(A reaction to Finance Minister’s Directive for the Youth)
Dear new, young Entrepreneur,
As Finance Minister has said the payroll is full and that you should go into Entrepreneurship, I welcome you on board.
By God’s special grace, I have been in business for about 15 years, I am a youth like you who started Websoft Solutions from my uncle’s room with 1 borrowed computer and trekking from shop to shop in Koforidua, today Websoft Solutions is a firm I think you might have likely heard of, if you haven’t, try Google.
Here are a few tips for you on this journey.
1. YOU WILL FAIL:
Yes, I know this sounds harsh and scary, but well, I think it’s best to be informed of the road signs ahead of your journey if you are plying a road you have never been before. I have failed so many times, but in those failures lie the lessons for your greatness. Don’t beat yourself too much if you fail, those failures are the exact recipe for learning to become better so you can increase your chances of success at your next shot. So don’t pack your bags and give up when you fail, understand that it is an essential part of the equation.
2. DELAY YOUR GRATIFICATION:
The strongest temptation for a new Entrepreneur is to want to quickly gratify one’s selfish personal desires and fantasies. You want to quickly buy a flashy car, or move to a nicer neighborhood or rent a plush office. Avoid these things, they bite hard eventually.
It sounds like what makes sense since the business was set up to serve as your source of livelihood and fight your poverty. But if you get caught in that trap, you will eventually lose the same business and then fall back to the poverty you intended to eradicate.
In 2013, I bought a brand new SUV, and to date, I drive the same Car. I am neither broke nor stupid, I could change it at a snap of my finger, but I am teaching myself an important lesson in financial prudence and taming my emotions not to get in the way of a proper business character. I rather used the money I made to acquire a landed property for the business so we can be free from landlords and the increasingly exorbitant rents. And even now, whilst I make money from other income sources which I could just blow indiscriminately, instead of changing the Car, I am rather using the amounts of money to buy more trucks for my water business (BeverageSoft, Producers of Oasis Water) and expanding my capacity. It is wisdom to look simple and unassuming out there whilst you are building strong businesses and expanding your asset base, instead of living large on your lifestyle with nothing to your name at the bank!
3. EGO IS YOUR ENEMY
Your greatest enemy in Business as a CEO is Ego. For instance, if you are running a successful micro-credit, what exactly is the true, genuine, real reason why you want to move it into a Bank? Check your motives very carefully, are you sure it’s not driven by ego and the desire to belong to a certain league? Ask yourself if it will not be better to remain a micro-credit and be vibrantly successful in that space than wanting to move into a new space where you are unlikely to survive but for the mere fact that it makes you feel good?
If you are running a successful publishing firm or advertising hub, why do you want to compete with DDP Outdoor and hire a lot of staff in your office? So that you can boast that you employ 50 staff? Do you need that kind of labour looking at your current capacity and project in-flow? DDP has been around for decades, why do you want to jump-start and compete with a principality that has had the benefit of strong, gradual, organic growth and market dominance?
Why do you want a Celebrity or a Movie Star to be your brand ambassador? Ask yourself if these decisions are the best practices for the business itself or they simply align with your ego to feed your bragging rights when you sit over beer and tilapia at Villandro or Kozo or over Wine and Sea Food platter at Santoku on a Friday evening with your friends?
I learned this lesson from my Lebanese and Indian entrepreneur friends. These dudes are worth millions of dollars in the Bank, but they walk around in Lacoste and jeans driving a Kia Picanto, they understand generational wealth and put their energies where it matters most.
So, I counseled myself and said, instead of me, BigGodwin, to be changing cars arbitrarily in a flashy way to impress anyone, I rather use the money to build more success on the ground whilst I ignore what anyone will think of me seeing me in my same 8-year-old car especially if it still drives well. I will change it when I know I am not changing it just for fanfare but that it has become a necessity to change it. If you can conquer this; I mean if you can conquer SELF, you are 50% through to your success journey as an Entrepreneur.
Many people lost their empires as they got caught in the trap of a self-serving ego, avoiding it.
Don’t over-rely on Governments, success is your responsibility, especially in this part of the planet. So get to work and make things happen. The system may not work well, but well, deal with the reality and make your life count!
I will be back with Part 2.
#violentlydisturbyourcomfortzone
Source: Big Godwin Martey
