Hello to all my Urbanomics readers out there. I have amazing news to share. My family welcomed our 4th child and I'm officially a proud father of my first baby boy!! So, it's time to celebrate life and put your priorities first. I have 4 children, 6 client engagements we currently support, 4 employees, and 3 renters that I interact with. So, I have an entire village of people that look to me for leadership and guidance -- and I take that responsibility very seriously. Every addition to my village, creates more work and stress and it's my job to remove some of that burden. I try to do that through automation (which makes certain task easier), hiring staff to take on repeatable jobs I used to manage, and sometimes flat out saying no - no more work/emails/phone calls. I had to do that the other day when a prospective business partner kept reaching out for me to provide one of my cybersecurity consultants for their project. I don't mind helping but when you call 3x in 30 minutes you are bordering on being annoying and disrespectful and I shared this feedback with that person.
So, a key Urbanomics lesson I wanted to share is create a plan this will ensure that you move towards a common goal. I have a 60+ point task list that I have my staff check daily to ensure we are taking care of our responsibilities. We must complete timesheets, bill invoices (Accounts Receivable), pay vendors and bills (Accounts Payable), purchase office supplies, execute payroll, and the way I ensure things don't slip through the cracks is by planning. We plan ahead and measure our progress against those plans and milestones. But remember, life will throw you curve balls, and you must hang tight and adjust your plans when needed.
When it comes to the markets, I still see an economy that's peaked and starting to slow. While I keep getting requests for more jobs, I have to be careful in extrapolating my view into thinking it matches everyone else's view. For example, just because I'm seeing growth in the cybersecurity compliance sector, the layoff stories and reports of slowdowns (did you hear the FedEx CEO on a looming recession??) may be telling a bigger story to come in a year or so. I anticipated the stock market still dropping so you'll recall I moved my retirement funds to cash towards the end of 2021. You've heard me writing about optionality -- and I love taking my ball and leaving. I don't mind throwing the middle finger up and saying I'm gone. Why? Because I like playing games that I can win --- games on my terms and right now the market is a rough game. Just like the real estate market, I'll wait you out.
See these trades I've made recently: short term small hits are what I'm trying to execute on. I executed these trades awhile back and haven't been active. Read a recent post and you'll see my investment themes:
I like beaten down TECH and Volatility as pain is ahead. And I don't just share my wins, I was playing Energy and got a little bit loose with a naked trade I was forced to close in Devon Energy.
Stay balanced, celebrate the wins, learn from your losses. Sending love to all. Peace out:
Recent Trading Wins:
Snowflake (Theme: Beaten Down Tech)
VIXY (Theme: Volatility Trade)
Redball (Theme: Hedge against my SPAC investment, this will turn into a small gain of roughly $200)
Recent Trading Loss:
Devon Energy - I was playing loose and trading naked. I traded more shares than I owned. When Devon Energy popped the other day, I was forced to sell my position at a loss. Sorry Warren I got greedy and I own this mistake. But also I close my losses and move on.
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