How To Swing At An Investment Opportunity Pitch
/So, it’s World Series time and the baseball analogy is appropriate. If you hate baseball, keep reading – this story is more than baseball and there’s something for you. The Dodgers have a 1-0 series lead on the Astros because the Dodgers’ star hitter, Justin Turner, took a big swing and hit a fastball out of the ballpark last night. Since there was another man on base, Justin’s homerun gave the Dodgers the game lead and contributed to their victory.
Justin has become a baseball superstar over the past month because he has become a clutch player – his swings garner big hits at big moments. Few people know that Justin use to play for the Mets but never had consistent opportunities to hit the ball. Instead, the Mets would take him out for one game, and leave him in for another game, thereby limiting the number of consistent swings he could take and the opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way. I have a strong suspicion that his experience with the Mets prepared him for taking advantage of his current opportunities with the Dodgers.
And guess what? Justin’s journey teaches us a lot about how we can take swings when investment opportunities present themselves to us. He learned from his losses with the Mets, kept swinging the bat when he moved to the Dodgers, and has made contact with fast balls that are the right ones for his hitting style.
Similarly, when an investment opportunity comes your way, I want you to imagine yourself in the batter’s box. You can do it! Here’s three things I want you to remember:
Learn From Your Losses. Many of us are paralyzed , by previous money or investment mistakes. However, I urge you to focus on one learning from a time when things didn’t work out as you anticipated. For instance, I loss money investing in the stock GoPro, which makes cameras, because I failed to do the necessary research on the company. Rather, I made a quick decision to buy the stock based on a gut feel about its upward trajectory. The lesson is simply – I will always put in the time to properly research a company before I buy one share.
Keep Swinging, Swagger Style. In order to take advantage of investment opportunity, you must keep trying to hit the opportunity; you must keep swinging. And, when I say “swagger style,” you must swing with confidence, which often comes from analyzing what’s in front of you. The best hitters take time to size up the pitcher, watch lots of game film to know what to expect, and have a game plan in place so that they know what balls to swing at. Similarly, you should keep swinging at investment opportunities with swagger because you feel confident that you can take advantage of the opportunity. Now, you may miss an investment opportunity for a variety of reasons – bad timing, poor judgment, or just because you just miss. After I learned from my previous mistakes post GoPro, I still invested in other stocks with a renewed confidence. The thing to keep in mind is that you should try not to strike out, which leaves me too...
Make Contact With the Right Investment Opportunity. Enough said, right? You want to make sure that you can truly take advantage of an investment opportunity. When the opportunity to invest in another stock, I did my research, sized up the investment, bought the stock, and made some money. So can you!
So, game 2 of the World Series is tonight. Regardless if you watch it or not, think about how you can swing at opportunity that comes your way. Who knows – you might bring out the superstar that’s been waiting to emerge.
