ME & YOU ARE SIMPLY DREAMERS!!!

It amazes me, how most of us always have this clear vision of what we would like to grow up and become. Even as mature as you may think you are, you can’t stop your mind from dreaming.

A dream doesn’t discriminate, and it isn’t choosy as some of us can prove to be; be it a kid, a teenager, a grown up mature dad or mom, be it one is rich or poor, healthy or sick, male or female…it simply doesn’t discriminate, anyone can dream.

But what we dream of becoming is majorly based on how optimistic or pessimistic you are with life. Some dream of a better Tomorrow while others dream of terrible events yet to unfold:- The funny part is that what is always dominant in your mind is what you are likely to experience either now or in the near future. So be Optimistic in what you dream or Imagine of because;

  “What you dream of becoming is what you will grow to be.”

We are shaped by our WORDs, which are formed from what we continuously BELIEVE in, and our beliefs are as a result of the Pictures and Dreams in US.

DREAM BIG – DREAM OF A BETTER FUTURE.

Your Mistakes Don’t Cancel Your Destiny-(A Biblical perspective).

Back in Bible days, if you would have asked Jacob “Who are you?” he would have said, “I’m a cheater. I’m a deceiver. I’m a liar.” But really, that’s not who he is, that’s what he did. We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. We’ve all made mistakes and said things we didn’t mean. But because of the blood of Jesus, God isn’t holding that against us. When we repent, scripture says He takes our sin and casts it as far as the east is from the west and remembers it no more. Always remember, God looks beyond your behavior, beyond your performance, and He sees you for who you really are: a person of destiny created in His image with a purpose to fulfill.

 

If we are going to be all God has called us to be, we have to separate our “doing” from our “being”. If you live in guilt and condemnation, it will keep you from receiving the mercy and blessing of God. It will limit your life. That’s why it’s so important to shake off the past and say, “No, I am not what I did. I may have failed at my marriage, but I am not a failure.” “I may be struggling with alcohol, but I am not an alcoholic. I’m a child of Almighty God, and I know my destiny is bigger than my mistakes. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength and I will overcome!”

 

I think about Moses. As a young man, he had a big dream in his heart. He knew God had called him to help deliver the people of Israel. He started off great. He was passionate and enthusiastic. But one day, he saw someone mistreating one of the Israelites. And in his zeal to fulfill his purpose, he went over and killed that man. He made a mistake. His heart was right, but his actions were not right.

 

Someone saw him, and he had to run for his life. He ended up spending forty years on the back side of the desert. He went through a detour. He missed Plan A, but the good news is that God had Plan B. God didn’t say, “Too bad, Moses. You blew it. You had your chance.” No, and He’s not saying that to you, either! If you will stay in faith, your destiny will supersede those poor choices.

 

Forty years later, when God was ready for someone to deliver His people, He didn’t go find a younger man. God didn’t go find someone who had never made mistakes, someone with a perfect record. He went right back to Moses and said, “Hey, Moses, I haven’t forgotten about you. That mistake didn’t cancel your destiny. I’m ready for you now. It’s your time. Go out and deliver My people.”

 

Today, you may have made mistakes or missed good opportunities. It looks like the dream has died or the promise will never come to pass. But God is saying, “Get ready. Just as I did for Moses, I’m about to open up a new door. I’m about to unleash My favor. That setback that was meant to destroy you is a setup for a comeback. That failure that’s clouded your future is not the end.” It’s a new day, so rise up and move forward into the victory God has prepared for you!

AM I INDEPENDENT or DEPENDENT? – Ways of Becoming a Grown Up….

” Maturity is not an age. Every one gets older but not every one becomes mature.” : – A quote used by most life coaches.

Am a student who falls under the Ministry of Higher Learning, this means that am in one of our Local Tertiary Institutions here in Kenya..and to quench your thirst for those dying to know, you will have to read about ME…to spare the rest of the readers cliches of my this and that.

Now that that is done , let’s move back to where I was earlier before you became thirsty. Am a student, and as one, am encountered on a daily routine with some stuff and hustles that always make me run back to mama(being the only parent I have around) for that shoulder to lean on; be it the fee, pocket money, motherly advice and I presume the rest you know, it is not as if am the only guy who’s been a STUDENT so you better stop acting up like you’ve never been one before.

A time has come and I no longer feel free to share my thoughts with mama, it seems like a bother although I know she’s willing to care if I shared the problem – I mean there is nothing that could compare to a parents love.

But some;
Questions have been barging my mind over the past few months, questions of whether I may survive on my own if mama was to leave and never come back, not dying or anything of sort but what if she wasn’t there? was I ready to survive on my on? Am I mature enough to Leave on my own? AM I INDEPENDENT or DEPENDENT?

But listen;
Growing up is not about defying your parents. They can still help you on your path to independence.

Something hit me and it did hit hard, and the thing was I needed to re-DEFINE myself….and I need to help you redefine yourself to; here are some of the KEY things I have come to learn if at all you want to be INDEPENDENT and if you want to Feel FULLY GROWN;

First You Have To;

1. Become financially independent.

It will be difficult because parents have a natural instinct to provide for us. Just politely decline when they offer financial help. It is tempting to depend on others financially, but before you experience independence, you must be independent. Start on a career path. Experiment with different careers and find the one that you enjoy most. If money makes you happy, be an investment banker or start a small business. If you like kids, be a teacher. If you like being an expert, be a lawyer, professor or consultant. If you enjoy talking to people, be a salesperson or go into the services industry. The majority of students end up in careers unrelated to their major. Some people do not get far in formal education and end up millionaires. Working in a career that you enjoy is a part of becoming a mature person. Living on part-time jobs is a sure sign of refusing to grow up. It means you’re either lazy, not mature enough to make real life decisions, or you still think life is supposed to be a fairy tale where you don’t have to work hard and things will just fall in your lap.

2. Become emotionally independent.

Chances are, you depend on many people for emotional support. It may be your parents, a boy or girl friend, or good close friends. Although it is possible to continue to depend on these people for the rest of your life, it is in your best interest to realize that everyone in your life that you depend on will one day no longer be around. Some will move away, some will stop talking to you, and they all will eventually die. The only person that who will always be with you is you. If you depend on yourself for support, you will never be let down.

3. Stop being selfish (if you are not selfish, skip to the next step).

Up until now, you have been given a lot of stuff unconditionally. No matter how badly you perform, your parents, friends and our high school significant others are proud of you and support you. No matter how much you yell at them, they always come back. They give without expecting anything in return. You may start to realize that the real world does not work that way. Now you must give before you can receive. You must treat your friends and romantic interests well or else they will not want to see you any more.–
4.Stop being a doormat (if you are selfish, skip this step).

Up until this point, you always had plenty of friends. You give unconditionally. When they need someone to talk to, you were always there. When they needed something, you always helped out. When they made mistakes, you were always willing to forgive and forget. You do these things because you care. You may start to realize that your old technique of giving unconditionally does not work any more. You must start expecting a certain amount in return for all that you do. Otherwise, some people will take advantage of you and some might feel sorry for you and not want to be around you, some will, but many won’t.

5. Realize that life isn’t fair.

Just because you deserve something does not mean you will get it. You may be the perfect student, yet your professor may still fail you. You may be the perfect employee, yet your boss may never promote you. You may be the perfect spouse, yet your partner may still leave you. Realize and accept these things as a fact of life. Keep your goals in sight, stay happy, and do not let the unfairness of life demoralize you. Life is hard and everyone else has had to overcome obstacles, why can’t you seem to figure it out?

6. Mean what you say and say what you mean.

You will have a very hard time in life if people can’t believe what comes out of your mouth. “Your Word” should always be backed up by “Your Actions” so if you don’t plan on doing something then don’t say that you will.

7. Treat people with respect.

Treat people the way you want to be treated. If you don’t have respect for others, they will most likely lose the respect they have for you. It may not always come back to you but you will get a lot farther in life and be much happier.

8. Take responsibility for yourself.

If you make a mistake, own up to it and learn from it. Hiding it or blaming it on someone else is another sign that you have not grown up yet. If you choose to do something that results in bad consequences, don’t try to say it was someone else’s fault. When you do something that results in good consequences, you won’t want to blame someone else then will you? You are your own person and make your own choices. Other people can influence your choice but in the end it is still YOUR choice and YOUR consequence, good or bad.

9. Plan for the future of your parents/siblings.

While it’s okay if you need to move back into your parents home when young, as long as you’re not a hindrance or if your parents are not in good health, but a crutch isn’t permanent. Don’t worry your time will come to take care full for them.

***My Last Words for you:-
” You are the star witness to your own worth. If you believe that you are worth while, people will take that into account. If you do not like yourself, people will take that into account as well.”

“Nataka serekali itusaidie” (I want the government to help Us)-Spare me the whole Shebang!!

I know most of us are familiar with the above phrase, most especially if you reside in this country (.). Everyone uses it. My grandmother, colleagues, relatives and even the Government ministers have no shame using it to blame others and not themselves for their failures. (You might be a victim of the same, so I will not be excluding you from today’s topic).

To start with;

1.) The Government is Not Your Mother.

Truth be told, I don’t think I have ever seen a country that blames the govt for as many things as Kenyans do. For crying out loud, we are among the 3rd world countries which are still struggling to beef up their economic situation to at least Better up, to be real on the issue, the government in itself is on a crisis mode, with government officials lacking in knowledge on how to salvage the situation, so WACHENI KUKIMBILIA SERIKALI Ni TIME UJI-TEGEME!!!

The Kenyan government has not been a reliable source of USAIDIZI (Help), in fact many of the fellas who’ve sought help from the government have ended up leaving the various government premises disappointed, stressed than they were before making the move, some have been even reported mentally unstable as a result of their endless search for HELP. “wametafuta usaidizi hadi sasa kutafuta ime kuwa kazi.” (they have searched for help everywhere even now the search has turned out to be their main job.) “I hope am doing this translations well***”

If at all you are looking for help on how to start that KIOSK (grocery store), the help will have to come from within, it will have to start with you Growing UP, changing your mental attitude and erasing some phrases like this from that precious mind you have. As much as you may want us convinced as of how the government has not been doing this or that, or how you could have done this and that, I would kindly ask of you to please spare us the whole shebang and start working on your ATTITUDE.

“A bad Attitude is like a car with a flat Tyre, you will have to fix it up so as to keep you moving”- and if I were you that is what I would start doing,-Fixing It.

2.)Hard-Work is Key.

I wanted to really get down to the real matter of this problem, “why do so many Kenyans both young and old love using this phrase?”, “why is the phrase inherited from one generation of Kenyans to the next..?”MBONA TUSI-IMALIZE.(why don’t we get rid of this phrase ones and for all), does it have to be the phrase that defines the Kenyans from other African citizens? (coz if it is I would be highly disappointed with all of us as Kenyans).

Let me spare you the QUESTIONS and get back to the main Issue, coz believe me I have as many as to compile a 250 page  Book.

So were was I, I wanted to get down to what the real problem with most Kenyans was and the results I found were astonishing. Majorly revolving around two different things one was ATTITUDE which we’ve discussed above and the second thing is LAZINESS.

Most of the people who used the phrase( nataka serikali itusaidie) during my short interview, with several “Kenyans” also proved to be lazy to some extent in playing there roles as ordinary wananchis.

( am no reporter so the interview was not as formal as you would expect, and the “Kenyans are my neighborhood pals”) but who in this blog post will represent the majority.

A perfect example is a friend of mine who plans to venture into Online-Business. She is very passionate about doing business online but she is not at all willing to put what it takes to become an online-business icon.
She is extremely lazy on playing her part compared to most successful online-business guys such as Alex Maina of eBrand..a fella who my case study friend likes to quote and be associated with.

As Kenyans both me and you, we should stop with the chit chatting and get on to some serious work, most of us are scholars with all the knowledge it would take to start and grow a multinational investment, but lack the enthusiasm to kick-start what we’ve always dreamt of ever since we really got to know the importance of schooling.

All it will take of you to start your own business is what you’ve got now and all you will need to add unto that is a bit of HARD-WORK. Capital is not the big Issue as per most successful guys would advice. Ask the former Safaricom’s CEO Michael Joseph.

“Hard work is the Key to Conquering Everything.” l.e -labor omin vincint

3.)Never Blame Lack of Capital for your Failure

Case-Study being the former Safaricom’s CEO Michael Joseph.

My experience online has shown that a business that starts with a huge capital base is more likely to fail than a bootstrap organisation. Somehow the owners of businesses with little or no starting capital have a passion for their business.

You cannot deny that Michael Joseph has a passion for Safaricom and Kenya. Mr. Media man why didn’t you report that Safaricom was started on a $25 million budget? A base station at that time costing $10 million a piece. Or that Safaricom had to beg and borrow for a whole year for funds to finance their growth after the first year?

So for all the young bloggers, coders and all Business enthusiasts in Kenya, that phrase “ lack of capital” is not as important as we make-believe.

PayPal was started with a $25 script in someone’s bedroom.

4.)The Final Word From Mwafrika-Me…

Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren’t sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.

“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.” -: from my high sch. English teacher.

There is no need to say more than that-So get up and Work both Smart and Hard.

CAMPUS-DREAMERS-This Is Your Wake Up Call!!!

Everyone around campo wants to be either famous or filthy stinking rich, no one sees the down side of life, and it is not as if am disagreeing with the “I WANNA BE” notion (i.e I want to grow up and be like Oprah for the ladies and the “not so straight jammaz” and I want to be like Steve Jobs for the straight Jammaz.). Nah,am not at all disagreeing  for this is naturally human. I bet you will agree with me that you to would like to have a better future in years to come than the life you are living in right now..mostly if you live in present day Kenya.

Some of us would like to open up businesses with a positive prospect that they will grow from Strength to Strength, others see themselves as top CEOs of some of the blue-chip companies we have around, others see themselves in well-paying jobs, in managerial positions and to close it up, all of us would love to have a good life, a good car, expensive designer shoes and clothing and to top it up..A PEACE OF MIND.

This is what is termed as dreaming and it is natural in every-SANE human. But the problem is when we are unable to wake up from SLUMBER-LAND, and you end up dreaming forever.

Let’s be real and clear on one thing, there is no way you could expect to become a multimillionaire or that sorted after Jamma and yet all you are doing in the present is chit chatting about the “you wanna be” fella(chit chatting about the guy you want to be in the future).

If  you have a dreaming problem, then here is your WAKE UP CALL. It is time you realized that things no longer come on a silver platter and MANNA was only provided in the Exodus days. It is simple, WAKE UP and start working towards whatever you’ve been dreaming of. I mean if GOD wanted us to dream forever we would be sleeping 24/7, I could be asleep instead of blogging.

Listen up, it is time to you actualized your dream. If you’ve always seen yourself as the next Donald Trump, then find all the ways to become the next Him and stop wasting time dreaming of all the ways to become the next Him..the word here is to FIND and not DREAM. Steve JOBS didn’t find himself rich over night. He worked  over-night to scale up to where he died being. So if you would like to be an inventor of a particular brand..it is your time to fold your sleeves and be ready to work your way through the odds to get to what you cherish most.

Start SMALL and grow BIG for it is rare to start BIG and remain BIG. Stop wasting your time on fantasy stories of TAZAMA CHAPAA and Mamilli CHAP CHAP...and work your way to Success.

Why is it important to know your strengths?

When trying to convince someone that you are the person that they should recruit, you have to be aware of your strengths and your weaknesses. “What are your strengths”? is a frequently asked interview question. Yet why is it that we find it so easy to list our weaknesses but often struggle to come up with our strengths?

I bet if I was to give you 2 pieces of paper, one headed ‘Strengths’ and the other ‘Weaknesses’ and asked you to fill them in, you would soon have a page full of what you believe to be your weaknesses while there would still be a lot of white space on the ‘Strengths’ page.

You might then expect me to walk you through your list of weaknesses and help you to come up with ways of turning them into strengths. However, while it is good to be aware of your weaknesses, the first thing I would want to work with you on is your strengths. Why? Because it has been proven that people who focus on their strengths are 6 times more likely to be engaged in their jobs and 3 times more likely to believe that they have an excellent quality of life in general – and isn’t that something we’d all like?

Identifying your strengths is just the one small step in showing that you are the right candidate for the job. Anyone can say that one of their strengths is that they are a great team player but in order to stand out, you need to provide examples of when you worked in a team that produced some outstanding results. Then be able to talk confidently about the contribution you made and how it lead to the team’s success.

So in the lead up to this busy holiday period, take some time out to consider your strengths, enlist a friend to help or get hold of a copy of Excuss Me Y. Come up with a couple of examples where these strengths have helped you succeed in the past so that you kick start 2012 by putting them to even better use to ensure that you have the job and quality of life you want and deserve.

If you’d like help in identifying your strengths and how to use them to make you stand out above the competition, just drop me an email, (wanricmwafrika@gmail.com)

Why businesses fail

We have all read the statistics that state that 80% of new businesses fail in the first 5 years and that of this 80%, most fail not because they don’t have a great product or service but because they have been started by entrepreneurs who lack the experience in running a business.

These businesses generally fail because of one of the following:

they do not have a comprehensive marketing plan coupled with a strong marketing system that ensures that the plan is met;

they have not defined their target market which means that their marketing is unclear and lacks focus so they cannot attract the clients they want;

they are not leveraging their time, money and resources to their advantage;

they lack persistence and are focusing on negatives rather than any successes, no matter how small;

they are applying traditional marketing methods which just don’t work in the current economy, instead of knowing and talking about the key features, benefits and values of the product or service.

In order to make sure that your business does not become a part of this statistic in 2012, start taking steps today to avoid making any of these mistakes.

If you have the drive and desire coupled with the right marketing system, your business can survive and flourish – feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss any of the above in relation to your own business or add your comments below.

LET’S BE REAL ABOUT RECESSION.

The world around us is shifting in terms of the economy and our markets are not doubt-ably out of question. What is questionable is how we address the challenges that faces us, it is too easy to bunker down and take a month by month view of the situation.

However this would not be the most opportune approach to managing during tough times. It is appropriate to let strategic thinking propel your actions as opposed to fear. LET’S BE REAL ABOUT RECESSION…Let’s think strategic business during both recession and depression periods.

Too often long-term goals or even sustainability is sacrificed for short-term survival or gain. To take the action to keep the doors open now, only to close down in twelve months time, doesn’t make sense.

A strategic approach would be to address immediate issues, together with long-term concerns, so that the two action plans are implemented simultaneously. Don’t let fear propel your actions, remember that an economy under pressure does not necessarily mean financial difficulties for every organization. In some cases it can mean assured growth, especially in market shares for some lines.

What I want to simply put across is, if in survival mode a company has to take the necessary  measures quickly and decisively in order to ensure that the immediate pressing needs during recession are met, with regard to existing capital and the present Market base based on the current customers in relation to potential clients. BE REAL and SMART DURING THOSE TOUGH TIMES.

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