Friends, Experts And Failure

Some of you may have noticed I've had a few days away - very poor timing from my firm who seem to schedule seminars for their managers with no regard to the sporting calendar.

As CEO, I feel like I should have been consulted on the dates, but it's almost as if my CEO title exists only in my imagination.

My post on the topic of collaboration would have been improved had I taken the time to read Ian Erskine's views on the topic, a subject he touched upon in early October:

It seems to be the perception that trading together is better and makes it easier. I have my view on that and I will share it. Personally I think it is claptrap.

I have preached this numerous times in numerous ways, advice, ranting, trying to be nice, seminars in a room with people, Skype sessions, 1-2-1 meets and I can say categorically in 99% of cases it has been an abject failure.

In typical Ian style, he expands on why, with his posts revealing a lot about human nature along the way. Ian also appears to agree with me that "set and forget" betting is the way forward these days:

What should you do? Do exactly as I showed on both days, set your bank, place the bets and go out for the weekend.

I moved away from trading to spend more time with my lovely wife as we now just 2 with my son off to Uni and it was unfair to sit at a screen all day. It also is more profitable not having to make decisions and trade games, it is much simpler I promise you. Put your bets on and go out enjoy life! 

On the topic of chatrooms, Ian writes:

The fact is if that if that was going on in a chatroom more people would have listened to the negative people and less people would have won. That is another absolute fact. Which then beggars me to understand why people go in them and listen to people in them. We have had numerous versions. Art often reminds me of the evenings in 2007 when we used to trade football and I did it via MSN Messenger. It was a disaster, people discussed Eastenders, the weather, sex, posted stupid emoticons and basically talked complete and utter b******s. What chance did you have of winning?

All stuff that makes perfect sense, and that I can relate too. When I see threads on Forums for big games, it's clear that no one posting can be making any money - they're too busy seeking attention and posting pointless comments.

A three minute example from the Crystal Palace v Liverpool thread yesterday on the Betfair Forum:

sofaking : 0-1

GEESUSS : BBOOOOMMMMM..................

The Dragon : yessssssssssss

sofaking : 1-1

sofaking : easy overs.

Every one of those comments completely pointless, adding absolutely nothing of value, and you see it all the time. I'm sure the creator of Forums had higher hopes for his idea. Ian continues:

So that leads me to the main point of the post. Why would you listen to someone in a chatroom on any day UNLESS they are a proven big winner? The main issue is the negative people don’t realise what effect they have on people. they make our lives harder not easier. I get so much shite weekly and going back it did effect me. I have not sent selections before from JG, FTS whatever it may be because I was worried about the emails and people losing. I was being controlled by the negative people myself, it is easy to fall into that. Now I just laugh and say sod them!

I've written before that Ian's attitude is, in my opinion, the single biggest reason behind his success. He's confident (he would say arrogant) in his abilities, knows his strengths, and understands the emotions that can get in the way of success. He continues:

If I wanted to make a living at football I would listen to me, may sound arrogant but it is a fact. If I wanted to win at Basketball or NFL I would arrange to speak to Cassini. If I wanted to beat Cricket I would speak to Mark Iverson, Tennis I would seek out Matt from puntdotcom. That is what I would do.

Nice to receive a mention there, and if you follow me on Twitter @calciocassini, you will know that I seldom Tweet, but when I do, it's always (well, usually) something worth reading. 

There seems to be an inverse relationship between the amount someone Tweets, and the value of those Tweets. If someone's Tweeting 60 times a day, it's guaranteed they have nothing worth saying. 

Successful people are too busy being successful. If you're Tweeting multiple times a day, you're wasting your time - time that could be spent on actually finding a job or making money. Ian's thoughts on social media next:

The absolute last thing I would do is seek out some people in a chatroom who have lost perpetually and chop and change more than the tide yet in a chatroom become experts. They are not experts. It is like people who say they have 3 trillion friends on Facebook- no you don’t. You have probably 3 friends and 2.9999999 trillion saddos who like looking at pictures of your breakfast or a selfie of you in front of some obscure tourist attraction that you managed to make blurry just so you could get your own daft mug in frame!

I actually have about 4 friends in the world as I am a miserable git and that number could decline any day!

I think Ian is bragging, because four friends is a lot! I have colleagues, neighbours and acquaintances but very few friends. I'm not sure why.

Now put your clocks back an hour if you haven't already, and if you voted for Brexit, set them back to 1952.