My wife and I spent a week in Italy and something came up that so relates to what I do. We hired a tour guide. Well my wife hired a tour guide as a surprise for my birthday (I know 41 never looked so good). She did for The Vatican, St. Peter’s, The Colosseum, The Pantheon, and center Rome. Steve likes to make fun of me for canceling a vacation I was to take in Italy in the summer of 2002 because I didn’t want to miss a market bounce. Go back and check out those charts for a good chuckle. Well I finally got back there.

For three hours a day for the first two days of our trip, I spent my vacation with my wife and some Italian recent archeology graduate seeing the sites. It was expensive. I know this because Meghan took my cash card twice in two days hunting for more Euros. What a wonderful investment!

We cut lines that non personal tour guide folk had to wait hours on. Every step in the Vatican had meaning to Andrea, our tour guide, and then to us. Instead of ripping through St. Peter’s and thinking just “wow was that beautiful”, I appreciated the experience so much more as I was armed with amazing info from my walking Italian tour guide. Without our tour guide I would have missed the significance of Raphael, never recognized the doctrine of the Catholic Church represented on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, never found the Roman Senate, never spotted where the lions were kept before attacking the gladiators in the Colosseum, missed the best gelato in Italy and much much more.

I was on the phone today with a trader frustrated with his performance looking for more direction from his trading. He was inquiring about how we can help. I thought of Andrea and how he made my experience in Rome so much more enjoyable, meaningful, efficient, and though provoking. This developing trader needed a tour guide. I guess that is what I do.

Bella
One Good Trade