What do a successful marketing writer and a successful sports business owner have in common?

Well… both followed a simple rule to get to the top: they focused on doing what they know a lot about.

A marketing writer must have ample knowledge about marketing to be successful, and a sports business owner has to know a lot about sports, maybe even be an athlete himself, to do well.

In the same way, an investor will surely be successful if he invests in an industry he understands deeply or works in, because he will be able to pick the right assets for his portfolio, and this, in turn, will ensure him high profits.

You see, when you understand the details of an industry, its ins and outs, its ups and downs, you know exactly what factors make a company perform well or bad.

There are success traits that are obvious when studying a company, such as revenue, profits, and growth; but there are also other qualities that are not easy to identify unless you deeply know and understand its products, services, and customers.

Here’s where a knowledgeable investor has a real advantage.

Consider, for example, the video-game industry. The average investor would probably buy stocks from companies like “Take Two Interactive” (NASDAQ: TTWO) or “Activision-Blizzard” (NASDAQ: ATVI), because of their earnings and share value, among other factors.

However, if you are knowledgeable about the industry or even better, are a huge fan of video games, you might be able to predict if a new game will be a big hit, just like Take Two’s ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ was, and you will know that the profits generated by such a game are going to be massive.

For example, Take Two’s ‘GTA IV’ was highly announced long before it was released in April 2008, and the stocks’ value increased from $17 in January 2008 to more than $27 in June of that same year.

So, basically, when you invest in stocks before the rest, the “common” people, and understand how much money is involved, you hit the jackpot!

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