I thought I was going to graduate college, get a nice degree, and a well paying job,
and live happily ever after… well, the reality was far from that.
Hello!
My name is Shay, aka Humbled Trader.
Yes before day trading…
I had a “real job”.
In this video, I’ll be telling you my story of why I QUIT my $100K job to day trade, and
most importantly, how I prepare for this big transition.
So if you want to one day quit your job to become a day trader, make sure to keep on
watching, and don’t forget to drop a like, for every single resentment you have about
your job.
Because oh boy, am I gonna spill the beans here.
I graduated from college with a degree in Film & VFX.
I wanted to create 3D computer generated films like the ones you see nowadays such as Hollywood
blockbusters like Lord of the Rings, Marvel superhero films, or animated films like Pixar
Toy Story.
I thought my life would be fulfilled if I ever could get my name on the movie credits.
This would be the height of my career, a pinnacle moment for my lifelong that I will one day
tell my grandchildren about.
And boy was I wrong.
After I graduated and started working in VFX.
That's where the big disappointment dawned on me.
And here comes the the first reason I quit my job to day trade:
“Passion alone, isn’t going to pay for the bills”
Many industries like graphic design, architecture, UX design and VFX included, underpay their
artists, and the reasoning behind is…
You are working on this project because of your passion for film and animation.
This is an incredible opportunity for you to be a part of a global team of talented
artists creating stories that will shape generations to come.
And that's the reason we’re only paying you $20 an hr.
You’re welcome.
When I worked in the industry, that's the one line I hated the most.
Was I also skilled and talented?
Yes absolutely.
Was I passionate about film making, yes absolutely.
But guess what, passion alone isn’t going to pay for the bills.
If anything I think the artists should get paid even MORE, for being so passionate about
this craft.
How is it possible that we have Hollywood blockbusters that make millions of dollars
in first week of box office, and we see producers walking away with bonuses and actors getting
pay fat paychecks , but the thousands of artists behind the scenes creating those memorable
stories and stunning visuals, have to live paycheck to paycheck.
The VFX artists, the animators, modelers, designers, surface artist.
They are truly the foundation that lift up the movies.
Without them your movies would look like this.
Yet they are often on the constant worry that they may not have a job in two weeks, which
is something I’m going to talk about in the latter part of the video.
Don't worry, the juice is going to get juicier.
There have been so many instances where I see studios paying some incredibly talented
artists, often fresh grads, minimum wage.
Or I’ll see my friends getting paid as a mid level artist, but having to take on responsibilities
as a supervisor or a senior.
All because the studio refused to give them an official title, that deserves a big raise.
So think about this, how can you not feel disheartened when the industry you loved,
and spent years of your lives devoted to, doesn’t love you back.
The second reason I decided to quit my job was to day trade.
Is because of the lack of security working in this industry.
To sum it up, artists are treated as disposable articles, rather than valuable human resources
that lift up the entire industry.
Full time, permanent positions are very hard to come by in film and vfx.
Everything is based on short term contracts such as 3 months or 6 months.
I have done contracts that are as short as two weeks.
Since most VFX animation artists are on contract terms, that means studios could easily let
go of people.
And often in between contracts, artists have several weeks to months of break.
Without pay.
This situation created a vicious cycle and constant instability of income.
I was constantly worried about whether I have a job lined up in a few weeks.
And a lot of times, the artists are constantly moving, in order to chase after the next job.
That was the reason I moved from LA to Vancouver.
I’ve moved between plenty of cities in the US before.
I know many others who are constantly on the move every other year.
Chasing after the next job.
Moving from LA to Vancouver, to Montreal to Austin to London and Sydney.
It's no wonder the divorce rate within the industry is so high.
And let's be real, the last thing you want to do going home after a long week in a dark
dark studio… is to do your dishes and take out the trash.
Just saying this for a friend, you know.
The third reason I quit my job to day trade, is because… the lack of meaninging i get
from my job.
At first when I started working, the dark offices with no windows looked edgy.
The long hours during the week sounded like a great team building experience, and the
overtime on weekends, well this is a great chance for me to pay off my student loans
faster!
How cute.
After a while, I longer found what I was doing day in and day out meaningful, or served any
purpose.
You could say I was jaded about this industry.
But after all that I've described earlier about this industry, would you be surprised
that an overwhelming amount of vfx artists in the industry all eventually feel the same
way?
I remember one of the last major film productions I had worked on, I was surfacing a very minor
background prop.
And this little prop went through, I kid you not, 37 revisions.
And it was a busy production.
I had ten other more important environments to model and surface.
From the amount of time I spent on this thing, you would expect this prop to be a prominent
thing you’d see on screen again and again.
Like the one true ring in Lord of the rings, or the dragon’s egg in game of thrones....
But guess what happened to the little prop I designed.
It ended up on a shelf, behind some dusty glass, and you maye see like two pixels of
it on screen.
I remember, while sitting there in a windowless studio.
Just one of the many rows of artists doing the same thing, thinking… is the job really
worth it?
Is this really why i went thru 4 years of college for?
Where is the creativity in this?
What is the purpose of this?
So another big film studio can roll out more merchandise and sell millions of them to kids
in toy stores, theme parks?
Is this it?
---------- On top of that, the VFX industry is notorious
for gender discrimination and workplace harrassment.
Unfortunately I have had a few unpleasant instances like that happen to me.
And I've had to see my female colleagues and friends experience the same.
And HR did absolutely nothing.
Well I can't say nothing, they did the bare minimum to cover the company’s a**.
You know, the courtesy one on one meeting and note taking.
And just crickets…
All this experiences let me down the path of thinking, does this job have any meaning?
And even if there was, was it really worth it at the expense of my mental and physical
health.
I have talked on this channel before that my right arm is f***.
I have tendonitis, and that was a direct result from long hours of overtime working VFX animation.
And that's not it, because of all of these toxic things happening at work, I developed
a severe anxiety attack.
There was a period of two months where I'd wake up in the middle of the night with hives
all over my body.
You see, I didn't quit my job to day trade, for the simple reason that because the job
didn't pay me enough.
Sure all the extra overtime pay and stuff probably added up to $100K a year.
But I quit because I remember near the end of my career in VFX, I had never made so much
money, and be so miserable at the same time.
So now that you know my story.
Let me tell you how I prepared for this big transition.
To quit my job to start day trading full time.
Pretty much throughout my entire time working in VFX full time, I had been day trading part
time.
At first it was just a way to supplement my income, especially during the weeks or months
in between contracts.
Then as the years go by, I increasingly grew more frustrated about my full time job in
VFX, I realized, day trading, this little side hustle passion project of mine, could
actually be my backdoor out.
Yes you can argue that it’s equally stressful or the income is unstable.
But that is to be expected in the first year.
That’s why I always stress on this channel, please start with paper trading, then when
going live, only risk small amounts like $10-$20-$50 as a brand new trader.
Check out my “How to Start Day Trading as BEGINNER in 2021” video to learn how to
start.
And take those losses as market tuition.
We all start out losing, but you can choose how much you lose as a beginner.
Most importantly, don’t quit your job right away.
You need a job to pay the bills and of course, the market tuition.
That was my mindset going into trading part time.
And thanks to my VFX job.
I was able to refund the small accounts.
And that kept me going as I continued learning, testing out strategies, risk management and
improved my discipline over time.
Since I lived on the west coast, I would wake up at 4:30-5 everyday to do the trade planning
premarket.
This is still something I do till this day.
Then I would trade from 6:30am my local time, market open all the way to about 8-8:30.
And sometimes if the market is really hot.
There’s a lot of stocks flying around.
I would show up to work late like 10 or 10:30AM… just sneak in from the backdoor you know.
I'm not suggesting getting to work late, but if you do…
Shh…just don't get caught.
Just like day trading, the transition requires a lot of planning and work well in advance
to make sure I had enough financial runway… so I don't end up on the streets.
I budgeted and saved up one year of living expenses.
And make sure that money is outside of my trading account.
So I don’t have to worry about using the profits to pay for bills right away as I went
full time into day trading.
This is an immense amount of emotional pressure.
Because whether I worked hard or slacked off and played ping pong all day, stayed busy
or not at work during the 9 to 7 job, I'm guaranteed a paycheck at the end of the day.
I never had the risk of losing money, just the risk of losing my soul.
So if you are thinking of quitting your job to trading full time, please make sure you
have at least 6-12 months of generous living expenses, outside of your trading account.
I cannot stress this enough.
I had some of the darkest and most unhealthy times in my life when I was working in VFX.
Now I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to have day trading be my backdoor out of
this terrible industry.
Many people now, my friends and family included, ask me if I felt like I threw away my four
years of college degree and a passion I once had.
No i don't think so, i think my VFX education and career were very necessary steps leading
to where i am today.
If it weren’t for the inconsistent VFX contract jobs and long breaks in between, I wouldn't
have picked up day trading as a way to supplement my income.
If it weren't for the toxic work life, I wouldn’t have had the courage and the motivation to
start taking trading seriously and planning to go full time.
And lastly, if it weren’t for the film production skills I learned as a VFX artist, I wouldn't
have started this YouTube channel as a creative outlet for my bad jokes.
All the struggles from my former career, the emotional and physical trauma may have seemed
meaningless at the time.
But the dots in your lives only connect looking backwards.
So to all my former bosses we didn’t want to extend my contracts, or give me a $2000
raise, or wouldn’t approve me revisions for like the 37th time.
I am extremely grateful today.
Well actually my right arm still hurts nowadays… so I will ask your help smashing the like
button.
If you enjoyed this video, please make sure to smash the like and subscribe if you want
to learn more day trading content in the future.
As always thank you guys for watching.
I’m the humbled trader and I will see you next time.