Interview with the lecturer: Ondřej Hartman, MBA

Ondřej Hartman is a professional financial market trader, entrepreneur, investor, lecturer and founder of the largest portal on financial market trading in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: www.FXstreet.cz. He is among the best-known traders and investors in the Czech Republic and is the author of many professional books, articles, analyses and publications. It has been active in the financial markets for almost 20 years. In recent years, he has also devoted himself very diligently to Real Estate investments, where he mainly specializes in land and investment apartments. His hobbies include writing books and lecturing in the field of trading and technical analysis. He was included in the prestigious list of 15 successful personalities in Czech business by the magazine Mladá Fronta E15. They are trying to make the awareness of trading grow and acquire a serious face, as is the case abroad, where trading is considered a very serious business. He is convinced that everyone has a chance and opportunity to succeed in trading on the financial markets. But it takes diligence, courage and a willingness to learn.

Many students know you, but if you had to describe yourself in a few sentences, what would you tell us about yourself?

I can’t describe myself very well, you’d have to ask my wife or my colleagues. But I think I’m quite a hard worker and follow the rule “What you can do today, don’t put off until tomorrow”. I have the best job in the world and I enjoy what I do every day, I believe it shows in my approach. At the very begging of my career, I was guided by the fact that until I was 30 years old – I would only grind and toil, from 30 y.o. to 40 y.o. – I would only build and from 40 y.o. – I would only enjoy. However, I enjoy my job so much that I can’t stop and if I would stop, I wouldn’t know what to do with such free time, so I guess I would probably get bored after 2 weeks. So I always like to create, invent, build and get involved in new projects and challenges. Sometimes I can be very fierce and goal-oriented. Another time I can be a shark in business. Even though, with higher age, experience (and perhaps time and wisdom) I am much calmer than I used to be.

15 years ago, you founded the portal www.fxstreet.cz, which became the largest website for trading on financial markets in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Tell us more about it.

It is a portal that offers professional information for all types of traders and it doesn’t matter whether you trade forex, commodities, shares, stock indices or even cryptocurrencies. Everyone will find everything they need there, a large team of our professional traders and analysts brings the latest news for stock market traders in huge amounts every day. In addition, the company is also engaged in educating beginners (we organize courses, seminars and conferences) and publishing books. The impact and focus of the FXstreet.cz portal are huge.

How did you get to what you do today? Did you know from a young age what you wanted to do in the future?

It’s been many years, but I remember that my whole career in business and investing started in high school when I accidentally got my hands on Robert Kiyosaki’s book – “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and from that point forward It was decided.

What is your current job title? What else are you working on?

I still manage the FXstreet.cz website from the position of owner and director, although these days it is already so well understood that the company takes up little of my time and can function without me. I trade daily on the stock exchange, manage a private fund and invest very actively in the Real Estate business. In addition, I mainly educate beginners (in the form of conferences, seminars or professional courses), but I also provide consultations to professional traders and investors who want to move to a higher level and improve their results. I write books and soon I will have my new book “Getting Started in the Stock Market” published in a new and greatly expanded edition.

That sounds interesting. It is easy to see, that you won’t get bored easily. What would you say are your greatest professional achievements?

I don’t do it for professional success, yes my books have become bestsellers, and I also have success in various prestigious lists of investors, entrepreneurs, etc. And yes, my investment and business activities have given me financial freedom. However, for me, the greatest professional achievements are when my actions helped specific people. If someone tells me that thanks to me, my seminar or my book, he became a successful trader or investor, or that I saved him a lot of money, or that thanks to my information and my know-how he was able to enjoy a nice vacation with his family, it will bring me the greatest joy. That is, the fact that my activity paid off and I was able to pass on my experience to others so well that what I earned, others can earn as well.

What do you think is the secret of success at work?

When I was young, I was a very active athlete and had very good results in what I did. It was all about hard work, diligence, discipline, courage and perseverance. Then the results came and I took that into business and investing as well. So it’s like in sports, if I want to achieve something, I have to work hard, do more than others and I also have to have a good coach.

What else awaits you in your career? What is your nearest goal?

I’ve got some very large real estate investments lined up now so I’m hoping to get it all done by the end of this year as it’s quite demanding with negotiations, preparations, contracts etc. And I’m also now writing my new book which I mentioned and then I’d like to dive into one more book focusing on stocks and ETFs.

Fingers crossed that you can handle it all, you have beautiful plans. Tell me what is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career?

Looking back, it was definitely the founding and building of the www.FXstreet.cz portal. It cost a lot of time, money and effort, but today I certainly don’t regret it. But it was a really big challenge.

Definitely yes. Is there something you enjoy the most about your job?

It’s meeting interesting people. Thanks to my work, I met incredibly interesting people from all possible fields, very well-known people from sports, but also from fields that I didn’t even know existed. I have also personally met many famous entrepreneurs who are among the richest people in the Czech Republic but also in Slovakia (and we help them with investments on the stock market). In most cases, I was very positively surprised by what kind of personalities they are, and I also learned from them a lot. And last but not least, I met a lot of my good friends through my work. So, meeting amazing people is what I enjoy the most because, in the end, it also develops me.

But life is not just about work. What do you like to do in your spare time?

I try to devote all my free time to my family, and together we like travelling most of all, so we travel quite a lot, practically any free time we have somewhere. Whether various shorter trips or longer vacations. Much more than the sea and beaches, however, I love mountains and specifically the Alps, which is my passion, and that is where you will meet me most often in the summer. I love good food, I can travel hundreds of kilometres to a good and famous restaurant. And I also really like to go for a ride on a quad bike off-road.

Now let’s move on to your job at ESBM. What topics do you give lectures on at ESBM?

I am in charge of educating students in the area of the financial market. I give lectures on trading, forex, commodities, and technical analysis. I try to show students everything about financial markets. As part of ESBM, I also try to have my course days take place directly in the FXstreet.cz office, where students can see in practice where I work and what I do, and they can look into my trading room and have the opportunity to ask me anything.

What should students remmember from the lecture?

My goal is to introduce them to the financial market and give them the right foundation that they cannot do without. I always say that trading on the stock market is like building a house, if you don’t have a good and strong foundation, the house will fall. And it’s the same in trading.

Is there anything you would like to say to our students?

Do what you enjoy, so that you do the activity well, honestly and most of all with pleasure. If you want to pursue your goal and dream, then you also have to do something about it. Nothing just falls into your lap. Take care of your future and devote yourself to investing at any age, because the idea that the state will take care of you one day is unfortunatelly very naive.