make money. And sometimes it takes people a hell of a long time to realize that. And that's why I say, like, trading is actually simpler than anybody could imagine. It's just about doing what the data suggests, and then, then there's money to be made. And yeah, it's always a, always a tough one.

It is simple. It's simple. The finding the setups is simple, but it is, it's controlling your mindset. That's the, that's the big one. Because when you do, when you are doing well, and then you get too confident and get a little bit greedy, um, and, and that's not in the trading plan. So you're still breaking it even though you're doing well, which, which I'd say, yeah, I have to stop that and just, just keep it simple.

Yeah, no, 100%. So obviously, like, your situation personally has changed quite a lot since the first time around and you kind of just moved to the other side of the world. So routine-wise, that's obviously changed a lot for you. I mean, what do you do in terms of routine now, and what does your routine look like when it comes to somebody like yourself who's trying to make a, I guess, a living out of trading when the time zones are so, so different? What, what does your routine look like?

Yeah, so my routine when I was at home um, back in England, um, I would— so I'm in the construction industry, I was a site manager, so I would go to work really early before everyone else, before the markets open. I would go through more content of yours, through videos, do an hour of that before the markets start, and then I would trade at work before people started coming onto site. So from going from that to coming over here to Australia, so now it's the time zone and we're working in the evenings, but it was a bit of a struggle at first getting used to it, and because when the time zone's at 11 hours, you're trading at 8, 8, 7, 8 o'clock at night, and so that took some use to, and But I find it a lot better here now. I'm not rushing it before work. So I'm going to work now, coming back at the minute because the time zone's 9 hours, I'm literally getting home and jumping straight on the charts. But I always, I'm always trying to get home, like, take a, take a minute and then, and then jump on. So at the minute it's working well. I've got a routine where it's it's working well for me.

Yeah. So what time does London session open for you now? Do you say 4 o'clock?

At the minute it's, um, um, 5 o'clock, 5 PM. Um, that's 8 o'clock at home, so I'm on, I'm on the charts for between 4 and 4:30. Okay.

Yeah, definitely, definitely different. I thought my I thought my routine was changing a lot when I came to Dubai, like, and I'm like 4 or 3 or 4 hours ahead. But even then, I think it kind of throws a spanner in the works because you get so used to having that routine. Like, in the UK, I'd kind of wake up, pretty much go to the chart straight away, trade for a couple of hours, and then you kind of got the rest of the day to yourself. But now you kind of have to adjust the way that you do things and make sure that you, you've sort of got the right mindset to actually focus. I like now I've got 3 or 4 hours after I wake up to do something, but I have to make sure that I'm not going to do something that's then going to distract me from when I've got to sit down and work on the chart. So I think it's always, always difficult. We do actually have a number of clients that are in Australia at the moment, and I mean, everyone tends to do quite well. I think maybe where you're a little bit sharper, you've sort of spent the day waking up, you, you've moved about, you've eaten, all that stuff. I think there's something where sort of starting your trading day later on in the day can potentially lead to some better results. You're not just waking up like rubbing your eyes because you're tired and then you've got to trade straight away. So I guess it could be, could be beneficial, to be fair.

Yeah, definitely, because when I was at home, I was getting to work for like 5, 5:30 in the morning, going through some videos, doing some content and then jumping on the charts. And at that hour, you get into work, it's pitch black, you just, you're not even awake. You get to work, you don't even know how you've got there, and then you've got to jump on the charts, learn, and then put it, put it to, put it to action. So yeah, it is, it is a lot better here, but then you are giving up your evenings. You don't get your evenings. You're in work all day and then you're doing this most of the night, but, um, you've got to do it if you want. My goal is at the end of this year, hopefully, to go full-time. Um, well, I'll get back my hours then, not having to go to work. And yeah, so it's, um, yeah, you've got to think about them goals really and just get on with it.

Yeah, no, 100%. And I think it does get easier, right? I think I think everybody kind of thinks 100K funded, 200K funded, I'm going to be sat there on the charts every single day. But I think when you, when you really think of this as a business and you look at sort of how you can adjust your trading so that, okay, like, listen, I don't want to sit there every evening and trade. Like, I want to have my evenings on occasion. Obviously you've got the weekends and stuff, but you get to the stage where you can kind of just build the way— build a trading business the way that you want to live, live your life, really. So even pushing yourself to the stage where you've got 600, 700, 800, a million in capital, like that way you're not necessarily trying to make 5, 10, 15% a month. I mean, if you go, go away and you take, take home 2, 3%, you're still getting paid a hell of a lot of money. So you can then kind of build out a routine so you don't have to be there every day. You can look at your data and understand where your profitable days are, and you can kind of just focus on those for the most part, and, and you can sort of free yourself up a little bit. Especially when it is like 4 or 5 o'clock, you're, you're on the chart. So yeah, there's always, always a way, always ways around it. And the more capital you have, the easier life becomes anyway. So, um, you can definitely adjust things there.

Yeah, that's the goal, that's the goal.

Um, so you mentioned that your end of the year you're sort of looking to go full-time with your trading. Um, at the moment you're $100K funded, right? Yeah, $100K funded. Where are you sort of, I guess, what are you trying to achieve in that time to allow you to go full-time? What sort of things do you have to hit? What sort of milestones do you have to hit to sort of allow you to actually go and do that?

Yeah, so my, so getting £100K funded was actually a goal to, at the end of last year I was already £50K and I've just got another £50K that's my target for the end of the year. And that didn't go to plan, um, and then early on this year managed to hit that goal. So for the rest of the year, um, I would like to maybe add another, another 100. If I can get 200K funded, and that'd be nice. But then the main one is being consistent. I want to take 2 payouts a month consistently. And then by the end of the year, obviously working as well, saving, hopefully pull some out the markets, keep saving. I'll have like a year's salary behind me in my savings, just like a bit of a safety net for when I do decide to take that step to do it full-time.

Yeah, I think that's wise. I definitely think that's wise. I mean, some people just jump in the deep end. I did another interview with, uh, another client, and he, he just looked at the opportunities he was missing by being at work because obviously he was UK, so he was kind of juggling trading and his job. He wasn't quite able to split them up, and he just looked at the trades that he was missing because of work, and it's like, well, I've already got 100K in funding, I'm I've just missed a trade that went and hit 5% profit. If I was here, I would have made my monthly salary from that one trade. So in his mind, it was like, it doesn't make sense for me to go to work. I've got the skill set, I've, I've already— I'm already making money from my trading. I could just make more if I just don't work. So he kind of just, he kind of just took that leap and just said, nah, I'm, I'm leaving, and jumped into it. But I think, I think your, your, uh, I think your choices are probably a little bit more wise, like just get some money behind you. Because when you go full-time as well, you have to remember that there's going to be more pressure, like you have to make money from your trading. So if you can kind of mitigate as much of that as possible, then you can sort of jump in, perform well, and, and then it's, then it's only up from there really. So I definitely think that's a, a better plan to go down.

Um, I can, I can understand where he's coming from. I think if I was at home, I would probably be thinking the same. Yeah, but obviously because I'm here and I can trade in the evenings, there's no reason to. I may as well just set my goal for the end of the year, which gives me plenty of time then to be consistent, maybe add more to the funded. And then like I said, just I want to be able to take profits out every month, twice a month. That's— and then that gives me a good few months now until the end of the year. And just to obviously know that I can do it without, um, having to have another wage coming in.

Yeah, no, 100%, 100%. Um, now before we come to an end, I always like to ask the same question. Somebody that's— somebody like yourself who has kind of been through the wringer a little bit and made money, lost money, been in drawdown, got yourself back on your feet in, in a good position again, and now got sights to sort of work on, on going full-time. What would be your sort of top 3 tips to somebody that is, I guess, starting where you started, uh, relative beginner in trading, they have the goal of one day wanting to go full-time as well? What would 3 tips that you would give that person to, to help them achieve that without maybe going through as much, as much crap as you did?

You Definitely got to— if you can't be half in and half out, if you want to do it, you've got to go all in. So commit, you've got to definitely commitment. And patience, that's what I learned through losing my funded and to in between to getting this new funded. Patience. And you just got to believe in yourself. I think I stopped believing in myself when I was in that situation last year. Um, yeah, you just gotta believe, believe you can do it and just keep pushing and turning up every single day and, and just, just routine. You've got to be, you've got to be there, got to be getting stuck in.

Yeah, no, 100%. I definitely agree. I mean, it's like anything, I said it on my last video, like, you just have to turn up every day, keep ticking the boxes, and the longer you do that for, the better the results get. And you end up surviving the storms, and then there's money to be made at the end of it. And it's just who can, who can weather the storms the most, and, and they're the ones that get the results. So yeah, 100% agree with that. But, um, yeah, I will, uh, I'll let you go and relax now after, after being at work all day. I, I do appreciate you jumping on. I'm sure again there's a lot of value that's going to be taken from this and inspiration from people that are probably in the same position as you were, or maybe even drawdown, which would be a which would be another thing. But yeah, I do appreciate it, mate. Thank you for jumping on, and, uh, yeah, we'll speak again soon.

Yeah, thank you very much. Cheers, George.

Awesome, nice one. All the best, mate.