LET MONEY WAIT FOR YOU!

LET MONEY WAIT FOR YOU!  Secret Mind-Game of How You Can Capitalize Your Vision  in Your Business Start-Up.   BY FELIX N.JARIKRE                                                                                                                                          

Starting a business is a risky, demanding journey where you face daunting challenges, take chances, and sometimes suffer perilous defeat. Most times, people who finally succeeded in business have tales of how they had struggled through times of despair and near-paralysing anxiety – desperate times where it appeared everything would collapse on their head. Certainly, no one can claim that building a successful business asset is easy. It requires your unbroken focus, daring independent thinking, every ounce of resilience to bounce back when you are knocked down, staying enthusiastic and pumped-up when the winds of adversity blow. Indeed, the race to remain relevant and profitable is tough and unsparing. With more than 90 percent of start-ups failing, there are no guarantees of security and success. So why do you bother? Why don’t you take the path of least resistance by getting a job, waiting for the monthly pay-check, and hoping for pension when you retire?  Yet if your passion is to have unhindered platform to solve problems, and you need to seize control of your destiny, you would not be satisfied by taking the path of least resistance. Helen Keller said: “ Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”  The “ safe road” or “comfort zone” is an enemy of progress.  There are those who make things happen and other people who wonder what happened. When Steve Job was told derisively to go back to college by executives of Hewlett-Packard who turned down his idea of personal computer, he ignored his detractors,  went on to develop Apple into a world-class brand, and made billions of dollars for himself as well as for others in the process. So you say you want to make things happen, like the Steve Jobs, Elon Musks and Jimoh Ibrahims of this world. Your goals, objectives and plans are well laid out. You are ready to work hard and smart. You have invaluable skills. You have creative energy. And you are ready to roar!  But wait, you ask yourself: where is the money coming from? How do you fund your dreams and aspirations?  Take it from me. You are not alone in your perplexity and desperation. In the Bible, Gideon was also forced to confront his feeling of inadequacy when he was sent in a God-given vision to rescue his people, Israel from being oppressed and impoverished by their adversaries. Taking on a persona of bravery and heroism , he had to move beyond his desperation and embrace the unfailing resourcefulness of God who sent him. Hear the divine marching order to Gideon: “ Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have I not sent thee?”  This marching order is a currency of unquantifiable value. Since no amount of money could purchase this currency, it was given to Gideon for free. IF YOU ARE SENT BY GOD, YOUR ENTERPRISE SHALL ALSO BE ADEQUATELY FUNDED AND MOBILIZED FROM ABOVE. It takes a vision from above to escape the trap of financial destitution. For you to play the secret mind-game of turning your vision into operating capital, you had to see yourself as a MESSENGER of God in the jungle of business, armed and mobilized to take out your adversaries! It’s an error for your dream to crash and burn on the altar of financial destitution. The world of business today continues to favour enterprises with vision, tenacity and the willingness to adapt. So never allow the lack of money to short-circuit, or limit your ability to stretch, expand and be prolific. Be willing to embrace new ideas because your survival is at stake. Explore new avenues when you have to, and be prepared always to change directions. But using  lack of money to excuse our lack of productivity or resourcefulness is not acceptable. Don’t waste your skills, waiting for money. Use your skills to make money. In the bible, It takes Peter’s skill - trained to catch fish – to bring money out of the mouth of a fish; and put away offence!   

Here are three keys to unleash the secret mind-game of how to capitalize your vision:

CREATE A MOVEMENT; HUSTLE; MAKE PROGRESS. If things get desperate in your business, and you find your back against the wall, the solution is not to roll up into a corner and play dead. When you feel neglected, unwanted and ostracized, locked out of the “winners’ circle,” it’s tempting to harbour a siege mentality that negatively wants you to shut down. But that’s a seductive option that you cannot afford to tolerate. You must rebel against everything that want you to stagnate and retrogress. This is the time to shake off every mental limitation, get up and make a move. There is this biblical story of four lepers who were ostracized and exiled from decent society. As they sat at the gate of the city, famine was ravaging the land as a result of the adverse result of the siege laid by the Syrian army. The threat of death was a clear and present danger. Then the lepers said: “ Why sit we here until we die?” They decided to move toward the direction of the camp of their enemies. We were told God turned the movement of the four lepers into the fearsome noise of a terrible war machine, making the Syrian army  to scamper and run, leaving behind their hoards of money and rainment; which the lepers did not hesitate in secreting away. There is power in movement. The book of Genesis says: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. To create a movement is to be resourceful. Make that call you have long delayed. Compose that email and send. Knock on that door. You have got nothing to lose! Summon the help of Jehovah Jump-Protocols!  Step out and hustle. There’s no lion on the street! Make progress and shine.

EXPOSE YOUR TALENT AND HIDE YOUR FEAR.  There’s nothing of value you want to achieve that would not suffer contradiction, disapproval or neglect from people. Discouraging, unfriendly circumstances are not far from those who aspire to something worthwhile. When Steve Job and Steve Wozniak decided to develop and commercialize Apple computers, there was really no viable market for personal computers.  It’s a fact of life that before you are celebrated for your ideas or talents, you might have to pass through the fires of rejection in the hand of people who don’t always feel comfortable with change. It’s very seductive to despise or neglect your idea or talent because you have presumed other people would be hostile to it. But we must not be like the biblical servant who buried his talent, and exposed his fear of suffering rejection from men for the “ worthlessness” of his talent. We must be totally persuaded that our ideas and talents are valid.   

DON’T BE HELD BACK BY LACK OF EXPERIENCE.  Whatever enterprise you feel excited or passionate about starting or getting involved in, don’t hesitate: Go, do it. Don’t be afraid that you don’t have sufficient experience to master the venture. What you don’t know about, get ready to learn. You don’t know enough for anything.  Whatever challenges or failures you face will yield new lessons/experiences that you would not have encountered if you never started. Moses never knew that a mere stick –pointed- could divide a large expanse of water until he was divinely instructed. With no experience in manufacturing or retailing, and starting out with just $5,000, Sara Blakely  built the Spanx Pantyhose brand and became one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world.  Be a visionary. Unleash your passion. Be flexible and resilient. Laugh by force when you should cry, and maximize your strength as a result. Turn the table against your adversaries by your die-hard tenacity. Playing for higher stakes, bolstered by your resolve, money shall gravitate with haste to serve your vision!