Why do you guys run an education company?

At SMB, our primary business is our proprietary trading desk. 85 percent of my energy and attention goes into the trading desk, our traders, and growing that business. But everyday, I do spend time on our education arm- SMBU.

Recently, I had drinks with two partners of a proprietary trading desk in NYC and one asked, “Why do you guys run an education company?” And I have to admit this gentleman was not the first to ask.

There are numerous reasons why we run SMBU, but the one most important to Steve and I relates to the picture above. We meet people/traders, who we would not have met otherwise. Simply, if we were not putting ourselves out there and sharing daily, we would not have the opportunity to meet and then learn from others as much as we do.

Just recently, here are the first ten things that come to mind that I have learned from traders in our community, that have enriched my learning:

retrofitme.com for health coaching
headspace.com for guided meditation
James Clear for in-depth summaries on best practices
TraderMind by Steve Ward for psychology performance
a signed copy of The Power of Negative Thinking by Bobby Knight
swim to relieve your back pain
Brett Ledbetter on What Drives Winning
The Talent Code
Mad Men, which I would have never watched unless a few had not insisted it was the best TV show ever
Documentary: I am not your guru

These were all referrals from traders in our trading community, SMBU.

Sure! SMBU adds diversity to our business, an important hallmark for sustaining businesses (Ted Talk- Martin Reeves: How to build a business that lasts 100 years). Yes! SMBU is a for-profit educational company. Yes! we meet traders, for which we would not have, that become traders for our prop desk. But the real reward is what we learn from those we would have never met, if we were not sharing and putting ourselves out there on a daily basis. All of that makes us better!

So…..that is why we run SMBU.

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*no relevant positions