In the relatively short amount of time it's been active, OptionsSwing has managed to do a lot of good. Besides providing services for paying customers, it also engaged in the conversation around financial education by contributing its very own brand of content to get people acquainted with fin-ed topics. All the while, the company has been growing its user base.
OptionsSwing has been subject to some harsh conditions lately, together with the rest of the world. However, it managed to thrive in those circumstances, too, warranting a closer look at what makes OptionsSwing such a success, and whether there's something that other businesses might learn from it.
The First Step Is Crucial and Easily Missed
The company's lore says that it started when Jason Lee, its CEO, started showing his friends what he was able to do with trading options. He was trading on the side, and he still managed to pull in a six-figure income in a year, on top of his regular salary.
Jason shared these impromptu lessons with his friends via texts. At one point, the texts became too difficult to follow, so Jason created the Instagram channel that's still used by the company. That's pretty much how OptionsSwing was born.
Without that small step of creating an Instagram channel, the world wouldn't have OptionsSwing today. Sure, it came about as a solution to a problem, but it was hardly the only one. Things turned out perfectly, but only because that initial step that carries so much weight was made.
Finding a Mission Is Great, Sticking to It Is Better
There are many different ways a company can present itself to its audience. When a company has only a few employees, and just one or two at the head who pretty much carry it, it's easy to fall into the trap of presenting it as a lifestyle company.
For some businesses, that might not be a problem. When fin-ed and lifestyle are mixed and presented on a social network such as Instagram, though, it results in a needless display of wealth. The attempts to create aspirational content usually fall short.
Many of them were in the same game as OptionsSwing in the beginning; they probably wanted to help people. Some of them might believe they're doing it still, even though they've wandered off into a weird mix of self-promotion and personalization of their business. It can be hard to stay true to the original mission, but consistency creates credibility, and credibility counts for a lot.
Reinvesting in User Experience and the Community
OptionsSwing has always been about building a community around its resources. The company's business model involves building a members-only community, and there are lots and lots of people who come for the free resources and stay because of the people they meet.
It's great to get the ball rolling like that, but once in a while, the ball needs to be pushed so that it can keep rolling. Taking a part of the profits and investing it back into the community or using it to improve user experience is simply good business practice. That's precisely the kind of thing OptionsSwing would do to give back and to keep moving forward.
