The Old Hand: what defines a good trader

What defines a good trader

 When asked by family and friends what it was that I did for a living I never truly knew how to answer the question and there have been times during my involvement in the mobile phone business that I didn’t want to answer the question! Off course the simple answer is we buy and sell mobile phones in volume and make a profit, but off course it was never going to be that simple nor indeed is it.

Traders in this business are strange creatures to say the least, interesting people from various walks of life, formed and derived from the highly educated to the non educated. During my time in the business, which is 27 years, I have come across soldiers, doctors, farmers, lawyers and ex-policemen to name but a few professionals who have been engulfed and lured in by the charismatic charm of the Mobile Phone Trading business. I myself came from a farming background. What makes a good trader? Well that’s a very difficult question based on the above variety and mixture of personalities that are attracted to this bizarre and interesting lifestyle.

From my prospective I would not thank you to put me in a box and categorize me. When I reached the ripening age of 53 I knew that there was never historically a time in my life where I would be or was ever labeled nor was there ever going to be so.

I think the first quality we can attribute to a good mobile phone trader is the desire to be a free and uncontrolled spirit. At the age of 34 I recall Brian Caudwell of Caudwell Communications calling me and asking me to return to his company, having left to go it alone, he soon realized that the conversation was not going his way and he called me “a free spirit” Off course in a correct and orderly business environment based in a corporate structure this would be deemed as a negative attribute but as a trader I see this as a necessary part of the construction of a trader. I am by nature an incredibly inquisitive person and have a desire to seek all knowledge and information. This is off course is another attribute a trader needs, necessary for the acquisition of information which will hopefully lead us to that “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow. Off course we all recognize as a trader that information in this business equals profit and the more information you can acquire the more chance you have of successfully securing a deal.