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Conquering the fear of starting a business
Casmir Igbokwe
One of the best Christian lyrics frequently sung around is “Abraham’s blessings are mine.” The other popular one is “Standing on the promises of God.” These songs are inspiring. They are ennobling. But while some people are inspired to take action towards fulfilling their financial destinies, others believe that since He is a miracle-working God, they only need to claim Abraham’s blessings and their financial success is guaranteed.
Some of them sit down and wait for God to move them. They have great business ideas but they wait till they have enough money before taking action. They have been dreaming about that plum job in telecom industry, but they have not submitted any resume or application letter to their dream company. This attitude hardly leads to financial success.
In his book, Start With What You Have, Pastor Sam Adeyemi of Daystar Christian Centre, Lagos, advises that people must be action-oriented. According to him, people should not sit down and wait for things to work out by themselves. They should not sing “Standing on the promises” when all they do is to sit on the premises.
“Do not wait for ideal situations. He who waits for perfect conditions will never get anything done. God has promised to bless whatever you lay your hands upon. So, lay your hand on some worthwhile project now,” Adeyemi counsels.
He adds that prosperous men and women whom God blessed in the biblical days were mostly people who engaged in certain trades. Even Abraham whom God blessed and promised to multiply his inheritance “did not sit in the house just making positive confessions.”
“Abraham was a livestock farmer. God blessed and multiplied his business. Isaac his son was also a farmer. When he sowed his seed in the time of famine, God multiplied his crops so much that he got an outstanding breakthrough. God’s miracle working power also found expression through Jacob’s efforts in livestock farming,” he stresses.
This fear of not having enough capital to start a business has denied many people access to Abraham’s blessings. They have N1 million, but they need N5 million to start their dream business. As the money gets to N4 million, a N3 million problem surfaces. The money is used to solve that problem. And then they start the saving cycle again.
What we have, Adeyemi notes, may not be enough, but it will always contain the potential for what we want. He says you cannot release your potential for financial success until you recognise the potential in the other people and things God has positioned around you.
This may sound like a mere glib talk, but you will progress more rapidly if you begin to see opportunities in every problem that confronts you. If you see money as a problem, think of a solution to it. The quest for that solution will open doors for financial success.
Adeyemi sees it this way, “The principles of financial increase obey the law of sowing and reaping. The harvest you want will always be inside the seed you have. If you do not consider the seed in your hand in your quest for a bountiful harvest, you are looking too far for your breakthrough. What you want will always be inside what you have.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Quartermasters Limited, a corporate branding outfit in Lagos, Dr. Chidi Okpaluba, started by selling ties in the university as a student. The young man used the N50 pocket money his mother gave him to buy those ties. He sold them and made enough money, while his mates were brooding on how to make ends meet.
The idea to sell ties did not even emanate from him. Somebody else mooted the idea that anybody who sold such articles on campus would make money. The person who had the idea did not pursue it. But Okpaluba did. He came out of school and continued his business. Today, he has progressed from a spittle to an ocean of wealth.
“Opportunity eludes so many people because they look too far for it. This is understandable because opportunities usually look big when we see them afar off, especially when we see them in other people’s lives. Yet, they seem to have the tendency to shrink in size as they approach us, such that we do not even recognise an opportunity when it eventually shows up in our lives,” Adeyemi avers.
For those who do not know how to start, there are some strategies that will help them to create a successful business. The Founder of Nissi Entrepreneurship and Investment Initiative, Mrs. Bridget Olotu, gives some of these strategies in her book, Think, Learn, Take Action and Grow Rich.
One of these strategies, she says, is to find a problem and solve it. She gives an example of a secretary who started mixing flour with nail varnish in order to clean the mistakes she was making in her typing. Not long after, her friends in the same office reportedly asked her to make some for them. Eventually, she was said to have quit her job and worked full time on what is today known as Tip-Ex. A few years ago, according to Olotu, the woman sold her company to Gillette Corporation for $47 million.
The second strategy is to find a need and fill it. Olotu says there are many needs around us. If you can identify the ones you can meet, money will trail you. You will also create wealth if you discover ways of doing things better, cheaper, faster or easier.
The next step, Olotu notes, is to see yourself working for your customers. According to her, “Make sure that the product or service is badly needed and important to your customer…The customer is not just important, he/she is the reason you are in business.”
The woman also talks of investing in what she calls sweat equity in your business. If you want your business to succeed, she says, you must invest your time, talent, and energy instead of your money alone. It is her submission too that if you can provide answers to societal questions in the areas of investment, marketing, sales, finance, lifestyle, religion, etc., you will end up becoming a big cheese.
The LCM of this gospel today is for you to start something now. If you continue to procrastinate, well, your song cannot be anything but “standing on the premises of hunger.”
The PUNCH, Friday, November 04, 2005
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