Us, young Entrepreneurs are Lazy
I recently watched a Multichoice advert on 20 years of freedom, about a gentleman called Johnny Bada, who over a 20 year period has risen from a mere Multichoice installer to become a business owner with 3 DSTV agencies and a staff component of 65 individuals.
Though I cannot attest to the legitimacy and truthfulness of this story, it did capture me – proving again that business and success takes time.
As I have mentioned before, an overnight success takes 14 years.
Us, young entrepreneurs hardly take the time to learn our craft, to
master it and be regarded as an industry expert. We tend to expect quick
turnarounds in business and life. Our culture of “Now” hampers the growth and
development of many aspiring, talented entrepreneurs.
The desire to be a Hollywood entrepreneur sometimes clouds our
judgement in finding the right opportunity and gradually growing it into a
multibillion enterprise. However, not all entrepreneurs will be billionaires or
even millionaires (Rand, Dollar or Naira) – this road is not guaranteed to
offer you wealth, at least not monetary.
Looking at the life of Aliko Dangote, of Dangote Group fame – he has
been able to build his business over a period of over 20 years.
Having gotten to know some fantastically successful entrepreneurs -
I can attest to the longevity and excessive investment and labour required to
make a venture viable, and grow it to impressive institutions.
Popular culture speaks about following your passion as a means to
attaining financial independence – this is not true.
We as humans tend to not work hard at our passions, they are just
there as extensions of our psyche to offer us relief from daily life.
We exercise them according to our whim and desires – business does
not work like that. “Tired”, “not feeling like it” or “lack of motivation” do
not feature - a clear and present hunger is the drive you require.
A hunger to succeed, a hunger to build a unique product to improve
the world and meet the desires of a defined and lucrative target market. That is
willing to pay a price well above the cost of the product.
Building wealth and building a sustainable business takes time,
unyielding effort, consistency and most importantly discipline to stay the
course. Emerging from humble beginning – developed on solid foundations to
becoming business employing people and most importantly generating a consistent
income and a solid profit with a growth rate far above inflation and enough to
build a wealth fund on.
Us, young Entrepreneurs are not Knowledgeable on obtaining enough funds to start a business. We need capital!
ReplyDeleteTrue, capital is required - you can however start small with little to know capital, bootstrapping and reinvesting to grow your business to where you would like it to go.
Delete