Thursday, December 31, 2009

My First 365 Days as an Entrepreneur

Today, i mark my 365th day as an entrepreneur. When i started out, i decided to keep have an offline service company and then some online businesses. I also demystified some fantasies like getting a windfall quickly.

The vision I had was to build Assets that would have life of their own revolving around a business system independent of me.

Right now, the businesses are up and growing but they cannot live without me yet. Besides, the revenues of 2009 mostly went into the businesses. There were times I felt that things were moving too slowly. There was even a time between July and September when the businesses literally froze because of a family tragedy.

Right now things are on the move again but as you read earlier, I have been laying foundations that I can monetize in 2010.

I learnt a lot in 2009 also. Too much to blog about without wasting your time.

As per my online businesses, The challenge of a Nigerian Internet Entrepreneur is so great but there are ways around it if you persistent.

My most surprising lesson however was that you do not need to know anything about anything to run a business as long as you have a clear vision of the end goal, a laser sharp focus and the persistence to see your dreams come to pass. Once these three seed are sown in your heart, you just nourish them and have the patience to see the blossom and yield fruits.

Also, I am leaving thee dream of being in "CHARGE" of my life - oh what a pleasure to decide you want to make money just wearing boxer shorts and actually do it. I sometimes wonder why I ever took up a job and diverted briefly from my life long dream of creating my own empire the way I have seen it within.

Sometimes I really pity employees without a vision and guts to quit their lousy jobs because no employer will pay as much as you're worth. It is an unwritten, unspoken rule.

And with the current global issues, it is surprising that they still are hopelessly cringing to their jobs hoping that somehow they will be bypassed by the job-loss axeman.

Anyway, I'd have set my hands on the entrepreneurship plough and there is no looking back. I have two options to succeed or to succeed so either way I win.

There is no greater job security than that of a supplier of needs and wants.

As we step into the new year, I pray that all your dreams come to pass.

See you next year.

Olusegun a.k.a Segedoo

QUOTE OF THE POST
"Happy New Year In Advance"

My First 365 Days as an Entrepreneur

Today, i mark my 365th day as an entrepreneur. When i started out, i decided to keep have an offline service company and then some online businesses. I also demystified some fantasies like getting a windfall quickly.

The vision I had was to build Assets that would have life of their own revolving around a business system independent of me.

Right now, the businesses are up and growing but they cannot live without me yet. Besides, the revenues of 2009 mostly went into the businesses. There were times I felt that things were moving too slowly. There was even a time between July and September when the businesses literally froze because of a family tragedy.

Right now things are on the move again but as you read earlier, I have been laying foundations that I can monetize in 2010.

I learnt a lot in 2009 also. Too much to blog about without wasting your time.

As per my online businesses, The challenge of a Nigerian Internet Entrepreneur is so great but there are ways around it if you persistent.

My most surprising lesson however was that you do not need to know anything about anything to run a business as long as you have a clear vision of the end goal, a laser sharp focus and the persistence to see your dreams come to pass. Once these three seed are sown in your heart, you just nourish them and have the patience to see the blossom and yield fruits.


Friday, December 11, 2009

Is Entrepreneurship Risky 2?


In my last post i talked about my experience. Now, i want to be more comparative in my analysis of The fact that employment is by far riskier than entrepreneurship.

Case study: A Pyramid






The human society has always taken the shape of a pyramid because 95% of us humans do not take initiative - something entrepreneurship is all about. We prefer to be led than take on the responsibility of a leader. We are far too selfish to share of ourselves or far to afraid to lead by example of what we believe. In turn giving a blank cheque to all the corrupt guys to campaign for offices they do not deserve. we would rather vote for the best of the worst since those of us that can genuinely lead have decide to take cover in out little homes.

We want a President, a King , a Governor, a Representative, a Class captain, anyone as long as it is not us to take the role of caring for all. We do not like stressing ourselves - Generally. Of course there have been a few exceptions - Jesus Christ, Moses, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and others but they have always been countable.

Because we prefer to choose one " Key leader" and do not want to be him or her, we give room for whoever to take the office. Why do we not think of starting our own group of people with shared values and take on the Status Quo?

Enter: EMPLOYMENT

The Trend had always been go to school, finish with good grades and get a safe secure job laments R.Kiyosaki - a true Financial prophet and entrepreneur.

So, we leave college or university and hustle to get a "good job" and then we settle down at it. Forgetting that a we humans love pyramids - meaning the larger percentage of us will be mediocre at best.

I wonder why a lot of employees just feel comfortable with the order of things set by an elite group of guys usually less than 20 called MANAGEMENT! They get so absorbed into the small picture these guys paint for them and settle down into running with another's vision.

I was an employee for a year and a half so i was among you if for any reason you might be reading this and getting angry. The truth is bitter they say. The truth is better i say.

The only time the employee get unsettled is when there is a promotion coming up or worse when there are rumors of downsizing i.e impending sack for some few.

Why don't employees realize that the more you earn, the more you are expected to do to justify your earnings by getting more results and the spiral keeps growing.

Listen:

No employer would ever pay you more than you are worth.
No employer would ever pay you exactly what you
EVERY EMPLOYER PAYS YOU LESS THAN YOU ARE WORTH!

But most employees do not mind or maybe they just overlook it and keep labouring behind their cubicles.

Don't you have a dreams? When will NOW be the best time to start chasing your dreams?

DECIDE TO BE TRUE TO YOU. PLAN TO STEP OUT. YOU ARE NOT INCOMPETENT!!





You know what? The risks are similar but the rewards of entrepreneurship are a billion times more. Besides, you get to follow your inner leading, call the shots, delegate responsibilities, manage people, meet more people and get paid for it.

When i was a marketer all suited up, chasing accounts all over the city of Lagos, Nigeria with my company driver, i never got as much respect as when dressed not has formal but as the CEO of my own business and exchanging ideas with much more accomplished entrepreneurs!


Employees like i said expect the company to take care of them - their Pensions, group life insurance, health, IRA or Roth IRA contibutions or 401ks etc.

They generally prefer to be financially unintelligent about these things because they do not seek to know since The Company will take care of them.

Wake up Folks and start LIVING. There are childhood dreams you have buried to die. But guess what? DReams do not die, the haunt you though.

Every time you see someone else doing what you have always wanted to do, that's you dream haunting you.

The greatest risk in the world is not even attempting to do what you have been naturally configured by God the Creator to do.

Everyone is a genius but only less than 5% of us all know that. So, we abandon the raw genius in us for the refined one that someone else has devoted decades to perfect.

We would rather contribute to something others have built rather than use their accomplishments to inspire us into creating our own.

We are Creators remember? So why aren't we creating - the song, the painting, the invention, the business, the home???

When you do not have a stream of income coming from any organization on a monthly basis, you are FORCED to dig deep within, and find how to meet needs of people around you. In the process, you grow and learn the relevant skills you need to multiply your services and run your business without you being physically present. You begin to value every dime and put it to the best use. You consult your spirit more and listen to your intuition.

You become a whole man or woman who does not depend on anything on the outside but from within brings together external resources to create genuine value, earn well in time and employ EMPLOYEES!

If you take on look at a pyramid, you would see that it has just on point. Only one person can head an organization for a period of time. If that is the case, and competition is so bad, why don't you step up to the creative realm?
It is by design that most employees never get beyond middle management. Believe me i know or how else would power be centralized in the hand of the top 5%?

Management has grown smarter too. so rather than create a tight pyramid, they widen the based to accommodate more employees by growing organically or by Mergers and Acquisitions. They then make you a little king of a small branch or subsidiary just to create the illusion that you are progressing too when in essence, they have duplicated the same thing across board.

To keep you ever dependent on them, they expect a certain level of panache from you and are willing to finance this lifestyle.

Bottomline: You are hooked, stressed out, unfulfilled and then asked to leave.

Along the line, you would have become a stranger to your wife, missed growing up with your kids, become heavily indebted and wishing you had more time to do those things... to live those dreams.

You would wake up and see how far th guys that saw the light have come in the same 15 years you have spent "labouring in the house of strangers" and regret that you never had the guts to follow you inner guide.


Friend If you are so crazy about being a part the pyramid? And we all are - entrepreneurs and employees. Why don't you be a part of one where you can at least be at the top?

The difference between an employee and an entrepreneur? The part of the pyramid where they start from. The employee starts from the bottom and go up against gravity all the way, fighting guys, trampling on subordinates to transfer aggression from superiors and developing ulcers. The entrepreneur on the other hand starts from the peak on the pyramid even though it may have no base yet but just that makes all the difference.


Now, i might have sounded a little hash but extreme. I know you are a rational thinker who makes his or her own decisions. I'm do not suggest you quit you job. Rather, spend the rest of the year metamorphosing into an entrepreneur while in the skin of an employee.


To your success and nothing else,

Segedoo


QUOTE OF THE POST
"We were all entrepreneurs as kids; What then happened?" - Olusegun Adedokun

Friday, December 4, 2009

Is Entrepreneurship Risky?

In the next 27 days, i will be celebrating 365 days a.k.a 1 year of being an entrepreneur! I was working with a major banking group in Nigeria, my home country up until December 31, 2008.

I had to leave. Prior to this i had disconnected totally from my job and felt like a thief whenever i got paid a salary. So what did i do? well, you guessed it already - I RESIGNED!

Don't get me wrong - where i worked was a great place full of young people and without being proud, i was one of my beautiful CEO's favorites. Besides, I was about to be promoted, a pay rise was on the way and i was also to be paid "upfront"i.e. a lump some of money on the first working day of the year to take care of my rent and some other necessary bills - but i left.

I remember the HR Head saying to take my resignation letter back and resign again in 3 months with all the perks but NO, I just did not want money to lure me into a line of work i hated. All my life i had always done things that i connected with from Stamp Collection to Learning How to Paint to Traditional Martial Arts.

I woke up on January1, 2009 feeling weird but i quickly got over it (i later realized it was because it was a holiday). A day or two later, the reality of joblessness set in when i was left home alone like Macaulay Caulkin! Then i began serious soul searching to figure out how to earn a living. 2months later, I gave out a really large chunk of my severance pay - big enough to make me scared for day non-stop but i now realize it was a liberation from slavery to money.

Gradually over the year, things began to work out and i met my business partner effortlessly. Today, i run a webdesign and development company with him, a comic company with another guy and seminar company with both of them as stakeholders.

A lot of things have come effortlessly into my life by providence. I spent a lot of time creating them in my mind and just watching and waiting for them to show up. Once they did, I stopped waiting and took action in possessing them.

There were time i was discouraged but i just kept going. I also learnt how to earn on autopilot. So while i sleep, i have blogs working hard for me.

I invested in several well researched offerings before bringing out my CC to pay for anything. I am a very shrewd guy and with what i have learnt about patience in business, i can only wait for things to come to me.

2009 has a year of learning and more learning; a year of laying foundations for an internet business empire both in Nigeria and Online as a whole.

As i am writing this, i have just purchase my 11th domain and I totally love the feeling.

I'd be a liar to say that it has been fun all the way. There have been times when i emptied my whole account into a project this year not being totally sure of the outcome but then , who is 100% of the time?

All i know is tat i won't be on my death bed and be regretting that i did not do something i totally wanted to do or something that would benefit mankind and it is an entrepreneurial spirit that makes one do that.

For me PROFIT is NOT the motive, Neither is it my PASSION.

Rather it is a healthy marriage of PROFIT & PASSION. It is so powerful.

Until my next post, God bless.


QUOTE OF THE POST
"You either live your life or live someone else's idea of it"- Segedoo