A Dinner With A Friend In New York That Changed His Life

I was in NYC recently, meeting with a potential institutional client for my new hedge fund. Then, I met with an old friend that I'll call "Harry."

Harry is a ?Sales Trader?, someone who executes order for institutional customers like hedge funds and mutual funds. He had an absolutely successful career, and used to take care of me, I was one of his clients, in my ?Ron Pollack Bulldog Days?. We continued to stay in touch with one another,he retired or took a break from trading around the same time I did in 2004.

Harry had various business adventures after leaving Wall Street as did I, some were unrewarding, others were outright unprofitable. After this, Harry began to miss the game and questioned me about returning to trading. Really, I miss it also. Back in early 2008, I told Harry that I was going to start managing money again, and he was thrilled and ready to jump back in himself.

I had to suspend the start of my new fund because of the market's gyrations late last year. I saw Harry last fall and he looked stressed, which is unusual for a guy who can handle million share orders in volatile stocks like clockwork. Firms were closing down everywhere, and he was relying on my account for his own return but that was not there.

Shortly after my visit with Harry, I met a man I'll call "Doug," the head of a small brokerage with hedge funds as clients. I immediately thought of Harry and I put the two of them together. It was successful because Doug had offered Harry a test run, so Harry aced it. After the first couple of phone calls to old accounts he got a huge order and it increased from there.

Harry has become one of the top producers for Doug and he has only been on the job for four months. It wasn't surprising to us that Harry was absolutely glowing when he arrived for dinner. He is earning money, pretty good money and having a good time. I was really happy. Next, Harry offered to treat everyone for dinner. Actually, he exclaimed, "Ron Pollack I am going to treat you every time you come to NYC!I was already happy because we were eating at one of the great steakhouses in the City.

Toward the end of the evening, I asked Harry this question, ?Every day we've been hearing stories of doom and gloom like the end of Wall Street, the end of hedge funds, the end of the world as we know it. Of course things are a mess but I want your perspective about what is different about your current success.Ron, there are a lot of people hurting right now and I truly feel for them, but I am living proof that if you're good at what you do, have the willingness to work hard and apply yourself and are realistic in your expectations, you can make it and even flourish in times like these,His answer was refreshing and went something like this, he said. Even though I'm not being paid as much as I was in the past, there's no reason for me to complain. Individual who are like us are fighters, we are there when there is business to get finished. There will always be business to be done for those who find a way to be productive.Here's to my friend Harry! Continue to show us how to achieve it. signing off for now.