Investors and entrepreneurs, everywhere, sometimes to be successful, it’s all about being in the right environment.

Just like farming, to reap an abundant harvest, the environment and conditions must all be right. We are taught to hustle, grind, and push through, but sometimes that is not the answer or the best path.

It’s hard to grow or thrive, no matter how much sun and water you have, if the environment just isn’t right. Why expend limited energy trying to grow against the odds when you can just shift to the best place to grow?

What is Mitch talking about now? Right Environment? Success? Is this a digression from the core component of this blog… Investing?

Not exactly. There are so many similarities in all aspects of life that we can apply to become a better investor or entrepreneur. Connecting the dots, thinking creatively, and learning from everything that surrounds us not only makes us a better investor, but also can produce better outcomes.

🥱 A story about my garden and the right environment…

Let me share our story. Some time ago, my wife and I decided to start our own greenhouse and grow our own herbs, spices, vegetables, and fruit. We’ve always had green thumbs and have spent years tinkering with vegetable gardens, growing fruit trees, and trying our hand at sustainability.

However, when we shifted to a beach house by the water, there was no grass or soil, not even a token patch anywhere. We wanted a low-maintenance property that we could lock and leave. Although it was a large property with ample space, there was not a single place to build a garden. We hadn’t thought that far ahead (no second-order thinking there). If this…then what.

We had a huge 150 sqm decking that overlooked the water. The only logical way to establish a self-sustaining vegetable garden was by using pots, a lot of pots, on the decking and on the landing going into the marina.

However, having large pots filled with soil and leaking water on a beautiful wooden decking wasn’t well thought out. At first, we brought lemon trees, olive trees, and a range of herbs, spices, and chilli plants. We did what we always did: watered, provided nutrients, babied them, and spoke to the plants and seeds ever so gently, ushering them into their destiny.

🤞 So far so good…

One of my favorite herbs is spearmint leaves. I love the smell and enjoy putting it in cocktails, tea, and cold water. My middle son brought home a school project in which he established and grew a small spearmint plant from seeds.

It was my pride and joy, and we had planted it in a half-wine barrel all by itself. Having planted mint-type plants before, I had expected it to grow like a weed as they usually do, but this spearmint plant just never took off. No spearmint-laden cocktails for me…

As time went on, some plants thrived, others withered, and some just looked like a pale and ghastly version of what the tag represented. Some plain died; we removed them and made way for more hopeful ideas. One thing that we didn’t consider was that we were directly on the water, with harsh salt winds, strong summer heat, and after a certain time we decided to ask the question…

🤔 Are they in the right environment to grow?

Were these the best conditions for these plants to thrive and succeed? We thought the original plan was too harsh and wouldn’t work out, so we decided to explore other options on the property. We only had a large aggregate concrete driveway in front of the house with a small, recessed area meant for parking a dinghy (boat), but I used it for parking a car instead.

After considering our options, we decided to relocate the entire plant forest to the front. However, it turned out to be a more challenging task than we originally anticipated. The pot plants were bigger and heavier than we expected, so it took a lot of effort to move them with the help of my wife, 3 sons, and a skateboard as a make shift trolley.

It took the entire weekend to complete the move. We replanted the pot plants, did some minor weeding, added fertiliser, and ensured they were well-watered. Initially, we didn’t see much change, but after a few weeks, we noticed a remarkable difference. Every single plant was thriving, greener, brighter, and healthier than before, unlike when they were on the deck.

The mint plant, with only regular watering and no additional fertiliser, started to grow abundantly. Soon, all our herbs were blooming, providing us with fresh produce such as chilies, herbs, spices, kale, spinach, curry leaves, and lemons. Our little garden was flourishing.

The spearmint plant grew excessively, producing more than we could use. It was truly spectacular. It was a combination of less sun during the day, less winds, and perhaps less salt exposure.

🪴 The right environment produced amazing results.

Sometimes, being in the right environment and the right conditions is one of the most important elements of successful investing or building a business. This is contrary to the idea that you shouldn’t wait for the conditions to be right, and should just go for it.

However, sometimes they need to be right in order to grow. I found investing to be a very similar journey. Often I would operate in the wrong environment and under conditions that I was not able to thrive in.

I would surround myself with the wrong people, the wrong focus, and the wrong markets. I was not exactly failing, but I wasn’t thriving either. Everyone has an environment in which they will find greater success, much like living and travelling.

Sometimes, I find myself in a place where the environment isn’t right. I don’t get into the same groove as in other places. It may be the weather, the food, the district, or it’s just not the right place for me. I feel drained and lacking focus and motivation.

When I shift back to an area that I align with, I start to thrive again. I found this pattern in all of my entrepreneurial activities. Various startups, some didn’t do well, and others thrived and went on to be successful.

When I operated in the wrong environments, it wasn’t that I didn’t do well, it just was not what it could have been if I made adjustments and shifted my focus to a better environment.

📈 Investing needs the right environment.

I’ve learned a lot about investing, business, and life, and it’s been like this Spearmint plant for me. I needed to be in a place that was more suited to my nature, where the conditions were favourable for me to grow.

When I started focusing on small-caps and businesses within my circle of competence, and when I stuck to an investment strategy, things changed. I didn’t have an edge in the top end of the market; I wasn’t getting the types of returns I do when digging into micro-cap and small-cap stocks. Those were the conditions I felt I had to be in to get exceptional results.

This could mean anything, like moving out of the environment of day traders or stopping listening to those who sound great but have no track record to back it up. We are surrounded by different environments as investors.

We touched on this before when we discussed the right environment that aligns with your investment philosophy, and this is an extension of this concept. Identifying the right environment is crucial and starts with understanding what you are trying to do.

The right environment could simply mean being a passive investor if your temperament isn’t suited to hand-picking stocks. Perhaps your environment is wrong by playing and investing in foreign lands where it sounds great but the risks are too high, and you’re better off in your homeland.

Perhaps it’s investing in areas way outside of your competence and level of understanding. Sometimes investors who are conservative are in a higher-risk environment and are not finding the success they want. The reverse is also true; if you have big goals, you may be in a highly conservative environment with lackluster returns to fulfil your long-term financial goals.

💪 Investors need to play to their strengths…

Every investor has a certain temperament and will naturally gravitate towards an investment style. It’s important to be in the right environment and ensure that the conditions align with your goals.

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Anything that is against nature will not last in the long run.

Charles Darwin

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You should play to your strengths and position yourself in an environment that will help you to grow. Charles Darwin says the one most responsive to change, will succeed. His reference to nature is about nature itself, but each of us also have a nature within. When we align with our nature, we will thrive over the long term.

Ask yourself, “Is this the right environment for me? Are these the right conditions for me to excel in?” This is crucial for long-term investing. Don’t go against the grain or try to grow and produce fruit in harsh elements if it doesn’t align with your nature.

Don’t give up either. My wife and I didn’t give up on gardening; instead, we tried a different environment and found that the conditions made all the difference. Instead of giving up, consider repositioning yourself and finding the right environment where you can thrive and succeed.

Every investor has one… you just have to find it.