This is a question I get asked often running Exponential Bet, and the answer is yes of course it is possible. Another more important question to ask instead would be, is it likely you can make a living from betting? As it's possible almost anything is doable, but how likely it is gives an immediate realistic assessment.
Well for most people due to a long list of factors, some just life obstacles getting in the way of placing bets or trades during the day for example, I'd say it's not likely. For some people who can afford the time, effort, and discipline involved, yes it's absolutely likely.
There are seemingly an endless amount of opinions about how to bet, and some that simply out and out state it's impossible to make a steady profit betting. Others who are convinced it's only trading which is the way to make an income you can rely on, and only pre-race and not going in-play. Some people have the polar opposite view point to this, and regularly show profits in-play.
The old school of betting will say it has to be about value and nothing else, so steer clear of favourites unless you're laying them, others show results making money backing favourites. You may also be told that form means nothing especially by cold traders, or some will say if you're confident in a horse at 33-1, put as much on as you would on a horse at evens. The list is virtually endless and the debate will go on for as long as sports betting exists, which doesn't help someone looking to start betting or trading professionally.
With it being a minefield of options and opinions, all vying for attention stating they know best as to how you should make your living from sports betting or trading, where do you start, and who do you trust?
Well if you're starting off finding the bets or trades yourself, this is without doubt the most rewarding when things begin to take shape and the profits build, but incredibly time consuming, not to mention stressful.
I spend my days putting in a shift, sorting through data sources I rely on to make my final decisions. Albeit my selection methods are finely tuned to save me as much time as possible, there is no getting away from the fact I still need to cross check information daily and tick the right boxes.
With so many websites out there offering a mind boggling volume of statistics to assess, where would you start as a beginner, and what information is valuable to you based on the betting or trading approach you want to take?
If you're finding the bets of trades yourself, making your selections can feel like guess work if you don't know what to consider, it's trial and error when just starting out until you develop tried and tested methods you follow without divergence.
If you're looking to find your own trades and looking at cold trading specifically, it can seem like you need some kind of Jedi force to predict odds movement and consistently lock in daily profits.
There are plenty of obvious data sources to trust when sourcing the bets or trades yourself, sites who provide free information and statistics, and if you stick at it over a long enough period of time it's very likely you will find an edge somewhere to regularly capitalize. Which is exactly what I did, using my experience from investing to help develop my own trusted approach.
Quality websites that offer free daily information for Horse Racing are, At The Races, Timeform, and Racing Post, these are at the top of the pile in my opinion.
If you decide finding your own bets or trades is not for you, and instead want the advice emailed daily to save time, or to purchase a guide teaching you bet or trade methods to apply yourself.
Then seeking out betting advice services such as mine at Exponential Bet is typically what most people will do, but why should you trust me, or any other so called betting expert?
It's your hard earned cash after all, so paying someone like me to give you daily advice, or to sell you a guide to find the bets or trades yourself is a leap of faith. What's in it for me, why do I want to even share my bets and trades?
Speaking as someone who's been on both ends of this, and forked out a packet on betting, trading, investing, passive income, turn key, and wish for the universe to give you everything while you sleep solutions, anything to get me out of full time employment making enough to live on from sports betting, I've tried a lot, if not virtually every variation out there.
What I learned with all this is that 99% of it is bullshit, and the people selling it are so far detached from the product or services they are willing to flog you, that by the time you stumble across it after a Google search, it's a rehash of a rehash that used to work donkeys years ago, but has been re packaged offering the moon on a stick, although in reality you're just buying a stick.
Websites ran by people who don't put their own money where their mouth is are to be avoided in my humble opinion. They are removed from any investment in the advice they give, which I've found filters through to the selections themselves, as it's devoid of passion or personal investment.
So for me personally sharing my journey with my members who follow my betting advice is truly rewarding. I set up the site charging what I consider a fair subscription and product costs for my services, just to afford me the luxury of being able to dedicate my self full time to providing profitable bet and trade services.
This is what's in it for me. As we move forward improving what we invest in together, I get to share this with a group of people also growing their betting banks along side me, and this is very satisfying. Something I take incredibly serious, as I value every members time and investment.
Always do your due diligence before joining a new website, and read between the lines as well with what you find. Some sites are so well affiliated, which don't get me wrong isn't the worst thing as everyone needs to make money to survive, and I will affiliate with reputable partners, but some sites go overkill and all the reviews they have about them are written or posted on You Tube by people getting paid for new sign ups. So it's fair to say they don't have your best interest at heart.
Also, you will find counter reviews trying to discredit a reputable website from rival sites, which again with a bit of nous you can spot these a mile off. Kind of like when you look on Trustpilot and you know it's an ex employee having a pop, and not a genuine service review.
It's just as tricky to find a decent sports betting and trading advisory service, as it is finding the selections yourself.
How I try to differentiate myself from the rest of the competition is by simply delivering a service I'd want to subscribe to myself.
I run the site myself, I post what I bet on, all the bets and trading subscriptions and guides are written and ran by me, I provide a personal customer experience to all my members, and I'm on the same journey as anyone who decides to follow my betting and trading advice.
Anyone subscribed to my website gets advice from someone personally invested in what they deliver, as I only sell what I bet and trade with myself. I also try to go the extra mile for everyone, and value every single customer or enquiry.
My results are published and updated typically once a week, apart from when I'm very busy with a lot of updates or major events taking place, but during standard periods, ie bread and butter meetings and general football league fixtures they are updated every few days.
I think it's right to give a detailed breakdown for subscription services, and keep this as up to date as possible. I am just one man, so occasionally this is my weak area, but with new streamlining being introduced to the site during quarter 3 my time will be less overloaded with little jobs, allowing more time to create and keep everything more on point.
Also, when looking to subscribe to a reputable website look at the amount of content is published, and the quality of it, ie a well maintained blog and web pages, and is it mobile friendly.
Additionally, if the site is littered with adverts for other services, and god forbid pop up adverts, this should tell you the priority is to make money through adverts / affiliations and not by providing quality services to clients.
What I set out to deliver to my customers, as experiencing first hand the worst kinds of sites and services, is a genuine service that adds value and solves a problem for my members. I personally think this is always the best way to produce something original, by learning from our experiences in life, and deciding to carve out a new path at the opposite end of the scale of everything that was not done correctly.
There are as far as I know a handful of decent sites out there, which really do care about members, and offer unique services.
Since I began back in 2009 the industry has changed a lot, it's very fast paced, but in a lot of ways it's not changed enough, and is still littered with the same pitfalls.
Presentation, attention to detail, and even grammar are things you should look at. The odd typo is acceptable, but if you're dealing with someone who rushes out their work, the website is messy and out of date, ask yourself is the same quality level going to be applied to the services or products. I make mistakes, but regularly quality check my work and try to deliver the best I can at all times, and feel anybody in this industry should base this as a bare minimum requirement.
Also, another thing that I think is important these days, and wasn't so much when I started, but social media is now king. Check the site and services you're looking at have a social media presence, and contribute regularly. A potential partner contacted me recently asking to promote some of their work, and in return they would publish mine, but when I looked they had next to no following, and a lazy social media presence. It just shows how things change over time, as this really put me off working with them.
It's only social media, but just like blog content, this shows the sites active and not pitching out of date information. If things look like they are going well, and you have a lot of content to back all this up, then you could have found a genuine service that wants to help you make money, not just set up to take your money.
Before you jump in to any website or product, test the company out with a few questions, see what other people are saying about it when you Google the company name, genuine reviews combined with reputable review sites.
My final thought on this long but hopefully useful blog post is, take your time, do your research, really think about what you're looking to achieve, and how much you can dedicate to getting you to your targets, be prepared to learn a lot, keep an open mind, and most importantly a level head as you're making financial decisions. You can make money, and even a living from betting and trading, it's both possible and likely if you're prepared to put in the effort.
Like anything you may make a few mistakes along the way, and kiss a few frogs before arriving at your prince, not as many frogs as I kissed, but stick at it is my best advice if you're serious about achieving your personal targets.
I'll gladly take a look at anything you find that interests you, and I hand on heart will give you an unbiased opinion, or help you research it.
If you've any questions about my site and services, please email me at ryan@exponentialbet.co.uk