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 Welcome to the new Remote
Support page
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The time has come
(November 2008) for me to put up a page and clarify some thoughts on my remote
support work. I tend to do this when the number of questions I get on a
particular topic or offering start to demand a more time-efficient solution.
Since the remote support has evolved from the mentorship program, it's time to lay down
a little history, and clarify where I stand on this.
As a very critical part of the
mentorship program I include a fair amount of phone support with that. This was
designed for students to be able to ask me questions that they had about the
material I had presented to them. As they would progress and practice on their
own, questions would invariably arise. The phone support gave them the chance
to try to get some answers, instead of being left to figure out the answers on
their own, if they even could, given they are my ideas, and I might be the only
one to understand the point I was making on a specific topic.
In 'the old days'
of the program I would generally have my charting program open, and the student
would have his or her program open, and we would verbally discuss various
things on the charts, going through whatever the student has put together for
the session. This was cumbersome at best, but it did get the job done. Then I
discovered GoToMyPC, and that changed everything. I could now see the student's
computer on my screen, and I could do work right on it, demonstrating the
techniques and the points I wanted to make, almost as if I were there,
side-by-side with the person. Once I got used to GoToMyPC, all support work for
mentoring was done in that format.
Now, given that I have many, many clients from far
across the world (not to mention simply across the U.S.), I have been asked
repeatedly if I could do any mentoring remotely. I steadfastly refused. I was
told by many of the inquirers that this would allow them to mentor with me when
they otherwise couldn't, due to inability to travel so far, for whatever
reasons. I told everyone I do not want to do any remote mentorships, and
explained why. Let's get into what I said.
I have three primary reasons why I don't want
to do remote mentorships (and no, we are not leading to a statement where I
then say '...and here's why I changed my mind'). The first reason I don't want
to do remote mentorships is that I do the mentorships in the first place to
have some human contact with people with like interests, given, as I have
explained elsewhere, I spend almost my entire life by myself in my 'home
office'. The mentoring gives me a chance to actually spend time with a live
human being, in person. Remote work, although it is with a live human being, is
still 'remote'.
The second reason I don't want to do remote mentorships is because
I feel I can read a person much better when I am one-on-one in person, and
tailor what I am doing to how the person is handling the material. As you
should all know, I don't do any 'canned' mentoring, I don't have program
materials, I don't show up with well-chosen examples, it's generally just me,
and we start with charts, any charts, the student can pick them, it doesn't
matter, and we just start looking and I go through the process of the
methodology, and then we pick another chart.
As this process unfolds I study the student,
and see how they are handling each step. I read and adjust on the fly, much
like the market. They say that 93% of all communication is non-verbal, and I
use this to provide what I think is needed each step of the way. It's a
throwback to my old classroom teaching days. With remote work, I lose all that.
Sure, I can verbally ask how they are doing with each step, and see how they
are doing the work as I watch, but it isn't the same in my opinion. I like the
one-on-one, and I like to think I am pretty efficient at the process of
tailoring the work to the individual student. I still think there is tremendous
value to remote work, but I prefer it as a supplement, not a substitute, if
possible, from an efficiency standpoint.
Finally, I am not really looking for more
work. I do a few mentorships, highly personalized and individualized, shooting
for somewhere in the neighborhood of four to six per year. This works out well
as far as supply and demand between how many I want to do at the most, and
those that are willing and able to travel, and are highly motivated and meet my
criteria for 'admission' to the program, as discussed on the mentorship page. It is a much, much larger
pool of potential candidates that are willing and able to work remotely. The
demand for this is much greater.
The biggest problem is that this is not 'scalable' for
me. The work is very individualized; this is not a webinar approach. I have
been asked more times than I think I could count if I would do webinars, but I
don't offer mass-consumption material. I think my work is for a select handful
of hard workers that read the books and find that this is something they want
to study in detail, and I don't want it becoming all that popular/mainstream
anyway. I have little to no interest in doing any webinars. So, back to the
idea of remote mentoring. Even if I overcame the first two objections, I
couldn't overcome the third too easily.
I am not going to take time away from
my own trading work to start doing more remote work. That's just of no interest
to me. Not to mention perhaps some of those who were planning to travel may now
choose to work remotely, and I have even less one-on-one interaction (not to
mention the pizzas and hikes in the rainforest I usually go on with students
after the workday is over). So, overall, a remote mentorship program is just
not a viable option for me. But, something has evolved a bit, to the point now
where I should lay it out for people, so this option is clear.
I had a student who
was 'on his way out' for a mentorship when he had some immediate personal
issues that forced him to change his plans. He wanted to just do some work by
phone, to at least get started until he could resolve his issues. He was quite
busy and we didn't start right away. In the meantime I started working with
another mentor student using GoToMyPC. I had developed some proficiency with
it, and felt the work I was able to do with students this way was leaps and
bounds above the work without the computer connection. I told the student about
this, and he wanted to try it.
We did a lot of work together this way, and I think we
both felt it was a very successful way to work together, given he was unable to
travel to work one-on-one. He didn't expect to achieve the same level of work
as if we were able to meet, but it was a good second choice for him. I expected
this to be a one-time thing, since the circumstances were so unusual. But, he
told another guy about his working with me that way, and that guy bought the
books and asked if he could work with me. He told me because of certain issues
he would be unable to travel to meet with me, but really wanted to try what the
other guy had done.
I told him I would be willing to work with him in 10-hour blocks,
similar to the additional blocks of follow-up mentorship support that I offer.
We could decide after each block if further work was desired by him, and if I
were able to do additional work based on my schedule. In the end I think it
worked out quite well for both sides. Since then I have been asked if I could
do some remote work, in blocks, by a fair number of people. I have decided that
I want to 'formalize' this and make it clear what I am willing to do, and what
the 'program' would be like.
I am willing to do a small amount of remote work, using
GoToMyPC, in 10-hour blocks, priced at $1,249.95 per block, for students that
meet the same basic criteria I list for doing a full-blown mentorship. One
important thing to realize is that this is not a mentorship, it's remote work,
in blocks, as needed/desired. Although I may still 'teach' the concepts in much
the same manner as if we worked one-on-one, it is not the same thing. It is
generally done in two-hour segments, once per week or every other week, as
opposed to two to four very intense days side-by-side.
Next, the mentorship is a big time
block, if you use all the support it amounts to fifty hours. That would be five
10-hour blocks. A fairly high percentage of my students repeat the mentorship,
some more than twice, and go on to work with me for an extended period of time
using various support options. The remote work is more suited for someone who
has read the books (please do not contact me about doing remote work if you
haven't read the books at least twice and you clearly feel this material is for
you), and just feels they need some assistance in some manner putting it
together, or in understanding certain concepts, or in general just want to go
though the process with the person who originated it.
I am not saying you can only do one
block, but this is more offered for those that think one, two, or maybe three
blocks, over time, will likely do it for them. (If you think you want more, you
might be better suited to the full mentorship program.) I am willing to offer
additional blocks on a case-by-case basis, based on my schedule, and the
student's needs. As I said, I am not looking to commit to a lot more work here,
but given the sessions are usually in two-hour increments, I can squeeze a bit
in here and there.
There are a few terms specific to this program:
Payment must be
made in advance in the form of a wire transfer to my bank account for the full
amount. I cannot accept cashier's checks, credit union checks, money orders,
credit cards, PayPal, or any other form of payment for this program.
There will be a 25%
cancellation fee if you want to 'change your mind' up to 48 hours before the
first scheduled session. Cancellations cannot be made after that point. Please
understand there will be no 'pro-rated' refunds unless I am unable to continue
the sessions. If you don't feel like you can follow through with the sessions,
or that you have potential personal issues that may crop up in your life that
would not allow you to finish the sessions, please do not sign up for this
work.
Blocks purchased must be used within three months of purchase, or
they 'expire'. There will be no refunds for 'expired', unused time. In certain
circumstances it might be possible for me to extend the time for a short while,
but you must discuss this with me in advance, and request a written extension
from me. I will not honor any extensions that aren't accompanied by a written
confirmation from me.
Sessions are generally held about an hour to an hour and a half
after the market closes, on weekdays. I do not do any sessions during
market hours, or on weekends. Once in a great while I can do an evening
session, but it is a rarity. By the time I finish the market hours I need to
move on to other projects, and some family time. I need a little time to
decompress, and then I hold my session. After that I usually finish my own
chart work for the next day, and then have dinner and do other things. Please
do not ask me to work outside this schedule. If this is not workable for you,
as much as I would love to consider you for this program, I just can't
rearrange my life to do the sessions, or it just isn't worth it to me.
I only work on
QCharts basic version 6, with historic data enabled. I understand that most
potential students do not use this platform. If you want to work with me you
will have to use this platform for the sessions. I cannot teach my work on any
other platform. That is not to say that one couldn't use another platform once
they are done working with me, only that I need this platform to demonstrate
the techniques. It also has almost twenty years of intraday historic data, and
that is also needed for me to demonstrate the material. Don't worry if you do
not know how to use QCharts, as I will do most of the 'driving' to start and
you can see how it works (it is very user-friendly).
You will need to download a small
macro program that I use with QCharts, to handle retracement preference
unchecking and such. This will all be explained prior to the first session. The
program has a 30-day free trial, and is only $29.95 to own it after that. If
you are a regular QCharts user I think you will love what this does.
You will need to
sign up for a GoToMyPC account.
They also have a 30-day free trial and the monthly fee is only $19.95, with
discounts for multiple PC's and yearly plans available.
I have students call me at the
agreed upon time. You need a good phone, preferably a speakerphone or headset,
as it is difficult to work holding a phone in one hand. The connection must be
clear, and it is up to the student to resolve any issues in this regard. If you
have phone issues I will not be able to work until they are resolved. I need
full and complete concentration to do this work, and I don't have any extra
energy to battle phone issues. I bring this up because I have had people come
to the table with very bad equipment. I find that Skype frequently is a problem
(see next term), too. You must also be able to 'handle' my phone, which is a
high-quality conferencing phone that most have no issue with, but a few, with
bad equipment on their end, have said the volume is low for them.
You need a good
broadband connection, and not from a satellite provider. The 'lag time' makes
using GoToMyPC almost impossible in my experience. It is also absolutely
terrible if you try to use Skype phone with it.
At no time will any specific trade
recommendations be made or discussed. This remote support program is purely
educational. Additionally, no performance claims of any kind will be made about
any trading.
If you've made it through all the above and still think you would
like to give this a try, please contact
Jim about signing up for the program, or if you have additional
questions.
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