Half the battle is just showing up…

Sounds like a motivational speech… Showing up will lead to success. Just turn up at the office or the gym, and the rest will fall into place. Well, not necessarily – there is still work to be done, but showing up is the first step.

🪝 Investors need to have more lines in the water to catch more and more fish. Showing up and doing the work day in and day out is the price that an investor needs to pay to achieve exceptional long-term results. If you’ve opted out of the passive investing route or chosen the active route to layer upon your core-satellite portfolio, showing up is crucial.

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Eighty percent of success is just showing up.

Woody Allen

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Discipline is essential to become a better retail investor. The concept of turning over rocks is not just an idea – it’s a must. Many investors try to invest here and there, on weekends or in their spare time, but to truly excel over long time horizons requires a lot more effort to beat the markets.

I hear investors who put in a few hours of work a month and don’t get the results. Even some investors who don’t put in the work yet get a win on an investment. If it isn’t repeatable, it was a lucky break. You want to lean luck in your favor by continually having a repeatable process.

🔑 ‘Repeatable’ is the key word.

In order to lean luck on your side, you need to cultivate the habit of showing up. You need to put more fishing lines in the water and turn over those rocks🪨 .

The whole idea, as we have previously explored in turning over rocks, is to keep the hunt going, stay in the game, and relentlessly look for opportunity.

You cannot rest on past research, old watchlists, and old positions. The buy-and-hold strategy is the hardest to pull off in a rapidly changing and volatile market. Sure, it works when you find the company that shows all the qualities and fundamentals of a company worth holding, but rarely do they just come along your path. 🔭 You have to look for them.

That’s why being a professional full-time retail investor requires a lot of work. A couple of hours each day, at least, are needed to be able to adequately research, scan for new opportunities, monitor existing ones, correct course, write your investment thesis, valuations on companies and ensure you have not missed any important information.

🎣 Why the analogy of “More lines in the water”?

In my investing journey, I have implemented a lot of ideas that stem from my experiences in business. The concept of “More lines in the water” is based on a systematic approach I used when seeking more opportunities in one of my early companies.

When I started out, social media was not widely used for business purposes, and there was limited marketing and few small companies had websites. In those days, SEO experts charged exorbitant prices.

Eager to expand, I applied the same strategy I used for fishing, realising that more lines in the water meant more opportunities to catch fish. I initiated cold calls and reached out to my target audience. Even at the age of 22, I automated and systematised the process. I made it a point to show up at the office every day. Even when there was no work, and put those “lines” (cold calls) into the water.

My simple system involved making 10 introductions by phone, in person, or via email to my desired customers every day, five days a week. I persevered, and over a year, I reached over 1,000 points of contact. I continued this for years, and the results spoke for themselves as I established one of the most prominent companies in my field in the city.

Showing up + More lines in the water = Opportunity

Initially, I faced numerous rejections and negative responses. However, over time I realised that closing just 5% of the contacts still meant acquiring over 100 new clients a year, even though at the time I could only handle around 50.

By consistently showing up and putting more “lines” in the water, opportunities kept flowing for years. Past contacts who were initially uninterested came around, and existing clients changed hands. There was indeed a constant flow of opportunity, but the one consistent factor was that I always had something “cooking” on the stove.

Investing followed a similar process. Constantly seeking opportunities, and ideas, staying connected to markets, and exploring potential investments yielded significant results over time.

Companies that previously didn’t meet my criteria may become suitable now, and companies I currently hold may no longer warrant a position. There is a constant ebb and flow in the investing world. Having more “lines” in the water increases the chances of encountering opportunities, much like increasing the chances of landing a big fish.

🐟 To land a big fish, you need patience…

There can be long periods of no success, but showing up consistently keeps you in the game. I personally try to review around a dozen companies each week, continuously monitor my watchlists, and assess evolving fundamentals in companies that didn’t initially make the cut. I also pay close attention to market trends and cycles and keep my “thumb on the pulse.”👍

There is always something to do, and there is never a day off or a day with nothing happening. Whether it’s reading an annual report, reviewing a thesis, or updating a valuation model, the work is never done.

For professional investors, getting paid and making money relies on consistently showing up. If you don’t show up, the chances of landing significant opportunities are slim. If I don’t show up I don’t make money, this is how I generate wealth.

Luck also requires an element of showing up. If you want to catch fish for dinner, standing on the shore without any fishing lines won’t yield any results.

Life does get in the way…

I also face challenges like everyone else, where life gets in the way. I stop or have periods of inactivity (which isn’t entirely bad), but when I don’t turn over rocks, how can I expect to find the next idea?

They don’t just come to you; you have to keep going to find them.

I see companies on my watchlist starting to move. I miss the boat because I didn’t research enough to warrant a position. In these times, the only solution is to let them go, bounce back, and return to putting more lines in the water again.

This happened in business, as I referenced in the example above. There would be weeks where the business would slow down, and things would not move as fast. I noticed this correlation to the cold calls slowing and less lines in the water. I would then ramp it up again and throw more lines out, and I was back to an influx of opportunity.

The beauty of investing and having a system is that it can be ramped up efficiently by showing up again and casting those lines out.

Showing up isn’t about being “Overactive”

Now, this is not about trading or being glued to the monitor. I think investors get carried away with many quotes and super investors who promote buy-and-hold ideas and disdain activity. No super investor buys and then sits on their yacht and does nothing. So, the activity is perhaps misrepresented as though it means actively buying and selling and over-trading. This is not what we are talking about here.

All of the greats, every one of them, continue to read, research, have calls, and listen out for opportunities. They all keep showing up. They all have many lines in the water.

Perhaps for incredibly high nets or those who have made money and their capital is deployed or professionally managed, they can be entirely hands-off. That makes sense. However, for other active investors or fund managers, that is not the case.

Showing up is a must. A lot of private investors who work or run businesses during the day come home, tuck their kids into bed, and then go to “work” and show up all night studying, researching, and talking to others online. This is the commitment I am talking about.

Every investor you read about, study, or reference has no indication they were away doing other things and then struck it big. All of them talk about the relentless, long-term commitment to showing up and the discipline and patience it required to succeed. While we need not go to these extremes as our goals may not be to reach the very top but to generate enough wealth for ourselves and our family, showing up and casting those lines is the sure-fire path to achieving that.

🔑 The key takeaway…

The key takeaway here is that “showing up” involves more than just powering up your laptop or considering investing. It’s about putting in the necessary effort, continuously showing up, learning, evolving, and delving deep.

Just as the more lines you have in the water, the more chances you have of discovering something valuable, like a gem or a prized fish, the same can be said for turning over rocks. This concept requires discipline and patience.

The most successful long-term private investors I know, who are much like you and me, are the ones who consistently show up. They always have a line in the water, keeping track of years of research, watchlists, and data points to reference. This builds a valuable database of ideas that can change at any moment.

More Lines = More Ideas

More Ideas = More Opportunities

To increase your chances of finding significant success, you have to be fully committed. You cannot generate returns by simply observing others. You need to cast out your own lines. Eventually, you’ll start feeling a few tugs, and one day, you’ll reel in a big catch.

I’ve never met an investor who hasn’t experienced success after persistently showing up and casting lines. Sticking to an investment philosophy, having the right strategy, and consistently practicing a process over years will yield positive results.

🤢 It kind of did sound a little Motivationally spewy in the end, for this I apologise.