Zamco on gamifying prop firms and calling himself a bad trader

0:00You've made over a million dollars from the prop firm space. Not a small amount of money by any means. I think about 70% of it is from gamifying prop firms cuz the strategy was there, but I wasn't great with my own discipline. So, I'm quite a bad trader, but I'm good at prop firm trading. I pulled 1.4 million.

0:15I'm not happy. Why? Because I know I could have done better. Instead of trying to beat the market, he focused on beating prop firms. Our guest today is Zamco. He spent 6 years losing money before he actually flipped the script. He's now gone on to generate $1.3 million in prop firm payouts over the last two years. Do you think people like yourself are the reason why the industry is continually changing? Yeah, I've had the CEO of some prop firms say, "This is the reason why we are now going to be changing the rules in reply to my tweet of making like 100k hit payout or something."

0:40What is one prop firm rule that will actually help you to succeed? Consistency. Ooh, that's controversial, but I've noticed my trading has gotten significantly better when trading. But his framework is controversial. Many people online call it gambling. He calls it understanding the rules. In today's episode, you're going to understand why accountability is everything and why success in prop trading might have less to do with predicting and more to do with understanding the game that you're playing.

1:09How do you feel about the people that think you're just kind of gambling things away? I think the difference between a trader and a gambler is a gambler doesn't know what they're doing. They're just pressing buy and sell randomly. I wait for my setups. I have a clear defined strategy with an 80% win rate. Do you feel proud of how far you've come? No. Why? Because first and foremost, I I kind of want to dive straight in if that's cool.

1:33Um, I did a little bit of research on you before getting here today, much like I would do with any guest. Mhm. There was one thing that honestly took me a little bit by surprise, and I give you actually quite a lot of credit for because I think there's a lot of people that will shy away from this. You've made over a million dollars from the prop firm space. Not a small amount of money by any means.

1:55Life-changing for a lot of people, but you've done it in a way where you've openly talked about the idea that actually you're not that disciplined of a trader, which I think for a lot of like influencers and people in the space, that would be something that they never want to talk about. It's something that they shy away from. How much of your success, especially in the last couple of years, do you credit to actual trading skill versus learning how to gamify what we're doing in the prop firm space?

2:24I think about 70% of it is from gamifying prop firms because the strategy was there, but I wasn't great with my own discipline. So, I'm quite a bad trader, but I'm good at prop firm trading because I have a decent strategy, I just don't stick to it. So, there's a difference.

2:41my strategy is good, but the issue was I don't stick to it because there's no rules telling me not to. But when it comes to prop firms, I already have a good strategy and now prop firms implement these rules where I have to kind of stick to them and now it kind of really works with my strategy as well. So there we go. That's kind of how it works in my benefit. So it's mainly just prop firms.

3:00Interesting. So I I found this relationship quite interesting because there's a lot of people that they look at prop firms as like the enemy. They look at their rules and their regulations like this is, you know, they're trying to screw me over. Yeah. And actually, I think with the right mindset, and I think this is something that you'll probably share that if you look at them the right way, they're actually designed to help you to become a better trader with the right perspective.

3:18But I think a lot of people get lost in that path. Would you agree with that? Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of the issues that people face is they don't see the benefit in things. Now, you can sit and complain about everything in life doesn't help you to get anywhere. I could sit and complain, oh, they're restricting me to 1% risk, but let's flip the script.

3:42How can I use that to my advantage? That's all I'm looking at everywhere in life is if something's bad, okay, how can I use that to my advantage? If this is going wrong, okay, what benefit can I bring out of this? What can I pull from this? It's always looking at what opportunity is there even in the downside.

3:57That's kind of the mindset that I have whilst a lot of people just sit and cry about it. Has that been something that has always come natural to you or do you feel like you've had to learn how to do that along the way? I think it's always been quite natural of me because I've always tried to do shortcuts in everything. I've tried to find the glitch, tried to find the shortcut.

4:16Whether I'm playing Call of Duty, I'll try and get into that glitch spot. It's like I'm always trying to go out of the box, exploit whatever I can. It's like what benefit can I bring no matter what situation I'm in. It's like how can I get out of this? Interesting. And so I I know you had your your big turning point in the prop firm space only two years ago. Yeah.

4:36How long were you doing prop firms before that? About another two years. Two and a half years approximately. So I've been trading props for like fourish years. And I'm guessing by how your journey has gone so far. The first couple of years didn't go so well. No. Talk to me a little bit about that. So that in are you talking about prop firms? Yeah. Specifically props. Yes. For the first two or three years of trading prop firms, I was just buying accounts, taking dumb trades, and my strategy wasn't that good back then.

5:01I didn't really know like what am I trading, what time am I trading. It was just random random forex pairs. It's like, oh, it's kind of trending. We kind of have a break structure, let me just take a buy. It's like I didn't really know why price moves. And I think once I got into prop firm trading and it really started restricting me and have all these rules that I have to kind of adhere to, then I started looking at, okay, well, I can't just place my stop loss wherever.

5:21I have to get out in and out within the single day because I don't want to hold overnight. It's like I'm looking at all of this and now I start kind of looking at the actual market. It's like, how can I actually use that to my advantage? Why does the market move the way that it doesn't?

5:38How can I capitalize on it based off the profit rules? M so then I really start dwelling into just the why. Why does price move? How does it move? Why does it move there? What turning points part typically like where are we pivoting? Where are we find continuing? I started really dwelling into why price moves. And I think that's very important.

6:01A lot of people they take losses and they just cry about it. I was looking at why did I lose? What did we tap? Where did we finally tap into before we rejected and continued up? Okay, what did that zone look like? I I break down every single loss to why why did I loss? Why did I lose? I'm looking at all of that constantly.

6:16So I think when I got into proper trading, that's why I started focusing on focusing on why am I losing rather than just complaining about it, which is what I was doing before proper trading. So I think it was just a mixture of all these rules, having to adhere to them and have to adapt my strategy to adhere to those rules and then looking inwards at why does price even move? Why do I lose? Why do I take this loss? And that's kind of how I started transforming.

6:40One one thing I find quite interesting about that is there's a very clear difference in mentality between like taking accountability and ownership for the things that you were doing um versus a period of time where you were struggling. What was that breaking point for you? Because at least from what we've shared like you spent actually six years losing. Two of those were in props. Four of those I presume were trading you know maybe personal capital and things like that.

7:05What what was the turning point? like what got you to the point of hitting either that rock bottom or that ground zero where you decided something has to change and I need to start taking ownership and accountability and how can you know maybe somebody watching learn something from that so that they can be able to take the same shifts as you okay so the thing that changed for me was my marriage right so I only got married like two and a half years ago or something like that and the biggest change that happened was I look here's the thing I'm horrible at self-reflection okay I don't even know how to do it.

7:36When I would be in university and I would be doing my hospital placements for my degree and it came to the self-reflection part where I have to write down my self-reflection. What do I think I'm doing good? Where do I think I'm going wrong? I would struggle. I would be asking the educator like, could you tell me where I'm going wrong? It's like I I have no clue how to self-reflect. Even now, I struggle with that. But when I got married, my wife helped self-reflect for me.

7:57She will start picking out, oh, you're doing this wrong or you

8:03said this, it didn't go right over here. This hurt me like this. It's like now I'm starting to see cause and effect. It's like, oh, I'm going wrong over here. If you ask me to self-reflect, I can't do it. Even now, if you tell me to, I can't do it. But my wife helps me with that. So, I think that's where the turning point came in where I started having external self-reflection and understood, oh, I need to take accountability.

8:19I wasn't doing that cuz I wasn't self-reflecting. I didn't know where I'm going wrong. No self accountability, no responsibilities, nothing. So, I think that my marriage really helped change things for me. That's very interesting. But I I like the fact that you talk about this in terms of reflection, accountability, ownership. It's it's really just a higher level of self-awareness in my opinion because I think where a lot of people get stuck not just in trading but in life is we only see the world through our own eyes.

8:42Yeah. It's very difficult to step out of your own perspective and see it from somebody else's point of view. Right? And this is where I think having a coach, having a mentor, having a partner, somebody that's willing to tell you how it is and not how you see it to be is very very important in a lot of areas of life. What has So since the marriage, what has since changed that maybe you have started to doing more of that you weren't doing enough of back then in terms of reflection?

9:09Is it purely just conversations with your wife? Are you doing things like journaling now in terms of your trading? Like how how has this process changed for you? So I'm not journaling. I never have. and I never will. I really I really don't like that process. We're going to fall out over this. I can tell you that now. I really just I don't see the point of it because I've been in the space for so long. Like I typically know what I'm doing wrong.

9:32I think again this is this is the biggest thing for most traders is when they ask, "Oh, where am I going wrong?" I can guarantee they know what they're doing wrong, but they just still do it. Like I know I'm overrisisking. I know I took a trade and I'm just revenge trading. It's like I know I'm doing these things wrong. I'm not going to sit here and ask someone, "Oh, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Help me." It's like most people know what they're doing wrong.

9:52So there's that. And I think what what I really do now, it's whenever I take a loss, I'm looking at why. That's what I really really look at. So I'm not journaling. I'm just looking at okay, what did I miss? What did I miss? That's the biggest thing for me. Cuz if I I I have this phil philosophy now in life where it's everything is your fault. Okay, everything that happens is pretty much your fault.

10:18M you must have messed up somewhere. So if let's say let's say your wife leaves you, what did you miss? Were you doing behaviors that you shouldn't have? Was she giving you signs that you didn't notice? It's like there's so many things that you could have done differently. I know you could have, but you just didn't. Sure, there's unfortunate events, but again, how do you respond to that? It's all come kind of comes down to you. So that's why I started really implementing just where did I go wrong?

10:44What did I miss? If I made a mistake, okay, why did my stop loss get here and we moved up? Okay, why? Where did my stop loss get here? What was there? What was to the left? So, I think that practice alone really helped me build my strategy and really change my prof game and build like a really good strategy. Trading education is completely broken. For years, the industry has been purged and poisoned by bad actors, fake results, and strategies hidden behind pay walls.

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12:29Experience a completely personalized trading plan tailored to you and your goals. Reach milestones, redeem points, and earn rewards with a massive global community. Whether you trade forex, futures, stock, options, or crypto, Chart Academy has something for you. Join the weight list now and be part of a movement that is going to change trading education forever. This is interesting for me because I find on one hand you've actually gone through the mental shift

13:03of wanting to become more self-aware, seeing the benefits of introspection, reflection, um, and looking back on, you know, taking ownership on everything that you've done to improve and become better. But on the other hand, you hate the idea of the typical process of journaling, per se, right? I feel like what you're almost doing is almost keeping like a mental journal but just not one that you're willing to actually write down. Yeah. Do you think that there's any relationship and again I'm going to take this back to the conversation where we started which is we we open this podcast with you saying and openly admitting that generally you suck as a trader right the the discipline perspective right do you think if you were to keep a more vigorous journal around let's say not the trades not why did I lose but why did I do the dumb [ __ ] why was I undisiplined do you think that there's any correlation between you not journaling that area and you not improving in that area.

13:58I don't think journaling would help that because I know why I do the the dumb crap. It's I can't be asked or it doesn't feel good or I'm lazy. It's like it's these things. That's typic like you know that's the thing with everyone. It's like why don't you do the things you should laziness or arrogance or thinking you know better you know. So I think I already know why I don't do those things.

14:17But it's like okay what's the easy way out of this? I know I'm not disciplined. Okay well prop firms help with that. Okay I'm not good at self-reflection. I would have a wife that helps me with that. It's like I'm outsourcing my weaknesses so that I can have help. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, right? I I think bringing on the right people, having the right team around you, whether it's again, it's a it's a partner in life, whether it's employees, whether it's accountability partners, I all think those are very very important aspects.

14:41But again, I feel like there's it's for me it's it's a little strange it to put it in the nicest way because it's it's like a disconnection between there's a side of you that wants to improve. You're clearly an ambitious individual and you want to achieve big things, but then there's also a side to you that you openly say, "I'm lazy and I can't be bothered and I don't want to do it and I want the easy way out."

15:05But I feel like if you fixed one side, which is actually becoming more disciplined in certain areas, it would give you many of the higher things that you're looking for in a way that you would may maybe in a more efficient manner. Do you do you agree with that or do you Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. That's why I'm always in a state of unsatisfied. I'm always unsatisfied with my performance.

15:25I pulled 1.4 million. I'm not happy. Why? Because I know I could have done better. I know what I did along the way where it could have been more efficient. I could have done better. So any sort of success or achievements that I have, it's kind of always unsatisfactory and quite disappointing for me and I know I can do more. So I think that alone kind of keeps me going, but it is still unhappiness along the way. So I know I can keep doing better.

15:51My my understanding of the human mind has always been rooted in the idea that we as humans, we like to stay generally in our comfort zone. Yeah. Um, and we'd like to move away from pain and discomfort and we stick towards things which make us feel good. Yeah. What do you think it's going to take for you to have a time and a place in life where you get so dissatisfied with knowing that you're not where you want to be that you start doing all the things that you're kind of putting off at the moment?

16:14I think it's when you realize the opportunity and seeing what it could have been. I I know I could have done more, but it's not it doesn't hurt me as much. It's like I still feel like I'm doing pretty all right, so I'll still keep going this way. But if it came came to a point where it's like, oh crap, I could have been on 20 million right now.

16:37And I and I could visually see the evidence like that is exactly where I could have been and that stings me hard enough, I think that would be a good enough thing to kind of make me realize, oh, I need to change this. But do you know what would help you with that? Journaling. Yeah. Yeah. So, I guess okay, there we go.

16:58That's perfect because that's probably a part of me that doesn't want to see that. I'm probably blocking that out 100%. So, again, this is where this is where is really fascinating to me where I feel like trading, it shows you who you are. Yes. Everything on the chart, every single price tick or whatever, that's just human psychology on a chart. That's what I see it as. The ch the charts will bring out who you are as a person. So even this, it's like I'm I don't want to see what I could have been and I want to stay in my comfort zone.

17:29That results to me being unsatisfied, but why am I doing that as well? It's like, yeah, I could journal, but then I part of me also doesn't want to see that. So I think it's it's interesting that there's all of these psychological things behind the scenes and I've just chose a model that works for me where I can still make money in the laziest way possible. I this is for me it's a very interesting conversation and we we haven't had a lot of time to talk about my history and it this show is not about me whatsoever but I think you'll find this interesting because when I went through your journey I also lost money for exactly six years.

17:59Oh wow. Right. And it was 6 years and it wasn't after that I started to make six seven figures from the markets. It was six years and then I started breaking even and then after a few years after that I found a path to profitability. But the interesting thing is for me that journey happened a little bit earlier before prop firms were a big thing and I had no choice but to become more disciplined. Yeah. Because much like yourself I was again maybe you can tell me this but I felt like my biggest issue is at times I was a slave to my emotions.

18:34Anything that I thought and felt would come out as a reflection on the charts and that was the biggest thing that helped me held me back. The only way to start breaking free from that was really I had to get clear about what my data was telling me about my strategy but then also what my journals were telling me about me as a person. So when we talk about this idea of introspection, reflection, taking ownership and accountability, I feel like had I had the journey that you had in a time where prop firms were the up and cominging thing which they have become over the last few years, maybe my journey would have been different.

19:06Maybe I would have felt like I wouldn't need to prioritize the journals in the way that I did, but it became my foundation. Yeah. And honestly, I don't I don't hate it. And I I think there was going to be something that I wanted to raise with you probably towards the end of the show, but actually I think this is a more fitting time to to put it in. One of our earlier guests on the show, he put this in a great way and he basically said, and I I really want to get your opinion on this.

19:35If prop firms hypothetically were to disappear tomorrow, and I don't think that's going to be the case, but if they were to hypothetically disappear tomorrow and you haven't improved your ability to become a better trader, you've wasted your time. What's your take on that? Yeah, I would agree to an extent. I mean, actually, no. No, I disagree with that. Okay. simply because sure I'm not a great disciplined trader but I can't deny I am more disciplined than I was before. I know my my strategy was only built because of prop firms I understand the market the way that I do now because of prop firms and be like even a year into my prop firm journey.

20:06I wasn't as disciplined as I am now. I'm still very undisiplined in my trading but I do typically now just wait for my setups much more than I used to. So, I feel like because of prop firms, it still made me what I am now. And if you take that away from me, I will struggle on personal capital. I'm not gonna lie about that. I will struggle heavily, but I think I'm in a much better position now because of prop firms and I might be able to pick up the slack if I'm just forced into that situation.

20:39So, do you do you think you're you're leveraging prop firms as much as you can in this day and age to utilize the skill set that you have? But if let's say I'd say and we we can dive into this bit as well. Maybe the more likely scenario is not that prop firms disappear but that someone like yourself gets banned from all of them. Yeah. Right. I I think that's far more likely than prop firms

21:07disappearing. Do you think that scenario would force you to do maybe some of the hard things that you've been putting off to become more disciplined in your trading or do you think you would leave trading behind if prop firms weren't a thing for you anymore? I might do illegal stuff then. But no, I think I think the skills are transferable. It's I have a personality of I'll find a way.

21:30It's you you put me in a corner, you trap me, I will get out. If you pressure me that much, I'll get out any means necessary. If that's illegal, whatever. I don't care. I'm getting out. I'm not going to be trapped. I think that's the biggest fear of mine is having something trap me. I can't be trapped. You can't force me to do something. You can't tell me what to do. I can't stand that.

21:51So I think if you put me in a situation where I have to escape, I'll find a way. I think that's my personality. So if I get banned from prop firms, I will find a way to make money somewhere else. Do do you think that other avenue would still be trading? Do you think it would be completely unrelated? Like would you want to start trading personal capital if prop firms were no longer a possibility for you? I think what I would do initially is I'll try to flip an account.

22:15I don't I can't flip a 1K into 100K bit by bit. I'm not doing that. I will however much money I've made, I'm gonna try to just get at least 100K in personal capital. Then I might actually do my best to scale that slowly. But I think trading wouldn't be the main part of my income. I don't think so. I think I'll move more into commerce, e-commerce or something like that.

22:42Something I still understand or social media and kind of push that or sales. It's like I have the skill set. I can teach other people. I might be banned from all of these people, but I can teach you how to trade with profits. I I'll get into more sales. Uh it but I I'm not a fan of trading in the first place.

22:55I don't like it. What is it about trading that kind of puts you off or that doesn't agree with you as a person? It's what it's doing to my health mentally and physically. Like I know I'm not sleeping much. I know the stress that it brings on to me. It's not a nice feeling. I literally just do it for the money. It seems like a bad addiction or whatever, but it's the money is good.

23:16It harms me, but you know, the money is good. Do you do you ever think about changing the approach that you have so that this can be something that you have longevity in? Yes, I am actively trying to add behaviors and systems in place where I'm just better at trading where it doesn't affect me as much. I know I keep waking up to trade Asia session when I shouldn't. I know I can just wait for London open, do my two, three hours in the morning and I can be done.

23:41I can do that. But I think because I'm in the young stages of my life, I want to make as much as I can as quick as I can. But I think once I've made a good amount, I think I will start slowing down. Even now, even now, I am slowing down. I am kind of not wanting to stay up as much as I usually do. I'm trying to just wait for my setups a bit more. So, I'm noticing that it is affecting me. I'm still pushing, but it is slowing down now.

24:11So, I'm I'm I'm feeling it now. It really does affect me. Would you encourage other people to have that kind of similar path and approach to you, which is kind of go hard as you can as early as you can and then adjust along the way or would you would you you know to somebody else watching this, do you think having that better maybe more balanced approach to begin with would be better for them?

24:33I think you should go as hard as you can right from the get- go. Find out who you are. Push yourself to the limits and see, oh, that's who I am. That's what happens to me when the pressure is really high. I think that is the best thing you can do. And then once you realize these are your limits or these are your characteristics, now start refining it. I think you won't see that version of yourself until you really push yourself to the limits.

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26:23Links in the description below. Something I do want to run by you, and I think you'd be a great person to speak to this about is actually a little bit about the prop firm industry in general. Um, I've I've observed how it's changed and fluctuated in terms of rules and regulations and prop firms starting and shutting down and all sorts. And obviously you've been in the space for quite a while.

26:43You would have seen very similar things. Um, do you think it's becoming or would you agree that it's becoming increasingly more difficult to play the prop firm game than it was 2 3 years ago? Yeah, absolutely. It all the restrictions are making it harder, but again, you could complain about it. Yeah, I'm thinking of it as, oh, my strategy is actually improving because they're putting all these restrictions.

27:03It's like, oh, now I have to play it this way, but that's actually making me trade better. It's making my strategy much more clear and defined. So, again, two things you could do. You can cry about it, or you could work with it and flip a script. Interesting. Do you do you find that or is there a part of you that feels like people that are in your position which has a skill set to really leverage prop firms to the absolute max, do you think people like yourself are the reason why the industry is continually changing?

27:35Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I've had the CEO of some prop firms say this is the reason why we are now going to be changing the rules or implementing this in reply to my tweet of making like 100k payout or something. So yes, it's people like me that are causing a disruption in the markets and then of course we have people commenting under my payouts saying you're the type of people that are causing all of these issues for us and I'm just like you haven't even got a single payout.

28:02What are you on about? I'm not changing anything for you. But yeah, I think it is people like me that are disrupting the prop firm space, but I'm being a bit more, I guess, responsible about it. I'm not going for huge payouts anymore like I used to. I'm keeping it a bit more smaller, but more consistent cuz I understand it's not good business. Good business for you or the prop firm? Prop firms. Prop firm. Cuz I need them. They need traders. So, if I take too much, the model doesn't work.

28:28But if I keep it small and consistent, it still works. Yeah. I I find the the social media space very very interesting because I mean, you know, in traditional businesses, you don't get a lot of the audience that has a at least a vocal say in the way that the business is running. Yeah. Whereas, you know, you go on to Twitter, uh, Twitter is where I spend most of my time and, you know, everyone has an opinion on what prop firms are doing or shouldn't be doing at some point in time.

28:55And I find your interaction and again I've seen a probably a very limited perspective of it uh your interaction with not just the prop firm industry itself but also with the people in the space very interesting. I find there's maybe a good divide between people that either love and have a lot of respect for what you've done in the space but also some people that just hate you and just think that you're a gambler, right? Where where do you kind of sit with that?

29:25How do you feel about the people that think you're just kind of gambling things away and and what's what's that line for you like? Like for you, what is the difference between a trader and a gambler? Okay. I think the difference between a trader and a gambler is a gambler doesn't know what they're doing. They're just pressing buy and sell randomly. I wait for my setups. I have a clear defined strategy with an 80% win rate. The actual strategy, not me. I'm horrible.

29:50But the strategy itself, I wait for those setups. Sure, I risk heavy, but again, I'm only risking the profit challenge fee every time. So, you can sit there and complain, "Oh, he's risking 4% gambling." It's like, that's what the proper tells you is gambling. I'm not risking

30:05that much of my money. It's just a proper uh fee. So, it's not gambling because I'm still waiting for my setups. I'm just risking heavy on it. If I was randomly just opening a prop firm account, press buy maximum lots and hope for the best. Like, sure, that's gambling. You don't know what you're doing. M but I'm still waiting for my setups. I'm still taking good quality trades. So, all right, I'm going to I want to flip this and again I want to play devil's advocate with this a little bit.

30:26If I was to go into a casino Yeah. and I was to play blackjack and I had a I used to play basic strategy. I don't know how much you know of the the gambling and blackjack space, but basic strategy will essentially start tipping the odds slightly in your favor, right? You do that in combination with what they call card counting. And you can essentially create a very small edge. Yes. In an uncertain environment, right? I'm still going in and I'm playing a game of uncertainty.

30:53I still don't know what the outcome will be. I'm still risking money on that event to try and make money in return, but I have a setup. I have a strategy. I have something that I'm looking for. Would you still think of me as a gambler with that approach? No, not at all. because you are actually you actually have a strategy that actually has a statistical edge.

31:14It's very different to a random guy who's drunk. He's like, "Oh, let's play blackjack." And just plays around like that's very different to a person who's focused, knows the game, has an edge, and is executing. Very different. But if if you openly say that the thing that you probably lack most is your ability to stick to that edge on occasions, do you not think you kind of cross that line and you fall from trader to gambler? Then I think that's just an undisiplined trader. That's there's a difference between gambling where you don't know what you're doing and undisiplined trading.

31:42It's like I'm taking bad setups, but I have a general idea of well, we are bullish. We somewhat come into a zone. I should maybe buy, but it's not the best setup. My stop loss is too tight. That's very different to I'm just pressing buy and sell. I don't know where we're going. It's just hope for the best. I'm taking bad setups. That doesn't mean I'm gambling. I still have a general idea of where price should go and why, but I'm just not taking the best quality setups.

32:07See, I I think I've always looked at this a little bit differently. And I don't know if it's because a lot of my beginning has been built around personal capital and and I something that I always like to talk about. I try and keep my journey as transparent much like yourself. I I do really well in a personal account in the sense that I manage risk very well. But in the prop space I suck, right?

32:35Because I I I think a lot of what is required and again experiences like this are kind of teaching me and showing me this. A lot of what is required to really get the most from the prop space is you have to be able to gamify. Yes. And I naturally and how my journey has gone, it's not something I'm naturally quite good at.

32:52I'm quite conservative in what I do. I protect capital at all costs. And my definition of a trader is essentially just a risk manager. Yeah. I I I sit there and I manage risk for a living. I'm going to win some, I'm going to lose some, but I'm never going to be the type of person that is pushing things to the absolute limit where I I could lose a lot.

33:11Right? So, there's a part of how you describe your journey with personal capital where I can I get where you're coming from and I understand why the prop space has made you better. And again, if I'm being completely honest and transparent, there's a part of me that I when I look at your approach and your content online, I think I sit somewhere in the middle. There's a part of me that has a great degree of respect for what you've been able to do to take a skill set to make a lot of money from an industry.

33:38Um, and I think people should look up to that as inspiration as what is possible if you learn to play the game very very well. Something which I'm openly still trying to do. But on the other side, there's a part of me that's like, well, he openly says he sucks in trading personal capital. He's leveraging what is currently available to him in the prop firm space.

33:58And I when people sit there and I see, you know, people replying and saying he's a gambler, he does this, he does that. I get it. Like there's a part of me that openly I and I, like I said, I'm just trying to be transparent with it. I feel like I kind of get it and I understand where they're coming from. I don't know which is the right or wrong answer. Um, but I I think I'm open to seeing it from both perspectives.

34:16The one thing that is quite clear for me though is the game at least in the way that the industry is set up is prop firms need people to fail. Yeah. Right. It's it's by design. It's part of the nature in terms of what they do. It would not be possible for there to be thousands of people like you to succeed. Absolutely not. In this game, right?

34:42And you you've openly said in this podcast like you've started to tailor and change the way you're approaching things in terms of the type of payouts that you're going for because you realize it's unsustainable. And again, you've been very open to say that I need them, they need me. Um, given your experience and given how you've played the game so far, would you still advise people to play the game the way that you've done it? I I think they shouldn't go as high risk as I do.

35:08I think that's just more of a personal thing. But I think approaching prop firms in a way where you do see it as a challenge fee. That's all you're risking. Don't get too attached to the money that's in your 100k account or you're down 2K on a trade. It's not 2,000. It's $500 if you blow the account.

35:26You've only eaten up like $100 of your challenge fee. If you're only down 2% on your uh eval, I think that's what I'm trying to push across. Don't see it as actual money. Just see it as a little challenge fee. paid for the numbers on the screen in your trades means nothing. You're just trying to pass objectives. I think that's what I'm trying to push across. Not you don't need to risk heavy.

35:47I do that cuz I don't I'm impatient. I just want to pass quickly, get funded. But I'm not telling others you need to do this. It's have a good strategy. But understand it's all fake. It's not real until you get the funding and you actually get the payout. It's all just magical numbers. But do you do you think that and again I say this with the perspective of the position that you're in which is I think whether you like it or not you have a certain degree of maybe not authority is the right word but influence in the space and I think again whether you like it or not whether it's the message that you're actively portraying in those exact words or not people will look at your approach and they will want to replicate exactly what you're doing.

36:29Do you think you're doing this in a way which is creating the right image or is that not something that you're again I say this on the mindset of like people have to be responsible and accountable for themselves? Yeah. Um but do you think that you have a certain degree of like you're in a position where you should lead by example is maybe the right way to put it.

36:44Yeah. No, absolutely. I should lead by example. I I try not to be reckless online. I try to be quite clear on this is what I'm doing. You can like it, you can dislike it, you can copy me, you can not copy me, but I'm telling you what I do. Yeah. Now, you can look at that and think, "Oh, I'm going to take this, this, this from this. That works for me." Yeah, great. As long as that helps you. I'm just going to tell you what I do.

37:11So, I don't think that it's it makes any sense for me to change how I do things. It's like, this is what I do. Take what you can from it, and whatever helps you, great. This is the strategy I trade. you like it or not, it doesn't matter. It's what can you take from me? I think that's what I was doing along my journey as well. It's I I've traded every strategy, but I was just picking bits and bobs of what works, what works with me, and that's how I formulated my Zed Flow model strategy.

37:33So, I think again, I do have some influence where I need to be a bit responsible because a lot of people look up to me. Yeah. But again, I think as humans, we shouldn't just be completely dependent on a person and be like, "Oh, he does this so I'm going to do it."

37:53It's like, no. Yeah. Take what you can from what's good and leave the bad or what doesn't work with you. Just take the good. Yeah. Yeah. So, I want to I want to run something by you and I want to do this primarily because you seem very self-aware. You seem like the type of person that I could have an honest conversation with and I I mentioned to you even before we jumped on the camera like there's parts of your content that for me are very very interesting.

38:12Okay. Right. And so you you've openly said that you're open to hearing others perspective and I want to give you mine on something. Right. So, in the buildup to our podcast, I followed you, right? I I actually wasn't following you before this. Um, and when I did, I had the first video that popped up when I refresh my feed because you get a new follow.

38:33It kind of pushes it to the top. It was an interesting video, which I I don't know where it sits on the spectrum of like being responsible in terms of what you're doing and plugging the wrong advice to people. If I'm honest, and again, I'm going to tell it to you straight, and I always like to have raw and just honest conversations.

38:52There's a big part of what you do, and I see what you've achieved in the space, and I hands down, I think you deserve credit for what you've done, but there's also, I think, a fine line that maybe at times, and I want to read you part of this, which I I think is where it starts crossing a line. And I think you have to hold a little bit of responsibility to what has been said and how you're approaching things.

39:14And and I'm saying this not from my perspective. I'm saying this from the perspective of an audience member that is watching this that is maybe not as informed as to what this game can really be like um and sending across the right message about how to change your life from the prop firm space cuz that's ultimately why we're here. Yeah. You open to doing this?

39:32Absolutely. Go for it. Awesome. I I like this. Right. Firstly, I'm going to put it out there. I got a lot of respect for the fact that you're willing to have this conversation. So, I don't know if you'll recall this. Um there was a video and I genuinely I did not go hunting for this.

39:44I promise you it was the first one that popped up and it just happened to be this way. It was a video where you talked about losing 500k in funding and you had $30,000 in profit on the account. Ah, right. And I I want to read it out and I want to get your honest like opinion on this because I I truly believe what you see online is not always a real reality of the message. I think how we perceive and and take on a message that's been shared, whether it's a tweet, a video, is not always in the way that it's supposed to be conveyed.

40:11So, I want your honest opinion on this, but I want to read out almost basically word for word what you said in this video, and I want to tell you why I think it could be harmful for a lot of people. Sure. So, you had talked about the idea, you lost 500k in funding, you blew $30,000 worth of profit, and then this is what you said in your video. This is just me telling you that it's absolutely normal to blow funding. Fair. Um, I could be up $30,000 in profit and still blow the account, so you can, too.

40:37It's absolutely normal and it's completely expected. You're going to lose. It's bound to happen. But obviously, you get paid out somewhere here and there and overall it makes up for it. It's okay to lose funding. Literally within the next few days or even weeks, I'll be funded again 500k with them, no problem. But, and this is the bit that kind of stuck out for me, I will make sure to use

41:05code Zamco to get 20% off my next challenger or account. Yeah. Right. What What's your thoughts on this? Can you can you understand my perspective on why this kind of sits somewhere in the middle of like what is responsible content for teaching people how to change their life in this game? I struggle to see that honestly. Like what I'm taking from that is it's okay to lose. Okay, losses are part of the game.

41:27If you do, you can always start again. Use code Zamco, you get a little discount. But but the point is it's okay to lose. There's going to be moments where you have profit and you're going to lose it. You can cry about it or start again. It's like it's fine. That happens. Even someone who gets big payouts like me, I lose along the way. And I'm telling you, look, it's normal.

41:46You will have profit and you will lose it. That's just part of the game. So, and I don't agree with sorry, I don't disagree with that part of it. I think the part where I it starts to like I don't know sit on the wrong side for me is it's not that you're discouraging people to lose. I I almost feel like this is normalizing the fact that it's okay to blow these big opportunities.

42:12But I think the thing that really and this is a personal thing that just didn't set well with me particularly just in that video was the use code Zamco cuz it was like now I'm going to get paid for your failure. Okay. Do you do you get where I'm coming from with that? Yeah, I see what you mean. I see what you mean. And and look, I'm not against people using affiliate commissions.

42:32I think if you've got an influence in the space and you're able to leverage that to make money, by all means. But I think from the perspective of like again maybe someone that's uninformed in the space that's watching and has randomly come across content like that, they're going to look at your content and be like, "Fuck, this guy's been able to create life-changing amounts of money from this space.

42:50How has he gone ahead and done that?" And they're going to be wanting to learn from your approach. But then I think there's a a part of this video which again I agree normalizing and accepting that losses are a part of the game and accounts are going to be blown 100%. Don't disagree with that by any means in any way, shape or form. But I think somewhere in the way that this was translated, it came across as you're going to get someone that you're going to be someone that's going to be paid for other people failing.

43:14Do you do you get where I'm saying it? Yeah, I see what you're saying. Didn't realize it comes across that way. I've you know it's an ongoing thing where I'm I have code Zamco for like almost any prop firm. So it's literally just very normal for me use code Zamco. Even my brother's videos he'll turn the camera to me and I'll be saying in his video code Zamco. I think that's kind of what I'm thinking. It's just I just say use code Zamco regardless.

43:40And it's I I don't see the harm in that. I see what you're saying that it's kind of me saying look if you lose don't worry I'll still get paid from your commission but you don't have to use code Zamco. just you'll get the most discount with that proper anyway, so you might as well it's a little transaction.

43:55You might as well help me out and I'll help you with the value that I'm providing you. Do you do you think there is any and again I'm asking completely honestly and purely from my perspective. Do you think that there is any leniency with prop firms? Because I can only presume you also have the influence to make them a lot of money in that they continue to allow you to trade with them. I'm actually banned from quite a few. Uh so I I was hoping I guess to an extent like maybe I'll have some lenency, but it's like nope, that's not the case.

44:25It's like when I was going into the social media space, I thought, well, I see all these prop firm influencers like they they seem to be doing big payouts and they're not banned or anything. I thought it would be the same for me. No, I got banned too. I got banned from a lot of prop firms. Not like literally a few days ago, I got banned from another one. But yeah, so that leniency isn't really there.

44:49But there is support. You might get extra support because obviously it's like a YouTube creator. It's like if you got millions of subscribers, if something happens wrong with your account, they'll be like, "Look, we'll look into it. No wor no worries." But that's just because you're helping them, they're helping you. That's different. That's just business. But yeah, there's not really any leniency in that way. I get restricted heavily on most prop firms. I get banned from prop firms.

45:10It doesn't matter about my social media. M and again I asked the question I think purely because I'm trying to think of this from the perspective of someone that is from the outside looking in and trying to understand the dynamics of the situation. And I know there's a lot of people that call for the idea that there's a lot of shady things that happen in the prop firm space.

45:25And again and I said this to you a little bit earlier on. I don't think that there's going to be a lot of people that can operate either in the way that you have done or in the way that you do and be allowed to get away with it. I have seen many a case and again I'm not accusing you of anything in particular but I have seen many a case where people have been banned and restricted for far less.

45:44Yeah. Right. I I have seen and I if I recall correctly I've seen situations where you've spoken about taking challenges in the sense that like you've never even used a stop loss in certain situations. And I guess this is just part of the the discipline side of things right. Um, but and

46:04again, I think if I if I hypothetically was a prop firm owner and you came to do business with me, whether I said it openly or not, I wouldn't want you there. Yeah. Do do you do you agree with that? Absolutely. Yeah. That's why I'm restricted to how much I can make. With a lot of prop firms, they say, "Look, keep it below this percentage.

46:19We we won't have a problem with you. Otherwise, we'll just ban you." So, you know, it is what it is. That's what I've done for myself. Yeah. And I just accept it. Fair. Fair. I I firstly I want to say like I appreciate you taking all of this on board quite openly. Not always difficult. Sorry, not always easy conversations to have and I appreciate you you taking it on board.

46:43And I I say this purely from the perspective of because we started off today's conversation with you being open to the idea of accountability, reflection. We talked about the idea that often we're blinded to our what people see on the other side and you know not having those perspectives. And I think there is I think just some some space or some caution to be wary of the message that you send online.

47:03And again, maybe that's just my perspective. There may be hundreds thousands of other people out there that disagree with my take on it. There may be hundreds or thousands that probably agree and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I truthfully believe that there are very few actual bad people in this world, right?

47:22I don't believe you're one of them, right? I think there are very few actual bad people in this world. I think people often get lost in translation with what they're trying to do. And this is why I wanted to specifically talk about that piece of content because I'm like, I understand I took something from that, but that doesn't mean everybody else online got the exact same impression.

47:40And that's why I kind of wanted to get your take on it to understand what is the message that you're actually trying to put out there for a lot of people. Yeah. Right. Um, so I I want to kind of take this full circle, right? Because I don't want this to be like a I'm going in on you for your content.

47:53This is not how the conversation was supposed to go today. That's absolutely fine. It helps. I I appreciate it. Um I I want to understand like you've obviously had a very interesting journey in the prop space. You've gone from someone that has really struggled that has now learned to play the game very very well. For somebody watching this from the outside looking in and they are still in that struggle phase with the current climate of today's prop firm, what's the best way to approach things?

48:18like either from a mental maybe not so much a strategic perspective but what's the best way to start looking at this to really get the most of things with the current rules and regulations that are in place. I think it's looking at the top prop firms and only going for those. Now, I understand there are cheap prop firms, there's big sales, whatever.

48:36A lot of people are really inclined to that. But guess what? There's a string attached. There's there's extra rules that you might not even know. But you're going to have to pay more is what I is kind of what the industry is now. Like the high paying prop firms where that challenge costs a bit more and they are ranked quite high on like the proper match or whatever, there's a reason they're priced like that.

48:57It's like they're actually quite reputable. They're quite good. So, I think that's what you need to start focusing on is actually going with good quality prop firms. It comes at an expense, but again, what's worth more, actually getting paid or making a bunch of money on a shady firm that doesn't pay you out? It it doesn't make sense. So, it's worth paying that extra and going for top prop firms that have legitimacy and credibility behind them. You need the number one trading tool for traders.

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49:53Use code PFT for 20% off the yearly subscription or PFT10 for 10% off the monthly. Try it out and watch your trading transform. I I have a very unpopular take that I've shared for many years and I I say this because primarily it was a big part of my journey. I always say to a lot of people, one of the quickest ways to fix your psychology is to have a separate source of income.

50:17Yes. And not a lot of people like that because I think in this day and age, a lot of people have that dream and the goal of full-time trading. When we talk about the idea of how to play the game properly in today's day and age and you advocate and actually I would really agree with this take that it makes more sense to often go for the props that are more reputable but often will be more expensive.

50:41Um, I I don't know if I I mean to say it bluntly, I don't know if I would encourage most people to become full-time traders in today's day and age. I think we live in an age where it's it's never been easier to make money in so many different ways. I don't know why it makes sense to have all of your income come from an unstable source of Do you get what I'm saying?

51:08Absolutely. Would you agree with that? And would you give the same advice to a lot of people as Yeah. No, definitely. I think starting out absolutely do not try and go full-time trading until you have months of consecutive data. Like you are good at trading, let's say. So, I had I think a quarter of a million in payouts before I decided, hm, maybe I can do this full-time and then I left my job. So, it was only until I had that and I had money saved up and I had evidence that, oh, on a monthly basis, I can consistently make more than 10k a month.

51:41So until I had that, I wasn't confident enough to leave. And once I left my job, it's proven now over the year. It's like, wow, monthly I can make consecutively 40, 60K a month. And it's like, I know my skill and I'm confident now. But starting out, I would not recommend that at all. I worked a job for one and a half years whilst also trading prop firms and getting payouts

52:02until I left and I was like, "Oh, okay. Now I'm at a place where I can leave." M I I didn't actually realize that you went through the phase where you were juggling both the job and trading at the same time. Yeah. How did you find that balance? Because and I say this from the perspective of you trade a one minute chart.

52:16That's going to be something that you need to be I guess fairly focused on. How did you balance that with work? So most of my jobs have been like work from home. Okay. So that really helped. It's like I can do whatever the flip I want. But also there were hybrid jobs and that was the one that I worked for my longest one and a half years. And even then it's laptop and I'm on my own desk.

52:36No one's really around me. No one really cares what you do as long as you get the work done. So yeah, I'll be flicking between the charts and my work. And what I would try and do is within the first two weeks of the month. So this was like a monthly reports that I had to do within the first two weeks.

52:49I'll get all those reports done and now I'm chilling. It's like I can be trading however I want and if someone walks past me quickly, you know, alt tab and like kind of just do that. But that's kind of how it was. It's like because I'm just working on my laptop, no one's bothering me. It's not like a labor job like construction where you can't just go on your phone.

53:06Yeah. So, I think that's what really helped. It's just the type of job that I had. Interesting. And when you took the shift from going um full-time job to full-time trader, did you ever have a vision at the start of your journey as this is what I want to achieve from trading or the prop firm space? Was that something that you were very clear on in coming in with? Or do you mean like that I want to be a full-time trader?

53:30No, as in like what's what's the goal for you when it comes to prop firms? Was it a certain like I want to make be able to make X amount of money and that would be something that I'm aiming towards or like how what what's what's the vision that you're trying to work towards or is there no vision to you're just kind of doing your thing on a day-to-day basis?

53:43I think after I made my first quarter of a million in prop firms and I did that in like six months then I was thinking okay well when January began 2025 that's when I left my job. M. So again, I was thinking, well, I did that in 6 months. Maybe I could do a half a million in a year cuz I did quarter of a million in 6 months.

54:05So that that was kind of my goal. It's like, okay, well, if I can do like half a million a year, which statistically maybe I can because I have data that shows I can do 250k in 6 months. So maybe I can do half a mill year. That was my vision, but I didn't know I would make over a million in that year. But that was kind of my idea.

54:24I want to make like half a million a year cuz I have proof that I can do it. I want to jump back to something which you said earlier on, right, which is and I I think maybe this is a good reflection piece for you in terms of your journey, but your your vision in going full-time was I think it's possible to do half a million in a year. Yeah. You've done 1.4 million if I'm correct in that in the space of just under two years.

54:47Yes. Do you do you feel proud of how far you've come? No. Why? because I know what I did along the way. Meaning, I knew that I was undisiplined. I know that I was undisiplined along the way. I know that I was taking trades I shouldn't have. I know that I was spending too much money on challenges because I couldn't be asked to like wait for the daily draw down to reset.

55:13I was just like, "Oh, let me breach this. Let me quick start again." It was that bad psychology along the way where I knew that if I actually did things right, I could have been much further ahead. So what I've made, like I said in the beginning, it's like it's really unsatisfactory for me because I know I could have done more and I'm always in a state of I could have done better. So I'm not really ever satisfied with my performance. It's a really interesting take and I want to say something to you and I I don't know if anyone's ever said it before.

55:43Much of today's conversation has been centered around the idea that actually prop firms have been a blessing for you because they've helped you to level up in so many ways. I actually think to a certain degree prop firms are holding you back from what may truly be possible. Because I think if you were forced to go through and become more disciplined, break some of the bad habits that are currently holding you back from that untapped potential which is making you feel unsatisfied, then actually you would be much closer to feeling a certain degree of satisfaction.

56:14I think what you found is maybe comfort in a space where in your words you've mentioned you've taken like the easy route. Yeah. Where you found a way to to gamify a space make a ton of money in the process but actually you feel no joy in it which which I think is as a human being it's a difficult thing because I mean for all I know everyone's going to have a different belief with this but for all I know we get one shot here at life.

56:34Yeah. And I think this game is not about money. It should be far more about fulfillment, joy, making yourself happy. And for someone like yourself that has, in my opinion, achieved some incredible things in the space to turn around and say actually they're not pleased with their performance and they want to be better. There's a side to it which I'm like, you know what, highly ambitious people, they always will have that drive to a certain extent.

56:59And and I don't believe it's a bad thing. But I also believe that there should be a side of you that should be able to look back and be proud of how far you've come and this is the only reason why I flipped the perspective and I judging by and again my read of this might be wrong. I'm hoping you'll walk away today and that will be something that sticks with you to think like is the prop firm space actually holding me back from my potential full untapped you know what I'm able to do in this space whatsoever.

57:28I I genuinely think like when you break down the type of trades that you've taken, the mindset that it's taken you to get to where you are today. I believe actually you've got a lot bigger things in store for you, but the only person that needs to get out of your way is you. Yeah. And I think the part that's really holding you back is maybe you found some kind of comfort in the prop firm space.

57:49And I think maybe the best thing for you is to have a little bit of discomfort to force you to face those enemies to help you to find your untapped potential. Fair enough. No, I completely agree with that. I that's probably why I'm always so unsatisfied is this underlying potential that I'm just not capitalizing on. And yeah, maybe profs are limiting me. Maybe if I was trading personal capital with no rules where I'm not restricted and I actually am disciplined, I could be a half like half a billion.

58:21I don't know anything. It's like I could be so much ahead. So yeah. No, I agree with you. That's probably the case and the reason why I'm so unsatisfied. Interesting. Interesting. I again I I just find this interesting from a a human perspective because I I get the I always say I'm very very fortunate to connect with a lot of very successful people and I guess success is obviously a subjective term right it's it's going to be dependent on the individual but there are there are going to be many people watching this that look at somebody in your position and they will they would happily want to trade places with you and there you know there's a there's a great quote I again I I always butcher this when I say it but they always say like people are jealous of the results that you've got but never the process that it took took it to get there.

59:07Right. Um and so I think it will be interesting for a lot of people to think like I think there will be people that look at your situation especially and again it's a very limited scope from a financial perspective and be like he's made it. He's done it all. He's got it all. But actually in your perspective you're actually very much unsatisfied. And I think maybe your next level up is going to be learning how to break through that ceiling and and figuring out what happens for you next there.

59:29Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. What what does what does the journey of Zamco look like over the next I don't know 12 months or so. Is that something that you've thought about? Because obviously you've mentioned that the restrictions from you in the prop space. They're not what they used to be 2 3 years ago. You've changed your approach in terms of the type of payouts that you're going for. Is moving towards trading personal capital something that you're actually starting to think about now?

59:57I don't think I am moving to personal capital. I understand there is untapped potential there, but I feel like the harm that it will bring to me and my family and my wife because of how it would affect me along the process, I don't think that's worth it. It's like I'm doing pretty well right now in the prop firm space. Why ruin that and go into crazy stress mode on personal capital where I can potentially lose everything? It's like I think this is the more responsible way of doing it.

1:00:27It's like I've taken the risk already in trading to get to where I am now. I've lost money along the way. Why go through that process again? Maybe push even further along, but then again, am I ever going to be satisfied is the question. Like even if I do that, is it worth all that stress to just end up unsatisfied in the end and affect the people around me?

1:00:47It's like I'm doing something that I understand it works, makes good money, everyone's comfortable around me. Why now take the risk when I'm doing pretty well? Sure, there's I'm going to be unsatisfied no matter what. So, why do this and affect the people around me, I guess. So, what's what's the end goal then past prop firms and past trading? Because you've openly said now like maybe if prop firms disappeared or maybe you were banned from every prop firm hypothetically, you maybe wouldn't transition into personal capital.

1:01:14Is there a vision of what you're working towards to maybe diversify the money that you've made into something else? Yeah. Yeah. So, definitely I want to move into properties as much as I can and in passive businesses like car washes, anything like laundromats, crap like that. Just get things set up where I don't have to actively do as much, but never ever lose that drive of building. Like even if it's passive, I'm going to keep trying to expand it, expand it.

1:01:40Just build, build, build. I can't ever let that go. I can't lose that drive of mine to build and conquer, but I also want to reduce the stress as well of not having to rely on my performance all the time. I want to set up something passive, but also don't lose the ability or that drive to conquer and build. Do you do you think it will be something that you take an active choice to actually step away from or will you wait till the point where maybe it's no longer possible for you to trade prop firms before you take that transition into something else?

1:02:07Oh, that's a good one. I think as I keep pushing with prop firms and keep getting payouts, there will come a point where I just keep getting banned or I'm just restricted on too many where it's like at this point it doesn't make any sense for me to do it anymore. I think at that point I would stop but whilst I still have the ability to keep trading them, I think that will keep me occupied and I'll keep doing that as well as building things on the side.

1:02:32So, if I'm if I'm understanding this right, like right now, I think it's fair to say the prop game at certain times can be a certain degree of stress, a certain headache, but right now the payoff Yes. is worth it for the headache. When that stops becoming an equally balanced equation will be the time where you shift. Yeah, exactly. There we go. Okay, fair. Um, all right, Zamco, I I want to start to wind things down a little bit.

1:02:58Sure. Um, I want to end with uh a couple of things that I've been doing with each guest. Um,

1:03:04one of them very nice and easy, some quickfire questions. I got three or four questions I would love to throw your way. Sure. Nothing hard, nothing difficult. The last one, which I'll explain, we're calling Confessions of a Trader, which I'll explain as we get into it. Okay. Um, quickfire questions. So, I've got three or four to to throw your way. In your experience, what is one behavior that destroys prop firm accounts the fastest? Impatience. Interesting. Um, in your experience, what is one prop firm rule that will actually help you to succeed?

1:03:38Consistency. Oo, that's controversial, but I've noticed my trading has gotten significantly better when trading consistency accounts. I wait for better setups, naturally. Interesting. Um, what is one thing that you would encourage most traders to do to find profitability? study their losers and not just screenshot the wins. Nice. I like that. Okay, cool. So, last part of today, uh we're calling Confessions of a Trader. So, this is uh and like I always say, I I'm very very fortunate to be able to connect with hundreds of traders on a on a month-to-month basis.

1:04:14A lot of them struggling, aspiring traders trying to find their path. And what I like to do is compile a list of messages, themes, tones, um, and work them into kind of a a confession that I read out to one of our guests. And all I want is your honest insights, perspectives, um, and advice on what you would give to somebody that is kind of confessing this about their journey to you.

1:04:33Okay. So, this one was actually based on somebody that I spoke with uh, last week. Um, I had a DM in uh a community that I was working with from one of the traders and they confessed that last year they blew 32 accounts without getting a single payout. Their question was, "What is a normal number of accounts to blow before it clicks? And how do I know I'm actually on the right path?"

1:05:03Well, I'll tell you that's not a lot. I've blown much more in a single week than 32. Interesting. It happens. But now the question is, are you looking at why you lost those accounts? I know why I lost my accounts. So if you're just going to sit and say, I lost this many accounts, but you don't know why. Then you're going to struggle. You lost those 32 accounts. Cool. Why did you lose it?

1:05:28What were you doing that you shouldn't have been doing? Understand that and try to fix that. And it is absolutely normal. I think a lot of people in the space, they blow a lot of accounts. You burn a lot of accounts. and the profitable traders that you see hitting big big payouts. They lose a lot of accounts along the way. That's just part of the process. But I think the difference is they study why they're losing and understand that and then try to flip that.

1:05:47But I think that's the best advice I could do I could give is understand why you lost those accounts. Try to really understand that and try to flip the script. Nice. I like that. I like that. Um Zamco, it's been an absolute pleasure. And I I do want to say before we wrap this up, I know some of the questions may have seemed confrontational. Um I always like to try and keep these conversations as raw and as honest as possible and I'll say it whether it's good or bad.

1:06:17And again, like I said, I think there is genuinely there's a part of me that has a great degree of respect for what you've been able to do in the space. And a lot of people watching should look at what you've been able to do with a massive amount of inspiration as to what is possible in terms of how prop firms can really change your life. Um, but I couldn't do this episode without asking certain questions about content and the message that you're putting out there and maybe just leaving you with a certain degree of thought about what type of message you are putting out there and if it's being conveyed in the right way cuz like I said, I think whether you whether you like it or not, you end up in a position where you have a certain degree of influence.

1:06:48And I think to a certain degree, not to quote Spider-Man, it comes with a certain degree of responsibility. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. So I I am genuinely very very appreciative that you've been open enough to talk about it. I know a lot of people will shy away from conversations like this and I didn't think you would be one of them given what I learned about your journey and how transparently you talk about certain things. So I'm very very grateful that you've had this conversation.

1:07:16And I think there will be a lot of people that know your journey, whether they love you or hate you, that I think will enjoy today's conversation and and learn a little bit more about the person rather than, you know, just the the few snippets that they see of you online. So, I'm I'm very very appreciative of your time today. No, thank you for asking me questions like that cuz I know old me would have gotten defensive, thought, "Oh, you're stupid.

1:07:39Why would you think that?" And I think after getting married, it's I've had to transition into understanding different perspectives and I've seen the benefit. It's like I'm in a state in my life where I want to be the best man that I can be and that comes with people disagreeing. That comes with different opinions and me thinking, "Oh, that's a bit stupid." But let me try to understand that. Where are they coming from? So, the fact that you even said that me promoting that code kind of comes across as though I'm just saying, "Well, doesn't matter if you lose, you'll still pay me a bit."

1:08:02It's like, I didn't realize that that's how I come across. I was just thinking, "Oh, you get maximum discount. Help me. I'll help you. No problem." That's how I thought but that's a good perspective I never thought of. So that's something I would try to implement and try to understand how can I change that and I think even with this podcast I every single podcast I do I go away and look at how did I speak?

1:08:26What did I say? He asked me this question. Did I stutter? Did I say this? Did I talk about this too much? Did I mess up my word? It's like I'm constantly analyzing where am I going wrong? How can I improve that? So honestly, I really appreciate you asking questions like that where it really puts me on the spot and it's like, "Oh, I didn't understand that or I didn't see that perspective and now, you know, I'm having to understand and go through that discomfort."

1:08:44But I really appreciate it and I think it'll make me a much better person. Thank you. I I genuinely appreciate and you know, I only do this because these are conversations that I would want to have with other people. I I think a big part of being successful and growing and becoming a better man every single day is all about hearing all sides of the perspective and and being able to see things from all sides.

1:09:09So the fact that you are self-aware enough to take that on board, take it on the chin um and to be able to reflect and to to grow and become better from it. Respect to you man. Genuinely really appreciate your time today. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you guys and girls. That was another fantastic episode of the prop firm trader. What were your thoughts on today? What was your biggest takeaway? What was the mindset shift that Zamco shared that's going to help you to create that change in your trading?

1:09:40Put it down in the comments below. Like I always say, if you want to share your confessions of what your journey has been like and you want me to read that out to a guest, again, drop it in the comments. Would love to have a read of every single one of them.

1:09:54Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Make sure you like this video. Subscribe to the channel if you want to see more interviews just like this. And I will see you in the next one.