How do you discover your real purpose in life? I’m not talking about your job, your daily responsibilities, or even your long-term goals. I mean the real reason why you’re here at all — the very reason you exist.
Perhaps you’re a rather nihilistic person who doesn’t believe you have a purpose and that life has no meaning. Doesn’t matter. Not believing that you have a purpose won’t prevent you from discovering it, just as a lack of belief in gravity won’t prevent you from tripping. All that a lack of belief will do is make it take longer, so if you’re one of those people, just change the number 20 in the title of this blog entry to 40 (or 60 if you’re really stubborn). Most likely though if you don’t believe you have a purpose, then you probably won’t believe what I’m saying anyway, but even so, what’s the risk of investing an hour just in case?
Here’s a story about Bruce Lee which sets the stage for this little exercise. A master martial artist asked Bruce to teach him everything Bruce knew about martial arts. Bruce held up two cups, both filled with liquid. “The first cup,” said Bruce, “represents all of your knowledge about martial arts. The second cup represents all of my knowledge about martial arts. If you want to fill your cup with my knowledge, you must first empty your cup of your knowledge.”
If you want to discover your true purpose in life, you must first empty your mind of all the false purposes you’ve been taught (including the idea that you may have no purpose at all).
So how to discover your purpose in life? While there are many ways to do this, some of them fairly involved, here is one of the simplest that anyone can do. The more open you are to this process, and the more you expect it to work, the faster it will work for you. But not being open to it or having doubts about it or thinking it’s an entirely idiotic and meaningless waste of time won’t prevent it from working as long as you stick with it — again, it will just take longer to converge.
Here’s what to do:
1. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open up a word processor where you can type (I prefer the latter because it’s faster).
2. Write at the top, “What is my true purpose in life?”
3. Write an answer (any answer) that pops into your head. It doesn’t have to be a complete sentence. A short phrase is fine.
4. Repeat step 3 until you write the answer that makes you cry. This is your purpose.
That’s it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a counselor or an engineer or a bodybuilder. To some people this exercise will make perfect sense. To others it will seem utterly stupid. Usually it takes 15-20 minutes to clear your head of all the clutter and the social conditioning about what you think your purpose in life is. The false answers will come from your mind and your memories. But when the true answer finally arrives, it will feel like it’s coming to you from a different source entirely.
For those who are very entrenched in low-awareness living, it will take a lot longer to get all the false answers out, possibly more than an hour. But if you persist, after 100 or 200 or maybe even 500 answers, you’ll be struck by the answer that causes you to surge with emotion, the answer that breaks you. If you’ve never done this, it may very well sound silly to you. So let it seem silly, and do it anyway.
As you go through this process, some of your answers will be very similar. You may even re-list previous answers. Then you might head off on a new tangent and generate 10-20 more answers along some other theme. And that’s fine. You can list whatever answer pops into your head as long as you just keep writing.
At some point during the process (typically after about 50-100 answers), you may want to quit and just can’t see it converging. You may feel the urge to get up and make an excuse to do something else. That’s normal. Push past this resistance, and just keep writing. The feeling of resistance will eventually pass.
You may also discover a few answers that seem to give you a mini-surge of emotion, but they don’t quite make you cry — they’re just a bit off. Highlight those answers as you go along, so you can come back to them to generate new permutations. Each reflects a piece of your purpose, but individually they aren’t complete. When you start getting these kinds of answers, it just means you’re getting warm. Keep going.
It’s important to do this alone and with no interruptions. If you’re a nihilist, then feel free to start with the answer, “I don’t have a purpose,” or “Life is meaningless,” and take it from there. If you keep at it, you’ll still eventually converge.
When I did this exercise, it took me about 25 minutes, and I reached my final answer at step 106. Partial pieces of the answer (mini-surges) appeared at steps 17, 39, and 53, and then the bulk of it fell into place and was refined through steps 100-106. I felt the feeling of resistance (wanting to get up and do something else, expecting the process to fail, feeling very impatient and even irritated) around steps 55-60. At step 80 I took a 2-minute break to close my eyes, relax, clear my mind, and to focus on the intention for the answer to come to me — this was helpful as the answers I received after this break began to have greater clarity.
Here was my final answer: to live consciously and courageously, to resonate with love and compassion, to awaken the great spirits within others, and to leave this world in peace.
When you find your own unique answer to the question of why you’re here, you will feel it resonate with you deeply. The words will seem to have a special energy to you, and you will feel that energy whenever you read them.
Discovering your purpose is the easy part. The hard part is keeping it with you on a daily basis and working on yourself to the point where you become that purpose.
If you’re inclined to ask why this little process works, just put that question aside until after you’ve successfully completed it. Once you’ve done that, you’ll probably have your own answer to why it works. Most likely if you ask 10 different people why this works (people who’ve successfully completed it), you’ll get 10 different answers, all filtered through their individual belief systems, and each will contain its own reflection of truth.
Obviously, this process won’t work if you quit before convergence. I’d guesstimate that 80-90% of people should achieve convergence in less than an hour. If you’re really entrenched in your beliefs and resistant to the process, maybe it will take you 5 sessions and 3 hours, but I suspect that such people will simply quit early (like within the first 15 minutes) or won’t even attempt it at all. But if you’re drawn to read this blog (and haven’t been inclined to ban it from your life yet), then it’s doubtful you fall into this group.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
EXCELLENCE - SKILL OR ATTITUDE?
Excellence
"Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude."
Ralph Marston
A gentleman once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.
Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?"
"No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage."
The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage... "Where is the damage?" he asked.
"There is a scratch on the nose of the idol," said the sculptor, still busy with his work.
"Where are you going to install the idol?"
The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.
"If the idol is that high, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.
The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I know it and God knows it!"
Moral - The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not. Excellence is a drive from inside, not outside. Excel at a task today - not necessarily for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction.
source:motivateus
"Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude."
Ralph Marston
A gentleman once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.
Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?"
"No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage."
The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage... "Where is the damage?" he asked.
"There is a scratch on the nose of the idol," said the sculptor, still busy with his work.
"Where are you going to install the idol?"
The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high.
"If the idol is that high, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.
The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I know it and God knows it!"
Moral - The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not. Excellence is a drive from inside, not outside. Excel at a task today - not necessarily for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction.
source:motivateus
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Purpose and Calling
THE GIST
One of the big reasons that the enemy attacks us so vigorously is to abort the purpose that theLord has for our lives. The Lord states in Jeremiah 29:11, that He has a great plan for our livesand He is committed to see that plan manifest in our lives. Psalms 138:8 re-enforces this bystating that the Lord will fulfill His purpose for my life. II Timothy 1:9 reminds us that ourpurpose comes right out of the heart of God and was given so the Lord’s plan for the worldcould unfold during my lifetime. Is it any wonder why the devil works so hard to talk us out ofGod’s plan for our lives?Isaiah 46:10 explains a concept, that Ephesians 1:3 alludes to and Philippians 4:7 reinforces.Isaiah 46:10 shows that God has a place for my life to end up and predetermined tasks that Hewants me to accomplish. He then starts my life at the right spot, so I will make it to my endright on time. Since He is the beginning and the end, He is able to start and finish my life.Scripture is constantly encouraging us as we see people called into God’s purpose and thenGod performing His purpose through them. It was God’s purpose for the great Goliath to fallso a young man named David was selected and equipped by taking care of a lion and a bear.David was then brought across the path of Goliath the day he was to fall and through the powerof the Spirit, David was used to take Goliath down and set Israel free.We see Paul, who did not walk in the predestined steps until late in his life acknowledging inGalatians 1:15 that his life was marked out by God. He made many mistakes but these errorsdid not erase God’s call on Paul’s life. That should give us confidence and hope that we alsocan walk in the fullness that the Lord has for us. My steps do have an order and they will bringme into the highway of holiness where the Lord has my good works arranged.Judges 6:15 reminds us that sometimes my present situation does not reflect the abilitynecessary to accomplish what my vision would require. It is during those times, I mustremember that it is the Lord who is going to work through me to accomplish His goals. Exodus3:2, 3 encourages us, as we see the tenacity of the Lord to get the one called to be the delivererof Israel into the right path. Moses could not accept God’s promise because of his failure andpresent condition. He assumed he had fallen too far to be useful to the Lord. God went to greatlengths to speak into Moses the necessary confidence and ability to accomplish His purposesand grace through His chosen instrument. It has always been a source of strength andencouragement for me to watch God use imperfect people to work a perfect plan. That meansthat you and I can be arranged by the Master Potter to be an instrument to be used in His handsto carry life to a dying world.
Now that you know!!
One of the big reasons that the enemy attacks us so vigorously is to abort the purpose that theLord has for our lives. The Lord states in Jeremiah 29:11, that He has a great plan for our livesand He is committed to see that plan manifest in our lives. Psalms 138:8 re-enforces this bystating that the Lord will fulfill His purpose for my life. II Timothy 1:9 reminds us that ourpurpose comes right out of the heart of God and was given so the Lord’s plan for the worldcould unfold during my lifetime. Is it any wonder why the devil works so hard to talk us out ofGod’s plan for our lives?Isaiah 46:10 explains a concept, that Ephesians 1:3 alludes to and Philippians 4:7 reinforces.Isaiah 46:10 shows that God has a place for my life to end up and predetermined tasks that Hewants me to accomplish. He then starts my life at the right spot, so I will make it to my endright on time. Since He is the beginning and the end, He is able to start and finish my life.Scripture is constantly encouraging us as we see people called into God’s purpose and thenGod performing His purpose through them. It was God’s purpose for the great Goliath to fallso a young man named David was selected and equipped by taking care of a lion and a bear.David was then brought across the path of Goliath the day he was to fall and through the powerof the Spirit, David was used to take Goliath down and set Israel free.We see Paul, who did not walk in the predestined steps until late in his life acknowledging inGalatians 1:15 that his life was marked out by God. He made many mistakes but these errorsdid not erase God’s call on Paul’s life. That should give us confidence and hope that we alsocan walk in the fullness that the Lord has for us. My steps do have an order and they will bringme into the highway of holiness where the Lord has my good works arranged.Judges 6:15 reminds us that sometimes my present situation does not reflect the abilitynecessary to accomplish what my vision would require. It is during those times, I mustremember that it is the Lord who is going to work through me to accomplish His goals. Exodus3:2, 3 encourages us, as we see the tenacity of the Lord to get the one called to be the delivererof Israel into the right path. Moses could not accept God’s promise because of his failure andpresent condition. He assumed he had fallen too far to be useful to the Lord. God went to greatlengths to speak into Moses the necessary confidence and ability to accomplish His purposesand grace through His chosen instrument. It has always been a source of strength andencouragement for me to watch God use imperfect people to work a perfect plan. That meansthat you and I can be arranged by the Master Potter to be an instrument to be used in His handsto carry life to a dying world.
Now that you know!!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Compound Interest
Compound Interest ...The 8th Wonder!
The best long-term investor's friend is called compounding, and it can certainly make you rich!
I never cease to be amazed by the power of compounding in an investment program!
Indeed, seeing literally pocket change become millions over time is truly a remarkable thing!
Here's the story of an ancient Athenian merchant entrusted with a large sum of money to establish a trust fund to run for 2,000 years.
This Athenian pocketed all the money except a single Drachma, which he invested in Athenian government bonds paying 3 percent compounded annually.
He didn't live long enough to see the results, but after 2,000 years that Drachmae wound up being worth more than all the assets on the Earth!
When it comes to investing, compounding means that you can earn interest on your principal, as well as on any other interest you may have ccumulated.
Getting started with investing as early as possible can make a big difference in how much wealth is ultimately accumulated. The benefits of saving early in life are greatly magnified by compounding.
In this process, the growth of an investment's value is computed on the sum of the original investment, including the assumption that dividends or interest are reinvested in the same asset.
Overall, the power of compounding can make assets grow much faster.
Money goes to Money ...
Certainly!
Because compound interest is a really marvellous invention. - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) called it the 8th Wonder - It can work for you, or against you. When you invest it works for you. When you borrow it works against you!
You can become financially secure by winning the lottery. The surer way is to save money, invest it and ...
Let it compound!
The Rule of 72
To be able to do compound interest problems in your head, the Rule of 72 gives you a lightning fast benchmark to determine how good (or not so good) a potential investment is likely to be.
The rule of 72 says that in order to find the number of years required to double your money at a given interest rate, you can just divide the interest rate into 72.
For example, if you want to know how long it will take to double your money at eight percent interest, divide 8 into 72 and get 9 years.
The rule of 72 is remarkably accurate, as long as the interest rate is less than twenty percent.
You can also run it backwards. If you want to double your money in six years, just divide 6 into 72 to find that it will require an interest rate of about 12 percent.
source:Greekshare
-->
The best long-term investor's friend is called compounding, and it can certainly make you rich!
I never cease to be amazed by the power of compounding in an investment program!
Indeed, seeing literally pocket change become millions over time is truly a remarkable thing!
Here's the story of an ancient Athenian merchant entrusted with a large sum of money to establish a trust fund to run for 2,000 years.
This Athenian pocketed all the money except a single Drachma, which he invested in Athenian government bonds paying 3 percent compounded annually.
He didn't live long enough to see the results, but after 2,000 years that Drachmae wound up being worth more than all the assets on the Earth!
When it comes to investing, compounding means that you can earn interest on your principal, as well as on any other interest you may have ccumulated.
Getting started with investing as early as possible can make a big difference in how much wealth is ultimately accumulated. The benefits of saving early in life are greatly magnified by compounding.
In this process, the growth of an investment's value is computed on the sum of the original investment, including the assumption that dividends or interest are reinvested in the same asset.
Overall, the power of compounding can make assets grow much faster.
Money goes to Money ...
Certainly!
Because compound interest is a really marvellous invention. - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) called it the 8th Wonder - It can work for you, or against you. When you invest it works for you. When you borrow it works against you!
You can become financially secure by winning the lottery. The surer way is to save money, invest it and ...
Let it compound!
The Rule of 72
To be able to do compound interest problems in your head, the Rule of 72 gives you a lightning fast benchmark to determine how good (or not so good) a potential investment is likely to be.
The rule of 72 says that in order to find the number of years required to double your money at a given interest rate, you can just divide the interest rate into 72.
For example, if you want to know how long it will take to double your money at eight percent interest, divide 8 into 72 and get 9 years.
The rule of 72 is remarkably accurate, as long as the interest rate is less than twenty percent.
You can also run it backwards. If you want to double your money in six years, just divide 6 into 72 to find that it will require an interest rate of about 12 percent.
source:Greekshare
-->
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Law of Polarity
The Law of Polarity
Edited By Chibuzo
"Everything in the universe has its opposite. There would be no inside to a room without an outside. You have a right and left side to your body, a front and a back. Every up has a down and every down has an up. The Law of Polarity not only states that everything has an opposite -- it is equal and opposite. If it was three feet from the floor up to the table, it would be three feet from the table down to the floor. If it is 150 miles from Manchester to London, by law it must be 150 miles from London to Manchester; it could not be any other way."If something you considered bad happens in your life, there has to be something good about it. If it was only a little bad, when you mentally work your way around to the other side, you will find it will only be a little good." Using Bob's example, when I find myself in trying circumstances I put the circumstance in the middle of a circle. I then mentally walk around the circumstance until I'm on the other side. Then I let my mind go to work examining things from that perspective. And I'm never disappointed at what I find.During a tele-seminar I conducted with Randy Gage, he used a very good example of this. While the flat tire you have seems to be a negative circumstance to you, it's a very positive circumstance for your local tire dealer. Looking even further it's possible that while changing the tire the dealer discovers a much more serious problem that would have cost you a large sum of money if discovered later.So it's even more clear from Bob's teaching that every circumstance can be viewed two ways. It's the way we view a circumstance that determines it's impact on our thinking and mental state. And we know from James Allen's teaching that that determines the quality of life that we live.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW!!
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!
Edited By Chibuzo
"Everything in the universe has its opposite. There would be no inside to a room without an outside. You have a right and left side to your body, a front and a back. Every up has a down and every down has an up. The Law of Polarity not only states that everything has an opposite -- it is equal and opposite. If it was three feet from the floor up to the table, it would be three feet from the table down to the floor. If it is 150 miles from Manchester to London, by law it must be 150 miles from London to Manchester; it could not be any other way."If something you considered bad happens in your life, there has to be something good about it. If it was only a little bad, when you mentally work your way around to the other side, you will find it will only be a little good." Using Bob's example, when I find myself in trying circumstances I put the circumstance in the middle of a circle. I then mentally walk around the circumstance until I'm on the other side. Then I let my mind go to work examining things from that perspective. And I'm never disappointed at what I find.During a tele-seminar I conducted with Randy Gage, he used a very good example of this. While the flat tire you have seems to be a negative circumstance to you, it's a very positive circumstance for your local tire dealer. Looking even further it's possible that while changing the tire the dealer discovers a much more serious problem that would have cost you a large sum of money if discovered later.So it's even more clear from Bob's teaching that every circumstance can be viewed two ways. It's the way we view a circumstance that determines it's impact on our thinking and mental state. And we know from James Allen's teaching that that determines the quality of life that we live.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW!!
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
LESSONS FROM THE MASTERS (2)
LET GO AND LET GOD
“Something wonderful is happening.”
John Kanary
The Personal Coach
“Something wonderful is happening.”
John Kanary
The Personal Coach
How many times have you been faced with what
appeared to be an insurmountable problem and you
silently wished you could “turn it over” to somebody
else for a solution. Or have you ever sat day
dreaming—building magnificent images on the
screen of your mind—wishing you had a certain sum
of money, wanting to take a trip to some exotic
place, or possibly hoping to be able to purchase the
automobile you have always wanted? Wouldn’t it
be fantastic if there was some “magic formula” that
would give us the things we want and permit us to
live the way we choose? Well there is, and it has
been around since time began. Therefore, you can
have the things you want—all of them—and you will
have them if you will only make the ideas in this
book a part of your way of thinking; a part of your
way of life.
Make up your mind to read this chapter over and
over—100 times if necessary—until you feel deep
inside that you really comprehend the idea being
expressed. For if you fail to grasp the idea presented
to you in this chapter, the rest of the book will be of
little value to you. However, once you do understand
this chapter, it will be as if a tremendous light has
gone on in your mind—truly illuminating your life—
and you will realize you will never again be the same
74 Let Go And Let God
person you once were. No person, thing, or
circumstance will intimidate you ever again. Your
days of idle-wishing will be brought to a halt.
Happiness, health and prosperity will follow you all
the days of your life and you will spend the rest of
your years wanting to share your new understanding
with everyone and anyone who is willing to take
the time to listen and learn.
Be aware, however, that many of the people
whom you try to share your new awareness with are
simply not ready for it. In fact, nine out of ten people
will laugh and tell others you are odd, when you
have shared your formula—Let Go And Let God—
with them. You must realize this is because the vast
majority of people whom you encounter every day,
treat God like some cosmic bellboy, who is supposed
to run and fetch and then deliver. These individuals
erroneously believe that merely because a person
verbalizes certain thoughts in their mind—“God
please get me this,” or “God give me that,”— they
will receive what they have asked for. But
unfortunately, these people do not understand the
true nature of prayer and what is even more tragic—
they don’t even know, that they don’t know!
Potential Is Everywhere Always
Understand this—everything you see in this
universe, yourself included, is nothing but the
expression of an infinite power. This power is
forever flowing into and through you. Scientists will
tell you that everything is energy. I choose to say
that everything is Spirit.
Let Go And Let God 75
Let Go And Let God
For centuries there has been a select group of
people who are the real thinkers. These individuals
have always known there is a power which
permeates, penetrates and fills the interspaces of the
cosmos, and that everything you see around you is
an expression of that power. The power operates in
a very precise manner, which is generally called law.
In other words, everything comes from one source,
and that source power always flows and works to
and through the individual—that is you. Stated
slightly differently, the image that you have formed
can only come to you on the physical plane of life
(your results) in one way, and that way is By Law
and through Faith.
The Mormon religion has a scripture in its
Doctrine and Covenants which demonstrates this
point extremely well, and although I am not a
Mormon myself, I have grown to love these lines:
“There is a law; irrevocably decreed in
heaven before the foundations of this world
upon which all blessings are predicated.
And when we obtain any blessing from God,
it is by obedience to that law upon which it
is predicated.”
D & C 130:20-21
The more you study this scripture, the more you
will appreciate just how perfect it is. The more you
understand its truth, the easier it will be for you to
improve the quality of your life.
appeared to be an insurmountable problem and you
silently wished you could “turn it over” to somebody
else for a solution. Or have you ever sat day
dreaming—building magnificent images on the
screen of your mind—wishing you had a certain sum
of money, wanting to take a trip to some exotic
place, or possibly hoping to be able to purchase the
automobile you have always wanted? Wouldn’t it
be fantastic if there was some “magic formula” that
would give us the things we want and permit us to
live the way we choose? Well there is, and it has
been around since time began. Therefore, you can
have the things you want—all of them—and you will
have them if you will only make the ideas in this
book a part of your way of thinking; a part of your
way of life.
Make up your mind to read this chapter over and
over—100 times if necessary—until you feel deep
inside that you really comprehend the idea being
expressed. For if you fail to grasp the idea presented
to you in this chapter, the rest of the book will be of
little value to you. However, once you do understand
this chapter, it will be as if a tremendous light has
gone on in your mind—truly illuminating your life—
and you will realize you will never again be the same
74 Let Go And Let God
person you once were. No person, thing, or
circumstance will intimidate you ever again. Your
days of idle-wishing will be brought to a halt.
Happiness, health and prosperity will follow you all
the days of your life and you will spend the rest of
your years wanting to share your new understanding
with everyone and anyone who is willing to take
the time to listen and learn.
Be aware, however, that many of the people
whom you try to share your new awareness with are
simply not ready for it. In fact, nine out of ten people
will laugh and tell others you are odd, when you
have shared your formula—Let Go And Let God—
with them. You must realize this is because the vast
majority of people whom you encounter every day,
treat God like some cosmic bellboy, who is supposed
to run and fetch and then deliver. These individuals
erroneously believe that merely because a person
verbalizes certain thoughts in their mind—“God
please get me this,” or “God give me that,”— they
will receive what they have asked for. But
unfortunately, these people do not understand the
true nature of prayer and what is even more tragic—
they don’t even know, that they don’t know!
Potential Is Everywhere Always
Understand this—everything you see in this
universe, yourself included, is nothing but the
expression of an infinite power. This power is
forever flowing into and through you. Scientists will
tell you that everything is energy. I choose to say
that everything is Spirit.
Let Go And Let God 75
Let Go And Let God
For centuries there has been a select group of
people who are the real thinkers. These individuals
have always known there is a power which
permeates, penetrates and fills the interspaces of the
cosmos, and that everything you see around you is
an expression of that power. The power operates in
a very precise manner, which is generally called law.
In other words, everything comes from one source,
and that source power always flows and works to
and through the individual—that is you. Stated
slightly differently, the image that you have formed
can only come to you on the physical plane of life
(your results) in one way, and that way is By Law
and through Faith.
The Mormon religion has a scripture in its
Doctrine and Covenants which demonstrates this
point extremely well, and although I am not a
Mormon myself, I have grown to love these lines:
“There is a law; irrevocably decreed in
heaven before the foundations of this world
upon which all blessings are predicated.
And when we obtain any blessing from God,
it is by obedience to that law upon which it
is predicated.”
D & C 130:20-21
The more you study this scripture, the more you
will appreciate just how perfect it is. The more you
understand its truth, the easier it will be for you to
improve the quality of your life.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW!
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!
Friday, October 9, 2009
LESSONS FROM THE MASTERS
It my pleasure to bring to you another series in our bid to encourage/inspire our generation to dream and achieve lofty feats. In this series we will bring to you various lessons from men and women who have gone through this road. Their experiences will be our lesson and then we will find srength in our wings to fly.
Enjoy the rest.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
By Leke Alder
The number 4
The number 4
· 4 represents the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
· 4 represents the four Matriarchs (foremothers) of Judaism - Sarah,
Rebeccah, Leah, and Rachel.
· 4 represents the four chambers of the mammalian heart.
· 4 represents 4 parts of a day: night, morning, afternoon, evening.
· 4 represents 4 cardinal directions: north, south, east, west.
My entire presentation today is in 4 chapters.
Chapter One
My name is Leke Alder. I have two lives. By day, I am a consultant working for
corporations and Government on brand strategy and development. And while
many of you know me for this, some are only now just becoming acquainted
with my second life - my nightlife. No, I do not prowl nightclubs. That's not
what I mean by nightlife! By night I am a weaver of life's riddles - writing,
thinking, meditating, and working to understand this animal called Life.
I have meditated and documented life in many genres in books, poetry and
photographs. I have meditated on ambition, and vision, and relationships,
and depths, and happiness, and joy, and purpose, and the universe; on God,
and the Bible, politics, and power… Life is a riddle full of question marks,
quotations marks and punctuation marks.
In the course of life I became a storyteller, writing books and yawns.
Sometimes I write lyrically in prose and poetry, and sometimes I write straight.
I write to acquaint my readers with the paragraphs and syntax of life, and I
seek to pass on my knowledge to the next generation. When I write I speak
on paper. Today I speak to you in person.
I will distill wisdom to you. I will re-present the riddles of life in digestible
chunks, using parables and analogies.
_______
Wisdom walks in the streets, Solomon says; I therefore watch men and
women, boys and girls, as they take a walk on the streets of life in order to
gain wisdom. To be honest with you, some don't walk. They run, with
urgency. They know that the time is short, and that youth is a deceptive
quantity. It is a speeding train pretending to be a tortoise. Life runs out on
youth and before you know it, you are an adult, fully responsible for yourself
and others. Youth soon passes by, and the wise embrace adulthood earlier
than most.
For some, youthfulness makes a train wreck of their potential, through
irresponsibility. It leaves a trail of smoke behind. They wheeze and cough in
fits and starts as they grapple with smokes and mirrors, lurching from one
misadventure to another in the name of youthfulness.
Some take casual strolls through life, believing they have all the time in the
world. Tomorrow will never come they think, not knowing that the ability to
contemplate that thought is a signal that adulthood is already knocking at the
door of their lives! Nothing is urgent. These people take their time with
everything.
Some others sit down, disconsolate and conquered by their environment.
They face the predicament of life by blaming everybody - the blamable and
unblamable. They blame the past in their parents. They blame the present in
Government. And they blame the future in their wives and mates. Everyone is
to blame except themselves. They are subscribers to the notion that their
karma is tied up in their conjugal association; and they turn on the head the
divine benediction that he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains
favour from God. Having discovered that their lives are inversely proportional
to that blessing they refuse to pause and think.
A variant of these people are those who blame their nation for everything. If
only they were born Americans they say. They forget that there are many poor
unsuccessful Americans even in “God’s own country”. They lose sight of
purpose, and the fact that providence is not prone to mistakes or error. By
divine calculus, they were born here, in this time and in this place. And the
circumstances of their birth is the impetus for their ascension on the ladder of
life. It may be tough going, but with life’s difficulties come strength of
character, virtue and nobility. Without difficulties, we cannot learn patience
and endurance. Without difficulties we cannot learn faith. And no man has yet
possessed the future without faith. Without faith, we become complainants
and consign ourselves to the dustbin of history marked “Irrelevant”.
If truth be told, these people do not really wish to succeed. They just need an
excuse for failure. And there is a difference between reasons for failure and
excuses for failure. We are bound to fail at some attempts and ventures. All
life’s heroes, from David to Abraham Lincoln, to Winston Churchill, to Nelson
Mandela, to Obafemi Awolowo did. When we sit down to analyse and ponder
why we failed, then we can learn the lessons to take forward and try again.
But when we blame others for our lives, then we’ve found excuses. The man
who understands the reason for failure moves forward. The man who finds
excuses for failure is only consoling himself and compensating for his lack of
drive. He never moves on. Instead he turns his failure into a song, telling
stories in lyrics of death. When a man lacks ambition, he is dead yet he lives.
We are chartered liberties. We make our own choices, and we are ultimately
responsible for our lives. Life is not always fair. Some are born rich but many
are born poor. When the poor, with determination, take life by the horns and
refuse to be sacrificed on the altar of circumstances, then life seeks a
substitute to sacrifice - just like the ram became a substitute for Isaac on
Mount Moriah. When we make something out of our lives, the stories of our
hardships become legends and an inspiration to many. We must never stand
at the bus stop of life, comatose. A bus stop is never a destination. It’s always
a transmission point. Problems and situations are not destinations. They are
the bus stops of life!
But some don’t understand this simple truth. They sit idly at the bus stop,
without any destination in mind. You must have a vision. It may not be clear
but you must have an idea of who you want to be and what you don’t want to
be. Some people never know which bus to take. They are confused. Some
others jump on any bus especially the bus they see others taking. They are
the ones who embark on the latest business idea in vogue even when it’s not
their inclination or aspiration and does not align with their skills. They stumble
from one idea to the other until we are all confused. Their business should be
called ‘Flavour of The Moment Ltd’. They lack self esteem and resolve. Don’t
jump on a bandwagon. Know yourself and pursue your abilities, interests and
inclinations. It’s the only way to sustain interest in what you do.
But perhaps the most pathetic are the people gisting their lives away at the
bus stop. They love to impress others. In school they never face their studies.
They forget that the primary reason for school attendance is graduation, with
a certificate. Some are Year 7 Part 2! They have a truckload of re-sits and
carry-overs. They grow old on campus. Post campus, they usually gather in
watering holes in other people’s offices. They gist from morning to evening.
And young men love to tell tall tales! The latest conquest of the female
species… the latest encounter with a very important dignitary that they met
casually at a function, though from their retelling of it you would think they just
had a two-man dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant… the latest get-richquick
investment scheme… They are experts in everything except the
important things of life. They talk grand, citing stories and dropping names till
the corridor becomes cluttered with alphabets. Empty barrels don’t make the
most noise. Empty barrels full of hot air make the most noise. These people
are full of gas. They suffer from a complex the type of which is
indeterminable, and they seek to compensate by telling tales taller than a 25
storey building. They are strategic analysts on every subject, from football to
business to politics, but they are never beneficiaries of their analyses. They
know everybody but nobody will put faith in them. They are the life of the
party in any gathering and never grow up. May your father never allow your
sister to marry such!
And there are those at Life’s intersections who have refused to move
because they do not want to pay the cost of achievement. They have
contemplated what it would take to achieve and just gave up! They
disembarked before embarking on the bus! Their faith fails.
You must never take life in gulps. You can only sip it. No young man’s faith
can accommodate his tomorrow. The vistas of pain and toil will discourage
him were God to show him what it would take to get to the top. That’s why
God hides the future from us and reveals it to us in snippets – line by line,
precept upon precept, a little here, a little there... As we prove ourselves
faithful on one level, we are moved unto another. It takes a psychological leap
of faith to move from poverty and hopelessness to success and prosperity.
It’s not as easy as it seems.
You must believe in yourself and believe in your future – a future you cannot
see. You have to trust the invisible arms of Providence.
It is written: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”(Jeremiah
29:11). There is a destination for you. Don’t abandon your future by giving up
on it!
· 4 represents the four Matriarchs (foremothers) of Judaism - Sarah,
Rebeccah, Leah, and Rachel.
· 4 represents the four chambers of the mammalian heart.
· 4 represents 4 parts of a day: night, morning, afternoon, evening.
· 4 represents 4 cardinal directions: north, south, east, west.
My entire presentation today is in 4 chapters.
Chapter One
My name is Leke Alder. I have two lives. By day, I am a consultant working for
corporations and Government on brand strategy and development. And while
many of you know me for this, some are only now just becoming acquainted
with my second life - my nightlife. No, I do not prowl nightclubs. That's not
what I mean by nightlife! By night I am a weaver of life's riddles - writing,
thinking, meditating, and working to understand this animal called Life.
I have meditated and documented life in many genres in books, poetry and
photographs. I have meditated on ambition, and vision, and relationships,
and depths, and happiness, and joy, and purpose, and the universe; on God,
and the Bible, politics, and power… Life is a riddle full of question marks,
quotations marks and punctuation marks.
In the course of life I became a storyteller, writing books and yawns.
Sometimes I write lyrically in prose and poetry, and sometimes I write straight.
I write to acquaint my readers with the paragraphs and syntax of life, and I
seek to pass on my knowledge to the next generation. When I write I speak
on paper. Today I speak to you in person.
I will distill wisdom to you. I will re-present the riddles of life in digestible
chunks, using parables and analogies.
_______
Wisdom walks in the streets, Solomon says; I therefore watch men and
women, boys and girls, as they take a walk on the streets of life in order to
gain wisdom. To be honest with you, some don't walk. They run, with
urgency. They know that the time is short, and that youth is a deceptive
quantity. It is a speeding train pretending to be a tortoise. Life runs out on
youth and before you know it, you are an adult, fully responsible for yourself
and others. Youth soon passes by, and the wise embrace adulthood earlier
than most.
For some, youthfulness makes a train wreck of their potential, through
irresponsibility. It leaves a trail of smoke behind. They wheeze and cough in
fits and starts as they grapple with smokes and mirrors, lurching from one
misadventure to another in the name of youthfulness.
Some take casual strolls through life, believing they have all the time in the
world. Tomorrow will never come they think, not knowing that the ability to
contemplate that thought is a signal that adulthood is already knocking at the
door of their lives! Nothing is urgent. These people take their time with
everything.
Some others sit down, disconsolate and conquered by their environment.
They face the predicament of life by blaming everybody - the blamable and
unblamable. They blame the past in their parents. They blame the present in
Government. And they blame the future in their wives and mates. Everyone is
to blame except themselves. They are subscribers to the notion that their
karma is tied up in their conjugal association; and they turn on the head the
divine benediction that he who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains
favour from God. Having discovered that their lives are inversely proportional
to that blessing they refuse to pause and think.
A variant of these people are those who blame their nation for everything. If
only they were born Americans they say. They forget that there are many poor
unsuccessful Americans even in “God’s own country”. They lose sight of
purpose, and the fact that providence is not prone to mistakes or error. By
divine calculus, they were born here, in this time and in this place. And the
circumstances of their birth is the impetus for their ascension on the ladder of
life. It may be tough going, but with life’s difficulties come strength of
character, virtue and nobility. Without difficulties, we cannot learn patience
and endurance. Without difficulties we cannot learn faith. And no man has yet
possessed the future without faith. Without faith, we become complainants
and consign ourselves to the dustbin of history marked “Irrelevant”.
If truth be told, these people do not really wish to succeed. They just need an
excuse for failure. And there is a difference between reasons for failure and
excuses for failure. We are bound to fail at some attempts and ventures. All
life’s heroes, from David to Abraham Lincoln, to Winston Churchill, to Nelson
Mandela, to Obafemi Awolowo did. When we sit down to analyse and ponder
why we failed, then we can learn the lessons to take forward and try again.
But when we blame others for our lives, then we’ve found excuses. The man
who understands the reason for failure moves forward. The man who finds
excuses for failure is only consoling himself and compensating for his lack of
drive. He never moves on. Instead he turns his failure into a song, telling
stories in lyrics of death. When a man lacks ambition, he is dead yet he lives.
We are chartered liberties. We make our own choices, and we are ultimately
responsible for our lives. Life is not always fair. Some are born rich but many
are born poor. When the poor, with determination, take life by the horns and
refuse to be sacrificed on the altar of circumstances, then life seeks a
substitute to sacrifice - just like the ram became a substitute for Isaac on
Mount Moriah. When we make something out of our lives, the stories of our
hardships become legends and an inspiration to many. We must never stand
at the bus stop of life, comatose. A bus stop is never a destination. It’s always
a transmission point. Problems and situations are not destinations. They are
the bus stops of life!
But some don’t understand this simple truth. They sit idly at the bus stop,
without any destination in mind. You must have a vision. It may not be clear
but you must have an idea of who you want to be and what you don’t want to
be. Some people never know which bus to take. They are confused. Some
others jump on any bus especially the bus they see others taking. They are
the ones who embark on the latest business idea in vogue even when it’s not
their inclination or aspiration and does not align with their skills. They stumble
from one idea to the other until we are all confused. Their business should be
called ‘Flavour of The Moment Ltd’. They lack self esteem and resolve. Don’t
jump on a bandwagon. Know yourself and pursue your abilities, interests and
inclinations. It’s the only way to sustain interest in what you do.
But perhaps the most pathetic are the people gisting their lives away at the
bus stop. They love to impress others. In school they never face their studies.
They forget that the primary reason for school attendance is graduation, with
a certificate. Some are Year 7 Part 2! They have a truckload of re-sits and
carry-overs. They grow old on campus. Post campus, they usually gather in
watering holes in other people’s offices. They gist from morning to evening.
And young men love to tell tall tales! The latest conquest of the female
species… the latest encounter with a very important dignitary that they met
casually at a function, though from their retelling of it you would think they just
had a two-man dinner at a fancy Chinese restaurant… the latest get-richquick
investment scheme… They are experts in everything except the
important things of life. They talk grand, citing stories and dropping names till
the corridor becomes cluttered with alphabets. Empty barrels don’t make the
most noise. Empty barrels full of hot air make the most noise. These people
are full of gas. They suffer from a complex the type of which is
indeterminable, and they seek to compensate by telling tales taller than a 25
storey building. They are strategic analysts on every subject, from football to
business to politics, but they are never beneficiaries of their analyses. They
know everybody but nobody will put faith in them. They are the life of the
party in any gathering and never grow up. May your father never allow your
sister to marry such!
And there are those at Life’s intersections who have refused to move
because they do not want to pay the cost of achievement. They have
contemplated what it would take to achieve and just gave up! They
disembarked before embarking on the bus! Their faith fails.
You must never take life in gulps. You can only sip it. No young man’s faith
can accommodate his tomorrow. The vistas of pain and toil will discourage
him were God to show him what it would take to get to the top. That’s why
God hides the future from us and reveals it to us in snippets – line by line,
precept upon precept, a little here, a little there... As we prove ourselves
faithful on one level, we are moved unto another. It takes a psychological leap
of faith to move from poverty and hopelessness to success and prosperity.
It’s not as easy as it seems.
You must believe in yourself and believe in your future – a future you cannot
see. You have to trust the invisible arms of Providence.
It is written: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”(Jeremiah
29:11). There is a destination for you. Don’t abandon your future by giving up
on it!
Chapter Two
I want to tell you a story. I do hope that in the telling of this tale I shall be able
to teach you business lessons having laid the philosophical foundation in the
first chapter of my lecture.
Three young men walked into my office on the 23 rd of November 2008.
Of the three, one was a fresh graduate and two of the numbered were in
school hoping to graduate soon. The three came into my office burning with
the passion of an entrepreneurial idea. The idea was an internet based
business. They had gone on that famous TV program, Dragon’s Den, but
they were told to refine their idea and come back. The idea was already up
and running but it was not generating the anticipated response.
The father of one of these three kids, of whom I am well acquainted had
called me and asked me to intervene in the ideation of the business. I do
know how to do that having birthed businesses. Moreover I consult on
businesses and have written books on entrepreneurial pursuits. Daily I work
on ideas and turn them into brand propositions and market success. This
father had also seen me build up from scratch. There must be something I
had learned along the way that I could pass on to his son he reasoned. It
thus made logical sense to send the son to me. But the son showed up with
two partners.
I got a buzz from the reception: “Three people are here to see you Mr.
Alder… They do have an appointment. They actually look very young”. The
receptionist added the last bit to warn me of the demographics of my waiting
party.
And so it was that three ruddy-faced gentlemen showed up in my office. They
sat in the meeting room nervous with anticipation, not knowing what I looked
like or what I would say. I knew they would have rehearsed what they would
say to me but everyone sweats a bit in trying to present an idea to a skeptical
and unpredictable world. Sweat is good. It makes you cover all your bases.
Better to sweat than to be cocky and ignorant!
As I walked into the meeting room, my right arm stretched out in anticipation
of handshakes, I noticed that they were all suitably attired, meaning that they
dressed for a business meeting. One was actually in a suit. The second, the
one who incubated the idea as I would soon discover, had no suit but wore a
tie. The third wore no suit and no tie but he was neatly dressed. That
impressed me. Always dress for the occasion. It’s a sign of respect, and
seriousness. If you want others to take you seriously, take yourself seriously.
It turned out that they were dressed in their order of perceived importance.
They had formed a small corporation. The suited gentleman was of course
the CEO (Chief Executive Officer). He looked most important. The young man
in a tie without suit was, I guess the COO (Chief Operating Officer). And the
gentleman without tie was the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).
But while I appreciated the fact that they turned out well dressed in business
attire, I noticed something troublesome in the group dynamics. And I noticed
it almost immediately. The gentleman CEO had an air of self-importance. He
carried an I-take-charge-I-know-it-well-These-other-guys-are-not-saying-itwell-
attitude. He asserted himself as spokesperson, no doubt buttressed by
his attire and the pocket square jutting from his coat breast pocket like the
plumage of a peacock. The pocket square I noticed was just one of those
‘Made in China’ cotton handkerchiefs with the patterned end hanging out of
the coat with shyness. But he carried himself with such braggadocio like it
was silk!
As is my custom, I took time to listen to their business idea, trying to find what
I call “line of simplicity”. I needed to understand what it was they were selling
from an average man’s perspective. I couldn’t get it. The product had a lot of
whistles in it but the core idea was lost on me. And if it’s lost on me, how
would an average man get it?
I knew in my head that I was dealing with a group that was very excited about
their idea but failed to see that unless people understand it they can’t buy it!
They were enamoured by the possibilities of what they had undertaken, and
the sheer audacity of trying to do such a thing at an early age in life. They left
the consumer behind. They were more excited about their technology!
The simple moral from this is, if the consumer can’t get it you’ve lost it!
Something was wrong with the idea and when I asked a pointed question
about the product, they sought to answer me by shoving papers in front of
me to read. How many consumers are they going to shove papers at?
Products must be intuitively simple to understand and use. And services
must be easily understandable and not needing long explanations. And if you
must seek professional counseling, you must have your facts at your
fingertips. Don’t shove papers at people.
The papers presented had a lot of creative design but they were
professionally deficient in presentation. Always be professional in your
presentation.
The proof that the product was deficient was the fact that patronage was
poor. And when I examined the business fundamentals, I noticed that the
income modeling was wrong.
In business, the first question to ask is, “Where is the money?” Directly or
indirectly, a product must be pitched at the person who can pay or get
somebody to pay. If it’s not going to generate income, it’s not business. It
may be philanthropy, or a promotional piece, but a good business idea
always has a viable income model.
In this case, the income model was convoluted by the fact that they were not
only targeting the wrong audience to pay, they were trying to sell the primary
market what they didn’t ask for or want or need! You cannot sell the market
what they don’t want or need. You are wasting your time and energy!
I asked some other questions and to my shock and horror, they had no
written strategy or business plan. They told me they had a vision, which they
wanted to recite, and a mission and values. I knew from just talking to them
that they did not realize how these are business drivers and not just
something you recite to impress people. I was beginning to sense that they
seemed more interested in impressions than substance, though the
gentleman who conceptualized the business seemed to have a different
attitude. The “CEO” was all about whistles and bells. He was acting like a
“CEO”.
Business is not child’s play. It’s your life! And you must get it right. You can
only do so by seeking knowledge. No matter how expensive knowledge may
seem, ignorance I assure you is terribly more expensive; and it may cost you
a substantial portion of your life with frustration as icing.
These young men’s business was suffering from what is technically referred
to as Failure Cost, which is the aggregate cost of not doing things right from
inception. They hadn’t thought through on their idea. They even launched
without proper testing. The first set of people who flocked to the product were
disappointed. The technology failed. Your first set of customers are your most
important. If you disappoint them you’ve lost your early believers and you will
need to work very hard to woo them back. It’s even worse when you
disappoint those who believed in you enough to give you money to start.
Don’t defraud your believers or take them for granted. Business history
shows that your road will be hard if not crooked and impossible.
But then something curious happened as the meeting progressed. This
“CEO” tried to appeal to African sentimentalism by telling me that things have
been hard and how difficult it was to raise money to take transportation down
to Lagos to see me! And so they are appealing to “our fathers” to help. He
then went on to cite the name of one of my friends as a member of the Board
of “Advisors”. It was then that I realized that these “fathers” he was talking
about weren’t their biological fathers. I was now a surrogate father because of
finance.
If the fatherhood theme was meant to elicit the milk of human kindness from
me, it did exactly the opposite. It actually made me annoyed, and dried up
my breast in an instant. I felt the young man was being cunning.
Firstly, you cannot embark on a business venture and begin to complain
about the rigour and pain. You should go for employment if that is your
attitudinal course. Business when handled properly gives disproportionate
reward. But it will only reward the committed and faithful. And business will
seek to prove you to know if you’re committed and faithful.
Secondly, you cannot be seeking help and go about it in a cunning
manner. You insult the intelligence of others and they will wonder about your
character. I pointedly asked the young man if and when he’s successful, and
driving a fanciful car, he would share the reward with me? The smile that
emerged from the corner of his mouth was obviously my answer. If he wasn’t
going to share the reward, why should I share his pain? Why was he
complaining to me about his effort to better his life, become rich, influential
and affluential? He started on a business footing, now he was slipping into
emotional blackmail of the African variety, and seeking to profiteer my kind
nature. I’m suddenly now his “father!” He had obviously rehearsed that line
in his head.
Thirdly, hardship is a paragraph of your legend, not your history.
The hardships of your business progression are your memoirs in the making
for when you become successful. Success cannot be easy. If it were, even
the indolent will be rewarded. I have been down the path and I cannot
remember complaining to anyone about the hardships. If you complain about
the cost of your future you probably don’t deserve that future. I cited the
example of an 84 year old man I once knew who used to trek 20 kilometers to
go to Church and another 20 kilometers back. Took some time before
anybody realised it and we all rallied to correct the situation but the old man
paid the price. If it is important to you, you will pay the price.
Chapter 3
I recommended some of my books and publications to the young men. And
the “CEO” was trying to get them free, or in the alternative offering me
services I don’t need as barter. A culture of handouts and unwillingness to
invest in one’s personal life is a sign of devaluation of life. You’re not really
smart if you expect others to invest in your future for you. It’s your life!
I could have given these young men the products but I would not be helping
them. In life we must not seek an enablement that disables us for our future.
There are no easy routes in entrepreneurship. Those who seek shortcuts
often end up not building any proper businesses or they become more
crooked than a snake in convulsion! Entrepreneurship is a long grinding road
that requires our life commitment. You must go into it purposefully and be
committed to succeed. The future cannot arrive without commitment!
Incidentally when I mentioned the fact that entrepreneurship properly defined
will require a commitment of at least ten years to yield significant returns, the
CEO guy quickly detached himself from the group and said he wanted to see
me personally! That rubbed me wrongly in a sore place. I saw disloyalty and
a lack of commitment. The young man saw the fame and the glory but was
not prepared for the grind. More importantly, he lacked ethical scruples. He
came to see me on the equity of his friend on a specified business project. In
less than 30 minutes, he was pushing a personal agenda. Some will view that
as “smart” and it may be, but I worry about such a person as a business
partner. Values are the glue of business relationships. Those values must be
shared among partners or else the partnership will fail. Two cannot work
together except they be in agreement (Amos 3:3 NKJV).
Choose your partners carefully. And many times you don’t need the
partners you team up with. Everyone must have a stake in a partnership.
When things go right everyone benefits. But when things are rough ever
partner must be a partaker. Don’t go into partnership on whimsicalities.
Friendship is not the basis of business partnership. Contribution and
commitment are.
Chapter 4
The enterprise mandate is enshrined in the Book of Beginnings, the book of
Genesis. Gen 1:28 states:
" Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth." KJV
This is not just about biological procreation. The charge to Mankind goes
beyond this restrictive interpretation. Scriptures are multi-dimensional
containers and taken together they constitute a working manual of human
existence and endeavour, be it political, economic or spiritual.
The Message translation of that scripture is as follows:
"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea
and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
There are 5 capitalist commands in that scripture:
1. Prosper: Generate wealth
2. Reproduce: Multiply wealth.
3. Fill the Earth: Expand your enterprise
4. Take Charge: Take the lead and define the agenda
5. Be responsible: Take care of the less fortunate by being socially
responsible and being responsible for political outcomes in your
environment. You must also be responsible to God with your income.
That is the evolutionary progression of business. And the 5 th mandate, being
responsible to God and man, is the ultimate aim of enterprise. To grow the
business and move from one stage to the other, you must plan, wisely. That’s
what successful organisations do. They do strategic planning. Solomon,
history’s most astute and consummate business mogul said:
Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common
sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts. (Proverbs 24:3-
4)
There’s such a thing as common sense in business! And profitability comes
by being factual.
But what business should I go into you ask? I don’t have an idea, you say!
Oh yes you do!
Do you have problems? If you do, that’s an idea. Every business is a solution
to a human problem. Because the world is in a hurry, we have fast food.
Because Lagos lacks accessible potable water, there’s ‘Pure Water’. The
problem is that most people are more problem focused than solution
thinking. We wallow in our problems, seeking help and pity. And the hard
truth about life is that nobody owes you anything. You’re responsible for your
life. You cannot blame anybody for your circumstances. Even if you can,
then what?
You must rise up to the challenge of creating a future for yourself and start
working towards your vision of your life. The just shall live by faith. The Just
believe in their future and start working towards it. If you believe in your future
you WILL work towards it.
Problems are the raw materials of businesses. The Scriptures tell us that
there is no temptation overtaken you in life that is not common to man. In
other words, there’s a ready market for the solutions you create to cure your
problem!
But it’s going to take a lot to get to that future. The indolent cannot get there.
The ignorant cannot get there. Those who will not invest in knowledge cannot
get there. Those without drive or lacking in the faculty of initiative cannot get
there. And if you’re looking for life’s handouts you will not get there. Neither
will the complainants. The future belongs to those who seize it. Will you?
Thank You. God Bless!
I want to tell you a story. I do hope that in the telling of this tale I shall be able
to teach you business lessons having laid the philosophical foundation in the
first chapter of my lecture.
Three young men walked into my office on the 23 rd of November 2008.
Of the three, one was a fresh graduate and two of the numbered were in
school hoping to graduate soon. The three came into my office burning with
the passion of an entrepreneurial idea. The idea was an internet based
business. They had gone on that famous TV program, Dragon’s Den, but
they were told to refine their idea and come back. The idea was already up
and running but it was not generating the anticipated response.
The father of one of these three kids, of whom I am well acquainted had
called me and asked me to intervene in the ideation of the business. I do
know how to do that having birthed businesses. Moreover I consult on
businesses and have written books on entrepreneurial pursuits. Daily I work
on ideas and turn them into brand propositions and market success. This
father had also seen me build up from scratch. There must be something I
had learned along the way that I could pass on to his son he reasoned. It
thus made logical sense to send the son to me. But the son showed up with
two partners.
I got a buzz from the reception: “Three people are here to see you Mr.
Alder… They do have an appointment. They actually look very young”. The
receptionist added the last bit to warn me of the demographics of my waiting
party.
And so it was that three ruddy-faced gentlemen showed up in my office. They
sat in the meeting room nervous with anticipation, not knowing what I looked
like or what I would say. I knew they would have rehearsed what they would
say to me but everyone sweats a bit in trying to present an idea to a skeptical
and unpredictable world. Sweat is good. It makes you cover all your bases.
Better to sweat than to be cocky and ignorant!
As I walked into the meeting room, my right arm stretched out in anticipation
of handshakes, I noticed that they were all suitably attired, meaning that they
dressed for a business meeting. One was actually in a suit. The second, the
one who incubated the idea as I would soon discover, had no suit but wore a
tie. The third wore no suit and no tie but he was neatly dressed. That
impressed me. Always dress for the occasion. It’s a sign of respect, and
seriousness. If you want others to take you seriously, take yourself seriously.
It turned out that they were dressed in their order of perceived importance.
They had formed a small corporation. The suited gentleman was of course
the CEO (Chief Executive Officer). He looked most important. The young man
in a tie without suit was, I guess the COO (Chief Operating Officer). And the
gentleman without tie was the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).
But while I appreciated the fact that they turned out well dressed in business
attire, I noticed something troublesome in the group dynamics. And I noticed
it almost immediately. The gentleman CEO had an air of self-importance. He
carried an I-take-charge-I-know-it-well-These-other-guys-are-not-saying-itwell-
attitude. He asserted himself as spokesperson, no doubt buttressed by
his attire and the pocket square jutting from his coat breast pocket like the
plumage of a peacock. The pocket square I noticed was just one of those
‘Made in China’ cotton handkerchiefs with the patterned end hanging out of
the coat with shyness. But he carried himself with such braggadocio like it
was silk!
As is my custom, I took time to listen to their business idea, trying to find what
I call “line of simplicity”. I needed to understand what it was they were selling
from an average man’s perspective. I couldn’t get it. The product had a lot of
whistles in it but the core idea was lost on me. And if it’s lost on me, how
would an average man get it?
I knew in my head that I was dealing with a group that was very excited about
their idea but failed to see that unless people understand it they can’t buy it!
They were enamoured by the possibilities of what they had undertaken, and
the sheer audacity of trying to do such a thing at an early age in life. They left
the consumer behind. They were more excited about their technology!
The simple moral from this is, if the consumer can’t get it you’ve lost it!
Something was wrong with the idea and when I asked a pointed question
about the product, they sought to answer me by shoving papers in front of
me to read. How many consumers are they going to shove papers at?
Products must be intuitively simple to understand and use. And services
must be easily understandable and not needing long explanations. And if you
must seek professional counseling, you must have your facts at your
fingertips. Don’t shove papers at people.
The papers presented had a lot of creative design but they were
professionally deficient in presentation. Always be professional in your
presentation.
The proof that the product was deficient was the fact that patronage was
poor. And when I examined the business fundamentals, I noticed that the
income modeling was wrong.
In business, the first question to ask is, “Where is the money?” Directly or
indirectly, a product must be pitched at the person who can pay or get
somebody to pay. If it’s not going to generate income, it’s not business. It
may be philanthropy, or a promotional piece, but a good business idea
always has a viable income model.
In this case, the income model was convoluted by the fact that they were not
only targeting the wrong audience to pay, they were trying to sell the primary
market what they didn’t ask for or want or need! You cannot sell the market
what they don’t want or need. You are wasting your time and energy!
I asked some other questions and to my shock and horror, they had no
written strategy or business plan. They told me they had a vision, which they
wanted to recite, and a mission and values. I knew from just talking to them
that they did not realize how these are business drivers and not just
something you recite to impress people. I was beginning to sense that they
seemed more interested in impressions than substance, though the
gentleman who conceptualized the business seemed to have a different
attitude. The “CEO” was all about whistles and bells. He was acting like a
“CEO”.
Business is not child’s play. It’s your life! And you must get it right. You can
only do so by seeking knowledge. No matter how expensive knowledge may
seem, ignorance I assure you is terribly more expensive; and it may cost you
a substantial portion of your life with frustration as icing.
These young men’s business was suffering from what is technically referred
to as Failure Cost, which is the aggregate cost of not doing things right from
inception. They hadn’t thought through on their idea. They even launched
without proper testing. The first set of people who flocked to the product were
disappointed. The technology failed. Your first set of customers are your most
important. If you disappoint them you’ve lost your early believers and you will
need to work very hard to woo them back. It’s even worse when you
disappoint those who believed in you enough to give you money to start.
Don’t defraud your believers or take them for granted. Business history
shows that your road will be hard if not crooked and impossible.
But then something curious happened as the meeting progressed. This
“CEO” tried to appeal to African sentimentalism by telling me that things have
been hard and how difficult it was to raise money to take transportation down
to Lagos to see me! And so they are appealing to “our fathers” to help. He
then went on to cite the name of one of my friends as a member of the Board
of “Advisors”. It was then that I realized that these “fathers” he was talking
about weren’t their biological fathers. I was now a surrogate father because of
finance.
If the fatherhood theme was meant to elicit the milk of human kindness from
me, it did exactly the opposite. It actually made me annoyed, and dried up
my breast in an instant. I felt the young man was being cunning.
Firstly, you cannot embark on a business venture and begin to complain
about the rigour and pain. You should go for employment if that is your
attitudinal course. Business when handled properly gives disproportionate
reward. But it will only reward the committed and faithful. And business will
seek to prove you to know if you’re committed and faithful.
Secondly, you cannot be seeking help and go about it in a cunning
manner. You insult the intelligence of others and they will wonder about your
character. I pointedly asked the young man if and when he’s successful, and
driving a fanciful car, he would share the reward with me? The smile that
emerged from the corner of his mouth was obviously my answer. If he wasn’t
going to share the reward, why should I share his pain? Why was he
complaining to me about his effort to better his life, become rich, influential
and affluential? He started on a business footing, now he was slipping into
emotional blackmail of the African variety, and seeking to profiteer my kind
nature. I’m suddenly now his “father!” He had obviously rehearsed that line
in his head.
Thirdly, hardship is a paragraph of your legend, not your history.
The hardships of your business progression are your memoirs in the making
for when you become successful. Success cannot be easy. If it were, even
the indolent will be rewarded. I have been down the path and I cannot
remember complaining to anyone about the hardships. If you complain about
the cost of your future you probably don’t deserve that future. I cited the
example of an 84 year old man I once knew who used to trek 20 kilometers to
go to Church and another 20 kilometers back. Took some time before
anybody realised it and we all rallied to correct the situation but the old man
paid the price. If it is important to you, you will pay the price.
Chapter 3
I recommended some of my books and publications to the young men. And
the “CEO” was trying to get them free, or in the alternative offering me
services I don’t need as barter. A culture of handouts and unwillingness to
invest in one’s personal life is a sign of devaluation of life. You’re not really
smart if you expect others to invest in your future for you. It’s your life!
I could have given these young men the products but I would not be helping
them. In life we must not seek an enablement that disables us for our future.
There are no easy routes in entrepreneurship. Those who seek shortcuts
often end up not building any proper businesses or they become more
crooked than a snake in convulsion! Entrepreneurship is a long grinding road
that requires our life commitment. You must go into it purposefully and be
committed to succeed. The future cannot arrive without commitment!
Incidentally when I mentioned the fact that entrepreneurship properly defined
will require a commitment of at least ten years to yield significant returns, the
CEO guy quickly detached himself from the group and said he wanted to see
me personally! That rubbed me wrongly in a sore place. I saw disloyalty and
a lack of commitment. The young man saw the fame and the glory but was
not prepared for the grind. More importantly, he lacked ethical scruples. He
came to see me on the equity of his friend on a specified business project. In
less than 30 minutes, he was pushing a personal agenda. Some will view that
as “smart” and it may be, but I worry about such a person as a business
partner. Values are the glue of business relationships. Those values must be
shared among partners or else the partnership will fail. Two cannot work
together except they be in agreement (Amos 3:3 NKJV).
Choose your partners carefully. And many times you don’t need the
partners you team up with. Everyone must have a stake in a partnership.
When things go right everyone benefits. But when things are rough ever
partner must be a partaker. Don’t go into partnership on whimsicalities.
Friendship is not the basis of business partnership. Contribution and
commitment are.
Chapter 4
The enterprise mandate is enshrined in the Book of Beginnings, the book of
Genesis. Gen 1:28 states:
" Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth." KJV
This is not just about biological procreation. The charge to Mankind goes
beyond this restrictive interpretation. Scriptures are multi-dimensional
containers and taken together they constitute a working manual of human
existence and endeavour, be it political, economic or spiritual.
The Message translation of that scripture is as follows:
"Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea
and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
There are 5 capitalist commands in that scripture:
1. Prosper: Generate wealth
2. Reproduce: Multiply wealth.
3. Fill the Earth: Expand your enterprise
4. Take Charge: Take the lead and define the agenda
5. Be responsible: Take care of the less fortunate by being socially
responsible and being responsible for political outcomes in your
environment. You must also be responsible to God with your income.
That is the evolutionary progression of business. And the 5 th mandate, being
responsible to God and man, is the ultimate aim of enterprise. To grow the
business and move from one stage to the other, you must plan, wisely. That’s
what successful organisations do. They do strategic planning. Solomon,
history’s most astute and consummate business mogul said:
Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common
sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts. (Proverbs 24:3-
4)
There’s such a thing as common sense in business! And profitability comes
by being factual.
But what business should I go into you ask? I don’t have an idea, you say!
Oh yes you do!
Do you have problems? If you do, that’s an idea. Every business is a solution
to a human problem. Because the world is in a hurry, we have fast food.
Because Lagos lacks accessible potable water, there’s ‘Pure Water’. The
problem is that most people are more problem focused than solution
thinking. We wallow in our problems, seeking help and pity. And the hard
truth about life is that nobody owes you anything. You’re responsible for your
life. You cannot blame anybody for your circumstances. Even if you can,
then what?
You must rise up to the challenge of creating a future for yourself and start
working towards your vision of your life. The just shall live by faith. The Just
believe in their future and start working towards it. If you believe in your future
you WILL work towards it.
Problems are the raw materials of businesses. The Scriptures tell us that
there is no temptation overtaken you in life that is not common to man. In
other words, there’s a ready market for the solutions you create to cure your
problem!
But it’s going to take a lot to get to that future. The indolent cannot get there.
The ignorant cannot get there. Those who will not invest in knowledge cannot
get there. Those without drive or lacking in the faculty of initiative cannot get
there. And if you’re looking for life’s handouts you will not get there. Neither
will the complainants. The future belongs to those who seize it. Will you?
Thank You. God Bless!
As I will always say;
Now that you know!
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!
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