Ratliff was moving around with the airlines — from Monroe, to Louisiana to Memphis to Cincinnati and finally landed back in the Dayton area as a general manager, where he coordinated travel for the Detroit Lions and also served as an aviation analyst for several local radio stations. And it was at that time that he began researching the stock market and developing an interest that would pay off in a big way for him later in life.
“In 2001, my position at Northwest Airlines was eliminated,” Ratliff said. “We don’t tend to chart our course, especially when we are being told our services are no longer needed.”
Since this happened prior to the terror attacks that happened later that year, Ratliff had an option to relocate to another city but his daughters lived nearby in Springboro and he didn’t want to leave the area, so he decided to take a risk that would ultimately change the course of his life forever.
“My separation took place in April of 2001,” he said. “Once I left the airline, I was getting job offers as time went by but I wanted to try my hand at the stock trading business.”
Ratliff moved into a small motel near the Dayton airport, took on a morning paper route and started watching the market. And he began to make progress. But it was slow progress.
“In 2003, I started seeing my portfolio double,” Ratliff said. “And I spent the next several years really trying to learn how to flip stocks and make a profit.”
Ratliff spent the next 10 years living in the same room at the same small motel, delivering both the Dayton Daily News and the Wall Street Journal between the hours of 4 a.m. and 7 a.m., sleeping from 7:30-9:30 a.m. and then watching the stock market from 9:30 until 4 p.m. each day. He then worked at a local plant building car seats from 5:30 p.m. until 3 a.m. each day to support himself while he was building his business.
“When I look back now and think about those 10 years in that motel, I know that was the price I had to pay,” Ratliff said. “I now make as much in a month as Northwest Airlines paid me in a year.”
Ratliff’s success today is the business he has built from training people around the country on how they can move on to the next chapter of their lives as he did. His website “Day Trade Fun” helps give people an overview of how they can get started in learning how to flip stocks and make money on the stock market.
“I officially founded Day Trade Fun in 2009,” Ratliff said. “It is designed to help teach others how to flip stocks for gains, and the business has grown to a $1,000,000+ a year.”
In 2016, Ratliff was presented with the Magellan Award by Travel Weekly in recognition for his contributions to the aviation community and he is also a nominee for 2017 for the same award.
“It’s nice when people appreciate the effort you put forth and when you know you are having an impact,” Ratliff said. “What I do is so rewarding, but it was built all those years living in that room. I hold on to that motel key to this day. It reminds me of all those years that I was in that motel room alone with no one to share with. And today I am so blessed, and I try to be very appreciative. I never want to take it for granted.”
For more information, visit daytradefun.com.
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