CHAPTER 2 W H AT Y O U N E E D T O K N O W F I R S T 13

With every new endeavor that you try, you will encounter naysayers. There
are people out there who will tell you that you can’t do it. If you don’t have
much money, they will say you don’t have enough trading capital, so don’t
even bother trying. Nonsense! I’m here to tell you that you can get rich from
the stock market even if you start small. Unless you’ve been successful in
your professional life already, you may not have much money to devote to
trading, and if you’re a young person just starting out, it may seem impos-
sible to bankroll a trading operation. Don’t be discouraged. You can start out
small, just as I did.
A friend of mine ran into the naysayer syndrome not too long ago when
he wanted to learn how to trade. Since he is a close friend, I let him come
to my office each day and sit next to me to gain some hands-on experience.
Trading his relatively small account, he started to understand how to make
consistent trades and manage his risk. After he got the hang of it, my friend
decided to trade on his own from his home. One day I heard that he had quit
trading. I was surprised because he’d gotten off to a pretty good start. When
I asked him why he gave up, he told me that another friend had told him he
that couldn’t do it because his trading capital was too small and that he was
wasting his time. Discouraged, my friend just gave up.
Michael Dell started by selling computers out of his college dorm. Then,
in 1984, he founded what became Dell Computer Corporation with only
$1,000. Dell went on to become the largest personal computer company in
the world. I started with just a few thousand dollars, and within just few
years it grew to more than $160,000. A year later it was at half a million. With
a decent bankroll at last, I was able to parlay my winnings into my personal
fortune. The rest is history.
I am certainly not the only one who has accomplished superperfor-
mance. David Ryan won three consecutive U.S. Investing Championships,
posting triple-digit returns every year. Reading about David in the mid-
1980s prompted me to embark on my own quest for superperformance and
go on to win the U.S. Investing Championship myself.
There are many of us out there who started small and ended up rich.
What we have in common is that we refused to let others convince us it
couldn’t be done. Remember, people who say something can’t be done never