Whispers of an entrepreneur

I woke up this morning with a pair of interesting questions on my mind. Bent over the bathroom basin, brushing my teeth. All this after one of my power naps – well, this is all I can call them nowadays, my lack of sleep due to insomnia keeps me up till the strangest hours of the morning. I found it strange that at such an early hour, I am already thinking about life and the direction I am taking. Back to my big questions: “Where would I rather be right now” and “What would I rather be doing now” To the former, my answer was, “ Here and now ”, I am so excited about life – spring is in the air and I feel rejuvenated. Notwithstanding the horrid feeling I get with all the pollen in the air, this time of the year is my favourite. The latter question was more interesting – what would I rather being doing now, that is with regards to my life. “I am doing what I would like to do, and do for at least the next 10 years” One of the greatest pleasures has been finding my way in th...

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 (Ra...

Lately I have been having a tough time, after setting up my goals for the 6 months to June, I was very fortunate to achieve them, with varying degrees of success. After the whole period and goals achieved, I felt empty and without purpose – I was happy of the achievement and the progress made, but the ability to pursue no longer existed. Katberg Mountains - Eastern Cape, South Africa   As a friend recently commented, “maybe you should set bigger goals next time round” – I set up these goals on a biannual basis as to keep myself going and motivated with strict and clear results to be achieved. Challenging myself but also ensuring that I am realistic in my approach. Goal setting is arguably one of the most difficult things to do - to sit down and pen commitments to yourself that you are accountable for and have to evaluate your progress on yourself. A sort of personal KPIs without the whip or carrot of a manager. Annually people lay simple to complex goals - from los...