Lewis Crompton of STARTrading: Why Perfection Is A Lie And Testing Ideas Lowers Risk

As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Lewis Crompton of STARTrading.

Lewis Crompton is a finance expert and the founder and CEO at STARTrading. and took his income from £20k to more than a million in five years through financial trading. He now coaches others in the hows and whys of finance trading and believes that with just 30 minutes a day coaching, solid commitment, and a good deal of hard work, anyone master trading to achieve the income and salary they have always dreamed of.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

Growing up in North London, with two teacher parents, I rebelled against traditional education during secondary school. I focused my time on the local church youth group and excelled in gymnastics, but ultimately decided against pursuing it professionally at 11. Academically, I struggled in primary school, placed in special classes for reading and math. Despite this, I was accepted into a good secondary school, largely due to my hardworking older sister.

I always wanted to make money, starting with a paper round at a young age, though I often took shortcuts. This early desire to work smart, not hard, shaped my future. By 14, I was already thinking about my pension and decided to invest in property instead of relying on UK pension schemes. This long-term vision led me to buy ten properties within 18 months, funded by my financial market trading, which I began at 24.

My church involvement deepened over the years, helping me find my purpose and develop valuable skills. This sense of mission continues today as I aim to help one million families achieve financial empowerment, reducing stress and improving lives.

Secondary school was challenging; I felt out of place and leaned more into my church community, where I became a youth group leader. I rebelled mildly against my parents, skipping homework and eventually sixth form classes. I preferred socializing and eating out, a passion that continues today, though I’m now improving my cooking skills to entertain friends at home.

After university, I planned to move to California but faced visa issues, so I returned to London and worked in retail. I pursued a master’s in theology to further my faith and career aspirations. During this time, I began learning to trade, taking significant financial risks to invest in myself. After seven months, I left my job to trade full-time and travel the world, embarking on an exciting new chapter.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“If someone gives you an opportunity, and you don’t know how to do it, say yes and figure it out after”- Richard Branson. When I first discovered trading, I had no idea about it, no natural ability and no strength in mathematical skills. I could just see the opportunity it presented for me and so I went for it. Taking out a loan and a credit card to make sure I got the education and support I needed. I jumped in and made it happen, even though when I started I had absolutely no clue how to do it. I said yes, and figured it out after.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

There is a movie called “About Time” and I watched it on a plane on the way over to America while I was training as a counsellor. I thought I was going to be watching a movie about time travel, I was wrong. I’m a bit of a sci-fi fan which is why I was so easily lured in to selecting this movie on the plane. As the movie progressed, I realised it wasn’t about time travel, although that was one element, it was about the relationship between a father and son. The males in the family were able to travel in time and undo wrong things they had done to help create the life they wanted.

I won’t ruin the movie for anyone, but something in the movie happens which no time travelling could ever fix or solve and it left me broken. At that time in my life, I didn’t have as good a relationship with my own dad compared to what I have now. It was something I longed for but for many reasons it hadn’t quite kicked in yet for me. This movie broke something down inside of me and I started to weep, embarrassingly, in public, on this plane.

For context, I was a very emotionally numb at that stage in my life. I hadn’t started the work of my own healing journey and crying was categorically something I did not do. I was shocked at myself that this movie had triggered something so deep in me. Not only was there the dynamic of the relationship with the father but it very much was a movie that highlighted the importance of time, that we only have so much of it, that we should be doing what we love with the people we love and certainly not wasting it. It was at that point I became acutely aware of how precious time is, how it is our most valuable commodity and that I would do whatever I needed to do to make my time my own.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?

1. Perfection is a lie — A lot of people get trapped in trying to create the perfect thing. Or they want to be perfect themselves or be “ready” to do x, y and z. All of these things are just belief patterns that keep the majority of people stuck and playing it safe. Don’t let that false belief system win. Choose to believe different. Choose to believe that you are ready, and even if you aren’t, that’s ok. You will learn, progress and get ready way quicker if you start
2. Just because you think its a good idea, doesn’t mean it is. Test test test every idea you have and see if it’s what people want.
3. Lower the risk. When you are testing, what is the lowest risk way you can do it that doesn’t cost you anything. How can you test to see your product or service has legs and is financially viable without risking too much?

Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?

If it has already been created and someone is making money, that’s a good thing. They have already proved the concept. There is so much abundance in the world, there is space for you. What you need to do, is bring you to the equation now. Improve upon it, make it better, find your ideal client in the midst of that.

For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about things like how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.

My service at STARTrading is pretty much all digital with some in person events. The product is digital so one of the first things I had to do was create the content and put it somewhere that was easily accessible. I also had to make sure that I had terms and conditions in place, refund policies in place and a guide on how to use the training too. One thing you will want to do as early as you can is create admin automations. This will save you a lot of time. For example, establishing email chains that automatically trigger from the point of purchase and show people how to access your product. If you are doing set training times too, giving people a link to book in with you rather than having the diary back and forth trying to find a time that suits. Take as much friction out of the equation as possible. The best thing I did in my business early on was create opportunities for feedback. That allowed me to adapt, improve and evolve every part of my process and my product.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1 . Start before you feel “ready”.

When I first launched my training company, I had in mind for it to be just an online course that was a lead magnet to the company that taught me. I spoke about it on social media before I had even started it and people wanted it. So I knew I had to get on with the job of creating it. I had planned out a 12 week course that was going to teach people how to trade financial markets safely and profitably, even if they had no prior experience. The problem was, it was a lot of work to film and create al the resources for the course. So, I launched it anyway! I had completed just the first month and used that as fuel to push myself to complete the rest of the training. I charged an introductory, small fee, for those founding members, many of whom are still with me today. As they got to the end of the first month, they would bug me and ask me for the next videos. It forced me into having to get the content created. Before I had completed the course itself, I had a price of £500 for the completed course on the website as a way to make people think the lower fee I was charging was giving them a great deal! I had terrible money mindset back then, that course alone is worth thousands. What happened was a lovely lady bought the part-finished course for £500 by mistake. I instantly called her to let her know her mistake and offer her a refund. She said she didn’t need a refund and that she was looking forward to completing the course when I had completed and released it. I’m not ashamed to tell you that at that point, my mind was blown! It taught me a lesson, that people value what I had to offer. At that point, we were not even offering mentorships, it was just the course, we only deployed them later too. When we first started mentorships, they were absolutely shocking. The way we deliver the mentorships now ensures way more people are able to methodically learn this skill set and become successful traders than ever before. I’m incredibly proud of what has now been created, what has been improved upon from humble beginnings. I am still on the mindset that everything can be developed and improved and so we constantly are using client feedback to make changes, adaptations and improvements. One of the things we have to do with our clients is also encourage them to start before they are ready too. Nobody comes out of the womb readily armed with the knowledge and skills to trade financial markets. That just isn’t a thing. This trading process is a skill set that can be learned, developed and mastered. In the process of learning, I often use the phrase, “you need clay on the wheel”. The reason I love this phrase is because clay goes on the wheel wet and ugly. The potter then crafts it, works it, moulds it, shapes it through repetition into something beautiful. I find that a beautiful metaphor for life, for trading, for anything that requires personal development.

2 . GET OVER YOURSELF, let others take the strain

Being able to avoid the trap of becoming the bottle neck in your own business is vital. It can take a while to identify the right people to take over the roles. A quick tip here, hire people who are better than you or have the potential to be better than you are quickly and with minimal training. In my business which teaches people how to generate exceptional returns trading financial markets, I started off being everything and primarily being the one teaching people. I was also doing the marketing, taking the sales calls, doing the admin, everything. As a small business that was fine. The problem I had was that my students were getting results and therefore my business was growing through word of mouth. I found that I was working 14 hour days. Something had to give. Thankfully the style of trading I do and that i teach only takes 30mins per day so at least I could keep that going. My ADHD brain was also jumping from task to task and getting exhausted. It got to the point where my brain was shutting down even in the middle of mentorship sessions. I hated that. Why? Because it meant that I wasn’t giving my best or serving my students in the best possible way. It was at that point, when I, and I can’t believe I am about to admit this, I yawned in the middle of a mentorship session that I knew I needed HELP. At that point I looked to my student population. I wanted someone who was a good trader and had the ability to teach. Funnily enough, one of my best trading students was also a teacher. I approached him and asked if he would be interested in coming on board full time. He jumped at the chance as he was, because of trading, looking to leave his job anyway and now he could do something he was passionate about too. I’m not ashamed to say, he is a better teacher than me and our students benefit greatly from his support, teaching and guidance. That then allowed me to step up my efforts in other parts of the business and so I continued to look to hire people who were better at the jobs that I wasn’t good at or that my time was not best spent doing.

3 . It’s going to feel really SHIT sometimes…keep going

If you went into business thinking it was going to be all sunshine, lolly pops, rainbows and everything good…I am sorry to disappoint you. The reality of business isn’t always fun, easy, enjoyable or pleasant. Just this week alone I’ve had a death threat from someone who I tried incredibly hard to help, who turns out also has a drinking problem and a couple of mental health difficulties. That wasn’t fun I can assure you. I’ve also had people character assassinate me, family not be supportive, things fall flat even though you worked so hard and put your heart and soul into something, just for it to fail.

Setting up your own business is the process of creating a new reality out of nothing and that process is hard but incredibly rewarding. It is like the process of giving birth to a child. And apologies, for obvious reasons I will never truly know what it means to give birth to a child. But ideally, it should be super fun and full of desire when you first start, then the idea grows in you before you are ready to release it to the world. That alone is full of uncertainty and can be painful in and of itself. Then you have to do everything you can to keep this thing you have created alive, healthy, growing. It can’t do anything for itself other than create mess. Mess you need to clean up and then after a few years, hopefully it will be able to start taking care of itself and when it’s really mature, it can take care of you in your old age! So we hope.

I have had months in business where we feel like we have “cracked it”. Everything we do works and we see the results instantly. Other things we have tried have failed. You can’t let the failures deter you, you have to dust yourself off and go again. Try the next thing, then the next, then the next. It doesn’t really end. Be careful not to fall into the trap of re-inventing the wheel if the wheel is working but you are just bored of it. You may be bored of it, but the people your business helps may not be bored of it.

We created a while mini-series designed to warm people up to us and encourage them to book mentorship application calls with us. Months of work and resource went into it. We built a whole new funnel, new marketing, new website etc. What happened? Less than 100 people went through it and we only had 1 call booked from it. Who did not have the funds to enrol on our training program. I was gutted! What did I do though? Did I let it defeat me, did i let it stop me. No, I repurposed the content and used it in a different way to add value to my existing community and mailing list. Don’t let today’s failure rob you of tomorrows success

4 . Make friends with other businesspeople. They understand you

Do you realise that you are a crazy person. That you are truly mad. You are trying to create something out of nothing which is an ability reserved for the gods. Is it any wonder that the majority of your friends, family and connections don’t understand you, what you do, why you do it and how you are managing to do it. That can make you feel isolated and alone, but it doesn’t have to. It can make you feel like you are doing something wrong. It can also mean you lean on your other half or those closest to you for advice, venting and other things.

There is a big problem with that though. They don’t know what you know and you are asking people for advice who have never made a success of the thing you are trying to be a success in. That doesn’t mean they won’t have some useful insight, but my experience has always been that they will encourage you to play small, stay safe and work less.

I love my husband, but if he tells me to work less one more time or gives me advice about something he has never done, I’m going to have to take a solo break for a week in Mykonos. I actually just did that. It was bliss! One of the things i have had to do for the benefit of my relationship is learn what I can share and talk about with him, vs what I can’t. And what I can’t, i need to find other people to talk to. I need other businesspeople who are like minded, understand the journey, can hear me moan, complain and bitch and yet still understand that i completely love it and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

That last sentence I know made a lot of you smile or chuckle because you get it. You are a business owner. You are in this club of crazy people trying to create something out of nothing.

One of the best things I did to help grow my business and help to grow me was to join a community of other business owners. There are plenty out there. Not all are a good fit for you. Find one that had people you like and people who are further ahead than you. I paid a lot of money to connect with the right people and I am very happy that I did. When my social media accounts got hacked and the powers that be refused to give me them back, I lost over 10 years’ worth of audience, friendships and connections overnight. Being part of a community of business owners who could support me and help me, who understood the pain and could ask me strategic questions was invaluable. Without it, at points, I think i would have probably been tempted to give up.

5 . Take naps

This is something I am starting to lean into more. The work I do is incredibly cerebral and It takes a lot out of me. I’m also an intensely emotional creature which is sometimes a superpower and sometimes a super hindrance. When I faced my first attack from someone who was slatting me, after they’d been in my home, sought me out for relationship support and having completed our training and getting good results, I couldn’t help but take it personally even though their claims were all rubbish. I don’t actually think they believed their own words but they had gone into financial difficulty in their personal life and so decided to try and attack me in hopes of getting something out of me. This attack from someone I considered a friend knocked me sideways. As I read their email, I felt waves of stress chemical pour though my body and I was wiped out. I had to take a nap.

So I did. When I woke up, and I had the energy and brain space to respond and not react. I also have read up on sleep and the importance of it. (Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker). In there he talks about how naps in the middle of the day make us more productive. They allow our brain the time to process and digest the information we have taken on and renew our mental energy too.

Napping becomes a superpower, a productivity boost, and actually allows us to regenerate serotonin too. Beyond just napping, the principle of rest is one I am not naturally good at. I am working on installing more rest points into my diary. Otherwise I do get trapped into working 14 hour days and forgetting to have lunch.

I got to a point where I realised, either my business works without me working this long, or it isn’t a business i want to have.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I am a big believer in getting help. I have an internal belief and phrase that I credit the success I have had to. “I am smart enough, to know I am dumb enough, that I need help”. I have used that reasoning in every area of my life that I wanted to achieve something. From hiring a PT to get started on my health and fitness journey, to hiring a branding and marketing coach to a business coach too. Having the support is vitally important.

To balance that though, be careful. Some development consultants can cost an awful lot. Have you tested to see if there is even any demand for your product or service? I’m not talking about your friends and family who say, “Oh yes, what a wonderful idea”. I’m talking about people who have taken their hard earned money and put that into your account, behind your idea, behind your service.

I suppose what I am saying here is get yourself proof of concept, proof of desirability, proof that there is a market for what you do. If not, money spent on anyone may be a fruitless venture. Working with other people on their business’ is something I take a lot of joy in. And I’m pretty good at it too!

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

I think you need to be careful with what stage you ask for investment capital, and what are you willing to give away in terms of equity. I think the bigger question you should be asking is what you are willing to give away in terms of control, direction and decision making ability about the business you own. Often when we have grown the business from nothing, it becomes your “baby” and that’s not always a helpful way to look at the business. It can make you controlling, and not able to see the bigger picture. I think a good time to look into venture capital is when you feel you have taken the business as far as you can with your current resources and current skill set. Yes, there is always the ability to learn new skills but that may take time. Venture capital can come with the added benefit of additional resources that could help take your business to a new level. A level you may not have been able to take it to yourself. Do you want to be able to say you took your business from £0 revenue to £1,000,000 all alone or are you happy to have help with that?

Do you want the pressure of having to succeed for the benefit of paying back investors and is your business model robust enough that it can do so? Are you looking to continue working in start-up and hustle mode or are you wanting to take the foot of the gas and allow investors to help with the heavy lifting. There are many ways to structure the venture capital deal.

Again, it comes down also to the right timing for you based on your goals. It will also be easier to raise capital with a business that is already running and showing profit. Many investors were burned in the .com bubble where any idea would receive funding!

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

The core of me and my business is to “make lives better” and I do that through empowerment. The reason I teach people how to trade is so they are empowered with skills that they can use for life. Skills that take less than 30mins per day and can create 5% to 10% per month. When they lock down that skill set, it becomes life changing.

I believe what I do does make the word a better place one person at a time.

When I was 18-years-old, I started the process within the church of training as a counsellor/ therapist for them. I built an international reputation and business helping people move past their emotional, spiritual and mental blocks and pains to live a better life. I loved it.

Now I still do that, but I do it financially and I believe that any conversation about mental and emotional health that does not address finances is lacking. Why? Because when we remove financial stress and worry from people, they become happier, more peaceful and better parents, partners, leaders and lovers. The emotional toll money worries takes on people is drastically underestimated.

With the content I have started to create, it’s beyond just trading, it is about how people can be better with their money.

Beyond that work, my business does work with charity each year. This happens to varying levels but at minimum we would have a fundraiser event for a chosen charity. Recently it has been MIND, the mental health charity. I also attend charity event throughout the year and inevitably have a bit to much to drink, get carried away and bid on the auction pieces. I also get hit in the feels and donate money to incredibly important causes. Just recently I was at an event for a charity called Victorias Promise. Don’t confuse that with a Victoria’s Secret event…very different affairs! This charity work with young women experiencing cancer and their families. Incredible work. One of the things I invested in for them was for the children of these women to have counselling. What a beautiful thing to be able to offer a family going through one of the toughest things a family could endure.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

The belief that you may not be the cause of your current situation, but that you are now responsible for creating the future you want. No matter what has happened to you, it is possible to create a life you love.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Richard Branson. I just think he is crazy in the best possible way and has taken risks that have paid off. I would love to pick his brains and hear more about his internal world and beliefs that have created his current reality. And he loves South Africa like I do!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About the Interviewer: Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA was born nearly blind, crippled with club feet, partially deaf, and left-handed. He overcame all of these obstacles to become a successful civil trial lawyer. In 2000, he abandoned his law practice to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, and trainer. He is a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s work carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts. Doug teaches his innovative de-escalation skill that calms any angry person in 90 seconds or less. With Laurel Kaufer, Doug founded Prison of Peace in 2009. The Prison of Peace project trains life and long terms incarcerated people to be powerful peacemakers and mediators. He has been deeply moved by inmates who have learned and applied deep, empathic listening skills, leadership skills, and problem-solving skills to reduce violence in their prison communities. Their dedication to learning, improving, and serving their communities motivates him to expand the principles of Prison of Peace so that every human wanting to learn the skills of peace may do so. Doug’s awards include California Lawyer Magazine Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Purpose Prize Fellow, International Academy of Mediators Syd Leezak Award of Excellence, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals Neutral of the Year. His four books have won a number of awards and commendations. Doug’s podcast, Listen With Leaders, is now accepting guests. Click on this link to learn more and apply.