Some of life’s most important lessons we understand intuitively and sometimes in hindsight but rarely in hindsight and in real time. That’s why it takes us so long to learn some of life’s most important lessons. Smart too late, old too soon. But if we pay attention and learn from other people, we can overcome this challenge. This is where today’s post becomes relevant.
Abdullah Al-Rezwan is the founder of MBI Deep Dives, a subscription-based newsletter/website that provides in-depth research on publicly listed companies, primarily those listed in the US.
Rizwan has a compelling story and has successfully built a one-man investment research/media company on the back of his excellent insight, analysis and consistency. In an interview with Future Startups published in 2023, Rizwan shared some highlights from his journey so far. He talked about his perspective on failure and why it is important to develop a high failure tolerance, he discussed the importance of following interests and doing consistent high quality work over a long period of time. In this article, I recount several lessons shared in interviews about failure, persistence, arrogance, and doing a good job. I hope you enjoy it.
Please note that this is an excerpt from our interview with Rizwan, you can read the full interview here.
1. On building tolerance for failure
“I discuss my portfolio on Twitter. Today I have 115,000 followers. If you think about it, if you expose your portfolio to over 100k people every month, it’s an invitation to be embarrassed. I Lost a lot of money last year.My stocks have moved in the opposite direction.
But I think it’s important to be comfortable with your failure. Obviously, you are not aiming for failure. You work hard to avoid failure. But if you want to grow as a person, it’s important to understand that failure is always an option. My job is to avoid it as much as possible. But when I face it, I learn from it and move on.”
2. Taking Your Job Seriously, Not Yourself
“I want to take my work seriously. But I don’t want to take myself too seriously. I take my work seriously. I work with passion. But I don’t want to take myself too seriously.” Of course, I may fail. There have been plenty of brilliant investors who have failed before me. There will be many more after me. I clearly know that it is a possibility.
I think of it this way. Lots of children play cricket in Bangladesh. They are swinging their bat or trying to bowl fast in their backyard. If you go up to these kids and say, hey, you know what, there is no chance that you will play for the Bangladesh cricket team. Of course, you’d be right. Almost none of them will be playing for Bangladesh in 20 years. But it is also likely that some of them will make it. Either way, you never know until you try.
This is the approach I invest in. I am likely to fail. Statistically speaking, it is likely that I will fail. But a friend of mine once told me that statisticians are not good entrepreneurs. If you go by the numbers, you’ll never start a business. why would you You are likely to fail. But I don’t see it that way. I want to give my best and see what happens. If I recover and become a successful investor, that would be great fun. And if I’m not, I have to make sure I don’t completely destroy myself and my family. Some tweaking is needed. But even if many things don’t match what I expected or hoped for, that’s okay. I still gave it a shot.
We all run into a problem called n = 1. N is the number of our lives. What’s the point of not giving a shot just because of fear of failure?
I want to do my best but I don’t want to take myself, the person, too seriously. If you worry all the time, oh my god, I’m going to be so embarrassed because I’m so down this year or whatever, that’s a terrible way to work. Because who cares whether you’re down or up? I know many people who are lower than me. How many minutes do I spend thinking about their failures? People don’t just think about you. In our heads, we are the heroes of our lives. We are the center of attention. And so is the case with every other person. They are busy with themselves. You have your own problems. I have my own problems. I’m not going to waste time thinking about other people and what they’re doing wrong or whatever. If you want to try something, you can’t take yourself too seriously.”
3. On Consistency
“The point I want to make is that there are a lot of people on the Internet who can publish a good piece. Tens of thousands of people are intellectually capable of publishing a good article. That’s just a small fraction of all those people.” There will be a percentage who are intellectually able to consistently do something great once it has been published.
Consistency is difficult. If you can make it, if you can consistently publish high-quality work on the Internet, and do it long enough, you will be successful. I cannot say that if you do it tomorrow, you will be successful in a month or two. There is no such guarantee. But if you put in consistent high quality work over a long period of time, I think success is a question of if, not when.
4. On doing high quality work and on doing it for a long time
“Frankly speaking, if you are doing something for 10/15 years, and no one is paying attention, the conclusion would be that your work is not right. There is nothing shameful in this again. Not everyone is a great writer or analyst. You don’t need to be a great analyst. I’m not a great musician. I am not ashamed of it. If you do it long enough on the internet and if it’s high quality work, the internet finds you. It will find you.
Let me put it this way, instead of thinking about what people would like to read, I would start with what you want to read. So instead of thinking about what people would like to read, it is more useful to think about what you would like to read and then do it at the scale of the internet.
Interest is important for other reasons as well. If you want to do it consistently for 10-15 years, you can’t fake it. Contrary to mainstream opinion, I think it’s easier to fake in real life than on the internet. You can fake the internet, but only for a short period of time. If you want to do anything on the internet for 10-15 years, you can’t fake it. And if you are really interested in something then only you can be persistent for long periods of time without seeing results. This is the only way.
05. On following your passion
“I’ve been saying this the whole time. Follow your interest, whatever it is. You don’t have to be a computer scientist or an analyst or you don’t have to work at a hedge fund. Just follow your interests, even if Be it completely irrelevant or seem silly or niche. Follow what you are interested in and participate in that particular interest on the internet. Find other people who are interested in the same thing and become part of that community .
It is very easy to be good at something that you are interested in. Because you will naturally spend more time with things that interest you and you will get better.
Most people should try their luck on the Internet. I am not saying that you will make it. As I said, the Internet has a power law distribution. By definition, most people will not have a positive result, but you should try. Because you won’t know until you try. I think in the next 20-30 years, internet will become a major source of livelihood for people. Everything is becoming digital. The tide is not going to change. More and more people will earn money on the internet.
My own family, my brother and I both earn our livelihood with the help of internet. I had no idea I could become an independent research analyst three years ago. I would never have thought that this is possible for me. That’s why it’s important to keep your eyes open and pay attention to what’s happening.
It’s simple advice: follow your interests. Most of you have all the resources you need. You can listen to any famous investor and entrepreneur. There are tons of resources out there if you want to learn about trading. How many people in Bangladesh understand Amazon? So many. But if you want, you can study Amazon in depth. These are listed companies. You can find lots of useful resources on these companies on the Internet. If you’re trying to build a great business, it’s probably helpful to know how other great businesses like Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, etc. have been built. Those stories are out there. You can listen to podcasts or read.
Again, you have to be interested. No one can persuade you to take interest in a particular thing which you are not interested in. So it is important that you find and then pursue something that interests you. spend some time. Find and participate in a community or niche on the Internet.
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