If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
Jim Rohn
People close to me know how I get excited talking about money and personal development. I am an advocate of alternative source of income and living a purpose driven life. I once discussed having an alternative source of income with a certain acquaintance. His excuse was as usual lack of capital and not having enough time yet he spends his weekend drinking.
I tried to explain how one needs to be resourceful should they have no resources but as usual if someone is always looking for excuses, they always find one. There are people who instead of finding one good reason to do something, they will focus on all the reasons why they shouldn’t do something. How can someone have no resources and not be resourceful at the same time? Not possible.
Well since I believe one cannot lift a person who does that not want to be lifted, I usually don’t force things so after seeing his list of excuses, I decided not to continue bothering him. Months later this acquaintance borrowed a friend’s car and went drinking with friends. They drunk almost all night and in the morning he started driving to his place in his drunk state and the worst happened.
He blacked out as he was driving and was involved in an accident. Luckily he had not stepped on the accelerator so he wasn’t hurt but the car needed to be fixed and he needed a $2,650 to fix. This person’s salary is $280.
Having no choice, the man decided to get loan on top of his already existing to help fix the car and also decided to be doing private jobs during the weekend to raise the remaining money for fixing the friend’s car.
After analysing the whole situation, I remembered the words of Zig Ziglar (Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24 hours). Indeed Time is the ultimate competitor of success. Learning how to direct your time in a manner that maximizes your effectiveness and productivity is pivotal in your success.
How come this man suddenly has time to work on the weekends. How come the man who had no money raised some money within weeks through a loan to help fix the friend’s couldn’t he have raised the capital the same way? Now get me clearly here. I am not saying go and get a loan and start a business. Businesses take long to gain ground and start making profits. It’s better to start with what you have and only get one to boost your business. The point here is people always find a way when they want to do something just like when they are not reminded to eat when they are hungry. This man suddenly found private jobs to do during the week . Couldn’t he have thought of this as a way of making the capital he needed.
When asked what’s the biggest mistake we make in life the Buddha replied “The biggest mistake is you think you have time.” Time is free but it’s priceless. You can’t own it but you can use it. You can’t save it but you can spend it. Look at this man now. He has to spend time working to fix his friends car because he was busy drinking the whole night thinking he has time. He was thinking he was enjoying his youth when he was wasting his youth. Surely this could have been avoided. Whats your excuse? Yes it can be valid but it can never feed you.How hungry are you for the extra source of income? Warren Buffett said ” If your salary is your only source of income, you are one step away from poverty”. Yes one source of income is too close to having none at all.
One Beast thing you need to know about Enterprenurship
Entrepreneurship is like swimming. You can’t learn it from a class. The only way to get experience in business is to start a business. Harold Geneen said ” in the business world, everyone is paid on two coins:cash and experience. Take the experience first, the cash will come later.
It is therefore important that you start taking those steps today. Start slowly, keep your day job while you start a part time business not for money but for experience. That way even if your part time business does not make money, you will be gaining something that is more important than money, real life experience. Until an entrepreneur is willing to work for free for some time, he is not ready to become an entrepreneur.
Many entrepreneurs today start businesses just to make money. Marie Forleo said ” Never start a business just to make money, start a business to make a difference.” Ray Kroc said “If you work just for money, you will never make it, but if you love what you are doing and always put your customer first, success will be yours. ” Many entrepreneurs start a business to just make money. Just to make money is not a strong enough reason. It does not provide enough fire , drive or desire to keep going when times get tough. That is why Henry Ford said “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”
Entrepreneurship is more than just making money, it is about serving other people. It is about making people’s lives better at a profit. It is about serving your purpose to people. Tony Gaskins said ” When money is your motive, you will always be lacking but if you are rooted in your purpose, money chases you.” The great investor himself Warren Buffett said “Companies that put empowerment before profits are the ones that last for generations.” Entrepreneurship is therefore about discovering that which you were created for and serving it to others then money and fulfilment follow you. Zig Ziglar Said ” You can get anything you want in life if you help enough people get what they want.” And my favourite personal development teacher Jim Rohn said “A service to many leads to greatness.”
Is your business making other people’s lives better? Some entrepreneurs are creating problems and then offering solutions to people. Stop those bad acts . The world has enough problems. Stop creating problems and creating solutions there after so that you can make money out of the ignorant. We already have enough problems.
DJ Sbu in his book ‘The art of hustling ‘ said “Entrepreneurship is an unpredictable space. That is why you won’t find any entrepreneurs who are weak and timid. Being an entrepreneur is being someone who believes in himself, thinks differently, is self driven and self motivated. When you are an entrepreneur, you have to accept that you are all you have.”
If you speak rubbish, don’t expect your kids to be polite
In a world full of negativity, it is important that we watch what we feed our minds and also watch what our children are being fed especially by the media. We are so afraid of taking expired foods because they might be poisonous yet we allow so many unexpired and unhealthy things enter our minds and poison our minds.
In as much as everyone is born with a gift, parents play a critical part in how their children will grow up . The Bible says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. Just like your net work determines your network and Iron sharpens I, many parents have contributed to their children’s lives positively or negatively. Parents can actually contribute to their children becoming geniuses or the other way round.
Albert Einstein actually insisted that geniuses are made not born. Laszlo Polgar, a Hungarian chess teacher and educational psychologist also insisted that geniuses are made and to prove it , he said he would turn his kids into chess champions. Over two decades, he raised three daughters in a home filled with chess books, chess boards, pictures of famous chess players and often had conversations about chess with his daughters.
This signaled that chess was important to his children and over the years all three children developed an obsession for chess and became chess grandmasters. Infact it was his youngest daughter Judit Polgar who became the youngest grandmaster in history in 1991 at only the age of 15.
What are your children feeding on in this information age where both negative and positive information is everywhere? How are the discussions you have with them impact on their lives. What do you expect your child to turn when you are always negative on them starting from the name you gave them? If you don’t take care of your children, the world will take care of them and definitely won’t have their best interest at heart so be careful.
Source: Nyambi
DON’T OPEN DOORS THAT WILL DESTROY YOUR MARRIAGE
1. THE DOOR OF GOSSIP
Don’t allow gossip to shape your marriage. If you are busy listening to what others are saying about marriage in today’s society, the opposite gender or even your spouse; you will lose direction
2. THE DOOR OF THIRD PARTIES
Keep off external influences. Yes, even your parents, siblings and friends can ruin your marriage. Put boundaries. This is between you and your spouse
3. THE DOOR OF CULTURE
Don’t allow unhelpful culture to come destroy what you two have. Unhelpful culture is the one which goes against love and favours one party over the other
4. THE DOOR OF AFFAIRS
Close the door to extramarital affairs. It will jeopardize your union, shift attention and make you miss out on the best of your marriage
5. THE DOOR OF HARMFUL HABITS
Be aware of your weaknesses and temptations. Habits such as drinking, pornography, partying that you have been so used to can wreck havoc to your home
6. THE DOOR OF ANOTHER CONFIDANT
Don’t open up to another more than your spouse. Don’t have someone out there who you are more free with and who you are more emotionally intimate with; it will render your spouse useless since you have someone filling the void
7. THE DOOR OF SINGLEHOOD BEHAVIOUR
Once you get married, act married. Close the door to singlehood. The season of thinking only about you and no accountability is over
8. THE DOOR OF BAD ADVICE
Many people will have an opinion about your marriage. They will tell you all sorts of suggestions when your marriage is doing well and also when challenged. Keep off bad counsel
9. THE DOOR OF PRIDE
As you succeed in life and gain achievements and outsiders praise you, don’t let it go to your head. Marriage requires humility. Pride comes before your fall and subsequently, affecting your union
10. THE DOOR OF THE EX
Whoever you loved in the past should stay there – in the past. Close that door. And if you and an ex are co-parenting, have clear boundaries and be transparent to your spouse
If you have opened any of these doors. Close them
source: EYA Oliver Uchenna
Here are 10 brutal truths that everyone needs to hear.
1. You’re going to die and you have no idea when.
Stop pretending that you’re invincible. Acknowledge the fact of your own mortality, and then start structuring your life in a more meaningful way.
2. Your material wealth won’t make you a better or happier person.
Even if you’re one of the lucky ones who achieves his or her materialistic dreams, money only amplifies that which was already present.
3. Your obsession with finding happiness is what prevents its attainment.
Happiness is always present in your life–it’s just a matter of connecting to it and allowing it to flow through you that’s challenging.
4. Donating money does less than donating time.
Giving your time is a way to change your perception and create a memory for yourself and others that will last forever.
5. You can’t make everyone happy, and if you try, you’ll lose yourself.
Stop trying to please, and start respecting your values, principles, and autonomy.
6. Your achievements and successes won’t matter on your deathbed.
When your time has come to transition from this reality, you won’t be thinking about that raise; you’ll be thinking about the relationships you’ve made–so start acting accordingly.
7. Your talent means nothing without consistent effort and practice.
Some of the most talented people in the world never move out from their parent’s basement.
8. Nobody cares how difficult your life is, and you are the author of your life’s story.
Stop looking for people to give you sympathy and start creating the life story you want to read.
9. Investing in yourself isn’t selfish. It’s the most worthwhile thing you can do.
You have to put on your own gas mask to save the person sitting right next to you.
10. Time is your most valuable asset–you need to prioritize how you spend it.
You have the power and responsibility to decide what you do with the time you have, so choose wisely…
STAY BLESSED
RULES TO PROTECT YOUR INNER PEACE
1. Cut off toxic people in your life. Although it is not easy to do it, for you to have peace of mind, you have to.
2. Distance yourself from people who only give out negative thoughts and energy. They will never help you grow.
3. Choose your battles wisely. Not everything requires your energy and reaction.
4. Be careful in letting people be a part of your life. Not everyone is a friend.
5. Unwind. When everything starts to feel tiring, go on a vacation. You deserve it.
6. Learn when to walk away. If it is no longer giving you peace of mind, it is not worth it.
7. Always make time for yourself. Being alone feels therapeutic at times.
8. Have less time for social media and more of starting a new hobby. Be productive with your time.
9. Be adaptable to change. Always brace yourself for endless possibilities.
10. Knowing your triggers is your responsibility. Not all the time people will adjust for you.
Source: EYA Oliver Uchenna
Purpose over pension
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. ( Upton Sinclair)
Imagine if you started working and stayed for three months without a salary. Chances are that you would quit your job. Very few would even work up to six months. Well this is exactly how we have been trained. Most employees get paid monthly or weekly so when they try business, they expect to get paid at the monthend. That is why they easily quit when they don’t have see a profit in a Month.
A bird born in a cage thinks flying is an illness ( Alejandro Jodorowsky) If you have been raised thinking the only way to make it in life is through a job and salary, when someone tells you about business, you will think business is not for you. You need to understand that you were made to think that way so that you do not become a leader or learn how to control yourself so that you remain dependant on other people. That way if you continue to be humble and obedient you will be easy to direct and control just like a baby even when you are 50 years.
The only way to make real wealth is to get rid of your salary. In a salary, by definition, you are creating wealth for others, and you are creating a chain and handcuffs for yourself.(James Altucher). If you go into business with an employee mindset you are likely to give up because you won’t get profits in a month. However some who are lucky enough to make profits in a month end up using it because they are used to their monthly pay and they think they will make so more next month. This is not usually the case because businesses has ups and downs and the first years should be dedicated to growing it. This in turn has negative effect on their small businesses and they give up. In business you have have to delay instant gratification If you are to build your business to success. Many end up eating their seeds and say that you only live once. Yes you only live once but what if you live once for 70 years, do you want to continue working for money even at 60years When you would have wasted your productive years?
I would rather look broke now while building my assets than look rich spending money on liabilities and continue working even in old age. If am still working for money, I would rather invest each dollar I get from my sweat and give it a job. It is better to buy liabilities from money I don’t work for because my assets are working for it than buying liabilities from money I work for. It is important that before someone engages themselves in business, they firstly remove the employee mindsets otherwise they will just wastes their resources.
The advantage game of 21st centuary
You can literally learn any skill you want for free on youtube. … If you were lucky enough to be born in this era, take full advantage of it.
Elon Musk
I am proof of the above. Many ask if I have done business or finance courses or at least have some entrepreneural back ground. Far from it. Born from parents who were both teachers with no interest in entrepreneurship, I grow up thinking the only way to make it in life was through education and preferably getting a degree from a top University in my country and I therefore worked towards that.
All I knew was I heard to go to University and didn’t really mind the course I studied as long as I managed to get this degree. And yes I managed to get a degree and this is the only formal degree I have and probably will ever have. And no it’s not business or Finance related . On the contrary it’s a a degree in Building Science. The knowledge in business and finance I have, well it’s self taught and from experience.
I thank God for the day I started Feeling emptiness in myself and decided to read the Millionaire fastlane and moved on to 7 Strategies for happiness and wealth and my life turned around and decided to pursue something with more meaning. And today If degrees were awarded for reading what you really love am sure I would be one of the recipients because I have read so many personal development books, business and finance and it is something that I really enjoy.
Why am I writing this? Well because I want you to know that your past define you. Your professional qualifications should not limit your dreams. You can still be whoever you want to be no matter how you started. I know most of us have been influenced by our parents and guardians to be who we don’t even want to be. You can still change it. You don’t need a class to that. The world has so much information but many of us have focused on the entertainment.
If other people who are human just like you are using whatever they have to change their lives without blaming others, what is stoping you?