Back at the Firm

Ok so its been awhile since my last post and I wanted to make an update since a lot has happened. Without trying to write everything....God answered my prayer. He spoke in a way that was so clear and obvious that I knew it was him. And he was leading me back to Mattress Firm.

Its where I have the most leverage career-wise, leverage and influence I can use to spread the gospel. I'm not sure what that's going to look like yet, but I've been back for over a week now and I can say that God is really blessing me tremendously! While my sales presentation is a bit lacking and I'm having to relearn how to close ect ect....my prayers are being answered and God is just pouring down blessings. My first two days back I made it to the Top Ten Sellers list in the country!
Definitely a God thing!

I feel so much peace in following where he leads. I don't know exactly what he wants me to do next, as far as career path or anything, but I'm eagerly anticipating whatever he plans to do through me. One great blessing about coming back is my days off.... I really felt strongly that if this was the Lord leading me back then I shouldn't be working on Sundays. However, every Mattress Firm salesman is required to work Sundays, but even more so than that I wouldn't even want to work on Sundays during HUGE sale weekends like Labor Day. Well I can tell you that no salesman in the country gets those Sundays off, let alone any Sundays on a permanent type basis....but I felt strongly about it that if it truly was God leading me back that he'd work it out somehow. Well, he did. I am now the only salesman at Mattress Firm in the country who gets off every single Sunday, no matter what sale, no iffs ands or butts!!!

Amazing, and definitely a God thing for sure!! I also get a half day on Wednesday so I can continue to go to my Small Group! I'm happy to say that after being back for a week now, despite the huge amount of stress the job used to create, I am completely content in the Lord. Its a great thing that I can finally find contentment in something outside of circumstances....outside of my situation....outside of the world. It comes supernaturally.

Hollywood Doesn't Like Jesus

I'm at a crossroads. Anyone who knows me well knows that I've been pursuing a career in acting for the last year or so. Its been a passion of mine for a long time. I quit my job at Mattress Firm back in December of 2009, not to act but to join my dads business. Well the recession kind of took care of that, along with the fact that I refused to lie on the profiling test and say that I knew a bunch of rich people. So I then decided for the first time to go for my passion which has always been acting.

I had saved up enough money to pay the bills while I essentially got to pursue this while not working... very blessed for that. I have done of couple things here and there, and have greatly improved my acting skills thanks to Sandra Dorsey Studios. Now I'm at the point where I feel I have the confidence in my acting ability (method acting is intense) to get head shots and an agent. The sky is the limit for Chris Freed!......or is it?

You see, I have changed very much as a person during this nice hiatus from the real world. Will tons of free time I have come much closer in my relationship to God. More than I ever have been. In fact, I've become hopelessly obsessed with him. And I'm happier than ever about that. I don't ever want to go back. I have a peace that is indescribable. Knowing God is the only thing that matters. GOD, the creator of earth, of the universe, of atoms, of space-time, of reality. What else really matters? So here is my new reality. I want to live for him. I want my life to give him glory. I don't want this out of guilt; out of a sense of obligation; no, I want this because he is my everything.

And I've come to the point where I am having major issues seeing how a career in acting could possibly glorify him. Hollywood doesn't like Jesus, and is not shy about that. I will not take any roles in anything where the message conflicts with the teachings of the Bible. So where does that leave me? Not much. Mindless commercials? Perhaps. Christian movies? Do those even exist anymore? Secular movies with a good message? Not likely. SO, what do I do?

I love God more than acting. I won't compromise. So what does a career in acting that glorifies the Lord look like? I'm having trouble picturing it. Now could I use my status....fame...position to glorify him? Of course, and I'd love to do that. But I refuse to climb up a mountain of sin to do it. Am I being too judgmental?...I mean its not all bad right? Stop being such a hard-nosed legalist Chris, right? No. This is my life, not anyone else's. No one will be there at the end of my life when I bow in his presence. None of the directors will be there. None of my friends will be there. No one to blame as I give account for my life. Just me and God. And I want to hear these precious words:

"Well done, good and faithful servant" - Matthew 25:21

What does it look like to live a life for him? Does it mean I become a preacher and start a church? No, not necessarily. I've had a few non-believer friends suggest it. And I think its a sad state the Church is in these days if anyone who is serious about living for God is so extreme that they must become a preacher. Shouldn't all Christians have that same passion for him? I think there are enough preachers. Becoming a pastor is a calling God puts on your life, not a passion for Jesus. I think there are enough churches. But I don't think there are enough Christians who just live for Jesus in their day-to-day lives. And I want to be one.

So what will I do? Do I continue with the acting path? Do I go back to my old job and use my success to glorify him? Do I get a new job, or move somewhere? I'll keep praying and he'll give me the next step. I have no idea where this path will lead me, but he does.

Addicted

Is it possible to be addicted to energy?

I've noticed that there seems to be a very strong correlation to my mood and my energy levels. For example, back in high school I was pretty often depressed. I wasn't very active. I didn't exercise much...mainly playing computer games. In college I was pretty much the opposite, very happy. I played basketball everyday, I'd exercise and workout. I wouldn't go one day without some form of physical exertion. And as any doctor can tell you, exercising and being active actually does give you more energy.

When I worked at Mattress Firm I never had time to do anything physical, but I would constantly take caffeine...whether redbulls...coffee...pills, whatever I could get. And I was a pretty happy guy.

Well the past two weeks I haven't exercised much and I hadn't taken ANY caffeine and I'd been feeling kind of down. Then this morning (the reason I had this realization) I had a big dose of caffeine and I feel energized and much much better. I have tons of energy and I feel like my normal self....

So am I addicted to energy?

1 Year Mark

Well soon it will have been one year since I quit my job at Mattress Firm. Seems strange...working there seemed so much longer ago than that but at the same time it doesn't feel like a year has gone by.

I originally quit because I had an awesome opportunity to work with my dad at Merrill Lynch...but afterwards that didn't work out and I decided since I had some savings I should try to go for my dream of acting. Began taking acting classes, doing plays, and some small extra roles in film/tv. Now a year later I reflect and I can't help but think that I'm still no closer to my dream. Sure I'm ten times better at acting from my class, and I have some more experience....but I don't feel any closer to getting actual paying roles.

Though its probably my own fault, I know the next steps I need to take...get professional headshots and get an agent. Its sad--I used to have so much money that I could have afforded headshots no problem....now when I need them money is so tight. I've been trying to save up for some. Once I do that I have an agent in mind who I'll approach.

I did find out that I was actually a member of SAG as a baby (my mom had my join to be in some commercials) so its possible I might actually be able to join it easily once I need to! That's a blessing for sure. SAG isn't easy to get into from what I hear.
I used to have a motorcycle....and I had a girlfriend back then, its hard not to miss her. But I have also gained much in that time. I know I have a much better relationship with God, and that's kept me from any sort of backwards pining stuff. I'm just really ready for this to start. I'm ready for... something to happen. If God wills it, it'll happen.

Investing Lessons that HURT

I've always had an interest in business, finance, and economics. I was an economic major at UGA, I've interned at Morgan Stanley/Merrill Lynch, and my dad has been a financial advisor for almost thirty years. Needless to say I've already "learned" a lot about the subject; however, I'd say that my real learning started happening when I started using my own money to invest.

I saved up a lot of money from my sales job at Mattress Firm and since I benefited from a nearly zero fee account with my dad, I began investing. Well those "lessons" were paid for with my own money. Sometimes I'd make huge profits. Sometimes I'd make HUGE losses. I'd make plenty of dumb mistakes that could only be learned from actual experience. I decided that since these lessons were expensive (some of them too expensive in my opinion...) I should write them all down so that I wouldn't forget them. All of them I can honestly say that I've either learned after prayer (from God), or from mistakes (from me). So this post is really for myself, however I do hope that these may be of some benefit to anyone who invests. Hopefully you can avoid some of the dumb mistakes I've made.
Disclaimer: This list will probably be continually updated as I am always continuing my investment education. Now in no particular order:

1. ONLY use OOM calls with a clear catalyst trade. Out-of-the-Money and At-the-Money Covered Calls are made up of a huge % premium. These then lose their value everyday as the call approaches expiration. I've lost WAY to much money with these, being right on my prediction, wrong on timing. ONLY use these for a catalyst and only right before (1 day max) the catalyst; so that the premium time problem doesn't affect the trade.
   
   However, if playing a good catalyst like Earnings Announcment, its much better to use these than Deep-in-the-money, because they give more bang for your buck. You can have less exposure with more potential upside. Because a catalyst trade is a bit of a win/lose trade. In past experiences I've found that even with ITM calls I pretty much lose all if I'm wrong, so with that in mind, I might as well leverage the potential upside with an OOM call (not too much). That way on a win I'm leveraged much better.
   
   
2. Instead of buying stocks, buy a deep In-The-Money call options. This gives much more leverage, you get 3 to 1 and sometimes up to 5 to 1 leverage because each call represents 100 shares of stock. Buying deep in the money makes it so almost the entire price of the call is made up of intrinsic value- so the option trades 1 to 1 with the stock. The premium can't eat up the option over time, so its basically a stock replacement system (thanks Jim Cramer).You buy these one month out (lowest premium..remember premium = bad) and deep enough in the money that there's not much danger of being stopped out to zero. Remember this is a replacement for stocks, not a speculative bet. If stock A is currently at 100, and I buy the 70 calls, I get stopped out at 70. To zero. So make sure to go deep enough, don't get greedy and confuse this strategy with speculation.
   
3. Getting back to Even doesn't work. There have been many times when I made a bad trade and my security went down. The worst thing to do here is to hold onto that security and wait until it "goes back up" to break even. First off the market doesn't understand or care about you breaking even. It might never go up; and holding onto it hoping it does it more an emotional denial to accept the loss. The reality is that when you're security drops in value the loss has already occured. You aren't "holding it off" by keeping the security. In fact there have been many times I could have made it back by switching the funds into a different security. Here is the rule: At all times, make sure to own investments which should grow the fastest in the near term and forget the emotional ties to "getting back to even" from previous mistakes.
   
   Example: I'm watching security A, B, and C. I buy security A before a catalyst. It drops significantly. Afterwards I need to start over mentally and think, at this point in time is security A, B or C more likely to grow quicker? Many times the answer is B or C, in which case I need to sell the remaining A and shift to one of them. Always be on the fastest train. (self note: remember bidu at 65)
   
4. BUYING and SELLING should almost always be done with emotion. How does this make sense? Well when I feel ECSTATIC about a huge rally I should be selling. When I feel SCARED about the depth of a pullback and my sentiment is reflected in mainstream thought...I should be buying. When I look back at every trade I've made. I always see that when the market or stock topped out was when I felt the best (think bidu after split). When I could have made the best buys were when I was super scared, not just worried, and the talking heads on CNBC were even more scared than I was (think flash crash or S&P 1010 in july). At that point it's so hard to buy because I'm scared to death that the market will fall even more...so is everyone else... I remember at S&P 1010 I heard the talking heads saying how we'd probably fall down to 900 at this rate and head to a double dip. It was a bottom. While I'm not a bottom fisher, I do think its wise to buy STRONG trend-stocks when the market is down here. Rule of thumb: When No one is buying, I should buy. When no one is selling, I should sell.
   
5. Diversify with at least 7 securities. AT LEAST. Far too many times I've lost money putting all my eggs in one basket. Painful note to self: Netflix back in July earnings....ACK. But diversifying to seven puts the odds in my favor since I only use great stocks. Putting too much % in any one stocks is GREEDY. And pigs get slaughtered right?
   
   
6. Only use the best stocks. I've made the most money using HOT stocks instead of bottom fishing for possible reversals. The market is never logical in my experience, so why vote against it? Why try to bottom fish a stock that represents a good company thats been hammered by the market because I think it should go higher? Instead, I need to find stocks that represent AWESOME companies that the market LOVES with strong charts!
   Then I have not only good fundamentals, but a great strong trend behind me! Forget trying to predict bottoms (or tops for that matter) because I'm not very good. However I am great at finding trends and hot stocks.
   
   
7. PEG. This ratio has really helped me see when a stock has become too expensive. What is a stock? Actually I've found that the stock price more represents Earnings per Share and Percieved Growth than the actual company. Well EPS can easily be measured, but I've found the traditional P/E ratio to be useless because it fails to account for growth. People pay LOTS for growth! So we have to divide the P/E by the Growth to get the true valuation. Logically a perfect PEG should be 1. I've found in reality that hot stocks can (and do) go up to a PEG of 2 before the market really pulls back on it. Thats paying a P/E multiple of twice the growth rate. The sweet spot here really seems to be between 1 and 2 for some reason though. I originally thought it would be below 1 because it means the growth is undervalued, but I've found that stocks with PEG between 1 and 2 are usually the winners. I theorize this is because these stocks are usually more popular and have a broader market exposure after passing 1.
   
   
8. EARNINGS...I've been burned bad holding an option through earnings, I've also made a huge profit. If you plan to hold an option through earnings conference call, know that you're making a speculative play that could shoot you in the foot even if the call is good. Sometimes I've seen great stocks fall off a cliff after a GREAT conference call. This is a good buying opportunity but a danger of holding thru earnings. Its best to diversify among different company earnings (7 at least) not all on one. Also consider, after earnings announcement you're in a MUCH more knowledgeable position about the health of the stock. If guidance is good, estimates are beat, and the stock rallies then I know the stock is still a good buy. Repeat situation with a stock sell off, EVEN BETTER BUY! But bad earnings and/or poor guidance and I put the stock in "time-out" until maybe next quarter.