A grey area to start with, but worth peeling. Eating your dinner in a fancy restaurant I see; who paid the price for that establishment to be that joint you frequent so often that you just feel sick if you don’t get their fix to give you that boost? It’s been hard for the founder I tell you and this is how.
Most of those in business start off with only a dream. To conceptualize and develop it demands funds to make it be and that’s the start of a long and testing journey. Believe you me, it’s not easy for a business person.
Starting with information on how to research your idea if it’s new or if not new, how to carve yourself a niche into the market requires finance for simple things like data for internet connection, taxi fare to libraries or phone call to secure an appointment with the funding institutions, etc. The truth is you have to be the omnifit for the business world and in order for that to be you have to sacrifice a lot. The prices we pay differ per our phases in life, industry of entry and geographic setting.
What’s laughable is that some of the sacrifices are profound yet a must for anyone serious about their quest to redefine their destiny. Back to the main topic, after a trip to the financiers you come back with reality knocked into your senses that you need to be having something in order to qualify for funding like collateral and security, of which the minute you go to them showing that you ain't got any and many a times formal education questioned (this dependent of cause on who you are). What route others take is bootstrapping to start off and along the way borrow from friends and family whilst others go the investor route. Issue with financiers is they tell you about drafting a business plan, something that will waste your valuable limited resources like money, time and built network. What’s relevant today is a Pitch that entails key information such as idea + production plan, growth plan, equity structure + directors’ resumes, risk + compliance sheet, floorplan, timeline graph + referrals and capital breakdown. Truth is that investors bank on you first before your pitch.
What many don’t overthink is that the people you go to ask funds from never ran even a spaza shop to start with and your challenges to them meaning nothing. If a self-starter at the age of 27 tells a consultant that she’s never worked after matriculating and a question posed to her being that what have you been doing all along while your peers went to school or looked for work so you could’ve saved some for security and maybe having had taken out a life cover to pledge or a house as collateral assignment instead of coming here empty handed? Who can be your surety if you’re just a dreamer? That’s a question I once heard thrown to someone I was following in the queue at one of the youth funding institutions, and that was the last time I went to any for assistance as they lacked sensitivity, empathy and knowledge of those in need of financing.
I waited for her outside and armed with passion I listened to her and took her on a crash course to school her a bit about suretyship, collateral and security, things which were never cared to be explained to her. And what hurt was that I too had none of those, hence my choice to leave the space.
After a journey of such disventure will you blame her for not being nice to some people? So, next time before we judge attitudes of successful people we need to check facts first as to why and but not that I condone it, just saying.
What I meant by profound sacrifices is by things like cutting off of friends that don’t add value to your life and quest, fighting off some family members who don’t believe in you, building networks instead of friendships, reading anything you come across, listening to informative media programmes and watching programmes that grows your knowledgebase as current affairs are important to your successful conversation striking and identifying key figures that matters in every space that you find yourself planted in. Also changing habits like ceasing to be defensive at all times, listening more and asking probing and vital questions, and thinking before answering sans saying much, attending events that are necessary to your quest, setting your voice projection, laughter and type of tones you use to different people in addressing them, observing your stance, posture and poses for pics and what you post on social media, the dress code relevance, mastering your body language and facial expressions and that of theirs, schooling self about timing, situational analyses and protocols in as many set-ups as possible. Above all else is the evergreen grey denominator (your attitude), work on it when modelling yourself ‘cause opportunity bringers and consumers take notice of it earlier than you may realize it and decide on that.
When spotting opportunities you need to be tolerant of balance, you ought to create a vacuum for how you will compromise in matters that include among others; family backgrounds, ethnic dominances and divisions, religion in business, solutions and opportunity creation, ethical conducts, colour of money earned, political allegiances, sexual orientations and humour, in all your interactions.
In conclusion: life of success in business is hard to attain and tough to sustain. Think of those long hours put in while others are with their families as you burn away your quality time, giving up party life for an upgraded lifestyle so as to fit your reflection of your brand, signing away freedom in swap for investor stress, staff issues, partnership demands and consumer satisfactions, etc. the biggest of all sacrifices is pleasing others first before your happiness. What it translates to is that happy faces around you a good word out there and that a return of rewards your way in a long run. A businessperson strives on contentment and being the epitome of success, hope and aspiration for the next...dp
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